USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II > Part 7
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nected with the shore, forming a lagoon, which soon fills with a slimy, slippery, blue paste, deposited from the exceedingly muddy water coming down the river in late years in time of flood. In drying, this mud becomes a tough, sticky clay, known locally as hardpan or gumbo. This process explains the spots and streaks of this substance found in the Arkansas valley. An illustration of this formation can be seen at the mouth of the Little Arkansas river, where formerly was a long, narrow lake of considerable depth and of pure, clear water, the wintering place for huge cat, buffalo and other fish. By the diversion of the water of the little river into Chisholm creek, for milling purposes, this lake became a stagnant pool, into which the muddy water of the big river backed each time it came down in a flood, where the sedi- ment, settling to the bottom, formed a mass of so little consist- ency that an oar or a boat would pass through it almost as easily as through water; but after the flood had subsided, leaving it to solidify and dry, it became almost as firm as a rock and as tough as leather, not "adobe" soil, but "gumbo." Thus was destroyed the wealth of molluscan life for which our river was noted. The beautiful unios, anodontas and margaritinas have disappeared from their favorite home.
During most of the year 1893 the Arkansas river above the junction of the little river has been entirely dry ; below that point it is an insignificant stream which a school boy can roll up his pants and wade across. In a comparatively short time, in south- ern Kansas, timber will occupy the former site of the Arkansas river, through which will flow a stream a few rods wide.
This woderful change has been brought about by our so-called civilization within the last fifteen years. Fortunate indeed are those who were permitted to behold the beauties of this valley and river when it was the home of the Indian and buffalo-just as God made it.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE INDIANS IN KANSAS.
By
J. R. MEAD.
Struggles of Various Tribes on the Plains-The Story of War and Peace Among Indians First, and Later Between the Indians and the Whites.
American history has no topic comparable for its enduring interest to that of the Indian tribes. And of such history Kansas can furnish a generous share. A true record of the battles fought and tragedies enacted on Kansas soil, and the deeds of valor, endurance, daring and hardship of her sons, both white and red, would make a volume of entrancing interest.
Until recent years our brethren, the Indians, have occupied Kansas since the glacial era and perhaps for a longer time, as his remains have been found under the glacial drift by myself and others.
The first Europeans to penetrate this region found him here in thousands along the Kansas and other rivers. Within the memory of men now living, they owned, or occupied as hunting grounds, the entire state.
There were three indigenous tribes in eastern Kansas, per- haps others. The Osage, Pawnees, and the Kansas, or "Kaws," as they were nicknamed by the French. To the west were the roving nomads of the plains, who had no particular abiding place, who I believe constituted the legendary lost "Paducas" spoken of by De Bourgamont and other early explorers.
THE OSAGES.
In 1859, when I went upon the plains, I found the Osages and other frontier Indians, who hunted buffalo to the west, constantly speaking of the "Paducas," and on inquiry they described them as a fierce, savage, war-like tribe of roving horsemen ranging the western plains, of whom they were in constant dread, and de-
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scribed them as being as numerous as the blades of grass on the prairie and indifferent to cold or danger.
I believe the Paducas visited by M. Du Fissinet in 1719 and M. De Bourgamont in 1724, on the head of the Smoky Hill river, to have been the Comanches. Am confirmed in this belief by information I obtained from the aged chief of the Acomas in New Mexico many years ago.
INCREASE OF TRIBES.
Commencing about 1832, the Indian population of Kansas was increased by seventeen tribes, who were located on reservations in the eastern fourth of the state, occupying about all that region. A greater number of tribes than had ever assembled on the same amount of territory in the history of the government. Evidently the Indian knew a good country and all wanted to get here.
These were the remnants of once powerful nations of the eastern and middle states, who fought long and bravely to beat back the host of invaders from across the sea until decimated, impoverished, the bones of their great chieftains and warriors whitening many a battlefield, the remnant submitted to the inevitable and finally were removed to Kansas.
AT 7 CENTS PER ACRE.
It may be of interest here to mention that in 1847 these Kan- sas reservations were valued by the government at 7 cents an acre.
