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Full text of "A standard history of Kansas and Kansans" 

^.L. 






GE.lM»EAl_OGY COL-l_ECTJC>JV 



A Standard History 

of 

Kansas and Kansans 



WRITTEN AM) COMPILED BY 

WILLIAM E. CONNELLEY 

secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka 



ILLUSTRATED 



VOLUME I 



LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO NEW YORK 

1918 



Copyright 1918 

BY 

The Lewis Publishing Company 



1194960 

PREFACE 



This is an attempt to commence at the beginning and continue to 
the end in writing a history of Kansas. There has never before been 
an effort to elaborate the.pre-Territorial events in the history of the 
State. The reaction on Kansas of the political conditions developed in 
Missouri up to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act has never before 
been discussed in the annals of Kansas. A careful study of events will 
show that the destiny of Kansas was closely bound up with the political 
developments in Missouri for a period of nearly half a century. Many 
of the transactions of early times are here first brought into their 
proper relations in a narrative history of Kansas. Some of these are 
the accounts of Qiuvira, of Louisiana, of the Santa Fe and Oregon 
Trails, of the Overland commerce, of the unique Indian occupancy and 
the extinguishment of the primal title to the soil, of the Missouri Com- 
promise and its repeal, and of the Provisional Government of Nebraska 
Territory. There are others which will reveal themselves to the student 
in even a cursory review. While most of these subjects have been in a 
way touched upon by writers — and a few of them in an exhaustive 
manner — they have not been before built into the structure of Kansas 
history. 

One of the features of this work which will lie hailed with satis- 
faction by students will be found in the Magoffin Papers. The history 
of Doniphan's Expedition, and, consequently, that of New Mexico, have 
not heretofore been capable of a full elaboration. These paper's com- 
plete the record and render the explanation of the conquest of New 
Mexico through Kansas simple and satisfactory. They afford new light 
on the War with Mexico. These invaluable documents were secured 
from the War Department in May, 1910, after years of persistent, and, 
often, discouraging effort by this author — no other student having been 
to that time able to obtain copies of them. So far as now known, the 
copies herein published are the sole and only copies ever made. 

[n the matter of Coronado, while there are no end to the books 
on that subject, some of them exhaustive in character, it is maintained 
that tin's is the first attempt to make any dispassionate efforl to deter- 
mine the location of Quivira. This subject has not before been con- 
sidered to any appreciable extent in an unprejudiced way with the 
Indian occupancj of Kansas of that time. The territorial possessions 
of the Caddoan linguistic family of North American Indians have not 
lief,, iv had proper attention from students. This is the key to the 
Coronado problem. The Kansas Indians have heretofore been credited 
in the time of Coronado, with too greal an area of what is now Kansas. 
In the Coronado era they possessed hut an insignificanl portion of the 
State. Their importance in this relation lias always been exaggerated 
Their connection with the plains country at that time was comparatively 
unimportant. 

Put the Kansas Indians gave their name to onr principal river: 
and. through it. they gave us the uai if our State. And the gig- 



iv PREFACE 

oificance of that name is forever bound up with the mysticism of their 
conceptions of a supreme being and their relations to him. The name — 
Kansas— refers, without possibility of doubt, to the Wind, the South 
Wind, and perhaps to the Breath of Life. That it is pure Indian in 
its origin and its application, there is no question. 

An effort has been made herein to point out the national aspects of 
Kansas history. Kansas had her inception in national achievement. 
In pre-Territorial and Territorial periods the history of Kansas is 
wholly of national import. The great movements of American life have 
touched Kansas, and have been touched by Kansas. In colonial times, 
in the struggle for independence, in the conquest of the Mississippi 
Valley, in the battle against slavery, in the Civil war, in the stand for 
social betterment, Kansas under some name "and in some form and in 
some way has borne a part and exerted an influence. Her historians 
have been too prone to treat her history as a series of local annals and 
detached events without logical connection with American progress. It 
is to be hoped that the fertile field of Kansas nationality will be given 
suitable attention in the future. For in this direction lies her principal 
glory. Her influence on American life will be found to have been vital, 
far-reaching, fundamental. And if the highest traditions of Kansas 
are but kept in mind and insisted on by Kansas in the future this 
national dominance and leadership will be maintained to the permanent 
benefit of America — and mankind. 

In every country certain interests always endeavor to distort history. 
Selfishness lies at the root of such efforts. And jealousy — often malice — 
bears a hand. Kansas has not escaped this fate. The statement of the 
most elemental historical facts has subjected writers to unmeasured 
villification and abuse from these inimical sources. Here, what the 
record shows to be true is set down without fear or favor. 

Special attention is called to the article on Prohibition, under the 
administration of Governor St. John. It is the first attempt, strange 
as the fact is. in this great pioneer prohibition State, to examine the 
underlying causes of the movement in Kansas. It is a thorough and 
well-worked-out study of the adoption of prohibition by Kansas. And 
a careful perusal of it will doubtless convince the most skeptical that 
Kansas has permanently suppressed the liquor traffic within her borders. 
And more — she is leading in example and by agitation in the struggle 
for national prohibition. This article will prove particularly welcome 
to those interested in the great moral forces of the Union. 

It is strange that it should fall to the lot of this history to carry 
the first effort to analyze the political cataclysm known in Kansas as 
the Populist Uprising. For that political revolution had its inception 
here soon utter the close of the Civil war. It should have found a 
chronicler many years a?o. Perhaps the memory of it was so fresh 
in the minds of the people that it was believed a written account would 
prove superfluous. The discussion presented here is a splendid one — 
scholarlj and exhaustive. Every phase of the subject is treated with 
a keen insight into causes and results that is surprising and gratifying. 
The economic sources of unrest which brought the people to political 
rebellion are handled in a masterly manner. That article is a valuable 
contribution to literature, as well as to history. The emotional elements 
underlying all great reforms are revealed. The article is a classic, 
and it will live as long as mankind rises against oppression to battle 

for liberty. 

The number of quotations given in this History of Kansas requires, 
perhaps, a word .if explanation. They are not put in for the purpose 
of "padding" to reach a given size for the history of Kansas. The 



PREFACE v 

contract with the publishers called for a minimum of 300,000 words. 
The author could have furnished that number and have complied with 
his contract by so doing. But he knew that the work could not even 
approach completion with so small a volume. He supplied more than 
900,000 words for the History of Kansas contained in the first two 
volumes — more than three times as many as the contract called for. 
The author was constrained to furnish these quotations from the old 
and rare authorities on the history of Kansas for more than one reason. • 
These first books on Kansas history are now exceedingly scarce and 
difficult to secure. Many of the libraries even of Kansas do not have 
them. It will prove a blessing to these libraries if many of the essential 
first documents are made available through this medium. Students will 
find them set out here in their proper order, a convenience they will 
doubtless appreciate. And these original documents will enable them 
to form their conclusions from the first and best sources. 

No one can ever be more conscious of the imperfections of this work 
than is the author. The history of Kansas, to be complete, can not be 
confined to the narrow bounds of two volumes. Adequately treated, 
there should be ten, and then there. would be no dreary page. For 
there is no other history like Kansas history — it is an inspiration. But 
with whatever faults the book is burdened, it will be the model for 
the future historian by which to write the complete history of Kansas. 
It is on correct, historical lines, and it is hoped that its mission and its 
aims will be found what the author intended — truth fearlessly told and 
justice served. 

A few words regarding the biographical section, which was empha- 
sized in the original prospectus. In that section are found the names, 
portraits and accounts of a great number of the people of the state. 
Preserving the records of families is at least as worth while as keeping 
record of live stock. These biographies also have a great value in 
interpreting the broader movements described in the general history. 
The truth is, biography is a. most important portion of any historical 
effort. In the great drama of history, all play a part — more or less 
important — more or less significant. Some are the mere settings of the 
stage. Some play an insignificant part. But others — the strong men 
in a community or state — those who labor and achieve — these are the 
men who really possess and preseiwe the genius of a people and per- 
petuate to ultimate destiny the real trend of a commonwealth's progress. 
The combined stories of the lives of these men create and constitute, 
in the main, true history. They furnish a standard by which can be 
computed the results of combined effort in the upbuilding of states and 
nations. 

William Elsey Connelley. 
Library Kansas State Historical Society, 

Memorial Building, Topeka, December 21, 1916. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

QUIVIKA 1 

CHAPTER II 
Louisiana 28 

CHAPTER III 
Lewis and Clark 48 

CHAPTER IV 
Upper Louisiana 51 

CHAPTER V 
Pike 54 

CHAPTER VI 
Long 69 

CHAPTER VII 
The Great American Desert 76 

CHAPTER VIII 
The Santa Fi: Trail 84 

CHAPTER IX 
The Oregon Tkaii 145 

CHAPTER X 
Indlvns 189 

CHAPTER XI 
Tin: Buffalo 277 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII 
TiiE Missouri Compromise 291 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Compromise of 1850 296 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Provisional Government 298 

CHAPTER XV 
Repeal of the Missouri < Iompromise 317 

CHAPTER XVI 
Kansas Territory 333 

CHAPTER XVII 
Forming the Battle-Lines 340 

CHAPTER XVIII 

First Settlements 356 

CHAPTER XIX 

I rl IVERNOR ReEDER 366 

CHAPTER XX 

Election of the Legislature 388 

CHAPTER XXI 
The Legislature 401 

CHAPTER XXII 
Lane 421 

CHAPTER XXIII 
Robinson 428 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Tin Hi ginnings of Disorder 435 

CHAPTER XXV 
Big Springs Convention 444 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER XXVI 
The Topeka Movement 461 

CHAPTER XXYII 
Wilson Shannon 473 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
The Wakabusa War 483 

CHAPTER XXIX 
The First Sacking op Lawrence 522 

CHAPTER XXX 
Old John Brown 555 

CHAPTER XXXI 

Lane's Army of the North 595 

CHAPTER XXXII 
Bleeding Kansas 610 

CHAPTER XXXIII 
The Republican Party 627 

CHAPTER XXXIV 
John W. Geary 632 

CHAPTER XXXV 
Robert J. Walker 650 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

Frederick P. Stanton 660 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

James William Denver MO 

CHAPTER XXXVII] 
Sami el Medary 695 

CHAPTER XXX IX 
The State of Kansas 708 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER NL 
The Political Beginnings of the State 712 

CHAPTER XLI 
Prairie Grove 724 

CHAPTER XLII 
District of the Border 732 

CHAPTER XLIII 
Collapse of the Military Prison 736 

CHAPTER XLIV 
The Lawrence Massacre 74U 

CHAPTER XLV 
The Pursuit of Qtjantrill 746 

CHAPTER XLVI 
The Price Paid 753 

CHAPTER XLVII 
Thomas Carney 765 

CHAPTER XLVIII 
Governor Samuel J. Crawford 769 

CHAPTER XLIX 
Nehemiah Greene 774 

CHAPTER L 
James Madison Harvey 776 

CHAPTER LI 
Thomas A. Osboen 77!) 

CHAPTER LII 
George T. Anthony 782 

CHAPTER LIII 
John Pierce St. John 785 



Prohibition in Kansas 



CONTENTS 
CHAPTER LIV 



CHAPTER LV 



CHAPTER LVI 



John A. Martin. 



<ss 



George W. Glick 829 



s;l'J 



CHAPTER LV1I 
Lyman U. Humphrey ho ' J 

CHAPTER LVIII 

con 
Lorenzo D. Lewiclling 00,) 

CHAPTER LIX 

Edmund N. Morrill b4_ 

CHAPTER LX 

John W. Leedv 84 ° 

CHAPTER LXI 

s47 
William Eugene Stanley 

CHAPTER LXII 
Willis J. Bailey 850 

CHAPTER LXIII 
Edward W. Hoch 853 

CHAPTER LXIV 

Walter Roscoe Stubbs s '" 

CHAPTER LXV 
George II. Eodges 860 

CHAPTEB LXVI 
Akthub Capper 865 

CHAPTEB I. XVII 
Military History b( ' 9 



xii CONTENTS 

SPECIAL ARTICLES 

The Lecompton Movement 925 

Kansas Laws and Their Origin 935 

The Militia and the National Guard from Its Enception to 

the Present Day 953 

Kansas Archaeology 960 

Kansas Banks and Banking 969 

Manufactures in Kansas 988 

Medicine 993 

Resources 996 

Churches 1009 

Educational and Other Institutions 1015 

The Populist Uprising 1113 

Biography 1197 



NDEX 



Abbey, Frank L., 2656 

Abbot, James B., 493, 498, 588, 6S4, 
817, 1291; portrait, 497 

Abbott, Francis M., 2240 

Abemathy, James L., 2254 

Abernathy, Omar, 2255 

Abilene, 2555, pioneer physician, 2556 

Abilene Daily Reflector, 2238 

Abolitionism, 453, 479 

Abolitionists, 347, 350, 1712 

Absentee Shawnees, 241, 243 

Academy of Science, 1078 

Achter/B. H., 2125 

Ackarman, Carl, 2126 

Ackarman, Fred, 2156 

Acker, William, 1491 

Ackerman, Anton A., 2240 

Act of 1859, 79:; 

Actual Settlers' Association, 357 

Adair, S. L., 614 

Adam, Fred N., 2321 

Adam, James G., 1646 

Adam, James S., 2182 

Adams, Charles W., 890 

Adams, Franklin (i.. 621, 945, 1073, 1075 

Adams, Henry J., 700, 945 

Adams, John B., 1682 

Adams, John Bunvan, 1356 

Adams, John O., 1587 

Adams, Juniata, 2640 

Adams, Philander H., 1714 

Adamson William E., 1922 

Admission to Union statehood, 708 

Ady, J. W., 1179 

Aetna Building and Loan Association, 
1710, 

Agricultural college, 767, Extension serv- 
ice, 1031 

Agricultural experiment stations, 1029 

Agricultural organizations, 2175 

Agriculture, 1281; territorial, 528; edu- 
cation in, 1024; in Kansas literature, 

Aikman Brothers, 2580 
Aikman, 0. A., 2581 
Aikman, Christopher L., 2581 
Aikman, Granville P., 2580 
Aikman, William A., 2580 
Akers, Earl, 1312 
Akers, George W., 1312 
Alden, Henry I... 2290 
Ald.'ii, Maurice I.., 2291 

Alderfer, Allen A., 1263 

Alexander, William B., L384 
Alexis, Grand Duke, hunting trip, 778 
Alfalfa, 1088, L300, L643, 1709, 1777 
Algie, Robert, L556 



Allen County, 59, 798, 1001, 1259 

Allen County State Bauk, Iola, 2558 

Allen, Edward P.. L248 

Allen, Elmore, 498 

Allen, Henry J., 2236 

Allen, Hollis H., 2508 

Allen, Norman, 702, 898 

Allen, Richard, 1341 

Allis, Orval D., 1518 

Alma, 72, 996 

Alton, 2429 

Alvarado, 5 

Alwes, Henry C, 2398 

American Bankers' Association, 1349 

American Chief, 213 

American Flag, first raising of on Kan 

sas Territory, 65 
American School of Osteopathy, 126-1 
American Steam Laundry, 2666 
Americanism, 44 
Ames, .John M., 1970 
Amick, John S., 2440 
Amnesty Act, 690 
Anarchy in Kansas, 545, 608 
Ancient Aztec Historical Chart, 2172 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, 2146 
Anderson, Bill, 732, 736, 742 
Anderson, Charles G., 2484 
Anderson County, 566, 613, 709, 911 
Anderson, John A., 1235 
Anderson, Joseph C., 401, 402 
Anderson, Joseph T., 402 
Anderson, J. C, 507 
Anderson, J. W., 2701 
Anderson, Martin, 747, 890 
Anderson, Thomas, 252:'. 
Anderson, Wallace H., 2426 
Anderson, William E. H., 2068 
Anderson, William G., 2478 
Andrews, Georgia, 2 19 I 
Andrews, Hazel W., 12.::: 
Andrews, John B., 2191 
Andrews, Winfield S., 2268 
Annals, of Kansas, The, 834 
Ansdell, W. R., 1518 
Anspaugh, .lames R., 205) 
Antelope, 1314, 1711, 1817 
Anthony, 998 

Anthony, Daniel R„ 708, 976, 107::. 2::s." 
Anthony, Daniel R., Jr., 2386 
Anthony, George T., 782; portrait, 783 

Anthony, Susan I'.., 1164, 1191 
Anthony, William, 1635 
Anti-Discrimination law, 8 

Anti-Liquor I, aw ( 'onvrntinn, so . 
Anti Monopoly Party, 1 127 

\nti Nebraska Men, 628 



INDEX 



Anti-pass law, 855 

Anti-Prohibitionists, 837 

Anti-Saloon League, 2471 

Anti-Slavery emigration, 444 

Antitrust laws, 1194 

Appeal to President Pieree, . r ,;;4 

Appellate Court, 842 

Apt, Charles II., 2131 

Arapahos and Cheyennes, 234; treaty of 
18(51, 236 

Archaeology, 960 

Argue, Richard W„ 1633 
^.ricaree battle, 772 

Arkansas Hand of Usages, 22] 

Arkansas City, 9S4, 2182, 258.",; packing 
plant, 2 152; "Canal City," 2467; 
schools, 2184, 2486 

Arkansas Citv Pusiness College, 2451 

Arkansas City High School, 2486 

Arkansas City Savings and Building and 
Loan Association, 2478 

Arkansas City Traveler, 2486 

Arkansas Indians, 19 

Arkansas River, 12, 67; Coronado 's 
passage of, 7 

Arkansas Valley, 780, 1776 

Armour .v Co., 2156 

Armourdale, 257 

Armourdale State Bank, 1112 

Armstrong, 257 

Armstrong, John, 423 

Armstrong, J. M., 332 

Army of the Border, 754 

Arnett, T. B., 685 

Arnold, Andrew .1., 126:'. 

Arnold, Cora E., 2653 

Arnold, Edgar C, 1263 

Arnold, Thomas, 2653 

Arnold, Walter J., 1734 

Amy, William E. M., 1201 

Arthur, John, 9(11 

Artists, 2516 

Ashby, Galusha W., 1889 

Ashford, Henry T., 2569 

Ashley, Harry O., 2279 

Assumption Catholic Church, 1707 

Asylum for insane at Osawatomie, 767 

Atchison, 165, 167, 169, 356, 361, 425, 
522, 530, 540, 546, 550, 642, 804, 833, 
861, 971. 984, 1044, 1051, 1054; hank- 
ing interests, 979; churches, 1010 

Atchison Champion, 832 

Atchison County, 50, 161, 356, 964; first 
settlers, 361 

AMiisun, David 1J., 135, 299, 317, 326, 
327, 33,7, 3 19, 3,61, 3,84, 403, 411, 477, 
509, 525, 529, 6H2, 618, 926; portrait, 
31 S 

Atchison Globe, 1-118 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Pail- 
road, 1252; shops, Topeka, 23,15; a 
great engineer, 2338 

Atchison Water Company, 1376 

athletic Park, 2677 

Atkeson, George P., 258-1 

Atkins, .Tames. 2620 

Atkins, Mrs. James, 2619 

Atkinson, Charles T., 2505 

Attica, 2182 

Atwood, John II., 1363, 

Anbry, 73,5, 711, 743, 755 

Aubry route, 1 15 



Auburn, 1655 
Audubon, 250 
Auerbach, Henry A., 1276 
Augusta Gazette, 1422 
Augusta State Bank, 1341 
Australian ballot, 1195 
Automobile legislation, 2170 
Ayars, Wiliam D., 1234 
Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, 1 
Axtell Hospital, 2676 
Axtell, John T., 2676 

Babcoek, 510 

Babeock, Carmi W., 506, 664, 702, 1265 

Baden, Henry, 1689 

Bailey, Ernest N., 1496 

Bailey, Lawrence D., 699, 1258 

Bailey, Luther C, 1326 

Bailev, L. D., 1071 

Bailey, Ray L., 1815 

Bailey, Seth J., 2150 

Bailey, Willis J., 850, 980, 1372; port- 
rait, 851 

Baileyville, 850 

Bain, Captain, 683 

Baird, 90 

Baird, Archie M., 1703 

Baird, Charles, 2215 

Baird, James, 87 

Baird, Jay, 1934 

Baird, Justus N., 2053 

Baird, Oscar C, 1906 

Baker, A. J., 401 

Baker, Charles A., 1786 

Baker, Clara, 173,2 

Baker, J. N., 570, 577 

Baker, Lucien, 1363 

Baker, Lur-ina L., 1767 

Baker, Nathaniel A., 1837 

Baker, Robert M., 1767 

Baker University, 268, 1009, 1264 T 

Baker, William," 1732 

Baleh, Orlin M., 1956 

Baldwin, 111, 747, 791 
£. Baldwin City, 3,56, 1036, 2378 

Baldwin Ledger, 2471 

Baldwin Pursuit of Quantrill (map), 
745 

Ball, Charles M., 1838 

Ball, Prank L„ 2203 

Ballard, David E., 1201, 2662 

Ballard, Volney B„ 1688 

Bandanna Club, 1364 

Bank Act of 1909, 975 

Bank commissioner, 973 

Bank commissioner's department, 862 

Bank deposit guaranty, 1878 

Bank depositors' guaranty, 974 

"Bank Depositors Guaranty Fund," 
2593 

Banker, Charles E„ 2515 

Banking, 1278, 2107; a veteran, 2349 

Banking law, 467, 972 

Bank law of 1897, 971 

Bank legislation, 1192 

Bank of Admire, 2274 

Bank of Inman, 2506 

Bank of Mankato, 2613 

Bank of McLouth, 1 189 

Bank of Palmer, 1558 

Bank of Tescott, 263,0 

Bank of Whitewater, 1506 



Banks and banking, 9(39 ; oldest state 

bank, 2429 
Banks, George L., 1840 
Baptist church, 1009; early missionary, 

1253 
Baptist missions, 275; among the Shaw- 

ness, 241 ; among Pottawatomies, 260, 

1820; among Ottawas, 270 
Barbel wire, pioneer manufacturer of, 

2251 
Barbee, William, 401 
Barbee, William M., 2144 
Barber, 599 
Barber, Basil T., 2437 
Barber county, 780 
Barber, Oliver, 2438 
Barber, Oliver P., 2438 
Barber, Thomas, 738, 747 
Barber, Thomas W., 357, 515, 2438 
Bardo, William O, 1414 
Bardwell, Frank A., 2099 
Bardwell, Sol. A., 1895 
Barker, Elden, 2215 
Barker, Oeorge J., 2362 
Barker, George W., 1590 
Barker, Thomas J., 1994 
Barker, William E., 1910 
Barley, J. Harry, 1535 
Barnard and Galley, 1561 
Barnard, W. R,, 1561 
Barnburners, 628 
Barndollar, .T. J., 2088 
Barndollar, Pratt, 2088 
Barner, Abraham L., 1257 
Barnes, Charles AV.. 1813 
Barnes, William, 680 
Barnesville, 735 
Barnhart, William E., 2061 
Barr, Elizabeth N., 1007, 1009, 1010, 

1011, 1012, 1013, 1035, 1036, 1038, 

1039, 1040, 1041, 1078, 1079, 1080, 

1082, 1084, 1085, 1086, 1089, 1091, 

in:; 

Barr, Samuel H., 1908 

Barr, W. V., 1123 

Barry, James J., 2584 

Bartels, Herman, 2506 

Bartlett, Samuel E„ 1604 

Bartley, John T., 1476 

Barton county, 67, 113 

Barton Salt Co., 998 

Basore, Bigler B., 2648 

Bassett, Vnn, -'ill 

Bassett, James, 2010 

Bassett, Owen A., 1209 

Battey, Richmond T., 1574 

Battlefield of Black .lark, Douglas 

county (map), 586 
Battle for liberty in Kansas, 696 
Battle Ground, 113 

Battl ' Beecher Csland, 77l' 

Battle "i' Big Blue (illustration), 760 
Battle of Black Ja. k, - I 

Battle nf Franklin, 2( 

Battle of Osawatumie, 6I7 

Battle of Padonia, 1396 
Battle of Palmyra, 588 
Battle of the Spurs, 1210 

Battle of Tippei i ! 19 

Battle of Wilson's Creek, 874 
Battles of Little Blue, Big Blue, Wes- 
port, Price Raid i map), 760 



Bauer, Albert D., 1774 

Baucrsfeld, Karl E., 1941 

Baughman, Samuel, 2054 

Bauman, Adolph, 2275 

Bauman, August, 2275 

Baxter, Edson, 1588 

Baxter Springs, 989, 1007, 2207; mas- 
sacre, 179 

Beach, Stephen E., 2041 

Beal, Alonzo, 1273 

Beam, William II., 1571 

Beard, George L., 2498 

Beatrice Creamery Co., 1832 

Beattie Eagle, 1473 

Beatty, Adam, 1931 

Beatty, diaries T., 2472 

Beatty, George F., 2531 

Beatty, John K., 1931 

Beatty, Nellie G., 2553 

Beauchamp, A., 1387 

Beaver Creek, 19 

Beehtel, George H., 2009 

Beck, Andrew G., 1394 

Beck, Clarence E., 2372 

Beck, James, 919 

Becker, Peter, 1386 

Becknell, Captain William, 88 

Beckwourth, James P., 149 

Bpebe, Charles P., 2154 

Beebe, George M., 706 

Beecher, Ward, 554 

Beecher 's Island, 772 

Beeching, John P.., 2692 

Beegle, James H., 2195 

Beeks, Charles E., 2375 

Beeks, Christopher R., 2374 

Beeson, Chalkley M.,. 1213 

Beggs, James L., 2564 

Beggs, William, 2072 

Bell, Colonel E. B., 528 

Bell, George, 17S1 

Hell, .lame- \V„ 1719 

Bell, Robert, 1781 

Bell, Simeon B., 1562 

Belle Fontaine, 57 

Belleville Ice and Cold Storage Com- 
pany, 1561 

Belsley, Amos A.. 1863 

Bench and bar, 1252, 2448; pioneer 
lawyer of Southwestern Kansas, 125*: 
first chief justice' of the Territory of 
Kansas, 127S; a distinguished figure, 

2:140; an eminent Kansan, 2.".i>.'; ; u 

:in lawyer, 25 1 1 

P.,'. .dec, William, L616 

lie, Mure, Charles S., I'M* 

Bendure, W. II.. 1948 
Bendure, William \.. 1948 
Benefiel, F MC., 1839 
Benest, Irvin I'., I 190 
Benni tt, \rthur II.. 1748 
Bennett, Keriry, L754 
Be ::ii.n State Bank, 1578 

\iehcH. iii::.s 

\ illiam r.. L696 
Bi -;t. Silas, 142 
Bent, William, 1 t3 
!. 338 

Guy P., 1600 

i H., 187, 299, 

Heat's Fort, 1 12 

. 2356 



INDEX 



Bergin, Alfred, 1411 

Bergmann, Curt, 1295 

Berkeley, Alice M., 1525 

Bern Gazette, 1407 

Bernard, Joseph, 594 

Bernauer, Joseph R., 1883 

Berrier, Mildred, 2281 

Berry, Abraham D., 1957 

Berthold, Father, 2379 

Bethany Church, Lindsborg, 1010, 1013, 

1061, 1411, 1515, 2502 
Bethany College, 2502 
Bethel College, Newton, 2659 
Betz, Edwin G., 2451 
Betz, Katherine L., 2451 
Beverley, George W. B., 1593 
Beverly Tribune, 1624 
Bicker'ton, Thomas, 898 
Bickett, Charles T., 1937 
Biddle, Thomas C, 1653 
Big Blue, Battle of, 758 
Big Blue River, 73, 207, 275 
Big Coon creek, 99 
Bigger, L. A., 815 
Biggs, Thomas A., 2600 
Big John Spring, 111 
Big Springs, 356, 449, 464, 792 
Biir Springs convention, 444, 449, 459, 

476, 939 
Bi-metalism, 1144 
Bird, Virgil A., 1410 
Bird, Winfield A. S., 1266 
Bismarck Grove, 821, 826; temperance 

meeting, 820 
Bixler, Andrew J., 1596 
Black Beaver, 250 
Black Bird (portrait), 194 
Black-Bob Shawnee, 243 
Blackhawk War, 266 
Black Jack, 110, 581, 584: battle of, 

583; two localities, 584 
Black Jack Point, 122, 593 
Black, Will R,, 1955 
Blackledge, James F., 1845 
Blackshere, Earl M., 1300 
Blaekshere, Jacob R., 1300 
Blades, Joseph B„ 1620 
Blades, S. T., 1547 
Blain, James W., 1250 
Blaine, Robert D., 1776 
Blair, Alonzo O., 2014 
Blair, Charles W., 892, 899 
Blair, Francis P., 326, 338 
Blair, Joel P., 401 
Blair, W. A., 1925 
Blakely Charles G., 1199 
Blakeslee, Thomas, 2213 
Blanding, W. R., 2597 
Blankinship, D. R.. 1512 
Blanton, Boney, 495, 1204 
Blanton's bridge, 495, 508, 549 
Blanton, Napoleon B., 1204 
Bleeding Kansas, 595, 610, 925 
Blind asylum, 768 
Blockade of Kansas, 602 
Block House, Fort Scott (illustration), 

682 
lJliiod, .lames, 567, 717 
Bloom, ('. L., 1720 
Bloom, Orvis M., 181 I 
Blooming Grove, 669 



Bloomington, 394, 509 

Blue Grass, 141 

Blue-Jacket, Charles, 356 

Blue-Jacket Crossing, 508, 747 

Blue, Richard W., 1234 

Blue River, 336 

Blue sky law, 858 

Blue Springs, 13 

Bluemont Central College, 1020 

Bluemont College, 1853 

Blunt, James G., 723, 732, 753, 755, 796, 

877, 886, 946, 1231; portrait, 730 
Board of Irrigation, 843 

Boardman, Edgar W., 2004 

Boast, William, 1725 

Bodley, Frank E., 2107 

Bodwell, Anson G., 1719 

Boeger, Charles J., 1816 

Boggs, Ex-Governor, of Missouri, 159 

Bogue, John W., 2204 

Bogus laws, 479, 789, 1446; repealed, 
699 

Bogus Legislature, 476, 536, 633, 651, 
661, 938, 941 

Boice, James H., 1902 

Boies, Samuel, 747 

Bolinger, Herschel V., 1901 

Bollinger, Charles O., 2344 

Bolman, Frederick D., 2484 

Bolman, William G., 2484 

Bomgardner, Homer W., 1816 

Bond, Benjamin C, 2308 

Bond, John A., 1658 

Bond, Lee, 2367 

Bond, William H., 2367 

Bondi, August, 584, 585, 1464 

Bonds of 1861, 719 

Bouebrake, P. I., 1260 

Bonneville, Captain, 181 

Bonneville 's expedition, 151 

"Boom" period of 80 's, 834 

Boom towns, 847 

Boone, Daniel Morgan, 210 

Boone, George O., 1230 

Boone, Napoleon, 210 

Boone, William M., 1459 

Booth, Thomas J., 1743 

Border closed to Free State men, 595 

Border conditions, 740 

Border district in Civil war, 732 

Border Missouri, 349 

Border Ruffians, 337, 469, 477, 478, 499 
506, 514, 522, 535, 540, 545, 546, 562 
579, 604, 608, 610, 652, 669, 869: out, 
rages, 582; guards at border, 602; do 
scription of, 636; in Linn Countv 
669; days, 1396 

Border warfare, 435 

Border wars claims, 700 

Boss Busters, 2171 

Boss, Frank W., 2109 

Boston Mountains, battle of, 727 

Boswell, A. P., 1977 

Boswell, Oeorge F., 1977 

Botkin, Jeremiah D., 2717 

Botkin, Theodosius, 1158 

Bouck, Harry W., 1857 

Boudinot Mission, 226 

Boughton, J. S., 2551 

Boundaries of Kansas territory, 334 

Boundaries of the State, 099 



INDEX 



XVI 



Bourbon County, 225, (396, 735, 911; 

South Carolina colony, 680; disturb- 
ance, 684 
Bourgmont, Etienne Venyard Sieur de, 

38; expedition, 39; traverses Kansas, 

41 
Bovaird, William J., 1693 
Bowen, Frank P., 1420 
Bowen, Thomas M., 891 
Bowen, William F., 1697 
Bowen, William P., 1711 
Bowersoek, Justin D., 2409 
Bowie, David, 1707 
Bowles, Theodore C, 1036 
Bowlus, Thomas H., 2558 
Bowman, Samuel, 2089 
Boyns, Nicholas, 2221 
Bradbury, Henrv C, 1614 
Bradley, John T., 813 
Brady, James A., 2283 
Brady, John P., 1515 
Brammell, Harvey I... I I 12 
Branch, Charles M., 2672 
Branch, Vernon H., 1732 
Brandenburg, William A., 1989 
Brandley, Henry, 2614 
Rranscomb, Charles H., 360, 429, 619, 
Branson, Jacob, 483, 486, 488, 489, 491, 

1232 
Branson rescue, 494 
Breese, Thomas, 486 
Breidenthal banking law, 1358 
Breidenthal, John W., 974. 1134, 1165 
Bren, Mia. < Sharles II.. 2368 
Brennan, Matthew, 2587 
Brewer, Jacob E., 1569 
Brewer, James H. C, 1596 
Brewster, Sardius M., 1290 
Bribery laws, 843 
Brick manufacture, 990 
Bridge situation of Topeka, 1310 
Bridger, Jim, 182 
Bristow amendment, 1256 
Bristow, Joseph L., 857, 1255 
Bristow, William, 1255 
Brobst, Nathan, 1675 
Brocket, W. B., 590 
Broekcr, Felix, 1514 
Broil, Peter J., 2216 
Broil 'Wliolesale and Retail Grocery Co., 

2216 
Bronaugh, Robert M., 1404 
Bronson, Arthur W.. 1200 
Brooklyn, 123, 356, 483, 747, 748 
Brooks, EdgaT E., L39] 
Brooks, Henry K., 1751 
Brookville, 2535 
Brookville bank, 2535 
Broomfield, Hay, 2116 
Broomhall, Edgar P., 2188 
Brower, J. V., transactions of Coronado, 

24 
Brown, Ohanning J„ 1429 
Brown, Charles W. 2212 
Brown, Chase W., 2432 
Brown county, 996, 1245, 1395; pioi v. 

2392 
Brown, E. 1'.. 523 
Brown, Frederick, 561, 61 I 
Brown, George J., 2646 
Brown, George W., 271. 346, 348, 364, 



395, 117. 4 59, Hi:;. 5Su, luul; arrest of 
(illustration), 543; 1310 

Brown, Harry S., 1975 

Brown, John, 123, 139, 341, 516, 561, 
602, 613, 623, 638, 677, 708, 1259. 
1274, 1346, 1464; describes condi- 
tions in the territory, 517; early life, 
555; (portrait), 556; manhood of, 
560 ; sons of, 561 ; compass, 562 ; goes 
to Kansas, 562; camp, 565; company, 
566; motives of massacre at Potta- 
watomie, 576; likened to Jesus Christ, 
580; fame of, 581; controversies, .".si : 
in Osawatomie battle, 616 

Brown, John E., 613 

Brown, John, Jr., 445, 459, 791 

Brown, J. A. 2358 

Brown, L. C, 2696 

Brown, Madison, 366 

Brown, Old John, 622 

Brown, Owen, 560, 561 

Brown, Phillip, 1660 

Brown, Quindaro Nancy, 302 

Brown, Salmon, 520, 501, 50::, 505, 507. 
572, 591 

Brown, S. Allen, 1635 

Brown, Thomas H, 2645 

Brown, Walter E., 1487 

Brown, William P., 1879 

Brown, William W., 1980 

Brown, Willis L., 2715 

Browne, Charles H., 1427 

Browne, Evan H. W., 1350 

Browne, Herbert A., 2214 

Browne, Milton W., 2654 

Brown's branch, 561, 583 

Brownsville, 1655 

Bruce, Narvey E., 2554 

Bryan, William J., 1192 

Buchanan, President, 651, 708 

Buckingham, Charles J., 1238 

Buckley, IT. H., 484, 494 

Buckman, A. Harding, 1664 

Buckman, Edward, 1772 

Buckner, William T., 1300 

Budget svstem, 865 

Buell, Rollin, 1433 

Buffalo, 5, IS, 1314, 1750, 1809; found 
by Coronado, 6; in Kansas history, 277 
et. seq.; discovery, 278; appearance. 
2S5; habits of, 2s3; wallows. - - 
the white man, the, 287; methods of 
hunting, 286; hunters. 288; hunting, 
1213 

Buffalo Bill, 179; well, 11.". 

Buffalo grass, 83, ISO, 277 

Buff on, E. W., 1471 

Buffnm, David C, OH 

Buford, Jefferson, 475, 520, 531, 546, 

552, 0ii2 
Buhler, David B., 2680 
Bulger, James J., 1759 
T.ullard. Sarriet, 1 tl5 
Bull Citv. 2 129 
Bull Creek battle, 618 

Bullet-hole Ellis, 1204 
Bull trains, L67 
Bull-whackers, 167 
l; ,,,, ■ ,ci, 

Bimdv. Edward E., 1675 
Bundy, Jes L675 



XV111 



INDEX 



Bunnell, Daniel, 2454 

Bunnell, Maude A., 2455 

Bunten, Joseph C, 1487 

Bureau of Labor, 1097 

Burse, James A., 2252 

Burge, N. B., 1629 

Burge, Will R., 2048 

Burkholder, William M., 2720 

Burlingame, 111 

Burlingame, Ward, 1235 

Burlington, 1248 

Burlington Daily Republican, 2635 

Burnett, Abram, Chief of the Pottawat- 
omies (portrait), 258 

Burnett, J. C, 681, 798 

Burnett, Peter H., 158, 183 

Burns, James N., 441 

Burns, John M., 1630 

Burris, Fred, 1800 

Bums, John T., 946, 1303 

Burr Oaks Flour Mills, Elevator and 
Ice plant, 2608 

Burrton Graphic, 2671 

Burt, Charity C, 1893 

Burt, John A., 1892 

Burt, Louis B., 2691 

Burton, Ellsworth L., 2019 

Burton, John D., 1389 

Burton, Joseph R., 849, 851, 1334 

Bushwhackers, 732 

Business corporations, rise of, 1119; in 
1892, 1161; pioneer store, 1731 

Butcher, Thomas W., 2318 

Butler county, 12, 1001; oil develop- 
ment, 2463; oil and gas development, 
2520; "original oil booster," 2606; 
largest undivided ranches, 2609 ; 
pioneers, 2620; pioneer days, 2533 

Butler County State Bank, El Dorado, 
2582 

Butler, Joseph A., 2212 

Butler, Pardee, 539 

Butner, William D., 1651 

Butterfield, David A., 171, 980 

Butterfield's Overland Despatch, 171 

Bux, Bartholomew J., 1379 

Buzick, A. R., 2643 

Buzick, Henry S., 2643 

Buzick, Ira C, 2574 

Bvarlav, Samuel A., 1848 

Byers/Otto P., 2685 

Byram's ford, 759 

Byrnes, Thomas J., 2708 

Cabeen, Robert J., 1452 

Cable, Rufus E., 2086 

Caches, The, 90, 113, 121 

Caddoan territory, 230 

Cadmus, Walter G., 2087 

Cagney, Martin V., 2105 

Caldwell, Alexander, 978, 1269, 2403 

Caldwell, Fred B., 2289 

Calene, John, 1608 

Calhoun, John C, 291, 324 

California, discovery of gold, 161 

California gold fever, 183, 186 

California Road, 139 

California trails, 483 

Call, Leland E., 1728 

CaUender, Edward R., 2086 

Calnan, Henry J., 1413 



Calvin. Thomas J., 813 

Camels on the deserts of Arizona, 79 

Cameron, Hugh, 494 

Camp corral, formation of, 156 

Camp Wakarusa, 508, 512 

Campaign of 1891, 1154 

Campaign of 1892, 1161 

Campbell, Alexander M., Jr., 2.~>:i9 

Campbell, Altes H., 2304 

Campbell College, 1070 

Campbell, Edwin A., 1733 

Campbell, James A., 2203 

Campbell, James A., 1733 

Campbell, James A., Jr., 1733 

Campbell, James H., 2304 

Campbell, James H., 2336 

Campbell, John W., 2686 

Campbell, Leslie J., 2304 

Campbell, Robert, 182 

Campbell, Ross T., 1047, 2632 

Campbell, William P., 1301 

Canadian River, 107 

Canal City, 2467 

Canary, Simeon C, 1877 

Caney News, 1900 

Caney Pipe Line Co., 1925 

Caney schools, 2005 

Caney Valley National Bank, 1846 

Canton, 2537 

Cantrell, Jacob, 591 

Canzes, The, 39 

Cape Girardeau reservation, 247 

Capital Iron Works Company, 1753 

Capital of Kansas Territorv, 356, 533 

Capital of Kansas, 362; territorial, 371, 

407; at Pawnee, 401 
Capitol Building at Pawnee, 402 
Capitol Building at Topeka, temporary, 

768 
Capper, Arthur, 771, 863, 1034, 1973; 

portrait, 866 
Capper, Florence C, 771 
Capper Publications, 992 
Caravan Grove, 93 
Carey, Emerson, 1000, 2700 
Carey Salt Co., 1000 
Carlin, Hugh, 2579 
Carl-Leon Hotel, 1270 
Carlson, Allida N., 2495 
Carlson, Charles G., 1764 
Carlson, Swan M., 2495 
Carnegie City Library, Emporia, 2281 
Carney, Thomas, 723, 754, 757, 765, 907, 

978; portrait, 766; administration 

conditions in, 766 
Carpenter, A. O., 583 
Carpenter, Charles T., 2081 
Carpenter, George M., 1365 
Carpenter, John C, 1354 
Carpenter, Samuel, 2081 
Carriger, Elliott, 1655 
Carriger, William A., 1656 
Carroll, William, 2562 
Can-nth, William H., 1235 
Carson, David F., 1832 
Carson, Kit, 154 
Carter, Lucetta S., 1661 
Carver, Byron J., 2619 
Case, Nelson, 2231 
Casey, William D., 1430 
Cass, Lewis, 296, 472, 627. 93] 



INDEX 



Cassady, F. A., 2278 

Caster, Herbert O., 1251 

Cates, Joseph B. F., 1841 

Cates, R. W., 1841 

Catholic Church, 1010 

Catholic Church in Lincoln County, 1607 

Catholic institutions, 262 

Catholie mission, :!36; first, 1011 

Catholic mission among- Pottawatomies, 

Catholic Osage mission, 373 

Catlin, Arthur D., 2339 

Catlin, Elbert S., 2371 

Catlin, Sheldon G., 2371 

Cato, Judge, 562, 579, 640, 644, 647, 656 

Cattle Fly Trap, 2659 

Cattle industry, 777 

Cattle rangers, 1316 

Cavaness, Herbert, 2162 

Cavaness, James M., 2162 

Cavaness, Wilfrid, 2162 

Cecil, J. F., 1646 

Cecil, William C, 1930 

"Cedars, The," 2604 

Census of 1860, 710, 934 

Census of 1870, 777 

Census of Kansas Territory, 388 

Census territorial, 653 

Centennial Exposition, 780 

Centerville, 1055 

Central Academy and College, 1474 

Central National Bank of Ellsworth, 1611 

Central Overland California, and Pike's 
Peak Express Company, 171 

Chalfant, James, 576 

Chalfant, James, Jr., 575 

Chalkley, Thomas H., 2237 

Challis, Luther, 980 

Challis, Luther C, 1210 

Chandler, Caroline B., 1576 

Chandler, Charles H„ 1243 

Chandler, Levi L., 1575 

Chanute, 1004, 2042, 2077, 2472; origin 
of, 1355; oil field, 1003; schools, 2189 

Chanute Tribune, 2163 

Chapman, Edward, 401 

Chapman, Lavinia (Gates), 2633 

Chapman, Louis H., 1824 

Chapman, Samuel B., 1592 

Chapman, Stephen B., 2633 

Charles Blue-Jacket, 356 

Charleston, 114 

Charles, IT. G., 1781 

Chase, A. Sidney, 1615 ' 

Chase County organized, 1564 

Chase, Enoch, 241!) 

Chase, Isabel M., 771 

Chatterton, Harry T., 2288 

Chautauqua, 2479 

Chautauqua County, 12, 853, 1001, 1002 

Chautauqua County Oil Producers Asso- 
ciation. 1005 

Chavez, Don Antonio Jose, 120 

Chelander, John W., 1799 

Cheney Sentinel, 1831 

Cheney, William II.. 1608 

Cherokee county, 989, 1007 

Cherokee Neutral Lands, 264 

Cherokees, 239, 263 

Cherryvale, 1006 

Cherryvale Sigh School, 1837 



Cherryvale Republican, 2049 

Chesky, Joseph, 2697 

Cheyennes, 234 

Chicago Abolitionists, 603 

Chicago, Bock Island & Pacific Railway 

Company, 1268 
Chickasaws, 239 

Chief of the Kaws (portrait), 208 
Chief of the Pottawatomies (portrait), 

258 
Chief White Buffalo (portrait), 234 
Chief White Plume, 210, 212 
Child labor, 855 
Child labor bill, 858 
Childs, Fred C, 1845 
Childs, Robert H., 1911 
Childs, Wesley R., 2434 
Chills and fevers, 1632 
Chippewas, 272 
Cbippewas reservation, 272 
Chisham, James M., 1375 
Cholera, 156; epidemic at Fort Leaven- 
worth, 152 
Chouteau, A. P., 88 
Chouteau, Auguste, 43 
Chouteau, Cyprian, 149 
Chouteau, Frederick, 210, 211, 213, 214, 

241 
Chouteau Island, 88, 100, 114, 115 
Chouteau, Pierre, 221, 223 
Chouteau's trading post, 225 
Christensen, William C, 1631 
Christian Church, 1060 
Christian Indians, 273 
Church of the Brethren, 1013, 1066; 

first, 1014 
Church of the Sacred Heart, 2379 
Church, Willard V., 1595 
Churches, 1009; a pioneer missionary, 

LM17: influence in the temperance 

cause, 816 
Cibola, 5 
Cimarron, 19, 114 
Cimarron river, 81 
Cipra, Winslow, 1606 
Citizens Bank of Hutchinson, 2673 
Citizens State Bank, Bronson, 2117 
. itizens State Bank of Elk City, 1898 
Citizens State Bank of Little River, 2656 
citizens State Bank of Sterling, 2646 
Citj of St. Louis, 43 
City planning, 2281 
Civil service, 867 
Civil Service Commission, H>96 

Civil war, 724, 869, 1118; as an educator, 

185; Osages loyal, 228; caused by 
emigration societies, 353 J in Kansas. 
610; Kansas troop-, 717: on the Can 
sas border, 732; Kansas soldiers, 905 

Claflin, Oliver Q., 2407 

Claims about Hickory Point (map), 485 

Claims of border war, 700 

Clapp, Raymond C, 1751 

Clari , John, 1770 

Clare, Maud, 1770 

Clark, A. M., 719 

Clark, Buford, 1658 

Clark, C. S., 77.1 

Clark, George A., 1626 

Clark, George L, 305, 309 
B. W., 481, 684 



INDEX 



Clark, J. Walter, 1963 

Clark, Malcolm, 437, 410 

Clark-MeCrea affair. 139 

Clark, Omer O., 1381 

(lark, Sidney, 825 

Clark, William, 52 

Clark, William B., 1658 

Clarke, George W., 516, 669, 689 

Clarke, R. W., 552 

Clarke, Sidney, 1278 

Clay county, 1136 

Clay, Henry, 292, 627; not author Mis- 
souri Compromise, 294 

Clearing House Association, 988 

Clements, Claude B., 2119 

Clements. John A., 2710 

Clifford, Burton E., 2142 

Clifford, Samuel R., 2542 

Clifton News, 1538 

Climate, 1777 

Cloud county, 996 

Clover, Benjamin, 1141 

Clu.las, Arthur L., 2616 

Coal fields, 989 

Coates, Kersey, 371 

Coats, Simon, 2256 

Cobb, David G., 1351 

Cobb, David R., 1351 

Coburn, E. D., 1088 

Coburn, Foster D., 1089, 1216 

Cochi l. Wilber A., 2017 

Cochran, Joseph W., 1711 

Cochrane, Benjamin, 5S5 

Cockrell, Emery M., 1306 

Cody, William' E., 179 

Coffey, A. M., 401 

Coffey county, 911; pioneer, 2653 

Coffe'vville 985, 2201; first skating rink, 
1919; fire department, 1958; Gate 
City, 1965; schools, 2020 

Coffeyville Independent, 1965 

Coffeyville public library, 1862 

Coffeyville Shale Products Co., 1961 

Coffe'vville Vitrified Brick and Tile Co., 
1963 

Coffman. John F., 2585 

Cofran, Roswell L., 1758 

Coker, Henry J., 1601 

Colhv branch station, 1029 

Cold' Springs, 173 

Coldwater Grove, 735 

Cole, Claude L., 2690 

Cole, Sarah A., 2625 

Coleman, Charles F„ 735, 7 Hi 

Coleman, Franklin M., 484, 488, 492 

College Company, 917 

College of Emporia, 1012 

College of Physicians and Surgeons, 995 

Collins, Lloyd M., 2346 

( loloniea of foreigners, 778 

Colonization and settlement, 780 

Colt, Don S., 1601 

Colter, John, 146 

Columbus, 2007 

Comanches, 40, 237 

Comanches and Kiowas treaty, 238 

Combs, George W„ 2335 

i ombs, Lester M.. 2722 

Combs, William J., 2335 
Commercial National Bank. Independ- 
ence, 2266 



Commercial National Bank of 

City, Kansas, The, 1349 
Commercial State Bank, Yates Center, 

2482 
Commissioned officers in Civil war, 908 
Committee of Safety, 499, 509, 538, 540 
Committee of Vigilance at Fort Scott, 

Committee on Congressional Election, 
455 

Commonweal army, 1190 

Compromise of 1850, 290, 324; a new in- 
terpretation, 321 

Concannon, P. J., 2262 

Concord coach, 172 

Concordia, 985 

Concordia Bottling Works, 1503 

Concordia Ice and Cold Storage Com- 
pany, 1502 

Concordia Monumental Works, 1503 

Condon National Bank, 2081 

Cone, W. W., 211 

Coney, Patrick H, 1241 

Congregational church, 1011 

Congressional committee, 54S 

Congressional investigation committee, 
570, 595 

Congressional investigation of 1856, 

. 532 

Congressmen at large, 1360, 1446 

Connelley, William E., 640, 853, L005, 
1077, 2731 

Connelly, Charles A., 1740 

Connelly, Henry (portrait), 133 

Connelly, Walter E., 2577 

Conover, John, 1298 

Conrad, John D. M., 2535 

Conroy, James E., 1763 

Constitution hall, 465, 607 

Constitution of Kansas, 699; sources of, 
949 

Constitutional convention, 464, 405. 
934; pro-slavery, 654; of 1857, 655; 
at Lecompton, (557, 062; at Wvandotte 
(table), 698; of 1859, 1201 

Constitutions, 936 

Continental money of Kansas, 469 

Continental Salt Co., 97 

Constructive treason, 540 

Converse, Charles X., 2111 

Conway, Martin F., 401, 468, 692, 699, 
716' 

Cook, Charles H., 2013 

Cook, J. B., 1951 

Cook, J. Edward, 1-804 

Cook, M. J., 2608 

Cook, Perry E., 1762 

Cook, William, 1007 

Cook, Wylie W., 1767 

Cooke, Anson S., 1728 

Cooke, P. St. George, 121, 163, 470, 006. 
619, 639 

Cooley, Dawson W., 1779 

Coon,' William F., 1932 

Copeland, John M., 1541 

Cooper, Benjamin, 89 

Cooper College, 1046 

Cooper, .lames T.. 2260 

Copeland, C. W., 1561 

Copeland, Jonathan, 1032 



INDEX 



Cooper, Sterling, 1203:2 

Corbet, .Tames D., 1645 

Corbett, William E., 1726 

Cordley, Richard, 1268 

Corkill, James J., 1831 

Cormany, William A., I960 

Corn, 830, 1138, 1145; crop greatest in 

the state, 836 
Cornell, Annie S., 2044 
Cornell, Dudley E., 2043 
Corning, Cyrus, 1192 
Coronado, 1, 85, 193, 230, 277, 279; 

army of, 4; expedition, 17 
Corporation tax law, 862 
Cortelyou, John V., 1747 
Cortelyou, Luther, 1402 
Corwine, Herbert J., 1861 
Cory, Charles E., 1368 
Costa's Opera House, 818 
Cottonwood Falls, 271 
Coulter, Harry E., 1903 
Council City, 111, 464 
Council districts, 389 
Council Grove, 82, 95, 111, 140, 180, 204, 

213, 215, 216, 279, 335, 372, 734, 736, 

772; old mission, 1634 
Council Grove monument to Padilla, 17 
Council Grove reservation, 268 
Council Grove treaty Osages, 91 
Council-house of the Wyandot Nation, 

304 
Council, territorial, 401 
Counties in the territory, 662 
County seat contests, 834 
Court' of Visitation, 846, 848 
Courts, absence of, 357 
Cowboy Band of Dodge City, 1213 
Cow Creek, 101 
Cowen, Eber, 2301 
Cowiek, Kate L., 1448 
Cowie, Daniel B., 2595 
Cow Tsland council, 70 
Cowley county, 966, 1136, 1140, 1143; 

first daily newspaper 2487 
Cowpeas, 1281 
Cox, H. L., 2309 
Cox, Keith E., 1831 
Coxey's Army, 1190 
Cradilock, William H., 2090 
Craig, David P., 1896 
Craig, John, 25G9 
Grain, Charles C, 2293 
Crancer, Edwin W., 2390 
Crancer, John W., 2389 
Can. lull, Albert P., 2638 

' ,; Alfred E., 2003 

Crane, Columbus, 2003 

Crane, David <>., 1722 

Crane, Prank S., 1632 

Crane, Geprge W., 1313 

Crane, Jackson B., 2002 

Crane & Com] any, 992, 1311 

Cranston, Arthur P., 2031 

Cravens, Mrs. F. S., 2350 

• ravens, Richard P., 2594 

i rawford county, 911 

Crawford Countv l'jiterpri-. . 1 v",7 

Crawford, George \-. 685, 718, 1247 

Crawford, George M.. 771, 1202 

Crawford, Lester ML, 1656 

Crawford, Nelson A., 1711 



Crawford, Samuel J., 725, 755, 768, 709, 



770 



907, 1129, L202; portr 



Crawford, William, 247, 736 
Creamery, first in state, 2064 
Cream separators, 1281 
Credit Strengthening Act, 1120 
( Sreighton, V. E., 2577 
Crider, John H., 1962 
Crocker, Arthur T., 2614 
Crocker Brothers, 2614 
Crockett, James D. M., 2262 
Croeo, Peter C, 1650 
Cron, Frank H., 2467 
Crop failures, 1777 
Crops and soil, 527 
Crosby Brothers Co., The, L282 
Crosby, Erastus H., 1282 
Crosby, Glocus P., 1582 
Crozier, Robert, 781, 97S, 1363 
Crum, George W., 2620 
Crumbine, S. J., 1090 
Crusade of 1890, 1148 
Crusader of Freedom, 832 
Crystal Salt Company, 2595 
Cudahv Packing Co., 991 
Cudahv Refining Co., 196s 
Cullison, Robert E., 2366 
Cully, Orville L., 2704 
Culmer, G. F., 1007 
Culmer, Harry H., 1912 
Cummings, James S., 2130 
Cummings, John S., 686 
Cunningham, John M., 1842 
Cunningham, William L., 2491 
Curry, Andy, 1974 
Curry, William R., 1421 
Curtis 76:: 

Curtis, Albert N., 2135 
<'urtis, Charles, 855 
( lurtis exposition, 904 
Curtis, Frank H., 1497 
Curtis, Samuel R., 753 
Cusey, James C, 1128 
Custer, George A., 1213 
Cuthbert, James, 1797 
cutler, G. A., 468, 515 

Dague, Silas R., 1802 

Dailey, George W., 1314 

Daih Commcmwealtli, first daily paper 

in Topeka, 1657 
Dairying, 1862, 2472 
Dale, Henrv C, 2098 
Dale, John W., 1787 
Dale, Tillman E., 2070 
Danford's Mill, 683 
Daniel, J. P., L932 
Daniels, Ben, L54' 

Daniels. Henrv II.. Ml'-' 

Danielson, John M.. L323 

Dark Lantern Lodge, 6sl 
Darling, Mary U.. I 160 
Hannah W. 1471 
i i omas .1-. I 17" 

I taughters of the \> ■ Ri i olution, 

1279 

n I'., 2556 
Davis, Alson C, 875 
Davis, Calvin A., 1968 



INDEX 



Davis, Charles G., 1237 

Davis, Charles W., 997, 1236 

Davis, Earl A., 2114 

Davis, Frank W., 1833 

Davis, James M., 1060 

Davis, Jefferson, 470, 536 

Davis, John P., 1953 

Davis-Welcome Mortgage Co., 1954 

Davis, William E., 1313 

Davison, Newton J., 1606 

Dawes Commission, 2607 

Dawes, Henry L., 315 

Dawson, Benjamin F., 1945 

Dawson, John S., 1207 

Dawson, William T., 1946 

Day, Ernest F., 2503 

Day, Orson, 501 

Deal, Frerl E., 1884 

Dean, A. M., 2476 

Dean, Henry E., 2039 

Dean, John's., 1207 

Hebncker, I Icsire, 1814 

De Bourgmont, 964 

DeRnmner, Charles F., 1342 

Decker, Albert I., 2219 

De Coursey, James H., 2064 

Deep water convention, 836 

Deer, 1314, 1711 

Deer, John W., 2176 

Deever, O. H., 1555 

Deitzler, George W., 431, 535, 549, 664, 

870, 1244 
Delahay, Mark W., 468, 470, 523, 716, 

1248 
Delaware cession, 251 
Delaware City, 1099 
Delaware Crossing, 335 
Delaware mission, 250 
Delaware reservation, 248 
Delaware Squatter's Association, 437 
Delaware Treaty, 381 
Delawares, the, 244, 299; war upon 

Pawnees, 248 
Delegate, territorial, 335 
Delegate to Congress nomination, 457 
Delegates to Big Springs convention, 450 
Delegates to Constitutional Convention, 

466 
Delegates to Constitutional Convention of 

1859, 697 
Dcllenbaugh, F. S., 9 
Dellinger, Oris P., 2462 
Deming Investment Co., 1935 
Doming, Peter, case, 1364 
Deming, Robert O., 1935 
Democratic Messenger, 2464 
Democratic party, 627; ami Pro shivery 

propaganda, 480; platform in 1S56, 

630 
De Munn, Julius, 88 
Denious, Oliver, 2052 
Denison, Charles S., 202:: 
Denison, President, 1025 
Denton, Albert H., 2477 
Denton, John F., 2158 
Denton, John T., 2108 
Denton & Limbocker, 2158 
Denver, 169 

Denver, .lames W., 664, 006, 091; por- 
trait, 667; resignation of, 694 
Department of Agriculture, 1086 
Deputy, Delmar E., 1277 



Derby, George G., 2566 

Detwiler, J. R., 810 

Devon State Bank, 2288 

DeVore, Arthur, 1730 

Diamond Salt Co., 998 

Diamond Springs, 96, 112 

Dibble, D. Maynard, 1691 

Dick, Aron, Jr., 2508 

Dick, J. Bruce, 2201 

Dick, Sheridan M., 1976 

Dickens, Albert, 1721 

Dickerson, Patrick A., 2635 

Dickie, F. A., 2589 

Dickie, William G., 1741 

Dickinson, A. G„ 2244 

Dickinson County, 911 

Diekinson, David, 1079 

Dickson, Charles H., 496, 498 

Diebolt, Anton, Jr., 2392 

Dierker, Otto F., 1610 

Diggs, Anna L., 1148, 1149, 1152, 1164, 

L191 
Dillenbeck, Frederick E., 1329 
Dilley, Kate M., 1835 
Dillinger, Samuel R., 1522 
Dillinger, Samuel R., Jr., 1522 
Dimiek, Eugene L., 2433 
Dinsmore, Robert, 2709 
District of the Border, 732, 735 
Dix, Edward E., 1955 
Dixon, Ralph C, 1532 
Doane, Anna F., 1648 
Dodds, Louis E., 2029 
Dodge, A. C, 314, 322 
Dodge City, 7, 90, 113, 238, 777 
Dodge, Rev. Nathaniel B., 226 
Dodwell, James, 1392 
Dog soldiers, 236 

Donalson, I. B., proclamation, 545 
Donelan, J. J., 1543 
Doniphan, 39, 50, 964 
Doniphan, A. W., 613, 618; portrait, 

122; expedition, 122, 302 
Doniphan County, 71, 207, 336, 779, 1051, 

1213, 1247, 1310 
Doniphan Tigers, 552 
Donnellan, John, 2063 
Donnellan, Thomas E., 2063 
Dorsey, L. Owen, 204 
Dosbaugh, John M., 2343 
Dosbaugh National Bank, 2335, 2343 
Doubleday, Floyd E., 2019 
Dougherty, Michael, 1338 
Dough-faces, 342 
Doughty, Edward E., 1399 
Douglas City, 373 

Douglas County, 74, 110, 356, 394, 418, 
435, 449, 483, 530, 648, 668, 792, 911, 
927; first arrivals, 356; names of first 
settlers, 357; raided, 619; map, 641; 
churches, 1014; a pioneer of 1855, 2439 
Douglas, George L., 839, 1171 
Douglas House, S40, 1180 
Douglas, J. C, 798 

Douglas, Stephen A., 185, 298, 299, 303, 
313, 322, 324, 423, 472, 926, 931, '.Ml 
"Douglass House," 1172, 1174, 1176 
Dove, Alonzo F., 1564 
Dow, Charles W., 484, 599 
Dow murder, 517; resolutions, 192 
Downes, John S., 1710 
Dov, .lohn, 357, 359 



INDEX 



Doyle Brothers, 578 

Doyle, James P., 582 

Doyle, James P. <01d Man), 564, 567, 
569 

Doyle, Mahala, story of, 569 

Doyles slain by Browns, 567 

Dram-shop law of 1855, 789 

Dred Scott case, 185 

Drevets, John P., 2559 

Driggs, William W., 1407 

Drinking cup, 1091 

Drouths; 1272, 1405, 1634; the most per- 
sistent, 707 

Dry-farming movement, 1972 

Duckworth, Harry N., 1670 

Dunbar, James N., 2027 

Dunbar, John, 1245 

Duncan, John E., 1437 

Duncan, Lew W., 2724 

Dunfee, Ed J., 1401 

Dunham, Jefferson, 2652 

Dunkards, 1013 

Dunlap, Mrs. Howard, 2281 

Dunlavy, Samuel W., 2351 

Dunning, Bobbie J., 2167 

Dunning Opera House, 2167 

Dunsmore House, 840, 1176, 1180 

Dunsmore, J. M., 839, 1171 

Durant, William E., 1519 

Durein, Frank, 1654 

Durham, 112 

Dutch Henry, 574, 576 

Dutch Henry's Crossing, 139, 563, 566, 
577, 610; Country About (map), 568; 
resolutions, 582 

Dutch, Raymond F., 2435 

Du Tisne, Charles Claude, 35 

Dutton, H. R, 701, 718, 721 

Dwinnell, Francis C, 1533 

Dyche, Lewis L., 1236 

Dye, George C, 2316 

Dysinger, Holmes, 1410 

Eagle, Charles S., 1693 

Earleton State Bank, 1941 

Early doctor, 1215 

Early flour mill, 2487 

Early lumber mill, 1655 

Early pioneers, 1711 

Early politics, 2460 

Earlv railroads, 2475 

Early salt factories, 996 

Early settlers, 1662 

Eastern border settlements, 363 

Eastern Kansas in November, 1854 

(map - ), 375 
Eastin, Lucien J., 401, 502, 523 
Easton, 523 

Eaton, Eldred L., 1575 
Eclectic Medical Association, 994 
Economic conditions, 8 IS 
Economic policy, 1118 
Edelblute, David 11.. 1234 

Edelblute, William It., 1785 

Edgar County, 2015 

Edgerton, Owen E., 1333 

Educational institutions, 833, 861, 1015 

Education in Kan 

Edwards, Charles L., 2553 

Edwards Conntv, (17, 113 

Edwards, Elba L., 2301 
Edwardsville, 250 



Efficiency and Economy Commission 865 

Egy, Albert I., 2689 

Eighteenth Kansas Volunteer Battalion, 

Eighth Kansas Infantry, 832 

Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 881 

Eilerts, Walter J., 2475 

Elder, Aldamar P., 2396 

Elder, P. P., 1137, 1156, 1161 

Elder, Peter P., 1228, 2396 

El Dorado, 2572; oil field, 1357; early 
real estate dealer, 2469 

El Dorado Hospital, 2481 

El Dorado National Bank, 2529, 2542 

Eldridge, Colonel Shaler W., 457, 541, 
548, 646, 701, 702, 705, 1303, 2425 

El.hidge, Edward, 541 

Eldridge house, 744 

Eldridge, Thomas B., 541, 548 

Election decision of Governor Reeder, 398 

Election districts territorial, 372 

Election for ratification of the Constitu- 
tion, 468 

Election Law, 454 

Election of 1858, 668 

Election of 1862, 718 

Election of October 6, 1856, 647 

Election on constitution, 697 

Election returns in 1855, 395 

Election ring, 867 

Election, territorial, 653 

Elections in the Territory, 533 

Electric railways, 850 

Eleventh Kansas Infantry, 723 

Eleventh Kansas Regiment, 731, 732, 737, 
756, 758, 763 

Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, 888 

Elgin, founder of, 1365 

Elgin Journal, 2097 

Elk County, 12 

Elk Falls, schools, 2427 

Elks Lodge, 1081 

Ellinwood, 113 

Elliott, Charles S., 1667 

Elliott, David S., 1964 

Elliott, George N., 1667 

Elliott, Leila C, 1965 

Elliott, R. G., 364, 446 

Elliott, Robert G., 1209 

Elliott, William Q-, 2649 

Ellis, Abraham, 798, 1204 

Ellis, John, 2532 

Ellis, Nannie C, 2465 

Ellis, Paris T., 2185 

Ellsworth, 1084, 2338 

Ellsworth County. 67, 1001 

Elm Grove, 155, 158 

El Quartele.io, 966 

Elsmore Leader, 2569 

Elwood, 707, 779 

Embree, Mary, 1077 

Emerson, Zolo A., 1748 

Emery, Judge James S., 446, 4.".::, 692, 
1258 

Emigrant \ id \- "i-:il , "■ "■'' 

Emigrant Aid Company, 338, 364, 387, 

391, :'.<■< •. >:': purposes. 

346 

n( :■ a in T: 
Emigrant Tribes, 304 
Emigration companies. 3 i.~ 
Emigration in 70 's, 777 



XXIV 



INDEX 



Emigration into Kansas from tbe free 

states, 437 
Emigration Road, 156, 173 
Emigration societies anger the South, 

348 
Emigration through Kansas after Cali- 
fornia gold discoveries, 162 
Empire Mining and Smelting Co., 1008 
Emporia, 791, 985, 1037, 2379; state nor- 
mal school at, 767; churches, 1012; 
Carnegie City Library, 2281 
Enabling Act, 932 
Endres, Benjamin F., 2250 
Endres, John A., 2249 
Engineer Cantonment, 74 
Engineering Experiment Station, 1030 
Engler, Arthur C, 1686 
Engler, Charles, 1685 
English bill, 668, 932; election, 669 
English Swindle, 946 
English, Talbert J., 2665 
Englund, John, 2542 
Enns, Cornelius, 2505 
Enns, John F., 2505 
Enns Milling Company, 2505 
Enoch, Elmer E., 1297 
Enright, Edward A., 2058 
Enright, Myra B., 2059 
Enterprise, founder of, 2487; milling in- 
dustry, 2488 
Enterprise Normal Academy, 1065 
Episcopal church, 1010, 1015 
Equal rights and suffrage for women, 

2171 
Era of good feeling, 847 
Erbacher, Edward F., 2697 
Ervav, Fred L., 2236 
Escanjaques, The, 2021 
Estevan, negro slave, 3 
Ettenson, Henry, 2345 
Ettenson, Seth, 2346 
Eudora, 2382, 2386; honored merchant 

of, 2277 
Eureka, city builder, 2298 
Evans, Arthur W., 1909 
Evans, Dave, 432 
Evans, Mary H., 2711 
Evans, Woodford P., 2711 
Evening Free Press, Winfield, 2478 
Everest Enterprise, 1419 
Everts, John M., 1399 
Ewing, 746 
Ewing, Cen. Thomas, Jr., 692, 699, 723, 

732, 738, 743, 888; portrait, 7:;:: 
Ewing, Thomas, 945 

Exchange National Bank, Atchison, 980 
Exchange State Bank of Linn, 1557 
Exchange State Bank of Nortonville, 

1381 
Executive Committee of Kansas Terri- 
tory, 462. 471 
Exner. Joseph E., 1961 
Exodus, 787 
Exoduster, 787 

Expedition of Lewis and Clark, 181 
Expeditions to Pawnees, 231 
Experiment Stations, 1029 
Exploration unrecorded, 1 15 
Explorer in South America, 2285 
Eyman, Joseph L, 1447 
Evmann. Jacob S., 2680 
Ez. 11. Walter S., 1807 



Fahlstrom, J. S., 1550 

Fail, Oliver W., 2328 

Fair, E. Clate, 1652 

Fairchild, Anthony W., 1467 

Fairehild, President, 1026 

Fairmount College, 1012, 1042 

Fairy-rings, 284 

Fall, Norman B., 2564 

Falun, 2495 

Fancher, George A., 1988 

Fancy Creek valley, 1260; first stone 

house in, 1265 
Farley, Lewis, 483 
Farm Mortgage Company, 1673, 1704 
Farm ownership, 1160 
Farm products, 848, 1152; 1897-98, 846; 

speculators in, 1 12:; 
Farmers Alliance, 837, 1140 
Farmers Alliance Insurance Co., 2515 
Farmers ami Merchants National Bank, 

El Dorado, 2511 
Farmers, organization of, 778 
Farmers, conditions in the '80s, 1138 
Farmers institutes, 1031 
Farmers' movement, 1126 

Farmers State Bank of Wilson, 1622 
Farmers' State convention, 1126 
Farmers Fnioii of Kansas, 2175 

Farming, 1088 

Farming and railroads, 1122 

Farnsworth, John M., 1371 

Faris, Henry V. D., 1619 

Farrar, Foss, 2584 

Farrar, Harrv P., 2583 

Farrelly, Hugh P., 1357 

Farris," Edgar L., 1907 

Farris, Oscar R., 1465 

Farrow, John W., 2112 

Fasenmver, Anthony C, 2065 

Faulkner, Charles E., 813 

Favor, John B., 2080 

Fear, John O, 2687 

Fear, Rhoda B., 2687 

Federal Reserve Act, 975 

Federal Reserve Bank, Kansas Citv, Mo., 
2084 

Feighny, John T., 2609 

Fenlon, Thomas P., 1363 

Ferguson, W. S., 1385 

Ferrell, John A., 2430 

Fertig, Peter, 1002 

Feterita, 1281 

Fielder, Charles W., 2599 

Fields, John O, 1849 ■ 

Fifteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, S94 

Fifth Kansas, 756 

Fifth Kansas Cavalry, 735 

Fifth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cav- 
alry, 878 

Filer, James N., 538 

Finney, Charles C, 1437 

Finney county, 115 

Firemen 's relief, 1094 

"First Christmas in Palmyra," 2471 

First Free State council of 1857-5S, 1265 

First Kansas Colored Volunteer In- 
eantry, 897 

First Kansas Volunteer Battery, 898 
I i, i National Bank of Barnard, 2596 

First National Bank of Independence, 
1249, 1880 



First National Hank of Leavenworth, 977 
First National Hank, Lindsborg, 2548 
First National Hank of MarysviUe, 1485 
First National Hank of St. Marys, 1480 
First National Hank of Washington, 

1534, 1566 
First national republican convention, 942 
First Regiment Kansas Volunteer In- 
fantry, 869 
First structure erected by Americans in 

Colorado, 67 
First Things: Christian martyr in United 
States, 15; Independence Day celebra- 
tion, 50; steamboat on Kansas river, 
70; routes of continental or inland 
travel, 84; railroad in the United 
States, 1sl>; settlement by white 
people, 207; whit.- child born in Kan- 
sas, 21H; newspaper, 242, ."•<>.".; printing 
press brought to Kansas, 271; buffalo, 
U7S; territorial delegate to Congress, 
302; state paper of Kansas and of 
Nebraska, 306; Governor of Kansas, 
315; settlements, 356; colony by the 
Emigrant Aid Company, 360; town in 
Kansas, 362; Free-State paper, 364; 
territorial election, -".72: election dis- 
tricts established (map), 375; terri- 
torial election qualifications for suf- 
frage 376; election for legislature, 
■I'll" Territorial Legislature, 401, 653; 
homicide in Kansas territory, 435; 
Five-state platform, 152; Thanksgiv- 
ing 169" session of tin' first General 
Assembly, 471; pro-slavery court, 563; 
legal election, 656; railroad track in 
Kansas, 7u7; battle for freedom, 708; 
governor of state, 712; state legisla- 
ture, 713; call of President Lincoln, 
717; train on the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe Railroad, 777; telephone 
in Kansas, 7S4 ; liquor legislation, 
788; liquor law, 789; native Kansan, 
.-, governor, 865; mothers' pension law, 
867; Indian regiment, 901; walled 
house, 906; white settlement, 967; 
banking law, 971 ; bank commissioner, 
074; bank failure, 070; national bank. 
977; rjnited states land ofl&ce, Le- 
compton, 982; packing house. 901; 
physicians. 993; medical society, 09.1 ; 
medical college, Hit.".; Catholic bishop 
of Kansas, 1211; Catholic church, 
Il'1 1; mill in Kansas, 1315; grinding 
and si» mill. L700; Protestant church 
building, 22::7 
First Unitarian church, Lawrence, 22::, 
Fisher, Fdwa.d C. 2647 

Fisher! Samuel B., 2110 



, 2105 

ike'- cn| 

l.. 2536 



Flenneken, Hon. Robert P., 382 

Flesher, Bernard, 2514 

Flesher, Rose W., 2515 

Fletcher, Frank F., 1709 

Flint, Frederic L., 2681 

Floersch, Joseph B., 1801 

Floersch, Michael, 1801 

Flood of 190.'!, 850, 1553, 171::, 1903 

F I of 1908, 17i:', 

Florence Bulletin, 1624 

Florida in 1526, 2 

Flory, Floyd C, 2183 

Flory, Tom W., 2623 

Floyd, Harry E., 1899 

Focht, Harriet M., 2465 

Focht, Robert, 2464 

Fockele, Frank, 2658 

Foley, Charles F., 1266 

Foltz, Junius H., 1666 

Foltz, Martin L., 1665 

Foltz, Nevin M., 1666 

Fool Chief, 150, 213 

Foot and mouth disease, 831, 1208 

Forbes, Robert, 2296 

Ford, Orrin H., 2518 

Forde, Edgar M., 2146 

Forde, Edgar M., Sr., 2146 

Forest Oil Co., 1003 

Forks of the Wakarusa, 262 

Forman, John W., 401 

Forney, Elmer H., 2473 

Forney, John K., 2472 

Forsse, Olof, 2538 

Fort Aubry, 116 

Fort Bridger, 182 

Fort County, 113 

Fort Podge, 7, 113, 1084, 1219 

Fort Hall, 182 

Fort Hays, 773 

Fort Hays branch station, 1029 

Fort Hays State Normal school, 1038 

Fort Kearney, 390 

Fort Lamed, 11:1, 772, 899 

Fort Leavenworth, 151, 155, 165, 199, 

249, 265, 301, 335, 362, 368, 371, II I. 

470, 735, 849, 1995; established, lis, 

148 
Fort Lisa, 146 
Fort Lvon, 1 13 
Fort Orleans, 38 

Fort Osage, 69, lis, 138, 151, 223, 2:;n 
Fort Riley, 80, 161, 165, 335, 372, -ion, 

I(i2, 470, 606, 872 
Fori Saunders, 530, oil: attacked, on 
I'm, i Scott, 139, 336, 174, 584, 735, 761, 

S79, 982, 985, 1225, 1227, 1801 ; free 

state and slaverj i rouble , 682 . 1 1 sohi 

tions, 685; attacked by "Osages," 

686; churches, liioO; founder of, 121)5, 
li' 17; first circulating library, L833; 
earlj settler at, 1947 

Fort Scott I iroi erj I lompanj . 13 15, 1352 

Fort Scott road, 749 

Fort Scott Texa 

Fort Smith, 21 

Fort Titus, 608, 61 L, 

ace, 772 

Fort Wise, 1 13 

Fort Zarah, I I I 

. C. II- . 2078 
Fosha Family, 1858 



INDEX 



Fosha, John, 1859 

Fosha, John F., 1858 

Foster, Freeman R., 1647 

Foster, Jesse M., 1538 

Foulston, Juanita T., 1795 

Foulston, Robert C, 1795 

Fourteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 

892 
Fourth Kansas Volunteer Regiment, 876 
Fourth National Bank of Wichita, '2091 
Fowler Brothers, 991 
Fowler, John J., 1481 
Fowler, Philip P., 401 
Foxes, 265, 266 
Francis, Clara, 788, 1077 
Francis, John, 781, 1259 
Francis, William H., 1962 
Franey, Hattie, 2541 
Frankfort State Bank, 1541 
Franklin, 356, 499, 508, 639, 642, 743; 

pro-slavery town, 496; fortified, 608; 

attacked, 611; battle of, 2000 
Frankin, Benjamin, 640 
Franklin county, 268, 274, 530, 561, 593, 

594, 691, 853, 911, 1001, 1228 
Franklin, Missouri, cradle of the Santa 

Fe trade, 138 
Fraser, John, 1231 
Fraser, Samuel V., 1577 
Frazier, Nathan F., 1504 
Frazier, Ray E., 1505 
Frazier, Thaddeus C, 1856 
Fredonia Window Glass Co., 1884 
Freedman's State Central Association, 

787 
Freedom and slavery battle-lines form in 

Kansas, 355 
Freedom's champion, 271, 832 
Free coinage, 1154 
Free labor, 453 
Freeman, Frederick W., 1635 
Freeman, Winfield, 2037 
Free press, colony, 2658 
Free silver, 1189, 1192, 1195 
Free-Soil democrats, 628 
Free-Soil voters, 395 
Free state attitude of Missourians, 337 
Free-State cause, 595 
Free-State citizens disfranchised, 418 
Free-State constitution, 472, 519 
Free-State convention, 938 
Free-State convention at Grasshopper 

Falls, 656 
Free State due tu James II. Lane, 169 
Free-State hotel, 457, 511, 514, 543, 548, 

551, 705, 1304; burned, 552 
Free-State lawyer, a, 2448 
Free-State leaders, 605 

Free-State leaders and John Brown, 579 
Free State legislature, 171. 534, 015, 05 1; 

dispersion of, 472, 606, 608 
Free State meetings, 115, 460; at Chi- 

eago, 596 
I',,,. State men, 393. -132. 509, 518, 524, 

(!.-.:;, SCO; headquarters el'. 356; revolu 

tionary 1- 1 ; invade K;m^s 600 ; men 

triumph, 656; men leaders, 092; men 

immortal, 708 

r State movement, 341,2102; a pion- 
eer in, 1055 



Free-State party, 426, 444, 456, 461, 464, 
468, 470, 476, 478, 481, 500, 515, 532, 
536, 538, 633, 638, 700, 939 

Free-State people ascendancy in the af- 
fairs of government, 664 

Free-State platform, 452 

Free-State population in 1855, 464 

Free State secret military organization, 
490 

Free-State settlers, 363; outrages upon, 
578 

Free-State struggle, beginning of, 351; a 
personal narrative, 1999 

Free-State ticket, 468, 470 

Free-State warrants, 970 

Freight rate case, 1364 

Freight rates, 1122 

Freight trains, 1700 

Fremont, John C, 628; first exploration 
of the Great Plains, 153; second ex- 
pedition, 155 

French and Indian war, 42 

French dominant people, 28 

French first exploration in Kansas, 35 

French trade with the Indians, 38 

Frey, John C, 1773 

Friends University, Wichita, 1058, 2649 

Frisbie, (ieorge A., 1382 

Frizz. II, James R., 2678 

Frontier Guard, 716 

Frost, John E., 1690 

Frost, W. R., 449 

Fruit growing at Indian missions, 243 

Fruit, Roy L., 2147 

Fry, Lloyd S., 1782 

Fugitive-slave law, 297, 335, 627 

Fuller, Joseph A., 2197 

Fulton, Edgar R., 1485 

Fundamental law of Kansas territory, 335 

Funding Act, 702, 705 

Funston, Edward H., 1292 

Fnnston, Frederick, 909, 954, 1292 

Furniture factories, 989 

"Fur Farming with Sheep," 1657 

Fur trade with Missouri Indians, 42 

Fussman, Charles, 2249 

Fussman, Louise, 2249 

Fussman, Sophia, 2249 

Gabe, William H. F., 1552 

Gable, Barabas, 621 

Gabriel, George W., 2047 

( ladsden I 'urchase, 926 

Gage Park, Topeka (illustration), 278 

Gage, Willard A., 2639 

(ialatia Register, 1623 

Galena, 985, 1007, 1008, 1893; schools, 

1980 
Galena Mining and Smelting Co., 1008 
Galley, F. W., 1561 
(;:im. ■ preserve, 1336 
Gardanier, Bert L., 1611 
Garden City, 100, 115, 216 
Garden City branch station, 1029 
Gardner, 153 
Gardner, Fred C, 2342 
Gardner, Henry, 2317 
Gardner, John, 725 
Gardner, Joseph, 2439 
Gardner, Theodore. 2 1 In 



INDEX 



Gardner, Truman W., 2317 
Garfield University, 1059 
Garnett, 769, 802 

Garrett, Joel Walker, 305; portrait, 309 
Garrison, David R., 614 
Garrison, William Lloyd, 347 
Garvey, E. C. K., 463 
Gas, 990, 1001; fields, 841; resources, 
843; boom, 1004; first prospect, 1847 
Gasche, Wilfred B., 1683 
Gates, Edward G, 1362 
Gates, Horatio W., 1416 
Geary county, 911, 965, 967 
Geary, John W., 612, 622, 632, 647, 648, 
i;:.::. 662, 92x; overawes Missourians, 
642; leaves Kansas, 649; (portrait), 
634 
Geddes, Karl M., 2516 
Geiser, William, 2180 
Gemmell, Anna M., 1837 
Gemmell, George A., 2164 
General banking law of 1891, 972 
Genn, Josiah T., 1480 
Genthe, Ernest, 1637 
Genthe, Herman, 1637 
Geoffroy, Frank, 1551 
George, Wilbur P., 1674 
George, Nelson H., 2528 
Georgia colony, 610 
Gephart, J. T. B., 1380 
German Baptist Brethren Church, 1013 
Geuda Springs, 2564 
Ghost dance, 236 
Gibb, Robert B., 2045 
Gibson, Charles M„ 1849 
Gibson, John S., 2687 
Gibson, Mrs. A. H., 2089 
Gift, Elmer B„ 1773 
Gilbert, Rev. J. E., 819 
Giles, Fry W., 798, 127S 
Gilliland, James F., 2485 
Cilman, John M., 2507 
Gilmore, David S., 2089 
Gilmore, Hiram A., 2428 
cilmoro, John S., 2369 
Gilpatrick, Dr., 684 

Gilpin, William, 135, 155, 161, 187, 306; 
addresses, 162; father of the Pac " 
railroad, 186; Apostle of the West, 301 
chard Press, 1873 
Girard schools, 1873 
Cist, Almon A., 2468 
Glass, E. C, 1991 

Glass factories, 990, 1004, 2178; first 
»lass nude west of Mississippi river, 
21 78 
Glasscock, Samuel S., 1992 
(daze, .1. A., 1540 
Gleed, Charles S., 1077, 2314 

Clean, 1111 

clean. Elmi r E . 2136 
(lliek, George W., 829, 980, 1133; por- 
trait, 830 
Globe Life Insurance Company, l.'l t 
Goddard, Clarence C, 2307 
Goebel, Peter K 
Goheen, Samuel F., 1804 
Goheen, u illiam L., 1623 
Gold discovered in California, 296 
Gooch, William S., 1991 



Goodholm, Fred, 25 1 7 

Coodin, Joel K., 464, 465, 469, 1274 

Goodin, J. R., 535 

Goodlander, Charles W., 1227 

Goodnow, Isaac T., 1853 

C'and reads. Slit, S57, 25611 

Goodrich, C. B., 1774 

Goodrich, Fred E., 1774 

Good Templars, 802, 808, 811, 814, 822 

Goodwin, Arthur W., 2246 

Goodwin, William c , ■ ■ i , 

Gordon, James C, 1699 

Gordon, William W., 2228 

Gosler, Nicholas, 1591 

Government Old Guard House. Fori Scott 

(illustration), 690 
Governor, territorial, 33 I 
Governors (see Robinson, Carney, Craw- 
ford, Greene, Harvey, Osborn, Anthony, 
St. John, Glick, Martin, Humphrey, 
Lewelling, Morrill, Leedy, Stanley, 
Bailey, Hoch, Stubbs, Hodges, Capper) 

Governors, territorial (see Keeder, W 1- 

son, Shannon, Geary, Walker, Stanton, 
Denver, Medary) 
Governor 's military staff, 906 
Gove county, 820 
Gowans, James W., 2406 
Graham county, 787 
Graham, E. L., 1942 
Grain department, 862 
Grain gambling, 1195 
Grain prices, 1123 
Grand Army of the Republic, 1082; first 

department commander of, 833 
Grange, 1127; organized, 778 
Grant county, 102, 114 
Grasshoppers, 1272, 1314, 1405, 1674, 
2080, 26(16; plagues, 1308, 1634; plague 
of 1857, 1201; plague of IS7I. 261. S 
i Irasshopper creek, 174 
Grasshopper Falls, 171, 622 
Grasshopper Falls convention, 654, 1298 
Grasshopper river, 265, 336 
Grasshopper year, 779, 1314 
Grattan, Robert V., 1390 
Grauerholz, Edward, 1524 
Graves, William E., 1757 
Craves, William W., 1953 
Cray, Alfred, 1087, 1126, 1274, 2030 
Gray county, 113, 115 
Gray, George M., 2029 
Gray, Rasselas M., 2030 



Great American Desert, The, 76 
Great Bend, 67, L13, 836, 996 

Creat I'laius. Spaniards' title to, 17; 
Spanish expeditions, 28; divisions, ISO 

creat seal of the Stal ' Kansas, 11 10, 

(ileal Western Manufacturing Company, 

233 
i ,i , at We tei a Poi i land I 
i ireeley county, 83 I 

Greeley, Horace, 348, 395, L124; describes 
Kansas, 7:' 

: acli party, 1127, 1 L33 
! . 2123 



INDEX 



Green, Ed, 2455 

Green, Edward F., 2347 

Green, George G., 2657 

Green, Mrs. Charles A., 1872 

Green, William, 1802 

Green, William D., 2637 

Greene, George A., 1792 

Greene, Harvey, 2318 

Greene, H. M.,' .798 

Greene, Isa A., 2317 

Greene, Max, 81 

Greene, Nehemiah, 774; portrait, 775 

Greenleaf State Bank, 1538 

Greenman, Sara, 2034 

Greenwood county, pioneer experiences, 

2272 
liner, John P., 946 
Gregg, Josiah, 143 
Gregg, Washington E., 2008 
Gregg, William H., 748 
Gregorius, Peter, 2514 
Grenola schools, 2480 
Grey, Edward, 2614 
Gridley Light, 2623 
Griffin, Albert, 817 
Griffin, John J., 2348 
Griffith, William R., 699 
Griffitts, Wesley V., 1527 
Grimmell, George H., 2118 
Gristmills, 346, 988 
Gristy, James P., 2359 
Griswold, J. Louis, 1874 
Grondal, Bror G., 2558 
Gross, Samuel S., 1435 
Grover, D. A., 401 
Grove, William T., 2095 
Grow, Galusha A., 942 
Gubernatorial election, 1207 
Guernsey, George T., 1280 
Guernsey, Sarah E., 1279 
Guerrilla captains, 733 
Guerrillas, 732, 742 
Guerrilla war in Kansas, 529, 608 
Guettel, Henry A., 1276 
Gundy, Charles T., 1424 
Gunn, L. C, 840 
Gunn, Otis B., 1201 
Gupton, M. A., 2587 
Guthrie, 315 
Guthrie, Abelard, 302, 308, 319, 332, 459, 

630; portrait, 303 
Guthrie, John, 1264 
Guy, Arthur L., 1521 
Guzman expedition, 2 
Gypsum used in road building, 1777 

Hackett, Ansel B., 2120 
Hackney, William P., L223 
Hadsall, Charles Crystal, 678 
Hageman, Frank, 258] 
Hageman, Miller, 2581 
Haile, Elster M., 2710 
Hairgrove, William, (171 
Halderman, John A., L248 
Hale, Edward Everett, 342 
Hale, James, 394, 617 
Haley, William. 1584 
Hall, Austin Wilbur, 071 
Hall, Fred C, 1540 
Hall, Harry D., 2590 
Hall, John A., 678 



Hall, Justus O., 2730 

Hall Lithographing Co., 992 

Hall, L. S., 1348 

Hall, William A., 302 

Hall, William C, 1855 

Hall, Willard Preble, 302 

Hallowell, James R,, 1151 

Halstead, 1062 

Halsted, Murat, 2604 

Ham, William E., 1425 

Hamelton, Algernon S., 676 

Hamelton, Charles A., 669, 671, 676 

Hamelton, George P., 676 

Hamelton, Thomas, 676 

Hamill, Claude E., 2022 

Hamlin, George P., 814 

Hamill, Robert E., 2023 

Hamilton, Alphius L., 1466 

Hamilton, Clad, 909 

Hamilton county, 115 

Hamilton, John, 1205 

Hammel, William I., 2137 

Hampton, Levi J., 640 

Hanback, Lewis, 1278, 2368 

Handier, J. W., 1600 

Hancock, Ivy E., 1884 

Hangen, Charles P., 1226 

Hanging of Russell Hinds, 693 

Hanlon, Thomas J., 1950 

Hanson, William C, 2504 

Hanway, James, 561, 566, 583 

Harbaiigh, Henry P., 1790 

Harbourt, Thomas C, 1944 

Hard Chief, 213 

Harding, Benjamin, 1212 

Harger, Charles M., 2238 

Hargis, Josiah, 4K4 

Harlan, I, David, 1007 

Harmpnj mission, 224 

Harness manufacture, 989 

Harper county, 1001 

Harper, Floyd E., 2337 

Harper, Samuel N., 1677 

Harper, William G., 1677 

Harr, Frank M., 1967 

Harris affidavit, 571 

Harris Commercial, The, 2624 

Harris, Curtis L., 1438 

Harris, E. P., 662, 678 

Harris, H. B. C, 401 

Harris, James, 570 

Harris, John P., 2391 

Harris, Nathaniel, 1618 

Harris, W. A. H., 817 

Harris, William A., 845, 116.!, 1167, 1239 

Harrison, William n., 1261 

Harshbaxger, Harry If.. 2133 

Hart, Harry W., 2651 

Hartland, 101, 115 

Hartlov, Forrest M., 2378 

Harvey, Charles W.. 2463 

Harvey county, churches, 1012; pioneer 

events. 1892 
Harvey, James Ma, lis,.,,. 770, 1127, 1292 

portrait, 777; administration, 1293 
Harvey, Loren E., 1958 
Harwi, Alfred J., 1366 
Harwi, Frank E., 1307 
Haskell county, 1 M 
Haskell, Dudlej < '.. 808, 1121 
Haskell [nstitute, 831 



Haskell, John F., 1766 

Haskell, John G., 1264 

Haskins, Henry E., 2706 

Hassebroek, Enoch, 1795 

Hasselmanu, William, 1644 

Hatch Act, 1022 

Hathaway, Philip W., 2423 

Hatten, Ancil P., 2660 

Hattorsc-liei.lt, John P., 1209 

Hauber, Prank J., 1553 

Havens, A. P., 1579 

Havens, Nora, 1579 

Havens, Paul E., 2224 

Haverstiek, William C, 1988 

Hnwkes, Samuel N., 1289 

Hay, 2563 

Hay, Norman L., 2153 

Hayes, Josiah E., 781 

Hayes, J. W., 359 

Hays, Victor A., 17:::: 

Hayward, Jasper W., 1830 

Hazen, Addle, 1986 

Hazen, William P., 1986 

Hazlett, Edward E., 2556 

Hazlett, Robert H., 2529 

Headquarters of slavery men, ::iil 

Head, J. W., 685 

Heal, Hammond R., 2025 

Healy, Michael J, 1605 

Heath, Edwin R, 2285; explorations of, 

2285 
Heberling, Hiram H, 1666 
Hehrank, John, 1904 
Heckman, David, 2038 
Hecox, Alfred 11.. 2135 
Hedinger, < fharles, 2537 
Heeney, Ed, 1493 
Heffelfmger, John B., 2484 
Heil, Peter, 1713 
Heimann, Augustine P., 2152 
Heinz, Gerard, 1415 
Heiskell, William A., 401, 638 
Heizer, Robert C, 1543 
Helmers, Henry J., Sr., 2380 
Hemphill, Samuel A., 2693 
Henderson, James W., 2202 
Henderson, Leonard E., 2235 
Hendricks, Charles M., 1526 
Hen.lrv, Alexander S., 2586 
Henley, Albert, 2251 
Henneberry, Patrick E., 24.15 
Hennepin, Father Louis, 281; describes 

the buffalo, 281 
Hepner, Frieda, 2514 
Herald of Freedom, 271, 364, 54 1, 551, 

580, 611, 779, 125.", 
Hernial., Frederick W., 1610 
Hermann, John, 2446 
II, ar, Francis C, 2387 
Herring, Christian F., 1876 
Hernnan, Charles 11.. L577 
Herrod, Albert J., 2116 
Hesper Quaker settlement, 7 13 
Hesston state Bank, 2668 
Hetherington, William, 980 
Hewitt, W. F., 2475 
Hewins, Charles B., I t55 

Hiawatha, 1010, 1127 
Hibben, Ralph i:., 2158 
Hickman, Herbert, 1624 
Hickory grove, I s :: 



Hickory Point, 356, 394, 483, 188, 639, 

1232, 1291 
Hickorv Point battle, 622 
Hieks, J. Clark, 1950 
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 581 
Highland, 267, 1247; churches, 1012 
Highland College, 1012 
Highland School Library, Hutchinson, 

2730 
Highland University, 1047, 1248 
Hileman, Allen D., 2071 
Hileman, John S., 2071 
Hill, Burritt H., 2173 
Hill, Calvin M., 1793 
Hill, Charles A., 2381 
Hill, George 6., 1502 
Hill, Gladys E., 2521 
Hill, Irving, 2441 
Hill, Levi 1)., 2544 
Hill. Rufus J., 2091 
Hill, Thurman, 1704 
Hill, William P., 1393 
Hill, William J., 2568 
Hilleary, Charles M., 2223 
Hilliard, Albert A., 2696 
Hillman, Alden C, 2440 
Hillman, John W., 1364 
Hillyer, George S., 699 
Hinckley, Harry L., 2615 
Hine, George S., 1862 
Hinds, Isaac M., 2174 
Hinds, Russell, hanging of, 693 
Hippie, Eugene, 2689 
Historical and Philosophical Society, 1071 
History of Kansas, written by Xew Eng- 

landers, 429 
Hite, Wiliam II., 2064 
Hilt, J. Boyd, 1425 
Hoi, son, Thomas If., Jr., 1811 
Hoch, Edward W., 66, sr,::, inn.-,, f034, 

1183, 1601; portrait, 854 
lioikaday, John M., 165 
Hodges, George H„ 860, 2332; portrait, 

861 ; election rout, '-tod. 1207 
Hodgins, Sadlier J., 1795 
Hodgson, Howard J.. 1428 
Hoei ken, Christian, 262 
Hoffman, Anna C, 2488 
Hoffman, Arnold R., 1544 
Hoffman, Christian, 2487 
Hoffman, George M., 2656 
Hoffman, Michael T., L552 
Hoffman, Samuel 1.'., L201 
Hoffman, William, 2400 
Hogueland, William E., 2276 
Hoisington, Perry M., 2712 
Holcomb, I L5 

Holderman, Abraham .1.. Jr.. 2512 
Holderman, \ brahain .1.. Sr.. 2510 

Holladay, Ben, 170 

Holland, James C, 1712 

llollidav. Hen, 980 

Holliday, Cyrus K„ 362, 101, 16 

1 252 
Hollister's batter; 
Hollowell, Nathan I.., 2259 
Holmes, George N., 1809 

Holmes, San 1, 2159 

Holt, Col i John l>.. 712 

H„lt. G. s„ 2631 

Holt, William H.. 2660 



INDEX 



Holyrood Banner, 1623 

Holzmark, Albert J., 2377 

Holzmark, Joseph, 2378 

Home Guards, 879 

Home Mission societies, 1602 

Home National Bank, Arkansas City, 
2477 J ' 

Home National Bank of Caney, 2027 

Homeopathic Medical Society, 994 

Home owning legislation, 2251 

Homestead claims in Douglas county, 357 

Homestead clause of the constitution, 699 

Homestead exemption, 950 

Homestead laws, 349, 951 

Homesteads, an interesting contest 1768 

Honey, Henry I?., 1.1.17 

Honor for making Kansas, 709 

Hood, Edward A., 1538 

Hood, William A., 1753 

Hoogland, Edward, 700 

Hook, Enos, 2414 

Hook, Dawson A., 2414 

Hook, William C, 2414 

Hooper, Frank G., 1492 

Hooper, William W., 2374 

Hoopingarner, Joseph H., 1921 

Hopkins, Henry, 899, 900 

Hopkins, William A., 1584 

Horn, Jesse B., 1531 

Hornaday, William T., 287 

Horton, Albert H, 1252 

Horton, Bert L., 1871 

Horton, Fred J., 2361 

Horton Headlight-Commercial, 1427 

Horville, Louise E., 2331 

Hosford, Clitus B., 24 17 

Hosford, Ovando, 2447 

Hosford, William, 2447 

Hoss, Granville S., Jr., 2060 

House of representatives, territorial, 401 

Houston, Chester C, 2287 

Houston, S. B., 716 

Houston, S. D., 401, 407 

Houston, Samuel D., 1871 

Howard, Chettie A., 1643 

Howard, David M., 1642 

Howard, Richard C, 2486 

Howe, Edgar W., 1418 

Howe, James R., 2382 

Howe, John W., 1686 

Howe, Samuel T., 2382 

Howell, Andrew J., 1490 

Howell, Thomas G., 1680 

Hower, George H., 1605 

Howison, Herbert M., 1982 

Howland, Clark G., 2237 

Hovey, George U. S., 206 

Hoyt, D. S., 611 

Hoyt, F. C, 1765 

Hoyt, John C, 2469 

Hudson, Joseph K., 825, 1093, 1126, 1129, 
1973, 2102; brigadier general of volun- 
teers, Spanish-American war, 2103 

Hudson, M. E., 1129 

Huffaker, Judge, 1634 

Huffaker, Thomas S., 215, 1279 

Huffman, Charles S., 909, 2327 

Hughart, Arthur A., 2020 

Hughes, Bela M., 171 

llu^lies, George, 1639 

Hughes, John F., 2544 



Hughes, John T., 592 

Hughes, Joshua, 498 

Hughes, Minnie B., 2545 

Hughs, John F., 2189 

Huiskamp, H. J., 2299 

Hull, Harriet, B., 1415 

Humboldt, 798, 1004, 1563; pioneer of 
2249 

Humboldt Town Site Company, 1203 

Hummer, Clayton W., 1716 

Hummer, Samuel, 1716 

Humphrey Investment Company, 2267 

Humphrey, James, 1224 

Humphrey, Lyman L., 2267 

Humphrey, Lyman U., 835, 837, 973, 
2265, 2267; portrait, 836; administra- 
tion of, 2267 

Humphrey, Pius B., 2005 

Hunsaker, Chester E., 1419 

Hunt, John, 2228 

Hunt, John L., 1780 

Hunt, Morris, 468, 510 

Hunter, George H., 1785 

Hunter, William M., 1811 

Hunting, Dr. Amory, 797 

Hurd, Albert A., 1760 

Hurd, George W., 2557 

Hurrell bill, 2171 

Hurst, Keenan, 2302 

Hussey, Jerry, 1211 

Husse'y, Lewis T., 1211 

Hutchinson, 207, 796, 815, 833, 836, 985, 
997, 998, 999, 1102 

Hutchinson, Harris W., 2670 

Hutchinson, John, 401 

Hutehinson-Kansas Salt Co., 999 

Hutchinson News, 2034 

Hutchinson Office Supply and Printing 
Company, 2675 

Hutchinson, Captain Philip, 497 

Hutton, Emmett, 2666 

Hyatt, William S., 1827 

Hyett, James E., 1481 

Hymer, Edward S., 2653 

Ide, Harvey W., 2448 

Illinois, 337 

Illustrations — Buffalo Bill and His Old 
Stage Coach on a Recent Visit to To- 
peka, 179; Osage Indian Family, 224; 
Osage Indian Family, 227; Old Potta- 
watomie Mission Five Miles West of 
Topeka, Built in 1849, Now Used as 
Barn, 259; Buffalo, Gage Park, To- 
peka, 278; First House in Lawrence, 
360; The Arrest of Governor Robinson 
by Marshal Donaldson, 542; Sambo 
Arresting G. W. Brown, 543; Sacking 
of Lawrence by Border Ruffians May 
21, 1856, 553; James H. Lane at the 
Battle of Hickory Point, 622; Block 
House, Fort Scott, Erected 1842, 682; 
Old Government Hospital, Fort Scott, 
Erected 1845, 686; Government Old 
Guard House, Fort Scott, 690; Ruins 
of Lawrence, 1863, 744; Battle of Big 
Blue, 760 

Impeachment cases, 718 

Incident of the flag, 65 

Income tax, 1146 

Independence, 139, 985, 1005, 1006, 1844, 



an early lawye 



2200; schools 
in, 2092 

Independence Creek, 50 

Independence Daily Reporter, 1834 

Independence Fire Department, 1706 

[ndependence Gas Co., 2411 

Independence Hospital, 1923 

Independence, Missouri, 138 

Independence Public Library, 1837 

Independence Townsite Co., 1984 

Independence Tribune, The, 1739 

Independent Order of Good Templars, 
802 

Indiana, 337 

Indiana party to Kansas, 603 

Indian-English policy, 238 

Indian expedition, 875 

Indianola, 169, 171, 1712 

Indianola hotel, 1712 

Indians in Kansas, 189, 301, 780, 1316; 
of Kansas in Coronado's time, 8; of 
Mississippi valley, 31; the Canzes, 39; 
relations with English, 43; trade, 48, 
1308; country, 52; and the first steam- 
boat, 71; treaty of 1825, 91; on the 
Santa Fe trail, 118; troubles after 
Doniphan's expedition, 135; of native 
tribes in Kansas, 190; migration, 192; 
worship, 199;. houses, 200; treaties 
and land cessions, 215; baby (por- 
trait), 222; titles extinguished, 238, 
336; language, 242; frauds, 268; and 
the buffalo, 286 ; in Louisiana purchase, 
291; tribes, 298; land, 349; citizens, 
418; title, 437; frontier, 735; hostil- 
ities after Civil war, 771; situation in 
Kansas in 1867, 772; troubles in Gov- 
ernor Harvey's administration, 776; 
depreciations, 780; on the western 
frontier, 784; and liquor selling, 797; 
warfare, 896; regiments, 900; mission- 
ary, 125.;, 1279; fight at Cow creek, 
1789; scares, 2545 

Indictments for high treason, 543 

Industrial commission, 867 

Industrial reformatory, 1102 

Industrial School for'Bovs, Topeka, 1103 

Industrial School for Girls, Bcloit, 1103 

Industrial Welfare Commission, 1098 

Industries, 992 

Ingalls, John J., Ill, 141, 424, 705, 779, 
947, 964, 1131, 1132, 1146, 1153, 1240 

Ingalsbee, Seth, 1443 

Ingman, James C, 1517 

inheritance tax laws, 862 

Inman, Henry, 1240 

Inman Review, 2508 
In- ane asj lum, 861 

Insurance, 1441, 1684 

Insurance companies, 858 
[nterest rates, 1117 
Invasion of E£ansa i, 6 18 

Investment companies, 858 

Iola, 59, 259, 985, 1002, 1004, 2513; 

schools, 2186 
Cola Gas and Coal Co., 1002 
lola Eigh School, L012 
I, ,la Register, L360 
lola Wholesale ( inner Company, 2126 

To was, 265, 337 

[OWa road to Kansas, 608 



Ireland & Rollins Planing Mills Co., 2094 

Ireland, Frederick H., 2093 

Irrigation experiments, S43 

I Min, Samuel M., 1247 

Irving, .John T., 249 

Irviii",, Washington, 81 

[sacks, Andrew J., 366, 479, 481, 694, 

716, 1071 
[se, ' uarles D., 1696 
[sely, William v.. ii.v: 
Dsern, Walter < '., 2168 
[sett, s. G., 2121 
[sham, Henry H., 1828 
Ismert, John. 2284 
[smert, Theodore F., 2284 
Ives, Charles P., 237S 

Jack Rabbit Justice, 1568 

Jack, William G., 2180 

Jackson, Broad Tom, 669 

Jackson, Claiborne F., 299, 394 

Jackson count v. 26.",, 1679 

Jackson, Fred S., 1218 

Jackson resolutions, 299, 300 

Jacobs, William, 1556 

James, Edward T., 1306 

James, Ralph L., 1866 

James, Sherman, 1307 

Jamestown Spanish settlement, 1 

Jamieson, William M., 1815 

Jane, James H., 465; tour of north, 595 

Jardine, William, 1034 

Jardine, William M., 1971 

Jayhawker, 742 

Jefferson county, 74, 210, 214, 639 

Jefferson County Alliance, 1143 

Jenkins, Cains, 549 

Jenness, John J., 1582 

Jenney, James W., 1475 

Jennings, Austin II., 2062 

Jennison, Charles R., 693, 759, 880, 894, 

1274 
Jennison 's Javhawkers, 1274 
Jensen, Terkel, 2330 
.lessee, William, 401 

Jetmore, Abraham B., 1695 

.letmore. Maria P., 1695 

Jewell, 2214; earlv business man in, 2215 

Jewell county, 67, 99 

Jewell fount v Bank, 1526 

Jewell, Franklin A., 2422 

Jewell, Col. Lewis R., 1200, 2420 

Jewell, Lewis R„ 2421 

Jiencke, Harry, 1239 

.lobes, Andrew C, 2181 

Jiilm Brown Memorial Park, Osawatomie. 

1085 
Jolmsmeyer, Henry A., 1990 
Johnson, A. frank, 1875 
Johnson, A. S., I"l 
Johnson, Archibald S„ 1712 
Johnson Cattle Klv Trap Company, 2659 

Johnson, Charles I'.. 97 1 
Johnson, Charles II.. 2658 

Johnson e tv, :i, :i. 110, 1^. 2m. 241, 

fi i5. 66 1.743. 751, 1700 



[ohnson, David • '.. 2261 
rohnson, l>. J.. Ml. 179 
rohn on, Edna I... 2376 



INDEX 



.Johnson, Edward C, 1034, 1744 

Johnson, Elizabeth W., 2675 

•lohnson, Francis, 2560 

Johnson, Franklin, 1042 

Johnson, George, 65, 2675 

Johnson, Hartley D., 323 

Johnson, H. P., 692 

Johnson, Hampton P., 878 

Johnson, John M., 1869 

Johnson, John P., 2490 

Johnson, Jonas P., 1474 

Johnson, Leslie V., 1233 

Johnson, Levi F., 1745 

Johnson, Louis P., 1434 

Johnson, Nick, 241(1 

Johnson, Peter 6., 1802 

Johnson, Robert P., 2509 

Johnson, Thomas, 214, 310, 313, 394, 401, 

402, 403, 1215; portrait, 242; dele- 
gate to Congress, 311 
Johnson, Virgil S., 1474 
Johnson, Wallace H., 1408 
Johnson, William, 214 
Johnson, William N., 1852 
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 163 
Johnston, Braden C, 1573 
Johnston, Lucy B., 1372 
Johnston, Saunders W., 391, .699 
Johnston, William A., 1372 
Johnston, William J., 2282 
Joliet, 30 

Jones, Alfred W., 2483 
Jones, Frederick, 1477 
Jones, George W., 680 
Jones, James Bird, 2479 
Jones, James B., 2637 
Jones, John A., 1456 
Jones, John J., 2047 
Jones, John R., 2047 
Jones, John T., 271; portrait, 270 
Jones, Ottawa, 564 
Jones, Samuel J., 487, 500, 509, 525, 536, 

550, 552, 644, 647, 656; shooting of, 

538 
Jones, Seward A., 1716 
Jones, Thomas M.. 1500 
Jones, Walter A., 2313 
Jordan, Gilbert L., 1738 
• Ionian, William H, 1415 
Journal of the Kansas Medical Society, 

994 
Judd, Byron, 2033 
Judge, Carl, L624 

Judicial districts of the territory, 391 
Judicial power of the territory, 335 
Ju-dson, W. R., S79 
Junction City, 80, 711, 983, 986, 991, 996, 

1304; a pioneer store, 2103; Ladies' 

Reading Club, 2104 
Junkin, William W., 748 
Justice of peace, first in Kansas, 2095 
Juvenile courts, 855 

Kaffir corn, 1300, 1777 
Kanavel, E. J., 2651 
Kanavel, George W., 2650 
Kandt, William C, L867 
Kaney, W. W„ 2087 
Kanopolis, 997. 1000, 1187 
Kan o Tex Refining Co., 1971 



Kansa, 190; full meaning of word, 195; 
orthography of the word, 204 

Kansa Camping Circle (chart), 198 

Kansa Indians, 967 

Kansans, Aspirations of, 925 

Kansas, jurisdiction up to 1854, 52; 
origin of the name, 193, 2172; land of 
the Wind People, 196; baptism, first re- 
corded, 226; the name, 333; climate, 
596; conditions in summer of 1856, 
632; pioneers, 708; men in Frontier 
Guard, 716; corn, 830; laws and their 
origin, 935; sugar, 1088; in the '80s, 
1137; seal, 1245; pioneer, 1269; agri- 
cultural reports, 1281; Anti-Trust Law, 
l.".5s ; first glass made west of Missis- 
sippi, 2178; prairies, exemplar of its 

Kansas 'Agency, 211, 214 

Kansas and Spanish explorations, 28 

Kansas Anti-Trust Law, 1358 

Kansas Authors Club, 2172 

Kansas Bankers' Association, 988, 2084 

Kansas Building and Loan Association, 
1562 

Kansas Bureau of Labor, 1135 

Kansas Catholic Mission, first recorded, 
226 

Kansas Central Railroad, 2338 

Kansas City, Kansas, 150, 257, 301, 305, 
530, 762, 851, 867, 986, 991; military 
prison for women, 736; father of park 
and boulevard system of, 2030; pack- 
ing industry, origin of, 2151; under 
Mayor Rose, 2183; suburban develop- 
ment, 2280 

Kansas City Enterprise, 364 

Kansas City Journal, 371 

Kansas City, Lawrence and Fort Gibson 
Railroad Company, 768 

Kansas City Medical College, 995 

Kansas City, Missouri, 154 

Kansas City Fniversitv, 1070 

Kansas Farmer, 783, 1086 

Kansas Federation of Women 's Clubs, 
2468 

Kansas Free state •"•64, 531, 544, 551, 
1211; Executive Committee, 459 

Kansas Free State newspaper, 1209 

Kansas Good Roads Association, 1625 

Kansas Greenback Party, 1129 

Kansas Hermit, 494 

Kansas Historical Society, 1268 

Kansas Indian Mission, '214, 335 

Kansas Indian town, 152 

Kansas Indians, 20, 50, 70, 91, 193, 196; 
agency, 151; social organization, 19S; 
curliest map, 205; locations of, 206; 
not Eseanjaques, 207: missionaries, 
211; land cessions, 215; reservation, 
Council Grove, 215, 216 

Kansa- Landing, 154, 299 

Kansas Language, The, 711 

Kansas Live Stock Association, 1208 

Kansas Magazine, 1310 

Kansas Martyr, 516 

Kansas Medical College, 995 

Kansas Medical Society, 993 

Kansas militia. 634, 638, 643, 958 

Kansas Natural Gas Co., 1004 

Kansas Natural History Society, 1078 

Kansas Nebraska act, 4S1 



INDEX 



XXXlll 



Kansas-Nebraska bill, 315, 324, 333, 340, 
347, 367, 370, 389, 404, 423, 425, 598, 
926, 936 
Kansas-Nebraska bill work of David R. 

Atchison, 328 
Kansas-Nebraska controversy, 1315 
Kansas Oil and Mining Co., 1002 
Kansas Oil Producers Association, 854, 

1005 
Kansas Pacific Railroad, 430, 771, 777 
Kansas paramount question in American 

politics, 630 
Kansas Protection Fund, 970 
Kansas Regiments, casualties, 906 
Kansas Region, The, 81 
Kansas Reserve State Bank, 1206 
Kansas River, 70/ 145, 209, 301, 333, 
363, 372, 446; mouth of, 50; steam- 
boat on, 345 
Kansas River ferry, 149, 160 

1,'iver Navigation, 1207 
Kansas State Agricultural College, 1019, 
1235, 1325, 1347, 1853, 1873, 1972, 
1993, 2017, 2531 
Kansas State Agricultural Society, 1086, 

2303 
Kansas State Bankers' Association, 988 
Kansas State Board of Agriculture, 783, 

1274; first secretary of, 2030 
Kansas State Board of Health, 2527 
Kansas State Firemen's Association, 

2397 
Kansas State Historical Societv, 469, 858, 

1071 
Kansas State Hospital, 614 
Kansas State Journal, 825 
Kansas State Manual Training School, 

Pittsburg, 2462 
Kansas State Normal School, Emporia, 

2318 
Kansas State Penitentiary, 1099 
Kansas State Temperance Society, 797 
Kansas State University, 767 
Kansas Territorial Legislature, 470 
Kansas Territory, 333; boundaries, 333; 
government, 366; census of, 388; popu- 
lation, 465; Executive Committee, 468; 
third governor, 632; Governor Reeder's 
sen ice, 1317 
Kansas town, 86 
Kansas town at the mouth of Big Blue, 

209 
Kansas, the National issue, 628 
Kansas Tribune, 364, 1211 
Kansas Troops in Civil war, 717 
Can as Weekly Herald, 363 
Kansas Weslevan Business Coll.j 

Una, 1433 
Kansas Wesleyan rnivcrsity, lono, 1048 

i.. I--.- ''• ■ ! - I lery Co., L942 

Kansas Univer it j , 130, 1015; first re- 
gents, L016; Grst faculty, L016 
Kansas Vallej Bank, 971, 077 

Kansas Village, 70 

Kan :os News, I L98 

Karakule sheep, 1657 
Kailan, Charles A., 1707 
Kaskaskia Confi 
Kassebauni, Edwai •! < '.. 1 76 
Kaw agency, lirst, 211 

Kaw Indians, 'J 1 72 



Kaw River Valley, one of the oldest set- 
tlers in, 1306 

Kearny County, 88, 115 

Kearny, General S. W., 122 

Kearney, Samuel K., 1676 

Kearney, William A., 1676 

Keefe, Richard T„ 2452 

Keeler, A. N., 1546 

Keeler Brothers, 1546 

Keeler, Ira B., 1546 

Keene, Austin M., 1364 

Keith, John H., 2003 

Keizer, Dell, 2103 

Keller, George H., 1209 

Kelley, E. E., 2294 

Kelley, R. P., 2211 

Kellogg, C. M., 813 

Kellogg, Lyman B., 10::: 

Kellogg, William L., 2106 

Kelly, Bernard S., 2400 

Kelly, Martin J., 1943 

Kelsey, Dandridge E., 1272 

Kelsey, Grant E., 1688 

Kelsey, Scott, 1272 

Kenneally, Daniel, 2721 

Kennedy, James M., 2164 

Kennedy, Max J., 2161 

Kennedy, Richard Y., 1859 
Kennedy, Thomas, 1900 

Kennedy, T. B., 988 
Kennekuk, 167, 173 
Kenner, Robert E., 1882 

Kent, Charles W., 1965 
Kent, Harry L., 1034 
Kenton, William M„ 2627 

Kentucky pioneer in westward movement, 

181 
Kenyou, John S., 2241 
Kerr, Charitv, 738 
Kibbee, Henry C, 1746 
Kibbee, Lucius, 435 
Kibler, John E., 2143 
Kiekapoo ferry over Missouri River, 411 
Kickapoo Islands, 50, 199 
Kiekapoo Rangers 523, 546. 552, 643 
Kickapoo tribe, 310 
Kickapoos, 264 
Kiekapoos Reservation, 265 
Kidder, George W., 2066 
Kiger, G. J., 1503 
Kiehl, Henry H., 2221 
Kiene, Francis A., 1649 
Kiene. John, 1513 
Kiene, Llewellyn, 1283 
Kilbourn, Henry, 683 
Kilbourn, Hiram. 2022 
Kimball, James A.. 103 i 
Kimball, John M., 1222 
Kimball, Richard H.. L783 

King, A. W., 1503 

King, Charles 1 .. 

