Kiowa

The Battle of Adobe Walls

A bit of frontier history, told to the narrator by the men who made it. EDWARD CAMPBELL LITTLE Drawings by Harvey T. Dunn The Kansas buffalo hunters invaded the Texas Panhandle and the Llano Estacado in force in the spring of 1874; in five months it is said they slew a hundred thousand bison. The deserted Adobe Walls, a station established by Spanish friars, French Canadian hunters or General Howe’s soldiers, was selected as the rendezvous for these hunters, who came from Dodge City, one hundred and seventy-five miles away.  Three ‘ business houses’ and a blacksmith shop gave token … Read more

1868

<< Previous  Next>> THE FIRST HOUSE IN WICHITA      1868 by D. S. Munger This 1 1/2 story, three bay log structure is considered the first house in Wichita and was constructed of cottonwood trees by Darius Munger, an early resident and founding father of the city. The house sits on a foundation of course rubble stone with mortar consisting of clam shells, sand, water and buffalo hair. As we came to what is now Wichita and camped on ground overlooking the wide stretch of the Arkansas Valley, a wonderful sight presented itself. The whole slope on each side … Read more

1875

<< Previous  Next>> The Decline of the Buffalo.  Chicago Daily Tribune Chicago , Illinois Jan 2 1875  BUFFALO ROCK This was formally a part of the main north bluff, from which it became detached during some great natural convulsion, perhaps in the Glacial or Draft epoch. The rock is St. Peter’s Sandstone, overlaid with a thin bed of good coal, and above the usual Drift series. It’s surface covers some 80 acres. The canal and the railroad run through the deep natural cut between it and the main bluff. It is a prominent landmark, and is interesting as being the … Read more

Kiowa

Santana Kiowa War Chief Of all the white people’s activities in Indian country, none enraged and disheartened the Native Americans more than the destruction of their buffalo. Hide hunter Billy Dixon reminisced that the annihilation “lay at the very heart of the grievances of the Indian against the white man in frontier days.” At the Medicine Lodge Treaty Council of 1867, the great Kiowa chief Satanta complained bitterly about the army’s shooting of his buffalo. “A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers,” lamented Satanta, “but when I go up to the river I see a camp of … Read more