MooNEv] PURSLEY AND CHOUTEAU 171 



At this time the Kiowa were located ou the upper waters of Arkansas, 

 Canadian, and Red rivers, in friendship with the Comanche and Wichita, 

 who occupied much of the same territory, but usually ranged more to 

 the east and south. They continued to occui)y the same general region 

 until confined to their present reservation. Tlieir war parties extended 

 their raids far beyond these limits, particularly toward the south. 



catlin's observations in 1834 



Catlin, who saw them in 1834, describes them as a much finer race of 

 men than either the Comanche or Wichita, being tall and erect, with 

 an easy graceful gait, long hair reaching often nearly to the ground, 

 with a fine Roman outline of head, of a type common among tlie north- 

 ern tribes, but entirely distinct from that usually found in the south 

 {Catlin, 3). 



TRADERS AMONa THE KIOWA 



From the statement of Lewis and Clark already noted, it appears 

 that in 1805, while still located on the North Platte, the Kiowa had as 

 yet no communication with traders, but obtained supplies indirectly 

 through the tribes living farther east. From Pike's narrative, how- 

 ever, we learn that James Pursley, " the first American who ever pene- 

 trated the immense wilds of Louisiana," spent a trading season with the 

 Kiowa and Comanche in 1802 or 1S03, under engagement with a French 

 trader operating from the Mandan country, and remained with them 

 until the next spring, when the Dakota drove them from the plains into 

 the mountains at the heads of the Platte and Arkansas {Pike, 2). From 

 Long's statement, also previously quoted, we learn that in 1815, the 

 Kiowa having drifted farther south in the meantime, traders from St 

 Louis had begun to ascend Arkansas river to trade with the Kiowa, 

 Cheyenne, and other tribes near its headwaters. From other sources 

 it is apparent that before this time tliey had had dealings also with the 

 Spaniards of Xew Mexico. The first regular American trading expedi- 

 tion to the Kiowa country was made in 1834 when, on the return of 

 the visiting chiefs from Fort Gibson, a company of eighty trappers and 

 traders went back with them to their homes on the ujiper Washita and 

 Red rivers {Catlin, 3). In 1835, shortly after the treaty with the 

 Comanche at Camp Holmes, Colonel Auguste Chouteau built on the 

 same site a small stockade fort, where a considerable trade was carried 

 on with the Comanche, Kiowa, Wichita, and associated tribes until his 

 death three years later, when the place was abandoned ( Gret/f/, 1). The 

 exact location of Camp Holmes and Chouteau's fort was at a spring on 

 a small creek, both still bearing the name of Chouteau, on the east or 

 north side of South (main) Canadian river, about 5 miles northeast of 

 where now is the town of Purcell, Indian Territory. It was a favorite 

 Indian camping ground and was the site of a Kichai village about 1850. 



Auguste Chouteau, the descendant of one of the early French 

 founders of St Louis, was the pioneer organizer of the Indian trade 



