Those who started their overland journey near Independence, Missouri, followed the old Santa Fe Trail for about 40 miles until the Oregon Trail branched off to the northwest. They crossed small rivers, including the Big Blue, near a lovely camp called Alcove Spring in Kansas. Edwin Bryant recorded in 1846 that the water was “as cold and pure as if it had just been melted from ice.” The area was beautifully covered with tall grass and wildflowers but swarmed with mosquitoes, which some travelers, with typical exaggeration, insisted were as large as turkeys.