| Santa Fe Trail Site
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Description
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Trail Ruts on Oklahoma / Kansas border
33K
 |
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| Cold Spring 1 and Inscription Rock
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Cold Spring 1 is 6 miles west and 8 miles north
of Boise City. Inscription Rock contains the names of many Santa Fe Trail
travelers, from the 1840s and later. |
Cold Spring 2 and Autograph Rock
52K
64K
47K
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Cold Spring is approximately 7 miles west and 7 miles north of
Boise City, Oklahoma. A branch of the Santa Fe Trail ran south of this spring
site. Autograph Rock, which contains the names of many Trail travelers from the
1850s and beyond, is nearby. Cold Spring is not accessible, though Autograph
Rock is accessible.
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Camp Nichols (NHL)
36K
 |
Camp Nichols is about 3.5 miles northwest of Wheeless, Oklahoma.
Founded by Colonel Kit Carson, it was occupied for only a few months
in 1865. The soldiers built a stone wall around the parade ground and
erected some officers' quarters and other structures. This is the only
military site on the Trail in Oklahoma. Wagon ruts can still be seen about
0.5 mile south of the fort. The site was also home to an army officer's wife,
Marian Sloan Russell, who wrote much about Camp Nichols in her book, Land of
Enchantment.
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| Cedar Spring and Carrizozo Creek
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Cedar Spring is near the Camp Nichols site, 3.5 miles
northwest of Wheeless. This spring was the source of water for Camp Nichols
as well as for Santa Fe Trail travelers. Names are carved in the nearby
canyon walls of Carrizozo Creek, including members of the Penrose expedition,
who were caught there in a blizzard in 1868, and Thomas O. Boggs, an expedition
scout who later founded Boggsville in Colorado.
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