The great plains; the romance of western American exploration, warfare, and settlement, 1527-1870 . l already used by thetraders, this Government road was run up the Ar-kansas to Chouteau Island, and then headed di-rectly south to Taos. This route being so muchlonger, the traders naturally refused to use it. Con-sequently the survey was of but little practicalvalue. Opposition of Indians to the Traders From the very beginning there was trouble withIndians. In a certain sense what is now Kansaswas neutral -ground to the surrounding tribes,hunted over by Pawnees, Comanches, Cheyennes,Arapahoes,
The great plains; the romance of western American exploration, warfare, and settlement, 1527-1870 . l already used by thetraders, this Government road was run up the Ar-kansas to Chouteau Island, and then headed di-rectly south to Taos. This route being so muchlonger, the traders naturally refused to use it. Con-sequently the survey was of but little practicalvalue. Opposition of Indians to the Traders From the very beginning there was trouble withIndians. In a certain sense what is now Kansaswas neutral -ground to the surrounding tribes,hunted over by Pawnees, Comanches, Cheyennes,Arapahoes, and Kiowas, but these were all bitterlyopposed to the white invasion, and their raids onthe slow-moving caravans were incessant. Fewsmall outfits ever got through without a fight, andmany of the larger were robbed, and their stockstampeded. Any straggling from the column wasalmost certain to result in the sudden dash down-ward of Indian horsemen. All the surroundingtribes were involved in these attacks, but the Co-manches were most feared, and most frequentlynamed as the guilty marauders. [ii8]. BEGINNINGS OF THE SANTA FE TRADE The passage became so dangerous that in 1829Government troops were ordered to escort thespring caravan as far as the Mexican frontier. Fourcompanies of the Sixth Infantry, under Major Ben-net Riley, were assigned to this duty; leaving RoundGrove early in June, they were more than a monthon the march before reaching Chouteau Island,where they encamped to await the return of thetraders. Evidently the Comanches had been onwatch all the way, for scarcely had the now un-guarded caravan disappeared over the sand hillsinto Mexican territory, when it was fiercely at-tacked. A hard fight ensued, but Riley crossed theriver with his men, drove ofif the Indians, and es-corted the wagons for another days march. Notdaring to take an armed force any farther intoMexico, he returned to the Arkansas, and went intocamp, agreeing to wait there until October 10 forthe return
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