Skip to main content

Full text of "Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society"

See other formats


ALLEN  COUNTY  PUBLIC  LIBRAI 


3  1833  02595  0608 


Gc    978.2    N27p    v.  17 
Nebraska    State    Hibtof^ical. 
Society. 

PUEUICATIONS  OF  THE  NEBRASKA 

State  Historical  Society 


COMPLIMENTS    OF    THE 


Nebraska  State  Historical  Society 


CLARENCE     S.    PAINE,    SECRETARY 


COLLECTIONS 

NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 


VOLUME  XVII 


Allen  County  Public  LiDfai|  , 
900  Webster  Street  ^ 

PO  Box  2270 
Fort  Wayne,  IN  46801-2270 


Nebraska  State  Historical  Society 


Vol.  17        Plate  1 


^"^^J^^i^-urM^ 


COLLECTIONS 


OF  THE 


Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society 


Edited  by 

ALBERT  WATKINS 

Historian  of  the  Society 


LINCOLN,  NEBRASKA 

The  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society 

1913 

VOLUME  XVII 


Allen  County  Public  Library 

900  Webster  Street 

PO  Box  2270 

Fort  W2vne,  IN  45801-2270 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


The  Work  of  the  Historical  Society 

By  John  Lee  Webster,  President 1 

Historical  Sketch  of  Southwestern  Nebraska 

By  John  F.  Cordeal 16 

Nebraska,  Mother  op  States 

By  Albert  Watkins 48 

Nebraska  Territorial  Acquisition 

By  Albert  Watkins 53 

Addresses  by  James  Mooney 

Life  Among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Plains 88 

The  Indian  Woman 95 

Systematic  Nebraska  Ethnologic  Investigation 103 

A  Tragedy  of  the  Oregon  Trail 

By  George  W.  Hansen 110 

The  Oregon  Recruit  Expedition 

By  Albert  Watkins 127 

Influence  of  Overland  Travel  on  the  Early  Settlement  of 
Nebraska 

By  H.  G.  Taylor 146 

Incidents  op  the  Early  Settlement  of  Nuckolls  County 

By  George  D.  FoUmer 156 

First  Steamboat  Trial  Trip  Up  the  Missouri 

By  Albert  Watkins 162 

Origin  of  Olatha,  Nebraska 

By  Cicero  L.  Bristol 205 

The  Semi-Precious  Stones  of  Webster,  Nuckolls  and  Franklin 
Counties,  Nebraska 

By  Rev.  Dennis  G.  Fitzgerald 209 

Historical  Sketch  of  Cheyenne  County,  Nebraska 

By  Albert  Watkins 218 

Organization  of  the  Counties  op  Kearney,  Franklin,  Harlan 
AND  Phelps 
By  Albert  Watkins 228 


CO'NTENTS— Continued 

PAGE 

Annual  Address  of  John  Lee  Webster,  President,  1913     .    .    .    232 

Adventures  on  the  Plains,  1865-67 

By  Dennis  Farrell 247 

An  Indian  Raid  of  1867 

By  John  R.  Campbell 259 

How  Shall  the  Indian  Be  Treated  Historically 

By  Harry  L.  Keefe 263 

Importance  of  the  Study  of  Local  History 

By  James  E.  Le  Rossignol 285 

History 

By  Right  Reverend  J.  Henry  Tihen 293 

The  Pathfinders,  the  Historic  Background  of  Western 
Civilization 
By  Heman  C.  Smith 300 

An  Interesting  Historical  Document 

By  Albert  Watkirs 308 

Memorabiua — Gen,  G.  M.  Dodge 

By  Albert  Watkins 310 

A  Study  in  the  Ethnobotany  of  the  Omaha  Indians 

By  Melvin  Randolph  Gilmore 314 

Some  Native  Nebraska  Plants  With  Their  Uses  by  the  Dakota 

By  Melvin  Randolph  Gilmore 358 


VI 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Portrait — John  Lee  Webster Frontispiece 

George  Winslow.     Original  Marker  at  Winslow  Grave.     Present 

Monument  at  Winslow  Grave 110 

The  Steamer  Yellowstone  on  April  19,  1833 131 

Snags  (Sunken  Trees)  on  the  Missouri       ...         199 


vu 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Annual  Address  of  John  Lee  Webster,  President,  1912 

In  the  preparation  of  what  I  am  about  to  say  in  this 
address,  I  had  in  mind  a  broader  purpose  than  merely  inter- 
esting the  members  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society  in  the  wealth  of  its  possessions  and  the  work  it  is 
doing.  I  wish  as  much  as  possible  to  interest  all  the  people 
of  the  state  in  the  variety  and  character  of  the  material 
that  has  been  collected  and  is  preserved  in  the  museum  and 
in  the  extent  and  scope  of  the  reference  library  of  the 
society.  I  wished  to  create,  if  I  could,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  a  desire  to  visit  our  rooms  and  to  look  at  what  we 
have.  I  hoped  to  induce  the  state  to  be  sufficiently  liberal 
in  its  appropriations  to  properly  maintain  and  house  these 
priceless  records  of  its  history. 

History,  of  all  studies,  "contains  the  greatest  amount 
of  instructions  and  of  principles  and  of  ideas  in  the  facts 
which  it  relates."  "Humanity,  viewed  as  a  whole,  is  the 
most  interesting  subject  for  man."  "  Every  man  that  comes 
into  the  world  should  make  himself  acquainted  with  the 
place  he  occupies  in  the  order  of  time,  the  increasing  or 
decreasing  of  civilization,  age  by  age."  The  picture  of 
humanity  should  be  painted  with  broad  strokes,  as  a  Turner 
would  use  the  brush,  for  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  see  and 
enjoy  it.  History  develops  thought  because  it  contains  the 
elements  of  reflection,  and  by  this  process  it  develops  con- 
science in  the  people.  These  are  but  glimpses  of  some  of 
the  primary  purposes  of  state  historical  societies  which  make 
them  worthy  of  state  support  and  of  the  patronage  of  the 
people. 
2  (1) 


2         NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

What  Shakespeare  said  of  the  players  might  appro- 
priately be  said  of  the  weekly  and  daily  newspapers.  They 
are  the  journals  and  diaries  of  the  political,  social,  and 
business  events  of  the  time.  In  social  science  research  the 
investigator  goes  to  the  newspapers  to  find  the  manner  in 
which  the  people  lived,  their  habits  of  life,  the  equipment 
of  the  social  household,  the  schools  of  instruction,  the 
growth  of  villages  and  towns,  the  advancement  in  local 
municipal  government.  They  contain  substantially  the 
only  record  we  have  of  the  lives  and  hardships,  the  bravery, 
daring  and  adventures  of  the  early  pioneers. 

The  State  Historical  Society  has  on  its  shelves  more 
than  four  thousand  bound  volumes  of  newspapers.  They 
have  a  value  which,  to  the  investigator  of  the  events  of  the 
past,  cannot  be  overestimated.  To  the  social  science 
teacher,  and  to  the  historian,  they  furnish  the  elementary 
data  and  are  the  primary  source  of  information.  They  will 
be  all  the  more  valuable  a  hundred  years  from  now,  and 
they  will  be  prized  still  more  highly  a  thousand  years  hence. 

If  it  were  possible  to  discover  such  a  storehouse  of  in- 
formation in  the  ruins  of  Babylon  or  Nineveh  or  Pompeii 
as  these  newspaper  files  of  the  society  contain  of  the  present 
times,  all  the  civilized  nations  would  be  anxious  for  their 
possession,  the  reading  world  would  wish  every  page  trans- 
lated into  their  respective  languages,  and  the  wealthy 
museums  and  historical  societies  would  offer  fabulous  prices 
for  their  purchase. 

It  is  but  natural  for  us  to  have  a  curiosity  to  know  what 
manner  of  men  may  have  peopled  these  prairies  hundreds, 
yes,  thousands  of  years  ago.  What  men  were  here  on  these 
prairies  in  the  age  when  the  Duke  of  Normandy  invaded 
England?  What  men  were  here,  and  what  were  they  doing, 
and  what  was  their  manner  of  living,  in  the  age  when  Charle- 
magne achieved  his  greatest  conquests  and  became  the 
despotic  ruler  of  all  Europe?    Yes,  more,  what  may  have 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  3 

been  the  character  of  the  people  who  roamed  over  these 
prairies,  now  comprising  our  state  of  Nebraska,  in  the  days 
of  old  when  the  Pharaohs  ruled  over  Egypt,  or  when  the 
pjrramids  were  built? 

In  the  museum  of  the  society  there  are  some  five 
thousand  different  specimens  of  stone  implements,  includ- 
ing stone  axes,  stone  war  clubs,  household  and  mechanical 
utensils,  and  samples  of  pottery.  Many  of  these  were  made 
by  a  people  who  lived  at  a  time  antedating  any  history  we 
have  of  any  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge.  How  old  may  be  some  of  these  antique  speci- 
mens and  relics?  No  man  knows.  Centuries  and  centuries 
may  have  gone  by  since  some  of  them  were  made. 

We  know  but  little  of  these  prehistoric  people;  but  in 
a  large  number  of  specimens  of  stone  implements  stored  in 
our  museum  there  may  be  traced  evidences  that  they  pos- 
sessed some  considerable  degree  of  skill  in  workmanship. 
It  is  as  fascinating  to  speculate  on  these  ancient  races  who 
inhabited  our  wide  domain  of  prairie  in  those  olden  days, 
whether  nomads,  barbarians,  or  Indians,  as  is  the  building 
of  "airy  castles  in  Spain."  Their  names  are  lost.  Their 
language  is  lost.  The  time  of  their  existence  vague.  They 
have  vanished  into  the  oblivion  of  the  past. 

The  questions  still  come  back  to  us,  "Whence  came  I? 
Whither  am  I  going?  "  And  again, "  What  is  man,  that  thou 
art  mindful  of  him?"  Looking  at  these  queries  in  the  light 
of  nature  and  from  the  pages  of  history,  they  apply  equally 
to  the  ancient  man  of  the  prairies,  whether  red  or  brown, 
civilized  or  savage.  In  answer  to  these  queries,  to  satisfy 
our  curiosity,  to  please  our  indulgence  in  speculation,  and 
to  quicken  our  spirit  for  investigation,  we  are  intensely 
interested  in  the  examination  of  these  specimens  of  stone 
implements  which  are  preserved  as  a  part  of  the  property 
of  the  society  for  the  general  benefit  of  the  people  of  the 
state. 


