1

2014 Officers & Board Members:

President—Larry Short

Vice President—Mary Conrad

Treasurer—John Atkinson

Secretary—Anne Mallinson

Historian—Sandy Slusher

Richard Lawson

Dick Nelson

Ross Marshall

Harry Rinacke

Contact Information:

MRO President

Larry Short

3930 S. Jackson Dr #106

Independence, MO 64057

Home 816.912.1598

Cell 816.835.4397

Email: ldshort@comcast.net

National Frontier Trails Museum

318 W. Pacific

Independence, MO 64050

Phone: 816.325.7575

FALLFALLFALL

NEWSLETTER 2014NEWSLETTER 2014NEWSLETTER 2014

Santa Fe Trail Association

Santa Fe Trail Center

1349 K-156 Hwy

Larned, KS 67550

Phone: 620.285.2054

Email: trailassn@larned.net

SFTA Website: www.santafetrail.org

Follow MRO on Facebook

Santa Fe, Oregon & California National Historic

Trail signs in Raytown

The Raytown Public Works Department has begun the

installation of the local tour route signs for the three Na-

tional Historic Trails as they traverse Raytown. The 24

signs will allow trail enthusiasts to follow the original

trails from 51st Street on the northern edge of the Ray-

town City limits along Blue Ridge Blvd to the southern

edge at 83rd Street.

2

Santa Fe, Oregon & California National Historic Trail signs dedicated in Sugar Creek

A dedication ceremony and luncheon was held at the Mallinson Meeting Hall & Winery on Wednesday,

September 24, 2014 to dedicate the recently installed Historic Trail signs and historic markers that

were erected from the Upper Independence/Wayne City Landing and along River Blvd in Sugar Creek.

Dedication speakers included Mayor Matt Mallinson of Sugar Creek, Aaron Mahr and Kristin Van

Fleet of the National Park Service and representatives of the Missouri

DAR who had provided a grant for the purchase of the sign poles and

hardware. Dignitaries from the Sugar Creek School district, the Mis-

souri State Assembly and OCTA joined in for the dedication.

Following the dedication ceremonies a luncheon was held at the Mal-

linson Vineyard and Hall.

Wieduwilt Swales

National Park Service Interpretive Panel & MRO Stone Marker Dedicated

On Saturday, October 4, 2014 the Missouri River Outfitters Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association

held a dedication ceremony for the newly installed interpretive panel, historic site sign and stone marker

at the Wieduwilt Swales located at 85th & Manchester in Kansas City, Missouri. This site, which is cur-

rently owned by the Barnes Enclosure/Cave Spring Association, contains some of the most pristine swales

along the Santa Fe, Oregon and California National Historic Trails.

Lou Austin, local trail activist, preservationist and historian presented the dedication address to a crowd

which included members of MRO, SFTA, OCTA, the Kansas City Missouri Parks Department and Kan-

sas City Missouri Council members.

We are grateful for the stewardship that has been

shown by Paul and Sharon Wieduwilt in their

preservation of the upper portion of the swales

which are included on their property.

Following the dedication ceremonies at the park we

adjourned to a reception at the Barnes Enclo-

sure/Cave Spring Pavilion.

Above: Dedication ceremonies at the Wiedu-

wilt Swales Right: Paul and Sharon Wiedu-

wilt (right) and their family.

3

MRO Pictorial Revue

2014

Local Tour Route

Signs in Saline and

Lafayette Counties

in Missouri

4

Joint Meetings with SFTA, OCTA &

Lewis & Clark Association Geocache site at Upper Inde-

pendence/Wayne City Land-

ing

Right & below: New NPS signs in

Raytown

Wieduwilt Swales signs and inter-

pretive panel.

Left: New

local tour

route signs

in Sugar

Creek, Mis-

souri

5

UPCOMING EVENTS

November 8, 2014, Boones Lick Road NPS Panel Dedication, Franklin, MO

April 9-11, 2015, SFTA Spring Board Meeting & Workshop, Salina, KS

September 17-20, 2015, SFTA Symposium, Santa Fe, NM

September 22-24, 2016, SFTA Rendezvous, Larned, KS

September 28-30, 2017, SFTA Symposium, Olathe, KS

Symposium 2017 update……..

MRO and the Douglas County

Kansas Chapter will be sponsoring

the Santa Fe Trail Symposium in

Olathe Kansas in September of

2017.

We are currently making plans to

include a day at the Mahaffie Stage

Coach Stop, an evening out at the

Steamboat Arabia Museum in the

River Market area of KCMO and

a tour of the Frontier Museum at

Fort Leavenworth. In addition we

will be participating with the Stage

Coach and Freight Wagon Associa-

tion to bring some additional in-

sight into the types of wagons and

coaches that were used during the

mid 19th Century in this area.

Bus tours will follow the morning

presentations that will highlight the

various segments of the Historic

National Trails in the greater KC

area.

Mark you calendars now and plan

to attend this event.

6

Missouri River Outfitters

c/o Larry D. Short

3930 S. Jackson Dr. #106

Independence, MO 64057

A Message from your President……...Larry D. Short

We are again approaching the end of another year. We have seen our first joint meet-

ing between SFTA, OCTA, the Lewis & Clark Association and the National Park Ser-

vice. This meeting has led to greater cooperation between the various organizations. As

a result of this working together with OCTA we were able to secure the purchase of the

local tour route signs through Raytown which have been installed. In addition we have

secured many replacement interpretive panels that had been damaged or were just fad-

ed out due to age along the Trails. With our partnerships we can be much more effective in our inter-

pretation and maintenance of our Santa Fe, Oregon & California National Historic Trails from Frank-

lin, Missouri to Gardner, Kansas.

Moving forward we are continuing progress with our new outdoor kiosk at Salem Park in eastern

Jackson County. MRO, SFTA and the National Park Service are currently working with the Jackson

County Parks & Recreation Department to install interpretive panels at the Park. There will be three

panels which will depict the areas east of the area such as Fort Osage and Lexington, the story of the

Blue Mills Landing and other local historic sites and the third panel will include the story of what trav-

elers will encounter to the west of the site. This has been a two year project and we expect completion

by the Fall of 2015.

As a reminder, your 2015 memberships will be coming due on January 1, 2015. You will find applica-

tions for both MRO and SFTA in this newsletter.

I encourage all of our members to contact me with any suggestions or comments on how to improve

MRO and make it more responsive to what you expect as a member.