King. Henry. 1310 

King. James I... 1079 

King, Mrs. 11. I'.. 1 155 

King, Boswell b., 2587 

Kingman, '.".I7: terminus ill railroad, 177ii 
Kingman County, 1001 

Kingman. Samuel \ . 699, 700, 716, 947, 

1071. IO70 
Kinley, Senrietta r w.. 1772 
King \' Ko Sj sti 

Kinnaman, II. 1... 2152 



INDEX 



Kinsley, 113 

Kiowas, 237 

Kirby, John C, 2093 

Kirk, E. L., 401 

Kirkpatriek, G. Orien, 2613 

Kirkwood, Archibald B., 2046 

Kiser, Glen E., 1422 

Klein, Paul, 2333 

Kleinhans, Richard M., 2003 

Klemp, Henry W., 2397 

Kliewer, John W., 2659 

Knapp, I. N., 1003 

Knaus, Warren, 2500 

Knights and Ladies of Security, 1081 

Knights of Labor, 1123, 1136 

Knights of Pythias, 1080, 2259 

Knights of Reciprocity, 1155 

Knipe, William, 1219 

Knoop, J. Arthur, 2593 

Knowles, Albert W., 1997 

Knowles, Charles O., 1998 

Knowles, Joshua, 1997 

Knox, Clyde H., 1835 

Knox, Lizzie V., 2448 

Knox, Lorenzo V., 2447 

Knox, Manasseh S., 1507 

Knutson, Knut J., 2539 

Kountz, Clark H., 1826 

Kozel, William H., 1560 

Kramer, Simon P., 1698 

Kramer, T. A., 2522 

Krauss, Oscar, 1295 

Krehbiel, William J., 2520 

Kroeker, Peter G., 1331 

Kuder, Emil, 1928 

Kunglc, George G., 1680 

Kunkle, Harry A., 1617 

Kyle, Horace G., 2604 

Labette County, 1136 

Labor convention, 1124 

Labor Day, 837 

Labor laws, 867 

Labor organizations, 1115 

Labor Party organized, 778 

Labor Reform party, 1124 

Labor troubles, arbitration of, 119.1 

Laclede, Pierre, 42 

La Croix, Charles de, 226 

Ladd, Erastus P., 401 

Ladd, William M., 2033 

Ladies' Reading Club, Junction <'it 

2104 
Ladner, Christian D., 1476 
LaHarpe, 59 

LaHarpe State Bank, 2558 
Laidlaw, H. T., 2563 
Lake, Gillis Q., 2238 
Lake of soft water, 1777 
Lakin, Lloyd, 1891 

Lakin-McKee Manufacturing Co., 1891 
LaLande, Baptiste, 87 
I iama r, Lewis J., 2613 
Lamb, Carl C, 2325 
Lamb; David E., 1406 
Lamberson, Francis II., 2628 
Lambert, Harry G., 1478 
Lambert, Isaac E., Sr., 2337 
Laming, John C, 2277 
Laming, Whitsed, Jr., 2277 
l.aining, YVIiitsed, Sr., 2276 
Lamme, Charles D., 1 117 



Land and Water Power Company, 2467 

Land cessions, 215, 236; by Osage, 226; 
by Pawnees, 230 

Land Grant Colleges, 1020 

Land office, 982 

Land provisions in English bill, 933 

Land surveys, 349 

Land tax, 1146 

Lane, Amos, 421 

Lane, James H., 17, 421, 446, 452, 455, 
459, 461, 463, 466, 471, 509, 519, 526, 
535, 581, 610, 618, 622, 628, 640, 655, 
656, 683, 711, 715, 716, 751, 753, 768, 
771, 876, 888, 897, 938, 945, 1284; 
portrait, 420 ; and Douglas, 423 ; ora- 
tory of, 424; and Robinson, 429; 
first appearance in a Free-State Con 
vention, 447; leader of Free-State 
forces, 468; proclamations, 469; chal- 
lenges Douglas, 472; supreme in Kan 
sas political affairs, 520; fame of, 581; 
speech, 596; feared by the 
605; attacks Franklin, 
611; at the Battle of Hickory Point 
(Illustration), 622; service to Repub- 
lican party, 623; name a terror, 646; 
report on Bourbon County, 684; Min- 
eola speech, 692; feud between Gover- 
nor Robinson, 717; brigade, 876 

Lane's Army of the North. 595, 600, 604, 
610; route of, 608 

Lane Trail, The, (map), 609, fill 

Lane, Vincent J., 1297 

Lanesfield, 751 

Lanyon, Edwin V., 2016 

Lanyon, William, 2076 

Lapham, Amos S., 2375 

Lapham, John W., 2077 

Lardncr, John C, 1898 

Largest athletic and sporting goods ! so 

in Kansas, 2498 

Larned, 113, 734, 861 

Lamed State Hospital, 1107 

Larrick, Joseph, 1700 

LaSalle, discovery of the (heat West, 29 

La Salle's expedition, 32 

Last Imlian raid in Kansas, 784 

Latham, Chester A„ 1305 

Latta, S. N., 468 

Li k, John W., 1473 

Laughlin, John G., 2288 

Lautz, Eenry B., 2679 

Lavery, Damian, 1417 

Law and Order, 370 

Law an. I Ordei associations, 357 

Law and Order men, 524 

Law and Order party, 479, 181, 526, .".Hi. 
545, 605, 638, 613. o4 7, fits 

Lawrence, 161, 241, 356, .".7l\ 395, :;:'s. 
411, 424, 445, 461, 464, UN. 198, 506, 
530, 537, 545, 5fi2. 592, 620, 638, 6 19 
643, 718, 743, 767, 792, 802, S10, 831, 
851, 937, 9S6, 1015; site of, 360, 509; 
first house in (view), 360; election at, 
392; center of New England influence, 
IL'9; secret order nt, 432; citadel at, 
509; muster roll of the Brown's Corn 
pany, 516; stone hotel, 518; defender, 
520; first sacking of, 522; in May, 
1856, 548; surrounded by Border-Ruf- 
fians, 549; cannon surrendered, 550; 
in September, 1856, fitl ; spirit of. 



tNDEX 



711; Massacre, 736, 740, 744; banks, 
981; churches, 1009, 1010, 1011 ; Quan 
trill raid and massacre, L253; burning 
of, 1464; men and affairs of the fiftii . 
1999; firsl settlers, 2001; in L877, 
2409; under Mayor Bowersoek, 2409 

Lav* rence, Amos A., 431, 1015, 2001 

Lawrence Hank, 722 

Lawrence I »aily Journal, 1248 

Lawrence Free Public Library, 2551 

Lawrence, Harry A., 1771 

Lawrence, Laura, 1771 

Lav, rem e Republican, 1-7 1 

Lawrence, Robert E., 1770 

Lawrence Tribune, 576 

l.a»s of lirst legislature, 711 

Laws of Kansas, 417 

Lawson, .1. Spencer, 2278 

Lawton, Wilbur A.. 2:102 

Laybourn, Joseph \\\, 2225 

Lead, 989, 1007, 2161; first discovery, 
1007; production, 1009 

Lead smelter, first modern, 1008 

Leaders of Free-state, 1219 

Learnard, Oscar E„ 618, 1248, 242+ 

Leonard, Oscar Eldridge, 2425 

Lease, Mary E., 1148, 1149, 1177, 1189 

Lebo Star, 2638 

Leavenworth, 79, 122, 55n, 567, 591, Km. 
437, 442, 464, 468, 603, 621, 636, 646, 
765, 768, 802, 804, 807, 831, 971, 977, 
986, 9S9, 10S6, 129S, 2 I IS; first town 
32; convention, 692; finan- 
mportance, 979; churches, 1009, 
Kill; one of the founders of, 
notable citizen, 2249; pioneer of, 
early business enterprises, 2311; 
an early settler, 2319; a manufacturer 
and inventor, 2335; federal prison, 
2342; a civic leader, 2345: in the '50s, 
2359; center for amusement devices, 
2361; a wholesale merchant. 2371: 
under Mayor Anthony, 2385; a t it \ 
builder, 2395, 2403; in 1855, 2417; 
independent justice of the peace, 2I2S; 
merchant, 2447; first brick business 
block, 2453; pioneer, 2514 

Leavenworth < Jathedral, 2400 

l.r;i\riiwortli Collegiate institute, 2119 

Leavenworth Constitution, 690, 693, 936, 
9 15 

Leavenworth county, 71, 248, 27::. 349, 
523, 784, 911. 966, 1099 

Leavenworth Daily Bulletin, 783 

Leavenworth Daily Conservative, 783 

Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston 
Railroad C pany, 787 

Leavenworth, General Henry, lis; poi 
trait), 147 

Leavenworth Herald, 364, 976 

Leavenworth penitentiary, 767 

Leavenworth Register, 121* 

orth Sail and Coal Oil Co . 996 

i .eavenworth Tovi o I lompany, 437 

Lee pte, Samuel D., 366, 391, ill, 136, 

441, 179, 540, 542, 644, 127s, i:;2o; 

i L;n acter of, 64 I 

Lecompton, 271, 356, H8, 101, 

533, 612, 619, 637, 640, 64 !, 647, 981; 
bordi r i offian rami.. 515; camp, 522; 
legislat in . 662, 664 ; chun hes, 1009; 
pjon ■ r physician, 2186 



cial i 
1010, 
12(19; 
2254 ; 



Lecompton Constitution, 663, bun. 691, 

936, 942, 1223, L304; vote upon, 658 ; 

last of the, 668 
I npton Constitutional Convention of 

1857, 657 
Lecompton movement, 925. 92s 
Lecompton Union, 552 
Ledgerwood, Granvilh I'.. 1 119 
Lee, George W., 2308 
Lee, Robert I., 1819 
L.-e, Thomas A., 1822 
Leedy, John W., 845, 1192; portrait, 

846 
Leeper, John M., 1718 
Leet, Abniron E., 2531 
Legate, .Tames F., 540, 129 1 
Legislation, of 1891, 1156; a progressive 

leader in, 2327 
Legislative election of 1857, 655 
Legislative session of 1896, 845 
Legislative War, 853; of 1893, 841 
Legislature elected in 1857, 663 
Legislature, territorial, 334, 388; first 

territorial. 401; of 1865-66. 771; of 

1869, 776-; of 1889, 2266; of 1893, 

1 171 ; stormiest session, 839 
Leib, Dr. Charles, 368 
Leinbach, S. E., 1510 
Leitzbach, Edward IL. 2220 
Leland, Cyrus, Jr., 7 17, 7 is 
Leland, Cyrus, Sr., 891 
Lemon, Homer C, 1894 
Lenhart, Charles, 538 
Lesh, A. J., 2496 
Le Stourgeon, Arthur E., 25:; I 
Lewark, William II., 1810 
Lewelling, Lorenzo D., 839, 116.".. 1169, 

1178; portrait, 840 
Lewelling War, 1180 
Lewis Academy, 1789 
Lewis, Alexander, 2363 
Lewis and Clark, 199, 207, 209; expedi 

tion, is 
1 .1 u is, I lenjamin E., 21 85 
Lewis, Charles !>'., 12 11 
Lewis, Cora G., 1489 
L.wis, Hiram YV., 1789 
Lewis, Luther N., 23.6 1 
Lewis, L. Glenn. 1475 
Lewis, R. W., 1715 
Lewis, Scyrenous F., 2545 
Lewis, Warner, 228 
Liberty state Bank, 2010 
Library, Kansas state Historical So 

eiety, 1076 
Liggett, Elmer E., 1929 

l-aae S.. lssl 
Lillard, Thomas M., 1511 
Limbocker, Glenn, 2159 
Lincoln, Carl ().. 2515 

i. I" I "II. ge, L012, 106 1, L078 

Lincoln county, 67. '.i'.<r K l L38; 
■i-i | . r, 2574 

Lincoln Sentinel, 1606 
Lindahl, John \ 

1 ind bor :, <M\ I, 9ii5, 2592, 25o9; art and 

culture, 2:.ir, 
Lindsborg News and Record, 2543 
Lindsey, Henry •'.. 1291 
Lindsley, Herbert K., 1813 

'.. 2195 



\XX\ I 



Linn county, 225, CI."., 609. 680, 696, 911, 
1007, 1136 

Linn, John H., 2667 

Linscott, Shepard K., 1678 

Lippineott, Joshua A., 1017 

Lips, Louise J., 1469 

Liquor dealers' organization, 806, 824 

Liquor law, 413, 799, 858 

Liquor questiou, first recognized in re- 
publican party, 807 

Liquor traffic, 788 

Lisa, Manuel, 146, 221 

Little Blue battle, 758 

Little, B., 685 

Little, Charles F., 1215 

Little, Moody C, 2232 

Little River State Bank, 2638, 2664 

Little Robe, 780 

Little, William H., 1594 

Live stock, 848, 991 

Live stock interests, 1208 

Live Stock Sanitary Commission, 1097 

Local option law, 789 

Loch, Adam, 2124 

Lockhart, Joseph C, 1593 

Long, Archie W., 1796 

Long-Bell Lumber Co., 2007 

Long, Calvin L., 1919 

Long, Chester I., 850, 1294, 1364 

Long, David, 1980 

Long, George H., 2033 

Long, George W., 1906 

Long, Robert A., 2007 

Long, Rolla E., 1980 

Long, Major Stephen H., 69 

Long's Expedition, 69 

Long, T. C, 1891 

Long, Walter R., 2701 

Longenecker, George W., 2456 

Longford Leader, 1517 

Longley, Abner T., 2354 

Longley, Ezra K., 2354 

Longley, Sylvanus S., 1537 

Longto'n, 1006 

Loomis, Harvey J., 1629 

Loriaux, Amour, 1998 

Lost Spring, 112 

Lothholz, Charles, 2360 

Lothholz, George H., 2361 

Lott, William R., 1645 

Louisburg, 1002 

Louisiana, 356, 483; French province, 
34; cession to Spain, 42; ceded to 
France, 44; purchase, 45, 181, 238, 291 

Lounsbury, Carlton M., 1604 

Lounsbiirv. .lames A., 2600 

Louthan, Riley, 1501 

Love, Alice J., 1798 

Love, Charles R,, 1798 

Lovitt, Robert A., 2560 

Low, Marcus A., 1267 

Lowe, Percival G, 1219 

Lowe, Sandy, 748, 762 

Lower, James B., 1565 

Lowry, G. I'., 506,510 

Lugeanbeal, A. .1.. 1990 

Lupton, Edwin II., 1722 

Luscombe, James II., 2069 

Lutes, C. F., 'J 177 

Lutheran church, mi::, 2418 

Lykins, David, 275, ml, 1071 

Lykins, Johnson, 211, 1009 



Lykins, Jonas, 260 

Lykins, William H. R., 357, 359 

Lynch law, 440 

Lynde, Edward, 692, 884 

Lyndon, 268 

Lyon, Captain Nathaniel, 689 

Lyon County, 59, 111, 1138 

Lyon County State Bank, Emporia. 2198 

Lyon, General, 338 

Lvon, Willard E., 2651 

Lyon, William, 357, 359 

Lyons, 98, 112, 836, 997, 1000 

Lyons, Horace G., 1632 

Lysle Eugene D., 2317 

Lysle, James C, 2316 

M.-cC. skill, Paul P., 2079 

MacDonald, John, 1203 

Mace, J. N., 540 

Macferran, William, 2592 

Mack, Charles C, 2643 

MacLennan, Frank P., 1205 

MacVicar, Peter, 798, 1062, 1064 

Madison, Edmond H., 1240 

Magill, Clyde, 1305 

Magoffin, Colonel James W., 123 

Magoffin papers el m-ij.. piot'aro, 123 

Mahalfev, Ira, 1523 

Malum, Robert S., 2305 

Mahuran, John W., 2679 

Mail and Breeze, 1973 

Mail routes, 164 

Maine Liquor Law, 413 

Majors, Alexander, 165 

Majors, Russell & Co., 977 

Mallory, Arthur E., 2668 

Mallory, Samuel V., 1483 

Mallows, Anna, 1454 

Malott, William, 206 

Manchester Motor, 2604 

Manhattan, SO, 209, 767, 774, 7s t, Use. 
1020; early settlers, 185:; ; founding of, 
1872 

Manhattan Nationalist, 1220 

Manila Bay battle, 187 

Manley, Leonard R., 1324 

Manning, Edwin C, 1259 

Manning, Harris W., 146:: 

Mannion, T. P., 2519 

Manser, William H., 1390 

Mansion House, of Leavenworth, 1210 

Manual Training school, Pittsburg, 1039 

Manufacturers National Bank of Leaven- 
worth, 2349 

Manufacturers, S35, 813, 988, 1004 

Manufacturing, perforated metal, 1900; 
a great flour milling concern, 2284 

Many penny, George W., 474 

Maps and geographies, early, 78 

Maps, 205; Eastern Kansas in November, 
1854, Showing Boundaries of first Elec- 
tion Districts Established, Places of 
Voting, etc., 375: Plat of Shawnee 
Mission (irounds, Johnson County, Kan- 
sas, till; Claims about Hickory Point. 
485; Showing the Country about Dutch 
Henry's Crossing al the time of the 
Pottawatomie Massacre, 568; Battle 
field of Black Jack, Douglas County, 
586; the Lane Trail across the State 
of [owa, 609; the Lane Trail through 
Kansas and Nebraska, fill: Douglas 



County, Kansas Territory in the era of 
Bleeding Kansas, 641; of Snyder 
Claim, The, 675; Operations near Bald- 
win-pursuit of Quantrill, August 21, 

1863, 746; Battles of Little Blue, Big 
Blue, Wesport, Price Raid, October, 

1864, 760 
Mapleton Academy, 1012 

Marais Dos Cygnes Massacre, 669, 678, 

Marcell, Louis L., 2145' 

Marcos Friar expedition, 1 
Margrave, William, 2094 
Marion Center, L205 

Marion county, 60, L12, 966; churches, 
1012; First Sclioolhonsr in (view), 

1589 
Marion, town of, 112 
Markham, Lewis A., 2470 
Markham, William O, 2471 
Marlatt, Frederick A., 2446 
Marlatt, Washington, 21 1 5 
Marmaton, 687, 1351 
Marner, Gideon P., L597 
Marple, Andrew (1., 1397 
Marquette, 30, 205; voyages, 31 
Marquette Tribune, 2554 
Marriage ceremony, first recorded in 

Kansas, 226 
Marriage laws of Wyandots, 253 
Mm ried women 's rights, 950 
Marsh, Benjamin F.' 14. , 1647 
Marshall Count v News. 1 140 
Marshall, Daniel B., 2591 
.Marshall. F. J„ 401 
Marshall, John P., 1571 
Marshall, William S., I tS2 
Martin, Charles L, 909, 953, 1283 
Martin, E. N., 2642 
Martin, Frank IL, 2705 
Martin, Fred W., 1290 
Martin, George \V„ 66, 711, 970, 1075. 

1077, 1303 
Martin. Harry R., 2539 
Martin, James I'.., 361 
Martin. John, sin, 1 125, I L63, 1179 1 189 

1363, 1973, 2410 
Martin, John A.. 831, 832, 881, 382 947 

1H7:: (portrait i, 833 
Martin, John B., 2.447 
Martin, Ralph 10. . 1887 
Martin, William R., I 196 
Martindale, Howard I'., 2641 
Man in, Ja s, L017 

Marvsvillo, 170. .474, .499, 707 
Ma , Walt, 140s 

Mason, Wilbur M., L034 

Masonic lodge, L079 

Masonry, 2354 

Masons, I i 1-1 organization of in Kansas, 

1079 
Massachusetts ■ onunitti e, 602 
Ms ai hu etl I at Aid < lompany 

barter, 342 
Massachusetts settlers in Kansas, 348 
Mas ■ - .i w , 1151 
Mathes, William O., 24 is 
Mathias, William G., 401 

Matson, Mi j I:.. 2586 

Matthew . \. W., 1560 
Mattson, Carl P., 2540 
Maus, b E„ 1717 



Maxson, John C, 1117 

. Coo 

May, James M.. 1791 
May, Jesse D., L792 
Mayi r, Hans I-:., 1.424 
Mayhew, Albert E., 147 1 
Ma\ wood, 250 
McAfee, Henry W., 1625 
McAfee, Josiah B., 2417 
McAllen, John, 1008 
McAuliffe, Daniel D., 2491 
McAuliffe, Maurice, 1400 
McBride, Albert P., 2410 
. Floyd B., 2043 
McBride, Paul J., 1245 
McCall, Thomas H., 1540 
Mi i lampbell, Charles W., 1442 
\b i 'arter, Margaret H., 2706 
McCarthy, John, 1066, 2395 
Mi Carthy, T. W„ 1 159 
McCarty, A. H., 1983 
\b i :irtv, Richard, 640 
\h i aslin, Marshall M.. 1979 
McClain, Baxter I)., 2513 
M.ili llan, Frank, 1923 
McClintick, George W., 2549 
McCliutick, Hi ter \.. 2550 
McClure, James R., 7 is. 122 1 
McComas, Elisha W., 1440 
McCormick, Bion M., 1771 
McCormiek, Orlen, 1780 
McCoy, Isaac, 221, 248 
Mi i'"> Jamei L., 1968 
Mi Crea, Cole, 138 
MeCreight, Martin S., 14S6 
McDermott, James. 179 1 
McDonald, Ralph W., 144,2 
McDonald, William S., 2006 
M.-Fiirland, Frank E.. 166S 
McFarland, X. C, si i 
McGauhey, Josi ph II., 14,99 
McGee, James N., 2661 
M 'i Ihee county, 055 

, Walter 14. 2606 
Mel lonigle, James A.. 2258 
McGregor, Robert, 1 321 
McGrew, Henry, 2051 
MeGrew, .lames, 2050 
McGugin, Harold. L864 
Melnerney, Patrick, 1707 
Mclnernev, Thomas .)., L508 
McKav, William T., 2720 
McKee, Leonard V.. 154 1 
McKeo. Ralph M., 24,m1 
MrKenzio, William II. . 22.47 
Mr Eumens, John, 1511 
McKinley, George, 147 1 
MeManus, Michael J., 1555 
Mi Meeken, II. 1;.. 101 
McMillan. Henry, L580 
McMillen, Robert \.. 21 Is 

MeNabney, M. s.. 1941 
McNarrey, John, 2274 
MeNaughten, Will, am 1 

1 . 1SSS 

MeNi ill. Edwin \ . L888 
McNeill, Nan« J.. L888 



MoPherson, 112 

\|, Phi I ■ -I ■ oil. , Ml I 

McPhcrson county, 97, 112. 911; 
churches, 1012: prominent 



2544; pi 'ers 254S, 255;'. ; Mist 

Methodist chinch. 2549 
McPherson Daily and Weekly Repub: 

2520 
Mcl'ln-ison's briynde, 872 
McShane, Timothy, 207(3 
McVay, C. B., 1870 
McVev, Walter L.. 167:; 
Mead, Jami - R., 1227 



Medical ex 

995 
Medicine, 99:1, 121."; and surgery, 248 
Medill, Jame . 2303 
Medill, Sherman. 230.", 
Meek. James M.. 1403 
Meek, Maynard L., 1614 
Meeker, 271 
Meeker, Jotham, 241, 1010, I'UI (] 

trait), 269 
Meeting at Chicago, 596 
Meierkord, Henry .1.. 1557 
Melan bridge, 127.". 
Memorial Building, Topeka, 858, 2 



\lo, 



rv A., 2141 

i. mi- 
's, 1061 



II. 



_>ns 



Merritt, Joseph C, 2179 

Mertz, Sherman, 26:: + 

Messinger, Asa, 2011 

Metcalf family, 24):: 

Mel alf, Wilder 8., 909. 244:: 

Methodist church, 331, 1009, 1227 

Methodist church, pi er preaeher, L25! 

Methodist church, earlv leader, 2524 
Methodisi Episcopal "church, 214, 241 

2.17. 310, 1020 
Mr: b.odis1 Episi opal I Ihureh South mis 

sion, 268 
Methodisi mission, 275, 1009 
Methodist pioneer missionary. 121." 
Metman murder case, 1364 
Mexican war, L84, 296 

l. I rade with, 86 

Meyer, Richard, 1866 
M :,m. county, 272. 274. 530, 853, '.'I 1 

inn], l'."2.": first named l.ykin- count} 



Mi 






Miami Ml 


lage, 27 








Michael, 


lar A.. 


l.ito 






Michael, 


C. C, 1: 


138 






Middlekat 


iff, Will 


iam B. 


2624 




Midland 


College, 


1013, l 


053, l: 


:7s; 



Military work at state Agricultural col- 
lege, 1024 
Militia, 953 
Militia laws, 953 
Mill creek, 71 
Miller, Alvin W., 1529 
Miller, Archibald, 1564 
Miller, Briee W., 357 
Miller Brothers & Co., 1846 
Miller, Charles F., 2197 
Miller, Cleveland 1)., 2533 
Miller, Clyde W., 1747 
Milli r, Prank C, 2563 
Miller, Harry J., 1569 
Miller, Henry H., 1759 
Miller, Herbert, 2274 
Miller, Hiram B., 1716 
Miller, James, 1435 
Miller. John H., 2444 
Miller, Jonathan G., 1846 
Miller, Josiah, 364, 4 16, 531, 1112. 1244 

I portrait . 362 
Miller, Mrs. R. S., 2570 
Miller Refining Petroleum Company, 

2444 
Miller, Richard S., 2571 
Miller, William [... I sir, 
Millersburg, 357 
Miller's Spring, 357 
Mills, William, 1002 
M iltonvale Record. i!."is6 
Minier, A. M.. 1450 
Mining industry legislation, 2016 
Minneapolis, 60 
Minneola, 691, 934 
Mission building best in Kansas, 215 

Missi sreek, 213, 21 1 

Missions, 336 

Missions, Indian. 299; among Shawnees, 

241; among Delawares, 250; of Wyan 

dots, 257; of Sa.-s and Foxes, 267 
Missionaries among Kansas Indians. 21 '■ 
Missionary to Shawnees, 214 
Mississippi, right of free navigation. II 
Mississippi valley, rediscovery of, 28; 

strategic point of world, 187 
Missouri border population, 336 
Missouri, Civil war conditions, 733 
Missouri Compromise, 185, 291, 294. 20!': 

repeal, 317, 340, 349, 352, 353; author 

of, 326, 328 
Missouri Pur Company, 146 
Missouri guerrilla raiders, 1396 
Missouri invaders, 453, 508 
Miss, mr i, Kansas & Texas R. P., 21 In 
Missouri Pacific Railroad, 834 
Missouri people and their sentiments to 

ward slavery, 337, 338 
Missouri people in Kansas, 436 
Missouri preparations to invade Kansas, 

386 
Misonri river, 84; blockaded, 601 
Missouri territory described in 1836, 78 
Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Co., 

Mis'sourians, 391, 397, 475, 477, 479, 502 
.122, ."Ho, 613, 655; frenzy against anti 
slavery, 349; actions of, 359; and first 

territorial election, 381; outrag i 

conduct, 380; aggressions of the, 13 
invasion of, 161 ; character of, 508 ; 
blockade Missouri river, 595; lasl oi 



INDEX 



ganized effort to subjugate Kansas, 

043; in Kansas regiments, 734 
Missouris, 275 
Mitchell, Bert, L739 
Mitchell, Charles B., 1600, 1886 
Mitchell, Charles L., 1708 
Mitchell county. 67 
Mitchell, Daniel P., I L30, L885; one of 

founders of Methodism in Kansas, L885 
Mitchell, Judson W„ 2112 
Mitchell. Mark D., L858 
Mitchell, Paul S., 2138 
Mitchell, Robert B., 692, 701, 707, 871, 

873, 875, 882, 1244 
Mitchell, Robert L., 1739 
Mitten, Ruth E„ 2674 
Moli rule in Kansas, (i;;:: 
Modern Woodmen of America, 1080, 2306 
Modig', Mrs. E. G., 2539 
Moffit, William IP, L808 
Moffitt, Edwin .!.. 17:14 
Mohler, Jacob < '., 1089, L281 
Mohler, Martin, less. 1280 
Moneka. 798 

Money and currency, 1120 
Montgomery, 686, 688, 694 
Montgomery county, 853 
Montgomery, James, 669, 877, 886, 1232 

(portrait), 681 
Montgomery, •). ( larroll, 1700 
Montgomery, William T., 2488 
Montour, Mary, 305 
Mooney, Isaac, 2567 
Mooney, Volney P., 2567 
Moonlight, Thomas. 732, 755, 756, 763, 

888, 1284, 1363 
Moore, Atlantic A., 1205 
Moore, Carl, 1501 
Moore, Charles E., 2330 
Moore, Edward M.. 2674 
Moore, Ely, Sr., 2373 
Moore, George G., 1638 
Moore, George N., 1912 
Moore. H. Miles, 450, Mis, 621 
Moore, Horace L., 896, 1231 
Moon-, J. T., 2)00 

\l e, Jesse n ., 1 151 

M John M., 2091 

Moore. Ralph P., 1640 
Moore, Raymond W.. L985 
Moore, W. M., 813 
Moore, Zil.a 11., 1451 
Moran, .Tames R., 1662 
Moran, Samuel W., 1662 
Moravia, 2418 

Mm ■.■!', inn missions, 2 16, 27-". 
Mora i in Munsees, 273 

Moreho family, 2171 

Morehouse, George P., 20, 960, 1077, 2170 
Morgan, Ashton E., 2684 

Bi n in ni i n P.. 2601 
Morgan, Edw'in B., L917 
Moi i Phomas W., 23 12 
Mnru.ii.. W. \.. 2034 
Morgan, William V., 2034 
Morley, John M.. 1 l 15 

■ >\o, 101 

Mori -. 160, 161. 170, 183, 352; rebel- 
lion, 163 ; w.i r, 1 65, 1 67 : migration, 

Morrall, Albert, I 160 
et, L020 



Morrill Dependent Pension and Di: 

itv Act, L447 
Morrill, Edmund N., 842, 978, 1446 

trait), 843 
Morrill public library, 1447 
Morris county. 111, 965, 967 
Morris, Elias E., 1805 
Morris Packing Co., 991 
Morrison, Prank, 2431 
Morrison, Hugh II.. 2390 
Morrison, James, 484 
Morrison, Joseph L., 2137 
Morrison, R. P., 1498 
Morrison, Roderick, 1242 
Morrison, Thomas P., 2116 
Morrison, William, s7 
Morrow, James C, 1533 
Morrow, James Calvin, 1535 
Morrow, William M., 1535 
Morse, J. C. O., 1297 
Morse -tore, 578 
Mortgages, 1 135, 1138 
Morton county, 104, 111 
Morton, JohnB., 2694 
Morton, Joy, 998 
Moser, John W., 1378 
Moss, Prank A., 1479 
Mossman, Prank E., 2394 
Mother Biekerdvke Home, 10S4 
Moulton, Edward P., 2184 
Mound builders, 963 
Mound City, 670, 764, 798 
Mount Oread, 356, 360, 549, 7 15. n 
Mt. St. Scholastics Academy, 1011, 
Mount Vernon, 561, 564 
Mourning, W. S., 1352 
Mi.ure- . Daniel 1... 1874 
Moyer, Peter, 1027 
Mudge, P.. P., 997 
Muir, Bryce, 2552 
Muir, Joseph A., 1310 
Muir, William, 1310 
Mulberry State Bank, 1846 
Mulvane, David W., 1750 
Mnlvane, Joab, 1729 
Mulvane, John R., 981, 1166, L369 
Muncie, 273 
Munday family, 736 
Munday, Isaac, 335 
Munsee Indians, 273 
Munson, Dunham <>., 2039 
Murder of Dow, 483 
Murdock, Mar.ellns, 1221 
Murdoek, Mar-hall M.. 1225 
Murdock, Mary A.. 24 19 
Murdock, Thomas. 1221 
Murdock, Thomas B., 21 19 
Murdoek, Victor, 1151, 122 1 
Murphev, (leorge S„ 1257 
Murphy, Ed, L363 
Murphy, Francis, 819, B20, 821 
Murphy or Blue Ribbon n 
Murray Bal ing Company, 2209 
Murray, Prank J., 'Join 
Murray, .lames P., 2209 
Murrow, William P.. 1736 
Musical iii-t i nnir-it .. first 

Muster roll Of ' 'apt. .Ii'l'i' I 

pany, 516 

Mutiny in Federal peniti al 

Mutual Building ^ I. nan Associa 

22:::: 



INDEX 



Mutual Settlers' Association of Kansas 

Territorv, :::,:•. ..77 
Myerly, Clark L„ 2622 
Myers, Charles C, 1528 
Myers, William A., 1332 

Narvaez, Panfilo de, 2 ; Texas expedition 

of, 2 
Nash, Arthur R., 2036 
Nation, Carrie A., 827 ; portrait, 798 
National Bank of America, Salina, 2581 
National banks, 1118 

National character of Kansas history, 630 
National Democracy, 655; meeting at 

Lawrence, 425 
National Democratic party, C4S, 700 
National forest reserve, 1197 
National Guard of Kansas, 953, 957, 958, 

1283; on the Mexican border, 959 
National Kansas committee, 601 
National Labor Congress, 1124 
National Military Home, 438 
National Military Hume and Mount 

Muncie cemetery, 27:: 
National Old Soldiers' Ho , Leaven 

worth, 1082 
National People's party, 1159 
National Reform party, 1124 
National road, 1261 
National Solar Salt Co., 997 
National Soldiers' Home, Leavenworth, 

784, 831 
Natural gas litigation, 867 
Nazareth Academy, 1011 
Neal, 2209 

Nebraska, 314; name, 298 
Nebraska territory, 299, 301, 302, 303, 

322, 323, 337; provisional governor of, 

304; question of the organization, 304 
Neeley, Doctor, 1363 
Neeley, George A., 2678 
Nees, S. M., 1659 
Negroes, slavery west of the Mississippi, 

34: exclusion of, 467; emigration to 

Kansas, 786; education, 1040; first 

free in Kansas, 1691 
Neihart, Cassras T., 2206 
Neil, George, 1822 
Neiman, George P., 1506 
Nellis, Mrs. De Witt C, 2419 
Nelson, Edwin S., 1551 
Nelson, John H., 1578 
Nelson, John M., 2512 
Nelson, Lewis C, 2021 
Nelson, William A., 1470 
Nelson, William E., 1554 
Nelson, Wiliam H., 2482 
Neodesha, 965, 1003, 1004 
Neodesha Daily Sun, 2154 
Neodesha National Bank, 2188 
Neosho county, 225, 853, 1001, 2041; 

corn, 1087 
Neosho Falls, 59; schools, 2128 
Neosho river, 59, 96, 225 
Nesmith, William L., 2575 
Nesselrode, Clifford C, 2101 
Nettleton, L13 

Neutral strip of Kansas, 1200 
Newell, Laura E., 1247 
Newell, Lauren, 1246 
New England element of Kansas, 709 



New England Emigrant Aid Company, 

345, 360, 428, 465; a failure, " 
New England Emigrant Society. ' 
New England emigrants, 937 
New England people, in Kansas, }_::' 
New Georgia, 610 
Newman, Albert, 1400 
Newman, Albert A., 2324 
Newman, John R., 1343 
Newman, Malcolm C, 2310 
New Mexico, province of, 85 
New Orleans, 34 
Newspaper, 346 
Newton, 986 
Newton churches, 1013 
New York Indians, The, 264 
New York Life Insurance, 12Hi 
Nichols, Jesse C, 1027, 2279 
Nicholson, John C, 2655 
Niekerson, 998 
Nickerson College and Reno Com 

School, 2722 
Nicodemus, 787 
Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, 

896 
Nineteenth Kansas Volunteers. 7 7 
Ninth Kansas, 735 
Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. S84 
Ninth Kansas Volunteers, 875 
Niotaze, 1006 
Nipps, Freeman E., 1750 
Noftzger, Thomas A., 1307 
Nolan, Samuel L„ 1333 
No law in Kansas, 436 
Norris, Ira, 361 
Norstrom, Claes P., 1408 
Northern boundary, 948 
Northern Lyon County Journal. : : 
Northern organizations to help Kansas, 

601 
North Topeka, 150, 160, 209 
Northwestern Kansas. 1088; a pioneer 

in, 1750 
Norton, 861 
Norton county, 110S 
Norton, William S., 2015 
Nossaman, Earl A„ 1400 
Nossaman, Silas W„ 2703 
Nye, J. T., 1392 
Nyquist, Gustav A„ 2.117 

Oak Mills, 361 
Ober, Ezra W., 2367 
Ober, Henry B., 2368 
O'Brien, Joel M„ 2124 
O 'Brien, Oscar L„ 1848 
O 'Brien, Patrick H„ 1525 
O 'Bryan, Harry L., 1933 
O'Brvan, Ruth, 1919 
O'Bryan, William W., 1918 
O'Connor, Annie P. S., 2631 
O'Connor, James C, 2631 
O'Connor, James F„ 2017 
O 'Daniel, James F., 1228 
Odd Fellows Lodge, 1080 
O'Donnell, Alfred, 261 S 
Offenbaeker, David •'., 2263 
Offerle, 113 
Ogden, 966 
Ohio, 337 
Ohio constitution, 949 



Oil ill Kansas. Ml, OOO, Hull ; legislation 
853; resources, 853; first legislation 
on, 1007 

Oil resources, 853 

Oil refinery, 1006 

Oil and gas, legislation, 1111)5; prominent. 
operator, 2410 

Oil springs, 1001 

Oil well, first independent, 2121 

Oketo State Bank, 1451 

Oklahoma opened up, 837 

Olathe, 93, 110, 741, 746, 754, 768, 1035 

Old Brown 'a Parallels, 677 

Old Elm Tree meetings, 437 

Old Government Hospital, Fort Scott (il 
lustration), 686 

Old Honesty, 776 

Old Man Doyle, 573 

Old mission, Council Grove, 1634 

Old Sacramento, 708 

(11,1 Santa Fe trail, 9, 13, 1316 

old Settlers' Assueia tion , 1625 

Old Wyandotte, 2167 

Oldesl building in Shawnee county, 1820 

oldest miller in the state, L203 

Oldest institution of learning in Kansas. 
1048 

Oldham, Leonidas, 361 

Oliver, William, 1641 

Olson, Nels, 1668 

Olson, O. A., 1531 

Omaha tribe, 194 

Onate, Juan de, 19 

Ong, Charles L„ 2573 

Ong, Zela D., 2574 

Opening of Kansas to settlement, 330 

Orchard a pioneer planted, 243 

Order No. 11, 734, 751 

Order of Videttes, 1136 

Ordinance of 1787, 291, 319 

Oregon trail, 145, 186, 336, 356; stage 
lines, 172; influence, 180; leading fig- 
ures of, 181; romantic period, 182; 
heroic period, 183; national aspects, 
184; authorities, 187 

Organized emigration, 341 

Original packages, 837 

Orphan's Home, 861 

Orr, David O., 1331 

Osage Camping Circle (chart I, 217 

Osage county, 111; early fruit grower, 
1822 

Osage lands, settlers, 1128, 1140 

Osage mission, 810, 828, 1217 

Osage river, 192 

Osage trail, 35 

Osages, 192, 216, 336, 685; towns in Ver- 
non countv, Missouri, 58; Indian Chief 
(portrait), 220; early history, 221; 
war with Cherokees, 'Jl'.". ; Indian Family 
illustration), 224, 227; missionaries 
among, 225; land cessions, 226; leave 
Kansas. 22S; Indians' land sale, 787 
Osawatomie, 26o, Mil. 509, 516, 561, 613, 
861, 996, 1002; attack by border ruf- 
fians, 591; murders, 598; attack on, 
614; battle, Reid 's report, 616 
aii Hospital, 861 
Osawatomie Salt Co., 996 

i: Stat,' Hospital, I 10(1 

osborn, Charles 1'.. 2186 

Thomas A.., 770 portrait I, 780 



( (skaloosa, 622 

Oskaloosa Independent, ! - 

Ostenberg, Nelse J„ 2486 

Oswald, Charley W., 2665 

( (swego, 225 

Otoes, 275 

Ottawa, 259, 268, 270, 271. 272. 27; 0*7; 

prominent promoters, 122s 
Ottawa county, 911 
"Ottawa" Jones, 271 
Ottawa mission, 270 
Ottawa reservation, 270 
Ottawas, The, 269 
Ottawa University, loin. Mil 
Otto, Frederick C, 1877 
Overhrook, 1 1 1 
Overfield, John F., 1275 
Overland freighting, 165 
Overland Mail, The, 164 
Overland route through Iowa, 60S 
Overland stage, 169 
Overland transportation interest 
Overly, Charles H„ 1335 
Owen, Charles, 1924 
Owen, William, 1704 
Owens, Neal, 361 
Oxen as farm animals, 1632 
Oxford county, 655 
Ozawakie, 376, 622 

Pacific Railroad, 186 

I'aekhorses, 139 

Packing industry in Kansas City. 

origin of, 2151 
Padilla, Pray, 15 
Padonia, L396 
Padoucal town, the, 10 
Page, David (I., 1204 
Page, H. G., 593 
Page, Thomas, 1203 
Fainter, Robert M., 1077 
Palmer, Aaron, 423 
Fainter, Fred G., 2247 
Palmer, John O, 2718 
Palmer, Walter C, 1494 
Palmetto City, L76 
Palmyra, 110, 111, 356, 164, IJ 
, 583, 584 
Panama Canal, 187 
Panic of L873, 1 120 

Fatur of 1S9."., 1 1 SO 

Pool:, "To, 305. 750, 1001, loo''. 

Faola Gas Co., 1002 
Faola Refining Co., 1006 

Papan Perry, L60, 213 

I'airo I- post, I 195 

Paris, 669 

\-:n\,, I Ol 

Park system of Topeka, L268 
Parker, Charles W., 2361 

r, Frank,- 737 
Parkei son, Han iet \ 

Farkman, Francis, 159 
I .irkull. 

Parkvillo l.umiimiw d, -ti ii, I 4 a, 

Parrott, P. W., 1519 
Parrott, ' 



INDEX 



Parsons, Luke P., 615 

Partridge, Mamie, L585 

Partridge State Bank, The, 270] 

Pastures for wild cattle, 277 

Pate, H. Clay, 581, 584, 588, 590 

Patrii I . Uberl G., 1264 

Patrons of Husbandry, 1127 

Patterson, Leonard li.. 1865 

Paul, Charles EC., 1694 

Paul, Edwin P., 1883 

Paul, William D., 1604 

Paulen, Ben S., 2107 

Pauley, Roley S., 1343 

Pauline, town of, 1694 

Paull, James A., 1613 

Pawnee City, Hi, 41 !, H7, 456, 464 

Pawnee county, 113 

Pawnee Republic, 2676 

Pawnee Republic I I i -t . i I I e: i I Society, 63 

Pawnee river, 99 

Pawnee Rock, 113 

Pawnees, 36, til', 190, 193, 207, 230, '.'til' 
on the Big Blue river, 13; name, 230 
lands in Kansas, 230; capital, 413 
town of, 400 

Pawnee Town Company, 401 

Pavne, Archibald, 401 

Payne, David L., 1598 

Payne, Edward B., 1958 

Pavne, Thomas J., 742 

Payne, Walter L„ 2154 

Payton, William E., 1230 

Pearson, Matthew E., 2220 

Pearson, Thomas N., 515 

Peddycord, William E., 2427 

IVdroia, John, 1979 

Peery, J. T„ 21 1 

Peery, Rufus B., 1378 

Teller. William A., 837, 1116, 1148, 1 L56. 
1160, 1190 

Pefferism, 1160 

Pehrson, Peter M., 2 CM 

Pellegrino, John, 2072 

Penalosa expedition, 22 

Peniston, William A., 1670 

Penitentiary, 849, 860, 863, L099 

Penlev, Ellen F., 1341 

Penley, F. H., 1341 

Pennell, George W., 1495 

Pens, George W.. 2129 

Pensions for mothers, 867 

Penwell, LaRoy M., 1938 

People V convention, 461 

Pen pie's convention ring, 1142 

• Grand Protective Union, 824 

People's party, 787, 837, 1415, 1142; or- 
ganization, 11 I. : administration. 1167: 
decline of, 1188; results, 1193 

People's State Hank, 2649 

Perine, Aaron B., 1718 

Perkins. Anna A., 2510 

Perkins, Bishop W., 837 

Perl i - Praneis M., 22 14 

Perkins, Fred, 1913 

Perkins. Lucius H., 2340 

Perkins Ti usl ( ' pain . 22 I I 

Perry, Middleton P., 2036 

Perr'v, Parker W., L699 

Pi , - i3, 1003 

Petl i '■nna. L804 

ivt. -. i lharles W.. 1763 
Pete i' -P, L286 



Peter, William P., 1804 

Peters, James D., 2069 

Peters, John W., 1591 

Peterson, William, 2013 

Petroleum burning, 1002 

Petroleum Products Company. 1911 

Pettet, Joseph D., 1862 

Pettit, Fred E., 2393 

Pfister, George J., 2096 

Phenieie, William C, 2473 

Philips, Horace M., 1679 

Phillips, Charles E., 2714 

Phillips, II. L., 1134 

Phillips, William, 440, 142, 159, 620; 

murder, 443 
Phillips, William A., 587, 901, 122s 
Phillips, William J., 1457 
Phillips, William B., 1644 
Photography, 2558 
Physicians, 2537 
Piankashaws, 274 
Pickenpaugh, Walter E., 2634 
Pierce, Alfred C, 1304 

Pie.ee, C. G., 229.1 

Pierce, Franklin, 597 

Pieleeville, 115 

Pihlblad, Ernst F., 2502 

Pike, Captain J. A., 743 

Pike centennial, 855 

Pike, Zebulon M., 54, 76, 86; portrait, 

55; results of expedition,- 54; expedi- 

tion 's authorities, 68 
Pike's Pawnee Indian village, 65 
Pike's Pawnee village, 1076; site, 849 
Pike's Peak, 67; gold discovery, 162 
Pill.!, Charles, 2277 
Pilot Mountain, 106 
Pine Indians, 901 
Ping, Stephen R.. 1893 
Pinkerton, Phoebe R., 1520 
Pinkham, Howard P>., 2534 
Pinkham. .loan E., 2535 

Pi r banks, 976, 984 

Pioneer coal operator, 1846 
Pioneer iustice of the peace, 1655 
Pioneer Methodist missionaries, 1219 
Pioneers, 1257, 1656, 1775; accomplish 

ments of, 710; women, 1326, 1662: 

hardships, 1634: early merchant. L758; 

wedding, 1769; education and training, 

22 16 
Pi :ers lor Kansas, 337 

" Pioneei Shorf stories," 2633 

I 'ioneer storj , 1461 

Pitts. Edward P., 1 109 

Pitts, Roy, 1706 

Pittsburg, 987 

Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce, 2066 

Pittsburg Headlight, 2499 

Pittsburg Sash & Poor Co., 2021 

Pittsburg Zinc Co., 2017 

Plains tribes. 236 

Plant of Armour and Company, packers, 

Kansas City, Kansas, 2156 
Planters' State Rank of Salica. 1^7s 
Platte Country, The, 298, 301 
Platte county regulators, 523 
Platte County Rifles, 309 
Pleasanton, 093 
Plumb, Amos IP. U99 
Plumb. George, 712. 717. L092, I 161 
Plumb, Mrs. Preston P... 22SI 



INDEX 



Plumb, Senatoi Preston B., 576, 609, 721, 
723, 727, 731, 732, 737, 742, 746, 756, 
7 5'.'. 76;;, 7S1, S56, 837, 889, 945, 1129, 
1139, 115). 116::, 1197, 1304, L361 ; al 
Leavenworth convention, 692; as a sol- 
dier, 7-25; portrait, 726 

Plumb, William T., 2628 

Plummer, Bertha G, 2621 

Plummer, Warren S., 1 1 15 

Poeoek, Charles H„ 1889 

Poehler, Theodore, 2500 

Poehler, Theodore, Mercantile Company, 
25"1 

Poet, a Kansas, 1247 

Poet of the Wakarusa, 1681 

Poindexter, Early W., 1835 

Poinl of Rocks, 104, 115 

Polack, 'II lore H., 1439 



•nil 



lescribei 



John 



561 



Political freethinker, 1869 

Political beginnings of the State, 712 

Political parties, 1115 

Pollom, Boyd E., 1254 

I' tiiv, Samuel ('.. ::6". 15!', 515, 550. 

57!'. <;W:, 716. 771. 979, 1219; portrait, 

551 
Pony Express, The, 177 
Ponj Express time schedule, 1 78 
Pony Johnny, 179 
Ponziglione, Paul M.. 1217 
Pool, Anthony, 2620 
Population, 371, 837, 935 
Population in 1855, 388 
Population of Kansas territory in 1854, 

335 
Population of .Missouri in 1854, 337 
Populism, 1115 

Populism, economic basis of, 1157 
Populist party, 837, 839, 845 
Populist uprising, 1113 
Porter. David M., 2606 
Porter, Ebenezer I"., L352 
Porter, Frank S., 1502 
Porter, Harold B., 1354 
Porter, Harrv II.. 1354 
Porter, Henry, 164 i 
Porter, John, 1640 
Porter, Sa el M., 1920 



Portland Cement Mills. 1004 

Portrait Col. Zebulon M. Pike, ■'■>: Col. 

\ w Doniphan, 122: Dr. Henrj Con 

nelly, 13 Gen H< nrj Leavenworth, 

i 17; Black Bird, Chief of ' (mahas 

l!H . \V:,i, Shun-Gali, Chiet of the 

Kaws, 208; Osage Indian Chief, 220; 

Babj in Babj Frame, 222; 

fVTiite Buffalo, 234; Powder 

Pace, Chief of thi Cheyennes, 236; 

Phomas Johnson, Missionary to 

H„ 31 \i'i:nn Burnett, 

, the Pottamatomies, 258; Rev. 

,i 169 Rev. Roberl 

161 ; Mrs Fannie ^"> ■ 

well, 261 ; John T. Jones, known as 
' i Ujelard Gutb 

rie, 30 I; Will 



.|„el Walker I iarrett, :'."!'; David II. 
Atchison, 318; Judge William C. Price, 
329; Josiah Miller, founder of thi 

Kan ' Free State, Lawn e, L855, 

362; John Speer, Lawrence Pioneer 

Edit I Author, 363; Gov. Andrew 

H. Reeder, 567: General James H. 

Li I'M -t H. S Si natot from Kan 

sas, 420; Gov. Wilson Shannon, 174; 
Benjamin P. Springfellow, 476; Col 
Samuel N. Wood, 494; James B. Ab- 
bot, 497; Samuel C. Pomeroy, 551; 
John Brown, the Great Anti-Slavery 
Leader, 556; Gov. John W. Geary, 633; 
Gov. Robert J. Walker, 652; Gov. Fred 
erick P. Stanton, 661; Gov. James W 
Denver, 667 ; James Montgomery, 681 ; 
Samuel Walker, 688 ; Gov. Samuel Me- 
dary, 697; Gov. Charles Robinson, 713; 
Mrs. Sara T. L. Robinson, wife of 
(iov. Charles Robinson, 715: Senator 
Preston B. Plumb, 726; Major-General 
James G. Blunt, 730; General Thomas 
Ewmg, Jr., 733; W. C. Quantrill, 741; 
Gen. Sterling Price, 75 t; Gov. Thomas 
Gary, 766; Governor Samuel J. Craw- 
ford, 77i': Gov. Nehemiah Greene, 775 
Gov. Jar-13? H. Harvey. 777: Gov. 

Thomas A. Osborn, 780; I •• 

T. Anthony, 783; Gov. John P. St. 
John, 786; Mrs. Drusilla Wilson, 
sis; Mrs Carrie A. Nation bhe fa 
iiious vilii'in smashi i and arlvoeati oj 
prohibition, 827; Gov. George 
(dick. 830; Gov. Jol 
Gov. Lyman U. liu 



Martin, 83 I 
Gov. 
Ed 



imzo D. Lewellii _ 840 
mi. ml N. Morrill, si |; Goi John W 
l.eedv, sic; Gov. William E. Stanley, 
sis;' Gov. Willis J. Bailey, R51 : Gov. 
Edward W. Hocli, 854; Gov. Walter R 
Stubbs, 858; Gov. George H. Hodges, 

861; Hon. Arthur Capper, Gover ■ 

of Kansas 866 

Postal savings banks, 1 162, I 195 

Potato machinery, 1274 

Pottawatomie county, 74, 2"!', 21 l. 262 

I'cittawatomii' M:i<siiiT>', 567. 59::: m:i| 



itomie Mission, Wesl of Topeka 



Pottawatomie murders 581; cause of, 

579: approved by the Fie,- State pi o 

pie, 580 
Pottawatomie reservation, 259, 263 
Pottawaton i R He Company, 562, 572 
Pottawaton ii R fles, 564 
Pottawatomies, 25s 336, 1055, 1678 

on the Pawnees, 262 
Potter, \ndiex \.. 1034, 1717 
Potter, F. W.. 721 
Po ti i Horace E., 1566 
1735 
Potwin Ledger, 1389 
Powder Faci , CI 

Powell, Jami ' 
Prager, David, 1966 
Prager, Walter, 1967 
u illiam, 1967 

P Iiieken. 171 1 

: 17. 7!!': 
1010 



xliv 



portrait, 754; 

: raid claims, 



Prairie-Dog Creek, 80 

Prairie fires, 1662 

Prairie Grove, 728; battle of, 724 

Prairie Oil and Gas Co., 1003, 1844 

Prairies, 180 

Prather, L. A., 499 

Pratt City, 1777 

Pratt county, 1776: climate and soil, 
1777 

Pratt, Dudley, 1787 

Pratt, John G., 250, 270, 1253 2089 

Pratt, Walter P., 1626 
Pre-emption law, 349 

Prentis, Noble L., 1274 

Presbyterian church, 1012, 1235; first in 
Kansas, 1012 

Presbyterian mission, 226, 267, 275 

Presbyterians, 225 

Prescott, John H., 1570 

Preseott, Mary E. L.. 1571 

Preston, Frenii P., 2480 

Preston, H. D., 718, 796 

Preston, James C, 2229 

Preston, Richard 0„ 1569 

Price-Atchison faction. 308, 317 

Price, Charles J., 1282 

Price, Charles W., 1598 

Price Gen. Sterling;, 753; 
raid, 753; invasion, 76 
902 

Price, James II.. L878 

Price, Maude A., 159S 

Price, Ralph R., 925, 1355 

Price, Samuel, 1597 

Price, S. E., 1042 

Price, William C, 299, 300, 3:21'. 103; 
originated repeal Missouri Compromise 
328; portrait, 329 

Price, William M., 2198 

Priddv, James M., 1671 

Primary election law. 856 

Printing, 992 

Printing plant, first, 1691 

Printing press, first in Kansas, 271 

Printing presses destroyed at Lawrence, 
551 

Pritchard, George C, 1803 

Privett, William L., 1545 

Proclamation of I. B. Donalson, 5 15 

Proctor, ( lharles, 1423 

Progressive party, 1193 

Prohibition in Kansas, 788, 950, 1143, 
1568; legislation, 786, 813; amend- 
ment, campaign for. S21: amendment. 
election, 827; laws, 863; enforcement 
of, 2266 

Prohibition memorial, 791 

Prohibition party, 785; organized, 807 

Probiliit.ii \ amendment, 830 

Prohibitory law, 787, 859 

Promoted emigration, 475; from the 
South, 526, ."31 ; in Kansas, 429 

Pro-Slavery, 391, 654, 700; settlers, 356; 
meeting, 378; mob, 468: organizations, 
175: meeting of October, 1855, 479; 
leaders, -ISO; resolutions, -ISO; party, 
182; people in Hickory Point, 484; 
circles, 534; .•lenient at Dutch Henry's 
Crossing, 577; prop],., floe to Missouri, 
581; view of Brown's campaign, 592: 
fragment of the democratic party, 598; 
settlers, outrages upon, 60S; in Bour- 
bon . ounti . 680 



Prouty, S. 8., 271 

Provisional government, 298 

Provisional government of Nebraska ter- 
ritory, 3uS; cause of failure, 315 

Provisional Governor, 304 

Public credit of Kansas, 72;: 

Public Utilities Commission. v">7, 1091, 
1257, 1266 

Puderbaugh, Ira, 1380 

Pugh, Burton H., 1273 

Pugh Manufacturing Company, 1274 

Pugh, Robert, 1273 

Purcell, Newt, 2526 

Pure Food and Drug Act, 1091 

Pursley, James, 87 

Putt, Charles S., 1527 

Quaker Missions to the Shawnees, 242 

Qualification of voters in 185 1 . 177 

Quantic, Henry H., 1796 

Quantrill, William Clarke, 164. 423, 732, 
736, 739. 767. 12(14, 1700, 1964: por- 
trait, 741; double character, 740; raid, 
740, 1014. 1016, 1071, 1204, 1268, 1966, 
212n, 2312; guerilla force, 742; pursuit 
of, 746; massacre, survivor of. 2489 

Qua | aws, 275 

Quayle, Bishop, 1601 

Quigley, William A., 1663 

Quiney, Fred H., 1880 

Quindaro, 1040, 2030 

Quindaro Town Company, 1209 

Quinlan, LeRoy E., 2662 

Quivira, 1, 8.-,, 230; first mentioned. 6; 
location of, 10; in Kansas, 13; brings 
Kansas to the world, 25; autl 
26 

Radcliffe, Joseph, 1700 

Radcliffe, Victoria L., 1700 

Railroad Bill. 1257 

Railroad building, 707 

Railroad Commissioners, 846, 8 
first board, 831 

Railroad Convention, 305, 707 

Railroads, 483, 768, 777, 848, 926, 1122, 
1267, 1293, 1730, 1752; construction, 
182; and political unity, 1S6; man- 
agement, 186; mileage, 186; communi- 
cation with Pacific coast, 301, 629: 
great central route, 306: strikes, 834; 
regulation of, 845; freight rai 
1157; land grants, 933; shops, 991; in 
politics, 1122; free passes, 1195; build- 
ers of, 1201, 1210, 233.8; legislation, 
1257; great Kansas engineer, 1285; 
first through Johnson County. 1700; 
locating engineer. 2527 

Haines, J. I,.. OSS. 1 (us 

Rainfall, 1777 

Ramsey, Mix it C, 2609 

Ramsey, G. LeRoy, 2493 

Ramsey, Robert 11., 2551 

Rankin, John K.. 2488 

Ransom, Gertie X. K.. 2022 

Ransom, Henry R., 2021 

Ransom, Raymond R., 2022 

Rapp, William P., 2666 

Raub. Abr.-un A., 1825 

Ray, Edward P., I 184 

Ray, P. Orman, 332 

Ravnolds, R i I. . 261 I 



INItKX 



xlv 



Raynolds, Lewis D., 2610 
Raynolds, William L., 2611 
Raysvillc, 688 
Ravsville agreement, 689 
Rea. Edward S., L829 
Read, B. L., 671 
Kea Patterson Milling Co., 1829 
Redden, .1. W., 1090 
Redenbeaugh, William TI., 1229 
Red Legs, 742 
Redmond, John, 2636 
Redpath, .lames, 584, 646, 832 
Reece, Henry E., 1933 
Reed, Charles F., 1863 
Reed, Don F., 2721 
Reed, Fred W., 1473 
Reed, George W., 825, 1112 
Reed, James A., 1363 
Reed, James H., 2480 
Reed, Ollie E., 1993 
Reed, Robert A., 1843 
Reed, William H., 1793 
Reed, William W.. 1488 
Reeder, Andrew 11. , 315, 366, 388, 394, 
397, 401, (09, I l", 157, 462, 471, 476, 
481, 53.1, 592, 601, 937, 1.117; adminis- 
tration, 366; portrait, 367; review of 
administration, .".71; message, 403; 
attempt to remove, til; removed from 
office, H6; removal of, 456; speech at 
Big Springs, convention, 458; Dele- 
gate to Congress, 464; flight from 
Kansas, 541 
Rees, Benjamin, 1547 
Rees Rii hard R., 401 
Refinery, first independent, 1005 
Reformatory, 784 
Regier, Wiihelm E., 2639 
Register!'.! live shirk, 12S1 
Reid, Ernest E., 1346 
Reid, George K., 2101 
Reid, James W., 1999 
Reid, John W., ill", 642 
Reid, William R., 1345 
Reign of terror at Lawrence, 548 
Reitzel, WalteT M.. 1603 
Religious beliefs of Osages, 219 
Religious practice of Kansas Indians, 

199 
Remsburg, George •!., 904 
Reno county, L001, I 138 
Reno . aurehes, 1012 
Ren: August, 2729 
Report* r, Le Roy, 2658 
Representative Districts, 390 
Republii County, 65, 68, 855, 99G, 1076 
Republican League, I 155 
Republican partj in Kansas, <127, 700, 
1248, L268; platform in L856, 628; 
recognizes temperance, 806 
Republican Pa « nei . 64; v illage, 66, 

2 is 
Republican Register, 1535 
Republican River, L55, 896 

Republii .in State Conventi E 1859, 

699 
Resei . Zachariah, I 765 
-. 996 

Retail Groci rs' As-.,, m i 199 

Retail Merchants ' \ iation .,1 Pitta 

!,,.,_. 2066 



Reynolds, E. B., 810 
Reynolds, Thomas J., 1681 

Rhoads, Ross H„ 2481 
Rhodes, Fred H., 2253 

Rhodes, John S., 1818 

Rhodes, William II., 1901 

Rice, Benjamin, 681, 690 

Rice Countv, 97, 112 

Rice, Cyrus R., 1227 

Rico, Elial J., 1016 

Rice, Han,-, D., L062 

Rii 1 . 1 II., 676, 817, 320, I L59, 1221 

Rice, Oscar, 1344 

Rich, Ben C, 1181 

Richards, John P., 978, 23 1 1 

Rii hards & 1 lonover Hardware ( lom 
pany, 1298, 2312 

Richards, 1 Iscar G., 2322 

Richards, William A., 231 I 

Richardson, Ason G., 1892 

Richardson, William A., 303 

Richardson, William If., 323 

Richardson, William P., ml. 501, 507 

Richland, 175 

Richmond, Hen jamin, 22.'1S 

Rickel, Joel 11.. 2082 

Rii kenbacher, William J., 1328 

Riddle. Alexander P., 1219 

Riggs, J. D. S., 1042 

ire, W. P., 11 17, 1160 

Riker, Charlie II., 1654 

Riley, Ma jor Bennett, 1 18 

Riley C ty, 161, 767, 965, 1001, L768; 

The Seerest Family. 1259; 01 firs! 

settler's, L871; pioneers, 1 872 

Riley, William F., 1672 

Ringler, Peter .1., 2006 

Rio Grande, 5 

Rippetoe, u illiam E., 1905 

Risdon, Charles S., 1850 

Ritehey, John, 795 

Ritchie, John, 946, 950, L062 

Roach, Tin. mas W., 2415 

Road building, L625 

Road through [owa and Nebraska to 
Kansas. 601 

Road to Oregon, 110 

Roads, old animal, l 15 

Kohl., William E., 2269 

Robb, William W., 2095 

Roberson, Henry L. F., 2703 

Roberts, Dr. James B., 1 1 19 

Roberts, Frank 11., 1383 

Roberts, James B., 1 138 

Roberts, John W., 2230 

Roberts, John W.. Sr., 2230 

Robi it-, Willi:, i.i 5 ., 1 19, 161, 168 

Robi rtson, Fred, 1351 

Robertson, I. A., 2631 

Robertson, John I).. 221 I 

Robinson, Albert A., 1285 

Robinson, Charles, 348, 360, 373, 383, 
12s. 1 17, 159, 165, ids. 171. 509, 519, 
52ii, 5:;;,, :,;;s. ,-,|.;. 7,7,;, ;,,i;;, ( ; M o, 70I, 
7n2, 7)i.-.. rn7, 712, 722, 72::. 837, 906, 
928, 9 18, 941, 993, 1016, 1 1 
1541, L999; portrait, 713; leaves 
Kansas, 541; \n.--t 1 III,, • 

542; ,1 , 825; and 

Fan.-, .-I i 13(1 

Robinson, Earl \F. 2235 



xh 



Robinson, George W., 1797 
Robinson Index, 1532 
Robinson, John L., 2067 
Robinson, John W., 699, 71S 
Robinson, Sara T. L. i portrait I, 
Robinson, Wi 



I ,■ . . 



II.. 2386 
1 is 
S., 



997 



1 134 



Rockville, 735 

Rockwell, Bertrand, 2103 

Roeky Ford battle, 262 

Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 119, 

Rogers, Duke A., 1916 

Rogers, George, 1700 

Rogers, J. C, 1916 

Rogers, J. Newton, 1573 

Rogers, Neil W„ 1473 

Rohr, Albert, 2359 

Rohr, John, 2359 

Rohr, Paul, 2359 

Rollins, Elisha II., 2094 

Rollman, Thilon J., 2535 

Roman Nose, 773 

Roome, L. M., 1935 

Rooney, William T.. 2605 

Root, Frank L., 1508 

Root, Joseph P., 699, 798, 993, 1253 

Root, Phares, 1749 

Rorabaugh-Wiley Drj Goods Co., i 

Rose, John, 1668 

Rose, Louis 11., 1561 

Rose, William \\\. 2183 

Rosedale, 2474; schools, 2474 

Rosenstein, Robert K.. 1914 

Roser, Eniil B., 1788 

Ross, Charles, 1692 

Ross, Claude, 1692 

Ross, C. ()., 2051 

Ross, Edith Connelley, 769 

Ross, Edmund G., 771, 946, 1244, 1 

Ross Family, 1691 

Ross, Floyd, 1692 

Ross, George B., 2209 

Ross, Patrick, 671 

Ross, William, 1692 

Ross, William W., 692 

Roter, Cora T., L890 

Roter, Louis R., L890 

Rotten Common wealth, the, 722 

Roughton, William ('., 2604 

Round Grove, 118 

Rounds, William M., 1879 

Rowland, Herbert A., 2516 

Rowland, Stewart P., 2723 

Royal Buffalo Hunt, 1213 

Royal Neighbors of America, 2059 

Royce, La Rue, 1454 

Rover, Charles G., 1384 

Ruder. Frederick, 2319 

Ruder, Fred W.. 2320 

Ruell, Rollin, 1 i:;;; 

Ruffians, Border, 550; character of, 

Ruffner, F. .1 ., 1582 

Ruins of Lawrence, 1863; (illustrati 

744 
Rumbaugh, tsabel II.. 2193 
Rumbaugh, Jacob, 2190 
Rural, -l I 
Rural Delivery, 1195 



Rush, Elmore, 391 

Rushton, George, 1 149 

Rushton, George Baking Company, 1449 

Russell, Captain A. P., 725 

Russell County, 67 

Russell, Majors & Waddell, 105, 107 

Russell, William II., 105, 177, 979 

Ryan, Edward C, 2232 

Ryan, Edward J., 1618 

Ryan, Thomas, L284 

Sac and i',,\ reservation, 268 
Sacking of Lawrence by Border Rum 
ans .May 21, 1856, 552; (illustration), 

Sacs, 265, 266 

Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi, 267 

Sage, Aaron, 1638 

Sage, \. <>.. 1502 

Sage Fi v of Shawnee County, 1637 

Sag lai. 249 

St. Benedict 's College, loll, 1051 
St. Francis Hospital, Topeka, 1066 
st. John, John P., 785, S07, S09, 810, 
821, nl'i;, 830; portrait, 786; message 

St. John, Mursenn. 2388 

St. Joseph 'a Catholic Church, Hum- 
boldt, 2584 

St. Louis, city of, 43; trading post for 
Upper Louisiana. 4:: 

St. Marv 's, 262, 399, 164, 996, 1056 

St. Mary's Church, 1011 

st. Marj 's College, 1011, 1054 

St. Mary's Mission, 1055 

st. Paul Journal, 1953 

St. Paul State Hank, 1911 

Salathiel, Thomas S.. 1656 

Salina, 815, 987, 1304, 2515; a civic 
leader, 2367; first city council, 2535; 
early history, 2540 

Salina Cement Plaster Co., Is7s 

Salina Daily Union, 1335 

Salina Sun, 1407 

Saline county, 60, 911, 2486, 2559; 
bench and bar, 2518; pioneer condi- 
tions, 2523; prominent pioneer, 2532; 

Saline County Bar Association. 2566 

Saline Valley Lank, 2591 

Salisbury, George W., 1372 

Salisbury, Ward, 1507 

Saloons. 792, s:;7 

Salt Creek, 368 

Salt Creek Valley, 350, 356, 524 

Salt Creek Valley resolutions, 437 

Salt industry, 836, 990, 996, 1231 1777 

Salter, Park K„ 1567 

Salters, Sam. (90, 538 

Salt-springs, 285 

Sample, Charles W., 2728 

Sams, Willis V.. 2727 

Sanborn, I'. B., 623; letter of, 576 

Sand Bank Con\ ention, 440 

sand, us, George A.. 2264 

Sandidge, .lames G., 1864; Sandusky 
Mission, 257 

Sandzen, Sven B., 2546 

Sanger, J. M.. 1503 

Santa Fe caravans, 140 

Sante Fe, citv of, 85, 90 



INDEX 



Sante Fe Railroad, 288, 777, 99] ; strike, 
784; the greatest builder of them all, 
L285; shops, 1.311 

Sante Fe trade, interference of the 
Texans, 121; successive headquarters, 
L38; business ot outfitting 139; ex- 
tent of, 141 

Sante IV Trail, 71. s4, )-J, :;:;<;. 

584, 734, 743, 717, 771. 855,2170, 2172; 
father of, 89; marked, 91; through 
Kansas, 1 lii; table of distances, 1 16; 

and the Texans, 121; r Is. 138; 

authorities, I 13 

Sapp, Edwin E., 2054 

Sapp, William P., 1836 

Sargent, John, 1337 

Sarver, I. P., 1777. 

Saunders, J. P., 187, fins 

S,-,\ age, Joseph, 361 

Savage, Joseph P., 1812 

Saviers, AL, 742 

Sawin, Leroy E., 1536 

Sawmills, 346, 988 

Sawyer, Charles M., 2084 



A. 



,98 



Schalker, John Jr., 2353 
Schalker, John Sr., 2353 
Schalker Packing Co., 2353 
Scherman, Francis J., 1650 
Schermerhorn, William !•:., 1621 

Schilling, A rl J., 2393 

Schilling, John, 2392 

Schippel, Gotthart, 2718 

Schmidt, Mathias M., 1492 

Schneider, Charles II., 1434 

Schoch, William F„ 2693 

School Book Commission, 1212 

School for the Blind, Kansas Citv, 2318 

School geographies, early, 7S 

School Text-Book Commission, 1095 

School text-book law. 1193 

Schools of instruction for officers and 

soldiers, originator of the plan, 150; 

for Indians and whites, 215; Indian 

mission, 336; View of First in Marion 

Comity, 1589 

Schrader, G 'g P. C, 2457 

Schroeder, Henry W., 2664 

Schuyler, Phillip C, 447, 163, 168 

Schwartz, William. 2525 

Seidmore, W. A. 2630 

Scientific and Historical Society, 1071 

Scott, Andrew, 1630 

Scott, i harles P., 1360 

Si .it! County, 36, 966 

Scott, Dred, case, I s -". 

Scott, Lee, 2384 

Scott, Merle K., I 186 

Scott, Samuel, 101, 693 



Scrip money, 970, 982 

scolder, Tl as w . 

Seal. John 11., 2702 
seai I, Oscai R . I i-'.' 

Sears, W. II., :,7.-. 

Searson, J. W, 1325 



2550 

npain , 
2441 ' 



2.-J2 



Sec I Indian regiment, 901 

Second Kansas Colored Volunteei III 

t'antry, 898 
Sr, ond Kansas Infantry, 725 
Second Kansas Volunteer Battel 599 
Second Regiment, 769 
Second Regiment Kansas Volunteer 

Cavalry, 874 
Second Regimenl Kansas \ olunti ei In 

I'anhv, s7:: 
Secrest, Edward, 1259 
Secresl Family, Riley County, 1259 
Secrest, Solomon, 1265 
Secretary's Private Office. Kansas State 

Historical Society (illustration . 1074 
Seewir, Charlie C, 2373 
Seewir, John G., 2373 
Seitz, Jeremiah 1 
Self-Protective I 
Selig, August I.. 
Selig, H. W. II., 2441 
sells. Allen W., L340 
Sells Brothers Circus, 1340 
Semi-Centennial Anniversary, 851 
Seneca, 1(17. 17.". 
Seneca Tribune, 1415 
Sessions, Charles II.. 1333 
Settlement of Kansas. 710; resull of 

Kansas-Nebraska bill, 347; lust mis 

take, 352 
Settlers, from free states, 363; fr 

Massachusetts, 348; from Missouri, 

350; in 1854, 356; from Russia, S37 
Settlers' Protective Associations. 114o 
Seven cities. The. I 
Seventeenth Kansas Volunteer Infant* \ 

sin; 
Sei enth Regiment Kansas Volui 

Cavalry, 880 
Sevei in. John P., I4::i 
Severy Severyite, 2294 
Sewell, Henri s., L985 
Sewell, J. B., 1339 
Sewell, William C, 1641 
Shafer, Jacob, 1636 
Shaffer, A. C, 2352 

Shannon family, 473 

Shannon, Governoi Wilson. 157, 159, 

17'.. 17.:. 17:'. 181, E 501, 510, 51 I, 

•".is, .".L'l, .".:n;, .viii, ;,i i. :,in. :,..i i:.i 
• 5 1 - , 633; portrait, 474; interview 



ith 



Sharp, Anderson M., 2187 
Sharp, Georgi J., 2122 
Sharps' Rifles, 131, 132, 505, 51 
Shaver, Ubert \.. j;::i I 
Shaw, 227 
Sl.au. A. J., I 111 

Shaw, Wayne P., 2719 

Shaw nee, 7 1 1 

Shawnee Baptist Mission, 270, l'7I 

Shawnee cession, L' 13 

--haw nee count} . 74, 214, 160 

1010 

burn, 1655; o 
Shawnee Mission, 110, 159, 336, 390, 

102, 107, ill, ill, 455, 178; capital of 

K iii-.i- territory, 241 
Shawm ■ '•'■ ■ nap), 410; 

Johnson county, Ka nsas, HO 



xlvii 



INDEX 



Shawnee prophet, -41 

Shawnee reservation, 240, 336 

Shawnee reserve line, 484 

Shawnee tribe, 310 

Shawnees, 239, 299 

Shearburn, Edwin W., 1572 

Sheard, Thomas E., 1660 

Sheedy, Dennis J., 2239 

Shelby. Joseph O., 395, 602 

Shelden. Alvah, 2 Hi l 

Shelden, Chester C, 2576 

Shelden, John G., 1405 

Shelden, Louisa V., 1405, 2405 

Shi Iden, Mary M". L., 2401 

Sheldon, Emmor J., 2530 

Sheldon, Herbert F., 2401 

Sheldon, Lerov B.. 2284 

Shelksohn, Otto W., 1609 

Shellenbaum, Edward, 1220 

Shellenbaum, Frank H., 1769 

Shellenbaum, Henry, 1768 

Shelton, D., 817 

Shelton, Edward M., 1026 

Shelton, Frank W., 1923 

Shepard, William II., 1852 

Sheridan, Phil. H., 1213 

Sherman, 772 

Sherman, John N., 1992 

Sherman, William, 570, 578 

Sherman, William T., 772, 1627 

Shermansville, 57S, 579 

Sherrill, K. Ellis, 1530 

Sherwood, Frank H., 2233 

Shew, John, 1008 

Shideler, Harry W., 1872 

Shideler, Henry, 1872 

Shinier, James C, 1309 

Shine, Rev. Michael A., 14 

Shinn, Charles W., 2206 

Shin oaks, 83 

Shirk, David F., 1685 

Shirk, James A. G., 1824 

Shive, Edison E., 2713 

Shoemaker, Thomes C, 42:; 

Shope, Robert S., 1510 

Shore, Captain, 584 

Shore, Samuel T., 590 

Short ballot, 863 

Shriver, William I., 2578 

Shuler, Lewis E., 1526 

Shumway, Charles C, 2663 

Sickles, T. N., 1835 

Silos, 1089, 1281 

Simmerwell, Fannie (portrait), 201 

Simmerwell, Robert, 260, 1010; (por- 
trait), 261 

Simmons, Marion J., 1897 

Simms, Franklin B., 1701 

Simon, Reinhold W., 2598 

Simpson, Benjamin F., 699, 750, 758, 
763, 946 

Simpson, Charles L., 2001 

Simpson, Jerry, 1122, 1148, 1151, 1154, 
1159, 1167, 1192, ll'.H; (portrait) 
II lis 

Simpson, John W., 2648 

Simpson, Samuel X., 1999 
Sim-. John B., 1730 



Siouan Indian family, 191 

Sicilian Indians, 193 

Sipple, G. K.. 21.17 

Sister Felicitas, 2395 

Sixteenth Kansas, 756 

Sixteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalrv, 
895 

Sixth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cav- 
alry, 878 

Sjogren, Clans J., 2490 

Skidmore, A. II., 2313 

Skidmore, Charles B., 2127 

Skinner, Carl IT., 1387 

Skinner, Frank X., 2028 

Skinner, Fred B., 2028 

Slaughter, John P., 1673 

Slavery, 291. 292, 29(1, 297, 299. 318, 
S33, 350, 360, 378, 386, 107, 475, 479, 
561, 629, o:,u, <;:;::, 927, 929, 943 

Slavery abolished in Kansas, 707 

Slavery and the Constitution, 185 

Slavery cause, 657 

Slavery code, 417 

Slavery impossible in Kansas, 341 

Slavery issue, 435 

Slavery laws, 418 

Slavery men, at Atchison, 361 

Slavery, opposition to in .Missouri, 337 

Slavery opposition from people of Alle- 
ghany Mountain system, 340 

Slavery prohibition, 446 

Slavery party, 648 

Slavery question, 383, 103 

Slavery, secret order, 349; unprofitable 
in west, 354 

Slaves in .Missouri, 337 

Sleeth, Pauline B., 2467 

Sleeth. William M., 2466 

Sloan, E. O., 2113 

Slonecker, J. (I.. 1368 

Sloop, C. J., 1823 

Slosson, George, 2201 

Slosson, Minnie H., 2201 

Slough Creek, 622 

Small, William, 2313 

Smelser, William X.. 2255 

Smelters, Hull 

Smith, Albert, 2002 

Smith, Arthur B., 1724 

Smith, B. S., 2122 

Smith, Charles A., 2677 

Smith, Clement, 1694 

Smith, Emery E., 2709 

Smith, E. O., 2370 

Smith, F. Dumont, 1756 

Smith, Flavins K.. 2364 

Smith, Glenn, 1462 

Smith, G. O., 465 

Smith, George S.,, 1586 

Smith, George T., 1436 

Smith, GeoTge \\\. I lii, 163, .116, 549, 

Smith, II. B., 2453 
Smith. G. II., 2617 
Smith, J. C, 510 
Smith. Jacob, 1757 
Smith, James X.. 2029 
Smith, .led, ■dial, 8., 119, 149 
Smith, John M., 2565 
Smith. John Q., 2247 
Smith, Joseph B., 2323 



INDEX 



xlix 



Smith, Leonard T., 2474 

Smith-Lever Act, 102:1 

Smith. Marv 1'., 220S 

Smith. Mrs. M. B., 818 

Smith. Samuel 0., 498 

Smith. S. C, 981 

Smith. Solomon A., 2497 

Smith, Tom D.. 1394 

Smith, Walter A., L705 

Smith, William A., 1383 

Smith, William II., 1 i:;l 

Smith. William II., '.'1 17 

Smith, William 1,'., L212 

Smoky Hill river, GO 

Smolan, 2490 

Smyser, Lavinia J., 2669 

Smyser, William C, 2669 

Smyser, William G., 1 563 

Smythe, John H., 2286 

Snively, Colonel, 121 

Snodgrass, W. C, 1601 

Snow, Chancellor, 960 

Snow, E. H., 1156 

Snow, Francis H., 2-112 

Snow, Frank H., 1018 

Snyder, Captain Ely, 672 

Snyder claim fort, 677, 679 

Snyder Claim (map of), 675 

Snyder, Elias, 673 

Snyder, Elmore W., 2349 

Snyder, Ely, 676 

Snyder, Howard L., 2574 

Snyder, Jonathan T., 1681 

Snyder. William P., 1692 

Snyder's shop, 672 

Sockli ss Jerry, 1152 

Soda ash plant, 1001 

Sod house, 2259 

Soil of Kansas, 711, 1777: and climate, 

;:i. 
Soldiers' Home, Leavenworth, 2404 
Soldii rs in Civil war from Kansas, 905 
Soldiers of Kansas, Mi'l 
Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 833 
SoUer, August, 1516 
Solomon, 997 

Solomon and Republican vallevs, 772 
Sol, lino, i Solar Salt Co., 997 
"Some Impressions of Europe," 2656 
Songei . Il.-n \ ej I.., 2575 
Sorghum, 1300 
South alarmed l,\ "migration companies, 

348 
Soul b i arolina company, 554 
South Carolina flag, 552 
south. Charles, 2173 
South, emigration to Kansas, 526 
Southeastern Kansas, 859; disorders, 

693; troubles, 696; territorial troubles, 

680 
Southern emigration, 530 
Southern, George W., 1771 
Southern Kansas Academy, 2298 
Southerners in Kansas, 532 



College, 1009 

riland, 1576 



Spanish-American war, 846, 909, 954; 

brigadier-general of volunteers, 2103 
Sparks, Oliver W., 2161 
Spaulding, Azel,.721 
Special privileges, prohibition of, 855 
Specie payments, resumption of, 1121 
-i i i Frederick, 2044 
Speer, John, .'164, 436, 447, 468, 1269; 

portrait, 363 
Speer, Joseph L., 718 
Spencer, Calvin M., 2300 
Spencer, Charles F., 1900 
Spencer, Elizabeth T., 2492 
Spencer, Francis M., 1756 
Spencer, F. M., 1047 
Sperry, John H., 1936 
Spilman, Alexander ( '.. 25 i3 
Spilman, Judge Robert B., L226 
Spilman, Robert I!., I22<; 
Spines, J. H., 1818 
Spirit of free men, 444 
"Spirit of 1856," 2471 
Spirit villages of Kansas Indians. 2o I 
Spooner, Charles E„ 1996 
Sprague, Keith E., 222,; 
Spring Hill, 746 
Spring, John Brown, 672 
Spring river, 24 
Squatter associatioi 
Sipiatter claims, 349 
Squatter court at Port Self, 683, (is I 
Squatter laws, 489 
Squatter so\ ereign, 832 
Squatter sovereignty. Is.-,, ;;.|s. ;;,;,; 

137 
Squatter's ( laim Association, ?.r,() 
Squier, William H, 1457 
Squires, Jeremiah H., 1808 
Squires, Ralph W., 1811 
Slant/, John II.. 2646 
Stafford county, 996 
Stage coaches, 172; illustration. 17:' 
Stage routes, L69 
stagg. David L., 1776 
Stahl, Elmer G., 1326 
stahl. Prank M., L315 
Stahl, Airs. Michael. 1326 
Stahlman. David ('., 1388 
Standard Asphalt and Uuhher c 

1912 
Standard of weights and measures, 857 

Standard Oil Companv, s.V;. Inn ;. 1 

L006 
Stanford. John W., L879 
Stanley, William B., 847; portrait, 848 
Stansbury, Captain Howard. 155 
Stanton. Frederick I'., li.VJ, Clin, 7(lll, 716; 

portrait. 663 ; character of, 665 

Stanton, James, 2403 

Stanton. Michael, 2lo;; 
Sta, of the West. 602 

Stark, Hale, L375 

Stan. \lwi 1 .. 1844 

Starry, Clark V, 19 19 

State agent for Kansas at Washington 

2655 " ' 

state bank missi r, 16!l6 

state Bank oi Elgin, 2490 

state Bank of I. eon. Th< .lis: 

stat, Bank of Mickerson, Kansas. The 



JXDEX 



State Board of Agriculture, 1216, 125S 
•State Board of Health, 1089 
State Board of Railroad Commission- 
ers, 122-1 
State capital, 712, 776, 852 
State constitution, 45-",, 467 

State dnii v linn in i->i( .M. i . i ii : J 

State finances, 767, 860, 865 

State fire marshal, 1211 

State food and drugs law, 1033 

State Good Roads Association, 21 --7 

State Historical Society, 107.;. 1303, 
2655 

State Home for Feeble Minded, Win- 
in Id, 1104 

Statehood movement, 446, 461 

State Hospital, 861 

stat.- Hospital for Epileptics, 2037 

State Hospital for the Insane, Topeka, 
1653 

State House, 786, 837, 849; architect 
of, 1264 

Mate Insane Asylum, 859 

State institutions. 767, 771, 784, 850, 



Hi!e; 



State Library, H»7!» 

State Live-stock Registry Board, 1032 

Stair Manual Tiai g Normal School 

at Pittsburg, 1353 
State militia, 717 

State Normal School, Concordia, 1039 
State Normal School, Emporia, 1036 
State Normal School, Leavenworth, 1039 
State oil refinery, 855, 1194 
State organization committee, 455 
State Orphans' Home, Atchison, 1107, 

1373 
State Printing Plant, 992, 1092, 1212 
State Reform School, 786 
State Reformatory . 833 
stai.- rights party, 481 
State row, 776 

State School for the Blind, 1035 
State School for the Deaf, 1035 
State Soldiers' Home, 1084 
State supervision of banks, 969 
State Tax Commission, 1094, 1224 
State Temperance Union, 815, 817, 822, 

1217 
State textbook plant, 861 
State Tuberculosis Sanitarium, 1108 
State-wide primary, 857 
State Woman's Suffrage Association, 

831 
Stauffer, Henry O., 1477 
Steamboat Sultan, 604 
Steel Fixture Manufacturing Company, 

Steele, Jefferson I... L579 

Stephan & Isern Mercantile Company, 

2168 
Stephens, Charles, 2282 
Stephens, Mrs. J. H„ 1956 
Stephenson, Fred' L., 2482 
Sterling, 998, 1046 
Stevens, Aaron D., 622 
Stevens, Chester. 1667 
Stevens county, 114, 834, 1269 
Stevi us, Robert S., 26S, 718, 722 



Stevens, Thomas A., 1939 

Stevens, Thomas C, 765 

Stevenson, James, 1784 

Stevenson, Samuel, 681 

Stewart, Allen T., 1440 

Stewart, James H., 1296 

Stewart, Josiah, 681 

Stewart, J. E., 684 

Stewart, William J., 1472 

Stieh, Adolph C, 1269 

Stich, Kathleen E., 1271 

Stich, William E., 1675 

Stiefel, Minnie E., 1464 

Still, Andrew T., 1264 

Still-hunt for buffalo, 289 

Stillings, Edward, 2728 

Stillings, Vinton, 2729 

Stillwell, Leander, 1359 

Stinson, Samuel A., 718, 946 

Stock Yards Serum Co., Kansas City, 

Kansas, 2400 
Stockraising, 249:1, 2521 
Stoddard, Amos Major, 52 
Stolz, Michael M., 2524 
Stone against Southwood, 682 
Stone Corral, 112 
Stone, Fred L., 2179 
Stone, Joseph E., 2026 
Stone, Joshua A., 1847 
Stone, .1. C, 717, 719 
Stone. Minerva A., 1847 
Stone, Ralph C, 2668 
Stone, Robert, 935, 1364, 1498 
Stonecipher, Ernest E., 2050 
Stonecipher, J. C, 2050 
St inch, George, 1468 
Storch, Ida, 1386 
Stout, Mahlon F., 1642 
Stout, Sabrina C, 1642 
Stout, William, 1489 
Stover, John S., 2591 
Strahan, Charles S., 1949 
stranger Crossing, 637 
Straub, Charles A., 2429 
Strawn, Asahel, 1277 
Strawn, George H., 1277 
Street, William L\, 1218' 
Strickler, H. J., 501, 638, 700 
Strickler, Joseph L., 2056 
Strike of 1885, 1136 
Strikes of 1894, 841 
Stringfellow, Benjamin F., 529. 602, 642, 

993; portrait, 476 
Stringfellow, John H., 361, 401. 402, 944 
Strong, Benjamin F., 2436 
Strong, Frank, 2355 
Strong, Henry D., 1554 
Stubbs, Walter Roscoe, 857. 2251, 2380; 

portrait, 858 
Study, Harry P., 210!' 
Stuewe Family, l.'iOn 
Stuewe, Ferdinand, 1591 
St urges, William, 768 
Sublette, William, 182 
Sudan grass, 1281 
Suilendorf, Henry H. P., 1594 
Sudendorf, Herman II.. 1594 
Suffrage amendment. 1 1 88, 1 19] 
Sugar beets, 850 
Sugar from sorghum, 835 
Sugar in. mini. 669 



[NDEX 



Sullivan. James D., 1755 

Sumner, Colonel E. V.. 472, 503, 506, 537, 

591, 606 
Sunday schools, 1792; tirst in Kansas, 

2418 
Sundgren, Eric, 2559 
Sunflower as state flower, 2171 
Sunflower State, 2171 
' ' Sunny Kansas, ' ' 388 
Sunworship, 219 
Supreme Court Justice, 1208 
Surber, Cassius C, 1915 
Sutcliff, Harry O., 1426 
Sutcliffe, John S., 2256 
Suttle, William C, 2168 
Sutton. William B., 2035 
Swan. Taul C, 2603 
Swanson. Ernest F., 2572 
Swarts, Carroll L., 2383 
Swartz, Louis A., 1509 
Swayze, Addison W., 2596 
Swayze, Jason C, 1800 
Swayze. Oscar K., 1801 
Swedish colonists, 2494, 2538 
Sweet clover, 1281 
Swenson, John A., 2548 
Swensson, Carl A., 1515, 2502 
Swift & Company, 991 
Swiggert, Clayton A., 1870 
Swingle, W. W., 1078 
Swogger, Glenn, 2624 
Sylvan State Bank, 2643 
Syracuse. 115 

Talbot, Asa K.. 1981 

Talbott, Isaac !•'., 2515 

Tallman, Charles ()., 1946 

Tallman. Thomas W., 1947 

Tani]ia county, 60 

Tanquarv, Mamie J., L903 

Tappan. ' Samuel I'.. 193, 196, 198, 537, 

602 
Taracari, Greai Citj of, 23 
Tasehetta, Charles A., :::::: 
Taschetta, Peter, 2376 
Taton, Francis II.. 1 198 



William. !Mi7 

Zacharv, 296, 627 
. D. II.. 1501 
. James M.. 1500 

William 11.. inl 



I II 10 



Tegeli . \ I \ in II.. 1558 

Teichgi ai bei . Bernhai d, 227 I 

Tejo, 1 

Tempers move at, 784, 786, 788, 

22-2: societies, 7!M ; -ciitimcnt, growth 

of, 797 . milium e oi . 801; i rention 

hi 1874, 807; banner, 81 I. 828; en 

fore ■"! hj l: Lawrence, 2362; 

leader, 2419 

r, mj eto , Fay, 736 

Tempi, toi . i mi \ . L886 

Tenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 877, 
886 

Ten v. John I.'., 1""12 

i iffairs, review of, 412 



Territorial bonds fraudulent, 700 
Territorial eapital, 113, 691 
Territorial eapital at Pawnee, 401 
Territorial conditions, 579 
Territorial courts, 645 
Territorial election, alien voters 
Territorial electors, 928 
Territorial government, 366 
Territorial government recommended, 

298 
Territorial investigation, 532 
Territorial legislature, first laws. 117. 

533, 647, 937; repudiated, 454 
Territorial Militia, 418 
Territorial "Register, 523 
Territory of Louisiana, 52 
Territory of Missouri, 52 
Territory of Nebraska, 298 
Territory of the Platte, 303 
Terrv, Theodore H., 2490 
Tester, William H., 1976 
Text Book Commission, 845, 1095 
Thacher, Solon O., 796, 946, 947, 948, 

1239 
Thacher, Timothy D., 692, 945, 1274 
Thaver. Eli, 341. 345, 360, 365, 395. 42s, 

5711, 580, 595 
Theis, P. P., 2321 
Third Indian Regiment, 002 
Third Kansas Regiment, 876 
Third Kansas Volunteer Battery, Situ 
Third party in Kansas, 1123 
Thirteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, 

891 
Thoes, Richard E.. 1592 
Tholen, Charles, 2427 
Tholen, Hermon J., Jr., 2126 
Tholen, Webster W., 2428 
Thole,,, William, 699, 721 
Tholen. William A.. 2428 
Thomas. Chester, 245s 
Thomas, Frank \\\, 1327 
Thomas. Jesse R., 293 . 
Thomas. Mary B., 1328 
Thomas. Owen M.. 2 1 1 7 
Thomas. Rees E., 2673 
Thompson, Frederic M., 1494 
Thompson, Henry, 564, .".'',7. 585 
Thompson, Henry S., 2682 
Thompson, Owen A.. 1649 
Thompson, Bobert A., 2561 
Thompson, Thomas E., 2115 
Thompson, William II.. 1567 
Thompson. William R., 2.171 
Thompson. Will S.. 2683 
Thompson, W. A. I... 1290 
Thompson, W. \\ . 1940 

n ton, .1- Q., 159 

Thoroman, Da\ id C, 17s:: 

Tl man, Albert VI., 1784 

Threshing scene in Kans 
Thurman, Arthur M.. 1987 
Tillotson, Howard C, 2356 
Timber absence, 77 
Timmennan. William. 1994 

Til is. William S., 189? 

I'm.:,. 247 

Titus. Col I II. T.. 608 

! - 
To. hi guerilla, 732 
Todd, Roberl M., 2684 



Tolc, John H., 1727 

Tomlinson, William C, 2059 

Tomsoii, Thomas K., 102s 

Tonganoxie, 2277 

Tonty, 33 

Topeka, 79, 151, 152, 160, 161-, 209, 216, 
260, 400, 411, 42::, 45f,, 464, 465, 509, 
534, 607, 609, 712, 768, 777, 791, 792, 
816, 825, 836, 841, 851, 964, 987, 992, 
1063; founded, 362, Kits; government, 
478; act of rebellion, 470; legislature, 
647; made permanent capital, 718; 
banks, 981; churches, 101Q; a center 
for the manufacture of flour, 1203; 
one of the founders of, 1252. 127s. 
chapter in municipal history, 1308; 
park system, 120s, L308; playgrounds, 
1308; bridges, 1310; streets, J3"ll; first 
telephone system, 1730; horse street 
car line, 1730; first schoolhouse, 1758; 
under Mayor McAfee, 2419; pension 
agency, 2443 

Topeka Associate 792 

Topeka Blade, 1801 

Topeka Capital, 197.1, 2102 

Topeka Commonwealth, 1255 

Topeka Constitution, 467, 46S, 595, 651, 
690, 693, 696, 928, 930; constitution, 
election, 523 

Topeka convention of 1855, 939 

Topeka convention of 1857, 654 

Topeka Daily Capital, 825 

Topeka Industrial and Educational In- 
stitute, 1040 

Topeka Movement, 461, 472, 791, 938 

Topeka Movement men, 709 

Topeka State Hospital, 1105, 1053 

Topeka State Journal, 1801 

Toronto Republican, 2294 

Torrance, Austin A., 2638 

Town at the mouth of the Blue depopu- 
lated, 210 

Town-building, in the years 1809 1873. 
1293 

Town of Douglas, 509 

Town of Franklin, 593, 

Town of Kiowa, is 

Town of the Big Spring, 907 

Townsend, John K„ 152 

Townsley confession, 572 

Townslev, James, 566, 575. 582, 585 

Tractors, 1281 

Trade stimul 

Traders Stat. 

Trading Post 

Trading witl 

Tramp circul 

Transportatii 
Trail si ; 

liens. 1 122 
Trask, Josiah C, 
Traveling librarj 
Travis, Fran] I. . 
Traylor, G. W, 21 
Treadwell, Coloni 
Treason prisoners 
Treats of Law re) 
Treaty-scene bet' 

the Kansa, 232 
Trees, difficulty of growing, 71 
l - kell, Emeri . 2698 



early expedil ions, Is 
ink, Arkansas ("\t\ . 2577 
5, 225, 336, 009. 670, 735 

dians, 2489 

1 L89 

165, 186; the Santa Ee 
glit rates, 107; corpora- 



!•'., 01 1 



Pawnee and 



Tribune Printing Comp.anv, 1740 

Tri-Citj Herald, 23.52 

Triekett, Charles W., 1826 

Trigg, Thomas E., 2097 

Trott, Charles H., 1806 

Trout, George W., 2012 

Trout, Loring, 1807 

Troutman, John L., 1682 

Troy, 173 

Truby, Marvin P., 1717 

True, Lewis C, 2057 

Trueblood, Richard H., 2260 

Truitt, Guy E., 2084 

Truman, Thomas C, 1833 

Truskett, T. \V„ 2100 

Trusts, 1193 

Trusts and combinations, 842 

Tuberculosis sanitarium, 801, 109] 

Tucker, Edwin, 2298 

Tucker, George E., 2299 

Tucker, Howard D., 2299 

Tucker, Levi L., 14.13 

Tullock, Alonzo J., 25114 

Tulloss, James ()., 2205 

Turk, 5, 230; brought to account, 5 

Turner, 240, 241 

Turner, James P.., 1914 

Turner, John O., 095 

Turner. Robert W.. 1548 

Turning-point in the political affairs of 

Tuthill, principalsa.lt man of '00s, 996 

Twelfth Kansas, 75b 

Twelfth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 890 

Twente, Jehu W., 2268 

Twentieth Kansas Regiment, 846, 849, 
909, 1964 

Twenty tiist Iviuse Viduiiteer Infantry, 
915 ' 

Twenty-first Kansas Volunteer Regi- 
ment, ,1 Dicers, 916 

Twenty-second Kansas Volunteei In- 
fantry, iM 7 

Twenty-second Kansas Volunteer Regi- 
ment, officers, 91S 

Twenty-third Kansas Volunteer Infan- 
try, 919 

Twenty-third Kansas Volunteei Regi 
ment, officers, 920 

Twenty-fifth Kansas Militia, 748 

Twine plant. 800 

Two cent railroad fare, 855; law in Kan 
sas, 1569 

Tyler, DeWitt C, 1559 

Tyler, William H., 2222 

Tvner, William S„ 2109 

Tyner, Willis II., 2109 

Tyro Stat,. Bank, 1849 

Ulysses, 103 

I'm. le Sam Refining Co., 1006 

Underground railroad, 17, 352, 394, 0,27, 

74 1. 1650; from Kansas, 009: station, 

1683 

Union Hotel pris 736 

Union Labor Party, 1154 

Union Pacific Railroad. 777. 124o, 1293 

Uniontown, 101, 336 

United States governments of Upper 

Louisiana, 51 
United States senate,-, 715 



I'nivorsal suffrage, 693 

University of Kansas, ::c.o, 1231, 1235, 

• 1236, 2355 

Updegraff, R. T., 2617 

Updegraff, W. W., 798 

Upper Louisiana, 52; capital of, 34 

Usher, John P., 26S 

Vaca, Cabeza de, 3 

Valeda State Bank, 1983 

Valley Falls, 73, 2418 

Valley Home, 173 

Vance, B. H., 1503 

Van De Mark, Martin V, 1571 

Van Denberg, Miller M., 1440 

Vanderschmidt, Fred, 2310 

Vanderschmi.lt, George, 2310 

Yondersehmidt Louis 2310 

Vandersliee, Thomas J., 1310 

Yandervelde, Conrad, 2281 

Van Doren, C. J., 2495 

Van Dorp, Louis, 1644 

Van Horn, Robert T., 371 

Van Meer, William II., 2365 

Van Natta, Henry H., 1550 

Van Natta, N. T., 1548 

\ .11: Ness, Alice, 736 

Van Petten, Matthew B., 1705 

Van Zile, Mary P., 1034, 1737 

Vainer, Ed. C, 1462 

Varner, Samuel C, 2145 

Vaughan, James A., 2148 

Vaughan, Jim, 736 

Vaughan. William L., 2139 

Vaughn, Armon P., 2474 

Vaughn, Clarence G., 2339 

Vaughn, C. K., 2339 

\ aughn, George W., 2337 

Vawter, Jeptha D., 1704 

Veale, George W., 1370 

\ eale's Regiment, 769 

Veateh, Nathan T„ I 121 

Verdigris river, 222 

Vermilion river, 72 

Vermillion, Clinton D., 2644 

Veteran plainsman, L213 

Vicory, Merifield, 1669 

Vigilance committee, 139, 441, 4*2 

Villazue, expedition of 1720. 37 

Vincent Brothers, 11 10, L159 

Vincent, John I'., 998 

Viola Spring Water I 'ompanv, 1237 

Von der Heiden, William H., 2684 

Voris, Mills i;.. 2424 

Vote of 1872. 777 

Voters iinpni te.l, : : " > 1 

\'(.ters, territorial <|ii:il iri.-rit ions, 334 

Vrooman, IT. P., L133 



ches 



Wabaunsee, 1253; ehu; 

Wabauns ontj . 7 1 

Waddle, Luther 11.. 1868 
Waddtei Samuel 11., 1397 
Wade, William B., 1946 
Wages ... 1886, 1135 
Waggener, Balie P., 980, 1376 
Ji - \V. 1386 

Waggon, :. Willi:,,, 

Wagg a . Grant, 1909 

Wagner. h'i ,-,|ei i, ! 
Wagner. ( ,. ,, ge, 2o'l 8 



Wagon and carriage i,,, t,, 

Wagon bed springs, 10.:. ill 

Wagoner. Joseph E., 1591 

Wagoner, Ruby B., 1591 

Wagons, Santa Fe trade, 139; in over- 
land freighting, 166; trains, 1308 

Wagstaff, Thomas E.,' 1253 

Wagstaff, W. R., 721 

Wah-Shnn-Gah, Chief of the Kaws (por- 
trait), 208 

Wakarusa. 71, 20s, ;:i;i. ::0l, 4(34, 508, 
509 

Wakarusa Association, 357 

Wakarusa battle, 2001 

Wakarusa settlement, 383 

Wakarusa toll bridge, I!'.', 

Wakarusa war. 356, 183. 519, 522, 562, 

Wakefield, Judge John A., 356, 357, 359, 
377, :;s;;, :;si. mi, i ( .-, i i,;. l( ;r,. n;s. 
510, 619 

Walden, .1. .\I., 692 

Wal.lravon, Alexander J., 1S30 

Waldraven, Luther W., 1830 

Waldron, John W., 2278 

Walke, O. F., 1915 

Walker, Charles S., 217.1 

Walker, G. M., 7::7 

Walker, James A., 2306 

Walke., Joel, 304 

Walk,,. Matthew R., 304 

Walker, Oliver D., 27,27 

Walker, Orrin E., 1769 

Walker. Paul E., 1805 

Walker, Robert J., 297, 305, 650, 659, 
928; portrait, 652; inaugural ad- 
dress, 653 

Walk,.. Samuel, 619, 895, 1223; por- 
trait, 688 

Walker, Thaddeus, L125 

Walke,. Thaddeus 11.. 77.; 

Walker, Thomas M., 2429 

Walker. William. .Ill), 304, 319, 1071; 
portrait, ::06; journal, 305 

Wall, Paul J., 1818 

Wall, ti as I'.., 1817 

Wallace, Clark V. 2698 

Wallace, John W., 2115 

Walls of corn, \> osho e ty, 1087 

Walnut creek, 98, 171 

Walnut Springs ramp. 1 ;v: 

Walnut valley, 2533 

Walsh. A. JI., 271.1 

Walsh. Hugh S., 668, 702 

War between 1'ieeSI:,,, :i I,, 1 Shivery 

factions, 135 
War, nature of, 1 85; une > pe. te i result-. 

184 
Wa. with Mexico, 296 
Ward Edward V, 1664 
Ward, John, L830 
Ward, Joseph O., 1423 
Ward, Milan 1.. 1042 
Ward, Milt,,.. I'.. 1663 
Ward, Samuel. 2590 
Ward, Sarah I... 1664 
Wai e. i iugene P., i 1 7",. 1 297 
Waring, Charles, 762 

: • i ,,■ Shaw . 2555 
.!. 2555 
Wark. George 11.. 1928 



INDEX 



Warkentin, Bernhard, 2291 

Warner. John, 1225 

Warner, Theodore F., 170 

Warren, F. P., 2373 

Warren, George F., 515 

''Warren Kuans Collection," 2500 

Warren Mortgage Company, 2372 

Washburn College, 1012, 1062 

Washington Avenue Methodist Episco- 
pal church, Kansas City. Kansas, 257 

Washington county, 161 

Washington National Bank, 1510 

Wasson, Owen C„ 2326 

Waters, Henry J., 1024, 1027, L034, 2388 

Waters, Joseph G., 1289 

Watkins, Fred M.. 2075 

Watkins, .lain-/ 11., 2407 

Watkins. . I. I:., Land Mortgage Co., 2407 

Watson, William J., 912 

Watson, Winfield W.. 2559 

Watt, Fred S., 1530 

Watt, Robert A., 2227 

Watterson, Thomas W„ 401 

Wattles, Augustus, 401 

Waverlv Gazette, 2(124 

Wea Tar Spring, L001 

Weas, -7 1 

Weaver. George E., 1679 

Weaver, James G., 1 133 

Weaver, Willis G., 2602 

Webb, William C, 1093 

Webb, William W., 1672 

Weber, Henry W., 1622 

Webster, C. I>., 1005 

Webster, Daniel, 354 

Weddell, J., 401 

Weekly Democrat, McPherson, 2500 

Weekly Kansas Chief, Troy, L413 

Weeks, Arnold F„ 1444 

Weeks, David, 1471 

Weeks, George H., 1471 

Weer, William, 877 

Weible, Harry <'.. 2085 

Weiehselbi i, Samuel, 1 895 

Weichselbaum, Theodore, L895 

Weightman, Matthew, Jr., 1331 

Weiner, Theodore, 567, 585 

Weir City Journal, 1868 

Weiss, Julius, 1761 

Welch, B. A., 2(195 

Welch, Charles D., 2252 

Wellhouse, Walter, 759 

Welling, Peter, 2169 

Wellington, 987, 90S 

Wells, Joseph A., 1960 

Wentworth, Edward X., 1873 

Werner, John, 1002 

Wessels, Henry W., S81 

West, Hugh E., 853, 1005, 1854 

West. J. P., 20S1 

Westcott, Seba C, 1896 

Western Automobile [ndemnitj issocia 
tion. 1344 

Weste) n - mi i. e, great characters, 181 

Western Kansas. 771. 772; Indian 
tribes, 234 

Western settlers of Kansas, 710 

Western states, 182 

Western State. Portland Cement Com- 
pany, 1870 
Western Terra Cotta Co.. 199:: 



Western Theological Seminary of the 

Lutheran Chureh, Atchison,' 1410 
Western I'niversitv, Quindaro, 1040 
Westfall, Dr., 585 
Westfall state Hank, 2598 
Westlake, Charles K.. 2129 
Westmoreland, 1511 
Westmoreland Recorder, 1393 
Westphalia Times, 2660 
Westport, 1665 
Westport battle. 762 
Westport meeting, 359 
West Virginia, 337 
Wetherall, Charles E., 2720 
Wheat, 2505; grinding, 9S9 
Wheat, Benoni, 798 
Wheeler, John W.. 1913 
Whig party, 297 
Whigs, 627 
Whiskv, 392 



Wi 



'g. 



139 



Whiskv 

Whitcraft, George 

White, Charles F., 1634 

White. George L., 813 

White Mail, Osage ehief, 225 

White Hair's village, 227; site of, 225 

White, James W., 2399 

White, Jesse, 1245 

White, Thomas J., 2083 

White, William Allen, 1149, 1152 

Whitfield, John W„ 377, 384, 533, 539 

591; platform, 381 
Whitford, Adoniram J., 1336 
Whitford, James H., 802 
Whitford, Jennie Nichols, 1337 
Whiting, Albe B„ 1313 
Whitley, Hiram C, 2217 
Whitmore, A. .!., 1778 
Whittelsev, Harry R., 1199 
Whittelsev Mercantile Companv. 1199 
Whittle. I-:. .1.. 2457 
Wichita, L8, 20, 22. 777, 987, 991, 1012, 

1042; founder, 1227 
Wichita Beacon, 2236 
Wichita Eagle, 1223 
Wichita Quivira villages, 11 
Wichita Telegraph college, 1807 
Wicker, Sylvester F.. 2289 
Wide Awakes, 681 
Wiechen, G. G., 1419 
Wiegner, Daniel, 2499 
Wilder, Abel C., 1258 
Wilder, Daniel W., 70S. 7M, s.;i. ]■<: 

1268 
Wiley, John E., 2672 
Wiley, Vernon M„ 2667 
Wilhelm, Frederic M., 1747 
Wilhoit, James C. 1738 
Wilhoit, John W., 1478 
Wilkinson, Allen, 401, 579 
Wilkinson, James, 52 
Wilkinson murder, 570 
Will, Thomas E., 1024, 1027 
Willard, Albert B., 2207 
Willard, Frances, 826 
Willard, Julius T„ 1019. 103-1. 1347 
Willets, John F., 837 
Williams. Al F., 2030 
Williams. Ansel. 2132 
William-. Byron, 2074 



[NDEX 



Williams. H. H., 5S2 

Williams, Ike N., 1301 

Williams, Johnson S., 1775 

Williams, .Fusipli, 6><2 

Williams, Mark 11., 1536 

Williams, Oliver M., 2073 

Williams, Boy 6., 2671 

Williams, R. M., S13 

Williams, S. A., 40] 

Williams, Warner E., 2166 

Williams. William T., 2132 

Williamson Alvin 1... 1523 

Williamstown, 210; Indian agency at, 

Willis. Edward •'., 1373 
Willits, John F., 1147 
Willow Springs, 110, 111, 183 
Wilmington, 111 
Wilmofs Proviso, 296 
Wilson, Albert E., 1984 
Wilson, Albert L., 2504 
Wilson, A. P. Tone Jr., 1217 
Wilson, Benjamin L., 2503 
Wilson, Carey J., 1243 
Wilson county, 853, 911, 1001, 1003 
Wilson County Citizen, 2369 
Wilson, Davies, 722 
Wilson, Brasilia, 819; portrait, 318 
Wilson, Ebenezer E., 1984 
Wilson, Fannie, 1415 
Wilson, George, 574 
Wilson, George A., 2597 
Wilson, Gerald F., 1517 
Wilson, Hiero T„ 681, 685, 1225 
Wilson, Hill P., 581 
Wilson, James, 2319 
Wilson, James A., 1467 
Wilson, James M., 1616 
Wilson, Jesse S., 1465 
Wilson, John, 2452 
Wilson, Joseph C, 1687 
Wilson, Joseph J.. 2128 
Wilson, Samuel A.. 2633 
Wilson State Bank, 259S 
Wilson. Waltei E., 974, 2695 
Wilson, William 11.. 1725 
Wilson's Creek battle, 870 
Winbigler, Clarence, 2699 
Who h.11. James M., 692, 946 
Wind Indians, 195 
Win, loin, 112 
Wind people, 195 
Win, I storms, L662, 1711 
Winfield, 861, 988, 1009, 1159; founder 
of, 12."'!' 

Wingate, George W.. 2024 

Winkler. Frederick, 1-7! 

Winner. Oliver I'., 17ii!i 

Winsor, 1.. A., 1508 

Winter, John M., 17::l 

Winter of 1855 56, 522 

Wolf, [nnoeent, 1426 

Wolfe, Gideon R., 2605 

Wolfe, Olysses s.. 2292 

Wolff, Charles, 1232 

Wolves, 1316, 1638 

Woman in Kansas constitution, 950 

Woman, of Kansas I odians, 198 

Woman suffragi - -ii. 950, 

1568; amendment to 

1257 



Woman's Christian Temperance I nion, 

7-1 

Woman's crusade, S01, 819 
Women in border war, 736 
Women in temperance movement, 7H2, 

SIS 
\\ roii, >n of Kansas, 862 
\\ omen 's crusade, 806 
Women's Belief Cop-. 1082 
Women-workers, 867 
Wood, Colonel Samuel X., 357, 445, 493, 

IPC, 49S, 536, 692, 7ul, 721, 825, 945, 

112:1. 111-. I 153, I 155, 1 158, 1268; 

portrait, 494 
Wood, James, 1788 
Wood, Jesse D., 401, 151 
Wood, Millard P., 1981 
Wood, Owen J., 1350 
Wood, Samuel McM., 1335 
Wooden Horse ranch, 2361 
Woods, Otho T., 1325 
Woods, Walter A., 2196 
Woodson county, 911; schools, 2492 
W Ison, Daniel, 366, 102, 508, 612, 638, 

652, 661; acting governor, 417, 606 

W Non, Samuel If., 164 

Woodson, Silas, 529 

Woodward, Orpheus 8., 2320 

Woolard, Samuel ]■'., 2431 

Wooster, Alfred Q., 1926 

Working hours of railroad employes, 855 

Workingmen's party, 112:; 

W I, Alfred, 1860 

Worswick, William O., 1398 
Wright, Robert M., 1219 
Wrong, Katherine E., 1503 



Wi 



2387 



299, 



Wulf, H. F. <;., 2176 
Wulfekuhler, Frederick W., 
Wult'ekuliler, Henry W„ 2395 
Wulfekuhler, otto, 2395 
Wyandot Indians, 249, 251. 

304, 311, 331, 509 
Wyandot nation. 336 
Wyandot reservation, 257 
Wyandot reserve, 530 
Wyandotte, 257, 183, 697, 762, 2033, 

2051; founder of the first paper, 1248; 

experiences of an earlv settler, 1995 
Wyandotte, Old, 2167 
Wyandotte constitution. 696, 707, 946, 

li7:: : delegates, 709; com ention, 795 
Wyandotte ,-ountv, l'im;, 210. 240, 241, 

257, 336, 390, 768, :'l I. 966, !»,7. 10 15 
w v, id. Nathaniel, L82 
Wyeth, Nathaniel .1,, 151 

iTage outlaws, ; :: I 

■i andell, William M.. L51 1 

5 ates Centei News, 2260, 2261 

i at, -. -I: s a., i860 

*i at, -, Robert, 1847 
Yonnuino, William R., I v.", | 
Foder, s. T.,2682 

> ,,,■ I 'hai les. 17 IM 

i o u T., 1739 
S oung, P. C, 2212 

Ynime., Si ' I. '■'■' ' 

• . I 'ole, 736 

. Henri . 101 



lvi INDEX 

Youngers, The. 733 Zimmerman, Alvis C, 1382 

Yount, Oscar M., 2141 Zimmerman, J. E., 2117 

Zimmerman, Mark E., 964 

Zabel, Herman, 1444 Zinc, 989, 1007, 2161; ore, 10i 

Zerzan, George F., 1621 1009; manufacturing, 207ii 

Ziegler, Gottlob, 2612 Zionville. 114 

Ziegler, Lvdia, 2612 Zook, William R., 1539 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



CHAPTER I 
QU1VIRA 

COBONADO 



The conquest of the continent of North America by the Spaniards 
was for the most part conducted from Cuba. The expedition of Cortez 
to conquer Mexico sailed from Havana. In 1520 Lucas Vasquez de 
Ayllon was granted a royal license to explore the coasts of Florida. In 
pursuance of this order he sent his lieutenant Gordilla to make a pre- 
liminary voyage, whose reports were so favorable that Ayllon carried 
them to Spain, where he secured a royal cedula to explore and settle 
eight hundred leagues of the Florida coasts. In 1525 he sent out Pedro 
de Quexos to make a more extensive preliminary survey of the east shores 
of America. This expedition returned with a very favorable account 
of the Atlantic coast regions. In June, 1526, Ayllon sailed from 
Hispaniola with three ships bearing Spanish emigrants for a colony. 
He beat up the coasts of North America to the mouth of a stream after- 
wards known as the James River, into which he turned. On its wooded 
shores he founded a settlement which he called San Miguel, on the spot 
where the English afterwards built Jamestown. The Spaniards did not 
succeed at San Miguel. Ayllon soon died of a fever; the colonists quar- 
reled and finally abandoned the enterprise. 

The movement which led to the expedition of Coronado had its origin 
in the myths of "The Seven Cities." These myths wn-e the more readily 
believed because of the magnitude of the spoil of the Peruvian Empire, 
accounts of which had spread over the whole of both Old and New Spain, 
h was supposed that what I'i/arni had accomplished in South America 
mi-lii be duplicated iii North America. In this relation it must be 
remembered thai the Spaniards had not then explored the interior of 
the continent, and that they were in almosl total ignorance of its 
geography, its mineral resources, its productions, its animal life, and its 
inhabitants. 

The myth of "The Seven Cities" appeared first in Mexico in 1530. 
\iino de (In/man was then President of New Spain. Attached to his 
• •state was an Indian named Tejo, who was a native of the valley of 

Vol. I— 1 

1 



2 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Oxitipar. This Indian claimed to be the son of a trader, then dead. 
This trader, so the son said, had gone into the back country to barter fine 
feathers for whatever ornaments the inhabitants of those regions could 
be induced to part with. On the journey (or journeys) made for this 
purpose, the Indian Tejo had accompanied his father. He now told 
Guzman that they brought back much silver and gold, which the country 
produced in considerable quantities. He said, also, that he had seen in 
that northern land some towns as large as the City of Mexico then was. 
In seven of those towns there were streets given over to shops and 
workers in the precious metals. Those cities, he said, were far distant, 
and from his native valley it required forty days to reach them. For 
the way, he insisted, was through a barren land where no plant-life was 
to be seen except some desert shrubs the height of a span. 

Hoping to find rich countries to plunder, Guzman organized an 
expedition to discover "The Seven Cities." He enlisted four hundred 
Spaniards and collected twenty thousand Indians with which to make 
conquest of those opulent countries of which he had little doubt the 
seven towns were the capitals. But the expedition came to nothing. 
The difficulties encountered in the first stages of the march discouraged 
the men, and discontent spread through the ranks of the adventurers. 
For this, and for other causes, Guzman abandoned the enterprise when 
he had but entered the district of Culican. 

Panfilo de Narvaez was prominent in the conquest of Cuba in loll, 
and settled in that island. Mexico was subject to Cuba, but Cortez threw 
off the authority of Velasquez. In an effort to regain and retain his 
power in Mexico, in 1520, Velasquez appointed Panfilo de Narvaez 
Lieutenant-Governor of Mexico, and directed him to voyage to that 
country, take possession of it, and imprison Cortez. Narvaez set out on 
this mission, and landed at Vera Cruz in April, 1520. On the 28th of 
May he met Cortez at Campoala, where he was defeated, wounded, and 
captured. He managed soon to regain his liberty, after which he went 
to Spain, where, in 1526, he secured a royal patent to conquer and govern 
Florida. 

At that time Florida embraced all that part of North America, along 
the Atlantic seaboard and bordering on the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio 
Grande, which river was then called Rio de Palmas by the Spaniards. 
Narvaez made preparations for the immediate conquest of Florida. He 
sailed from Spain on the 17th of June, 1527. His course carried him to 
Cuba, where he overhauled his fleet, to which he added a vessel to replace 
one lost on the voyage. He then set sail for the Texas coast, but. on the 
15th of April he landed at Apalache Bay, having been driven from his 
course by a storm and the force of heavy currents. Supposing that he 
was not far distant from the point for which he was bound, he sent one 
ship back for recruits and directed the others to sail along the coast to 
Panuco, near the mouth of the Rio Grande. 

The force of Narvaez consisted of three hundred men ; and he had 
fifty horses. On the 18th of April he began his march through the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 3 

forests and over the quagmires of Florida. His course was north, but 
he soon turned toward the west. The natives became hostile. At a large 
river, reached on the 15th of May, he rested, while Cabeza de Vaca, the 
royal treasurer of the expedition, went with a small party down to the 
sea to find the ships. Not a sail was to be seen along the coast solitudes, 
and upon the return of the party the march was continued. Another 
large river was encountered, and this Narvaez descended to the sea. 
No ships were there to greet him. 

The Spaniards were discouraged. No gold had been found, and no 
cities for sack and plunder had appeared. They had seen only naked 
savages living in cane huts and in poverty. They determined to build 
boats in which to quit those inhospitable shores, and to keep the sea to 
the westward. Late in 1528, a forge was set up, and such metal as their 
equipment afforded was made into tools and nails. With these, five boats 
were constructed. They were furnished with rigging from ropes made of 
the long hair saved from the manes and tails of their horses. Sails were 
provided from their clothing and the hides of their horses. Each boat 
was capable of carrying forty-five men, none of whom knew much of nav- 
igation. They hugged the shore and drew westward, and about the first 
of November they came into the mouth of a great river whose mighty vol- 
ume bore them far into the Gulf of Mexico. There two of the boats were 
lost, one of which was that of Narvaez. while the other carried the friars 
of the expedition. A great storm threw the remaining boats upon the 
shore beyond the Sabine in the winter of 1528-29. 

How many survivors of the expedition suffered this shipwreck 
we do not know. Four finally reached the Spanish settlements. They 
were rescued on the coast of the Gulf of California in April, 1536. They 
had wandered in the wilds of Texas and the deserts and mountains of 
Northern Mexico, as we know those regions, for more than seven years. 
The leader of the band was Cabeza de Vaca, and the others wen- Maldo- 
nado, Dorantes, and a negro slave named Estevan. The route passed 
over by these wanderers can no1 now be established. TTow they had 
escaped and managed to survive they did not themselves know. They 
had been enslaved l>\ savage tribes, had seen and hunted the buffalo, had 
acted as medicine men, had risen to influence, and had escaped from one 
tribe only to suffer the same routine of disaster in another. ( 
Vaca went on to Spain, but the others remained in Mexico. '['I 
of their adventures did no1 excite greal interest, or, rather, was over 
shadowed li.\ those drifting in from Peru. Thej were for some time the 
guests of the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, who boughl the negro 
from bis master, Dorantes. Cabeza de Vaca bad been given a hawk's 
bell, made of copper, on which was cast or carved the figure of a human 
face. He related some accounts of the land to the north, which caused the 
people to believe rich countries migb.1 be found there. And these recalled. 
revived, and confirmed the stories told bj the trader's son. t; 
Tfjo. 

In the revival of the myths of "The Seven Cities" it was -. 
other parties from the Spanish settlements bad visited the rich countries 



■i KANSAS AND KANSANS 

of the North, especially after the return of the shipwrecked wanderers. 
Of what they saw there, of what they reported, we are not certain. But 
there was a growing desire to know what those hidden regions held. Men- 
doza determined to find out. He sent forth an expedition commanded by 
Friar Marcos de Niza, who is said to have made a prior journey into that 
land on his own account. He had came into Mexico from Peru, where he 
had gone with Pizarro, and where he had witnessed the murder of 
Atahuallpa. 

The negro Estevan was the guide of the expedition led by Friar 
Marcos to discover "The Seven Cities." He was well fitted for that 
service, for he had doubtless been near that country with Cabeza de Vaca. 
Approaching the borders of that land, he was directed to go on before, 
and to report to the friar upon his discoveries. If what he found was 
favorable, he was to send back a white cross as large as the palm of the 
hand, and if the country was better than Mexico, he was to send a larger 
cross. He penetrated to the Seven Cities, to which he lured the friar 
by sending back immense crosses. But before the arrival of Friar 
Marcos, the negro was killed by the Indians because of his rapacity and 
his lascivious conduct. He collected a quantity of turquois and demanded 
that women be given to him at every village. 

The party, upon the death of Estevan, desired to return at once to 
Mexico, but Friar Marcos persisted until he dared go no farther. Then 
he prevailed on two chiefs to take him into a mountain, from the top 
of which he was able to see one of the cities of Cibola. It was set upon 
a hill and glittered in the desert sun. He was told that there were 
other cities beyond, where the people wore clothes of cotton and had 
much gold. 

Friar Marcos returned, arriving at the Mexican settlements in 
August, 1539. He is said to have made what was in effect two reports- 
one stating what he had himself seen, and one setting out what the 
Indians had told him. But the people did not discriminate. It was 
soon spread abroad that the good friar had reported as facts all the 
things spoken by him. It came to be of common report that the houses 
of the Seven Cities were four stories high, with doors faced with pre- 
cious stones. The Spanish population of New Spain were eager to go 
there. The principal men of the provinces, and even those in Spain, 
became rivals for the royal permission to explore and settle the coun- 
try of Cibola. This privilege went finally to Mendoza, the viceroy, 
who selected the post of Compostela, on the Pacific, as the point of 
assembly. He appointed as commander of the expedition Francisco 
Vasquez de Coronado. 

