Note II-26 — Chapter II · ITINERARY, CONTINUED: FROM THE PAWNEE VILLAGE THROUGH KANSAS AND COLORADO TO PIKE'S PEAK, OCT. 1ST-NOV. 30TH, 1806.

Camp past Cimarron and Ingalls, but not far W. of the latter—5 m., perhaps. These are two towns on the N. bank, respectively 18 and 26 m. above Dodge City. Ingalls is the seat of Gray Co. The Amer. Sp. word cimarron means something wild, runaway, or unreclaimed, like maroon, and is applicable to an animal, a person, a place, etc. It designated the wild sheep of the Rocky Mountains (Ovis montana), gave name to one of the largest branches of the Arkansaw, and was early associated with a certain route from the Arkansaw to Santa Fé. The name of J. J. Ingalls was long prominent in Kansas politics and in national statesmanship, and at one time associated with the too-true statement that "purity in politics is an iridescent dream." Notwithstanding the injunction against truth-telling which the consequences of the scholarly senator's remark imply, I wish to speak as accurately as possible regarding the points at which the Cimarron route left the Arkansaw. There were two of these places, both of which Pike passes to-day, where the river was forded, and the road thus crossed from the N. to the S. bank. These became known as the Lower and Upper Crossings of the Arkansaw; they were 8 m. apart; the lower one was 18 m. and the upper one 26 m. above Fort Atkinson; they thus correspond to the positions of Cimarron and Ingalls, respectively. The river is now bridged at each town. The Lower Crossing was the earlier one, most used by the traders from 1834 till the closing of the Mexican ports in 1843; after the war the Upper Crossing seems to have been generally chosen. Thus, we find Gunnison and Beckwith saying in 1853, P. R. R. Rep. II. 1855, p. 26: "Seventeen miles from the fort [Atkinson] there is a ford, sometimes used by the trains and parties going to and from New Mexico by the Cimmaron [sic] route; but the principal ford for that route is 8 m. above this." Writing of 1846, Dr. Wislizenus speaks of moving "about 20 miles" up the Arkansaw from the Caches, and arriving "at the usual fording place," i. e., the lower one. "This track," says Gregg, Comm. Pra. I. 1844, p. 311, "which has since remained permanent, was made in the year 1834. Owing to continuous rains during the passage of the caravan of that year a plain trail was then cut in the softened turf, on the most direct route across this arid desert, leaving the Arkansas about 20 miles above the 'Caches.' This has ever since been the regular route of the caravans; and thus a recurrence of those distressing sufferings from thirst, so frequently experienced by early travellers in that unhospitable region, has been prevented." The first camp S. of the Arkansaw was usually made in the vicinity of the Sand Hills, at a place called the Battleground after 1843, in which year the defeat of the Mexicans by the Texans under Colonel Snively occurred on that spot; it was some 12-15 m. from the river. The roads from the two fords came together at no great distance from the Arkansaw (perhaps in the vicinity of Ulysses, seat of Grant Co.); having thus headed the Crooked Creek branch of Cimarron, the road crossed Sandy cr. not far above its confluence with the Cimarron, and so reached that river.