Preparing Southwest Kansas for settlement often ended in tragedy for both Indian and white man.
On August 24, 1874, a government survey party of six, marking the township lines of Odee Township was ambushed by Cheyenne. Twenty-four Cheyenne from Fort Reno, Oklahoma led by Chief Medicine Water killed the six members of the surveying team. The slain men were temporarily buried near their camp by a lone cottonwood tree on Crooked Creek. This old tree stood for 64 years as a memorial to the surveyors.
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