For the past nine months, we've been airing a monthly series commemorating the bicentennial of the Santa Fe Trail. In today's installment, we feature a story highlighting the relationship between the community of Council Grove and the Kaw Nation, the Native people from whom the state of Kansas derived its name. The documentary called "The Road to Santa Fe" describes how the Kaw were confined to a reservation at Council Grove in the 1840s before they were removed from the state and relocated to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma. Producer Dave Kendall brings us up to date on more recent history.
The history pageant, called Voices of the Wind People, takes place again Friday, September 17, and Saturday, September 18, in the new amphitheater along the river walk in Council Grove. Learn more about the pageant at VoicesOfTheWindPeople.com. Also this weekend, the First Americans Museum, for which James Pepper Henry serves as CEO, will host its grand opening in Oklahoma City.
The documentary associated with KPR's radio series premiers on Kansas City Public Television later this month. You can watch The Road to Santa Fe on KCPT on September 24, 2021, with an encore presentation the following Sunday. Learn more about this documentary project from Prairie Hollow Productions by logging on to PrairieHollow.net.
Listen to our earlier reports, which began in January.
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 1
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 2 (DAR Markers)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 3 (Wagon Ruts)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 4 (William Becknell)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 5 (Josiah Gregg)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 6 (Army of the West)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 7 (Border Ruffians & Fort Union)
- Commemorating 200 Years of the Santa Fe Trail - Part 8 (Fort Larned)