All of Kansas west of these reservations, comprising about three-fourths of the state, was the best hunting ground on the continent; contained no permanent villages or settlements ; was the common hunting ground of all the Kansas Indians and the roving tribes of the plains, who outnumbered the reservation Indians, and were usually at war with them.
THE SANTA FE TRAIL.
When the Santa Fe trail was established, and there was no Santa Fe trail until the white man made it, passing through the center of the state, and on across the plains, with its constant stream of travel, it became the objective point of all the preda- tory hosts from Dakota to the Rio Grande.
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THE INDIANS IN KANSAS
To protect this route of traffic, and later the settlements, the government has at various times constructed and maintained in Kansas twelve forts and numbers of military posts at vast expense, to keep in check our red brothers and hold this fair land of ours for those who were yet to come.
THE RESERVATION INDIANS. 1
Our reservation Indians were promised by ancient treaties their lands "So long as grass grew or water ran," but here the tide of immigration again overtook them, and it was found necessary for them to move on, and with them went the heredi- tary owners of the land-and the red-handed rovers of the plains ; they are gone.
About 1867 began the exodus to the Indian Territory ; crowded out by the advance of a stronger race. Departing, they have left behind abundant reminders of their former occupancy in the names of our state, rivers, cities and counties, towns and townships.
Our three greatest rivers bear Indian names. The Missouri (means muddy) is the name of an Indian tribe. The Kansas, from the tribe who lived along the valleys since prehistoric times (means smoky water). The Arkansas river is the Indian word "Kansas" with the French prefix of "Ark," a bow. Neosho is Osage (Dacotah), "Ne" water; "Osho," clear; clear water, or water you can see into.
INDIAN NAMES.
We are indebted to the Indians for the names of our three most populous cities. And the founders of our second largest city in our neighboring state to the east came over into Kansas to find and appropriate one of the choicest Indian names. Four- teen counties of Kansas are named from Indian tribes; two others have Indian names; and but one is a reminder of the noble animals upon which they subsisted.
THE WICHITAS.
And now I come to a tribe-the last to arrive-and the first to depart-the Wichitas, and affiliated bands. They were tran- sients, fugitives from their distant homes, driven out by the
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
exigencies of cruel war. To them Kansas was a haven of refuge. They ask no permission or assistance from the government or anyone else in their coming nor in their going. They built their town of grass houses at the junction of the two rivers St. Peter and St. Paul of Coronado, or "Neshutsa" and "Neshutsa Shinka" of the Osages, in whose territory it was located, which became known all over the plains as "The Wichita Town," and on their village site has arisen the third largest city in the state, Wichita.
FORMATION OF TRIBE.
The Indians comprised in the general term of Wichitas were remnants of tribes affiliated together when first known to history more than a century ago. They were the Wichitas, Wacoes, Towacanies and Kechies, who speak the Wichita language, and the Caddoes, Ionies and Nadarkoes, who spoke the Caddo lan- guage. The Nadarkoes are practically extinct.
Each of these bands lived in separate villages, and preserved their tribal identity. They had their villages of grass houses on the Brazos river in Texas, and on the Washita river and its tributaries, and other streams in the Indian territory, and ranged in former times from Arkansas to the Wichita mountains and from the Cimarron river to central Texas. One tradition nar- rated to me many years ago by Chief Towacanie Jim, was that the Wichitas originally came from the far Northwest, using dogs for pack animals, as all western Indians did before the arrival of the Spaniards, and tarried on the Arkansas river near the southern border of the state several years, cultivating gardens and hunting for subsistence, using implements of stone or bone. While the traditions of the Caddoes are that they originally came from Hot Springs, Ark.
REAL BARBARIANS.
The Wichitas proper were typical barbarians, coming down from the stone age unchanged in customs, habits or apparel. Their language and tone of voice were utterly unlike any Indians east of the Rocky mountains, but had a marked resemblance in inflection, tone and construction to that of the Indians along the Columbia river in Oregon. When I first saw them in 1863, many of the older women were artistically tattooed in pink and blue
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THE INDIANS IN ARKANSAS
zigzag circles and lines, as was their ancient custom. The Cad- does were a much milder mannered people and of pleasant speech.
A PROSPEROUS YEAR.
