Editing Salina, Kansas (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Kansas}}

===Native inhabitance: up to 1800s===
[[File:Comanche 1718.jpg|left|thumb|In the early 1700s, [[North American fur trade|French traders]] mapped a [[Kansa people|Kansa]] village at the area which became Salina.]] 
Shortly prior to [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]] of the area in the early 1700s, the site that would become Salina was located within the western territory of the [[Kansa people]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Sturtevant|first=William C.|title=Early Indian Tribes, Culture Areas, and Linguistic Stocks [Map]|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|year=1967|url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/early_indian_east.jpg|access-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref> Claimed first by [[France]] as part of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] and later acquired by the United States with the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803, it was within the area organized by the U.S. as [[Kansas Territory]] in 1854.<ref>{{cite web|title=Louisiana Purchase|work=Kansapedia|publisher=[[Kansas Historical Society]]|date=August 2012|url=http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/louisiana-purchase/17876|access-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kansas Territory|work=Kansapedia|date=March 2013|url=http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/kansas-territory/14701|access-date=March 5, 2013}}</ref>  The [[North American fur trade|French traders]] who mapped the forks of ''les [[Kansas River|Grande Riviere des Cansez]]'', located the western village of ''les Cansez'' at the general confluence of the [[Smoky Hill River|Smoky Hill]], [[Saline River (Kansas)|Saline]], and [[Solomon River|Solomon]] Rivers with villages of the [[Comanche|Paducas]] tribe just to the west on heads of those streams.<ref name="map1718">{{citation|title= 1718 Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi |author-link=Guillaume Delisle | first=Guillaume | last=Delisle |year = 1718 |title-link = :File:1718 Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi by Guillaume Delisle.jpg }}</ref>

By the time of exploration of the prairie by the United States following the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in the early 1800s, the [[Pike-Pawnee Village Site|Republican Pawnee]] had established its influence in the [[Smoky Hills]],<ref name=Pike>{{cite book|last=Pike|first=Zebulon | editor-first=Elliott | editor-last=Coues |title=The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: Arkansaw Journey. Mexican Tour |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_12060|date=1895 |publisher=Francis P. Harper|location=New York, NY |pages=417–652  |quote= Were overtaken by the Pawnee chief whose party we left the day before, who informed us the hunting-party had taken another road, and that he had come to bid us goodbye. }} "From Pawnee Village through Kansas ... " Zebulan Pike recorded the Pawnee's control of the Smoky Hills through to the [[Great Bend, Kansas|Great Bend]] of the [[Arkansas River]].</ref> driving the Kansa to its northeastern Kansas settlements.<ref>[[John C. Frémont|Frémont, J. C.]] 1934. [https://archive.org/stream/expeditionsofjoh01fr/expeditionsofjoh01fr_djvu.txt The expeditions of John Charles Frémont.] (D. Jackson and M. L. Spence, Eds.). University of Illinois Press, Chicago. Fremont observed Pawnee desolation of Kaw villages "After crossing this stream, I rode off some miles to the left, attracted by the appearance of a cluster of huts near the mouth of the [Little] Vermillion. It was a large but deserted Kansas village, scattered in an open wood along the margin of the stream, on a spot chosen with the customary Indian fondness for beauty and scenery. The Pawnees had attacked it in the early spring [of 1843]. Some of the houses were burnt, and others blackened with smoke, and weeds were already getting possession of the cleared places."</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Howard C. Raynesford |title= The Raynesford Papers: Notes- The Smoky Hill River & Fremont's Indian Village |url= http://www.kancoll.org/articles/raynesford/raynotes.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030123140335/http://www.kancoll.org/articles/raynesford/raynotes.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 23, 2003 |year= 1953 |access-date= December 4, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= 19th Century Kansas Trails |publisher= Kansas Department of Transportation
|url= http://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksdotorg/bureaus/burTransPlan/maps/SpecialInterestStateMaps/histrailV8.PDF |access-date= December 4, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Carson Bear |title= A Nearly Pristine Pawnee Tipi Ring Site Preserved for More Than a Century |work= National Trust for Historic Preservation |url= https://savingplaces.org/stories/a-nearly-pristine-pawnee-tipi-ring-site-preserved-for-more-than-a-century#.W3DByehKiCi |date= April 4, 2018 |access-date= December 4, 2021 }}</ref>

The United States established forts throughout the territory to provide security for established commercial trade trails, including the [[Smoky Hill Trail]] and the [[Santa Fe Trail]]. The Smoky Hill Trail passed through the Salina site where the [[Fort Riley]]/[[Fort Larned]] Road split off to cross the Smoky Hill River to the southwest.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

