I’m not sure what to say about this experience with history. The buildings, grounds, and artifacts were interesting and informative but seeing, for the first time, a human scalp was deeply unsettling. The photo shows the hair and long braid with a small piece of scalp on a Plains Indian shield.  Jim did not share my feelings (which I am trying to understand myself). For him it was historical evidence similar to a skeleton or mummy. Perhaps the hair made it fresh and intimate for me. I have read that the white man was the instigator of scalping, asking the tribes who were fighting on their side to bring scalps to prove that they had killed the enemy. I don’t know if that is accurate or not. The information at the fort said that the custom of taking scalps was deeply rooted in the Plains Indians.   

We drove back roads along the Sante Fe Trail. I love the flat flatness where the sky lawns forever and the Kansas wind blows long. The growing humidity makes Tucson seems very far away.