The force allowed Coronado consisted of about two hundred and 
sixty horsemen, seventy footmen, and a motley throng of Indians vari- 
ously estimated at from three hundred to one thousand. This army of 
conquest started from Compostela on Monday, February 23, 1510, and 
followed the common highway to San Miguel de Culican. This march 
occupied about a month. The army left Culican on the 22d of April, 
and its general direction was northeast. Coronado. with a select com- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 5 

pany, went on in advance. The route led them into that land embraced 
in Eastern Arizona, as we know the country. The Indians were alarmed 
at the approach of so large a force of strangers, and gave battle. They 
were defeated, and the Spaniards took possession of the Zuni villages on 
the 7th day of July, 1540. How different the reality from the golden 
stories which had stirred New Spain ! The Seven Cities were the filthy, 
unlighted, unventilated, gloomy pueblos to be seen to this day on the 
Zuni and Moki Indian reservations in Arizona. 

And so was the mystery of the Seven Cities solved, to the dismay 
of Friar Marcos, who stood with his countrymen in the midst of the 
rude mud-and-stone communal dwellings of the squalid desert tribes. 

Coronado sent out detachments to explore the regions round about. 
One of these was commanded by Don Hernando de Alvarado, and 
started eastward on the 29th of August. This was in consequence of 
the appearance before Coronado of a chief from the province of 
Cicuye, said to be seventy leagues east of Cibola. The chief came, he 
said, in response to the invitation made generally to the Indians to 
come before the commandant as friends. The Spaniards called this 
chief Bigotes, that is, "Whiskers, for he wore a long mustache. He 
brought presents, and he invited Coronado to pass through his coun- 
try, should he desire to do so. Among the presents borne by Whiskers 
to the Spanish commander was the skin of a buffalo. It had the hair 
still on it, and this hair was a sore puzzle to the Spaniards. They 
could not understand how a "cow" could have such hair. 

Whiskers became the guide of the expedition sent out under Alva- 
rado, who reached the village of Tiguex on a river which the Indians 
called by the same name, on the 7th of September. This river was the 
Rio Grande, and Alvarado reported to Coronado that there were eighty 
villages scattered along its course. The country was much better than 
that of Cibola, and Alvarado advised that Tiguex be made the winter 
quarters for the army. 

After sending back his report, Alvarado went on to the eastward 
five days, when he arrived at the village or communal dwelling of Cicuye. 
There Alvarado learned that he was on the border of the country of tin- 
wild <ows. He found at Cicuye an Indian who is set down as a slave, 
but who was only a captive, and a native of some country far to the 
east, bordering evidently on the Mississippi. He was different in 
appearance from the Indians of the desert regions, and he resembled a 
Turk, from which circumstance he was called the "Turk." Ee was 
probably an Arkansas Quapaw Indian, and from the villages on the 
west side of the .Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio. 1 To him 

1 Under various headings in tin- Handbook of Aim ricaii Indians, issued 

by the Bureau of Ethnology it is said tli.it the Turk was a Pawi 

"evidently a Pawi ." I have not found anything to supporl thai view 

excepl the statements in the work above referred to. ^lr Dunbar, in his 
article, "The White Mini's Pool in Kansas" published in Volume \. 
Kansas Statt Historii al < 'olh i tions, says in reference to tliis matter : 



6 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

history assigns the honor of having first mentioned Quivira to Euro- 
peans. He acted as guide on a trip Alvarado made from Cicuye to see 
the cows. The Spanish captain, however, lost interest in the cows and 
the country where they roamed. The Turk told him such wondrous 
tales of gold and silver to be found and to be had in Quivira that chas- 
ing the stupid and lumbering buffalo seemed a waste of time and energy 
that should be used in making an early conquest of the golden land. 
And the buffalo was not to be seen in vast herds at that season of the 
year. Those found by Alvarado were in scattered bunches and per- 
haps along the waters of the Upper Canadian. 

The Turk was to play an important part in the future movements 
of the Coronado expedition. He must have gone with Alvarado when 
that captain returned to Tiguex. There, during the winter, he related 
to Coronado the wonders of the country of Quivira and two adjoining 
provinces — Arche and G-uaes. In Quivira there was some silver and 
gold, he said, but more in the adjacent lands. It is admitted that he 
was a man of superior intelligence, and it is probable that when he 
learned that the Spaniards desired gold above all other things, he told 
of great store of it in these distant countries, doubtless hoping these 
stories would in some way turn to his own benefit. He overplayed the 
part which he had assumed, or which, as he later claimed, was assigned 
to him by the people of Cicuye, and was found to be lying, but so intent 

The Turk was no doubt a native of some tribe near the Mississippi, 
for his description of the scene quoted from Castaneda, one of the chron- 
iclers- of Coronado 's march, portrays an ordinary familiar scene upon 
the Mississippi River at that time; while the second writer, the Knight 
of Elvas, a chronicler of Soto's expedition, presents an ornate naval 
display on the part of the Indians before the Spanish chieftain. Though 
the conditions were so diverse, the underlined portions indicate essential 
resemblance. The two passages are as follows: 

lie (Turk) claimed that in his native country, where the land was 
level, there was a river two leagues in width, in which were fishes as large 
as horses, and many canoes of great size with more than twenty oarsmt n 
upon either side. The boats carried suits and the chiefs sat at the stem 
a ml, r .lie ni n<is, while upon the prow was a large eagle of gold. 

The next day. the cacique arrived with 200 canoes fitted with men, 
having weapons. They were painted with ochre, wearing great bunches 
of white and other plumes of many colors, having feathered shields in 
their hands, witli which they sheltered the oarsmen upon either side, the 
warriors standing erect from bow to stern, holding bows and arrows. 
'/'//. //-//•</' in which tin caciqut cartu had an aiming at the poop under 
which lie sat. 

The absurdity of contending that the Turk was a Paw T nee Indian is 
clearly shown by these quotations. The Turk lived on the Mississippi. 
If lie were a Pawnee, then the Pawnee Indian country bordered on the 
Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio, and the Pawnees were the 
Indians who met De Soto. 

There is another horn to this dilemma. If the Turk were a Pawnee 
aud i he Pawnee country came down to the Kansas River about the 
month of the Big Blue, then his description of the river must he made 
to apply to the Kansas — something which is preposterous. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 7 

were the Spaniards on finding another Peru that they disregarded that 
fact, 

On the 23d of April, 1541, Coronado set out from Tiguex to find the 
rich land of Quivira. The Turk was the guide, and once upon the way, 
there remained no doubt of his knowledge of the country to be tra- 
versed. Coronado went by Cicuye, but did not stop there. He was impa- 
tient to reach the golden settlements and held steadily to the eastward. 
In nine days from Cicuye the army emerged on the Great Plains and 
saw the buffalo, then just beginning the annual migration to the north. 
Still the Turk pointed to the east, and the Spaniards toiled in that direc- 
tion thirty-five days without a single sign of civilization to encourage 
them. Other Indians were found, following the buffalo herds, the 
Quereehos and the Teyas. They were first spoken to by the Turk, and 
later they confirmed what he had said about Quivira. An advance guard 
was sent on to find the country of Haya or Haxa, described by the Turk, 
but no such land appeared. With Coronado was an inhabitant of Qui- 
vira, one Ysopete, who insisted from the start that the Turk was lying. 
At first no credit attached to what he said, but on the treeless wastes 
doubt of what the Turk was saying became general in the army. Upon 
their entry into the settlements of Cona, a portion of the country of the 
Teyas, the Turk was not permitted to first talk with the people. They 
said Quivira was in the North — or towards the North — and not in the 
direction in which the Turk was taking them. Then heed was given 
to what Ysopete had said of the Turk and his stories. 

After resting in a river-bottom where there were trees — a ravine as 
the old writers have it — it was decided that Coronado should take thirty 
horsemen and "half a dozen foot-soldiers" and go on to Quivira. The 
remaining portion of the army was to return to Tiguex, which it did 
by a shorter way than that taken in the outward march. The Teyas 
furnished new guides, and Coronado bore to the northward. The Turk 
was carried along, now a prisoner, and not permitted to converse with 
Ysopete or the Teyas. On a day counted that of St. Peter and St. Paul 
in the old calendar of the Roman Church a tolerable river was Eound 
and crossed, and which was named for the day of its discovery. This 
river is spoken of as "there below Quivira," by which we are io sup- 
pose it was south of that land — or perhaps bounded its southern bor- 
ders. It is more likely that Quivira was up the stream from that point. 
This river has been identified witli the Arkansas by most writers, and 
the point nf crossing, where it turns to the northeast below the presenl 
Fort. DocIlt.'. or Dodge City. 

Coronado followed this river — "went upon the other side on the 
north, the direction turning towards tin- northeast." In thri 
Indian hunters were found killing the buffalo "and some even had 
their wives with them." They began to run away, but Ysopete called 
to them in their own tongue, when they turned about and approached 
the Spaniards without fear. 

Coronado was reassured, lb' fell once more certain of his ground. 
He had emerged from the labyrinth in which the Turk had sought to 



S KANSAS AND KANSANS 

involve him. As he stood recovered there, the sense of location returned 
to him. And standing on the shores of the river given the holy name, 
reflecting doubtless on perils now safely passed, another matter occu- 
pied his attention. He weighed the fate of that Indian who had led 
him astray in those wilds. A judgment was determined and a death 
decreed. The Turk — in chains now at the rear of the army- — -was 
brought to account. Perhaps they asked him why he had deceived 
them. No doubt he stated his reasons like a brave man. "Who shall 
blame him for his course? He had seen, maybe, the butchery of the 
revolted inhabitants of Tiguex. He evidently knew of the fate of those 
hundreds who had perished at the stake or had been trampled into the 
earth by Spanish horses after they had surrendered and had been 
granted peace. These strangers astride fierce animals seemed invincible. 
In brutality and cruelty they surpassed the barbarous Indians. They 
were devoid of honor. Their plighted word was worthless. To the 
Turk it was plain that if they came in numbers the Indians must per- 
ish or be enslaved. To avert this calamity to his people he planned to 
lead the strangers a devious course through deadly mazes. And now 
he faced the cruel Spaniard and admitted again the truth, though he 
knew his life was forfeit and his doom at hand. From the temper of 
his race we know that he was not appalled at his fate. He stood on 
the shores of two rivers — one seen, the other unseen. There may have 
been bars of tawny sand lying over beyond the shining river flowing 
there at his feet. Our knowledge of plains-streams might permit us to 
say there were water-bushes fringing its intangible shores. Up and 
beyond, there were the rolling, limitless prairies covered with billowy 
turbulent herds of wild oxen. And over all were the opalescent skies 
of the Great Plains, merging into a mystic shimmering haze at the 
horizon. And, perchance, the Turk saw these and was not moved as the 
garotte tightened about his throat and he was no more — "an example" 
to those assembled there — the first of his people to die on the soil of 
Kansas by the hand of the white man. 

So, thus perished the Turk. He carried to Europeans the first tid- 
ings of Quivira — Kansas. He was the prey, the first Kansas victim of 
the brutal spirit which wrecked nations in the New "World— then seek- 
ing other countries, including his own, for destruction. He was a hero. 
He acted only as has every patriot in the world with the fate of a peo- 
ple weighing on his soul. Lettered bronze and graven granite should 
rise in his honor on the plains he sought to save to his race. 

Vengeance wreaked, Coronado continued his journey. He came into 
the land of Quivira. Indeed, he then stood on the borders of Quivira. 
but the settlements were some leagues beyond. It was a country inhab- 
ited by just such Indians as were found on the plains of Kansas and 
Nebraska two centuries later. They planted a little corn, but they lived 
chiefly by hunting the buffalo. They had no gold nor anything else a 
civilized man would covet. Coronado spent twenty-five days in Qui- 
vira, traversing the whole width of the land. Then he returned to 



KANSAS AND KANSAXS 9 

Tiguex, using a shorter route, probably the ancient road later known 
as the Old Santa Fe Trail. 

In writing thus far I have followed the preponderance of evidence as 
developed by a majority of the writers on the subject. I have not been 
always satisfied with the routes indicated by these students, and per- 
haps they were not themselves convinced that they were right in every 
instance. It was necessary for them to reconcile many contradictory 
statements found in the old Spanish chronicles — and not a few had to 
be rejected altogether. The boldest dissenter from their conclusions 
is F. S. Dellenbaugh, himself a student and explorer, and long familiar 
with both the topography and geography of all the country traversed 
by Coronado. He contends with an astonishing array of evidence that 
the route of the expedition lay much more to the east than it has been 
placed. Cibola was on the Mimbres about the present Demming, rather 
than at the Zuni. His location of Tiguex, it seems to me, can not be 
disproven, and is much lower down the Rio Grande than the generally 
accepted site at Bernalillo. 2 

The information which has come down to us in insufficient. By it we 
can not trace the old routes with certainty. Archaeology and a full knowl- 
edge of the modern geography of the Southwest and Mexico may aid us 
much. With all this, however, in neither the desert regions nor on the 
Great Plains can the trails passed over by Coronado be surely identi- 
fied. But they may be approximately fixed. 

The march having for its immediate object the discovery of Qui- 
vira began at Cicuye. This pueblo has been by many identified with 
the ruins of Pecos. If we accept Mr. Dellenbaugh 's location of Tiguex. 
the village of Cicuye was far south of the Peeos ruin. The direction from 

2 See his article. "The True Route of Coronado V .March." in the Bul- 
letin of the American Geographical Society, Vol. XXIX, No. I. 1897. 
In his "Notes mi the Location of the Tigues," he says: 

Benavides spent aboul seven years in the Rio Grande region of Ww 
Mexico prior to 1630. He was in charge of the church missions, lie was 
a very intelligent man. ami it is proper to regard his statements- as fairly 
accurate. He says the Srsl villages coming up the river from Mexico 
were one hundred leagues south of Taos. They were Qualcu and Senecu. 
This is apparently the same point at which Onate placed his first vil 
[ages fortj one leagues above El Paso. Fifteen leagues up the river 
from Senecu was Sevilleta. Then there was a blank of seven leagues. 
Then came the Teoas villages, evidently identical with the Tiguex of 
Coronado and the Tiguas of Espejo. These villages extended up the 
river from the first one. twelve or fifteen leagues. Then came an interval 
of four leagues to the nexl village up the river. San Felipe, which 
appears to be the sami as the town mentioned by Onate. From San 

Felipe it was aboul eleven leagues to Santa Ana. the location of which 

is more easily fixed because it was aboul twelvi leagues east of Acoma. 

Thus Santa Ana ami the Kmcics of Espejo seem lo have hccn very near 

together. Tiguex, therefore, was down lh< river from a point twelve or 
fifteen leagues easl of Acoma. Consequent^ the she assigned 
modern writers at Bernalillo is not correct. 



1" KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Cicuye was to the east by south, coming out on the Llano Estaeado, 
where the buffalo herds were found in such numbers. Following the 
buffalo were found two plains tribes, the Querechos and the Teyas, now 
supposed to have been the Tonkawas of West-central Texas, and the 
Comanches. The Turk was put forward always to speak first to these 
wanderers. Then they confirmed to the Spaniards what the Turk had 
said from the beginning. The march had deflected more and more to 
the south. When the halt was called at the ravine — the valley of some 
plains-river — it is said by most students that Coronado was iu North 
Texas, possibly on the Brazos, the Trinity, or the Colorado. It is most 
likely that he was then in Central Texas. For it is confidently asserted 
by some accounts that he was at a village which Cabeza de Vaca had 
passed through in his escape from captivity/ 1 

There the Teyas of Cona were questioned before the Turk was per- 
mitted to converse with them. They said that there was indeed a coun- 
try called Quivira, but that it was not to be found in the directiou in 
which they were traveling. It was in the North, or "towards the north," 
and to i each it the army would have to right about and change its course. 
It was at Cona that the Turk was thrown into chains. 

The information imparted by the Teyas of Cona turned Coronado, 
with thirty horsemen and a few followers to the north, as we have seen. 
They were told that they would find no good road to Quivira, and we 
know that the rivers running eastward over the Great Plains had to be 
crossed by the army. Most writers now draw a straight north-and-south 
line across the map, with a ruler, from Texas to a point on the Arkansas 
River just west of its turn to make the Great Bend, for this march of 
Coronado from the Cona towns to the borders of Quivira. The authority 
for this is the accidental phrase "by the needle'' used in describing the 
march. 

When we come to drive down a stake and say — "To this point came 
Coronado" — we find it quite impossible. The information which would 
enable us to do this does not exist. Writers find themselves unable to 
agree when it comes to fixing these definite locations. They usually 
develop some theory of locations and routes, then try to prove that they 
are right. The indefinite authorities which we possess encourage this 
vnil iii' writing. Here are some of the locations of Quivira: — 

Bandalier places Quivira in Northeastern Kansas. 

L. B. Prince says Quivira was on the Missouri above Kansas City 
and below Omaha. 

General J. IT. Simpson located Quivira on the Kansas-Nebraska line 
some distance back from the Missouri. 

Hubert Howe Bancroft is of the opinion that Quivira was in Kan- 
sas somewhere between the Arkansas and the Missouri. 

:; Read chapters XIX and XX Voyages, Relations ei Wemoires Orig- 
inaux Pour Servir a L' Historic de la /'< couvt rl< Be L' Amerique. Rela- 
tion T)u Voyagt dt Cibola, entrepis en 1540. Paris, 1838. And see also 

the Spanish texts and translations on this point. Vol. XIV, Annual 
Report, Bureau of Ethnology. 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 11 

Haynes thinks Coronado crossed Kansas and reached the Platte. 

Winship's judgment is that Quivira was the country about the con- 
vergence of the main branches of the Kansas River. 

Hodge marks Quivira as extending from the Arkansas, near Great 
Bend, to the Republican, which stream he makes the east boundary of 
the country of the Pawnees. 

Mr. Twitehell, in his Leading Facts of New Mexican History, copies 
the map of Mr. Hodge. 

Dellenbaugh maps Quivira as embracing Southeastern Kansas and 
adjacent regions. 

Houek in his history of Missouri makes a strong case for his state, 
insisting that the mountain ranges which rose to view on the march are 
the Ozarks, and that these were skirted by Coronado as he passed into 
Southwest Missouri. 

Basket, Richey, and Dunbar agree with Winship. 

Other writers insist on still other locations. There is evidence for 
each of these locations, and by very ingenious reasoning probability is 
found for most of them. 

On one point writers practically agree — Quivira was in what is now 
Kansas. That may be taken as settled beyond question. This old Indian 
Country may have lapped over and spread its bounds into Nebraska or 
Missouri or Oklahoma, but it was mainly on the Kansas plains that it 
was certainly seated. The Spaniards sent other expeditions to Quivira. 
among them one under Onate in 1601. Some portion of the route of 
this trip was mapped. That this expedition found Quivira villages on tic 
Arkansas near the present city of Wichita, there is scarcely any doubt. 

If we are to believe Gregg and other Santa Fe traders when they tell 
of the terrible sufferings for water endured by the first parties who 
attempted to use the "cut off," or shorter route from the Arkansas by 
.way of the Cimarron, we can not think it possible that Coronado marched 
"by the needle" from Central Texas, or any point in Texas, to the 
Arkansas west of the greal north bend in dune and duly. Ami from Qui- 
vira, mountains could lie seen to the east. This is asserted bj the old 
chroniclers. Most modern writers ignore this fact. 

If the line of march from Central Texas, or North-centra] Texas, 
was "northward" as some of the old records have it — and that would 
pass through a country of grass and water in midsummer it would 
strike the Arkansas River thirty leagues below the Quivira towns, though 
these distances are always uncertain. Thirty leagues may have been 
really hut ten or twentj Leagues, and perhaps sixty or ninetj leagues. 
Xo dependence can he put on these statements of distances. That it 
was the Arkansas River which was thus reached musl be the meaning 
of the Relation <l'l Suceso. Here is the language: 

■■ After he had proceeded many days bj the needle" [here ti- 
re,! "i. e.. to the north." Even with the editor's doctoring, 
the text does not say the march was due north] "we found the river 
Quivira, which is 30 leagues below the settlement. While going up the 



12 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

valley, we found people who were going hunting, who. were natives of 
Quivira." 

The river was called Quivira River, and must be the same named 
St. Peter and St. Paul by others, that is, the Arkansas. A fair inter- 
pretation of the language would be that Coronado struck the Arkansas 
thirty leagues below the Quivira towns. For they immediately started 
up the valley, not down the valley, as they must have gone had they 
crossed at the west turn of the great bend. While going up the Quivira 
River to the Quivira settlement they came upon the people, native Qui- 
virans, who were there hunting the buffalo. The point where Coronado 
came to the Quivira River may have been at any point from the mouth 
of the Grand or Neosho to the mouth of the Walnut. Up the Arkansas 
from these regions, Quivira villages were found in 1601. They were 
near where Wichita now stands, and they may have extended eastward 
across the country to the Walnut. The only evidence except the phi'ase 
"by the needle" to support the direct north-and-south march is that 
the river (St. Peter and St. Paid) turned northeast below the crossing. 

To locate Quivira as it surely lay in Coronado 's day there must be 
mountains on its eastern border — mountains, not hills nor river-bluffs. 
And for this range we can depend only on the Ozarks. Castaneda 
says : 

"Quivira is .... in the midst of the country somewhat near the 
mountains toward the sea. For the country is level as far as Quivira. 
and there they began to see some mountain chains." 

The waters of the Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico, were at that 
time known as the North Sea, and these mountains were toward that sea. 
The hills in Butler, Elk and Chautauqua counties in Kansas, and their 
continuation in the present Osage country in Oklahoma, are the outlying 
flanking hills of the Ozarks to the west. They must lie the first hills or the 
beginnings of "some mountain chains" which Coronado and his company 
saw. It is possible that Castaneda supposed the Ozarks to be the Appa- 
lachian Mountains along the Atlantic seaboard, when he said "near the 
mountains toward the sea." 

On the west Quivira, was never set in bounds. It ran over the Great 
Plains, but to what extent it embraced them there is nothing to tell. It 
may be asserted that the Arkansas River was its south boundary. 
And the country whose waters drain into the river from the north — down 
to the mouth of the Neosho or Grand — was most likely the ancient Qui- 
vira. And it may have included the prairie lands of Southwest Missouri 
and Northwest Arkansas. When all the accounts are considered this 
location of the mystic and half-mythical old land appears most prob- 
able. The preponderance of evidence is in favor of it. But this location 
— nor any other — can be established beyond controversy. It is one of 
those unfortunate historical matters not capable of complete and satis- 
factory settlement. The only definite thing about it is that it was in 
Kansas. It has persisted through all vicissitudes to attach and cling to 
Kansas. For years it drifted about. It was located even in Alaska. It 
haunted the Pacific Coast. It adorned maps of the mountains "where 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 13 

rolls t he Oregon." It was seized as a name for a squalid pueblo village 
far down the Rio Grande. But these vagaries have vanished. Kansas is 
Quivira and Quivira is Kansas. 

It has been determined perhaps beyond all question that the Quiverans 
were of the Caddoan linguistic stock of North American Indians. From 
the account of the houses found by Coronado in Quivira it has been 
determined that the Quivirans were the Indians known in modern times 
as the Wichitas. They lived along the Arkansas and there is no evidence 
that they ever did live on or along the Kansas River. 

We know that the Pawnees lived on the Big Blue River. One of their 
oldest villages was on the site of the present Blue Springs, in Gage 
County, Nebraska. In Coronado 's time they ranged almost to the 
Missouri. Du Tisne round them on the Neosho in 1719. And we may 
well believe they roamed to the western limits of the buffalo plains. The 
Kansas did not ascend the Kansas River at all until long after Coronado 's 
day. The theorists make the Pawnees the inhabitants of Ilarahey, a coun- 
try to the north of Quivira. This may have been the case, for the Wich- 
itas and Pawnees are both of the Caddoan family. That there was any 
rigidly defined line between their countries and hunting grounds is not 
probable. 4 And Quivira may have embraced all the country of the 
Pawnees, as well as that of the Wichitas. For the Caddoan people seem 
to have occupied the country both north and south of the Arkansas 
River to the line beyond the Platte. Toward the Missouri their bounds 
may be denned by an irregular line from near the Mississippi and the 
Missouri to the Loup Country in Nebraska, should the location of Quivira 
as proposed in this study prove correct. But it is not to be supposed 
that this country was all occupied at the same time. These people occupied 
their country just as all Indian tribes did their domains. They lived in 
groups of huts along some stream and claimed a vast surrounding hunt- 
ing ground. Sometimes their claims were undisputed, but they were 
usually contested. Their squalid villages were always temporary, and 
they were moved for the most trivial causes. 

Coronado spent several weeks in the exploration of Quivira. He says 
In- reached the fortieth parallel, now the line between Kansas and 
Nebraska. There is no reason to question this claim. He noted the 
fertility of the soil and described some of the products of the country. 
When he was ready to return, native Quivirans Wichita or Pawnee 
Indians — told him how to get back to New Mexico. They may have 
shown him the way. It was probably that ancient path known as the 
Old Santa. Fe Trail, as has already been stated, but not as it was most, 
used in later days. Water could no1 have been found on thai route in 
the season of his departure. He musl have gone up the Arkansas to the 

■ According to Jaramillo, Quivira and Harahej formed one country 
and one government, and had a single ruler or chief. "The general 
wn.te a letter here to the governor of Ilarahey and Quivira, etc " And 
m the same paragraph — "The general senl to summon the lord of those 

parts and other Indians who they said resided in Ilarahey. and he came 
with about 200 men." 



14 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

point where the trail was crossed by the great trading road which skirted 
the front range of the Rocky Mountains. This crossing was where Bent's 
Fort was afterward erected. From that point the descent to the Rio 
Grande could be safely made at any time of the year. 

Another student, and a very thorough one, finds it impossible to 
accept the conclusions of the majority of writers on this subject. Rev. 
Michael A. Shine, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, has made an exhaustive study 
of the available authorities. The results of his investigations are to be 
found in his pamphlet, The Lost Province of Quivira, published in 1916. 
A good summary of it is contained in his letter to the author, dated 
May 3, 1916, from which the following quotation is made: — 

The march outward of the Army was 150 leagues or 395 miles from 
Tiguex on the Rio Grande — i. e., 25 leagues to Pecos, 15 leagues to the 
Bridge over Gallinas River, 40 leagues to Querechos Settlements and 20 
leagues to the Buffalo Ravine or Mustang Creek in Texas — total 100 
leagues, then southeast to Red River where the 101st Meridian crosses it. 
50 leagues from here the army returned home — 68 leagues to Ft. Sumner 
on the Pecos River — 32 leagues from there to the Bridge and 40 leagues 
from the Bridge to Tiguex — Total, 142 leagues or 8 leagues less than the 
outward march. (A league = 2.63 miles.) 

From the Red River Coronado went straight north on the 101st 
Meridian — 180 leagues, which brought him to the Platte River, which 
is just 175 leagues or 460 miles. This allows 5 leagues or 13 miles for 
detours and deviations in the journey north. The Platte is St. Peter & 
St. Paul's River. 

From the crossing of the Platte at the 101st Meridian going north- 
east 16 days or 72 leagues or 190 miles would bring them to the junction 
of Beaver Creek with the Loup River — in the vicinity of the present city 
of Geneva. This was always, even in ancient times, the home of the 
Skidi or Pawnee Loups. Quivira is the Spanish pronunciation of the 
name of these people — Skidi-ra — or "Wolf people, like Harahey — Arache 
and Tareque — Ariki-ra, or Horn People, who lived then between the 
Elkhorn and Missouri Rivers. 

Coronado returned to the Platte Crossing and then went southwest 
to the junction of the Purgatoire river with the Arkansas in Colorado — 
from there still southwest to the 1st Querechos village — where they were 
led astray and then back on his original trace to the Bridge, etc. No 
astronomical observation was taken for the Latitude — it was computed 
as follows: 180 leagues north — over 6 degrees of latitude. (26 leagues in 
a degree.) They went south over 30 leagues — below the Bridge or 
Tiguex (the 36th degree), hence they went into the 34th degree — then 
north over 6 degrees brought them into the 40th degree as Coronado 
states. 

Now the real latitude of Tiguex is the 35th degree — hence going north 
over 6 degrees brought them into the 41st degree — which is where I have 
located Quivira. and exactly where they found it. 

This is a further confirmation of the position that there is not suffi- 
cient evidence in the records at hand to place the location of Quivira 
within exact bounds, or beyond controversy. 

That Father Shine has discovered and fixed the origin of the name 
Quivira is possible. That the Skidi Pawnees lived above the Platte in 
1541, however, is not established. They may have lived there then. But 
it is probable that they lived on the Arkansas at that tinio. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 15 

Fray Padilla 

The return of Padilla to Quivira may be considered a consequen E 

Coronado's march to the Great Plains. For he and three other Francis- 
cans had been on that famous primal exploration. And it is to be regrel 
ted that it can not be recorded that they, or any of them raised voice or 
offered protest at the murder of the Turk. Let us hope the record is 
sadly incomplete. 

This priest is usually spoken of as Fray Juan Padilla, and it is said 
that he was a native of Andalusia. He remained on the Rio Grande 
when Coronado returned to Mexico. And Fray Juan de la Cruz, a 
Portuguese soldier of fortune named Andres del Campo, a negro, and a 
half-blood negro named Louis and Sebastian respectively, and some 
Indians from New Spain stopped with Fray Padilla at the pueblos on 
the Rio Grande. In the summer of 1542 Padilla prepared to return to 
Quivira as a missionary to that country. Some of his company went with 
him, and all may have gone. The journey was made in the fall of 1542. 
By some accounts, they went on foot, and by others there was at least 
one horse taken along by them. It is reasonable to suppose that the 
route used by Coronado in coming out of the land was followed by Padilla 
and his company going in. 

What Padilla accomplished in Quivira remains hidden. Some say 
he immediately sought the cross set up there by Coronado, and that he 
found the grounds about it swept and cleansed. This service had been 
rendered by the Indians, who doubtless regarded it as an occult object to 
be propitiated. It is not to be supposed that Padilla accomplished much 
in the work of Christianizing the Quiviras, for they murdered him 
shortly after his arrival. Indeed it is not certain but that they met and 
murdered him as he entered their towns. Others say that after a short 
sojourn with the Quivirans he set out for the country of the Guaes, These 
Guaes are set down as the enemies of the Quivirans, who could not under 
stand how any good man could leave them to dwell with their foes. Tt is 
not improbable that they attributed traitorous designs to the good father. 
In any event, he lost his life trying to reach a new tribe. One account 
has it that he was much beloved by the Quivirans, and he left their vil- 
lages against their wishes, hut attended by a small company. This chroni 
eler says that the band had proceeded more than a day's journey when a 
war-party was encountered, and this company of warriors murdered 
Padilla. 

What tile old writers say of Padilla is here set out. for it may he 
affirmed that he was the first Christian martyr in what is now the 
United states. Castaneda says : — 

A friar named Juan Padilla remained in this province together with 
a Spanish Portuguese and a negro and a half-blood and some Indians 
from the province of Capothan, in New Spain. They killed the friar 
because he wanted to go to the province of the Guaes, who were their 
enemies. The Spaniard escaped by taking flight on a mare, and after- 
wards reached New Spain, coming out by the way of Panuco. The 



16 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Indians from New Spain who accompanied the friar were allowed by 
the murderers to bury him, and they followed the' Spaniard and overtook 
him. This Spaniard was a Portuguese named Campo. 

It would appear from the foregoing that Padilla did not return to 
the Rio Grande with Coronado, but remained in Quivira when his com- 
mander left the plains. There is more detail in this account — ■ 

He reached Quivira and prostrated himself at the foot of the cross, 
which he found in the same place where he had set it up ; and all around 
it clean, as he had charged them to keep it, which rejoiced him, and then 
he began the duties of a teacher and apostle of that people ; and finding 
them teachable and well disposed, his heart burned within him, and it 
seemed to him that the number of souls of that village was but a small 
offering to God, and he sought to enlarge the bosom of our mother, the 
Holy ( 'hurch, that she might receive all those be was told were to be found 
at greater distances. lie left Quivira, attended by a small company, 
against the wall of the village Indians, who loved him as their father. 

At more than a day's journey the Indians met him on the warpath, 
and knowing the evil intent of those barbarians, he asked the Portuguese 
thai as he was on horseback he should rice and take under his protection 
the Oblates and the lads who could thus run away and escape. . . . 
And the blessed father, kneeling down, offered up his life, which he had 
sacrificed for the winning of souls to God. attaining the ardent longings 
(if his soul, the felicity of being killed by the arrows of those barbarous 
Indians, who threw him into a pit, covering his body with innumerable 
stones. ... It is said that the Indians had gone out to murder the 
lilcssc.l father in order to steal the ornaments, and it was remembered 
that at his death were seen great prodigies, as it were the earth flooded, 
globes of lire, comets and obscuration of the sun. 

The second paragraph of the foregoing ((notation must have been 
written from the imagination purely. There was no white witness to 
the murder of the friar except possibly the Portuguese and the atten- 
dants. They are said to have observed it from a hill. It is net safe to 
depend on such testimony. They were fleeing for life. It is doubtful 
if they turned to look back while in view of the Indians. In truth, they 
might have themselves murdered Padilla. The account contains no suffi- 
cient motive for his murder by the Indians. The assertion that they 
committed the murder to secure his ornaments can not be taken seriously. 
And the asseveration that the earth was convulsed, comets seen, and the 
sun obscured, discredits the entire account. There is still another Spanish 
version, quoted by Davis in his work on New Mexico, as follows: — 

When Coronado returned to Mexico he left behind among the Indians 
ef Cibola, the father tray Francisco Juan de Padilla, the father fray 
Juan de la Cruz, and a Portuguese named Andres del Campo. Soon 
after the Spaniards departed, Padilla and the Portuguese set off in 
search of the country of the Grand Quivira. where the former understood 
there were innumerable souls to he saved. After traveling many days 
thej reached a large settlement in the Quivira country. The Indians 
came out to receive them in battle array, when the friar, knowing their 
intentions, told the Portuguese and his attendants to take flight, while 
he would await their coming, in order that they might vent their fury on 
hi in as they ran. The former took flight, and placing themselves on a 



KANSAS AND KAXS.WS 17 

height within view, saw what happened to the friar. Padilla awaited 
their coming upon his knees, and when they arrived where he was, they 
immediately put him to death. . . . The Portuguese and his at- 
tendants made their escape, and ultimately arrived safely in Mexico, 
where he told what had occurred. 

If this version of the effort of Padilla to found a mission in Quivira 
is correct, he was slain before he had entered the Indian town. The 
heavens were not rent, nor was the moon turned to blood. There is no 
mention of a cross, and the inference is that the priest had reached a new 
town — had found a village of which he had not heard before. 

It is with Padilla as with the other Spaniards connected with the 
Coronado expedition. There is little that can be asserted with confidence. 
The evidence is fragmentary, contradictory, and incomplete. No certain 
thing ran he founded on it. 

The effort to have it appear that a certain monument erected of stones 
more or less regularly set together near the present Council Grove was 
erected by the Indians as a monument to Padilla cannot be sustained. 
That monument was probably set up as a guide-post at the opening of 
the Santa Fe Trail by the Missourians. General James H. Lane marked 
the underground railroad from Topeka to Nebraska City in 1856 with 
exactly such monuments as that to be seen at Council Grove. After the 
discontinuance of the Lane Trail these monuments were called "Lane's 
Chimneys." There were some of them still standing in Richardson 
County. Nebraska, in 1890. Their purpose had been forgotten with new- 
generations, and their origin was attributed to the Indians. And there 
is not the slightest evidence that Padilla was ever in the Council-Grove 
regions. He may have been there, but there is no record to establish that 
historical fact. 

Humana 

Tin- Coronado expedition gave the Spaniards the first claim, the 
prior right and title to the Great Plains. The discovery, together with 
the exploration of the country by De Soto, should have given the great 
interior vallej in the hearl of the continent to Spain. This it would have 
'lone had thai country shown energy and persistency in its conquest and 
settlement. Put the unusual success of Cortez and Pizarro had over- 
wrought tii'- Spanish common mind. Countries holding only possibilities 
of trade and agriculture Were not at that time considered worth much, 
and they received little attention. The adventurers were seeking coun- 
tries full of gold and silver. It was their intention to seize those com- 
modities at all hazards, even though the lands so ravaged were utterly 
destroyed. The Greal Plains, those "sandy heaths" covered with wild 
cattle and inhabited by naked savages, did not appeal to the 
Spaniard, lie was often ruthless ami cruel in his conduct toward the 
Indians in such countries as he finally settled, sometimes perpetrating 
re atrocious murders than the savages were guilty of, as witness the 

action of Coronado when he burned the people of the pueblos at the stake. 



18 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

]n the occupation of the country north of Mexico the priests stopped 
in the dead and desolate pueblos along the Rio Grande. A few Spaniards 
—Mexicans — came with them. The burdens imposed on the miserable 
Indians of the filthy pueblos were unbearable, and they were goaded into 
desperation. They rose and slew to the utmost. This civilization brought 
into the valley of the Bio Grande, nearly as barbarous as that which it 
sought to displace, was thrown back whence it came. It was some years 
before another attempt to colonize that country was made. 

For many years the feeble and desultory efforts at exploration only 
reflected the weakness of the Spanish in New Mexico. The discoveries 
made by Coronado could not be continued. A few journeys were made to 
the plains, but they constantly diminished in strength and purpose. They 
were finally abandoned altogether. An empire of vast possibilities was 
practically forgotten in the interest of goats and burros on the deserts of 
New Mexico. 

The first of the futile efforts to follow the grand march of Coronado 
was a filibustering expedition led from Nuevo Viscaya by Francisco Leyva 
de Bonilla and Antonio Gutierrez de Humana, in 1594. It is claimed 
that it was unauthorized. Bonilla was the leader. He lingered about 
the old pueblos a year, with Bove, the St. Ildefonso of later times, as 
his headquarters. Then he began his movement to the northeastward. 
He is said to have passed through Pecos and another pueblo, but he did 
not follow the route of Coronado, though it is believed he ultimately 
reached the same destination. A vagabond anil wandering course was 
pursued to the eastward, many streams crossed, and large herds of buffalo 
encountered. Far out on the plains, Bonilla turned to the north. He 
probably entered Kansas somewhere about the town of Kiowa, and crossed 
the Arkansas in the vicinity of Wichita. There he found, no doubt, the 
Quivira villages visited by Coronado. About these towns there were 
extensive fields of corn. Three days beyond them to the north on the 
road which led Coronado to the Nebraska border lie was murdered by 
Humana, who usurped command of the filibusteros. On that day a 
buffalo herd was seen which seemed to cover all the plains. After this 
the herds were not so large, and on the tenth day out from the Quivira 
towns on the Arkansas, a river was reached which was a quarter of a 
league wide, as remembered by the man who described the journey. It 
was possibly the Platte. There six Indians deserted and started back to 
New Mexico. Jusephe, one of the deserters, seems to have finally es- 
caped, though he was captured by the Apaches, who kept him a year. The 
other deserters were lost or killed. 

The narrative of this Contrabando is obscure and half-mythical, as 
are most of the old Spanish chronicles. By one version it appears that 
while the party lay encamped on the plains, "gold-laden," the grass 
was set on fire by the Indians. They rushed forward with the flames and 
massacred the entire band, except Alonzo Sanchez, whom the Indians 
saved, and who became a great chief among them. 

The route of Humana, after he left the towns of Quivira, on the 
Arkansas, is a matter of conjecture. It is believed that he reached the 



KANSAS AND K.WSANS III 

Platte River. It is likely that he lost his life in the robbery of some 
Pawnee Indian Town. There was no good accomplished by this hand, and 
geographical knowledge was not increased by its journey over the plains 
into what is now Kansas. 

On ATE 

The Spaniards called the pueblos on the Rio Grande the "first settle- 
ments." In the year 1601, Don Juan de Onate, being at the first settle 
ments, determined to go on an expedition ''to the interior, by a northern 
route and direction, both because of the splendid reports which 1 1n- 
native Indians ware giving of this land, and also because of what an 
Indian named Joseph, who was born and reared in New Spain and who 
speaks the Mexican tongue, saw while going witli Captain Umana." The 
force was assembled at San Gabriel, and on the 23d of June detachments 
began the march for the final rendezvous, the pueblo of Galisteo, which 
they left about the first of duly. 

Their route carried tin in across the (iallinas, and to the Canadian, 
which they named the River Magdalena. They descended the Canadian, 
finding much improvement in the country and climate as their journey 
progressed to the eastward. Apache Indians were encountered and found 
to be friendly. The river led the Spaniards out onto the buffalo plains. 
Sometimes the bluffs made it necessary for them to bear away from the 
river. Other bands of Apaches were met, but "no Indian became im- 
pertinent." The great abundance of wild plums pleased the men much. 
Early in August herds of buffalo appeared, and their habits are well 
described. Coming down from the Great Staked Plain, sand-hills turned 
them away from the river, and they bore north to two streams supposed 
now to be Beaver Creek and the Cimarron. Continuing in a north 
easterly direction the buffalo increased, and some of the prairies were 
covered with wild flowers. Beyond these much game was seen. Oak and 
walnut trees were found along the streams, the water of which was cool 
and pleasant. A temporary village or camp of wandering Indians was 
found. These are said to have been the Escanjaques, later identified by 
some students with Kansas or Kaw Indians. Whether this identification 
shall he permitted to stand remains one of the problems for students of 
the future. It would appear that it is much more probable that they were 
the Arkansas Indians, who had come up the Arkansas River to hunt the 
buffalo. They had lodges ninety feet in diameter, covered with buffalo 
hides, ami the > wore dressed hides for clothing. They were at war with 
another tribe living some twenty-five miles beyond in the interior. The 
Escanjaques said it was their enemies who had killed Humana and his 
men. They supposed the Spaniards had come for the purpose id' avenging 
those murders, and they requested permission to guide the strangers to 

those \ illae.es. This permission was granted, and the whiles were taken 
seven leagues to a river with wonderful hanks, and iii some places s,. 
deep thai vessels mi>_dit have sailed on it wnli ease, Th( land was fertile 



20 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

and densely wooded along the river, which is now supposed to be the 
Arkansas. 

The Spaniards seem to have been descending the Arkansas, for the 
mention of crossing smaller rivers is made. Marches totaling eleven 
leagues brought them to some elevations upon which appeared people 
shouting for war. They were, however, appeased, and they invited the 
Spaniards to their houses. That night the Indians of this latter village 
were accused of having murdered Humana and his men "surrounding 
them with fire and burning them all, and that they had with them one 
who had escaped, injured by the fire." The peculiar wording of this text 
makes it probable that the survivor was a mulatto woman described in 
Zarate's Land of Sunshine. This accusation was made by the accompany- 
ing Indians. The party took counsel as to what should be done, and it 
was determined to seize some of the Indians of the town and carry them 
along. Among those taken was the chief, Catarax. 

The Spaniards there crossed the river at a ford, and half a league out 
an Indian town was found which contained twelve hundred houses, "all 
established along the bank of another good-sized river which flowed into 
the large one." The houses were those seen by Coronado in Quivira, or 
similar ones, and they probably stood along the banks of the little Arkan- 
sas, on the present site of Wichita, Kansas. The people had fled and the 
houses were vacant, though containing corn. The Escanjaques desired to 
burn the town, and perhaps did burn a portion of it. The country there 
is described as the best the Spaniards had ever seen. 

Another council was held. The Escanjaques 5 and the captive Indians 
were questioned, and their statements agreed. Another river having six 

■ Among the first to identify the Escanjaques with the Kansas Indians 
was George P. Morehouse, of Council Grove. Mr. Morehouse has given 
the history of the Kansas- Indians much attention and deep study. P. W. 
Hodge, of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, is the best authority 
accepted this identification. For Mr. Hodge's opinion I have 
profound respect. Bu1 i1 is not ye1 established (hat the Quivira towns 
visited by Coronado were on or near the Kansas River. I am of the 
opinion that the location is untenable and will soon be abandoned by 
students. While there is much to support that theory there is much 
more to condemn it. The latest writers are placing the Coronado-Quivira 
towns on tin' Arkansas River — a much more likely location. Whether 
they are to lie finally established there, none ran tell. Put that they 
were far south of the Kansas River, 1 think there is no question. 

Xow, if the Coronado-Quivira towns were not on the Kansas River, 
nor near it. the Escanjaques were not the Kansas Indians. The Kansas 
Indians would not go so far south to hunt the buffalo. For it is con- 
ceded that they lived then on the banks of the .Missouri, and north of the 
Kansas River. There were buffalo in their own country at that time. 
but probably not in such numbers as on the [Mains. It is doubtful it' the 
Caddoan people, the Pawnees and Wichitas, would have permitted them 
in cross Quivira to hunt the buffalo, even if the ( loronado-Quiyira country 
was mi the Kansas River. It is certain that the Kansas Indians did not 
at that time hunt on the Arkansas River. 

It. is- in reason to believe that the Arkansas Indians, the Arkanse, 
came up the Arkansas River to the buffalo plains. Their location would 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 2] 

or seven branches was said to be not far away. On that river many 
people dwelt. The Humana party had been murdered a lone distance 
from there — "Eighteen days' journey from here." Large settlements 
of Indians were to be found both above and below this town, and the river 
at that point runs east. The Indians advised the Spaniards to stop and go 
no further, saying the people who had deserted their homes had gone to 
assemble their friends to attack the intruders and would destroy them. 
But the Spaniards pushed on, starting the following day. They traveled 
three leagues through a well settled country, and could see houses still 
beyond. The information that had been given them as to the hostile 
reception they might expect on the third day now began to impress them. 
Another conference was held, when it was determined to set out on the 
return to New Mexico. 

To prevent the Escanjaques from burning the houses in the town 
along the Little Arkansas the Spaniards had sent them back home from 
that point. Now, on returning to that town the Escanjaques were found 
entrenched in these abandoned houses with the purpose of giving battle. 
The commander of the Spanish party, mounted his men on armored 
horses and awaited the attack of the savages, who came on to the number 
of fifteen hundred, if the old accounts are to be believed. And others 
joined them. The conflict raged for two hours. The Spaniards were 
driven from the field, though they claimed to have slain many of the 
Indians. They freed some Indian women, but retained one man and some 
boys. They then returned to their camp to sleep, almost all of them 
being slightly wounded. How they escaped we are not told, the narrative 
ending with the statement that "On the following day we set out. travel- 
ing with our usual care, and in fifty-nine days we reached the camp of 
San Gabriel, having spent in the entire journey the time from the 23d of 
June until the 24th of November. ' ' 

An Indian was carried back and was named Miguel. It seems thai 
he had been captured by the tribe with which the Spaniards battled. He 
was taken to Mexico where he found that the Spaniards wanted gold 
above all things. He, like the Turk and others, told them what they u ished 
to hear. He described golden countries and drew a map of them which is 
still in existence. The King of Spain was wrought up by the stories told 

warrant their doing that. Thej were found mi the south side .if the 
Arkansas River. That river must have been Hie smith boundary of 
Quivira. To reach the point where Onate found the Escanjaques thej 
would n"t have had to pass through any Quivira country. Perhaps the 
Arkansas Indians claimed the smith half or portion of the smith half of 
the Arkansas River valley. Onate may have found them in their own 
country. Then, it is not certain that they were there on a hunting trip. 
They may then have lived permanently there. They seemed to know of 
the Humana expedition ami the fate of the party. 

The orthographj of the two words, Kansa and Arkansea, goes Ear to 
prove that th<' Escanjaques were the Wkansea not the Kansas [ndians 

I maintain that the identification of the Kscanjaques is not a settled 
matter, and that the Escanjaques are much more likely to have been the 
Arkansea than the Kans<t. 



•■12 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

by Miguel and ordered an expedition of one thousand men to be sent 
to seek out those golden shores. The Count of Monterey was then Viceroy 
of Mexico, and he had no faith in the Indian's tales. The expedition was 
never sent out. 

It may be taken as fairly well established that the battle between the 
Spaniards and the Escanjaques was fought in an Indian village from 
which the Quiviras (Wichitas) had fled. And, also, that this village stood 
within the present limits of Wichita, Kansas, which more than likely, was 
the Quivira town visited by Coronado. 

Penalosa 

Onate returned to New Mexico, as we have seen. It is said, that in a 
few years eight hundred Quivira Indians visited Onate, carrying with 
them a prisoner named Axtaos. It seems that the Quivirans were at war 
with the Axtaos tribe, and desired that Onate aid them in this warfare. 
The idea of seeking his aid may have originated from reflection upon the 
battle with the Escanjaques. The Axtaos of the Quivirans may have 
been the Escanjaques of the Spaniards. Perhaps the Quivirans sup- 
posed that it would be an easy matter to induce the Spaniards to engage 
in war with a tribe which had handled them so roughly on the plains. 
Finding an unwillingness on the part of the whites to again cross swords 
with the fierce tribe of the prairies, the Quivirans sang the old song so 
pleasant to Spanish ears — that of gold. They said there was gold in the 
interior of their country, supposing the cavaliers would set forth at once 
to find it. But even this siren song failed to move the Governor of New 
Mexico, and the Quivirans returned alone to their towns along some 
plains river. 

There is some reason to believe that in 1634 an expedition under Cap- 
tain Alonzo Vaca penetrated the plains to the River Quivira. It marched 
eastward more than three hundred leagues, but did not cross the river 
into Quivira. Very little is known of this expedition. Probably some 
wild tale of gold in the plains streams induced these Spaniards to brave 
the march from the deserts to search for it. 

Of the expedition of Don Diego Dionisio de Penalosa, Governor of 
New Mexico from 1661 to 1664, there is a better record. This record has 
been condemned and discredited by some writers. If admitted it would 
upset the preconceived ideas of some on the location of the country — and 
especially the towns — of Quivira. Haviug fixed these towns on the 
Kansas River it would prove troublesome to admit as genuine any docu- 
ment which would make the location untenable. 6 

In the spring of 1662, Penalosa gathered his forces for the march east- 
ward to find Quivira, the location of which remained an enigma to some 
extent even to the New Mexican Spanish, notwithstanding the many ex- 

6 See Bancroft's History of Arizona and New Mexico, P. 169. Also 
Houck's A History of Missouri, Vol. I, P. 39. The story may be a fiction, 
but satisfactory evidence of that fact has not been produced. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 23 

plorations they made to that land. The expedition consisted of eighty 
Spanish soldiers, with six three-pounder cannon, and thirty-six carts to 
carry the ammunition. There were one thousand Indians, by which we 
may suppose there was possibly one-fifth of that number. These were 
armed in Indian fashion, with bows and arrows. It is said that there 
were eight hundred horses and three hundred mules. It is always well 
to view with suspicion the boasting numbers set down in any Spanish 
document, even though it is known to be genuine. These reports were 
sometimes composed by priests in the New World for the use of priestly 
authority in Spain, and large numbers were sometimes employed to 
create a favorable impression across the ocean. 

In Quivira, Penalosa found the great city of Taracari. It was within 
eight leagues of "a very high and insuperable ridge," which was the end 
of Quivira. It does not appear that the Spaniards tarried at Taracari. 
They passed on, coming finally to a river called, by the Indians, the Mis- 
chipi. There they found the Escanjaques Indians, to the number of three 
thousand, assembled and armed to invade Quivira and attack its first city. 
The Mischipi was reached in June. The prairies were beautiful. One 
crop of corn was no sooner gathered than another was planted in that 
fertile land. 

The Spaniards and Escanjaques marched together up the river, having 
the "insuperable" ridge of mountains on their left hand. They halted 
for the night in some fine prairies, and six hundred Escanjaques went out 
to hunt the buffalo, in which they were very successful, each returning 
with the tongue of a cow, and some bringing two or three tongues. The 
next day, after marching four leagues, the mountain range was again dis- 
covered. It was covered with signal smokes to tell of the approach of the 
Christian army. And coming thence to some "widespread prairies of 
another beautiful river," the great settlement of Quivira was found. 
This river eame out of the mountain range to the west and united with 
the Mischipi. 

The Escanjaques desired to destroy the Quivira settlement, and the 
Spaniards ordered them to remain behind and not enter it. But it seems 
that they crossed the river witli the whites, and were with difficulty re- 
strained from attacking the Quivirans. Seventy head-chiefs came out to 
meet Penalosa, bearing presents, buckskin, and fur caps, and bonnets. 
They were entertained by the Spaniards, who bestowed upon them some 
presents, but they were much disturbed when they found their white 
visitors in company with their avowed enemies, the Escanjaques. To 
reassure the Quivirans, the Spaniards gave them presents and expressed 
the warmest friendship for them, promising to stand by them. This 
pleased the Quivirans. who made further presents, consisting of furs, 
bread, corn, beans, pumpkins, sandpipers, turkeys, partridges, and fish. 
They invited the Spaniards to enter their principal settlements the next 
day, to do which, another river had to be crossed — a rapid river. When 
they departed, the commander detained two of their chiefs, who were 
questioned until midnight, when they lay down to sleep, as was supposed. 
But they arose and went over to their own city, fearing an attack there of 



24 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

the Escanjaques. Their fears were well founded, for those treacherous 
Indians ernssed in the night and attacked the Quiyirans, killing all they 
could and burning the city. The Spaniards crossed the river and entered 
the burning city shortly after suurise, but the Quivirans had fled, be- 
lieving the whites in treacherous league with the Escanjaques. The 
soldiers spent most of the day in arresting the conflagration and restrain- 
ing their self-imposed allies. The next morning Penalosa marched two 
leagues through the settlement and counted thousands of houses. He 
halted on the bank of another river, which he found coming down through 
the settlement. It was observed that the much-used paths came down 
from the lofty range six leagues away, entering the settlement every 
quarter of a league. A detachment of twenty men, under Major Francis 
de Madrid, was sent to explore all the town, but they were unable that 
day to come to its outward bounds. They returned to report that the 
Quivirans had fled and could not be found. On the 11th of June, which 
was probably the following day, the Spaniards departed from Quivira 
and set out on their return to New Mexico. 

As in all the other Spanish expeditions to Quivira, it is impossible to 
tell to what point Penalosa penetrated. There is no probability that he 
reached the Mississippi. At Fort Smith, where the Arkansas enters 
the Ozarks, there are many streams, and the old chronicle describes the 
country round about fairly well. But none can say certainly where he 
did actually go. The country on the Neosho, about the mouth of Spring 
River, is well described, and it may be that to that point Penalosa came. 
One thing is apparent. There never existed even in New Mexico any clear 
conception and definite knowledge of the location of Quivira. It was to 
the eastward. It was a land of plains and rivers. It was grass-covered. 
And it was roamed over by the wild cattle. That is most that was known 
by the Spaniards along the Rio Grande about Quivira. 

Brower 

It is necessary to notice here the work of one J. V. Brower, who 
some years ago came into Kansas and pretended to fix beyond question 
the exact spots visited by Coronado. He published three books on the 
transactions of Coronado. He made maps of Quivira and the adjacent 
country of Harahey. On these maps he pretended to define the bounds 
of those countries exactly — there was no conjecture, no possibility of 
error admitted. In instances without number the lines of Quivira bend 
around the heads of ravines as though a careful survey had been made. 
The north line is carried along the south bank of the Smoky Hill, fall- 
ing sometimes within a mile or less of that stream, but never permitted 
to touch it. The line between France and Germany was never more 
closely adjusted than he made that between two tribes of brutish Indians 
belonging to a common linguistic family. He pretended to rediscover 
the principal villages and camps of Quivira and Harahey. He caused 
to be erected granite monuments to mark the sites of these supposed 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 25 

rediscoveries. And these shafts always bore inscriptions telling how 
the sites they marked had been rediscovered by J. V. Brower 

Mr. Brower pretended to define these countries of Quivira and Hara- 
hey by the extent of certain chert beds and the forms of certain flint 
implements he found about the forks of the Kansas River. He elaims 
to have traced the inhabitants of Quivira and Harahey from the Ozark 
Mountains to the locations he assigns them. He did this by means of 
the forms of the flint arrowheads, knives, axes, and hammers made by 
them. He even assures us that they lived on deer and wild turkeys 
in the Ozarks, but became raw-meat eaters and blood-drinkers on the 
Kansas plains where they could get buffaloes for food. This seems 
strange when we remember that there were as many buffaloes on the 
plains skirting the Ozarks as there were on the Kansas River, and as 
many deer and turkeys on the Kansas streams as there were in the 
Ozarks. And even on the Ozark ranges there were buffaloes in untold 
numbers. For the Ozark Mountains were treeless and grass-covered 
until the expulsion of the Indians. The timber appeared on them after 
the white man came and stopped the Indian practice of burning the 
country over annually. 

The methods of Mr. Brower cannot be approved. The shafts which 
he caused to be erected may by mere accident be in proper locations. 
Most probably they are not. He did not know. No one knows. No one 
ever will know. The data to determine these matters does not now exist. 
So far as is now known, this evidence has not been in existence (<>f the 
past three hundred years. 



Willi Quivira Kansas made her first manifestation. She broke on 
the world with a radiant flash as a recompense to Coronado for Cibola 
and the pueblos of the Rio Grandi — the mummy villages of the dead 
deserts. While she was not appreciated and was left to her "brutish 
people" and her rolling herds of wild oxen for some centuries, it is a 
source of satisfaction to know that the Kansas plains were ridden over 
by mailed knights generations before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock 
were planted on our eastern shores. Vague Old Quivira plants the feet 
of lusty young Kansas in the dim and misty fastnesses of the past to 
give dignity and beget pride in the history of a state. Hazy and dis 
taut Quivira is hoary with antiquity, but in young and buxom Kansas 
she becomes the beacon of modern energy to lighl up the ways of the 
world. Touched with the magic fire of Kansas. Old Quivira has become 
a flame that burns across the heavens — an inspiration, an ideal Ear sup. 
rior in value to the crops or herds or mines embraced in all her borders. 
For ideals are more precious to mankind than material things. 

So, Quivira takes its place as one of those romantic incidents pecu 
liar to Kansas history. Tt was all hut forgotten I'm- two hundrt 
Connected with any other state. Quivira would have passe,! from the 
memory of man. Or, perhaps, a few dry lines would have appeared in 



26 KANSAS AND'KANSANS 

the misty annals of the Southwest to tell of a fruitless trip to a desert 
land. But associated with Kansas it became an indefinite mystery vital 
as the pilgrimages to find the Holy Grail. Romances will have their 
seat in it. Quivira is not only coequal with Kansas — it is Kansas. It 
matters not now about exact metes and bounds, and never more will 
matter, for they are not essential to Quivira. It assumes a larger part 
— takes form as our earliest absorbing tradition. It is our remotest 
background in which take refuge the mystic tragedies incident to the 
evolution of the Great Plains. As a field for the fanciful it holds an 
expanding value to the coming generations of Kansas. Intangible as 
the luminous haze of a plains-horizon, Quivira will become the swell- 
ing fountain of romance for all who shall seek to connect their times 
with that mystic life which is to remain the strongest support of civili- 
zation as long as the world shall stand. 



AUTHORITIES 

The principal authorities on the Spanish explorations of Kansas are — 

George Parker Winship, in The 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of 
Ethnology, 1896. 

Hubert Howe Bancroft in the History of Arizona and New Mexico, 
1889. 

Spanish Explorations in the Southern United States, edited by Fred- 
erick W. Hodge, 1907. 

Spanish Explorations in the Southwest, edited by Herbert Eugene 
Bolton, 1916. 

"The True Route of Coronado's March," by P. S. Dellenbaugh, in 
Bulletin of American Geographical Society, Vol. XXIX, No. 4, 1897. 

The works of A. P. Bandelier. Among these, see Historical Introduc- 
tion to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico. Also 
Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United 
States. 

Journal of a Military Bcconnoissance from Santa Fe, etc. Senate 
Executive Document 64, 31st Congress, 1st Session. Also Coronado's 
March in Search of the "Seven Cities" of Cibola, Smithsonian Report 
for 1869. By James Hervey Simpson. 

Important articles have been published in the Kansas Historical 
Collections. 

John Madden lias, in Volume VII, "Wardens of the Marches," an 
extensive and intelligent discussion of the route of Coronado and the 
land of Quivira. 

In Volume XII is "A Study of the Route of Coronado between the 
Rio Grande ami the Missouri Rivers" by James Newton Basket, of 
Mexico, Mo. 

In Volume X is "The White Man's Foot in Kansas" by John B. 
Dunbar, of Bloomfield, New Jersey. 

In Volume VIII is "Early Spanish Explorations and Indian Im- 
plements in Kansas" by W. E. Richey, of Harveyville, Kansas. A 
picture of the famous "Coronado Sword," and an account of where it 
was found, and how it came into Mr. Ridley's possession, are a part of 
the paper. The sword is now the property of the Kansas State Histori- 
cal Society. It was found in the year 1886, on the head waters of Pawnee 
Creek, near the north line nf Finney County, Kansas, nearly due north 
of the town of fngalls. It evidently belonged to Hallego. one of the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 27 

pi'incipal men of the Coronado expedition, for it bears his name graven 
in the metal. On it are these inscriptions: 

No Me Saques Sin Bazon 
No Me Enbaines Sin Honor. 

In the Agora, a magazine published in Kansas and running through 
the years 1891 to 1896, there is a translation of Voyages, Relations Ft 
Hemoires Originaux Pour Servir a L'Historie de la Decouverte De 
// Amerique, Publies l'our La Premiere fois en Francais Par II. Ternaux 
— Com/pans. This translation was made by Eugene P. Ware, and the 
first chapters were published in 1895. 

In A History of Missouri, by Louis Houck, three volumes, 1908, there 
is a good discussion of Coronado 's route. Some parts of the subject are 
there better treated than in any other work examined. 



CHAPTER II 
LOUISIANA 

The French 

For two generations the Spaniards sent expeditions to explore the 
Great Plains. They rode up and down in this magnificent land from 
the Ozarks to the Rocky Mountains, and from Texas to the Platte River. 
Vast sums were expended in these onerous ventures. But so far as the 
territory now embraced in Kansas is concerned, the result was nothing. 
The right accruing from discovery and explorations was permitted to 
lapse — in fact, it never was asserted. No claim of proprietorship was 
established to any portion of what is now Kansas. "When it was deter- 
mined that the plains afforded no cities to sack and no peoples to plun- 
der and destroy, interest declined, and the Spaniards withdrew to the 
arid wastes of the far Southwest. They established communities of peo- 
ple almost as ignorant and superstitious as the savages they displaced. 
And most of this miserable population were held in perpetual slavery 
by the system of peonage. What a blessing that Kansas was not to 
receive her civilization from Spain ! The Spaniard had his day and his 
opportunity. Making nothing of them, he sank below the horizon — and 
the Great Plains were as tliough they had not yet been seen by white 
men. 

The occupation of the soil of Kansas by Europeans resulted from 
what was in effect a rediscovery of the Mississippi Valley. It remained 
for a stronger people to explore and develop this great interior valley 
of North America. The French are a dominant people. The infusion 
of their blood into that of the Saxons exalted the ideals and broadened 
the vision of the Englishman. It endowed him with the capacity for 
vast enterprises and gave him the genius for conquest and empire. "The 
Gaulish race, above all others, is characterized by that occult force of 
cohesion and resistance which maintains their material unity amid the 
most cruel vicissitudes and makes it rise superior to every attempt to 
depress it." Garneau, the historian, says that the old Gallic characteris- 
tics have outlived the unchangeable theocracies of Egypt and Asia, the 
political combinations of the Greeks, the civic wisdom and military dis- 
cipline of the Romans. And that the French are of antique blood, but 
ever young at heart — that they are inspired by a call of great moment 
.or an appeal of noble conception. All this is established by the annals 
of the ages and by the common assent of mankind. 
28 



KANSAS AND KANSAJNIS 29 

To the genius, the dominance, the vision, devotion and intrepidity of 
the French people does the Mississippi Valley owe its real discovery, its 
successful exploration and its enduring occupancy. 

The discovery of the Great "West was due to the efforts of La Salle. 
Through hardships inconceivable and discouragements which it seems 
would daunt the stoutest heart he persevered in his explorations of the 
country to the west and southwest of the Great Lakes. He was a trader, 
and the empire of which he dreamed and for which he planned was to 
rest on commerce and the settlement and development of the country. 
In this work he had the opposition of the Jesuits, who stopped at nothing 
to thwart his plans and ruin his enterprises. They had lost their mis- 
sions among the Hurons east of the Georgian Bay in the destruction of 
those tribes by the Iroquois. They had followed the fragments of these 
broken tribes to the westward. They had themselves entered the fur- 
trade, and they maintained extensive establishments at Michillimackinac 
and other points. They were opposed to the seating of white settlements 
in the Indian country, and from Quebec to the Mississippi they inter- 
posed every possible obstacle to the plans of La Salle. And it is by no 
means certain that they did not finally accomplish his ruin and. indi- 
rectly, even his death, by corrupting those in his service on his last voy- 
age to found a colony on the Lower Mississippi. Their attitude is well 
expressed by Parkman in his La Salle and the Discovery of the Great 
West. 

Prom the lakes, they turned their eyes to the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi, in the hope tn see it one day the seal of their new empire of the 
Faith. But what did this new Paraguay mean? It meanl a little 
nation of converted and domesticated savages, docile as children, under 
the paternal and absolute rule of Jesuit fathers, and trained by them 
in industrial pursuits, the results of which were to inure, nut to the 
profit of the producers, but to the building of churches, the founding 
.if colleges, the establishment of warehouses and magazines, and the con- 
struction of works of defence. — dl controlled bj Jesuits, and foi 
part of the vast possessions of the Order. Such was the old Paraguay; 
and such, we may suppose, would have been the new. had the plans of 
those who designed it been realized. 

The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada, or, in other minis 
< lanada was no longer simply a mission. It bad become a colony. Tem- 
poral interests and the civil power were constantly gaining ground; and 
the disciples of Loyola felt that relatively, if not absolutely, they 
were losing it. They struggled vigorously to maintain the ascendency 
of their Order, or, as they would have expressed it. tin- ascendency of 
religion; bul in the older and more settled parts of the colony it was 
clear that the day of their undivided rule was past. Therefore, thej 
look.,] with redoubled solicitude to their missions in tic West. Thej 
had been among its first explorers, and they hoped that here the Catholic 
Faith, as represented by Jesuits, might reign with undisputed sway. 
In Paraguay, it was their constant aim to exclude white men from their 

missions. It was the same in North A rica. They dreaded fur-traders, 

partly because they interfered with their teachings and perverted their 
Converts, and partly for other reasons. I'.ut 1 .a Salle was a fur-trader, 
mil far worse than a fur trader, he aimed at occupation, fortification, ami 



30 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

settlement. The scope and vigor of his enterprises, and the powerful 
influence that aided them, made him a stumbling-block in their path. 
He was their most dangerous rival for the control of the West, and from 
first to last they set themselves against him. 

"What manner of man was he who could conceive designs so vast and 
defy enmities so many and so powerful? And in what spirit did he 
embrace these designs? 

And the same authority defines exactly the difference between the 
future of the Great West as designed by the Jesuits and as conceived by 
La Salle. 

Prodigious was the contrast between the two discoverers; the one, 
with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure evoked from some 
dim legend of mediaeval saintship ; the other, with feet firm planted 011 
the hard earth, breathes the self-relying energies of modern practical 
enterprise. Nevertheless, La Salle 's enemies called him a visionary. His 
projects perplexed and startled them. At first, they ridiculed him ; and 
then, as step by step, he advanced towards his purpose, they denounced 
and maligned him. What was this purpose? It was not of sudden 
growth, but developed as years went on. La Salle at La Chine dreamed 
of a western passage to China, and nursed vague schemes of western 
discovery. Then, when his earlier journeyings revealed to him the valley 
of the Ohio and the fertile plains of Illinois, his imagination took wing 
over the boundless prairies and forests drained by the great river of the 
West. His ambition had found its field. He would leave barren and 
frozen Canada behind, and lead France and civilization into the valley 
of the Mississippi. Neither the English nor the Jesuits should conquer 
that rich domain ; the one must rest content with the country east of the 
Alleghanies, and the other with the forests, savages, and beaver-skins 
of the northern lakes. It was for him to call into light the latent riches 
of the great West. But the way to his land of promise was rough and 
long; it lay through Canada, filled with hostile traders and hostile 
priests, and barred by ice for half the year. The difficulty was soon 
solved. La Salle became convinced that the Mississippi flowed, not into 
the Pacific or the Gulf of California, but into the Gulf of Mexico. By a 
fortified post at its mouth, he could guard it against both English and 
Spaniards, and secure for the trade of the interior an access and an out- 
let under his own control, and open at every season. Of this trade, the 
hides of the buffalo woidd at first form the staple; and, along with furs, 
would reward the enterprise till other resources should be developed. 

Such were the vast projects that unfolded themselves in the mind of 
La Salle. Canada must needs be, at the outset, his base of action, and 
without the support of its authorities he could do nothing. 

It will be necessary to review the events connected with the discov- 
ery of the Mississippi by the French. In 1673 Joliet was sent to find 
this great river of which they had long heard from the Indians coming 
from the West. He had been a priest, but had returned to the life of a 
trader. He had been sent to explore the country, on Lake Superior, 
containing the copper mines. On his journey into the wilderness to find 
the Mississippi a Jesuit, Jacques Marquette, was selected to accompany 
him. The priest puts it the other way, saying that Joliet was appointed 
by Frontenac and Talon to go with him. They set out on the 17th of 
Mav. 1673. in two birch-bark .vinoes, from old Point Ignace. on the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 3] 

north side of the Strait of Michillimackinac. As attendants they had 
five Frenchmen — doubtless skilled in woodcraft and wilderness naviga- 
tion. For supplies they carried some smoked meat and Indian corn, 
and their baggage was limited to the barest necessaries. 

Thus provided and equipped these pioneers set forth. They coasted 
Lake Michigan to Green Bay. From thence they ascended Fox River, 
crossed Lake Winnebago, and again took to Fox River, which they coursed 
to its source. There they dragged their canoes overland to the head of 
the Wisconsin. Here they embarked again, but on the waters of the 
mighty river which they sought. On the 17th of June, 1673, they 
reached the Mississippi, and Marquette wrote that he experienced a joy 
which he could not express. They continued down the stream, and upon 
its banks no human being was descried for many days. On the west 
bank, on the 25th of June, footprints were seen, and a path led the 
explorers to an Indian village two leagues away. Other towns were in 
sight — all of the Illinois stock, thrown beyond the Mississippi by the 
irresistable onset of the Iroquois from the country now embraced in the 
State of New York. Marquette addressed the Indians in their own 
tongue, and the explorers were well received. They were feasted, but 
exhorted to refrain from going on, which counsel they could not heed. 
Six hundred Indians went with them to their canoes and saw them again 
committed to the Mississippi. Below the mouth of the Illinois they 
beheld, painted on a beetling shore-cliff, the images of imaginary dia- 
bolic monsters — manitous of the Illinois tribes. They were still dis- 
cussing those pagan representations when "A torrent of yellow mud 
rushed furiously athwart the calm blue current of the Mississippi^ boil- 
ing and surging, and sweeping in its course logs, branches, and uprooted 
trees. They had reached the mouth of the Missouri, where that savage 
river, descending from its mad career through a vast unknown of bar- 
barism, poured its turbid floods into the bosom of its gentler sister. 
Their light canoes whirled on the miry vortex like dry leaves on an 
angry brook." 

Continuing this voyage, they passed the moutli of the Ohio, and 'Mine 
into a different country. The days were hot and enervating, and the 
nights were but periods of torment from mosquitoes. An Indian village 
on the east bank rose to view, coming to which they disembarked, and 
were cordially received and feasted. They were told of towns lower 
down, which on the following day, they set out to reach, finding one 
opposite the mouth of the Arkansas River. Tt was one of the villages 

of the Arkansas or Quapaw Indians. There thej were also r< ived 

with hospitality, though at night the sentiment changed, and thej 
escaped death only by the watchful care of the chief. 

These Frenchmen had descended the .Mississippi Ear enough to deter- 
mine that it did not flow into the South Sen or (lull' of California, but 
into the Gulf of Mexico. And so the [ndians doubtless told them. Such 
information would be of vast importance in Canada, and they derided 
to return, setting out on the 17th of July. The voyage homeward was 
uneventful, and they reached the mission a1 Green Bay near the lasl 



32 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

of .September. They had traveled more than twenty-five hundred miles. 
Marquette remained at the mission an exhausted and feeble man, but 
Joliet went on to Quebec. In sight of Montreal his canoe was overset 
and his papers lost, but he made report of the momentous discovery to 
the Governor of Canada. Marquette founded a mission the following 
summer at a point near the present Utiea, Illinois, which he called Kas- 
kaskia. He died ou the 19th of May, 1675, on the shore of Lake Michi- 
gan as he was going to Michillimackinac. 

The report of Joliet only confirmed the conclusion of La Salle — that 
the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. "With Frontenae, La 
Salle had established Fort Frontenae, where Kingston now stands, in 
1675. That gave him control of Lake Ontario and the country adjacent, 
especially the country to the north. He had discovered the Ohio in the 
winter of 1669-70, and had explored it to the falls — now Louisville. 
•'It was for him to call into light the latent riches of the Great West." 
La Salle was the first man to comprehend the magnitude and possibili- 
ties of the great valley of the Mississippi. He resolved to secure it for 
France — and to develop its trade for himself. 

It is not necessary here to review all the steps taken by La Salle to 
seat himself on the Mississippi. No more stirring tale could be written 
than a faithful account of this matter. He suffered from intrigue, 
perfidy, exposure to cold, floods, starvation, the horrors of Indian blood- 
lust. He journeyed thousands of miles through snows, over swamps 
and flooded plains. His men were murdered, and he himself twice poi- 
soned. His business was wrecked and ruined by enemies at home. But 
lie rose triumphant above it all until an assassin cut off his life. 

Only a man of indomitable will could have risen from the ruin which 
had prostrated all the undertakings of La Salle. "But he had no 
thought but to grapple with adversity, and out of the fragments of his 
ruin to build up the fabric of success." He spent the winter of 1680-81 
at Fort Miami, on the River St. Joseph, near the southeastern extremity 
of Lake Michigan. Here were the wigwams of some friendly Indians, 
and during the winter more of them gathered about his desolate fort. 
Having organized them in his interest, he departed in May, 1681, for 
Canada to assemble again the scattered remnants of his fortunes and 
make ready for the grand enterprise of his life. He succeeded in satis- 
fying his creditors and getting some additional means. This work con- 
sumed the summer. In October he reached Lake Huron on his return 
to the wilderness. "Day after day, and week after week, the heavy- 
laden canoes crept along the lonely wilderness shores, by the monotonous 
ranks of bristling moss-bearded firs ; lake and forest, forest and lake, a 
drearj scene haunted with yet more dreary memories — disasters, sor- 
rows, and deferred hopes; time, strength, and wealth spent in vain; a 
ruinous past and a doubtful future ; slander, obloquy, and hate. With 
unmoved heart, the patient voyager held his course, and drew up his 
canoes at last on the beach at Fort Miami. ' ' This was the voyage pre- 
liminary to the establishment of Louisiana. 

From his savage retainers at the fort La Salle chose eighteen men. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 33 

He had with him twenty-three Frenchmen. Of the Indians, ten took 
their squaws, and there were three children. Altogether there were fifty- 
four persons in the expedition which lie had then formed for the descent 
of the Mississippi. His main reliance was the iron man, Tonty, whose 
fidelity, and intelligent assistance have won the plaudits of the gener- 
ations to this time. The advance guard set out from Fort Miami on the 
21st of December, and went by the Chicago River, from the head of 
which Ihey carried their canoes and lading to the Illinois. La Salle 
followed in a few days, coming up with Toirty before the party left 
Lake Michigan. They found the Illinois River frozen, and were com- 
pelled to drag their canoes down the river on the ice to Peoria Lake, 
below which they found open water. There they launched their frail 
vessels for the final voyage. They reached the Mississippi on the 6th of 
February, 16S2. The descent of the mighty "Father of Waters and 
Mother of Floods" was devoid of incidents requiring detail here. The 
head of the delta was reached on the 6th of April, and the river was 
found to have three principal channels thence to the Gulf. Each chan- 
nel was explored, after which the company united to return. On a 
hillock of firm land back from the mouth of the Mississippi a little way 
they assembled to make formal proclamation and take firm possession of 
the valley of the Mississippi. A beam of wood, heavy post, or column, 
was prepared. It bore the arms of France, and this inscription: 

"Louis Le Grand, Roy de France et de Navarre, Regne; Le Neu- 
vieme Avrii., 1682." 

Hymns of the Roman Church for momentous occasions were chanted, 
Vive le Itoi was shouted, muskets fired. The post was set up, and La 
Salle took place beside it. Standing there, with loud voice, he pro- 
claimed : 

In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious 
Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of 
Navarre, Fourteenth of thai name. I. this ninth day of April, one thou- 
sand six hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his 
Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which mav be seen by all whom it 
ii;n concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty 
and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of I ouisiana, 
the seas, harbors, ports, hays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peo- 
ples, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, 
and rivers, within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of 
the great river St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio . . as also along 
the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and the risers which discharge them- 
selves thereinto, from its source beyond the cou"try of the Nadouessioux 
. . . as far as its mouth at the sea. or Gulf of Mexico, and also to 
the mouth of the River of Palms, upon the assurance we have had from 
the natives of these countries, thai we are the firsl Europeans who have 
descended or ascended the said river Colbert: hereby protesting against 
all who may hereafter undertake to invade anv or all of these aforesaid 
countries peoples, or lands, to the prejudice of the risrhts of his Majesty, 
acquired by the consenl of the nations dwelling herein. Of which, and 

of all else thai is n Hut. I hereby take to witness those who hear me, 

and demand an act of the notary here present. 



34 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

' He was greeted with more shouts of Vive le Roi, aud with additional 
volleys of musketry. A cross was erected by the great beam, and a 
leaden plate bearing the arms of France and the legend Ludovicus Mag- 
nus regnant was buried there. The Vexilla Regis was sung, and the cry 
of Vive le Roi was again raised — and the ceremonies thus completed. 

So, was established the French Province of Louisiana. Notice to all 
the world that it was set up was duly proclaimed. Through toil and 
fatigue, hardships and disaster, malice and envy, hate and iriti-igue, its 
armorial blazonry rose triumphant that day over the vapors and fogs and 
exudations of the miry shores of the inland sea . It was the inception of 
the Empire of the mighty Mississippi. It was the germ of power and 
glory. It held immense possibility, such opulence, dominance, progress, 
and development that even the thought of it had not entered the mind 
of man. The bounds of the Old Louisiana enclose the land most favor- 
able to the growth of the human race. It will bring forth the ideals and 
originate the forces to influence and lead mankind. It is the heart of 
North America. Its conception was heroic. Its effulgence is consum- 
mated on the Great Plains. And on the banners of its glory the brightest 
star is Kansas. 

Du TlSNE 

With the vicissitudes of Old Louisiana it is not our province to deal 
in detail at this time. It was the intention of La Salle to remove it from 
the influence of Canada and all the reactionary tendencies of the Jesuits. 
He designed to come into it by the way of the sea abandoning utterly the 
route through Canada. That his plans miscarried through no fault of 
his own did not prove them unsound. They were largely followed after 
his day, in the settlement and development of Louisiana. 

Some of the leading events in the occupancy of Louisiana by the 
French must be set down here. Kaskaskia was settled about the year 
1700, and when it was fortified by the erection of Fort Chartres in 1718, 
it was made the capital of Upper Louisiana. Bienville, then Governor of 
Louisiana, founded New Orleans in the same year. And another event 
of 1718 cast an ominous shadow more than a century before it. For in 
that year Francis Renault bought, in San Domingo, five hundred negro 
slaves. These he carried to the Illinois country, and many of them were 
sent to work in the lead mines west of St. Genevieve — in what is now 
Missouri — the beginning of negro slavery in the portion of Louisiana 
west of the Mississippi. 

Up to 1721, the French settlements in Louisiana were scattered and 
without cohesion. From that time we may say that they became so 
numerous and in such close communication that they constituted a coun- 
try — made up the beginnings of a State — represented all sections and be- 
came the political foundation of Louisiana. Explorations to the west of 
the Mississippi were undertaken by the authorities. These explorations 
followed no doubt, as in the English and Spanish occupancy of portions 
of America, individual expeditions of which accounts and memories are 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 35 

lost. The first exploration by the French into that country which became 
Kansas, of which any record has been preserved, was in 1719, by Charles 
Claude Du Tisne, a French Canadian. In the previous year he had been 
sent by Governor Bienville up the Missouri to visit some of the upper 
tribes, but had been compelled to return from about the mouth of the 
Osage because of the hostility of the Missouris. On this second attempt 
to penetrate the country, he went by another route, passing up a stream 
which empties into the Mississippi just below St. Genevieve, known then 
as the Saline. Leaving this stream far up at the crossing of an old 
Indian trail, he went west and northwest to the Osage Trail, in what is 
now Morgan ( lounty, Missouri. To reach that point he crossed the country 
now included in Washington, Crawford, Phelps, Pulaski and Miller 
counties in Missouri. He followed the Osage Trail up the Osage River, 
coming into Kansas below where Trading Post, was afterwards estab- 
lished. He visited the Osage villages, the principal of which he found 
situated upon a hill. This was below the present Kansas-Missouri state- 
line, and it contained more than a hundred lodges and some two hundred 
warriors. There and on the river below he had found pieces of lead ore. 
From the Osage towns he passed west over the prairies to the country of 
the Pawnees, finding a village of that tribe containing one hundred and 
thirty lodges. These Indians were in possession of horses, which they val- 
ued highly and guarded closely. It does not appear that he visited the 
Padoucahs though he must have gathered what information he could 
about them, reporting that they lived "fifteen day's journey" from the 
Pawnees, but he does not indicate the direction. 

The route of Du Tisne in Kansas can not be definitely fixed now. He 
found rock salt near the Pawnee towns, which is evidence that he visited 
the Grand Saline, on the Lower Neosho. In the country of the Pawnees, 
on the 27th of September, 1719, he set up a post bearing the arms of 
France, and took formal possession of the country for the French king. 
In his report it is stated that the Osages spent much time on the prairies 
hunting the buffalo. 

Du Tisne found the Pawnees near where Vinita, Oklahoma, was after- 
wards founded. Below Vinita, on the east side of the Neosho, are the 
remarkable salt springs above mentioned as the Grand Saline. The 
presence there on the Neosho of Pawnee towns in 1719 would still farther 
confirm the location of Quivira in the country whose waters drain into 
the Arkansas River from the north. 1 

v,I - LAzn; 1 194960 

The next expedition entering what is now the State of Kansas was 
sent out from the Spanish settlements in New Mexico. The first intima- 
tion the French authorities had of this invasion was contained in a lei 
ter written on the 24th of May, 1721, by M. De Boisbriant. «. 
of the Illinois District, to Bienville, saying thai three hundred Spaniards 



1 See Vol. IX. Kansas Historical Collections, pp. 252, i / seq. 



:Ui KANSAS AND KANSANS 

liad left Santa Fe to drive the French from Louisiana, but that they 
had been turned back by the Pawnees and Osages. 

The facts concerning this foray into the Great Plains have not been 
available until recently, the first intelligible account of it having been 
published by the Kansas State Historical Society. 2 Its object was to 
throw back the Pawnees, who had established a strong town in the forks 
of the Platte River as a means of protecting their hunting grounds from 
the Spaniards and the Indians under their influence. The Pawnees were 
moved to this action by the erection of a pueblo or tribal dwelling by the 
Pieuries in what is now Scott County, Kansas. The Picuries were from 
Northern New Mexico, and had there been under Spanish rule. They 
moved to the Great Plains and set up their communal establishment, 
called El Quartelajo, about 1702, and its remains are yet to be seen. 
This alarmed the Pawnees, then seated in what is now Nebraska and 
Northwest Kansas, and as an offset they made the settlement at the forks 
of the Platte. This Pawnee town, projected into the center of the buf 
falo range, was likely to have an adverse effect on the hunting operations 
of the New Mexicans and their allies, and the Spanish authorities de- 
cided that it must be destroyed. This decision was the more natural 
since it was well known on the Rio Grande that French hunters and 
traders were then appearing upon the Great Plains in close alliance with 
[ndiau tribes dwelling there. As early as 1700 they had destroyed the 
village of Jumanos far out on the plains, if Spanish reports are to be 
credited. And all this is proof of how far individual enterprise and per- 
sonal effort move in advance of governmental action. History rarely 
preserves the names of the first explorers of the interior of any coun- 
try. Hardy traders and adventurers plunged into the woods and 
streamed over the plains long before the expeditions set down as the 
original explorations. But the names of these old rangers are lost — 
were never recorded except in local family annals. 

An additional motive for the Spanish expedition was the punishment 
of the predatory Comanches and Utes, or at least a display of force suffi- 
cient to curb their arrogance. Coming in upon the eastern or plains 
country of New Mexico from the southeast, they had stolen horses and 
harried the white and Indian inhabitants of the province. 

Don Antonie Valverde was Governor of New Mexico. In 1719 he 
determined to lead a military force against the Pawnee village at the 
forks of the Platte. But he did not get beyond El Quartelajo, returning 
from that outpost to Santa Fe. The action of Valverde can only be ex- 
plained by a knowledge of his chax-aeter, which seems to have been of the 
worst. A renegade Frenchman, Jean L'Archeveque, one of the mur- 
derers of La Salle, was one of his associates and his tool. This degenerate 
Frenchman bore an ignoble part in this final Spanish expedition, where 
he met justice in death at the hands of the Pawnees and their French 
allies. 

2 See Vol. XI. Kansas Historical Colli •■lions, pp. .".HI. ei seq., for the 
article, written by John B. Dunbar. 



KANSAS AND KAXSANS 87 

Valverde had a force of two hundred men, which he considered insuffi 
cient in 1719, but he ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Villazur to proceed in 
1720 with but forty men. Villazur marched from Santa Fe on the 14tli 
of June. He halted at Jacarilla, one hundred and ten miles north of 
Santa Fe. to rest his troops and secure Indian recruits. From that post 
it was two hundred and fifty miles to EI Quartelajo, which was reached 
by toilsome marches. There Villazur secured another band of Apaches 
and set out for the Pawnee village, one hundred and ninety miles away. 
It was another difficult march, but on the 15th of August the Spaniards 
came in sight of the Pawnee town. It was on the north Fork of the 
Platte about a mile and a half above its junction with the South Fork. 
The Spaniards first saw it from a hill or bluff some distance from the 
river. 

When the Spaniards came into full view of the town the Pawnee war- 
riors, who were even then south of the river, rode forward to meet them. 
The Spaniards had dismounted, but they now mounted their horses and 
rode slowly forward to meet the Paw nees, who, when within a quarter of 
a mile, put their horses to the gallop, parted into two wings, and encircled 
the Spanish command. In this situation all advanced to the bank of the 
South Fork of the Platte a little above its junction with the North 
Fork. The Pawnees there leaving the Spaniards and returning to their 
town, Villazur dismounted his force, and permitted the horses to graze. 
Early in the afternoon the Spaniards descended the river to a point about 
two miles below the junction of the forks of the Platte. There camp was 
made on the river bank. The grass was of rank growth on the rich river 
bottom, and perhaps so high as to well-nigh conceal the horses. The 
Spaniards cut it away from a space large enough for the camp-some two 
acres. Here were piled the baggage ami the camp-equipment. Af aigh.1 
the horses were brought up and tied about this cleared space. 

The Pawnees bad early information of the departure of the expedition 
from the Rio Grande. After it left PI Quartelajo I hey kepi it ever in 
sight. They were mil deceived as to its purpose. The Indian town was 
not surprised when the Spanish force came into view on the south plain 
— it was expected. There were more than twenty Frenchmen in the Paw 
nee town, all armed with muskets. They were traders and trappers, 
hunters ami , min ins th huts, and friends of the Paw aees. 

There was a low hush-grown island in the Platte opposite the Spanish 
camp. To this island the Pawnee warriors quietly swam with their bow- 
ami arrows in the afternoon. At nighl thej swam to the south bank ami 
concealed themselves in the tall grass around the camp. The French were 
with them ami directing them. 

At. daylight Villazur thought to move his camp to higher land in the 
open plain, and his men were busily engaged in breaking camp for that 
pin-pose. As the Spanish commander was mounting his horse, a volley 
of musketry was tired into the camp by the Frenchmen. Two-thirds of 

the Spanish soldiers were killed by this first tire. The survivors drew 
themselves together and charged their surrounding foes, driving them 
back three times. Ru1 the Spanish Indians had (led at the first tire, and 



38 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

were then galloping headlong- over the plain intent only on saving- their 
own lives. The Spanish soldiers, seeing they could not beat off their 
enemies, soon followed their Indian allies. Only six or seven of them 
reached Santa Fe, twenty -two days later. When the tidings of the dismal 
failure of the expedition were told there, the town was in a panic, and 
the expedient of abandoning it was seriously considered. But the Paw- 
nees and French Mere satisfied with their decisive victory on the Platte 
and did not pursue. And the French had established their claim to the 
Mississippi Valley up to the Rocky Mountains. This claim was never 
afterward disputed by the Spaniards. 

BOURGMONT 

The French were ever seeking to develop trade with the Indians, 
and when commercial relations were established they were fostered and 
closely guarded. As early as 1718, Sieur Presle, now supposed to have 
been a stockholder in the Company of the Indies, had suggested that 
Etienne Venyard Sieur de Bourgmont be sent to arrange trade relations 
with the Missouris, living at that time near the mouth of the Grand 
River, and possibly on that stream in the present bounds of Livingston 
or Carroll counties, in Missouri. To insure the stability and permanency 
of the trade so arranged, Bourgmont established Fort Orleans in 1723. 
The exact location of this fort has long been a matter of controversy, 
though it was probably on an island in the Missouri River, near what 
is now Malta Bend. It has been located by different writers as far 
down as the mouth of the Osage. If the Missouri villages were up the 
Grand River, as some suppose, there would be reason to locate the site 
of the fort on an island near the modern Brunswick, Mo. 3 At that 
time the French, having in mind the Villazur expedition against the 
Pawnees, recognized the possibility of a conflict with Spain for the 
Great Plains. It was supposed that a French fort on the Missouri would 
check further infringements by the Spaniards living on the Rio Grande. 
An outpost at the edge of the plains would serve to develop trade with 
the Indian tribes, causing them to bury their tribal animosities and act 
in unison in the interests of the French, to whom all would look for 
the manufactured articles becoming daily more indispensable to the 
Indians. Another object to be attained by this fort was the winning 
of the Padoucahs (Comanches) to the French interest. These plains 
barbarians roamed all the regions from below the Rio Grande to the 
Upper Platte. They were, mainly by theft, securing horses from the 
Spaniards. Mounted on these, they became the whirlwind of the deserts 
and the buffalo plains. To a people to whom the possibility of com- 
merce appealed, their friendship was considered desirable, and Bourg- 
mont was charged to visit and conciliate them. Their nearest towns 
were on the head waters of the Kansas River, beyond the hunting-grounds 
of both the Kansas and the Pawnees. 



1 Sec llmiek's A History of Missouri, Vol. I, pp. 260, et seq. 
Also Kansas Historical Collediov*, Vol. TX. pp. 252, et seq. 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 39 

In the summer of 1724, Bourgmont occupied himself with the per- 
formance of his charge concerning the plains Indians. To accomplish 
the first stage of his objective, he divided his expedition into two detach- 
ments. The first he led in person. One part of it was made up of one 
hundred Missouris, then firmly bound to the French. They were com- 
manded by a head-chief and eight war-chiefs. There were sixty -four 
Osages, commanded by four war-chiefs. Of Frenchmen in the party, 
there were Sieur La Renaudiere and his Canadian engage De Gaillard, 
De Bellerive, a cadet, Simon, the servant of the commander, and troop- 
ers D'Estienne Roulot, Derbet, and the drummer D'Hamelin. This 
division did not march until the 3d of July. The other detachment had 
set out in batteaux on the 25th of June to ascend the Missouri. It was 
commanded by St. Ange, an ensign of the fort. It had an escort or 
guard of eleven soldiers — La Jennesse, Bonneau. Saint Lazare, Ferret, 
Derbet, Avignon, Sans-Chagrin, Poupard, Gaspard, Chalons, and 
Brasseur. Two of the engages of Sieur La Renaudiere, Antoine and 
Toulouse, were of the company, as were five Canadians — Mercier, Ques- 
iit-1. Rivet, Rolet, and Lespine. 

The first stage of the expedition was to end at the Canzes village on 
the west side of the Missouri, where the town of Doniphan, Kansas, now 
is. This destination was reached by Bourgmont on the morning of the 
8th of July, after a pleasant march over beautiful prairies. The recep- 
tion of the Frenchmen was cordial. The Canzes feasted their distin- 
guished visitors and made them presents, excepting rich gifts in return. 
The river detachment had to push against rapid currents augmented by 
the summer floods in the Missouri from the melting snow in the Rocky 
Mountains. And it was slow in appearing at the Canzes town. Many 
of the men were attacked by the fevers incident to such a life in a new 
country. On the day of his arrival among the Canzes, a courier from 
St. Ange presented himself before Bourgmont to report conditions and 
ask that food be supplied him. This request was granted, and St. 
Ange was sent an exhortation to hasten up the river. He did not arrive 
until late in July. During the tedious waiting courtesies were continu- 
ally exchanged between Bourgmont and the Canzes, and two captive 
Padoueahs — slaves — were turned over to the French. It was the inten- 
tion to gain the good will of the Padoueahs by returning these captives, 
but they died of the prevailing fever. 

Upon the arrival of St. Ange the French distributed presents to the 
Canzes, Bourgmont requesting them to e,'<> with him to visit the Padow ah 
towns. The Indians were not sniisiied with the quantity of presents 
received from the Frenchmen, and they said they did no1 wish to go 
out against the Padoueahs. This difficulty was finally OVercOl 
Bourgmont sent his sick back t<> Fori Orleans. <>n the 24th of July be 
started across the plains to visit the Padoueahs. The army gol under 
way at six in the morning. Three hundred Canzes warriors, com- 
manded by two head-chiefs and fourteen war chiefs, went along. The 
Indian contingent had also three hundred women, live hundred children. 
and three hundred dogs taught to draw the travois. The march was to 



40 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

the southwest over a beautiful country. The days were very hot, and 
the nights were cool, and on this account, on the 30th, Bourgmont became 
so ill that he had to be carried in a litter. Becoming no better, he was 
compelled to return to Port Orleans, but before his departure he sent 
Gaillard with two ransomed Padoucah captives to the Padoucah towns. 
These captives were to be returned to their tribe with the compli- 
ments of the French commandant, who also sent word that he would 
appear there as soon as his illness had ceased and he was able to make 
the journey. On the 4th of August Bourgmont departed for his fort in 
a pirogue and arrived there the following day. On the 6th of Septem- 
ber it was reported to him that Gaillard had performed his mission 
with success, having reached the Padoucah town on the 25th of August 
and delivered the captives to their own people — and that the French 
would be welcomed there in consequence. 

Bourgmont did not make a complete recovery from his attack of 
malarial fever, but on the 20th of September he set out by boat for the 
Canzes town, where he arrived on the 27th. Gaillard came in on the 
2d of October, accompanied by three chiefs and three warriors — Padou- 
cahs — to escort the French chieftain into their country. The head-chief 
and seven war-chiefs of the Otoes came to the Canzes town on the 4th 
of October; and on the 5th six chiefs of the Iowas came very early to 
the Cannes village. Bourgmont departed for the country of the Padou- 
eahs on the 6th. but lie curtailed his Indian force to forty persons. 
Gaillard and Quesnel were senl on in advance with two Padoucahs to 
announce the approach of the French commandant. The route of Bourg 
mont was again to the southwest to the Canzes River, which was reached 
and crossed on the 11th. This stream was ascended until the elevated 
plains at the head of the Smoky Hill were attained. On the 18th of 
October the country of the Padoucahs was reached. A great smoke from 
the burning grass of the plain was descried and answered by setting 
ahla/e Ihe prairies around them. Soon the Padoucahs appeared mounted 
thundering over the plain at full speed, bearing Ihe French nag left with 
them by Gaillard. The French were conducted to the Padoucah town. 
which consisted of one hundred lodges— having eight hundred warriors, 
fifteen hundred women, and two thousand children, as computed b\ 
Bourgmont. Polygamy was in evidence, some of the warriors having as 
many as four wives. The council at which a formal peace and alliance 
were concluded was held on the 18th, an account of which is quoted. 

The day after their arrival at the l'adoucas, M. de Bourgmonl 
caused the g Is allotted for this nation to he unpacked, and the differ- 
ent species parceled out, which In. made them all presents of. 

After which, M. de Bourgmonl senl for the Grand Chief and other 
Chin'. f ih,. l'adoucas. who came to the camp to the number of two 
hundred, and placing himself between them and the goods, thus parceled 
and laid out to view, he told them he was sent by his Sovereign to cavr.x 
to them the word of Peace, this Hag and these goods, and to exhort then, 
p, in,, as brethren with their neighbors, the Panimahas. Aiaomv 
Othouez, Canzas, Missouris. Osages and Illinois, and to traffiek and truck 
freely together, ami with the French. lie. at the same time, gave the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 4J 

flag to the Grand Chief of the Padoucas, who received it with demon 
strations of respect, and told him, "I accept this flag which you present 
to me on the part of your Sovereign. We rejoice at our having peace 
with all the nations yon mentioned, and promise, in the name of cur 
nation, never to make war on any of your allies, but to receive them, 
when they come among us, as our brethren; as we shall in like manner 
the French, and conduct them when 1 hey want to go to the Spaniards, 
who are but twelve days' journey from our village, and who truck with 
us in horses, of which they have such numbers they know not whal to do 
with them; also in had hatehels of a soft iron, and some knives, whose 
points they break ol't', lest we should use (hem against themselves. You 
may command all my Warriors. I can furnish you with upwards of two 
thousand. In my own and in the name of my whole nation, 1 entreat 
you would send some Frenchmen to fade with us. We can supply them • 
with horses, which we truck' with the Spaniards for buffalo mantles, and 
with great quantities of furs. 

These peeple are Far from being savage, nor would it be a difficult 
matter to civilize them— a plain proof they have had Ion" intercourse 
with the Spaniards, The few days the French stayed among them they 
were become very familiar, and woubl lain have M. de Bourgmont leave 
some Frenchman among them, especially they of the village at which the 
peace was concluded with the other nations. This village consisted id' 
an hundred and forty huts, containing about eighl hundred warriors, 
fifteen hundred women and at least two thousand children, some Padoucas 
having four wives. 

Bourgmont left the Padoucah town to return home on the 22d of 
October, reaching the banks of the Missouri on the first of November. 
There a canoe made of buffalo hide was prepared. On the 2d he embarked 
for Fort Orleans, which he reached on the 5th, alter having accomplished 
a remarkable and difficult mission on the Great Plains. He had traversed 
the future State of Kansas from end to end- from the Missouri to the 
plains bordering the front range of the Rocky .Mountains, lie noted the 
streams, the boundless prairies, the rolling, surging millions of .buffalo 
He had bound the roving savage tribes to the fortunes of France and the 
interests id' Louisiana. Henceforth the Kansas country was to be as 
familiar to the coureurs <!<■ hois as the woods and streams about their 
native towns. 

The commercial ami political arrange nts perfected by Bourgmont 

seem to have been substantial and lasting. It was found to be iinm s 

sary to maintain Fori Oilcans. In 1726 its commandant was M. Porier. 
and on the 30th of September he was directed to abandon the post as a 
military establishment and turn it over to the missionaries. Even these 
must have declined to assume the burden of its maintenance, for silence 
envelopes it from that time. There are indeed stories that all tin' garrison 
were massacred and the buildings destroyed by the Indians because "t 
the mistreatment id' a Missouri squaw by some Frenchmen, but they are 

probably without foundation. The fort most likely decayed and (lis 

appeared, and the island on which it stood was washed into tl ver gnaw 

ing, wasting Missouri. 

The incident of Fort Orleans closes an era or period in the founding 
id' the French prpvince of Louisiana. The preliminary conques 



42 KANSAS AND.KANSANS 

wilderness and its savage inhabitants had been accomplished. Future 
events were to follow a different course. And even this had been foreseen 
by, La Salle, the primal genius of the Mississippi Valley. Of him it has 
been justly said : 

The explorer's eagle eye had fixed upon the most commanding points 
between Quebec, and Mexico. He chose LaChine as the outpost and 
bastion of Montreal; he selected Kingston (Fort Frontenac) as the best 
place to control Lake Ontario ; he chose the site of the fort on the Niagara 
Kiver afterward known as Fort Erie ; his eye appreciated the advantages 
of Detroit and Mackinac: Chicago, Peoria, St. Joseph's, Natchez, New 
Orleans, and Matagorda Bay were all points of his choosing; and, as 
was the case with Alexander, the places which he selected for forts and 
trading-posts have most of them grown to be cities by the natural process 
of the "Survival of the fittest." 

The Cession op Louisiana to Spain 

In America, the war between Great Britain and France was known as 
the "French and Indian War." It was decided by the victory of Wolf 
mi the plains of Abraham in 1759. Montreal fell in 1760, and the cam- 
paign that year convinced France that she was defeated in America. On 
the 15th of July, 1761, she proposed terms of peace by which Canada and 
that part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi should be ceded to England. 
Negotiations proceeded for nearly two years. A treaty had been virtually 
concluded between Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal in 1762. 
It was made definitive, as affecting these powers, at Paris, on February 
10th, 1763. By its terms New France disappeared. The British bounds 
were extended to the Mississippi. 

The calamity of France was far greater than was made known at the 
conclusion of the treaty. For at Fontainbleau, on the 3d of November, 
1762, the island and City of New Orleans and all of Louisiana west of the 
Mississippi were ceded by France to Spain. This was a secret cession, 
and knowledge of it was not made public for more than a year. This 
treaty changed the sovereignty of the country now embraced in Kansas. 
And Spain secured by treaty through the stress of France what she might 
have had more than two centuries before for the mere taking, but which 
she lost then through indolence and indifference. 

Upper Louisiana had grown in commercial importance under the rule 
of France. Its trade began to attract the attention of those engaged in 
large- enterprises. In 1762 Maxent, Laclede & Co. secured from the 
Governor-General the grant of a monopoly of the fur trade with the 
Missouri Indians and tribes to the north of them. The junior member 
of the company was sent up the Mississippi with boats laden with goods 
suitable for the trade of their venture in Upper Louisiana. His name was 
Pierre Laclede Liguest, but after the manner of the French, he chose to 
be popularly known by the name of Laclede. Failing to find storage for 
his goods at St. Genevieve, he went on to Fort Chartres. From this point 
he examined the east bank of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri 
fur a suitable site for a trading-post. As he returned,he gave his atten- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 43 

tion to the west bank, when the choice for the location of his post fell 
upon the site now occupied by the City of St. Louis. In February Auguste 
Chouteau, then but thirteen, was sent in charge of a party to begin the 
erection of buildings on the spot marked by Liguest. He arrived on the 
14th of February, 1764, and on the 15th he began to clear away the forest 
and put up some temporary shelter for his men. 

The selection of the site for the trading-station was most fortunate. 
When the French inhabitants of the" Illinois country learned that they had 
been made British subjects by the fortunes of war, they moved in large 
numbers to the west of the Mississippi. St. Louis soon became a post of 
importance. It became the point of supply for all the country drained by 
the Missouri. The pressure of white population upon the Indian lands 
on the western waters threw many tribes beyond the Mississippi. The 
Delawares, Shawnees, Mohegans, Iroquois and other Eastern Indians were 
forced across the Alleghenies, pushing the Illinois, Kaskaskias, Miamis 
and other Western aborigines into the Spanish possessions. This move- 
ment was not of sudden origin for it began in fact with the founding of 
the English colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. It continued until the 
aboriginal population had been pushed out of all the country cast of the 
Mississippi. This migration was the mure marked after the British had 
taken possession of Eastern Louisiana. For the English occupation of the 
country required an absolute title to the soil, with no troublesome Indian 
neighbors. The Indians had to move off or be exterminated. It became 
the policy of the Americans after the Revolution to require cessions from 
the tribes in return for "reservations" to the westward. But prior to 
the adoption of this course the Indians were forced to migrate into coun- 
tries already occupied by aboriginal people, twenty-one tribes having 
crossed the Mississippi in the time from 1804 to 1825. Many tribes had 
crossed over in whole or in part before. Most of these crossed into Louisi- 
ana near St. Louis, adding more than thirty thousand to the Indian popu 
lation of what is now Missouri. In 1820 there were eighteen hundred 
Shawnees in the vicinity of St. Louis. 

The presence of this additional Indian population on the west side of 
the .Mississippi brought trouble to the town of St. Louis, but it also 
tended to increase the trade of that town in such commodities as the 
Indian life produced and required. While the Spaniards could never 
develop trade with the [ndians as could the French, ii must be remem- 
bered that there remained in Louisiana the French inhabitants found on 
the soil at the time of the cession. French Canadians continue,! to come 
in ever increasing numbers, tor the Spanish power was never • sacting on 
the prairies, and along the streams, and over the Greal I Mains. St. Louis 
became the trading-poinl for Upper Louisiana and grew in wealth and 
importance during the Spanish regime. 

[1 was during the Spanish rule of Louisiana thai those conditions 
arose which made it possible necessarj thai 'lie United States should 
acquire all of Louisiana. 



44 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The Retrocession of Louisiana to France 

Many of the causes of the situation which developed in Louisiana 
during its detention by Spain lay far back in the history of the country. 
The Floridas (East Florida and West Florida) were established by Great 
Britain in the Proclamation of October 7, 1763, defining the British 
colonies in America. West Florida embraced the country between the 
Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers south of the thirty-first parallel. 
The west boundary of the United States as fixed by the treaty concluding 
the Revolution was the Mississippi, down to the thirty-first parallel. 
Thence it ran east along that parallel to the Chattahoochee. Spain de- 
clared war against Great Britain in May, 1779. Before the close of tha' 
year the Spaniards had captured Manehac, Baton Rouge, and Natchez. 
On March 14, 1780, they captured Mobile. In May, 1781, they captured 
Pensacola. By these conquests the Spaniards had extended the north 
boundary of West Florida from the thirty-first parallel to the mouth of 
the Yazoo. The territory between these boundaries, from the Mississippi 
to Chattahoochee, remained a matter of contention between Spain and 
the United States to 1795. By the treaty ratified in May, 1784, both 
Great Britain and the United States were granted the right of free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth. Spain had little 
intention of standing by her stipulations in that matter. Benevolence 
has no place in the relations between nations. Interest alone dictates 
their actions. The old monarchies of Europe were none too well pleased 
with the erection of a republic in North America. The attitude of the 
British Government toward, the United States was always reprehensible 
down to the close of the Civil War. Spain saw in the denial of the right 
to freely navigate the Mississippi an opportunity to creat dissatisfaction 
and friction between the different sections of the United States. Of 
this condition she took every advantage, hoping to bring about the dis- 
memberment of the young republic. 

At the close of the war I'm- Independence the Americans poured over 
the Alleghenies in ever increasing numbers. Boone, Kenton, Robertson. 
Sevier and other explorers and settlers had blazed the way. The new 
settlers came principally from the Carolinas, from Virginia, and from 
Pennsylvania. Many of them had served in the patriot armies of the 
Revolution. Those who had preceded them had battled with the Indians 
for possession of the soil. These men seeking to establish homes in the 
wilderness were bold, fearless, independent Americans. Seated on the 
rich lands of the West, they soon produced a surplus of food and other 
commodities which they found it necessary to carry to some market. 
These could not he transported eastward across the Alle?henies. Facil- 
ities for this were entirely wanting. The natural outlet for this trade 
was by the greal water-way- -down the Mississippi. 

It is somewhat remarkable that the Atlantic States never have come 
to realize the importance of the West. It is strange that Americanism 
does not begin even in the United States until the crest of the Alleshenies 
has been attained. The Atlantic seaboard states always viewed the West 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 45 

with indifference, and have to this hour made no effort to understand or 
comprehend its requirements. Virginia ignored the just claims of George 
Rogers Clark, though his heroism and sacrifices gave her an empire. And 
when the people of Kentucky petitioned both Virginia and Congress for 

statehood she was treated with neglect, if not i tempt. A like condition 

to the south caused the people on the Tennessee to set up the State of 
Franklin. It was apparent to the Western people that the Mississippi 
Valley was an entity — that while it extended thousands of miles in all 
directions and might in time have local conditions to deal with in many 
parts, it had in the end a common interest and a common destiny. La 
Salle had been the first, to realize this, and on that idea he founded 
Louisiana. A century later the settlers on the Ohio, the Tennessee, the 
Holston, the Kanawha, the Kentucky and the Cumberland saw the vision 
first beheld by La Salle. They had helped to free the land from the 
British yoke. If the government they had set up and scaled with their 
blood would not hear them and give attention to their needs, they would 
do what Englishmen have ever deemed it their right to do — secure their 
interests, devise their own government, choose their own course, shape 
their own destiny. 

Spain fostered this discontent, She restricted the navigation of the 
Mississippi. The commerce coming down its mighty flood was burdened 
with imposts amounting to confiscation. Corn, wheat, tobacco, tallow, 
hides, furs, beeswax, flour, cured meats and many other commodities 
found unprofitable markets at New Orleans. And the right to deposit 
these products against more favorable times or for reshipment was denied. 
At the same time there was the suggestion that if the country could all 
come under Spanish rule times and conditions would mend and all causes 
of complaint disappear. In the hope of attaining complete sovereignty of 
the Louisiana of La Salle Spain entered upon a course of intrigue with 
the Western settlers. It is not to be believed that the Americans could 
have ever been brought to accept permanently the rule of Spain. But 
many of the leading men of the West were willing to form a compact or 
some sort of alliance with thai decadent power in order that commerce 
might be fostered and the country developed along natural lines. 

These were the conditions when European politics interfered and 
changed the sovereignty of Louisiana. Prance decided to again take over 
this wilderness province, and Spain was in no condition to resist. By the 
treatj of San Ildefonso, concluded October 1. 1800, Spain retroceded 
Louisiana to France. 

The Purchase of Louisiana 

The prospect that France would establish a colonial empire in America 
was not pleasing to the United States. To counteract its influence Jeffer- 
son believed it would be necessary to form a close alliance with Great 
Britain. For France was then at the zenith of her power. She did not 
take immediate possession of Louisiana, but left the administration in the 
hands of Spain. In 1802 the Spanish Governor suspended the right of 



46 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

the Americans to deposit commercial products in New Orleans. This 
action caused intense excitement. President Jefferson was compelled to 
take notice of the state of mind in the West. He wrote Mr. Monroe that 
it "threatens to overbear our peace." He realized that some remedy 
would have to be found, and he again wrote Monroe : ' ' The agitation of 
the public mind on occasion of the late suspension of our rights of deposit, 
at New Orleans is extreme. Remonstrances, memorials, etc., are now 
circulating through the whole country. ' ' The Federalist party advocated 
war with both Spain and Prance. But the President determined to rely 
upon diplomacy. He instructed Robert R. Livingston, our Minister to 
France, to buy West Florida and New Orleans. In furtherance of this 
plan to satisfy the people of the West and protect the rights of the 
United States he appointed, in January, 1803, James Monroe special 
envoy to France to aid Livingston. 

Conditions favored the design of Jefferson. It had been the plan of 
France to suppress the rebellion in Santo Domingo, and then take pos- 
session of Louisiana. The campaign against the Island failed. War with 
Great Britain was impending. Napoleon knew he could not retain 
Louisiana in a war with that power. To sell the province to the United 
States would place it forever beyond the reach of the English. The price 
of it would help him prepare for the inevitable conflict. And he believed, 
too, that, having Louisiana, the United States would be strong enough to 
ultimately curb the British power. He expressed the hope that it would 
be so. And when the negotiations were got well under way he proposed 
to sell not only West Florida and New Orleans, but the wholei of Louisi- 
ana. The American Ministers had not been accredited for so great a 
transaction. A purchase of such vast dimensions had not been thought 
of by any American. It was the idea of Napoleon. There was no time to 
secure additional advices from home, and our ministers decided to ignore 
the instructions they had. On the 30th day of April, 1803, they concluded 
a treaty by which all of Louisiana should pass to the United States for the 
sum of fifteen million dollars. The treaty was ratified at a session of 
Congress convened the following October. Spain contended that France 
had no right to sell Louisiana, and protested to our Government, but 
when the representative of the French Government arrived at New 
Orleans the Spanish officials turned over the province and withdrew. The 
authority of France was permitted to continue for twenty days. On the 
20th of December, 1803, the French put the United States in possession 
of Louisiana and the American representative proclaimed to those as- 
sembled there : 

The cession secures to you and your descendants the inheritance of 
liberty, perpetual laws, and magistrates whom you will elect yourselves. 

Of all the great events in the history of the United States the pur- 
chase of Louisiana was one of the most important. Henceforth there 
would be no contest among the European powers for the mighty Valley 
of the Mississippi. For the addition of Louisiana doubled the area of 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 47 

the United States, increasing its bounds to imperial dimensions and 
insuring the existence of the Republic to remote ages. 

So was Louisiana reunited and made whole under the sovereignty 
of a power which had risen since its proclamation and establishment 
at the mouth of the Mississippi. The conception of La Salle was con- 
summated. The soil to become Kansas became the property of the 
United States to forever remain a part of the great Republic of North 
America. 



CHAPTER III 
LEWIS AND CLARK 

President Jefferson moved at once to secure definite and reliable infor- 
mation concerning Louisiana. His first step was the organization of 
the expedition of Lewis and Clark. The object of this tour of explora- 
tion was to discover the courses and sources of the Missouri River, and 
to find the must convenient way by inland water to the Pacific Ocean, 
it was to explore, so far as possible, the territory of the late Purchase 
from France. On the Atlantic Slope vague and erroneous conceptions 
existed in regard to this new and remote land. New England was 
opposed to the acquisition of French Louisiana, and was, generally, 
always against the extension of the boundaries of the United States to 
the westward. And this opposition to the Jefferson Purchase was not 
confined to New England. Objection was made in other sections bor- 
dering the Atlantic. It was supposed the settlers straying into the 
vast expanse west of the Mississippi would be lost to civilization and to 
the population of the United Slates. For in those days there were but 
indifferent means of communication between the various parts of our 
country. St. Louis was then more inaccessible to Washington City 
than is Patagonia at this time. And New England was even then very 
jealous of the South. As Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams 
abandoned Texas in 1819, and it required the War with Mexico in 1846 
to recover that territory and permanently restore it to the United States. 

Trade was the stimulus of all the early expeditions into the Western 
Wilderness. That trade was carried on with savages. With rum and 
tawdry trinkets such products as an Indian country afforded could be 
bought. Later the Indians came to require hatchets, axes, kettles, and 
other metal implements, as well as cloth. To ascertain the possibilities 
for such trade in the regions in and beyond the Rocky Mountains, Jeffer- 
son had considered a plan of exploration from the Missouri River into 
the wilderness of the extreme West as early as 1783. And now, twenty 
years later, having made French Louisiana a part of the United States, 
he hastened to consummate bis earlier design. The extent of the country 
was unknown. Its western bounds were uncertain, and it is quite prob- 
able that it. was believed that these touched the Pacific. It was realized 
that no intelligent action could be taken in the interest of those barbar- 
ous regions without a knowledge of them. And very little was cer- 
tainly known of the country beyond the Mississippi. 

This expedition of exploration was to be under the direction of 
4S 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 49 

Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. They were 
both officers of the Army of the United States. Lewis was the Private 
Secretary of the President, and Clark was brother to George Rogers 
Clark who saved us the Northwest-territory country in the Revolution. 

In their instructions they were informed that the object of their 
mission was to explore the Missouri River, taking their observations 
with great pains. They were to study the possibility of Commerce with 
the Indian tribes inhabiting the countries through which they passed— 
noting the extent of their possessions, their relations with other tribes, 
their language, occupations, their food and clothing, the diseases with 
which they were afflicted, their laws and customs, and the articles of 
commerce necessary to them and those they could furnish traders in 
barter. 

The expedition was made up of the following persons: 

The Commanders; 

Nine young men from Kentucky; 

Fourteen soldiers of the United States Army, who had volunteered 
for the service; 

Two French watermen; 

One interpreter and hunter; 

Captain Clark's negro servant — York. 

In addition, there were a corporal, six soldiers, and nine watermen to 
go as far as the Mandan country, on the Upper Missouri. 

The supplies carried consisted of clothing, tools, flints for guns, 
powder and ball, articles for presents to the Indian tribes to be encoun- 
tered on the way — medals, flags, knives, tomahawks, paints, and other 
things prized by Indians. 

The party had three boats. The largest was a keel-boat fifty-five 
feet long, drawing three feet of water, carrying one large square sail, 
and having twenty-two oars. At the bow and stern there were decks 
ten feet long, forming a forecastle and a cabin. The middle space was 
taken up by movable lockers, which, in case of attack, could be elevated 
to form a breastwork against rifle-balls or arrows. The other boats 
were what tlie early navigators of the Western streams called perogues. 
They were open boats, sometimes built on canoes bound firmly together. 
Usually two canoes were used to each boat. One carried six oars — the 
other seven. They were steered with long sweeps at their sterns, ami 
were well adapted to the purpose for which they were designed. 

Two horses were led or ridden along the banks of the Missouri to 
be used by hunters in scouting and bringing in game for food for the 
party. 

The explorers had camped Hie winter of 1803-04 at the mouth of 
Wood or Du Bois River, a small stream emptying into the Mississippi 
opposite the mouth of the' Missouri. This camp was abandoned on the 
14th day of May. 1804, at four o'clock in the afternoon, and the expe- 
dition got four miles up the Missouri before night. 

On the 5th day of June two French traders were met descending the 
Missouri on a raft made by joining two canoes. They bad spent the 



50 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

winter on the Kansas River, eighty leagues up, and had trapped many 
beavers, but prairie fires had destroyed some of their game. They said 
the Kansas Indians had passed the winter on the Kansas River and 
were then hunting buffalo on the Plains. 

Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Kansas River on the 26th 
day of June. They found heavy currents where the Missouri strikes 
the bluffs, and is deflected to the eastward at the present Kansas City, 
Mo., and it was only after unusual exertion that they reached the upper 
point at the mouth of the Kansas. They remained there two days (June 
26th and 27th) to take the necessary observations and repair their boats. 
They seem to have recruited some additional men there, but they may 
have only waited for some absent members of their force to come up. 
They found the Kansas River to be M0y± yards over at the mouth, but 
wider a little distance up-stream. The Missouri there was found to be 
about 500 yards in width. They learned that the Kansas Indians had 
two towns up the Kansas River. And it seems that the hunters saw 
some buffalo — the first sighted on the journey — while the expedition 
was camped at the mouth of the Kansas. 

Resuming their explorations, they left their first camp on Kansas 
soil on the 29th of June. On the 2d of July they reached Kickapoo 
Island. It was then called Wau-car-da-war-car-da, or Wakan-da-wakhdi 
Island, meaning Bear Medicine Island, or the island where Wakanda 
was slain — Wakanda being the Thunder-god of the Indians of that 
region. He was perhaps a god of the Kansas Indian Mythology. On 
the west bank of the river was discovered an old Kansas Indian village 
in the mouth of a valley, between two high points of land. Back of 
the village about a mile stood the remains of a French fort, but no 
account of the French party which had been stationed there could be 
obtained. That French fort was also a trading-station— the first known 
to us in Kansas. 

After a strenuous day the expedition came to camp on the 4th of July 
on the north bank of a stream which was then and there named Inde- 
pendence Creek, in honor of the day. The stream still retains the name. 
The town of Doniphan, Atchison County, stands on or near this camp- 
ing-place. The day was celebrated by firing an evening gun and deal- 
ing to each man an additional gill of whiskey — the first celebration 
recorded to the credit of Kansas. On the 5th the country south of the 
creek was explored. A beautiful prairie was seen. On the south bank 
of the creek were found the remains of "the second Kansas village." 
The indications were that it had been a very extensive settlement or 
town, which later explorations have confirmed. 

On the 11th of July the expedition passed above the present line 
separating Kansas and Nebraska. The exploration of the Kansas shore 
of the Missouri had continued for fifteen days, and the record made is 
one of the first of reliability made in 



CHAPTER IV 
UPPER LOUISIANA 

The inaptitude of the Government of the United States to compre- 
hend the needs of a people of foreign origin living under a government 
devised by another country was well illustrated in the early days of its 
occupancy of French Louisiana. To govern well in a subject country 
requires that the tendencies, needs, laws, language, social customs, legal 
usages, and government should be thoroughly studied and completely 
comprehended. Reforms should never be too sudden nor to radical, for 
a people can be moved only after its members have reached a common 
conclusion and attained a common mind. The administration of civil 
and political affairs demands the closest attention. The neglect of these 
details begets discontent, and discontent is the. mother of trouble. In a 
democracy the eminent man seldom has much voice in public affairs. 
It is the strong, the bold, the ruthless, the ignorant, the criminal, the 
sycophant, and the demagogue who usually attain high political posi- 
lions. Among these there is an occasional student, sometimes a man 
of deep reflection, and once in a generation a patriot with an aston- 
ishing intuition — a comprehension of the needs of humanity apart from 
nationality. No such man appeared in this instance. Every mistake 
possible was made in the first efforts of the United States to govern the 
Louisiana purchased from France by Jefferson. 

