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2016 Officers & Board Members:

President—Larry Short

Vice President—Mary Conrad

Treasurer—Wes Huskisson

Secretary—Anne Mallinson

Historian—Sandy Slusher

John Atkinson

Richard Lawson

Dick Nelson

Ross Marshall

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

OUTFITTERSOUTFITTERSOUTFITTERS

JOURNALJOURNALJOURNAL

April 2016April 2016April 2016

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

Partnership for the National Trails System

Meeting and Workshop

June 6-10, 2016

Stoney Creek Inn

10811 Bass Pro Drive

Independence, MO 64055

Details & Registration at:

www.pnts.org

Register now and join us for this important

workshop.

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Historic site signs installed

Our thanks to Rich Lawson who installed the his-

toric site signs at the Weinreich Ruts on the Santa

Fe National Historic Trail north of Marshall, Mis-

souri. This private property remains in the

Weinreich Family and is currently owned and be-

ing maintained by Eddie Weinreich. The ruts are

located north of Marshall on Missouri Highway

41 and west on County Road 275. Signs provided

by SFTA and placed by Saline County mark the

site along this segment of the original route of the

Santa Fe National Historic Trail.

Maps and directions to the Lafayette and Saline

County segments are available in a driving direc-

tion brochure published by MRO and available at

sites along the trail or by contacting a member of

the MRO board of directors.

New Kansas City Park

The Wieduwilt Swales located at 85th and Man-

chester in South Kansas City, MO are now official-

ly a part of the Kansas City Missouri Parks De-

partment. The transfer of monies and deeds took

place in January, 2016. This insures that these

pristine swales along the Santa Fe, Oregon, and

California National Historic Trails will be protect-

ed and available for enjoyment by the public for

many generations to come. The Wieduwilt Family

Photos courtesy of Rich Lawson

Photo courtesy of Larry Short

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Historic site and directional signs at Cave

Spring

New signs now mark the Cave Spring at the Barnes

Enclosure Historic Site. The signs provided by SFTA

through the National Park Service now give promi-

nence to this top rated park in the Kansas

City/Raytown area along the Santa Fe, Oregon, and

California National Historic Trails. The 40 -acre

park is owned by Jackson County Parks and Rec-

reation Department and managed by the Cave

Spring Association.

Upcoming joint meeting

On September 17, 2016 MRO will be hosting a joint meeting with

the Trails Head Chapter of OCTA, the Kansas City Area Historic

Trails Association, and other invited local historic groups and socie-

ties. The meeting will feature a program by Author Joy Poole who

will give a PowerPoint presentation about one of her newest books:

Over the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico: The Travel Diaries & Autobiog-

raphy of Dr. Rowland Willard 1825-1828.

Dr. Rowland Willard (1794-1884) recalled in his memoir that Glass,

subject of the Oscar nominated hit film, THE REVENANT,

(starring Leonardo DiCaprio), had…”large chasms upon right arm

and shoulder blade, the crest of which was wanting, also the upper

portion of the right thigh..”. Dr. Willard’s exam occurred in May of

1825, at Blue Springs, a well-known mountain man rendezvous site

on the Santa Fe Trail.

Please mark your calendars and invite your friends to this very spe-

cial program at the National Frontier Trails Museum, 318 W. Pacif-

ic, Independence, MO 64050 from 10 am to 12 noon.

Photos courtesy of Larry Short

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Arrow Rock Ferry Landing Historic Site

Rich Lawson recently installed the new National

Park Service historic site signs on his property at

the original site of the Arrow Rock Ferry Land-

ing on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. The

site is located just north of the town of Arrow

Rock and can be accessed from 2nd Street which

runs along side the Lyceum Theatre.

Rich has developed his property into a wonderful

site that enhances the telling of the story of the

Santa Fe National Historic Trail as it crossed the

Missouri River after leaving the town of Franklin,

MO.

You can learn more about the historic town of

Arrow Rock at: http://www.arrowrock.org/ Photos courtesy of Rich Lawson

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A Message from the President

It is an exciting time for the Missouri River Outfitters Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association as we

continue to move forward to telling the story and history of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail

through the addition of new National Park Service signs. These signs not only mark the many historic

sites along the trail that are located in our area of coverage, but they also mark the local tour route.

MRO and SFTA have worked in conjunction with OCTA to provide additional signs that now follow

the entire local tour route from the Upper Independence/Wayne City Landing on the Missouri River

southwest to the Missouri/Kansas State Line at New Santa Fe on 123rd Street. Local tour route signs

have now been ordered for Lexington, Missouri and installation will be completed soon by the Lexing-

ton Public Works Department.

I would encourage our members to attend the meetings for the Partnership for the Trails System that

will be held June 6-10, 2016 in Independence, MO. Registration information is located on the front

page of this newsletter. MRO will be one of the sponsors of this meeting/workshop.

If you have not renewed your membership for 2016, please do so today. We value our members!

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, or recommendations for events

and programs that you would like to have for our meetings.

Larry Short

President, MRO

The SFTA Last Chance Store, founded as part of the Santa Fe Trail Association in 1987 and operat-ed entirely by volunteers, offers books, maps, prints, posters, pins, music, and other items relat-ed to the Trail. You can also sign-up or renew your SFTA membership, or make a donation to the SFTA through the Last Chance Store.

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Bridging the Community

The official dedication of the Powder Mill Bridge will

be Thursday, June 9, 2016 at the site of the newly

completed pedestrian bridge which spans I-435 at

Bannister Road in South Kansas City, MO. The pro-

gram will begin at 10:00 am and feature many of our

local and national elected officials as well as mem-

bers of the National Park Service. This new span is

the longest pedestrian bridge crossing a major inter-

state highway in the United States that is solely dedi-

cated to the National Historic Trails.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend this major

event for our area. It is being held in conjunction

with the national meeting and workshop of the Partner-

ship of the National Trail System which is being held at

the Stoney Creek Hotel in Independence, MO June 6-10,

2016.