===Battle of Indian Rock: 1857===
By the time of the first tentative settlements by United States citizens, the site was claimed as hunting grounds by the [[High Plains (United States)|High Plains]] tribes of [[Cheyenne]], [[Arapaho]], and [[Sioux]], which had expanded into the area, driving out the Pawnee. However, the Kansa continued to hunt in the area, in which they were joined by the [[Lenape|Delaware]] and [[Potawatomi]] tribes which had been relocated by the U.S. Government near the Kansa's reserve and assured of hunting access to the plains. The High Plains tribes were hostilely opposed to both the U.S. settlers in central Kansas and to the relocated tribes in Eastern Kansas and Nebraska, who they also regarded as settlers, and there were several raids in the Salina area in the 1850s. These Indian skirmishes repeatedly discouraged settlement of the Salina site until 1857, according to [[William A. Phillips]] who resided in [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]] while scouting settlement locations.<ref name= HallowedGround />

In that year, Big Chief of the Cheyenne led a party of the High Plains tribes. At Spring Creek, 20 miles west of what became Salina, they made a surprise attack on a hunting party of the "friendly" Eastern tribes. The hunting party retreated to Dry Creek, trapped and sending for help from another [[Kaw people|Kaw]] hunting party from [[Council Grove, Kansas|Council Grove]]. Big Chief forced them to flee further to a butte in a bend of the [[Smoky Hill River]], where they were joined by the Kaw reinforcements with rifles. Firing rifles from the cover of large sandstone boulders atop the butte, the defenders killed Big Chief on the first of five offensive charge attempts. His attacking [[bow and arrow]] force was devastated, leaving bodies strewn, and effectively ending the local raids.<ref name= HallowedGround >{{cite news |newspaper= The Salina Journal | first=Carol | last=Lichti | title= On Hallowed Ground : Story of Indian Rock and Lakewood |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45498564/story-of-indian-rock-and-lakewood/ | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | url-access=registration | access-date= December 1, 2021 |location= Salina, Kansas |date= February 25, 1996 |page= 47 |quote= As news of the battle spread, the potential for settlement lured Phillips, who was in Lawrence, to return to the area where Salina would be founded. }}</ref><ref name=City/>

The aftermath was recalled by settler Christina Campbell: "one of the fiercest and most cruel Indian battles known to white settlers; around were strewn thousands of arrows and implements of Indian warfare. Indian Rock, besmeared with blood, showed the part it played in repelling the repeated savages' attacks. It was here that the Cheyenne made their last attack."<ref name= HallowedGround />

===Founding: 1858–1870===
[[File:Salina, Kansas, September, 1867, 185 miles west of Missouri River. (Boston Public Library) (cropped).jpg|thumb 
|Salina, 1867, by [[Alexander Gardner (photographer)|Alexander Gardner]], from months-old [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] tracks, with Indian Rock behind and to the right.]]
The defeat of the aggressive [[High Plains (United States)|High Plains]] tribes had enabled the safe return of attempted settlers. In April 1858, journalist and lawyer William A. Phillips from Lawrence led the founding of Salina, accompanied by settlers David Phillips, Alexander M. Campbell Sr. (husband of Christina), A.C. Spillman, and James Muir. They were all Scotch Presbyterians, and all but Muir were related. From a west riverbank dugout at what is now Riverside Park, they camped and designed the first building. It was a two-story dwelling and Campbell's store, at what is now the southwest corner of 5th St and Iron Ave near Founders Park. Constant tribal attacks required a wagon circle around the first water well one block west. The Campbells had the first surviving settler birth in the area, also named Christina.<ref name="Founded"/><ref name= HallowedGround />

That month, and still predating the 1861 statehood of Kansas, they chartered the Salina Town Company with the [[Kansas Legislature|Kansas territory legislature]]. During the following year, they organized the surrounding area as [[Saline County, Kansas|Saline County]], and named Salina the [[county seat]].<ref name="Founded">{{cite web | title=History | publisher=City of Salina | url=https://www.salina-ks.gov/content/18394/18526/20322/default.aspx | access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref><ref name= HallowedGround /><ref name=City/> The westernmost town on the [[Smoky Hill Trail]], Salina established itself as a [[trading post]] for westbound immigrants, [[Prospecting|gold prospector]]s bound for [[Pikes Peak]], and area [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] tribes.<ref name="Founded"/> The town's growth halted with the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] when much of the male population left to join the [[Union Army]].<ref name=Blackmar1/>

In 1862, residents fended off Indian raiders and suffered a second assault by [[bushwhackers]].<ref name=Blackmar1/> In May and June 1864, the [[Salina Stockade]] was built to protect the town against further Indian raids.{{citation needed span|date=April 2022 | text=Union troops were garrisoned in Salina until March 1865, and some may have returned in June 1865.}} The building inside the stockade was remodeled and in September 1864 was opened as Salina's first public school. The school term ran until March 1865. The use of the building probably continued until at least June 1865.<ref>{{cite book | first=Ruby P. | last=Bramwell | title=City on the Move: The Story of Salina | location=Salina | publisher=Survey Press | date=1969 | page=61}}</ref><ref>Morrison, pp. 3-4.</ref>