The summer of 1864 found the Wichitas in Kansas prosper- ous. Buffalo were abundant-close at hand; they had obtained horses. The women, with great industry, cleared ground and planted fine gardens along the Little Arkansas, and were the first to demonstrate that the Arkansas valley was the garden spot of the state.
THE GRASS HOUSES.
All took a hand in building their very comfortable, peculiar grass houses. They were usually made of forked posts about five feet high, set in the ground at intervals in a circle, and twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter. Horizontal poles were then securely fastened to the posts ; then, at the top, smooth poles, twenty or more feet long, were set upright in the ground outside the posts, converging, cone-shaped, to a common center at the top; very small poles are bound with withes crosswise, thus holding the whole structure securely together. The squaws weave the long, tough, reddish bunch grass in and out in such an ingenious manner that each bunch of grass overlaps the bunch immediately below. When complete, it is a substantial structure; does not leak; is warm. A low door opens to east and west, made of grass or skins. Arranged around the inside are raised bunks for sleeping, and underneath storage room. In the center a fire, with opening at top for smoke. The inside and floors are sometimes plastered with gypsum, and for fifty feet on the outside the ground is kept smooth, hard and clean. These houses are unique, comfortable and unlike all others in America. I have seen those built twenty years and still in good condition. They are covered with sod, as stated this summer in a prominent eastern magazine.
Not far from these houses were their gardens, surrounded by fences made of small poles set upright in the ground. There grew abundance of their native corn, pumpkins, melons and Mexican beans. These grass houses were built in groups along the Little River for a mile on the east bank; the water of the river was sweet, clear and pure, full of fish; plenty of timber and game abundant.
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
THE BIG CHIEFS.
"Owahe," chief of the Wichitas, was an ideal pre-historic man of 5,000 years ago. A cartoonist could hardly exaggerate his general makeup. Yet he was not a bad fellow by any means. He would have been a howling success to illustrate Chancellor Snow's lecture on the evolution of man.
"Shaddowa," chief of the Caddoes, was his opposite. Fine looking, quiet, intelligent, gentlemanly.
THE HEAD TRADING POST.
I established a trading post among them and part of the time had an Indian alone in charge. Along in the summer of 1864 the government sent an old gentleman, Major Mile Gookins, of Indiana, to look after these Indians, with instructions to make his headquarters at my home place, known as "Mead Ranch," at Towanda, twenty miles east of the Little Arkansas, at that time consisting of a big spring and my several buildings. Major Gookin knew nothing about Indians and had at first nothing to aid him and the Indians nearly worried him to death. I helped him out considerably, as I had abundant supplies and much needed experience. Later on the government furnished a small amount of food and clothing.
VISITED BY WILD TRIBES.
The Shawnees, Delawares and Kickapoos settled themselves along the White Water and Walnut rivers. Some of the wild tribes of the plains visited us occasionally. Here in time of war came "Satanta," the great warrior chief of the Kiowas, with "Heap of Bears;" great medicine man of the Arapahoes, to talk about peace, which resulted in the treaty of the Little Arkansas; and by coming to a good understanding with the wild Indians, and the influence of our Wichita friends, our corner of the fron- tier escaped the horrors of border war, and we came and went over the plains at all times in safety.
LEFT THEIR NAMES
The Wichita Indians are remarkable in leaving their names attached to the localities where they have lived. In Kansas we have the city of Wichita, the county of Wichita, and Wichita and
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THE INDIANS IN ARKANSAS
Waco streets, the towns of Waco and Kechi. In the territory we have the Wichita mountains, old Fort Wichita, the Washita river, the Little and the Big Ouchita rivers, a way of spelling the same name. The Wichita tribe may become extinct, but the name will remain with us for all time.
IN WAR TIMES.
At the outbreak of the Civil War the Indians of the Wichita agency were living quietly and peaceably on the Washita river and other streams near old Fort Cobb, I. T. The Indians of the plains and the civilized tribes of the territory were their friends. They were an agricultural people, had fields and gardens and an abundance of horses, and lived in a paradise of game-buf- falo, elk, deer, antelope and wilk turkeys constituting their bill of fare, with corn, beans, melons, pumpkins and wild fruits as side dishes. Each year at the time of roasting ears, water melons and garden truck, the Comanches came in from the plains and spent a season feasting, visiting and having a good time generally, an agreeable change from their usual bill of fare- buffalo meat straight.
