Fort Smith - Santa Fe Trail

Josiah Gregg (1806-50) blazed the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail in 1840 as a shorter route between the U.S. and New Mexico. He crossed this site on March 17, 1840, while returning to Arkansas from a trading expedition to Santa Fe and Chihuahua. In a book, "Commerce of the Prairies", published in 1844, Gregg recommended the new route, which paralleled the Canadian River. Over 2,000 California-bound gold seekers traveled it in 1849. The largest wagon train of that year was accompanied by U.S. Army troops commanded by Captain Randolph B. Marcy (1812-87), who made a survey of the trail for a proposed national wagon road. Marcy's party crossed this site on June 9, 1849. The extensive use of the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail in the early 1850s caused it to be considered as a favorable route for a transcontinental railroad. Lt. A. W. Whipple of the Army Corps of Engineer surveyed a possible route in the summer of 1853. By the late 1850s, emigrants were traveling a more southern road through El Paso, which was eventually to become the southern railroad route, and the Fort Smith-Santa Fe Trail fell into disuse and was finally abandoned. In many places on the Plains, the wagon ruts are still visible in the undisturbed prairie sod. (1974)

Fort Smith - Santa Fe Trail is a historical marker in Borger, Hutchinson County, dedicated in 1974. It is one of 22 historical markers documented in Hutchinson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 23 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 35.6544, -101.4054 near Borger. The nearest cataloged historic site is Half-Dugout Site, of John and Maggie Weatherly (historical marker), about 0.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include Girl Scout Little House, First Methodist Church of Borger, and Grand Hotel & Grand Hardware Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5233002017. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.