In this old French Louisiana there were three centers of population. 
The largest of these was in and about New Orleans. Each of them was 
to develop into a state of the American Union. And following the 
American plan of local self-government, it was necessary that Louisiana 
lie divided. By an act of Congress passed .March 26th, 1804, this French 
Louisiana was cut in twain. The territory of Orleans was established. 
It embraced all of Louisiana east of the Mississippi and all that portion 
west of that stream south of the thirty-third parallel— the present north 
boundary of the state of Louisiana. By righl and justice the Territory 
id' Orleans extended to the Rio Grande, but by the malevolent aban- 
donment of Texas it was restricted to the Sabine. With that portion 
of the old empire of I. a Salle, and its perplexities, it- problems, and the 
results of the early errors of our government plainly discernible on H 
to this day. we shall have nothing further to do iii this work. It devel- 
oped into the greal State of Louisiana a proud Commonwealth 
entrusted with the ocean door of our Greal Valley. 
51 



52 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The unfolding of Kansas is connected with the second portion, divi- 
sion or part of Louisiana as denned and set off by the act of March 26, 
1804. After establishing the Territory of Orleans, the residue of Louis- 
iana — Upper Louisiana — was erected into the District of Louisiana. 
This vast domain was attached to the Territory of Indiana for judicial 
purposes. Major Amos Stoddard was made Governor and military 
commandant, with headquarters at St. Louis, then the capital of Upper 
Louisiana. And Lewis and Clark, starting on their expedition to the 
Pacific, began the exploration of the District of Louisiana. 

Two of the centers of population of the old French Louisiana pur- 
chased by Jefferson were in Upper Louisiana, or the District of Louisiana. 
The one about Arkansas Post was the nucleus for the coming State of 
Arkansas, and numbered three hundred and sixty-eight souls. The 
remaining settlement was chiefly about St. Louis, extending south to 
Cape Girardeau, and contained some six thousand people. It developed 
into the State of Missouri. The remainder of the District of Louisiana 
was a vast realm of barbarism, a savage wilderness comparatively 
unknown. 

By the act of Congress of March 3, 1S05, the District of Louisiana 
was erected into the Territory of Louisiana. The government was 
improved. A Governor and Territorial Judges were provided. The 
President appointed General James Wilkinson Governor and Military 
Commandant of the Territory of Louisiana. He was succeeded by Meri- 
wether Lewis, who was appointed Governor on return from that famous 
expedition. 

The Territory of Louisiana passed out of existence by act of Congress 
of June 4, 1812, when it was erected into the Territory of Missouri. It 
was denned as extending from latitude thirty-three to forty-one, north. 
Its western limits were the Mexican boundaries. St. Louis was contimied 
as the seat of government and General William Clark, of the exploring 
expedition, was appointed the first Governor of the Territory — of the 
Territory with a new name. He was also Superintendent of Indian 
Affairs. A Legislative Council was the "upper house" of the Legislature, 
and was composed of nine members appointed by the President. There 
was a. '•'house" elected by the people — one member for each five hundred 
free white male inhabitants. That was the first local representative body 
with jurisdiction over the soil which became Kansas. And with the 
inauguration of the government there began the American ascendency 
over tlie old French life in Upper Louisiana. On the 19th day of Janu- 
ary. 1816, the Legislature made the Common Law of England the law of 
The Territory of Missouri. 

After the admission of Missouri as a State there was a period of a 
quarter of a century when there was no direct local government with 
jurisdiction over the territory to become Kansas. On the 30th of June, 
L834, Congress erected all the territory west of Missouri, Arkansas and 
Louisiana into the "Indian Country." It was attached to Missouri for 
judicial purposes. This was the status of the soil of Kansas until 1854. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS :,:) 

Whatever laws were provided for its government were enacted by Con- 
gress, and its tribunal was the United States District Court of Missouri 
In that arrangement there was a design. Notwithstanding the terms of 
the Missouri Compromise, the "Indian Country" was the future hope of 
the slave-power. 



CHAPTER V 
PIKE 

The next exploration of the country which was to become Kansas was 
in 1806. In 1805 Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike was sent on a voyage of 
exploration and discovery up the Mississippi from St Louis by General 
James Wilkinson. From that voyage he returned on the 30th of 
April. 1806. General Wilkinson was Military Commaudant of the 
Territory of Louisiana, and it was in his military capacity that he 
directed Lieutenant Pike to undertake the voyage up the Mississippi. 
Upon his return from the river expedition General Wilkinson, who was 
also Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, ordered Lieutenant Pike 
to explore Louisiana by the way of the Great Plains. That was also a 
military exploration. It was governmental only incidentally, and differ- 
ent from that of Lewis and Clark, which had been ordered by the Presi- 
dent of the United States. General Wilkinson was implicated in the 
schemes of Aaron Burr, and he had been in the intrigues of the Spanish 
authorities against the United States. There is reason to believe that he 
hoped to' forward his treasonable designs through the expeditions of 
Lieutenant Pike. Mr. Coues, the editor of the Journals of these explora- 
tions, was convinced that Pike was not altogether ignorant of the plans 
of General Wilkinson. Put the evidence upon which he based that con- 
clusion is not sufficient. Something more will have to be adduced before 
it can be certainly said that Lieutenant Pike had guilty knowledge of 
the machinations of his superior. Pike was a good soldier, and he met a 
glorious death in the service of his country. 

The expedition of Lieutenant Pike over the Great Plains to the 
Spanish frontiers was of more immediate benefit to the country than that 
of Lewis and Clark. As an enterprise it was inferior, and in ultimate 
results it did not approach those flowing from the exploration to the 
Pacific. But accounts of it reached the people long before the publica- 
tion of the Journals of Lewis and Clark, and immediate trade and settle- 
ment developed because of this information. 

Tin 1 instructions to Lieutenant Pike are comprised in two letters 
written to him by General Wilkinson. One was dated June 24. 1806, and 
the other July 12, 1806. As this is the most important early exploration 
of the country which became Kansas, these letters are set out here: 

Letter. Wilkinson's Instructions to Pike 

St. Louis. June 24th, 1806. 
Sir: You are to proceed without delay to the cantonment on the 
Missouri [at Belle Fontaine], where you are to embark the late Osage 
.-)4' 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 55 

captives and the deputation recently returned from Washington, with 
their presents and baggage, and are to transporl (he whole up the Mis- 
souri and Osa»e rivers to the town of (.'rand Osage. 

The safe delivery of this charge at the point of destination consti- 

no fllQ l-»>ii>in»ir „U-C„+ ,.£ I* j.' ,1 .» 



tutes the primary object of \ 
with such caution as may preven 
are to repel with your utmost Eorc 
Having safely deposited your 
to turn your attention to the a 
between the Kansas and Osage 1 



ion; therefore you are to move 
prise from any hostile band, and 
outrage svhich may be attempted, 
ngers and their property, you are 
plishment of a permanent peace 
is: for which purpose you must 




Col. Zebitlon \l. Pike 

[Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas state Eistorical 
Society] 



effect a meeting between the head chiefs of those nations, and are to 
employ such arguments, deduced from their own obvious interests, as 
well as the inclinations, desires, and commands of the president of the 

United States, as may facilitate your purpose and accomplish the end. 

A third object of considerable magnitude will then claim your con 
sideration. It is to effeel an interview and establish a g I understand- 
ing with the ranctons, Tetaus, or Camanches. 

For this purpose von must interesl White Bair, of tl ■ 
with whom and a suitable deputation you will visit the I'anis republic, 
where you may find interpreters, and inform yourself of the most feasible 
Plan bj which to bring the Cam; hes to a conf rence. should you sue- 



56 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

ceed in this attempt — and no pains must be spared to effect it — you will 
endeavor to make peace between that distant powerful nation and the 
nations which inhabit tbe country between us and them, particularly the 
Osage ; finally, you will endeavor to induce eight or ten of their distin- 
guished chiefs to make a visit to the seat of government next September, 
and you may attach to this deputation four or five Panis and the same 
Dumber of Kansas chiefs. 

As your interview with the Camanches will probably lead you to 
the head branches of the Arkansaw and Red rivers, you may find yourself 
approximated to the settlements of New Mexico. There it will be neces- 
sary you should move with great circumspection, to keep clear of any 
hunting or reconnoitering parties from that province, and to prevent 
alarm or offense; because the affairs of Spain and the United States 
appear to be on the point of amicable adjustment, and moreover it 
is the desire of the president to cultivate the friendship and harmonious 
intercourse of all the nations, of the earth, particularly our neighbors 
the Spaniards. 

In the course of your tour, you are to remark particularly upon the 
geographical structure, the natural history, and jDopulation of the coun- 
try through which you may pass, taking particular care to collect and 
preserve specimens of everything curious in the mineral or botanical 
worlds, which can be preserved and are portable. Let your courses be 
regulated by your compass, and your distances by your watch, to be 
noted in a field-book ; and I would advise you, when circumstances permit, 
to protract and lay down in a separate book the march of the day at 
every evening's halt. 

The instruments which I have furnished you will enable you to 
ascertain the variation of the magnetic needle and the latitude with 
exactitude ; and at every remarkable point I wish you to employ your 
telescope in observing the eclipse of Jupiter's satellites, having previously 
regulated and adjusted your watch by your quadrant, taking care to note 
with great nicety the periods of immersions and emersions of the eclipsed 
satellites. These observations may enable us, after your return, by appli- 
cation to the appropriate tables, which I cannot now furnish you, to 
ascertain the longitude. 

Ii is an object of much interest with the executive to ascertain the 
direction, extent, and navigation of the Arkansaw and Red rivers; as 
far. therefore, as may be compatible with these instructions and prac- 
ticable to the means you may command, I wish you to carry your views 
to those subjects ; and should circumstances conspire to favor the enter- 
prise, that you may detach a party with a few Osage to descend the 
Arkansaw under the orders of Lieutenant Wilkinson, or Sergeant Bal- 
linger, property instructed and equipped to take the courses and dis- 
tances, to remark on the soil, timber, etc., and to note the tributary 
streams. This party will, after reaching our post on the Arkansaw, 
descend to Port Adams and there wait further orders; and you yourself 
may descend the Red River, accompanied by a party of the most respecta- 
ble' Camanches, to the post of Nachitoches, and there receive further 
orders. 

To disburse your necessary expenses and to aid your negotiations, 
you are herewith furnished six hundred dollars worth of goods, for the 
appropriation of which you are to render a strict account, vouched by 
documents to be attested by one of your party. 
Wishing you a safe and successful expedition, 
I am, Sir, 

With much respect and esteem. 

Your obedient servant, 
Lieutenant Z. M. Pike. [Signed] James Wilkinson. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 57 

Letter, Wilkinson's Additional Instructions to Pike 

Cantonmekt [Belle Fontaine], Missouri, July 12th, 1806. 

Sir: The health of the Osages being now generally restored and all 
of the speedy recovery of their prisoners from the hands of the 
Potowatomies being at an end, they have become desirous to commence 
their journey for their villages; you are therefore to proceed to-morrow. 

In addition to the instructions given you on the 24th ultimo, I must 
request you to have the talks under cover delivered to White Hair and 
Grand l'este, the chief of the Osage band which is settled on the waters 
of the Arkansaw, together with 1 lie belts which accompany them. You 
will also receive herewith a small belt for the Panis and a large one for 
the Tetaus or Camanehes. 

Should you find it necessary, you are to give orders to Maugraine, 
the resilient interpreter at the Grand Osage, to attend you. 

I beg you to take measures for the security and safe return of 
your boats from the Grand Osage to this place. 

Dr. Robinson will accompany you as a volunteer. He will be fur- 
nished medicines, and for the accommodations which you give him he is 
bound to attend your sick. 

Should you discover any unlicensed traders in your route, or any 
person from this territory, or from the United States, without a proper 
license or passport, you are to arrest such person or persons and dispose 
of their property as the law directs. 

My confidence in your caution and discretion has prevented my 
urging you to vigilance in guarding against the strategy and treach- 
ery of the Indians; holding yourself above alarm or surprise, the com- 
position of your party, though it be small, will secure to you the respect 
of a host of untutored savages. 

You are to communicate, from the Grand Osage and from every other 
practicable point, directly to the secretary of war. transmitting your 
letters to this place under cover, to the commanding officer, or by any 
more convenient route. 

I wish you health and a successful and honorable enterprise, and am. 
Yours with friendship, 

[Signed] James Wilkinson. 
Lieutenant X. M. Pike. 

The expedition was composed of Lieutenant Pike, Commanding; 
Lieutenant James B. Wilkinson ; three non-commissioned officers ; sixteen 
private soldiers; and two civilians, one of whom, John H. Robinson, was 
the surgeon, and the other, A. P. Baronet Vasquez, was the interpreter. 
There were some Indians, and the official record runs: "Our party con- 
sisted of two lieutenants, one surgeon, one sergeant, two corporals, 16 
privates and one interpreter. We had also under our charge chiefs of the 
Osage and Pawnees, who with a number of women and children, had been 
to Washington. These Indians had been redeemed from captivity among 
the Pottawatomies, and were now to be returned to their friends at the 
Osage towns. The whole number of Indians amounted to 51." 

The start was made on the 15th of July, 1806, from Belle Fontaine, 
on the south bank of the Missouri, fourteen miles from St. Louis, then 
the military post of that city. The parly were embarked in two boats. 
and the Indians marched along the bank of the river. The mouth of the 
Osage was reached on the 2Sth of July. The exploration ascended lie- 



58 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Osage. On the 12th of August it was at the mouth of Grand, River, 
above the present town of Warsaw. Mo. There the Indians expressed a 
desire to strike across the country to their towns, and avoid the winding 
and tedious ascent of the river. They were then in their own country, 
at no great distance from their towns, and familiar with the trails of the 
region. It seems that these Indians bad been captured there at the 
mouth of the Grand River, a year before, by the Bottawatomies. Lieuten- 
ant Wilkinson, Dr. Robinson, and the interpreter volunteered to go with 
the Indians overland. After a march of six days over the prairies the 
party arrived at the Osage towns, and the captives were delivered to their 
relatives. 

The Osage towns were in what is now Vernon County, Mo., on the 
south side of the Little Osage River. The tribe was then divided, one 
division being the "Big'" or •'Grand" Osages. and the other the "Little" 
Osages. The town of the Big Osages was on the south side of the Little 
Osage below the mouth of the Marmaton. About six miles further up 
was the Little Osage town. Dike was baited on the 19th of August by a 
drift across the Little Osage, and there established Camp Independence, 
where he remained until the first of September. The time was spent in 
visiting the Osage towns, and in consultation with the Indian chiefs. 
Pike made a census of the Osage tribe, finding that the Big Osages had 
214 lodges, 502 warriors, 852 women, and 341 children — a total of 1,695 
souls. The Little Osages numbered 821. all told. 

A1 the Osage towns one stage of Bike's itinerary ended, and another 
stage began. He was obliged to abandon his boats, one of which he sold 
for $100 in merchandise. lie experienced trouble in securing horses to 
carry his baggage, for he was to set nut overland to visit the great 
Pawnee town on the Republican. The gratitude of the Osages for the 
return of their captive people rapidly waned. Finally, on the first of 
September, arrangements were completed, and the journey to the 
Pawnee town commenced. Circumstances were not favorable, however, 
and the difficulties of the situation are well described in Bike's Journal: 

Sept. 1st. Struck our tents early in the morning, and commenced 
loading our horses. We now discovered that an Indian had stolen a 
large black horse which Cheveux Blanche had presented to Lieutenant 
Wilkinson. I mounted a horse to pursue him; but the interpreter sent 
to town, and the chief's wife sent another in its place. We left the place 
about twelve o 'eh irk with 15 loaded horses, our party consisting of two 
lieutenants, one doctor, two sergeants, one corporal, 15 privates, two 
interpreters, three Pawnees, ami four chiefs of the Grand Osaee. amount- 
ing in all to 30 warriors and one woman. We crossed the Grand Osage 
fork and a prairie X. SO \V. five miles to the fork of the Little Osage. 
Joined by Sans Oreille and seven Little Osage, all of whom I equipped 
I'm- the march. Distance eight miles. 

Sept. 2d. Marched at six o'clock. Halted at ten o'clock and two 
o'clock nn the side of the creek I Little Osage river], our route having 
been all the time on its borders. Whilsl there I was informed by a young 
Indian that Mr. Chouteau had arrived at the towns. I conceived it proper 
fur me to return, which I did. accompanied by Baroney, first to the 
Little Village; whence we were accompanied by Wind to the Big Village, 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 59 

where we remained all night at the lodge of Cheveux Blanche. M r. 
Chouteau gave us all the news, after which 1 .scrawled a letter to the 
general and my friends. 

Sept. 3rd. Rose early, ami went to the Little Village to breakfast. 
After giving my letters to Mr. Henry, and arranging my affairs, we pro- 
ceeded, and overtook our party at two o'clock. They had left their first 
camp about four miles. Our horses being much fatigued, we concluded 
to remain all night. Sent out our red and white hunters, all of whom 
only killed two turkeys. Distance four miles. 

Sept. 4th. When about to march in the morning one of our horses 
was missing; we left Sans Oreille, with the two Pawnees, to search for 
him. and proceeded till about nine o'clock; stopped until twelve o'clock, 
and then marched. In about half an hour I was overtaken and informed 
that Sans Oreille had not been able to find our horse; on which we 
encamped, and sent two horses back for the load. One of the Indians, 
being jealous of his wife, sent her back to the village. After making the 
necessary notes, Dr. Robinson and myself took our horses and followed 
the course of a little stream until we arrived at the Grand river, which 
was distant about six miles. We here found a most delightful basin of 
water, of 25 paces' diameter and about 100 in circumference, in which 
we bathed; found it deep and delightfully pleasant. Nature scarcely 
ever formed a more beautiful place for a farm. We returned to camp 
about dusk, when I was informed that some of the Indians had been 
dreaming and wished to return. Killed one deer, one turkey, one raccoon. 
Distance [made by the main party] 13 miles. 

Sept. 5th. In the morning our Little Osage all came to a determina- 
tion to return, and, much to my surprise, Sans Oreille among the rest. 
I had given an order on the chiefs for the lost horse to be delivered to 
Sans Oreille's wife, previously to my knowing that he was going back; 
but took from him his gun, and the guns from all the others also. 

In about five miles we struck a beautiful hill, which bears smith on 
the prairies; its elevation I suppose to be 100 feet. Prom its summit the 
view is sublime to the east and southeast. We waited on this bill to 
breakfast, and had to send two miles for water. Killed a deer mi the 
rise, which was somi roasting before the fire. Here another Indian 
wished tn return and take his horse with him; which, as we had so few, 
I could not allow, for he hud already received a gun for the use of his 
horse. I told him he might return, but his horse would go to the Pawnees. 

We marched, leaving the Osage trace, which we had hitherto followed, 
and crossed the lulls to a creek that was almost dry. Descended it to the 
main [Little Osage] river, where we dined [vicinity of Harding] . The 
discontented [ndian came up, and put mi an air of satisfaction and 

content. 

We again marched aboul si\ miles further, and encamped al ' he head 
of a small '-reek, aboul a half a mile from Hie water. Distance 1!> miles 
[approaching Xenia, Bourbon Co., Ka.s.'. 

On the 6th of September l'ike reached a point in Allen County. 
Kansas, and camped on the head of Elm Creek, near the presenl town of 
LaHarpe. He arrived a1 Hie Neosho, which he called White River, earls 
on the 8th, ami crossed it somewhere between [ola and Neosho Palls. On 

the 7th he marched twelve miles and camped on Eagle Creel, near the 

cast line of Lyon County. The head branches of the Verdigris were 
crossed on the Kith and 11th, the camp on the nighl of the 11th being 
on a tributary of the Cottonwood. The 12th brought the party to 
hunting-grounds of the Kansas Indians, on the Upper Cottonwo 



60 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

six buffaloes were killed. The Indians of the party said they would 
destroy all the game they could, being enemies of the Kansas. Large 
herds of buffalo were encountered on the 14th, in what is now Marion 
County. Pike would permit the slaughter of only enough of them to 
furnish food for his party, thinking the laws of morality against the 
wanton destruction of those noble game animals. On the 15th the expe- 
dition crossed the divide to the waters of the Smoky Hill, not far from 
the present Tampa, in Marion County. The Osage Indian objected to 
going into camp at one o'clock. From the manner in which the buffalo 
ran he supposed they were being chased by the Kansas Indians, of whom, 
it seems, he was afraid. The Smoky Hill was reached on the 17th, and 
crossed, at nine o'clock, at or near the town of Bridgeport, in Saline 
County. Pike expected the Pawnees to meet him on the 18th, but they 
did not come. The party made twenty-five miles and camped on Covert 
Creek, near the present town of Minneapolis. They remained here until 
the 21st, reading the Bible and Pope's Essays, and tattooing their arms 
with characters to remind them of their experiences in life. They were 
constantly expecting to see the Pawnees, under direction of Dr. Robin- 
son, but they did not appear until the 21th. On the 25th Pike led his 
party up to the Republican Pawnee town. In his journey he had tra- 
versed Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Coffey, Lyon, Chase, Marion, McPher- 
son, Saline, Ottawa, Cloud, and Republic counties. The account of his 
reception there is very interesting : 

When we arrived within about three miles of the village, we were 
requested to remain, as the ceremony of receiving the Osage into the 
towns was to be performed here. There was a small circular spot, clear 
of grass, before which the Osage sat down. We were a small distance 
in advance of the Indians. The Pawnees then advanced within a mile 
of us. halted, divided into two troops, and came on each flank at full 
charge, making all the gestures and performing the maneuvers of a real 
war charge. They then encircled us around, and the chief advanced in 
the center and gave us his hand; his name was Caracterish. He was 
accompanied by his two sons and a chief by the name of Iskatappe. The 
Osage were still seated; but Belle Oiseau then rose, came forward with 
a pipe, and presented it to the chief, who took a whiff or two from it. 
We then proceeded: 1 lie chief. Lieutenant Wilkinson, and myself in 
front; my sergeant, on a white horse, next with the colors; then our 
I i i and baggage, escorted by our men, with the Pawnees on each side, 
running races, etc. When we arrived on the hill over the town we were 
again halted, and the Osage seated in a row; when each Pawnee who 
intended so to do presented them with a horse and gave a pipe to smoke 
to the Osage to whom he had made the present. In this manner were 
eight horses given. Lieutenant Wilkinson then proceeded with the party 
to the [Republican! river above the town, and encamped. I went up to 
our camp in the evening, having a young Pawnee with me loaded with 
corn for my men. Distance 12 miles. As the chief had invited us to his 
lodge to eat. we thought it proper for one to go. At the lodge he gave me 
many particulars, which were interesting to us, relative to the late visit 
of the Spaniards. 

The sale of Louisiana by France to the United States was not pleasing 
to Spain. The westward inclination of the American people was well 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 61 

known to the Spaniards. The western borders of Louisiana were 
indefinite — at least, not agreed upon. The activity of the Government 
of the United States in the exploration of the wilderness empire caused 
apprehension in Mexico. In that province measures designed to dis- 
courage expeditions from the American settlements were taken. As Pike 
expresses it: "In the year 1806 our affairs with Spain began to wear a 
serious aspect." The details of Pike's expedition were carried to Mex- 
ico, and a force was organized and sent out to check it and counteract 
its influence on the Plains tribes. The Spanish force arrived at the 
Republican Pawnee village ahead of Pike, who adequately describes the 
objects and movements of it. That this situation may be plain, the state- 
ment of Pike is given at length: 

1 will attempt to give some memoranda of this expedition, which was 
the most important ever carried on from the province of New Mexico, 

and in fact tin' only one din. 'ted X. E. (except that mentioned by the 
Abbe Raynal in liis History of the hides) to the Pawnees — of which see 
a more particular accounl hereafter. In the year 1806 our affairs with 
Spain began to wear a very serious aspect, and the troops of the two 
governments almost came to actual hostilities mi the frontiers of Texas 
and the Orleans territory. At this time, when matters bore every appear- 
ance of_ coming to a crisis, I was fitting out for my expedition from 
St. Louis, where some of the Spanish emissaries in that country trans- 
mitted the information to Majar, Meripr, [sic] and the Spanish council 
at that place, who immediately forwarded the information to the then 
commandant of Nacogdoches, Captain Sebastian Podreriquos [sic], who 
forwarded it to Colonel I Don Antonio ( 'ordero, by whom it was trans- 
mitted to [General Don Nimesio Salcedo, at Chihuahua,] the seat of 
government. This information was personally communicated to me, as 
an instance of the rapid menus- they possessed of transmitting informa- 
tion relative to fin' occurrences transacting on our frontiers. The expe- 
dition was then determined on. ami had three objects in view: 

1st. To descend the Red river, in order, if ho met our expedition, to 
intercept and turn us hack; or, should .Major Sparks and Mr. [Thomas] 
Freeman have missed the party from Nacogdoches, under the command 
of Captain Viana, to oblige them to return and not penetrate further 
into tlm country, or make them prisoners of war. 

2d. To explore and examine all the internal parts of the country 
from the frontiers of the province of Xeu Mexico to the Missouri 
between the La Platte [sentence unfinished |. 

3d. To \isit the Tetaus Pawnee republic, Grand Pawnees, Pawnee 
Mahaws, and Kans. To the dead chief of each of those nations I : 
mainline- officer hore flags, a commission, grand medal, and four mules: 
and with all of them he had to renew the chains of ancient amity which 
was said to have existed between their father, his most Catholic majesty, 
and his children the red people. 

The commanding officer also hore positive orders to oh 1 : 

, in the above-specified countries, either to retire from them into 
the acknowledged territories of the United States, or to make prisoners 
of them and conduct them into the province of \\ Mexico I 
Don Paeundo Malgares. the officer selected from the five internal prov- 
inces to command the expedition, was a European 'his uncle was one 
of the royal judges in the kingdom of New Spain i, and had distinguished 
himself in several long expi ditions againsl the Apaches and other Indian 
nations with whom the Spaniards tveri at war tdded to these 



62 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

stances, he was a man of immense fortune, and generous in it.s disposal, 
almost tn profusion; possessed a liberal education, high sense of honor, 
and a disposition formed for military enterprise. This officer marched 
from the province of Biscay with 100 dragoons of the regular service, 
and at Santa 1-V, the place where the expedition was fitted out, he was 
joined by 500 of the mounted militia of that province, armed after the 
manner described by my notes on that subject, and completely equipped 
with ammunition, etc., for six months; each man leading with them 
(by order) two horses and one mule, the whole number of their beasts 
was 2,075. They descended the Red river 233 leagues; met the grand 
bands of the Tetaus, and held councils with them; then struck off N, E., 
and crossed the country to the Arkansaw, where Lieutenant Malgares 
left 240 of his men with the lame and tired horses, while he proceeded 
on with the rest to the Pawnee republic. Here he was met by the chiefs 
and warriors of the Grand Pawnees: held councils with the two nations 
and presented them the flags, medals, etc., which were destined for them. 
He did not proceed to the execution of his mission with the Pawnee 
Mahaws and Kans, as he represented to me, from the poverty of their 
horses and the discontent of his own men ; but, as I conceive, from the 
suspicion and discontentment which began to arise between the Spaniards 
and the Indians; the former wished to revenge the death of Villineuve 
and party, while the latter possessed all the suspicions of conscious vil- 
lainy deserving punishment. Malgares took with him all the traders he 
found there from our country, some of whom, having been sent to 
Natchitoches, were in abject poverty at that place on my arrival, and 
applied to me for means to return to St. Louis. Lieutenant Malgares 
returned to Santa Fe the of October, when his militia was dis- 
banded; but he remained in the vicinity of that place until we were 
brought in, when he, with dragoons, became our escort to the seat of 
government [in Chihuahua]. 

The Pawnees were not cordial in their demeanor toward the Ameri- 
cans. On the 26th Pike moved his camp to the top of a hill overlooking 
the Pawnee town, where he could see what was transpiring there. In 
the afternoon twelve Kansas Indians came in, having heard that an Ameri- 
can officer was at the Pawnee village. A council between the Kansas and 
( (sages was set for the 28th, and the representatives of those tribes present 
were made to smoke the pipe of peace. The great council with the Paw- 
nees was held on the 29th of September. At this meeting there occurred 
an important incident, and concerning which much has been said in 
recent years. Here it is described in Pike"s own words: 

Sept. 29th. Held our grand council with the Pawnees, at which were 
present not less than -Kill warriors, the circumstances of which were 
extremely interesting. The notes I took on my grand council held with 
the Pawnee nation were seized by the Spanish government, together with 

all my s] -lies to the different nations. But it may be interesting to 

observe here, in ease they should never be returned, that the Spaniards 
had left several of their flags in this village, one of which was unfurled 
a1 the chief's door the day of the grand council ; and that among various 
demands and charges I save them was. that the said flag should be deliv- 
ered tn me, and one of the United States' flags be received and hoisted 
in its place. This probably was carrying the pride of nations a little too 
far, as there had so lately been a large force of Spanish cavalry al the 
village, which had made a great impression on the minds of the young 



KANSAS AND KAN SANS 63 

men, as to their power, consequence, etc., which my appearance with 20 
infantry was by no means calculated to remove. 

After the chiefs had replied to various parts of my discourse, bu1 
were silent as to the flag, I again reiterated the demand for the flag, 
adding "that it was impossible for the nation to have tw r o fathers; that 
they must either he the children of the Spaniards, or acknowledge their 
American father." After a silence of some time an old man rose, went 
to tin' door, took' down the Spanish flag, brought it and laid it at my feel ; 
In- then received the American flag, and elevated it on the stall which 
had lately borne the standard of his Catholic Majesty. This gave great 
satisfaction to the Osage and Kans. both of whom decidedly avow them- 
selves to be miller American protection. Perceiving that every face in 
the council was clouded with sorrow, as if some great national calamity 
were about to befall them, I took up the contested colors, and told them 
"that as they had shown themselves dutiful children in acknowledging 
their great American lather, I did not wish to embarrass them with the 
Spaniards, for it was the wish of the Americans that their red brethren 
should remain peaceably around their own fires, and not embroil them- 
selves in any disputes between the white people; and that for fear the 
Spaniards might return there in force again, I l'eturned them their flag, 
but with an injunction that it should never be hoisted again during our 
.stay."' At this there was a general shout of applause, and the charge 
was particularly attended to. 

There is information in the account by Lieutenant Wilkinson not 
found in the record made by Pike, and it is given : 

Early on the morning of the 25th we were joined by a few more 
savages of distinction, headed by the brother of Characterish, or White 
Wolf, chief of the nation, who w 7 as to act as master of the ceremonies to 
our formal entry. Preparatory to our march, we had our men equipped 
as neatly as circumstances would admit. About mid-day we reached the 
summit of a lofty chain of ridges, where we were requested to halt and 
await the arrival of the chief, who was a half a mile from us, with 300 
horsemen, who were generally naked, except buffalo robes and breech 
cloths, and painted with white, yellow, blue, and black paint. At the 
word of the chief the warriors divided, and, pushing on at full speed, 
flanked us on the righl and left, yelling in a most diabolical manner. 
The chief advanced in front, accompanied by [skatappe, or Rich Alan, 
the second great personage of the village and his two sons, who were 
clothed in scarlet doth. They approached slowly, and when within 100 
yards the three latter halted; Characterish advanced in great state, and 
when within a few paces of us stretched out his hand and cried. "Bon 
jour." Thus ended the first ceremony. We moved on about a mile 
further, and having gained the summit of a considerable hill, we dis- 
COVered the village directly at its base. We hcii' were again halted, and 
the few Osages who accompanied us were ordered in front and seated 
in rank entire The chief squatted on his hams in tVonf of them and 
tilled a calumet, which several different Indians took from him and 
handed (he OsageS to smoke. This was called the horse-smoke, as each 

person who took the pipe from the chief intended to present the Osages a 
horse. .Mr. Pike and Dr. Robinson afterward accompanied the chief to 
Ins Lodge, and 1 moved on with the detachment and formed our camp on 
the opposite bank of the IJepubl ican fork of the Kansas river on a com 
mandinghill which had been selected as the mosl favorable situation for 
making observations, though verj inconvenienl on account of wood and 
water, which we had to transport nearU a quarter of a mile. 



64 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

At a council held some few days after our arrival. Lieutenant Pike 
explained to them the difference of their present situation and that of a 
few years past; that now they must look up to the president of the 
United Slates as their great father; that he [Pike] had been sent by 
him [Jefferson] to assure them of his good wishes, etc.; that he perceived 
a Spanish flag flying at the council-lodge door, and was- anxious to 
exchange one of our great father's for it; and that it was our intention 
to proceed further to the westward, to examine this, our newly acquired 
country. To this a singular and extraordinary response was given — 
in fact, an objection started in direct opposition to our proceeding fur- 
ther west; however, they gave up the Spanish flag, and we had the 
pleasure to see the American standard hoisted in its stead. 

At the same council Characterish observed that a large body of 
Spaniards had lately been at his village, and that they promised to return 
and build a town adjoining his. The Spanish chief, he said, mentioned 
that he was not empowered to council with him; that he came merely to 
break the road for his master, who would visit him in the spring with 
a large army; that lie further told him the Americans were a little 
people, but were enterprising, and one of those days would stretch them- 
selves even to his town ; that they took the lands of Indians, and would 
drive off their game; "'and how very truly," said Characterish, "has 
the Spanish chieftain spoken!" We demanded to purchase a few horses, 
which was prohibited, and the friendly communication which had existed 
between the town and our camp was stopped. The conduct of our neigh- 
bors assumed a mysterious change ; our guards were several times 
alarmed, and finally appearances became so menacing as to make it 
necessary for us to be on our guard day and night. 

It was obvious that the body of Spaniards, who preceded us but a 
few weeks in their mission to this village, were the regular cavalry and 
infantry of the province of Santa Fee, as they had formed their camps 
in regular order; also we were informed (hey kept regular guards, and 
that the beats of their drum were uniform morning and evening. The 
Spanish leader, further delivered to Characterish a grand medal, two 
mules, and a commission bearing the signature of the governor, civil and 
military, of Santa Pee. He also had similar marks of distinction for the 
Grand Pawnees, the Pawnee Mahaws, Mahaws Proper, Otos, and Kanses. 

This Pawnee village was not one of great age. It was situated in the 
Pawnee country, and the regions surrounding it had doubtless been in 
possession of the Pawnee people for a long period of time — perhaps centu- 
ries. And the Republican Pawnees were of recent origin. About the year 
1795 a warrior of the Grand Pawnees, or Pawnees Proper, became dis- 
satisfied with the administration of affairs in the chief town of his nation, 
which was on the south side of the River Platte, about eighty miles up 
from the Missouri. He formed a faction in his interest, and the town was 
divided. The warrior led his adherents westward and founded the town 
and the division of the tribe denominated as the Republican Pawnees. He 
was ruler of the people and the town for some years, and until the ar- 
rival of a. regular chief of the Grand Pawnees, probably from the town 
where the secession had occurred. This chief usurped the power of the war- 
rior who had rounded the new town ami people. The followers of these two 
rulers were arrayed in hostile factions or parties even to the date of 
Pike's visit. The village then contained about three hundred warriors, 
;md a population of fourteen hundred. Why they were called the Repub- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 65 

lican Pawnees is not known. They may have been so designated by 
French traders, and they may have accepted the name so bestowed. It 
is not improbable that some trader, finding himself losing business in the 
barter at the Grand Pawnee town on the Platte, induced the warrior to 
follow him to the Republican and there set up a town in his interest — 
where he should have a monopoly of the trade. The Osages were so 
divided by the Chouteaus. The Republican Pawnees maintained friendly 
relations with their mother town and their relatives there. Both towns 
were at war with the Pawnee Picts, the Great and Little Osages, the 
Kansas, the Sioux, the Aricarees, and the Comanches. And both were on 
terms of amity with the Loups, the Omahas, the Poncas, the Missouris, 
and the Iowas. There seems to have been other Republican Pawnee towns, 
but the inhabitants therein must have returned to the mother-village 
about a year before Pike 's visit. 

The incident of the flag came to be a matter of pride to the Kansas 
people. There is nothing just like it in the history of any other State. 
In 189G the citizens of two townships about the site of this old Indian 
Village formed ''The Pawnee Republic Historical Society." The exact 
location of the village was determined. It was found to be on the south 
bank of the Republican River, in Republic County, Kansas, and on 
land owned by George Johnson and his wife Elizabeth. They deeded a 
portion of it, described as follows, to the State of Kansas, in order that 
the State might erect and maintain a suitable monument to mark the 
spot where the Spanish flag was hauled down and the American flag 
hoisted to take its place on the soil of Kansas : 

' ' Beginning at a point six chains west of the southeast corner of the 
northeast quarter of section 3, township 2 south, of range 5 west ; thence 
west sixteen chains, thence north seven chains, thence east sixteen chains, 
thence south seven chains to the place of beginning, containing eleven and 
two-tenths acres, more or less, being in the site of Pike's Pawnee Indian 
village."' 

The Pawnee Republic Historical Society appears to have labored under 
the impression that the Pike incident was "the first raising of the Ameri- 
can flag on Kansas territory." Of this assumption there is no evidence, 
and the probabilities are entirely against it. Lewis and Clark no doubt 
raised the first American flag on what is now Kansas soil at the mouth 
of the Kansas River, in the limits of Kansas City, Kansas, June 26th, 
1804. But the Legislature appropriated the sum of $3,000 for the erec- 
tion of a monument on the tract of land so conveyed. The act was 
approved February 14, 1901. The corner-stone of the monument was 
laid with impressive ceremonies by the Kansas Grand Lodge of Free .Ma- 
sons, under the auspices of Belleville Lodge No. 129, on the 4th of July, 
1901. The monument was completed, and on the 29th of September, 
1901, it was dedicated— ninety five years from the day Pike there hoisted 
the Stars and Stripes to proclaim the sovereignty of the United States 
over the soil which became Kansas. 

I,, the year L906 there was held a Centi nnial Celebration 
of the American flag at the Pawnee village by Pike. The ceremonies of 



66 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

this celebration occupied four days. Those on the 26th of September 
were conducted by the Woman's Kansas Day Club. September 27th 
was Historical Day. On the 28th the ceremonies were in charge of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Kansas, and the public 
schools of the State devoted an hour to the subject of "Pike and the 
Flag." The day of the anniversary — the 29th — there was an immense 
gathering of people present. The. principal address was delivered by 
Governor E. W. Iloch on the subject "This Country of Ours." There 
were other speakers, and there were exercises for the entertainment 
and amusement of the people. The whole celebration was largely super- 
vised by George W. Martin, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical 
Society. And the Society is charged with the oversight and care of the 
monument and grounds for all time. 



The Republican Pawnee village was destroyed, many of the inhabi- 
tants slain and the remainder driven north of the Platte, by the Dela- 
ware Indians, in 1832. In the account of that tribe details of the bat- 
tle between the Delawares and the Pawnees will be found. 



The force of Pike at the Pawnee town was made up of two officers, 
the surgeon, eighteen soldiers, one interpreter, three Osage warriors, 
and one Osage woman. The hostility of the Pawnees increased daily. 
On the first of October Pike found it necessary to have a lengthy con- 
ference with the Pawnee Chief. The chief urged him to turn back and 
make no further advance towards the Spanish possessions, saying that 
he had prevented the Spanish force from continuing its advance towards 
the American settlements. He finally said he would stop Pike by force 
if he did not turn back. But Pike was firm with the savage chieftain, 
and declared that he would proceed, and if attacked he would fight to 
the death — the answer to be expected of an American soldier. But he 
returned to his camp with an anxious mind. It was with much difficulty 
that the required number of horses to continue the expeditions could 
be obtained from the Pawnees. On the 4th of October two French 
traders arrived at the village, bringing intelligence of the return to St. 
Louis of the Lewis and Clark expeditions. 

Pike prepared to march on the 7th, but found on that morning that 
two of his horses had been stolen during the night. One was soon 
returned, but the other was not recovered. The expedition marched 
at two o'clock, going around the Indian town, with the men under orders 
for their action if attacked by the Pawnees. The savages were to be 
allowed to approach to within five or six paces, then the men were to 
fire and charge with the bayonet and saber. Pike believed he could 
thus kill one hundred Indians before his command was exterminated. 
He rode to the lodge of the chief with one soldier and the interpreter 



KANSAS AND KANSANS G7 

to demand the return of the stolen horse, which was not forthcoming. 
Pike left the Republican Pawnee village with the hope thai he mighl be 
sent back at some future day to deal with the Pawnees with an iron 
hand. 

The expedition followed the Pawnee Trail to the Arkansas River. 
On the route Pike found camps lately occupied by the Spanish expedi- 
tion. The journal of his journey south is full of interest. To reach 
the Arkansas he passed through Jewell, Mitchell, Lincoln, Russell, Ells- 
worth, and Barton counties. The river was reached on the 18th of 
October, at a point near Great Bend, and the expedition remained in 
camp until the 28th. From this point Lieutenant Wilkinson descended 
the Arkansas in canoes made from the skins of the buffalo and the elk. 
Pike went up the Arkansas, marching on the north bank. On the first 
of November a herd of wild horses was seen. An attempt to capture 
some of the horses was made on the second. This was probably in 
Edwards County, near the Kiowa line. The party had crossed to the 
south bank of the river on the 30th of October, and the march was on 
that bank to the site of the future Pueblo, Colorado. The west boundary 
line of Kansas was crossed on the 11th of November. The Kansas coun- 
ties traversed to this line, along the Arkansas, are Barton, Pawnee, 
Edwards, Kiowa, Ford, Gray, Finney, Kearny, and Hamilton. 

On the 23d of November Pike camped on the site of Pueblo, and on 
the 24th he erected a small breastwork on the fortification over which 
our flag was raised — the first structure erected by Americans in Colo- 
rado. After the erection of the fort he set out with a party to ascend 
and explore the mountain now known as Pike's Peak. He supposed 
that he should arrive at the foot of the mountain that day, which he, of 
course, did not do. On the 27th he reached the top of the Front Range 
of the Rocky Mountains, the base from which his "Grand Peak" pro- 
jects itself into the clouds. The peak was constantly receding. Stand- 
ing in the snow waist-deep on the summit of the main chain, he saw 
the base of the peak fifteen miles away. His men were not clothed for 
such a trip as it would have required to reach the peak. It was his 
belief that no human being could have ascended to its pinnacle. The 
great mountain had been swimming in sunshine, while clouds rode the 
storms contending about its foundations. But now they were carried 
up and about the summit, hiding it from the gaze of man. and wrap- 
ping it in a maze of mystery. Pike came down from the height which 
he had attained and returned to Ins camp at Pueblo. Tie was uol the 
tirst while man to see this peak, for it had been Long known to the Span 
tards. He did no1 give it any name beyond the Grand Peak. Bui his 
Eellow-Americans called it Pike's Peak an immortal monument to the 

Amern an soldier and explorer. 

Ii is nut in the province of this work to follow particularly th 

of Lieutenanl Pike from his camp at Pueblo. He penetrated th un- 

try claimed by the Spaniards, was captured, and was carried into Mes 
ico. He was released bj the Spanish authorities, returned to the United 



68 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

States, and arrived at Natchitoches, in what is now Texas, July 1st, 
1807. Here is what he said on his arrival there : 

"'Language cannot express the gayety of my heart when I once more 
beheld the standard of my country waved aloft. 'All hail!' cried I, 
' the ever sacred name of country, in which is embraced that of kindred, 
friends, and every other tie which is dear to the soul of man ! ' " 

The accounts of Pike's expeditions were published in 1810. They 
were widely read, and they proved of great interest to the people, espe- 
cially to those Americans who had settled west of the Mississippi. The 
possibilities of trade overland with Northern Mexico were there first 
revealed, and the development of those possibilities produced a com- 
merce unique in American history. Lieutenant Pike's name is forever 
linked with the Great West, and especially with Kansas and Colorado. 
And the mighty peak overlooking the Great Plains is the monument to 
his everlasting fame. 



AUTHORITIES 

The principal authority consulted in the preparation of this chapter 
is The Expeditions of Zebulon Mont<io>nrry Tike, edited by Dr. Elliott. 
Coues, three volumes, Francis P. Harper, New York, 1895. It is one of 
the great authorities on "Western history. 

The work next in importance is Discoveries made in Exploring the 
Missouri, Red River and Washita by Captains Lewis and Clark, Dnetor 
Sibley, and Mr. Dunbar, "Washington, 1806. This book contains much of 
value pertaining to the Western Indians of that day. The copy in the 
Library of the Kansas State Historical Society was once the property of 
John Randolph, of Roanoke. 



Kansas Historical Collections contain much on this subject, especially 
volumes X and XL The articles by John B. Dunbar are of the highest 
order. 



For local information the History of Republic County, Kansas, is 
good authority for locations as now identified with the expedition of Pike. 
The book was written bv I. 0. Savage, and published at Beloit, Kansas, 
in 1901. 



The History of Vernon County, Missouri, by R. I. Holcomb, Brown 
& Co., St. Louis, Mo., 1887, contains much of value about the Osages in 
Pike's time. It is one of the best of county histories. 



Tn addition to the above I consulted various local works and the 
extensive files in the Library of the Kansas State Historical Society. 



CHAPTER VI 
LONG 

A scientific expedition commanded by Major Stephen H. Long 
visited the country later to become Kansas in the years 1819 and 1820. 
The expeditions of Lewis and Clark and Lieutenant Pike had added 
much to the geographical knowledge of the country. The Government 
evidently believed it was in duty bound to secure as much information 
as possible concerning the extensive regions known as Louisiana 
expedition in the interest of the scientific features of the country was 
organized and sent out. Some other portions of the United States were 
included in the scope of the work assigned Major Long, but the princi- 
pal work was done in Louisiana. The country west of the Mississippi 
assigned this expedition for exploration extended from the Red River 
flowing north of Texas to the Platte, and westward to the summit of the 
Rocky Mountains — much of it later included in Kansas. It was an ex- 
tensive domain, and was still almost an unbroken wilderness. 

The expedition was sent out by John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of 
War, and was made up as follows: 

Stephen H. Long, Major U. S. Engineers, commanding. 

J. R. Bell, a Captain in the expedition, but a Lieutenant of Artillery, 
and the Journalist of the expedition. 

W. H. Swift, Lieutenant of Artillery Assistant Topographer, and 
commanding the guard. 

T. Say, Zoologist, etc. 

E. James, Botanist, Mineralogist, and Surgeon. 

T. R. Peale, Assistant Naturalist. 

S. Seymour, Landscape Painter, etc. 

Joseph Bijeau, Guide, and Interpreter. 

H. Doughearty, Hunter. 

Abram Ledoux, Farrier and Hunter. 

Stephen Julien, Interpreter. 

Zachariah Wilson, Baggage Master. 

Duncan J. Oakeley, and D. Adams, Engagees. 

John Sweney, Private of the Corps of Artillery. 

Joseph Verplank, William Parish, Robert Foster, Mordecai Now- 
land, Peter Bernard, and Charles Myers, Privates of the Ri 
ment, Pack-horse Men, and Hunters. 

The movements of the expedition which in any way relate to Kansas 
began a1 Fori Osage, located near the site of the pi 



70 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Jackson County, Mo. It was desired that the country from Fort Osage 
to the Platte should be explored, examined, and described, and for that 
purpose a party was sent inland from the Fort with instructions to 
ascend the Kansas River (called in the record Konzas River) to the 
town of the Kansas Indians. From that point this party was to con- 
tinue overland to the Pawnee towns on the Platte. This party con- 
sisted of Mr. Say (in command), Mr. Jessup, Mr. Peale, Mr. Seymour, 
Mr. Swift, Mr. J. Doughearty, and five soldiers. They were accompanied 
by a Major Biddle and his servant. They were supplied with provisions 
for ten days and given three pack-horses to transport their supplies 
and baggage. They left Fort Osage on the 6th of August, 1819. 

Having dispatched this detachment overland, the expedition con- 
tinued its course up the Missouri in its steamboat, the Western Engineer. 
The departure from Fort Osage was on the 10th of August. The mouth 
of the Kansas River was reached on the 12th, and found to be so filled 
with mud from the recent flood in the Missouri that the boat could 
scarcely effect an entrance. It was with difficulty that the stream was 
ascended a mile, from which point the steamboat came back to the Mis- 
souri. This is the first steamboat known to have disturbed the virgin 
waters of the Kansas River. 

The rudeness of the white hunters and trappers then operating on 
the Missouri was well illustrated by the manners of a party of trappers 
found in camp a few miles above the mouth of the Kansas River. In 
deportment and dress they were more savage than the Indians among 
whom they spent their lives. The expedition noted the places visited 
and described by Lewis and Clark. The old Kansas village between 
high points of land, with the chimneys, of the vanished French cabins 
standing like skeleton sentinels, was observed as a place of interest. 
At Cow Island, Captain Wyly Martin was found with three companies 
of soldiers. He had been in camp there awaiting supplies since the 
previous October. The soldiers had killed three thousand deer and 
much other game during the winter. 

From Fort Osage a messenger had been sent across the country to 
the village of the Kansas Indians to summon that tribe to a council at 
Cow Island. The Indians were expected on the 18th of August, but as 
they were on a hunting excursion when the messenger arrived at their 
town, they were delayed in their journey, not appearing until the 23d. 
An arbour had been erected on the ground where the council was to be 
held. On the 24th more than one hundred and fifty of the Kansas 
Indians assembled there and were addressed by Major 'Fallon, the 
Indian Agent for that region. They were accused of insolence towards 
the white people and of having committed depredations against them. 
These charges they admitted to be time, but they promised to cease such 
practices and to make amends. The most distinguished chiefs of the 
tribe were present — Long Neck, Little Chief, Big Knife, and Plume 
Blanche, or "White Plume. The latter was then just rising to prominence 
in the tribe, and later he became one of its greatest chiefs. The peace 
effected by Lieutenant Pike between the Kansas and the Osages still 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 71 

continued, and there were thirteen Osages with the Kansas at the coun- 
cil. All the Indians were interested in the demonstrations made by the 
steamboat, the construction of which was calculated to cause astonish- 
ment in those primitive inhabitants of the Plains. The bow of the boat 
was in the form of a serpent of giant size, having a carved head reared 
as high as the boat's deck. Smoke was forced out of the mouth of the 
monster, and the Indians believed the eraft to be a huge serpent carry- 
ing the boat on its back. The council and the entertainments continued 
fur some time. Presents were distributed. The Indians were satisfied 
with the articles given them, ami they finally departed with expressions 
of gratitude ami friendship. 

The expedition made some addition to its force at Cow Island, secur- 
ing fifteen soldiers provisioned for sixty days and carried on a keel- 
boat. All set sail on the 25th of August, and aided by a favorable wind, 
made a distance of twenty-three miles, camping at the mouth of Inde- 
pendence Creek. The site of the ancient Kansas village was visited, and 
it is noted on the Journal of the expedition that the town had formerly 
been called the village of the Twenty-four. 

On the first of September the expedition was encamped at the mouth 
of Wolf River, in what is now Doniphan County, Kansas. The machin- 
ery of the steamboat was in process of repair and adjustment. The 
hunters came in with a deer, a turkey, and half a barrel of honey taken 
from the homes of three swarms of wild bees. The boat then got under 
way, and had gone a little distance from the encampment when a mes- 
senger, Mr. Doughearty, hailed from the shore. The boat put to, and 
found a party awaiting to report the progress made by the detachment 
sent overland from Fort Osage. This party, which had followed the 
boat, consisted of Mr. Doughearty, Mr. Peale, Mr. Swift, Mr. Seymour, 
the Interpreter Chaboneau, and one of the soldiers. The overland 
detachment had reached Cow Island five days after the departure of 
the main expedition on the steamboat, and had followed up the river 
in the hope of overtaking it. 

The detachment sent out overland had left Fort Osage on the 6th 
of August, as we have seen. It consisted of twelve men and a boy, 
and had three pack-horses to carry baggage. It took its way over the 
virgin prairies east of the Big Blue, in what is now Jackson County, 
Missouri, coming out on the fine plains of Johnson County, Kansas. 
It followed the high lands dividing the waters of the Kansas River 
from the streams to the south, much of the distance being along the 
route later followed by the Santa Fe Trail. On the larger creeks of the 
way were found numerous abandoned camps of Indians. These were 
usually in the horse-shoe bends, where the water on all sides afforded 
a protection against surprise. But no Indians were encountered. About 
the head branches of the Wakarusa (written at that time Warreruza) 
much game was found and many rattlesnakes killed. Flocks of ravens 
appeared in that region, and the large green flies became a plague. The 
detachment came upon the highlands bounding Mill Creek, on the 11th 
nf August, and from these hills had a fine view of the fertile valley of 



72 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

that stream, then known as Full Creek, or the Wahrengeho. The head 
waters of some of the branches of Mill Creek were gone around, and 
the poverty of the rocky ridges bearing west was noted. And the absence 
of timber was considered cause for remark. The detachment must have 
crossed Mill Creek near the present town of Alma, going thence directly 
north, and reaching the Kansas River on the night of the 13th. Owing 
to sickness which had attacked some of the men only two miles were 
made on the 14th. On the 16th considerable progress was made in the 
ascent of the Kansas River, the record showing an advance of some 
fifteen miles, though the actual distance covered must have been much 
less. The detachment was at this time in a measure lost, not knowing 
the exact location of the Kansas village nor their own position in rela- 
tion to it. From the camp a detail was sent out to determine whether 
the Kansas town had been reached or had been passed, but as nothing 
was found to throw light on that subject, the whole party moved on. 
The Kansas River was crossed and re-crossed in the fruitless search 
for the Indian town. The company beat aimlessly about, going both up 
and down the river in the vain quest of some traveled way. On the 
18th, being on the north side of the river, such a path was discovered, 
and on the 19th, bearing up the river, over a broad prairie, the Vermilion 
was reached. It was found to be four feet deep and twenty yards wide. 
Along its course were scattered oaks, and the country bore a park-like 
appearance. On the banks of the Vermilion the party dined on the flesh 
of a black wolf, the only game found that day. 

The movement of the detachment must have been exceedingly slow, 
for the Kansas village was not sighted until late on the 18th. Upon 
coming within view of it the party halted to examine its firearms, not 
knowing the nature of the reception which might be accorded it, a party 
of the Kansas Indians having been recently defeated at Cow Island by 
the soldiers stationed there. Coming into closer proximity, the tops of 
the lodges were seen to be crowded with Indians. And soon the chiefs 
and warriors, painted in war fashion and decked with feathers and 
plumes, dashed out on horseback to meet and welcome the strangers. A 
throng of natives on foot followed the mounted party. ' The American? 
were met with cordial demonstrations and escorted into the Indian 
town. There they were assigned a commodious lodge. The crowds fol- 
lowed them in and were kept back by a rank of the chiefs and princi- 
pal men. After smoking the pipe of amity and friendship with the 
chiefs, the Americans explained the objects of their visit. Permission 
to pass on through the country was requested, and this was readily 
granted. Jerked buffalo meat and boiled corn were served to the strang- 
ers, after which they were invited to attend six feasts in quick suc- 



It was found that the Indians were preparing to visit Cow Island to 
meet the main expedition, having been summoned by Chaboneau and 
another Frenchman sent out from Fort Osage for that purpose. After 
dispatching runners to Cow Island to acquaint the expedition that a 
party would soon appear there, the chiefs and some of the head war- 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 73 

riors set out to keep the appointment, which it did, as has been shown. 
But before they departed complete arrangements were made for the 
comfort and convenience of their white guests. 

The detachment, under command of Mr. Say, remained at the Kan- 
sas village until the 24th. Much of the time was spent in studying the 
habits and customs of the Indians dwelling there. The town was in 
the bottom some two miles below the mouth of the Big Blue (or Blue 
Earth River, as it was then called) and about a quarter of a mile from 
the north bank of the Kansas River. A captive Pawnee was purchased 
from the Kansas Indians to be taken and restored to his family in the 
Pawnee towns. Setting out in the afternoon of the 24th, the detach- 
ment followed up the east bank of the Big Blue River a distance of 
some seven miles, and there camped in a fine bottom. Hunters were 
sent out to procure game, and the commander sat down to a meager 
dinner. A sentry called attention to a whirling dust-cloud approaching 
over the rolling plain. A close scrutiny of this agitated cloud revealed 
a charging band of Indians. The sudden and unexpected flight of 
the Kansas Indians made it certain that the visitors were at least hostile 
to that tribe. The Americans were hastily thrown into line, where they 
prepared to defend themselves. The charging savages were in battle 
garb, but approached the Americans in the most friendly manner, mak- 
ing the most ardent avowals of peaceful intentions. These pacific pro- 
fessions were not, however, borne out by their subsequent conduct. These 
treacherous savages proved to be a band of Republican Pawnees from 
Pike's village on the Republican River, and they began to steal and plun- 
der whatever they could seize upon. They numbered about one hun- 
dred and forty, and they soon got possession of the horses of the 
Americans, when they made off across the plains with the same speed 
which had carried them in upon the unsuspecting encampment. 

The loss of these horses put an end to the further prosecution of the 
overland expedition. There was no alternative but to return to the 
sheltering village of the faithful Kansas. On the way there they met 
the Kansas chief, who had so precipitately fled, returning with a bunch 
of warriors to aid in the conflict, with the Pawnees. He followed the 
trail of the retreating savages for some time and recovered some stolen 
goods flung away in the mad ride to get clear of their pursuers. 

Upon their return to the Kansas town the Americans wen 
kindly received and assigned to a lodge. Into this lodge a motley throng 
of Indians in fantastic adornment crowded as the Americans were retir- 
ing to rest. They were dancers, and the dog dance was performed with 
all its savage ceremonies. Yells and barbarous music broke up tl 
night. 

There was nothing left for the detachment but to try to form a junc- 
tion with the main body of the expedition. Having secured two pack- 
horses to transport the baggage and a saddle-horse to bear Mr. Say. 
the journey back to Missouri was begun on the 25th. A direel route 
to Cow Island was taken, which carried them over the Grasshopper near 
the present town of Valley Falls. Cow Island was reached 00 the 29th, 



74 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

but the boat, with Major Long's party, had been gone some time. At 
Mr. Doughearty's suggestion the overland party started under his com- 
mand to overtake the boat, which it fortunately did at the mouth of 
Wolf River. 

In going to the Kansas Indian town the overland party passed 
through Johnson, Douglas, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Pottawatomie 
counties. In the return journey to Cow Island it traversed Pottawa- 
tomie, Jackson, Jefferson and Leavenworth counties. To overtake the 
boat it passed out of Leavenworth, crossed Atchison, and entered Don- 
iphan. 

The reunited party ascended the Missouri River in the steamboat. 
As the season was late it was necessary soon to prepare for winter. The 
point selected for winter quarters was on the west bank of the Mis- 
souri, about fifteen miles above Council Bluffs, and three miles above 
the mouth of Boyer River, which falls in from the east or Iowa side. 
It was half a mile above Fort Lisa. The camp was named Engineer 
Cantonment. Councils were held with various Indian tribes, and much 
scientific data was gathered. By order of the Secretary of War further 
exploration up the Missouri River was abandoned for the time, and the 
expedition was directed to explore the Platte to its sources — then return 
by the Red River to the Mississippi. On the 6th of June, 1820, Engi- 
neer Cantonment was dismantled and deserted, and the expedition took 
up the trail for the Pawnee towns. There was nothing of vital impor- 
tance to Kansas history in this tour, until the 12th of July, when the 
Grand Peak of Lieutenant Pike's exploration was sighted. On the 
13th Dr. James was furnished four men, and he departed with the 
purpose of ascending the peak. Two of these men were to be left with 
the horses at the foot of the mountain, and two were to go on with Dr. 
James to the summit. At noon the party dined at Manitou Springs — 
called then, Boiling Springs. The ascent of the mountain began there. 
The night was spent on a steep slope, in much discomfort, because of 
the cold. On the 14th the party early began the final and most diffi- 
cult climb. The day was bright, and as the party rose above the minor 
elevations a grand panorama revealed itself. At four o'clock the sum- 
mit was reached — for the first time, so far as is known, by Americans. 
The party remained less than an hour there, but in that time many 
important observations were made. Major Long called this snow-capped 
sentinel of the Great Plains James's Peak, but this name did not stick. 
With an unerring sense of justice the people called it Pike's Peak, and 
it is Pike's Peak now and ever more. 

One of the objects of Long's expedition was to' discover the sources 
of the Red River which flows on the north boundary of Texas. On the 
18th of July the whole company began the descent of the Arkansas 
River, leaving the grand and interesting mountains at their backs. 
Preparations were made on the 21st to divide the party, one detach- 
ment to continue to descend the Arkansas, while the other should strike 
south to come upon the head branches of Red River. The separation 
occurred on the 24th, when Major Long with his party crossed the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 75 

Arkansas and turned to the south. There was at that time a confusion 
of the head waters of the Canadian, sometimes called Red or Colorado 
River in its upper reaches, with the sources of the Red River flowing 
along the north line of Texas. Major Long supposed he was descend- 
ing and exploring the latter stream, when he was in fact all the time 
on the Canadian, the mouth of which he reached on the 10th of Sep- 
tember, 1820. The Spaniards had probably known the true courses of 
these two rivers for many years, but correct geographical knowledge 
of the Canadian was first secured to the Americans by Major Long. 

The other division of the expedition was composed of Captain Bell, 
Mr. Say, Mr. Seymour, Lieutenant Swift, the three Frenchmen, Bijeau, 
Le Doux, and Julien, and five soldiers. It continued down the Arkan- 
sas, passing through all the present counties of Kansas bordering that 
stream. The south line of the State was crossed on the 17th of August. 
Wild horses were seen. Great herds of buffalo were encountered. In 
the record of the journey may be found much relating to the wild tribes. 
The parties of the expedition were reunited at the mouth of the Cana- 
dian on the 13th of September. The company entire continued down 
the Arkansas River to Fort Smith, from which point it went across 
the country to Cape Girardeau, where it arrived on the 10th of October. 

The expedition of Major Long made some discoveries, but not many, 
and what were made were of little comparative importance. A vast 
amount of scientific data was secured, and the knowledge obtained about 
the various tribes of "Western Indians becomes more valuable with the 
passing years. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT 

At one period after the geography of the "West was fairly well known, 
all the country embraced in the State of Kansas was supposed to be unfit 
for habitation — at least unfit for habitation by a civilized people. This 
erroneous conception of the country continued down to comparatively 
recent times. And even when the State was first settled it was not thought 
that the western portion of it would ever become an agricultural country. 
This false impression resulted from an inexact knowledge of the regions 
extending from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. That deserts 
existed in those countries — and do still exist — must be admitted. The 
writers and geographers of those days did not know the exact locations 
of those desert wastes. They were supposed to begin at the Missouri 
River and to be continuous to the Rocky Mountains, while in fact they 
principally began with those mountain ranges and lay to the west of 
them. That there were sandy wastes eastward from the Rocky Mountains 
is well established, and to this day there are extensive districts along the 
Arkansas River in Kansas, designated as "Sand Hills." 

Perhaps Lieutenant Pike was to some extent responsible for the 
legend "The Great American Desert," which adorned the maps of the 
school Geographies published in the early part of the nineteenth century. 
His reports are extremely interesting, and they were widely read. And 
they were consulted, no doubt, by the authors of those same Geographies. 
His language is not ambiguous, and neither is it exact in all mentions of 
localities. Especially is this true of his summing up. In the following 
instance, however, he is definite enough in his designation. 

In this western traverse of Louisiana, the following general observa- 
be made: viz: that from the Missouri to the head of the [Lit- 
tle] Osage river, a distance in a straight line of probably 300 miles, the 
country will admit of a numerous, extensive and compact population; 
thenee, on the rivers Kansas, La Platte. Arkansaw, and their various 
branches, it appears to me to be only possible to introduce a limited 
population on their banks. The inhabitants would find it most to their 
advantage to pay attention to the multiplication of cattle, horses, sheep, 
and goats, all of which they can raise in abundance, the earth producing 
spontaneously sufficient for their support, both winter and summer, by 
which means their herds might become immensely numerous; but the 
wood now in the country would not be sufficient for a moderate share of 
population more than 15 years, and it would be out of the question to 
think of usimr any of it in manufactures-; consequently, the houses would 
76 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 77 

be built entirely of mud-brick [adobe] like those in New Spain, or of the 
brick manufactured with fire. But possibly time might make the dis- 
covery of coal-mines, which would render the country habitable. 

In reasoning as to the cause of the absence of timber from the prairies, 
he so wrote that a confusion of localities was possible in the minds of 
readers — and even students. 

Numerous have been the hypotheses formed by various naturalists to 
account for the vast tract of untimbered country which lies between the 
waters of the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean, from the 
mouth of the latter river to 48° north latitude. Although not flattering 
myself to be able to elucidate that which numbers of highly scientific 
characters have acknowledged to be beyond their depth of research, still 
1 would not think I had done my country justice did I not give birth to 
what few lights my examination of those internal deserts has enabled me 
to acquire. In that vast country of which I speak, we find the soil 
generally dry and sandy, with gravel, and discover that the moment we 
approach a stream the land becomes more humid, with small timber. I 
therefore conclude that this country never was timbered; as, from the 
earliest age the aridity of the soil, having so few water-courses running 
through it, and they being principally dry in summer, has never afforded 
moisture sufficient to support the growth of timber. In all timbered land 
the annual discharge of the leaves, with the continual decay of old trees 
and branches, creates a manure and moisture, which is preserved from 
the heat of the sun not being permitted to direct his rays perpendicu- 
larly, but only to shed them obliquely through the foliage. But here a 
barren soil, parched and dried up for eight months in the year, presents 
neither moisture nor nutrition sufficient to nourish the timber. These 
vast plains of the western hemisphere may become in time as celebrated 
as the sandy deserts of Africa: for I saw in my route, in various places, 
tracts of many leagues where the wind had thrown up the sand in all 
the fanciful form of the ocean's rolling wave, and on which not a speck 
of vegetabl matter existed. 

While it is not likely that he had seen ''Tracts of many leagues where 
the wind had thrown up the sand in all the fanciful form of the ocean's 
rolling wave'' at any point in the country which later became known as 
the "Prairies" of the "Prairies region" his final conclusion might lead 
any student of his travels having no other source of information to think 
he had : 

But from these immense prairies may arise one great advantage to 
the United States, viz.: the restriction ol our population to some certain 
limits, and thereby a continuation of the Union. Our citizens being so 
prone to rambling and extending themselves on the frontiers will 
through necessity, he constrained to limit their extent on the west to the 
borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, while they leave the prairies 
incapable of cultivation to the wandering and uncivilized aborigines of 
the country. 

The school geographies were based on such information as Pike and 
other explorers furnished. Having had no persona] experience on the 
Western prairies they were unable to say just what bounds these deserts 
had and where they were in fact located. There are extensive ' 



78 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

the Southwest now — in New Mexico, Arizona, California, and other 
stales. There are immense tracts covered with drifting sand and cacti: 
horned toads and rattlesnakes. But if water for irrigation can be devel- 
oped those deserts become fertile fields and blooming gardens. 

An examination of the old maps in the school geographies of the first 
half of the nineteenth century reveals "The Great American Desert" in 
various localities and with ever varying bounds. A Modern Atlas on a 
New Plan to Accompanvy the System of Universal Geography, by William 
Channing Woodbridge, Hartford, Oliver D. Cooke & Co., 1831, was 
largely used throughout the country in its time. In it the Map of the 
United States shows "The Great American Desert" extending from the 
west line of Arkansas Territory and of Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. 
And from the Platte to the Red River. On the desert, as thus defined, is 
marked this inscription: "The desert is traversed by herds of Buffaloes & 
wild Horses & inhabited only by roving tribes of Indians." And this 
map marks all the country of the United States west of the Mississippi 
except Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, as "Missouri Territory." 

By the year 1839, the "desert" had contracted its bounds. In that 
year was published in New York, Smith's Atlas, Designed to Accompany 
the Geography, by R. S. Smith, A. M. On the Map of the "United States 
and Texas," the "Great American Desert" is delineated as embracing 
the Panhandle portion of Texas and the country west of the 101st merid- 
ian to the Rocky Mountains — and from the Arkansas to the Platte, follow- 
ing the North Fork of the Platte. The country west of the Arkansas and 
Missouri, and between the Platte and the Texas line, is called the "Indian 
Territory." The north line of Texas was then as now, except that it 
reached the Arkansas, which it followed to the source. A part of the 
country north of the Platte along the Missouri — the reservations of the 
Omahas and Loup Pawnees — was also included. 

The descriptions found in these school books, or those they were do 
signed to accompany, never failed to compare "The Great American 
Desert" with the "Great Sahara" of Africa, as witness this from the 
Elements of Geography, by Benjamin Workman, A. M., Philadelphia, 
1814: 

"West of the Mississippi, and south of the Missouri, there is a vast 
extent of untimbered country, of a barren sandy soil, which has some 
resemblance to the deserts of Africa." 

In A System of Modern Geography for Schools, Academics and Fam- 
ilies, liy Nathaniel G. Huntington, A. M., Hartford, 1836, there is an 
account of the "Missouri Territory" a part of which is as follows: 

"This territory is a vast wilderness, resembling a desert, extending 
from the state of Missouri and the river Mississippi, to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. It is a region of open elevated plains, generally destitute of forest 
trees, and interspersed with barren hills. 

"It is inhabited almost exclusively by various tribes of Indians, and 
traversed by herds of wild horses and buffaloes, which in some instances 
range by thousands in a drove, appearing almost to cover the face of the 
ground. ' ' 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 71) 

There is an important map, as pertaining to this subject, in the His- 
tory of Aim ruin* Missions to the Heathen from their Commencement to 
the Present Time, Worcester, Spooner & liowland, 1840. Upon that map 
there is drawn a line marking the "Western .Boundary of Habitable 
Land." That line passes through what is now Kansas a little west of 
Wichita. It may be reasonably concluded that the author of the map 
supposed the line to represent the east boundary of "The Great Amer- 
ican Desert." 

In some of the books published in the period of "The Great American 
Desert" there were pictured caravans crossing the deserts in much the 
same fashion that travelers were represented on the African deserts, ex- 
cept that there is an absence of camels. And even this feature mighl 
have been added. In 1857 the general Government bought a number of 
camels to be used on the deserts of Arizona and California, and their em- 
ployment there was only prevented by the coming of the Civil War. It 
is said that these desert animals were abandoned, but lived and increased 
in a wild state, becoming in some parts of the Southwest a common 
nuisance. 

It is interesting to note the persistency of the idea that the country 
known as the Great Plains was a sandy desert. And it is curious to 
observe the ignorance of the West remaining in the Eastern States to this 
day. In 1867 some capitalists there were offered some verj valuable 
mining property in Colorado. Colorado? Was there such a country? 
Not a dollar would they venture until a mining- expert should be sent to 
investigate. Mr. A. W. lloyt was dispatched on that business, and one in- 
junction laid upon him was to ascertain for a certainty if there was in 
fact any such place as Colorado Territory. And he reported to his em- 
ployers on that country, affirming that it existed, and saying that "The 
Great American Desert" was almost impassable to man or beast. And 
in 1878 Rev. Henry Ward Beecher wrote of "riding night and day 
across the great desert plains." 

Even good old Horace Greeley, always a friend of Kansas, wrote a 
chapter on "The American Desert." lie made a tour of the West in the 
summer of 1859. The inhabited districts of Kansas lie found attractive 
enough. But when these were passed he wrote a memorandum of the 
diminishing coin Torts id' life for the patrons id' his Tribune, as follows: 

I believe I have now descended the ladder of artificial life nearly to 
it.s lowest round. If the Cheyennes thirty id' whom stopped the last 

express dow i the route we musl traverse, ami tried to beg or steal 

-hall see lit to capture and strip us. we shall probablj fa\ 
further experience in the same line: hut for the present the progress I 
have made during tie' lasl fortnighl toward the primitive simplicity of 
human existe may he roughlj noted thus: 

May 12th.- Chicago. ' hocolate and morning newspapei 
the breakfast-table. 

23d. Leavenworth. — Room-bells and baths make their final 
ance. 

24th. Topeka. Beef-steak and wash bowls other than tin last vis- 
ible. Barber ditto. 



SO KANSAS AND KANSANS 

26th. — Manhattan.— Potatoes and eggs last recognized among the 
blessings that "brighten as they take their flight." Chairs ditto. 

27th. — Junction City. — Last visitation of a boot-black, with dissolving 
views of a board bedroom. Beds bid ns good-by. 

28th. — Pipe Creek. — Benches for seats at meaLs have disappeared, 
giving place to bags and boxes. We (two passengers of a scribbling turn) 
write our letters in the express-wagon that has borne us by day, and must 
supply us lodgings for the night. 

The depths of desolation were not experienced until his arrival on the 
upper reaches of the Republican. On the 2d of June he penned a com- 
munication from Station 18, P. P. Express Company, in winch he said : 

The clouds which threatened rain at the station on Prairie-Dog Creek, 
whence I wrote two days ago, were dissipated by a violent gale, which 
threatened to overturn the heavy wagon in which my fellow-passengers 
and I were courting sleep — had it stood broadside to the wind, it must 
have gone over. It is customary. I learn, to stake down the wagons 
encamped on the open prairie: in the valleys of the creeks, where the 
company's stations are located, this precaution is deemed superfluous. 
But the winds which sweep the high prairies of this region are terrible; 
and the few trees that grow thinly along the creek-bottoms rarely venture 
to raise their heads above the adjacent bluffs, to which they owe their 
doubtful hold on existence. 

For more than a hundred miles back, the soil has been steadily degen- 
erating, until here, where we strike the Republican, which has been far 
to the north of us since we left it at Fort Riley, three hundred miles 
back, we seem to have reached the acme of barrenness and desolation. 
We left this morning. Station 17, on a little creek entitled Gouler, at least 
thirty miles back, and did not see a tree, and but one bunch of low shrubs 
in a dry water-course throughout our dreary morning ride, till we came 
in sight of the Republican, which has a little — a very little — scrubby 
cotton-wood nestled in and along its bluffs just here — but there is none 
beside for miles, save a little lurking in a ravine which makes down to 
the river from the north. Of grass there is little, and that little of 
miserable quality — either a scanty, furze or coarse alkaline sort of rush, 
iess fit for food than physic. Soil there is none hut an inch or so of 
intermittent grass-root tangle, based on what usually seems to be a thin 
stratum of clay, often washed off so as to leave nothing but a slightly 
argillaceous sand. Along the larger water-courses — this one especially — 
this sand seems to be as pure as Sahara can boast. 

The dearth of water is fearful. Although the whole region is deeply 
seamed and gullied by water-courses— now dry. but in rainy weather 
mill-streams — no springs burst from their steep sides. We have not 
passed a drop of living water in all our morning's ride, and but a few 
pailfuls of muddy moisture at the bottoms of a very few of the fast- 
drying slou'_ r hs or sunken holes in the beds of dried-up creeks. Yet there 
has been much rain here this season, some of it not long ago. But this 
is a region of sterility and thirst. If utterly unfed, the grass of a season 
would hardly suffice, when dry. In nourish a prairie-fire. 

Even the animals have deserted us. No buffalo have been seen this 
year within many miles of us. though their old paths lead occasionally 
across this country; I presume they pass rapidly through it, as I should 
urgently advise them to do; not a gray-wolf has honored us with his 
company to-day — he prefers to live where there is something to eat — 
the prairie-dog also wisely shuns this land of starvation; no animal but 
gopher (a little creature, between a mouse and a ground-squirrel) 



KANSAS AND KA\s.\.\S 81 

abounds here; and he burrows deep in the sand and picks up a living, 
I cannot guess how ; while a few hawks and an occasional prairie-wolf 
(cayota) lives by picking here and tin-re a gopher. They must find him 
disgustingly lean. 

I would match this station and its surroundings against any other 
scene on our continent for desolation. Prom the high prairie over which 
we approach it, you overlook a grand sweep of treeless desert, through 
'he middle of which flows the Republican, usually in several shallow 
streams separated by sand-hars or islets — its whole volume being far less 
than that of the Mohawk at (Jtica, 1 hough it has drained above this 
point an area equal to that of ( ionneeticut. Of the few scrubby cotton- 
woods lately cowering under the bluffs at this point, most have been cut 
for the uses of the station, though logs for its embryo house are drawn 
from a little clump, eight miles distant. A broad bed of sand indicated 
that the volume of water is sometimes a hundred-fold its present amount, 
though it will doubtless soon be far less than it now is. Its average 
depth cannot now exceed six inches. On every hand, and for many miles 
above ami below, the country above the bluffs is such as we have passed 
over this morning. A dead nude — bitten in the jaw this morning by a 
rattlesnake- lies here as if to complete the scene. Off the five weeks old 
track to Pike's Peak, all is dreary solitude and silence. 

The Cimarron runs through the southwest corner of Kansas. Max 
Greene explored in that region at an early date, and here is the account 
he wrote of that stream in bis The Kansas Region. 

Toward the rising sun swells out the easternmost barrier of the 
Rocky Mountains, the long-extending Ratone, with its porticos of col- 
umnar quartz leading to kiosks of slumbrous cedar, by whose springs 
the dust-stained pilgrim rests and has sweet thoughts of home and friends 
afar. Here, from the cool embrasures, a yellow and scorched eternity 
of plain meets the view. So flat is it. you may wander, day after day, 
without once meeting an elevation perceptibly overtopping the rude 
mound which marks the emigrant V grave, until, at last, lured on by the 
vapory tricks of the mirage, you stand where that desert mockery of a 
river, the Cimarron, seams the dead, unsmiling level. You look down into 
that soundless stream of crystal air, and strange, solemn emotions thrill 
you, as though you trod with regal 1'lysses his shadowy glens beneath the 
low-caved sky of Cimmeria. You descend the bank and walk the bottom 
of a sunken river. Miles away, on either side, are the bluffs of projecting 
nodules of clay, wearing the black and fallen look of deserted forts, and 
here and there are inlets of dry arroyos pouring in their lesser currents 
of nothing, A dread of demonry comes over you. and you stagger on 
like a sick man in a dream. The limber serpent glides from your path. 
You pause where the acrid fountlel bubbles up and sinks back again 
beneath the shadow of th.- silver-margined euphorbia — the one beautiful 

flower on the bosom of desolation. Thus sifts the broad and deep but 
viewless Cimarron through quicksands, or gathers in lakes of sunless 
caverns down where eyeless gnomes hold vigil in the center of the earth, 
anear the iron-pillared throne of cloudy ami formless Demogorgon. If 
there be a vein of sillier rial lira I ism in mil. the \ oi eel ess appealing of these 
wizard regions will bring it to the surface of your nature. 

In 1836 Irving wrote his Astoria. Be had something to say of the 
"(Jreat American Desert." It is quoted here to show how extensive the 

idea of that mythical land was down to that time: 



82 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Such is the nature of this immense wilderness of' the far west ; which 
apparently defies cultivation, and the habitation of civilized life. Some 
portions of it along the rivers may partially be subdued by agriculture. 

others may form vast pastoral tracts, like those of the east; but it is to be 
feared that a great part of it will form a lawless interval between the 
abodes of civilized man, like the wastes of the ocean or the deserts of 
Arabia; and, like them be subject to the depredations of the marauder. 
Here may spring up new and mongrel races, like new formations in 
geology, the amalgamation of the "debris" and "abrasions" of former 
races, civilized and savage; the remains of broken and almost extin- 
guished tribes; the descendants of wandering hunters and trappers; of 
fugitives from the Spanish and American frontiers; of adventurers and 
desperadoes of every class and country ; .yearly ejected from the bosom of 
society into the wilderness. We are contributing incessantly to swell this 
singular and heterogeneous cloud of wild population that is to hang 
about our frontier, by the transfer of whole tribes of savages from the 
east, of the Mississippi to the great wastes of the far west. Many of 
these bear with them the smart of real or fancied injuries; many consider 
themselves expatriated beings, wrongfully exiled from their hereditary 
homes, and the sepulchres of their fathers, and cherish a deep and abiding 
animosity against the race thai has dispossessed them. Some may gradu- 
ally become pastoral hordes, like those rude and migratory people, half 
shepard, half warrior, who, with their Hocks and herds, roam the plains 
of upper Asia, but, other, it is to be apprehended, will become predatory 
bands, mounted on the fleet steeds of the prairies, with the open plains 
for their marauding grounds, and the mountains for their retreats and 
lurking places. Here they may resemble those great hordes of the north : 
"Gog and Magog with their bands" that haunted the gloomy imagina- 
tions of the prophets. "A great company and a mighty host, all riding 
upon horses, and warring upon those nations which were at rest, and 
dwelt peaceably, and had gotten cattle and goods." 

It was but the lack of truth about the portions of Kansas set down 
as a part of "The Great American Desert" which caused the errors to be 
spread broadcast. If the facts could have been known the geographers 
would have put the desert districts back of the Kocky Mountains where 
they may still be found. The two great divisions of Kansas, as applied 
to natural productions, are well defined. They are separate, one from the 
other, and entirely unlike in physical aspect. They are the Prairies and 
the Great Plains. The Prairies extend from the Missouri border to an 
irregular line passing through Council Grove. It is one of the fairest 
regions of the world. It is a rolling country and well watered. The 
streams are fringed with fine trees — oak, hickory, walnut, hackberry. 
Cottonwood, and willow. There is no more pleasing landscape than a 
view from any elevation in the Prairie regions will reveal. For some 
thousands of years, at least, the Prairies have been grass-clad, well 
watered, and fertile. They never possessed in historic times any of the 
characteristics of the desert. 

The Great Plains extended from the western borders of the Prairies 
about Council Grove to the Rocky Mountains. And those elevated passes 
west of Laramie might be included. That was a country of frayed out 
and disappearing streams. There was little or no timber. Stretches of 
drifting sand were to be found, but these were not deserts in the true 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 83 

sense. The country was almost all covered with buffalo grass — perhaps 
the most nutritious of all grasses. It was short — an inch or two in 
height — and as thick as the wool on the buffalo. Along the larger streams 
other grasses were found, some of them coarse and tall. In the country 
drained by the Arkansas there were diminutive oaks — known to the ex- 
plorers as Shin-oaks — two or three feet in height, but often prone upon 
the earth, and having abundant crops of aeorns. There were plum bushes 
of the same dimensions, often loaded with fruit. They were called sand- 
plums, or buffalo plums, and were relished by the followers of Coronado 
and all travelers over the Plains since. The Great Plains were the pas- 
tures, par excellence, of the buffalo. In no other region were they ever 
found in such numbers. The antelope was also native to the Great 
Plains. When the wild horse appeared these Plains became his favorite 
haunts. The deer, the wolf, the coyote, the rabbit, and numerous birds 
were to be found on the Great Plains. So, even there the characteristics 
of the desert were entirely wanting. 

There was a Great American Desert. It exists to this hour, but the 
enterprise of the American will reclaim most of it and make it fruitful. 
It never did exist in the territory composing Kansas. The mistake of 
the early geographers was in placing the Great American Desert on the 
Great Plains. But this mistake is turned to advantage by the enterprising 
Kansas man. It is the delight of his life to write accounts of the enor- 
mous crops now produced "on land which two generations since was a 
part of the Great American Desert." His figures in this respect are 
truly astonishing — but they are, strange as it would seem, only facts 
capable of demonstration to all. 

And, as in all other things, the myth of the' Great American Desert 
is an asset of no mean proportion to the Kansas man. All of which 
serves to establish, in a way, the boast that what is a calamity for other 
countries is often a valuable asset for Kansas. It is not true of any other 
state. It is possible only of — 

"Sunny Kansas, with her woes and glory." 



CHAPTER Vlll 
THE SANTA PE TRAIL 

The Santa Fe Trail was one of those natural routes sometimes found 
between countries far separated. The physical conformation of the 
Southwest made this road a commercial highway. Over its course — at 
least, over courses approximating- its final location — savage tribes had 
migrated and warred and traded for many generations before America 
was discovered. It could not be otherwise. For some definite way was 
necessary from the mouth of the Kansas River across the Prairies, and 
Great Plains to the depressions in the mountain systems of Western 
North America. The breaking down of these mountain chains produced 
the arid lands and desert regions found in New Mexico, Arizona, and 
California. To the southward the Great Plains emei-ged into those coun- 
tries and the El Llano Estacado, or Slaked Plain, of the Panhandle of 
Texas. 

In the evolution of the human race man passed through his various 
periods of development in ways now seen to have constituted nature itself. 
Fish was his first artificial food — for it had to be cooked to become fully 
available. And it is probable that man first utilized fire when he turned 
to this food. To procure fish for food. man. in the .Middle Status of 
Savagely, followed the shores and streams of the world and spread over 
the whole earth. So streams were the first routes of continental or inland 
travel coursed by man. Certain points of departure from one stream to 
another became recognized as having superior advantages. This supe- 
riority of locations seems also to have been natural to the intuition of 
animals, for they well knew the easy grades and the fords and best cross- 
ing-places. They, in common with man, sought the most natural ways 
from stream to stream, and the lowest gaps and depressions through the 
mountains and over the countries which constituted their habitats and 
ranges. In some lands rivers became sacred — some instances of which 
remain to this day. In those primal days the Missouri River, in common 
with others, was. no doubt, traversed by primitive man. He ascended it 
- descended it. He dwelt on its shores for generations and ages. As he 
increased in mental power and in numbers other sources of food-supply 
developed. In pursuit of these he began to explore and travel from its 
shores. As his geographical knowledge was increased and his own powers 
were augmented, intercourse with other tribes began. The point on the 
Missouri River from which the country we call the Southwest was most. 

SI 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 

easily reached was the month of the Kansas. There the Missouri makes 
its great turn, the big bend, and strikes eastward to meet the Mississippi. 
It is the nearest point made by the Missouri to the Prairies and Greal 
Plains. In fact, the Prairies there touch it for the first time in its ascent. 
Prom that point the trails departed, and to that point they converged. 
Coming out from the depressions in the continental mountain ranges 
of the West, the Missouri was first and most easily reached at the mouth 
of the Kansas Eiver. These causes combined to make and establish that 
ancient continental way which the white man came to call the Santa Fe 
Trail. It was a highway, old and well-trod, when Coronado passed down 
it upon his return from Quivira. 

The Spaniards, on their various expeditions into and over thi Gri 
Plains, always traveled portions of the Trail. The first Americans to fol- 
low it were the pioneer hunters and trappers. The French traders, no 
doubt, transported goods for Indian barter over the Trail when individual 
effort represented the extent of the commerce of the Great Plains. Pike 
followed it up the Arkansas, and Long followed it down the same stream. 

The Santa Fe Trail, in the days of its greatest fame, extended from 
[ndependence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, the capital city or seat of Govern- 
ment 6f the province of New Mexico. Between these points there were 
practically no settlements of white people, and, indeed, few permanent 
Indian towns. The City of Santa Fe was founded about 1610, the exact 
date being unknown. It is in the valley of a small stream which flows 
westward into the Rio Grande, some sixteen miles away. It was not laid 
out on any definite plan, the streets of the old town straggling to all 
quarters. In the prosperous days of the Santa Fe trade, it contained 
about three thousand inhabitants. The houses were constructed of adobe, 
and as they glimmered in the desert sun. they appeared to be but so many 
brick kilns. For the site was treeless, and dust and sand were whirled up 
there in clouds with every breeze. There is some vague Indian tradition 
that in prehistoric times there was an Indian pueblo on the site of Santa 
Fe. The background and setting of the town are incomparable. Bold 
mountains rise almost to the regions of perpetual snow, and the climate 
is said to be as near perfection as anj in America. Under dire 
the Americans, it lias become a modern and enterprising city — just as 
New .Mexico has become a prosperous and progressive commonwealth. 

Under both Spanish ami Mexican rule the province of New Mexico 
contained a population low- in the scale of human intelligence. That this 

deplorahl tndition was, justly chargeable to the Governmenl goes with 

ont saying. Travelers tell us thai the people were below the native In 
dians in virtue and morality. They were priesl ridden, and buried in the 
grossesl ignorance and superstition. The priests were firsl in vice. Thej 
fixed the fees for performing the ceremony at such an ex 

horbitanl sum that few could pay them, forcing mosl families to rest on 
voluntary and criminal connexions outside tin' pale of both the Church 
and the law. There was, in fact, no law. as Americans understand that 

term. In theory there was a reversion to ancienl Latin statutes, but no 



86 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

one knew what these were, nor cared. There were the rudest elements 
of a corrupt administration of indistinct legal customs modified by 
degeneracy since their importation from Spain two centuries before. 
Corruption pervaded the public service, and ingenious rascality often 
won for a man a position of consequence. 

In trade with Northern Mexico, however, all the weakness and ineffi- 
ciency did not lie on one side. Historians of the trade are agreed on one 
point — that the American consular and diplomatic service in Mexico was 
the most servile ever maintained by any nation. It was a disgrace. The 
murder of many American citizens resulted from it, and other Americans 
who were so unfortunate as to be under the necessity of availing them- 
selves of its so-called aid were humiliated beyond expression and were 
unable to have any attention whatever given to their affairs. The course 
of our Government, in this respect, was not lost upon the people of 
Mexico. They soon learned that American citizens might be robbed and 
outraged with impunity. Very rarely could an American official in 
Mexico be induced to give even the least attention to any effort at redress 
of the grossest indignities heaped upon American citizens transacting bus- 
iness there. Our country was held in the most supreme contempt by the 
Gfo timenl and people of Mexico — and justly so. Our diplomatic 
standing there was regarded as about on a level with that of San Domingo. 
And the American traders overland with Northern Mexico had the full 
benefit of this miserable policy. 

No complete history of the Santa Fe trade and trail can be attempted 
in this work. But a brief review of some of the most important transac- 
tions of both will be given. 

When the Spaniards owned Louisiana they had some thought of 
developing the overland trade between New Mexico and that province. 
In May. 1792. one Pedro Vial was sent from Santa Pe to Governor Caron 
al St. Louis to open communications for that purpose. He was in- 
structed to keep a daily account of his journey, and to note' carefully his 
course. He was given two Pecos Indians for companions, and four 
horses to transport baggage. He went by the way of Pecos, and from 
thence to the Canadian — known to him as Colorado River — Red River. 
He intended to reach the "Nepeste River, which we call in French the 
Arkansas River." The Arkansas was reached on the 27th of May at a 
point in the great bend, for the stream flowed "east northeast." On tjie 
29th they fell in with a party of Kansas Indians and were in danger of 
losing their lives. They were made captive and taken to the Kansas town, 
on the Kansas River. There they remained until the Kith of September, 
when they departed in a pirogue with three French traders going to St. 
Louis, where they arrived on the 6th of October. It does not appear that 
ort to open communications overland between the two Spanish 
provinces bore fruit. No document has been found giving further ac- 
count of it. 

The descriptions of the Great Southwest written by Lieutenant Pike 
and published in the Journals of his explorations stirred the border of 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 87 

that day. They were accounts of two men who had undertaken some 
vague mercantile adventures to the Spanish province of New .Mexico. 
The first of these was Baptiste LaLande, a native of Upper Louisiana. 
William Morrison, a Pennsylvaniau, had settled at Kaskaskia in 1790 
and established there a profitable mercantile business. It occurred to him 
that trade might be developed between Louisiana and Northern Mexico. 
He accordingly sought the services of LaLande, who probably was a 
French trader to the Indian tribes of the Missouri country — most likely 
mi the Platte. He must have possessed more than ordinary qualifications 
for conducting trade and a reputation for integrity, for Morrison fur- 
nished him with a trading supply which he was to carry to New Mexico 
for sale or barti r there. That LaLande had previously operated along 
the Platte is evident from his course, lie ascended that river in 1804 to 
reach Santa Fe. There he set up in business for himself with the goods 
of Morrison. One of (lie matters Lieutenant Pike carried for adjustmeni 
»as the claim of Morrison against LaLande. But, LaLande. learning of 
the presence of the Americans in New Mexico, sought them in the char- 
acter of a spy against the Spaniards — whether in good faith was not 
known. Later he entered the plea of poverty and inability to paj the 
claim of Morrison — and he never did pay it. though he left a large estate 
to numerous descendants. 

Like found another resident of Santa Fe who had come from the 
country east of the Mississippi, -lames I'ursley was probably born in 
Kentucky, for in 1799 he arrived, from Bardstown in that state, in Mis- 
souri. He engaged in the business of hunting and trapping. In the pur- 
suit of this calling he joined a party in 1802 to hunt on the head waters 
of the Osage. In that savage region he was robbed of his equipment and 
compelled to set out on his return to the settlements about St. Louis. He 
reached the Missouri, which he was descending in a canoe, when he met a 
party coming up, on the way to the Indian hunting-grounds. He was in- 
duced to join this new expedition, and he went as a member of it to the 
Comanches and Kiowas. These Indians were attacked by the Sioux and 
driven into the Pocky Mountains. From this retreat the Indians sent 
I'ursley to the Spanish settlements to arrange for trade. Once at Santa 
Fe. he could not bring himself to return to his savage partners. He took 
up the trade of carpenter in that capital and followed it for man 
lie returned to St. Louis in 1824, but whether he remained there ; > nol 
known. 

In 1812 -lame-. Laird, believing thai the prohibitive restrictions 
foreign trad- had 1 n removed by the declaration of Mexican Independ- 
ence of Hidalgo in 1810, organized an expedition to trade with v 

is associates were Samuel ( lhambers and Robert McKnight ; and 
there were perhaps a dozen more. They crossed the Plains, follow ing the 
directions laid down by Lieutenanl Pike, and finally reached Santa Pe. 
found thai \mi ri i ■ cially obnoxious to the Span- 

iards The\ were arrested Their goods and other property w< 
rated. They were carried to < Ihihuahua and casl into prison, v. I 



SS KANSAS AND KAN SANS 

suffered many hardships and indignities at the hands of the Mexicans. 
They did not regain their liberty until the rise of the Mexican Revolution 
in 1821. 

The expedition of A. P. Chouteau and Julius De ilium was little more 
fortunate that that of Baird and his associates. At the beginning of the 
season for traveling on the prairies and plains in 1815 these gentlemen 
agreed to trade as partners on the Upper Arkansas. They were delayed 
in the perfection of their arrangements, and it was not until September 
that their venture was gotten under way. On the 10th of that month they 
left St. Louis in company witli Mr. Phillebert, who had made a successful 
voyage of trade to the mountains in 18]:;, and was now desirous of repeat- 
ing that success. He, however, Sold out his goods and equipment to Chou- 
teau and De Munn, but lie seems to have remained as one of the party on 
the journey. He had a quantity of furs in the mountains which he had 
not yet carried out, and these were probably stored on the Huerfano, for 
lie had selected that creek as his rendezvous. The expedition did not ar- 
rive at this rendezvous until the 8th of December. They found the place 
deserted but for some Indians, who said the men had waited for Phillebert 
until convinced he would not return, when they had taken all his property 
and gone to Taos. De Munn followed them there, and not securing per- 
mission from the Spanish authorities to hunt on the head waters of the 
l.'io Grande, lie took the men who had been in the service of Phillebert to 
the camp on the Huerfano. From that point he and Phillebert set out for 
St. Louis to bring up additional supplies, leaving Chouteau to do a win- 
ter's work as trader and trapper. He was to bring the fruits of his effort 
to the mouth of the Kansas River the next spring to meet his partner. On 
the way down he was attacked by a band of two hundred Pawnees and 
forced to take refuge on an island in the Arkansas River. This island was 
just west of the present town of Ilartland. Kearny County. Kansas. 
From this incident the island was called Chouteau's Island. The Chou- 
teaus never had a trading post there, as is said by some writers. 

The expedition of Glenn to Santa Fe arrived there in 1821, but as it 
ascended to the mountains by circuitous route from the mouth of tic 
Verdegris, little pertaining to Kansas was connected with it. 

The first successful venture to Santa Fe over the Santa Fe Trail was 
made by Captain William Becknell. With him. according to Gregg, were 
"'four trusty companions." They left Arrow Rock, on the Missouri, near 
Franklin, but in Saline County, September 1, 1821. On the 13th of No- 
vember they met a troop of Mexican soldiers, who prevailed upon them to 
voluntarily go. in their company, to Santa Fe, whither they were return- 
ing. At San Miguel they found a Frenchman who acted as interpi-eter for 
them. They were accorded a friendly reception at Santa Fe, ami pro- 
vided the facilities necessary to dispose of their goods. These sold at such 
rates as astonished the Missourians, calicoes and domestic cotton cloth 
bringing as much as three dollars a yard. The enterprise proved most 
remunerative. The party set out on the return journey on the 13th of 
I lecember and reached home in forty-eight days. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 

That adventure may be said to have established the Santa Pe trade, 
and Captain Becknell has justly been called the lather of the Santa Fe 
Trail, for that which he followed was accepted as The Trail from I lie 
Missouri River to Santa Fe. 

The favorable termination of the trading-journey of Captain Becknell 
being extensively told on the borders of Missouri, 'others determined tc 
engage in that commerce. Colonel Benjamin Cooper organized a com- 
pany which left Franklin for Santa Fe early in May, 1822. His nephews. 
Braxton, and Stephen Cooper, were members of the party, which num- 
bered some fifteen souls. They carried goods to the value of some five 
thousand dollars to Taos, using pack-horses. The result of the expedition 
must have been satisfactory for the Coopers remained in the trade for 
some years, Braxton Cooper meeting his death at the hands of the Co- 
manches some years after this first trip across the Plains. 

Captain Becknell was resolved to continue in the trade which had 
given him such good returns. Within a month after the departure of 
Colonel Cooper he again took the trail from Franklin to Santa Fe. The 
value of his cargo was aboul five thousand dollars, and there were thirty 
men in the expedition. On this journey he abandoned the use of pack- 
horses and used for his transportation, wagons drawn by mules — the firsl 
wagon-train over the Santa Fe Trail and the first to cross the Great 
Plains. It was four years before Ashley took his wheel-mounted cannon 
into the valley of the Great Salt Lake, eight years before Smith, Jackson 
& Sublette went into the Wind River country with wagons, and ten years 
before Captain Bonneville drove wagons into the valley of Green River. 
This first caravan to depart from the usual means of transportation used 
three wagons. 

This second expedition of Captain Becknell was the pioneer party 
over the Cimarron Route of the Santa Fe Trail. Captain Becknell had, 
through his travels, conceived the true geography of the Southwest. It 
was plain to him that the nearest way to Santa Fe from the Arkansas 
River was to the southwest by the Cimarron. When he had arrived 
at that point afterwards known as the "Caches" he turned south. Be 

was not familial- with th mntry which he was entering. It bore a 

desert aspect and proved entirely destitute of water between the Arkan 
sas and the Cimarron. The supply carried in canteens was exhausted 
at the end of two days It seemed that they were destined to die of 
thirsl on those parched and blasted plains. They killed their dogs and 
Cut off the ears of their mules to drink the blood, but this desperate 
expedient served only to aggravate their suffering. The mirage taunted 
them with the appearance of water rippling againsl the shores of false 
lakes. They bad, however, come near the Cimarron without knowing 
it. They resolved to turn aboul and try to regain the Arkansas 
something they never could have done. In the last extremity, when 
despair was settling upon them, some of the party observed a buffalo 
coming up from a depression they had not before seen. It se 
come up as from the depths and stand upon the burning plain with 
distended sides as though gorged with water. It was ime. 



90 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

killed and opened. The stomach was filled with water taken but a few 
minutes before from the Cimarron. This filthy water was drunk as 
nectar from paradise. Search was at once made for the stream whence 
had come this lone providential buffalo, and the Cimarron was found. 
Water was carried back by the refreshed travelers to those perishing on 
the desert, and the party was saved. The journey was continued over 
that route, and water was fortunately found in quantities sufficient to 
enable the party to reach San Miguel. 

The misfortunes of the party under Baird. which went out in 1812, 
the members of which were imprisoned so many years at Chihuahua, 
did not quench the passion for trade over the Plains in their leader. 
i :: i ^_"J he induced some adventurers at St. Louis to join him in taking 
a trading expedition over the Santa Fe Trail. He was joined also by 
Samuel Chambers, who had aided in securing the cargo to be carried, 
and who had descended the Canadian in 1821. The expedition consisted 
nf some fifty men and an ample supply of horses and mules. It left 
Franklin late in the season and was overtaken by severe weather on 
the Upper Arkansas. It took refuge on an island in that river, no 
doubt for the reason that it was covered with willow and cottonwood 
timber. So rigorous did the winter prove that these men were compelled 
to remain there three months, and most of their animals perished from ex- 
posure and starvation. This calamity left them without the means to 
carry their merchandise into New Mexico. They were under the necessity 

of concealing their g Is there while they went to New Mexico for horses 

and mules to carry in their lading. They left the island and went up the 
north bank of the river some distance where they dug pits or "caches'" in 
which they placed their goods, covering them in very carefully. They then 
went to Taos, where they secured the necessary animals, with which they 
returned and on which they packed their merchandise to that town. The 
several pits were left unfilled when the goods were removed, and they 
stood open there on the Trail for many years. In Gregg's day they were 
still open and their walls were covered witli muss. They came to be a 
marking point on the Trail, and this point was known as the "Caches." 
Tii ' aches" were about five miles west of the present Dodge City. 
Kansas. 

In the year 1823, there is record of bu1 one expedition from Missouri 
to Santa Fe. Early in May Colonel Cooper left Franklin with two pack 
horses laden with goods valued at. two hundred dollars. He returned the 
following October with four hundred "jacks, jinnies, and mules" and 
some hales of furs. 

erroneously dates the commencement of the Santa Fe trade 
from the \ ear 1*24. And he falls into another error in saying that the first 
: in the ! i. ii that year. At the Franklin Tavern, about 
the first of April, 1824, there was a meeting to discuss the trade to Santa 
Fe. The poinl of assembly for the expedition that year was fixed at 
.Mount Vernon, Missouri, and the time was set for the 5th of May. Each 
ln.in was to carry a good title, a dependable pistol, four pounds of pow- 
der, "itrht pounds of lead, and rations for twenty days. The expedition 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 01 

was composed of eighty-one men, one hundred and fifty-six horses and 
mules, and twenty-five wagons. Thirty thousand dollars was the value 
of the goods carried. The expedition started on the 15th of May. 1824, 
crossing the Missouri aboul sis miles above Franklin. The organization 
for the.long journey was effected .-is soon as the caravan was well under 
way. A. Le Grand was elected Captain. M. M. Marmaduke, later Gov- 
ernor of Missouri, was one of the party.' The Arkansas River was 
reached on the 10th of June, and the expedition arrived at Santa Fe on 
the 28th day of July. The financial results of the venture were satis- 
factory. 

It is not neeessarj to tin- scope of this work to present, an account of 
every expedition over the Santa Fe Trail, and it is not the intention to 
do so. The design is to give a historical review of the Trail which will 
furnish the studenl or casual reader of history such information as will 
establish in his mind a clear but not a detailed outline of this important 
highway of the Plains. 

By thi' year 1825 the Santa Fe trade ha. I assumed sufficient propor- 
tions to attract the attention of Congress. There was also a growing 
apprehension of the wild Indians of the Plains. While there had been 
no trader killed on the Trail and no robberies of enough importance to 
report, there was a gathering of Indians along the way, and it was feared 
that outrages would be committed. Congress, in the winter of 1824-25, 
passed a bill (approved March 3, 1m'~>, authorizing the President to 
have the Santa Fe Trail marked from Missouri to (lie frontiers of New 
Mexico. The Commissioners appointed to carry that act into effect were 
enjoined to secure the consent of the Indians whose lands were infringed, 
to the survey ami marking of the road. For that purpose a treaty was 
entered into, at Council Grove, between the Croat and Little Usages and 
the Kansas Indians on the lltli da\ of August, 1825. The object of the 
treaty and whal resulted from n will be best shown by the instrument 
itself. There wen- in fact two treaties one with the Usages and one 
with tie' Kansas. As they are identical in terms, except as to the pre- 
liminary paragraphs, only that with the Osages is given, 

n with thi'. Great \\i> Litti i l >s vgi L825 

Whereas the < Congress of the United states of America, being anxious 
to i romote and direct commercial and friendly intercourse between the 
citizens of the United States and those of the Mexican Republic, and. to 

afford protection to tin- si !, did. at their last session, pass an act. which 

was approved the 3d .March. 1825, "To authorize the Pt 

United States to cause a road to be marked out from the Western frontier 

of .Missouri to tlm confines of New Mexico."' ami whicli authorizes the 

t of the United States to appoint Commissioners to carrs said 
ael of Congress into effect and enjoins on the Commissioners, 
appointed, that they first obtain the consenl of the intervening 
Indians. h-, treaty, to the marking of said road, and to the ,;• 

of to 1 he citizens of i Repub- 

lic; and Benjamin IT. Reeves, Co. C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather, Com- 
missioners dul\ appointed as- aforesa 
have this da\ met the Chiefs and Ileal Men of the Great and Kittle 



92 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Osage Nations, who being all duly authorized to meet and negotiate with 
the said Commissioners upon the premises, and being especially met for 
thai purpose, by the invitation of said Commissioners, at the place 
called * louncil Grove, on the river Nee-o-zho, one hundred and sixty miles 
southwest from Fort Osage have, after due deliberation and consulta- 
tion, agreed to the following treaty, which is to be considered binding on 
the said Great and Little Osage.s from and after this day : 

Article 1 

The Chiefs and Head Men of the Great and Little Osages, for them- 
selves and their nations, respectively, do consent and agree that the 
Commissioners of the United States shall and may survey and mark out 
a road, in such manner as they may think proper, through any of the 
territory owned or claimed by the said Great and Little Osage Nations. 

Article 2 

The Chiefs and Head Men, as aforesaid, do further agree that the 
mad authorized in article 1, shall when marked, be forever free for the 
use of the citizens of the United States and of the Mexican Republic, who 
shall at all times pass and repass thereon, without any hindrance or 
molestation on the part of the said Great and Little Osages. 

Article 3 

The Chiefs and Head Men as aforesaid, in consideration of the 
friendly relations existing between then: and the United States, further 
promise, for themselves and their people, that they will, on all fit occa- 
sions, render such friendly aid and assistance as may be in their power. 
to anj of the citizens of the United States, or of the Mexican Republic, 
as they may at any time happen to meet or fall in with on the road 
aforesaid. 

Article 4 

The Chiefs and Head Men. as aforesaid, do further consent and agree 
that, the road aforesaid shall be considered as extending to a reasonable 
distance on either side, so that travellers thereon may. at any time, leave 
the marked track-. For the purpose of [hiding subsistence and proper camp- 
ing places. 

Article 5 

In consideration of the privileges granted by the Chiefs of the Great 
and Little Osages in the three preceding articles, the said Commissioners 
on the part of the United States have agreed to pay to them, the said 
Chiefs, for themselves and their people, the sum of five hundred dollars: 
which sum is to he paid them as soon as may be. in money or merchandise, 
at their option, at such place as they may desire. 

Pursuant to an act of Congress and the stipulations of these treaties 
the Commissioners proceeded to lay out. survey and mark the Santa Pe 
Trail in the year 1825. This survey was not complete until 1827. It 
began at Port Osage, now Sibley, Jackson County, Missouri. The field 
notes of this old survey are in the library of the Kansas State Historical 



KANSAS AND KAN SANS 93 

Society, and they are here given — with explanations and identifications 
interpolated and enclosed in brackets : 

Field Notes by Joseph C. Brown, United States Surveying 
Expedition, 1825-1827 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

747 73 Beginning. 

7 7 740 66 Little Blue creek, 100 links wide and 

runs northward. Ford shallow and 
rocky. 
[9] [Independence, nine miles southwest 

from crossing of Little Blue and 
ten miles northeast of crossing of 
19 18 Big Blue.] 

26 25 721 48 Big Blue creek, 100 links wide and 

runs northward. Ford shallow and 

gravelly. The camping is here 

good. Immediately west of this 

4 58 creek bottom which is narrow, the 

prairie comi ies, which extends 

to the mountains near Santa Pe. 
716 70 Western boundary of state of -Mis- 

souri, crosses it just nine miles 
south of the mouth of the Kansas 
river. 
70S 30 Flat Rock creek [a branch of the Big 

Blue, south of Lenexa], 30 links- 
wide, runs southward into Big 
Blue The ford is good and the 
amping good for wood, water and 
grass. 
48 70 699 03 Caravan creek [Cedar creek — tribu- 

tary of Kansas river, 2 miles from 
Olathe, runs north 1 , 30 links wide, 
runs northward and is a tributary 
13 62 of Kansas river. At this place, 

called Caravan Grove, is excellent 
camping ground and plenty of tim- 
ber for shelter and find. 
62 52 685 21 Hungry creek [head branch Coal 

creek, tributary Wakarusa] is small 
1 57 and runs northward. It affords 

.some pretty groves and good land 

and water. The ford is pretl v g I. 

• 14 29 683 II Dove creek [head bn h Coal creek, 

tributary Wakarusa i, at the " Four 

Oaks." This creek is small and 

1 21 runs northward. The water is 

good, some small groves, and land 
from lluiejr\ creek to it good. 
65 50 682 23 Gooseberry creek [head branch Coal 

i reek, tributary Wakarusa 1 25 

1 68 links wide, runs northward This 

creek affords good water, pasture 

and WOOd, and the lord is (d. 



31 

8 


03 

40 


39 


43 


9 


27 



r 


tin 


3 


43 


"4 


32 



77 


07 


9 


30 


86 


37 



94 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Tai is. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 
67 38 680 35 Grindstone creek [head branch Coal 

creek, tributary Wakarusa], 30 
links wide, runs northward. Here 
2 45 are good camping places, water, 

wood and pasture good, aud plenty. 
This creek affords some excellent 
timbered land. 
70 03 677 70 Muddy Branch of Cut Off [Ottawa 

creek] crossing, bears south'd. 
677 04 Cut off crossing Osage, water, ford 

good, and water and fuel plenty. 
673 41 Big Cut Off crossing [branch of Ot- 

tawa creek], 30 links wide, runs 
south'd. It is a pretty creek and 
affords some pretty groves. At the 
55 ford, which is very good, is good 

camping grounds for water, pas- 
ture, shade and fuel. 
670 66 A small branch of Big Cut Off: very 

little timber on it. 
661 36 Mule creek [a branch of Wakarusa— 

Flag Springs], small, runs north 'd 
and has no timber near the road. 
Down the creek at about 1 mile is a 
11 46 little timber, and southward at 

about 2 or 3 miles distance is some 
timber on the waters of the Marias 
de Cygnes which is the principal 
fork of the Osasre river. 
98 03 649 70 Oak creek fllO Creek crossing], 50 

links wide, bears southeast, is a 
branch of the Marias de Cygne. 
This creek affords good water, pas- 
ture, fuel and camping ground at 
7 52 and near the ford, which is good. 

Above and below are to be seen 
some considerable groves of timber. 
The land on it is very good. In 
these groves honey is to be found. 
105 55 642 18 Bridge creek [Switzler's creek near 

Burlingame], 100 links wide, runs 
southeast. It affords good water, 
timber and grass. The bed of this 
2 05 creek is muddy and must of neces- 

sity be bridged. Timber is con- 
venient, and no better crossing is 
to be found near the road. 
107 60 640 13 Muscle creek [branch of Dragoon], 

or Marias de Cygne river, is 100 
2 64 links in places and runs southeast. 

It is a pretty stream, affording fine 
land, timber and water and excel- 
lent camping places. The ford is 
good. 
110 44 637 29 Waggon creek [branch of Soldier 

creek], 50 links, bears southeast 



KANSAS AND EANSANS 95 

Prom Ft. < (sage. FromTaos. 

Miles, elms. Miles. Chns. 

5 63 into Muscle creek aboul one-half 

mile below. The crossing on this 
creel is good camping, for water, 
wood and grass. 

116 27 633 16 Murder creek [branch of Elm 

\. E. Lyon county], 20 links wide, 

1 31 runs southward. Verj little tim- 

ber; lord and water good. 

117 58 630 15 Willow creek [Chicken creek, near 

Waushara posl office, north Lyon 

2 58 county], 40 links wide, runs 

south M. 
120 36 627 37 Elm creek [north of Admire, Lyon 

county], 50 links wide, runs south- 
2 71 east. Ford and water good; not 

much timber. 
123 27 624 46 Elk creek [142 creek. Lyon county, 

north of Allen], 40 links wide, bears 

southward; ford and water good. 
7 10 'Phis creek affords some pretty 

groves and very good land and 

camping places. 
130 37 617 36 Hickory creek [Bluff creek, near 

Agnes City, Lyon county], 20 links 
5 38 wide, runs southwest. Ford and 

water good. This creek affords 

some very pretty hickory groves. 

some good lands and good camping 

places. 

135 75 611 78 Rock creek [eastern part of Morris 

county], a beautiful stream 50 links 
wide, runs- southward. Ford and 
4 60 water good. Here is excellent camp- 

ing ground. This creek has some 
line land and is tolerably well tim- 
bered. 

140 55 607 18 Gravel creek [Big John creek and Big 

John spring], 30 links wide, runs 
southwardly. This is a pretty little 
stream, affording some excellent 
1 57 land and handsome groves; at 12% 

chains X.. 20 E., from this ford is 
a very fine fountain spring and 
good camping grounds. 

142 32 605 41 Council Grove, where the commis- 

sioners met the Osage chiefs in 
council on the LOth of August, 1825 

This is the largest body of w Hand 

passed through after leaving Hi;.' 
Blue; 'tis here aboul a quarter of a 
wide mile; above and below are 
some groves more extensive. The 
timber and land are of superior 
10 quality and the general face of the 

countn interesting. Springs of 
excellenl water are frequent, and 



10 


30 


53 


01 


5 


27 



96 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

no doubt good water-mill seats may 
be found on this fork of the Neozho 
and its numerous small branches 
that water this beautiful tract of 
country. 
142 51 605 22 Council ' fork of Neozho [Neosho 

river], here 50 links wide and runs 
boldly southward. Ford good. 
594 72 Small creek (branch of Elm creek], 

15 links wide, runs southward; no 
timber. 

158 28 5S9 45 Diamond of the Plains [Diamond 

Springs, four miles north of Dia- 
mond Springs station, on A. T. & 
S. F. railway], a remarkably fine 
large fountain spring, near which 
is good camping ground. Otter 
1 creek [Diamond creek] is 3 chains 

west dl' this spring, and affords 
wood for fuel. It is 15 links wide 
and runs southward. 

159 28 588 45 First timbered creek [Mile-and-a-half 
creek], 10 links- wide, runs south'd. 
Some timber, hut little water. 

586 47 Second timbered creek [Three-mile 

creek], like the first. 

585 45 Third timbered creek [Six-mile 

creek], like the first. 

584 53 Fourth timbered creek [Camp creek], 

like the first. 

579 41 Cottonwood creek [Clear creek], 10 

links wide, runs southwest. A very 
few eottonwood trees are on this 
7 71 creek, and water not very good or 

plenty. 
176 26 571 47 Duck creek [east branch of Muddy or 

Luta creek: this point is about three 
3 72 miles south of Cost Springs, and a 

noted stopping place on the trail], 
20 links- wide and runs southwest. 
Plenty of water and pretty good 
grass, but no wood near. 
180 IS 567 55 High Bank creek [west branch of 

Muddy or Luta creek], 20 links 
wide, runs southward. lias no tim- 
7 IS ber, and the banks being high makes 

it rather bad to cross. Plenty of 
water and tolerable grass. 
1S7 18 560 55 Cottonwood fork of Neozho [Cotton- 

wood river near Durham 1. 50 links 
wide and in places 100 links; 'tis 
(lie last water of the Xeozho which 
the road crosses. Here is plenty of 
wood, and water ami the grass is 
tolerable. No other wood will he 
found on the road after this until 



1 


78 


161 


26 


1 


02 


162 


28 




72 


163 


32 


5 


12 


168 


32 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 97 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. ( 'hns. Miles. Chns. 
19 63 at the Little Arkansas, and com- 

monly no water before Indian creek. 
About ten miles on the road, in the 
head of a hollow south of the road 
and near it, water may be had ; the 
hollow bears southward. The road 
is over high level land and is suf- 
ficiently beaten and plain. 

207 01 540 72 Indian creek [branch of Turkey 

creek, McPherson county], 10 links 
wide, runs southwestwardly. Af- 
fords good water and grass, but no 
fuel. From the higher parts of the 
prairie hereabout the sand hills ap- 
pear west of Little Arkansas. Sora 
Kansas creek, 10 links, bears south- 
ward. About three miles south of 
7 66 the ford is a grove of timber on 

this creek, and at the upper timber 
it may be crossed, but generally 
the crossing south of the road would 
be bad. At this grove the commis- 
sioners met the Kansas chiefs in 
council on the 16th of August, 1825. 
[A few miles south of McPherson.] 

214 67 533 06 From the Sora Kansas creek [branch 

of Turkey creek, McPherson 
county] to the ford on the little 
Arkansas the road bears to the 
southward of the direct line to 
avoid (or head) a branch of the 
15 20 Kansas river. It is important that 

the ford on the Little Arkansas be 
found, as it is generally impassable 
on account of bitrh banks and un- 
sound bed. The ford is perhaps 
half a mile below the mouth of a 
small creek, which runs into it on 
the cast side. 

230 07 517 66 At the crossing of the Little Arkansas 

[east Pice county] there is wood 
for fuel ami the water ari*d grass 
are tolerably good. Having crossed 
7 48 the creek, travel up a small creek 

of it. continuing on the south side 
of it. There is no timber on this 
creek, which i> short. When at the 
head of if the sand hills will 
a few miles to the left. 

237 55 510 18 Difficult creek [branch of Cow creek], 

15 links, runs southward into l old 

Water I ( 'nv, creek ! . There is no 

2 timber near the road on it. and the 

lied i< rather sofl and had to crOSS 

239 55 508 18 Timbered creek [Jarvis creek, branch 

of Cow creek], 10 links, runs 



98 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 
Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

south 'd. It should be crossed just 
7 09 at the upper timber. Water and 

grass tolerably good. 

246 64 501 09 Cold water or Cow creek [near Lyons, 

Rice county] is a narrow stream, 
from 30 to 50 links wide, for the 
most part miry, banks commonly 
high. There is tolerable crossing 
just above the largest body of tim- 
15 56 ber on it, which is very conspicu- 

ous; on the two branches eastward 
of the creek is timber. The camp- 
ing is good on this creek for wood, 
water, grass and (commonly) buf- 
falo. 

262 40 485 33 From Cow creek the traveler should 

be careful not to bear too much to 
the left or he will get on the sands ; 
he may travel directly west or a 
little north of west, as he may 
choose, to fall on the Arkansas. 
After crossing Cow creek the beaten 
road, which hitherto has been plain, 
will probably be seen no moi'e as a 
guide. The Arkansas will be the 
guide for about two hundred miles. 
In general the traveler should not 
keep near the river, as 'tis sandy. 
10 01 Near the foot of the hills the ground 

is firm and the traveling better. 
Where it is necessary to turn in to 
the river 1o camp 'tis commonly 
best to turn in short or at right 
angles, and fuel may be picked up 
almost anywhere, and the grass is 
commonly pretty good. Generally 
the river is a quarter of a mile 
broad, and may be crossed on horse- 
back almost anywhere if the banks 
permit, and they are generally low. 
The water is pleasant in this part 
of the river and above. 

272 41 475 32 Walnut creek, from 60 to 100 links 

wide, runs into the Arkansas at the 
north bend a little above a hand- 
some grove of timber on the south 
part, of the river, called "Pit 
Grove." The crossing of the creek 
is directly between the bends of the 
river next below and next above the 
creek. The ford is good. On this 
creek is more timber than on any 
25 24 from Council Grove, principally 

low. crooked ash and elm. When 
in season, plenty of plums are to 
be had here, and the camping is 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 99 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 
Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

very good for water, fuel and grass. 
The latitude of this place is 38° 
21' 10". The road may continue 
straight by Kock Point [Pawnee 
Rock], as dotted, to the crossing of 
the creek above it. 

297 65 450 08 Crooked ereek [Ash creek], 50 links 

wide, bears southeast and affords 
plenty of excellent wood and grass, 
hut the water is not very good. Its 
1 61 bed is shaded with ash and elm. It 

may he crossed in many places; in 
the fall it is nearly dry. 

302 46 445 27 Pawnee ereek [Pawnee river], 100 

links wide, runs nearly east. Ford 
tolerably good ; west bank a little 
soft. The ford is at the south point 
of a sort of bluff. The camping is 
good for grass and water and toler- 
able for fuel. The creek is shaded 
with elm and ash. From this point 
some travelers prefer to continue 
up on the south side of this creek 
10 77 for some distance, then crossing it 

several times, continue westward, 
passing [from] the headwaters over 
to the Arkansas, as being nearer 
than the river, but the river route 
is more safe and convenient for man 
and beast. 

313 43 434 30 Mouth of Clear creek [Big Coon 

creek], a small stream of trans- 
parent running water. Its course 
is from its head, nearly parallel 
with the river and near it. in what 
41 19 may perhaps be called the river bot- 

tom. On the south side of the river 
among the sand hills, which border 
it opposite the head of Clear creek 
[Big Coon creek], elk are to be 
found and a few deer, and, when 
in season, plums and grapes. 

