Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/126

INDIAN SUMMER. 1.15 rhe history of Kansas gives sixteen different ways which early writers spelled the same. Most have the same phonetic sound. Here are some that would be difficult to distinguish if one did not know what it referred to: "Canceas, Cansez, Kansies, Konza; the v/ord meaning in Indian "Smoky". The derivation, in all probability, came from the peculiar atmospheric condition which prevailed in the fall of the year, which is still called by everyone "Indian Summer," there seeming to be smoke in the air. It was more pronounced when the state was first settled. The term will be handed down to posterity through the name, "Smoky Hill River." The reason for raising the point that the historians of our party failed to touch upon the names of the tribes, is because of a statement made by J. V. Brower, author of "Quivira", a magnificent- ly illustrated and highly artistic volume published by him in 1898. After careful research over several Indian villages, and particularly in a large one about two miles down the Kansas River from Manhattan, near the junction of the Kansas and Blue Rivers; visiting the ruins or location of others in Geary, Riley and Wabaunsee counties; and after the expend- iture of a large amount of energy and funds, he with the gentlemen of quivira Historical Society came to the following conclusion, as set forth on page 11 of Brewer's "Quivira: "First — ^Village sites of a more or less sedentary people who were quite permanently located on both sides of the Kansas River. They made and used earthen vessels and the most exquisitely chipped