Publication: Santa Fe Trail Historic Sites
PDF File: Walnut-Creek-Crossing-Santa-Fe-Trail-Historic-S.pdf
URL: https://historic-trails.unm.edu/sites/walnut-creek-crossing.htm
Description
Six years before the American Civil War, in 1855, William Allison and Francis Boothe established a trading post along the imposing Arkansas River. This crossing came to be known as Walnut Creek Crossing, an important milestone on the Santa Fe Trail. Wagons would often be forced to stop and set up camp along the river banks to wait out flooding. Allison and Boothe saw this site as the perfect spot for a trading post to sell essentials to wagon trains and Native Americans.