EL QUARTELEJO

IN SCOTT COUNTY STATE PARK THREE MILES NORTHWEST IS EL QUARTELEJO, ONLY KNOWN INDIAN PUEBLO IN KANSAS. ABOUT 1650, IT IS BELIEVED, TAOS INDIANS MIGRATED HERE TO ESCAPE SPANISH OPPRESSION. LATER THEY WERE PERSUADED BY THE SPANISH GOVERNOR TO RETURN TO NEW MEXICO. IN 1706 JUAN URIBARRI FORMALLY TOOK POSSESSION OF THE VALLEY FOR SPAIN, CALLING IT SAN LUIS PROVINCE. SPANIARDS AND FRENCHMEN IN THE FRONTIER STRUGGLES OF THE 1700'S ALTERNATELY OCCUPIED THE OUTPOST. DRIFTING SOIL EVENTUALLY BURIED THE STRUCTURE AND NOT UNTIL 1898 WERE THE RUINS EXCAVATED, REVEALING A TYPICAL PUEBLO WITH TRACES OF AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM. TODAY THEY ARE AGAIN BURIED BUT THE SITE IS MARKED BY A MONUMENT. NEAR HERE IN 1878 COL. WILLIAM H. LEWIS, COMMANDING TROOPS FROM FORT DODGE, WAS FATALLY WOUNDED IN A BATTLE WITH CHIEF DULL KNIFE AND HIS NORTHERN CHEYENNES. LEWIS WAS THE LAST ARMY OFFICER KILLED BY INDIANS IN KANSAS.