April 3,,2023

Weekly News and Updates

Preserving, Protecting and Promoting the Historical Legacy of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail

www.santafetrail.org

www.santafetrail200.org

Please send your stories or reports on your chapters along the Santa Fe Trail

eblast@santafetrail.org

Santa Fe Trail Timeline on Display

The Bent's Fort Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail is co-hosting with the John W. Rawlings Heritage Center and museum, to display from April 1st to the last of May "The Santa Fe Trail Timeline. This traveling display was developed by the Santa Fe Trail Association for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Santa Fe trail which crosses the path Franciso de Coronado followed in 1541.

The Timeline is 20 feet long, eight feet high and features more than 150 significant places, people, and events, with illustrations and brief commentary. It begins with the arrival of Spanish colonists in New Mexico in 1598 and highlights specific events throughout the historic time period of usage of the Santa Fe Trail.

It also traces the recognition of the old trail into the 21st century, with a focus given to the inception of the Santa Fe Trail Association in 1986 and the establishment of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail as part of the national Trails System in 1987.

Charles Goslin October 17,1930-January 22, 2023 by Mary Conrad

Charles Goslin became enthralled with storytelling as a child when he frequently sat on his grandpa’s porch while the elder told family stories from times past. Goslin grew up in Columbia, Missouri. He then attended the Kansas City Art Institute where he received a B.A. in 1954, and where he met his wife. The artist chose the careers of an architectural illustrator producing renderings of proposed buildings and of a Hallmark artist. Before and after retiring, Goslin kept busy with commissions for paintings, murals, and sculptures. At first he specialized in religious-themed works mainly for churches, but then he switched primarily to historical topics. Goslin and his wife lived most of their years in Shawnee, Kansas. In 1959 Goslin tried to stop the demolition of a stone house at Shawnee

Mission Parkway and Nieman Road, in Shawnee. While negotiations occurred, the artist rendered numerous paintings of what had been the house of wagon master Dick Williams, built in the late 1850s near a Ft. Leavenworth Military Road and a stage line. Goslin organized volunteers to number all the stones before the house was dismantled. While the intended restoration never occurred, this artist had become hooked on local history. As he researched the house, he overturned more and more

facets he wished to explore. Of course, a trained artist easily could envision images of the past. Nonetheless, Goslin sought more and more details because he wanted his creations to be historically accurate.

As Goslin’s interest in nineteenth-century local history became known, many historical societies encouraged him to create paintings of their historic sites, so they could make reproductions as prints, greeting cards, etc. Over the years, Goslin and various local historians sought documentation to delineate the various activities of the young James Butler Hickok (later Wild Bill) from 1856 to 1859, when he lived (now about 83rd and Clare Road) in the Monticello area of Johnson County, Kansas. The late Bertha Cameron arranged for the commission of Goslin to paint framed scenes of Monticello and one of Hickok, for the meeting room of the Monticello Community Historical Society, in Lenexa. Also in Johnson County, the cities of Shawnee, Merriam, and Mission hired the artist to create large murals

for their town halls. Goslin not only showed the growth of those municipalities, but also included his-

torical times from before the founding of the cities. These murals include the emigrant Shawnee Indians, as well as other early peoples and events. The Shawnee City Hall mural certainly includes wagon master Dick Williams and his stone house.

The National Frontier Trails Museum (NFTM) in Independence, Missouri has four painted Goslin works. As one proceeds toward the Santa Fe/Oregon trails gallery, the visitor sees two paintings near each other. One large unframed painting, titled Heading Out of Independence, shows the busy activities of peoples and of wagons in and around the Independence Square. Goslin included his dog and himself in that work. Nearby the framed Trails Leaving Independence shows trail ruts in the foreground with wagons and a carriage headed toward the well-worn paths, with the Independence Square and town buildings in the background. Upon entering the Santa Fe/Oregon trails gallery, visitors first encounter a large mural curving around a corner. The center of attention of this mural,

titled Santa Fe Plaza June 18, 1846, is a bullwhacker cracking his whip at an outfit of oxen. While preferring historical accuracy, Goslin said he knew he had to take artistic license and put the bullwhacker on the wrong side of these oxen. As the visitor proceeds to the Oregon part of this gallery, one sees Scotts Bluff 1852. Goslin chose to represent the Oregon Trail with a prominent trail landmark that Oregon-bound emigrants from Independence would have been anticipating.

