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Wagon trains journeying from Independence usually spent the first or second night at Lone Elm campground in Johnson County. A few miles to the west there was an important junction: One road turned southwest toward Santa Fe, the other went northwest toward Oregon. Parties bound for the Northwest found that the steep banks of the Wakarusa and Vermillion Rivers made crossing difficult. At Topeka there were two ferries across the Kansas River, one operated by the Pappan brothers near present-day downtown Topeka, the other by Sidney Smith west of the city. At the Red Vermillion crossing in Pottawatomie County, Louis Vieux built a toll bridge. Charging one dollar per wagon he made as much as $300 in a day. |
