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Quivira Chapter of Trail Association donates books to Great Bend Public Library
The Book Nook
Pictured left to right is Linda Colle, President of the Quivira Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association and Gail Santy, director of the Great Bend Public Library and Central Kansas Library System. They are holding books donated to the library by the Quivira Chapter for the bicentennial.
Greetings from the Great Bend Public Library! Did you know this year marks 200 years of the Santa Fe Trail? In 1821 the Santa Fe Trail became the first great international commercial highway running from Franklin, Mo. to Santa Fe, N.M., and for nearly 60 years was one of the nation’s most proprietary routes for western expansion and trade. As part of the Bicentennial celebration, the Great Bend Public Library recently received a very generous donation from the Quivira Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association. They donated over 20 books about the Santa Fe Trail. They have also donated passports and brochures about local notable places such as the Great/Big Bend of the Arkansas River, Fort Zarah and Walnut Creek Crossing. You can pick up a passport here at the library and take it to different locations along the Santa Fe Trail. The passport will lead you to all kinds of sights from the Kaw Treaty Site to Fort Zarah and many more. Each page has a QR code that when scanned will tell you exactly how to find the site and give you more information about each one. Collect all the stamps for each site, throughout the year, then drop them off at any of the museums featured in the passport to be entered in a drawing for a grand prize. The best part is you have a whole year to explore these historical sites and it’s all free!