USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume I > Part 18
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The descriptions of the Great Southwest written by Lieutenant Pike and published in the Journals of his explorations stirred the border of
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KANSAS AND KANSANS
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 Pennsylvanian, 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 on 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 barter there. That LaLande had previously operated along the Platte is evident from his course. He ascended that river in 1804 to reach Santa Fe. There he set up in business for himself with the goods of Morrison. One of the matters Lieutenant Pike carried for adjustment was 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 pay the «laim of Morrison-and he never did pay it, though he left a large estate to numerous descendants.
Pike found another resident of Santa Fe who had come from the country east of the Mississippi. James Pursley 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 Rocky Mountains. From this retreat the Indians sent Pursley 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 many years. lle returned to St. Louis in 1824, but whether he remained there is not known.
In 1812 James Baird, believing that the prohibitive restrictions against foreign trade had been removed by the declaration of Mexican Independ- ence of Ilidalgo in 1810, organized an expedition to trade with Santa Fe. Among his associates were Samuel Chambers and Robert MeKnight : and there were perhaps a dozen more. They crossed the Plains, following the directions laid down by Lieutenant Pike, and finally reached Santa Fe. There they found that Americans were especially obnoxious to the Span- iards. They were arrested. Their goods and other property were contis- rated. They were carried to Chihuahua and cast into prison, where they
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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 Munn 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 with Mr. Phillebert, who had made a successful voyage of trade to the mountains in 1813, and was now desirous of repeat- ing that success. He, however, sold out his goods and equipment to Chou- teau and De Munn, but he 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 he 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 seenring per- mission from the Spanish authorities to hunt on the head waters of the Rio Grande, he 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 Hartland, 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 aseended to the mountains by cirenitous route from the mouth of the 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 Beeknell. 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 interpreter for them. They were accorded a friendly reception at Santa Fe. and pro- vided the facilities necessary to dispose of their goods. These sold at such rates as astonished the Missourians, calicoes and domestic cotton eloth 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 December and reached home in forty-eight days.
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That adventure may be said to have established the Santa Fe trade, and Captain Beeknell has justly been ealled the father of the Santa Fe Trail, for that which he followed was accepted as The Trail from the Missouri River to Santa Fe.
The favorable termination of the trading-journey of Captain Becknel! being extensively told on the borders of Missouri, others determined to 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 earried goods to the value of some five thousand dollars to Taos, using paek-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 aeross the Plains.
Captain Beeknell 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 eargo was about 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 first wagon-train over the Santa Fe Trail and the first to eross the Great Plains. It was four years before Ashley took his wheel-mounted eannon 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 earavan to depart from the usual means of transportation used three wagons.
This second expedition of Captain Beeknell was the pioneer party over the Cimarron Route of the Santa Fe Trail. Captain Beeknell had, through his travels, eoneeived 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. Ile was not familiar with the country which he was entering. It bore a desert aspeet and proved entirely destitute of water between the Arkan- sas and the Cimarron. The supply earried in canteens was exhausted at the end of two days. It seemed that they were destined to die of thirst on those parched and blasted plains. They killed their dogs and ent off the ears of their innles to drink the blood, but this desperate expedient served only to aggravate their suffering. The mirage taunted them with the appearance of water rippling against the shores of false lakes. They had, however, come near the Cimarron without knowing it. They resolved to turn about 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 seemed to come up as from the depths and stand upon the burning plain with distended sides-as though gorged with water. It was immediately
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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. In 1822 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 of 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 goods 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 with moss. They came to be : marking point on the Trail, and this point was known as the "Caches." The "Caches" were about five miles west of the present Dodge City. Kansas.
In the year 1823, there is record of but 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 bales of furs.