Joint MRO, Trails Head and KCAHTA meeting

On Saturday, March 26, 2016 a joint meeting was held by members of the Missouri River Outfitters

Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Trails Head Chapter of the Oregon and California As-

sociation, and the Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association.

The meeting was held at Schumacher Station, two blocks east on Bannister Road from the new Pow-

der Mill Bridge. After a brief membership meeting by MRO, Lou Austin provided insight into the

process to build the Powder Mill Bridge. Attendees were then taken on a walking guided tour of the

newly completed pedestrian bridge which crosses I-435 at Bannister Road. The bridge will be formal-

ly dedicated on June 9, 2016 during the PNTS meetings and workshop in Independence, MO. More

details about this event is featured in the preceding article.

At the MRO membership meeting Wes Huskisson was elected as our new treasurer. The current of-ficers agreed to remain in their posi-tions.

Larry Short—President

Mary Conrad—Vice President

Wes Huskisson—Treasurer

Anne Mallinson—Secretary

The following board members agreed to continue to serve:

John Atkinson

Ross Marshall

Sandy Slusher

Dick Nelson

Rich Lawson

Photo courtesy of Lou Austin

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The Junior Wagon Master Program

Janet C. Armstead, Director

Junior Wagon Master Program

Santa Fe Trail Association

A vision of the National Park Service was to have

an activity booklet for families to do as they trav-

eled the Santa Fe Trail. The education committee

of the Santa Fe Trail Association was approached

with the idea. Through cost-share grants from

NPS, the committee set about on this big project.

After five years of rewrites and reconfigurations,

four booklets were developed for the following

age groups: Cavvy-ages 5-8, Freighter-ages 9-11,

Bullwhacker-ages 12-14 and Scout-ages 15 and

up. Various sites were selected along the trail

which were not on private property and were

likely to be open during prime daylight traveling

hours and an activity was created for each age

group for each site. Beautiful embroidered

patches were created for the four sections of the

trail: Eastern Terminus, Central, Routes, West-

ern Terminus. Sites were contacted and their co-

operation solicited. NPS created the patches and

printed the first printing of the Freighter and

Bullwhacker booklets. NPS has now transferred

this program to the SFTA under the umbrella of

the education committee.

This program would not work without the assis-

tance of the sites. Those sites working with us in

MRO are: Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Cen-

ter; Missouri’s American Indian Cultural Cen-

ter; Battle of Lexington State Historic Site; His-

toric Fort Osage; National Frontier Trails Cen-

ter; Steamboat Arabia; and the Mahaffie Stage

Coach Stop and Farm.

We, the education committee of the Santa Fe

Trail Association, are very proud of this project.

We are connecting with families from all across

the United States who vacation along our great

trail. These booklets cover over 900 miles of a

national historic site. Other national trails have

looked at our booklets, but as far as we know, the

Santa Fe Trail is the only entire trail covered in

such a manner.

Volunteers needed

MRO and the Douglas County Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association are co-sponsoring the

SFTA Symposium 2017 in Olathe, KS. We need volunteers to help during the event to man registra-

tion and information desks. This is a great way to participate in one of SFTA’s premier events and

meet fellow trail enthusiasts from along the Trail. Contact Larry Short for answers to any questions

and sign up to be a part of the event September 27-30, 2017.

Photo courtesy of Lou Austin

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MISSOURI RIVER OUTFITTERS

CHAPTER OF THE

SANTA FE TRAIL ASSOCIATION

Membership Application

Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Street: _____________________________________________________________________

City, State, ZIP: ______________________________________________________________

Phone: _____________________________________________________________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________

Dues: $10.00 per year

(Individual or Family)

Make check payable to:

Missouri River Outfitters

Mail to: Wes Huskisson

MRO, Treasurer

3008 E. 107th Ter

Kansas City, MO 64137

Correction from January 2016 Outfitters Journal

In the story on page 2 about the dedication, the word “replacement”

trail was used incorrectly. The newly installed trail along the west side

of Avila University is one of the many connector trails that are a part

of the KCMO Metro Greenway plan.

2016 Membership Dues

are payable now!

If you have not sent your

membership dues to the

MRO Treasurer, please

do so today!

Do not miss out on future

editions of the Outfitters

Journal and upcoming

programs.

Our members are im-

portant to us and we look

forward to seeing you at

future meetings and

events.

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Missouri River Outfitters

c/o Larry Short

3930 S. Jackson Dr #106

Independence, MO 64057

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 6-9, 2016, SFTA Board Meeting/Workshop, Lamar, CO

June 6-10, 2016, PNTS Workshop, Independence, MO

June 9, 2016, Powder Mill Bridge Dedication, Kansas City, MO

September 17, 2016, Joint meeting with Trails Head and KCAHTA, Independence, MO

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

December 4, 2016, Annual MRO Potluck Dinner, Lexington, MO

April 20-22, 2017, SFTA Board Meeting/Workshop, Council Grove, KS

September 27-30, 2017, SFTA Symposium, Olathe, KS

April 19-21, 2018, SFTA Board Meeting/Workshop, Site TBD

September 20-22, 2018, SFTA Rendezvous, Larned, KS

March 28-30, 2019, SFTA Board Meeting/Workshop, Site TBD

September 25-28, 2019, SFTA Symposium, St. Louis, MO

April 16-18, 2020, SFTA Spring Board Meeting, Site TBD

September 24-26, 2020, SFTA Rendezvous, Larned KS

2021 The 200th Anniversary of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail