Good evening blogger friends, today is February 1, 2014 and it seem like yesterday that the Wichita Indians were camped along the Arkansas river. I want to talk about a book that I checked out at the base, (McConnell AFB). The title of the book is: Images of America Wichita 1860-1930, written by Jay M. Price. The introduction to the book has good information on the early days around the Wichita area. The land was originally owned by the Osage people, and the Osage and Wichita Indians hunted, raided and traded here. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase was transacted and brought the land that became Kansas into the United States. This encouraged merchants and traders into the area along the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas river. It was a place of opportunity for those who had a vision for the expanding frontier.
At the time of the Civil War, the Wichita Indian's sympathies were with the Union Army. In order to separate the Wichita Indians from those who sympathized with the South; tensions were running high between the tribes, the U.S. government relocated them from the southern Indian lands to the area near where Riverside Park is in Wichita today.
They remained there until end of the war and were then relocated back to Oklahoma, near Anadarko.
Most of the American Indians were gone by the late 1860's so that the white settlers could move west and build farms and business.
This began the time of cowboys and cattle drives; around the 1870's. This was Wichita's first boon, however, it only lasted around four short years. I had thought that the cattle industry lasted much longer than that. 
Here is a list of some of the men who were influential in Wichita becoming a community: Jesse Chisholm; James R. Mead; "Buffalo Bill" Mathewson; Darius Munger; and quite a few others that I won't list right now. Lest we forget, I would also like to mention; Agnes Barcome, James Mead's first wife and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Mathewson, wife of Buffalo Bill and Fern Hoover, James Mead's third wife. I didn't see anything about wife number two, and I sure wonder what her story might be. I want you to know there names because as history is related and retold, the women are not always recalled. It's the men who get all of the credit for settling the west, but without their wives working beside them, these men wouldn't have gotten as far as they did, certainly not as quickly. These three wives worked in the trading posts and often managed things alone; when the husbands were away hunting or drumming up trade for their businesses. The reference to drumming up business is not intended to be a pun.
Another new thing I found out is that there was a military base north of the Wichita's camp.
It had several names, but eventually became known as Camp Beecher. The thing that was interesting was that the military camp didn't look anything like the forts depicted in movies and television. It was actually a dugout, dug into the ground with a sod roof. There's a picture of one in the book, and if I can figure out how to attach a picture to my blog, I will show you what an actual military camp looked like.
There is also a picture of "the" Wichita Indian lodge what was built on Mead Island. There is a women standing in front of it and I wonder if she is Sooka.
This cool book is a photo album of early Wichita and the people who gave her birth. It's ideal for anyone who likes early pioneer history.
That it for tonight, but I checked out another book that I haven't had time to look at yet, maybe next time I will be able to share some of it's content with you.
Happy researching,
Cheri