East of the site, the Military Road and the Oregon/California Trail crossed the Vermillion River at a crossing named for Louis Vieux, who was of Native American and French descent. He established a toll bridge there in the 1850s, charging a dollar per outfit, and also supplied immigrants with grain and hay. About three tenths of a mile west, the trails split, with the Military Road going southwest toward Louisville and Fort Riley while the Oregon/California Trail went northwest toward Westmoreland. To the southeast, on the east bank of Vermillion Creek, stood Hard Chief's Kansa Village in the 1830s. In 1842, Lt. John C. Fremont found Hard Chief's village deserted after the Pawnees had attacked it and set some of the homes on fire.