4        NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

It  is  inconceivable  that  there  ever  was  a  time,  however 
remote,  when  these  prairies  did  not  know  of  the  tread  of 
man.  That  they  left  no  monuments  or  ruined  castles  does 
not  discredit  their  existence;  for  neither  did  the  ancient  or 
the  modern  people  who  lived  as  nomads  on  the  deserts  of 
Africa,  yet  that  land  has  been  the  home  of  wandering  Moors 
and  Arabs  beyond  the  era  of  the  world's  earliest  history. 

Some  of  these  stone  implements  are  rough  in  surface, 
as  chipped  from  the  ledges,  similar  to  those  which  have 
been  found  among  the  human  relics  of  the  Cave  Dwellers 
in  Europe  which  followed  soon  after  the  age  of  the  glaciers, 
a  time  so  remote  in  the  world's  history  that  only  geologists 
can  speculate  as  to  the  degree  of  their  antiquity. 

Rough  arrowheads  and  spearheads  mark  the  beginning 
of  the  savage  man's  faculty  of  invention.  It  has  been  sup- 
posed that  the  rough  and  crude  arrowheads  and  spearheads 
preceded  the  use  of  coarsely  chipped  and  unpolished  stone 
hammers,  stone  hatchets  and  stone  knives.  It  may  have 
taken  ages  or  centuries  before  this  advancement  in  skill 
or  design  was  acquired  by  these  men  of  little  intellect. 
This  has  been  shown  by  archaeological  discoveries  in 
Europe,  and  why  is  it  not  equally  true  in  America? 

As  centuries  went  by,  these  ignorant  people  acquired 
a  sense  of  beauty  and  likewise  a  development  in  the  arts 
and  invention,  when  the  rough  stone  implements  gave  way 
to  polished  war  clubs  and  polished  knives  and  polished  house- 
hold implements.  The  men  and  women  began  to  clothe 
themselves  with  skins  which  had  been  dressed  with  bone 
scrapers  and  cut  and  shaped  with  stone  implements,  and 
sewed  together  with  threads  of  sinew  by  the  use  of  needles 
of  bone.  There  came  into  use  household  pottery,  which  in 
a  great  measure  superseded  the  stone  household  utensils. 
As  the  people  first  lived  in  caves  there  followed  the  ambition 
to  have  homes  above  ground,  so  there  came  the  tepees, 
wigwams,  tents  and  lodges. 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  5 

Many  specimens  of  all  of  the  articles  and  utensils 
which  I  have  mentioned  are  found  in  the  museum  of  our 
society.  They  are  the  historic  evidences  of  development 
from  the  earliest  primitive  man  who  inhabited  our  prairies, 
down  to  the  American  Indian  of  the  present  day,  and  per- 
haps are  the  best  and  only  evidence  we  have  of  the  periods 
of  advancement  from  the  prehistoric  age  to  the  coming  of 
the  white  man. 

Professor  Agassiz  said:  "America  is  the  first-born 
among  the  continents.  Hers  was  the  first  dry  land  lifted 
out  of  the  waters.  Hers  the  first  shore  washed  by  the  ocean 
that  enveloped  all  the  earth  besides."  If  this  be  true,  evi- 
dence may  yet  be  forthcoming  that  will  establish  the  fact 
that  man  is  as  old  as  the  continent  and  that  our  prairies 
may  have  been  the  home  of  the  human  race  as  early  as  any 
other  place  in  the  world. 

So  the  curios — or  many  of  them — found  in  our  museum 
may  be  the  possible  human  relics  of  a  primeval  race  rather 
than  that  of  the  modern  Indian;  and  this  may  also  prove 
to  be  true  of  many  of  the  chipped  and  unpolished  arrow- 
heads and  of  the  rough  and  crude  stone  implements. 

If  here,  as  elsewhere,  there  were  races  more  ancient 
than  has  hitherto  been  supposed,  we  can  no  longer  look  upon 
the  western  hemisphere  as  solitary  and  unpeopled,  unknown 
and  useless  to  man,  until  he,  grown  old  in  the  east,  was 
numerous  enough  and  far  enough  advanced  in  intelligence 
and  wants  to  wander  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  in 
search  of  a  new  home. 

Who  now  knows  how  great  a  story  of  the  human  race 
may  yet  be  evolved  from  these  thousands  of  stone  imple- 
ments and  stone  arrowheads  in  the  possession  of  the  society? 
They  are  of  great  value  now,  but  in  the  future  they  may 
become  priceless  as  the  basis  for  scientific  knowledge,  and 
the  state  should  preserve  them  for  the  future  of  mankind, 
no  matter  how  great  the  cost. 


6         NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

We  are  all  familiar,  in  a  general  way,  with  the  high 
degree  of  civilization  of  the  Aztecs  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish 
conquest.  But  prior  to  the  Aztecs,  Mexico  was  inhabited 
by  another  race  of  people  commonly  known  as  the  Toltecs, 
and  who  are  supposed  to  have  built  the  great  structures 
which  are  now  known  as  the  ruins  of  Mitla. 

According  to  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  as  quoted  in 
Baldwin's  Ancient  America,  there  is  historic  data  of  the 
existence  of  the  Toltecs  as  far  back  as  955  B.  C.  That  same 
authority  assumes  that  the  Toltecs  were  either  the  de- 
scendants of,  or  were  the  successors  of  the  mound  builders 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  and  which  people  in- 
habited the  territory  extending  westward  into  what  is  now 
Missouri  and  Iowa.  Again  we  see  that  it  would  be  no  wild 
conjecture  to  believe  that  the  Toltecs  were  visitors  to  our 
prairie  lands  in  that  same  ancient  period. 

I  have  been  led  into  this  digression  because  all  of  us, 
men,  women  and  children  alike,  the  cultivators  of  the  farms, 
as  well  as  inhabitants  of  the  cities,  the  laborers  and  mechan- 
ics, as  well  as  professional  and  business  men,  have  a  natural, 
inherent  and  almost  unconquerable  curiosity  to  know  how 
far  back  through  the  cycle  of  time  the  human  race  may  have 
been  the  possessors  and  occupants  of  the  soil  which  makes 
up  the  acreage  of  the  state  of  Nebraska. 

Many  white  men  and  many  historical  writers  have 
accepted  as  a  truth  the  saying  that  the  Indians  were  a  de- 
graded, brutal  race  of  savages,  whom  it  was  the  will  of 
God  should  perish  at  the  approach  of  civihzation. 

Bishop  Whipple  more  correctly  stated  the  truth  when 
he  said:  "The  North  American  Indian  is  the  noblest  type 
of  a  heathen  man  on  the  earth.  He  recognizes  a  great 
spirit.  He  believes  in  immortality;  he  has  a  quick  intellect ; 
he  is  a  clear  thinker;  he  is  brave  and  fearless,  and  until  be- 
trayed he  is  true  to  his  plighted  faith.  He  has  a  passionate 
love  for  his  children,  and  counts  it  joy  to  die  for  his  people." 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  7 

Who  has  ever  gazed  upon  a  chiseled  marble,  or  bronze 
figure  of  an  Indian  chieftain  and  did  not  recognize  in  the 
features  and  physique  a  remarkable  strength  of  will  and 
great  force  of  character?  Who  was  not  impressed  with 
its  dignity  in  expression  and  commanding  presence?  The 
remaining  tribes  are  but  remnants,  in  many  cases  degraded 
remnants  of  a  fast  fading  and  disappearing  race  of  people 
who  were  the  original  owners  and  possessors  of  this  entire 
country. 

A  writer  of  some  merit,  in  describing  the  prairies  as  they 
extend  westward  from  the  Missouri  river  toward  the  moun- 
tains, said  there  was  a  time  when  they  were  under  a  mantle 
of  idle  silence,  when  these  plains  were  treeless  and  water- 
less, when  dead  epochs  might  haunt  them,  and  that  in  that 
bit  of  the  early  world  they  were  "earth's  virgin  spaces." 

"Against  this  sweeping  background  the  Indian  loomed, 
ruler  of  a  kingdom  whose  borders  faded  into  the  sky.  He 
stood,  a  blanketed  figure,  watching  the  flight  of  birds  across 
the  blue;  he  rode,  a  painted  savage,  where  the  cloud-shadows 
blotted  the  plain  and  the  smoke  of  his  lodge  rose  over  the 
curve  of  the  earth.  Here  tribe  had  fought  with  tribe;  old 
scores  had  been  wiped  out  till  the  grass  was  damp  with  blood; 
wars  of  extermination  had  raged.  Here  the  migrating 
villagers  made  a  moving  streak  of  color  like  a  bright  patch 
on  a  map  where  there  were  no  boundaries,  no  mountains, 
and  but  one  gleaming  thread  of  water.  In  the  quietness  of 
evening  the  pointed  tops  of  the  tepees  shone  dark  against 
the  sky,  the  blur  of  smoke  tarnishing  the  glow  in  the  West. 
When  the  darkness  came  the  stars  shone  on  this  spot  of  life 
in  the  wilderness,  circled  with  the  howling  of  wolves." 

The  passing  away  of  the  red  man  presents  a  pathetic 
incident  in  the  annals  of  time.  His  language  will  soon  be 
lost,  never  to  be  spoken  again.  His  history  in  his  untutored 
age  was  not  preserved  and  can  never  be  written.  In  the 
museum  of  our  society  there  is  collected  and  arranged 
everything  of  interest  that  it  has  been  possible  to  obtain 
relating  to  our  native  Indian  tribes,  of  their  curios,  of  their 


8         NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

relics,  of  their  implements,  of  their  utensils,  of  their  fabrics, 
of  their  habits,  of  their  manner  of  dress,  of  their  domestic 
life  and  of  their  historical  traditions. 

