A History of Kansas

by Anna E. Arnold

The Fur Traders. It is impossible to say when the first hunters and trappers came to these western plains, for they were generally obscure men and little was known of their comings and goings, but they were the real pathfinders of the West. There are records of fur traders here in the very early years of the nineteenth century, and they gradually went farther and farther into the vast wilderness. The streams of travel across Kansas in the ’40’s followed paths that had been pointed out by the fur traders.

The fur companies established many trading posts, which served as forts for protection against the Indians and as places to which hunters and trappers could bring their furs. Some of the hunters and trappers were employed by the fur companies, and others worked independently.

Many Indians also engaged in this trade, and often they were given tobacco, whisky, and weapons in exchange for their furs. In this way much of the work of the missionaries was undone. In the earlier years the hunters and trappers found many kinds of wild animals in Kansas: the buffalo, the wolf, the fox, the deer, the elk, and the antelope, and along the streams the beaver, the otter, the mink, and the muskrat. Later the main supply of furs came from the mountains, and the whole fur trade gradually moved west of what is now Kansas.

The Indian Tepee,

Made of poles and buffalo hides, was the only home of the wandering tribes, and was used by the other tribes when on hunting trips.

Father Padilla, the First Missionary in Kansas. The attempt to civilize the Indian began in the days of the early explorers, and it was on Kansas soil that the first missionary’s life was lost in the cause. This man was Father Padilla, a Jesuit, who came with Coronado on his journey to Quivira. Father Padilla became much interested in the Quivira Indians and remained to do missionary work among them. His preaching was of short duration, however, for he was soon killed, whether by the Quiviras or some other tribe is not known.

Kansas Missionaries of the Nineteenth Century. Centuries later, when Kansas became a part of the United States and was explored and traversed by white men, missionaries were among the first to arrive. They came to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion and to persuade them to adopt the customs of civilization.

Of the many who came, Rev. Isaac McCoy probably deserves first mention. He had spent many years in work among the Indians and strongly urged the removal policy. He believed that if they could live in a separate state, free from contact with the white race, the Indians could be civilized, and he gave his life to this work.

Jotham Meeker and his wife were among the most devoted of the missionaries, but there were many others, both men and women, who placed the welfare of human beings above mere gain and who endured the hardships of life among the savages for the sake of the good they might do.