Wagon Bed Spring, also known historically as the Lower Spring or Lower Cimarron Spring, is a historic former

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

Grant County, Kansas Grant County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and only city is Ulysses, Kansas, Ulysses. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county population was 7,352. Both the count ...

, United States. It is located about south of

Ulysses Ulysses is the Latin name for Odysseus, a legendary Greek hero recognized for his intelligence and cunning. He is famous for his long, adventurous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Odyssey. Ulysses may also refer ...

, on the west side of

United States Route 270 U.S. Route 270 (US 270) is a spur of US 70. It travels for from Liberal, Kansas at US 54 and US 83 to White Hall, Arkansas at Interstate 530 (I-530) and US 65. It travels through the states of Arkansas, Oklah ...

. In the 19th century it was an important watering spot on the

Cimarron Cutoff The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, t ...

of the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

, where migrants on the trail often camped. The spring is now dry, primarily due to irrigation lowering the water table in the area. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1961.

Description

Wagon Bed Spring is located at what was historically the north bank of the Cimarron River, in a rural setting about south of

Ulysses, Kansas Ulysses (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Kansas, Grant County, Kansas, United States. It is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the List of Presidents of the United States, 18th President of the United States. As of th ...

. The site is marked by interpretive signage. The river is a historically intermittent stream, and its channel has been altered since the 19th century by flooding, and the actual spring site is now in the river bed. The flow of the spring came from an outcropping of the

Ogallala Formation The Ogallala Formation is a Miocene to early Pliocene geologic formation in the central High Plains of the western United States and the location of the Ogallala Aquifer. In Nebraska and South Dakota it is also classified as the Ogallala Group ...

Center pivot irrigation Center-pivot irrigation (sometimes called central pivot irrigation), also called water-wheel and circle irrigation, is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. A circular area ...

adjacent to the spring resulted in lowering of the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

and the spring ceased to flow in the 1960s. The site is historically and archaeologically significant as a major migrant camp site on the Santa Fe Trail. The spring was one of the few reliable sources of water along the Cimarron Cutoff between the watersheds of the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and Cimarron Rivers, and many migrant and military groups camped here in the 60 years or so that the trail was used. Mountain man

Jedediah Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartography, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western Unit ...

was probably killed here or near here on May 27, 1831, by

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

s. The

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

placed a historic marker near the spring in 1907. In 1914, a series of floods on the Cimarron River began to significantly alter the topography of the area, eventually placing the location within a much widened river bed. The site was designated a

in 1960, but its boundaries were not precisely delineated. It had also not been investigated archaeologically to any significant degree, although numerous accounts give descriptions of the site over time. Amateur investigations in the 1980s suggested that major elements of the site, in particular the places where migrant groups camped, fell outside the assumed boundaries of the site. The National Park Service instituted formal investigations in the early 1990s resulted in a formal characterization of the spring area, and identification of the core areas used for camping. The landmarked area also includes sections of preserved wagon ruts.

References

External links

*
Lower Cimarron Spring (Wagon Bed Spring)

{{National Register of Historic Places Geography of Grant County, Kansas Santa Fe Trail National Historic Landmarks in Kansas Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas Bodies of water of Grant County, Kansas Springs of Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Grant County, Kansas Road transportation infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas

Description

See also

References

External links