To-day  archaeologists  and  ethnologists  are  seeking 
with  diligence  to  recover  and  preserve  for  our  general  infor- 
mation everything  that  it  is  possible  to  discover  of  other 
races  of  people  who  inhabited  the  earth  in  the  centuries 
of  the  dim  past,  of  races  with  whom  the  American  people 
sustain  no  kinship  or  direct  relationship.  Do  we  not  owe 
a  greater  obligation  to  the  memory  of  the  Indian  tribes 
who  were  once  the  owners  and  the  possessors  of  these  lands, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  prairies  which  now  are  ours?  That 
which  was  theirs  has  become  our  rich  inheritance.  We  have 
borrowed  the  names  of  these  Indian  tribes  and  bestowed 
them  upon  our  counties  and  towns  and  cities.  Yet  we 
seldom  stop  in  the  hurry  of  our  march  in  business  progress 
to  give  a  thought  to  their  existence  or  to  erect  memorials 
in  their  memory. 

It  would  be  highly  creditable  to  the  citizens  of  Pawnee 
county  if  they  should  cause  to  be  erected  in  the  public 
square  of  Pawnee  City  a  monument  in  memory  of  Pita 
Lesharu,  who  was  a  head  chief  of  the  Pawnee  Indians.  It 
should  represent  him  as  he  was  in  life,  with  his  commanding 
presence,  his  expressive  features  and  dressed  in  his  most 
elaborate  costume,  for  he  was  a  man  who  delighted  in  his 
personal  appearance.  The  figure  should  stand  upon  a  high 
pedestal,  and  drooping  down  behind  him  the  favorite  eagle 
feathers,  a  part  of  his  head-dress,  which  was  the  tribal  mark 
of  his  people.  As  he  was  the  white  man's  friend,  there  should 
be  carved  on  granite  base  the  words  frequently  spoken  by 
him:    "The  White  Man  I  Love." 

In  the  museum  of  our  society  there  are  richly  em- 
broidered garments  made  from  buffalo  skins,  decorated  with 
beads  and  porcupine  quills  and  richly  ornamented  with 
colored  paintings.     These  garments  would  now  be  more 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  9 

expensive  to  make,  or  to  purchase,  than  the  modern  ball 
gown  from  a  Parisian  model  house,  yet  these  gowns  were 
worn  by  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the  Ogalala  Sioux  chieftain, 
Red  Cloud.  Why  should  not  Sioux  county,  which  takes  the 
name  of  his  tribe,  erect  a  statue  of  monumental  size  in 
memory  of  that  great  historic  war  chieftain,  or,  failing 
that,  to  erect  a  memorial  to  Spotted  Tail,  the  hereditary 
chief  of  the  Brule,  who  General  Crook,  in  1876,  crowned 
"King  of  the  Sioux?" 

Cheyenne  county,  to  keep  in  remembrance  the  fact 
that  its  name  is  borrowed  from  an  Indian  tribe,  should  erect 
some  proper  memorial  in  memory  of  Chief  Wolf  Robe  of 
the  Cheyenne.  The  town  of  Arapaho  should  have  a  mem- 
orial to  Chief  Red  Bear.  The  citizens  of  Otoe  county  should 
erect  in  its  chief  citj^  a  monument  that  would  be  typical  of 
the  chieftains  of  the  Otoe  tribe  of  Indians. 

Lastly,  but  not  least  of  all,  does  not  the  city  of  Omaha 
owe  it  to  herself,  in  generous  recognition  of  the  natural  pride 
her  citizens  feel  in  her  borrowed  name,  to  erect  on  some 
prominent  site  a  heroic  sized  bronze  equestrian  statue  of 
Wazhinga  Saba  (Black  Bird),  the  earliest  historic  chief  tain 
of  the  Omaha?  This  statue  should  represent  him  as  he 
frequently  appeared  in  life  and  as  he  was  buried  by  direc- 
tions which  he  had  given  to  his  faithful  followers,  sitting  on 
his  favorite  war  horse,  with  one  hand  uplifted  shading  his 
eyes,  gazing  out  toward  the  waters  of  the  Missouri  river 
watching  for  the  coming  of  the  white  men. 

In  the  rooms  of  the  society  are  diaries  and  journals  of 
the  earliest  pioneers  of  Nebraska,  and  hundreds  of  articles 
which  were  used  by  these  early  settlers.  There  are  tools 
that  were  used  in  the  building  of  the  first  schoolhouses. 
There  are  parts  of  lumber  from  the  earliest  cabins.  There 
are  household  utensils  that  were  used  in  adobe  homes  upon 
the  prairie.  There  are  portraits  of  distinguished  pioneers 
in  pastel,  crayon,  and  oil.    In  this  museum  is  a  collection  of 


10       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

materials  which  give  us  a  better  history  of  the  pioneers 
than  has  ever  been  written  regarding  them.  The  state  owes 
a  duty  to  the  memory  of  its  pioneers  not  only  to  maintain, 
but  to  enlarge  this  collection.  In  later  ages  it  will  be  con- 
ceded that  these  pioneers  were  to  Nebraska  what  the 
pilgrim  fathers  were  to  New  England  and  what  the  cavaliers 
were  to  Virginia. 

They  were  a  daring  and  intrepid  class  of  men  who  took 
possession  of  these  prairies  from  the  Missouri  river  to  the 
mountains.  In  their  footsteps  have  followed  the  vast  tide 
of  emigration  which  has  built  up  our  cities,  which  has  es- 
tabhshed  our  schools  and  colleges  and  universities  and  given 
us  a  population  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  of 
people.  The  state  of  Nebraska  owes  it  to  itself  to  preserve 
in  the  archives  of  the  Historical  Society  every  record  of  the 
adventures  and  of  the  conquests  of  these  pioneers  upon 
the  prairies  and  the  uplands  of  our  state. 

"The  call  of  the  West  was  a  siren  song  in  the  ears  of 
these  pioneers.  Their  forefathers  had  moved  from  the  old 
countries  across  the  seas,  from  the  elm-shaded  towns  of 
New  England,  from  the  unkempt  villages  that  advanced 
into  the  virgin  lands  by  the  Great  Lakes,  from  the  peace 
and  plenty  of  the  splendid  South.  Year  by  year  they  had 
pushed  the  frontier  westward,  pricked  onward  by  a  ceaseless 
unrest,  'the  old  land  hunger'  that  never  was  appeased. 
The  forests  rang  to  the  stroke  of  their  ax.  The  slow,  un- 
troubled rivers  of  the  wilderness  parted  to  the  plowing 
wheels  of  their  unwieldy  wagons.  Their  voices  went  before 
them  into  places  where  nature  has  kept  unbroken  her  vast  g 
and  ponderous  silence."  co 

These  pioneers  changed  this 'immense  region  from  its       lo 
desolation  and  ban-enness  to  a  land  where  is  now  heard        to 

CNI 

the  voice  of  human  gladness.    Their  conquest  was  the  con-        '^ 

CO 

quest  of  the  virgin  soil  of  the  prairies,  and  their  political        eg 
achievement  was  the  laying  of  the  foundations  of  a  new  state.        *" 

Patriotism  is  the  life  and  support  of  our  nation,  and 
without  history  we  would  not  have  patriotism,  for  patriotism 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  11 

has  its  birthright  in  the  spirit  of  history.  It  is  a  sentiment 
which  has  its  inception  in  a  reverence  for  the  old  historic 
beginnings.  Blot  from  memory  the  historic  knowledge  of 
the  past  and  we  would  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word 
patriotism. 

In  the  museum  there  is  a  collection  of  objects,  relics 
and  curios,  each  one  of  which  is  a  silent  messenger  telling 
a  story  of  the  revolutionary  period,  as  Homer  sang  in  song 
the  siege  of  Troy  in  the  lines  of  the  Iliad.  Perry's  battle  on 
Lake  Erie  is  one  of  the  most  vivid  historic  events  in  the 
war  of  1812.  In  the  museum  is  a  drum  that  was  in  that 
battle,  and  its  martial  music  may  have  encouraged  the 
men  as  the  conflict  went  on  to  its  ultimate  victory. 

Volumes  have  been  written  about  the  hardships  and 
travels  of  the  emigrants  crossing  the  prairies  as  they  threaded 
their  way  westward  across  the  plains  and  along  the  banks 
of  the  Platte  river.  The  waving  of  the  stars  and  stripes  from 
the  flag-staff  at  Fort  Kearny  was  the  most  cheerful  sight 
that  came  to  the  visions  of  the  tired  men  and  women  as 
they  traveled  onward  toward  Oregon.  In  the  museum  is 
a  part  of  that  old  flagstaff. 

The  relics  of  the  civil  war  which  are  collected  in  the 
museum  must  appeal  to  the  pride  of  every  Grand  Army 
man  and  deeply  touch  the  sympathies  of  all  our  citizens 
who  had  friends  or  relatives  in  that  military  service.  In 
the  museum  there  is  the  original  roster  of  the  First  Nebraska 
volunteers.  There  is  a  flag  carried  by  the  Nebraska  troops 
in  their  first  battles  of  the  civil  war.  There  are  samples 
of  uniforms  and  firearms.  There  are  swords  which  were 
carried  by  distinguished  Nebraska  commanders  in  the  civil 
war.  There  hangs  in  a  case  a  sword  worn  by  that  eminent 
Nebraska  citizen,  who  was  at  one  time  governor,  at  one 
time  United  States  senator,  a  statesman,  and  a  soldier, 
Major  General  John  M.  Thayer. 


