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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Representations of Indians and US Army along the Oregon Trail: Waterville

I recently was advised of a Indian mural along the Oregon Trail in the town of Waterville, KS.

The mural shows shirtless Indians chasing buffalo while on horseback. The mural is partly has some buffalo near the edge of a cliff but no actual signs of hunting the buffalo are present much like the St. Marys and the Blue Rapids murals. After Topeka the representations of Indians on the Great Plains are much more pronounced. The second thing with the mural is the presence of a travois on the left side of the mural. The travois was used by plains Indians to move possessions around due to their nomadic nature. A travois would never be brought on a hunt. Its use can be surmised as giving the message that while Indians were in the local area, they're presence was not permanent.

Now we are finally done with Kansas. Many thanks to the wise one who told me about the mural.

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