LOYAL TO THE UNION.
When the Civil War came on they were loyal to the Union. In the East were the powerful civilized tribes who were slave- holders; on the south, Texas. The Wichitas were driven out together with many Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos and other loyal Indians, leaving all behind, except such articles as could be gathered for hasty flight. With the wives and little ones they fled north, across the pathless wilderness, to Kansas and safety. They were pursued and some of them were killed on the Salt Fork ; a few had wagons, which were mostly broken or abandoned on the way. There were no roads or trails to follow. After many hardships the scattered bands collected in southeast Kan- sas on the border, destitute, hungry, among strangers. The gov- ernment afforded them a scant relief. The first winter all of their horses starved to death and many of their people died from want and sickness. In their distress they sought aid from the Osage Indians, who at that time owned nearly all of southern Kansas, including millions of buffalo, and secured their permis- sion to move to the mouth of the Little Arkansas (Ne Shutsa
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
Shinka) and subsist on the buffalo. So in the summer of 1863 they set out for their new home, afoot, hungry, almost naked, and established their temporary camp in the dense timber at the mouth of the little river just across from the present Murdock avenue bridge, Wichita.
HARD HUNTING.
They managed to kill enough buffalo without horses or guns to subsist and lay up a scant supply for winter, when the men went south to their old homes and gathered up what horses they could find. Others visited the Comanches, who gave them pres- ents of many horses, a custom among the Indians to their less fortunate brothers. By spring they were mostly mounted and able to take care of themselves. They could make their saddles and equipments, arms and clothing, while the women were indus- triously at work planting gardens, which in time yielded abundantly.
THE TROUBLE OF '67.
Here along the little river they lived and prospered until the summer of 1867 brought fresh woes. Inexperience involved the wild tribes of the plains in war. Troops from St. Louis were scattered along the old Santa Fe trail in small detachments. With them came the cholera, which spread over the plains of Kansas and the Indian Territory. White men and Indians alike died. A small company of soldiers were sent to the mouth of the Little Arkansas-an uncalled for and useless move. Soon the cholera commenced its deadly work among the Wichitas. Scattered over the northern part of Wichita are the graves of probably a hundred Indians, including Owahe, hereditary war chief; Sam Houston, a noted Indian, and many others. In the latter part of the summer orders came from Washington to remove the Indians to their old homes on the Washita, but no pro- vision was made for their removal. They refused to go until their crops were gathered and a supply of food prepared for the winter. Along in the fall they started down the old Chisholm trail. Their first camp was on the Ninnescah, where misfortune again overtook them. They hobbled their horses one evening in the tall grass in a bend of the river on the north side. During the night a norther set in, driving down upon them a furious prairie fire, burning eighty-five head of their best horses. This
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THE INDIANS IN KANSAS
left a large number afoot, as many of their horses had been stolen and driven off by white outlaws who had begun to infest the country that summer. The Indians were compelled to cache a large part of their provisions, which were afterwards stolen by white men, and proceeded on their journey, many of them afoot.
RAVAGES OF CHOLERA.
The cholera was still with them. They died all along the trail. Some were buried on the Ninnescah. At Skeleton creek so many died they laid on the ground unburied and their bleach- ing skeletons gave a name to the stream. Whole families died in the lodges after their arrival on the Washita, and the lodges were burned with the bodies and all their belongings. From Skeleton creek they scattered out in every direction, some parties who had no horses stopping on the Red Fork, subsisting on the black jack acorns and wild turkeys, of which there were thousands. Towaccanie Jim, now chief of the Wichitas, with a band mostly women and children, afoot, camped at the mouth of Turkey creek. Their food was what nature provided. From acorns they made palatable bread by a process of their own. Nearly every evening some of them could be seen coming down the creek from the timber laden with acorns, Jim usually bringing home four or five big turkeys he killed with bow and arrow.
THEN IT SNOWED.