12       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

There  is  a  piece  of  a  tree  taken  from  the  battle-field 
of  Chickamauga,  filled  with  gunshot  and  pieces  of  shell. 
To  the  old  soldier  of  Chickamauga  it  tells  the  story  of  that 
wonderful  battle  in  which  about  one  hundred  thousand 
soldiers  were  engaged  and  in  which  the  loss  was  about 
thirty-five  thousand.  It  was  of  this  battle  that  General 
Hill  of  the  Confederate  army  said:  "But  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  elan  of  the  southern  soldier  was  never  seen  after 
Chickamauga.  The  brilliant  dash  which  had  distinguished 
him  was  gone  forever.  He  was  too  intelligent  not  to  know 
that  the  cutting  in  two  of  Georgia  meant  death  to  all  his 
hopes.  He  fought  stoutly  to  the  last,  but,  after  Chicka- 
mauga, with  the  sullenness  of  despair  and  without  the 
enthusiasm  of  hope."  If  that  piece  of  tree  in  the  museum 
could  rise  up  and  talk,  it  could  tell  such  a  thrilling  story  of 
the  fierceness  of  the  battle,  and  of  the  bravery  and  daring 
of  the  men  of  both  the  blue  and  the  gray,  that  would  surpass 
anything  that  has  ever  been  written  of  the  history  of  that 
battle  and  which  would  make  material  for  a  memorial  day 
address  superior  to  the  speech  of  any  orator. 

These  military  and  patriotic  relics  stimulate  our  in- 
terest and  sharpen  our  recollection  of  the  historical  times 
with  which  they  are  associated.  They  intensify  and  accen- 
tuate the  intellectual  and  spiritual  growth  of  our  people, 
just  as  sculpture  and  art  are  the  culmination  of  historical 
sequences. 

There  are  hundreds  of  autograph  letters  from  the 
times  of  Charles  I  of  England  to  the  expedition  of  Lewis 
and  Clark,  and  down  to  the  life  of  our  own  most  distinguished 
citizens.  They  bring  to  us  messages  through  years  of  time 
and  across  boundless  space.  They  excel  the  Marconi 
system;  for  they  do  more  than  repeat  words  and  deliver 
messages.  They  bring  back  to  memory  all  that  we  have 
ever  heard  and  all  that  we  have  ever  read  of  the  person 
whose  hand  penned  the  signature.    As  we  look  at  the  letter 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  13 

it  seems  as  if  we  could  hear  the  voice  of  the  writer  speak 
to  us.  As  we  study  the  writing  we  can  see  the  man  step 
out  of  the  misty  past  and  walk  into  our  presence,  a  living, 
moving  being. 

In  the  basement  of  the  new  building  (for  want  of  a 
better  place  to  exhibit  them)  are  a  thousand  specimens  of 
Nebraska  birds  and  animals.  There  are  beavers  cutting 
down  trees  to  build  dams  across  the  creeks  and  rivers, 
exhibiting  a»  degree  of  skill  and  judgment  that  is  almost 
human.  There  are  muskrats  building  their  winter  houses. 
There  are  wild  game,  and  cranes,  and  eagles,  and  a  rare 
specimen  of  the  blue  heron.  There  are  many  tiny  warblers, 
dressed  in  a  hundred  brilliant  colors,  which  chirp  and 
twitter  confidingly  overhead.  There  are  sandpipers  bowing 
and  teetering  in  the  friendliest  manner.  There  is  the  song 
sparrow,  which  sings  happily  through  sunshine  and  through 
rain,  sometimes  mentioned  as  the  winged  spirit  of  cheerful- 
ness and  contentment  and  whose  songs  are  bubbling  over 
with  irrepressible  glee.  There  is  the  blue  jay,  which  sits 
high  up  in  the  withered  cottonwood  tree  calling  to  its  mate 
in  a  tone  of  affected  sweetness.  And  there  is  the  kingfisher, 
with  his  ruffled  crest,  which  sits  in  solitary  pride  on  the 
end  of  a  branch  of  a  tree.  There  is  the  robin  with  its  white 
flecked  throat  and  ruddy  sienna  breast,  and  a  sparkle  in 
its  eye  as  it  pours  forth  its  whole  soul  in  sweet  cheery 
melody.  There  are  many  tiny,  ruby-crowned  brilliant  birds 
that  twitter  among  the  trees,  breaking  occasionally  into 
reckless  song  fantasia.  There  are  garrulous  beautiful  tree 
sparrows,  and  the  noisy  blue  jay,  and  woodpeckers  with 
their  crimson  crests. 

There  are  more  than  four  hundred  varieties  of  birds 
found  within  the  state  which  furnish  music  in  the  morning 
hours.  There  is  the  bluebird  with  cerulean  plumes,  of  which 
Poet  Rexford  broke  into  rhapsody: 


14       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

"Winged  lute  that  we  call  a  bluebird,  you  blend  in  a  silver 
strain 

The  sound  of  the  laughing  waters,  the  patter  of  spring's 
sweet  rain. 

The  voice  of  the  winds,  the  sunshine,  and  fragrance  of  blos- 
soming things; 

Ah,  you  are  an  April  poem  that  God  has  dowered  with 
wings." 

When  walking  through  our  newly  grown  Nebraska 
woodlands  in  the  springtime,  there  may  always  be  heard 
the  tinkle  or  spray  of  bell-like  tones  coming  down  from 
the  branches  where  the  singers  are  poised  unseen,  which 
is  "like  walking  through  a  shower  of  melody."  And  then 
there  are  the  migrating  birds  with  taste  and  fancy  like 
our  human  travelers  that  spend  their  winters  in  the  warm 
climates  of  the  South.  There  are  those  that  fly  away  to 
the  high  altitudes  of  the  mountains,  and  to  the  colder 
regions  of  the  North  to  escape  the  summer's  hot  sunshine. 
While  some  are  gone  upon  their  long  journeys,  others  come 
to  visit  with  us. 

"  'Tis  always  morning  somewhere,  and  above 
The  awakened  continents,  from  shore  to  shore, 
Somewhere  the  birds  are  singing  evermore." 

The  nations  of  Europe  collect  their  jewels  and  precious 
works  of  art  and  place  them  in  fireproof  permanent  struct- 
ures where  not  only  their  own  people  but  the  visitors  of  the 
world  may  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them.  The  vast 
quantity  of  curios  and  relics  and  other  materials  in  the  pos- 
session of  our  society  are  the  "jewels  and  precious  works 
of  art"  of  our  state.  Nebraska  should  do  what  her  sister 
states  are  doing,  erect  a  memorial  hall  and  state  historical 
building,  which  should  be  commodious  enough  to  answer 
all  requirements,  and  of  an  architectural  design  which  should 
be  pleasing  to  the  sight  and  a  credit  to  the  people. 

It  was  said  of  the  citizens  of  Athens  in  the  days  of 
their  highest  intellectual  attainments,  that  they  could  pass 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER  15 

judgment  upon  the  odes  of  Pindar,  the  tragedies  of  Soph- 
ocles, and  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  because  they  had  been 
privileged  in  childhood  to  study  the  history  of  Greece  and 
to  look  upon  the  paintings  of  their  greatest  artists,  which 
were  hung  upon  the  walls,  and  the  exquisite  sculpture  work 
of  Phidias  which  stood  in  the  corridors  of  the  Parthenon. 
So  I  would  have  placed  in  this  Nebraska  state  historical 
building  statues  of  the  prominent  men  who  have  made 
Nebraska  history.  I  would  have  in  its  corridors  and  on  its 
walls  works  of  art.  I  would  have  in  its  architecture  imposing 
grandeur,  and  in  its  decorations,  those  things  that  appeal 
to  the  cultured  taste  of  Nebraska  people. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  SOUTHWESTERN 
NEBRASKA 

By  John  F.  Cordeal 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January  10,  1912.] 

It  is  my  purpose  to  briefly  outline  the  history  of  south- 
western Nebraska;  and,  as  history  is  defined  to  be  the  true 
story  of  that  which  is  known  to  have  occurred,  I  shall  read 
what  I  have  to  say  so  that  if  I  shall  say  what  is  not  true,  I 
will  not  be  in  a  position  to  equivocate  when  those  who  are 
better  informed  than  I  am  attempt  to  correct  my  errors. 
In  recounting  the  events  of  the  past,  our  highest  aim  should 
be  accuracy,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  I  have  gathered  my 
material  from  original  sources. 

If,  at  times,  I  stray  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Nebraska, 
I  do  so  merely  because  it  seems  necessary  to  an  adequate 
comprehension  of  the  subject.  When  some  of  the  events 
of  which  I  shall  speak  happened  there  was  no  Nebraska; 
when  a  part  of  them  happened  there  was  not  even  a  United 
States;  and,  in  any  event,  our  state  boundaries  are  but 
arbitrary  lines.  Save  these  incidental  digressions,  my  story 
shall  be  confined  to  events  which  occurred,  for  the  most 
part,  in  the  valley  of  the  Republican  river,  west  of  the 
one  hundredth  meridian. 

CORONADO 

If  Coronado  is  correct  in  his  assumption  that  in  1541 
he  crossed  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude,  then  he  was 
the  first  white  man  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil  of  Nebraska. 
Whether  he  did  or  not,  we  do  not  know.    We  have  his  asser- 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  17 

tion  for  it  that  he  was  here^;  but  modern  authority  is  not 
agreed  on  the  question,  and  as  we  are  dealing  with  facts, 
the  doubt  that  has  been  raised  should  render  us  cautious 
about  accepting  the  explorer's  uncorroborated  statement. 
Perhaps  future  investigations  will  clear  away  our  uncer- 
tainties. The  journey  of  Coronado  and  his  band,  beginning 
in  Mexico  and  terminating  somewhere  on  the  trans-Missouri 
plains  and  consuming  nearly  two  years  of  time,  is  without  par- 
allel in  the  annals  of  exploration.  We  cannot  even  form  any 
conception  of  the  difficulties  that  it  involved;  and,  despite 
the  motives  that  animated  the  leader  and  his  followers,  we 
are  bound  to  yield  them  the  tribute  of  our  respect.    If,  as 


1  Coronado  said  that  Quivira,  "  Where  I  have  reached  it,  is  in  the  40th 
degree";  but  F.  W.  Hodge,  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  an 
acknowledged  authority  on  the  Coronado  expedition,  points  out  that  the 
common  error  in  determining  latitude  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  about 
two  degrees,.  According  to  Hodge,  Quivira  where  Coronado  said  he 
reached  it  was  in  fact  in  the  38th  degree. 

