Pawnee Rock, a Dakota Sandstone outcropping at the halfway point on the Santa Fe Trail, left a strong impression on travelers, who wrote about its height, broad views, and the many names carved into it by earlier passersby. Many stories have been told to explain how this “prairie citadel” earned its name. Once perhaps 100 feet or more high, a large portion of the rock was later stripped away for railroad bed material. The Woman's Kansas Day Club led a campaign to save what remained, and it is now preserved as a State Historic Site.