The Worst Piece of Road

For 60 years, prairie soil here was torn by the hooves of mules, oxen, and horses and compacted by the weight of the large freight wagons they pulled. Caravan wagons traveled four abreast to avoid dust and to quickly form defensive circles, and when tracks became too deep or muddy they moved over, creating additional parallel ruts. Though the shouts and cracks of bullwhackers' whips and the rattling of harness and wagons have fallen silent, the surviving ruts still attest to the thousands of people, wagons, horses, mules, oxen, and carriages that used this great highway. On Sunday, September 11, 1825, U.S. surveyor George Sibley wrote that wagons had to turn out into the high prairie and go a considerable distance around a rugged bluff, calling it the worst piece of road they had encountered since leaving Ft. Osage.

Kansas · United States