Pony Express -Eastern Terminus and a strange place

St Josephs,Missouri

Date of Trip: December 5,2009

Trip are now weather dependent, as I watch a beautiful snow fall out of my window. I have to think this is the last one of what has been an amazing year. Last week the Trails were the story,Independence,Missouri, the shoving off point for so many going west. I managed to cover Lewis and Clark,Oregon,Santa Fe,California and the Mormon Trail.About 35 miles north is St. Joseph, home town of Walter Cronkite,Jesse James and the eastern point of the Pony Express. The Patee House serves as a Museum for the city and I shall write of it shortly. One of the exhibits in the Museum is a newspaper article from from January of 1864,It announces Lincoln is running for re election and just below it a famed actor named John Wilkes Booth was in town and convinced to give a performance of Shakespearean monologues. Probably the first and not last time the two names will be linked.

We came from the Pony Express Museum. It's a nice,very interactive place were you can sit on saddles and pump water from a well into a horses trofe. Lots of maps of the Trail,artifacts and a D.A.R. Museum outside marking the stable. It is worth noting 2010 is 150th anniversary of the Express brief run.

Next was the Patee House which I thought was going to be the Pony Express office, which it was , but was so much more.

-Lincoln stayed there in 1859

-Mark Twain stayed there

-William Seward gave a speech from the balcony

-Military trials after the civil war occurred there

-An episode of "Ripley's Believe it or not not" was filmed there.Jack Palance was there and someone kept his cigar butts

-Walter Cronkite was there, as his father the dentist has artifacts in the museum.

-Next door you can find the house Jesse James was shot, which had been moved from it's original location, the sign out front says "See the Bullet hole" and we did.

Downtown is wonderful statue of a Pony Express Rider. I'll warn you if want to eat anything other Taco Bell or Hardees, you might be forced to eat at the casino.We did anyway. We have missed something else along the way. I'm going to fill the next entry with pictures from Patee house. The last picture taken at the casino is a beautiful sun set on the Missouri River. The leaves on the trees are going and I couldn't help but wonder how soon snow would cover the ground, Ice fill the river and wonderful is this was the last day of 2009 that the river would flow .

This is probably the last trip of the year, but don't worry. I sat down with a sheet of paper and came up with 19 trips,mostly in the state of Kansas that can all be done in a day. Last year was Bleeding Kansas for the most part, this year Trails ,who knows what will catch my eye in 2010. I went to Fort Leavenworth,far Western Kansas, saw such oddities as the World Largest Ball of Twine,a giant shovel,a Monument of the National Park System that told the story of my family history . In this, Lincoln's 200th Birthday , Steps were he spoke have been preserved, and a hotel where he stayed stands. Last year I was enchanted by the story of the Harvey Girls, this year I saw the way of life,Conestoga Wagons, that the trains ended.

Last year I remembered talking to a gentleman who said "If take a pins and stick in a map at Emporia,Kansas and draw a circle 200 miles around it, you will find more US History than almost anywhere in the Country." The 13 Colonies may argue that point but between the Labor Unrest of the Amazon Women in Pittsburg ,the Trials,The Homesteaders,Fort Leavenworth,Bleeding Kansas,Brown v BOE,William Allen White,Harry Truman,Dwight Eisenhower and so many others. He makes a good case.

We remember Hays House where Custer and Jesse James dined. We remember the choice Chicken Annie's or next door Chicken Mary's. We remember the Casino in St Joe with the statue of Sacajawea in front of it. We ate well,saw some amazing and frankly strange things.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We put away the GPS and the smart phone,give K-tag a rest, read all the brouchures I picked up and plan and plot for 2010. See you on the highways.....

Homestead National Monument of America

In the mist of Civil War in 1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act. On January 1,1863 anyone who signed up was given 160 acres of land to farm.If they stuck with it,they could keep the land.Why go to Nebraska if this is a blog about Kansas ? Fair question. Soon after the Homestead Act was passed, Timothy Smith came from Pennsylvania to Pott County Kansas, a few miles from Manhattan and began to farm. 5 Generations later, the writer of this blog sits at a lap top writing these words. The land near Manhattan is still in use.Someone in my the family has the paper signed by Lincoln granting the use of the land.

Last summer and this , I have seen the tales of Bleeding Kansas,the Drive Western,stood on a bluff and looked down at a river where Lewis and Clark explored.I have seen the Industry that has built the state,the politics that have moved the state and the nation. The moments were the hairs on my arm stand up have been many. The tour guide at the William Allen White explaining "6 Presidents have eaten at this table." Here we going to Beatrice,Nebraska the site of the Homestead land of Daniel Freeman, and I know his story is also my families Story. The story of the American Farmer braving locust,lack of knowledge in Farming. As many people who kept the land into the 6th and 7th generation many more failed.

Beatrice is maybe a half hour from Kansas, the Monument is 4 miles outside of town.It sits on 160 acres land Homesteaded by Daniel Freeman who made his claim on January 1,1863, one of the first if not the first to Homestead. We visited the Heritage Center.For cancellation fans, you can get 4 Stamps, one for the Monument, the Oregon Trail,California Trail and Pony Express.I had the best time talking with the Ranger about stamps, where to get them, how many we've had and hidden stamps.She found out afterwards if you go to the top of Long's Peak, you can get another stamp. She called and had them send her one.

The Film talks about the history of Homesteading including the fact it kicked Indians off their land. The Museum exhibits include Farm equipment, a wonderful display of Newspaper ads for Homesteading. It's very multi media with several videos,including a discussion about the last Homesteader in Alaska ,who got his land in 1980's.The centerpiece is a wind mill with rises above the upper level.

The grounds also include hiking trails,a restored cabin and a one room school house just off the property. In talking about the multi media , they are also on Facebook. I am now a Fan. The website talks about Fiddle festivals,high school ecology field trips and controlled burns.I had high expectations because of the link to my family history. I was thrilled to be there, thrilled it exists.Homesteading is an important story in Manifest destiny. The Bill signed by Lincoln opened by opportunity for many.60% of those who made Claims failed, 40% suceeded beyond the 5 years.