In the mid-1700s, Indians of this region met at a trading ground near this site with Frenchmen who brought them manufactured goods, sometimes including guns and ammunition--products denied them by the Spanish who held sovereignty, but could not prevent intrusions from Louisiana. The Spanish explorer Jose Mares on a road-mapping expedition here in 1787 saw evidences of the French. Among noted early-day visitors were Captain R. B. Marcy of the U.S. Army and Indian agent R. S. Neighbors, who camped nearby in 1854 while seeking a good site for an Indian reservation. (1974)