[[File:Stouffer's Railroad Map of Kansas 1915-1918 Saline County.png|thumb|1915 railroad map of [[Saline County, Kansas|Saline County]]]]
Growth resumed with returning war veterans, and the town expanded rapidly with the arrival of the [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] in 1867. The construction of the railroad through Salina to Denver was a violation of treaty promises of Indian hunting grounds west of Salina, and [[Dog Soldiers]] began raiding the construction parties between Salina and Fort Wallace.<ref>{{cite book |author= Collins |title= Kansas Pacific |page= 13 |quote= [After Fort Hays, it] would then enter the country of three nomadic Indian tribes: the Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Kiowa. ... mile and a half per day. ... Then the Indian raids began. }}</ref> The following U.S. military action removed Indians from western Kansas by 1868.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Salina [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] as a city in 1870.<ref name=Blackmar1>{{Cite book|contribution=Salina|title=Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc.|editor-last=Blackmar|editor-first=Frank W.|volume=2|pages=634–635|place=[[Chicago]]|publisher=Standard|year=1912|contribution-url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/s/salina.html}}</ref><ref name=Blackmar2>{{Cite book|contribution=Saline County|title=Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc.|editor-last=Blackmar|editor-first=Frank W.|volume=2|pages=635–639|place=Chicago|publisher=Standard|year=1912|contribution-url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/s/saline_county.html}}</ref>

===Growth: 1872–1950s===
The cattle trade arrived in 1872, transforming Salina into a cowtown. It brought further prosperity, but also a rowdy culture that agitated local residents. The cattle trade relocated westward just two years later.<ref name=Cutler>{{Citation|last=Cutler|first=William G.|contribution=Salina, Part 1|title=History of the State of Kansas|place=Chicago|publisher=A.T. Andreas|year=1883|contribution-url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/saline/saline-co-p4.html#SALINA_P1}}</ref> During the 1870s, [[wheat]] became the dominant crop in the area, [[steam power|steam-powered]] [[flour mill]]s were built, and agriculture became the engine of the local economy. In 1874, Salina resident E. R. Switzer introduced [[alfalfa]] to area farmers, and its cultivation spread throughout the state. By 1880, the city had become an area industrial center with several mills, a carriage and wagon factory, and a [[agricultural machinery|farm implement]] works.<ref name=WPA>{{Cite book|author=WPA|title=Kansas: A Guide to the Sunflower State|page=273|place=[[New York City]]|publisher=Hastings House|year=1949|author-link=Works Projects Administration}}</ref> In 1889, the original garment factory of jeans maker [[Lee (jeans)|Lee]] was opened.<ref name=LeeHistory>{{cite web|title=Lee Jeans History|publisher=lee.com|url=http://www.lee.com/wps/wcm/connect/lee-en_us/our_company/history/|access-date=October 19, 2010|archive-date=July 13, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713194609/http://www.lee.com/wps/wcm/connect/lee-en_us/our_company/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the following decade, three railroads were built through the city.<ref name=WPA/> The success of the [[wholesale]] and [[mill (grinding)|milling]] industries drove Salina's growth into the early 1900s, such that it was at one point the third-largest producer in the state and the sixth-largest in the United States.<ref name=City>{{cite web|title=Salina History|publisher=City of Salina, Kansas|url=http://www.ci.salina.ks.us/content/120/144/default.aspx| url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305214358/http://www.ci.salina.ks.us/content/120/144/default.aspx | archive-date=March 5, 2014 | access-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref>

In 1943, the U.S. Army established [[Smoky Hill Army Airfield]] southwest of the city. The installation served as a base for [[strategic bomber]] units throughout [[World War II]]. Renamed Smoky Hill Air Force Base in 1948, it was closed the following year and was reopened in 1951 as [[Schilling Air Force Base]], part of the [[Strategic Air Command]].<ref name=SAC>{{cite web|title=SAC Bases: Smokey Hill / Schilling AFB|publisher=Strategic-Air-Command.com|url=http://www.strategic-air-command.com/bases/Schilling_AFB.htm|access-date=July 17, 2010}}</ref> The re-opening triggered an economic boom in Salina, causing the city's population to increase by nearly two-thirds during the 1950s.<ref name=City/> The [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] closed the base permanently in 1965, but the city of Salina acquired it and converted it into [[Salina Regional Airport|Salina Municipal Airport]] and an [[industrial park]].<ref name=SAC/> This led to substantial industrial development, attracted firms such as [[Beechcraft]], and made manufacturing a primary driver of the local economy.<ref name=Chamber>{{cite web|title=Narrative|publisher=Salina Area Chamber of Commerce|year=2008|url=http://www.salinakansas.org/ecodevo/narrative.asp|access-date=July 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727232847/http://www.salinakansas.org/ecodevo/narrative.asp|archive-date=July 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Salina, Kansas micropolitan area|Salina micropolitan area]] is a center of trade, transportation, and industry in [[North Central Kansas]].<ref name=City/>