From left, Roger Slusher, president of Missouri River Outfitters, steadies a trail marker as Preservation Officer Dick Nelson fills in the foundation on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Ed and Muriel Weinreich farm in Saline County. The marker was placed to mark wagon ruts on the Weinreich property. (Kathy Fairchild/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

On Saturday morning, Oct. 6, four representatives of the Missouri River Outfitters Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association placed limestone markers in two locations in Saline County to indicate important landmarks associated with the Santa Fe Trail.

The markers will be dedicated during the annual Heritage Crafts festival in Arrow Rock on Oct. 13 and 14.

John Atkinson, national vice-president of the Santa Fe Trail Association, Roger Slusher, president of the Missouri River Outfitters (MRO), Rich Lawson, board member of MRO, and Dick Nelson, preservation officer of MRO placed the first marker at the Weinreich farm north of Marshall. The "Harvey Springs-Weinreich traces," so identified by Gregory M. Franzwa in "The Santa Fe Trail Revisited" have been called the "most outstanding in Missouri."

This closeup of the trail marker shows evidence of fossil shells along the right side of the marker. Quarried from Kansas limestone, the markers weigh 300 to 400 pounds. (Kathy Fairchild/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

There are five sets of deep ruts running through a small stand of trees on the Weinreich farm. Just west of the ruts is a small spring that would have provided water for weary travelers. There are additional, smaller ruts about 50 yards in front of the Weinreich home.

The Weinreich farm is on County Road 416, a little more than a mile west of Missouri Highway 41.

The land, a Missouri Century Farm, has been in the Weinreich family since 1878. Ed Weinreich came into the land in 1952, and farmed it for several years before neighbor Theodore Harvey told him about the ruts and piqued his interest in the find. Weinreich and his wife, Muriel, had the site placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The second marker was placed west of the former newspaper office in Arrow Rock, across the street from the 1842 Arrow Rock Masonic Lodge No. 55 A.F. & A.M. on land owned by the Friends of Arrow Rock. The positioning of this marker is intended to reflect the role of the town of Arrow Rock in the Santa Fe Trail.

The trail markers come from Kansas' "Post Rock Country." The 300- to 400-pound limestone posts were formerly used to mark farm boundaries in north central Kansas.

Found close to the surface, limestone is very pliable when freshly-quarried, hardening after exposure to the elements and very weather-resistant, making it excellent material for long-term use as markers for the Santa Fe Trail. Fossilized shells are still visible on the posts, as are the notches and wear marks from barbed wire.

Inset into each post is a sign identifying it as an official marker for the Santa Fe trail and the National Park Service logo

The two markers will be dedicated during the Arrow Rock Heritage Crafts Festival Oct. 13. The Weinreich site will be dedicated at 10 a.m. and the Arrow Rock marker will be dedicated at 11:30 a.m. The public is welcome to attend both dedications.

Contact Kathy Fairchild at

marshallhealth@socket.net