A blizzard with severe cold and deep snow came along about that time. It was so cold a loaded team could be driven across the stream on the ice (I do not speak from hearsay). Big gray wolves and panthers came howling about their camps. Late one evening "Jim" came down the creek loaded with turkeys and straggling along were women and children with what acorns they could carry, "Jim's" young wife among the number. She was weak from lack of proper food. Darkness coming on she became separated from her companions among the sandhills and about a half mile from camp fell exhausted. She hung her little shawl on a bush to aid her friends to find her, drew her thin blanket about her and laid down to die, with wild beasts howling all around. Jim and others hunted for her all night and at daylight found her apparently dead. Tenderly they carried her to camp
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
and by careful attention revived the faint spark of life and she recovered.
AGAIN SCATTERED.
Later many of the Wichitas congregated up the North fork of the Canadian, where Jesse Chisholm had called in the Kiowas and Comanches, and here they remained until the 4th day of March, 1868, when he suddenly died. The Indians then scattered like a flock of quail. He was their friend, counselor, law-giver and father. Each band went its own way. In the spring, the Wichitas, what was left of them, finally assembled at their old homes on the Washita where the government had sent Col. J. H. Leavenworth with some provisions for their needs and there they have resided to the present time.
JAMES R. MEAD.
By
Mrs. J. R. Mead.
James R. Mead was born in New Haven, Vt., in 1836, and removed with his parents in 1839 to Davenport, Ia., where he lived until he reached maturity. He was a son of Enoch and Mary Mead. His father was a graduate of Yale University and a Presbyterian minister, and the founder of that, denomination in Davenport. He was a direct descendant of Maj .- Gen. Ebene- zer Mead, of the Revolutionary War, and was possessor of many heirlooms inherited from that distinguished ancestor, among them a life-size oil painting of the general, which now hangs in the library of his home.
Even when a boy his love for nature and outdoor life was apparent. He made many adventurous trips, after game birds and animals, in the country where he lived, and his mother's table was often laden with the rich trophies that evidenced his skill as a hunter.
When but a small boy attending school, he became greatly interested in the country southwest of the Missouri river, as shown by the geographies of that day to be a network of rivers and streams, and beyond that a country marked "Great Ameri- can Desert," full of buffalo and wild horses. He did not then
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THE INDIANS IN KANSAS
know that most of his life would be spent in that country which was even then arousing his curiosity and enthusiasm.
He was one of the very earliest settlers of Kansas, coming to that territory in 1859, when but twenty-three years of age. For four years he traded with the various Indian tribes in that portion of the country. In the fall of 1859, at Burlingame, Kan., he organized a party of several persons for a great buffalo hunt. They proceeded to the Big Bend of the Smoky Hill river, where they found buffalo in abundance, and there they hunted for sev- eral weeks.
While hunting over that portion of the country, Mr. Mead became so enraptured with it that he, with two other hunters, established a trading post twenty miles above the mouth of the Saline river, and there for several years they enjoyed an exten- sive trade with the various Indian tribes then located in that portion of the territory. While here, he gave Beaver, Spillman, Twelve Mile, Wolf and Paradise creeks their respective names, and they retain them to this day. These streams are all tribu- taries of the Saline river.
In December, 1861, he and Miss Agnes Barcome, of Burlin- game, Kan., were united in marriage. He then, with his wife, immediately returned to his trading post, where they resided until 1862, when, on account of Indian depredations, they re- moved to Salina, Kan., a small village at that time, where they resided until 1863. To this union were born four children, James L., Elizabeth, Mary E. and William, the last named dying in infancy. In 1863 he went farther west and established a trading post at a place called Towanda, on the White Water river, near a large spring, where the Indians were wont to congregate from time immemorial.
In the summer of that year, with some of his neighbors, he went on another buffalo hunt down near the mouth of the Little Arkansas river, in the vicinity of which the city of Wichita, Kan., is now located. In three weeks the party returned to Towanda with 330 buffalo hides and 3,500 pounds of tallow, to- gether with a few elk and antelope skins, worth even in those days several hundred dollars.
Mr. Mead soon established a branch trading post just above the mouth of the Little Arkansas river, and his teams and men soon extended his trade far into the Indian Territory. Very little money was used in those early days, the circulating me-
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
dium being for the most part skins and furs, for which the traders exchanged their various commodities.
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