A TRAGIC JOURNEY: SIGNS TO MARK ENTIRE TRAIL OF TEARS

Signs bearing the image of a wind-chilled Indian will begin appearing along area roads in the next few weeks as part of a National Park Service effort to commemorate the historic Trail of Tears.

The new signs recognize the sacrifices of 15,000 Cherokees more than 150 years ago.

In 1838, the Army marched Cherokees from their homes as far east as the Carolinas to Oklahoma reservations to make way for land-hungry settlers. Thousands died from the bitter cold, illness and exhaustion. The 2,200-mile route crossed nine states including Missouri.

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, established by Congress, travels through Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties.

The signs, provided by the National Park Service, are being installed by Missouri Highways and Transportation Department crews along major roadways that parallel the original network of footpaths and river routes.

The signing is designed so that a motorist could start the trail and follow the signs from Cleveland, Tenn., to Tahlequah, Okla.

Cherry Payne of the Long Distance Trails office of the National Park Service said the signs are now in the hands of states on the trail. It is up to the states to put them up, she said.

Missouri is one of the first states to erect signs. The highway department hopes to get the whole trail marked during the first weeks of August, but district offices have been instructed to put the signs up as their other work allows. It could be September before the signs go up around Cape Girardeau.

The auto tour, marked by the new signs, enters Cape Girardeau along Illinois Route 146 and heads west through Jackson, Bollinger County and Farmington.

Trail of Tears State Park just north of Cape Girardeau is one of three interpretive programs on the trail. The others are at Calhoun, Ga., and Cleveland, Tenn.

In addition, two of Missouri's seven designated historic sites are in Cape Girardeau.

One is the Green's Ferry site, where a ferry carried Cherokees across the Mississippi River 10 miles north of Cape Girardeau. The Missouri side of the landing was near the southern end of what is now the Trail of Tears State Park.

The trail followed Green's Ferry Road out of the park toward Jackson. The ferry site and a portion of the road are included in the Trail of Tears State Park archaeological site.

The other local site is Otahki Bushyhead Hildebrand's grave. The daughter of Jesse Bushyhead, Otahki Hildebrand was buried on the west bank of the Mississippi River near Green's Ferry. A marker in the Trail of Tears State Park commemorates her grave.

A Trail of Tears National Historic trail was first proposed in the early 1980s. Planning for the trail was completed in 1992 and the National Park Service is in the process of implementing the plan, which includes signs, historic sites, informational brochures and a Trail of Tears Association.

For information, write Branch of Long Distance Trails, National Park Service-Southwest Region, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, P.O. Box 728, Santa Fe, N.M. 87504-0728.