The  following  letter  to  the  editor,  dated  at  Washington,  February 
5, 1914,  throws  light  on  this  interesting,  though  insoluble,  and  so  fortunately, 
not  very  important  question: 

"Answering  your  letter  of  February  2  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  the  de- 
termination of  the  fact  that  the  Spanish  explorers  were  almost  invariably 
two  degrees  out  of  the  way  in  estimating  latitudes  was  reached  after  the 
comparison  of  various  early  narrations  and  maps.  I  cannot  explain  why  the 
error  should  have  been  so  persistent,  except,  of  course,  that  it  resulted  from 
the  crude  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  early  explorers,  although  this  would 
hardly  account  for  the  almost  uniform  exaggeration  of  two  degrees. 

"Regarding  my  statement  as  to  the  trend  of  the  evidence  that  Cor- 
onado did  not  enter  Nebraska,  you  will  observe  from  the  chronicles  of  the 
expedition,  that,  after  reaching  Quivira,  Coronado  sent  parties  in  various 
directions,  one  or  more  of  which  may  have  entered  Nebraska,  but  there  is 
no  positive  assertion  that  Harahey  was  visited,  although  Tatarrash  (Tatar- 
rax)  was  sent  for  by  Coronado  and  visited  the  latter. 

"I  have  found  no  reason  to  change  my  views  on  the  above  points 
since  writing  the  account  of  Coronado's  route  in  Brower's  'Harahey.'  I 
should  have  been  glad  if  the  white  man's  history  of  Nebraska  could  have 
been  traced  definitely  to  1541,  but  the  only  basis  for  this  is  the  statement  of 
the  visit  of  the  Harahey  (Pawnee)  Chief  Tatarrash  to  Coronado  while  he 
was  apparently  in  Kansas. 

Yours  very  truly, 

F.  W.  Hodge, 
Ethnologist-in-Charge." — (Ed.) 

3 


18       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

has  been  said,  Coronado  is  right,  and  recent  critics  are  wrong, 
then  southwestern  Nebraska  was  known  to  white  men  within 
a  half  century  after  the  discovery  of  America,  sixty-six  years 
before  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  sixty-eight  years  before 
the  Half  Moon  sailed  up  the  Hudson  river,  and  eighty  years 
before  the  pilgrim  fathers  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock. 

MALLET  BROTHERS 

In  1739,  or  nearly  two  centuries  after  Coronado's 
expedition  had  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent,  the  Mallet  brothers,  two  French  explorers, 
attempted  to  reach  Santa  Fe  by  way  of  the  Missouri  and 
the  Platte  rivers.  Realizing  when  they  reached  the  forks 
of  the  Platte  river  that  further  pursuit  of  their  course  would 
not  take  them  to  their  destination,  they  started  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  across  the  prairies,  following,  it  is  said, 
a  more  or  less  well  defined  trail  that  had  been  made  by 
the  Indian  tribes  in  their  migrations  northward  and  south- 
ward. They  named  the  streams  and  described  the  country 
through  which  they  passed  with  some  minuteness.  When 
the  opportunity  comes  to  give  closer  attention  to  their 
records  perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  determine,  with  reason- 
able certainty,  the  route  they  followed.  That  their  way 
took  them  across  the  country  embraced  within  the  limits 
of  this  sketch,  there  can  be  little  doubt;  so  that  if  it  shall  be 
decided,  eventually,  that  southwestern  Nebraska  was  not 
visited  by  Coronado,  we  have  left  the  important  fact  that 
this  section  of  the  state  was  seen  by  white  men  before  the 
revolutionary  war.^ 

FREMONT 

Again  a  century  elapsed  before  civilized  men,  save, 
possibly,  French  Canadian  trappers,  came  to  this  region. 


2  As  the  writer  hints,  knowledge  of  this  expedition  is  uncertain  and 
gauzy — Ed. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  19 

In  1842  John  C.  Fremont  followed  the  Platte  river  to  its 
sources.  In  1843  he  started  with  a  large  party  to  ascend 
the  Kansas  river.  Becoming  impatient  at  the  slow  progress 
of  his  expedition,  he  pushed  ahead  with  a  small  detachment. 
Taking  a  northwesterly  direction,  he  crossed  what  is  now  the 
boundary  line  between  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  a  few  miles 
east  of  the  southwest  corner  of  this  state.  On  the  evening 
of  the  25th  of  June  he  camped  a  short  distance  from  the 
main  Republican  on  a  little  creek,  doubtless  the  Driftwood. 
Shortly  after  leaving  the  encampment,  on  the  morning  of  the 
26th,  he  remarks  that  the  nature  of  the  country  had  entirely 
changed.  Instead  of  the  smooth,  high  ridges,  over  which 
they  had  been  traveling,  sand-hills  swelled  around  them,  and 
vegetation  peculiar  to  a  sandy  soil  appeared. 

When  they  reached  the  Republican  river,  they  found 
that  here  its  shallow  waters  flowed  over  a  sandy  bed  between 
treeless  banks,  beyond  which,  to  the  horizon,  rolled  the 
sand-hills,  clad  with  billowing  grasses,  and  beautiful  with 
flowers.  Here  the  yucca,  the  cactus,  the  sagebrush  and 
the  poppy  grew.  Among  the  hills,  tiny  brooks,  fed  by 
never  failing  springs,  threaded  their  way.  Except  for  iso- 
lated groves  that  the  fires  had  left,  the  land  was  untimbered. 
In  places  out-croppings  of  magnesia  gave  to  limited  areas  an 
aspect  almost  Alpine.  In  places,  where  trampling  hoofs 
had  worn  the  grass,  the  wind  had  blown  the  sand  away, 
leaving  great  basins,  in  which  stood  masses  of  clay  that  had 
been  sculptured  into  fantastic  forms.  Around  the  ponds, 
formed  by  the  rains,  they  found  excellent  pasture  for  their 
horses.  Buffaloes  in  countless  numbers  were  scattered 
over  the  country. 

For  two  or  three  days  Fremont  and  his  men  traveled 
in  Nebraska  territory.  Crossing  the  line  into  what  is  now 
Colorado,  they  continued  their  journey,  finally  reaching 
the  Platte  river. 


20       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
THE  INDIAN  TRIBES 

None  of  these  explorers  mentions  the  Indians,  and  yet 
we  know  the  Indians  must,  at  times,  have  frequented  this 
country  in  large  numbers,  and  that  their  villages  were 
scattered  along  the  streams.  The  Pawnee,  who  may  be 
called  the  aboriginal  Nebraskans,  were  divided  into  two 
clans,  called  the  Grand  Pawnee  and  the  Republican  Pawnee, 
the  habitat  of  the  latter  being  the  Republican  valley.  The 
Sioux  occupied  western  Nebraska  north  of  the  North 
Platte.  The  southwestern  section  of  the  state,  includ- 
ing Dundy  and  Chase  counties,  together  with  the 
high  plains  of  eastern  Colorado,  were  occupied  by  the 
Arapaho  and  the  Cheyenne,  who,  from  a  time  antedating 
the  coming  of  the  white  men,  held  the  headwaters  of  the 
Republican  and  its  largest  western  tributary,  the  French- 
man, against  the  aggressions  of  all  other  tribes.  While  we 
lack  detailed  information  in  regard  to  the  encounters  that 
unquestionably  took  place  in  this  locality  among  the  natives, 
we  know  this  borderland  was  the  scene  of  many  conflicts; 
that  incursions  were  made  by  war  parties  from  each  tribe 
into  the  territory  claimed  by  the  others;  and  that  these 
invasions  were  repelled. 

No  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  grassy,  stream-threaded 
valleys  of  southwestern  Nebraska  can  wonder  that  they 
were  guarded  jealously  by  the  people  who  asserted  posses- 
sory rights  over  them.  They  were  the  haunts  of  the  wild 
game  that  swarmed  on  the  prairies,  which  made  them  of 
value  to  a  people  who  secured  their  living  from  the  land. 
Here  it  was  the  buffaloes  made  their  last  stand,  and  here 
to-day  antelopes  may  sometimes  be  found  grazing  in  the 
meadows. 

Before  the  advent  of  railroads,  southwestern  Nebraska 
was  out  of  the  usual  course  of  travel.  The  Oregon  and 
California  trails  to  the  north  and  the  Smoky  Hill  route  to 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  21 

the  south  were  the  great  highways  between  east  and  west, 
while  the  RepubHcan  valley,  being  shunned  by  white  men, 
was  a  refuge  for  the  Indians  when  they  were  too  closely 
pressed  by  the  troops.  This  battle  ground  of  the  people 
who  preceded  us  in  its  occupancy  is  strewn  with  the  imple- 
ments of  peace  and  war.  After  every  rain,  arrowheads 
may  be  found  in  the  cultivated  fields,  and  the  winds  uncover 
articles  once  used  by  members  of  a  race  that  is  gone.  What 
stories  these  relics  might  tell  if  they  but  had  the  faculty 
of  speech! 

BATTLE  OF  AUGUST  6,   1860 

For  several  years  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  civil 
war,  bands  of  Kiowa  and  Comanche  Indians  had  been  rang- 
ing over  the  plains,  slaughtering  cattle,  stealing  horses, 
burning  ranches  and  killing  men.  In  the  summer  of  1860 
the  government,  determined  to  put  an  end  to  these  atroci- 
ties, sent  a  detachment  of  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Sturgis,  in  pursuit  of  the  savages.  The  campaign, 
which  necessitated  a  march  from  south  to  north  across  the 
state  of  Kansas,  terminated  on  the  6th  day  of  August, 
1860,  in  an  engagement  at  a  place  that  has  not  yet  been, 
if  indeed,  it  can  ever  be,  more  definitely  located  than 
"near  the  Republican  fork,"  north  of  Beaver  creek. 

