A shelter east of the Neosho River
bridge protects the stump of the Council Oak. Gathered in the shade of the big
oak on a hot August day in 1825, agents of the Osage tribe and the U.S. government
signed a treaty giving Americans and Mexicans safe passage along the Santa Fe
Trail through Osage territory in return for $800 (at that same time, the city
was named for its role as a council site for treaty negotiations and its extensive
grove of hardwood timber). Before the Council Oak blew down in a windstorm in
1958, the tree stood 70 feet tall and measured 16 feet around.
A shelter east of the Neosho River
bridge protects the stump of the Council Oak. Gathered in the shade of the big
oak on a hot August day in 1825, agents of the Osage tribe and the U.S. government
signed a treaty giving Americans and Mexicans safe passage along the Santa Fe
Trail through Osage territory in return for $800 (at that same time, the city
was named for its role as a council site for treaty negotiations and its extensive
grove of hardwood timber). Before the Council Oak blew down in a windstorm in
1958, the tree stood 70 feet tall and measured 16 feet around.
