with a large
number of trappers and hunters, went out to the valley of the Upper
Arkansas for the purpose of trading with Indians, and trapping on the
numerous streams of the contiguous region.

The island on which Chouteau established his trading-post, and which
bears his name even to this day, is in the Arkansas River on the
boundary line of the United States and Mexico. It was a beautiful spot,
with a rich carpet of grass and delightful groves, and on the American
side was a heavily timbered bottom.

While occupying the island, Chouteau and his old hunters and trappers
were attacked by about three hundred Pawnees, whom they repulsed with
the loss of thirty killed and wounded. These Indians afterward declared
that it was the most fatal affair in which they were ever engaged. It
was their first acquaintance with American guns.

The general character of the early trade with New Mexico was founded
on the system of the caravan. She depended upon the remote ports of old
Mexico, whence was transported, on the backs of the patient burro and
mule, all that was required by the primitive tastes of the primitive
people; a very tedious and slow process, as may be inferred, and the
limited traffic westwardly across the great plains was confined to this
fashion. At the date of the legitimate and substantial commerce with New
Mexico, in 1824, wheeled vehicles were introduced, and traffic assumed
an importance it could never have otherwise attained, and which now,
under the vast system of railroads, has increased to dimensions little
dreamed of by its originators nearly three-quarters of a century ago.

It was eight years after Pursley's pilgrimage before the trade with New
Mexico attracted the attention of speculators and adventurers. Messrs.
McKnight,[13] Beard, and Chambers, with about a dozen comrades, started
with a supply of goods across the unknown plains, and by good luck
arrived safely at Santa Fe. Once under the jurisdiction of the Mexicans,
however, their trouble began. All the party were arrested as spies,
their wares confiscated, and themselves incarcerated at Chihuahua, where
the majority of them were kept for almost a decade. Beard and Chambers,
having by some means escaped, returned to St. Louis in 1822, and,
notwithstanding their dreadful experience, told of the prospects of the
trade with the Mexicans in such glowing colours that they induced some
individuals of small capital to fit out another expedition, with w