Backroads Discovery
by Michael Martin Murphey
I had been in Nashville visiting the good folks at
BlueHighways TV and taking part in the International Bluegrass Music
Association festival (where I premiered Buckaroo
Blue Grass, my new CD on the Rural Rhythm label) when on my way back home I
decided to loop around through Denver to help an old friend, Scott McInnis in
his run for Governor.
On the way, I took I-70 to the Great Bend cut-off
of the old Santa Fe Trail (K-156), and spent some time at the National Santa Fe
Trail Center and Old Fort Larned just outside of the Kansas town by the same
name. Both are wonderful places, but I discovered that I knew about an
alternate route of the Santa Fe Trail that even the museum displays and maps do
not recognize. When I pointed this out to them, it became a very interesting
experience. And then an amazing thing happened! A man with a long white beard
walked in, saying he was on the road selling historical maps of early American
Trails! As he unrolled the maps, trying to make a sale, there it was; the
alternate route of the Santa Fe Trail clearly marked on this remarkable
document! This rare map was created in
1969, after much research, by an obscure history buff that has since died. I
tell you, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I could feel the Sprit
of the Lord in the room, and the presence of Mountain Man Jedediah Smith. You
see I've been researching the life of Jedediah Smith for 4 years ever since I
found his obscure death marker on the Wagon Bed Springs cut-off on the Jornado
route of the Santa Fe Trail.
Yeeeeeeehaaaaah ! I'm headed for Blue Highways as
soon as I finish this, and I will catch you up on more of my road trip
adventures later.
Michael Martin Murphey
For more information
On Jedediah Smith:
http://www.jedsmithlegacy.com/
For a Map (but not Michael’s map) of the Santa Fe
Trail:
http://www.roadtripusa.com/routes/loneliestroad/colorado/lon_santafetrail.html
And for Michael Martin Murphey (look for his Cowboy
Christmas concerts coming up soon!):
http://www.michaelmartinmurpheymusic.com/