Six  companies  of  troops  participated,  and  a  number  of 
Indian  scouts  accompanied  the  soldiers.  The  command 
started  from  the  Arkansas  river  July  28th,  and  all  but 
overtook  the  Indians  on  the  morning  of  August  3d,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Solomon  river,  in  Kansas.  Here  they  found 
large  quantities  of  buffalo  meat  and  hides  and  a  number 
of  lodge  poles,  which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Indians 
in  their  hurried  flight.  The  troops,  wearied  with  a  march 
of  fifty  miles  in  the  preceding  twenty-four  hours,  camped 
for  the  day  and  started  north  again  about  dark.  Several 
times  during  the  next  two  days  they  came  upon  small  bands 
of  Indians,  with  whom  they  skirmished;  but  they  did  not 


22       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

encounter  the  main  body  of  the  savages  until  the  morning 
of  the  6th.  Soon  after  the  troops  left  the  camp  on  Beaver 
creek,  a  party  of  thirty  or  forty  Indians  appeared  about 
a  mile  ahead  of  them.  Lieutenant  Fish  was  detailed  with 
twenty  men,  on  picked  horses,  to  overtake  the  Indians  if 
possible,  and  Lieutenant  Ingraham  followed  with  the 
advanced  guard,  with  orders  to  keep  in  sight  of  Fish  and  go 
to  his  support  if  necessary. 

The  pursuit  was  conducted  with  great  energy,  but  after 
having  been  continued  for  eight  miles,  over  a  country 
intersected  by  ravines,  no  gain  had  been  made  upon  the 
savages.  About  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  troops 
found  it  necessary  to  cross  a  small  stream  which  they  had 
been  following;  and,  owing  to  the  density  of  the  timber 
along  this  stream  and  the  belief  that  a  large  body  of  Indians 
was  nearby,  every  precaution  was  taken,  in  crossing  the 
wagons,  to  guard  against  surprise.  Lieutenant  Ingraham 
was  ordered  to  reconnoiter  the  timber  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
crossing,  Lieutenant  Stockton  deployed  his  company  to 
the  front,  as  skirmishers,  and  the  troopers  stood  ready  to 
mount  at  the  word  of  command.  During  the  crossing  of  the 
creek,  the  Indian  scouts  with  the  troops  became  entangled 
with  the  hostile  Indians,  and  Lieutenant  Stockton  went  to 
their  assistance. 

The  number  of  Indians  rapidly  increased.  A  level 
plain,  crossed  by  ravines,  lay  in  front  of  the  troops,  and 
behind  them  was  the  timbered  stream.  Beyond  the  plain 
a  range  of  low  hills  stretched  parallel  with  the  valley.  From 
every  draw  and  pocket  the  Indians,  from  six  hundred  to 
eight  hundred  in  number,  swarmed  into  the  plain,  appar- 
ently in  a  flank  movement,  while  Captain  Carr  intended 
to  attack  in  front.  The  entire  command  galloped  for- 
ward, but  before  it  reached  the  Indians  they  began  to 
give  way.  Though  the  soldiers  put  their  jaded  horses  to 
their  topmost  speed,  the  fresh  ponies  of  the  Indians  were 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  23 

able  to  gain  on  their  pursuers,  though  followed  for  fifteen 
miles.  The  long-range  arms  of  the  soldiers  were,  however, 
effective.  The  Indians  crossed  the  Republican  river  and 
scattered  among  the  hills  on  the  north  side,  and  further 
pursuit  was  impracticable.  Twenty-nine  of  them  were 
killed,  and  an  unknown  number  were  wounded  in  the  en- 
counter.   No  fatalities  were  reported  by  their  antagonists.^ 

THE  INDIAN  WAR  OF  1865 

During  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  the  Indians,  taking 
advantage  of  the  diversion  of  the  small  garrisons  of  the 
plains  to  the  South,  and  incited  to  hostility  by  Confederate 
sympathizers,  were  very  troublesome  on  the  plains  of 
Nebraska.  To  protect  the  frontier  and  the  ''pilgrims," 
as  the  emigrants  were  called,  detachments  of  soldiers  were 
stationed  at  a  number  of  places  along  the  overland  trails. 
Forts  were  established  in  the  Platte  valley,  at  intervals  of 
a  few  miles,  and  squads  of  soldiers  patrolled  the  most  fre- 
quented routes  of  travel.  Notwithstanding  these  pre- 
cautions, however,  the  Indians  committed  many  depreda- 
tions on  outl3dng  ranches  and  the  smaller  parties  of  travelers . 

On  the  29th  day  of  November,  1864,  occurred  what  has 
been  termed  the  Chivington  massacre,  at  Sand  Creek, 
Colorado,  in  which  the  troops  won  a  signal  victory  over  the 
Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  Indians.^     It  was  believed  that 


*  A  full  account  of  this  expedition  by  its  commander,  Captain  S.  D. 
Sturgis,  of  the  First  cavalry,  dated  Fort  Kearny,  August  12,  1860,  is  pub- 
lished in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  war  for  1860 — Senate  Documents  2d 
Session  36th  Congress,  v.  2,  p.  19,  It  appears  that  the  boggy  stream  the 
command  crossed  on  the  day  of  the  battle  was  a  branch  of  Whelan's  (Beaver) 
Creek.  The  fatalities  of  the  attacking  force  were  two  friendly  Indians  killed, 
three  officers  wounded,  and  one  missing.  Companies  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  I 
composed  the  command.  The  fact  that  the  Indians  were  pursued  fifteen 
miles  is  some  indication  that  the  battle-field  is  in  the  southwesterly  part  of 
Red  Willow  county,  since  the  Beaver  and  the  Republican  approach  each 
other  too  closely  east  of  that  vicinity  to  fit  the  description. — Ed. 

*  This  shocking  tragedy  of  the  great  Indian  war  which  was  precipitated 
in  1864  occurred  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  southeast  of 


24       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

this  punishment  would  put  a  stop  to  further  hostihties  by 
these  two  tribes;  but  on  the  7th  of  January,  1865,  the  In- 
dians, to  the  number  of  more  than  one  thousand,  appeared 
suddenly  before  Fort  Julesburg.^  In  the  battle  that  ensued, 
which  continued  for  several  hours,  fourteen  of  the  soldiers 
were  killed,  while  the  Indians  are  known  to  have  lost  at 
least  fifty-six.  After  this  engagement,  the  Indians  dis- 
appeared from  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Julesburg,  and  as  it  was 
reported  they  had  gone  down  into  the  Republican  valley 


Denver.  It  was  denounced  in  severest  language  by  officers  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  interior.  N.  G.  Taylor,  member  of  a  special  commission 
appointed  to  investigate  the  Indian  troubles,  called  it,  in  his  report,  "the 
horrible  Sand  Creek  massacre,"  and  a  "cold-blooded  butchery  of  women 
and  children,  disarmed  warriors  and  old  men";  and  General  John  B.  San- 
born, member  of  a  commission  appointed  by  the  president  of  the  United 
States  February  18,  1867,  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  incessant  Indian 
hostilities,  denounced  the  Sand  Creek  butchery  still  more  severely.  He  said 
that  the  commanding  officer  of  the  post  [Fort  Lyon]  guaranteed  them  pro- 
tection, designated  a  place  for  them  to  encamp  on  Sand  Creek  while  the 
chiefs  and  young  men  were  absent  to  bring  in  the  hostiles  and  procure  food 
for  their  people,  and  gave  them  a  United  States  flag  to  indicate  their  friend- 
ship and  insure  their  protection.  While  they  were  thus  encamped  and  at  a 
moment  of  their  feeling  of  greatest  security,  United  States  troops  were  seen 
approaching,  presumed  by  them  to  be  on  a  friendly  mission.  White  Ante- 
lope, who  had  made  himself  a  servant  of  the  whites  on  the  plains,  stepped  out 
apparently  to  greet  and  welcome  the  troops,  but  was  shot  down  like  a  dog 
and  the  massacre  of  women  and  children  commenced.  "Some  twelve  old 
men  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  women  and  children  were  put  to  death 
by  the  troops.  Helpless  infancy  and  decrepit  age  shared  the  same  fate. 
Women  were  scalped,  disemboweled,  and  unseemly  parts  cut  from  their 
places  and  borne  off  on  the  pommels  and  saddles  or  bridles  of  horses." 
(These  denunciations  were  copied  from  my  "History  of  the  Indian  War  on 
the  Plains  from  1864  to  Final  Peace,"  pages  20  and  54,  and  footnote  2, 
ms.  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society.) 

The  troops  engaged  in  the  massacre  comprised  three  companies  of 
the  First  regiment  Colorado  cavalry  and  a  detachment  of  the  Third  regi- 
ment Colorado  cavalry,  commanded  by  John  M.  Chivington,  colonel  of 
the  First  Colorado.     (History  of  Nebraska,  v.  2,  p.  188,  note.) — Eo. 

"•  Though  often  called  Fort  Julesburg,  this  post  was  named  Fort  Sedg- 
wick by  order  of  the  war  department,  September  27th,  1864,  immediately 
after  its  construction.  See  footnote  1  of  Adventures  On  The  Plains  1865-67, 
this  volume. — Ed. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  25 

in  southwestern  Nebraska,  those  in  authority  determined 
to  pursue  them. 

Accordingly  an  expedition  was  fitted  out,  under  the 
command  of  General  Mitchell,  which  started  from  Fort 
Cottonwood"  down  what  was  termed  the  "Trader's  Trail" 
on  the  16th  day  of  January,  1865.  They  went  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  until  they  reached  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
boundary,  not  far  from  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  state, 
from  which  point  part  of  the  detachment  continued  for 
fifty  miles  down  into  Kansas.  Returning  to  the  Republican 
river,  they  followed  that  stream  as  far  east  as  the  mouth 
of  the  Medicine,  when  they  turned  north,  reaching  Fort 
Cottonwood  on  the  26th  day  of  January. 

