The National tribune., 1910-08-04

IT saw in The National Tribune re-
Gently that the old Santa Fe Trail is to
be marked. j think it should be. There
is a mistake about Fort Lyon ever be-
ing called Fort Bent. Fort Lyon was
formerly called Fort Wise. / think the
cause of the change of the name was
that Wise was an officer in the u. S.
Army, and cast his lot with the South
when the war commenced. Fort Bent
was a private concern, and run as a
trading post and as headquarters for
trappers, scouts, guides and hunters,
such as Kit Carson, Beckwith, Bridges
and Baker / last saw Jim Baker on
White River, Colorado, in the Fall of
1869. He was guide for an outfit from
Fort Fred Steel, on the North Platte
River in Wyoming to White River in
Colorado We went in there to put up
buildings for the agency for the Ute
Indians at what was known as Meeker,
Colo. Meeker, at the time an Indian
agent, was killed and his daughter was
captured by the Indians.
Il went from Fort Leavenworth,
Kan, to old Fort Union. n. NJ, in 1862
with bull train loaded with Govern
ment supplies. We also had a battery
of six pieces, which we were taking to
Fort Union, hauled with four yokes of
oxen to the piece. After leaving Coun-
Gil Grove, Kan, we were on the plains
proper, as there were no settlements
from that on, and the first fort was
Fort Larned, on the Pawnee Fork of
the Arkansas River. The next was Fort
Wise, as then called, but since changed
to Fort Lyon. The next was Fort Bent.
The next was a little Mexican town,
Trinidad, in the Ration Mountains After
crossing the Mountains we came to the
Maxwell Ranch, on Read River, and
then to old Fort Union.
We ought to mark the old trail as
IN yUl hn n rli in
up as far as Fort Lyon, as a soldier
boy doing escort duty for your old I'm
Gle Sam
A Brush With the Reds.
Charles Brewster, 18th N Y Cav,
Kansas City, Mo-, writes:
For a time in the Fall of 1868 the
7th U. S. Cav. was in camp upon pla-
teau in Indian Territory, from which
the prairie sloped gently down several
hundred yards to a stream of water
which was then named Seventh Cavalry
Creek. AT this period the plains In
dians were hostile to the whites. One
fine, clear day. after the men had eaten
dinner, Corporal and nine of the men
of my troop started out with an army
wagon to hunt buffalo to replenish the
mess with fresh meat. Camp was west
of the creek, which ran from north to
south. The Corporal rode am Indian
pony of mine, the better to get close to
buffalo, of which other horses have
great fear. The pony was fine ami
NAL, which l had captured in a battle
with the Indians a short time previous
ly, and was ridden at my suggestion,
together with my adjusted saddle with
holsters containing my revolvers.
After eating my own lunch / con-
cluded to follow the men. Il buckled on
belt with one holster and revolver,
and mounted my horse and rode in the
direction they had gone. The hunters
had gone eastward, crossed the stream,
and ascended a long slope of prairie
before them, up to it's crest or summit. |
L followed leisurely, guided by the
track in the grass of the mems wagon,
which bore to the south as if done to
make the ascent easier. The top or
edge of the hill was made irregular by
a smaller intercepting valley. While !
riding up this long slope and looking |
before me, in the distance above and |
beyond the intercepting valley, my at
tentiop was arrested by several promi- |
nent punches of grass standing not far |
apart, visible against the sky by reason |
of the elevated prairie. Just then |
heard fusilade of firearms in the di- |
rection the track led, and just then my |
morse struck into gallop. the sooner |
to join the men, whose shots l supposed !
indicated the presence of buffalo, but |
just then, also, i turned my head for
another look towards the suspicious |
clumps of grass, which i was leaving
on my right and rear, and saw about |
25 mounted Indians daShing down the |
slope or hillside, away from the loca-
ton of the grass covers and toward the |
direction of our camp, intending to cut |
off any retreat to it.
quickly wheeled my horse, and |
started at gallop for the same point |
for camp, with a taut rein to save the |
horse from stumbling into holes and |
depressions, realizing that a fall would |
be fatal, and this was quite likely to |
happen when racing upon a heavy |
down grade, and not very even surface |
of prairie. 1 drew off my right gaunt-
let, showed it under my belt and opened
me pistol holster, making ready for
actlon. Meanwhile we were making
about an even race for it. Our courses
toward camp were quite parallel con-
Verglng somewhat, but we were not l.
near enough for effective pistol use. My