Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, 1831-1839, part 2

volume xvi, pp. 141-143.--ED.

Chapter 34499 wordsPublic domain

[86] From subsequent observations, this point appears to have been some miles west of the 100th degree of longitude.--GREGG.

_Comment by Ed._ See volume xix, p. 217, note 52 (Gregg).

[87] Kendall, _Texan Santa Fé Expedition_, i, p. 192.--ED.

[88] Camp Comanche would appear to have been in Lipscombe or Ochiltree County, Texas.--ED.

[89] For Dr. John Sibley, see our volume xvii, p. 68, note 60. This anecdote is found in his report in _American State Papers_, "Indian Affairs," i, p. 724.--ED.

[90] Robert C. Schenck was born at Franklin, Ohio, in 1809, graduated from Miami University, and practised law at Dayton. After one term in the state legislature (1841-42), he was sent to Congress (1843-51), which he left to become American minister to Brazil (1851-53). In the War of Secession he attained a major-generalship, and resigned to re-enter Congress (1863-70). For six years (1870-76) Schenck served as minister to Great Britain, being one of the commissioners to adjust the Alabama claims. He died in Washington in 1890. Another brother was an admiral in the American navy.--ED.

[91] Colorado is the usual Spanish term for Red River, which Gregg here intends. For Llano Estacado, see his description _post_, p. 239.--ED.

[92] Thomas J. Farnham, _Travels in the Great Western Prairie, the Anahuac and Rocky Mountains, and in Oregon Territory_ (London, 1843), reprinted in volume xxvii of our series.

Bent's Fort, sometimes called Fort William for its founder Colonel William Bent, was situated on the north bank of the Arkansas, between the present towns of La Junta and Las Animas, Colorado. Founded in 1829, it was an important fur-trade post, and base of supplies for the mountain trail to Santa Fé. The United States army of occupation (1846) passed by this post. In 1852, the government attempted to purchase the post; but not satisfied with the terms, its owner destroyed the stockade.--ED.

[93] Literally _saltpetre_; but the _salitre_ of New Mexico is a compound of several other salts beside nitre.--GREGG.

[94] On the eastern border of San Miguel County, New Mexico, are three peaks known as Los Cuervos, or The Crows. The river winding through this high land, forms the narrows of which Gregg speaks. Consult Kendall, _Texan Santa Fé Expedition_, i, p. 174.--ED.

[95] Tucumcari Mountain is in eastern Quay County, with a town of the same name at its base--a junction on the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway. For an interesting description of this mound, which he likens to the dome of the capitol at Washington, see report of James H. Simpson (1849), in _Senate Doc._, 31 cong., 2 sess., vi, 12, p. 14.--ED.

[96] For San Miguel, see our volume xix, p. 253, note 76 (Gregg).--ED.

[97] Among the New Mexicans, the terms _foreigner_ and _American_ are synonymous: indeed, the few citizens of other nations to be found there identify themselves with those of the United States. All foreigners are known there as _Americanos_; but south of Chihuahua they are indiscriminately called _Los Ingleses_, the English.--GREGG.

[98] See post, pp. 227-232.--ED.