worth, Kit Carson, and Col. Bent. General Fremont traveled the 

 Trail from the Great Bend to the mountains." 



In early days, the Trail was the connecting link between east 

 and west. The only teams seen on it were the six yoke of oxen, 

 attached to a wagon carrying from six thousand to seven thousand 

 pounds of freight, and the four or five span of mules drawing a similar 

 wagon, the number of mules varying according to their size. 



On August 10, 1825, representatives of the United States Gov- 

 ernment met with Chiefs of the Great and Little Osage Indians, in 

 the old oak grove, near the Neosho River, to arrange for right of way 

 across the Plains on the Santa Fe Trail. About $800.00 in gold was 

 paid to the Indians for this privilege. A week later, a similar treaty 

 was made with the Kansa Indians, near the present town of McPher- 

 son, Kan. On the 82nd Anniversary of the treaty made in Council 

 Grove, (Aug. 10, 1907), a granite marker commemorating the event, 

 was dedicated. It was placed in the Grove, about forty feet distant 

 from the famous Council Oak, and is one of the finest of the many 

 monuments on the Trail. 



The following verses are quoted from Senator George P. More- 

 house's poem entitled "The Council Oak." 



"Yes, eight hundred in gold was the price that it cost, 



Yet how small such a sum seems today; 



For the tribe by that act such a rich region lost, 



When it passed under whites' ruling sway. 



But the chiefs of the Great and the Little Osage, 



When they counted the gold on that day, 



Were so filled with delight, that 'twould take quite a page 



To relate what they all had to say. 



Let us never forget, to the praise of this tribe, 



That they never had war with the whites; 



But were loyal and true and would scorn ev'ry bribe, 



Yet they stood for their just bargained rights. 



And they never forgot the 'Old Council Oak" 



Or the treaty they made on that day; 



For, to them, it was law and no wise a shrewd joke, 



This great Trail to the far Santa F6. 



What a noble old tree is this sturdy tall oak, 



What a tale to relate could it speak! 



Of the camps and the fires, with their blue curling smoke, 



Which ascend from the wigwam's peak, 



Of the storms and the blasts, of the heat and the cold, 



Of the going and coming of men; 



Let it stand for a record of days that are old 



And much plainer than words from my pen." 



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