Goslin also created another large Oregon Trail mural.This one depicts both the Pony Express and the Oregon Trail at the Hollenberg Station (now museum), near Hanover in north central Kansas. This mural displays Goslin’s penchant to include occasional self-portraits in his paintings. One painted trail emigrant passing the Hollenberg location clearly has the face of Goslin. In a painting at the NFTM, commissioned by the Lambertson Family, the painter included his dog and himself, as an imbibing fellow loitering amidst the nineteenth-century trail activities of the Independence Square. In the Shawnee City Hall mural, Goslin placed his real self-portrait, that is, of an artist standing right on the edge of his montage of Shawnee mayors. One might wonder whether Goslin was making a statement. As an artist, he likely often did his share of politicking while encouraging/convincing city leaders and

others to spend money for the creator’s proposed artworks.

As a young student at the Kansas City Art Institute, Goslin did learn to design and to create bronzes, but he did not work in that medium for decades. At some point, Goslin switched totally to sculptures because his hands no longer could execute fine painterly strokes. Goslin sculpted the bronze of Chief Charles Bluejacket for Harmon Laird Park at Johnson Drive and Cody, in Shawnee. Always attentive to the narrative, the sculptor chose to show Bluejacket reading to two of his children since the artist’s research indicated this Shawnee chief took time to read daily to his 20-plus children (many adopted). Artistic license required showing only two children.

At Pioneer Crossing Park on Shawnee Mission Parkway, the sculpture of emigrants, a wagon, and oxen is composed of artificial stone (a cost-saving measure) and bronzes. A large covered wagon and trail travelers are sculpted into this bas-relief wall. Goslin created an enhanced three-dimensional effect by placing a bronze mother holding a baby a foot or more in front of a boy and his dog, both sculpted into the wall. The 3-D effect is enhanced even further with an outfit of four fully

sculpted oxen in front of the walled-wagon scene. The two oxen closest to the bas-relief wagon appear to be of stone while the two in the lead are of bronze. By the way, the company staff executing the production of the covered-wagon wall, with the oxen in front, thought the artist would be pleased if the head of one of the bas- relief travelers would be changed to a self-portrait of Goslin. The artist was not pleased, as he did not appreciate anyone tampering with his design.

At this Pioneer Crossing Park, a walkway leading to the outfit of oxen “pulling” the bas-relief wagon is

flanked by a number of historical markers, as well as by an apparent stone sculpture of the wagon master Dick Williams. Yes, that sculpture along the walkway is a Goslin design too. That sculpture is just a few blocks east of the original location of Dick Williams’ stone house. When the National Frontier Trails Museum (Center then) was new, a bronze Pioneer Woman, created by the Mexican artist Juan Lombardo-Rivera, was placed in the courtyard between the museum and the Oregon-California Trails Association office building. As copper and bronze prices soared, thieves stole this statue and cut it up for scrap. When the museum staff could not make contact with the Mexican sculptor, Goslin was

selected to design the replacement Pioneer Woman.While Goslin chose some similar elements from the firstsculpture, such as the holding of a baby and a flowingskirt, he did not have the new woman holding a pail as the Goslin mother is holding a baby with both arms, not one. Goslin’s Pioneer Woman bears many similarities to the bronze mother with baby that stands in front of the bas-relief wall at Pioneer Crossing Park in Shawnee. In early 2017, the replacement was dedicated in front of

the NFTM while a model of the first Pioneer Woman still could be seen inside the museum.

