Fort Nichols

The post the sign calls a fort was officially only Camp Nichols, and it was occupied for a few months of 1865. Carson's men placed it midway between Fort Union, New Mexico and Fort Dodge, Kansas, about forty thousand square feet inside native stone walls. Some three hundred California and New Mexico soldiers lived in dugouts and tents, with a stone commissary and hospital and a few wives present. Eastbound trains stopped every two weeks for escorts to Fort Dodge or Fort Larned. It was abandoned in November 1865; the site, on private land, keeps no ruins.

What the plaque says

Fort Nichols 7 mi., S.W. Established in May, 1865, by Kit Carson, hero of Valverde and Brig. Gen., New Mexico Vol- unteers, to guard Santa Fe Trail and furnish escorts for caravans engaged in Santa Fe trade. Santa Fe Trail crossed this highway here and was first traveled by William Becknell's expedition from Mis- souri in 1823. Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1949

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve — 15 mi
  A basalt-capped mesa reaching into the Panhandle from New Mexico, with a 4.2-mile trail to Oklahoma's highest ground and nights as dark as any on public land.

More markers nearby

• Santa Fe Trail Cimarron Cutoff / Clayton — 30 mi
• Santa Fe Trail — 31 mi
• Black Jack Ketchum — 32 mi
• Clayton Dinosaur Trackway — 32 mi