In eastern Kansas and Nebraska a few hardy settlers were already beginning to establish habitations, but these, as yet, scarcely ventured to advance beyond sight of the Missouri. In Texas there were settlements, made possible by a militant advance against Mexico; yet these exercised little if any direct influence over the destinies of the more northern Plains. The Government, because of the need of protecting the Santa Fe trade, had established a military post at Fort Leavenworth, but beyond this, and the above mentioned narrow roads of passage, the Great Plains remained an abode of savagery, yet to be conquered and reclaimed. Already those men and women to whom this gigantic task fell were turning their adventurous eyes westward.

The Turning toward the Northwest and the Southwest

The contest may be said to have fairly begun with the first faint trickle of emigration toward the Pacific coast, and to have become stimulated into earnest activity by the results of the struggle with Mexico. The first turned the thoughts of the people toward the permanent settlement of the Northwest; the second brought to men generally a new conception of the possibilities of the Southwest. Thus was the curtain slightly lifted, and the period of exploration verged into that of the struggle for possession which prefaced permanent habitation. The beginnings of this new movement, although distinct, were slow and uncertain, yet in a comparatively brief space of time -- as time is reckoned in a nation's history -- the first little wave had swollen into a torrent; the trapper, the trader, the soldier, the emigrant, each in turn, passed along the dim wilderness trails, leaving the blackened embers of camp-fires, the deep ruts of wheels, the ghastly relics of battle, yet ever making way for massing settlers behind, constantly broadening out the vista, and making known the truth. It is this period of Indian War and pioneer emigration that constitutes the second advance in the story of the Great Plains.

Missionaries Bound for the West

To tell it rightly one must hark back slightly farther than the date set, for as early as 1834 travelers other than traders or trappers passed over the then barely traceable trail leading to distant Oregon. These pioneers of a great movement were missionaries, and they traveled in small separate parties from that year until 1839. The Lee brothers, Jason and Daniel, passed this way first. The following year Samuel Parker and Marcus Whitman traveled over the long trail. In 1836, Whitman, who had returned East, came back accompanied by his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, and W. G. Gray, It is said that at the trappers' rendezvous on the Sweetwater these pioneer white women received a royal welcome at the hands of the gathered mountain men, and were escorted by them some distance on their journey. The remainder of the way they traveled under the armed protection of the American Fur Company.