The  sufferings  of  the  men  in  this  winter  campaign  of 
twelve  days  were  almost  unendurable.  The  weather  was 
extremely  cold,  at  one  time  the  mercury  registering  twenty 
degrees  below  zero.  The  men  had  no  shelter  but  their  tents, 
and  many  nights  they  were  compelled  to  sit  by  their  camp 
fires  to  keep  from  freezing.  We,  who  know  the  country  as 
it  is  do-day,  can  scarcely  realize  what  suffering  such  an 
adventure  entailed.  From  morning  till  night  the  troopers 
rode  over  the  plain  in  search  of  an  elusive  foe,  whose  presence 
they  could  feel  but  could  not  see,  not  knowing  at  what 
instant  a  savage  and  relentless  horde  might  swoop  down 
upon  them.  The  prairies  at  this  season  are  overpowering 
in  their  desolation.  The  stream,  from  bank  to  bank,  is  a 
sheet  of  ice.  Through  the  leafless  branches  of  the  trees 
that  fringe  the  river  the  winter  winds  wail  dismally,  after 
dark,  to  the  accompaniment  of  that  dolefulest  of  sounds — 
the  coyote's  cry.     The  hills  that  bound  the  valley    are 


*  According  to  Eugene  Ware's  story  of  the  expedition  in  "The  Indian 
War  of  1864,"  pp.  454  and  458,  it  went  from  Fort  Cottonwood  to  Jack 
Morrow's  ranch,  ten  miles  west,  on  the  evening  of  the  15th  and  started 
from  Morrow's,  southwesterly,  up  Trader's  Trail,  on  the  16th  as  the  author 
says. — Ed. 


26       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

blanketed  with  snow  which,  when  the  sunHght  falls  upon 
them,  accentuates  their  convolutions.  At  night  the  stars 
sparkle  like  diamonds  in  the  frosty  air.  The  blazing  camp 
fire,  around  which  the  shivering  soldiers  huddled,  intensified 
the  surrounding  gloom.  Essential  as  was  the  warmth  to 
their  very  being,  it  was  still  a  signal  that  might  have  been 
read  for  miles  and  invited  destruction. 

During  the  scout,  as  it  was  called,  the  soldiers  often 
saw  in  the  distance  single  Indians  scuttling  over  the  prairie, 
but  seldom  more  than  one  at  a  time,  although  there  were 
trails,  made  by  the  dragging  lodge  poles,  leading  in  every 
direction.  It  did  not  matter  that  the  troops  feared  to 
separate  to  follow  these  several  trails,  for  upon  them  the 
capture  or  killing  of  the  lone  wanderers  would  have  served 
no  good  purpose.  One  night  a  band  of  Indians  rushed 
through  the  camp,  discharging  guns,  breaking  tent  ropes, 
and  pulhng  up  pegs;  but  they  were  gone — swallowed  by  the 
darkness — before  the  soldiers  recovered  from  their  sur- 
prise. 

GENERAL   CARR'S  BATTLE  WITH  SIOUX 

(JUNE,  1869) 

After  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  the  trans-Mis- 
souri plains  began  to  fill  with  settlers.  A  pressing  Indian 
question  arose.  The  policy  of  removing  the  Indians  to 
reservations  as  rapidly  as  the  extension  of  civilization  re- 
quired was  adopted,  but  for  a  time  the  task  of  controlling 
them  seemed  impracticable,  and,  despite  aggressive  military 
measures,  the  prairies  became  infested  with  predatory  bands 
of  savages  who  made  frequent  raids  upon  the  defenseless 
settlers,  stealing  horses,  killing  cattle,  murdering  men,  and 
carrying  women  into  captivity. 

The  mild  climate  and  abundant  game  of  the  Republican 
valley  attracted  the  Indians,  and  several  bands  of  Sioux  and 
Pawnee  established  themselves  there.    In  1868,  when  a  part 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  27 

of  the  Indians  went  to  the  reservations  set  apart  for  all  of 
these  roving  bands,  certain  of  them,  under  the  leadership 
of  Pawnee  Killer,  The  Whistler,  Tall  Bull,  and  Little  Wound 
refused  to  go.  They  were  joined  by  straggling  members 
of  the  Cheyenne  tribe,  which  had  been  driven  south  in  the 
winter  of  that  year. 

In  June,  1869,  an  expedition  commanded  by  Major 
General  E.  A.  Carr,  of  the  Fifth  cavalry,  marched  into  the 
Republican  valley  to  clear  it  of  the  marauding  outlaws. 
The  command  comprised  eight  companies  of  regular 
cavalry,  and  three  companies  of  Pawnee  scouts  under 
Major  Frank  North.  Striking  a  promising  trail  they 
followed  for  two  days  along  the  Republican  and  then 
turned  north.  After  a  pursuit  of  twenty  m.iles  in  that 
direction  on  the  last  day,  the  savages  were  overtaken  on 
the  headwaters  of  the  Republican.  Af  ler  a  desperate  battle 
of  several  hours,  the  Indians,  comprising  Sioux  and  "Dog- 
soldiers,"  renegades  from  various  tribes,  led  by  Tall  Bull,  a 
Cheyenne,  were  completely  routed.  Fifty- two  of  them,  in- 
cluding Tall  Bull,  were  killed.  One  of  two  white  women, 
captured  by  these  Indians  some  time  before  on  the  Saline 
river  in  Kansas,  was  rescued  by  the  soldiers,  but  the  other 
was  killed  by  her  captors  during  the  progress  of  the  battle. 
Nine  hundred  dollars,  nearly  all  of  a  sum  of  money  found  in 
the  camp,  was  given  to  th-  liberated  woman.  More  than 
one  hundred  mules,  three  hundred  horses  and  colts,  a  large 
quantity  of  powder,  and  about  five  tons  of  dried  buffalo 
meat  were  captured.  The  mules  and  horses  were  distributed 
among  the  soldiers  and  scouts.^ 

It  was  hoped  that  this  chastisement  would  have  a 
salutary   effect,   but   instead   it   thoroughly   aroused    the 


'  The  expedition  comprised  eight  companies  of  the  Fifth  cavalry  and 
three  of  Pawnee  scouts — fifty  in  each  company.  It  started  from  Fort 
McPherson  on  the  9th  of  June.  On  Sunday,  July  11,  the  command  marched 
northward  twenty  miles  and  surprised  the  Indians  at  their  village  in  the 


28       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

hostility  of  the  Indians.  A  few  weeks  after  this  battle  the 
Buck  party  was  \viped  out  of  existence,  and  the  Daugherty 
party  miraculously  escaped  a  like  fate.     However,  this 


northwest  corner  of  Colorado.  General  Carr  called  the  battle-field  Summit 
Springs  because  a  fine  spring  of  water  was  found  on  an  adjacent  sand-hill. 

The  names  of  the  two  captured  women  were  Mrs.  Susannah  Alderdice 
and  Mrs.  Wiechel.  Tall  Bull  was  keeping  them  as  his  wives  and  shot  them 
both  rather  than  to  risk  their  being  rescued.  The  soldiers  and  scouts 
captured  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  gold,  nine  hundred  dollars  of  which 
was  given  up  and  presented  to  Mrs.  Wiechel. 

Under  date  of  January  26,  1914,  the  adjutant  general  of  the  United 
States  army  (George  Andrews)  advises  me  that  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Record 
of  Engagementr  with  Hostile  Indians  within  the  Military  Division  of  the 
Missouri  from  1868  to  1882,"  compiled  at  the  headquarters  of  that  division 
in  1882,  contains  the  following:  "July  11  (1869),  the  main  village  was 
completely  surprised  on  'Summit  Springs,'  a  small  tributary  of  the  South 
Platte,  in  Colorado.  Seven  troops  of  the  Fifth  cavalry  and  three  companies 
of  mounted  Pawnee  scouts  charged  the  village  which,  with  its  contents, 
was  captured  and  burned.  Fifty-two  Indians  were  killed,  an  unknown 
number  wounded,  and  seventeen  captured,  among  the  killed  being  'Tall 
Bull,'  the  chief  of  the  band.  Two  hundred  and  seventy-four  horses,  one 
hundred  and  forty-four  mules,  quantities  of  arms  and  ammunition  and  about 
$1,500  in  United  States  money  were  among  the  most  important  items  of 
the  extensive  captures.  So  perfect  was  the  surprise  and  so  swift  the  charge 
over  a  distance  of  several  miles,  that  the  Indians  could  do  little  but  spring 
upon  their  ponies  and  fly,  and  the  casualties  to  the  troops  were  only  one 
soldier  wounded,  one  horse  shot,  and  twelve  horses  killed  by  the  hot  and 
exhaustive  charge.  *  *  *   " 

The  adjutant  general  adds:  "It  appears  from  the  official  records 
that  General  Carr  left  Fort  McPherson,  Nebr.,  June  9,  1869,  with  the 
organizations  that  fought  the  engagement  at  Summit  Springs.  Tall  Bull 
was  chief  of  a  tribe  of  Cheyenne  Indians." 

General  C.  C.  Augur,  commander  of  the  department  of  the  Platte, 
in  his  report — dated  October  23,  1869 — to  the  commander  of  the  Military 
Division  of  the  Missouri,  said: 

"More  than  a  year  ago,  when  '  Spotted  Tail'  v/ent  to  the  reservation 
set  apart  for  all  these  bands,  certain  of  them,  under  the  leadership  of  Pawnee 
Killer,  The  Whistler,  Tall  Bull,  Little  Wound,  and  others,  refused  to  go." 

■'When  the  Cheyennes  were  driven  south  last  winter,  Tall  Bull  and  a 
few  other  prominent  head  soldiers  joined  these  bands  on  the  Republican, 
and  it  is  these  irregular  and  straggling  bands  that  have  committed  all  the 
depredations  in  Northern  Kansas  and  Soutliern  Nebraska  during  the  past 
year.  It  was  determined,  therefore,  to  act  aggressively  upon  these  bands, 
and  to  endeavor  to  drive  them  from  this  country  and  force  them  to  theii 
reservations.  The  assignment  of  the  Fifth  cavalry  to  my  department 
fortunately  gave  me  the  means  of  doing  this,  and  at  the  same  time  looking 
after  other  exposed  points  in  the  department.    With  this  view,  the  expedi- 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  29 

seems  to  be  the  last  time  that  the  Indians  resisted  the 
miHtary  in  this  part  of  Nebraska.  Though  both  the  Sioux 
and  the  Pawnee  hunted  here  for  three  or  four  years  after- 
wards,8  the  settlers  suffered  no  serious  losses,  except  by  the 
famous  Cheyenne  raid  of  1878. 

tion  commanded  by  Brevet  Major  General  E.  A.  Carr,  major  Fifth  Cavalry, 
was  organized  and  started  into  the  Republican  country  early  in  June." 
(Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  2d  Sess.  41st  Cong.,  p.  71.) 

