=Indians Removed from Kansas.= According to the treaties the Indians
were promised their land “so long as grass should grow or water run.”
But it soon developed that the white men wanted Kansas also. In 1854
we find the tribes being again transferred, this time to the Indian
Territory, now Oklahoma, where the remnants of the various tribes
still remain.[7]
Although Kansas was not used during those early years to make homes
for white settlers, a few hundred people came here. They were of three
different classes; fur traders, missionaries, and soldiers.
[Illustration: INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS.]
=The Fur Traders.= It is impossible to say when the first hunters and
trappers came to these western plains, for they were generally obscure
men and little was known of their comings and goings, but they were
the real pathfinders of the West. There are records of fur traders
here in the very early years of the nineteenth century, and they
gradually went farther and farther into the vast wilderness. The
streams of travel across Kansas in the ’40’s followed paths that had
been pointed out by the fur traders.
The fur companies established many trading posts, which served as
forts for protection against the Indians and as places to which
hunters and trappers could bring their furs. Some of the hunters and
trappers were employed by the fur companies, and others worked
independently.
Many Indians also engaged in this trade, and often they were given
tobacco, whisky, and weapons in exchange for their furs. In this way
much of the work of the missionaries was undone. In the earlier years
the hunters and trappers found many kinds of wild animals in Kansas:
the buffalo, the wolf, the fox, the deer, the elk, and the antelope,
and along the streams the beaver, the otter, the mink, and the
muskrat. Later the main supply of furs came from the mountains, and
the whole fur trade gradually moved west of what is now Kansas.
[Illustration: THE INDIAN TEPEE,
Made of poles and buffalo hides, was the only home of the
wandering tribes, and was used by the other tribes when on
hunting trips.]
=Father Padilla, the First Missionary in Kansas.= The attempt to
civilize the Indian began in the days of the early explorers, and it
was on Kansas soil that the first missionary’s life was lost in the
cause. This man was Father Padilla, a Jesuit, who came with Coronado
on his journey to Quivira. Father Padilla became much interested in
the Quivira Indians and remained to do missionary work among them. His
preaching was of short duration, however, for he was soon killed,
whether by the Quiviras or some other tribe is not known.
=Kansas Missionaries of the Nineteenth Century.= Centuries later, when
Kansas became a part of the United States and was explored and
traversed by white men, missionaries were among the first to arrive.
They came to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion and to
persuade them to adopt the customs of civilization.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account