Compilation of links to historical maps and writings about Howard County Area

[evanstrail]

I continue to find additonal maps, articles, and maps relating to the area during it's pre-settlement time period.  Rather than attach them to existing threads, or create multiple new threads, my intent is to just compile the links to them here, and also go back through the various threads already in existence and copy previous links to this thread.

Please feel welcome to comment or add anything you wish relevant to the area, especially if it pertains to the period from the Louisiana Purchase up through the division of Howard County in 1875 and establishment of the railroads and communities in and near Elk and Chautauqua Counties.

My primary focus of research is early trails across what would become Howard County, especially the Cherokee Trail (aka Evans Trail or Road, Fayetteville Road, California Trail, California Emigrant Trail, etc) and Osage Indian Trails through the area.

I am also intrigued by the "Wildnerness Trail" that has been mentioned on a thread concerning the Elgin area, and would like to know more about it.

[evanstrail]

A new link (I believe)

http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/210355/page/1

Description from KSHS -

"Map of Kansas, with parts of neighboring states and territories


This map was drawn by Ado Hunnius at the request of Major General J. M. Schofield. It was compiled under the direction of 1st Lieutenant Henry Jackson of the 7th U.S. Cavalry in March 1870. It includes the location of forts in Kansas, southern Nebraska, eastern Colorado, and northern portions of Indian Territory (Oklahoma), as well as noting natural features (rivers, hills, etc.), trails, and Indian reservations."

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My comments:

Shows trail approximating the Cherokee Trail, but about five to ten miles to far SW of most documentation.  In example, the trail as drawn crossed the Walnut River just NE of Augusta, and the Whitewater near Towanda, whereas everything I have read authoritatively states it crossed the Walnut at the original site of El Dorado, and the Whitewater closer to where Potwin is today.

Shows a second trail coming up the east side of the Verdigris River in Oklahoma, then crossing it and following the NE side of the Caney River, entering Kansas near Elgin and continuing north and west until intesecting the above mentioned trail.  This would take it past the Artillary Ridge near Boulangerville that has been discussed here, as well as passing near the "Osage Cuesta" topographical feature that exists between the forks of the Caney north of Grenola.

Shows Black Dog's Trail across southern edge of Kansas, but only as far west as intersection with Cherokee Trail.  Does not show a well documented and well traveled Osage hunting trail from the junction of the Fall and Verdigris Rivers (Neodesha) to the area between todays Wichita and Hutchinson, having crossed the Walnut at the same point as the Cherokee Trail (original El Dorado, two miles below the current US 54 highway crossing).

Shows Elk River (not Ham Creek) and Paw Paw Creek disappearing into the Osage Diminished Reserve, and does not show a corresponding Suicide Creek to capture these streams and deliver them to the Walnut and/or Arkansas, as many other maps of this time period do.

Shows Indian and Salt Creeks of NE Elk/SE Greenwood area and in their correct locations.  I have seen Indian Creek on earlier maps, but often not close to where it actually is.

Additional thought on Elk River.  This and other maps during the time period just before and as the Osage were selling their Trust lands, and relinguishing ownership of the Diminshed Reserve, show Elk River as a stream heading in the Flint Hills, and then going either nowhere, or guessing that it somehow goes south and then west into the Walnut and/or Arkansas. 

Nowhere during this time period do I find a map labeling a stream called Elk entering the Verdigris anywhere, let alone near present Independence. 

This make me ponder the question, who named the stream that the county is named for, and from which end?

Thoughts from others?

More later.

ET

[evanstrail]

From the Elgin Connection thread (http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,5111.0.html).

Reply #28, the middle of a discussion of Boulanger(ville) and a cache of lost gold.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/ok_indian_territory_1884.jpg

The map shows the "Proposed New Post 1867" and the label "Golden Gate" in the vicinity of Bounlanger and Artillary Ridge.

Does anyone know anything about the "Golden Gate"?  Is this a reference to a good pass through the area, or somehow refering to the lost gold supposedly buried in the vicinity of Boulanger?

My previous comments on this map, Reply #32

"The map I posted, was the earliest of many maps I found that show that "Proposed New Post 1867."  The exact same map shows up under various other publishers names until at least 1895.  

As for why that location would have been considered for a military post, I can't find any information on the topic online.

My speculative opinion would be that since this is the immediate post-Civil War time period, a time of many treaties with the Cherokees and Osages in which they had to make concessions because parts of their respective tribes fought under Confederate flags, that maybe the Army wanted a post there to control or prevent travel by the Osages from their new home (Osage Reservation) back into their former hunting grounds (the middle and western parts of the Osage Diminished Reserve, which they had just or were about to relinquished).  The Big Caney Valley would have made a logical route northwest and then due north to intersect the Black Dog Trail, and other indian trails running east-west across what are now Chautauqua, Elk and Cowley counties"

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Same Thread Reply #36

"Found another map, Section of the Map of the States of Kansas and Texas and Indian Territory, with parts of the Territories of Colorado and New Mexico From the most recent official surveys and explorations and under authentic information. 1867 , published by the Government Printing Office:

http://contentdm.baylor.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/19wor&CISOPTR=882&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
March 06, 2013  This should be the new link to this map:

http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/tx-wotr/id/1170/rec/1

It has the proposed new post, trails all over what is now Osage County, OK and a route taken by a Lt. Col. Morrison that approximates the Cherokee Trail from the main Santa Fe Trail southeast to the Kansas Line, intersecting what we commonly call the Black Dog Trail.

