Due to the rising tensions that escalated in the Mexican @-@ American War , the US Army redeployed troops to the Southwest . With Fort Scott still uncompleted , officials decided on April 25 , 1850 , that no more construction would be done there , after eight years and $ 35 @,@ 000 . By the time it was finished , it was obsolete ; three years later , it was abandoned by the military in favor of the more western Fort Riley .