Not long ago, I read Goodbye to a River, by John Graves about a trip he made down the Brazos before it was dammed and interspersed with the story of the canoe trip, he told a lot of the history of the area. The last few Comanche raids/fights happenned quite a bit earlier than most people would probably think. This whole idea that everybody had a 92 Winchester or Colt SAA to settle the west is pretty much BS. Even if they'd been available, most of the hardy souls who went out there wouldn't have been able to afford them.