Start of the trail for wagons bound west and hometown of President Truman, Independence, Missouri, is well-endowed with historic attractions including covered wagon tours through the old part of town.
The property was acquired primarily by donation. The first land donation was received in 1926. The largest acquisition, totaling 8,208 acres was donated by the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in 1981. The property is 14,500 acres in size, comprised of 1,500 acres of water and 13,000 acres of land. All but 2,000 acres of the property was surface mined for coal during the 1920's through 1974. The property is rugged country dotted with over 1,000 strip-mine lakes, steep-sided hills and dense vegetation. Unmined areas consist of mature bottomland woodland and small crop fields. The strip-mine lakes vary in size from ¼ ace to 50 acres in size with depths to 60 feet. Native grass and some cool-season grasses dominate 4,000 acres of the property. The remaining 9,000 acres of land is comprised of bur oak, pin oak, walnut, hickory and hackberry with a thick understory of dogwood, green briar, honeysuckle, poison ivy and black berry. Primary terrestrial use on the property includes hunting, hiking, camping, wildlife viewing and mushroom/berry picking. Species hunted include whitetail deer, eastern turkey, mourning dove, bobwhite quail, fox squirrel, cottontails and waterfowl.
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