From 1821 until late in the 1800s, Pawnee Rock was a noted landmark along the Santa Fe Trail. Thousands of wagons lumbered and creaked by carrying goods to or from the great American Southwest. Many travelers recorded their impressions of the site in journals and letters. On August 30, 1825, U.S. Government Surveyor George C. Sibley wrote that after breakfast he and Mr. Gamble rode out upon the high prairie to a remarkable rocky point whose rocks were very large and of a glossy black color. They rode to the top, probably 50 feet above the plain below, and found a charming view of the country in every direction.