Kansas Trails

The Santa Fe Trail Association web site has information and resources about the Santa Fe Trail, the first American International commercial highway.  The trail opened in 1821.

This is the National Park service's website about the historic trail of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Here you will learn about the history of the expedition and the trail itself.

This is the National Park Service's website that features the Oregon Trail, which was the main trail of westward migration after the Purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France.

This website explores the past, discover the present, and anticipate the future of this historic cattle trail.

This is  the trail that Americans took to get to California, during the Gold Rush Days.  This site is by the National Park Service.

Learn about this short lived mail route from this website by the National Park Service.

The Smoky Hill Trail was one of the most important overland trails across Kansas during pioneer days and probably the least known and commemorated today. It is a forgotten historic trail that we need to remember. There are large, active organizations promoting the Oregon-California Trails, Pony Express Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and others (most of which have been added to the National Trails System as National Historic Trails), but for some reason the Smoky Hill Trail has not received the attention it deserves.

The Jones and Plummer Trail ran from Dodge City, Kansas in the north to the Texas Panhandle in the south. The rail served as a thoroughfare for pioneers and cattle drives but it was created by the freighters who hauled buffalo hides to Dodge City and goods back down the trail to serve the buffalo hunters and later the ranchers and settlers in the region. It was a civilian road created for commercial purposes.