The viewer allows high zoom levels with very good sharpening at each level."

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Same thread, Reply #40

"Another open question:

Does anyone know anything about the Lt. Col. Morrison whose route through present MG, CQ, EK, and BU counties is drawn and labeled on the 1867 map referenced in reply 36 and linked below:

http://contentdm.baylor.edu/19wor/19wor_atlas_v2_119_01/

I can't find anything about him or his travels on the web.

Anyone?"

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The links mentioned above from replies 36 and 40 are broken links to the Baylor University Library Collections. I will endeavour to find the new links to the respective maps.

[evanstrail]

Link to an 1869 map drawn by Ado Hunnius whose 1870 map discussed in Reply #1 of this thread.

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~232~20043:Indian-Territory-With-Parts-Of-Neig

"Full Title: Indian Territory With Parts Of Neighboring States And Territories. Prepared By Order Of Maj. Gen. J.M. Schofield. Compiled under direction of 1st Lieut. Henry Jackson, 7th U.S. Cavalry, September 1869. Bvt. Maj. Gen. A.A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers. Drawn by Ado Hunnius. J. Bien, photo-lith.

Author: Jackson, Henry

Date: 1869"

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This map is a very high definition scan, and is remarkably clear at high zoom levels.

Comments on this map:

Suicide Creek is a tributary to the Arkansas, but entering it at the south end of the Big Bend, near present Faifax/Ralston, OK.  This Suicide Creek does not intercept the Elk River, but another unnamed stream captures what would be Elk River, Rowe Branch, and Paw Paw and takes them to a junction with the Arkansas near present Kaw City, OK

Previously mentioned versions of the Cherokee Trail are also on this map, with the same general location as in the 1870 map.

[evanstrail]

This map may already exist on here somewhere:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/maps/1854-57_loc_indianterritory.jpg

It is a cropped picture of a much larger map available here:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g4050+mf000067))

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Notes about this map (at the first link):

Map is compilation of other maps prepared by various cartographers from 1854-55.

Very high quality scan, very detailed even at high zoom levels.

Cherokee Trail approximated by "Lt. Col. Morrison's Route".

Cottomwood Creek is actually the Walnut River, Hickory Creek and Grouse Creek are about where they should be.

And there is Suicide Creek, from the middle of future Howard County, down to the big bend of the Ark, near Fairfax/Ralston, OK

[flintauqua]

Here's a new one, from way back. 1719 to be exact.

http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/31316/Carte_De_La_Nouvelle_France_ou_se_voit_le_cours_des_Grandes_Rivieres_de/De%20Fer.html

Click on the map and it will open larger in a new window.  Then blow it up to 400% and you will see there were Indians beside the Osages living in what would become SC/SE Kansas and NC/NE Oklahoma.

[flintauqua]

Found a 1875 map of Indian Territory that includes a good chunk of southern Kansas, including all of what are now Elk and Chautauqua Counties.

The zoom on this site is very good and very clear.  Have to click on Sheet 2 in the right hand panel.

http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/agdm/id/576/rec/9

[W. Gray]

Thanks, I always enjoy a map of the local area that shows the town of Boston. Those folks were elected as the fourth county seat of Howard County but lost to Elk Falls in court, which brought the Boston War to a climax with the raid on Elk Falls.

[flintauqua]

Western United States Map From the Pacific Railroad Surveys, 1858

http://cprr.org/Museum/Maps/Pac_RR_Surveys_1858.html

Map includes Lt. Col. Morrisons Route and Suicide Creek.  Would sure like to learn more about the Lt. Col.

Many historical maps of the central and western US at this site, most are high resolution scans with extreme detail.

[ddurbin]

It appears Lt. Col. Morrison would be Pitcairn Morrison.  He was a career Army man, serving over 40 years before retiring in the latter part of the Civil War.  He was involved with removal of the Seminoles from Florida to Oklahoma, served in Mexico during that war, was involved with Cochise and the Apaches in Arizona, as well as serving at and establishing various forts and posts throughout the "West".  In June, 1855, he was dispatched from Ft. Gibson, I.T. with 3 companies of the 7th Infantry, to Bent's Fort to help protect emigrants along the Santa Fe Trail.  It was this trek that took him up the Evans/Cherokee Trail from Ft. Gibson to just east of McPherson, traveling through current CQ and EK counties, where he then took the Santa Fe Trail on to Bent's Fort.