• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

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

By Becky McCray

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.

 

Subscribe to SmallBizSurvival.com

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

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.
  • Move Your Money and Bank Local - March 22, 2023
  • Using a building as a warehouse or storage in a small town? Put up a sign - March 13, 2023
  • How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores - February 19, 2023
  • Check your small business website for outdated pandemic changes, missing info - January 31, 2023
  • Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors - January 15, 2023
  • 2023 trends for rural and small town businesses - December 26, 2022
  • Local reviews on Google Maps drive enduring value - December 17, 2022
  • Extra agritourism revenue from camping, cabins and RVs with HipCamp - December 12, 2022
  • Harvest Hosts attract vanlifers and RV tourists, Boondockers Welcome - December 2, 2022
  • Holiday 2022 marketing: Tell your founding story - December 1, 2022

October 11, 2022 Filed Under: Best of, economic development, rural, tourism Tagged With: historic, history, tourism

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local" Move Your Money, bank local, invest local Multicolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week" Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Holyoke Hummus Company cart

How one food business keeps adapting, from table to cart to truck, to restaurant and back again

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

Newspaper story headline says, "Made in Dorrigo Markets a bustling success"

Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day

Handmade afghan showing a dutch oven over a fire, with the words "7th Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off and Fall Festival, Avard, Oklahoma"

How a ghost town made something from nothing with a folk festival

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in