The original intention of the Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division (UPED), (a Wyandotte, Kan., company), was to win the construction race with Omaha’s Union Pacific Railroad Company.

The company that reached the 100th meridian first, a location near present-day Cozad, Neb. on the Platte River, would receive the federal contract to build the first railroad across the country.

The Wyandotte company stumbled when its president, Samuel Hallett, was shot to death by a disgruntled worker. A delay in new leadership allowed Omaha’s Union Pacific to surge ahead, causing the UPED to abandon its original plan to build into Nebraska.

John D. Perry, the new president of the UPED, asked for and received Congressional approval to change course in late 1865. The new route lay across Kansas, along the entire length of the Smoky Hill River, reaching into the desolate high plains of eastern Colorado. Denver was the new destination.

That route followed or paralleled the earlier of Butterfield’s Overland Despatch (B.O.D.), a freight and stage road.

A treaty held on the Little Arkansas River (north of present-day Wichita, Kan.) was negotiated with plains tribes, in part to allow the B.O.D. to operate undisturbed through the Smoky Hill country. Under terms of the treaty plains tribes could hunt between the Arkansas and Platte Rivers but had to keep their permanent villages south of the Arkansas.

Unfortunately, many of the Cheyenne and Arapaho families had gone north that summer to hunt with their northern relatives in Wyoming.

When they returned to the Smoky Hill River in October of 1865, they were alarmed to find a wagon road through the heart of their sacred Smoky Hills.

Maj. E. W. Wynkoop was selected to meet with the tribes to begin negotiations for the tribes to relinquish control of their hunting lands. Wynkoop had been Indian agent at Fort Lyon and had worked tirelessly for peace with the Cheyennes and Arapahos.

Seventy-five miles south of Fort Larned on Bluff Creek (near present-day Protection, Kan.) Wynkoop met with 4,000 tribesmen in winter camp on Feb. 28, 1866.

Amazingly, he convinced everyone, including the militaristic Dog Men (Dog Soldiers) to “touch” the agreement allowing the railroad to cross their lands. From Bluff Creek Wynkoop traveled to other outlying camps, succeeding in every encounter. He even got Sioux war leader Pawnee Killer to agree, something that few could have imagined.

In July Wynkoop learned that the annuities promised to the tribes at the 1865 treaty had not been distributed. Secretary of the Interior Dennis Cooley advised him that Congress had finally appropriated the money, but that it would still take time for annuities to reach the tribes.

Wynkoop was given $1,000 to purchase gifts and directed to organize a council at Fort Ellsworth, a post along the Smoky Hill River, 29 miles west of Salina.

Wynkoop arrived at Fort Ellsworth by stage on Aug. 10. The conference was convened on Aug. 13 after interpreter John Smith brought in the Southern Cheyenne men. The conference must have made quite a spectacle with frontiersmen carrying bowie knives and long rifles mingled with railroad officials and Army officers. On one hand a regiment of cavalry provided security while the greatest of Cheyenne leaders entered the council.

Wynkoop addressed the issue of belated annuities and worked his persuasive magic. The Cheyenne chiefs knew they were up against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, but they found it hard to walk away from the land of their fathers. But they were resigned to keep the peace.

Unfortunately, the railroad had not waited for the conclusion of the treaty. Their surveyors were reaching into western Kansas and grading crews were beyond Fort Ellsworth. Roman Nose had waited for all of the chiefs to speak, for he was not a chief. He was merely a warrior of great renown. On the last day of the conference, Aug. 16, 1866, “he stood forth.” In three short minutes the warrior undid all the progress the railroad and military officials had gained. Closing his remarks Roman Nose vowed, “This is the first time that I have ever shaken the white man’s hand in friendship. If the railway is continued, I shall be his enemy forever!”

Wynkoop had mistakenly thought that Roman Nose was a chief. Wynkoop felt that the conference had been a success even though Roman Nose had spoken against the railroad. In November at Fort Zarah, (near present-day Great Bend), Roman Nose signaled his role in the unfolding events saying, “I did not come here to represent myself as a chief but as a soldier.”

Ultimately Wynkoop underestimated the resolve of Roman Nose and the influence he held on his people. The coming year of 1867 would bring war despite Wynkoop’s remarkable endeavor for peace on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.