Goslin’s last creation is a bronze of a young James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok in the new Trail Scout Park, a pocket park just east of the bank on the northeast corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Nieman Road, in Shawnee. Before Hickok left Johnson County in Kansas, he held a variety of jobs, plus he was

active in free-state activities. In 1858 he also was elected the constable for Monticello Township, now within the cities of Shawnee and Lenexa. Goslin chose to show Hickok atop his horse while waving his hat. The artist began designing this sculpture and knew he would need help in execution of the bronze. He may have selected the local Olathe sculptor Maretta Kennedy due to her experience with creating bronze horses. The sculpture was to be completed in 2019, but collaboration largely was put on hold due to the COVID pandemic. The bronze of Hickok on his horse was installed just a couple days after the death of Goslin. The elongated raisedground surrounding the bronze is outlined with cut limestone rocks that are said to be some of the stones saved from the Dick Williams’ house.

Goslin certainly had the gift of gab. He gladly shared his knowledge with those of all ages. He taught art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for nine years. One time during the early years of the NFTM, the artist stood in front of the two murals in the Santa Fe/Oregon trails gallery while explaining his thoughts behind the creation of these trail images. In a You Tube video, Goslin explains all the elements within the Shawnee City Hall mural. When professional artists of the Old Overland Park area wanted to produce a mural about a day on the Santa Fe Trail, Goslin gladly mentored the

budding muralists. While Goslin is well known for his nineteenth-century depictions, he also created works showing twentieth-century figures. His murals for town halls obviously not only depict eras from early historical times, but also show images of the twentieth century. Further, he cre-

ated the sculpture “Remembering”, for the Korean War Memorial, at 119th and Lowell in Overland Park,

Kansas. Goslin’s paintings, murals, and sculptures are in the greater Kansas City area and beyond. Numerous ones of his paintings also are reproduced on interpretive markers at historic sites. Goslin set out to be a storyteller like his Grandpa Ollie Goslin. I think all wouldagree that Charles Goslin hit the mark time and again!

April 8: Boggsville Clean-up Day

By Larry Bourne

Boggsville clean up day is rapidly approaching, and I am hoping for a warm day to get the site ready for this season’s visitors. For you who have not been to Boggsville as of late you will have a pleasant surprise. Both houses have had some major remodeling done, even new roofs. Most of the smaller trees that blocked the view of the site have been removed so the site is very open. There are still some small trees around the rental house that need to be removed, and that is our task for this year. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but if we get a few people there with chainsaws we can have the work done in a couple of hours. All we have to do is cut them down and cut them into 6 foot lengths. There is going be a youth group there to drag the trees off and stack them up out of the way to be hauled off later. Most of these trees are only 8 inches thick, but there are few bigger ones.

Both the Boggs house and the Prowers house need cleaning as usual along with the restrooms. Work is being done on both houses so some rooms may not be able to be cleaned.

There will be coffee and donuts to start off the day, and a meal served at lunch in appreciation for all your hard work.

So bring your chainsaw, gloves, cleaning supplies or whatever so we can do our part in keeping this historic site looking good.

Link to Register for Mess &Muster

https://www.lastchancestore.org/the-ft-larned-old-guard-annual-mess-and-muster/

May 6: Dry Cimarron Tour

Come to Independence, Missouri!

Independence, MO, the “Queen City of Trails” will welcome you to the Santa Fe Trail Association National Symposium from September 27-30, 2023. The area is unique because four National Historic Trails traverse our area: Lewis and Clark (trail of exploration), Santa Fe (trail of international commerce), and the Oregon and California trails (trails of emigration). While the area was home to our First Americans, the advent of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 brought new persons and commerce to the homelands of the Kanza and Osage. The stage was set for cultural interchange from many venues. The mysterious Southwest was a foreign country with a foreign language, while locally one would hear French, English, Native languages, Hebrew, and others from the

European and Asian continents.The theme of the SFTA Symposium will be “Art of the Trail”. Hotel headquarters, vendor trading post, speaker sessions and most meals will be at the Hilton Garden Inn, Independence, MO. Daily afternoon tours will also be a highlight. All events will feature the many facets of art: weaving, music, sculpture, pottery, paintings, statuary, murals, and wagon making, just to name a few. As our nascent nation

expanded its influence, we, in turn, were influenced by cultures of new peoples.

