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Dutch Henry's Crossing, Pottawatomie Creek

Tour Stop

Directions: Dutch Henry's Crossing [ Waypoint = N38 26.620 W95 05.025 ] across Pottawatomie Creek can be seen from the bridge over the creek near the town of Lane in Franklin County, Kansas 66042.

  • Now get headed south again on Virginia Road.
  • After about 0.85 miles you will cross over Pottawatomie Creek at the location of Dutch Henry's Crossing.
  • Stop and find a place to park.
  • Walk to the bridge crossing Pottawatomie Creek. Looking to the east, downstream, the river bend marks the site of the early ford or creek crossing of the Ft. Scott and California Trail.

Description: You are standing just upstream from the ford that in 1856 was known as Dutch Henry's Crossing.

Pottawatomie Creek from the Bridge on Virginia Road near the location of Dutch Henry's CrossingPottawatomie Creek from the Bridge on Virginia Road near the location of Dutch Henry's Crossing

From 1830 – 1840, the United States Government forced the relocation of the Potawatomi Native Americans from their lands near the Great Lakes. One of the Potawatomi bands was relocated to the lands of what would become the Kansas Territory. Shortly after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, white settlers showed in this part of Kansas Territory. A U. S. Government road beginning in Fort Scott, Kansas passed through this area, crossing over Pottawatomie Creek at this ford. The settlement here along the Fort Scott and California Trail was originally named Shermanville in 1855 when a post office was established at the Sherman brothers' tavern at the Pottawatomie Crossing south of the creek. The Shermans, Henry and his brother William, were German immigrants who had settled here. The ford over Pottawatomie Creek came to be known as Dutch Henry's Crossing. Later the town's name was changed to Lane in honor of James Henry Lane.



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