354 62 393 11 South Bend of the Arkansas river. 

Here is the first rock bluff seen on 
the river. The latitude of this 
place is 37 38' 52". It would be 
much nearer to cross the river here 
ami as, end Mulberry creek to it- 
source am! then go directlj to the 
lower spring [Wagon Bed Spring, 
near Zionville, Granl county 1 on 
tin' Semaron [Cimarron] ; but on 
trial of the way travelers have dis- 
continued it as unsafe It is in- 
commodious of water and timber 
for fuel, and wants such prominent 



100 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 
Miles. Chns. Miles. Clms. 

land marks as will be a sure guide. 
On this route has been much suf- 
fering; in a dry time 'tis danger- 
ous. Some turn off at a place 
known to the Santa Fe travelers 
by the name of the "Cashes" near 
to which is a rocky point of a hill 
at some distance from the river, 
composed of cemented pebbles, and 
therefore called Gravel Rocks. At 
about 3 miles southwest from this 

33 22 rock is a place of crossing for those 

who travel the lower route, or 
directly to the aforenamed Semaron 
Spring, but this (though in a less 
degree) is subject to the same 
objections as that directly from the 
south bend. The road this way is 
good, and in the spring and early 
summer, to those who may be 
acquainted with it or may have a 
compass to direct them, it is about 
30 miles nigher than the upper 
route. The direct course from this 
point to the spring is S. 71%, W. 
71 miles [about 72 miles south- 
west] . Hut the upper route is more 
safe for herding stock and more 
commodious to (he traveler, as he 
will always be sure of wood and 
water on the river and a sure guide, 
and in general it is easier to kill 
buffalo for provision. 
388 04 359 69 The Mexican boundary of 100th de- 

gree of longitude west from Green- 
wich is where a few Cottonwood 
trees stand on the north side of the 
river, about lVs miles above a tim- 
bered bottom on the same side. At 

39 35 this timbered bottom is very good 

camping for grass and fuel. [This 
is- about 15 miles east of where the 
100th meridian is now on maps.] 

127 39 320 34 Crossing of the Arkansas [about 6 

miles above the present Garden ( lity 
and 20 miles east of Chouteau 
Island I . just below the bend of the 
river at the lower end of a small 
island, with a few trees. At this 
place there are no banks on either 
side in hinder waggons. The cross- 
ing is very oblique, landing on the 
south side a quarter of a mile above 
the entrance on this side. The 
river is here very shallow, not more 

20 than knee deep in a lew stage el' the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 101 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

water. The bed of the river is al- 
together sand, and it is unsafe to 
stand long on one place with a 
waggon, or it may sink into the sand. 
After passing a few wet places, 
just beyond the river, the road is 
again very good up to Chouteau's 
Island. Keep out from the river or 
there will be sand to pass. 

44 7 39 300 34 At Chouteau's Island [near Hartland, 

Kearny county |, the road leaves tin- 
river altogether. Many tilings 
unite to mark this place so strongly 
that the traveler will not mistake 
it. It is the Largest island of tim- 
ber on the river, and on the south 
side of the river at the lower end 
of the islaud is a thicket of willows 
with some cottonwood trees. On 
the north side of the river the hills 
approach tolerably nigh and on 
[one] of them is a sort of mound, 
conspicuous at some miles distance, 
and a little eastward of it in a bot- 
tom is some timber, perhaps a quar- 
ter of a mile from the river. The 
course of the river likewise being 
more south identify the place. 

On tin- river through all the space 
traveled there is great similarity of 
features; the hills are commonly 
very low ami the ascent almost 
everywhere so gentle that waggons 
may go up them. They are covered 
with very short grass, and the 
prickly pear abounds. The soil on 
the hills is- not very good. The 
bottoms on the river are sometimes 
good, but frequently not so. They 
are .sometimes a mile or more in 
width, frequently rising so gently 
it would be difficult to designate the 
fool of the hill. It is generally 
sandy near the river, and the grass 
coarse and high, consequently the 
traveling is bad near the river, hut 
a little off it is almosl everj where 
good. (>n Cow creek or fold Water 
short grass commences, and the 
short grass bounds the burnings of 
the prairie. This creek is almost as 
nigh home as buffalo are found, and 
from this creek they may he hail at 
almost anj place until within sijrht 
of the mountains near Santa Pe. 

Before leaving the river, where 



102 KANSAS AND KANSANS 



From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 
Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 



fuel is plenty, the traveler will do 
well to prepare food for the next 
hundred miles, as he will find no 
limber on the road in that distance, 
except at one place, which will not 
probably be one of his stages; at 
least he should prepare bread. In 
dry weather buffalo dung will make 
tolerable fuel to boil a kettle, but 
it is not good for bread baking, and 
that is the only fuel he will have. 

After leaving the river the road 
leads southward, leaving the two 
Cottonwood trees on the right, which 
stand perhaps a mile from the river. 
From the brow of the hill, which 
is low, and is the border of the sand 
hills, the road leads a little east of 
south to a place which sometimes 
[is] a very large pond, and con- 
tinues along the western margin, 
and after passing some trees stand- 
ing at the south end, reaches a very 
slight valley, through which in wet 
weather flows a small creek, coming 
from the plains beyond the sand 
hills. From this place the traveler 
will see some trees in a southwest 
direction, which he will leave on 
his right, and will continue along 
the valley in the bed of the creek 
(which he can hardly recognize as 
such) very nearly due south for 
about four miles to the southern 
edge of the sand hills, where gen- 
erally he will find a large pond of 
water in the bed of the small creek, 
which is now more apparent. But 
this pond is sometimes dry; due 
south from it for about two miles 
distant are several ponds of stand- 
ing water, where the grass is 
tine and abundant. The distance 
through the sand hills here is about 
five miles, and the road not bad. 
These hills are from thirty to fifty 
feet high and generally covered 
with grass and herbage. From this 
place a due south course will strike 
the lower spring [Wagon Bed 
spring. near Zionville, Grant 
county] on the Semaron creek, and 
as that creek then is the guide for 
about eighty miles, and waggons can 
in one day drive across the level, 
firm plain from the ponds to the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 103 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

spring, the road was so laid out. 
There is another advantage, name- 
ly, the certainty of traveling due 
south and north from the pass of 
the sand hills to the spring, and 
vice versa, is much greater than if 
the course were oblique to the 
cardinal points, and at any rate 
there is but little loss of distance, 
for the creek bears so much from 
the southward that the diagonal or 
long side is almost equal to the two 
shorter sides of the very obtuse 
angle that would be made by strik- 
ing the creek higher up. The road 
crosses Half Way creek [North 
32 50 Cimarron river, near Ulysses, 

Grant county] at somewhat more 
than ten miles north of the spring, 
at which place are water and grass. 
The creek is about 50 links wide 
and bears southeast, and may be 
easily crossed. 

480 09 267 64 Lower Semaron Spring [Wagon Bed 

spring, Grant county] is at the west 
edge of a marsh green with bull- 
rushes. The marsh is north of the 
creek and near it. The spring is 
constant, but the creek is some- 
times dry until you ascend it ten 
or twelve miles, where it will be 
found running. The stream is 
bolder and the water better as one 
travels up it. It is the guide to 
the traveler until he reaches the 
upper spring near eighty miles. 
Three miles above the lower spring 
is some timber, from which place 
the road is on the hill north of the 
creek for twelve or fifteen miles. 
One may then either continue on 
38 63 the hills north of the creek or travel 

in the bottom, but the hills are best 
for ten or fifteen miles further, as 
the valley of the creek is sandy in 
many places. One must necessarily 
camp on the creek to have water, 
but the water is very bad until one 
travels a great way up it. as it is 
impregnated [with] saline matter. 
which, like fine powder, makes white 
a great part of the valley. The 
grass in this valley is not so good 
as that on the Arkansas, the land 
tiot being so good either in the val- 
ley or on the hills. 



104: KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 
Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

518 72 229 01 Middle Spring, near half a mile from 

the ereek, on the north of it, near a 
mile below a sort of rock bluff at 
the point of a hill. [This place is 
in southwest Morton count}', about 
7 miles north and 6 miles east of the 
southwest corner of Kansas. The 
rock bluff is the "Point of Rocks" 
on southeast 14, 12-34-43, as noted 
on maps of later date ; the old 
"Point of Rocks'" is about 130 miles 
31 further on in New Mexico.] Above 

this middle spring the road is in the 
creek bottom, which in places is 
very sandy. One must pick the 
firmest ground, and for this pur- 
pose must cross the creek occa- 
sionally, which may be done almost 
anywhere, as the banks are com- 
monly low and the bed sandy. 

549 72 198 01 Timber on the Semaron at this place. 

which is the first timber on the 
creek above the few trees near the 
lower spring. The road leaves the 
creek and continues in a south west - 
wardly direction to a patch of tim- 
ber, which maj r be seen from the 
hill (near this timber) on the south 
6 54 of the creek. At the patch of tim- 

ber is a spring, called the upper 
Semaron Spring, ami around it are 
some mounds of coggy rock several 
hundred feet high. 

556 46 191 27 Upper Spring. At this place is wood 

and water, but not much grass for 
stock. In season there are plenty 
of grapes. From this point the 
road passes by a spur of a hill 
southwest about a mile from the 
spring. From this hill will be seen 
two small mountains very near to- 
gether, called "Rabbit's Ears," 
bearing about 60 degrees west of 
south. Those points guide the 
traveler, but he will at first hear 
11 08 a little to the right of the direct 

course that he may avoid some 
points of hills, and will fall on a 
small creek, and will find it best 
to cross it and continue up it on the 
west side a mile or two and then 
recross it, keeping pretty well the 
general direction. 

567 54 180 19 Mire Spring at this place is no dis- 

tinct spring, lint a miry place where 
water can be bad. but no wood; 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



From Ft. Osage. From Tans. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 



grass is only tolerable. From this 
place, after continuing in the gen- 
eral direction to the Rabbil 's Bars 
some five or six miles. "Pilot 
Mountain" will appear a little 
more to the west. The road leads 
by the foot fit' it, keeping prettj 
well the general direction to it. 

Lmise creek, say 30 links wide, and 
bears southeast. The best camping 
ground is at a pond of water in tin 
bed of this creek, which does no1 
generally run, about half a mile 
below one or two trees standing on 
the creek. Commonly a little fuel 
of drift wood may be picked up, as 

there is some timber up the ci k, 

though none about the camping 
ground. The water and grass are 
good. 

From this to Turkey creek ami 
theme to the Rabbit's Ears creek 
the routes are various, agreeably to 
the traveler's notions. There is 

S - sand (I may say sand hills) 

to pass from this to Turkey creek. 
The road as here laid down eon 
tinues up a small fork of Louse 
creek, on the south side of it, which 
runs into the creek a mile or more 
perhaps above the camp, and from 
the head id' this fork pass us over 
to Turkey creek, which is near. 
Perhaps a better way would lie to 
turn up a valley nearly smith, winch 
will be seen after leaving the camp 
a mih' or two. continue in the val- 
ley a mile or more, perhaps, until 
the general direction to Pilot Moun- 
tain may he resumed. The sand 
will then be on the right hand. The 
road is tolerably good. 

Turkey creek. On this creels the 
camping is good for wood, water 

and lm'.-iss. Tl reek is :',u links 

and bears S. E. 

I.'ahliit 's Ears creek, ."ill links 
wide, runs from this place, where 
the traveler leaves it. nearlj i ast. 

< >n the .south of it overvw here i-. 
at a little distance from the stream. 
a rocky hill several hundred fed 
high, from the top of which is level 

land to southward. On this creek 
camping is good for water, wood 
and LM'ass. Here also are some 



106 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

deer, the first seen after passing the 
south bend of the Arkansas. 

620 37 127 36 Pilot Mountain, on the left hand. 

From about this place will be seen 
many small mountains on the right 
at ten or fifteen miles distance, ex- 
tending to the southwest; the ex- 
7 tremity of which is called the Point 

of Rocks, to which the road leads, 
at first bearing more southward to 
avoid sand. 

627 37 120 36 A creek, ten links, bears south 'd. On 

this creek a scattering bush or two 
appears, but no timber: water and 
grass are tolerable. On the west 
edge of a board and sometimes dry 
pond covered with grass and weeds, 
14 27 and where are some rocks above the 

ground, at one mile eastward of this 
creek, is a good spring; no drain 
from it except for a few feet. 

641 64 106 09 Don Carolus creek, 50 links wide, bears 

southwest. Here is plenty of wood, 
water and grass, and the crossing 
of the creek is tolerably good. 
98 70 Nooning branch. Here is generally 

water and grass and fuel. 
97 30 Point of Rocks. At this place is a 

very constant and good spring. 
The mountains are in full view, and 
as no beaten road will be discovered 
13 78 until more traveled, the traveler 

will be guided by the strong fea- 
tures of the country, which with 
care on his part will conduct him 
safelv on his journey. 

664 41 83 32 From the Point of Rocks the traveler 

. will proceed a little south of west, 
as indicated by the map, leaving a 
higher swell of the plain or a little 
hill a fourth or half a mile to his 
left, and will proceed until at the 
brow of the high tableland on which 
he will find himself to be. Looking 
across the valley before him through 
which a small creek flows to south- 
west, he will see the southern point 
6 31 of similar highland to that on 

which he is, a little beyond which 
point is the Canadian river. The 
road passes as near the point on 
the south of it. as is convenient and 
continues forward to the Canadian. 
On the creek in the valley short of 
the Canadian is water and grass 



7 


19 


649 


03 


1 


40 


650 


43 



KANSAS AND KANSANS HIT 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

plenty, but no timber. There are a 
few willow bushes. 

670 72 77 01 Canadian river, a bold running 

stream from 50 to 80 links wide, 
bears southeast. The ford is rocky 
and shallow and is easy to find. If 
missed the traveler would not be 
able to cross below the fork in many 
miles. Camping is good for water 
and grass, and fuel may be had, 
but it is here scarce. On the west 
bank of this stream the road to 
8 52 Santa Fe by the way of St. Miguel 

turns off to the left, on which see 
the remarks at the end of this work 
from the crossing of the Canadian 
the road continues a little west of 
south just by and on the south side 
of a hill with small bushy pines. 

679 44 68 29 A pond of water in the valley near 

to the pine hills, where fuel may 
be had. and water and plenty of 
grass for stock. From the pine hill 
the road bears a little more south, 
and will in 5 or 6 miles pass some 
very elevated tableland or a low, 
flat-top mountain. Leaving it on the 
right, will cross the bed of a small 
creek f frequently dry), bearing 
southeast, and will cross the valley 
obliquely to the elevated tableland 
which bounds the southern side of 
the valley, and will continue to the 
southwest quarter of the valley 
(which is several miles broad and 
14 28 projects with several prongs west- 

ward) to where the tableland on the 
. south of the road joins a spur of 
what may be deemed a low moun- 
tain projecting to the south 'd two 
or three miles. At the junct inn the 
road, turning more to the left, up a 
narrow valley, ascends to tin- top 
of the tableland. From this place, 
where there are a few small, bushy 
trees, fuel may be taken to a pond 
of water about half a mile eastward, 
where there is plenty of tine grass 

693 72 54 01 The road continues around the spur 

of the mountain and turns west 
ward up a small creek with rocky 
cliffs, which will be immediately on 
tile left, and will cross it immedi- 
ately at the upper end of the ,-litTs. 
and «ill continue up it. passing a 
gap id' an arm of the mountain, and 



108 KANSAS AND KANSANS 



From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chn 



just a high cliff or point on the 
left, will cross a small fork of the 
creek and will continue up the 
north fork of it, which is the most 
19 17 considerable, to the foot of the 

mountain. On the south side of 
the small creek, which runs boldly, 
the road ascends the mountain, 
winding to the southwest to advan- 
tage until the brow is gained at the 
edge of a prairie. This part of the 
road up the mountain is strong and 
there is timber of pine and dwarf 
oak. 
713 09 34 64 This hill is the worst part of the 

road. As it is. waggons ran carry 
up light loads, but with labor . . . 
it might (and with no great diffi- 
culty ) be made tolerably srood. 
This is the first hill of difficulty 
. . . from the commencement. It 
is about a mile and a half from the 
foot to the summit, and when at the 
summit a prairie, which like a fillet 
borders the brow of this spur of the 
mountains, will conduct the traveler 
in a western direction to its descent. 
The soil of the prairie is dark and 
rich and the sjrass luxuriant and 
fine. It abounds with springs of 
finest water. All the way on this 
mountain there is much more ele- 
vated land on the right of the road, 
which is thickly timbered for the 
most part. Several species of pine. 
the aspen, some cedar and dwarf 
oak are the timbers of the moun- 
tain. Here also are found several 
sorts of game — bear, elk, deer, and 
turkey. Havinsr descended the 
western side of this mountain, 
which is tolerably thickly timbered, 
at the foot of it the road enters a 
prairie, where there is a small 
beaten path leading in a western 
direction, as the road goes, con- 
tinuing up a branch on the north 
side of it, crossing almost at right 
angles, one fork of it about 10 links 
wide running very boldly south 
about two miles from the foot of 
Hie mountain. At about three 
miles further are three fine springs 
15 07 in the valley, where is plenty of 

fuel, but grass only tolerable- 
nothing comparable anywhere in 



732 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 109 

From Ft. Osage. From Taos. 

Miles. Chns. Miles. Chns. 

the valley to what it is on the moun- 
tain. The road continues westward 
along the small path, bearing a lit- 
tle more from the branch and fall- 
ing on it again near the foot of a 
mountain, which is the dividing 
ridge, and which is about two miles 
from the valley springs. 

728 16 19 57 Foot of the dividing ridge. This 

mountain, especially on the east 
side, is more timbered than the 
other, but not so bad to cross. It 
also has prairie on the top like 
4 () 1 unto the other, through which the 

read passes to the western brow. 
Through the timbered parts of the 
mountain the road is open. 
15 56 Western foot of the dividing ridge. 

Here is a small stream, which flows 
with increased size into the valley 
of Taos. Just by the village of 
San Fernando the road continues 
1 down it to the best advantage, cross- 

ing it frequently. This valley is 
extremely scarce of grass and the 
road no1 good, though with little 
labor it might be excellent. 
San Fernando, the principal village 
in Taos. This being the nearest of 
the .Mexican settlements, the most 
northern and the most abundant in 
provisions for man and beast, de- 
termined the survey of the road 
hither, although the way to Santa 
Fe by St. Miguel is said to be some- 
what better and equally high. 
Prom Tans, which is in latitude 
36 24' 00", to Santa Ke. in lati- 
tude 35 41' 15", the diatom e as 
traveled is about 70 miles, and with 
a little labor a good wagon n ad 

may be had. Tl iurse is aboul 

south-southwest. The |;i,, Del 
Norte, 7 or 8 miles west of Taos, 
and about twice that distance wesl 
of Santa Pe, is about three chains 
wide and has many rippl 
places to hinder aavigation. The 
road Leading from one place to the 
"(her falls on the river at 
tinues along it a feu miles. Be 
tween these two places are some 
half do en \ illages or more, the 
chief of which Is Santa ( !ruz, aboul 
22 miles above Santa Pe and in 
Bighl of the river. 



110 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

In conclusion a few remarks will be made on the road by St. Miguel, 
not from observation, but from information. Immediately after crossing 
the Canadian the traveler will turn nearly south, and after going a few 
miles will reach a bold running stream, the same which the road to Taos 
continues up. He will cross it at a fall or rapid, as below he can not for 
its rocky cliffs, and above he can not on account of mud and quicksand. 
After crossing this creek he will continue forward in the same direction, 
and, where convenient, will ascend the high tableland which extends all 
along on the right, and will proceed forward just by the east end of a 
small mountain shaped like a shoe, with the toe to the west. . . . 
It is very plain to sight from the elevated lands before crossing the 
Canadian, and when first seen bears 25 west. It may be a day's travel 
or more from the crossing of the Canadian. After passing it a longer 
mountain will be passed, leaving it on the left. This too is in sight as 
soon as the other, which is called the Pilot. After passing the long 
mountain on the left the directions are general. The mountain will be 
a guide on the right; some small 'isolated ones will be on the left. The 
road is level and generally good. Several creeks will be crossed, and 
the road, bearing a little west of south, will lead to St. Miguel, which is 
about 45 miles southeast from Santa Fe, from which the road is plain. 

October 27, 1827. 

The Kansas State Historical Society has worked out the course of the 
Trail through the different counties of Kansas, and identified it with 
present day geography, as follows : 



BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE SANTA FE TRAIL THROUGH 

KANSAS 

Johnson County 

The different Missouri River branches of the trail, whether from old 
Franklin, Fort Osage, (Sibley), Independence, Westport, or Kansas 
City, came together in the northeast part of Johnson County, and by one 
common course passed out of the county near its southwest corner. An 
early course of the road entered the county and state just nine miles due 
south of the mouth of the Kansas River and east of the village of Glenn. 
The line from Westport passed near the old Shawnee Mission. From 
near Lenexa the trails passed over one route southwest through Olathe 
and Gardner, across Bull Creek and into Douglas County. The junction 
of the Oregon and California trails was near the present town of Gard- 
ner, and at one time there stood at this point an old guidepost which 
bore the legend: "Road to Oregon." 

Douglas County 

The trail entered Douglas County near its southeast corner, a few 
miles east of Black Jack, from where it took a northwesterly course 
through Palmyra and on to Willow Springs. Here it turned to the 
southwest, passing close to Globe and Baden of later days and into 
Osage County about three miles north of the southwest corner of Doug- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 111 

las County. Palmyra, which later became a part of Baldwin, was long a 
favorite place for repairing wagons and for rest. Willow Springs, 
about seven miles to the northwest of Palmyra, was also a favorite place 
and had a thrilling territorial history. 

Osage County 

In passing westerly through Osage County, a distance of twenty-four 
miles, the trail dropped only one mile south, entering from Douglas 
County at section 3-15-17 ; thence to Flag Spring and almost due west 
along the natural divide for ten or more miles, passing where the town 
of Overbrook now stands and on to 110 creek^ crossing in section 12-15- 
15. From this place it ran westward, passing within a mile south of the 
present Scranton to the present location of Burlingame, where it crossed 
Switzler Creek. This was the location of the Council City of territorial 
days. For a mile through Burlingame, Santa Fe avenue represents the 
course of the trail. After crossing Dragoon Creek its course took it 
through the old town of Wilmington, in the southeast corner of Wabaun- 
see County. 

Lyon County 

Entering the county of Lyon near the northeast corner, the trail 
crossed the county dropping about five miles south of a westerly course. 
Waushara, on Chicken Creek, Elm Creek, the crossing of 142 Creek, and 
Agnes City, on Bluff Creek, were stopping places of more or less im- 
portance at different times. In Lyon County the main line of the Mis- 
souri Pacific Railway is from three to six miles south of the old trail. 



Morris County 

The trail entered Morris County about seven miles east of Council 
Grove, and in crossing the county dropped south just six miles. A short 
distance east of Council Grove it crossed Big John Creek and ran close 
by the "Big John Spring" now in Fremont Park, where at one time 
were numerous stones bearing inscriptions, names and dates. 

Council Grove was the most noted stopping place between the Mis- 
souri River and Santa Fe. Here the treaty with the Osage Indians was 
made, Augusl Id. 1S25, for right of way of the trail across the Plains, 
and for years it was the last chance to obtain supplies. Its Main street. 
on both sides of the Xeoslm. marks the course of the trail. Prom Council 
Grove for several miles there were two routes, one along the high 
divide to the north of Elm I 'reek, and the other passing up the valley 
of said creek, the two roads uniting a mile or two southeast of the present 
town of YVilsey. 

Prom Council Grove the trail passed westward, close to Helmick and 
Wilsey of to-day, thence directly north of the "Morehouse ranche" pas- 



112 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

tures and through sections 33 and 34, township 17, range 6, of the ad- 
joining "Diamond Spring" or "Whiting ranche" where the famous 
prairie fountain, ' ' The Diamond of the Plain ' ' still flows. This is about 
four miles north of the present village of Diamond Springs, on the 
A. T. & S. F. railway. The trail passed about three miles north of Bur- 
dick and entered Marion County some six miles south of the present 
Herington, Dickinson county. 

Marion County 

The trail entered Marion County at the east side of section 12-17-4, 
a mile and a quarter south of the northeast corner of the county. Its 
first place of note was the well-known "Lost Spring," situated about 
two miles west of the present town of Lost Springs and fifteen miles due 
north of the present town of Marion. This spring is at the head of 
Lyons Creek, a tributary of the Kansas River. From here the road 
passed in a westerly direction near the sites of the present towns of 
Ramona and Tampa, dropping southwesterly to the Cottonwood, cross- 
ing near what is now the town of Durham (at one time "Moore's 
ranche") : continuing southwest, it passed out of the county at a point 
directly east of the present town of Canton, McPherson County. 

The survey of the trail between "Diamond of the Plain" and Cotton- 
wood Crossing passed two or three miles south of the route as used, and 
thus crossed several creeks in Morris and Marion counties, which the 
upper route avoided by Following the watershed between the Kansas and 
Cottonwood rivers. 

McPherson County 

Entering the county midway of its eastern boundary, just east of the 
present Canton, the ti-ail bore slightly southwest, crossing Running 
Turkey Springs, and Dry Turkey Creek and passing out of the county 
some miles south of the present town of Windom. On section 21-20-3, 
about five miles south of the present city of McPherson, is a place on 
Dry Turkey Creek (once called Sora Kansas Creek) where the United 
States commissioners, while surveying, the trail, met the chiefs of the 
Kansas Indians in council on the 16th day of August, 1825. A monu- 
ment to commemorate the event has been erected near the spot. 

Rice County 

Through Rice County the trail passed almost east and west through 
the center. Entering at the east side of section 13-20-6, it crossed the 
Little Arkansas at the noted Stone Corral and breastworks thence ran 
west, passing h'ss than a mile smith of the present city of Lyons; crossing 
Jan is Creek, and Big and Little Caw creeks, it passed out of the county 
.n sectioD 31-19-10 into Barton County. About three miles west of the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 113 

present Lyons, close to the trail, are the "rifle pits" and "Buffalo Bill's 
well." 

Barton County 

Entering Barton County the trail ran due west five miles to the 
present Ellinwood, where it first came to the Arkansas River. Following 
the river, it passed Fort Zarah, located near the crossing of Walnut 
Creek. From here the trail rounded the north or great bend of the 
Arkansas, turning southwest near the "present town of Great Bend, and 
passing out of the county close to the famous ' ' Rock Point, ' ' afterward 
known as "Pawnee Rock." 

Pawnee County 

The trail passed through the present Larned and old Fort Larned 
reservation, crossing the Pawnee River. From this point to Fort Dodge, 
in Ford County, there were two routes, one following closer to the Ar- 
kansas River and touching Big Coon Creek near the present Garfield; 
the other passing Fort Larned and running southwest, sometimes at a 
distance of ten miles from the Arkansas River. 

Edwards County 

Through Edwards county the trail followed two main routes. The 
oldest, or river route, kept between the Arkansas River and the parallel 
stream of Big Coon Creek, (formerly Clear Creek), and passing by the 
present sites of Nettleton and Kinsley. The other route kept from four 
to six miles from the river, crossing Little Coon Creek about three miles 
west of Kinsley at the old Battle Ground, and passing out of the county 
about a mile south of the present village of Offerle. 

Ford County 

The trail entered Ford county from the northeast by two routes ; the 
lower route followed the north side of the Arkansas, while the upper 
route entered the county about eight miles north of the river. These two 
lines came together near Fort Dodge, and then followed along the north 
side of the river, through the present site of Dodge City and near the 
"Caches" five miles west, entering Gray county just north of the Arkan- 
sas. There was another route of the trail in this county which was some- 
times used. It crossed the Arkansas River near the mouth of Mulberry 
Creek, and following up the creek, ran to the southwest. This trail was 
not safe in dry weather, there being few living streams near it. 

Gray County 

The old trail, as first surveyed through this region in 1825, was the 
route along the north side of the Arkansas river. This was the road 



114 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

unless wagon trains took the shorter but more dangerous Cimarron cut- 
off. The river route passed by the sites of the present towns of Wettick, 
Cimarron, Ingalls, and Charleston. The branch known as the Cimarron 
route crossed the Arkansas river near the present town of Cimarron at 
a place known for years as the ' ' Cimarron Crossing. ' ' It was so named 
because it was the shortest and most frequented way to the river of that 
name. It was sometimes called the "Middle Crossing," to distinguish it 
from the "Lower Crossing" near Mulberry Creek junction, and the 
"Upper Crossing" near Chouteau Island. The Cimarron Crossing and 
route was generally used after 1830, except during the dryest seasons 
or when the Indians were especially daxigerous. It passed southwest 
into Haskell County of to-day, and was by far the shortest road to 
Santa Fe. 

Haskell County 

The Cimarron branch of the trail entered Haskell County near the 
northeast corner and passed southwest between the present Ivanhoe and 
Santa Fe, and out of the county midway of its western border. Wild 
Horse Lake was to the north of the trail, but there were no important 
stopping places along its twenty-seven mile course in the county. 

Grant County 

The trail entered Grant County midway of its eastern boundary, and 
continuing its southwesterly course, crossed the North Fork of the Cimar- 
ron River and passed on to the well-known ' ' Lower Springs, ' ' later known 
as the "Wagon Bed Spring, " on the main Cimarron River. This stop- 
ping-place was in the extreme south part of the county, near the present 
Zionville, and w T as the point on the Cimarron to which the caravans 
headed when they had followed the trail, as surveyed in 1825, up the 
Arkansas river to Chouteau Island (near the present Hartland, Kearny 
County,) and there turned directly south. This route up the river was 
considered safer, the water spots not being so far apart, but it was not 
used much after 1830, the route to and from the Cimarron Crossing of 
the Arkansas being so much shorter. 

Stevens County 

Through Stevens County the trail paralleled the Cimarron River in 
its course through the northwest part of the county, but there were no 
important camping places. In following up the Cimarron to the south- 
west the trail sometimes kept fairly close to the river, but at times was 
several miles away; hence there were really two routes — the "river" 
and the "upland." 

Morton County 

Morton County has some thirty miles of the old trail within its borders. 
Entering the county about eight miles south of its northeast corner, the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 115 

trail followed up the Cimarron and passed out of the county and stale 
at a point about seven miles north of the southwest corner. The "Middle 
Spring" of the Cimarron route was in this county, not far from a noted 
place and landmark known as "Point of Rocks," this point being on the 
southeast quarter, section 12-34-43. There was also another "Point of 
Rocks" known in trail days, about 130 miles further on, in New Mexico. 
The Cimarron route of the Santa Fe trail, after leaving the present boun- 
daries of Kansas followed up the Cimarron River, first on one side of the 
stream, and then on the other, through the present states of Colorado and 
Oklahoma, for a distance of some sixty or sixty-five miles, when it entered 
the northeast corner of New Mexico. 

The Upfer Arkansas River Route, and Finney County 

This route of the trail followed up the north side of the Arkansas 
River from the Cimarron Crossing, through the counties of Gray, Finney, 
Kearny, and Hamilton, and is to-day represented by the main line of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. It. was used by those desiring to 
stop at Bent's Fort, in Colorado, or go on to Santa Fe via Trinidad, Raton 
Pass, etc. Through Finney County the trail touched the sites of the 
present towns of Pierceville, Garden City and Holcomb, but during trail 
days there was only one place of historic importance. The United States 
government survey of 1825 crossed the Arkansas River to the south side 
at,a point about seven miles up the river from the present Garden City 
and not far from the Holcomb of to-day. From this crossing, carefully 
described in the survey, the trail followed south of the river to Chouteau 
Island, where it turned due south to the "Lower Spring" of the Cim- 
arron. 

Klakxy Coi VIY 

The Upper Arkansas River branch of the trail followed north of that 
river through Kearny County. Chouteau Island — near the present town 
of Hartland — was a place of historic importance. It was to this point 
that the disastrous expedition of Chouteau (1815-1817) retreated and 
successfully resisted a Pawnee attack. Here too the Santa Fe trail, as 
surveyed by the United States Government in 1825, turned due south to 
the "Lower Spring" I Wagon Bed Spring) of the Cimarron. This 
route was sometimes called the "Aubry route" since Francis X. Aubry 
was known to have partially followed it on at least one of his famous 
rides between Santa Fe and Independence. It was a much better watered 
mull than the one by way of Cimarron Crossing. 

II \mii,to.\ County 

The line of the Atchison, Topeka. & Santa Fe Railway represents the 
route of the old trail through the present towns of Kendall. Marline. 
Syracuse, and Coolidge. Four miles easl of where Syracuse dow stands 



116 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

is a spring discovered by the famous French-Canadian scout Aubry. The 
United States Government established Fort Aubry here in 1865, but it 
was abandoned within a year. The trail passed out of the county and the 
state near the present town of Coolidge, and ran on up the river to where 
it turned southwest to Santa Fe via Trinidad and Raton Pass. 



From Wetmore's Gaxeteer of the State of Missouri, 1837, page 269, 
the following table of distances is taken : 

From Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe to 

Camp Grove 16 

Big Blue river ford 20 

Round Grove 14 

Belmont 20 

Left-hand Grove 18 

Right-hand Grove 18 

Elk Creek 5 

Marie ties Cignes : 11 

Rock Creek 5 

Prairie Camp 13 

Indian Camp 9 

High-water Creek 15 

Council Grove on the Neosho 8 

Plain Creek 5 

Diamond Spring 8 

Prairie Spring 8 

Hook's Spring (in prairie) 8 

Cottonwood Grove 13 

Lake Camp 18 

Small Creek 20 

Little Arkansas 18 

Branch of Cow Creek 12 

Main Cow Creek 13 

Arkansas river 15 

Walnut Creek (up the Arkansas) 20 

Ash Creek 24 

Pawnee Fork of Arkansas 8 

Plain Camp 15 

Little Pond 21 

Small Drain 20 

Anderson 's Caches on the Arkansas 20 

Pond Camp west of Ai'kansas river 7 

The Two Ponds 22 

Several Ponds 19 

The Lake 12 

Sandy Creek 12 

Lone Pond 14 

Small Pool 22 

The Semiron 8 

The Lower Spring 2 

Salt Camp 8 

Nitre Camp 21 

The Willows 7 

Saltpetre Camp, in view of Sugar House Mound 10 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 117 

From Independence, Mo., to Santa Fe to 

Upper Semiron Spring 1 1 > 

Seven Mile Creek 7 

Drain Camp 8 

Two Pools 17 

Rocky Pool 8 

Bad Water 7 

Sugar Loaf 5 

Kiawa Camp 10 

Sabine Camp 15 

Round Mound 4 

Rocky Branch 14 

Summit Level, in view of Rocky Mountains 8 

Harl 's Camp 6 

Point of Rocks 10 

Deep Hollow 7 

Canadian Fork 15 

Mule Creek 6 

Pilot Knobs 19 

Tar Kiln Grove 20 

El Moro 10 

El Sapiote 2 

Rio Las Guineas 18 

San Magil (village) 25 

Santa Fe 40 

Total 897 

The following note and table will be found in Gregg's Commerce of 
the Prairies, 1844, page 313 : 

Having crossed the Prairies between Independence and Santa Fe six 
times, I can now present a table of the most notable camping sites, and 
their respective intermediate distances, with approximate accuracy, 
which may prove acceptable to some future travelers. The whole dis- 
tance has been variously estimated at from 750 to 800 miles, yet f feel 
confident that the aggregate here presented is very nearly the true 
distance: 

From Independence to — .Miles Aggregate 

Round ( rrove 35 

Narrows 30 65 

110-mile Creek 35 100 

Bridge Cr 8 108 

Big John Spring (crossing sev'l crs.) 40 148 

Council drove 2 150 

Diamond Spring 15 165 

Los1 Spring 15 180 

Cottonwood Cr 12 192 

Turkey Cr 25 -_>17 

Little Arkansas 17 L.':',! 

Cow Creek 20 254 

Arkansas River 16 270 

Walnut Cr. | u|» Ark. r.) 8 278 

Ash Creek 19 297 

Pawnee Cork 6 303 

Conn Creek 33 336 

Caches 36 372 

Ford of Arkansas 20 :;!»L' 



118 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Miles Aggregate 

Sand Cr. (leav. Ark. r.) 50 442 

Cimarrone (lower spr.) 8 450 

Middle spr. (up Cim. r.) 36 486 

Willow Bar 26 512 

Upper Spring ]8 530 

Cold Spr. (leav Cim. r. ) 5 535 

M'Nees Cr 25 560 

Rabbit-ear Cr 20 580 

Round Mound 8 588 

Rock Creek 8 596 

Point of Rocks 19 615 

Rio Colorado 20 635 

Oeate 6 641 

Santa Clara Spr 21 662 

Rio Mora 22 684 

Rio Gallinas (Vegas) 20 704 

Ojo de Bernal ( spr. I 17 721 

San Miguel 6 727 

Pecos village 23 750 

Santa Pe 25 77") 

In 1828 two men were killed by Indians on the Santa Fe Trail. The 
traders had feared attacks from Indians in previous years. They had 
requested the Government to furnish the caravans a military escort, but 
this it had failed to do. It has been the theory of the military men that 
a strong post on the border of an Indian country was sufficient to hold 
the savages in check, and they pointed to Fort Leavenworth, recently 
established to replace Old Fort Osage. No military post could entirely 
restrain wild tribes roaming six hundred miles away. This fact was 
finally the cause of the detail of the escort of 1829. 

In 1829, Major Bennett Riley was at Fort Leavenworth. In the 
spring of that year he was ordered to take four companies of the 6th 
Infantry and accompany the trader caravan to the western frontier. 
He moved on the 5th of June, and joined the traders at Round Grove, 
in what is now Johnson County, Kansas. If the Indians had entertained 
any intention to attack the train the presence of the troops dispelled it. 
Major Riley escorted the caravan to Chouteau Island, in the Arkansas, 
without any molestation whatever. The traders turned south towards 
the Cimarron, and as they entered Mexican territory as soon as they 
crossed the river, it was impossible for Major Riley to accompany them 
any further. He camped on the north bank of the Arkansas and watched 
the American wagons disappear in the desert wastes. They had hardly 
disappeared below the desert horizon when horsemen were observed 
coming towards the American encampment at full speed. They 
announced that the caravan had been attacked by Indians and one man 
killed, and that they had been sent to urge that the American troops 
come to the rescue. Major Riley well knew the gravity of the step he 
was requested to take, for the caravan was on Mexican soil. But he 
chose to take the consequences in the emergency. The Indians retreated 
over the plain upon the appearance of the troops. To .reassure them, 
Major Riley went with the traders one more day, then returned to Chou- 



KANSAS AM) KANSAXS 119 

teau's Island, iu the vicinity of which he camped for the summer. He 
had agreed to wait there until the 10th of October for the traders on 
their return journey from Santa Fe. He was beset by Indians the whole 
summer and had more than one encounter with them. The caravan 
did not appear on the 10th of October. On the 11th Major Riley broke 
ramp and marched for Fort Leavenworth. He was soon overtaken by 
horsemen, however, and informed that the caravan was approaching 
under a Mexican escort. 

The Americans halted and awaited the traders. They soon came 
up. with the Mexican escort under command of Colonel Viscara, Inspec- 
tor-General of the Army of Mexico. A scene of fraternity ensued. 
The Mexican troops were feasted by .Major Riley, who put his troops 
on review for the Mexican commander, who remained with his army as 
guests of the Americans for three days. On the 14th of October the 
commands parted in the most friendly manner, and the caravans 
returned to the borders of the Missouri without further incident. 

There was a second military escort for the caravans. It was in 1834. 

The Death op Captain Smith 

Captain Jedediah Strong Smith was one of the most remarkable 
men who ever traversed the mountains and plains of the West in the 
pioneer days. He was born in New York near the Seneca Indian Reser- 
vation. He was given a good education, but he had as playmates the 
Seneca Indian boys, and his associations with them bred in him a desire 
to see 1 pioneer life in the Far "West. He was but a boy in the War of 
1812, yet he was one of the victorious sailors in Perry's Victory. He 
continued westward, arriving at St. Louis. There he entered the ser- 
vice of General Ashley, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He 
soon became the first trapper in the Rocky Mountains. His coolness in 
danger, his daring, his judgment, his aptness for trade, his compre- 
hension of the fur business in all its bearings, made him a leader. He 
formed the Company of Smith, Jackson & Sublette to take over the 
business of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company when General Ashley 
decided to sell out his business. His company did a heavy business, 
and Smith amassed a competency. He determined to retire from active 
life in the mountains, for he had seen them all, to the Pacific Ocean. At 
an early day he led a party into California to hunt. This party passed 
a winter in the foothills on a stream east of Sacramento. From that 
circumstance the stream was called the American River — which name 
it still bears. Leaving his party there, Smith returned to the Great 
Salt Lake for assistance. He returned and led his companions home 
through Oregon, up Hie Columbia, and south through what is now Idaho. 
As an American explorer Smith stands in the first rank. 

.In the spring of 1831, some of the old partners of Smith engaged 
in the Santa Fe trade. Smith did not wish to do further business on 
the Plains, but was induced by his former partners to become a mem- 
ber of their venture to Santa Fe. The company was one of the besl 



120 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

equipped that ever took a cargo across the Plains. All went well with 
it until it entered the desert between the Arkansas and the Cimarron. 
It seemed that the water had disappeared from every stream and spring. 
It seemed that death for all was certain. Captain Smith was not 
daunted. He had faced death too often and in too many forms to quail 
at the terrors of the Cimarron desert. Mounting his buckskin hunting- 
horse, he followed a buffalo trail across the burning sands for miles. At 
length he came upon an elevation from which he descried the winding 
channel of a stream. It was the Cimarron. He hurried to it and rode 
down into its bed only to find it dry and glistening sand. But Smith 
was a plainsman. He dug, with his hands, a hole in the bed of the 
river. Water slowly rose in this rude spring. As he lay prone upon the 
sand to drink he was attacked by a vagabond band of Comanches. They 
wounded him with arrows as he drank. He rose and faced the roguish 
savages. He battled with them, but was overpowered by numbers and 
slain. He killed several of his savage assailants — just how many is 
not now certainly known. The Indians said he killed three of their 
band. If they would admit the loss of three, Smith probably slew twice 
that number. The death of Smith was soon widely known, and it was 
regretted from the Mississippi to the lone hunting-camps of the Rocky 
Mountains. Few men ever impressed themselves upon the times as 
Captain Smith did on the wilderness of his day. 

The Murder of Chavez 

The Santa Fe trade continued without interruption until the year 
1843. The Mexican forts on the American frontier were closed in that 
year in consequence of military activity along the Santa Fe trail by the 
armed forces of Texas, whose north line was, for some distance, the 
Arkansas River. In November, 1842, it was reported in Santa Fe that 
Texan forces were planning to attack traders passing over the Trail, 
as then in use, in the coming spring. Giving little heed to that rumor 
Don Antonio Jose Chavez, of New Mexico, started from Santa Fe to Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, in February, 1843. He took with him five servants. 
He had two wagons and fifty-five mules. He carried some twelve thou- 
sand dollars in gold and silver, and some bales of furs. Severe weather 
was encountered, the month of March proving unusually cold. The 
men were frost-bitten, and all the mules save five perished in the storms. 
By the 10th of April Chavez had come to the waters of the Little Arkan- 
sas, a hundred miles or more over the line into American territory. 
There he was intercepted by a company of fifteen men commanded by 
one John McDaniel. He had enlisted and organized his band on the 
frontier of Missouri for the purpose, as he said, of joining a certain 
Colonel "Warfield, then on the Plains claiming to be in the service of 
the Republic of Texas, and intending to attack the Santa Fe caravans. 
Chavez was made captive and taken off the trail. He was robbed, and 
his effects were divided among this banditti, seven of whom immedi- 
ately set out for Missouri with their portions of the spoil. The others 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 121 

decided to murder Chavez, which they presently did, shooting him, in 
cold blood. They then packed their loot upon the mules of Chavez and 
also departed for Western Missouri. But information of what they 
had done soon came to the Missouri authorities, and several of them 
were arrested. Some of the most guilty escaped, including three of 
the actual murderers. But John McDaniel was tried at St. Louis and 
hanged for his crime. 

The Texans 

One Snively, styling himself a Colonel, organized, in North Texas, 
early in May, 1843, a force of about one hundred and seventy-five men 
for the purpose of preying on the Mexicans engaged in the Santa Fe 
trade. Texas and Mexico were then at war, and the purpose of Snively 
would have been justified had he molested only the Mexicans. He 
arrived on the Arkansas in May, and was soon joined by "Warfield and 
his company, who had recently lost their horses to the Mexicans by 
a stampede. Snively came upon a party of Mexicans south of the 
Arkansas sand hills, and in the skirmish which ensued eighteen Mex- 
icans were killed; and five of the wounded died later. The force of 
Snively sustained no casualties. The surviving Mexicans fled in the 
direction of their own country, finding their scalawag Governor, Armijo, 
encamped with a strong force at Cold Spring. That ferocious sheep- 
thief waited for nothing, but broke into a mad rout I'm- Santa Pe. 

After his encounter with the Mexicans, the force of Snively fell 
off, seventy-five men leaving for Texas in a body. Soon after this the 
caravan of traders from Missouri appeared upon the Trail. But they 
were under escort of Captain P. St. George Cooke, who had a com- 
mand of two hundred United States Dragoons. Snively was on the 
south side of the Arkansas about ten miles below the "Caches." Upon 
the arrival of Captain Cooke Snively crossed the river to meet him, 
and was informed that he must surrender his arms. This he avoided 
by a trick, turning over the antiquated and harmelss fusils taken from 
the Mexicans in the recent skirmish. 

The action of Captain Cooke demoralized Snively's forces. Many 
of his men returned directly to Texas. And when Captain Cooke 
retraced his steps to Fort Leavenworth he carried about forty of the 
Texans with him as captives. Something like sixty of Snively's force 
soon elected Warfield as their commander and pursued the caravan of 
traders, then well on their way beyond the Cimarron. At the Point of 
Rocks, twenty miles east of the Canadian, they abandoned the pursuit. 
and went back to Texas. And the interference of the Texans with the 
Santa Fe trade was at an end. Santa Anna, then President of Mexico, 
issued a decree on the 7th of August, 1843, closing the port of New 
Mexico to all commerce. That decree was superseded by the order of 
March 31, 1844. And ninety wagons carrying goods valued at two 
hundred thousand dollars, taken out by nearly two hundred men, found 
their way from Missouri to Santa Fe the following summer. 



122 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Doniphan 's Expedition 

The most important military expedition to pass over the Santa Fe 
Trail was Doniphan's Expedition. To Santa Fe it was commanded by 
General S. W. Kearny, who went on to California. Colonel Alexander 
W. Doniphan was left in command of the expedition. This whole mil- 
itary movement is known in history as Doniphan's Expedition. It 
was organized at Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 1S46. as a part of 
the American forces of the Mexican War. The volunteer force was 




Col. A. W. Doniphan 
[From Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 



made up on the frontier of Missouri, various counties of that State 
contributing companies. It was called the First Regiment Missouri 
Mounted Volunteers, Mexican War. Alexander W. Doniphan had 
joined the Clay County Company as a private, but in the selection of 
officers he was elected Colonel of the Regiment. Congreve Jackson was 
Lieutenant-Colonel, and William Gilpin was Major. 

The regiment marched from Fort Leavenworth on the 26th day of 
June, 1846. It crossed the Kansas River at the mouth of the Waka- 
rusa. From that point it marched south to the Santa Fe Trail, coming 
into that historic highway at Black Jack Point. The location known 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 123 

by that name to the Missourians is not the point of the same name 
where John Brown met and captured the Border-Ruffians. It is the 
elevation overlooking the valley of Coal Creek, and where the Fori 
Scott Road crossed the Trail. The town of Brooklyn was laid out there 
The regiment followed the Trails and arrived eight miles below Bent's 
Port and crossed into Mexican territory on the 29th of July. The final 
stage of the march to Santa Fe was begun from Bent's Fort on the 2d 
of August, Santa Fe was entered on the 18th day of August, 1846, 
and New Mexico was taken without the shedding of a drop of Amer 
iean blood. Colonel Doniphan made a successful campaign against 
the Navajo Indians and then invaded Mexico from the north. He 
defeated the Mexicans at Brazito, north of El Paso, which post fell into 
his hands in consequence. On Sunday, the 28th day of February, 1847, 
he fought the battle of Sacramento, twelve miles north of Chihuahua. 
This was not the greatest battle, but it was the most remarkable battle 
ever fought by Americans. An army of five thousand Mexicans was 
attacked and destroyed by an army of Missourians, less than a thousand 
strong. And the Missourians lost but four men killed and eight wounded. 
Colonel Doniphan took possession of Chihuahua, which he held until 
ordered to report to General Wood at Saltillo. The expedition returned 
to Missouri by way of New Orleans. 

How possession of New Mexico was secured without a battle has 
never been told. The story has been withheld by the "War Department 
at Washington. This author learned of the existence there of the val- 
uable documents. Access to them was long denied. But perseverance 
finally prevailed, and in May, 1910, I was permitted to make copies of 
those papers — the only copies ever made. They tell a thrilling story, and 
a story of great importance to the history of the country. It is the most 
important incident connected with the Santa Fe Trail. Because of their 
value they are set out here: 

Was Department, 

Washington, June 18, 1846. 
Sir: 

At the request of the President I commend to your favorable con- 
sideration the bearer hereof, Colonel .lames W. Magoffin. Mr. M. is 
now and has been for some years a resident of Chihuahua and extensively 
engaged in trade in that and other settlements of Mexico. He is well 
acquainted with the people of Chihuahua, Santa Fe and intermediate 
country. He was introduced to the President by Col. Benton as a gen- 
tleman of intelligence and most respectable character. The President 
has had several interviews with him and is favorably impressed with his 
character, intelligence and disposition to the cans,' of the United states. 
His knowledge of the country and the people is such as induces the 
President to believe he may render important services to you in regard 
to your military movements in New Mexico. He will leave here fur 
Santa Fe immediately and will probablj overtake you before you arrive 
at that place. Considering his intelligence, bis credit with the people 
and his business capacity it is believed he will give important information 
and make arrangements to furnish your troops with abundanl supplies 
in New Mexico. Should you apprehend difficulties of this nature it is 



124 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

recommended to you to avail yourself in this respect and others of his 
services for which he will as a matter of course be entitled to a fair 
consideration. Very respectfully, 

Your Obt. serv., 

W. L. Marcy, 
Secretary of War. 
Colonel S. \V. Kearney. 

Saxtape, August 26, 1846. 
Hon. W. L. Marcy, 

Secretary of War, 
Washington City. 
Sir: 

I arrived at Bent's Fort on 26 July, where I found Genl. Kearney, 
presented the letter I received from your hands, and was well received. 
The Genl. on the 1st day of August dispatched Capt. Cook with 12 
Dragoons accompanied by myself, with a letter to Governor Armijo 
which was delivered on 12th inst. 10 P. M. We were well received, and 
dined with his excellency, had a long conversation with him and proved 
to him from Genl. K. letter that the troops then entering the Department 
were only to give peace and protection to the inhabitants and assured 
him that I had been dispatched by the President of the United States in 
order to inform him and the rest of the good people of New Mexico with 
whom I was acquainted that this was the only object of our Govmt. 
I found many of the rich of the Department here, also the militia officers, 
with whom I had ample intercourse. I assured them the only object of 
our Govmt. was to take possession of New Mexico as being a part of the 
territory annexed to the U. S. by Texas and to give peace and quietude 
to the good people of the country which gave them entire satisfaction. 
Was then assured by Col. Archulette, 2nd in Command, that he would 
not oppose Genl. K's entrance, etc. Genl. Armijo on the 15th ordered 
his troops say 3,000 in number to be placed between two mountains 
with four pieces of artillery on the road by which our army had to 
pass, having promised Genl. K. to have an interview with him in his 
note borne by Capt. Cook 14th inst, Say some 50 miles dist. at a place 
called the Vegas, Armijo left this place early on the 16th with 150 
Dragoons and joined his army, called his officers together and wished to 
know if they were prepared to defend the territory. They answered 
they were not, that they were convinced by the proclamation they had 
seen from Genl. K. that the U. S. had no intention to wage war with 
New Mexico, on the contrary promised them all protection in their prop- 
erty person and religion. Armijo, apparently appeared very much exas- 
perated, gave orders for the troops to be dispersed and in 48 hours they 
were all at their homes, he himself leaving for the state of Chihuahua, 
with say 100 dragoons, maltreating all good citizens on his route, and 
pressing their animals. Genl. Kearney entered this city on the 18th 
5:00 o'clock P. M., the authorities and people of the place being ready 
to give him a hearty welcome, marched up to the Palace, entered the 
apartment prepared for him and his scrvt., made an handsome and 
appropriate speech to the authorities after which they all swore alle- 
giance to the United States. The palace was crowded and many bottles 
of EreiK'i-ous wine was drank being prepared for the occasion by the 
acting Governor. The next day by request of the Genl. the people were 
assembled in the. public square where lie addressed them in a very 
handsome manner, after which the people shouted long live our General 
and the United Xtatrs. 

The clergy of the province have all called on the Genl. since his 
arrival and have returned to their homes perfectly satisfied. I had the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 125 

honor of accompanying the Genl. and the staff to high mass last Sunday. 
The church was filled with natural and adopted sons of the United 
States and all passed off in the most perfect order. The Genl. gave on 
yesterday a splendid ball at the Palace, which was universally attended 
by all the respectable citizens of the city, and passed off in handsome 
style. The fact is to make a long story short. 

Genl. Kearney by his mild and persuasive manners has induced the 
good people of New Mexico to believe that they now belong to the 
greatest nation on earth, and that the stars and stripes which are now 
so gallantly waving over the capitol of this City will always give them 
ample protection from foreign foes. The Genl. will leave this on a 
visit to some of the principal towns on the Rio Grande and I will leave 
with him and proceed to Cha. with all possible speed. Will give you 
all the news from there as soon as practicable after the arrival of Gen- 
eral Wool. 

My respects to the President, and believe me to be Tours truly, 

J. W. Magoffin. 

Washington City, April 4, 1849. 
Hon. Mr. Crawford, 
Secretarv at War. 
Sir: 

The remark which you made that Mr. Marcey said there was no 
"contract" with me for my services in Mexico, and the time that has 
elapsed since without hearing anything more, naturally makes me uneasy, 
and I write this brief statement for the purpose of showing my view 
of my case. 

I certainly made no contract with the Government, nor did such an 
idea enter my. I engaged, at the request of President Polk, to go to 
Mexico, where I had been for many years, to be of service to our 
troops, and I took what they gave me, to wit: letters to accredit me to 
the Generals. They did accredit me and imploy me. I went into 
Santafe ahead of Genl. Kearney and smoothed the way to his bloodless 
conquest of New Mexico. Col. Archulette would have fought: I quieted 
him. It was he who afterwards made the revolt which was put down 
with much bloodshed by Genl. Price. Fight was in him, and it would 
have come out at first, carrying Armijo with him if it had not been 
for my exertions. I recommended to Genl. Kearney to give him some 
place, which would compromise him, which the General intended to do, 
but was prevented by some cause to me unknown, and the consequence 
was the revolt at Taos, the death of Governor Bent, and all the blood- 
shed that took place. Archulette fled to the South and did not return 
til after the peace. He was second in command and had about a 
thousand of the best troops in New Mexico and if he had held out for 
resistance, Armijo would have been obliged to have done the same, and 
a bloody resistance would have been made in the denies through which 
General Kearney had to pass. Bloodless possession of New Mexico was 
what President Polk wished. It was obtained through my means. I 
could stale exactly how I drew olT Archulette. from his intention to 
fight. The papers which I file, Doc. Connelly "s letter. Major Cook's and 
Capt. Turner's, all allude to it. and Genl. Kearney's was explicit- 
After this service I went forward under the directions of I 
Kearney to render the same service to General Wool. I entered Chi- 
huahua, he did not arrive, and thai led to my imprisonment to the greal 
loss of my property and the vast expenses which I had to incur, it was 
to smooth the way for General Wool that 1 went to Chihuahua. If he 
had come 1 should probably have done as much for him as I did for 
General Kearney. 



126 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

I have neglected my business for three years, have not been with ray 
family during that time, have made great expenses and suffered great 
losses and the statement of items which I presented is not an account, 
but a statement to give some idea of what it would take to remunerate 
me the service I rendered is above paid. 

I was engaged in June, 1846, by the President and Secretary of 
War in the presence and with the knowledge of Senator Benton. The 
service and the engagement was acknowledged by President Polk, after 
I got back in presence of Senator Atchison and the only reason for not 
paying me was the want of money, see Mr. Atchison's certificate, then 
Mr. Atchison sent a resolution to the Military Committee of the Senate 
to inquire into making an appropriation for me. My papers were before 
the committee and no other claim, I am informed, and the $50,000 was 
reported to cover my case. 

Senator Atchison has gone away, Senator Benton is going and I 
begin to feel uneasy about my compensation and beg your attention to 
my case. Yours respectfully, 

J. W. Magoffin. 
The United States, Dr., 

To J. W. Magoffin. 
To secret and personal services in the Mexican War under special 
engagement with President Polk, commencing from the 18th of June, 
1846, when I left Washington City in the employment of the Govern- 
ment until I got back in February, 1849, being two years and eight 
months of time and extending to Santafe, Chihuahua, and Durango. 

The service being secret, accounts and vouchers could not be kept, 
but the items which make up the above amount are as follows: 
1st. My time, a merchant in business which I had to neglect 

for two years and eight months, pr. mo. $300 $ 9,600.00 

2nd. My expenditures, to Mit 

from Washington to Independence, Mo 50.00 

for 1 small wagon with springs 1 50.00 

for 1 pair horses 160.00 

for 1 pair mules 160.00 

for an escort of 6 Mexicans to El Paso, after leaving Genl. 

Kearney 150.00 

of money received in Chihuahua as per certificate of V. 
( ommereial Agent of the U. States, which was expended 
in bribes in that city in order to extricate from the 
military judge, Genl. Kearney, written statement of my 
services in Santafe. New Mexico directed to the Secre- 
tary of War, Washington 3,800.00 

Ford .$14,070.00 

Amount brot forward $14,070.00 

Expenditures continued 

of money reed, in Durango, as pr letter of J. Beldin 
Durango, with my acceptance inclosed, which was paid 
to the Auditor of War of that City for releasing me 
from my imprisonment 1,100.00 

of money reed, from J. Randell & Co. as pr. bill and reept. 
given to a Mexican friend for making the arrangement 
with the Auditor 500.00 

for entertainments to officers military and civil and influ- 
ential citizens at Santafe, Chihuahua and Durango, to 
accomplish the object of promoting the interests of the 
United States 2.000.00 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 127 

Claret wine being worth per dozen $18.00 

Champagne being worth per dozen 36.00 

Paid for subsistence during the time for self, horses and 
servants, wages and clothing, charged as for a Colonel 
of Cavalry, my duties keeping me with officers of all 
ranks up to the Governors and generals, 2 years, 8 

months, per mo., $118.50 3,792.00 

3rd. Sufferings. 

nine months' imprisonment at Chihuahua, and Durango, 
(can't be estimated) 
4th. Losses. 

sustained by an attack made by the Apache Indians, whilst 
traveling from Santafe to Chihuahua, consisting of a 
waggon, {before charged) trunk, clothing and money. . 350.00 

F °rd $21,812.00 

Amount brot forward $21,812.00 

Losses, continued. 

Sustained at Chihuahua, during my imprisonment as pr 
statement of Mr. Jno Potts, certified by the Vice Com- 
mercial Agent of the United States, being a suffering in 
purse as well as in body, for that imprisonment 15,968.96 

$37,780.96 

The above is submitted, not as an account against the United States, 
but as data to assist in forming an opinion of the amount that ought to 
1k> paid me for my services, by showing what they cost me, as for the 
services themselves they cannot be valued in money. The bloodless 
conquest of a province and the conciliation of the feelings of an invaded 
people, are services above money value and these I rendered at great 
cost, loss and danger to myself. I had peculiar means to be serviceable, 
and that was known to the Government. I had been consul at Satillo 
and Chihuahua fifteen years. I was a merchant in a large business: 
i spoke the language of the country, was married to a Mexican lady; 
had a general acquaintance with the inhabitants and had the influence 
which attaches to such a position in such a country. I went ahead of 
Genl. Kearney and secured his unopposed march into Santafe. I went 
down the country ami conciliated the people. The bloodless conquest of 
N. Mexico and the easy advance of our troops was the finest [finish] ; 
and these are services which cannot he estimated in money, 1 only show 
what they cost me. 

General Kearney gave to my brother Saml. Magoffin at Santafe. a 
written Statement of my services addressed to the Secretary of War, a 
letter all in his- own handwriting to he forwarded to me at Chihuahua 
by the first safe opportunity. My brother forwarded by Dr. Connelly 
lie was taken prisoner a1 Kl Paso and all his papers seized and for- 
warded to tlie military judge at Chihuahua, where I was then prisoner, 
ami the authorities mi the search for testimonj against me. The military 
judge brought the letter to me. (Genl. Kearney's was one inclosed in 
one from my brother) without having shown it to the Governor or 
General. We understood one another he told me to tear it up, which I 
did in his presence, lor I was a prisoner and it was not safe for either 
of us that 1 should keep it. That affair cost me $3,800 and deprived me 
of General Kearney's statement to lay before the Government. He 
wrote it as a matte,- of precaution and justice to me just before he lrft 



12S KANSAS AND KANSANS 

for California, and his death has prevented me from ever seeing him 
again. 

The whole $50,000 mentioned in the law I might well claim, but the 
sum of $40,000 will be received in full satisfaction. 

J. W. Magoffin. 

Claim of James W. Magoffin. 

On an examination of the papers presented in this ease, the following 
facts appear. 

That on the 18th of June, 1846, at the instance of the President, 
Mr. Magoffin was commended by the War Department to a favorable 
consideration of General Kearney, then in command of a military expe- 
dition to Santa Fe, and to the Commanding officer of the expedition to 
Chihuahua, as a person who then was, and had been for some years a 
resident of Chihuaha, and extensively engaged in trade iu that and 
other settlements of Mexico, that lie was introduced to the President by 
Col. Benton, as a gentleman of intelligence and most respectable char- 
acter, that the President being favorably impressed with his character, 
intelligence, and disposition to the cause of the United States, believed 
he might render important services to both those military movements, 
to the extent needed, and that his credit with the people and his business 
capacity would enable him to give important information and make 
arrangements to furnish the troops with abundant supplies, that he 
was therefore recommended to these respective commanders, who were 
requested in case they should apprehend difficulties of this nature, to 
avail themselves, in this respect, and others, of his services, for which 
he would as a matter of course, be entitled to a fair consideration. 

It further appears thai Mr. Magoffin joined Genl. Kearney at Bent's 
Fort, on the 26th of July, 1846, and at the instance of that General, 
accompanied Capt. Cooke with a flag and letter to Governor Armijo, at 
Santa Fe, where by his influence and address, he was instrumental in 
neutralizing the hostile feelings of the Mexican authorities in that 
quarter, and in obtaining for our troops the peaceful possession of that 
place. That after this was effected, he proceeded with General Kearney 
on a visit to some of the principal towns on the Rio Grande, where he 
left that officer, and continued his route to Chihuaha, near which place, 
in the fall of 1846, he was taken prisoner by the Mexican authorities, 
and afterwards sent to Durango, where he remained in confinement 
until released, the date of which release is not stated, although he is 
said to have been in confinement nine months. 

For the services rendered by him. the expenses incurred in rendering 
them, and the losses lie sustained by reason of his capture, etc., Mr. 
Magoffin presents the following claim, amounting in all to $37,780.96. 

1. For his time, being a merchant in business which he had to 

neglect for two years and S months, at $300.00 per month. .$9,600 

Remark. If this- amount is intended as an equivalent 
for the services he is supposed to have rendered, con- 
sidering their importance, and the risk he incurred it may 
not be deemed too high, being at the rate of only $3,600 
a year. 

2. For expenses between Washington City and El Paso, including 

an escort of six men. after leaving Genl. Kearney $670 

Remark. The items in this charge appear reasonable, 

with the exception of $160, paid for a pair of mules, which 

is considered high. 

:'.. For amount expended in bribes in Chihuaha, in order to 

obtain possession of Genl. Kearney's statement of his serv- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 129 

ices in Santa Pe, then in the hands of the military Judge 
and which, if not destroyed, would have placed his life in 

jeopardy $ 3800 

Remark. There is no evidence but the declaration of 
-Mr. Magoffin that the money was so expended. It is pre- 
sumed from the transpiring circumstances that these bribes 
were actually paid, and that they were the means of re- 
leasing him from the fate which appears to have awaited 
him, on account of the important secret services he ren- 
dered in obtaining peaceable possession of Santa Fe, and I 
should think he ought in justice to be remunerated. It is 
not an unusual thing for Governments to seek, even at con- 
siderable cost, to obtain the release of their secret agents, 
taken by the enemy as spies, the efforts on the part of the 
British authorities in respect to the capture of Andre may 
be suggested as a case in point. Had the papers in the case 
of Magoffin been preserved it would have been the means 
of convicting him as a spy. 
For money paid by him to the authorities in Durango for his 

release from imprisonment $1 10O 

And for money given to a Mexican friend for making ar- 
rangements for that release $500 

Remark. There is no evidence to support these charges, 
which rest upon the mere declaration of Mr. Magoffin. 
The letter of Mr. Baldwin referred to by the claimant, 
in proof, merely mentions the return to Magoffin of his 
acceptance for $1,100, in favor of the former, but the 
object for which the money was expended does not appear. 
For entertainment to officers, military and civil, and to in- 
fluential citizens of Santa Fe, Chihuaha and Durango, 
to accomplish the object of promoting the interests of the 

United States $2 000 

Remark. If this item had been confined to entertain- 
ments given in Santa Fe, it would have been better under- 
stood, and perhaps might not be deemed too high a charge, 
considering the importance of the object obtained by them! 
But how entertainment in Chihuaha and Durango could 
have promoted the interests of the United States, while 
the claimant was a prisoner in those cities, or even after 
his release, when lie was compelled to act with great circum- 
aot sufficiently clear. This would seem to re- 
quire some explanation. 
For subsistence for himself, horses and servants, wages and 

clothing charged as a Colonel of Cavalry $3,792 

Remark, In admitting the reasonableness of the charge 
in the 1st item of the claim for time and services rendered 
at the rate of $3,600 per annum, it was intended to include 
subsistence, forage, servants, and clothing. As Mr. Ma- 
goffin lias charged these items sep ! at the rate 
allowed to a Colonel of Cavalry, there is a propriety in 
paying Eor his services at the same rat.-. The pay and 
emoluments of a Colonel of Cavalry, including such items 
as these, do n0 1 ea id $3,600 per annum. I think there- 
fore they should not be allowed, if the 1st item of the claim 
is admitted. 

For losses sustained it asequence of an attack made by the 

Apache Indians, while trawlli; 



130 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

huaha, consisting of a wag-on, (before charged) trunks, 
clothing and money $350 

Remark. This item is inadmissible. The government 
cannot be held to pay for the loss of the private effects of 
its agents. Besides, the charge for the loss of the wagon, 
if admitted, would be equivalent to paying twice for the 
same article, the wagon being already charged in 2nd item 
of tlic claim under expenses from Washington to El Paso. 
8. For loss sustained at Chihuaha during his confinement, in 
consequence of duties levied upon his goods, after Doni- 
phan's departure from that place $15,968.96 

Remarks. The evidence in support of this item is the 
certificate of Mr. Jno. Potts, which goes to show that he 
purchased from Mr. Saml. Magoffin 311 bales of merchan- 
dise belonging to Mr. James Magoffin then a prisoner in 
Durango — that the merchandise was purchased on .time, 
and at an amount equal to its original cost, and an aug- 
mentation of 50 per cent of the expenses thereon to the 
city of Chihuaha, with a guarantee that the purchaser 
should not be responsible for the duties of any kind what- 
soever. The certificate further states that this property 
would not have been disposed of by Mr. Saml. Magoffin 
at a rate so ruinous to his brother's interest, but for the 
utter impossibility of removing it from Chihuaha and the 
fear of its being seized by the authorities of Mexico, to 
which danger it was exposed from the retirement of Col. 
Doniphan from that city, who had no sooner withdrawn 
his forces than the Mexican Governor levied duties upon 
this merchandise to the amount of $15,968.96, which 
amount was paid by Mr. Potts and afterwards refunded 
by Mr. James Magoffin. 

Admitting that this is a correct statement of the trans- 
action — that the goods were sold at the sacrifice, as stated, 
and that the amount of duties levied upon them by the 
Mexican Governor, was at the cost of Mr. Magoffin, it dues 
not necessarily follow, that the losses he thus incurred are 
a fair charge against the United States, growing out of 
his secret services. The same exaction on the part of the 
Mexican Government, would, in all probabilities have been 
made, bad Mr. Magoffin been in the exercise of his privileges 
as an American Merchant, residing in Chihuaha, and he 
can have no greater claim to indemnification than any 
other American merchant, then residing in that city and 
who sustained similar hisses. 

From an examination of all the papers in support of the account 
presented by Mr. Magoffin, ami admitting that the services rendered by 
him were important, and were justified by the authority given for his 
employment as special agent, the following items in that account may 
be considered a fail- charge against the United States, to wit: 

1. For his time and services $ 9,600 

2. For his expenses from Washington to El Paso 670 

3. For amount paid as bribes for his safety 3, SOU 

4. For amount paid to affect his release from prison 1.600 

5. For expenses of entertainments given by him 2,000 

$17,670 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 1-1 

The items rejected for reasons given are: 

For subsistence for himself, horses, servants, etc $ :i,7t>2 

For loss of private baggage captured by Indians 350 

For loss by duties, levied upon Ids merchandise 1.5,986.96 



$20,128.96 



In consideration however of the important services rendered by. Mr. 
Magoffin in aiding to overcome resistance on the part of the Mexican 
authorities, in the conquest of New Mexico as shown by the letters of 
Lt. Col. Cooke and Maj. Turner of the Army, and the heavy losses he 
has sustained during the late war with Mexico, as well as his suffering 

while a prisoner in the enemy's hands. 1 re amend that he be allowed 

the sum of $30,000.00 in full of all demends against the United States. 
Respectfully submitted, 

Geo. W. Crawford, 
Secretarv of War. 
April 1. 1849. 
To the President. 

Harrodstujrgh, Ky., June 22. 1S47. 

My dear Sir: ' 

Permit me to call to your attention, and that of the President, the 
situation of Mr. Jas. Magoffin, whose widowed mother and numerous 
relatives of whom I am one. all reside in this place and vicinity, con- 
sisting of half of this county, (Mercer, Ky.). He was taken prisoner 
near Chihuahua last fall and condemned to be shot as a Mexican 
traitor having lived in that place as a merchant and was returning to 
Chihuahua to look after his affairs from Santa Fe, having been of 
essential service to Genl. Kearney was in advance of him on his march 
to California. His sentence was suspended at the request of Governor 
Amijo, his wife being a relation, Mr. Magoffin never became a citizen 
of Mexico, altho authorized to be so, always declined. His wife is dead 
and his children are at school in this state and Missouri, when Col. 
Donaphan approached Chihuahua he was sent off a prisoner to Durango 
where I understand he is now detained, still subject to his original 
sentence. Will you be so good as to request General Taylor to take 
immediate steps for his safety and release. Mr. Magoffin was born in 
this place and his friends take a deep interest in his release. 

I hope you will indulge me in saying a few words about the Mexican 
War, which has been conducted so far with an energy highly honorable 
to the President and yourself, in the face of an opposition dishonorable 
to the Leading Whigs whose hypocrisy is only equaled by their impu- 
dence, many of them would disgrace their country to injure the Presi- 
dent. I hope you will go straight ahead without regarding their clamors. 
The people are getting right iii this State, ami if we do not elecl some 
three or four Democrats, it will not be for want of trying. In this 
Districl Ah'. Charles A. Wickliffe is making a strong impression IPs 

opponent is compelled to say he will vote men and monej for the war. 

altho he is foolish enough to say that tic Presidenl blundered Into the 
war and that Texas is not worth having or California either, and this 
has weakened him with lionesi Whigs. There seems to be some ill 
easiness as In what we are to do if .Mexico still refuses to treat. For 
my part I think our course is a plain one. I know something of the 
Spanish character. They are a proud, haughtj people and kindness 
and forbearance is lost upon them. Gratitude is no1 one of their virtues. 

and conciliation can i • 1 1 1 \ be made through their fears. Tin masses are 
ignorant and under the <ih.«>ltit, control of their priesls. who at I ll 



132 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

and corrupt. Touch their money and you reach their hearts. Make it 
their interest to have peace and we will soon have it. They care not 
for the common people and it is only when they are made to feel [fear] 
that they become humble as spaniels. When Genl. Scott reaches the city 
of Mexico his first duty will be to unite with one of their parties, the 
priests included, and have a government organized to suit the times. 
Capture St. Ana Alamonts, Salas, and others or drive them out of the 
country. If any more of their generals, colonels, etc., are taken send 
them all to New Orleans, release none of them. They will promise 
anything when in our power, and the next moment betray and cut our 
throats, and if nothing else will do separate the northern provinces 
from Mexico, as Yucatan now is, but we will have to protect any party 
we may side with for some time. There is too much ignorance to under- 
stand at present a federal Government, and a central government never 
can control the whole. We must have California and New Mexico, at 
least by way of indemnity, and then there the Rio Del Norte may be 
the line to a line running west of the Gila River. England may be 
induced to agree to this by paying the purchase money to her creditors, 
but it is true that England and France have heretofore by their 
intrigues created all this hostile feeling in Mexico against the United 
States. It is now their interest to have peace. I know that England 
for years kept the feelings of all the South American Republics jealous 
of lis and at this moment they can do much for peace if they chose. 
Our Whig papers and speeches in Congress have done more to keep 
up this war than anything else. General Scott should be instructed 
to embargo all newspaper going to the city of Mexico or suspicious 
letters, as they have their spies and partisans at Washington City and 
at New Orleans — stop this channel of communication, and you stop all 
the fuel to this war. Cut it up root and branch and let martial law 
prevail in the city of Mexico and Vera Cruz. If General Scott and 
Taylor will do this we will not hear any more Corwin's speeches or 
"o'ur Friend" in the United States. It is not generally known what 
immense number of our papers are sent to all those South American 
Republics and to Mexico. When at Bagota from 1833 to 1837 I could 
always find the National Intelligencer and other Whig papers, abusing 
our Government when mine were left behind. 

Yours truly with high respect, 

Robert B. McAfee. 

I do hereby certify that being in Santafe, N. Mexico in August, 1846, 
before the arrival of Genl. Kearney, and being intimately acquainted 
with Col. Diego Archulette and having an opportunity of conversing 
with him particularly on the subject of impeding the entrance of the 
U. S. forces into that City. 

Always found him determined to make all possible resistance having 
in his Command 1000 soldiers, the best New Mexico could produce. On 
the arrival of Capt. Cook and J. W. Magoffin August 13 was requested 
by Mr. M. to give him my opinion respecting the intentions of Genl. 
Armijo, and particularly that of Col. Archulette, which I did, informing 
him that the Genl. was not determined but the Col. was decided in 
making all possible defence and his opinion would be adhered to by a 
majority of the officers. I then left Santafe with many other Americans 
by permit of Genl. Armijo. believing it would be unsafe to remain in 
the City, leaving behind Magoffin who remained for what purpose I 
knew not believing a strong resistance would be made a few miles from 
the city must say that I was much astonished as well as gratified to 
find that Genl. K. met with no opposition on his entry into Santafe. 
Oh the contrary was received with much courtesy, by the acting Gov- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



133 



ernor of the city and the rest of the authorities. Mr. Magoffin being one 
of the number on his reception at the Palace. The day before Genl. K. 
entrance, some few leagues distant, Genl. A. called his officers around 
him in order to consult what would be the best measure to adopt. 
Col. Archulette being second in command gave as his opinion that it 
was unnecessary to make' a defence. This was adopted by all. The 
troops were then disbanded and Genl. A. retreated with a Company of 
Dragoons to Chiha. Col. Archulette retired to his country residence. 
The opinion of Col. Archulette was surprising to many; knowing his 
previous determination was- entirely contrary, Mr. Manos and Palacios, 




Dr. Henry Connelly 
[From Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 



Mexicans of the first standing in this city being in New .Mexico before 
and on the arrival of Genl. K. am! knowing the positive intention of 
Genl. Armijo ami particularly of Col. Archulette was to defend the 
place, retired immediately to this city ami reported to the Governor 
thai -I. W. Magoffin had been the cause of mm resistance and that he 
had bought over Genl. Armijo and Col. Archulette this information 
with others led to the imprisonment of Magoffin on his arrival at el 
Paso. I was also imprisn I on my arrival there a few days. After- 
wards I brought down in Company with Magoffin to this city 'in October. 

This is in substance what occurred under mv knowledge 

Chihuhua, Sept. 20th, 1848. 

1 1 inky Connelly. 



134 KANSAS AND KAN SANS 

Commercial Agency of the 

United States, 

Chihuahua, Sept. 20, 1848. 
I, Alfonso ('. Anderson. Vice-commercial Agent of the United States 
for the City of Chihuahua, certify that tins day personally appeared 
before me Henry Connelley, a gentleman of high standing and character 
in this City, who being duly shown made oath and declared that the 
foregoing document to which this is connected, and to which he has 
signed his name is true in every respect, and that his .signature thereto 
is genuine ami deserving full faith and credit. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name 
(Seal and affixed my official seal, the day and date above 

written. 

Alfonso C. Anderson, 

Vice-Comml. Agt. c. 

Philadelphia, February 21, 1849. 
To. I. W. Magoffin, Esq. 
Dear Sir: 

If the following statement of such of your important services as 
came to my personal knowledge during the invasion of New Mexico 
can serve to elucidate your sacrifices and risks during the War, it gives 
me pleasure to make 'it. 

1 shall not easily forget the pleasure which your company give 
me when I preceded the army with a flag, from Bent's Fort to Santa Fe, 
nor the advantages of your knowledge of the country and its language. 

I am strongly impressed with the skill you exhibited not to com- 
promise your old influence over the Mexican General, by an appearance 
of your real connextion with myself, (even furnishing an interpreter, 
rather than appear on the official occasion;) At night, however, you 
accompanied Geid. Armijo to my quarters, when, by y r our aid, we had 
a secret conference. I then understood the Mexican Governor's real 
disinclination to actual resistance, to which, I believe, according to our 
instructions, you gave important encouragement particularly in neutral- 
izing the contrary influence of young Colonel Archulette, by suggesting 
to his ambition the part of bringing about a pronunciamento of Western 
New Mexico in favour of annexation; (Genl. Kearney's first proclama- 
tion claiming only to the Rio Grande.) 

I had personal knowledge of the high opinion which that General 
entertained of your discretion and services; and, that it may well be 
considered a piece id' good fortune, that at the expense of a large bribe, 
you were suffered to destroy the General's own written statement of 
them, only shows how narrowly you escaped with your life, in your 
further efforts to serve our Governmenl in Chihuahua. 

With high respect, sir. I remain. 

Your oh. Servant, 

1'. St. Geo. Cooke, 

Major, 2 Drags. 

Washington, March 2:?. 1849. 
The Honorable Mr. Crawford. 

Secretary of War. 
Sir: 

In a conversation with the late Presidenl of the United States, Mr. 
Polk, he informed that Co. Mcgoffin was introduced to him by my 
colleague Col. Thomas 11. Benton, and from Col. Mcgoffins intimate 
knowledge of the Mexican affairs and his intimate acquaintance with 
the leading men in New .Mexico and Chihuahua, hi' deemed it important 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 135 

to secure Lis services for the government of the United States in that 
quarters during the war and engaged his services accordingly. 

He further said that he was reddy and willing to make a just 
allowances for such services, but thai there was mi appropriation of 
money for that purpose. 

An appropriation was made at the lasl session for such services grow- 



out 



Your iibt. Servt., 

I)\vii> R. Atchison. 



1 hereby certify that in the month of April, in the year 1S47. Mr. 
Samuel Magoffin sold seine three hundred and eleven bales of merchan- 
dise which he stated to be the property of his brother. Mr. -Tames 
Magoffin, then a prisoner of war in the state of Durango, said three 
hundred and eleven hales ] purchased on time a1 a cost of an amount 
equal to their original cost and an augmentation of 50 per cent of the 
expenses thereon to this city, with a guarantee that I should nut he 
responsible I'm- duties of any kind whatsoever. 

1 further certify that Air. Samuel Magoffin would not have disposed 
nf this property at a rate so ruinous to his brother's interest, hut for 
the utter impossibility of removing it from Chihuahua and the fear of 
its being seized by the authorities of Mexico, to which danger he was 
much exposed from the precipitate retirement of Col. Donaphan from 
this city, who had no sooner withdrawn his forces than the Mexican 
government called on me to pay duties on the same which amounted 
to fifteen thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight dollars 96e, $15,968.96, 
which I was compelled to satisfy and which sum has been refunded to 
me lately by Mr. James Magoffin. 

Chihuahua, Mint. 

Mexico, 1st Oct. 1848. John Potts. 

Commercial Agency of the United States, 

Chihuahua, October 1st, 1848. 
I. Alfonso C. Anderson, Vice-Commercial Agent of the United Stafps, 
for the city of Chihuahua certify that this day personally appeared 
before me John Potts, a subjeel nf Greal Britain, who is personally 
known to me and is a gentleman of high standing and character in this 
city, who being duly sworn, made oath and declared that the foregoing 
documenl to which this is connected and to which he has signed his name 
is true in everj respect. Further that his signature thereto is genuine 
and desen iiiL r full faith and credit. 

Iii witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name 
(Seal) and affixed my official seal the day and date above 

written. 

Alfonso C. Anderson, 

Vice. t'lHiiml. Agt. 

Gilpin's Santa Fe Trail Expedition 
After the return of Colonel Doniphan's Expedition to Missouri the 
Indians became troublesome along the Santa Fe Trail. The force raised 
by the Government to protect travel and trade on the Plains was organ- 
ized by Major William Gilpin. It was also commanded by him in its 
remarkable campaign along the Santa Fe Trail. Here is the account of 
its organization and services: 

Gilpin's Santa Fe Battalion, Missouri Mounted Volunteers, Mexican 
War. 



136 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

This battalion was also known as ''Gilpin's Battalion Mounted Volun- 
teers," "Indian Battalion Missouri Volunteers," and "Battalion Mis- 
souri Volunteers for the Plains. ' ' 

The battalion consisted of Companies, A, B, C, D, E. Company C was 
Captain William Pelzer's Artillery Company. 

Mounted Companies A and B 

Artillery C 

Not Mounted D and E 

Roster of Company C shows 20 officers and 84 privates. 
Roster of Company D shows 17 officers and 63 privates. 
Roster of Company E shows 17 officers and 69 privates. 
Rosters of Companies A and B not found in the office of the Adju- 
tant-General, State of Missouri. 

Field and Staff 

Field and Staff, Santa Fe Trace Battalion, Missouri Mounted Volun- 
teers, Mexican War. 

Muster Roll for September 18, 1847. to April 30, 1848, shows station 
at Fort Mann, Middle Arkansas River [in what is now the State of Kan- 
sas]. This Roll bears date, June 25, for April 30, — "nunc pro tunc." 
Reason, "absence of myself and three Companies in the Comanche Coun- 
try." W. Gilpin, Lt. Col. Commanding. 

Roll signed : W. Gilpin, Lt. Col. 

Muster Roll, April 30, to October 3, 1848, shows Company at Inde- 
pendence, Missouri. Roll signed : W. Gilpin, Lt. Col. 

Field and Staff mustered for discharge at Independence, Missouri, 
October 3, 1848, and honorably discharged by E. A. Hitchcock, B. Col., 
U. S. A., Mustering Officer. 

Roster of Field and Staff, Colonel W. Gilpin's Battalion of Missouri 
Volunteers, Mexican War. 

Roster 

1. William Gilpin, Lt. Col. 

1. Henry L. Routt, Adjutant. 

1. Ephraim P. January, Asst. Surgeon. 

1. Ashley G. Gulley, 2nd Lieut. 

1. Edward Colston, 2nd Lieut. 

1. Jacob T. Tindall, Sgt. Major. 

1. Adam Krafft, Chief Bugler. 

1. Benjamin S. Long, Asst. Surgeon. 

1. William Kuhlan, Q. M. Sgt. 

Company A 

Captain John D. Griffith's Company A, Mounted Santa Fe Trace 
Battalion. Missouri Mounted Volunteers, Mexican War. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 137 

Mustei'-in Roll dated September 3, 1847. shows station of company at 
Fort Leavenworth. 

Company arrived at Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, place of general 
rendezvous, September 1, 1847. 

Company accepted into the service of the United States for term of 
"During the War with Mexico" from September 3, 1847, by C. Wharton, 
Lieut.-Colonel First Dragoons, Mustering Officer. 

Muster Roll, September 3, 1847, to April 30, 1848, shows station ol 
company at Fort Mann, Middle Arkansas. 

The company had been encamped and on the march in the Indian 
country since the middle of September, 1847, and during March, April. 
and May, in the center of the Comanche country. This Muster Roll is 
therefore made at this date — "nunc pro tunc." Roll dated June 24, 1848. 

Roll signed : John C. Griffith, Captain. 

Muster Roll, April 30 to September 28, 1848, shows station of com- 
pany, Independence, Missouri. 

Roll signed : John C. Griffith, Captain. 

Company mustered for discharge at Independence, Missouri, Septem- 
ber 28, 1848, and honorably discharged by E. A. Hitchcock, B. Col., U. S. 
A., Mustering Officer. 

Company B 

Captain Thomas Jones's Company B, Mounted Santa Fe Trace Bat- 
talion, Missouri Volunteers, War with Mexico. 

Muster-in Roll, dated September 11, 1847, shows station of company 
at Fort Leavenworth. 

Company arrived at Fort Leavenworth, September 8, 1847. 

[Other entries, similar to those made on the Rolls of Company A.] 

Company C 

Captain William Pelzer's Company C, Artillery. Santa Fe Trace Bat- 
talion, Missouri Volunteers, Mexican War. 

Muster-in Roll, dated September 10, 1847. 

Company arrived at Fort Leavenworth, September 8, 1847. 

Term of service same as Companies A and B. 

Report from Fort Mann. Middle Arkansas, "nunc pro tune" owing 
to continued separation; difficulty of communication between detached 
portions of battalion; and absence of Paymaster. 

Company discharged at Independence, Missouri, October 2. 1848. 

Company P 

Captain Paul Holzcheiter's Company D, Santa Fe Trace Battalion, 
Missouri Volunteers, Mexican War. 

Mister i n Roll, dated September 18, 1S47. 



138 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Company at Port Maun, Middle Arkansas, same dates and same rea- 
sons for ' ' nunc pro tunc ' ' reports as given by Companies A and B. 
Company discharged at Independence, Missouri, October 1, 1848. 

Company E 

Captain Napoleon Koscialowski 's Company E, Santa Fe Trace Bat- 
talion, Missouri Volunteers, Mexican War. 

Muster Roll, September 18, 1847, to April 30, 1848, shows company 
at Fort -Mann, Middle Arkansas. The above company being on the 
march through the center of the Comanche country during March, April, 
and May, this Roll bears date in June — "nunc pro tunc." W. Gilpin, 
Col. Comdg. 

Roll signed: Napoleon Koscialowski, Captain. 

Company Muster Roll, April 30, to September 30, 1848, shows com- 
pany at Independence, Mo. 

The company left Fort Leavenworth on the 4th day of October, 

1847, and ascended the Arkansas to the foot of the Rocky Mountains 
at Bent's Fort. From thence with the cavalry companies under the 
Lieutenant-Colonel, crossed the Raton Mountains on the 10th of March, 

1848, and descended the Canadian through the country of the Apache 
and' Comanche Indians during March, April, and May, to the Ante- 
lope Buttes, being engaged in skirmishing warfare with the Comanche 
and Pawnee Indians on the Middle Arkansas and Kansas until the 
expiration of the term of service by the peace with Mexico. 

The marches have exceeded 3,000 miles in the aggregate, mostly 
being in the depth of winter. 

Roll signed: Caleb S. Tuttle, Captain. 

Company mustered for discharge at Independence, Mo., September 
30, 1848, and honorably discharged (except Lieut. Colston) by E. A. 
Hitchcock, B. Col., U. S. A., Mustering Officer. 

The Caravans . 

The town of Franklin, in Howard County, Missouri, was opposite 
the present City of Boonville. In 1828, the entire site of the town was 
washed into the Missouri River. It was the cradle of the Santa Fe 
trade, and for some years it was the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe 
Trail. As population spread to the westward other towns were estab- 
lished along the Missouri River and the headquarters of the trade 
followed the population. When the Trail was surveyed, in 1825, Fort 
Osage, on the Missouri, at Sibley, was made the starting-point. Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, was laid out in 1827, and it was soon the head- 
quarters of the Santa Fe trade. Other Missouri towns engaged in 
the Santa Fe trade, and even the towns of Northwest. Arkansas. All 
these towns opened roads to the Santa Fe Trail. That is why old roads 
as far south as Fayetteville, Arkansas, are known locally to this day 
as the Santa Fe Trail. The roads all entered the real Santa Fe Trail 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 139 

east of Council Grove, and most of them came into it east of the present 
town of Baldwin, in Douglas County, Kansas. One of these trails, 
known locally as the California Road came out of Southwest Missouri 
and Northwest Arkansas through the present Fort Scott, Kansas. It 
passed through what are now Miami and Franklin Counties, Kansas, 
crossing the Pottawatomie at the present town of Lane. That was Dutch 
Henry's Crossing, where John Brown and his men slew the Border- 
Ruffians in the old border wars. This main California Road had other 
and lesser "California Roads" coming into it. This statement of the 
different "Santa Fe Trails" and "California Roads" is intended to 
explain the confusion which often resulted when strangers passed over 
the country, in early days. In their letters the Santa Fe Trail may be 
spoken of as having been in Southwest Missouri, or even as leaving Fort 
Smith. In such instances it is always the local road of that name which 
was meant. 

The business of outfitting tr-aders made Independence a thriving town. 
There were dealers in wagons, flour, bacon, oxen, mules, guns, ammuni- 
tion, ropes, chains and all kinds of hardware, and of the groceries of those 
days, including whiskey. In the spring when the caravans were getting 
under way the town presented a busy appearance; and there was almost 
as stirring times, when, after having completed the tour of the Plains, 
they drove into the great public square upon their return. 

The supplies for one person from Independence to Santa Fe con- 
sisted usually of fifty pounds of flour, fifty pounds of bacon, ten pounds 
of coffee, twenty pounds of sugar, some beans, and some salt. Each man 
carried a gun, usually a Hawkins rifle, made at St. Louis, and a supply 
of powder and lead. 

The wagons first used in the Santa Fe trade were such as could In- 
obtained at the local towns in Missouri. Some of them were made, no 
doubt, by local mechanics. As the trade assumed volume the necessity 
for uniform and strong wagons attracted the attention of manufacturers. 
Those in use when the trade was at full tide, and even after, were made 
at Pittsburg, Pa. The pioneer wagon first used had the high curved bed, 
bu1 those used later had but a slightly curved bed,— only enough to hold 
the bales and boxes from sliding in going up or down hills or grades. All 
the wagons had covers of heavy cloth stretched upon bows fixed over the 
wagon-beds. The device for locking or "putting on brakes" in descend- 
ing steep places consisted of a chain attached to each side of the bed with 
which to "chain" or "lock" the hind-wheels. There was a multiplicity 
of chains used ahout the equipment of these wagons, the rattling and 
clanking of which could he heard at considerable distance. 

In the bee-inning of the trade the merchandise was carried (in pack- 
horses. The first wagons used were drawn by mules. After the escort of 
182!), when Major Riley used oxen to draw his baggage wagons, o\en came 
to be used as much as mules. They drew heavier loads, but did not hear 
the trip so well after the country of the buffalo grasa was reached. The 
continual traveling of the oxen over a grass-covered country wore their 
hoofs smooth and tender, making ii difficull for them to travel in the lat 



140 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

ter stages of the journey. In that day few knew how to properly shoe 
oxen with iron, and they were sometimes shod with raw buffalo-skin — 
often an excellent makeshift. 

As the trade was conducted through the Indian country, and, from the 
Arkansas River, through a foreign country as well, it was necessary for 
the wagons to form a single body or caravan. This organization was 
effected at the Council Grove, now the town of Council Grove, Kansas. 
Any early arrivals there awaited the coming of the others. The time was 
spent in resting and grazing the animals, in the final overhauling of the 
lading, in the repair of harness, yokes, and wagons, and cutting and pre- 
paring timbers to be used in case a breakdown should occur on the road 
beyond. For there was no substantial timber to be had after passing that 
point. 

When the traders had all arrived at Council Grove a meeting was held 
for the purpose of effecting a quasi-military organization for the remain- 
der of the journey to Santa Fe. There was elected a Captain of the Cara- 
van, whose duty it was to direct the order of travel and select the camp- 
ing-places. The caravan was separated into divisions, tthe number 
depending on its size. For each division a lieutenant was selected. His 
duties were to ride in advance and inspect the road and the crossings, to 
look out for bad points on the trail and give notice of the same, and to 
superintend the forming of the encampments at night. The encampment 
was formed by parking the wagons and making an enclosure. The first 
wagon was halted at an angle. The second wagon was driven by it to the 
same angle, halting with its "near" hind wheel against the "off" front- 
wheel of the first wagon. This process was continued until the enclosure 
was completed. It was sometimes in the form of a square — one division 
to each side if the caravan was composed of four divisions. But it was 
as often in a circle or an oval. The wheels were frequently chained and 
locked solidly together. Thus was constructed a sort of temporary fort 
or stockade. In case of attack it afforded a defense, and the animals 
were sometimes driven into it. The encampment was made where wood 
and water were to be had, if possible, — and where the grass was sufficient 
for the animals of the caravan. Guards were always set at night, and 
every man was expected to take his turn at guard-duty. Sometimes a 
second lieutenant was elected for each -division, as well as a chaplain, 
and court, composed of three members, for the caravan. 

The teamsters, or drivers, became expert in their duties. The wagons 
were usually drawn by eight mules or the same number of oxen — four 
spans of mules, or four yoke of oxen. The driver of a mule-team rode 
the "near" wheel mule — that is, the mule on the left-hand side of the 
span hitched next to the wheels of the wagons. He carried a heavy 
leather whip with a short flexible handle, and he held in his hands lines 
for the guidance of the spans of mules hitched ahead of him. The driver 
of an ox-team walked on the left-hand side of his team. He did not use 
lines to guide his oxen, but depended on his commands, delivered in a 
loud voice, and reinforced by a long plaited leather whip having a handle 
or staff of such length as he might choose, usually a little better than four 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 141 

feet. This staff was made of second-growth hickory, tough and flexible 
tapering from a heavy butt to the diameter of half an inch at the end 
where the whip was attached. This whip was always pointed with a 
buckskin cracker" fifteen inches in length. It was a cruel implement, 
but the good driver rarely struck an ox with the full force of it In the 
hands of an expert it would lay open the side of an ox for several inches 
at each stroke. Many teamsters boasted of having driven to Santa Fe 
and return without "cutting the blood" from any ox on his team. The 
ox is an intelligent animal, and he soon knew whether he or the teamster 
was to be master. If he had a poor driver he would "lag in the yoke" 
and not pull his part of the load unless closely watched and sometimes 
punished. On the other hand, if he recognized in his driver a master he 
pulled up in the yoke" and did his part. The Americans always yoked 
their oxen by attaching the yoke by a bow around the neck. This method 
enabled the ox to throw bis whole weight and all his strength against the 
yoke pulling his load instead of having to push it when the yoke was 
bound upon his horns, as was the Spanish and Mexican custom 

The whip used for driving oxen in America has not been entirely 
neglected m literature. In that masterpiece of Ingalls— Blue Grass- 
there is a crucifixion of the Border-Kuffians of Missouri, the redemption 
of whose country he submits a plan for : 

Seed the country down to blue grass and the reformation would 

&,, > UC K f + C , hange Tf bC graduaL 0ne ^neration w?uld not 
witness it, but hree would see it accomplished. The first svmntom 
would be an undefined uneasiness along the creeks, in the rot TZrZ 
tion of cottonwood hovels near the grist mill and the blacksmiths shop 
at the fork of the roads, followed by a "toting" of plunder into S 
"bow-dark" wagon and an exodus for "outweft." A 2 lack mule 
geared to a spavined sorrel, or a dwarfish yoke of stunt d steTrs drag 
£L Crea <\v! Wam al ° n J the mu,i,, - v roads - accelerated by the long 
drawn Whoo-hoop-a-Haw-aw-aw" of "Dad" in butternut eolo?ed 

likr e a P Srfnge e r. W S "' "**** * ****** -th a detonation 

Gregg compiled a table showing the extent of the Santa Fe trade for a 
number of years. It is the best authority on the subject and is appended : 





60. 000 


. 


1830 


120.000 


70 


1831 


353,000 


130 


1832 


140.000 


70 


1833 


180,000 


105 




150,000 


80 



HO GO 



liemark*. 
Pack-animals only used. 

imals and wagons. 
Tack animals and wagons. 
Wagons only henceforth. 

3 men killed, belr ;■ 

Tlrst oxen used by traders. 
Two men killed. 
I Party .1. 

2nd U. S. Escort. 



Arkansas r<; 
Chihuahua I ■'., 
Texan Santa l 

forts closed. 



142 KANSAS AND KAXSA.XS 

Bent's Fort 

One of the most important stations on the Santa Fe Trail, as originally 
located, was Bent's Fort. It was situated on the Arkansas River in what 
is now Bent County, Colorado. It is deemed necessary to give some ac- 
count of it because of the fact that it was the largest post on the trail 
and exerted a considerable influence on the trade of the Plains. In some 
form and in different locations it persisted until a very late day. 

Silas Bent was born in Massachusetts, in 1744, and it is said that he 
was one of the party who threw the British tea into Boston harbor. He 
married Mary Carter, by whom he had seven children, the eldest being 
Silas. This son was born in 1768, and in 17S8 he went to Ohio, where he 
practiced law and held various offices. In 1806 he was appointed by 
Albert Gallatin a deputy surveyor of Upper Louisiana, and moved to 
St. Louis. He held numerous offices there and died in 1827. By his 
intermarriage with a Virginia lady, Martha Kerr, he had eleven children, 
— Charles, Julia Ann, John, Lucy, Dorcas, William, Mary, George, Rob- 
ert, Edward and Silas. Charles was appointed Governor of New Mexico 
by General Kearny. The Bent brothers were engaged in the fur trade, 
those best known in that connection being William and Charles. Asso- 
ciated with them was Ceran St. Vrain, of Canadian-French extraction; 
the firm was at one time known as Bent, St. Vrain & Co. They built a 
fort on the Arkansas River above the present city of Pueblo, at the mouth 
of Fountain Creek, in 1826. This proved a poor location, and in 1828 
they abandoned the place and went down the river, and in 1829 completed 
Fort William, so called for William Bent. This fort was long known as 
Bent's Fort, and in later years was spoken of as Bent's "old" fort. It 
was one of the most important posts in the West, being situated at the 
point of the Santa Fe Trail where the travel north and south from the 
Platte country to Santa Fe crossed it. The walls were of adobe, six feet 
thick at the base and four feet at the top ; the floor was of clay, and the 
roofs of the covered portions were of clay and gravel supported on poles. 
At the northwest and southwest corners were round towers thirty feet 
high and ten feet clear on the inside, and loopholed for artillery and 
musketry. The entrance was on the east, and was closed by a heavy gate 
of wood. Inside the fort were two divisions — one for offices, living-rooms, 
and store-rooms ; the other for yards for wagons, stock, etc. The dimen- 
sions of the fort were about as given by Hughes, though other author- 
ities vary from these figures slightly. In 1852 William Bent destroyed 
the fort, burning the combustible portions and blowing up the walls with 
gunpowder. In 1853 he built Bent's "new"' fort, about thirty-five miles 
lower down the Arkansas and on the same (north) side. It seems that he 
had long contemplated this removal, as the following quotation from the 
work of Emory will show : 

About 35 miles before reaching Bent 's Fort is found what is called 
the "big timber." Here the valley of the river widens, and the banks 
on either side fall towards it in gentle slopes. The "big timber" is a 
thinly scattered growth of large cottonwoods not more than three- 
quarters of a mile wide and three or four miles long. It is here the 



KANSAS AND KAXSANS 11:! 

Cheyennes, Araphoes, and the ECioways sometimes winter, to avail them- 
selves of the scanty supply of wood for fuel, and to let their animals 
browse on the twigs and bark of the Cottonwood. The buffaloes are 
sometimes driven by the severity of the winter which is here intense for 
the latitude, to the same place to feed upon the Cottonwood. To this 
point, which has been indicated to the Government as a suitable one for 
a military post, Mr. Bent thinks of moving his establishment. 

Bent transacted business at the new location until 1859, when the fort 
was leased to the Government. In the winter of 1859-60 Bent moved up 
to the mouth of the Purgatoire. The name of the fort was changed to 
Fort Wise in I860, and in 1861 again changed, this time to Fori Lyon, 
in honor of General Nathaniel Lyon, the hero of Wilson Creek. Because 
of the encroachments of the river on its walls the fort was moved twenty 
miles lower down the river in 1866, but it served as a stage station for 
some years longer. 

Francis Parkman arrived at Bent's Fort shortly after the "Army of 
the West" had passed, and thus describes it: 

Bent's Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below 
Pueblo. At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four 
miles of it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses 
against its trunk, and having made our primitive toilet, rode towards 
the fort. We soon came in sight of it, for it is visible for a considerable 
distance, standing with its high clay walls in the midst of the scorching 
plains, it seemed as if a swarm of locusts had invaded the country. 
The grass for miles around was cropped close by the horses of General 
Kearny's soldiery. When we came to the fort we found that not only 
had the horses eaten up in the grass, hut their owners had made way with 
the stores of the little trading post, so that we had great difficulty in 
procuring the few articles which we required for our homeward journey. 
The army was gone, the life and bustle passed away, and the fort was 
a seen.- of dull and lazy tranquillity. A few invalid officers and soldiers 
sauntered about the area, which was oppressively hot; for the glaring 
sun was reflected down upon it from the high white walls around. 
Oregon Trail, pp.306, 307. 

William Bent was married to a Cheyenne w an. 



AUTHORITIES 

The supreme authority on the Santa Fe Trad and the trade developed 
over it is 'Ih, Commem o) tht Prairies, by Dr. Josiah Gregg. It is 
the foundation of every work on the subject since its appearance It 
was published in Is I I in New York, and London. Dr. Gregg was born 
in Overton County, Tennessee. .Inly 19. 1806. His father moved to 
.Missouri in time to have his family interned in the blockhouse in 
Boone's Lick settlement in the war of 1812. After that war In settled 
in Jackson County, Missouri, just north id' Independence, where he 
grew up, as he sa\ s, "on the frontier." lie was far above the Ordinal"? 

in intelligence, lie graduated from the Philadelphia Medical College, 

and was a successful physician until his health failed. Then he took 

to the Plains, making eighl trips from Independence to Santa Fo and 
beyond sometimes to Chihuahua. For a biographical sketch of Mr 
Gregg, see pages 162 </ seq Connelley's Do-uiphan's Expedition. 



144 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The American Fur Trade of the Far West, by H. M. Chittenden, 
New York, Francis P. Harper, 1902. This work has much concerning 
the Santa Fe Trail. 

Doniphan's Expedition, by John T. Hughes, is a work which has 
much about the Santa Fe Trail. The edition edited by Connelley con- 
tains many valuable notes, portraits, and biographies. 

There are many documents, clippings, minor works, and articles on 
the Santa Fe Trail in the Library of the Kansas State Historical 
Society. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE OREGON TRAIL 

The origin of the Oregon Trail was exactly the same as that of the 
Santa Fe Trail. It was the most direct route from the mouth of the Kan- 
sas River to the Northwest, which when taken to apply to a region beyond 
the present Kansas, embraces all the country to the Pacific Ocean, above 
the State of California. From the mouth of the Kansas River, the route 
which came to be known as the Oregon Trail was the shortest road to the 
Platte Valley. The Kansas River does not rise in the Rocky Mountains, 
the Platte on the north and the Arkansas on the south interlocking in 
those elevations beyond the head waters of the Kansas. As the Kansas 
River led to no gaps, passes nor depressions in the great mountain chain, 
it was not followed to its source by traders, trappers or explorers until its 
sister rivers had been some years freely traversed. But both the Santa Fe 
and Oregon trails began in the vicinity of the mouth of the Kansas, and 
both followed up that stream in their first stages. It was nature, the 
conformation of the physical features of the Great Plains and Rocky 
Mountain region, which made this necessary. Up the Kansas and its 
northern tributaries was the shortest routes to the great Platte Valley 
from the Big Bend of the Missouri, at the mouth of the Kansas, just as 
up this stream and its southern tributaries led most quickly to the valley 
of the Arkansas. And both the Platte and the Arkansas led up to passes 
in the Rocky Mountains. These physical features gave Kansas the first 
reaches of the two great trails from the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean. 

The first paths from the mouth of the Kansas River into the Platte 
Valley were made by the wild denizens of those regions before the appear- 
ance of even the Indian. These paths were not continuous the whole dis- 
tance, but led from valley to valley at many places. "When savage man 
had dispersed himself over the land the most direct of the old animal 
roads were unconsciously connected and identified as paths from village 
to village, from tribe to tribe. So were the foundations of the Oregon 
Trail laid in savagery in the early history of human progx-ess. 

When the white man came into these western wilds lie, of necessity, 
followed in the ways of the savage predecessors. And when the white 
man first came into these Plains and the Mountains beyond no one can 
now tell. In the subjection of every wilderness there is a preliminary 
period of individual and largely irresponsible exploration of which no 
record is ever made. Frenchmen, individuals, and in small parties, 
wandered, traveled, limited, traded— all in a petty and insignificai 

Vol. I— 10 

145 



146 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

ner — long before the despatch from any settlement or fort of authorized 
expeditions. They were long previous to Bourgmont or Du Tisne or Pike 
or Long. Pike notes their presence at the village of the Bepublican Paw- 
nees. And so, the pioneer white men to thread the mazes of the Plains by 
the primitive paths which became the Oregon Trail, are swallowed up in 
obscurity — never to be known. 

The love of property has long been the dominating motive and ruling 
passion of mankind. It is now the instinct of the individual and the 
policy of the nation to trade. And the development of trade with the 
savage inhabitants was the motive of the first excursions into the wilder- 
ness of the "West of which accounts have been preserved. These excur- 
sions assumed sufficient proportions to attract public attention immedi- 
ately after the return of Lewis and Clark from their famous exploration. 
St. Louis was the head and center of all commercial enterprise for the 
Missouri River region of that time. Manuel Lisa organized an expedition 
in 1807 to fix trading stations about the head waters of the Missouri. 
On his way up that river on this purpose he met John Colter, one of the 
expedition of Lewis and Clark. That intrepid backwoodsman was in- 
duced to enter Lisa's service and return to the mountains as guide to the 
party. He led Lisa up the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Bighorn 
River, where the first trading-post of his venture was established. This 
point was in the country of the Crows, and the fixing of the post there 
angered the Blackfeet — a matter which troubled the traders and trappers 
much thereafter. 

In the same year a party was organized at St. Louis for the purpose 
of escorting the Mandan chief Shahaka back to his village on the Missouri. 
He had come down with Lewis and Clark under promise that he should 
be seen safely home again. The party was so fiercely assailed by the tribes 
of the Upper Missouri that it failed to reach the Mandan villages, and it 
returned to St. Louis. 

Lisa was the only man of prominence who engaged in the fur trade of 
that period. In 1808 he returned from the founding of his post at the 
mouth of the Bighorn. In the winter of 1808-9, he organized the Missouri 
Fur Company. He ascended the Missouri in the spring of 1S09 and traus- 
ferred his post at the mouth of the Bighorn to the Company, returning 
that year. He made another journey to the same point in 1810. In 1811 
he again visited his post on the Yellowstone, arriving at St, Louis on his 
return in October. He had established trading relations with other tribes 
in the mountains, and during the winter of 1811-12 he reorganized his 
company. He visited his trading-houses in the summer of 1812, but did 
not return to St. Louis that year. On this expedition he established Fort 
Lisa, in the Omaha Nation, and formed a connection with that tribe which 
gave him its trade. He returned to St. Louis in June, 1813. The war of 
1812 made it dangerous and unprofitable to trade with the savage tribes 
of the Upper Missouri. In 1814 Lisa was given the post of sub-Agent to 
the Missouri River Indians above the Kansas River. In this work he 
spent a year at Fort Lisa, which was about fifteen miles above the present 
town of Omaha, on the west bank of the Missouri, and three miles above 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 147 

the mouth of the Boyer River. From this point, in the summer of 1815, 
he led forty-three chiefs and head men of the tribes of the Upper Missouri 
to St. Louis to make treaties with the United States. II is influence 
brought them to the side of the Americans and prevented them from 
joining the British. Lisa, continued in this trade until his death, which 
occurred in St. Louis in August, 1820. The Chouteaus had been associ- 
ated with him in his transaction on the Upper Missouri. They were 
members of the Missouri Fur Company tog-ether, this company succeeding 




[Copy by Willard of P., .-trail in Libri 
Society 1 



Gen. IIi:\k\ I.i \\ i wvuirni 

id' Kansas State Eistorical 



Lisa, Menard and Morrison by purchase. The company was reorganized 
in 1819 and continued in business some years. None of its transaction 
had specially to do with the country which became Kansas. lint this brief 
outline of its business was compiled in the belief that an account of the 
establishment of the fur trade on the Missouri was necessary here. There 
were other traders on the Upper Missouri during the time that Lisa and 
his associates were trading there. Crooks and RfcLellan were the partners 
of one company. They later became partners of John J. Astor in his 
Pacific Fur Company, a branch of the American Fur Company. The 



! I - KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Astorians organized an overland expedition from St. Louis in 1811. It 
did not follow the Oregon Trail, as it was then the custom to follow up the 
Missouri River. Communications overland could not be maintained over 
the route, and this was one of the serious disadvantages of the Astoria 
enterprise. It was reserved for later fur traders to begin the use of 
those primitive roads which later became the Oregon Trail — the natural 
route — the Imperial Highway. 



The Rocky Mountain Fur Company was organized by William H. 
Ashley at St. Louis in 1822. In 1823 Ashley followed his partner, 
Andrew Henry, who had taken out the first expedition in 1822. Both 
these parties followed the Missouri River. Ashley was attacked at the 
Aricara towns and driven down the river. But the two divisions of the 
company were finally united. At the close of the campaign of Colonel 
Leavenworth against the Aricaras Henry was sent on to the post at the 
mouth of the Yellowstone. He believed that point unfavorable for his 
business, and resolved to seek a location higher up on that stream. Hav- 
ing secured a supply of horses from the Crows, Henry sent a party under 
Etienne Provost to hunt in a southwest direction. While there is no 
record to that effect, there is every reason to believe that Provost led his 
party throxigh South Pass — the first white men to cross the Continental 
Divide there. But as set down before in these pages, lone trappers or 
insignificant parties of them likely went through this pass many years 
before the expedition of Provost, Some tradition of it may have lingered 
in the rude cabins of the cmn urs <//< bois to lead this French captain in 
that direction. And whether Provost did, in fact, discover the Pass in the 
fall of 1823, it became certainly known in 1824. Hunt and Crooks trav- 
ersed that part of the Oregon Trail from the Portneuf to the mouth of 
Columbia in 1811-13 in command of the overland Astorian expedition. 
The Astorian leaders passed over some parts of the trail east of Portneuf 
on their journey back to the Missouri. In the expeditions of General 
Ashley in the management of his business of the Rocky Mountains he 
seems never to have passed over that part of the Oregon Trail later to be 
included in Kansas. He kept to the Missouri and the Platte. At just 
what time the trapper caravans began to reach the Platte Valley by way of 
the Kansas River there is no record to tell. Fort Leavenworth was estab- 
[ished as a Cantonment in 1827. 1 After that date any party traveling 



1 Gen. Henry Leavenworth was born in Connecticut in the closing 
year of the revolutionary war, 178:'.. While a boy he moved to Dela- 
ware county, N. Y., where he grew to manhood and secured such an 
education as the schools of that new country were able to afford. He 
afterward took up the study of law in the office of Gen. Root, of Delhi, 
and formed a partnership with his preceptor after his admission to the 
bar. He soon acquired a high standing in the legal profession and 
L't-e.it popularity throughout Delaware county. 

When the second war with Great Britain was declared in 1812 he 
helped raise a company and was elected its captain. This was the be- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 149 

to the northwest would be likely to start from the fort and follow the 
route of the Oregon Trail, later much used from that point. Perhaps 
Jedediah S. Smith came in over this part of the trail in 1831, upon his 
return from the mountains. A letter written by him on this journey is 
still extant, being in the library of the Kansas State Historical Society. 
It is dated — "Blue Earth Fork of Kansas, 30 miles from the Ponnee 
Village, Sept. 10, 1830." The courier to whom this letter was entrusted 
was overtaken, and Smith added the following postscript: "P. S. Hav- 
ing overtaken this letter, the 22d of Sept., at the Kansas Fairry, 30 miles 
from camp Leavenworth, or rather Cantonment Leavenworth ; I add we 
are thus far safe. J. S. S." 

Smith had evidently gone to Fort Leavenworth from the head waters 
of the Big Blue. It would not have required twelve days to have passed 
over that distance, so he must have stopped at the fort.. The ferry on the 
Kansas River, where lie came up with the messenger to whom he entrusted 
his letter, was at the trading-house of Cyprian Chouteau, which stood on 
the south bank of the Kansas River. 

Late in October, 18124, General Ashley set out from St. Louis with a 
party to ascend the Missouri. It seems that this was an overland expedi- 
tion. James P. Beckwourth was a member of it — his initial trip to the 
mountains. He says: "We started on the 11th of October with horses 
and pack-mules. Nothing of interest occurred until we approached the 
Kansas village, when we came to a halt and encamped." The site of this 
village woidd be difficult to determine now, perhaps. It may have been 
the Kansas town at the mouth of the Big Blue, though it is scarcely prob- 



ginning of his military career. His company was assigned to the 9th 
regiment of infantry and attached to the brigade commanded by Gen. 
Winfield Scott. He was active in the campaign in northern New York 
during his first year of service and was promoted to the rank of major. 
He was in the campaign for the invasion of Canada from the Niagara 
frontier, and was in the battle of Chippewa. He was breveted a lieu- 
tenant colonel for gallantry on this occasion, lie afterward took part 
in the battle of Lundy's Dane, and .so distinguished himself that he was 
breveted a colonel. 

After the close of the war Col. Leavenworth took up his residence at 
Delhi again and was elected to represent Delaware county in the legis- 
lature. He was soon after offered a mayorship in the regular army and 
was stationed at Sackett's Harbor. He was promoted to lieutenant 
colonel and assigned to the old 5th infantry in 1818. 

He joined the regimen! a1 Detroil and was soon afterward d 
to command an expedition into the great Northwest. After much 
active service among the Indians he established a post, now Fort Snell- 
ing. near St. Anthony Falls. 

When the army was reduced in 1821, Col. Leavenworth wa 
ferred to the 6th infantry and placed in command of troops around 
Council Bluffs and other Iowa points. He was in command of the 
expedition againsl the hostile Arickaree Indians iii August, L821, aie: 
del',. .ltd them in a running light lasting four days. For distini 
service in this campaign Col. Leavenworth cane in Eor high commenda- 
tion in the reporl of lien. Gaines, ami was especially mentioned in both 
the annual reports of Presidenl Monroe and Secretary of War I lalhoun. 



150 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

able that Ashley would take a route so far west in ascending the Missouri. 
Wyeth found the main Kansas village at a point where North Topeka 
was laid out, and his second journey was in 1834. Frederick Chouteau 
said the Fool Chief had his village there in 1830. Some part of the Upper 
village must have removed to the Topeka site as early as 1824, the 
time of Ashley's expedition. The language of Beckwourth can mean 
nothing else than that when considered in connection with other facts 
already established. 

At the Kansas town it developed that more horses would be required. 
It is possible that a change of plan was matured there, for General 
Ashley seems to have changed his course, striking for the Missouri, pos- 
sibly going along the Indian trail which came out on that stream at the 
present town of Atchison. Beckwourth and Moses Harris were dispatched 
to the Republican Pawnee town on the Republican to buy horses. They 
found the village deserted, and their journey was fruitless. No food was 
found at the Republican town, and Beckwourth and his companion set 
out for the Big Nemeha River, which they reached in a famished condi- 
tion. From the head waters of that river they went to the trading-house 
of Ely and Curtis, on the Missouri, near the mouth of the Kansas in what 
is now Kansas City, Kansas. On the journey down the Missouri Beck- 
wourth was employed by G. Chouteau, as lie says, to pack furs during 
the winter, thus abandoning the intention to reach the mountains that 
year. This Chouteau establishment must have been the same we found 
under control of Cyprian Chouteau in 1830. 

This incident of Beckwourth is mentioned to show that that route 
afterwards so much traveled by the way of the Santa Fe Trail, Topeka, 



Col. Leavenworth was the originator of, the plan to establish schools 
of instruction for officers and soldiers of the regular army. The idea of 
military schools, something after the method of the infantry and cavalry 
school at Fort Leavenworth, was strenuously advocated by him. In this 
connection it would seem fitting and proper that his body should be buried 
at the post named in his honor and where a great war college would be 
located. 

After considerable correspondence Col. Leavenworth, in conjunction 
with Gen. Atkinson, was delegated in March. 1826, to select a site for an 
army school on the west bank of the Mississippi river within twenty miles 
of its junction with the Missouri. Col. Leavenworth finally picked out 
as a suitable place the grounds where Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis, 
is now located. He started in with a detachment of his regiment to 
erect a large post and military school buildings. He received very little 
encouragement in the way of appropriations or aid from Washington. 
Before the school was fairly well started. Col. Leavenworth was ordered 
to transfer his troops to points on the upper Mississippi, and the mili- 
tary school plan died and was not revived in a practical manner again 
until more than fifty years afterward, when Hen. Sherman established 
the Fort Leavenworth infantry and cavalry school. 

In March, 1n - _'7. Col. Leavenworth received orders to take four com- 
panies of infantry and to ascend the Missouri river, and upon reaching 
a point within twenty miles of the mouth of the Platte river to establish 
a cantonment. A permanent cantonment was to be located on the left 
bank. Col. Leavenworth first picked a sit" near the mouth of the Little 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 151 

and the Big Blue River was well known and perhaps much traveled by- 
experienced hunters and trappers very early in the nineteenth century — 
at least as early as 1824. Beckwourth evidently passed over much of it 
in company with Harris, an old-time trapper, in that year. 

In 1832, Nathaniel J. Wyeth took his first expedition overland. It 
passed up the Kansas River, and it almost certainly crossed the Kansas 
River at the site of the future Topeka. The route it followed was more 
along the courses of the Kansas and the Big Blue than that later used. 

Captain Bonneville's expedition was one of the famed journeys into 
i he WCstcrn wilderness. It was organized and carried out with military 
order and exactness. It was the first to depend on wagons and abandon 
reliance on pack-horses. It started from St. Louis in the spring 1832. 
Captain Bonneville left Fort Osage, now Sibley, Jackson County, Mo., 
raily in May. On the 6th of that month he passed the "last border habi- 
tation, ' ' and on the 12th he reached the Kansas River, opposite the agency 
of the Kansas Indians. This agency had its origin in a treaty with that 
tribe made in 1825, by which the Government stipulated to initiate the 
I adians into the noble art of husbandry. Three hundred cattle, the same 
number of hogs, five hundred domestic fowls, three yoke of oxen, two 
carts, and necessary implements were to be furnished. A blacksmith was 
provided. In pursuance of the terms of this treaty an agency was estab- 
lished in 1827 on the north bank of the Kansas River about two and one- 
half miles south of the present Williamstown, in Jefferson County. It 
was about seven miles northwest of Lawrence. Major Daniel Morgan 
Boone was appointed farmer, and a brother of Governor "William Clark, 
of Missouri, was made the agent, And it was to this point that Captain 



Platte, in the Missouri bottoms, opposite Fort Leavenworth. He ex- 
plored the country and was soon convinced that the land on the east 
or Missouri side of the river would be flooded during high water, and 
that it was not advantageous for a permanent post. Without waiting 
for new orders, he crossed over to the Kansas side and picked the site 
for a cantonment where Fort Leavenworth is now located. The first 
camp on the site was pitched May 8, 1827, nearly seventy-five years ago. 
and it was named "Cantonment Leavenworth." Col. Leavenworth sent 
a clear and beautiful description of the land and advantages of the new 
cantonment to Washington, and it was approved by a formal order of 
the war department in September, 1827. 

