During the trail’s active days,
the mound was much bigger, once being visible from Lakin. However, over the years, people looking for relics
have hastened its erosion, though the view from atop the mound
is still impressive today.
Located due south of Indian Mound was once a
place called Chouteau's Island. Though it has long since
disappeared due to erosion by the
Arkansas River, it was once
an important landmark on the trail. It was near here in the
spring of 1816 that Auguste P. Chouteau's hunting party were
traveling east with a winter's catch of furs when they were
attacked near the
Arkansas River by 200 Pawnee
Indians. The men
retreated to Chouteau’s Island to resist the attack and beat
off the
Indians. In the
Battle
of Chouteau's Island,
the trappers lost one man and three were wounded. Seven of the
Indians were killed.
 In 1825 increased travel on the
Santa Fe Trail
brought a government survey and Chouteau's Island was listed
as a turning off place for the trek to the
Cimarron River and
southward on the
Cimarron Branch to
Santa Fe. 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,
New Mexico and Independence,
Missouri. It was a much better watered route than the one by
way of Cimarron Crossing.
It was also here in 1829 that the first
military escort on the Trail camped while the trader caravan
proceeded to
Santa Fe. At that time, the
Arkansas River was
the international boundary. But, it wasn’t Mexican the
soldiers needed to worry about, rather, they spent the summer
fighting off
Indians, losing several men and part of their
oxen. The return from
Santa Fe of the caravan with a Mexican
escort was much celebrated.
Beyond Chouteau's Island as the wagon trains
turned south to go down to the
Cimarron River, they skirted
the west side of small, very deep lake called Clear Lake. It
was about fifty feet in diameter, and, at one time, it was
sounded to the depth of 250 feet without finding any bottom.
When the wagons passed this point they followed Bear Creek
Pass through the sandhills.
Located southeast of Indian Mound on the Bluff
Station on the east side of a Sand Creek was the site of Bluff
Station. Thought to have been built by Major Bennett Riley's
troops in 1829, it was later used in the mid 19th century by
stage companies as a relay station. Remains of the walls of
the station were visible as late as 1900.
To the east of Bluff Station was one of the best camping
grounds on the Trail. On this wide river bottom lush, green
grass grew as high as a horse's back.
Hamilton County
The trail continued on into
Hamiliton County passing near the present-day towns of
Kendall, Syracuse and Coolidge before making its way into
Colorado.
Old Fort Aubrey was once situated
about four miles southeast of Syracuse. This fort was
established to protect pioneers from Indian raids in 1865. It
was only active for nine months and was abandoned. The remains
of the fort today consist only of three clusters of dugout
depressions.
The Aubry
Crossing of the
Arkansas River,
approximately three miles downstream from the site of Fort
Aubry, was used more than the Upper Crossing near Lakin,
Kansas,
and it rivaled the traffic at the Middle Crossings for about
ten years. The route was first “opened in 1850 and became an
important path from the
Arkansas River
to the Oklahoma Panhandle because water supplies were more
reliable along this route than along La Jornada portion of the
Cimarron route. The importance of this route led to the
establishment of two military posts in 1865, Fort Aubry and
Camp Nichols in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Though the Aubry
Crossing has long since disappeared, wagon ruts can still be
seen in the area and a spring still exists near the fort site.
The trail passed out of the county
and the state near the present town of Coolidge, and ran on up
the
Arkansas River
to where it turned southwest to
Santa Fe via
Trinidad,
Colorado and
Raton Pass,
New Mexico.
Continued Next
Page |
LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
