Mormon Trail.
A story has long persisted in Nemaha County, Kansas, where a party of Mormons en route to Utah wintered about seven miles northeast of Seneca before the settlement of Kansas Territory. Their reported campsite was at Murphy Lake, about two miles southeast of Baker’s Ford near the mouth of Deer Creek.
The emigrant trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, crossed the South Fork of the Nemaha River at Baker’s Ford after Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny discovered it in 1845.
In August 1855, a group of Mormons passed through the area on their way to Utah. When passing Murphy Lake, they were so hungry that they drained the lake to catch and eat the fish. Unfortunately, about 40 of the emigrants became ill and died, probably of Cholera. They were buried near the lake, their graves marked with boulders. When the rest of the group left the encampment, beds, clothing, and other items were left scattered around.
Later, the boulders that marked the graves were used in a barn foundation.
Murphy’s Lake was said to have been seven miles northeast of Seneca
Compiled by Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, November 2024.
Also See:
Sources:
Histories of Nemaha County
Werner, Morris W.; Pioneer Trails from U.S. Land Surveys