THE SANTA FE ROUTE, 33 
trains through the district west of Great Bend, where the Indians 
were especially dangerous. Long before the fort was established the 
place was noted for massacres and Indian wars, mainly because of a 
grove which afforded the Indians concealment. Moreover, it was 
on one of the lines of travel always taken by the buffaloes in their 
annual migration and therefore was visited by the Indians on their 
summer hunting trips. 
The area from Great Bend westward for a hundred miles or so was 
a famous hunting ground for all the plains tribes, as its excellent pas- 
turage made it the home of vast herds of buffaloes, besides plenty of 
antelopes and deer. For this reason it was the scene of innumerable 
conflicts between the tribes, none of which could maintain perma- 
nent control of it. The big game has been gone for many years, and 
now only occasional jack rabbits, squirrels, and nocturnal animals 
remain. 
Arkansas River from Great Bend to Pueblo, Colo., was followed 
by Lieut. Zebulon Pike on the trip during which he saw for the first 
time the peak of the Rocky Mountains that bears his name. 
In the slopes north of Great Bend and in the stream banks at 
intervals up Walnut Creek there are exposures of the brown ledges 
of Dakota sandstone, a formation in which are excavated the valleys 
of this general region. In 1887 a boring was made 3 miles north of 
Great Bend, in which the great salt bed already mentioned was pene- 
trated for 163 feet, proving its extension in this direction from 
Hutchinson and Lyons. At a depth of 744 feet a flow of water was 
found which ran out of the casing to a height of 30 feet above the 
ground. 
Near milepost 281, which is about 10 miles southwest of Great Bend, 
Pawnee Rock is discernible in the distance, and at milepost 282 it is 
plainly in view, rising on the north side of the valley 
Pawnee Rock. a short distance north of Pawnee Rock station. The 
Elevation 1,941 feet. rock is a high southward-facing cliff of Dakota sand- 
Population 458, hae 3 
Kansas City 298 miles Stone, projecting as a rocky promontory from the 
. broad ridge that forms the north side of the valley. 
Its present appearance is shown in Plate III, B (p. 19). The elements 
and the hand of man have made great changes in its size and appear- 
ance since the days when the Santa Fe Trail passed along its base. 
Here were many encounters between the savages and the whites, and 
also between hostile bands of Indians, for the place is noted not only 
in pioneer history but in Indian traditions as well. Names and initials 
of many travelers, from the early trappers and the ‘“‘forty-niners” to 
the later Army detachments, have been scratched on the smooth faces 
of the ledges. 
