La Jornada & Point of Rocks

Point of Rocks now stands on the largest piece of public land in Kansas. The Beaty brothers founded Point of Rocks Ranch, the first in the area, in 1879, and wheat farmers followed, prospering in wet years. The drought of the 1930s made Morton County the most devastated county in the nation; the federal government bought land from bankrupt farmers, restored the prairie and in 1960 created the Cimarron National Grassland. It holds 23 miles of the Santa Fe Trail with wagon ruts still visible, the bluff rises to 3,540 feet, and Middle Spring still flows year round.

What the plaque says

La Jornada & Point of Rocks The Cimarron Cutoff, or Dry Route, of the old Santa Fe Trail extended southwest from several Arkansas River crossings to the Cimarron River, a distance of 50 to 60 miles. This route was a perilous stretch of arid plains known as La Jornada. About seven miles north of present-day Elkhart, a rugged bluff known as Point of Rocks overlooked a campground much used by travelers because good water was always available from the nearby Middle Spring of the Cimarron. From here, the trail continued on to Santa Fe, following the river and other landmarks. William Becknell, who pioneered commercial use of the trail in 1821, and trader Josiah Gregg, author of the classic Commerce of the Prairies, were among those who stopped at Point of Rocks. Many others passed this way, traveling to and from Santa Fe. Elkhart, one of the youngest towns in Kansas, dates to 1913 and the arrival of the Dodge City and Cimarron Valley Railway. Erected by Kansas State Historical Society & Kansas Department of Transportation

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cimarron National Grassland and Point of Rocks — 7.8 mi
  The largest public land in Kansas, 108,175 acres of shortgrass and sand sage along the usually dry Cimarron, where a bluff capped with white calcrete gave Santa Fe Trail drivers their landmark.