During the next two years many of the soldiers were taken sick and 
died of malarial fever, mainly for lack of proper medicines to treat 
the disease, and Cantonment Leavenworth was looked upon as- an un- 
healthy place. Iii less than two years the garrison was ordered with- 
drawn to Jefferson barracks. This was in the spring of 1829, and the 
buildings deserted and were occupied by the Kickapoo Indians. The 
cantonment was taken possession of the second time in the fall of 1829, 

ahout six months after its abandoi m. by a new battallion of troops 

commanded by Col. Leavenworth, in which Gen Phillip St. George 

Cooke, afterwards t ted cavalrj officer, bul then a second lien 

was a member. 

The name of the place was changed from Canton Leavenworth to 
Port Leavenworth in general order No. 11, issued February 8 L832. 
It was never aband d as an armj posl since the time ntii 



152 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Bonneville had come on the 12th of May, 1832. On the 13th he made 
rafts, upon which he crossed his wagons and all other effects over the 
Kansas River. He found Chief White Plume residing at the agency, and 
the visit and conversation with that primitive monarch was both interest- 
ing and enjoyable. From the agency Captain Bonneville passed over the 
future Oregon Trail to the Platte Valley and the Rocky Mountains. His 
wagons were the first to pass over the trail. The only previous wheeled 
vehicle was the cannon-carriage taken into the Salt Lake Valley by 
General Ashley in 1826. 

There seems to be no definite record of expeditions in 1833 through 
Kansas over the ways to be known as the Oregon Trail, but that there 
were such expeditions there is no doubt whatever. Travel was increasing 
year by year, and there were certainly individuals and small parties of 
free trappers — those hunting for themselves and not for fur companies — 
ever on the trail to the Rocky Mountains. 

In 1834 Nathaniel J. Wyeth made his second advent on the Great 
Plains. He was accompanied by John K. Townsend, who wrote an 
account of this, his greatest and most extensive venture in the fur busi- 
ness. He entered what is now Kansas on the first day of May, over the 
Santa Fe Trail. On the third he reached and traveled on the Oregon 
Trail. The crossing of the Kansas River, at the site later to become 
Topeka, was made on the fourth of May. The Kansas Indian town was 
found to occupy both sides of the river, and the ferry so long famous must 
have been already established in a thriving business, the goods, wagons, 
and men being taken over in a "long flat-bottomed boat." Frame houses 



1829, but came near being depopulated of both white men and Indians 
during a cholera epidemic in 1838. On this occasion a boat came up 
from St. Louis loaded with troops and settlers. Cholera broke out 
among them the night the boat tied up at Fort Leavenworth. Many 
of the passengers on the boat died and were hastily buried in the ground 
where the commanding officer's residence is located, and the new quarters 
for lieutenants is going up. The bones dug up recently in making 
foundations for the new quarters were 'those of cholera victims. Those 
of the passengers who did not die were marched into a camp in Salt 
Creek valley, and when the contagion broke out among the first soldiers 
in the garrison a panic set in. and practically every person at, the fort 
left and camped in the woods until the ravages of the disease were 
spent. 

While stationed at Fort Leavenworth in 1832 Col. Leavenworth was 
assigned to the command of the Southwestern frontier. He conducted a 
campaign against the Pawnee Indians, defeating and subduing them. 
The campaign was a long one, but it was conducted with such skill 
that he was promoted to be brigadier general as a reward. The news 
of this promotion did not reach Gen. Leavenworth before his death. He 
passed away after an illness of a few days while sick in a hospital wagon 
on Cross Timbers, near the falls of the Washita river, in the Indian 
Territory, July 29, 183,4. He was in command of an expedition against 
a band of hostile Indians at the time he died. His body remained buried 
at this place for several months, when it was taken across the plains and 
finally sent to Delhi, N. Y., where it is now buried. — Quoted from an old 
newspapt r clipping. 



KANSAS AM) KANSANS ,.,; 

were found in the Indian town, and a number of white men engaged in 
farming and cattle-raising are mentioned as living there. The expedition 
followed almost exactly the future Oregon Trail to the Platte Valley 

The party of Wyeth was immediately behind the large party of Wil- 
liam Sublette, then going into the Rocky Mountains on the business of 
procuring furs. 

In the summer of 1834 a Scotchman, Charles Augustus Murray made 
a trip over the plains from Port Leavenworth to the Pawnee villages He 
arrived at Port Leavenworth early in July from St. Louis. At the fort 
he met a large band of Pawnees and arranged to go back with them to 
their country. 

Sa-ni-tsa-rish, chief of the Grand Pawnees, seems to have been the 
Indian most depended on for protection and direction. He started in 
company. with the Pawnees on the 7th day of July, going by the way of 
the Great Nemeha. From that stream his savage company led him to the 
Big Blue, but to what point on this river can not be made out It was 
probably about the present Beatrice, Nebraska. Thence the band struck 
across the prairies to the Republican, from which they led their o-uest to 
the Pawnee towns on the Platte. Several weeks were spent there when 
he was escorted back to Fort Leavenworth by a more southern 'route 
Murray did not travel directly over the Oregon Trail, but his tour indi- 
cated that the country between the Platte and the Kansas was being 
gone over m all directions in 1834. Murray wrote a bulky work in two 
volumes, entitled Travels in North America, describing his trip to the 
Great Plains with the Pawnees. 

Fremont 's Explorations 
In the spring of 1842, Captain John C. Fremont made his first explora- 
tion of the Great Plains. He left Washington on the second of May and 
went to St. Louis. On the boal from St. Louis up the Missouri he met 
Kit Carson and engaged him as guide. Fremont organized his expedition 
at the trading-house of Cyprian Chouteau. Charles Preuss was his 
topographical engineer, or surveyor, and the youngest son of Senator 
Benton was a member of the party. The stores and baggage were carried 

m eighl carts or wagons drawn by mules. Tl ntire party numbered 

nearly forty persons. Fremont left the post of Chouteau on the LOth of 
June, going south some ten miles to the Santa Pe Trail. This trail led 
out to the parting of the ways, where the Road to Oregon began, near the 
present town of Gardner, in Johnson County, Kansas. Fremonl 
the crossing of the Kansas River late on the 14th, findingthe river swollen 
from recent rains. This was not the crossing at. the poinl u hen 
was afterwards laid out, but at Uniontown, in the western line of Shaw- 
nee County. That crossing was a for,!, having a rock bottom, and no 
|rrrv was then maintained there. The Chouteaus had long been in the 
Indian trade near that crossing, and they doubtless recommended it to 
Fremont Fremont says he expected to lind the river fordabL 
was running bank-full -'with an angry current, yellow and turbid as the 
Missouri." lie made his cattle and horses swim. I!,, had a co 



154 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

rubber boat designed for the survey of the Platte, and on this he carried 
over bis carts and bag-gage. The last load was amid-stream when the boat 
was upset, bul almost everything was rescued and saved. On the 15th the 
party moved up the Kansas about seven miles and camped in a tine 
prairie, where the wet baggage was spread to dry. On the 17th Fremont 
recorded in bis Journal 1hat a large body of emigrants bound for Oregon 
under Dr. White was about three weeks in advance of his expedition. 
There were sixty-four men and "sixteen or seventeen families," carrying 
their effects in heavy wagons. 

Fremont followed up the valley of the Kansas River until the morning 
of the 19th of June. At the mouth of the Vermillion the old Kansas vil- 
lage was seen. It was a dead town. The Pawnees had attacked it in the 
spring of 1842, and the Kansas Indians had moved further down the 
river. On the 18th the river was in sight of tin- expedition, thomgh from 
eight to twelve miles distant. The Vermillion of the Blue was crossed at 
ten (.'(dock on the 20th. and the camp for the night was made on the banks 
of the Big Blue River near the present ftlarysville. Antelope were seen 
running over the plains that day. and ('arson killed a deer. About, two 
o'clock on the afternoon of the twenty-first of June the fortieth parallel 
was crossed, and the expedition passed out of what was shortly to be 
Kansas. 

This exploration of 18-42 by Fremont seemed to fix very definitely in 
literature the course of the Oregon Trail through Kansas. There was a 
sort of notoriety or reputation attaching to the exploration of Fremont 
which it is hard to understand at this day. The South Pass had been dis- 
covered nearly twenty years when Fremont set out on his first expe- 
dition. Women had ridden horseback through it nearly ten years before, 
and just ten years previous to his passage through it Captain Bonneville 
had driven his park of wagons through it and far beyond it. Yet Fre- 
mont was later credited in the popular mind with having discovered the 
South Pass. This probably arose from the fact that his reports and 
maps were promptly published by the Government, and they carried the 
first definite information of the Oregon Trail to the people at large. 

Fremont returned in the fall of 1S42, descending the Platte. lie 
began immediately to prepare for a second exploration, and this he 
accomplished, starting in the spring of 1*4::. 

On the 17th of .May. 184:.). Fremont landed at Kansas, known also as 
Kansas Landing, and sometimes as Chouteau's Landing. It is now Kan- 
sas City, .Missouri. lie stopped at the residence of Major Richard W. 
Cummins, Indian Agent for the tribes of that region, and who lived then 
at the Landing. Before his plans were perfected he received a letter from 
his wife urging him to depart at once and complete bis arrangements at 
Fori Bent. Pursuant to this message he set ou1 en the 29th of .May. taking 
with him a brass howitzer obtained from General S. W. Kearny at St. 
Louis. Thomas Fitzpatrick was employed as guide, and Kit Carson was 
Pound later on. It afterwards developed thai Fremont had been sum- 
moned to Washington to explain why he was taking that brass cannon on 
a scientific expedition. Mrs. Fremont did not forward the notice of the 
i . hut sent her order tor him to gel under way at onee. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 155 

The men of the second expedition were Creoles, Canadian-French and 

Americans numbering all told thirty-nine men. They were ar I with 

Hal] s carbines and the twelve-pound howitzer which came so near stop- 
ping the exploration. William Gilpin joined the party on the 3ls1 at 
Elm Grove., and he continued into Oregon. At Elm Grove were a number 
of emigrant wagons, among them that of J. B. Childs, of Jackson County 
Missouri, who was in command of the emigranl pari,, which was bound 

tor California. 1 hey were carrying furniture and household g Is f ,,,„ 

mg implements, and the machinery for a mill designed to be erected in 
some branch of the Sacramento. The route taken was the Oregon Trail 
to the crossing of the Kansas River at Uniontown, where Fremont had 
crossed the previous year. Trains of emigrant wagons were always in 
sight of Fremont, and many were at the ford or rrossin- Sutlers were 
even then pouring over the Oregon Trail for the Pacific Coast 

Fremont d.d not cross the Kansas at the ford with the emigrant 
trains, hut continued his way on the south side of the river to the junction 

ve thf r rTrn " thC Sm ° kT HiU - There he Cr0SSed his ex P^tion 
Pen, % l ° n " ^ and ° U the llth of Ju " e s * ~t up the 

Repub hcan. lh,s stream was followed approximately to its source the 
expedition coming out on the South Platte on the 30th of June. It. visited 
the 1 acific Coast, and return,, 1 the following year, descending the Arkan- 
sas, crossing to the Smoky Hill, and then turning to the Santa Fe Trail 
arriving at Kansas Landing July 31, 1S44. 

The third expedition of Fremont was organized on the frontier of 
Missouri, as he says, but no specific location is given. It was certainly 
near Kansas City. The details of the organization are indefinitely given 
Some one had chosen twelve Delaware Indians to go with him. and theae 
included Sagundai, who later carried back dispatches from California 
and Swanok, who had destroyed the Republican Pawnee town. Fremont 
says that, as his expedition had for its object the exploration of the Rocky 
Mountains and the country beyond, no examination of the Great Plains 
country was made. Fog envelopes the movements of the party until its 
departure Iron. Bent's Fori, on the 16th of August, L845 ' It is not 

known that any part of the expedil passed over any portion of the 

Oregon Trail. 

There was another Premonl expedition, in 1848 This went m> the 
Smoky Hill. ' 

lu 1853, Fremont crossed the 6rea1 Plains for the last time Be Eol 
lowed his trail of 1843 closely, stopping a few days at Uniontown, or that 

X|, -nnt,. J " I ntown he had followed the Oregon Trail. 

Captain Bow vbd Stansbi eh 
In 1849, ( '.,,, tain Boward Stansbury was sen! out to ma ke an explora- 
twn and survej of the Greal Sail Lake. The initial poinl of his expedi- 
tion was Fort Leavenworth. Be lefl the lor, „,, the 31s1 of M aj L849 
with eighteen mm. five wagons, and fori, s i s horses and mu Ies ' \ Mr 

Sacket1 •i"" 11 '' 1 the pari, 11,. had one wagon, one carrii ,nd fifteen 

"animals.'- There were five persons with .Mr. Sackett, possiblj ■ 



156 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

ily. Lieutenant Gunnison being ill, was put on a bed in the spring wagon 
used to transport the instruments. 

Captain Stansbury followed what he terms the Emigration Road, 
which was only that branch of the Oregon Trail, starting from Fort 
Leavenworth. He says of it — "already broad and well beaten as any 
turnpike in our country. ' ' And he further says : 

The cholera had for a considerable time been raging on the Missouri ; 
and as we passed up, fearful rumours of its prevalence and fatality 
among the emigrants on the route daily reached us from the plains. 
On the day we left Fort Leavenworth, one member of our little party 
was carried to the hospital in a state of collapse, where he died in 
twenty-four hours. The only officer attached to my command had been 
ill for several weeks, with severe attacks of intermittent fever, which 
now merged into chronic dysentery, and lie was, in consequence, unable 
to sit on his horse, or to do duty of any kind. These were rather dis- 
couraging circumstances for an outset ; but, at length, on the 31st day of 
May, our preparations being completed, we commenced our journey, my 
own party consisting in all of eighteen men, five wagons, and forty-six 
horses and mules; while that of Mr. Sackett, our fellow-traveller, con- 
tained six persons, one wagon, one travelling carriage, and fifteen ani- 
mals. Lieutenant Gunnison, being too ill to travel in any other manner, 
was carried on his bed, in a large spring wagon, which had been procured 
for the transportation of the instruments. The weather, in the morning, 
had been dark and lowering, with occasional showers, but it cleared off 
about noon ; the camp broke up ; the wagons were packed, and we pre- 
pared to exchange, for a season, the comforts and refinements of civilized 
life, for the somewhat wild and roving habits of the hunter and savage. 
My party consisted principally of experienced voyageurs, who had spent 
the best part of their lives among the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, and 
to whom this manner of life had become endeared by old associations. 
We followed the "emigrant road" (already broad and well beaten as any 
turnpike in our country) over a rolling prairie, fringed on the south witli 
trees. The hills consisted principally of carboniferous limestone, in 
apparently horizontal strata, which in places formed quite prominent 
escarpments. Our first day's journey was only six miles; but we were 
now fairly embarked, and things gradually assumed the appearance of 
order and regularity. 

Although the route taken by the party had been travelled by thou- 
sands of people, both before and since we passed over it, I have thought 
that some brief extracts from the daily journals of the expedition might 
not be without interest, for, although nothing very new may perhaps 
be elicited, still it is not improbable that they will convey, to such as 
peruse them, a more correct idea of what the thousands have had to 
encounter who have braved this long journey in search either of a new 
home in Oregon, or of that more alluring object — the glittering treasure 
of California. 

On the first of June Stansbury passed the train of a Mr. Allen. It 
had about twenty-five ox-teams, and was bound for California. Chol- 
era had killed one of the party, and two more were down with it. Four 
men of the party had been frightened by the disease into returning to 
the settlements. On this day Stansbury first witnessed the formation 
<il' ;i camp corral, which he describes: 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 157 

In the course of the afternoon we passed the travelling-train of a 
Mr. Allen, consisting of about twenty-five ox-teams, bound for the land 
of gold. They had been on the spot several days, detained by sickness. 
One of the party had died but the day before of cholera, and two more 
were then down with the same disease. In the morning, early, we met 
four men from the same camp, returning on foot, with their effects on 
their backs, frightened at the danger and disgusted already with the trip. 
It was here that we first saw a train "corralled." The wagons were 
drawn up in the form of a circle and chained together, leaving a small 
opening at but one place, through which the cattle were driven into 
the enclosed space at night, and guarded. The arrangement is an excel- 
lent one, and rendered impossible what is called, in Western phrase, a 
"stampede," a mode of assault practised by Indians for the purpose of 
carrying off cattle or horses, in which, if possible, they set loose some 
of the animals, and so frighten the resl as to produce a general and 
confused flight of the whole. To a few determined men. wagons thus 
arranged form a breastwork exceedingly difficult to be carried by any 
force of undisciplined savages. 

Captain Stansbury came, on the fifth of June, into the main Emigra- 
tion Eoad through Kansas — the Oregon Trail. The point of union was 
at the place so well known on the waters of the Big Blue for the next 
twenty years. On the seventh of June a French trader from Fort Lara- 
mie was encountered. He reported that he met not fewer than four 
thousand wagons — four persons to the wagon — bound for California. 
They seemed to be getting on badly, having had no experience on the 
plains. Almost daily small parties were seen returning, having become 
discouraged or disgusted. Graves of emigrants who had recently died 
lined the way. Here is one case encountered on the twelfth of June. 
It serves to show the madness engendered by the California Gold-fever: 

Tuesday, June 12— Bar., 28.64; Ther., 63°. Breakfast at four. In 
ten and a half miles crossed the west branch of Turkey Creek and halted 
to noon on the bank of Wyeth's Creek six miles beyond. The crossing 
here is bad and rock\', and the grass poor, having been eaten close by 
the trains which had preceded us. The afternoon was oppressively hot 
and close, the wind being from the eastward, with everj appearance of 
rain. We have been iii company with multitudes of emigrants the whole 
day. The road has been lined to a lung extent with their wagons, whose 
white covers, glittering in the sunlight, resembled, at a distance, ships 
upon the ocean. We passed a company from Boston, consisting of 
seventy persons, one hundred and forty pack and riding mules, a number 

of riding horses, and a drove of cattle for 1 f. The expedition, as 

1 1 1 i •_■ 1 1 1 I"' expected, and as is too generally the case, was badly con 
■ were overloaded, and the manner of securing and ai 
the packs elicited manj a sarcastic criticism from our party, 

re "id and experienced mountain-men, with whom the making 

Up of a pack and the loading of a mule amounted to a science. We 
passed also an old Dutchman, with an immense wagon drawn by si\ 
yoke of call le. ami loaded with household furniture. Behind, followed 
a covered cart containing the wife, driving herself, and a host of t 
the whole bound to the [and of promise, of the disti to whi 

ever, they seemed to have not the most remote idea. To the tail of the 

• •act was attached a large chicken-coop, full of fc,uU ; two i i] 

followed, and next came an old mar. . npon the back of which was perched 

a little. In-own fa I. barefooted girl, not more than seven years old., 



158 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

while a small sucking- colt brought up the rear. We had occasion to 
see this old gentleman and his caravan frequently afterwards, as u, 
passed and repassed each other, from time to time, on the road. The 
last we saw of him was on the Sweetwater, engaged in sawing his wagon 
into two parts, for the purpose of converting it into two carts, and in 
disposing of everything he could sell or give away, to lighten his load. 

In after years the trail was strewn with furniture of every descrip- 
tion, the bones of oxen, horses, mules, buffaloes and sometimes men. In 
their madness to get on the emigrants had east away the effects they had 
hauled hundreds of miles. It was like the wreckage cast upon the shores 
of the wasting sea. 

Peter H. Burnett 

In 1843, Peter H. Burnett, living then in Clay County. Missouri, 
determined to move to Oregon. He was induced to do this by the Con- 
gressional report of Senator Appleton on that country. Senator Linn, 
of Missouri, had introduced into Congress a bill granting a settler six 
hundred and forty acres of land for himself and one hundred and sixty 
acres for each of his children. Under that act, should it pass, he would 
be entitled to sixteen hundred acres of land. 

Dr. "Whitman, the missionary, was then on the western border of 
Missouri. Burnett and others forming the company were in communi- 
cation with him. On the 18th of May the emigrants held a meeting to 
perfect arrangements for the journey and to see Dr. Whitman. This 
meeting appointed a committee of seven to make an inspection of the 
wagons intended for the trip. A committee of five was selected to for- 
mulate rides for the journey. Dr. Whitman was also present at a meet- 
ing held on the 20th of May, when the rules were adopted. John Grant 
was hired to act as guide as far as Fort Hall. The rendezvous was about 
fifteen miles east of Elm Grove, which was reached on the 22d of May 
the day of the starting. Two elm trees and some dogwood brush consti- 
tuted the grove. The larger elm had been stripped of its branches for 
wood by previous caravans. The party crossed the Wakarnsa on the 
24th, letting the wagons down the steep banks by ropes. It is not 
known just where the Kansas Rivei*, reached on the 26th, was crossed, 
but it was probably at the Uniontown Ford, but possibly at the mouth 
of the Big Blue. It required until the 31st to complete the crossing 
for all the party. There were met Fathers De Smet and De Vos, com- 
ing from missionary labors among the Flathead Indians. The next 
day the organization of the company was completed by the election of 
Burnett as Captain and J. W. Nesmith as Orderly Sergeant; also the 
selection of a council of nine members. A war party of Kansas and 
Osage Indians was encountered on the 6th of June. This party had 
gone out against the Pawnees, and had taken one scalp, which was 
exhibited, showing the ears with the wampum still in them. The party 
followed up the Big Blue more closely than did later caravans, making 



KANSAS AND KANSANS L59 

its last encampment on that stream on the 17th — already beyond tin- 
boundary of what was to become Kansas. 

Francis Park max 

In the Spring of 1846, Francis Parkman made a "tour of curios- 
ity and amusement to the Roekey Mountains" by way of the Oregon 
Trail. It is much to be regretted that Mr. Parkman was not actuated 
by mure serious motives, for the record he left of his tour, while always 
popular, has no great historical value. His party was formed at 
Westport, and on his way he passed the Shawnee Mission. There 
Parkman saw Joseph Parks, a Shawnee chief, and notes that this 
savage ruler had a trading establishment at Westport, conducted an 
extensive farm, and owned "a considerable number of slaves." The 
Kansas River was first seen at the Lower Delaware Crossing, where the 
party passed over it on rafts, after camping a night on the south bank. 
This was the crossing of the old Military Road from Fort Leavenworth 
to Fort Scott and Fort Gibson. 

Parkman made a brief stop at Fort Leavenworth, and on the 23d 
of May set forth on the branch of the trail leading from that fort to 
Fort Laramie. No date is given to show when he reached the Big 
Blue River, but a detailed description of its crossing is set down. The 
book containing the account of the tour is very loosely and carelessly 
written. The date of May 23d is given as the time of leaving Fort 
Leavenworth, also as the time of coming into the "St. Joseph Trail" — 
something which never did exist — after having crossed the Big Blue. 

Parkman 's observations on the conditions along the Oregon Trail 
at that day are sometimes of value. He notes that Illinois and Mis- 
souri furnished by far the greater number of emigrants of that period. 
They were numerous, and some were bound for Oregon and some for 
California. At Independence, Missouri, they had heard that several 
parties of Mormons were about to start from St. Joseph. This caused 
uneasiness, for the people of both Missouri and Illinois were on bad 
terms with the Mormons. But these rumors proved to be unfounded. 

Pew particulars of the country and the Oregon Trail arc given by 
Parkman, but many of his own experiences are recorded— -in which 
the people of this day are little interested, 

J. Q. Thornton 

On the 18th of April, 1846, J. Q. Thornton and his wife left Quiney, 
Illinois, to go to Oregon. They went first to Independence, Missouri, 
the outfitting point. They purchased wagons and teams, and on the 
12th of May left Independence over flic Oregon Trail. On the lot!! 
they came up with the party of Ex-Governor Boggs, of Missouri, and 
"W. H. Russell, camped to await other expected companies of emigrants. 
Thornton and his wife were invited to attach themselves to this party. 
which they promptly did. The P.oggs caravan consisted of sixty- 



160 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

three wagons. The whole company crossed the "Wakarusa on the 
15th. Others must have joined the party on that day, for an exami- 
nation made that night revealed seventy-two wagons, one hundred 
and thirty men, sixty-five women, one hundred and twenty-five chil- 
dren, sixty-nine thousand pounds of breadstuff, forty thousand pounds 
of bacon, eleven hundred pounds of powder, twenty-six hundred pounds 
of lead, one hundred and fifty-five guns, one hundred and four pistols, 
and seven hundred and ten cattle. Some were bound for Oregon and 
some for California. The emigrants were moved by different motives. 
Some desired land in a new country. Some were fleeing debts incurred, 
some had been stripped by creditors, some were in pursuit of health, 
some were in search of adventure, and others knew not why they were 
on the road. 

The ferry on the Kansas River was reached on the 17th of May. 
This was the Papan Ferry, at the present Topeka. The crossing was 
effected by six o'clock. Mrs. Thornton gave the ferryman's wife some 
tracts. Indians were numerous in what is now North Topeka, some 
bedecked in savage splendor, but most of them filthy and covered with 
vermin. On the 19th additions to the party were made, increasing the 
number of wagons to ninety-eight. Twin boys had been born to a Mrs. 
Hall on the night of the 18th. The camp was made on Soldier Creek 
on the 19th. 

This emigrant caravan followed almost exactly the route of the 
Oregon Trail. The Big Blue River, called in the record the Great 
Blue-Earth River, was sighted on the 26th of May, and camp was made 
on its left bank. Rains had swollen the river so that no crossing could 
be safely attempted for a day or two. A boat called the "Blue River 
Rover" was built on the 28th. It was constructed by .joining two 
cottonwood canoes twenty-five feet long, and proved an ample convey- 
ance when the crossing was made on the 30th and 31st. On the 2d of 
June the party separated, those going to Oregon — twenty wagons — 
going on in advance. This division of the caravan occurred near the 
north line of Kansas beyond which point we can not follow the com- 
pany. 

The Mormons 

The Mormons in their migration to the Great Salt-Lake country, 
passed over all the branches of the Oregon Trail. Their pilgrimage 
continued overland from. 1847 to the opening of the Union Pacific Rail- 
road — and even yet continues. 

The Mormons avoided the real trails in the early days of their 
settlement in Utah. They established parallel trails, desiring to keep 
their own company, preserve their own secrets, and avoid the quarrels 
and troubles often arising when traveling with gentiles. "When there 
were enormous trains, they kept sometimes to the main trails, for they 
could then protect themselves. They were also avoided by other emi- 
grants, and were rarely associated with by gentiles on the road. The 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 161 

Mormon Trail up the Platte lay on the north side of the river. One 
route in Kansas followed the Santa Pe Trail to One-IIundred-and-Ten- 
mile Creek, when it turned northward directly to Port Eiley, crossing 
the Kansas River at Whiskey Point. From Fort Riley the trail led 
nearly north to the Oregon Trail in the Platte Valley, passing through 
the present counties of Riley and Washington, in Kansas. No other 
emigrants are known to have used this trail. Of the eastern branches 
of the Oregon Trail, the Mormons used most that beginning at St. Joseph, 
Missouri. Many Mormon trains started from Port Leavenworth. One 
large train started from Westport on the 24th of August, 1852, and 
reached Salt Lake City on the 26th of October. 

A peculiar feature of the Mormon migration was the establishment 
of temporary settlements to serve as stations on the route to the New 
Zion. So far as is certainly known but one such settlement of conse- 
quence was set up in Kansas. It was in Atchison County, just east of 
the village of Shannon. It was the intention of the church to send 
many saints by that station to Utah. The station was enclosed by 
trenches and stockades, and an extensive tract of land was planted to 
corn, potatoes, and other crops. The products were held for the migrat- 
ing saints who should be sent that way. At this point cholera broke 
out in 1849, and many Mormons died of it. The early settlers of that 
country called the place Mormon Grove, and it is still so spoken of. 

The Argonauts 

The discovery of gold in California very nearly upset the world. 
No event of a like nature ever created such excitement. From every 
state parties and individuals set out for the gold fields on the other 
side of North America. Very nearly every man in Missouri who could 
do so started to California in 1849. Many of the companies were led 
by the men who had served under Colonel Doniphan in the War with 
Mexico. These gold hunters passed over all the branches of the Oregon 
Trail. Many thousands of them came up the branch which crossed at 
Topeka or Uniontown. 

Major William Gilpin addressed one party of five thousand at the 
point where Lawrence was later founded. The branches from Leaven- 
worth and St. Joseph were choked with the Forty-niners. They started 
from Council Bluffs and from Bellevue, now Nebraska City. Many 
"cut offs" were made by the Argonauts along all branches of the trail. 
Men were mad. Women and children were sometimes abandoned on 
the plains after being robbed of their property— of which one Forty- 
niner told the author of two instances. From the high land between 
Lodge Pole Creek and (he North Platte this same Argonaut saw teams, 
often four abreast, as far as the eye could carry in both directions. 
II, • himself had started with a complete sawmill to be set up on the 
Sacramento, bu1 was prevailed upon to sell it to the Govern 
Fori Kearny for four times as much as it had cost him together with 
expenses of transportation. He sold out against his judgment, and 



162 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

regretted to the day of his death that he had not takeu it through, 
saying that it would have made his fortune in one season in the gold- 
fields. 

No such movement of people as followed this gold discovery has 
occurred before or since in all history. California had population 
enough for a State before she could begin to realize what was the mat- 
ter "back East." Men in the golden valleys sang "Joe Bowers" and 
"put in their biggest licks." 

The emigration caused by the discovery of gold continued for several 
years. In a way it was duplicated in Kansas in 1858, when gold was 
discovered in the streams about Pike's Peak. "Pike's Peak or Bust" 
was the slogan. It developed that the gold there was insufficient in 
quantity, and the thousands who crowded the Oregon Trail on the 
journey outward choked that historic highway on their return with 
this inscription rudely lettered on their worn and weather-beaten wagon- 
covers: "Pike's Peak and Busted." 

On the discovery of gold in California, Major Gilpin said in an 
address at Independence as follows: 

On July 4th, 1849, speaking by their invitation to the California 
emigrants about to depart from the Missouri River I used this language : 

Up to the year 1840, the progress whereby twenty-six States and 
four Territories have been established and peopled, has amounted to a 
solid strip, rescued from the wilderness, 24 miles in depth, added annually 
along the western face of the Union, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. 

This occupation of wild territory, accumulating outward like the 
annual rings of our forest trees, proceeds with all the solemnity of a 
providential ordinance. It is at this moment sweeping onward to the 
Pacific with accelerated activity and force, like a deluge of men, rising 
unabatedly, and daily pushed onward by the hand of God. 

Fronting the Union, on every side, is a vast army of pioneers. This 
active host, numbering 500,000, at least, has the movements and obeys 
the discipline of a perfectly organized military force. It is momentarily 
recruited by single individuals, by families; and in some instances by 
whole communities; from every village, county, city, and State of the 
Union, and by immigrants from other nations. 

Each man in the moving throng is in force a platoon. He makes 
a farm on the outer edge of the settlements, which he occupies for a year, 
lie then sells to the leading files pressing up to him from behind. He 
again advances 24 miles, renews his farm, is again overtaken and again 
sells. As individuals fall out from the front ranks, or fix themselves 
permanently, others rush from behind, pass to the front, and assail the 
wilderness in their turn. 

Previous to the recently concluded war with Mexico, this energetic 
throng was engaged at one point in occupying the Peninsula of Florida 
and lands vacated by emigrant Indian tribes. At another point in 
reaching the copper region of Lake Superior; in absorbing Iowa and 
Wisconsin. From this very spot had gone forth a forlorn hope to occupy 
Oregon and California. Texas was thus annexed— the Indian country 
1 Hissed upon its flanks, spy companies reconnoitered New and Old 
Mexico. 

Even then, obeying the mysterious and inscrutable impulse which 
drives our nation to its goal, a body of the hardiest race that ever faced 
varied and unnumbered dangers and privations, embarked upon the 



KANSAS AND KAXSANS L63 

trail to the Pacific coast. They forced their waj to the end, encounter 
ing and defying difficulties unparalleled, with a courage and success 
the like to which the world has not heretofore seen. 

Thus, then, overland sweeps this tidal wave of population, absorbing 
in its thundering march the glebe, the savages, and the wild beasts of 
the wilderness; scaling the mountains, and debouching down upon the 
seaboard. Upon the high Atlantic sea-coast, the pioneer force has 
thrown itself into ships, and found in the ocean fisheries food for its 
creative genius. The whaling fleet is the marine force of the pioneer 
army. These two forces, by land and by sea, have both worked steadily 
onward to the North Pacific. 

They now re-unite in the harbors of California and Oregon, about 
to bring into existence upon the Pacific a commercial grandeur identical 
with that which has followed and gathered to them upon the Atlantic. 

Hence have already come these new States; this other seaboard; and 
the renewed vivacity of progress with which the general heart now 
palpitates ! 

Will this cease or slacken? Has the pouring forth of the stream 
from Kurope ever ceased since the day of Columbus? Has the grass 
obliterated the trails down the Alleghanies, or across the Mississippi? 
Rather let him who doubts seat himself upon the bank of the supreme 
Missouri River and await the running dry of its yellow waters! For 
sooner shall he see this, than a cessation in the crowd now flowing loose 
to the Western seaboard. 

Gold is dug — lumber is manufactured — pastoral and arable agricul- 
ture grow apace — a marine flashes into existence — commerce resounds — 
the fisheries are prosecuted — vessels are built — steam pants through all 
the waters. Each interest stimulating all the rest, and perpetually 
creating novelties, a career is commenced, to which, as it glances across 
the Pacific, the human eye assigns no term ! 

Albert Sidney Johnston 

Of the military expeditions over the Oregon Trail, only that of Albert 
Sidney Johnston will be mentioned in this work. After the establish- 
ment of Fort Laramie there were many military tours to the westward 
from Fort Leavenworth. In 1857 there was an uprising in Utah known 
as the Mormon Rebellion, and the United States sent out a military 
force to put it down. This force was commanded by Colonel Albert 
Sidney Johnston. Colonel E. V. Stunner had been assigned to this com- 
mand, but the troubles in Kansas demanded that some officer be put in 
charge of the troops the Border-Ruffians hoped to have the Grovernmi of 
use against the Free-State people of the Territory. Colonel Sumner 
was transferred to this Latter service. It was then that Colonel Johnston, 

of the Second Cavalry, was ordered to tal harge of the Armj intended 

to establish order in Utah. The firs! detachment of troops consisting 
of eight companies of the Tenth Regiment, and all the Fifth Etegimenl 
infantry left fort Leavenworth on the 18th of July, 1857, under the 
immediate command of < 'olom-l K. 1'.. Ale\;inder. Later the two remain- 
ing companies of the Tenth were dispatched, under command of I lolonel 
C. F. Smith. With these troops were the two batteries of Phi 
Reno. On the 16th of September six companies of the Second Dra- 
goons, left Fort Leavenworth, commanded by Colonel Philip S 



164 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Cooke. The following day Colonel Johnston started from Fort Leaven- 
worth with his staff, and with forty dragoons as an escort. Colonel 
Johnston and staff traveled in a light spring-wagon. All this force 
went out over that branch of the Oregon Trail from Fort Leavenworth. 
This expedition had been well pr-ovided with provision-trains and herds 
of cattle for beef. A Mr. Chiles of Independence, Missouri, had a con- 
tract to furnish eighteen hundred head of cattle at some point beyond 
Fort Bridger. William Clarke Quantrill, the guerrilla, was a herder 
with this bunch of cattle. He wintered in Utah, but news of the dis- 
covery of Gold at Pike's Peak took him to that region, from whence he 
returned to Kansas. 

The movement of the army to suppress the Mormon uprising do 
not come under the history of Kansas, and only the fact that it went 
out over the Oregon Trail can be set down here. The command of this 
expedition was the last service Colonel Johnston rendered the United 
States. He became an officer in the Confederate Army, and was killed 
at Pittsburg Landing. 

The Overland Mail, 

There were no established mail routes across the Great Plains until 
the Mormons settled in Utah and gold had been discovered in California. 
These events caused the two great settlements of Americans to be made 
west of the Rocky Mountains. The first was in the valley of the Great 
Salt Lake, and the second was on the Pacific Coast. There had been 
emigration to Oregon and California before either of the events referred 
to had occurred, but the settlers were not numerous enough to cause 
the establishment of a mail service to accommodate them. While the 
Mormons were hostile to the United States and had started to settle in 
the Salt Lake Valley when the country still belonged to Mexico, there 
were many among them who looked back to the United States as a 
mother-land. They desired news from home. And it was but a few 
months until the country to the Pacific Ocean fell to the United States by 
the fortunes of war, and the Mormons found themselves again citizens 
of the country they had foresworn. The settlement in California, the 
stupendous production of wealth there, the enterprises of the country 
projected on so enormous a scale, made it necessary to furnish means of 
communication with the Government at Washington and relatives and 
friends in every state. Ships did indeed bring mail around the cape 
and some soon found its way across the isthmus, but Americans exalted 
with more money than the world had ever known were not to remain 
content with so slow a process. It became necessary to found the Over- 
land Mail. 

The first contract for an overland mail service was made with Samuel 
IT. Woodson, of Independence, Missouri. It was for a monthly service 
between that point and Great Salt Lake, and was called "The Great 
Sail Lake Mail." The contract was awarded in 1850. the service to 
beo:in July 1, 1S50, and continue to June 30, 1854. The distance was 



KANSAS AND KAN SANS L65 



more than eleven hundred miles, and the amount to be paid Wi 
was $19,500 per annum. This mail was carried on horses and mules. 
In 1854, the contract was awarded to W. M. F. McGraw, of Maryland, 
for $13,500 per annum. Three mules were used in this service, each 
carrying a sack of mail and ridden by an agent fantastically garbed in 
fringed buckskin and other ornamental mountain attire. There was a 
line from Salt Lake City to San Francisco, and McGraw had helped to 
carry passengers overland at the rate of $180 to Salt Lake City and $300 
to the California terminal. For some time he was not equipped for his 
passenger business. The Mormon War increased the volume of business 
and the mail was transported in wagons drawn by mules. As this was 
but a monthly mail it was found insufficient for the needs of the Govern- 
ment. In 1858 John M. Hockaday, of Missouri, was given a contract for 
a weekly mail over the same route for $190,000 per annum. The start- 
ing point was St. Joseph, Missouri. The Government paid a like sum 
for carrying the mail from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. The 
returns from this service amounted to very little, being only $5,412.03 
for the first year. This contract was sold to the great freighting firm 
of Russell, Majors & Waddell in the year 1859. 

The Government immediately prior to the Civil "War was in the 
hands of the South. The great overland mail was directed and carried 
through Southern territory — from Memphis and St. Louis by Little 
Rock and El Paso to San Francisco. "When the administration changed 
to loyal hands the mail was carried from St. Joseph, Missouri, to which 
point the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad had been completed. The 
Southern route was discontinued in March, 1861. This contract was 
soon annulled. It was decided to put on a daily mail from St. Joseph, 
by Salt Lake City to Placerville, California. As soon as the railroad 
reached Atchison, Kansas, that town was made the initial point of this 
route. From this time there were abundant mail facilities provided 
for the "Western settlers. The overland stage was soon an established 
institution on the Oregon Trail, and the coaches always carried mail. 

Overland Freighting 

After the establishment of Fort Laramie, the Government was under 
tlic necessity of contracting for the transportation of freight to that 
point. Scuiic Hi' the first supplies were hauled by the Government, per- 
haps, but the practice of employing private parties to perform this ser 
vice was always in favor. When Fort Kearnj was erected supplies 
were hauled to that point. The freighters who first took contracts for 
transporting supplies over Hi'' Oregon Trail had mostly gain 
experienrr in this overland business mi the Santa Fe Trail. 

In 1855 Alexander Majors .■mil William II. Russell, both of Western 
Missouri, formed a partnership for Ereighting across the plains under 
the name of Majors & Russell. This linn carried all the Ereighl to the 
posts wesl of Fori Leavenworth thai year. Cholera prevailed on the 
plains, especially betweeD Fori Leavenworth ai Major 



166 KANSAS AND KAXSANS 

A. E. Ogden, Quartermaster at Port Leavenworth, died at Fort Riley 
of the disease. Many emigrants died of this scourge, which followed 
all the trails over the plains. The cholera affected the freighting busi- 
ness, but Majors & Russell made profits amounting to three hundred 
thousand dollars in 1855 and 1856. This will serve as an index to the 
volume of the freighting done over the Oregon Trail in those years. 
For there were many other freighting firms in the business over the 
trail, transporting goods to Utah. The amount of hauling required 
by the Government was more than doubled by the Mormon War, though 
freighting to Utah for the Mormons was stopped for the time. 

Majors & Russell added another partner in the spring of 1858, the 
style of the firm being then Russell, Majors & Waddell (the last name 
pronounced Wad'-dle, not Wad-dell'). The Government contracted 
with this company to transport sixteen million pounds of freight over 
the Oregon Trail for the years 1858 and 1859. To perform this enor- 
mous contract it was necessary for the company to purchase thirty-five 
hundred wagons and forty thousand oxen. This immense outfit was 
separated into caravans and pushed out constantly from Fort Leaven- 
worth heavily laden. Floods hindered them early in the year 1858. 
The contract was faithfully performed. Many of the caravans got into 
the Salt Lake Valley too late to return to Fort Leavenworth. The 
wagons would not be required for the next year. They were parked 
on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, where they covered several acres of 
ground. They remained there more than a year, and were finally sold 
to the Mormons for ten dollars each, the purchasers breaking them up 
for the iron used in their construction. These wagons had cost the 
company more than one hundred and fifty dollars each. The oxen 
were driven into Skull Valley, where they wintered on the dried grass. 
Thirty-five hundred of the best ones were selected to be driven to Cali- 
fornia. They were driven to Ruby Valley, in what is now Nevada, to 
winter on the dried grass found there in plenty. A heavy snow, how- 
ever, covered the grass until the cattle could not get to it. They starved 
and froze to death, only two hundred being saved. This loss footed 
up about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Indians stam- 
peded one thousand head of oxen on the Platte the same year. Not- 
withstanding these losses, the company made large profits on this con- 
tract. 

These caravans of freighters were called "trains." Each wagon 
was drawn by six yoke of oxen — twelve oxen. Twenty-five wagons com- 
posed a train. The captains of these trains were instructed to keep 
two or three miles apart on the trail. If the grass had been eaten 
closely along the road, or if water became scarce, they were to remain 
six to eight miles apart. The captains of the trains acted as wagon- 
masters. There was an assistant wagon-master, and there was a herder 
to attend the oxen at night. Extra oxen for each train were driven 
along to replace those who might from any cause become disabled, and 
there was an attendant for these. There was a driver for each team or 
wagon. The number of men for each train footed up thirty-one. On 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS i 6 7 

the plains these trains were known as "bull-trains" and the drivers 
were known as "bull-whackers." Every man was armed for the pro- 
tection of the trains. The route of this great business followed the 
Oregon Trail from Fort Leavenworth to Kennekuk, in the northwestern 
corner of Atchison County, thence by Seneca to the Big Blue, in Marshall 
County, thence up the Big Blue bearing to the west, entering Jefferson 
County, Nebraska, near its southeast corner; thence up the Little Blue to 
the Platte, at Port Kearny. Mr. Majors said of the Oregon Trail : 

"There is no other road in the United States, nor in my opinion else- 
where, of the same length, where such numbers of men and animals 
could travel during the summer season as could over the thoroughfare 
from the Missouri River up the Platte and its tributaries to the Rocky- 
Mountains." At one time, the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddeil 
employed in their business seventy-five thousand oxen and used six thou- 
sand two hundred and fifty wagons. These wagons were especially 
constructed for this business according to specifications furnished by 
Mr. Majors, and they would carry seven thousand pounds of merchan- 
dise. 

After the Mormon War was over the freighting of the Mormons 
to supply their own wants was resumed. Their supplies had to come 
from points on the Missouri River. Many converts passed over the trail 
every year to settle in Utah— gather in Zion. The population of the 
Great Salt Lake Valley increased rapidly, and many other parts of 
Utah were explored and settled. Another event which gave impetus 
to the business of freighting over the Oregon Trail was the discovery 
of gold on Cherry Creek, a tributary of the South Platte, in the western 
portion of Kansas— now Colorado. It was in the fall of 1857, that it 
became generally known that there was gold to be found in the streams 
heading under Pike's Peak. Early in 1858, expeditions left Kansas 

for these gold fields. Atchison I ame one of the points on the Missouri 

from which the parties of gold-hunters outfitted. A citizen of that 
town sent out a competent engineer to study the best routes to the 
gold-diggings. It was found that it was six hundred and twenty miles 
from Atchison to Denver. It was six hundred and eighty-live miles 
from Leavenworth to Denver. For five hundred miles over this route 
there was not a house. Various roads were laid out from Missouri- 
River points to Denver, all branching from some route to the Oregon 
Trail. The heavy travel finally settled to the one over the trail to 
Julesburg, on the Smith Platte, thence along thai stream to Denver. 
The rates per pound for transporting freighl to the Cherry Creek 
region were as follows : 

Flour 9 ets. Crackers 17 cts 

Tobacco 12y 2 " Whiskey 18 " 

Sugar 13y 2 " Class Ifii.. •• 

Bacon 15 " Trunks 25 ~ " 

D«*3 Goods 15 " Furniture Ml 

On other article, necessaries of life tl barges were aboul the 

same. While many of the gold hunters returned disappointed, others 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 






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KANSAS AND KAXSANS 169 

remained as permanent settlers. Denver grew rapidly. It was the 
county seat of Arapahoe County, Kansas, and the headquarters of the 
gold-seekers — the point about which the Pike's Peak gold exi 
centered. It absorbed much of the freight passing out over the Oregon 
Trail, and in a few years was known as the "Queen City of the Plains." 
As showing the volume of the freighting business from one point on 
the Missouri River, the statistics of it from Atchison for the year 1858 
are copied from the Champion, of October 30, 1858. (See opposite page.) 

The Overland Stage 

It was to be expected that the contractors to transport the mails 
overland to Salt Lake City, and later to Denver, should engage in the 
business of carrying passengers in their wagons. Hockaday & Liggett 
put on a line of stage coaches from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Salt Lake 
City in connection with their mail contract. As the mail went out but 
twice a month this was a slow line, and if a passenger barely missed a 
departing coach he was doomed to a wait of two weeks. 

In the winter of 1858 the Pike's Peak gold excitement was at its 
most intense period. Denver was growing much as Jonah's gourd had 
flourished. Two members of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, 
Messrs. Majors and Russell were in Washington City in the winter 
of 1858-59. "With them was one John S. Jones, of Pettis County, 
Missouri. Russell and Jones decided to establish a daily stage line from 
Leavenworth to Denver. It was proposed to have Mr. Majors inter- 
ested in that line, but he said it would not pay, and declined to enter 
the new venture. The mules and coaches for the new stage line were 
bought on a credit of ninety days, notes being given to secure indebted- 
ness. The route was quickly established. Stations were ten to fifteen 
miles apart — average, about twelve miles. The route was from the 
City of Leavenworth to Denver, striking the Kansas River about Indian- 
ola, a station three miles northwest of Topeka. Thence it followed the 
river — up the Smoky Hill — to the plains east of Denver, thence dired 
to that city. The service was good. The coaches made about one hun- 
dred miles every twenty-four hours, taking the mails and passengers 
the entire distance in six days. The eastern terminus was soon changed 
to Atchison, as much of the patronage of the line came to thai town 
by the Hannibal railroad. The first coach over this line entered Denver 
May 17, 1859. 

The judgment of Mr. Majors was soon confirmed. When thi 
executed in payment for the coaches and mules fell due Russell & 
Jones could not take them up. Majors was appealed to in this crisis, 
and he consented to the payment of the notes by the firm of Russell, 
Majors & Waddell, who became by this transaction owners of the line. 
The service was continued. Having engaged in the passenger traffic, 
it was believed to be to the interest of their new line to add to it the 
old line of Bockaday & Liggett, from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City. It 
was accordingly bought. It was reorganized. The old coach 



ITii KANSAS AND KANSANS 

inferior in quality and poor in arrangement. The plan had been to 
start out a coach and drive it several hundred miles without a change 
of mules or horses. The coach was halted and the team permitted to 
graze at stated intervals. The time from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City 
was often twenty days — sometimes longer. The new proprietors put 
up good stations every ten to fifteen miles. These stations were fur- 
nished with good stables where horses were kept to change the teams 
drawing coaches. Attendants were in waiting with fresh teams, and 
the time required to take out the tired team and hitch up the new team 
was reduced to a few minutes. It was sometimes accomplished in five 
minutes. A stage coach was started each day from each terminus. 
The time from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City was reduced to ten days. 
The mail contract between these points was later awarded to the pro- 
prietors of the stage line, but not in time to prevent their suffering 
immense loss. The amount to be paid for carrying the mail was four 
hundred thousand dollars annually. The stage line was sold to Ben 
Holladay just before the first quarterly payment of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars was made. 

Holladay became the great Overland Stage man. He, was born 
on the old Blue Licks battlefield, in Kentucky, in 1824. He came as a 
young man to "Western Missouri. For a time he kept a saloon or liquor- 
shop at Weston. He was a good business man. With three associates 
he bought the Union Mills at Weston, and also a large body of land. 
The plains were familiar to him for he had gone with Doniphan in the 
Mormon W x ar in Missouri as courier and express videt. He was a con- 
tractor to deliver rations to General Kearny and Doniphan's expedition. 
At the close of the War with Mexico he purchased from the Government 
a large amount of war material, including wagons and oxen. In 1849 
he organized the first trading expedition to Salt Lake City ever taken 
out by a gentile. The train consisted of fifty wagons. In this venture 
he had for partner Hon. Theodore F. Warner, who is said to have used 
his credit to buy the goods. How he succeeded in Salt Lake City is told 
by one who knew him in those days: 

He was the first Gentile trader to the Mormons. He had a letter from 
Gen. A. W. Doniphan, to whom Joseph Smith and Brigham Young sur- 
rendered at Far West, in 1838, reciting that Holladay, as a boy, had been 
one of his- orderlies at that surrender, and had then expressed sympathy 
for them, and had helped to render the condition of the women and 
children more comfortable after the leaders had been imprisoned. 

Brigham Young received him, blessed him, and stated in his sermon 
at the Tabernacle the following Sunday that "Brother Holladay had 
a la rue stock of goods for sale, and could be trusted as an honorable 
dealer." Thai speech was worth thousands of dollars to him, and it 
is said that he joined the .Mormon church (only on probation, however). 

Coming home in the fall, lie stalled with three mules and a negro 
man to find a new road from Salt Lake to Fort Bridger, and wandered 
in the mountains for several days without food, and was saved from 
starvation by finding a broken-down buffalo, that furnished, he said, 
the sweetest morsel he had ever tasted. 

Iii L850 he traded his goods tor cattle, drove them to California. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS - 171 

fattened them on the Sacramento bottom, and sold them to the Panama 

Steamship Company at a large profit. First he sold a small lot, hut 
wished to sell more and at a larger price. The superintendent of the 
company sent for him, and he answered that he did not have time, but 
that they must come to him. They did. and made a contract for thirty 
cents a pound on foot. lie said afterwards that he would have crawled 
on his knees to their office when he had refused to go, but that he had 
been kept informed that they were short of beef and the market bare, 
and that if they came to him it would be worth five cents a pound. 

To get his compensation increased for carrying the mail, he rode in 
one of his stages from Salt Lake to Atchison in eight days, the route 
then being estimated on the line traveled at 1,300 miles. 

He was opposed to his children marrying foreigners, but was grati- 
fied that his son married a country girl in California. 

His life showed the elasticity of American institutions; at fifteen, 
laboring on a farm in the mountains of Kentucky; at forty owned 
sixteen steamships, trading to every point of the Pacific; building a 
castle on the Hudson: children married to noblemen— all the result of 
his own talent and enterprise. 

And, so it was, that when Holladay took over the line of Russell, 
Majors & Waddell that enterprise went into experienced hands. Hol- 
laday took possession of the line in March, 1862. Its legal name was 
the Central Overland California, and Pike's Peak Express Company, 
and Bela M. Hughes had been its president and manager since Aprh\ 
1861. Mr. Hughes was an able man. Under his management the first 
through coach reached California. It left St. Joseph July 1, 1861, and 
arrived at Placerville, California, in eighteen days, and on schedule 
time. On the 18th day of July, 1861, the first through coach from Plac- 
erville arrived at St. Joseph, carrying as the first passenger Major J. W. 
Simonton, one of the editors of the San Francisco Bull, tin. 

Holladay added other lines to his Central Overland— one to Virginia 
City, Montana, and one to Boise City, Idaho. This increased the mile- 
age of his stage lines to thirty-three hundred miles. He secured addi- 
tional contracts for transporting mails. Those which came to him with 
the old line he had the Government add materially to. as well as to 
authorize additional service and compensation. 

In 1865, David A. Butterfield, of Atchison, founded Butterfield's 
Overland Despatch. Its eastern terminus was Atchison, Kansas. The 
principal western point reached was Denver. It was both a freiglrt 
and passenger line. The route was from Atchison by waj of Grasshop- 
per Falls (now Vallej Palls) to Indianola; thence up the Kansas to the 
Smoky Hill, which it followed until that stream ram,' out on the high 
plains, and thence to Denver. This line fell into Holladay's bands, 
and was added to his lines. The Atchison Daily Free Press, March 17, 
1866, contained a aotice "To the Employes of tin' Overland 1 1 
Company." This aotice was to the effed that "The Overland Stage 
line and the Overland Despatch Companj bave become one property 
under the name of Holladay Overland Mail and Express Companj " [1 
is beyond tin' limits of this hook to trace the operations of all tie-,, stage, 

freight and mail lines. It is Imped to give an intelligent idea of the 



172 - KANSAS AND KANSANS 

development of them in their relations to the progress of Kansas. In 
1860 Richard P. Burton passed over the stage lines on the Oregon Trail. 
He wrote an account of his journey, from which are taken a few extracts 
describing the coaches, the country, and the people : 

Precisely at 8 A. M. appeared in front of the Patee House — the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel of St. Jo — the vehicle destined to be our home for the 
next three weeks. We scrutinized it curiously. 

The mail is carried by a "Concord coach," a spring wagon, comparing 
advantageously with the horrible vans which once dislocated the joints 
of men on the Suez route. The body is shaped somewhat like an English 
tax-cart considerably magnified. It is built to combine safety, strength, 
and lightness, without the slightest regard to appearances. The material 
is well-seasoned white oak — the Western regions, and especially Utah, 
are notoriously deficient in hard woods — and the manufacturers are the 
well-known coachwrights, Messrs. Abbott, of Concord, New Hampshire : 
the color is sometimes green, more usually red, causing the antelopes 
to stand and stretch their large eyes whenever the vehicle comes in sight. 
The wheels are five to six feet apart, affording security against capsizing, 
with little "gather" and less "dish"; the larger have fourteen spokes 
and seven fellies; the smaller twelve and six. The tires are of unusual 
thickness, and polished like steel by the hard dry ground; and the hubs 
or naves and the metal nave-bands are in massive proportions. The 
latter not unfrequently fall off, as the wood shrinks, unless the wheel 
is allowed to stand in water ; attention must be paid to resetting them, 
or in the frequent and heavy "sidelins" the spokes may snap off all 
round like pipe-stems. The wagon-bed is supported by iron bands or 
perpendiculars abutting upon wooden rockers, which rest on strong 
leather thoroughbraces; these are found to break the jolt better than 
the best steel springs, which, moreover, when injured, can not readily 
lie repaired. The whole bed is covered with stout osnaburg supported 
-by stiff bars of white oak ; there is a sun-shade or hood in front, where 
the driver sits, a curtain behind which can be raised or lowered at 
discretion, and four flaps on each side, either folded up or fastened 
down with hooks and eyes. In heavy frost the passengers must be half 
dead with eold, but they care little for that if they can go fast. The 
accommodations are as follows: In front sits the driver, with usually 
a conductor or passenger by his side; a variety of packages, large and 
small, is stowed away under his leather cushion; when the brake must 
be put on, an operation often involving the safety of the vehicle, bis 
right foot is planted upon an iron bar which presses by a leverage upon 
the rear wheels ; and in hot weather a bucket for watering the animals 
hangs over one of the lamps, whose companion is usually found wanting. 
Tin' inside has either two or three benches fronting to the fore or placed 
vis-a-vis: they are movable and reversible, with leather cushions, and 
hinged padded backs: unstrapped and turned down, they convert the 
vehicle into a tolerable lied for two persons or two and a half. According 
to Cocker, the mail-bags should be safely stowed away under these seats, 
or if there be not room enough the passengers should perch themselves 
upon the correspondence; the jolly driver, however, is usually induced 
to cram the light literature between the wagon bed and the platform, 
or running-gear beneath, and thus, when ford-waters wash the hubs, 
the letters are pretty certain to endure ablution. Behind, instead of 
dicky, is a kind of boot where passengers' boxes are stored beneath a 
stout canvas cm-tain with leather sides. The comfort, of travel depends 
upon packing the wagon; if heavy in front or rear, or if the thon ugb 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 173 

hemor^age ' ^T? 3 "^^ *" *""**** ^ * likdy to eaUse nasal 

u ' • ,'., ^ e """ ln '" star1 a < 8:3 A. M.j but we are detained an 
hour whale last words are said, and adieu-a long adieu-is den to 
,oke and julep, to ,e and idleness. Our "plunder" is clap e i 

ht v ee ™f°*y- a ha ease falls open-it was not mine, gentle read™- 
collars and other .small .ear cumber the ground, and the 'owner addresses 
to the clumsy-handed dnver the universal G- d-, whieh in these <-m,ls 
Ranges r om it. expletive or chrysalis form to an adjectival devSpu" 

Sr iftt I h away ;K :r;' as possible; the miuor c,ffi «^- with an 

flSfftf g T d f6ll0WS ' Cml aml ohU " m "' the y wink at non- 
ntw ° « bedding, stores, weapons, and they rather encourage than 
otherwise the multiplication of whiskey-kegs and cigar-boxes We now 
drive through the dusty roads of St. Jo, the observed of all' olsVrv r 
and presently find ourselves in the steam ferrv which is to ' 

from the right to the left bank of the Missouri River Y 

• . . Landing m Bleeding Kansas— she still bleeds— we fell at 
once rnto ''Emigration Road," a great thoroughfare, broad an v, 

the best and the longest natural highway in the world 

the ^!lf th ?V Kh , a few wretched shanties called Troy-last' insult to 

the memory of hapless Pergamus-and Syracuse (here we are in the 

PM' r„S , T C - 8ta8e t , 0f W St ! teS """^^ture) wemSe at3 
. -\ ., old Springs, the junction of the Leavenworth route. Having 
taken the northern road to avoid rough around and bad bridSs wf 
arrived about Uu> hours behind time. The aspect of things TboTd 
Springy wher e we were allmml an hour>8 ^ to ^^ f ^la 

mules, somewhat dismayed our tine-weather prairies travelers The 
scene was the real "Far West." The widow body to whom the shan?y 
belonged lay sick with fever. The aspect of her family was a ''cautkS 
snakes; the ill-conditioned sens dawdled about, as listless as Indians 
in skm tunics and pantaloons fringed with lengthv tags such a the 
^doubtable "Iblly bowlegs" wears on tobacco lablls ^and ?he daugl 
tall young women, whose sole attire was apparentlv a ealico mSS 
wrapper, color mvisible, waited upon as in a protesting way S, or 
j"" 1 .""p- were .mprinted upon the wretched log but. which gored 
the< ? u sterandthe broom, and myriads of flies disputed with us a dinner 

tndpois uswithsaleXus suspicious 

;- sl " a fl ra , as ? 1 Y e 4 " — fitter, and rusty bacon, intojerably K I 

ors; ,m 'we Sm ° f + SqUat i er m '"' ;,m1 ' eX * ep1 *» <"" «-i » was our 
°' s '- W J ' ld ""' g™ d ge 50 cents a head to th • at 

usliTfl£ranrh?HT h S itadearpricet0p ^ ' «sed 

ns— tor oies and bad bread, worse eggs and bacon. 

, h ' ' '"■ falley Home, was reac I at 1; P. M lien- the 

, .""-" ;n - I " 1 ,,! " an land broke into shorter seas and for „,' first 

1 that day wesa tern term embrS 

'"7" ind a boulder the produce™ Sata 
110 to 12 feel psuppli > 

; ""'" '" >' ,: sso '" i to be divided off by posts and 

as : ,!,,s.,„,y,.,,,ps ofeorn (Indian corn), however, were wXd and 

r UlM "" m nles we advanced to Cennekuk, where we' halted 

f r ,•''"' h0Urs supper under " l " auspices of Maior Baldwin whin™ 

! ,st ';!;;; el,; ';S 

K "'".'" 1 " k derives 'ts Dame from a chief of the Kickapoos in whose 

«.,„, u now a,,. This tribe, in ^ da : ,, 

■' ' : ' '' - ' Walter Scott said of his 



174 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

grandmother, "a prodigious story-teller," then lived on the Riviere des 
Pliant s. or Fox River, upon the brink of, a little lake supposed to be 
the Winnebago, near the Sakis. (Osaki. Sawkis. Sauks, or Sacs), and the 
Pouteoustamies (Potawotomies). They are still in the neighborhood 
of their dreaded foes, the Saes and Poxes, who are described as stahvart 
and handsome bands, and they have been accompanied in their southern 
migration from the waters westward of the Missis-.sippi, through Illinois, 
to their present southern seats by other allies of the Winnebagoes, the 
Iowas, Xez Perces, Ottoes, Omahas. Kansas, and Osages. Like the great 
nations of the Indian Territory, the Cherokees, Creeks, Choetaws. and 
Chickasaws, they form intermediate social links in the chain of civiliza- 
tion between the outer white settlements and the wild nomadic tribes to 
the west, the Dakotahs. and Arapahoes, the Snakes and Cheyennes. 
They cultivate the soil, and rarely spend the winter in hunting buffalo 
upon the plains. Their reservation is twelve miles by twenty-four; as 
usual with land set apart for the savages, it is well watered and tim- 
bered, rich and fertile; it lies across the path and in the vicinity of 
civilization; consequently, the people are greatly demoralized. The men 
are addicted to intoxication, and the women to unchastity; both sexes 
and all ages are inveterate beggars, whose principal industry is 
horse-stealing. Those Scottish clans were the most savage that vexed the 
Lowlands; it is the ease here; the tribes nearest the settlers are best 
described by Colonel B — 's phrase, "great liars ami dirty dogs." They 
have well nigh cast off the Indian attire, and rejoice in the splendors 
of boiled and ruffled shirts, after the fashion of the whites. According 
to our host, a stalwart son of that soil which for generations has sent 
out her best blood westward. Kain-tuk-ee, the Land of Cane, the Kicka- 
poos number about 300 souls, of whom one-fifth are braves. He quoted 
a specimen of their facetiousness; when they first saw a crinoline, they 
pointed to the wearer and cried, "There walks a wigwam." Our "ver- 
tugardin" of the 19th century has run the gauntlet of the world's jests, 
from the refined impertinence of Mr. Punch to the rude grumble of 
the American Indian and the Kaffir of the Cape. 

Beyond Kennekuk we crossed the first Grasshopper Creek. Creek. 
I must warn the English reader, is pronounced "crik," and in these 
lands, as in the jargon of Australia, means not "an arm of the sea," 
but a small stream of sweet water, a rivvdet ; the rivers of Europe, 
according to the Anglo-American of the West, are "criks. " On our 
line there are many grasshopper creeks; they anastomose with, or de- 
bouch into, the Kansas River, and they reach the sea via the Missouri 
and the Mississippi. This particular Grasshopper was dry and dusty 
up to the ankhs; timber clothed the hanks, and slabs of sandstone 
cumbered the soil. Our next obstacle was Walnut Creek, which we 
found, however, provided with a corduroy bridge; formerly it was a 
dangerous ford, rolling down heavy streams of melted snow, and then 
crossed by means of the "bouco" or coracle, two hides sewed together, 
distended like a leather tub with willow rods, and poled or paddled. 
At this point the country is unusually well populated; a house appearing 
after every mile. Beyond Walnut Creek a dense nimbus, rising crhost- 
like from the northern horizon, furnished us with a spectacle of those 
perilous prairie storms which make the prudent lay aside their revolvers 
and disembarrass themselves of their cartridges. Gusts of raw, cold, 
and violent wind from the west whizzed overhead, thunder crashed and 
rattled eloser and closer, and vivid lightning, flashing out of the murky 
depths around, made earth and air one blaze of living fire. Then the 
rain began to patter ominously upon the carriages: the canvas, how- 
ever, by swelling, did its duty in becoming water-tight, and we rode out 
the storm dry. Those learned in the weather predicted a succession 



KANSAS AND i\A.\S.\\S 175 

of such outbursts, but the prophecy was uol fulfilled. The thermometer 
fell about (i l (P.) and a strong north wind set in, blowing dust or gravel, 
a fair specimen of "Kansas gales" which are equallj common in Ne 
braska, especially during the month of October. Ii subsided on the 
9th of August. 

Arriving about 1? A. M. at Locknan's Station, a few log and timber 
huts near a creek well feathered with white oak and American elm, 
hickory and black walnut, we Hound beds and snatched an hourful of 
sleep. 

.Sib August, to Rock Creek. 

Resuming, through air refrigerated by rain, our now weary way. 
we reached at 6 A. M. a favorite camping-ground, the "Big Nemehaw" 
Creek, which, like its lesser neighbor, flows after rain into the Missouri 
River, via Turkey Creek, the Big Blue, and the Kansas. It is a fine 
bottom of rich black soil, whose green woods at that early hour were 
wet with heavy dew, and scattered over the surface lay pebbles and 
blocks of quartz and porphyritic granites. "Richland," a town men- 
tioned in guide-books, having disappeared, we drove for breakfast to 
Seneca, a city consisting of a few r shanties, mostly garnished with tall 
square lumber fronts, ineffectually, especially when the houses stand 
one by one, masking the diminutiveness of the buildings behind them. 
The land, probably in prospect of a Pacific Railroad, fetched the exag- 
gerated price of $20 an acre, and already a lawyer has "hung out his 
shingle" there. 

. . . The "ripper," or driver, who is bound to the gold regions of 
Pike's Peak, is a queer specimen of humanity. He usually hails from 
one of the old Atlantic cities — in fact, settled America — and, like the 
civilized man generally, he betrays a remarkable aptitude for facile 
descent into savagery. His dress is a harlequinade, typical of his dis- 
position. Eschewing the chimney-pot or stove-pipe tile of the bourgeois, 
he affects the "Kossuth," an Anglo-American version of the sombrero, 
which converts felt into every shape and form, from the jaunty little 
head-covering of the modern sailor to the tall steeple-crown of the old 
Puritan. He disregards the trichotomy of St. Paul, and emulates St. 
Anthony and the American aborigines in the length of his locks, whose 
ends are curled inward, with a fascinating sausage-like roll not unlike 
the Cockney "aggrawator." If a young hand, he is probably in the 
buckskin mania, which may pass into the squaw mania, a disen.se which 
knows no cure; the symptoms are. a leather coat and overalls to match. 
embroidered if possible, and finished along the arms and legs with fringes- 
cut as long a.s possible, while a pair of L'audy moccasins, resplendent 
with red and blue porcelain beads, fits his feet tightly as silken hose. 
I have heard of coats worth $250, vests slim, and pants $150; indeed. 
the poorest of buckskin suits will cost $75, ami if hard-worked it must 
he renewed every six months. The successful miner or the gambler — in 

these lands the word is lined to the profession — will add $10 gold 

buttons to the attractions of bis attire. The older hand prefers to buck- 
skin a "wamba" or roundabout, a red or rainbow-colored flannel over 
a check cotton shirt: his lower garments garnished a tergo with leather, 
are turned into Hessians by being thrust inside his cow hide Welling- 
tons; and, when in riding gear, he wraps below each knee a fold of deer 

antelope, or cow skin, w ith edges scalloped vv Imtc they fall oxer the Eeet, 
and gartered tightly against thorns and stirrup thongs, thus effecting 
that graceful elephantine bulge of the lower leg for which ".lack ashore" 
is justly celebrated. Those who suffer from sore eyes wear huge green 
goggles, which give a crab-like air to the physiognomy, and those who 
can not procure them line the eircumorbital region with lampblack, which 
is supposed to act like the surma or kohl of t he Orient. A broad leather 



176 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

belt supports on the right a revolver, generally Colt's Navy of medium 
size (when Indian fighting is expected, the large dragoon pistol is univer- 
sally preferred), and on the left, in a plain black sheath, or sometimes 
in the more ornamental Spanish scabbard, is a buck-horn or ivory- 
handled bowie-knife. In the East the driver partially conceals his tools: 
he has no such affectation in the Far West: moreover, a glance through 
the wagon-awning shows guns and rifles stowed along the side. When 
driving lie is armed with a mammoth fustigator, a system of plaited 
cow-hides eased with smooth leather; it is a knout or an Australian stock- 
whip, which, managed with both hands, makes the sturdiest ox curve and 
curl its back. If he trudges along an ox-team, lie is a grim and surly 
man, who delights to startle your animals with a whip-crack, and dis- 
dains to return a salutation; if his charge be a muleteer's, you may 
expeet more urbanity; he is then iii the "upper-crust" of teamsters; 
he knows it and demeans himself accordingly. He can do nothing with- 
out whisky, which he loves to call tarantula juice, strychnine, red-eye, 
corn juice, Jersey lightning, leg-stretcher, '"tangle-leg" and many other 
hard and grotescpte names ; he chews tobacco like a horse, he becomes 
heavier "on the shoulder" or "on the sliyoot" as, with the course of 
empire, he makes his way westward; and he frequently indulges in a 
"spree" which in these lands means four acts of drinking-bout, with 
a. fifth of rough-and-tumble. Briefly, he is a post-wagon driver 
exaggerated. . . . 

Beyond Guittard's the prairies bore a burnt-up aspect. Far as 

ti ye could see the tintage was that of the Arabian Desert, sere and 

tawny as a jackal's back. It was still, however, too early; October is 
the month fur those prairie fires which have so frequently exercised the 
Western author's pen. Here, however, the grass is too short for the 
full development of the Phenomenon, and beyond the Little Blue Kiver 
there is hardly any risk. The fire can easily be stopped. al> initio, by 
blankets, or by simply rolling a barrel, the African plan of beating 
down with boughs might also- he used in certain places; and when the 
conflagration has extended, travelers can take refuge in a little Zoar by 
burning the vegetation to windward. In Texas and Illinois, however, 
where the grass is tail and rank, and the roaring flames leap before 
tin' wind with the stride of maddened horses, the danger is- imminent, 
:uid tli- s| tacle must he one of awful sublimity. 

In places where the land seems broken with bluffs, like an iron-bound 
coast, the skeleton of the earth becomes visible — the formation is a 
friable sand stone, overlying fossiliferous lime, which is based upon beds 
of shale. These undergrowths show themselves at the edges of the 
ground-waves and in the dwarf precipices, where the soil has been 
degraded by the action of water. The yellow-brown humus varies from 
forty to sixty feet deep in the' most favored places, and erratic blocks 
of porphyry and various granites encumber the dry water-courses and 
surface drains. In the rare spots where water then lay, the herbage 
was still green, forming oases in die withering waste, and showing that 
irrigation is its principal, if not its only want. 

Passing by Marysville, in old maps. Palmetto City, a county town 
which thrives by sidling' whisky to ruffians of all descriptions, we forded 
before sunsel the "Big Blue" a well-known tributary of the Kansas 
River, It is a pretty little stream, brisk and clear as crystal, about forty 
or fifty yard i wide " 2:50 feel di i p at the ford. The soil is sandy and 
solid, but the hanks are too precipitous to he pleasant when a very 
driver hangs on by the lines of four very weary mules. We 
then stretched once more over the "divide" the ground, generally rough 
or rolling, between the fork or junction of two streams, in fact, the 
Indian Doab separating the Big Blue from its tributary, the Little 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 177 

Blue. Ai (i P. M. we changed our Bagged animals for fresh, and the 
land of Kansas for Nehraska, at Cottonwood Creek. . . . 

The Pony Express 

The most romantic enterprise connected with the Oregon Trail was 
the Pony Express. It was the conception of Senator Gwin, of Cali- 
fornia. In 1859, the only Overland Mail to California was by the 
Butterfield Route — from St. Louis and Memphis to Port Smith; thence 
to El Paso; thence to Los Angeles, and thence to San Francisco. The 
Senator believed a shorter route could be found by the Oregon Trail 
and the road from Salt Lake City to the Pacific Coast. In the winter 
of 1859-60, W. H. Russell, of Russell, Majors & Waddell, was in Wash- 
ington in connection with contracts his company then had with the 
Government. Senator Gwin sought him and discussed the plan of 
securing quicker communications with California. He suggested the 
Pony Express. Russell, Majors & "Waddell were then running a daily 
stage from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, and they had contracts 
for transporting large quantities of freight over the same route. It 
was Senator Gwin's idea to utilize the daily stage line in obtaining the 
better mail service for the Pacific Coast. Mr. Russell could not figure 
that the line would pay, but he agreed to submit to his partners the 
matter of its establishment. They believed it could not be made to pay 
expenses. The business already on hand required all their energies. 
To take on additional business only to lose money did not appeal to 
them, and Mr. Russell was turned down. This was a disappointment, 
for he had expressed the belief that the enterprise would be undertaken 
by his company. To carry a refusal to Senator Gwin would be a humili- 
ation, and he made a last appeal to his partners to stand by him and 
establish the line. He rehearsed the arguments of the Senator, who, as 
an inducement, had given assurance of his efforts to secure a subsidy 
from the Government to aid in the payment of expenses if the line 
should prove unremunerative. The result was that the company deter- 
mined to organize this shorter and quicker service to California — to 
establish the Pony Express. It is more than likely that the deciding 
factor in the matter was the hope that additional Government business 
would fall to the company as a consequence of setting up this new mail 
line to the Pacific Coast. 

Having already suitable stations for this service between Missouri 
River points and Sail Lake City as a pari of the equipment of the daily 
stage line, it remained to provide like facilities from the Utah point to 
Sacramento. Tbis was accomplished within sixty days. More than four 
hundred I purchased. Two hundred additional station-keep- 

ers were employed. More than eighty express riders were hired and 
distributed line from St. Joseph to Sacramento. In this dis- 

tance there were aboul one hundred and ninety stations. It was fixed 
that each rider should make thirty-three and om third miles on one 
run changing horses twice after Leaving his home station — abou 
miles for each horse. Both riders and horses often exceeded these dis- 



178 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

tances in cases of emergency. The shortest time made on the Butterfield 
Route was twenty-one days from San Francisco. The schedule made 
out by Russell, Majors & Waddell for the Pony Express was ten days 
from St. Joseph to Sacramento— two thousand miles. Even this sched- 
ule was beaten on some occasions. 

The express riders were paid by the mouth. Some of them received 
only fifty dollars, while others had three times as much — depending on 
the risk and responsibility of their assignments. All had their board 
in\ addition to their wages. 

The regulations prepared for the government of the service by the 
Pony Express set the maximum weight of any mailbag to be carried at 
twenty pounds. The bag and mail usually weighed about fifteen pounds. 
The letters and messages were written on tissue paper. The minimum 
charge for carrying any letter or message was five dollars. If it weighed 
more than half an ounce there was an additional charge. The mail was 
carefully wrapped in oiled silk before being put into the bags. There 
were four packages of mail put into each bag. 

The Government made a postage charge on the letters carried by the 
Pony Express. Each letter or message weighing a half-ounce was 
required to be enclosed in a ten-cent stamped envelope. The charge of 
the Company was in addition to the Government postage. The Com- 
pany charge was expressed in stamps also, and these became known 
as "Pony Stamps." Sometimes letters were carried which had as much 
as twenty-five dollars in "Pony Stamps" on them. 

The first trip made by the Pony Express from an eastern point left 
St. Joseph, on April 3, 1860. Notice of the event had been published 
in the newspapers. Crowds had assembled, the town was decorated, 
speeches were delivered, and brass-bands had marched and played inspir- 
ing music. Upon the arrival of the train from Hannibal the mail was 
"made up" and taken by ferry to the Kansas shore of the Missouri. 
There was waiting there John Prey — later known only as "Pony 
Johnny" — with his coal-black racer. It was well past five o'clock, and 
the shades of night were settling. He mounted with the precious mail, 
replied to many a well-wisher standing about him, waived a parting to 
the assembled thousands on the Missouri shore, and plunged into the 
blackening night. 

On the same day a scene somewhat like that at St. Joseph was 
enacted at Sacramento. That city was gayly decorated with bunting, 
flags and floral arches. Imposing parades headed by brass-bands were 
the order of the day. Speeches were made by the State officials, and 
artillery boomed from heights beyond the city. At the time set, the 
mail was delivered to Harry Roff, who mounted a white horse with his 
precious burden and left as on the wings of the wind. He had more 
daylight than his Eastern fellow-courier, and made two "stages" of 
his assignment — twenty miles — in fifty-nine minutes. He changed 
horses in ten seconds. At Polsom he changed again. He rode into 
Placerville — fifty-five miles— the end of his "run" in two hours and 
forty-nine minutes. 



KANSAS A XI) KANSANS 179 

The mail carried away from St. Joseph by "Pony Johnny" reached 
Sacramento in nine days and twenty-three hours. That which lefl 
Sacramento arrived at St. Joseph in eleven days and twelve hours. 

The Pony Express had a brief but stirring life. It was in existence 
about eighteen months, being succeeded by the telegraph line. It had 
aided in saving California to the Union, having carried President Lin- 
coln's inaugural address, March 4, 1861, from St. Joseph to Sacramento 
in seven days and seventeen hours. 

Among the riders of the Pony Express was William F. Cody 
Buffalo Bill. He was dashing, daring, efficient. "Pony Johnny" was 
in the Union army in the Civil War, and it is said that he was killed 




Bi it'll." B 



W 



in the Baxter Springs Massacre by Quantrill. .Many of the Pony Ex 
press riders were superior men and carved ou1 fortunes for thi 
in the Great West. 

Summ uo of Events 



It is well to make at this point a summary of the essential events of 
the Oregon Trail to find if possible whal its national imporl was. !• 
began at Independence in Western Missouri. At thai point travel and 
commerce bound for the Greal West left the Missouri River and struck 
nut overland along this famous highway. This royal read 
the Greal Plains, the Greal Interior Basin, and the Pacific Slope. It 
wound its tortuous course over prairie and plain, up and over the 



180 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Rocky Mountains, through the groat interior valleys, and emerged in 
the Northwest at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia, two thousand and 
twenty miles away. 

No other American trail covered such a distance or carried such 
possibilities of empire. The potentiality of Kansas, Nebraska, Colo- 
rado, "Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Cali- 
fornia lay ready to spring into life under its vitalizing development. 
Its first influence was exerted on that plain forming the east slope of 
the great central mountain chain. The physical character of man always 
conforms to his environment, and we must, see what manner of country 
this immense plain was in the last century. 

The line defining the eastern edge of the Great Plains is approxi- 
mately the western boundaries of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and 
Iowa, and thence north to the Arctic Ocean. Elevation is a factor in 
much of its course in the United States. It will be found to follow 
generally that demarcation indicating an elevation of one thousand 
feet above the sea. The western boundary of the Great Plains is the 
crest of the Rocky Mountains. In fixing these limits it is necessary 
to follow closely the lines laid down by William Gilpin, by far the best 
authority on this subject. 

The Great Plains are not uniform in climate in a given latitude, 
though they partake generally of the nature of the desert and arid 
lands of the globe. General Pike thought Kansas might support sheep 
and goats, and it was the judgment of Gilpin that no plow should 
desecrate the Great Plains outside the areas which could be irrigated. 
But even in his day they fell naturally into two divisions — 

1. The Prairies, 

2. The Plains Proper. 

A general line north and south through Council Grove and Port 
Kearny marked the western limits of the Prairies, the fairest country 
in America. Beyond this line there was a different land. The buffalo 
grass prevailed. There was little timber — none away from the streams. 
In that realm was the last stand of the buffalo. It was the home of 
the Plains Indian. There it lay, wrapped in solitude. It was grass- 
grown, but desolate. At the horizon it looked like the sea. The harsh 
aspects of nature were softened in the dim and hazy distance, and at 
night the stars were brilliant and seemed to hang just above the earth. 
That land had its own peculiar life — the roving, restless and cruel 
Indian tribe, the buffalo ebbing and flowing with the seasons, the 
skulking wolf, the prairie dog, the rattlesnake and the owl. In its 
higher reaches appeai'ed the elk, the antelope, the deei', the panther, the 
bear, the mountain sheep. Over the peaks soared the eagle, in the pines 
fluttered bright-plumaged birds, and in the mountain streams swam 
the beaver. To the man who once penetrated its recesses and heard its 
irresistible call it was as fascinating as paradise. 

In that day beyond the Greal Plains lay another country, new and 
untrodden by civilized man. It stretched to the Pacific Ocean and was 
traversed by mighty mountain ranges, gashed by bottomless canyons, 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 181 

and watered by some of the great rivers of the earth. Of Umber, coal, 
fish, furs, silver and gold it held unequaled treasure and riches. 
Prom the beginning the lines of our destiny ran west, and the entrance 
and penetration of this unsurpassed empire was by and over the ancient 
highway which we called the Oregon Trail. 

When we fought our Eevolution and gained a place among the 
nations we touched our western limits at the Mississippi. Our coun- 
try was divided by the Appalachian chain. The dwellers along the 
seaboard had little thought for the great valleys of the overbid portion 
of our country. To most of them it was of little consequence. The 
rich man is usually a sluggish and satisfied man. He rarely troubles 
himself with exploration and the conquest of the wilderness. The 
genius and destiny of a country are perceived and carried out by the 
common people, those who toil and sweat, and with us the strongest 
men have appeared on the frontier — Washington, the Clarks, Boone, 
Clay, Lincoln, Benton, Gilpin, the Santa Fe traders, and the Rocky 
Mountain fur trappers who trod the Oregon Trail. 

Kentucky was the pioneer in the westward movement. Her people 
needed the Mississippi River, and when an indifferent government left 
their demands unheeded, they swore to have it even at the expense of 
a divided country. To appease them Jefferson bought Louisiana. That 
was the beginning of our greatness as a nation. The expedition of 
Lewis and Clark revealed to us the extent and resources of the Missouri 
and the Columbia and their relations to the Mississippi Valley and the 
Pacific Ocean. The men of the frontier made preparations to realize 
on some of the resources of Louisiana and the country beyond it. They 
penetrated the wilds in search of the bear and the beaver. That was 
the beginning of the Oregon Trail as known to the white man. The 
principal characters of that time were Ashley, the Bents, the Subletts, 
Jedediah S. Smith, Beckwourth, Bridger, Campbell, and, finally, Cap- 
tain Bonneville. They organized a commerce which yet touches the 
imagination, and which revealed many of the possibilities of the Great 
West. Their adventures fill volumes with accounts of the most fas- 
cinating wilderness-life known to any literature. 

This royal highway had three eras, which, like other divisions based 
on time, overlapped and blended to some extent, but their bounds were 
substantially as follows : 

1. The Romantic Period, which ended in 1834, after which it was 
unprofitable to trap the beaver. 

2. The Heroic Period, which ended with the Civil War. 

3. The Practical Period, in which the Old Trail disappeared to the 
use of the railroad. 

Space will not permit an extended review of any of these periods. 
Brief mention, however, can be made of them. At this point it is well 
to call attention to a few dates connected witli the Trail. 

Captain Bonneville passed out over it in 1832. He took the first 
wagons through the South Pass. 



182 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Fort Hall was established in 1834 by Nathaniel Wyeth, who led an 
expedition from New England to the Pacific Coast in 1832. 

In 1836 two white women, the wives of Whitman and Spalding, 
went over the Oregon Trail to "Walla Walla. 

In 1834 Robert Campbell and William Sublette built old Fort Lara- 
mie. In 1849 the Government bought it. 

In 1842 Jim Bridger built his fort. The Old West was then a thing 
of the past — was gone forever, and the new period was well under way. 
The Mormons bought Fort Bridger in 1853. In 1857 it became an 
Army Post and so remained until 1890. 

The Mormon migration began in 1847. This people founded Des- 
eret and established a Zion in the wilderness. 

The Romantic Period of the Oregon Trail was the era of fur-gath- 
ering in the Rocky Mountains. Ashley and his adventurous associates 
and successors threaded the plains and mountains. They found every 
pass and trapped in every stream. They fraternized with or fought 
every Indian tribe of all the regions of the West. Caravans had annu- 
ally carried out cargoes of merchandise suitable for the Indian trade, 
and had packed back the bales of furs taken in the barter of the wilder- 
ness. That gave the old Trail its permanent location. Like all other 
necessary things, it had its origin in the needs of mankind. The buf- 
falo, the elk, the deer and the bear first marked it. They found the 
easiest grades — the lowest gaps. They learned the routes where water 
could be always found. They were followed by the Indians — for ages 
on foot, but, later, on ponies. This old Trail had been in use ages upon 
ages before the white man saw America. It was the highway of wild 
beasts, of savages, of barbarians, and finally of civilized man. What 
a history it has! 

In 1834 it became unprofitable to trap beaver as an organized com- 
mercial enterprise. This is a talismanic date in the history of the Ore- 
gon Trail and the development of the West. It closed the Romantic 
Period. And in that connection it may be not unprofitable to recall here 
the progress made by the United States up to that time. In 1834 there 
was but one state west of the Mississippi — the State of Missouri. 
Arkansas was admitted in 1836, California in 1850, Minnesota in 1858, 
Oregon in 1859, Kansas in 1861, Nevada in 1864, Nebraska in 1867, 
Colorado in 1876. Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi, and on 
both sides of that river, had been admitted in 1812. 

Continuing this generalization it is found that the first railroad in 
the United States was the Baltimore and Ohio. It had twenty-three 
miles of track in 1830, and until 1832 it was worked by horse power. 
In 1830 all the American railroads had forty miles of track. After that 
date the growth was more rapid. In 1841 there were 3.361 miles. In 
1849 there were 7,308 miles and in 1853 there were 14,301 miles. In 
this year of 1853, the first railroad was built west of the Mississippi 
River — thirty-eight miles. The Civil War checked railroad construc- 
tion. In 1865 there were 3,007 miles of railroad west of the Mississippi 
and 29,988 miles east of that river. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 183 

The Heroic Period of the Oregon Trail began in earnest in 1847 
when the Mormons traversed its endless and tortuous course across the 
Great Plains to escape persecution and find a Canaan. This was the 
first great movement connected with it. They streamed out over the 
various branches of the Old Trail on the way to Zion. Their action was 
called madness, but they succeeded. Mishap, hardship, starvation and 
death stood in their way, but they built a city in the desert and founded 
a great state. 

Before the Mormons had launched their fortunes on the Great Plains 
the migration to Oregon over this Trail had commenced. Peter H. 
Burnett, who became the first Governor of California, as we have seen, 
took his family to Walla Walla and Vancouver in 1843. Pioneers had 
gone before him, and many followed him, all using the Oregon Trail 
from end to end. They were the pioneer settlers of the Great North- 
west, and from their dreary and toilsome days of small things pros- 
perous states have grown. Green valleys have been peopled, and at 
the margin of the sea stand splendid cities trading to the ends of the 
earth. 

But the first movement over the Old Oregon Trail to assume an 
immediate national aspect was the migration to California in 1849. 
The California Gold Fever was a disease that spread to all the world. 
It revolutionized America. It produced conditions which precipitated 
the Civil War. It changed the American from a conservative, contented 
citizen, satisfied with a reasonable return upon his investment and toil, 
to an excitable, restless, insatiable person who wished to realize on the 
resources of the universe in a day. It was the beginning of our national 
madness — of our insanity of greed. It marks the advent of charac- 
ter decadence and American moral degeneracy. In California a man 
might wash from a placer more gold in a week than he could accu- 
mulate in a life of business. When the placer gold was exhausted he 
turned to other natural resources, and his greed increased. Today 
money is the god of the Americans. Perhaps it would not be too much 
to say that it is the god of the world. For mammon rules. Even the 
church lies stranded on the sands and shallows of monej madness. 
Mankind is affected and involved. Europe returns to savagery for 
slim strips of barren territory. And it is not improbable that other 
countries shall be embroiled for a similar purpose. And this world 
movement began in California in 1848. Gilpin said that in a decade the 
California Gold Fever had transplanted itself from Australia to Pike's 
Peak, and adds: 

"It has permeated mankind as an electric fluid, to animate, to 
regenerate, to exalt humanity. Its inspiring democratic genius has, 
within a quarter of a century, covered the continent with railways, and 
with telegraphs. It economizes navigation by the establishment of 
steam ferries upon the ocean and telegraphic cables upon its profound 
bed." 

All this was projected upon a war and its results. Tt is curious to 
note the effects of wars. Tiny exerl Latenl influences never foreseen by 



184 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

those who engage in them. They loose forces not before dreamed of. In 
the creation and development of our government and its dependencies, 
wars have moved in a mysterious way. If called upon to designate the 
event of most far-reaching consequence in our national life the Mexi- 
can War of 1846 might well be named. It was not counted as much 
for heavy battles, though there was fierce fighting. But for our pur- 
chase of Louisiana it might never have occurred. It certainly would 
not have come at the time and in the manner it did but for the contro- 
versy over Texas. And Texas was really a part of Louisiana. As a 
result of that war, in addition to what was our own, we obtained Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and portions of New Mexico, Colorado, 
and Wyoming. In this territory were found the greatest gold fields 
known to the children of men, and the discovery of which, immediately 
after the country came to us, turned the world upside down. 

Every soldier who had served in the Mexican War who could possi- 
bly get there became a placer miner in California in 1849. These sol- 
diers had marched across the deserts under scorching heat in Mexico, 
and they became the leaders of the crowds and caravans and companies 
that wound across the plains and over mountains to the land of gold. 

Great is the year 1849 ! There it stands to mark a new era in the 
annals of mankind! 

To reach California in that year the thousands thronged the Old 
Oregon Trail. With following years they still pressed forward over 
its sinuous windings in ever increasing numbers. Household wreckage 
strewed its borders as other wreckage strews the shores of the salt and 
stormy sea. And these pilgrims once arrived at their destination found 
that their El Dorado did not satisfy them. Gold did not suffice. They 
could not themselves understand the impulse which moved them. None 
really knew why they were stirred. The hidden forces of humanity 
had burst into spontaneous and irresistable action which has increased 
to this day. It became immediately world-wide. Old China that had 
slept a thousand years shook off her lethargy. The wisest can not fore- 
see what shall finally be the result of the discovery of gold in California. 
It may and probably will destroy governments and level monarchies — 
has indeed already done that. It may wreck our own political struc- 
ture, and that all our institutions are to be recast is certain. For the 
spirit loosed in California is democratic and class-destroying. 

These are some of the national aspects of the Oregon Trail, or, 
rather, some of the aspects which had their origin in connection with 
it. As men toiled over it they saw visions which did not materialize in 
their day, but the glory of which they transmitted with the promise 
that they would burst into realization with the coming years. There 
is no limit to be set to the mind of man. The possibilities of its achieve- 
ment can not be measured. It is moved first by some concrete example, 
or desire. But its growth is stimulated and brought to sublime power 
by the objects of nature. As affirmed before, the genius of a people is 
carried and fostered, not by statesmen and orators and diplomats, but 
by the common people — such men as toiled over the Oregon Trail. They 



KANSAS AND KANSANS L85 

see things which the eyes of statesmen can never see. Working through 
the common mind of the people who labor with their hands, the great 
natural laws of the universe — little understood by any of us— overturn 
dynasties, break down nations, elevate to dignity and power new people, 
new systems, and enthrone new conceptions of duty and all the rela- 
tions of life. Their judgment is destiny. 

It is the duty of students to search for causes. To him who makes 
an honest effort in this direction very strange things are revealed. 
Events take on new meanings and their effects ai-e frought with fas- 
cinating interest. We have said something generally of wars. And 
when we come to consider our Civil War we find that it was a domestic 
irruption bearing many modifying consequences. It grew primarily 
out of the question of human slavery. But connected with this prin- 
ciple of our government as organized by the fathers were many others. 
It finally became a question of constitutional interpretation. The rights 
of the states as sovereign powers clashed with the idea of nationality. 
The Constitution was an evasive compromise. Some of its builders, 
at least, realized that it contained the germs of civil war. In the Dred 
Scott case the Supreme Court gave Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, 
Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, 
Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to slavery. In the pursuit 
of the Presidency Douglas endeavored to modify this decision with his 
doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty. His organization of Kansas and 
Nebraska as Territories repealed the Missouri Compromise, gave addi- 
tional power to slavery, and resulted in the Civil War. When that 
ended the nation was supreme and the sovereignty of the states was 
dead. 

When we consider the nature of war we find that, among other 
things, it is a school, an immense university wherein events are teach- 
ers and armies students. In the Civil War every soldier received a 
liberal education. His perceptions were quickened, his life was broad- 
ened, his vision was increased, and his patriotism was exalted. He 
found himself part and parcel of the solution of questions of the great- 
est import to the existence of his government — of any and all govern- 
ment. At the close of the war the soldier stood on a higher plane than 
the citizen. He felt that in him which the non-combatant never can 
feel. He had burning within him a superior interest in every great 
political question. He felt that it appealed to him in a sort of p 
sense. 

When the soldier returned from the field after an absence of four 
years he found the old homestead cramped and narrow. Or he found 
the business of his community monopolized by less patriotic men. He 
turned to the public lands. He spread over the prairies from the Gulf 
to the Red River of the North. He settled the hills and valleys and 
woodlands from Missouri to Pugel Sound. He erected states from 
the public domain, and, to-day, thanks to his genius, patriotism, and 
enterprise, every foot of land in the United States is included in a 
self-governing state. 



186 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

In the soldiers of the Civil War, in their time and prime, America 
saw her best citizens, her most enlightened statesmen, her builders of 
empire. They were moved by a combined and common impulse grow- 
ing out of the discovery of gold in California and the inspiration of 
the Civil War — the one a universal impetus and the other a national 
animation. The one was a mighty propulsion of the other. An enter- 
prise that might have staggered a Forty-niner was feasible and easy 
to an intelligent and energetic soldier. The California Gold Fever, 
reinforced by the momentum imparted by the Civil War, produced 
the men with that supreme capacity that enabled them to reclaim the 
Great West and stretch it over with iron ways. Such another gener- 
ation we may never see in America. 

Thus we find that the movement generated by the California Gold 
P'ever was mightily accelerated by the Civil War. The events of the 
Heroic Period of the Oregon Trail resulted from this combination of 
forces. Standing on the Rocky Mountains or on the shores of the Pacific 
Ocean, man had new powers. Things which other men and other times 
said could not be done seemed possible to him. So, we had over this 
Old Trail the great freighters, the Pony Express, the Overland Stage. 
Some of these began before the Civil War, and they demonstrated the 
need of the Pacific Railroad, of which Gilpin had dreamed and talked 
and written — of which he was the father. In its interest, he, through 
Benton, endeavored to organize the State of Nebraska (to include Kan- 
sas) in 1853. 

The construction of the Pacific Railroad destroyed the Oregon Trail 
as a national highway. And soon other railroads spanned the conti- 
nent. Now we live in the era of the railroad. Transportation is the 
blood-circulation of the political body. Webster and even Benton 
objected to extending our borders to the Pacific. They could not see 
how so vast a country could become homogeneous, and they feared it 
would break of its own weight. But for railroads their fears might 
have been realized. San Francisco is now nearer Boston than was 
Philadelphia in Franklin's day. By the railroads America is rendered 
a compact political unity. 

The most important questions we shall have to grapple with and 
solve in the near future arise out of railroad management. These ques- 
tions concern largely the trans-continental lines — successors of the Old 
Oregon Trail. This solution we cannot foresee. The tendency now is 
to socialism and government ownership. These may or may not come. 
When we decide what shall be done with these lines the problem of 
railroad management in America will be solved. For the lines of these 
old trans-continental trails are the lines of American destiny. In sup- 
port of this position here are some statistical facts. 

In 1910 there were in the United States 240,438.84 miles of railroad. 
Of this amount, 119.237.33 miles were west of the Mississippi River. 
That is but 1,000 miles short of half the total mileage. The area of 
the United States, including Alaska, is 3.616,484 square miles. That 
portion west of the Mississippi contains 2,704,866 square miles. These 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 1ST 

figures make it easy to see where the future railroad building in Amer- 
ica will have to be. The Mississippi Valley is the strategic point of the 
world. In considering the Mississippi Valley and its destiny we must 
remember that the world is now turned around. Man has ever traveled 
with the sun. Westward has been the course of empire. In thai sense, 
there is no longer a "West. Having come from the East, mankind has 
ever looked to the East. But now we see the East from the "West. Gil- 
pin was the first man who called attention to the fact that politically 
the Pacific Slope faced Asia. For four hundred years the Atlantic 
Ocean has been the field of the large operations of the world-powers. 
But the great centers of human activity are now to be reversed. The 
crisis developed strangely and unexpectedly in the Spanish-American 
"War. Dewey's guns in Manila Bay opened for us a conflict with the 
world. That war made it necessary for us to build the Panama Canal. 
Whether we would or not we must now challenge any and all who cross 
our path. And whether we would or not we must now battle for the 
mastery of the Pacific Ocean. There were students and statesmen in 
the former generation who saw the coming changes and cried them 
aloud. Chief among these were Gilpin and Benton, but man is slow 
to see and accept the vast and inevitable changes always in process as 
the result of inexorable and self-executing laws of nature. The Pacific 
Ocean and its shores must now become the scenes of the world's chief 
activities. America now faces west, not east. The Mississippi Valley 
is now aligned with California and Alaska — not with New England and 
South Carolina In ruling America this great valley will exerl an 
increasing influence on the destiny of mankind. 

What the centuries may hold for us we do not know. Tt would 
seem reasonable for us to expect that our government in some form 
shall exist for many centuries. Also that our population shall attain 
such proportions and density as we can not now conceive of. Tn that 
future many of the primitive usages and institutions of mankind may 
have to be revived. As well as the highest, we may have the lowest 
devices of communication and industry. It is not impossible, nor even 
improbable, that when we have the railroad with a minimum speed of 
two hundred miles an hour with more safety than we now have with a 
velocity of ten miles— when we shall have the flying machine that will 
in safety cross the continent in a day— we may build again the Old 
Oregon Trail. For we shall always have with us, as Benton said, those 
to whom toil is little and time nothing, and who will wish to walk with 
human feet on God's good solid earth. For them roads so splendid 
that they will vie with the finest streets may be buill from sea to sea. 

AUTHOR IT IKS 

The besl authorities on the subjed of the Oregon Trail are the pub- 
nment. It is not possible to se1 oul here all those 

consulted in the preparation of this chapter spi will not permit it. 

The} are in be Pound in most libraries now, where they are accessible 
to every student. 

Explorations and Surveys for a Ra Iroad '■ U ' vm the Mississippi 
//,,., ,■ Ocea War Depa tm< nt. Twelv 



188 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

by the Government, 1859. There are many valuable maps in this series. 
Also much about the early explorations. 

History of Utah. Four volumes. Orson F. Whitney. Salt Lake 
City, 1892. Some things of value found in no other work. 

History of American Fur Trade of the Far West. Hiram Martin 
Chittenden. Three volumes, 1902. One of the best authorities. 

Early Western Travels — 1748-1846. This is the Thawaites series 
and embraces the works of Wyeth, Townsend, Gregg, and many others. 
A good work but the notes are sometimes insufficient. 

The Overland Stage to California. Frank A. Eoot and "William E. 
Connelley. Has much valuable information. The text was written by 
Root. There are many repetitions. 

Indian Sketches, by John T. Irving. Two volumes. London, 1835. 
Takes too long to come to the point, but a reliable authority. 

The City of the Saints, by Richard F. Burton. New York, 1862. 
Good authority. Original, fresh, stirring, strong. Generally accurate, 
but contains some very ridiculous statements. 

Utah and the Mormons, by Benjamin & Ferris, New York, 1S56. 

Seventy Years on the Frontier, by Alexander Majors. Chicago, 
1893. Good authority. The author had a personal acquaintance with 
Mr. Majors for several years. He was a very conscientious man. 

Missions of the North American People, by William Gilpin, Phila- 
delphia, 1873. Also 

The Central Gold Region, by the same author. Good authority. 
Gilpin was the apostle of the West. Benton adopted his views. No other 
author ever discussed many of the subjects thoroughly treated by Gilpin. 
He was the first man to recognize fully the resources and destiny of the 
West. He was a prophet as well as a student, a soldier, a pioneer. The 
West which he pictured will not be fully attained for another century. 

The Pony E.cprcss, by William Lightfoot Yisscher, Chicago, 1908. 
Not much in it of original authority. Claims J. H. Keetley was the 
first Pony Express rider out of St. Joseph. 

Pioneer Tales of the Oregon Trail, by Charles Dawson. Confined 
principally to Jefferson County, Nebraska. A faithful and reliable 
book. 

Oregon and California, by J. Quin Thornton, New York, 1849. Re- 
liable. Valuable. Students wish there were more like it. 

The. Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman. Boston, 1875. As an 
authority on the Oregon Trail it is a failure. The poorest of all the 
works of Parkman. It is a charming narrative, but not worth reading 
for information of a substantial kind. 

Recollections of an Old Pioneer, by Peter H. Burnett, New York, 
1880. One of the best authorities. 

Travels in North America, by Charles Augustus Murray. New York, 
1839. Good authority. 

A History of Oregon, by W r . H. Gray. Portland, Oregon, 1870. A 
reliable work. 

Astoria, by Washington Irving. Philadelphia, 1836. One of the 
best authorities. 

Captain Bonneville, by Washington Irving. Good authority, but it 
is to be regretted that the original Journals and maps were not set out. 

Memories of My Life, by John Charles Fremont, Chicago, 1887. It 
is a loss to history and science that the second volume was never pub- 
lished. There is little to be found on some of the later explorations of 
Fremont. 

I consulted many other authorities, among them the Kansas Histori- 
cal Collections, the publications of the Oregon Historical Society, and 
those of the Nebraska Historical Society. 



CHAPTER X 

INDIANS 

The Indian Linguistic families represented in Kansas may be sep- 
arated into two principal divisions or heads: 

1. Native Linguistic Families. 

2. Emigrant Linguistic Families. 
The Native Linguistic Families were: 

1. Algonquian. 

2. Caddoan. 

3. Kiowan. 

4. Shoshonean. 

5. Siouan. 

The Emigrant Linguistic Families were: 

1. Algonquian. 

2. Iroquoian. 

3. Siouan. 

4. Tanoan. 

The tribes native to Kansas are enumerated as follows: 
Of the Algonquian Linguistic Family: 

1. Arapahoe. 

2. Cheyenne. 

Of the Caddoan Linguistic Family: 

1. Pawnee — 

a. Grand Pawnee. 

b. Republican Pawnee. 

c. Tapage Pawnee. 

d. Loup Pawnee. 

2. Wichita. 

Of the Kiowan Linguistic Family: 

- 1. Kiowa, 
Of the Shoshonean Linguistic Family : 

1. Comanche. 
Of the Simian Linguistic Family:. 

1. Kansa. 

2. Osage. 

Tin- Emigranl tribes of Kansas are enumerated as follows: 
Of the Algonquian Linguistic Family: 

1. Chippewa. 

2. Delaware. 

L89 



190 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

3. KaskasMa. 

4. Kickapoo. 

5. Miami. 

6. Munsee. 

7. Ottawa. 
S. Peoria. 

9. Piankishaw. 

10. Pottawatomie. 

11. Sac and Fox. 

12. Shawnee. 

13. Stockbridge. 

14. Wea. 

15. Brotherton. 

Of the Iroqnoian Linguistic Family : 

1. Cayuga. 

2. Cherokee. 

3. Oneida. 

4. Onondaga. 

5. Seneca. 

6. St. Eegis. 

7. Tuskarora. 

8. Wyandot. 

Of the Tanoan Linguistic Family : 

1. Tigua of Picuris. 
Of the Siouan Linguistic Family: 

1. Iowa. 

2. Missouri. 

3. Otoe. 

4. Quapaw. 

A brief review of the foregoing will show that there were five native 
linguistic families in Kansas. The emigrant linguistic families were 
four in number. Two of these, however, were also native to the soil. 
One of them — the Siouan — occupied or claimed to own by far the greater 
part of Kansas at the period when treaty-making began in the West. 
Of native tribes in Kansas there were eight, belonging to the Algon- 
quian, Caddoan, Kiowan, Shoshonean, and Siouan families. There were 
twenty-eight emigrant tribes in Kansas. They belonged to the Algon- 
quian, Iroquoian, Tanoan, and Siouan families. In the matter of impor- 
tance the Kansa, Osage, and Pawnee stood first in the list of native 
tribes. This arose from the fact that they were treated with for the 
lands at an early date. Their cession of land to the Government 
embraced almost all the State. They did not own this land in any 
proper sense. They had not occupied it, and in the case of the Kansa, 
had not even hunted over much of it for any great length of time. Other 
tribes were not called upon to dispute their claims. The Government 
accepted their word, and. taking accounl of the consideration paid by 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 191 

the United States, the Indians could boast little. In dealing with the 
Indians our Government was mean and stingy from the first. 

It will appear later that a number of the emigrant tribes did not 
move to Kansas. Some of them had no representative on the lands 
assigned them in the State. -This is especially true of the tribes of the 
Iroquoian family, and, to a considerable extent, of the Siouan family. 
In the treatment of the Indian tribes of Kansas they will be considered 
in their historical importance, and not by linguistic families, as logic 
might suggest. In this respect the Kansa come first. 

The Siouan family is exceptional in that it was the only Indian 
family moving bodily in a western direction when the interior of 
America was first known to Europeans. The cause of this movement is 
not now known. It may have been that the Siouans were forced out 
of their ancient seat in the regions of the Allegheny Mountains by the 
Iroquois. Whatever the reason, the tribes of the Siouan family were 
drifting towards the West when they became known to white men. 
Their traditions confirmed this westward tendency. Historical eondi 
tions also bore out the traditions of this family, for in the Carolinas 
were still found the Catawbas, — Siouans. Small tribes of the family 
other than the Catawbas were found in Virginia and North Carolina — 
and even in Kentucky. Tribes of this family still claimed up the Ohio 
Valley as far as the Wabash in the period of treaty making. In their 
westward march the tribes of the Dhegiha group of this family reached 
the mouth of the Ohio River. There divisions arose in their councils 
and purposes. One portion desired to go down the Mississippi. 
The other portion, it seems, thought best to go up that river. No 
agreement could be reached, and a division of the group occurred, 
part going up and part going down. This is the conclusion generally 
accepted, but this division may have arisen from other causes. The 
people of the group crossed the Mississippi at the mouth of the Ohio 
and occupied the country directly opposite. In the course of time 
they may have spread both up and down the Mississippi Valley with- 
out any design to form a permanent separation. The old theory is that 
when the division took place at the mouth of the Ohio, the Quapaw (or 
Kwapa) were called the down-stream people, from their going down 
the Mississippi. The other division was then known as the Omaha. Or 
there was at least an Omahan group. These people were spoken of as 
the up-stream people, as their name signifies a people pushing upward 
or traveling against the current. This name may have come from the 
tact that the group gradually grew and drifted up the Valley of the 
Mississippi without any design of a permanent separation from the 
Quapaw group. 

The fact remains, however, that smh a separation did take place. 
Whether it was by design or otherwise can not be now certainly said 
The group which went up-sti'eam kept to the Missouri Valley when the 
mouth of that stream was reached. At the mouth of the stream which 
came to be called the Osage River there seems to have been a Inn:,' resi 
dence of the group. It' the tribes of the Dhegiha group had uol taken 



192 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

form previous to the arrival of the up-stream group at the mouth of 
the Osage, they developed into tribal individuality there. The Osages 
started on a slow ascent of the river to which they gave their name. 
One must understand Indians and their nature to have any conception 
of how persistent, and at the same time how erratic, an Indian migra- 
tion is. In such an instance as that of the Osages, it is very rare 
indeed that there is any prior agreement or understanding or even the 
recognition of the possibility that the tribe would in the future occupy 
and live on any particular spot. Chance and conformity to circum- 
stances have always been very great factors in the destination of primal 
migrations. 

In time the up-stream group of Siouans departed from the country 
about the mouth of the Osage. The Osages ascended the Osage River. 
The Omahas and Ponkas crossed the Missouri River and went north 
through what is now the State of Missouri. The Kansas were evi- 
dently among the last to leave the family seat at the mouth of 
the Osagi — perhaps the very last. And their progress up the Mis- 
souri must have been at about the same pace of the Osages up their 
river. For there was ever a connection between these two tribes of the 
Siouans. Not that they were ever and always on terms of amity, for 
they had their disagreements and even their wars. But they were always 
closely associated. Their language remained practically the same. Inter- 
marriage of members of these tribes was common well down into his- 
toric times. Each tribe was a sort of refuge for the renegades of the 
other. There are, indeed, those who maintain that the Kansas were a 
sort of renegade band of the Osages, yielding always a sullen and unsat- 
isfactory allegiance to the discipline of the mother tribe. This may 
have been true in the early period of the existence of the Kansas, but 
they became a nation of themselves, so recognized by all the tribes, 
including the Osages. before they were known to white men. 1 

The course of the Kansas Indians from the historic seat at the 
mouth of the Osage was up the Missouri, and possibly on both sides 
of the river. They were far enough in the rear of the Omahan group 
to not become involved in the traditionary wars between the Pawnee 
on the one side and 'the Omahas and Otoes on the other side. This 
would indicate that they remained for a long time below the mouth of 
the Kansas River, and that they were the last of the Siouans to leave 
the mouth of the Osage. There is no evidence whatever that the Kan- 
sas Indians left the banks of the Missouri River to establish a resi- 
dence until after their contact with white people. Their settlement in the 
valley of the Kansas River is clearly within historic times. 

This raises the question of ownership to the country back from the 
Mississippi and Missouri rivers during the period of migration of the 



1 The fifteenth Annual' Report, Bureau of Ethnology, contains a very 
article on the migration of the Siouans. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 193 

Siouan people. There is no record. If positive evidence exists it lies 
concealed in uncovered village sites westward from the two great rivers. 
But the habitat of the Siouans when first seen by Europeans can be 
reasonably estimated. De Soto, Coronado, and other Spanish explorers 
found them on the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri. It is 
known that the Caddoan family, with its various tribes, lived immedi- 
ately back and west of them. If the Siouans displaced any peoples on 
the west banks of those streams they were Caddoans. And the coun- 
tries of the Siouans and the Caddoans must have joined. As the Kan- 
sas Indians were not in possession of any lands away from the Missouri 
River even in historic times, the Caddoans must have possessed the 
country well down all streams toward the Mississippi and the Missouri. 
And in the days of Coronado the country of the Kansas Indians con- 
sisted of a narrow strip on each side of the Missouri from the vicinity 
of the mouth of the Kansas River to Independence Creek. These were, 
indeed, the bounds of their country nearly two hundred years later. 
Their holdings in what is now Kansas were insignificant. The Paw- 
nees, Wichitas, and perhaps other Caddoans owned the plains-country, 
and their possessions reached to within a few miles of the Missouri, 
especially in Kansas. The Kansas Indians hunted westward for buf- 
falo, no doubt, but for generations they were intruders, and they were 
always at war with the Pawnees. It is said 2 that the Kansas were 
forced up the Kansas River by the Dakota. There may have been 
pressure on the Kansas by some other Siouan stock, but this is improb- 
able. The more probable cause, however, of the passage of the Kansas 
up the Kansas River, is that they pressed into the Caddoan (Pawnee) 
country in pursuit of the receding buffalo. This was made possible for 
the Kansas by the final gathering of the Pawnees along the Platte. 
According to John T. Irving, Junior, the Pawnees claimed all the coun- 
try between the Platte and Kansas rivers as late as 1833, and this 
claim was supported by the Otoes. It was the cause of the war with 
the Delawares. Of course the Kansas may have been subject to pres- 
sure from tribes to the eastward, and the Sac and Fox, together with 
the Iowa, did war on them in later years. The migration to the mouth 
of the Blue might have been in consequence of the hostility of the Sacs 
and Poxes, but if even so that does not alter the facts as to the owner- 
ship of the valley of the Kansas River by the Caddoan stock- -the Pawnees 
— to a comparatively late date in historic times, say 1780. They made 
claim to it to as late a date .-is 1842. 

There has been much discussion of the probable origin of the name 
Kansas as applied to this tribe of Siouans. It is never safe to accept 
positive conclusions which admit no possibility of error. They are 
rarely correct. The theory that the name Kansas is derived from any 
term found in an European language must be rejected as un1 
The word is a genuine Indian term. It is imbedded in the Siouan 



2 Fifteenth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, ]>. 193; article 

l>v Mc< lee 



194 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



tongue far back of historic times. In the Omaha tribe there was a 
Kansa gens. Its designation was — Wind People. The Omaha was, as 
has been shown, the mother group, or the up-stream people. In a 
sense, probably, the Kansas developed tribal identity from the Omahan 
group of Siouans. It is certain and well settled that the gens or clan 
organization of the Siouan, and other linguistic families, was perfected 
long before contact with Europeans. There are Kansas gens in other 
Siouan tribes than the Omaha. Kansa, the Siouan form of the word, 
is so old that its full signification was lost even lo the tribes of the 




Black Bird. Chief of Omahas 



Siouan family when they first met white men. It has some reference 
to wind. Exactly what this reference means there is little hope of 
ever finding out. In every mention of the word in the Siouan tongue 
generally, and in all tribal tongues of the family, it bears some refer- 
ence and application to wind. The fourth gentes in the Kansas tribe 
is the Kansas gentes. Dorsey calls this the Lodge-in-the-rear, or Last- 
lodge Gentes. It is separated into two subgentes — first, Wind people, 
or South-wind people, or Camp-behind-all ; second, Small-wind, or Makes- 
a-breeze-near-the-ground. 

The winds had some mystic references to the cross in the Kansas 
mind — at least in the Siouan mind. The Omahas and Ponkas prayed 
to the wind and invoked it. In the pipe dance the ceremonial imple- 



KANSAS AXJ) KANSANS 195 

ments had drawn on them with green paint a cross indicating the four 
quarters of the world — the four winds. The Kansas warriors drew out 
the hearts of their slain enemies and burned them as a sacrifice to these 
four winds. In 1882 the Kansas still sacrificed and made offerings to 
all their ancient wakandas — including the four winds. They began 
with the Easl Wind, then they turned to the South Wind, then to the 
"West Wind, and then to the North Wind. In ancient times they out 
pieces of flesh from their own bodies for these offerings. 

The idea or conception that wind was a wakanda or was supernat- 
ural seems to lie at the very base of Siouan development. It may have 
been the first wakanda, being associated with the breath of life. In 
the Order of the Translucent Stone, of the Omaha tribe, the Wind or 
Wind Makers were invoked. The four winds were associated with the 
sun in the ceremonies of raising the sun pole. In the Dakota each of 
the four quarters of the heaven or winds was counted as three, making 
twelve — always a sacred number with mankind. Mr. Dorsey asks if 
there might be any reference to three worlds in this custom — an upper 
world, our world, a lower world. Or were there three divisions of the 
wind, or three kinds of wind — that near the earth, that in mid air, and 
that high and bearing the clouds. The wind gentes of the various 
Siouan tribes are thus enumerated by Mr. Dorsey: 

The following social divisions are assigned to this category: Kanze, 
or Wind people, and the Te-da-it'aji, Toueh-not-a-buffalo-skull, or Eagle 
people, of the Omaha tribe; the Cixida and Nikadaena gentes of the 
Ponka; the Kanze (Wind or South Wind people), Quya (W T hite eagle), 
Ghost, and perhaps the Large Hanga (Black eagle), among the Kansa; 
the Kanze (also called the Wind and South Wind people), and perhaps 
the Hanka Utacantse (Black eagle) gens of the Osage; the Pigeon and 
Buffalo gentes of the Iowa and the Oto tribes; the Hawk and Momi 
(Small bird) subgentes of the Missouri tribe; the Eagle and Pigeon and 
perhaps the Hawk subgens of the Winnebago Bird gens. 

Each wind or quarter is reckoned as three by the Dakota and pre 
sumably by the Osage, making the four quarters equal to twelve. Can 
•there be any reference here to a belief in three worlds, the one in which 
we live, an upper world, and a world beneath this one? Or were the 
winds divided into three classes, these close to the ground, those in mid 
air. and those very high in the air.' The Kansa seem to make some such 
distinction, judging from the names of the divisions- of the Kanze or 
Wind gens of that tribe. 

It would appear to be against reason that a word which runs through 
all the mysticism of an Indian linguistic family should have any alien 
origin whatever. It is impossible that such a word should have its 
ciriirin in any European language. Kansa (the Kansas of our day") 
is an old Simian word. Its application and use go back to tl 
organization of the Siouan group. It lies at the foundation of ' ■ 
ieal systems of various tribes of the Simian linguistic family. T 

uses it had been assigned perhaps many centuries prior to the discos 
ery of America. While the full meaning id' the word Kansa may never 
be known, it is established beyond question thai it does mean Wind 
People, or People of the South Wind. To the Siouans of ancient times 



196 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

it probably meant much more, but it did mean "Wind people, or People 
of the South Wind, whatever else it may have included. 

So Kansas is the land of the Wind People, or the land of the People 
of the South Wind, if we look to the aboriginal tongue for its signifi- 
cation. 

The Kansas Indians 

The Kansas tribe was organized along the general sociological line 
of North American Indians. It was separated into phratries, gentes 
or clans, and subgentes. There were seven phratries, sixteen gentes 
or elans, and probably thirty-two subgentes, though the names of twelve 
of these subgentes have not been preserved. The gentes are as follows, 
omitting the Indian names and giving the English equivalents; giving 
also the subgentes so far as known: 

1. Earth, or Earth-lodge-maker. 

1. Large Earth. 

2. Small Earth. 

2. Deer, or Osage. 

1. Real Deer. 

2. Eats-no-deer. 

3. Ponka. 

1. Ponka People. 

2. Wear-red-cedar- fronds-on-their-heads. 

4. Kansa, or Last-lodge. 

1. Wind People, or South-wind People, or Camp-behind-all. 

2. Small Wind, or Makes-a-breeze-near-the-ground. 

5. Black Bear. 

1. Real Black Bear, or Eats-raw-food. 

2. Wear-tails-of-hair-on-tbe-head. 

6. Ghost. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 

7. Turtle, or Carries-a-turtle-on-his-back. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 

8. Sun, or Carries-the-sun-on-his-back. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 

9. Elk. 

1. Real Elk. 

2. San-han-ge. (Meaning not known.') 

10. White Eagle. 

1. White Eagle People, or Legs-stretched-out-stiff. 

2. Blood People, or Wade-in-blood. 

11. Night. 

1. Night People. 

2. Star People, or Walks-shinning. 

12. Pipe People, or Holds-the firebrand-to-sacred pipes. 

1. Littlc-One-like-an-eagle, or Hawk-that-has-a-tail-like-a-king- 

eagle. 

2. Raccoon People, or Sinall-lean-raceoon. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS \;r t 

13. Large Ilanga, or Stiff deer-tail, or A-black-eagle-with-spots. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 

14. Buffalo, or Buffalo-bull, or Big-feet. 

1. Buffalo with dark hair. 

2. Reddish-yellow-buffalo. 

15. Peacemaker, or Red-hawk-people. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 

16. Thunder, or Thunder-being-people, or Gray-hawk people. 

(Subgentes not learned.) 
The phratries of the Kansas are organized as follows: 
First Phratry: 

1. Earth. 

2. Ghost. 

3. Elk. 
Second Phratry: 

1. Deer. 

2. Buffalo. 

3. Thunder. 
Third Phratry: 

1. Ponka. 

2. Kansa. 

3. Black Bear. 
Fourth Phratry : 

1. Turtle. 
Fifth Phratry: 

1. Sun. 

2. Peacemaker. 
Sixth Phratry: 

1. "White Eagle. 

2. Night. 
Seventh Phratry: 

1. Pipe People. 

2. Large Hanga. 

The tribal circle of the Kansas is shown here. It is also known 
as the camping circle. The figures indicate where the gentes camp or 
live. The tribal circle is divided into two half-circles— or, in fact, the 
tribe is separate, l into two divisions or half-tribes, On the righl side 
of the hue dividing the tribal circle live the Ictunga half tribe, composed 
of elans or gentes, 1. 2, ::. I. 5, 6, 7. and 8. On the left side of the 
tribal circle lives the JTata half-tribe, embracing clans 
10, 11, 12, 13. 11. 15, and 16. It will be observed thai the gen 
so placed on the tribal circle that those having odd numbers are oppo- 
site one another, an, I that those having even numbers are opposite one 
another. No man was permitted to marry a woman of his half tribe or 
from his half of the circle. And. for that matter, he was pn 
from marrying any woman related to him U blood even iii the remol 
est degi 



198 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



The lot of the woman was a hard one. Those who remained unmar- 
ried were menials — slaves. They planted, tended and gathered the 
crops, did the cooking, brought the wood, and carried the water. Upon 
the marriage of the eldest daughter, all her sisters became subordinate 
wives of her husband. She was in control of the lodge, and her mother 
was subject to her will. If the husband died, she mourned a year, when 
his eldest brother took her to wife without ceremony, regarding her 
children as his own. If there was no brother, the widow married whom 
she pleased. 

