Santa Fe Trail Marker
In March 1909, the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the Boonslick and Santa Fe Trails across the state of Missouri. This monument in New Franklin marks the end of the Boonslick Trail traversed by Daniel Boone and the beginning of William Becknell's Santa Fe Trail.
The unveiling and dedication of the monument was held by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) on May 17, 1909. A number of prominent citizens of Missouri, including Governor Elliott W. Major and Ex-Governor Herbert S. Hadley, were present to particpate in the ceremonies of the occasion.
The rock monument is of red granite and was brought from the Ozark mountains by rail. It is three feet thick, eight feet high, six and one half feet across the face and weighs 19,600 pounds. Embedded in its face is a 32x42 inch inscribed bronze tablet.
The large rock was unloaded from a Katy railroad car located at the south end of Missouri Avenue onto a slide cut from a forked tree. Otto Biesemeyer and William Klusméyer, together, moved it up the hill on Missouri Avenue with two coal powered Rumley steam engines. A log about fifteen feet long and thirteen inches in diameter served as a double tree to the slide. The engines, side by side, were hitched to its ends. It was moved up the unpaved Missouri Ave. until they struck a sandy spot half-way up the hill and the slide mired down. They let the engines pull in an alternating pattern until they zigzagged the load past the sand. A large crowd gathered to watch the operation, which took less than an hour. It was erected on a concrete base and the city built a sidewalk crossing the street which encircled the monument, providing an area for flowers.
Acceptance of the monument was made by Mayor W. W. Carpenter for New Franklin. Visitors in attendance were estimated at 1500 to 2000. An old fashioned dinner was prepared and served by the people of New Franklin and vicinity at the school building on North Howard Street in honor of the occasion.
Marker is on Broadway, in the median.
Courtesy hmdb.org
