Other Stuff in Council Grove

After tending to the bike I had some time on my hands so I did my test ride around Council Grove. Here are my observations.

A. Like almost every town we've crossed since Las Vegas, NM., Council Bluff's streets are red brick. I guess they don't have to worry about repaving them.

B. I visited a little cave that was occupied in 1863 by an Italian mystic turned hermit, Giovanni Maria Augostini. He spent five months in this little crevice, then walked 550 miles on the Santa Fe Trail to Las Vegas, NM., where he promptly set himself up in another cave. He found time to perform some miracles so the good people of Las Vegas built him a house.

Giovanni's cave, a fixer-up job with view, would go for about $350,000 in Seattle.

C. This was Kaw Indian Territory prior to the start of trade along the trail in 1821. Kansas derives its name from the Kaw, also called the Kansa. (This will be on the test.)

D. Bad Deal #1. In 1825, the Kaws and Little Osage signed a treaty with the U.S. government that basically granted wagon trains the right of way so they could get to Santa Fe. The trail cut through prime buffalo hunting area, but the Kaws and Osages probably thought what harm could a few yahoos on wagons do. For their grant, the Indians received $800 and some calico. By the way the names of the two chiefs representing the Indians were White Hair and Foolish Man. I will say no more on this. (I did not make up the second name. History has proven it a correct representation.)

E. Council Gove was named for the place the treaty in the above paragraph was transacted, not far from where I am camped now. There was actually a large oak under which the ceremony took place. Unfortunately, it burned in 1959, but the town fathers preserved the stump which is enclosed in a shrine like structure.

F. Bad Deal #2. A few years after Bad Deal #1, the Kaws made Bad Deal #2, not that they had any choice. They were forced onto a 20 square-mile reservation after having roamed throughout all of Kansas for generations. The settlers wanted the land and the Indians were in the way. That was that. Then later, in Bad Deal #3 they were relocated to Oklahoma, where their reservation exists today.

G. I have never seen so many vultures. They continuously circle are camp. It seems they follow us when we ride. I think they are waiting to pick off the weak ones.

Downtown Council Grove at high noon on Sunday.

What cross-country bicycle riders do on their day off.