The social organization of the Kansas conformed in all respects to 




KAMSA CAAAFM/SG CIRCLE. 

| From Fifteenth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology 



the religious development of the tribe. Primitive man was always 
hedged about with fear. He did not know. The earth and its elements 
had power to harm him. He added to his list of terrors many imagin- 
ary monsters lying in wait in rivers, lakes, on mountains, under cer- 
tain bluffs and hills, in the sky, invisible in the air — every where to 
injure or destroy him. It was his object to propitiate these awful 
beings. His religion was one of propitiation rather than of worship. 
He was much more interested in preventing some power from visiting 
calamity upon him than in praising some object or influence in hopes 
of a favor. Ceremonial societies were instituted to induce some god 
to send the buffalo, to cure some sickness, to make the corn grow, to 
keep enemies off, to give success in war, and for many other purposes. 
Certain gentes of the Kansas had certain duties in these ceremonials. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 199 

Their word for a god— and their idea of God was not like that of the 
Christian — was wakanda. Anything might be a wakanda. The great 
forces of nature were wakandas. Perhaps the sun was a wakanda— 
the Wakanda. Anything which exerted a force which the Kansa did 
not understand was a wakanda. They believed there were immense 
horned monsters dwelling under certain bluffs along the Missouri River. 
The .Missouri itself was a wakanda. Their life was centered about this 
river. Islands in it came to have secret or evil significance. The great 
island just north of the site of Fort Leavenworth came to have some 
influence on their religious customs. Perhaps ceremonies were per- 
formed there, for they lived about this island for some generations. It 
is now called Kickapoo Island. It may have been the seat of their 
religion. It is at this time regarded as one of the sacred villages of the 
dead. Lewis and Clark landed on it July 2, 1804, and replaced a 
broken mast. They found it named "Wau-car-da-war-card-da, or Wau- 
car-ba War-cand-da, the Bear-medicine island." Commenting on this 
name, Dr. Elliott Coues said: 

One word with five hyphens. At first sight it looks like a misprint 
meant for two forms of one word, as "Wau-card-da. " I have been 
informed that probably it is meant for Wakan'da wakhdhi', (where) 
"Wakanda was slain" — -Wakanda being something named after the 
Thunder-god. This conjecture is borne out by the translation, "Bear 
Medicine," showing that there was some mystery or superstition about 
the place, as anything that an Indian does not understand is "medicine." 
But Clark's MS. gives occasion for a different reading. His words are: 
"called by the Indians Wau-car-ba War-cand-da [two words with two 
hyphens apiece] or the Bear Medisin Island." Here the second word, 
not the first, is "Wakanda" or "Medicine," and the first word has b 
where the last prints d. Lewis' MS. has a similar word not quite the 



The Kansas had confused and indefinite conceptions of the future 
life Mr. Say, of Long's Expedition, secured from members of the 
tribe information on this point from which he wrote the following: 

The lodge in which we reside is larger than any other in the town, 
and being that of the grand chief, it serves as a council house for the 
nation. The roof is supported by two series of pillars, or rough vertical 
posts, forked at the top for (lie reception of the transverse connecting 
piece of each series; twelve of these pillars form the outer series, placed 
in a circle: ami eighl longer ones, the inner series, also describing a 
circle; the outer wall, or rude frame-work, placed at a proper distance 
from ill,- exterior series of pillars, is five or six feet high. Poles, as thick 
as the le«r at the base, rest with their butts upon the wall, extending on 

tie cross pi S, which are upheld by the pillars of the two series, and 

are of sufficient length to reach nearly to the summit. These poles are 
very numerous, and agreeably to the position which we have indicated, 
they are placed all around in a radiating manner, and support tic roof 
like rafters. Across these are laid Long ami slender sticks or twigs, 
attached parallel to each other by menus of bark cord ; these an 
by mats of loiej grass or reeds, or with the bark of trees; the whole is 
then covered completelj with earth, which near the ground is banked 
up to the eaves. A bole is- permitted to remain in the middle of the 



200 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

roof to give exit to the smoke. Around the walls of the interior a con- 
tinuous series of mats are suspended; these are of • neat workmanship, 
composed of a soft reed, united by bark cord, in straight or undulated 
lines, between which lines of black paint sometimes occur. The bed- 
steads are elevated to the height of a common seat from the ground, and 
are about six feet wide ; they extend in an uninterrupted line around 
three-fourths of the circumference of the apartment, and are formed in 
the simplest manner, of numerous sticks or slender pieces of wood, rest- 
ing at their ends on cross-pieces, which are supported by short notched 
or forked posts driven into the ground. Bison skins supply them with 
comfortable bedding. Several medicine or mystic bags are eai'efully 
attached to the mats of the wall; these are cylindrical, and neatly bound 
up. Several reeds are usually placed upon them, and a human scalp 
serves for their fringe and tassels. Of their contents we know nothing. 

The tire-place is a simple, shallow cavity, in the center of the apart- 
ment, with an upright and a projecting arm for the support of the 
culinary apparatus. The latter is very simple in kind and limited in 
quantity, consisting of a brass kettle, an iron pot, and wooden bowls 
and spoons. Each person, male as well as female, carries a large knife 
in the girdle of the breech-cloth, behind, which is used at their meals, 
and sometimes for self -defense. During our stay with these Indians 
they ate four or rive times each day, invariably supplying us with the 
best pieces, or choice parts, before they attempted to taste the food 
themselves. 

They commonly placed before us a sort of soup, composed of maize 
of the present season, of that description which, having undergone a 
certain preparation, is appropriately named sweet-corn, boiled in water, 
and enriched with a few slices of bison meat, grease, and some beans, 
and, to suit it to our palates, it was generally seasoned with rock salt, 
which is procured near the Arkansas river. 

This - mixture constituted an agreeable food. It was served up to us 
in large wooden bowls, which were placed on bison robes or mats, on the 
ground. As many of us as could conveniently eat from one bowl around 
it, each in as easy a position as he could contrive, and in common we 
partook of its contents by means of large spoons made of bison horn. 
We were sometimes supplied with uncooked dried meal of the bison, also 
a very agreeable food, ami to our taste and reminiscence, far preferable 
to the flesh of the domestic ox. Another very acceptable dish was called 
lyed corn. This is maize of the preceding season, shelled from the 
cob, and first boiled for a short time in a lye of wood ashes until the hard 
skin which invests the grains is separated from them; the whole is then 
poured into a basket, which is repeatedly dipped into clean water until 
the lye and skins are removed; the remainder is then boiled in water 
until so soft as to be edible. They also make use of maize roasted on 
the cob, of boiled pumpkins, of muskmelons and watermelons, but the 
latter are generally pulled from the vine before they are completely 
ripe. 

Ca-ega-wa-tan-ninga. or the Fool Chief, is the hereditary principal 
chief, but he possesses nothing like monarchical authority, maintaining 
his distinction only by his bravery and good conduct. There are ten 
or twelve inferior chieftains, or persons who aspire to such dignity, 
but these do not appear to command any great respect from the people. 
Civil as well as military distinction arises from bravery or generosity. 
Controversies are decided amongst themselves; they do not appeal to 
their chief, excepting for counsel. They will not marry any of their 
kindred, however remote. The females, before marriage, labor in the 
fields, and serve their parents, carry wood and water, and attend to the 
culinary duties; when the eldest daughter marries, she commands the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 201 

lodge, the mother and all the sisters; the latter arc to be also the wives 
of the same individual. When a young man wishes to marry a particu- 
lar female, his father gives a feast to a few persons, generally old men, 
and acquaints them with his design: they repair to the girl, who generally 
feigns an unwillingness to marry, and urges such reasons as her poverty, 
youth, etc.— the old men are often obliged to return six or seven times' 
before they can effect their object. When her consent is obtained, the 
parents of the young man take two or three blankets and some meat 
to the parents of the female, that they may feast, and immediately return 
to their lodge. The parents put on the meat to cook, and place the same 
quantity of meat and merchandise on two horses, and dress their daughter 
in the best garments they can afford; she mounts one of the horses, and 
leads the other, and is preceded by a crier, announcing with a loud voice 
the marriage of the young couple, naming them to the people; in this 
way she goes to the habitation of her husband, whose parents take from 
her everything she brings, strip her entirely naked, dress her again in 
clothes as good as she brought, furnish her with two other horses, with 
meat and merchandise, and she returns with the crier to her parents. 
These two horses she retains as her own, together with all the articles 
she brings back with her. Her parents then make a feast, to which 
they invite the husband, his parents, and friends; the young couple are 
seated together, and all then partake of the good cheer, after which 
the father of the girl makes a harangue, in which he informs the young 
man that he must now assume the command of the lodge, and of every- 
thing belonging to him and his daughter. All the merchandise which 
the bride returned with is distributed in presents from herself to the 
kindred of her husband in their first visit. The husband then invites 
the relatives of his wife to a feast. Whatever peltries the father possesses 
are at the disposal of the son, to trade with on his own account: and in 
every respect the parents, in many instances, become subservient to the 
young man. 

After the death of the husband the widow scarifies herself, rubs her- 
self with clay, and becomes negligent of her dress until the expiration 
of a year, when the eldest brother of the deceased takes her to wife 
without any ceremony, considers her children as his own. and takes her 
and them to his house: if the deceased left no brother, she marries whom 
she pleases. They have in some instances, four or five wives, but these 
are mostly sisters: if they marry into two families the wives do not 
harmonize well together, and give the husband much inquietude; there 

is, however, no restriction in this respect, except iii the prudem E the 

husband. The grandfather and grandmother are very fond of their 
grandchildren, but these have very little respect for them. The female 
children respect and obey their parents, but the male are very dis- 
obedient, and the more obstinate thej are and the less readily they 
comply with the commands of their parents, the more the latter seem t'o 
be pleased, saying, "He will be a brave man. a great warrior be will 
not be controlled." 

The attachment of fraternity is as strong, if not stronger, than with 
us. The niece has greal deference for the uncle. The female calls her 
mother's sister mother, and her mother's brother uncle. The male calls 
Ins father's lu-other father, his father's sister aunt, his mother 

mother, am! his mother's brother uncle. Thirteen children hav 

11 family. A woman had three children at a birth: all lived. 

The win, e" ne □ are generally coupled out as friends: the lie is very 
permanent, and continues often through life. 

They hear sickness and pain with greal fortitude, seldom uttering a 
complaint: bystanders sympathize with them, and try every n 
relieve them, fnsanitj is unknown ; the blind are taken care of bv their 



202 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

friends and the nation generally, and are well dressed and fed. Drunk- 
enness is rare, and is much ridiculed; a drunken man is said to be 
bereft of his reason, and is avoided. As to the origin of the nation, 
their belief is, that the master of life formed a man, and placed him 
on the earth; he was solitary, and cried to the master of life for a 
companion, who sent him down a woman; from the union of the two 
proceeded a son and daughter, who were married, and built themselves 
a lodge distinct from that of their parents; all the nations proceeded 
from them, excepting the whites, whose origin they pretend not to know. 
When a man is killed in battle the thunder is supposed to take him up, 
they do not know where. In going to battle each man traces an imaginary 
figure of the thunder on the soil ; and he who represents it incorrectly is 
killed by the thunder. A person saw this thunder one day on the ground, 
with a beautiful moekasin on each side of it ; having much need of a pair, 
he took them and went his way; but on his return to the same spot the 
thunder took him off, and he has not been since heard of. They seem 
to have vague notions of the future state. They think that a brave 
warrior, or good hunter, will walk in a good path; but a bad man or 
coward will find a bad path. Thinking the deceased has far to travel, 
they bury with his body mockasins, some articles of food, etc., to support 
him on the journey. Many persons, they believe, have become re- 
animated, who had been, during their apparent death, in strange villages; 
but as the inhabitants used them ill they returned. They say they have 
never seen the master of life, and therefore cannot pretend to personify 
him; but they have often heard him speak in the thunder; they wear 
often a shell which is in honor, or in representation of him, but they 
do not pretend that it resembles him, or has anything in common with 
his form, organization or dimensions. 

This nation having been at profound peace with the Osages since 
the year 1806, have intennarried freely with them, so that in stature, 
features, and customs, they are more and more closely approaching that 
people. They are large, and symmetrically well formed, with the usual 
high cheek-bones, the nose more or less aquiline, color reddish coppery, 
the hair black and straight. The women are usually homely with broad 
faces. We saw but a single squaw in the village who had any preten- 
sions to beauty. She was recently married to an enterprising warrior, 
who invited us to a feast, apparently in order to exhibit his prize to us. 
The ordinary dress of the men is breech-cloth of blue or red cloth, secured 
in its place by a girdle; a pair of leggings made of dressed deer-skin, 
concealing the leg, excepting a small portion of the upper part of the 
thigh; a pair of mockasins, made of dressed deer, elk, or bison skin, 
not ornamented, and a blanket to cover the upper part of the body, often 
thrown over one arm in hot weather, leaving that part naked; or it is 
even entirely thrown aside. The outer cartilage of the ear is cut through 
in three places, and upon the rims thus separated various ornaments 
are suspended, such as wampum, string-beads, silver or tin trinkets, etc. 
The hair of most of their chiefs and warriors is scrupulously removed 
from the head, being careful, however, to Leave enough, as in honour 
they are bound to do, to supply their enemy with a scalp in case they 
should be vanquished. This residuum consists of a portion on the back 
of the head of about the breadth of the hand, round at its upper termina- 
tion, near the top of the head, the sides rectilinear, and nearly parallel, 
though slightly approaching each other towards the origin of the neck. 
where it abruptly terminates; on the exterior margin, the hair is some- 
what longer, and erect. This strip of hair is variously decorated; it is 
sometimes coloured on the margin with vermilion ; sometimes a tail-feather 
(if the war-eagle is attached transversely with respect to the head: this 
feather is white at base, and black at tip: but the principal ornament. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 203 

which appears to be worn by some of their chief warriors, and which is 
at the same time by far the most handsome, is the tail of the common 
deer; this is attached by the base near to the top of the patch of hair, 
the back of it resting on the hair, and the tip secured near the termina- 
tion of the patch; the bristly hair of the tail is dyed red by a beautiful 
permanent color, and parted longitudinally in the middle by a broad 
silver plate, which is- attached at the top. and suffered to hang loose. 
Many of them are tatooed on different parts of the body. The jroung 
boys are entired naked, with the exception of a girdle, generally of "cloth, 
round their protruding abdomen. This part of the body in the children 
of this nation is remarkably prominent ; it is more particularly so when 
they are young, but gradually subsides as they advance in age. In 
hot weather the men, whilst in the village, generally use fans with which 
they cool themselves, when in the shade, and protect their heads from 
the sun whilst walking out; they are made of the wing or tail of the 
turkey. The women rarely use them. The dress of the female is 
composed of a pair of mockasins, legging of blue or red cloth, with a 
broad projecting border on the outside, and covering the leg to the 
knees or a little above; many, however, and perhaps almost a majority 
of them, do not in common wear this part of the dress. Around the 
waist, secured by a belt or eestus, is wrapped a piece of blue cloth, the 
sides of which meet, or come nearly in contact on the outside of the 
right thigh, and the whole extends downward as far as the knee, or to 
the mid-leg: around the left shoulder is a similar piece of cloth, which 
is attached by two of the comers, al the axilla of the right arm, and 
extends downward as far as the waist. This garment is often laid aside, 
when the body from the waist upwards is entirely exposed. Their hair 
is suffered to grow long; it is parted longitudinally on the top of the 
head, and flows- over the shoulders, the line of separation being colored 
with vermilion. The females like those of other aborigines, cultivate 
the maize, beans, pumpkins and watermelons, gather and prepare the 
two former, when ripe, and pack them away in skins, or in mats for 
keeping; prepare the flesh of the bison, by drying, for preservation; 
attend to all the cooking; bring wood and water; and in other respects 
manage domestic concerns, and appear to have over them absolute sway. 
These duties, as far as we could observe, they not only willingly per- 
formed as a mere matter of duty, but they exhibited in their deportment 
a degree of pride and ambition to acquit themselves well; in this respect 
resembling a good housewife among the civilized fair. Many of them 
are tatooed. 

Both sexes, of all ages, bathe frequently, and enter the water indis- 
criminately. The infant is washed in cold water soon after its birth 
and the ablution is frequently repeated; the mother also bathes with 
the same fluid soon after delivery. The infant is tied down to a board, 
alter the manner of many of the Indian tril.es. 

The chastitj of the young females is guarded by the mother with 
the most scrupulous watchfulness, and a violation of it is- a rare occur- 
rence, as it renders the individual unlit for the wife <>r a chief, a brave 

warrior, or g 1 hunter. To wed her daughter to one of these, each 

mother is solicitous; as these qualifications offer the same attractions 
to the Indian mother as family and fortune exhibit to the civilized parent. 
In the nation, however, are several courtesans; and during our evening 
walks we were sure to met with respectable Indians who thoughl pimp- 
ing no disgrace. Sodomy is a crime not uncommonlj committed; many 
of the subjects of it are publicly known, and do not appear to be 
despised, or to excite disgust; one of them was pointed out to us; he 
had submitted himself to it. in consequence of a vow he had made to his 
mystic medicine, uhid, obliged him to change his dress for that of a 



'204 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

squaw, to do their work, and to permit his hair to grow. The men 
carefully pluck from tin ir chins, axilla of the arms, eyebrows, and pubis, 
every hair or beard that presents itself; this done with a spiral wire, 
which, when used, is placed with the side upon the part, and the ends 
are pressed towards each other so as to close upon the hairs, which can 
then be readily drawn out. 

Rev. J. Owen Dorsey found that the soul of a Kansas went at death 
to that spirit village nearest him at the time. These spirit villages 
changed location with the Kansas migrations. The last ones begin at 
Council Grove. Then there are spirit villages along the Kansas River 
at the sites of the old towns where they had dwelt on that stream. And 
on the Missouri their old village-sites from Independence Creek to the 
mouth of the Osage are now spirit villages to which the souls of the 
Kansa go to live after death. 

The orthography of the word Kansa, or Kansas, has passed through 
many modifications. This has not been caused by any change in the 
word itself, for the word is very little different in sound from what 
it was in prehistoric times. The Siouans generally pronounced the 
word as indicated by our manner of writing it — Kansa, or Kii-sa. The 
Kansas tribe so spoke it. The American has changed the a in the first 
syllable from the Italian to the short a. The Indian form of pro- 
nunciation was sometimes distorted by the early traders, especially the 
French traders. They made the a to have the sound of au or aw as in 
haul or in awl. Prom this corruption came the Kau in the later spell- 
ings. The word has been also variously written, and the early explor- 
ers were apt to begin with a C rather than with a K. Indeed, it was 
sometimes commenced with Qu. So, it is found as Kansa, Kansas, 
Kantha, Kances, Kansies, Kanzas, Konza, Kausa, Kausas, Kauza, Kau- 
zas, Causa, Cansas, Canees, Canceys, and in perhaps a hundred other 
forms. The form Kay,, or Kaw, was an abbreviation of the name, orig- 
inating with the French traders and spreading abroad to all having 
dealings with the tribe. Pike wrote the name Kans. This was not 
intended by him for an abbreviation, and it is the belief of this author 
that an examination of his original manuscript would reveal the fact 
that he actually wrote it Kaus. The mistake was made by the printer. 

In pronouncing his own name — that is, the name of his own tribe — 
the Kansas Indian did not distinctly sound the n in the first syllable. 
As in many others of his words, and even in words in many tribes of 
different linguistic families, the n was not a separate sound, but rather 
a nasalized prolonged termination of the syllable. This form of ter- 
minating a syllable is common to many Indian languages. This nasal- 
ized termination is the merest approximation of the n sound. It is 
often written (and printed in the works of scholars) as in a coefficient 
term in mathematics — as K:i"-s". And the Kansas Indian usually 
pronounced the word Ka-za, or Kauza, with the modification above 
noted. In many of the old books it is printed Kau-zau, following closely 
the native form of pronunciation. But, as said, there is the approxi- 
mation to the n sound, and it is fortunate that the sound was retained 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 205 

and strengthened to an equality with the other sounds in the word. 
Kansas, as now accepted, written, and spoken, is one of the most beau- 
tiful Indian words adapted to use in the English tongue. As a name 
for a state it is unequaled. 

The earliest map locating the Kansas Indians is that of Marquette, 
in 1673. Marquette did not visit the Missouri River country, but made 
his maps from information drawn from Indians, or perhaps adventurers 
who had wandered far from the feeble settlements. This map shows 
the Kansas tribe west of the Missouri, very nearly where it was then in 
fact located. All the early maps of the interior of North America are 
necessarily erroneous. Their locations of physical features and Indian 
tribes are invariably wrong. But their approximations are valu- 
able. 3 



3 The editors of Volume X, Kansas Historical Collections, made a 
compilation of the old maps showing the locations of the Kansas Indians. 
The work was carefully done, and it was printed as a footnote on pages 
344, 345 of that work. It is set out below : 

"The earliest map pointing out the location of the Kansa nation was 
that of Marquette, 1673,' and described locations as found by that 
intrepid missionary explorer and his companion, Joliet, On it the 
Kansa were placed west of the Osages and Southwest of the Panis. 
Marquette did not visit, them, nor any tribe west of the Mississippi, but 
had information from well-informed Indians who stood by while lie 
made the map. At this time the Kansa were probably on the Missouri 
river in about the location where visited Bourgmont fifty years later. 

"Parkman's map No. 5, in Harvard College Library. 'La Mani- 
toumio, 1672-73,' shows the Kanissi south of the Missouri river and 
between the Missouri and Paniassa. (Winsor's Narrative History of 
America, vol. 4. p. 221.) 

"Joliet 's map 1674, shows the Kansa southeast of the Osages and 
Pani. (Thwaites' Jesuit Relations, vol. 59, p. 86.) 

"Franquelin's map of Louisiana, 1679-16S2. shows the Cansa on tin 1 
Emissourittes river above the mouth of the Kansa river. (Margry. 
vol. 3; Thwaites' Jesuit Relations, vol. 63, p. 1.) 

"Thevenot's map of Louisiana, 1681, locates the Kemissi south of 
the Missouri and northwest of the Autre Chaha (Osage) and toward 
the Panissi. 

"Do 'Lisle's map of Louisiana. 1718, shows the Grande Rivere des 
Cause/ and a village far out on that stream at the mouth of the second 
large tributarj from the northwest, near the country of the Padoucas, 
It also shows a village of Les Cansez on tin 1 Missouri river, south side, 
near the mouth of a creek (Independence). (In French's Louisiana, 
pari 2. i 

"D'Anville's map of I isiana, 17: 12. locates the Kan/a village ;it the 

mouth of Petite river des Kanse/. This was the Grand village at the 
mouth of Independence creek. This map also shows the River des 
Padoucas el Kansez and a village of the Paniouassas on a northern 
branch. I Photo 

"Bellin's map of Louisiana, 1711. marks the Pays des Can- 
try of the Kansa extending from the Missouri river almost to the 

mountains, being quite a pari of tin' presen'1 States ><( Missouri. Kansas 
and southern Nebraska. The < ' '•■ is placed ;it the mouth of 

the second large tributarj of the Kansas river from its junction with 



206 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

On previous pages of this work will be found much concerning the 
early location and history of the Kansas Indians. For that reason it 
is not deemed necessary here to write an exhaustive review of the tribe 
in its earliest connection with white men. In the time of Coronado the 
Kansas probably lived near the mouth of the Kansas River. There 
may have been villages of the tribe below and above the Kansas, and 
even on the east side of the Missouri in that vicinity. There is a very 
ancient village site on the farm of William Malott, a mile or perhaps 
a little more, northeast of White Church in Wyandotte County. George 
U. S. Hovey made a collection of several hundred arrowheads, and 
other weapons and implements from that site. The village was evi- 
dently a large one, and occupied for a long period. It was most prob- 
ably an old Kansas town. 



the Missouri. It shows also the Petite river des Causes (the Little River 
of theKansa). (Shea's Charlevoix History of New France, vol. 6, p. 11.) 

"Sieur le Rouge's map, 1746, shows River des Canses correctly, and 
the Causes villages on the Kansas river, quite a way from its mouth. 

"Vangundy's map of North America, 1798, gives Les Canses on their 
river, and gives the Pays des Canses as extensive as that of other great 
Indian nations, or from the mountains to the Missouri river, over most 
of the present state of Kansas. (Winsor's Miss. Basin, p. 205.) 

"Le Page Du Pratz's map of Louisiana, 1757, with course of 
the Mississippi and tributaries, shows the river of the Cansez with the 
location of a Cansez village up that stream about sixty or seventy miles. 
It also shows the Grand village Cansez on the Missouri river quite a 
distance above the mouth of the Cansez river. This shows that they 
were again living on both streams, with permanent villages, as shown 
by De 'Lisle 's map of 1718. (Photo map.) 

"Dunn's map, 1774, Source of Mississippi river, shows Kanzes at 
mouth of a tributary to the Missouri river. This was doubtless the old 
Grand village at the mouth of Independence creek. This copy of 
Dunn's map does not show the whole course of the Kansas river, omit- 
ting a village at the mouth of the Blue and would indicate that as late 
as 1774 they were still occupying the above-described Grand village. 
(Winsor's Westward Movement, page 214.) 

"Carver's map of North America, 1778, shows Kansez on the south 
side of the Missouri, northwest of the Osages. This is about the last 
map showing them lingering by the Missouri river. After this they 
seem to have entirely established themselves on their own old river, the 
Kansas. (Winsor's Westward Movement, page 104.) 

"French map of date prior to 1800, used by Lewis and Clark, 1804, 
marks the junction of Kances river, upon which the Kansa nation lived 
at that time. (Map No. 1, Thwaites' Lewis and Clark.) 

"Spanish map about 1800, used by Lewis and Clark, Map No. 2, 
shows Kansez river witli a village of Kansez Indians on its north bank 
east of the junction with the Blue. 

" Pike's map, 1806, gives Kanses on the river of that name. (Coues' 
edition. ) 

"Long's map of the West, 1819, show's Konzas village at the mouth 
of Blue Earth river, near the bank of the Konzas river. It also shows 
the site of the Old Konzas village on the Missouri river at the mouth 
of Independence creek, which had been abandoned by the nation many 
years before." 



KANSAS AND KANSAXS 207 

On July 2, 1804, Lewis and Clark made the following entry: 

Opposite our camp is a valley, in which was situated an old village 
of the Kansas, between two high points of land, on the hank of the river. 
About a mile in the rear of the village was a small fort, built by the 
French on an elevation. There are now no traces of the village, but 
the situation of the fort may he recognized by some remains of chim- 
neys, and the general outlines of the fortification, as well as by the tine 
spring which supplied it with water. The party who were stationed 
here were probably cut off by the Indians, as there are no accounts 
of them. 

In an article on the "Kansa or Kaw Indians," Volume X. Kansas 
Historical Collections, George P. Morehouse quotes Bougainville on 
French Forts, who said in 1757: 

Kansas. — In ascending this stream [the Missouri River] we meet 
the village of the Kansas. We have there a garrison with a commandant, 
appointed, as in the ease with Pimiteoui and Fort Chartres by New 
Orleans. This post produces one hundred bundles of furs. 

This old village found abandoned by Lewis and Clark had no 
doubt grown up arouud the French fort. And this French post was 
certainly the first settlement and trading-station ever set up in what is 
now Kansas by the white people. It was established after the visit by 
Bourgniont, in 1724, and was in a flourishing condition in 17.17. 

It has already been noted that the Kansas Indians could not have 
been Eseanjaques. At the period when the Spaniards came in contact 
with the Eseanjaques on the Arkansas, the Kansas were evidently liv- 
ing in towns along the Missouri, principally above the mouth of Hie 
Kansas River. They did not then own or claim much of the valley of 
the Kansas — perhaps they did not claim west of what is now Wyan- 
dotte County. Their countrj joi 1. on the south, that of the Osages, 

always a much more numerous people than the Kansa. 

The Pawnees were the hereditary enemies of the Kansas. Then 1 
is every reason to believe that the Pawnee country extended to within 
fifteen to twenty miles of the Missouri above the mouth of the Kansas. 

Also, that in what is now Doniphan County, Kansas, the 1'awi conn 

try reached the Missouri, extending along the west bank of the stream 
well into Nebraska. The Kansas were never able to break through this 
Pawnee wedge driven into the Simian territory, and when the Pawnee 
pressure on the west was lessened, the Kansas abandoned their north- 
Ward migration and ascended the Kansas River. Their greatest heighl 
on this stream was the mouth of the Big Line. There is no creditable 
evidence that they ever had a village westward beyond Hie Blue. Thej 

hunted the buffalo far to the west of that point, but fear of the Pawi s 

made them bear to the south, throwing them to the Arkansas beyond 
the present 1 1 ut ch i nsiui. They were not unmolested even there, for 
the Pawnees claimed all that country and bunted over it. 

Tic Eollowing is taken from Vial's Journal of his trip from Santa 
Pe to St. Louis. While the Kansas Indians he was captured by were 



20S 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



hunting on the Upper Arkansas, they were out of their own country 
and in that claimed by the Pawnees — in possession of the Pawnees. 

June 29, 1792. We left in the morning at daybreak along the said 
river, which flowed northeast. We found some buffaloes which the 
Indians had killed, and we believed that they were of the tribe of the 
Guachaehes, who were hunting through that region. We went to find 
them, since 1 know they are well inclined to the government of the 
Province of Louisiana. We found them about four in the afternoon 
in their hunting camp on the said shore of the Napeste River. As 




Wah-Shun-Gah, Chief of the Kaws 
[Prom Photograph Owned by William E. Connelhy] 



they approached us on the opposite side with river between us, we 
fired some shots into the air, to get them to see us. They immediately 
sel out and came to stop us on the other side. Those who first met 
us grasped us cordially by the hand. I asked them of what tribe 
thej were, and they told me they were Gances. They immediately 
took possession of our horses, and of all our possessions and cut the 
clothes which we wore with their knives, thus leaving us totally 
naked. They were of a mind to kill us, whereupon some of them cried 
mil tn those who were aboul to do it. not to kill us with guns or arrows 

because of tl real risk that would be run of killing one another as 

they had surrounded us; but thai if they killed us it should be by 
hatchet blows or by spears. One highly esteemed among them took up 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 209 

our defense, begging all of them to leave us alive. Thereupon another 
highly respected one eame and taking me by the hand made me mount 
his own horse with him. Then another one eame up behind and hurled 
a spear at me, hut the one who had me on his horse restrained him by 
laying hold of him, leaving me alone on the horse. A crowd of them 
even coming to kill me from behind, his brother mounted behind me. 
Then one of them, who had been a servant in the village of San Luis de 
Ylinneses and who talked excellent French, eame up to me, and recog- 
nized me. He began to cry out : "Do not kill him. We shall ascertain 
whence lie is coming, for I know him." Taking Hie reins of my horse, 
he took me to his tent and said to me: "Friend, now your Grace must 
hurry if you wish to save your life, for among us it is the custom and 
law that after having eaten no one is killed." After having eaten 
hastily as he charged mo, they left me quiet, and the chiefs having 
assembled after a moment came to me and asked me whence I was 
coming. I told them 1 was coming to open a road from Santa Pe to 
Los Ylinneses, having been sent by the Great Chief, their Spanish 
Father, and that I had letters for the Spanish Chief at Los Ylinnese. 
Thereupon they left me in quiet until the following day. My two com- 
panions did not fail to run the same danger as myself, but they have 
also been saved by other Indians who were well inclined. On the fol- 
lowing day they joined me, both naked. But the one called Vicente 
Villanueva had his horse cut and a dagger thrust in the abdomen which 
would have proved fatal had he not shrunk away when the blow was 
delivered. An Indian, who wished to save him received all the force of 
the blow on his arm and was quite badly wounded. They kept us 
naked among them in the said camp until the fifteenth of August. 

The Kansas town erected at the mouth of the Big Blue was established 
after Bourgmont's visit to the tribes at the mouth of Independence 
Creek. The exact date can not now be fixed. It was pi-obably about 
1780. Lewis and Clark found their abandoned villages on the Missouri 
and their towns were then on the Kansas. One town was twenty leagues 
up this river, and the other twice that distance. The entry runs to this 
effect: "This river (the Kansas) receives its name from a nation which 
dwells at this time on its banks, and has two villages one about twenty 
leagues, and the other forty leagues up." The location of the first village 
is not now certainly known, but it must have been near the present site 
of Topeka. There was a Kansas town immediately wesi of the present 
North Topeka at differenl periods after the expedition of hewis and 
Clark. Tie' upper village was a1 the mouth of the Big Blue. It was in 
Pottawatomie County between the Blue and the Kansas rivers, on a neck 
of land formed by the parallel courses of the two streams, and ahotrl two 
miles east of Manhattan. This became the sole residence of tin- Eansa 
before 1806, for in that year Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctoi 
and .Mr. Dunbar, made an exploration to discover the condition 
Western Indians. The lower village had b 

ence is that the inhabitants had moved to the town at the mouth of the 
Blue. The entry on this subject is "Eighty-leagues up the Kansas River, 

□ irth side." And the reporl says they all lived in this om 
They furnished the traders with the skins of di lack hear. 

otter (a few), and raccoon (a few). Also buffalo robes and buffalo tal- 
low. This fur product brought the tribe aboul five thousand dollars 



210 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

annually in goods sent up from St. Louis. The general remarks on 
the Kansas made at that time by the explorers Lewis, Clark and others 
are of interest. 

The limits of the country they claim is not known. The country in 
which they reside, and from thence to the Missouri, is a delightful one, 
and generally well watered and covered with excellent timber : they hunt 
on the upper part of Kanzas and Arkanzas rivers : Their trade may be 
expected to increase with proper management. At present they are a 
dissolute, lawless banditti ; frequently plunder their traders, and commit 
depredations on persons ascending and descending the Missouri river: 
population rather increasing. These people, as well as the Great and 
Little Osages, are stationary, at their villages, from about the 15th of 
March to the 15th of May, and again from the 15th of August to the 
15th of October: the balance of the year is appropriated to hunting. 
They cultivate corn, &c. 

The town at the mouth of the Blue was partly depopulated about 1827. 
In that year an Agency for the Kansas Indians was established on Allot- 
ment No. 23, to Kansas half-breeds, on the north bank of the Kansas 
River, in what is now Jefferson County. At least, it was intended to 
build the Agency on that Allotment. It was in fact so near the east line 
of the tract that some of the buildings were on section 33, township 11, 
range 19, and on section 4, township 12, range 19, most of them on section 
4, as was determined when the state was surveyed. This town was south 
of the station of Williamstown, on the Union Pacific Railway. There was 
a blacksmith and a farmer appointed for the Indians of the Agency, and 
these lived there. The farmer was Col. Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the 
great pioneer. Napoleon Boone, son of Col. D. M. Boone, was born there 
August 22, 1828, supposed to have been the first white child born in 
what was to become Kansas. The chief. Plume Blanche, White Plume, or 
Wampawara, was at the head of the village. Frederick Chouteau was the 
Indian trader. He had his trading-house on the south side of the river, 
on Horseshoe Lake, now Lakeview. It was at this Agency that Captain 
Bonneville crossed the Kansas River on his journey to the Rocky Moun- 
tains (1832). Marston G. Clark was U. S. Sub-Indian Agent there. The 
Captain spent the night with Chief White Plume, whom he found living 
in a substantial stone home, which had been erected for him by the 
Government. It is scarcely probable that all the Kansas Indians were 
gathered about this Agency. No doubt there were other villages up the 
Kansas River at that time. Some of the annuity payments provided for 
in the treaty when the great cession was concluded were made at this 
agency. The first was made at a trading-house near the mouth of the 
Kansas River, in what is now Wyandotte County. White Plume discov- 
ered in some way that his residence was over the line on the Delaware 
lands. While there would never have been any objection to this mistake 
or oversight of the white men who located the Agency buildings. White 
Plume was too proud to live on the land of another tribe. He abandoned 
his house and moved up the Kansas River. His house stood northwest of 
the Agency, and north of where the railroad station of Williamstown 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 211 

was located. Long before lie moved his house had become uninhabitable, 
most of the woodwork having been torn out ami used for fuel. It was 
alive with vermin. 4 



4 The following notes, from Vol. IX, pp. 194-196, Kansas Historical 
Collections, are of interest here. 

"Regarding the situation of the first Kaw agency, Daniel Boone, a 
son of Daniel Morgan Boone, government farmer of the Kaws, says in 
a letter to Mr. W. W. Cone, dated Westport, Mo., August 11, 1879: 
'Fred Chouteau's brother established bis trading-post across the river 
from my father's residence the same fall we moved to the agency, in 
the year 1827. The land reserved for the half-breeds belonged to the 
Kaws. The agency was nearly on the line inside of the Delaware land, 
and we lived half-mile east of this line, on the river.' 

"Survey 23, the property of Joseph James, was the most easterly 
of the Kaw half-breed lands. The first Delaware land on the Kansas 
river east of this survey is section 4, township 12, range 19 east; hence 
the site of the old agency. August 16, 1879, Mr. Cone and Judge Adams, 
piloted by Thos. R. Bayne. owner of survey No. 23, visited the site of 
the agency. In the Topi ka Wt ekly Capital of August 27, Mr. Cone 
says: 'We noticed on the east of the dividing line, over on the Delaware 
land, the remains of about a dozen chimneys, although Mr. Bayne says 
there were at least twenty when he came there, in 1854.' 

"John C. McCoy, in a letter to Mr. Cone, dated August, 1879, says: 
'I first entered the territory August 15, 1830. ... At the point 
described in your sketch, on the north bank of the Kansas river, seven 
or eight miles above Lawrence, was situated the Kansas agency. I 
recollect the following persons and families living there at that date, 
viz.: Marston G. Clark, United States sub-Indian agent, no family: 
Daniel M. Boone, Indian farmer, and family; Clement Lessert, inter- 
preter, family, half-breeds ; Gabriel Phillibert, government blacksmith, 
and family (whites) ; Joe Jim, Gonvil, and perhaps other half-breed 
families. ... In your sketch published in the Capital you speak 
of the stone house or chimney, about two miles northwest of the Kansas 
agency. That was a stone building built by the government for White 
Plume, head chief of the Kanzans, in 1S27* or 1828. There was also a 
large Held fenced and broken in the prairie adjoining toward the east 
or southeast. We passed up by it in 1830, and found the gallant old 
chieftain sitting in state, rigged out in a profusion of feathers, paint, 
wampum, brass armlets, etc., at the door of a lodge lie had erected a 
hundred yards or so to the northwest of his stone mansion, and in 
honor of our expected arrival the stars and stripes were gracefullj 
floating in the breeze on a tall pole over him. He was large, tine-looking, 
and inclined to corpulency, and received my father with the grace and 
dignity of a real live potentate, and graciously signified his willingness 

to ; pi of any amount of baeon and other presents we mighl be 

disposed to tender him. In answer to an inquiry as to the reasons that 
induced him to abandon his princely mansion, his laconic explanation 
was simply "too much fleas." A hasty examination I made of the house 
justified the wisdom of his removal. It was not only alive with fleas, 
hut tin' floors, doors and windows had disappeared ami even the casings 
had been pretty well used up for kindling-wood.' 

"Mr. Cone gives the following description of White Plume's stun.' 
house in his Capita! article of August 27, 1879: '.Mr. Bayne showed 
us a pile of stone as all that was left of that well known landmark for 
old settlers, the "stone chimney." It was located fifty yards north of 
the present depot at Williamstown, or Rural, as it is now called. Mr. 



212 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

"When White Plume moved from the Agency the other Indians fol- 
lowed him. It was found unprofitable to maintain the Agency, and it was 
abandoned after 1832. The remainder of the population of the town at 



Bayne, in a letter dated August 12, says: The old stone chimney, or 
stone house to which you refer, stood on the southwest quarter of section 
29, range 19, when I came here, in 1854. It was standing intact, except 
the roof and floors, which had been burnt. It was about 18x34, and two 
stories high. There was a well near it walled up with cut stone, and a 
very excellent job.' " 

John T. Irving 's account of his visit to this village throws light on 
the character of the Indians, especially White Plume. 

"We emerged from the wood, and I found myself again near the 
bank of the Kansas river. Before me was a large house, with a court- 
yard in front. I sprang with joy through the unhung gate, and ran 
to the door. It was open; I shouted: my voice echoed through the 
rooms; but there was no answer. I walked in; the doors of the inner 
chambers were swinging from their hinges and long grass was growing 
through the crevices of the floor. While I stood gazing around an owl 
flitted by, and dashed out of an unglazed window; again I shouted; but 
there was no answer ; the place was desolate and deserted. I afterwards 
learned that this house had been built for the residence of the chief of 
the Kanza tribe, but that the ground upon which it was situated having 
been discovered to be within a tract granted to some other tribe, the 
chief had deserted it, and it had been allowed to fall to ruin. My 
guide waited patiently until 1 finished my examination, and then again 
we pressed forward. . . . We kept on until near daylight, when we 
emerged from a thick forest and came suddenly upon a small hamlet. 
The barking of several dogs, which came flying out to meet us, convinced 
me that Ibis time I was not mistaken. A light was shining through the 
crevices of a log cabin ; I knocked at the door with a violence that might 
have awakened one of the seven sleepers. 'Who dare — and vot de devil 
you vant?' screamed a little cracked voice from within. It sounded 
like music to me. I stated my troubles. The door was opened ; a head 
garnished with a red nightcap was thrust out, after a little parley, I 
was admitted into the bedroom of a man, his Indian squaw and a host 
of children. As however, it was the only room in the house, it was also 
the kitchen. I had gone so long without food that, notwithstanding 
what I had eaten, the gnawings of hunger were excessive, and I had 
no sooner mentioned my wants, than a fire was kindled, and in ten 
minutes a meal (don't exactly know whether to call it breakfast, dinner 
or supper) of hot cakes, venison, honey and coffee was placed before me 
and disappeared with the rapidity of lightning. The squaw, having 
seen me fairly started, returned to her couch. From the owner of the 
cabin I learned that I was now at the Kanza agency, and that he was 
the blacksmith of the place. About sunrise I was awakened from a 
sound sleep, upon a bearskin, by a violent knocking at the door. It was 
my Indian guide. He threw out broad hints respecting the service lie 
had rendered me and the presents he deserved. That I could not deny: 
but I had nothing to give. 1 soon found out, however, that his wants 
were moderate, and that a small present of powder would satisfy him; 
so I filled his horn, and he left the cabin apparently well pleased. In a 
short time I left the house, and met the Kanza agent, General Clark, a 
tall, thin, soldier-like man, arrayed in an Indian hunting-shirt and an 
old i'o\ skin cap. He received me cordially, and I remained with him 
all day, during which time he talked upon metaphysics, discussed politics, 
:mk! fed me upon sweet potatoes." 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 213 

the mouth of the Blue had moved down the Kansas River by the year 1830. 
They had established three villages under the government of as many 
chiefs. Hard Chief had fixed his village, in 1830, about a mile above the 
mouth of what is now known as Mission Creek, on the south side of the 
river, from which his people carried their water. He had more than five 
hundred followers in his town. The American Chief's village was on 
American Chief Creek (now called Mission Creek). It was some two 
miles from the Kansas River, and on the creek bottom. The town con- 
sisted of twenty lodges and about one hundred Indians. This village 
was also established in 1830. 5 They were built because Frederick Chou- 
teau had told American Chief and Hard Chief that he would build a 
trading-house on the creek which he named American Chief Creek, for 
the chief who established his village on its banks. He did move there 
in 1830, and he and these two villages remained there until the removal 
of the tribe to the reservation at Council Grove. The other village 
established by the inhabitants of the town at the mouth of the Blue 
was that of *Fool Chief. It was the largest, containing more than seven 
hundred people. It was on the north side of the river about a mile 
west of Papan's Perry. The location of this town must be determined by 
that of the ferry at that time, something difficult to do. The town is said 
to have been immediately north of the present town of Menoken. That 
would have put it inside the bounds of the lands belonging to the tribe. 
White Plume must have settled near the town of the Fool Chief when he 
moved up from the Agency. But there was another Kansas Village. 
Little is known of it, and its location is not clear. The only information 
concerning it is given by Fremont, in 1842, as follows : 

The morning of the 18th, [of June] was very pleasant. A fine rain 
was falling, with cold wind from the north, and mists made the river 
hills look dark and gloomy. We left our camp at seven, journeying 
along the foot of the hills which border the Kansas valley, generally 
about three miles wide, and extremely rich. We halted for dinner, after 
a march of about thirteen miles, on the banks of one of the many little 
tributaries to the Kansas, which look like trenches in the prairies, and 
are usually well timbered. After crossing this stream, I rode off some 
miles to the left, attracted by the appearance of a cluster of huts near 
the month of Hie Vermillion. It was a large but deserted Kansas village, 
scattered in an open wood, along the margin of the stream, on a spot 
chosen with the customary Indian fondness for beauty of scenery. The 
Pawnees had attacked it in the early spring. Some of the houses were 
burnt, and others blackened will) Smoke, and weeds were already setting 
possession of the cleared (daces. Riding up the Vermillion river, I 
reached the ford in time to meet the carts, and. crossing, encamped on 
its western side. 



5 This is stated from uliaf Frederick Chouteau told Judge V. C. 
Adams. See Vol. I. Kansas Historical Collections, page 287. 

In a letter of Mr. Chouteau to \V. W. Cone, May 5, L880, he lixes the 
date as 1832. See Kansas Historical I ?, Vol. IX". pi 

note 54. These statements are incorrect. Captain Bonneville found the 
Agency there in May, 1832. 



214 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

On Fremont's map this village is found to be on the Little Vermilion, 
a creek he delineates. But there is no such stream — and there never was. 
In what is now Pottawatomie County there is a Vermilion Creek. The 
Oregon Trail crossed it on what the official survey made section 24, town- 
ship 9, range 10, two and one-half miles east of the present town of Louis- 
ville. There is where Fremont camped. From that point the Oregon 
Trail bore away from the Kansas River starting over the uplands for the 
Blue River. The Indian town was on the Vermilion below the crossing. 
Long's detachment to visit the village at the mouth of the Blue crossed 
the Vermilion. This crossing was on the Indian trail which led np the 
Kansas River. This village was probably where the Indian trail crossed 
the Vermilion. Its inhabitants no doubt fled to the lower towns when 
driven out by the Pawnees. 

There is a question as to when the missionaries turned attention to 
the Kansas Indians. At the Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church held at St. Louis, Mo., in 1830, Rev. Thomas Johnson was 
appointed a missionary to the Shawnees, and his brother, Rev. William 
Johnson, was appointed missionary to the Kansas Indians. Rev. William 
Johnson seems to have gone at once to the tribe to which he was appointed. 
According to one statement of Frederick Chouteau the Kansas Agency in 
what is now Jefferson County was maintained until 1830; and by another 
statement he fixed the date at 1832. If the Agency was kept up until 
1832. Mr. Johnson spent the first two years of his missionary life there. 
If Mr. Chouteau moved his trading-house to Mission Creek, in Shawnee 
( 'ounty. in 1830, then it was there that Mr. Johnson began his missionary 
labors. The probability is that it was at the more western location that 
he established the first Kansas Indian Mission, in 1830. In 1832 he was 
sent as missionary to the Delawares, where he remained about two years. 
He received then his second appointment to the Kansas Indian Mission, 
in 1834. He arrived on Mission Creek at the Kansas towns early in the 
summer, and began work on the mission buildings. These were erected 
on the northwest corner of section 33, township 11, range 14 east. The 
principal building was a hewed-log house thirty-six feet long and eighteen 
feet wide. It was a two-story structure, having four rooms — two below 
and two above. There was a huge stone chimney at each end. The kitchen 
was of logs, and apart from the house. There was a smoke-bouse and 
oilier building. 

William Johnson labored at this mission until April, 1842, when be 
died. He accomplished little, and his hard work bore little fruit in the 
savage minds and hearts of the Kansas Indians. They could not be pre- 
vailed nil to labor for their own support. They would not plant and 
cultivate corn and other grains, nor raise cattle. They went into the 
settlements by the hundred to beg. Rev. Thomas Johnson, brother to 
the missionary William, on bis way to the Kansas Mission in Ma.\ . is:;7. 
met four hundred to five hundred of these Indians on their way to the 
M issouri settlements to beg. 

In 1S44 the widow of William Johnson was married to Rev. J. T. 
Peery, who was in that year sent to continue the work of Christianizing 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 215 

the Kansas Indians. Nothing of account was accomplished, and the 
school was discontinued. In 1846 the Kansas Indians were given a 
reservation at Council Grove. They soon removed to their new home. In 
1850 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, put up, at Council Grove, 
what was the best mission building ever erected in Kansas. It was built 
by Rev. T. S. Huffaker, who was long connected with the Kansas tribe. 
It still stands, the finest specimen of the buildings of its time, quaint, 
massive, silent, a splendid monument to the fine spirit of the Church 
which labored long, zealously, but in vain to make Christians of intract- 
able savages. 

In 1851, Mr. Huffaker opened his school. As few or no Indian chil- 
dren would attend, he admitted the children of white settlers, employees 
of the commerce which rolled over the Santa Fe Trail. It was one of the 
first schools in Kansas to receive white children. In after years Mr. 
Huffaker was constrained to admit that all attempts to educate the Kan- 
sas Indian children had failed. And these Indians never gave auy serious 
attention the Christian religion. 

The Kansas Indians ceded to the United States an immense territory. 
Tiny did not own so vast a tract. They never had possessed it. Much of 
it they had never even hunted over. It is very doubtful whether they 
even claimed some of the land they sold. The Government wished to 
extinguish the Indian title. Having purchased it from the Kansas 
Indians, no other tribe could set up a claim. 

At St. Louis, on the 3d of June, 1825, the Kansas Indians ceded, by 
treaty of that date, the tract or territory described as follows : 

Beginning at the entrance of the Kansas river into the Missouri; 
thence North to the North-West corner of the State of Missouri; from 
thence Westwardly to the Nodewa river, thirty miles from its entrance 
into the Missouri ; from thence to the entrance of the big Nemahaw into 
the Missouri, and with that river to its source ; from thence to the source 
of the Kansas river, leaving the old village Panai Republic to the West ; 
from thence, on the ridge dividing the waters of the Kansas river from 
those of the Arkansas, to the Western boundary of the State line of 
.Missouri: and with that line, thirty miles, to the place of beginning. 

To understand this cession it must lie made plain that at that time 
the western line of .Missouri was a north-and-soutli line through the mouth 
of the Kansas River. West of that line, north of the mouth of the Kan 
sas. and easl of the Missouri River, lay what are now Andrew, Atchison, 
Buchanan, Holt. Nodaway, and Platte counties, Missouri. These eom- 
prise the best body of laud in Missouri. It was attached to that -tale in 
1836. 

As construed and mapped the treaty conveyed a tract of the besl land 
in Nebraska, reaching from the Missouri to Red Cloud, ami extending 
north at one point something more than forty miles, and including the 
present towns of Pawnee, Tecumseh, Beatrice, Fairburj . Geneva, Hebron. 
Nelson and many others. 

This princely domain was cut oil' at the head of the Solomon, from 
reached down to within twelve miles of the Arkansas, aorthwesl 



216 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

of Garden City. Thence it followed the divide to the Missouri line. It 
was nearly half the State of Kansas. 

Out of this cession, however, there was set aside a reservation for the 
Kansas Indians, the grantors. This reservation was described as follows : 

A tract of land to begin twenty leagues up the Kansas river, and to 
include their village on that river; extending West thirty miles in 
width, through the land ceded in the first Article. 

There were twenty-three allotments to half-breeds, as has been noticed. 
The east line of this reservation was through the center of range 14, east, 
of the public survey made later, and nine miles west of the center of 
Topeka. It extended west three hundred miles and contained nine 
thousand square miles of the heart of Kansas. It was held by the Kansas 
Indians until 1846. On the 14th of January of that year they ceded two 
million acres off the east end of their tract, embracing the full thirty 
miles in width, and running west for quantity. It was provided that if 
the residue of their land should not afford sufficient timber for the use 
of the tribe, the Government should have all the reservation. This lack 
of timber was found to exist; thereupon the Government took over the 
entire Kansas reservation, and laid off another tract for the Indians. This 
tract was at Council Grove, and was about twenty miles square. It was 
supposed to lie immediately south of the lands of the Shawnees, but 
when surveyed it was found to encroach on the Shawnee reservation some 
six miles. To avoid complications, the Shawnees ceded this overlapped 
part in 1854. In 1859 the Kansas Indians made a treaty retaining a 
portion of their reservation — nine miles by fourteen miles — intact. The 
remainder was to be sold by the Government, and the money used for the 
benefit of the tribe. These lands were sold by acts of Congress, of May 8, 
1872, June 23, 1874, July 5, 1876, and March 16, 1880. The tribe had in 
the meantime moved to a reservation in Oklahoma. The tract nine by 
fourteen miles was disposed of under the above named acts of Congress, 
and the money applied to the use of the tribe. And thus were the Kansas 
Indians divested of the last of their hereditary soil. 

The Osages 

The Osage tribe is theoretically separated into twenty-one fireplaces. 
These fireplaces were grouped into three divisions— 

1. The Seven Tsi-shu Fireplaces. 

2. The Seven Hanka Fireplaces. 

3. The Seven Osage Fireplaces (the "Wa-sha-she Fireplaces). 

Each fireplace is a gens, so the Osage tribe is composed of twenty- 
one gentes, or clans. When the two "sides" of the tribe were fixed — 
the War Side and the Peace Side — there were but fourteen gentes in 
the Nation. At that time the Osage camping circle, or tribal circle was 
adopted. Positions for the fourteen gentes were provided. The cir- 
cle is shown as follows: 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 

1 ^ ^8 




7 14 



OSAGE. C/\/v\F>l/SG CIRCLE: 

[ From Fifteenth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology] 

At some period after the adoption of this camping circle the tribe 
was enlarged by the admission of the Seven Hanka fireplaces. It was 
not practicable to enlarge the camping-circle, for it had of necessity, 
to contain an even number of fireplaces, that it should show an even 
balance of sides — each side an equal number of fireplaces. In mak- 
ing the adaptation of the tribe, as enlarged, to the old tribal circle, 
the seven Hanka gentes were counted as but five, and the seven Osage 
gentes were reckoned as only two. 

In the tribal ceremonies it was the law that each fireplace should 
have a pipe, or be assigned a pipe, or to be in some way associated witli 
or represented by a pipe. The Hanka brought in seven such pipes 
when it joined the tribe. The Wa-sha-she had seven of these pipes — 
one for each of their fireplaces. For some reason — yet unexplained — 
the Tsi-shu had no pipes of this nature. To remedy this defect, the 
"Wa-sha-she, or Osage, gave their seventh ceremonial pipe to the Tsi- 
shu, with authority to the Tsi-shu to make for themselves seven pipes 
from it. The Wa-sha-she have now but six ceremonial pipes, though 
the ceremonies for the seventh arc still retained. 

The fourteen gentes represented in the Osage tribal circle, with 
their subgentes, are as follows: 



1. Elder Tsi-shu, or Tsi-shu-wearing-a-ta 

1. Sun and Comet People. 

2. Wolf People. 



(of hair) -on-the-head. 



218 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

2. Buffalo-bull face. 

1. (Not known.) 

2. Hide-with-the-hair-on. 

3. Sun Carriers. Carry-the-sun (or Buffalo hides) -on-their-backs. 

1. Sun People. 

2. Swan People. 

4. Tsi-shu Peacemaker, or Villageinaker, or Giver of Life. 

1. Touches-uo-blood, or Bed Eagle. 

2. Bald Eagle, or Sycamore People. The principal gens of the 

left side of the tribal circle. 

5. Night People, or Tsi-shu-at-the-end. 

1. Night People proper. 

2. Black Bear People. 

6. Buffalo Bull. 

1. Buffalo Bull. 

2. Reddish Buffalo. (Corresponds to the Yuqe of the Kansa.) 

7. Thunder Being, or Camp-last, or Upper World People, or Mys- 
terious Male being. 

(Subgentes not ascertained.) 

8. Elder Osage, or "Wa-sha-she Wa-nun. This gens embraces six of 
the seven Wa-sha-she or Osage Fireplaces, as follows: 

1. White Osage. 

2. Turtle Carriers. 

3. Tall Flags. 

4. Deer Lights, or Deer People. 

5. Fish People. 

6. Turtle People. (Turtle-with-serrated-erest-along-the-shell. 

Possibly a mythical water monster.) 

9. Real Eagle People, or Hanka-apart-from-the-rest. The War Eagle 
gens. One of the original Hanka Fireplaces. 

The guards, policemen, or soldiers for the right side of the tribal 
circle are taken from the eight and ninth gentes. 

10. Ponka Peacemaker. This is the principal gens on the right 
side of the tribe circle. It was one of the original seven Osage Fire- 
places. 

1. Pond Lily. 

2. Dark Buffalo. 
Or, as some say. 

1. Flags. 

2. Warrior-come-hither-after-touehing-the-foe. 
:;. Bed Cedar. 

11. White Eagle People, or Hanka-having-wings. 

1. Elder White Eagle People. 

2. Those-wearing-four-locks-of-hair. 

These Subgentes were two of the original seven Hanka Fire- 
places. 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 219 

12. Having Black Bears. 

A. Wearing-a-tail-of-hair-on-the-head. 

1. Black Bear. 

2. (Meaning not ascertained.) 

B. Wearing-four-locks-of-hair. 

1. Swan. 

2. Dried Pond Lily. 

13. Elk. 

One of the seven Hanka Fireplaces. 

14. Kansa, or Holds-a-firebrand-to-the-sacred-pipes-in-order-to-light- 
them. 

Or, South Wind People. 
Or, Wind People. 
Or, Fire People. 
Each of the divisions A and B of the twelfth gens were originally 
a Fireplace of the Hanka. 

There are four divisions of the Osages which have not yet been 
identified, the — 

1. Beaver People. 

2. Crane People. 

3. Owl People. 

4. Earth People. 

The religious beliefs of the Osages are similar to those of the Kansas 
and other Siouan tribes. The term Wdkanda had almost the same 
meaning. There were seven great Wakandas — Darkness, the Upper 
World, the Ground, the Thunder-being, the Sun, the Moon, the Morn- 
ing Star. The Upper World was perhaps the greatest of the Wakan- 
das. In some of the tribes it was the supreme Wakanda. There was 
no set form of worship of Wakanda. Every one thought Wakanda 
dwelt in some secret place. It was believed that fin Wakanda, or 
some Wakanda was ever present to hear any petition or prayer for 
help. There were many forms of propitiation, or these may have been 
sometimes in the nature of invocations, such as the elevation and low- 
ering of the arms, the presentation of the mouth-piece of the pipe, tin' 
emission of the smoke, the burning of cedar needles in the sweat house. 
the application of the major terms of kinship, ceremonial waiting, sac- 
riiice and offerings, ami tlie cutting of the body with knives. 

The Osages call the Sun the "mysterious one of day." and pray to 
him as "grandfather." Prayer was always made toward the sun with 
out regard to its position in the heavens. Here is a prayer. 

"Ho, Mysterious Power, you who are the Sun! Here is tobi o! 1 

wish to follow your course. Grant that il may be so! Cause me to 
meel whatever is good fi. e.. for my advantage) and to give a wide berth 
to anything that may be to my injury or disadvantage. Throughout 
this island (the world) you regulate everything that moves, including 
human beings. When yon deride for one that Id- last da\ on earth has 



220 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



come, it is so. It can not be delayed. Therefore, Mysterious Power, 
I ask a favor of you." 

The Pleiades, the constellation of the Three Deer (Belt of Orion), 
the Morning Star, the Small Star, the Bowl of the Dipper, are ah 
Wakandas, and they are addressed as "Grandfather." "In the Osage 
traditions, cedar symbolizes the tree of life. When a woman is initiated 
into the secret society of the Osages, the officiating man of her gens 
gives her four sips of water, symbolizing, so they say, the river flow- 
ing by the tree of life, and then he rubs her from head to foot with 




Osage Indian Chief 
I From Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 

cedar needles, three times in front, three times on her back, and three 
times on each side, twelve times in all, pronouncing the sacred name of 
Wakanda as he makes each pass." 

These instances are given to aid in the formation of a proper con- 
ception of the Wakanda as regarded by the Osages. In the Siouan 
tongue "Wakandagi, as a noun, means a subterranean or water mon- 
ster, a large horned reptile mentioned in the myths, and still supposed 
to dwell beneath the bluffs along the Missouri river." 6 



8 All that is said in this article, as well as much in the article on the 
Kansa, when not otherwise indicated, is taken from the writings of 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 221 

Much concerning the early history of the Osages has already been 
told in the account of Pike's expedition and the history of the Kansas. 
They called themselves "Wa-zha-zhe. This name the French Traders 
corrupted to the present Osage. In historic times the tribe was divided 
into three bands — 

1. Pahatsi, or Great Osages. 

2. Utsehta, or Little Osages. 

3. Santsukhdhi, or the Arkansas Band. 

There are different accounts as to how the tribe became separated 
into the two principal bands — Great and Little Osages. Some insist 
that the division occurred in primal times. The Osages then dwelt 
about a great mountain, an immense mound, or a big hill. One part 
of the tribe lived on the mountain, the remainder on the plain. Those 
on the elevation came to be called there the Great Osages, and those 
living in the plain were the Little Osages. It has been suggested that 
the names represented a social difference or some tribal distinction 
long forgotten by even the Osages themselves. In all probability there 
is no foundation for any of these explanations. Isaac McCoy, in his 
nistorji of Baptist Indian Missions says the division was the result of 
some fault of the early traders among them. There were then two 
towns on the Missouri belonging to the Osages. The one above became 
known as the Upper town, and the people dwelling there as the Upper 
People. In like manner, those at the town below were the Lower Peo- 
ple. Each town had its chief and separate local government. The 
white people, having an imperfect knowledge of the language and con- 
ditions of the Osages, supposed that the names of the towns signified 
that all the tall or large people of the tribe lived at the Upper settle- 
ment, and that all the short or small people lived in the Lower settle- 
ment. There came to be told among the white people in pioneer 
times the story that the tribe had made an arrangement whereby all 
the tall people should be in one band and live in one town, while all the 
short men should dwell together in another town. Intelligent travel- 
ers never did mention that there was any difference in the stature of 
the Great and Little Osasres. The terms may not have originated as 
McCoy says. They may have grown out of the relative size of their 
two towns iii early times. <>r in some other way not now remembered 
by iho Osages themselves. 

The origin of the Arkansas Band is known. About 170<i Manuel 
Lisa secured from the then government of Louisiana a monopoly to 
trade with all the [ndiar, - n the v aters of the Missouri River. This, of 
course, included the Osag Previ as to that time the trade went 
ers in competition, among these the Chouteaus. The monopoly i>( Lisa 
cast out the Chouteaus. Pierre Chouteau had a1 one time enjoyed a 
monopoly of 'I'- Osag ■ < ide. When ho was superseded as ,■■ 
iho tribe bj Lisa, ho sougbl some m mtinuing his profitable 



.(. Owen Dorsey, in the Reports <•( the Bun an of Etl logy. He is the 

besl authority . and often the only authority. 



222 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



business relations with the tribe. He determined to divide it, and to 
settle a part of it beyond the jurisdiction of Lisa. He induced the 
best hunters of the tribe to go with him to the Lower Verdigris. This 
stream is a branch of the Arkansas River, none of the waters of which 
were included in the grant to Lisa. Chouteau took only young men and 
their families, and they were from both the Great and Little Osages. 
They built towns near the mouth of the Verdigris River. Later they 
went to the Arkansas and had towns both above and below the mouth 




Indian Baby in Baby-Frame 
[From Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 



of the Verdigris. By the French they were known as Osage des Chenes 
('Osage of the Oaks). Des Ch< nes was corrupted into a number of terms, 
of which Chancers was one. The date of the formation of this band and 
its migration to the Verdigris is given as about 3803 by Lewis and Clark, 
Dr. Sibley and Mr. Dunbar, in their report published in 1806. They say 
nearly one-half the Osage nation followed Chouteau. Also, that '"The 
Little Osage formerly resided on the S. W. side of the Missouri, near 
the mouth of the Grand River; but being reduced by continual warfare 
with their neighbors, were compelled to seek the protection of the Great 
Osage, near whom they now reside." Their village was set up, on their 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 22:) 

return, where Pike found it when he ascended the Osage on his way to 
the Pawnee country. 

Fort Osage, afterwards Fort Clark, where Sibley, Mo., now is. was 
established in October, 1808, as a protection to the Osage Indians, as 
cited in the preamble of the treaty of November 10, 1808, with the tribe. 
But the Government dealt unfairly in that matter. The fort and trading- 
posl had been promised in 1804 and in 1806. In less than a month after 
it was built, Pierre Chouteau appeared at the fort with the treatv of the 
10th of November already written out. It had been prepared without 
any consultation with a single Osage. Chouteau had the treaty read and 
explained to the assembled chiefs and warriors. Then he announced that 
those who signed it would be considered friends of the United States and 
treated accordingly, and those who refused to sign would he regarded as 
enemies. The chief. White Hair, protested, but acknowledged the help- 
lessness of the Indians. He signed the treaty, and fear of being counted 
enemies of the United States caused all present to sign. This treaty 
exacted a large tract, of land as the price of building Fort Osage. The 
land was thus described in the treaty : 

Beginning at Fort Clark (Fort Osage) on the Missouri, five miles 
above Fire Prairie, and running thence a due south course to the river 
Arkansaw and down the same to the Mississippi. 

All the land east of that line was ceded to the United States. There 
was much dissatisfaction on the part of the Osages, and they never did 
understand why the concession was enacted. 

The Osages began to move to the westward from their homes in what 
is now Vernon County, Mo., in 1815. Some of them may have gone before 
that date. They fixed their new towns on the Neosho. In the year 1817 
the Cherokees destroyed the Osage town on the Verdigris. They also 
destroyed the crops and carried off as prisoners some fifty old people 
and children. The warriors were absent at the time, but they took up the 
hatchet upon their return. The Delawares assisted the Cherokees. and 
the war continued until 1822. 

In 1820 the Great Osages had one village on the Neosho, and the Little 
Osages had three on the same stream. Of these Colonel Siblej reported 
in that year : 

Th, Great Osages o] th, Osagt River.— They live in one village on 
the Osage river. 78 miles (measured) due south of Port Osage They 
hunt over a wry greal extent of country, comprising the Osage, (las 
conade, and Neeozho rivers and their numerous branches Thev also 
hunt on the heads of the St. Francois and White rivers, and on the 
Arkansas. ! rate them at about 1,200 souls-, .'{5(1 of whom are warriors 
or hunters, 50 or 60 are superannuated, and the rest are women and 
children. 

The Great Osages of th Neeozho. Thej have one village on the 
Neeozho river, aboul L30 or L40 miles southwesl of Ft. Osage. They 
hunt pretty much in common with the tribe of the Osage river from 
whom they separated six ,„• eighl year ago. Tins village contains aboul 
tour hundred souls, of whom about 100 are warriors, and hunters, some 



224 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



10 or 15 are aged persons, and the rest are women and children. 
Papuisea, or White Hair, is principal chief. 

The Little Osage. — Three villages on the Neeozho river, about 130 
or 140 miles southeast of this- place (Ft. Osage). This tribe, comprising 
all three villages and comprehending aboul twenty families of Missouries 
that are intermarried with them, I rate about 1.000 souls, about 300 
of whom are hunters and warriors, twenty or thirty superannuated and 
the rest are women and children. They hunt pretty much in common 
with the other tribes of Osages mentioned, and frequently on the head- 
waters of the Kansas, some of the branches of which interlock with those 
of the Neeozho. Nechoumani, or Walking Rain, principal chief. [Called 
"Nezuma, or Rain that AValks'' by Pike and Wilkinson.] 

Of the Chaneers, or Arkansas tribes of Osages, I say nothing, because 
they do not resort here to trade. 1 have always rated that tribe at about 




Osage Indian Family 
[From Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley 



an equal half of all the < 'sag- s. 
White rivers, and their waters. 



They hunt chiefly on the Arkan as and 



From this time until after the Civil War the Osages lived principally 
in Kansas. One post in Kansas resulted from trade with the Osages while 
they lived yet in Missouri. The Missouri Fur Company had a trading- 
post near their towns before 1812. It was abandoned that year. "When 
other posts were established is not now known, but the founders of Har- 
mony iWission, who came out in 1821, found several traders seated in the 
country along the Osage River. On.' was where Papinville, Vernon 
County, Mo., was afterwards laid out. Another was at the Collen Ford, 
on the Osage. The founders of these posts are not now known. About 1S31 
Michael Gireau and Melicourl Papin had stores at Collin Ford. Papin 
had another at the site of Papinville. There were half a dozen French 
families at Gireau 's store, as well as some half-breed families. They were 
probably hunters and petty traders. In 1 S39 Gireau moved his store and 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 225 

established himself further up the Marais des Cygnes, in what is now 
iann bounty, Kansas. The place was later known as Trading p os t a 
name it still bears. About 1842 this post was sold to one of the Chou- 
teaus, probably Gabriel Chouteau, and it was then called Chouteau's 
trading Post. It bore a part in the Territorial history of Kansas 

The one village of the Great Osages on the Neosho mentioned by 
Colonel Sibley was that of White Hair. It was established about the year 
1815, as noted before. In 1796 when the Arkansas band was induced to 
setde on (lie Lower Verdigris by Chouteau a trail from these Lower 
I owns, to the old home on the Little Osages, in Vernon County Mo where 
Pike had found the Osage Nation, was marked, and thenceforth used by 
traders and Indians alike. This trail followed up the Marmaton, in what 
is now Bourbon County, Kansas. It crossed over to the waters of the 
-Vosho near the southeast corner of the present Allen County, bearing 
all the time to the southwest. The Neosho River was reached and crossed 
just above the present town of Shaw, in Neosho County, Kansas In 
migrating to the Neosho River, White Hair and his band followed this 
old trail. The Great Osage town was fixed at the crossing of the Neosho 
and on the west side of the river. When the Government survey of 
Kansas was made the site of White Hair's village fell within the bounds 
oi section sixteen (16), township twenty-eight (28) range nineteen (19) • 
The exact date of the settlement of the Great Osages in this village on 
tli- Neosho is not known. It was about 1815, as said before. Colonel 
Sibley, writing in October, 1820, says it was "Six or eight years ago " 
The Little Osages must have settled on the Neosho, in the great bottom 
about the present town of Chanute. Or they may have been on the east 
bank of the Neosho, opposite the town of the Great Osages. The Little 
< "sages on the Neosho were more numerous than the Great Osages In 
their three towns there were about one thousand souls, including some 
twenty families of Missouri*, intermarried with them. 

The missionaries came down from their establishments in the old 
l Isage country to proclaim the Gospel to Osages on the Neosho The 
Presbyterians set up a mission there as early as 1824, with Rev. Benson 

? The site of Whit, Hair's village has long been a matter of both 
' loul ' \:" : ' 1 controversy. Cn later years it has been supposed to have been 
near Osw.-g... Labette County. The correct location was determined bv 
this author from measurements made on an old manuscript man (and 
other maps, m the Library of the Kansas State Historical Society- and 
the consultation ot various authorities and treaties 

The White Hair who founded this Srsl town of the Great Osa-es 

Neosho was a descendant of Old White Hair, the great chief of 

the Big Osages, aboul the time of Pike's visit. This 6rs1 White Hair 

died in what is now Vernon County, .Mo. It seems that all the chiefs 

named \\ Into Hair had the Osage name Pahusca, pronounced Paw- 
boos-ka. Ihey had a council name— Papuisea. Also a war name 
i ahagatongo. 

The Neosho River was named by the Osages. The name is composed 

of two words- -ne water: and osho, howl or ha.sin. It was so nai I 

trom the Fad that it has innumerable deep places— bowls or basins of 
water. H means a river having many deep places. 



226 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Pixley in charge. What this effort accomplished is not fully known. In 
March, 1830, Rev. Nathaniel B. Dodge, was sent from Independence, 
Mo., where he had gone after strenuous label's at Harmony Mission, to 
take up the work with the Osages, on the Neosho. There he established 
what was known as the "Boudinot" Mission. It was on the east bank of 
the river opposite the town of White Hair. He remained at that charge 
until 1835, when he returned to the Little Osage River, in Vernon County, 
Mo., settling near Balltown, where he died in 1848. His departure from 
the Neosho was the end of the Presbyterian Mission there. 

The Baptists made no efforts to establish a mission among the Osages 
on the Neosho. McCoy says the Osages were much to be pitied at that 
time, but does not explain why the Baptists were unable to help them. 

The Roman Catholic Mission was founded at the point where the town 
of Osage Mission was afterwards located. The town was the result of the 
mission. In 1822 the Bishop of New Orleans appointed Rev. Father 
Charles de La Croix missionary to the Osages on the Neosho. He reached 
the field of his labors in May of that year. On the 5th of that month he 
baptized Antone Chotiteau, who was born in 1817, and whose baptism is 
the first recorded in Kansas. This missionary succumbed to the hardships 
of pioneer life, dying at St. Louis. He was succeeded by Rev. Charles 
Van Quickenborn, who appeared on the Neosho in 1827. In 1828 he 
performed the ceremony of marriage between Francis D. Agbeau. a half- 
breed, and an Osage woman named Mary. There is no record of an earlier 
marriage ceremony in Kansas. The progress of the mission was slow. 
Rev. Father John Schoenmakers, S. .1.. arrived at the mission April 28. 
1847, accompanied by Fathers Bax and Colleton. They were accorded 
possession of two buildings then being erected by the Indian Department. 
In these buildings were started two schools — one for girls and one for 
boys. In October a number of Sisters of Loretto arrived from Kentucky. 
Father Paul Ponziglioni came to the mission in 1851. The work went 
forward with energy from that time. Additions were made to the build- 
ings, and attendance increased. The Civil War scattered the Osages, but 
Father Ponziglioni followed from village to village to minister to them. 

The Osages disposed of their vast domain in Kansas in 1825. In June 
of that year they made a treaty with the United States by which they 
ceded all the land of the State of Kansas south of the land ceded by the 
Kansas. The Osages and Kansas were, in fact, in St. Louis together to 
conclude these treaties. That with the Osages was made on the second 
of June, and that with the Kansas the following day. The south limit of 
the Kansas cession has been already noted. The Osage cession extended 
from that line south into Oklahoma and west as far as the Kansas had 
claimed. It was an imperial domain, and the Osages had no good title to 
any great portion of it. The Government could take title from the 
Osages; none could ever dispute this title with the United States. That 
is why it was accepted from the Osages. 

In this same treaty a new reservation was cut from the ceded lands 
for the Osages. Its bounds were to be arrived at in much the same 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



227 



manner as in the new reservation for the Kansas. This new Osage reser- 
vation was thus denned: 

"Beginning at a point due east of White Hair's village and 25 miles 
West of the western boundary line of the State of Missouri, fronting on 
a North and South Line so as to leave 10 miles North and 40 miles South 
of the point of said beginning, and extending West with a width of 50 
miles to the western boundary of the lam Is hereby ceded and relin- 
quished. ' ' 







Osage Indian Family 
[Prom Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 



All tb is reservation was disposed of under the terms of a treaty made 
with the Osages at the Canville Trading Post, aear Shaw, in Neosho 
County, September L'fl. IS(Jf). lly this treaty the Ceded Lands were cut 
from the easl end of the reservation to be sold to create a fund for the 
benefit of the Osages. This tract was twenty-eighl miles in width — east 
and west — by fifty miles north and south. Another cession made by the 
treaty was a tracl twenty miles wide off the Qorth side of the reservation 
as it remained after taking off the Ceded Lands. This tract was to be 
held in trust for the tribe and sold Eor its benefit at a stipulated sum. 
It was provided also that if the Osages should determine to move to the 
Indian Territorj to lands secured for them there, the diminished reserva 



228 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

tion in Kansas might be sold by the Government for their benefit. They 
did so determine, and by an act of Congress of July 15, 1870, the 
remainder of the Osage lands in Kansas passed to the Government to be 
disposed of for their use. ' The Osages left Kansas in 1870. They settled 
on land bought from the Cherokee, east and north of the Arkansas River, 
where they yet live. 

The Osages were loyal to the Union in the Civil "War. They destroyed 
a band of Confederate soldiers, who were crossing their reservation in 
May, 1863. The incident is worth preserving, and the account of Warner 
Lewis, the only survivor of the expedition, is here set out : 

The Only Survivor's Story of Tragedy 

In May, 1863, an expedition was organized on the western border of 
Jasper County, Missouri, under command of Colonel Charles Harrison, 
who had been commissioned by Major-General Holmes to proceed to New 
Mexico and Colorado for the purpose of recruiting into the Confederate 
service the men who had fled there from Missouri and other states, to 
avoid being drafted into the Federal army — of whom there was then 
supposed to be a large number, anxious to make their way into com- 
panies, regiments and brigades — and as soon as this was done to drop 
down into western Texas and then unite with the main army. The 
plan appeared feasible, though very hazardous; so much so that many 
of those who had at first volunteered, finally refused to go. 

Colonel Harrison appeared to be the man above all others to lead 
such an undertaking, since his entire life had been spent upon the 
western plains, and he had been a protege of the celebrated Indian 
fighter, General Kit Carson. He was tall, athletic, and almost as brown 
as an Indian, of whose blood he was said to have a mixture. He knew 
no fear and he staggered at no hardships. On the early, morning of 
the 22nd day of May, 1863, the mules were packed with rations for the 
men. The party consisted of eighteen men, rank and file. The starting 
point was Center Creek where it crosses the line of the state in Jasper 
county. The route pursued was westward over the trackless prairie in 
the Indian Territory about fifteen or twenty miles north of and parallel 
with the Kansas state line. There was no human habitation to be 
seen and no living person discoverable, and no incident worthy of note 
until the afternoon of the second day. After crossing a ravine fringed 
with brush and small timber, we halted on an eminence just beyond 
for rest ami rations; our animals were tethered to grass or left to roam 
at will, while we were resting under the shade of some scattering oaks, 
unapprehensive of danger. 

We had begun saddling up to renew our journey when we dis- 
covered a body of men on our trail at full gallop. By the time we 
were all mounted they were in hailing distance, and proved to be a 
body of about lot) Indian warriors. To avoid a conflict we moved off 
at a' brisk walk, and they followed us. We had not gone far until some 
of Mi. -in fired and killed one of our men, Douglas Huffman. We then 
charged them vigorously and drove them back for some distance. My 
horse was- killed in this charge and I was severely wounded in the 
shoulder with an arrow. I mounted the mule from which Huffman 
was killed. The Indians kept gathering strength from others coming 
up. We had a funning fight for eighl or ten miles, frequently hurling 
back their advances onto the main body or with loss. Our horses were 
becoming exhausted, so we concluded to halt in the lied of a small 
stream thai lay across our path, to give them rest. The Indians here 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 229 

got all around us at gunshot range, and kept up an incessant fire We 
had only side arms, and pistols and were out of range. Here Frank 
Roberts was shot through the head and fell from his horse. I imme- 
diately dismounted the mule and mounted Robert's horse This incident 
was the saving of my life. Colonel B. II. Woodson of Springfield Mo 
preferred this mule to his horse and mounted it. When our horses' 
were rested we made a dash for liberty. On ascending the bank of 
the stream the saddle of Captain Park McLure of St. Louis slipped 
back and turned and he fell into the hands of the savages Colonel 
Harrison was shot in the face and captured. Rule Pickeral had his 
arm broken. 

We broke the cordon as we dashed out, but from now on the race 
was even, and our ranks much reduced. It was about two miles to 
the Verdigris river. When we were in about two hundred yards of the 
timber Woodson was caught. I tried to get the men to halt and give 
them a fire so as to let him get into the timber but did not succeed. We 
could not cross the stream with our horses, owing to the steepness of the 
banks on both sides. I went down to get a drink and heard the Indians 
coming to the bank below us. John Rafferty stood on the bank above 
me, and I said to him "Follow me." He obeved. We made our way 
up the stream under cover of the bank for about half a mile, and 
noticing some fishing poles and some fresh tracks, and hearing the 
barking of dogs on the other side of the stream we concluded it safest 
to secrete ourselves in some dense bushes near the prairie until the 
darkness of the night came on. 

We had just escaped a cruel death from savages. We were without 
food and about eighty miles from a place where relief could be obtained. 
We were without animals to ride, and our journey lav through a 
trackless prairie beset by hostile Indians. 

We dared not attempt to travel by day, for fear of being discovered 
by roving bands of Indians and put to death. By accident I lost my 
boots in the Verdigris river, so we took it "turn about" wearing 
Rafferty 's shoes, and used our clothing to protect our feet when not 
wearing the shoes. 

We concealed ourselves by day and traveled by night, with only 
the sky for our covering and the stars for our guide. Just before we 
reached the Neosho river we frightened a wild turkey from her nest, 
and secured nine eggs in an advanced stage of incubation. Raffertv's 
dainty appetite refused them but I ate one with relish and undertook 
to save the rest for mure pressing need. 

We found 1li«' Neosho river not fordable, and Rafferty could not 
swim; so we constructed a rude raft with two uneven logs and bark. 
I put the eggs m the shoes and the shoes between the logs and undertook 
to spar Rafferty across the river. When we got midway of the river 

Rafferty I ame frightened, tilted the raft, and we lost both the shoes' 

and the eggs. On the morning after the second aighl the Missouri line 
appeared in sight, and we nerved ourselves for the linal struggle. We 
reached the neighborhood from which we had started about LI o'clock, 
footsore, wounded ami half dead. The good women concealed us in the 
brush, and there fed us and nursed our sores until we were strengthened 
and healed. Rafferty was soon after killed, so that I, only, of the 
eighteen men who entered upon that fatal expedition, survived the war 
On the 28th day of May, 1863, Major Thomas R. Livingstone made 
a report to General Price from Diamond Grove, .Missouri, in which, 
among other things, he says. "Colonel Warner Lewis is- also here, who 
has just escaped from the Indians, and consequently without a force. 
He will make a report of the unfortunate disaster he escaped." 



230 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The Pawnees 

As in the case of the Osage and Kansas, much of the history of the 
Pawnees was told in the accounts of explorations. It has beeu already 
noted that the view that the Turk was a Pawnee was scarcely tenable. 
It is much more likely that he was a Quapaw. Iu the account of Coro- 
nado the argument was made that Quivira was the country immediately 
north of the Arkansas River, extending to the northern watershed of that 
stream, and the land of (lie Wichita. Also that Harahey was the country 
of the Pawnees, and began at the north boundary of the Wichita domain, 
or Quivira. From these conclusions future students are not likely to 
depart. Investigations to be made will, no doubt, confirm them. In the 
account, of the Kansas the bounds of the country of the Caddoan linguis- 
tic family were discussed. There is no fear that the views there arrived 
at can be successfully controverted. Prior to the northward migration 
of the Kansas from the mouth of the Osage the Caddoan eastern boundary 
was the Missouri River. The Kansas penetrated the Caddoan country 
to the mouth of Independence Creek, but were there halted by the 
Pawnees, who continued to dwell on the west bank of the Missouri about 
the mouth of Wolf River into historic times. The tribes of the Siouan 
family passed to the Upper Missouri by keeping to the east shore of that 
stream and to the country still eastward. The Caddoan territory taken 
by the Kansas and held when they lived at Independence Creek did not 
extend westward from the Missouri beyond the heads of the small streams. 
And the Kansas did not venture into the valley of the Kansas River until 
long after the establishment of Louisiana. The Pawnees kept the Kansas 
confined to the narrow strip along the Missouri until the shifting of 
the tribes and their concentration in villages due to the coming of 
the white man. and the appearance of white traders among them. 
Then the Pawnees ceased to defend the valley of the Kansas 
River below the mouth of the Big Blue. Finding the valley prac- 
tically abandoned, the Kansas entered it and ascended it to the Blue, 
but were ever in terror of the more powerful Pawnees. These matters 
are all factors in determining the extent of the explorations of Coronado 
and subsequent Spanish expeditions. In treating the Pawnees it was 
found necessary to make this review of tribal holdings and movements 
wesl of the Missouri. 

The Pawnee lands in Kansas were taken by the Government through 
treaties with the Kansas and Osages. The cession of the Pawnees in 
Kansas was insignificant. They had a much better title to Kansas west 
of the Blue than any other tribes. Irving found the remains of their 
towns mi the Cimarron as late as 1832. Brower claimed to have traced 
t hem or their kindred from the Ozarks to the forks of the Kansas River. 
They lived mi the Lower Neosho, in the vicinity of the present Vinita, 
in the time of Hit Tisne. I'.ut they were despoiled by the agents of the 
Government, ami their place in Kansas history was thereby circumscribed. 

The name 'Pawnee, Dunbar tells us. comes from the word pd-rik-i, a 
horn. The tribal mark of tin' Pawnees was the scalp-lock. No other 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 231 

tribe had one like it. With the Pawnees the scalp-lock was bound about 
and held in a solid body by buffalo tallow and the paints used by the 
Indians. It was thus so stiffened that it stood erect. Sometimes it was 
curved back in the shape of the horn of a buffalo bull. It is said that the 
term, pa-rik-i, at one time embraced the Pawnee Picts, known to us now 
as the Wichita Indians. 

The four bands of the Pawnees were known among themselves by the 
following names : 

1. Xau-i, or C4rand Pawnees. 

2. Kit-ke-hak-i, or Republican Pawnees. 

3. Pit-a-hau-e-rat. or Tapage Pawnees. 

4. Ski-di, or Loup Pawnees. 

The origin and meaning of some of these tribal designations are lost. 
Indeed, only the Pit-a-hau-e-rat signification is remembered, and is sup- 
posed to imply that the Tapage were the Noisy Pawnees. They were also 
known as the Smoky Hill Pawnees, having lived on that stream in what 
is now Kansas well down into historic times. In 1836 they pointed out 
to Mr. Dunbar the remains of their villages on the Smoky Hill. In 1719 
there was a Pawnee town at the mouth of the Republican River — most 
probably a Tapage Pawnee town. 

There were, among the Pawnees, the usual divisions of gentes, but 
the names of these cannot now be stated with certainty. Morgan gives 
the following as probable names of Pawnee gentes, but does not pretend 
that the list embraces all the gentes of the Pawnees as their organization 
originally existed : 

1. Bear. 

2. Beaver. 

3. Eagle. 

4. Buffalo. 

5. Deer. 

6. Owl. 

The compart manner in which the Pawnees were always found, and 
which remained until recently, would seem to justify the conclusion that 
these gentes or elans extended through all four of the tribal divisions, 
as with the Iroquois. The chiefs of the band were the governing power. 
the individuals having little influence in tribal matters. 

The principal expeditions to the country of the Pawnees in early 
times have been noted. In 1833 John T. Irving, Junior, went with 
Commissioner Ellsworth on a tour of the Indian country tributary to 
Fort Leavenworth, visiting the Pawnees. Later, he was present when 

the various tribes gathered at the fori to compose their differences. At 

that time he witnessed :i Pawi lance, his description of which is here 

given to show the savage nature of the Pawnees: 

In the evening it was determined to bring tic Delawares and the 
Pawnees together as friends, for as yet they had held no intercourse. A 
large fire was accordingly built before the outhouses in which the 



232 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Pawnees had taken up their quarters, and the wild troop sallied forth, 
prepared to commence one of their national dances round the flame. 
A group of eight or ten savage-looking fellows seated themselves a little 
distance off, furnished with a drum and rattle. They commenced a song, 
accompanied by their rude instruments. For a time there was no move- 
ment among the Pawnees who stood huddled in a large, condensed 
crowd. Suddenly one of them, a tall muscular savage, sprang into 
the middle of the circle, and gazed around with a hurried air; then 
with a loud yell he commenced his dance. He jumped slowly round the 
fire, with a kind of zigzag step ; at every leap uttering a deep guttural 
"Ugh!" occasionally accompanied with a rattling sound from the very 
bottom of his lungs. His comrades looked on silently, but with intense 
interest. They were a savage group; face and body begrimed with 
paint; their fierce features reflecting the flame, their teeth bared, and 
every brow knotted into a frown. Head rose behind head, and gleaming 
eyes were seen peering through the living mass, until those farthest off 
were hid by the darkness. 

When the first warrior had made two or three circles about the fire, 
a second left the crowd, and sprang forward in the dance; a third 
followed, and a fourth, until about twenty were fitting swiftly round, 
and joining in the song. Occasionally they stopped short in their course, 
and uttered a loud shrill yell, which was taken up by the whole sur- 
rounding horde, until the very trees echoed to the sound. At one 
moment they moved swiftly forward, and at another their steps were 
slow and wearied. As we watched their fierce, earnest faces, the forms 
of some wrapped in shaggy robes, the painted bodies of others writhing 
in the dance, and then turned to the silent, and equally savage group 
of lookers-on, it required no great stretch of the imagination to fancy 
them a host of evil spirits, busied in fiendish revel. 

While they were thus engaged, the crowd separated, and revealed a 
Delaware watching their movements. Behind him were about twenty 
more of the same tribe. No sooner had the Pawnees caught sight of 
them than they retired. Old prejudices could not be rooted out at once, 
and though the dancers remained at their employment, the rest of the 
tribe drew off in a sullen and haughty group, and stood watching the 
countenances of their quondam enemies. 

This continued during the whole evening. As it grew late, group 
after group of the Pawnees left the fire, and retired into their dwelling. 
The Delawares soon followed their example; and although their visit 
had continued for several hours, I fear it did but little towards removing 
that ancient venom, which, in spite of their apparent friendship, was 
rankling in their hearts. 

The treaty-scene between the Pawnee and the Kansa, as described by 
Irving, is worthy a place in any historic work: 

The deliberations lasted during the whole day: for, as these Indians 
had no particular injuries to dwell upon, they confined themselves to 
things in general; and, as this was a subject that would bear to be 
expatiated upon, every man continued his address until he had exhausted 
his wind. The Pawnees listened with exemplary patience, though I 
doubt if there was one who regretted when the last speaker had finished. 

The morning following, the Pawnees and the Kanzas had a meeting 
to settle their difficulties. A large chamber in the garrison had been 
selected for the purpose. About ten o'clock in the forenoon they 
assembled. The two bands seated themselves upon long wooden benches, 
on opposite sides of the room. There was a strong contrast between 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 233 

them. Tlie Kanzas had a proud, noble air; and their white blankets, 
as they hung in loose and graceful folds around them, had the effect of 
classic drapery. 

The Pawnees had no pride of dress. They were wrapped in shaggy 
robes, and sat in silence — wild and uncouth in their appearance, with 
scowling brows, and close pressed-mouths. 

At length the speaking commenced. First rose the White Plume. 
He had boasted to his tribe that he would relate sxich things, in his 
speech, as should cause the Pawnees to wince. With true Indian cun- 
ning, at first, in order that he might conciliate the favourable opinion 
of those present, he spoke in praise of the whites — expressing his high 
opinion of them. After this, he gradually edged off into a philippic 
against the Pawnee nation, representing them as a mean and miserly 
race — perfidious and revengeful. There was a hushed silence among his 
own people as he spoke, and every eye was fastened upon the grim 
group opposite. The White Plume went on ; and still the deepest silence 
reigned through the room ; that of the Kanzas arose from apprehension : 
the silence of the Pawnees was the hushed brooding of fury. 

The chief of the Tappage village was sitting directly opposite the 
speaker ; his eyes were dark as midnight ; his teeth were bared, and both 
hands were tightly grasped round his own throat; but he remained 
silent until the speech had finished. When the White Plume had taken 
his seat, half a dozen Pawnees sprang to their feet but the Tappacu 
chief waved them down ; three times did he essay to speak, and as often 
did he fail. He rubbed his hand across his throat to keep down bis 
anger; then stepping out, and fixing his eye on that of the Kanza chief, 
in the calm, quiet voice of smothered rage, he commenced his answer ; he 
proceeded ; he grew more and more excited — indulging in a vein of 
biting irony. The White Plume quailed, and his eye drooped beneath 
the searching, scornful glance of his wild enemy. Still the Pawnee went 
on ; he represented the injury which first kindled the war between the two 
nations. "My young men," said he, "visited the Kanzas as friends; 
the Kanzas treated them as enemies. They were strangers in the Kanza 
tribe, and the Kanzas fell upon them and slew them, and concealed 
their death." He then entered into the particulars of the quarrel, which, 
unfortunately for the Kanzas. were strongly against them. The chief 
of the latter tribe received the answer with great philosophy; nor did 
he attempt to utter anything in reply. Perhaps, too, he did not wish 
to invite a second attack from so rough a quarter. When the Pawnee 
had finished, the Commissioner interposed, and after a short time har- 
mony was restored, and several of the inferior chiefs made their 
harangues. They were of a more calm and conciliating nature, and 
gradually tended to sooth the inflamed feelings of their foes. The 
council lasted until sunset, when the terms of the treaty were finally 
adjusted. 

On the 9th of October, 1833, the Confederated Pawnees -all the divi- 
sions of the tribe — ceded "all their righl and title in and to all the land 
lying South of the Platte River." This embraced bul a small portion of 
Kansas — a triangular tract bounded on the south approximately by 
Prairie 1 >og < 'reek, and (iii the west by the east lii E range thirl 

So passed the Pawnees from their ancienl heritage in the future 

State of Kansas. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



Arapahos and Cheyennes 



The Arapahos and Cheyennes will he considered together. They both 
belong to the great Algonquian family, and, for a long period, were 
closely associated. Both were important Plains tribes and bore promi- 
nent parts in the early history of that plain along the Front Kange of 
the Eocky Mountains. The Cheyennes ranged far down the plains 
streams, coming into close contact with pioneer settlers of Northwestern 
Kansas. The Arapahos did not trouble the white people making homes 
in Western Kansas. Both tribes lay in wait along the great trails to fall 



^A^A,.^ 




Chief White Buffj 
[Copyright by Meyers, 



m| 



upon the stragglers and the unprotected.. They were fierce and daring 
riders in those days, coming over the deserts in clouds of dust, circling 
the emigrant train or the trader's caravan to take it if they could. If 
the resistance was too much they vanished across the plain like the wind. 
The Arapahos led the migration from the Algonquian body in the far 
North. The Cheyennes broughl up *. lie rear. They came from what is 
now Minnesota. Whether they were in league at the time or whether 
they formed an alliance later cannot be surely said now. They roamed 
from the Black Hills to the Arkansas. They were always at war with the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 235 

Pawnees, Utes, and Shoshonis. Until about 1840 they were at constant 
war with the Sioux, Kiowas, and Comanches. Both the Arapahos and 
Cheyennes were separated into groups by the treaty of Medicine Lodge 
in 1876 — Southern and Northern Arapahos, and Southern and Northern 
Cheyennes. 

Dunbar was of the opinion that the name Arapaho came from the 
Pawnee word tirapihu (or carapihu) meaning trader. The Sioux and 
Cheyennes called the Arapahos "Blue-Sky" men, and "Cloud-men." 
The import of these appellations is not now known. The Arapahos called 
themselves Inunaina. They have lost the clan system of organization. 
In the tribe there are five principal divisions : 

1. Northern Arapahos, or Sage-brush men, or Red-willow men. 

2. Southern Arapahos, or Southern-men, or Southerners. 

3. Gros Ventres of the Prairie, or White-clay people, or Begging-men. 
This division is not to be confused with the Gros Ventres of the Upper 
Missouri. 

4. Wood-lodge people, or Big Lodge people. 

5. Rock-men. 

The principal divisions are the Northern and Southern Arapahos. 
The Northern Arapahos are still further divided, as follows : 

1. Forks of the Red River Men. 

2. Bad Pipes. 

3. Greasy Faces. 

The Southern Arapahos are separated into the following- local bands: 

1. Bad Faces. 

2. Pleasant Men. 

3. Blackfeet, 

4. Wolves. 

5. Watchers. 

The Cheyennes called themselves Dzi-tsi-is-tas, Our People. The 
name Chey&rme came from the Sioux designation of this people, that is. 
from the Sioux word Sha-M-yena, (hose who speak a strange language. 
It has been said that the name came from the French word Chien — dog — 
but this is not so. If the Chej-ennes ever had the clan system they have 
lost it. There are eleven divisions of the tribe: 

1. Aortas rinsed by burning. 

2. Flint People. 

3. Eaters. 

4. Hair Men. 

5. Mangy People, or Scabby People. 
G. Ridge .Men. 

7. Sutaio. 

8. Bare Shins. 

9. Poor People. 

10. Ghost Head. 

11. O-mi sis. 



->:i6 



KANSAS AND KAN SANS 



These divisions are still further separated, hut these minor local 
bands need not be enumerated here. Among the Plains tribes there were 
Military Societies or Warrior Organizations. This was well developed 
in the Cheyennes, who had six such societies. One of these came to be 
known as the "Dog soldiers." It was a large society, and was sometimes 
supposed to be a regular tribal division. Dog-soldiers are often spoken 
of in Kansas annals, and the term was not well understood in pioneer 
times. 




Powder Face, Chief op the Cheyennes 
[From G. A. Betts] 



The Cheyennes were active in the movement known as the Ghost 
Dance, of Ghost Dance Religion. 

By a treaty made February 18, 1861, the Arapahos and Cheyennes 
ceded to the Government all their land, and were assigned a reservation 
outside the limits of Kansas. That part of the cession embraced in 
Kansas is a tract extending from the Arkansas River to the north 
boundary. It is immediately west of the cessions of the Kansas, Osages, 
and Pawnees, and is some forty miles in width. Its extent north and 
south is about one hundred and forty-five miles. 



KANSAS AND K AX SANS 237 

Kiowas 

The Kiowas enjoy the distinction of constituting alone a linguistic 
family of North American Indians. The name comes from their word 
Ka-i-gwu, meaning "Principal People." They lived first on the Yellow- 
stone and the Upper Missouri. From thence they began a southern 
movement which brought them to notice in historic times along the Upper 
Arkansas and Canadian rivers. At one time, in their migration, they 
were in alliance with the Crows. They were at war with the Arapahos 
and Cheyennes until about 1840, when they began to act in concert with 
those tribes. They are said by plainsmen to be the most cruel and blood- 
thirsty of the Plains tribes. They are supposed to have killed more whites 
than any other tribe in proportion to their number. They were confed- 
erated with the Comanches, and, with those American Arabs, raided far 
into Mexico. 

The tribal divisions on which the social organization rests are as 
follows : 

1. Kata. 

2. Kogui. 

3. Kaigwu. 

4. Kingep. 

5. Semat. 

6. Kongtalyui. 

7. Kuato (now extinct . 

The tribe is now in Oklahoma. between the Washita and Red rivers. 
They ceded their lands in Kansas in a treaty to which the Comanches 
were a party, and which will be noticed in connection with that tribe. 

\CHES 

The Comanches were of the Shoshonean linguistic stock. They for- 
merly dwelt witli kindred tribes in Southern Wyoming. They were 
driven south by the Sioux and other tribes witli whom they warred. In 
the early history of the plains they were known as Paduca, the aame 
given them by the Sioux. They lived at one time on the North Platte, 
which was known as the Paduca Fork as late as 1805. They were said 
in have roamed from that stream to Bolson de Mapimi, in Chihuahua. 
They were the finest horsemen that rode the Great Plains, ami as buffalo 
hunters none excelled them. To the Americans they were usually 
friendly, but they were at war with the Mexican Spaniards for more 
than two hundred years. 

Lan system had ceased to exist in the Comanches. They may, 
in fact, never have had it. The tribe is separated into .|i\ i 
as follows: 



1. Detsanayuka, or Nokoni. 

2. Ditsakana, Widyu, Yapa. or Yamparika. 
:;. Kewatsana. 



238 KANSAS AND KANSANS 



4. 


Kotsai. 


5. 


Kotsoteka. 


6. 


Kwahari, or Kawhadi. 


7. 


Motsai. 


8. 


Pagatsu. 


9. 


Penateka, or Penande. 


10. 


Pokoi. 


11. 


Tenima. 


12. 


Tenawa, or Tenakwit. 



On tke 18tk of October, 1865, at a camp on tke Little Arkansas 
River, in Kansas, tke Comanckes and Kiowas made a treaty with tke 
United States, by wkick tkey ceded all tkeir lands lying in Kansas, and 
otker lands. Tke tract in Kansas was that part of tke State soutk of tke 
Arkansas River immediately west of tke Osage lands. Tke line between 
tke lands of tke Osages and tke Comanckes and Kiowas' ran from a 
point on tke Arkansas River about six miles west of Dodge City soutk 
to the state-line. 



Tke cession of tke Comanckes and Kiowas divested tke original 
Indian owners of tke last acre of land tkey owned in Kansas. Muck 
of tkis land was given by tke Government to otker Indians. Tkese 
were known as tke Emigrant Indian Tribes. Tkey were moved to 
Kansas by tke United States as title to tkeir lands were extinguisked 
in tke states east of tke Mississippi. Most of tke Emigrant tribes were 
given land in Kansas in exckange for tkeir lands furtker east wkick 
tke wkite man required for settlement as ke increased kis numbers in 
kis westward conquest and occupation of American- soil. 

One of tke reasons entertained by Jefferson for tke purckase of 
Louisiana was that it would afford land for tke Indian tribes east of 
tke Mississippi. Tke English could never sit down and live in a coun- 
try witk people of another nationality. They exterminated and drove 
out the Gaelic tribes of Britain. Tkey desired an exclusive possession 
of tke land. Tkat was tkeir policy in America. It was continued by 
the United States. 8 

In tke report of Lewis and Clark, 1806, to Jefferson, tkis policy is 
mentioned in discussing tke lands of tke Osages. Tke report says: "I 
think two villages, on tke Osage River, migkt be prevailed on to remove 
to tke Arkansas, and tke Kansas, kigker up tke Missouri, and tkus leave 
a sufficient scope of country for tke Skawnee, Dillewars, Miames, and 
Kickapoos." 

Some of tke Delawares and Skawnees kad crossed the Mississippi in 
L793, at the invitation of the Spanish Government of Louisiana, and 
had been assigned a reservation at Cape Girardeau. 



- This subjed is well treated in the Bistory of Baptist Indian Mi 
by Isaac McCoy, pp. 30 to U. 



KANSAS AM) KANSAXS 2 39 



« 'in 



It is said that the name of this most remarkable tribe conies ir 
Shcwun, south, or Shaivunogi, Southerners. They lived in South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other 
states before coming to Kansas. One of their early homes was on the 
Savannah River, which, indeed, took its name from this tribe. They 
called themselves Shawano, and 'Savannah" is but a corruption of that 
form of the name. 

The Shawnees were the extreme southern people of the Algonquoian 
family. It is supposed that they settled on the Savannah at the invita- 
tion of the Cherokees, who placed them next to the Catawbas as a pro- 
tection from that fierce Siouan people. The Shawnees removed from 
that region because of the injustice and discrimination of the English 
Colonies. They were made welcome by the Delawares, who assigned 
them a home on the Susquehannah, in what is now Lancaster County, Pa. 
The first families of this migration arrived about 1678. Others followed 
for the next forty years. They were gradually pushed to the westward 
with other tribes, and in 1756 they were established on the Ohio, where 
they became firm friends and allies of the French. 

There was another band of Shawnees — known as the Western Shaw- 
nees. They occupied the valley of the Cumberland River. They seem 
never to have lived east of the Alleghenies. A war broke out between 
them and the Cherokees. The Chickasaws were in league with the 
Cherokees. These tribes expelled the Shawnees from the Cumberland. 
They took refuge on the north bank of the Ohio about 1730. Their 
towns which later became famous in pioneer annals were set up by 
these Western Shawnees — Sawcunk, Logstown, the Lower Towns a1 the 
mouth of the Scioto, and perhaps others. When the Eastern Shawnees 
were driven across the Alleghenies, they found their Western brethren 
already seated on the Ohio, and the two divisions of the tribe were 
merged into the Shawnees so well known to historians. No other In 
dians gave the back settlements of the English so much trouble. For 
thirty years the pioneers of Kentucky suffered at their hands. Their 
towns shifted from the north bank of the Ohio to the interior waters of 
what is now the State of Ohio. Prom these villages warriors were con- 
stantly departing to raid the Kentucky settlements. 

The Shawnees bore important parts in the wars of the West. They 
were pushed gradually farther and farther to the westward. It was 
the Shawnee I'rophet who fought the battle of Tippecanoe. Thej began 
to cross the Mississippi soon after the French and Indian War. At one 
time there were hundreds of them around the new pest of St. Louis. 
When the Spaniards owned Louisiana they feared the Osages, and it 
was to form a bumper between themselves and the Osages thai caused 
them to settle the Shawnees and the Delawares at Cape Girardeau. 

Bands of both the Shawnees and the Delawares scattered t" the Smith 
west, s Irifting as far as Texas. When Louisiana came into pos- 
session of the United states the American policj was exercised towards 



240 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

all tribes alike. In 1825, that year fateful to Indian possessions, the 
Government made a treaty with these Western Shawnees, in the pre- 
amble of which it is recited that: 

"Whereas the Shawnee Indians were in possession of a tract of land 
near Cape Girardeau, in the State of Missouri, settled under permis- 
sion from the Spanish Government, given to the said Shawnees and 
Delawares by Baron de Carondelet, on the fourth day of January, one 
thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and recorded in the office of 
the Recorder of Land Titles at St. Louis, containing about twenty-five 
miles square, which said tract was abandoned by the Delawares, in the 
year 1815; and from which the said Shawnees, under assurance of 
receiving other land in exchange, did remove, after having made valu- 
able and lasting improvements on the same, which were taken of by 
citizens of the United States, etc. 

For the cession of the land above mentioned the Shawnees were 
given a tract of land equal to fifty miles square out of the land then 
recently ceded by the Osages. This tract was twenty-five miles north 
and south by one hundred miles east and west, lying west of the Mis- 
souri and south of the present south line of the State of Kansas. Upon 
examination this tract was not satisfactory. The tribe was permitted to 
make another selection. The land immediately south of the Kansas 
River being then unassigned, the Shawnees chose that as their future 
home, relinquishing- the trad specifically given them in the treaty. 
The accurate description of the lands so selected is set out in the treaty 
made with the Shawnees, May 10, 1854. The reservation on the south 
side of the Kansas River was estimated to contain sixteen hundred 
thousand acres of land. It is one of the most beautiful and fertile tracts 
in America. 

It required some time to settle all the details of changing the reser- 
vations. The treaty had been made with the Chillicothe division soine- 
i s called the Meremae band, which, it seems, had crossed the Missis- 
sippi at the suggestion of the Spaniards. The Fish band of this divi- 
sion moved to the new reservation in 1828. A few Shawnees had come 
the year previous, and the old members of the ti'ibe have told this author 
thai a few of their people had been living there some years before the 
treaty of 1825 was made. Their influence caused the change in the 
local ion of the reservation. It is possible that this was the real cause of 
the change. The first Shawnees to arrive settled on the highlands, in 
what, is now Wyandotte County, and not far from the present town of 
Turner. Others came slowly. Some were in Missouri, some were in 
Ohio, sonic were in Arkansas, some in Texas, and some in what is now 
Oklahoma. It required ten years to assemble the tribe — then all did 
qo1 come. In 1830 some of the Ohio Shawnees came. They contracted 
In St. Louis, Hie disease spreading to others living near the 
presenl town of Merriam, in Johnson County, and killing many. In 
[832 I lie remainder of the Ohio Shawnees arrived on the Kansas "River. 

With their coming the tribe was more nearly united than ever before 
hen they first gathered on the Upper Ohio. They suffered 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 241 

secession, however, for about 1845 a large number of the tribe left the 
Kansas River reservation and moved to the Canadian, where they were 
known as the "Absentee Shawnees." 

The Shawnees occupied only a small portion of their Kansas River 
reservation. Few of them ever lived west of Lawrence. The majority 
lived in Wyandotte and Johnson counties. The council-house was 
erected on the southeast quarter of section two (2), township twelve 
(12), range twenty-four (24), near the present town of Shawnee, John- 
son County. It was of logs, but not "chinked and daubed." There 
had been an earlier council-house, a temporary one, a small cabin on 
another site, but it was never regarded as the real seat of the Shawnee 
government. The missions were near this seat of government. The 
Prophet, the most distinguished Shawnee ever in Kansas, had a little 
settlement on the fine plateau back of the present town of Argentine. 
He died within the limits of the town and is buried there. 

In 1830 the Methodist Episcopal Church established a mission among 
the Shawnees. The first building was probably in section twenty-four 
(24), township eleven (11), range twenty-four (24), on the uplands just 
east of Turner, in Wyandotte County. With the Fish band in 1828, came 
Frederick Chouteau, who set up a trading-house on the south side of the 
Kansas River immediately north of the present and above mentioned town 
of Turner. The mission was given its location because of the proximity of 
the trading-house. Chouteau soon became interested in the Kansa Indian 
trade, building a post at Horseshoe Lake (now Lakeview), and, later, at 
the Kansas Mission, in Shawnee County. The discontinuance of his trad- 
ing-post near the Shawnee caused the Methodist Mission to be moved to 
what is now Johnson County, some three miles from the old town of 
Westport, Mo. Substantial brick buildings were erected there by Rev. 
Thomas Johnson, the missionary, a man of superior parts and especially 
fitted for his work. The manual-labor school was on the south-west 
quarter of section three (3), township twelve (12), range twenty-five 
(25). Good schools were maintained, which were attended by the Shaw- 
nee children and by Indian children of other tribes. This mission was 
for a time the capital of Kansas Territory. 

The Baptists founded a mission among the Shawnees in 1831. Dr. 
Johnson Lykins and his wife were appointed missionaries to the Shaw- 
nees through the efforts of Rev. Isaac McCoy. Dr. Lykins put np a 
small building on .the Missouri side of the State-line, where he firsl 
labored, preaching, and teaching the Shawnee children. In 1832 he 
erected a mission building on the Qortheasl quarter of section five (5), 
township twelve (12), range twenty-four (24). There he opened his 
school the same year. On the 13th of July, 1833, Rev. Moses Merrill 
and his wife arrived at the mission from Sault St. Marie to aid in the 
work among the Shawnees. Later in the same year Rev. Jotham Meeker 
and his wife reached the Baptist Shawnee Mission. They brought with 
them a Miss C. Brown. Mr. and Mrs. Men-ill and Miss Brown were 
senl to labor among the Otoes, leaving the Shawnee Mission October 25, 
1833. Mr. Meeker brought as a part of his equipment a small printing 



242 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



press and a quantity of type. By the 10th of May, 1834, he had printed 
two books in a system of phonography of his own invention for the use of 
the Indians. On the first day of March, 1835, the first number of a 
semi-monthly newspaper was issued. It was edited by Dr. Lykins and 
printed at the Shawnee Mission. This is said to have been the first 
newspaper ever published exclusively in an Indian language. It was 
called the Shau-imu-noice Kesauthwau, which in the Shawnee tonge is 
The Shawnee Sun. This was the first Kansas newspaper. 




Kiev. Thomas Johns 
[Copy by Willard of Portrs 



Missi 

in Lib 



ARY TO THE SHAWNEES 

r\ of Kansas State Historical 



sty] 



Rev. John G. Pratt was for some time in charge of the Shawnee 
Mission, but was later sent to the Delawares, locating in what is now 
Wyandotte County. In 1839 the Rev. Francis Barker was appointed to 
the Shawnee Mission, where he labored until 1855, when the mission 
was discontinued. 

The Quaker Mission to the Shawnees was established in 1834. The 
buildings were erected on section seven (7), township twelve (12), range 
twenty four (24) one-half mile east and one-fourth mile south of the 
presenl town of Merriam, in Johnson County. Rev. Joab Spencer gives 
this location as the northeast quarter of section six (6). Substantial 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 243 

buildings were erected, which are still standing and in use. The main 
building was 30 by 60 feet and three stories in height. It was put up 
in the time between 1837 and 1840. An orchard was planted, some 
trees of which are supposed to remain to this day. Rev. Henry Harvey, 
historian of the Shawnees, was in charge of this mission. 

In 1854, the Shawnees ceded their Kansas River reservation to the 
United States. In return they were granted a diminished reserve of 
two hundred thousand acres of the same reservation between tin- State- 
line and a line parallel thereto thirty miles to the westward. This line 
fell four miles east of Lawrence. This smaller reservation included 
24,138.31 acres to be allotted to the Absentee Shawnees on their return 
to it for their home. Many did not return. Their land was sold under 
acts of Congress, of April 7, 1869, and March 3, 1879. By the terms 
of the treaty the Shawnees were permitted to take their lands in sever- 
alty — two hundred acres to each individual. Any band could have this 
proportion set off in a body for use of its members in common. Under 
these provisions the tribe gradually disposed of the diminished reserve. 
By 1870 most of the Shawnees had gone to the Indian Territory. There 
they merged themselves with the Cherokees. The Black-Bob band took 
their lands in common, as did another small band. The border troubles 
before and during the Civil War made it impossible for these Shawnees 
to remain on their land, and they went to the Indian Territory. Squat- 
ters took possession of the vacated lands. For a quarter of a century- 
there was no settlement of the matter. Speculators and grafters flour- 
ished at the expense of the Indians. The matter was a standing scandal, 
settled finally by Congress and the Courts, and greatly to the disad- 
vantage of the Black-Bob Shawnee. So it has ever been with the In- 
dians within the bounds of the United States. 9 

The Shawnees are one of the most interesting tribes of North Ameri- 
can Indians. Their language is perhaps the finest and most pleasing 
to the ear of all Indian languages. The tribe is separated into live 
divisions or phratries. These had certain positions in the council house, 
and are as follows: 

1. Chilahcahtha, or Chillieothe. 

2. Kispokotha, or Kispogogi. 

3. Spitotha, or Mequachake. 

4. Bicowetha, or Piqua. 

5. Assiwikale. or llathawekela. 

Then arc thirteen clans or gentes in the tribe, as follows: 

1. Wolf, or M '-wa-wii'. 

2. Loon, or Ma-gwa'. 

3. Bear, or M '-kwli'. 

4. Buzzard, or W'c wii'-see. 

5. Panther, or M'-se'-pa. 

» For a full statement of the extinction of iitc title to the Black Bob 
lands see Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. VIII. pp. 93, 94 95. Mi li 
by Anna lleloise Abel. 



244 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

6. Owl, or M'-ath-wa'. 

7. Turkey, or Pa-la-wa'. 

8. Deer, or Psake-the'. 

9. Raccoon, or Sha-pa-ta'. 

10. Turtle, or Na-ma-tha'. 

11. Snake, or Ma-na-to'. 

12. Horse, Pe-se-wa'. 

13. Rabbit, or Pa-take-e-ne-the'. 

The Dela wakes 

The name Delaware is of English origin, coming from the voyage of 
Lord Delaware to the Delaware River region. The true name of the 
Delaware — what he calls himself — is Lenape. In the pronunciation of 
this name the a is as in father. The final e is a separate syllable, and is 
sounded as a in fame. The accent of the word, Lenape, is on the a. 

The name often appears in the early writings with the adjective prefix 
lenni. The exact meaning of this word has been the subject of much 
discussion. Mr. Heckewelder is the best authority, and he says it means 
"original, pure." The tribe always insisted that it was the original 
Indian tribe or people. This distinction was conceded to them by 
many other tribes, even those of different linguistic stocks. The author 
has often heard them boast that they were the "Original men." 

The Lenape were separated into three sub-tribes : — 

1. Minsi, or the "Wolf. 

2. Unami, or the Turtle. 

3. Unalachtigo, or the Turkey. 

The word Minsi signifies "people of the stony country," mountain- 
eers, for the Minsi lived when first known to white men in the hill 
country about the head of the Delaware River. They were spoken of 
as Monseys, Minisinks, Munsees, and Muncies by the early writers. 

The word Unami means "the people down the river." This people 
lived on the Delaware River below the Lehigh. 

The word Unalachtigo implies a "people who live near the ocean." 
They lived originally near the present site of "Wilmington, Delaware. 

It was with the Unami and the Unalachtigo that William Penn made 
his famous treaty. The Minsi had no part in that transaction. It was 
not until 1737 that they were called on for cessions of land. 1 " 

The Wolf, the Turtle, and the Turkey were then totemic animals of 
the Delawares. In theory the Minsi sub-clan were descended from the 
"Wolf — not the wolf as we know it, but an ancient animal with super- 
natural powers. And so with the Unami, and Unalachtigo; they came 
from the Turtle and the Turkey. The Unami were accorded the most 



10 This follows Brinton's Lanape and their Legends. It is the best 
authority. 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 



245 



honorable place, being descended from the great Turtle, the primal 
being, older than the earth as we know it, and who yet bears the world 
on its back as it stands deep in the primeval ocean. And these animals 
were referred to in metaphor — by or to some property or characteristic 
they possessed — and tbe metaphorical expression attached to the sub- 
clans, thus: 



1. Wolf, 


Tuk-sit, 


Bound-paw. 


2. Turtle, 


Pa-ko-an-go, 


The Crawler. 


3! Turkey, 


Pul-la-ue, 


Non-chewing. 



The sub-tribes are composed of clans — or are separated into clans 
or gentes. Each sub-tribe has twelve clans, as follows : 



/. -\Yolf 



1. Ma-an'-greet, 

2. Wee-sow-het'-ko, 

3. Pa-sa-kun-a'-mon, 

4. We-yar-nih'-ka-to, 

5. Toosh-war-ka'-ma, 

6. O-lum'-a-ne, 

7. Pun-ar'-you, 

8. Kwin-eek'-cha, 

9. Moon-har-tar'-ne, 

10. Mon-har'-min, 

11. Long-ush-har-kar'-to, 

12. Maw-soo-toh', 



Big feet. 

Yellow Tree. 

Pulling Corn. 

Care Enterer. 

Across the River. 

Vermilion. 

Dog Standing by Fireside. 

Long Body. 

Digging. 

Pulling up S1 ream. 

Brush Log. 

Bringing Along. 



77. Turtle 



1. O-ka-ho'-ki, 

2. Ta-ko-ong'-o-to, 

3. See-har-ong'-o-to, 

4. Ole-har-kar-me-kar-to, 

5. Mar-har-o-hik-ti, 

6. Toosh-ki-pa-kwis-i, 

7. Tung ul-ung'-si, 

8. W 'i'-liiii-ung'-si, 

9. Lee-kwin-a-i', 

11). K\\is Jll'SI'-kci's' til. 



Ruler. 

Bigh Bank Shore. 

Drawing down Hill. 

Elector. 

Brave. 

Green Leaves. 

Smallesl Turtle. 

Little Turtle. 

Snapping Turtle. 

Door. 



Two clans have been long 
preserved. 



d tl 



have do1 



777. Turkey 



1. .Mo har-a'-la, 

2. Le-lo-wa'-you, 

3. Mon-kwung-wa-ho'-ki, 



Big Bird. 
Bird's Cry. 
Bye Pain. 



246 KANSAS AND K AX SANS 

4. Moo-kar-ino-wi-kar'-nu, Scratch the Path. 

5. O-ping-ho'-ki, Oppossum Ground. 

6. Muh-ho-we-ka'-ken, Old Shin. 

7. Tong-o-na'-o-to, Drift Log. 

S. Nool-a-mar-lar'-mor, Living in Water. 

9. Muh-krent-har'-ne, Root Digger. 

10. Mun-karm-kuk-se, Red Face. 

11. Koo-wa-ho'-ke, Pine Region. 

12. Oo-chuk-ham, Ground Scratches 

The Delaware composed in their own tongue, with the aid of hiero- 
glyphics, the Waium Olum, a history of their tribe, and an account of 
its migrations. It is the only aboriginal record of the Xorth American 
Indians. Its value is just beginning to impress students. 

In 1682. the seat of the Delaware government was at Shaekamaxon, 
qi Germaritown, Pennsylvania. There Penn found them and made his 
famous treaty with them. Although extremely warlike, they had surren- 
dered their soverignty to the Iroquois about 1720. They were pledged to 
make no war, and they were forbidden to sell land. All the causes of 
this step were not known. Because of it the Iroquois claimed to have 
made women of the Delawares. They freed themselves of this oppro- 
brium in the French and Indian "War. 

