Fort Salinas was a huge makeshift fort downslope from what was called Oak Hill. It was constructed near the junction of the Fort Henshaw Military Road and the Oregon Trail on the banks of the Republic River. Across the river was a small Indian village that ran a trading post for the travelers of the trails.

In the early fall of 1847, a group of 38 businessmen gathered at Fort Salinas to discuss forming a town to take advantage of the trail traffic and hopefully be the capital whenever statehood was granted.

“What about the existing village?” asked Nathaniel Clinton.

“We feel that the Indian village can be easily incorporated into a new city making the new town a diverse community different from any other place in this region,” Jonathan Mason said.

“What if the Indians don’t agree to it?” Jabez Foster asked. Foster was known as an Indian-hater and only worked with them when he really had to.

“We’ve worked perfectly fine with these Indians before when establishing the trails and Oak Hill and even this fort. As long as we treat them fairly and with respect, we can get this done,” Mason explained. Foster was unhappy but wanted the town built. “I took the liberty of having Jefferson Ross draw up a plat of what the new city will look like.”

Mason directed attention to a large sheet of paper on the wall that had a pencil drawing of a map on it. It was a standard version of a city plat. East-west streets named for presidents, numbers used for north-south streets. Near the center of the town was the current Indian village, surrounded by a circular street named Indian Cirlce. To the right-or east-of that was the intersection of Fifth and Main which would be the central business district as those streets aligned with the Henshaw Road and Oregon Trail.

The next day, a group of five men went to the village to talk to White Cloud, who everyone considered in charge of the village. He also ran the trading post in the center of the village. Coleman Shelby, John Barricklowe, Loren Simmons along with Mason and Foster walked into the trading post and saw White Cloud, a massively built Indian of six-foot-six, standing behind the counter talking to two other Indians.

“White Cloud! How’s business lately?” Mason asked and extended his hand to the Indian.

“It’s doing good but it could always be doing better.”

“Well, we have a proposition for you and the rest of the village,” Mason glanced at the other two Indians, hesitantly. “Can we talk in front of them?”

“Of course. They help me run the post since it’s open all day and all night and I can’t be here at all times,” White Cloud explained.

“Well, over at the fort, we are predicting statehood in a matter of months and so we want to get a jump on things and start a town-one that can be a county seat or even state capitol. We want to start the town right here with the village,” Mason explained.

“What will happen to the people of the village?” White Cloud asked.

“They would be a part of the town. It’d be great for the people and for the trading post plus we’d have nearby protection from the fort.”

“Why don’t you just start the town around the fort?” asked one of the other Indians.
“We would like to have the trail traffic to help with the expansion of the town,” Mason admitted.

“When statehood is granted, the white man will want us out,” White Cloud said, disapprovingly.

“We can keep that from happening. We can prove you are no threat and that you are essential to the economy,” Mason tried to get through but White Cloud, and the others, glared at him.

There was a long silence between everyone as White Cloud looked at his friends. “We have control over the town. There will be an elected council of both Indian and white man. If these terms cannot be agreed upon then find another place for your town,” White Cloud.

Everyone looked dumbstruck. Mason stammered as he began to speak. “I’m…not sure that’s feasible. We can discuss it and get back to you. I’m sure we can work something out that is good for both sides.”

“Hold on a minute!” Foster pushed his way in front of Mason and pointed angrily at White Cloud. “You should be lucky we don’t wipe your village off the map and take over your little colony. We could have all of you out of here by tomorrow and take your village anyway.”

“I’m sure it won’t come to that, Jabez,” Mason said, nervously and looking back and forth between Foster and White Cloud. “Let’s go back to the fort and we’ll see what we can do about White Cloud’s request.”

“This isn’t over, Indian,” Foster hissed. “We’re gonna get this town no matter what.”

Foster paced around the conference room the next day, muttering to himself over the confrontation the previous day. Everyone else was in a huge meeting with White Cloud and other Indians discussing the options that were on the table. The Indians still wanted some control over the town government, something that was split down the middle with the businessmen at the fort. Foster and a group of fifteen other men were adamant about not letting the Indians run the show. Foster had refused to sit in on the current meeting so was relegated to being by himself.

Most of the other men refused to join the meeting and came into the conference room with Foster. “The meeting still going on?” Foster asked them as they came in.

“Yes, it looks like they are almost done though.”

“Depending on the outcome of the meeting, I have plan on how to get that village to comply with us. Those Indians are making a fool out of us and I am sick of it. That land should be ours-Hell, it’ll be ours sooner or later anyway,” Foster smiled. “We’ll show that White Cloud whose in charge around here.”

The meeting ended in a stalemate. The Indians still wanted partial control and the men at the fort couldn’t guarantee anything like that. Foster and fifteen other men ascended their horses just after midnight and rode from the fort, across the river to the village. The stood just outside the trading post and Foster fired a shot into the air. That awoke everyone in the village and all the men approached the riders.

“What’s going on?” White Cloud demanded, pushing his way to the front of the small crowd and staring angrily at Jabez Foster. “What are you doing here?”

The crowd was lit by torches carried by Foster’s gang. The men who could pointed guns at the men. Foster smiled broadly, the flames of the torches illuminating his face like devil’s. “You and your men are coming with us.”

Only one tree stood upon this entire square mile area just off of the Henshaw Military Trail. About 200 feet from the tree was the abandoned Indian Mission school. Everyone gathered around the tree, lit by the torches. The white men kept a close eye on the Indians, pointing the guns at them. With two guns pointed at him, Foster began tying up White Cloud while another man hung a noose from a low-hanging tree branch.

“Any last words, White Cloud?” Foster asked with a taste of disgust in his voice. “I told you we’d get the village.”

“This doesn’t guarantee a victory,” White Cloud said. “It just makes all of you murderers.”

What happened next was all a blur to several of the men from the fort. White Cloud was hanged from the tree while his people watched. Then, the men were all shot and left there at the tree while the men rode back to the village where all the women and children were still outside waiting. The men rode into the village and began torching all the buildings. The women and children screamed in terror and were sobbing hysterically. The flames were seen at the fort and everyone there rode out as quick as they could but were too late.

The village was a smoldering ruin, the men at the fort helped bury the Indians near the tree and the mission and helped relocate the women and children. When statehood was granted three years later, a town was not started where the village used to be but was instead started near the fort. Jabez Foster went back east for a couple years before coming back and starting his own town along the river called Greenwood Valley, it lasted only five years before being abandoned. Jonathan Mason started the town of Mason City just northeast of the old village and soon it became the county seat and the tragic events were erased but never forgotten.