For thousands of years
indigenous peoples had lived along the rivers in this area, with varying cultures. By the time of European encounter, the
Osage was a major tribe in the area. Their territory started at the
Missouri River and extended west, including to parts of present-day
Arkansas. In 1541 the Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto and expedition passed through the area, as did the 1721 expedition of
Bernard de la Harpe. They gave Spanish names to many of the local streams, which the Osage had already named. In 1796
Jean-Pierre Chouteau, a French trader from
St. Louis, established the first trading post in 1796, at the junction of the Grand/
Neosho River and Saline Creek for business with the Osage. Remembered today as one of the first permanent "white" (European-American) settlements in present-day Oklahoma, at that time the area was part of
Spanish Louisiana. The United States took possession of the land that included Salina with the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803. By 1817,
keelboats were landing goods at Salina from
Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the area was considered part of what was known as "
Indian Territory" of the United States. That year, Chouteau's son
Auguste Pierre and his partner Joseph Revoir received an exclusive license from Spanish authorities to trade with the Osage. In 1820, the Spanish government of the time took the monopoly away. Chouteau convinced the Osage tribe, under the leadership of Cashesgra ("Big Trek"), to migrate into Indian Territory near the trading post, and ensured the survival of the business. In 1820, the
United States Department of War authorized Epaphras Chapman to establish the Union
Mission near the mouth of Chouteau Creek to educate and
convert the Osage. The mission had the first printing press in present-day Oklahoma. Under its policy of
Indian removal, the US government began to remove Native American tribes from the Southeast, giving them land in the Territory in exchange. The Indians boiled salt from the water rising from
limestone rock about a mile south of the trading post. Springs included one hot water
geyser that shot boiling water into the air. Chouteau obtained the springs in a treaty in 1825 and sold them to
Sam Houston in 1830. A
Cherokee, Captain John Rogers, began making salt from the springs and named them "Grand Saline". He built his home nearby.
Washington Irving visited on October 6, 1832, accompanied by Sam Houston. In 1838 the government began moving
Cherokee to the area in implementation of the
Indian Removal Act. By 1839, Rogers was operating 115 salt kettles. He lost the salt works in 1844 to the
Cherokee Nation under a new law defining their territory. The Cherokee leased the works to Lewis Ross (brother of Chief
John Ross). Ross built a house there and operated the salt business using
African American slave labor. Drilling for salt water, in 1859 Ross accidentally hit the first vein of oil in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). It flowed at the rate of 10 barrels a day for a year. He operated two stores in Salina. In 1862 during the
American Civil War, Union soldiers came down unopposed on the
Grand River to Salina and set all slaves free. The soldiers ransacked the Ross home, had the slaves load everything on wagons, and hauled the goods across the border to the free state of
Kansas. In 1872 the Cherokee Nation purchased the Ross home for $26,000 and used it for years as the Cherokee Orphan Asylum. It was destroyed by fire in 1899. Reconstructed, the structure is now used as a gym. The Cherokee chief
Samuel Houston Mayes established a
ferry and mercantile business on the Grand River in 1906. The establishment of the Old Chouteau Trading Post at Salina was commemorated on October 10–11, 1938, and has become an annual celebration. Among those speaking at the inaugural event were Governor-Elect Leon C. Phillips, Dr. M. L. Wardell of the
University of Oklahoma, Mr. Thomas J. Harrison of Pryor, and
Yvonne Chouteau, a descendant of Jean Pierre Chouteau. ==Geography==