Attendees will be delighted with presentations by nationally recognized historians and experts. Tours will treat your eyes with how Art of the Trail enriches our everyday lives, and of course there will be time to enjoy the coming together of our friends.

Registration information will be available in early Spring 2023 on the Santa Fe Trail Association website.

Please save the dates, September 27-30, 2023 and plan to join us for a very special “Art of the Trail” Symposium.

Bus Tours:

Each afternoon, September 28-30, 2023 bus tours will be offered to local points of interest. All buses will depart from our hotel and return you in time for a fun evening. A box lunch, afternoon snacks, and water are included for each tour registrant. Trained tour guides will provide unique insight each day. Thursday, September 28: Fort Osage, Wayne City Landing, Osage Trace, Independence Square Friday, September 29: Steamboat Arabia, downtown outside art of Kansas City, MO, and Town of Kansas (Westport Landing) and Westport Saturday, September 30: Fort Leavenworth, KS. What an opportunity to visit Fort Leavenworth Cantonment, established 1827, Buffalo Soldier monument, Frontier Army Museum, deep ruts leading up from the Missouri River, Military Road, and Eight Mile House. (Rumored that we might just see a herd of buffalo! Ft .Leavenworth is an active military post and special registration must be in place prior to bus tour. Bring your cameras on this tour and don’t miss this rare opportunity.

Vendors:

Vendors are most welcome! There is no vendor fee, but an item (value $ 50-100) is requested for the silent or live auction. Please share this information with vendors in your area. The ”Santa Fe Trading Post” will set-up in the Santa Fe Room next to the meeting area, and will be available on Wednesday, September 27 for vendor arrival. Room hostess is Anne Mallinson amallinson@gmail.com Please contact Anne so that she can provide for your needs and comfort.

Raffle and Auction: A traveling buddy once gave me the very best advice. She said when packing for a trip, pack everything you think you will need. Then, take out half of the clothes and put in twice the money! We encourage you to do the same when planning to come to the 2023 Symposium in Independence. In addition, bring book duplicates, maps, items from your Spring cleaning, etc. which another member might wish to have in their home. The theme is “Art of the Trail”, so please share “treasures” for the good of SFTA.

BUS TOURS AT THE 2023 SFTA SYMPOSIUM IN INDEPENDENCE

Bus tours at the Symposium will be held on September 28, 29 and 30 and will see and learn about a variety of History, Heritage, Scenery, Arts and Cultures. Reviews are as follows:

The Fort Osage and Independence Tour:

Fort Osage was founded in 1808 by William Clark a couple of years after they returned from their Expedition in 1806. It was intended to promote trade west of the Mississippi River with the Indian Tribes in what would become Missouri. It was very successful.

We will see the old log fort, a wonderful Museum on the bluff, the Missouri River and pieces of art throughout the site. An admission to Fort Osage and the National Frontier Trails Museum are included with your tour reservation.

In the City of Independence, we will see the newly modernized Truman Library, the magnificent Courthouse Square with its sculptures and historical markers, the National Frontier Trails Museum and many pieces of art and culture in this Queen City of the Trails.

Tour of Kansas City, Missouri downtown area:

Kansas City was founded near the magnificent Westport Landing on the Missouri River in the 1830s. It was first called Kansas. We will have a grand tour of the magnificent Arabia Steamboat Museum nearby and its wonderful artifacts and historical settings. The admission fee to the Steamboat Arabia Museum and tour is included with your tour reservation. We will tour Case Park at the Lewis and Clark Point overlook and see the wonderful sculpture, bridges and scenery overlooking the Missouri River.

We will also see Kaw Point Park where the Missouri and Kansas Rivers flow together, downtown Kansas City, the tall buildings and pieces of art, statuary, and markers. If time allows, we will drive through historic Westport and see statues, markers, and some of the oldest buildings in the Kansas City area which have direct ties to the Santa Fe Trail.

Fort Leavenworth Tour:

Founded in 1827, the Fort was established on a north-south Military Road to protect settlers and merchants traveling westward as well as maintaining peace with the American Indian tribes that still lived in the area. It was originally called Cantonment Leavenworth, and a portion of the original stone wall is still existing. There are fabulous trail swales which lead up for the Missouri River to the high ground on which Fort Leavenworth was built.