The steady increase of the whites drove the Delawares from their 
ancient seat. They were crowded off the waters of the Delaware, and 
settled on the Susquehanna. As early as 1742 they were to be found 
about Wyoming. It was soon impossible for them to remain there, and 
they went back of the mountains to the head waters of the Allegheny. 
They slowly spread down this stream, living for some time on the 
Beaver. At that time the Wyandot were holding the western country 
for their kindred, the Iroquois. Seeing the Delawares hard pressed, 
tlir Wyandot tendered them a home, and suggested that they seat them- 
selves on the Tuscarawas River, an upper branch of the Muskingum. 
They were later visited by the Moravians, who established missions 
among them, chiefly those living on the Tuscarawas. These missions 
were in a flourishing condition when the Revolutionary War came on. 
That struggle put these Christian Indians in a false position. They 
wished to remain on their farms and by their churches. The heathen 
Indians about Upper Sandusky accused them of being in the con- 
fidence of the whites of Western Pennsylvania. At the same time 
the whites accused them of being in league with the heathen Indians. 
They became an offense to both parties. Divisions in the tribe had 
already appeared. White Eyes, the great chief, the friend of the 
Americans. was gradually superseded by Hopocan, of Captain Pipe, .-is 
head chief. Pipe was the head of the war faction, laboring in the 
interest of the British at Detroit. Through his influence the Christian 
Indians and their teachers were Forcibly removed to Upper Sandusky. 
Returning in the winter to gather their corn, they were set upon by a 
mi Western Pennsylvania under Captain Williamson. Nearly 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 247 

a hundred were murdered in cold blood after capture and confinement 
in a cabin. This only provoked more frequent and deadly Indian 
forays, to stop which, another force was raised in Pennsylvania to 
invade the Indian country about Upper Sandusky. Colonel William 
Crawford commanded this expedition, which met with disaster. Craw- 
ford was captured, and Captain Pipe burned him at the stake. 

The first treaty ever made with an Indian tribe by the United States 
was concluded with the Delawares at Fort Pitt, September 17, 1778. It 
was signed by Andrew Lewis, Thomas Lewis, White Eyes, The Pipe, 
and John Kill Buck. It provided for the formation of an Indian State 
with a representative in Congress. 

The Delawares had part in all the wars against the Western settlers. 
These wars were terminated by Wayne's victory. Prior to this the 
Delawares had commenced to settle on the White River, in Indiana, by 
permission of the Miami and Piankashaw. They continued their west- 
ward migration, crossing the Mississippi on the invitation of the Spanish 
Government of Louisiana. One Lorimer, who was afterwards com- 
mandant of the post at St. Genevieve, induced the Delawares and 
Shawnees to accept the offer of the Spaniards. There were Delawares 
about St. Louis before this, however. In 1788 a band of them attacked 
residences on the outskirts of that town. A Frenchman named Duehou- 
quet was slain at Chouteau 's Pond by a band of Delawares in that year. 
Here is an incident in the life of the Delaware band at Cape Girardeau : 

The Delawares and Shawnees built several villages in the neighbor- 
hood of Cape Girardeau; and, after the establishment of the United 
States government, so sensible were they of the good results of its 
working, that they determined to fashion a government as near like it 
as their knowledge and circumstances admitted, and resolved to adopt 
the habits of civilization. They gave up the chase, buried the tomahawk, 
and devoted themselves for a little season to the pursuits of agriculture. 
In their first criminal court, three men were convicted of murder, and 
without any time for repentance they wore taken back of one of the 
villages, there tomahawked, their bodies burnt upon a pile, and the 
ashes scattered to the winds. 

It is stated in the treaty of November 7, 182o, with the Shawnees, 
that the Delawares abandoned the Cape Girardeau reservation in 1815. 
Most of these found their way to Texas by the year 1820. Some of them 
wandered westward, and settled in Southwest Missouri. On the 3d 
of I Ictober, 1818, those members of the tribe still residing on the White 
Eiver, in [ndiana, made a treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio, ceding their lands 
and agreeing to remove wesl of the .Mississippi to a home to be provided 
for them, but which was not described. Under the terms of this treaty. 
the remnant of the Delawares settled od a reservation on the James Pork 
of the "White River. This tract embraced parts of the following .Mis 
souri counties: Greene, Taney. Christian, Barry, McDonald, Newton, 
Jasper, and Lawrence. They were followed there by the I'm. 
Piankashaws, or portions <>!' these tribes, fm- in 1828, they had towns on 
the White River. That of the Piankashaws was just above the present 



248 KANSAS AND KAXSAXs 

Forsytke, and a village some six miles below contained both Pianka- 
shaws and Peorias. The Delawares were not well pleased with the 
Ozark country, but the old members of the tribe with whom this author 
has discussed the matter could never give any satisfactory reason as to 
why they were displeased. Most of them said there was plenty of game, 
but the country was too hilly. It was perhaps because the Indian loves 
to roam and move from place to place. 

September 24, 1829, there was concluded at Council Camp on the 
James Fork of White River, between the present towns of Springfield 
and Ozark, a supplementary article to the St. Mary's treaty. By the 
terms of this supiuementary article the Delawares gave up their reser- 
vation in Missouri. In consideration of this cession they were given 
a reservation in the fork of the Missouri and Kansas rivers described 
as follows: "The country in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri 
Rivers, extending up the Kansas River, to the Kansas Line, and up the 
Missouri River to Camp Leavenworth, and thence by a line drawn 
Westwardly, leaving a space ten miles wide, north of the Kansas bo\m- 
dary line, for an outlet." 

The tribe moved to this reservation immediately, the representatives 
sent out to make an examination of it endorsing their approval on the 
treaty on the 19th of October at Council Camp, at the fork of the 
Kansas and Missouri rivers. In 1830 many of the scattered Delawares 
arrived, and by 1832, the tribe were almost all on this Kansas River 
reservation. It was a magnificent tract of land, and many times larger 
than the tribe required. Their settlements were made in what is now 
Leavenworth County, and in the western part of Wyandotte County. 

In their new home the Delawares came to rely to some extent on the 
buffalo, to secure which they had been given the outlet north of the 
Kansa lands. On their excursions into the buffalo country they met 
the wild tribes of the Plains. These natives resented the appearance 
in their ancient domain of the newcomers. They made war on the 
Delaware hunters. In the fall of 1831, two Delawares and their wives 
were encamped on the buffalo-plains and engaged in hunting. The 
camp was attacked by the Pawnees, who killed the two men and one of 
the women. The woman having the child was a little distance from the 
camp at the time, and she escaped, with her child. There was a strag- 
gling camp of Delawares at that time on the Arkansas, in the Creek 
country. On the 22d of October Rev. Isaac McCoy saw the Delaware 
woman, who had escaped the Pawnee massacre, at that village. She 
had carried her child from the upper waters of the Republican, sub- 
sisting it and herself on wild grapes and berries. She had been afraid 
to flee in the direction of her home toward the Missouri, and to escape 
the Pawnees she had gone in a direction they least expected her to take. 
These persecutions the Delawares resolved to put an end to. In 1832 
Suwaunock or ''('apt. Suwaunock," as he signed the supplementary 
treaty of 1829, assembled the Delaware warriors to make war on the 
Pawnees Eor these and other murders. He led his force against the 
Republican Pawnee village — the town where Pike had hauled down the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 24!) 

Spanish flag and raised the Stars and Stripes. He fell upon the Pawnee 
town and destroyed it. Some of the Pawnee warriors were away on a 
huffalo hunt, but if they had been present the result would have been 
the same. No Indians surpassed the Delawares in courage and warlike 
spirit. They raided far into Mexico, and one was present at the murder 
of Dr. Whitman, at the Mission near Walla Walla. 

The Delaware and Shawnee warriors were employed by the Govern- 
ment of Mexico to hunt and kill Apaches. 

John T. Irving, Junior, saw peace made between the Delawares and 
the Pawnees. It was at Fort Leavenworth, in the year 1833. The 
Pawnees claimed all the land between the Platte and Kansas rivers. 
They regarded the Delawares as trespassers when they went out over 
their outlet to hunt the buffalo, which was the cause of their war on the 
Delaware hunters. Irving says the Pawnees had slain many of the Dela- 
wares. It was to compose these quarrels that the Indian Commissioner 
visited the various tribes and summoned them to Fort Leavenworth to 
meet one another in council' and bury the tomahawk. In the council — 
"The Delaware warrior Sou-wah-nock then rose. He spoke of the 
destruction of the Grand Pawnee Village. He did not deny his agency in 
the deed. 'The Pawnees,' said he, 'met my young men upon the hunt, 
and slew them. I have had my revenge. Let them look at their town. 
I found it filled with lodges. I left it a heap of ashes.' The whole speech 
was of the same bold, unflinching character, and was closed in true Indian 
style. 'I am satisfied,' said he. 'I am not afraid to avow the deeds I 
have done, for I am Sou-wah-nock, a Delaware warrior.' When he had 
finished, he presented a string of wampum to the Wild Horse, as being 
the most distinguished warrior of the Pawnee nation. When the slight 
bustle of giving and receiving the present had been finished the chief of 
the Republican village rose to answer his warrior enemy. 

"His speech abounded with those wild bursts of eloquence which 
peculiarly mark the savages of North America, and concluded in a man- 
ner which spoke highly of his opinion of what a warrior should be. *[ 
have promised to the Delawares,' said he, 'the friendship of my tribe. 
1 respect my promise, and I cannot lie, for I am a 1'awnee chief!' " 

At oighl the two tribes were caused to dance together. No finer 
description of a savage assembly is to be found in all history than Mr. 
[rving's account, which was set out in the account of the Pawnees, in 
this chapter. 

On the 11th ill" December. 1S4:i, the Delawares sold to the Wyandot 

thirty-nine sections of land off the east end of their reserve for >Ki 

This was to provide the Wyandot a future home. 

Fremont provided himself with Delaware guides on one of his explor 
in": expeditions. Among these was Sagundai, as fearless and intrepid 
a warrior as any land ever produced. An citiere.cn. \ arose in California. 
and Fremont was compelled to communicate with Senator Benton. Eo\i 
could he do it-' He inquired of his Delaware warriors if they could 
return without him. and carry his message. Sagundai strode forth and 
said he could go alone And lie did. He escaped death at the hands of 



250 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

savage tribes a dozen times. He took many scalps from his pursuers. 
He rode over deserts and crossed mountains reaching up to the stars. 
Coming out upon the Great Plains, he was set upon by a Comanche band. 
His horse's strength had been carefully conserved, but here was a su- 
preme test. The Comanche chief was magnificently mounted on a black 
horse with haughty head, flowing mane, and tail that swept the ground. 
In the pursuit he far out-rode his warriors. Sagundai saw that he must 
be overtaken in the race, and was planning his course of action when his 
horse stepped in a prairie-dog hole and broke his leg, throwing his rider 
in his fall. The Comanche saw his advantage and bore down upon the 
unhorsed Delaware to dispatch him with his lance. But Sagundai was 
not at the end of his resources. He stood aside just in time to avoid the 
deadly spear. Before the Comanche could recover from his stroke 
Sagundai shot him dead, seized the long dragging lariat and brought up 
the Comanche horse with a round turn, mounted him, and fled like the 
wind. He escaped. Upon his arrival among his own people, the Dela- 
wares held the last war and scalp dances in their history. These were 
held where Edwin Taylor now lives, on the hill, at Edwardsville, in 
Wyandotte County. 

Sagundai regarded the scalp of the Comanche as a sort of sacred 
trophy— medicine — and carried it until his death, when it was buried 
witli him. And the message of Fremont was handed to Senator Bentou 
in St. Louis by the faithful Delaware. 

Black Beaver was another noted Delaware. He was familiar with 
every stream and mountain in the Great West. He guided many mili- 
tary expeditions and private caravans. He accompanied Audubon in his 
tours to study American birds. Once they were at Galveston. Audubon 
was to take ship there for New York. The next year he and Black Beaver 
were 1" start from New York and tour the country back to the Missouri. 
The Delaware had never before seen a ship. He studied those in port 
some days. Finally, he asked Audubon if people ever died on board a 
ship during the voyage, and was told they did. "What is done with 
the dead?" he inquired. "They are cast in to the sea," said Audubon. 
After a moment's reflection Black Beaver said he would never enter a 
ship, and Audubon lost his faithful guide. 

The Rev. John G. Pratt was sent from the Shawnee Baptist Mission 
to found one among the Delawares. The first building of this mission 
was erected near the present town of Edwardsville, in Wyandotte County. 
Later building and mission were moved up on the prairie and established 
near the present town of Maywood. Mr. Pratt remained there until his 
death, many years after the departure of the Delawares from Kansas. 
Once In' and a Delaware attendant were making some repairs on the 
poultry-house, and found a large blaeksnake snugly coiled in a hen's 
nest. Mi - . Pratt threw the snake outside and told the Delaware to kill it. 
"Not so," said tlic Delaware. "It is Manitou, Manitou! Not must kill 
Manitou !" I tv as one of the Delaware's gods, and he could not afford to 
kill his god. When the [ndian became a Christian he only added that 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 251 

creed. He did not relinquish his old faith because he had acquired a new 
one. He kept both. 

By a treaty concluded May 6, 1854, the Delawares ceded all their 
remaining Kansas River lands to the United States, excepting a dimin- 
ished reserve described as follows: "That part of said country lying 
east and south of a line beginning at a point on the line between the 
Delawares and the half-breed Kansas, forty miles, in a direct line, west 
of the boundary between the Delawares and Wyandots, thence north ten 
miles, thence in an easterly course to a point on the south bank of Big 
Island Creek, which shall also be on the bank of the Missouri River where 
the usual high-water line of said creek intersects the high-water line of 
said river." Four sections of land were also sold to the Christian 
Indians, or Munsees, at $2.50 an acre. The Munsees sold the tract to 
A. J. [sacks, and the sale was confirmed by act of Congress, June 8, 1858. 

On the 30th of May, 1860, the Delawares concluded another treaty 
with the United States. By its terms the individuals of the tribe were 
to take a certain portion of their diminished reserve in severalty. Provi- 
sion was made for about two hundred Absentee Delawares then in the 
Indian country, now Oklahoma, and the remainder of their lands were 
sold to the Leavenworth Pawnee & Western Railway Company. The 
Delawares were not satisfied with their life on separate allotments, and 
on July 4, 1866, another treaty was entered into whereby all their lands 
in Kansas could be disposed of. The final divestment of the Delawares 
of their remaining lands followed ways more devious, and more detri- 
mental to their rights and interests than was usual under the shameful 
policy always pursued by the United States toward the Indians. The 
Delawares moved to the Indian Territory and bought a right in the 
Cherokee Nation, becoming citizens of said Nation. They were known 
as Cherokee-Delawares, and live chiefly about Dewey and Bartlesville, 
Oklahoma. 

The Wyandots 

The Wyandot tribe was anciently divided into twelve clans, or gentes. 
Each of these had a local government, consisting of a elan council pre- 
sided over by a elan chief. These clan councils were composed of at 
least, live persons, one man and four women, and they illicit contain anj 
number of women above four. Any business pertaining purelj to the 
internal affairs of the clans was carried to the clan councils for settlement. 
An appeal was allowed from the elan ennn.il to the tribal council. The 
four women of the clan council regulated the elan affairs and selected the 
elan chief. The office of elan chief was in a measure aereditarj . although 
not wholly so. The tribal council was composed of the elan chiefs, the 
hereditary sachem, and sneh other men of the tribe of renown as the 

sachem mighl with tl msenl of the tribal council call to the 

fire. In determining a question the vote was by elans, and nol 
viduals. In matters of great importance it required a unanimous vote 
to carry a proposition. 



252 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The names of the ancient clans of the Wyandot tribe are as follows : 

1. Big Turtle. 

2. Little Turtle. 

3. Mud Turtle. 

4. Wolf. 

5. Bear. 

6. Beaver. 

7. Deer. 

8. Porcupine. 

9. Striped Turtle. 

10. Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle. 

11. Snake. 

12. Hawk. 

These clan names are all expressed in Wyandot, words so long and 
hard to properly pronounce that they an- omitted here. They are written 
in what the Wyandots call the Order of Precedence and Encampment, as 
I have recorded them above. On the march the warriors of the Big 
Turtle Clan marched in front, those of the Little Turtle Clan marched 
next to them, and so on down to the last elan, except the Wolf Clan, 
which had command of the march and might be where its presence was 
most necessary. The tribal encampment was formed "on the shell of 
the Big Turtle," as the old Wyandots said. This means that the tents 
were arranged in a circular form as though surrounding the shell of the 
Big Turtle. The Big Turtle Clan was placed where the right fore-leg 
of the turtle was supposed to be and the other clans were arranged around 
in their proper order, except the Wolf Clan, which could be in the center 
of the inclosure on the turtle's back, or in front of it where the turtle's 
head was supposed to be, as it was thought best. In ancient times all 
their villages were built in this order, and in the tribal council the clans 
took this order in seating themselves, with the sachem either in the 
center or in the front of the door of the council chamber. 

These clans were separated into two divisions, or phratries. The first 
phratry consisted of the following tribes: 

1. Bear. 

2. Deer. 

3. Snake. 

4. Hawk. 

The second phratry consisted of the following tribes: 

1. Big Turtle. 

2. Little Turtle. 

3. Mud Turtle. 

4. Beaver. 

5. Porcupine. 

6. Striped Turtle. 

7. Highland Turtle, or Prairie Turtle. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 253 

The Mediator, Executive Power, and Umpire of the tribe was the 
Wolf Clan, which stood between the phratries, and bore a cousin relation 
to each. 

All the clans of a phratry bore the relation of brothers to one another, 
and the clans of one phratry bore the relation of cousins to those of the 
other phratry. 

Their marriage laws were fixed by this relationship. Anciently a 
man of the first phratry was compelled to marry a woman of the second 
phratry, and vice versa. This was because every man of a phratry was 
supposed to be the brother of every other man in it, and every woman 
in the phratry was supposed to be his sister. The law of marriage is 
now so modified that it applies only to the clans, a man of the Deer Clan 
being permitted to marry a woman of Bear, Snake, Hawk, or any other 
elan but his own. Indeed, even this modification has now almost dis- 
appeared. If a man of the Deer Clan married a woman of the Porcupine 
Clan, all of his children were of the Porcupine Clan, for the gens always 
follows the woman and never the man. The descent and distribution of 
property followed the same law; the son could inherit nothing from his 
father, for they were always of different clans. A man's pi'operty 
descended to his nearest kindred through his mother. The woman is 
always the head of the Wyandot family. 

Five of the ancient clans of the Wyandots are extinct. They are as 
follows: (1) Mud Turtle; (2) Beaver; (3) Striped Turtle; (4) High- 
land, or Prairie Turtle; (5) Hawk. 

Those still in existence are as follows: (1) Big Turtle; (2) Little 
Turtle; (3) Wolf; (4) Deer; (5) Bear; (6) Porcupine; (7) Snake. 

The present government of the Wyandot tribe is based on this ancient 
division of the tribes. An extract from the Constitution may be of 
interest. It was adopted September 23, 1S73 : 

It shall be the duty of the said Nation to elect their officers on the 
second Tuesday in July of each year. That said election shall be con- 
ducted in the following manner. Each Tribe (clan), consisting of the 
following Tribes: The Big and Little Turtle, Porcupine, Deer, Bear, 
and Snake, shall elect a chief; and then the Big and Little Turtle and 
Porcupine Tribes shall select one of their three chiefs- as a candidate 
for Principal Chief. The Deer. Hear, and Snake Tribes shall also select 
one of their three chiefs as candidate for Principal Chief; and then 
at the general election to be held on the day above mentioned, the one 
receiving the highest number of votes east shall be declared the Principal 
Chief; the other shall lie declared the Second Child'. The above-named 
tribes shall on the above named election day elect one or more sheriffs. 

The Wolf Tribe shall have the right to elect a chief whose duty shall 
be that of Mediator. 

In case of misdemeanor on the part of any Chief, for the first offense 
the Council shall send Hie .Mediator to warn the [tarty; for the second 
offense the party offending shall he liable to removal by the Mediator, 
or Wolf and his Clan, from office. 

The origin of these clans is hidden in the obscurity of great antiquity. 
They are of religions origin. We learn something of them from the 



254 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Wyandot mythology, or folk-lore. The ancient Wyandots believed that 
they were descended from these animals, for whom their elans were 
named. The animals from which they were descended were different 
from the animal of the same species to-day. They were deities, zoological 
gods. The animals of the same species are descended from them. These 
animals were the creators of the universe. The Big Turtle made the 
Great Island, as North America was called, by the Wyandots, and he 
bears it on his back to this day. The Little Turtle made the sun, moon, 
and many of the stars. The Mud Turtle made a hole through the Great 
Island for the sun to pass back to the East through after setting at night, 
so he could arise upon a new day. While making this hole through the 
Great Island the Mud Turtle turned aside from her work long enough 
to fashion the future home of the Wyandots, their happy hunting- 
grounds, to which they go after death. The sun shines there at night 
while on his way back to the East.. This land is called the land of The 
Little People, a race of pigmies created to assist the Wyandots. They 
live in it, and preserve the ancient customs, habits, beliefs, language and 
government of the Wyandots for their use after they leave this world by 
death. These Little People come and go through the "living rock," but 
the Wyandots must go to it by way of a great underground city where 
they were once hidden while Die works of the world were being restored 
after destruction in a war between two brothers who were gods. 

All Wyandot proper names had their foundation in this clan system. 
They were clan names. The unit of the Wyandot social and political 
systems was not the family nor the individual, but the clan. The child 
belonged to its clan first, to its parents afterwards. Each clan had its 
list of proper names, and this list was its exclusive property which uo 
other clan could appropriate or use. They were necessarily clan names. 

The customs and usages governing the formation of clan proper 
names demanded that they be derived from some part, habit, action or 
peculiarity of the animal from which the clan was supposed to be de- 
scended. Or they might be derived from some property, law, or pecu- 
liarity of the element in which such animal lived. Thus a proper name 
was always a distinctive badge of the clan bestowing it. 

When death left unused any original elan proper name, the next child 
born into the elan, if of the sex to which the vacant name belonged, had 
such vacated name bestowed upon it. If no child was born, and a stranger 
was adopted, this name was given to such adopted person. This was the 
unchangeable law, and there was but one proviso or exception to it. 
When a child was born under some extraordinary circumstances, or 
peculiarity, or with some distinguishing mark, or a stranger adopted with 
these, the council-women of the clan informed themselves of all the facts 
and devised a name in which all these facts were imbedded. This name 
was made to conform to the ancient law governing elan proper names 
if possible, but often this could not be done. These special names died 
with their owners, and were never perpetuated. 

The parents were nut permitted to name the child; the clan bestowed 
the name. Names were given hut once a year, and always at the ancienl 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 255 

anniversary of the Green Corn Feast. Anciently, formal adoptions could 
be made at no other time. The name was bestowed by the dan chief. 
He was a civil officer of both his clan and the tribe. At an appointed 
time in the ceremonies of the Green Corn Feast each elan chief took an 
assigned position, which in ancient times was the Order of Precedence 
and Encampment, and parents having children to be named filed before 
him in the order of the ages of the children to be named. The council- 
women stood by the clan chief, and announced to him the name of each 
child presented, for all clan proper names were made by the council- 
women. This he could do by simply announcing the name to the parents, 
or by taking the child in his arms and addressing it by the name selected 
for it. 

The adoption of a stranger was into some family by consent, or at 
the instance of the principal woman of the family. It was not necessary 
that the adoption be made at the Green Corn Feast. The adoption was 
not considered complete, however, until it was ratified by the elan chief 
at the Green Corn Feast. This ratification might be accomplished in the 
simple ceremonial of being presented at this time to the clan chief by 
one of the Sheriffs. His clan name was bestowed upon him, and he was 
welcomed in a few well-chosen words, and the ceremony was complete. 
Or the adoption might be performed with as much display, ceremony and 
pomp as the tribal council might, from any cause, decree. The tribal 
council controlled in some degree the matter of adoptions. In ancienl 
times, when many prisoners of war were brought in it determined how 
many should be tortured and how many adopted. 

Lalemant says the original and true name of the Wyandots is Ouen- 
dat. 

In history the Wyandots have been spoken of by the following 



1. Tionnontates, 

2. Etionontates, 

3. Tuinontatek, 

4. Dionondadies, 

5. Khionontaterrhonons. 

6. Petuneux or Nation du Petun (Tobacco). 
Tln'\ call themselves: — 

1. \V < • 1 1 1 1 " diilii. or 

2. Wehn'-dooht. 

They never accepted the name Huron, which is of French origin. 

The Wyandots have hern always considered the remnant of the 

Hurons. Thai thej were related to the i pie called Hurons by the 

French, there is no doubt. Alter having studied them carefully for 
almost twenty years, I am of the opinion thai the Wyandots ai 
closely related to the Senecas than they were to the ancienl Eurons 

Both myth and tradition of the Wyandots say they were "created" 
in the region between St. .James's Hay am! the roast of Labrador. All 



250 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

their traditions describe their ancient home as north of the mouth of 
the St. Lawrence. 

In their traditions of their migrations southward they say they 
came to the island where Montreal now stands. They took possession 
of the country along the north bank of the St. Lawrence from the Ottawa 
River to a large lake and river far below Quebec. 

On the south side of the St. Lawrence lived the Senecas, so the 
Wyandot traditions recite. The Senecas claimed the island upon which 
the city of Montreal is built. The Senecas and Wyandots have always 
claimed a cousin relation with each other. They say that they have been 
neighbors from time immemorial. Their languages are almost the same, 
each being the dialect of an older common mother-tongue. They are as 
nearly alike as are the Seneca and Mohawk dialects. The two tribes 
live side by side at this time, and each can speak the tongue of the 
other as well as it speaks its own. 

When the Wyandots came to the St. Lawrence, and how long they 
remained there, cannot now be determined. Their traditions say that 
they were among those that met Cartier at Hochelaga in 1535. Accord- 
ing to their traditions, Hochelaga was a Seneca town. 

It has been the opinion of writex-s upon the subject that the Wyan- 
dots migrated from the St. Lawrence directly to the point where they 
were found by the French. Whatever the fact may be, their traditions 
tell a different story. Their route was up the St. Lawrence, which they 
crossed, and along the south shore of Lake Ontario. They held this 
course until they arrived at the Falls of Niagara, where they settled 
and remained for some years. 

The Wyandots removed from the Falls of Niagara, the site now 
occupied by Toronto, Canada. Their removal from Niagara was in 
consequence of the Iroquois coming into their historic seat in what is 
now New York. This settlement they called by their word which 
means "plenty," or "a land of plenty." They named it so because 
of the abundance of game and fish they found, and of the abundance 
of corn, beans, squashes and tobacco they raised. The present name of 
that city is only a slight change of the old Wyandot name, which was 
pronounced "To-run-to." 

As the Iroquois pushed farther westward, the Wyandots became 
uneasy because of former wars with them and finally abandoned their 
country at Toronto and migrated northward. Here they came in con- 
tact with the Hurons, who tried to expel them, but were unable to do 
so. The French found them in alliance with the Hurons, but record 
that they had but recently been at war with* that people. When the 
Jesuits went among the Hurons the Wyandots were a part of the Huron 
Confederacy. Their history from this point is well known. 

If it turns out that there is any reliance to be placed in the traditions 
nt' the Wyandots, they were found in their historic seat about one hun- 
dred and five years from the time they were first seen by the French at 
Montreal in 1535. Their migration from the St. Lawrence, by way of 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 257 

the Niagara Falls and Toronto to the Blue Mountains on the shores of 
the Nottawassaga Bay, occurred after the French first came to Canada. 

The Wyandots were involved in the general ruin wrought by the 
Iroquois. 

The Wyandots came to Kansas from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in the 
summer of 1843. They stopped about Westport, Mo., and some of them 
camped on the south and east side of the Kansas River north of the 
Shawnee line, the land being now in Kansas City, Kansas. By the 
terms of the treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, the Wyan- 
dots were given one hundred and forty-eight thousand acres of land, 
to be located in the Indian country which became Kansas. The lands 
there to be had did not suit them. Their reservation was located on the 
Neosho. They were far advanced toward civilization, and did not wish 
to live so far from a civilized community. They had attempted to pur- 
chase a strip of land seven miles wide by twenty-five miles long adjoin- 
ing the State of Missouri from the Shawnee, but that tribe finally 
refused to sell. The Wyandots justly complained that they had given 
both the Shawnees and Delawares homes in Ohio, and now neither tribe 
really desired to sell them a home in the West. But the Delawares did, at 
length sell them thirty-nine sections in the fork of the Kansas and 
Missouri rivers, now the eastern part of Wyandotte County, for forty- 
eight thousand dollars. They moved on this tract in the winter of 
1843-44. 

The first Mission ever founded in the world by the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church was among the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky. This mis- 
sion was brought bodily to Kansas by the Wyandots. It is now the 
Washington Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Kansas. 
The division in the Methodist Episcopal Church caused dissension in the 
Wyandot nation, and the Church South, in that Nation, organized at that 
time. This Church also is an active organization in Kansas City, Kansas, 
at this time. This author has in his collection of historical papers the 
records of the Sandusky Mission and the documents relating to the 
separation of the Church in Kansas. 

By treaty concluded by the Wyandots with the United States at 
Washington, D. O, January 31, 1855, they dissolved their tribal rela- 
tions and became citizens of the United States. They took their lands 
ii severalty, and the entire reservation was surveyed and allotted to 
the members of the tribe as citizens. The titles to the land held in 
Wyandotte County are based on the U. S. patents to these allotments. 
The towns of Armstrong, Armourdale, Wyandotte, and old Kansas City, 
Kansas, were consolidated by act of the legislature into the present 
Kansas City, Kansas. 

The unsettled times in Kansas prior to and during the Civil War 
worked hardship on many of the Wyandots. They lost their property 
and became very poor. By treaty made February 23, 1867, the Gov- 
ernment provided ;i reservation of twenty thousand acres of land on 
the Neosho, in what is now Oklahoma, for these Wyandots. They im- 



258 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 



mediately gathered there and resumed their tribal relations. Most of 
the Wyandot people are now to be found there. 

The Pottawatomies 

The history of the Pottawatomies, even after they were in communi- 
cation with the Europeans, is difficult and often obscure. Their name 
signifies People of the place of tlic fire. They came to be generally 







Abram Burnett, Chief of the Pottawatomies 

[Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas State Historic! 
Society ] 



known as the "Fire Nation." There is reason to believe that the Potta- 
watomies, the Chippewas, and the Ottawas originally formed one tribe. 
As one people they lived in that country about the upper shores of 
Lake Huron. The separation into three parts probably occurred there, 
and the Jesuits found them at Sault St. Marie in 1640. In 1670 the 
tribe or some portion of it. was living on the islands at the mouth of 
Green Bay. They were gathered about the Mission of St. Francis 
Xavier. The movement of the tribe was to the southward, and by the 
year 1700, or about that time, they were seated around the south end 
nf Lake Michigan. Some of them lived far down in what is now the 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 259 

State of Indiana. They were active in the interest of the French to and 
through the French and Indian War. In the Revolution they were on 
the side of the British, and they were against the United States until 
after close of the War of 1812. They lacked unity of action always, 
and when settlers crowded in upon theru they scattered in various 
directions. They sold their lands in small lots and realized little from 
them. They are yet scattered abroad. By the year 1840 most of them 
were west of the Mississippi. That portion of the tribe which settled in 
Iowa became known as the Prairie band, while those in Kansas were 
known as the Pottawatomie of the Woods. The Prairie band first moved 
to the Platte Purchase, in Western Missouri, and their agency was near 
the present City of St. Joseph. From that poinl they wen- removed to 




mx-MM* 



Pottawatomie Mission Five Miles West op Topeb 
in 1849. Now Used ss Barn 

[From Photograph by Walcott, Topeka, 1916] 



what is now Pottawatomie County, Iowa, their chief settlement being a1 
and about Council Bluffs. 

Their Kansas reservation resulted from the treaty of 1837, by which 
they ceded their lands in Indiana. For these they were to have a 
tract on the Osage River, just west of Missouri, "sufficient in extent and 
adapted to their habits and wants." Pursuant to the terms of this treatj 
a tract of land about thirty-six by forty-two miles in extent was sur- 
veyed for the Pottawatomies. It was located some eighteen miles west 
of the Missouri line. Its south line was the north line of the Lands 
assigned to the New York Indians, and passed aboul nine miles north 
Of the present town of tola. The north line of the tract ran aboul six 
miles south of Ottawa. The reservation contained about fifteen hun- 
dred square miles. Some of the tribe moved to this tract of land, set 
tling along the Osage, and on what came to lie known as Big and Little 

Osage Creeks. Mso on Sugar Creek and on Pottawatomie Creek, in 



260 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Miami County. The Iowa band had not disposed of the lands held 
about Council Bluffs. It was clear that there never could be a united 
nation under those conditions. 

In June, 1846, a treaty was held with the two divisions of the tribe. 
It was concluded at the Pottawatomie Agency, near Council Bluffs, on the 
5th day of June with the Iowa or Prairie band; and on the 17th of 
June with the Kansas band, on Pottawatomie Creek. In this treaty there 
was an attempt to bring together the tribes formed by the ancient 
division of the Pottawatomies. It provided that the various bands of 
the Pottawatomie Indians, known as the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pot- 
tawatomies, the Pottawatomies of the Prairie, the Pottawatomies of the 
Wabash, and the Pottawatomies of Indiana, being the same people by 
kindred, by feeling, and by language, should unite and be consolidated 
into one people to be known as the Pottawatomie Nation. Their Kansas 
and Iowa lands were ceded to the United States. In lieu of these lands 
they were assigned a new reservation in Kansas, described as follows : 

"A tract or parcel of land containing five hundred and seventy-six 
thousand acres, being thirty miles square, and being the eastern part of 
lands ceded to the United States by the Kansas tribe of Indians, lying 
adjoining the Shawnees on the south, and the Delawares and Shawnees 
on the east, on both sides of the Kansas River. ' ' 

This tract was the east thirty miles of the old Kansas Indian reserva- 
tion. It lay immediately west of Topeka, and it comprises one of the 
most fertile tracts in Kansas. The Pottawatomie Nation was to move to 
this new reservation within two years, and certain annuities were to be 
paid the individuals of the Nation one year after they had settled there. 
The Kansas band began to move almost immediately, but it was the full 
two years before the Nation had assembled on the Kansas River. Some 
of the Kansas band settled west and southwest of Topeka. There the 
Baptists established a Mission, some of the buildings of which still stand. 

Jonas Lykins established the Baptist Mission on the reservation of 
the Pottawatomies. He was the brother of Dr. Johnston Lykins, of con- 
siderable note in the very early history of Kansas. Jonas Lykins had 
lived with the Pottawatomies on their reservation on the Osage. The 
activities of the Baptists there were near the present town of Osawatomie. 
From that point Jonas Lykins came to the new location, arriving on the 
15th of November, 1847. He settled on the northeast quarter of section 
seventeen (17), township twelve (12). range fifteen (15), in what is now 
Shawnee County. In the Spring of 1848 he built a large double log- 
house <>n the northwest quarter of section thirty-two (32), township 
eleven (11), range fifteen (15). In 1849 be built a two-story stone 
house, forty by eighty feet in dimensions, which is still standing. In 
1848 tin- Rev. Robert Simmerwell, his daughter Sarah, and Miss Eliza- 
beth McCoy, arrived at the Baptist mission. They organized and taught 
a school for the Pottawatomie children. Mr. Simmerwell was a black- 
smith, and in 1*48 set up a shop to follow his trade. After Lykins. the 
superintendents of the mission were Mr. Saunders, Mr. Alexander, Rev. 
John Jackson, and "Rev. Joint Jones. 




= ? \> 




262 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

Tlie Catholics also founded a mission among them. This mission was 
at the junction of the three forks of the Wakarusa. It had been com- 
menced on Sugar Creek, on the old first Kansas reservation, in 1837, by 
Father Christian Hoecken. He came north with one of the first parties, 
and in 1847 began the erection of mission buildings at the forks of the 
Wakarusa, in 1847. Some twenty log cabins were erected at that point. 
It was soon discovered that the mission was south of the reservation line. 
and on the Shawnee land. As the Pottawatomies could not collect their 
annuities until they had moved on to their own land, they abandoned 
their houses and moved north of the Kansas River. The Catholic Fathers 
established themselves at a beautiful site, now the town of St. Mary's. 
The mission has grown into one of the principal Catholic institutions of 
the West. 

While the Pawnees had agreed to retire beyond the Platte as early 
as 1834, they seem to have been possessed of a determination to hold the 
valley of the Kansas River. No sooner had the Pottawatomies settled 
themselves about the mission at St. Mary's than the Pawnees began 
attacks upon them, intending to expel them, or at least hoping to make 
the new home so uncomfortable the Pottawatomies would abandon it. 
But the old Algonquian stock was ever courageous. The Pottawatomies 
accepted the challenge. They declared war on the Pawnees, and dug up 
i lie tomahawk. The Pawnee force was camped along the Big Blue, down 
which stream they always came to make war on the enemies in the valley 
of the Kansas. The Pottawatomies attacked at the Rocky Ford, in what 
is now Pottawatomie County. A fierce skirmish ensued, in which the 
superior firearms of the Pottawatomies gave them the advantage. While 
the Pawnees were not defeated, they did retreat from the field, passing 
westward to Chapman's Creek, where they made a stand. There they 
had a better country for the free movements of their horses, in their 
peculiar tactics. The Pottawatomies pursued, and when they came up 
with their foes a considerable battle ensued. The Pawnees had only 
horsemen, and at the Rocky Ford only mounted Pottawatomies had 
engaged them. The Pottawatomies had determined to settle once for all 
whether they could live on the Kansas, and had mustered their full 
strength, many on foot. These latter were stationed in some short bushy 
ravines under a high steep bank. The Pottawatomie horsemen so 
maneuvered that the Pawnees were drawn down the prairie along these 
gullies, when the Pottawatomie footmen lying in ambush there opened 
fire. The Pawnees were taken by complete surprise. Several of their 
foremost warriors were slain, but they did not give up the battle, which 
was fiercely contested with the mounted Pottawatomies, who were now 
much encouraged. They charged the Pawnees repeatedly, finally putting 
them to flight. The Pawners disappeared northward over the prairies, 
and never more made a foray bekm the Big Blue. The Pottawatomies 
were never more molested by them. They lost some forty warriors in 
this effort in drive nut tlie Pottawatomies. For many years a Potta- 
watomie chieftain who had distinguished himself in this campaign would 
decorate himself in true warrior style on the anniversary of the battle 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 263 

and ride to the western and northern boundary lines of the reserve to 
celebrate the victory and satisfy himself that their frontiers were clear. 
The Pottawatoniies have the social organization found in the tribes 
of the Algonquian family. The clans or gentes of the tribes are as fol- 
lows : 

1. Wolf. 

2. Bear. 

3. Beaver. 

4. Elk. 

5. Loon. 

6. Eagle. 

7. Sturgeon. 

8. Carp. (Golden Carp.) 

9. Bald Eagle. 

10. Thunder. 

11. Rabbit. 

12. Crow. 

13. Fox. 

14. Turkey. 

15. Black Hawk. 

The Pottawatoniies made a treaty in 1862 under which the greater 
portion of their reservation was disposed of. There was a disagreement 
in the tribe on the subject of land. The Prairie band refused to accept 
their land in severalty, and severed their relations with the other bands. 
They were given a reservation in common eleven miles square in Jackson 
County, Kansas, a part of the old home tract, and now reside upon it. It 
was provided that the other bands should or might become citizens of the 
I fnited States and have their lands allotted to them. There was a surplus 
after the allotment, and this went through the usual process of graft in 
the final extinction of the Indian title. 

In 1868 the Citizen Pottawatomies secured a reservation in what is 
now Oklahoma, to which they moved, and where they now live. 

The Cherokees 

The Cherokees belong to the Iroquoiau linguistic family. No Indians 
in North America have a more interesting history. In prehistoric times 
they lived in what is now the State of Ohio, where they erected many 
mounds and other earthworks. Other trihes expelled them from the Ohio 
country. They retreated from the Ohio River up the Kanawha, settling 
about the headwaters of that stream and the Tennessee. They also 
claimed the eountrj extending Ear down into Carolina. Georgia and 
Alabama. They were virtually expelled from their Eastern home by the 
United States, and were given a reservation in whal is now Oklahoma, 
where they now live. They were one of the large tribes. The seven mil- 
lions of acres there did ool seem to satisfy them as to quantity of land. In 
1836 they purchased the Osage lands known as the "buffer" tract, lying 



264 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

immediately east of the Osage reservation. The tract contained eight 
hundred thousand acres, and the Cherokees paid five hundred thousand 
dollars for it. But they never occupied the land. The tract came to be 
known as the Cherokee Neutral Lands. 

On July 19, 1866, this tract was ceded to the United States to be sold 
for the benefit of the tribe. The Cherokee Nation joined the Southern 
Confederacy in the Civil War. If this act had any binding force, then 
this eight hundred thousand acres of Kansas land was technically, at 
least, a portion of the Southern Confederacy during the Rebellion. 

It was at length determined that the South boundary of the Osage 
reserve was not the thirty-seventh parallel. The Osage line was found to 
be about two and one-half miles north of that parallel of latitude. As 
the north line of the Cherokee land — from the west line of this eight hun- 
dred thousand acre tract — was the south line of the Osage land, there 
remained the strip between the Osage line and the Kansas State line 
belonging to the Cherokees in Kansas the full length of their outlet. This 
treaty provided for the sale of this narrow strip also for the benefit of 
the Cherokee tribe. 

The New York Indians 

None of these Indians ever lived in Kansas. The only reason for their 
appearance here is the fact that they owned a portion of the soil of the 
State. Their mention will require but a brief space. 

The tribes coming under this head are as follows : Senecas, Cayugas 
Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regis (of Iroquoian stock), Stockbridges, Mun- 
sees. and Brothertons. The last three tribes are of the Algonquian 
stock. Through the frauds practiced on these Indians by certain State 
Governments they were cheated out of their lands in the State of New 
York. By the treaty of 1838 they were given a tract in Kansas. This 
tract was laid off immediately north of the Osage reservation, about 
twenty miles broad (nineteen, in fact) by about one hundred and ten 
miles long. It contained one million eight hundred and twenty-four 
thousand acres. The treaty provided that each individual of these tribes 
should be allotted three hundred and twenty acres upon application. Only 
thirty -two persons ever made such application, Provision was made for 
the sale of these allotments for the benefit of the allottees. The remainder 
of the reservation was declared forfeited to the United States because of 
non-occupancy, the Indians refusing to move west. The legal status of 
the land and the compensation for the Indians required years for settle- 
ment, and the matter was finally decided by the courts. The reservation 
was restored to the public domains in 1860, by President Buchanan. 

Kickapoos 

The Kickapoos were first mentioned in history about 1670, when they 
were found about the water-shed between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers. 
That region seems to have been their prehistoric home. They drifted to 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 265 

the southward in historic times, finally stopping on the Sangamon and 
Wabash rivers. Those dwelling on the waters of the Wabash had their 
town on the Vermilion River, and from that circumstance came to be 
called the Vermilion band. Those to the westward were known as the 
Prairie band. All of them were followers of Tecumseh, and many of 
them fought under Blackhawk in his war against the United States. The 
Government employed one hundx - ed of them to go to Florida, as soldiers. 
There they fought the Seminoles, in 1837. In 1852 a considerable num- 
ber, with some Pottawatomies, went to Texas. Later they went on to 
Mexico, where they have a reservation east of Chihuahua, in the Santa 
Rosa Mountains. 

The first removal of the Kickapoos was to the State of Missouri, living 
there on the Osage River. By the treaty of October 24, 1832, they were 
assigned the following lands now in Kansas : 

"Beginning on the Delaware line, six miles westwardly of Fort 
Leavenworth, thence with the Delaware line westwardly sixty miles, 
thence north twenty miles, thence in a direct line to the west bank of the 
Missouri, at a point twenty-six miles north of Fort Leavenworth, thence 
down the west bank of the Missouri River, to a point six miles nearly 
southwest of Fort Leavenworth, and thence to the beginning. ' ' 

They were all gathered on this reservation in due time. In 1854 this 
reservation was given back to the United States, excepting a tract contain- 
ing one hundred and fifty thousand acres on the head of the Grasshopper 
River retained for a future home. Much of this diminished reserve was 
lost through grafters and railroad promoters. Only sixty-four hundred 
and sixty-eight acres remain. This tract is held in common to this time 
and is the home of those still in Kansas. 

Iowas, Sacs and Foxes op Missouri 
The Iowas are of the Siouan family, but here we find them confed- 
erated with two tribes of the Algonquian stock. The Iowas claim to be 
an offshoot from the Winnebagos. They were the wanderers of the 
Siouans, and have lived in Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, and some of them 
have lived in Nebraska. This was before they were settled in Kansas. 
At one time they lived on the Missouri River opposite the site of Fort 
Leavenworth. The name signifies "The Sleepy Ones." Their social 
organization is similar to that of other Siouan tribes. There are two 
phratries, each having four gentes: 
First phratry: 

1. Black Bear. 

2. Wolf. 

3. Eagle and Thunder-being. 

4. Elk. 
Second phratry : 

5. Beaver. 

6. Pigeon. 

7. liuffalo. 

8. Snake. 



266 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

There was an Owl gens, but it is extinct. 

In 1830 the confederacy of which the Iowas were a tribe consisted 
of the Sacs, Foxes, Iowas, Omahas, Missouris, Otoes, and Sioux. 



The Sacs, or Sauks, are one of the first of the Western Algonquian 
tribes seen by the Europeans. Their Indian name signifies "Yellow 
Earth People." They were said to be more savage than neighboring 
tribes — forest vagabonds and wanderers. Their prehistoric home was 
about the south shore of the Great Lakes, probably in Michigan. It is 
said that "they could not endure the sight of the whiskers of the Euro- 
peans," killing those of their captives who wore them. They were active 
in the wars among the Indian tribes, and suffered accordingly. In 1804, 
at St. Louis, one band of the Sacs made a treaty ceding all the lands of 
the Sacs and Poxes in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri. This act enraged 
the other portion of their tribe, and the Foxes. In fact, it was resented 
by all the tribes of those regions, and was one of the causes of the 
Blackhawk War. The band committing this crime against the tribe 
was later called the Missouri River Sacs. A band of Sacs once lived 
on the Osage River, in Missouri. 

The Blackhawk War almost destroyed the Sacs and Foxes. They 
came together in Iowa, where they soon regained their prowess, mak- 
ing war on a number of tribes, expelling the Sioux from that territory. 



The Foxes were the Red Earth People. They were first met along 
the Red River, in Wisconsin, and on Lake Winnebago. They were 
fierce warriors, and their Indian neighbors said they were stingy, moved 
by avarice, thieves, and always turbulent and quarrelsome. From their 
first acquaintance with Europeans they were closely associated with the 
Sacs. Their migrations and history are practically the same. 

By the year 1836 the confederacy of which the Sacs and Foxes were 
a part seems to have retained only themselves and the Iowa. On the 
17th of September of that year these made a treaty with the United 
States by which they were given a reservation lying immediately north 
of that of the Kickapoos in Kansas and Nebraska. Thither the con- 
federacy of the three tribes migrated. There dissensions arose between 
the Sacs and Foxes due to the intrigues of Keokuk. They maintained 
separate villages. While the Foxes were absent on a buffalo hunt, 
about 1857, the Sacs made a treaty providing that the Sacs and Foxes 
should accept their lands in severalty and sell the surplus. This treaty 
was fomented by thieves and grafters. The Government is always beset 
with. an unsavory rabble — scoundrels and scalawags — who make them- 
selves useful politically. For their services they intrigue and plan lar- 
cenies of anything from a public document to an Indian reservation. 
If their transactions become a public scandal the Government repudiates 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 267 

them. If their plans do not arouse too much adverse sentiment, the 
Government permits them to mature, and the dishonest officials take 
a portion of the loot. 

The Foxes would not be bound by the treaty, and their chief was 
deposed, au action the Foxes did not agree to. The chief and most of 
the Foxes went to Iowa, where some of their tribe had always lived. 
In 1854 some Foxes had slain a number of Plains Indians in battle while 
on a buffalo hunt, and fearing punishment by the Government, had 
gone back to Iowa. These Foxes bought a small tract of land on the 
Iowa River upon which they settled. This small reservation is in Tama 
County, and has been increased until it contains three thousand acres. 

By the treaty of May 17, 1854, the reservation secured to the Iowas 
in 1836 was decreased. The confederacy had ceased to exist, so the 
Iowas made their own terms with the Government. They accepted a 
small tract about the mouth of the Great Nemaha as their future home. 
The residue of their lands were sold for their benefit. June 5 to 9, 1857, 
these lands were sold at Iowa Point. They comprised some of the best 
lands in Brown County. 

On the 18th of May, 1854, the Government concluded a treaty with 
the Sacs and Foxes. They disposed of all their lands except fifty sec- 
tions, which were to be selected within six months. Some eight thou- 
sand acres yet remain to members of those tribes who chose to remain 
there. Most of the Sacs went to what is now Oklahoma in 1867. 

The Presbyterians established a mission among the Iowas while they 
dwelt yet in Missouri. Samuel M. Irvin and his wife were the first 
missionaries. They came with the Indians to the new reservation, arriv- 
ing in 1837. The site of the future mission was fixed at a point about 
two miles east of the present town of Highland, in Doniphan County. 
The first building erected was a log cabin. In 1845 the Presbyterian 
Board of foreign missions erected a brick mission building to replace 
the log cabin and other temporary structures. The new building was 
one hundred and six feet long by thirty-seven feet wide, three stories in 
height, and contained thirty-two rooms. This structure was standing as 
late as 1907, but it was much damaged by a tornado in that year— prac- 
tically destroyed, in fact. 

The Sacs and Foxes op the Mississippi 

The history of the Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi is the same as 
that of the Missouri portion of the tribes, except thai they bad never 
wandered so far from the ancestral home. They lived nearer the Mis- 
sissippi River, and the other band lived on the Missouri River — or the 
Osage, a branch of the Missouri, and from these circumstances came the 
names of the two bands. One band was the Sacs and Foxes of the Mis- 
sissippi, and the other the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri. 

The Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi owned and held about three- 
fourths of the State of Iowa up to the year 1842. On the 11th day of 
October of thai year they led thai magnificenl domain to the United 



268 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

States. They were to be given another reservation "upon the Missouri 
River, or some of the waters." They were given a tract of land thirty- 
four miles long by about twenty miles wide on the Marais des Cygnes 
west of the present town of Ottawa, Kansas. They did not arrive in 
Kansas until 1846. By January 1, of that year all the Sacs and one- 
fifth of the Foxes were on the Wakarusa. They were permitted to stop 
there by the Shawnees until the remainder of the Foxes could be pres- 
ent, when the reservation was to be selected. The missing Foxes were 
visiting the Pottawatomies. In the Spring those assembled on the 
Wakarusa selected the reservation, not wishing to wait longer. Those 
on the "Wakarusa numbered something less than one thousand. They 
finally took up their residence about the point where Lyndon was later 
founded. 

October 1, 1859, these Indians made a treaty by which all their lands 
lying west of the range-line of rauge sixteen, about three hundred thousand 
acres, were to-be sold for their benefit. This left them about one hun- 
dred and fifty-three thousand acres. A strip of these trust lands six 
miles wide lay in Franklin County, Kansas, and was soon the prey of 
"speculators," as they were called. One of these was John P. Usher, 
Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Lincoln, and who 
long lived at Lawrence, Kansas. These Indians were soon made the 
victims of a fraud. One Robert S. Stevens was in various very ques- 
tionable schemes in Kansas in the early days. By some devious con- 
nection with the Indian Department he was employed to build for these 
Indians one hundred and fifty little stone houses on the lands remaining 
to them. They did not want these houses, and protested against the 
waste of their money for any such purpose. But their protests were 
unheeded at Washington. The grafters had the ear of the Government, 
as usual, and the Indians were robbed. This same Stevens worked the 
identical scheme on the Kansas Indians, on the Council Grove reserva- 
tion. All these Indians, as soon as the little stone houses were completed, 
sold the doors, windows, and floors for whiskey, and stabled their ponies 
in the dilapidated ruins. They would not live in such houses. 

The divestment of these Indians of the residue of their lands ran the 
usual course of fraud. The allotment plan was brought into play, and 
the cunningly devised chicanery wound their devious ways. They were 
given seven hundred and fifty square miles of land, supposed to be 
worthless, in what is now Oklahoma. In 1867 they began to migrate 
to that tract, and in a period of five years they were mostly living 
on it. 

The .Methodist Episcopal Church, South, did some missionary work 
among the Sacs and Foxes before the Civil War. In 1860 the Methodist 
Episcopal Church appointed Rev. Richard P. Duvall missionary to this 
tribe. He began his labors at the tribal agency at once. April, 1863, 
he opened the mission school. This was in two large buildings distant 
about a mile from the agency. In 1862-63 some of the tribe sent their 
children to Baker University, at Baldwin. No great progress was ever 
made in the work of Christianizing the Sacs and Foxes. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 269 

The Ottawas 

The Ottawas were found on the Georgian Bay by Champlain in 
1615. They seem to have been a people who traded much with other 
tribes. They had developed a commerce in tobacco, medieinial herbs 
and roots, rugs, mats, furs and skins, cornmeal, and an oil made of the 
seeds of the sunflower. They were in close alliance with the Hurons, or 




Rev. Jot u am Meeker 



[Copy 



of Kansas State Historical 



Societv 



Wyandots, from the first. And the Wyandots raised tobacco for the 
Indian trade. 

The history of the Ottawas runs much like that of the other tribes 
found along the Great Lakes. They claim that they owned the coun- 
try through which flowed the Ottawa River, in Canada. They wen 
pushed westward. They lived in 1635 on Manitoulin Island. They 
were at war with the Iroquois, and fled from these fierce children of the 
League. With the Wyandots, they found themselves about Detroit, 
where their chief and greatest warrior, Pontiac, formed a confederacy 
and made war on the English. The war was not successful because of 
the peculiar disposition of the Indians. The Ottawas were always a 



270 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

factor in the wars waged by the Indians against the advancing settlers. 
On the 26th day of September, 1833, the Ottawas ceded their lands 
on the west shore of Lake Michigan for a reservation in the country 
which was to become Kansas. This treaty was made by only a portion 
of the tribe, which was, and is to this day, widely scattered. The Otta- 
was of Blanchard's Fork were to have thirty-four thousand acres, and 
those of Roche de Boeuf were to have forty thousand acres. This land 
was laid off in a single tract, which contained seventy-two thousand 
acres. It was on the Marais des Cygnes River, and the city of Ottawa, 



— 




John T. Jones, Known as "Ottawa" Jones 

[Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas State Historical 

Society 1 

Kansas, is located about the center of the reservation. The Ottawas 
settled on their new land in 1837 (a few arrived in 1836), and there 
were arrivals for some years later. 

The Baptists founded a mission among these Ottawas. Rev. Jothain 
Meeker had labored among those of the tribe in Michigan. In 1837 
he was at the Shawnee Baptist Mission. "When Rev. John G. Pratt came 
to the Shawnee mission, Mr. Meeker went on to the Ottawas, arriving 
in June, 1837. Buildings were erected on what is now the northwest 
quarter of section twenty-eight (28), township sixteen (16), range 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 271 

twenty (20). They stood on the south side of Ottawa Creek directly 
east of the present town of Ottawa, All the buildings put up there must 
have been of temporary character, for they had entirely disappeared 
before 1866. The old cemetery is still preserved. Meeker died at the 
mission January 11, 1854. Mrs. Meeker died March 15, 1856. Both are 
buried in the old cemetery. The church which they founded was presided 
over by John T. Jones, known as "Ottawa" Jones, a halfJJood Ottawa, 
who had been educated at Hamilton, New York. The printing press 
which had been installed at the Shawnee Baptist Mission was moved to 
the Ottawa mission, where many books for use among different tribes 
were printed. This was the first printing press brought to the country 
which became Kansas. G. W. Brown bought it of Mr. Meeker, and used 
it in the office of the Herald of Freedom, at Lawrence. S. S. Prouty 
bought it from Brown, and used it to print Freedom's Cliampion, at 
Prairie City. It was then taken to Leeompton and used in the office 
of Solomon "Weaver. Prom Leeompton it was taken to Cottonwood 
Palls, and from thence to Cowley County, finally going into the Indian 
Territory. The type used at the mission was scattered over the prairie 
by the Indian children. The press was a Seth Adams press. There 
were twenty stars on it, indicating that it was made in 1817, when the 
Union contained twenty states. 

The Ottawas left Kansas in 1870, going to the Indian Territory. 
On June 24, 1862, they had made a treaty disposing of their lands. 
The land-shark stood by to despoil the Indian. There is not a more 
miserable story in all land transactions than that of the Ottawa reserve. 

Mia mis 

'I'll.' Miamis were called Twightwees by the Early English writers. 
They were sometimes spoken of as the Crane people. Little Turtle. 
their chief, replied when asked the bounds of his country by "Mad" 
Anthony; "My forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence 
he extended his line to the headwaters of the Scioto ; from thence to its 
mouth; from thence to the mouth of the Wabash; and from thence to 
Chicago, on Lake Michigan. These are the boundaries within which 
the prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be seen." 

The Miamis were an important tribe in the Ohio Valley, where they 
bore a part in all the border wars. They are of tin- Algonquian stock and 
have the social organization of that family. There are ten elans in 'lie 
tribe : 

1. Wolf. 

2. Loon. 

3. Eagle. 

4. Blizzard. 

5. Panther. 

6. Turkey. 

7. Raccoon. 

8. Snow. 

9. Sun. 
in. Water. 



272 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

By the time of general treaty-making to divest the Indians of their 
land east of the Mississippi, the Miamis were mostly in Indiana. By 
the treaties of 1839 and 1841 they were possessed of a reservation 
adjoining the State of Missouri, immediately north of the land of the 
New York Indians, south of the country of the Weas, and east of the 
Pottawatomies. Miami County was made from a portion of this reser- 
vation. They arrived and began a settlement on Sugar Creek in 1846. 
By the end of 1847 there were eleven hundred of them on their reser- 
vation, but half of them died the following year. Many of them 
returned to their old homes east of the Mississippi. The remainder 
moved to the Marais des Cygnes, in the south part of Miami County, 
where they established what was called Miami Village. The Baptists 
and Catholics had missions among the Miamis in Kansas. 

The Miami reservation contained about five hundred thousand acres. 
The land was as good as can be found in Kansas. The land-stealers soon 
came to demand it. A treaty was concluded June 5, 1854, by which 
the reservation was sold to the United States for two hundred thousand 
dollars. There was excepted a tract containing seventy-two thousand 
acres. This tract was later secured by the white settlers by the usual 
methods in use for getting possession of Indian land. In 1871 the 
Miamis removed to a reservation on the Spring River, in what is now 
Oklahoma. 

Chippewas 

The Chippewas are one of the largest of the Algonquiau tribes. 
The correct form of the name is Ojibwa. It signifies "to roast till 
puckered up" and has reference to the puckered seam in their mocca- 
sins, it being peculiar to the tribe, no others making the moccasin in 
that way. 

The original territory occupied by this tribe bordered both shores 
of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and extended westward to the Tur- 
tle Mountains, in North Dakota. This land was beyond and beside the 
trails and courses of the first settlers, and as a consequence the Chip- 
pewas were not embroiled in so many of the border wars as were other 
tribes less fortunately situated. 

The Chippewas. as did many other Indian nations, became widely 
scattered as a residt of the settlement of the country by Europeans. 
A number of small bands settled and remained about Lake St. Clair. 
The band on the Swan Creek of that lake came to be known as the 
Swan-Creek band. The Black Biver flows into Lake St. Clair, and the 
band living on that stream came to be called the Black-River band. By a 
treaty made May 9, 1S36, these bands ceded their lands on the stream 
named, and were guaranteed a reservation west of the Mississippi of 
eight thousand three hundred and twenty acres. This tract was finally 
located a few miles west of Ottawa, in Franklin County, Kansas. Only 
a few families were settled on these lands. To these the whole reserva- 
tion was given. By the terms of the treaty made July 16. 1859, the 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 273 

Munsee or Christian Indians were united with these Chippewas and 
made joint owners of the reservation. This band was composed of the 
Christian Indians of the Munsee tribe, and this tribe has had notice in 
our account of the Delawares. In the treaty of 1859 provision was made 
for allotment of lands in severalty. In the course of time this was done. 
In 1871 the surplus land was sold. The Chippewas then asked that they 
be permitted to sell all their lands and move to the Indian Territory. 
This was complied with, but the process was slow. It was 1901 before 
the transaction was completed and the Indians received the proceeds of 
the sales of their lands. 

There was a Moravian mission among these Indians. Little was 
ever accomplished in the way of Christianizing the Chippewas, however. 
Their missionary once remarked that he had little hope of meeting 
any of them in heaven. 

There were twenty-three clans among the Chippewas: 

1. Wolf. 

2. Bear. 

3. Beaver. 

4. Mud Turtle. 

5. Snapping Turtle. 

6. Little Turtle. 

7. Reindeer. 

8. Snipe. 

9. Crane. 

10. Pigeon Hawk. 

11. Raven. 

12. Bald Eagle. 

13. Loon. 

14. Duck. 

15. Swan. 

16. Snake. 

17. Marten. 

18. Heron. 

19. Bullhead. 

20. Carp. 

21. Sturgeon. 

22. Pike. 

23. Pickerel. 

Moravian Munsees 

Another small band of the Christian Indians moved to Kansas and 
were permitted to settle on the Delaware reservation. They had a town 
near the Kansas River, near the present town of Muncie, in Wyandotte 
County. Later they moved to a beautiful location in Leavenworth 
County, now the National Military Home and Mount Muncie Cemetery. 
A small band of Stockbridges had been permitted to settle there, also, 
but these returned to "Wisconsin after a residence of a few years. In the 



274 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

treaty of May 6, 1854, with the Delaware, the Moravian Munsees, called 
also the Christian Indians, were assigned a reservation. It included the 
fine location mentioned above, and consisted of four sections of land. 
They lived on their reservation but four years after it had been set off to 
them. By act of Congress they were authorized to dispose of the land, 
and they sold it to one A. J. Isacks. 

Kaskaskia Confederacy 

This was not a true confederacy, but an association of tribes which 
resulted from circumstances over which none had much control. 

The Kaskaskias made a treaty at Vincennes in 1803, in which it is 
recited that they ' ' are the remains, and rightfully represent all the tribes 
of the Illinois Indians." They ceded more than eight million acres in 
the heart of Illinois, reserving only three hundred and fifty acres near 
the old town of Kaskaskia, with the privilege of locating another tract of 
twelve hundred and eighty acres in the tract ceded. In 1818 the Peorias, 
part of the Illinois Indians, who had to that time lived apart, united with 
the Kaskaskias. All of them ceded their lands in Illinois and received a 
reservation of six hundred and forty acres on the Blackwater River, near 
St. Genevieve, in Missouri. The Weas and Piankashwas were closely re- 
lated to the Miamis. They ceded their lands in Indiana in 1818 — the 
Piankashwas earlier — and were moved west of the Mississippi in that year. 
They were settled near St. Genevieve, also. There these tribes became 
united with the Kaskaskias and Peorias. But, like the Delawares and 
Shawnees, they wandered at will in the West. The existence of Peoria and 
Piankashaw towns on the White River, near the site of the present town 
of Forsyth, Mo., has been noticed. These towns had been established 
before 1828. October 27, 1832, a treaty made with the Kaskaskias and 
Peorias assigned them one hundred and fifty sections of land west of the 
State of Missouri, on the waters of the Osage River. This reservation 
was to include a Peoria town which had already been established on the 
north bank of the Osage, or Marais des Cygnes, a few miles below the 
present site of Ottawa, Franklin County. The Peorias had arrived in 
1827. 

On the 29th day of October, 1832, the Piankashaws and Weas were 
given a reservation extending from that of the Kaskaskias and Peorias 
to the west line of the State of Missouri, containing two hundred and 
fifty sections of land. These reservations were in what are now Franklin 
and Miami counties. 

hi the treaty made on the 30th day of May, 1854, it is recited "that 
the tribes of Kaskaskia and Peoria Indians, and the Piankeshaw 
and Wea Indians, having recently in joint council assembled, united them- 
selves into a single tribe, the United States hereby assent to the action of 
said joint council. ' ' In this treaty it was provided that the lands should 
be allotted to the Indians and the surplus land sold for their benefit. 
Baptiste Peoria was accused of having secured proceeds of the sales of 
land allotted to pretended parties, who did not exist. The fraud caused 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 275 

many lawsuits. These Indians were settled at the Quapaw Agency, in the 
Indian Territory. 

The Presbyterians established a mission among the Weas and Pianka- 
shwas. It was commenced in 1834, and seems to have been abandoned in 
1838. The Methodists had a mission among the Peorias about the same 
time. The Baptists established a mission about one mile east of the 
present town of Paola, and the mission prevailed and prospered. It was 
commenced about the year 1839. Dr. David Lykins was the missionary 
in 1844, and he continued to live in that country after the Territory of 
Kansas had been organized. In some authorities it is said that Dr. 
Lykins founded the mission about 1840. Later he took an active interest 
in politics, on the pro-slavery side. He was a member of the first Terri- 
torial Legislature, and Miami County was first named Lykins County, in 
his honor. 

Quapaws 

The Quapaws are the Arkansas Indians. They were once a powerful 
tribe, claiming a vast territory which extended from the Mississippi to 
head waters of the Red River. As the tract remained at the time of the 
cession, it was bounded on the north by the Arkansas and the Canadian 
rivers, on the south by the Red River down almost to Shreveport, thence 
to the Mississippi River. 

The Quapaws represented the southern division of the Siouan family. 
Much of the land ceded by the Osages belonged of right to the Quapaws. 
and especially that bordering on the Mississippi in Missouri and Arkan- 
sas. It has already been noticed that this was the tribe called the Escan- 
jaques by the Spaniards in their early explorations. At that time their 
possessions west of the Mississippi were not. so extensive, the land of the 
Caddoans approaching that great river closely, especially below the mouth 
of the Arkansas. 

In 1834 the Quapaws were assigned a reservation on the Neosho. It 
extended north of the south line of Kansas, as later established, some 
twelve sections of land being found to be in Kansas. This they disposed 
of in 1867. The Quapaws had never occupied this land, so never lived in 
Kansas. 

Otoes and Missouris 

The Otoes and Missouris are tribes of the Siouan family. They were 
placed en a reservation in the country about the Nemaha River, in what 
became Kansas and Nebraska. By a treaty made September 21. 1 >•'::'». 
they ceded their country smith of the Little Nemaha. The remainder of 
their hinds were ceded to the United States by a treaty made March 15, 
1854, and tln'\ \wiv assigned a diminished reservation on the waters of 
the Big Blue River. This tract was twenty-live miles long- cast and 
west — by ten miles wide. It was surveyed to please the Indians from 
simie point called li\ them the " islands." The smith honndarx fell two 



276 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

miles below or south of the north line of Kansas. They lived there until 
the white people crowded them out, moving to the Indian Territory in 
1881. It required twenty years to quiet the title to this reservation. As 
usual, the Indians received only a small part of the value of the land. 



AUTHORITIES 

Some of the principal authorities upon which this chapter is based 
are indicated in the text. Of those not mentioned there, the Eighteenth 
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, the treaties made with the 
Indians, and the article by Miss Anna Heloise Abel in Volume VIII, 

Kansas Historical Collections, wei E most service and most frequently 

consulted. The article of Mrs. Ida M. Ferris, "The Sauks and Foxes 
in Franklin and Osage Counties, Kansas." in Volume XI, Kansas 
Historical Collections, I found of much value. 

The Handbook of American Indians, by the Bureau of American 
Ethnology I found indispensable. 

Holcomb's History of Vernon County, Missouri, is scholarly and 
accurate. It has much on the Osage Indians. 

The various maps and manuscripts in the Library of the Kansas 
State Historical Kncietv contain information not to be found elsewhere. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE BUFFALO 

By Mrs. Edith Connelly Ross 

The history of any plains-state is so inextricably interwoven with the 
story of the buffalo that the two are incomplete when told separately. 
The place of the buffalo in the story of the plains is so important that to 
imagine the two separated is to imagine a new and entirely different 
history for the plains. They are necessary to each other. Together they 
were found, together they played their part in pioneer history, and to- 
gether they disappeared — the buffalo exterminated, the plains metamor- 
phosed into the well-cultivated farms of to-day. But so closely were they 
linked in early plains-history that even to-day the buffalo stands as the 
symbol of the boundless, free plains, and the pioneer life of the early 
hunter. 

Especially is this true with Kansas history. Kansas has the distinc- 
tion of having been the favorite of all the grazing-land roamed by the 
mighty herds of the buffalo. She provided an immense, rich pasture-land 
to the innumerable thousand of wild cattle that covered the prairies. 
Here grew in generous abundance the buffalo grass — most fattening and 
nutritious of stock-feeds. Sustaining beyond most other grasses, it was 
desired above all else by the buffalo. The Kansas plains were fairly 
carpeted with this wonderful vegetation. For this reason, Kansas was 
the Mecca of the buffalo hunter of the day. Here he was certain to find 
the bison, largest of all American game, in abundance. Here his enter- 
prise was always rewarded. However the herds might fluctuate in other 
regions, in Kansas the buffalo was invariably present, until within the 
last forty-two years. The earliest history of Kansas is linked with that 
of the buffalo. Coronado, crossing the Kansas plains in search of the 
"Seven Cities of Cibola" witnessed a scene familiar to the hunters of 
three hundred years later — the prairies blackened by huge herds of the 
buffalo. And probably hundreds of years before the Europeans ever 
dreamed of the discovery of a new world that same scene had been re- 
peated manj thousands of times on the Kansas prairies. 

But of the history of the buffalo before the coming of the European 
nothing can be definitely stated. Had the priests of the Spanish not 
destroyed the written records of the Aztecs, historians would possibly be 
able to tell much of interest concerning the buffalo of the past ages. I low 

ever, si ■ all of this is lust to history, we must be contenl to begin our 

story with the first mention of the buffalo by the early explorers, 
277 



278 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The first buffalo ever known to an European was seen by the members 
of the Cortez expedition in 1521. Fighting their way inland, in that 
relentless search for gold which was the chief characteristic of the early 
Spanish explorations, these free-booters came at last to the Aztec capital, 
Anahuac. Here Montezuma, the Emperor of the Aztecs, kept in cap- 
tivity a large menagerie for the use and entertainment of his subjects. 
Concerning it, De Solis, the historian, wrote the following account: 



In the 


second Square of the same Hou 


se were the Wild Beasts, which 


were eithi 


■r presents to Montezuma, or ti 


iken by his Hunters,*in strong 


Cages of ' 


rimber, rang 'd in good Order, at 


id under Cover; Lions, Tygers, 


Bears, an 


d all others of the savage Kin 


;1 which New-Spain produced; 




Buffalo, Gage Park, Topeka 
[Prom Photograph Owned by William E. Connelley] 

among which the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful 
composition of divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch 
on its Back like a Camel; its Planks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck 
eover'd with Hair like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like 
that of a Bull, which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and 
Agility. 

Evidently this captive buffalo's appearance made a great impression 
on the Spanish. And, indeed, compared to the small, sleek cattle they 
were used to, it must have seemed a veritable monster. 

The next appearance of flic buffalo in history was in ir>:!(). Alvar 
Nunez Cabeza, (Cabeza i\f Vaea), a Spanish explorer and discoverer, 
was wrecked on the Gulf Coast west of the Mississippi delta. In his 
wanderings westward through what is now Texas, he sighted buffalo, and 
a welcome sight it was to him, for he was literally starving. This was 
the earliest known discovery of the buffalo in a free state. Of it Cabeza 
\\ rite- ■ 



KANSAS AND KANSANS *279 

Cattle come as far as this. J have seen them three times and eaten 
of their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They 

have small horns like those of Mor so, and the hair long and floeky, 

lil<e that of the merino. Some are light brown (pardillas) ami others 
Mack. To my judgment tin 1 flesh is liner and sweeter than that of this 

country, (Spain i. The Indians make blankets of those thai are full 

grown, and of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as 
far as- the sea-roast of Florida, (now Texas', and in a direction from 
the north, and range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the 
whole extent of plain over which they roam, the people who live bor- 
dering upon ii descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many 
-kins are scattered throughout the country. 

Twelve years later, Coronado, on his famous expedition in search of 
the "Seven Cities of Cibola" encountered the American bison. Pushing 
northward and westward, he at length reached the land of the buffalo. 
His first interest in the animal had been awakened by a tanned skin in 
the possession of one of the Indians visiting the Spaniards. At first he 
came upon buffalo in small groups, then, later, in the immense herds that 
ever covered the plains. The Spaniar-ds were interested and amused by 
hunting, but the}' soon tired of it and returned to the only occupation 
that held their keen attention long— the search for gold. Writing of the 
buffalo, Castaneda, one of Coronado 's followers, says: 

The first time we encountered the buffalo all the horses took to flight 
on seeing them for they are horrible to the sight. 

They have a broad and short face, eyes two palms from each other, 
and projecting in such a manner sideways that they can see a pursuer. 
Their beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground 
when they lower the head. They have, on the anterior portion of the 
body, a frizzled hair like sheep's wool; it is very tine upon the croup, 
and sleek like a lion's mane. Their horns are very short and thick, 
ami can scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their 
hair in May, and at this season they really resemble lions. To make it 
drop more quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll 
among the brush-wood which they find in the ravines. 

Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they 
run they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are 
tawny, and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color 
and form. 

Another thing which struck us was that all the old buffaloes that 
we killed had the left ear cloven, while it was entire in the voting: we 
could never discover the reason of this. 

Their wool is so fine that, handsome clothes would certainly lie 
made of it. but it can not be dyed for it is- tawny red. We were much 

surprised at sometimes ting innumerable herds of bulls without a 

single cow. and other herds of cows without bulls. 

In ir>!»0. Don Juan de Onate, governor of New .Mexico, became inter- 
ested iii the buffalo, and sent Vicente de Saldivar to find buffaloand report 

their habits, appearance, and the chan f capturing and domesticating 

them, 'flic expedition met large bands of friendly Indians on their trip, 
and after traveling many leagues, found lirsi one buffalo, a decrepit old 
bull. This occasioned great merriment among the Spanish. I lew ever. 



280* KANSAS AND KANSANS 

shortly afterwards, more than three hundred buffalo were sighted, about 
some pools. Here, too, at these same pools, were Indians, using the 
beautifully-tanned hides for tents and utensils, and the meat for food. 
Traveling still further, in their search, the explorers came at last to the 
main herd of buffalo. Juan Gutierrez Bocanegra, secretary of the expe- 
dition writes as follows concerning this : 

. . . Next day they went three more leagues farther in search of 
a convenient and suitable site for a corral, and upon finding a place 
they began to construct it out of large pieces of cottonwood. It took 
them three days to complete it. It was so large and the wings so long 
that they thought they could corral ten thousand head of cattle, because 
they had seen so many, during those days, wandering so near to the 
tents and houses. In view of this and of the further fact that when they 
run they act as though fettered, they took their capture for granted. 
It was declared by those who had seen them that in that place alone 
there were more buffalo than there are cattle in three of the largest 
ranches in New Spain. 

The corral constructed, they went next day to a plain where on the 
previous afternoon about a hundred thousand cattle had been seen. 
Giving them the right of way, the cattle started very nicely towards 
the corral, but soon they turned back in a stampede towards the men, 
and, rushing through them in a mass, it was impossible to stop them, 
because they are cattle terribly obstinate, courageous beyond exaggera- 
tion, and so cunning that if pursued they run, and that if their pursuers 
stop or slacken their speed they stop and roll, just like mules, and with 
this respite renew their run. For several clays they tried a thousand 
ways of shutting them in or of surrounding them, but in no manner 
was it possible to do so. This was not due to fear, for they are remark- 
ably savage and ferocious, so much so that they killed three of our 
horses and badly wounded forty, for their horns are very sharp and 
fairly long, about a span and a half, and bent upward together. They 
attack from the side, putting the head far down, so that whatever they 
seize they tear very badly. Nevertheless, some were killed ami over 
eighty arrobas of tallow were secured, which without doubt is greatly 
superior to that from pork; the meat of the bull is superior to that of 
our cow, and that of the cow equals our most tender veal or mutton. 

Seeing therefore that the full grown cattle could not be brought 
alive, the sargento Mayor ordered that calves be captured, but they 
became so enraged that out of the many which were being brought, 
some dragged by ropes and others upon the horses, not one got a league 
toward the camp, for they all died within about an hour. Therefore it 
is believed that unless taken shortly after birth and put under the 
care of our cows or goats, they cannot be brought until the cattle become 
tamer than they now are. 

Its shape and form are so marvellous and laughable, or frightful. 
that the more one sees it the more one desires to see it, and no one could 
be so melancholy that if he were to see it a hundred times a day he 
could keep from laughing heartily as many times, or could fail to 
marvel at the sight of so ferocious an animal. Its horns are black 
and a third of a vara long, as already stated, and resemble those of the 
bufalo; its eyes are small, its face, snout, feet and hoofs of the same 
form as of our cows, with the exception that both the male and female 
are very much bearded, similar to he-goats. They are so thickly covered 
witli wool thai it covers their eyes and face, and the forelock nearly 
envelops their horns. This wool, which is long and very soft, extends 



KANSAS AND EANSANS 

almost to the middle of the body, but from there on the hair is shorter. 
Over the ribs they have so much wool and the chine is so high thai Mi.;, 
appear humpbacked, although in reality and in truth they are mil 
greatly so, for the hump easily disappears when the hides are stretched. 

In general, they are larger than our cattle. Their tail is like thai of 
a hog, being very short, and having few bristles at the tip, and thej 
twist it upward when they run. At the knee they have natural garter 
of very long hair. Jn their haunches, which resemble those of mules, 
they are hipped and crippled, and they therefore run, as already stated, 
in leaps, especially down hill. They are all of the same dark color, 
somewhat tawny, in parts their hair being almost black. Such is their 
appearance which at sight is far more ferocious than the pirn can depict. 
As many of these cattle as are desired can be killed and brought to 
these settlements, which are distant from them thirty or forty 'leagues, 
but if they are to be brought alive it will be most difficult unless time 
and crossing them with those from Spain make them tamer. 

So far, all the buffalo known to Europeans had been found by the 
Spaniards. This was entirely natural, for the explorers from Spain 
operated mostly in the Southwest, in the vicinity of the Great Plains. 

The French also met the buffalo in a wild state in the seventeenth 
century. In 1679, La Salle sent Father Louis Hennepin, a priest and 
explorer belonging to his retinue, from Fort Crevecoeur to descend the 
Illinois and explore the Mississippi River. He passed up the Mississippi 
and returned to Canada by way of the Great Lakes. On this journey he 
saw and described the buffalo. Writing of it, he says: 

When the Savages discover a great Number of those Beasts together, 
they likewise assemble' their whole Tribe to encompass the Hulls, and 
then set on tire the dry Herbs about them, except in some places, which 
they leave free; and therein lay themselves in Ambuscade. The Hull- 
seeing the Flame round about them, run away through those Passages 
where they see no Fire; and there fall into the Hands of the Savages, 
who li.\ these Means will kill sometimes above six score in a day. Thej 
divide these Beasts according to the number of each Family; and send 
their Wives to Hay them, and bring the Flesh to their Cabins. These 
Women are so lusty and strong, that they carry on their Hack two or 
three hundred weight, besides their Children; and notwithstanding thai 
Burthen, they run as swiftly as any of our Soldiers with their Arm''. 

Those Hulls have a very line Coat, more like Wool! than Hair, and 
their Cows have it. longer than the Males; their Horns are almost blaek, 
ami much thicker, though somewhat shorter than those of Europe; Their 
Head is of a prodigious Bigness, as well as their Neck very thick hut at 
the same time exceeding short ; They have a kind of Bump between the two 
Shoulders; Their Legs are big and short, cover'd with long Wool I ; ami 
thej have between the two Horns an ugly Hush of Hair, which falls 
upon their Eyes, and makes them look horrid. 

The Flesh of these Heasis is very relishing, ami full of Juice, espe 
cially in Autumn, for having grazed all tin- Summer hue,' in those vast 
Meadows, where the Herbs are as high as they, thej are then Verj Eat 

Tlnre i- also amongsl them abundance of Sia^s. Deers, ami wild Goats, 
ami that nothing mighl he wanting in that Country, for the Convemence 
of those Creatures, there are Forests at certain distances, where the; 
retire to rest, and shelter themselves againsl the violence of the Sun. 

They change their Country according to the Seasons of the year; 
for upon the approach of the Winter, they leave the North and go to 



282 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

the Southern Parts. They follow one another so that you may see a 
Drove of them for above a League together, and stop all at the same 
place; and the Ground where they use to lie is cover'd with wild 
Purslain; which makes me believe, that the Cows Dung is very fit to 
produce that Herb. Their Ways are as beaten as our great Roads, and 
no Herb grows therein. They swim over the Rivers they meet in their 
Way, to go and graze in other Meadows. But the Care of the Cows for 
their Young Ones, cannot be too much admir'd for there being in those 
Meadows a great quantity of Wolves, who might surprize them, they 
go to calve in the Islands of the Rivers, from whence they don't stir till 
the young Calves are able to follow them, for then they can protect them 
against any Beast whatsoever. 

These Bulls being very convenient for the Subsistence of the Savages, 
they take care not to scare them from their Country; and they pursue 
only those whom they have wounded with their Arrows; But these 
Creatures multiply in such a manner, that notwithstanding the great 
Numbers they kill every Year, they are as numerous as ever. 

The Women spin from the Wooll of these Bulls, and make Sacks 
thereof to carry their Flesh in, which they dry in the Sun. or broil upon 
Gridirons. They have no Salt, and yet they prepare their Flesh so 
well, that it keeps above four Months without breeding any Corruption: 
and it looks then so fresh, that one wou'd think it was newly kill 'd. 
They commonly boil it, and drink the Broth of it instead of Water. 
This is the ordinary Drink of all the Savages of America, who have no 
Commerce with the Europeans. We follow 'd their Example in this 
particular; and it must be confessed that that Broath is very Wholsome. 
The Skin of one of those Bulls usually weighs about six-score Pound ; 
but the Savages make use only of the thinnest part, as that of the 
Belly, which they dress with the Brains of all sorts of Beasts, and 
thereby make it as soft as our Shamoi's Skins. They paint them with 
several Colours, and adorn with pieces of Porcupine-Skins, red and 
white, the Gowns they make thereof, to appear splendidly at Feasts 
and on other solemn Occasions. They make other Gowns against cold 
Weather, wherewith they cover themselves during the Winter ; but these 
plain Gowns, cover'd with curl'd Wooll, are, in my Opinion, the finest 
as well as the best. 

When they kill any Cows, their young Calves follow them, and liek 
their Hands. They bring them to their Children, who eat them, after 
having for some time played with them. They keep the Hoofs of those 
little Creatures, and when they are very dry, they r tie them to some 
Wand, and move them according to the various Postures of those who 
sing and dance. This is the most ridiculous Musical Instrument that 
I ever met with. 

These young Calves might be easily tanfd, and made use of to plow 
the Land, which would be very advantageous to the Savages. These 
Bulls find in all Seasons Forrage to subsist by ; for if they are sur- 
prised in tin' Northern Countries by the Snow, before they can reach 
the Southern Parts, they have the dexterity to remove the Snow, and 
eat the Grass under it. They bellow like our European Bulls, but not 
so frequently. 

Though these Bulls are taller and bigger than those of Europe, they 
are however so swift, that no Savage can overtake them; They are so 
timorous, that they run away from any Man, except when they are 
wounded; for then they are dangerous, and often kill the Savage who 
pursues them. 'Tis a diverting Prospect to see near the Banks of the 
Rivers several Droves of those Bulls of about four or five hundred 
together, grazing in those green Meadows. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 283 

It is very possible that other Frenchmen had found wild bison before 
this time, however, for they were determined hunters and explorers. So 
many minor expeditions are unknown to historians. 

The English explorations and settlements were mostly on the extreme 
Atlantic Coast. As this was beyond the range of the bison, they of 
course failed to meet it. 

The first Englishman known to have seen a buffalo was Samuel Argoll. 
In 1612, he saw a bison somewhere near the present Washington, D. C. 
In a letter to a friend lie describes the incident thus : 

As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of 
Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at 
Point Comfort, the 18 of March; and returned myself with the ship into 
Pembrook (Potomac) River, and so discovered to the head of it, which 
is about 65 leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And then 
marching into Countrie, I found great store of Cattle as big as Kine, of 
which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we found 
to be very good and wholesome meate. and are very easie to be killed, in 
regards they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the wilder- 



A surveying party under Colonel William Byrd, who were determin- 
ing the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia, in 172'.), met 
three buffalo on Sugar-Tree Creek. They were regarded as great curios- 
ities. But as the party were not in need of food, none of them were 
killed. On the return journey one buffalo was found in the wood and 
killed for food. 

Again, in 1733, Colonel Byrd found buffalo in the same location. 

Thus heralded for more than two centuries by explorers and hunters, 
the van-guard of the pioneer settlers, the buffalo entered the history of 
the great American plains. From the first he gave the promise, by fur- 
nishing food and utensils to the explorers, of his ultimate utility. The 
choice flavor of the flesh, the usefulness of the hides, the length of the 
warm wool, all suggested bis importance in the life of the plainsman. 
With the history of the plains and the pioneer, also began the history of 
the buffalo. 

Habits 

The buffalo herds were broken up int., small hands of from twentj to 

two hundred, usually led by some old cow. These hands slowly scattered, 
till a herd covered many miles. In searching for a feeding-land, the 
average buffalo hand displayed little intelligence, often leaving good 
pasture to wander into arid, rocky deserts and hills. The bands feeding 
,,n drj broken country, would pasture for some days, until thirst drove 
them to seel; water. The leader at the head, the rest following in single 
tih', a march was begun in a manner that mighl have provoked th 
of a surveyor for directness and precision. The animals in a hand num- 
bering from twenty to two hundred would pr «d for miles in single 

tile. The same trail was used over and over again, until worn into a 



284 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

ditch, often from seven inches to two feet deep. Then it was abandoned 
for a new one alongside. Even now the plains-cattle use these trails. 

Often, in a hot, drouthy summer when the streams were dried up by 
the sun, the search for a water hole was a long one. But at last a warm, 
sickningly alkaline pool would be found and surrounded by hot, thirsty 
animals. Then the law of might prevailed and the strongest gained the 
first drink. After satisfying their thirst, the herd, instead of returning 
to their original grazing ground, would wander aimlessly in search of 
new pasture. 

The buffalo grass was the favorite food. It grew close to the earth, a 
tough-fibred plant, containing the best elements of the finest stock-feed. 
Fattening, rich, nourishing, it was equally good whether green and damp 
or dry and browned by the fierce prairie heat. Instead of being evenly 
distributed, it grew in small patches interspersed with bare earth. 

In contrast to this checkered green-and-brown, there would sometimes 
be found by early plainsmen, large rings of luxuriantly growing, tall, 
wavy grass. These at first were a source of wonder to their discoverers, 
being simply known as " Fairy -rings. " Later, when the habits of the 
bison became better known, these "Fairy- rings" were easily explained. 

Often a herd of buffalo, driven almost frantic by heat and the cease- 
less stinging torment of millions of insects, would search for a marshy low 
spot in the prairie. Here one, always the strongest old bull of the herd, 
would go down on his knees and cut deep into the sod with his horns. 
This he would continue, mingled with much rolling and shoving and 
grunting, until he had completed a very good mud-hole. After wallowing 
in it till thickly coated with wet earth, and vastly satisfied, he would 
vacate in favor of the next buffalo. This would be kept up until every 
member of the herd was similarly coated. The mud, drying, made the 
buffalo an object so hideous as to be awe-inspiring. But it fulfilled the 
purpose he desired — it formed a protecting layer between himself and the 
tormenting insects. Shielded by this earthen armor, the buffalo, good 
knight of the plains, walked his dominion unmolested. 

These rings were not always confined to low or marshy ground, how- 
ever. In the tenacious chalky soil on the mountain tops in the Alleghe- 
nies, and especially in Eastern Kentucky, these "buffalo wallows" were 
common. The heavy clay held water like a rubber blanket. The wallows 
were used from year to year, becoming wide and shallow pools. 

On the prairies and plains, the old bulls cut untold thousands of 
these depressions. They rolled in them to take off the dead hair when 
they were shedding in the spring. Where the prairie has not been broken 
by the plow in Kansas and Oklahoma, and no doubt in all other plains 
states, these rings are still to lie seen. They are particularly numerous 
in the country about Baxter Springs, Kansas, and the Quapaw Agency, 

Oklah a, where they have been observed with curiosity, and much 

interest. 

After the departure of the buffalo, verdure, of the greenest type, 
quickly grew over the mudhole, forming the beautiful, mysterious "Fairy • 
ring' - of the plains. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 285 

The buffalo, like many other animals, claimed his share of the salt of 
the earth. So the salt-springs were very popular. They always evidenced 
the buffalo's favor in the trampled hoof-marked earth surrounding them. 
The members of a herd entertained no affection for one another. 
There was no such thing as a life-time mating. During the breeding 
season, the herds collected close together, and the noise of their fighting 
and roaring could be heard for many miles. Afterwards the huge herds 
again separated into small bands. The breeding season was from the first 
of July to the first of October. 

The calves, bom in April, May or June, were covered with a baby-coat 
entirely unlike their later covering. They were a tawney red in color, 
and resembled greatly the common domestic calf in appearance. The calf 
would fight, butting desperately at his enemies or captors. The mother 
heartlessly deserted her offspring on slight provocation. But the bulls 
of the herd would often protect the calves from wolves. Often the calf, 
desiring to escape capture, would hide his head, ostrich-fashion, and imag- 
ine himself concealed safely from his pursuers. The hump was much more 
clearly defined in the male than in the female when very young. The 
calf, once captured, became quite tame, many times following its captor 
back to camp, trotting contentedly beside the horse. 

About the first of August, the red hair began to fall off, and the new 
dark coat rapidly appeared. The silliness of the young calf gave way to 
the alertness and interest of the full grown bison. By the end of a year 
the calf had become a fine, fat young buffalo. However the buffalo did 
not reach full maturity under the age of three years. 

In summer, the herds always tended towards the north, in winter they 
returned to their more southern feeding-grounds. On these expeditions 
the calf was compelled to look out for his own interests, as none of the 
herd gave him more than a cursory attention. 

When it came to real affection or intelligence, the buffalo ranked low. 
Often stupidity was miscalled bravery in him. The bison had the in- 
stinct God gives all his creatures, fear of danger — and the power to flee 
from it. But puzzled and stupified, the buffalo would stand patiently 
still, with his comrades falling around him, and allow himself to be shot. 
He was not able to connect, mentally, their death and his own danger. 

Appearance 

With the shedding of his old coat the buffalo stood forth, a sleek, 
dark, well-furred creature. Then his appearance was very imposing 
and majestic, but during the season preceding even his most ardent 
champion could not admire him. About the first of .March, the old hair 
began to flake off in great patches, giving him a decidedly ragged, 
dejected look. On the hind quarters and body, all the hair was lost, 
leaving for a few days only bare, glistening skin. Then it was that 
the wallow offered surcease for his misery. On the posterior portions 
of the body the hair remained very short all summer. Rut by the 
first of October again, his new coat was in prime condition, and the 



286 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

hair grew steadily longer, in preparation for the cold oi' the coming 
winter. While shedding, the buffalo rolled many times daily in the 
dry "wallows," among the rough shrubs in the draws and ravines, in 
the sands along the streams, and in the loose earth horned down from 
cut banks, bluffs, and hillsides, in a constant effort to rub off the dead 
hair. 

The short, curling horns of the bison offered a good guide to his 
age. In youth, symmetrical and graceful, they were at their best in the 
three-years old bull. After that, the horny, rough rings added by each 
succeeding year, together with the wear of grubbing and digging, 
utterly ruined their beauty. 

The Indian and the Buffalo 

Ages before the coming of the Europeans to the new world, the 
North American Indian had known and utilized the buffalo. While 
the Indians east of the Mississippi recognized him as a possible source 
of food and shelter, still they did not place on him the dependence 
shown by the Indians west of that river. The buffalo, while in mod- 
erate numbers in the east, was outranked there by other game, such 
as deer, bear, wild fowls, etc. But as these animals were not so plen- 
tiful on the Western plains, of course, the Indians west of the Missis- 
sippi placed almost their entire dependence on the buffalo. 

As we have said before, the buffalo was pre-eminently a plains-ani- 
mal. Of all the Indians dependent on the buffalo, the following twenty- 
two tribes seemingly needed him the most: The Sioux, Crows, Piegans, 
Bloods, Blackfeet, Cheyennes, Gros Ventres, Aricarees, Mandans, Ban- 
nacs, Shoshnnes, Nez Perces, Assinniboines. Kiowas, Comanches, Ara- 
pahoes, Apaches, Utes, Omahas, Kansas, Pawnees, Osages, and Wimie- 
bagos. To these various tribes lie was the one absolute necessity of life. 

As with all the other wild creatures, the Indian had a theory to 
explain the huge herds of the buffalo. It was supposed that on the 
Staked Plains of Texas there was a huge cave, out of which, every 
year, some beneficent spirit sent the buffalo in great numbers, as a prize 
for the Indian. So convinced were they of this, that even when the buf- 
falo were near extermination, they still clung to the legend that the 
good spirit would not let them all be killed, but would keep sending 
more buffalo to take the place of the slain. Many old warriors of the 
different tribes told of some truthful relative who had witnessed the 
coming of the buffalo, and one old man told his white friends, that he. 
personally, had seen them coming from this cave. 

The Indian habit of burning the timber away and leaving unwooded 
prairies was largely responsible for the pasture of the buffalo. Whether 
with the full knowledge of the reason for his act, or with merely the 
instinct to gain freed land, the Indian unerringly chose the best method 
for the bison and the making of his range. And the burning of the 
prairies in the fall was also good. 

In hunting the buffalo, the different tribes took their choice of sev- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 287 

eral different methods— the "Chase," "Impounding"' the "Surround," 
or "Decoying.' 1 In winter, sometimes the bison was limited on snow 
shoes. The Indian, owing to his lack of the right fire-arms, seldom used 
the deadly "still-hunt," beloved of the white hunter. 

In "Chasing," the hunter chose his favorite "Buffalo-horse," took 
his weapon, whether gun, or bow and arrows, and rode beside the flee- 
ing herd, picking his animals and slaying. Afterwards, the squaws 
came to skin and care for the fallen buffalo. 

By "Impounding" was meant driving the bison into circular pens, 
as cowboys drive domestic cattle, and then killing them from advan- 
tageous positions on the wall of the pens. Difficult as this may sound it 
was a common practice among the Indians. 

The "Surround" was a carefully planned affair. A herd sighted, 
the Indians surround them, on all sides at a distance, closing in last 
to the windward. At the signal the lines drew closer to the startled, 
confused herd, which of course tried to flee. Foiled in every direction, 
they were compelled to beat about in fruitless efforts to escape until 
killed. 

In "Decoying" or driving, the herd was sent by skilful maneuver- 
ing, to plunge, head-first, over a cliff. After which it was easy to sup- 
ply a camp with skins and meat. 

The Indians used the hides for tepees, moccasins, rawhide thongs, 
dishes, horse-shoes, clothes, and many other articles. The skins were 
stretched and cured much in the manner used afterward by the white 
hunter. 

Out of the meat of the buffalo, the Indian constructed many forms of 
food. The flesh dried and pounded witli corn or wild cherries formed 
a common, nourishing food. Often the moat was preserved in tin- tal- 
low. Or it was cut in very thin strips and dried on brush frames. The 
tongue and the meat of the hump were regarded as especial delicacies. 
so much so that they were often the only parts used by white hunters. 

The United States government recognized the dependence of the 
Indian on the buffalo. A plan was once considered of sending the 
soldiers to exterminate the American bison and thus bringing the 
unruly plains tribes to submission. But it was never carried out. 

The White Man \m> the Buffalo 
William '1'. Hornaday in his article, "The Extermination of the 
American Bison," groups the extermination under two heads the period 
.if desultory destruction, from 1730 to 1830, and the period of sys- 
tematic slaughter, from 1830 to 1888. 

The first period covered the time of the early discoverer or 
who killed only to supply his own needs. Because emigration west of 

the Mississippi was a rare occurrence at that (late, and 1 ause the huge 

herds were practically unknown to the averagi tier, the 

number of buffalo slain amounted to but very little compared to the 

immense numbers left. However the slaughter of this period was 
enough to practically exterminate the bison east of the Mississippi. 



288 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

The first deliberate buffalo hunt was sent from the Red River set- 
tlement, Manitoba. Five hundred and forty carts were used. The 
American Fur Company established trading posts along the Missouri 
River and soon the West was dotted with such posts. Both Indians 
and white men were encouraged to kill the buffalo. 

From 1830 to 1856, the slaughter went systematically on, and the 
buffalo herd steadily decreased. But 1856, when the building of a 
transcontinental railroad was begun, saw the beginning of the end. 
The railroad cut the buffalo into two large herds — the northern and the 
southern. The railroad also made the hunting-grounds more accessible 
to the hired butcher and offered greater facility in the trader's han- 
dling of the skins. The laborers laying the track for the new railroad 
were constantly interfered with by the herds of buffalo. 

As late as 1872, thousands of buffalo still grazed the plains. Towns 
had sprung up on their pasture, the hunter had made many devastat- 
ing inroads on their herds, railroads ran through their midst, but the 
buffalo still clung to their lives and their home. 

Colonel Dodge, in his "Plains of the Great West," says: 

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad was then (in 1871-72) 
in process of construction, and nowhere could the peculiarity of the buf- 
falo of which I am speaking be better studied than from its trains. If a 
herd was on the north side of the track it would stand stupidly gazing, 
and without a symptom of alarm, although the locomotive passed within a 
hundred yards. If on the south side of the track, even though at a dis- 
tance of 1 or 2 miles from it, the passage of a train set the whole herd 
in the wildest commotion. At full speed, and utterly regardless of the 
consequences, it would make for the track on its line of retreat. If the 
train happened not to be in its path, it crossed the track and stopped 
satisfied. If the train was in its way, each individual buffalo went at it 
with the desperation of despair, plunging against or between locomotive 
and cars, just as its blind madness chanced to direct it. Numbers were 
killed but numbers still pressed on, to stop and stare as soon as the 
obstacle had passed. After having trains thrown off the track twice in 
one week, conductors learned to have a very decided respect for the 
idiosyncrasies of the buffalo, and where there was a possibility of striking 
a herd "on the rampage" for the north side of the track the train was 
slowed up and sometimes stopped entirely. 

From which it may be seen that the buffalo was still a force for 
civilization to reckon with. 

In the commercialized killing, the butchers were supplied with espe- 
cial outfits. In writing of this, Colonel Dodge describes it as follows : 

The most approved party consisted of four men — one shooter, two 
skinners, and one man to cook, stretch hides and take care of camp. 
Where buffalo were very plentiful the number of skinners was increased. 
A light wagon, drawn by two horses, or mules, takes the outfit into the 
wilderness, and brings into the camp the skins taken each day. The 
outfit is most meager, a sack of flour, a side of bacon, 5 pounds of coffee, 
tea and sugar, a little salt, and possibly a few beans, is a month's supply. 
A common or "A" tent furnishes shelter; a couple of Remington's heavi- 
est sporting rifles, and an unlimited supply of ammunition, is the 
armament. 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 289 

The skinning knives do duty at the platter, and "fingers were made 
before forks. Nor must be forgotten one or more 10-gallon ke"s of 
water, as the camp must of necessity be far away from the stream °The 
supplies are generally furnished by the merchant for whom the party is 
working who, in addition, pays each of the party a specified percentage 
ol the value oi (he skins delivered. The shooter is carefully selected for 
his skill and knowledge of the habits of the buffalo. He is captain and 
leader of the party. When all is ready, he plunges into the wilderness 
going to the center of the best buffalo region known to him not already 
occupied (for there are unwritten regulations recognized as laws <nvin<* 
each hunter certain rights of discovery and occupancy). Arrived at 
the position, lie makes his camp in some hidden ravine or thicket and 
makes all ready for work. 

After one of these expeditions, the plains for miles around were 
covered with mutilated, putrifying buffalo carcasses. In a season or 
so, the white bleached bones and skulls, so typical of the latter days of 
the great plains, were to be seen in immense quantities. 

Because of the wantonness of the slayers, it has been estimated that 
there were three to five buffalo killed to every hide marketed. 
A hide torn by careless rough handling was discarded. And millions 
of pounds of rich juicy meat— enough to have fed well all the poor of 
the nation — were wasted. 

The terrible "Still-hunt" was usually used. A herd sighted, the 
hunter secreted himself and fired, killing the leader. The herd, 'eon- 
fused and puzzled and lacking their accustomed general, stood still. 
Then it was an easy matter for the gunner, picking his animals and 
always killing those who would start to run, to soon exterminate a 
large band. Many a hunter killed in a season fifteen hundred to two 
thousand animals. 

The work of the skinner was arduous, but not difficult. Sure of 
being able to replace those ruined, he displayed the same wasteful 
carelessness before spoken of. William T. Hornaday writes as follows : 

At first tin' utmost wastfulness prevailed. Every one wanted to kill 
buffalo, and no one was willing to do the skinning and curing. Thou- 
sands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for their tongues alone, 
and uever skinned. Thousands more were wounded by unskillful marks- 
men and wandered off to die and become a total loss. ' lint the climax of 
wastefulness and sloth was nut reached until the enterprising buffalo- 
butcher began to skin his dead buffaloes by horse-power I 
is of interest, as showing the depths id' degradation in which a man can 
fall and still call himself a. hunter. The .skin of the buffalo WS 
open along the belly and throat, the Legs cut around at the knees, and 
ripped up the rest of the way. The skin of the neck was divided all 

tround .-it the back of the head, and skinned hark a lev 
to afford a start. A stout iron bar, like a hitching post, was then driven 
through the skull and aboul 18 inches into the e; rth, after which a rope 
was tied \e, v . 'irmly to the thick skin of the neck, made readj £ 

o her end of this rope was then hitched to the whiffle- 
tree of a pair of horses, or to the rear axle of a wagon, the hors 

ip, an I th.- shin was forthwith either ti rn in t ■ 
the buffalo with about 50 pounds of flesh adhering to it. It soon became 



290 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

apparent to even the most enterprising buffalo skinner that this method 
Mas not an unqualified success, and it was presently abandoned. 

Skins were stretched, baled, and shipped like cordwood. Of the 
qualities of hides, one of the rarest was the "Beaver-robe," a soft fur 
resembling the animal it was named for. These sold for seventy-five 
dollars apiece. 

The " Black-and-tan " was also rare. In it, the nose, flank, and 
inside of the forelegs were black-and-tan — the rest of the hide jet black. 

The rarest skin of them all was the "Buckskin," a freak of nature. 
It was a dirty white in color, and because of its rarity, rather than its 
beauty, sold for two hundred dollars. 

The ordinary hide sold for about three dollars and a half. As in 
all other merchandise, the price fluctuated. 

By the end of the year 1875, the great southern herd was practi- 
cally extinct. The last of the year 1883 saw the last of the great north- 
ern herd. Some hunters believed that the buffalo were not all killed — 
that they had fled far north, into Canada. But this was not so. The 
buffalo, as a power, and a source of supply, had simply ceased to exist. 

No public action was ever taken to protect the American bison 
from the ravages of the hired hunter. From 1871 to 1876, Congress 
made several creditable efforts to do so, but was so hedged in and 
beset, that it utterly failed. 

In 1889, there were only 635 wild unprotected buffalo in North 
America. Today, there are in existence, owing to stringent game-laws, 
something like four or five thousand head of bison. In the wild "bad- 
lands" and in such preserves as Yellowstone and in many private 
parks, they graze unmolested. Of all the millions of the buffalo, there 
remains only this pitiful remnant. 

There have been many plans for domesticating and keeping the 
buffalo. Most of them were impracticable. "While there is yet some 
bitterness over the unjust treatment and the complete passing of the 
buffalo from the plains, still there is this point to be considered. 

The plains were needed by the increasing number of Americans, 
to supply homes, and food-stuffs for the rest of the world. This could 
not be while the buffalo roamed them in freedom. As all other factors 
in the world's progress, tne buffalo had to yield to the necessities of 
man and the advance of his civilization. It is a piteous thing, and a 
tragic, this passing of the buffalo and the Great Plains. But it had to 
be. The two were compelled before the coming of the white settler. 

But these two — the Great Plains and the buffalo — are fixed features 
in the romances of the early days. The haze of passing time can never 
hide them. Indissoluably linked for all the coming ages, they offer 
yearning memories to the old hunters still living, and rich dreams of 
the boundless freedom and untrammeled life of pioneer times, to the 
romancer of the future. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE ' 

The "Louisiana Purchase" was not designed by Jefferson for imme- 
diate settlement by the white people. He believed the transaction he 
had concluded with Prance to be in conflict with the constitution. To 
correct this defect he proposed that Congress should pass a constitu- 
tional amendment. This amendment he prepared. It provided that 
all that portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River and east of 
the Rocky Mountains, north of the thirty-second parallel should remain 
in the possession of the Indians inhabiting it, and that the tribes east 
of the Mississippi should be gradually moved into that reserved domain. 
The policy of removing the Eastern Indians to the country west of the 
Mississippi had its origin in the amendment, which, however, was never 
adopted. The policy was later put into effect, almost all the Indians 
living east of the Mississippi being forced to settle west of Arkansas 
and Missouri. 

John C. Calhoun elaborated the plan proposed by Jefferson. In 
his report of 1825 he put forward his plan to invest the Indians with 
an inalienable title to the land west of the Missouri River north of the 
thirty-second parallel. In this plan he might have been sustained in 
that early day. But he had coupled with it another region. All that 
territory west of Lake Michigan was likewise to become Indian coun- 
try in perpetuity. 

It will be seen that all the country to be forever excluded from 
white settlement lay in the free North — in the bounds wherein slavery 
could not be introduced — in which it had been proscribed and excluded 
by the Ordinance of 17S7 and the Missouri Compromise. It is sup- 
posed ttiat the loss of Texas to the prospective slave territory caused 
Calhoun to seek in this way to defeal the provisions of the Missouri 
Compromise. 

The issues underlying the Missouri Compromise developed sud 
denly and unexpectedly. Slavery had been so generously dealt with 
by Congress that the South considered the status of the institution 
fixed. Kentucky had been admitted as a slave State. A drastic fugi- 
tive-slave law had been passed in 1793. The cession of the Tennessee 
country by North Carolina had been accepted with the prom 
slavery would not be prohibited in the state to be erected from it. And 
thereupon Tennessee was at once brought in as a slave state. Missis- 
sippi Territory was organized in 1798, and slavery was imbedded in the 
291 



292 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

organic act. In 1803 Louisiana had been purchased with the under- 
standing that slavery should remain unmolested. In 1805 Congress 
had refused by a decisive vote to provide for the emancipation of the 
slaves in the District of Columbia. And, finally, Louisiana had been 
admitted as a slave state in 1812. 

Slavery had disappeared in the North, and it was believed that it 
would do so in the South. This might have been the fate of the insti- 
tution but for the invention of the cotton gin, in 1793. An immense 
impetus was given cotton production. In this industry slave labor was 
extremely profitable. While the industries and the life of the people of 
the North were not influenced by slavery, it was the foundation of the 
industrial life of the South. It became the settled policy of the South to 
foster, push and fortify it in every possible way. It was made the para- 
mount consideration in every political question. It engrossed the polit- 
ical energies of the South. This condition had been of gradual growth. 
Little had been heard of slavery in Congress after the passage of the 
law prohibiting the importation of slaves, in 1807. 

So, there was surprise in the South when opposition arose in Con- 
gress to the admission of Missouri with a slave constitution. Slavery 
had been firmly established in the Territory. That it should be antag- 
onized when that Territory demanded statehood had not occurred to 
the statesmen of the slave-holding area of the Union. The application 
of Missouri for admission was presented in March, 1818. No action was 
had at that session. The next session began in December, 1818. One 
of the first bills introduced was one to organize Arkansas Territory with 
the boundary line of the thirty-six thirty north latitude. The Ohio 
River had been recognized as the line between free and slave soil. The 
north line of Arkansas as proposed in the bill, was nearly a prolonga- 
tion of that line, from the mouth of the Ohio. 

The serious consideration of these bills did not begin until Febru- 
ary, 1819. Determined opposition to the slavery feature of the bills 
developed at once. James W. Talmadge, member of the House from 
New York, moved as an amendment to the Missouri bill, "that further 
introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited and that 
all children of slaves born within the said state after the admission 
thereof into the Union shall be free." The members from the North 
saw no injustice in the amendment. Missouri lay north of the accepted 
line between free and slave soil. It was immediately west of the free 
State of Illinois. And the amendment was adopted, the bill being then 
sent to the Senate. The Arkansas bill was then taken up. The Tal- 
madge amendment was in substance proposed for it by John W. Taylor, 
also from New York. The motion was defeated only by the deciding 
vote of Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House. At this juncture was 
offered the first proposal to fix by law a line between free and slave 
territory. It was suggested by McLane, of Delaware. Mr. Taylor 
accepted the suggestion and moved that slavery should be prohibited 
north of the parallel of thirty-six thirty. It became apparent that the 
House would not concur in that amendment, and Mr. Taylor with- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 293 

drew it. The Arkansas bill was then passed and sent to the Senate. 
That body accepted the bill, but it rejected the Talmadge amendment 
to the Missouri bill. Congress then adjourned. 

The debates had been earnest and even exciting in Congress. The 
whole country was aroused. Mass meetings were held in the North 
at which the extension of slavery was condemned. Meetings in the 
South invoked the Constitution and demanded the rights it guaran- 
teed, slavery being affirmed one of these. The legislatures of Dela- 
ware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania passed resolu- 
tions protesting against the admission of Missouri with slavery. 

The debates in Congress turned at times on the power of that body 
to pass the Talmadge amendment. It had power to "admit new states 
to this Union." Those favoring the amendment insisted that Congress 
had power to admit, which implied power to refuse to admit. They 
said this power had been in a measure exercised in the admission of 
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, they having been required to form constitu- 
tions prohibiting slavery. To this contention the South replied by 
asserting that principle which was later to be developed into the doc- 
trine of squatter-sovereignty — that Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois might 
under the Constitution, have insisted that they had the right to deter- 
mine for themselves what their domestic institutions should be. South- 
ern representatives argued that the right of Congress to fix terms upon 
which a state might came into the Union would establish a centralized 
despotism. The institutions of the states would be determined by Con- 
gress, which might or might not make them equal. They insisted that 
states coming into the Union must have the same powers possessed by 
the original states. 

The Missouri question became the leading matter for consideration 
by the Congress which assembled in December, 1819. Maine had secured 
the consent of Massachusetts, of which she had been a part since 1677, 
to apply for admission into the Union as a state. In December, 1819, 
the application of Maine was submitted, and with it a copy of her con- 
stitution, which, of course, was anti-slavery. The house promptly passed 
the bill admitting Maine, and sent it to the Senate. When tin' Senate 
came to consider the Maine bill, the Missouri bill was attached to it as 
an amendment. This brought up the whole matter of the extension 
ninl restriction of slavery. The Senate rejected the Talmadge amend- 
ment, but it was clear that the main question must have some form of 
settlement. Otherwise, no states could be admitted as long as either 
party controlled one branch of Congress. As each branch was stand- 
ing firm in its attitude toward the bills as tiny then were, the only hope 
for action was in compromise. For tin' Talmadge amendment to the 
Missouri bill. Senator Jesse 1'.. Thomas, of Illinois, proposed the fol- 
lowing amendment: 

Thai in all thai territory ceded by Prance to the United States under 

the oame of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees, thirty 

minutes, north latitude, not included within the I 

templated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than 



294 KANSAS AND KANSANS 

in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been con- 
victed, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited. 

There was a provision for the reclamation of fugitive slaves in the 
excluded territory. 

This was the Missouri Compromise. By it Maine was admitted. 
Missouri was authorized to form a constitution and submit it for 
approval, when she would be formally admitted. This constitution was 
laid before Congress in 1821. It was found to contain a provision for- 
bidding free negroes from entering the state. This raised another trou- 
blesome question. For free negroes were citizens of the United States. 
The resolution admitting Missouri twice passed the Senate and was 
twice rejected by the Senate. On motion of Henry Clay a committee 
was appointed by the House to act with a committee to be 
appointed by the Senate to consider the new controversy over the 
admission of Missouri. The joint committee agreed on a report and 
brought in a resolution in favor of the admission of the State, "Upon 
the condition that her legislature should first declare that the clause in 
her constitution relative to the free colored immigration into the State, 
should never be construed to authorize the passage of any act by which 
any citizen of either of the States of the Union should be excluded from 
the enjoyment of any privilege to which he may be entitled under the 
Constitution of the United States: and the President of the United 
States being furnished with a copy of said act, should, by proclama- 
tion, declare the State to be admitted." 

This declaration was soon made by the legislature, and Missouri 
was admitted. There were, in fact, two compromises. The main ques- 
tion, however, is the one involving the national controversy. Its set- 
tlement is regarded as the Missouri Compromise. Its author was Sen- 
ator Jesse B. Thomas, of Illinois, and not Henry Clay, as has so often 
been asserted. 

The South furnished the votes for the enactment of the Missouri 
Compromise and was for some time satisfied with that measure. But 
it was the beginning of the end of slavery in America. Southern states- 
men began to realize this some years later, and by the year 1850 they 
were willing to repeal it. This feeling grew until 1854, when they 
forced its repeal. To permit it to stand meant the ruin of slavery. In 
its repeal there might be a hope for the institution. The Compromise 
gave the South Arkansas and Texas for slavery west of the Mississippi. 
To freedom it consecrated a territory of vast extent, later to be 
increased, capable of furnishing many states. 

The Missouri Compromise was the most important matter witli which 
Congress had been required to deal to that time. It was a struggle 
for power between the North and the South. Jefferson said of it: "This 
momentous question like a fire bell in the night, awakened me and filled 
me with terror. I considered it at once as .the knell of the Union. It 
is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a 
atence. A geographical line coinciding with a marked princi- 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 295 

pie, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry pas- 
sions of men will never be obliterated, and every new irritation will 
mark it deeper and deeper." 

This prophecy burst into flames on the prairies of Kansas in 1855. 
The fires kindled there raged with uncontrollable fury until slavery 
was burned out of America. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 

The first serious incident in the slavery controversy after the Missouri 
Compromise grew out of the War with Mexico. In 1846 President Polk 
applied to Congress for two million dollars with which to promote a 
peace with Mexico, and at the same time secure a large amount of Mexi- 
can territory. This territory was to be acquired in the interest of Slavery. 
David Wilmot, a Democratic Member of the House, from Pennsylvania, 
offered the following amendment to the bill: "Provided, That, as an 
express and fundamental condition. to the acquisition of any territory 
from the Republic of Mexico by the United States in virtue of any treaty 
which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive 
of the monies herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 
tude shall ever exist in any part of said territory except for crime, 
whereof the party shall first be duly convicted." 

Thus was the whole slavery matter precipitated for debate in Congress 
and discussion in the country. The Proviso was immediately championed 
# by the North and utterly condemned in the South. Except that of Iowa, 
the legislatures of the free States passed resolutions affirming that 
Congress had power to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the 
Union, and it was its duty to do so. The country was divided for the 
first time on sectional lines, and the Proviso was defeated. The first 
threat of slavery to resort to actual war was uttered by the legislature of 
Virginia in the consideration of the Wilmot Proviso. 

The questions raised by the Proviso were avoided in the Presidential 
election of 1848. The convention which nominated Lewis Cass for the 
Presidency on the Democratic ticket voted down a resolution condemning 
the Proviso, and adopted a strict-construction platform. The Whigs did 
not adopt a platform, but nominated Zachary Taylor, a slaveholder and 
a Louisiana planter. He was elected. While the issue was slavery, it 
was not in the form it later assumed. At that time the opponents of 
slavery were not in favor of abolition, but opposed its extension. That 
was, in fact, the intent of the Wilmot Proviso. 

The vast territory ceded us by Mexico brought many troublesome 
questions with it. Gold was discovered in California in 1848. The influx 
of population as a consequence created the need of a sufficient government 
there. In the first attempt to form a State government the people de- 
clared against slavery. Then, what form of government should be pro- 
vided for the remainder of the Mexican cession ? Coming up with these 



KANSAS AND KANSANS 297 

were other problems. The North had hoped to abolish slavery in the 
District of Columbia, while the South demanded a more stringent Fugi- 
tive-slave law. 

These questions came before the Congress of 1850 for settlement. The 
Senate was favorable to the contentions of the South, but the House stood 
against the extension of slavery. Neither side could secure the enactment 
of its desires. A compromise was the only peaceful recourse. This was 
proposed by Henry Clay, then a Senator from Kentucky. Through his 
efforts the following settlement was effected : 

1. California was admitted as a free State. 

2. New Mexico and Utah were organized as territories to be admitted 
as States with or without slavery as their constitutions might provide 
when application for statehood was made. 

3. The Slave trade in the District of Columbia was prohibited, Inn 
it was declared inexpedient to abolish slavery in the District. 

4. A very severe Fugitive-slave law was enacted. 

In addition there was the declaration that Congress had no power 
over the interstate slave trade and could not prohibit it. And Texas was 
paid $10,000,000 to relinquish her claims to a portion of New Mexico. 

All these provisions had been embodied in what was known at the time 
as the "Omnibus Bill," which was defeated. The result was attained by 
separate measures. Daniel Webster committed political suicide in the 
delivery of his "Seventh-of March" speech on these questions. He took 
refuge in the climatic defense of slavery, as did Governor Robert J. 
Walker of Kansas, a few years later, saying that slavery was excluded 
from the territory under consideration by "the law of Nature, of physical 
geography, the law of the formation of the earth." 

The Compromise of 1850 destroyed the Whig party. The execution of 
the Fugitive-slave law of that year disgusted the North, and the Whig 
party, being charged with the responsibility of its enactment, was in due 
course abandoned and wrecked. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 

The country of which Kansas was a part was known as early as 1844 
as "The Platte Country." It was inevitable that the whites should 
sooner or later demand that country for settlement. The two great trails 
across the continent passed through it. Knowledge of its fertility and 
suitability for settlement gradually spread over the United States. Not- 
withstanding the fact that the eastern portion of it abutting on the State 
of Missouri had been given to Emigrant Indian tribes, many people 
believed that it should be thrown open to white occupation. In the year 
1844 the Secretary of War recommended the organization of a territorial 
government for that part of the country lying immediately West of the 
State of Missouri. 1 Mr. Douglas was a member of the House Commit- 
tee on Territories. On the 17th of December, 1844, he introduced a bill 
to establish the Territory of Nebraska. The bill was referred in the usual 
manner, and an amendatory bill was reported January 7, 1845. This 
bill was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, 
but no further action was ever had on it. The country embraced in the 
Territory of Nebraska, as defined in the bill, extended from thirty-six 
thirty to what is now the north line of the State of Nebraska. 

No other effort was made to organize a territory from the Platte 
Country until 1848. In the meantime Mr. Douglas had been elected 



1 The suggestion of '•Nebraska'' for the name of a territory was made 
by Hon. William Wilkins, Secretary of War under President Tyler. 
This is the original mention of Nebraska in connection with the territory 
to be organized ;n that country between the states of Missouri and Iowa 
and the crest of the Rocky Mountains. In his report dated November 30, 
1*44, lie discussed at some length the exploration of Lieutenant Fremont. 
He was moved to this discussion by the disinclination manifested by 
Congress to organize a Territorial Government for Oregon. He believed 
that the organization of Nebraska Territory and the extension westward 
of military posts-, would strengthen the claim of the United States on 
the Oregon country. He said in his report: "A territorial organiza- 
tion of the country, and a military force placed on the very summit, 
whence flows all the great streams of the North American Continent. 
either into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, would no longer 
leave our title to the Oregon territory a barren or untenable claim. Its 
possession and occupancy would thenceforth not depend upon the naval 
superiority on the Pacific Ocean. 'I' roups and supplies from the pro- 
jected Nebraska Territory would be able to contend for its 
with any force coming from the sea." 
298 



KANSAS AND KAXSAXS 299 

Senator from Illinois. A bill which he had introduced in the Senate to 
establish the Territory of Nebraska was made the order of the day for 
April 24, 1848, but no action was ever had on it. 

On the 4th of December, 1848, Mr. Douglas gave notice in the Senate 
that he would prepare and introduce another bill for the organization of 
Nebraska Territory. The bill was introduced on the 20th of December, 
1848, but no action was ever taken by the Senate on that bill. 

The introduction of these bills increased the demand for the organiza- 
tion of a territory west of Missouri. In some of the Emigrant Indian 
tribes having reservations there, men of education and influence were 
to be found. This was especially true of the Shawnees, Delawares and 
Wyandots. They comprehended their condition, and plainly discerned 
the tendencies of the time. Only an invisible line separated them from 
the people of Missouri. There were missions in the reservations of these 
tribes where good schools were maintained. Among the Wyandots 
especially, there were a number of excellent business men. There was 
not so much as a quarter-blood Indian in the entire tribe. Many of the 
Wyandots had very little Indian blood. They had sought the country in 
the fork of the Missouri and Kansas rivers because of its proximity to 
civilization. They erected comfortable dwellings, and they had an estab- 
lished government of their own, which was very nearly as good as any in 
the states. A number of the Wyandots engaged in business at West port. 
and, later, at the Kansas Landing, which finally became Kansas City, 
Missouri. These people realized that the organization of a territory for 
the country in which they lived would enhance the value of their lands. 
They understood perfectly that the government would eventually find a 
way to divest them of their reservation as it had done in the case of all 
the tribes east of the Mississippi River. They w