Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/148

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137
CAMPED IN DICKINSON COUNTY.
137

but that any moment they might be attacked. There was not much sleep had by the majority, but all quieted down so that they began to converse on various topics.

If you look at the map of Dickinson County you will observe a stream, in the southwest corner named Holland Greek. Here is where our party camped, and due east of here is Council Grove, where our scared natives belonged. How long this place has held that name is not known, but if like Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Missouri river, it is away back; the very word Council indicates its Indian origin, although mind you, the history of Morris County claims that the name was derived from the fact that there was a beautiful grove there in 1847 when the first trading post was established on the Santa Fe trail at this point, and here the parties of freighters would meet preparatory to going farther and council as to their plans. This may be correct; but when the natural advantages surrounding the place are taken into consideration, it constrains one to attribute the name to Indian origin. As early as 1825 the Government by treaty obtained the Santa Fe trail and got permission of the Kansas Indians to have the road or trail to pass through their reservation which included Morris County; and to this day the main street of the city of Council Grove is the Santa Fe trail as plotted by the United States engineers. Again history states. "Until 1847 the territory now embraced, in Morris County was held by various Indian tribes as neutral ground and the wooded belts along the Neosho and its tributaries formed excellent hunting