exploration party on an excursion from Fort Gibson west onto the prairie and the lands occupied by the Osage and Pawnee tribes. In it, he relates camping in a grove of large trees on the banks of the Arkansas River a few miles south of the present day Tulsa city-limits (now in the suburb of Bixby). Washington Irving Park sits near the location. In 1846, Lewis Perryman built a log cabin trading post near what is now 33rd Street and South Rockford Avenue. Perryman, who was part Creek, established a business foothold in the rugged frontier until the Civil War. The reconstruction period after the war contributed to the growth of the area; in 1879 the first post office opened on a ranch belonging to one of Lewis' sons, Josiah Chouteau Perryman, southeast of town. Josiah was appointed Tulsa's first postmaster. This was located in a log cabin near what would later become 31st Street and Lewis Avenue. Soon, it was officially moved to the George Perryman ranch house. By this time the area was known as 'Tulsey Town' and had grown to be a trading post and cattle town. According to Oklahoma historian, Angie Debo, Lewis Perryman had multiple wives and many children, including at least five sons: Legus C., Sanford W., Thomas W., George and Josiah C., all of whom became prominent in Tulsa's early history. Debo wrote that the first Christian missionary to reach the Lochapoka area was J. Ross Ramsey, a Presbyterian from the Coweta station farther down the Arkansas River toward the Three Forks (Oklahoma) area. Ramsey stayed at Lewis Perryman's home in 1856, where he preached. His interpreter was Lewis' stepson, David Winslett, then a student at Tullahassee. A Methodist minister, Rev. Sylvester Morris, built a house in the early 1880s that now stands in Tulsa's Owen Park. Originally, it stood on what became North Cheyenne Street. Morris served from 1836 until 1907, according to a sign in front of the house. This is the oldest surviving house in Tulsa. Civil War era The Federal Government split between the anti-slavery Unionists and the pro-slavery secessionists, law and order began to collapse into anarchy in the Indian Territory. Groups of Southerners worked to win the active support of the various tribes who lived there. After the Creeks formally accepted a treaty with the Confederate States of America (CSA), principal chief Opothle Yahola realized that those