[25] Up which the party will continue for many days. Camp to-day in Sedgwick Co., near the border of Reno Co.
[26] Cow creek, a considerable tributary of the Arkansaw, falling in below Hutchinson, seat of Reno Co. See Pike, ed. of 1893, p. 424.
[27] At or near Hutchinson, Reno Co.
[28] The ultimate sources of Cow creek, at the mouth of which Fowler camped on the 15th, are of course afar off. He means a source of Bull creek, that branch of Cow creek which arises in the vicinity of Sterling, Rice Co., and runs approx. parallel with the Arkansaw past Nickerson, Reno Co., to join Cow creek a few miles below the latter place.
[29] The 1700-feet contour line is quite near the S. side of the Arkansaw for several miles along here, and crosses the river a little below Raymond, Rice Co., while on the N. side the same contour line is as far off as Lyons—some 11 or 12 miles. Fowler viewed the topography correctly.
[30] At or near Ellinwood, Barton Co. See Pike, ed. of 1895, p. 425. Fowler is fairly on the great bend of the Arkansaw, but not yet at the place called Great Bend.
[31] A mistake—Fowler has not yet reached the Pawnee fork of the Arkansaw. His “paney River” is Walnut creek, near which is Great Bend, seat of Barton Co. This identification is proven by: (1) The west course assigned for to-day, the reach from Ellinwood to Great Bend being the only one in that direction. (2) The walnut and other trees named as growing on this stream. (3) The statement that this is the second stream crossed since leaving the Little Arkansaw—the only other one being Cow creek of p. 19. (4) The courses and distances given beyond for the identifiable streams crossed, namely: Pawnee fork, Coon creek, and Mulberry creek, all of which fetch out quite right, if the present adjustment be made, otherwise all wrong. It would be curious to know if this is simply a blunder of Fowler’s, or if Walnut creek was once known as “paney river”; most likely the former, as I have never met with the present malidentification before. See Pike, ed. of 1895, p. 425.
Fowler rounds the great bend, past Great Bend, and camps, as he says, 9 m. short of the true Pawnee fork. It will be observed that he has no name but “Red Rock” for the subsequently and long famous Pawnee Rock, which now gives name to a station on the railroad, said to be 16 m. above Great Bend and 13 m. below Larned. It is said to have received its name from a fight there in May or June, 1826, when an expedition which Col. Ceran St. Vrain had fitted out was attacked by Pawnees, and Kit Carson, then a boy, killed his own mule by mistake for an Indian during a false alarm the night before. “Pawnee Rock is no longer conspicuous. Its material has been torn away both by the railroad and the settlers in the vicinity, to build foundations for water-tanks, in the one instance, and for the construction of their houses, barns, and sheds, in the other. Nothing remains of the once famous landmark, its site is occupied as a cattle corral by the owner of the claim in which it is situated,” says Inman, Old Santa Fé Trail, 1897, pp. 404, 405.
[32] This is the Pawnee fork, which Fowler crosses at Larned, Pawnee Co., and continues up the left bank of the Arkansaw. See Pike, ed. of 1895, p. 432.
[33] Big Coon creek, which skirts the Arkansaw for a long distance, and on which are Garfield, Pawnee Co., and Kinsley, Edwards Co. Camp in the vicinity of Garfield. See Pike, ed. of 1895, pp. 434, 435.