We will enter the Checkpoint Entrance and stop at various places like the Buffalo Soldiers Monument sculpture, the old Missouri River Landing overlook, and walk through the Frontier Army Museum.

We will go through the Parade Grounds Park and observe the beginning site of the early Military Road. We will drive through a huge Military Cemetery which is on an early Oregon Trail Route west from the Fort. Keep on the lookout for a herd of buffalo as we drive past 8 Mile House on our trail back to Independence.

NOTE: This tour is quite unique as it is an active military post. Special pre-registration will need to be completed at least two weeks in advance so that you will be admitted into the post. This must be a government issued i.d. with photograph. When registering for this outstanding opportunity, you will be contacted on exactly what is required. Failure to comply might mean that we leave you in the D.B. (Disciplinary Barracks) or “The Big House.”

Each tour will be $ 60. That includes bus cost, box lunch, admission fees to museums, afternoon snacks and drinks.

HAWKEN CLASSIC, August 25-27, 2023, Historic Daniel Boone Home, Defiance, MO. Location: The Historic Daniel Boone Home

St. Charles County, 1868 Highway F

Defiance, Missouri 63341

Times: Friday, August 25 – 10am to 4pm

Saturday, August 26 – 9am to 5pm

Sunday, August 27 – 11am to 4pm

Future Dates: September 27-29, 2024

September 26-28, 2025

The Hawken Classic

The 200th anniversary of the J&S Hawken rifle is the Summer of 2025. We are celebrating this event for four years, beginning the Summer of 2022. The Hawken brothers were one of the first well known sporting arms makers in the United States. Jacob and Samuel Hawken built these rifles out of the St. Louis Hawken Shop from the 1820s to the 1850s.

The Hawken Classic is a celebration of the Hawken rifles contribution to American History. The historic home of Daniel Boone near St. Louis, Missouri, is a great location for this event.

Activities will include:

1. Demonstration and Rendezvous camping in period-correct attire.

2. Vendors – Including The Hawken Shop, Trail Creek Trade Company, A Second Chance at History, and many more…

3. Artist and craftsmen demonstrating weaving, blacksmith forging a Bowie knife, wood working, fire starting, and more.

4. Historic displays and knowledgeable guest speakers on the history of the Hawken rifle.

5. Muzzleloader rifle shooting at steel targets. Everyone is encouraged to bring your muzzleloader and shooting supplies. All guns will be checked and tagged upon entry.

6. Opportunity to shoot an original Hawken rifle owned by The Hawken Shop.

7. See many period-correct guns, accoutrement’s and enjoy the living history.

8. Watch rendezvous participants compete in shooting, hawk and knife throw, fire starting.

Registration Documents, Lodging Options, and more are found here:

Website: https://www.GemmerMuzzleloadingClub.com/Hawken-Classic/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/hawkenclassic/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1052999632052439/?ref=share

Send your completed registration form to HawkenClassic@NMLRA.org

Or mail to Bob Vogt, 1015 Uthoff Farm Ct., Fenton, MO 63026

Contacts: National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association

NMLRA: HawkenClassic@NMLRA.org PO Box 67

(812) 667-5131 Friendship, IN 47021

St. Charles County Parks and Recreation: Phone: (812) 667-5131

Benjamin Gall: bgall@sscmo.org Email: HawkenClassic@NMLRA.org

Facebook Post – uploaded 3-11-2023

Hawken Classic 2023 will be held August 25-27, 2023, at the Historic Daniel Boone Home, Defiance, MO, commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the J & S Hawken rifle. Jacob and Samuel Hawken were American gunsmiths and traders who operated from their shop in St. Louis, MO from 1825-1855 and are famous for designing the Hawken rifle, a muzzle-loading rifle that was widely used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. Developed in the 1820s, it became synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, and the fur trapper's gun. The Hawken Classic is a celebration of the Hawken rifles contribution to American History.