Gregg erroneously dates the commencement of the Santa Fe trade from the year 1824. And he falls into another error in saying that the first wagons were used in the trade that year. At the Franklin Tavern, about the first of April. 1824. there was a meeting to discuss the trade to Santa Fe. The point of assembly for the expedition that year was fixed at Mount Vernon, Missouri, and the time was set for the 5th of May. Each man was to carry a good rifle, a dependable pistol, four pounds of pow- der. eight pounds of lead, and rations for twenty days. The expedition
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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 about six miles above Franklin. The organization for the long journey was effected as 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 necessary to the 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 student 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 the year 1825 the Santa Fe trade had 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, 1825) authorizing the President to have the Santa Fe Trail marked from Missouri to the frontiers of New Mexico. The Commissioners appointed to carry that aet into effect were enjoined to secure the consent of the Indians whose lands were infringed. to the survey and marking of the road. For that purpose a treaty was entered into, at Council Grove, between the Great and Little Osages and the Kansas Indians on the 11th day of August, 1825. The object of the treaty and what resulted from it will be best shown by the instrument itself. There were in fact two treaties -- one with the Osages and one with the Kansas. As they are identical in terms, except as to the pre- liminary paragraphs, only that with the Osages is given.
TREATY WITH THE GREAT AND LITTLE OSAGE, 1825
Whereas the Congress of the United States of America, being anxions to promote and direct commercial and friendly intercourse between the citizens of the United States and those of the Mexican Republic, and. to afford protection to the same, did, at their last session, pass an act, which was approved the 3d March. 1825, "To authorize the President of the United States to cause a road to be marked ont from the Western frontier of Missouri to the confines of New Mexico," and which authorizes the President of the United States to appoint Commissioners to carry said act of Congress into effect, and enjoins on the Commissioners, so to be appointed, that they first obtain the consent of the intervening tribes of Indians. by treaty. to the marking of said road, and to the unmolested use thereof to the citizens of the United States and of the Mexican Repub- lie : and Benjamin II. Reeves, Geo. C. Sibley, and Themas Mather. Com- missioners duly appointed as aforesaid. being duly and fully authorised. have this day met the Chiefs and Head Men of the Great and Little
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Osage Nations, who being all duly authorized to meet and negotiate with the said Commissioners upon the premises, and being especially met for that purpose, by the invitation of said Commissioners, at the place ealled Council 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 Osages 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 elaimed by the said Great and Little Osage Nations.
ARTICLE 2
The Chiefs and Head Men, as aforesaid, do further agree that the road 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 aud 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 them and the United States, further promise, for themselves and their people, that they will, on all fit. ocea- sions, render such friendly aid and assistance as may be in their power. to any 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 Ilead 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 finding 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 be 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 Fe Trail in the year 1825. This survey was not complete until 1827. It began at Fort Osage, now Sibley, Jackson County, Missouri. The field notes of this old survey are in the library of the Kansas State Historical
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KANSAS AND KANSANS
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. Miles. Chns.
From Taos.
Chus.
7
7
Miles. 747 740
73
66
Beginning. Little Blne creek, 100 links wide and runs northward. Ford shallow and rocky.
[9]
[ Independence, nine miles southwest from erossing of Little Blue and ten miles northeast of crossing of Big Blue. |
19
18
26
25
721
48
4
58
31
03
716
70
8
40
39
43
708
30
9
27
48
70
699
03
13
62
Caravan creek [Cedar creek-tribu- tary of Kansas river. 2 miles from Olathe, runs north1, 30 links wide, runs northward and is a tributary of Kansas river. At this place, called Caravan Grove, is excellent camping ground and plenty of tim- ber for shelter and fuel.
62
52
685
21
1
57
64
29
683
44
1
21
65
50
682
23
1
68
Big Blue creek, 100 links wide and runs northward. Ford shallow and gravelly. The camping is here good. Immediately west of this creek bottom which is narrow, the prairie commences, which extends to the mountains near Santa Fe. Western boundary of state of Mis- souri, crosses it just nine miles south of the mouth of the Kansas river.
Flat Rock creek [a branch of the Big Blue, south of Lenexa], 30 links wide, runs southward into Big Blne. The ford is good and the camping good for wood, water and grass.
