In Santa Fe Trail days, the Arkansas River could be 1,000 feet (300 m) wide here from spring runoff in the CO mountains. Now in June the river is a mere trickle.

Between 1819 and 1846 this river was the border with Mexico! So for the first quarter-century of the Santa Fe Trail, wagons using the dry Cimarron Route left American territory at this point. (Cimarron Route images are in a separate section at the end of this gallery.)