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<br />when it would be blown up following a price dispute over <br />its sale to the United States' government for military use. <br /> <br />The Indians could see this economic development <br />taking place along a river referred to by them as the Rio <br />Nepesta (Rio Nepestle in some spellings). It would be <br />named the Arkansas River by Sieur Bernard La Harpe, <br />map maker, in 1718. Literally thousands of Indians from <br />a number of tribes would meet during the summer of <br />1840 (seven winters following the "Winter the Stars Fell" <br />in Indian history-a great meteor shower) in council a <br />few miles downstream from Bent's Fort. Knovm as <br />Arrowpoint or Flint Arrovvpoint, this encampment couid <br />observe the Santa Fe Trail's traffic in the distance. Ob- <br />serving the increasing number of travelers \;vas not nec- <br />essarily a bothersome or threatening sight at the time <br />to these native Americans. They were more interested <br />in developing alliances among the various tribes and in <br />promoting peace among their brothers. Instead, some <br />old rivalries were rekindled, and the Kiowas and Chey- <br />ennes would remain as enemies. In time the "palefaces" <br />would often be included as the enemies of these early <br />inhabitants of the prairie. In a later treaty with the gov- <br />ernment, many of these same Indians v;/'ould find them- <br />selves on reservations. Little did they know at the time <br />of this councii that five major thoroughfares vvouid pass <br />within sight of this spot they now occupied: the Arkan- <br />sas River and the Santa Fe Trail they knew about, but <br />there would also be U.S. Highway 50, the Santa Fe <br />Railroad and the Fort Lyon Canal. <br /> <br />Multiple forts would later be constructed by both Wil- <br />liam Bent and the federal government. The current Fort <br /> <br />3 <br />