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Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

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Here’s a tourism tip from a roadside stop from my long drive to visit rural communities in Eastern Colorado.

The Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts are still visible near Lakin in Western Kansas. You can walk across the little dam, past the tree and right out to the original trail, but there isn’t a lot to see.

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Here’s a closer view of the ruts. The ruts are running diagonally from top left toward the lower right. It’s still not what you’d call much to see, and the “Wagon Ruts” sign isn’t terribly helpful.

Flat prairie landscape with barely discernable ruts and a sign that says "Wagon ruts"

For places like this where the is little left to see, a smart addition would be a “look through” sign like this one, shared with me by Doug Mackenzie. You look through the sign, and it shows you where things used to be.

If you stand in the right place and line up the courthouse, you will see all of the other buildings that were there in 1920. Sign by Doug Mackenzie.

If you stand in the right place and line up the outline of the courthouse with the actual courthouse in the distance, you can see the locations and outlines of other buildings that were there in 1920.

Imagine a similar design showing wagons and people walking. When you looked through the sign and lined up the horizon, the outlines of wagons and people would line up with the remains of the Santa Fe Trail ruts. I think that would be cool.

Here’s the Kansas Historical Marker at the site, describing how to find the ruts.

Sign text: KANSAS HISTORICAL MARKER SANTA FE TRAIL RUTS 1821-1872 Looking east, up and over the bank of the ditch, one can Santa Fe Trail. see the wagon ruts of the You will notice a difference in the color and texture of the grass in the ruts. This is characteristic of the ruts along the trail. Between Pawnee Rock and Santa Fe, New Mexico, it was customary for the wagons to travel four abreast. This allowed for quicker circling in case of attack. In the distance to the south can be seen trees lining the banks of the Arkansas River. During the early years of the trail, this was the boundary between Mexico and the United States. Erected by Kearney County Historical Society and Kansas State Historical Society-1987

Another obvious addition is any mention of the Indigenous people. The marker mentions “attack” but no context or story about the conflict between people here. It would be another way to add value and meaning to the scant remains of the old Santa Fe Trail.

 

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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