Ilungry creek [head branch Coal creek, tributary Wakarusa] is small and runs northward. It affords some pretty groves and good land and water. The ford is pretty good. Dove creek [head branch Coal creek, tributary Wakarusa], at the "Four Oaks." This creek is small and runs northward. The water is good, some small groves, and land from Hungry creek to it good.
Gooseberry ereck [head branch Coal creek, tributary Wakarusal 25 links wide, runs northward. This creek affords good water, pasture and wood. and the ford is good.
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From Ft. Osage.
Miles. 67
Chns.
38
From Taos. Miles. 680
35
2
15
70
03
677
70
70
69
677
04
3
43
74
32
673
41
2
55
77
07
670
66
9
30
86
37
661
36
11
46
98
03
649
70
7
52
105
55
642
18
2
05
107
60
640
13
2
64
110
44
637
29
Grindstone creek [head branch Coal creek, tributary Wakarusa], 30 links wide, runs northward. Here are good camping places, water, wood and pasture good, and plenty. This ereek affords some excellent timbered land.
Muddy Branch of Cut Off [ Ottawa creek] crossing, bears south'd.
Cut Off crossing Osage, water, ford good, and water and fuel plenty. Big ('ut 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 ford, which is very good. is good camping grounds for water, pas- ture, shade and fuel.
A small branch of Big Cut Off ; very little timber on it.
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 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 Osage river.
Oak creek [110 Creek crossing], 50 links wide, bears sontheast, is a branch of the Marias de Cygne. This ereek affords good water, pas- ture, fuel and camping ground at 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.
Bridge creek [Switzler's creek near Burlingame], 100 links wide, runs southeast. It affords good water, timber and grass. The bed of this ereek is muddy and must of neees- sity be bridged. Timber is eon- venient, and no better erossing is to be found near the road.
Musele creek [branch of Dragoon], or Marias de Cygne river, is 100 links in places and runs southeast. It is a pretty stream. affording fine land, timber and water and exeel- lent camping places. The ford is good.
Waggon creek [branch of Soldier creek], 50 links, bears southeast
Chns.
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KANSAS AND KANSANS
From Ft. Osage. Miles. Chns. 5 63
From Taos. Miles. C'hns.
116
27
631
46
1
31
117
58
630
15
2
58
120
36
627
37
2
71
123
27
624
46
7
10
130
37
617
36
5
38
135
75
611
78
4
60
140
55
607
18
1
57
142
32
605
41
19
into Muscle creek about one-half mile below. The crossing on this ereek is good camping, for water, wood and grass.
Murder creek | branch of Elm creek, V. E. Lyon county ], 20 links wide. runs southward. Very little tim- ber : ford and water good.
Willow creek | Chicken creek, near Wanshara post office, north Lyon county |. 40 links wide, runs south'd.
Ehn creek [north of Admire, Lyon county ], 50 links wide, runs south- east. Ford and water good; not much timber.
Elk ereek [142 creek, Lyon county, north of Allen], 40 links wide, bears southward; ford and water good. This creek affords some pretty groves and very good land and camping places.
Iliekory creek [Bluff ereek, near Agnes City, Lyon county ], 20 links wide, runs southwest. Ford and water good. This ereek affords some very pretty hickory groves, some good lands and good camping places.
Roek creek [eastern part of Morris county ], a beautiful stream 50 links wide, runs southward. Ford and water good. Here is excellent eamp- ing ground. This ereek has some fine land and is tolerably well tim- bered.
Gravel ereek [Big John ereek and Big John spring]. 30 links wide, runs southwardly. This is a pretty little stream. affording some excellent land and handsome groves ; at 1212 chains N., 20 E., from this ford is a very fine fountain spring and good eamping grounds.
Council Grove, where the commis- sioners met the Osage chiefs in eouneil on the 10th of August, 1825. This is the largest body of woodland passed through after leaving Big Blue; 'tis here about a quarter of a wide mile; above and below are some groves more extensive. The timber and land are of superior quality and the general fare of the country interesting. Springs of excellent water are frequent, and
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