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. On a road-mapping expedition here in 1787, the Spanish explorer Jose Mares saw evidence of the French. Among noted early 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.