This trail ran northwest from Arkansas Post, Arkansas, the first semi-permanent European settlement in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Located on the Arkansas River in Southeast Arkansas, the road was originally an Indian Trail, but as people moved westward, it was used to transfer pioneers to the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas.

The trail left Arkansas Post, headed northwest, and passed through Austin, Arkansas, a few miles northeast of Little Rock, before continuing between the Arkansas and White Rivers. The emigrant trail was joined at Fayetteville by a road from Fort Smith. It then crossed the northeast corner of Oklahoma, crossed the Neosho River, and entered Kansas in what is now Montgomery County. The path continued, requiring pioneers to get over the Verdigris River about two miles North of the Kansas state line. It passed through the present-day site of Coffeyville and continued along the northeast side of Onion Creek before heading northwest. Finally, it converged with the Santa Fe Trail at Turkey Creek in McPherson County, Kansas. In Kansas, the trail crossed Montgomery, Chautauqua, Elk, Butler, Harvey, Marion, and McPherson counties.

During the days of westward expansion, the trail was widely used and also connected to the Oregon and California Trails. However, travel declined sharply during the Civil War. When the Osage lands in southern Kansas were opened for settlement, the old trail was soon obliterated and abandoned, and by the end of the 19th Century, only traces of it remained.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.

Also See:

Frontier Trails of Kansas

Index of Trail Blazers, Riders, & Cowboys

Tales & Trails of the American Frontier

Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny

See Sources.