Major  Frank  North  commanded  the  Pawnee  scouts  in  the  Summit 
Springs  campaign;  and  he  has  left  a  full  account  of  the  battle  in  the  12th 
chapter  of  his  memoirs,  "A  Quarter  of  a  Century  on  the  Frontier."  He 
states  that  the  expedition  struck  the  Republican  "near  the  mouth  of  Dog 
Creek."  The  context  indicates  that  the  creek  in  question  was  the  Prairie 
Dog.  The  next  incident  related  occurred  while  the  command  was  in  camp 
"near  the  mouth  of  Turkey  Creek".  "A  few  days  after  the  command  had 
left  this  camp"  it  was  "scouting  along  the  Beaver  and  Prairie  Dog  creeks;" 
and  soon  after,  having  moved  westward  up  the  Republican,  it  camped 
on  the  Black  Tail  Deer  Fork.  One  of  the  rather  numerous  Turkey  creeks 
of  this  part  of  Nebraska  enters  the  Republican  near  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Furnas  county,  at  a  point  about  a  day's  march  west  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Prairie  Dog,  and  Deer  creek  enters  the  Republican  about  sixteen  miles 
miles  farther  west.  Mr.  Cordeal,  who  has  lived  in  Red  Willow  county  many 
years,  writes  that  he  cannot  find  any  trace  of  an  affluent  of  the  Republican 
called  Dog  creek  in  that  part  of  the  state.  So  it  seems  that  the  expedition 
did  not  march  directly  south  to  the  Republican,  but  southwest  instead. 
A  Colton  map  published  in  the  same  year  shows  a  Beaver  creek  entering 
the  Medicine  creek  in  Frontier  county,  and  a  later  map  shows  another 
entering  the  Republican  from  the  south  in  range  24  west;  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  either  of  these  streams  was  referred  to  in  the  reports  of  General 
Carr's  campaign. 

On  the  third  of  August,  1869,  General  C.  C.  Augur,  commander  of 
the  department  of  the  Platte,  issued  an  order — number  48 — highly  com- 
mending General  Carr  and  his  command  for  their  conduct  in  the  campaign 
in  which  he  specially  mentions  Corporal  John  Kyle  of  Company  M  and 
Sergeant  Mad  Bear  of  the  Pawnee  scouts  for  bravery  and  gallant  conduct. 
(Major  North's  memoirs,  p.  146.) 

The  Nebraska  legislature,  at  its  sixth  session,  on  the  23d  of  February, 
1870,  passed  a  resolution  of  thanks  for  General  Carr,  Major  North  and  their 
command  for  their  services  in  the  campaign,  "by  which  the  people  of  the 
state  were  freed  from  the  ravages  of  merciless  savages."  (Laws  of  Nebraska 
1870-71,  p.  60.)— Ed. 

^  The  famous  treaty  of  April  29, 1868,  with  the  Sioux,  acknowledged 
their  right  to  hunt  along  the  Republican  river.  They  relinquished  the  right 
in  the  treaty  of  June  23,  1875.  (Eighteenth  Report  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology,  pt.  2,  p.  882.)  Such  hunting  as  the  Pawnee  may  have  done  in 
the  same  territory  until  they  were  removed  from  their  reservation  to  Indian 
Territory  in  1876,  was  by  sufiferance  and  without  legal  right. — Ed. 


30       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
MASSACRE  OF  THE  BUCK  SURVEYING  PARTY 

The  disappearance  of  the  Buck  surveying  party  in  the 
summer  of  1869  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  plains.  The 
party,  consisting  of  twelve  men,  under  the  leadership  of 
Nelson  Buck,  started  from  Fort  Kearny  for  the  Repubhcan 
country  in  the  latter  part  of  July.  Application  had  been 
made  to  the  military  authorities  for  arms,  but  for  some 
reason  these  were  not  furnished.  After  the  party  had  pro- 
ceeded for  some  distance,  Mr.  Buck  directed  two  of  its 
members  to  return  to  Fort  Kearny  and  there  await  fulfill- 
ment of  his  requisition.  The  others  proceeded  on  their  way, 
and,  so  far  as  is  known,  nothing  was  seen  or  heard  of  them 
again. 

Later  in  the  season,  when  the  continued  absence  of  the 
men  had  been  noted,  it  was  discovered  that  none  of  the 
lines  or  corners  that  were  to  have  been  established  by  Mr. 
Buck  could  be  found.  This  fact,  coupled  with  the  fact  that 
although  his  trail  had  been  seen  and  an  empty  water-keg 
found  near  one  of  his  camps,  no  trace  of  the  party  had  been 
discovered,  and  that  General  Duncan,  who  was  out  on 
a  scouting  expedition,  had  found  two  surveyor's  tripods  in 
an  Indian  camp  that  had  been  recently  raided  by  him,  led 
to  the  conviction  that  the  members  of  the  party  had  been 
massacred. 

Lieutenant  Jacob  Almy  reported  the  capture,  by  a 
detachment  of  cavalry,  on  the  26th  of  September,  1869, 
of  a  squaw  who  told  of  an  encounter  between  a  party  of 
white  men  and  a  band  of  Indians  under  Pawnee  Killer  and 
The  Whistler  which  occurred  while  the  Indians  were  cross- 
ing the  Republican  river  between  Frenchman's  Fork  and 
Red  Willow  creek  to  move  over  to  the  Beaver.  It  seems  that 
four  Indians,  in  advance  of  the  main  body  of  the  savages, 
were  attacked  by  the  whites,  and  that  three  of  the  Indians 
and  one  white  man  were  killed.    The  Indians  pursued  the 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  31 

aggressors  in  the  direction  of  the  Beaver,  took  their  horses 
and  rations,  destroyed  two  wagons,  and  killed  five  of  them, 
the  remainder  escaping. 

The  story  told  by  the  squaw  is  corroborated  in  the 
account  of  an  inquiry  made  by  an  employee  of  the  govern- 
ment who  was  in  charge  of  the  agency  to  which  the  Sioux 
returned  after  their  summer's  campaign  through  the  Re- 
publican valley.  From  an  interview  with  Spotted  Tail^"  it 
was  gathered  that  the  Indians,  some  time  in  the  month  of 
August,  attacked  a  party  of  about  twelve  surveyors  near 
Beaver  creek,  and  succeeded  in  killing  six.  The  balance 
of  the  party  retreated  and  entrenched  themselves.  Sub- 
sequently the  Indians  attacked  them,  but  were  repulsed 
with  a  loss  of  three  killed.  Spotted  Tail  reported  that  he 
did  not  know  what  became  of  the  other  whites,  but  thought 
they  may  have  been  killed  by  another  band  of  savages. 
Another  Indian  told  of  the  killing  of  eight  whites  on  the 
Beaver  and  the  escape  of  three  others,  of  whose  subsequent 
fate  he  did  not  know.  This  party  had  one  wagon,  which 
was  run  into  the  creek.  Still  another  account  of  the  affair 
is  that,  while  Pawnee  Killer's  band  was  crossing  the  hills 
south  of  the  mouth  of  Red  Willow  creek,  on  their  way  to 
the  Beaver,  they  discovered  a  party  of  six  white  men  with 
a  team.  A  charge  was  made  in  which  three  Indians  were 
killed.    The  whites  finally  gained  the  timber  on  Beaver 


^  Spotted  Tail,  or  Sentegaleska,  was  chief  of  the  Brule  Sioux  who  were 
settled  at  an  agency  on  Beaver  creek — now  in  Sheridan  county — in  1874. 
By  virtue  of  a  protest  by  the  state  of  Nebraska  that  they  were  trespassers 
on  her  soil,  they  were  removed  in  1877.  (Laws  of  Nebraska  1875,  p.  338; 
History  of  Nebraska,  v.  3,  p.  369.)  The  location  was  also  called  Camp  Sher- 
idan, because  a  detachment  of  soldiers  was  kept  there  to  restrain  the  Indians 
who  were  inclined  to  hostility.  Spotted  Tail  had  the  reputation  of  being 
so  loyal  to  the  whites  as  almost  to  imply  his  disloyalty  to  his  own  people; 
but  probably  he  deserves  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  to  be  credited  with 
wise  and  impartial  statesmanship.  Dr.  George  L.  Miller,  editor  of  the 
Omaha  Herald,  in  its  weekly  issue  of  September  4,  1874,  said:  "He  is  the 
truest  friend  of  the  white  man  and  of  peace  on  these  borders  that  ever 
lived."— Ed. 


32       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

creek,  where  they  made  a  stand.  The  Indians,  in  the  mean- 
time, had  increased  their  force  to  two  hundred  warriors. 
Frequent  and  desperate  charges  were  made  on  the  white 
men  during  the  entire  afternoon,  and  about  sunset  the  last 
of  the  six  was  killed  and  scalped.  Pawnee  Killer,  who  led 
the  fight  in  person,  said  the  whites  were  very  brave,  and 
that  many  of  his  warriors  were  wounded.  The  three  Indians 
killed  were  buried  in  trees  on  the  south  side  of  the  Re- 
publican, just  above  the  mouth  of  Red  Willow  creek. 

While  these  accounts,  in  some  respects,  seem  irrecon- 
cilable, there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  are  of  the  same 
affair.  As  the  Buck  party  was  the  only  party  of  white  men 
in  this  vicinity  at  that  time,  and  as  all  of  its  members  dis- 
appeared, we  are  bound  to  believe — unless  we  concede  that 
these  stories  are  pure  fabrications — that  they  were  the 
victims  of  the  tragedy  recorded.  Search  for  the  bodies  was 
made  in  the  fall  of  1869,  but  without  avail.  Recent  inves- 
tigation leaves  no  room  for  question  that  the  last  stand  of 
the  whites  was  made  at  a  place  on  the  banks  of  Beaver  creek, 
in  Red  Willow  county,  but  where  their  bones  lie  now,  no 
one  knows. 

DAUGHERTY'S  battle  with  the  INDIANS 

It  was  probably  after  the  massacre  of  the  Buck  party 
when,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  August,  1869,  W.  E.  Daugh- 
erty,  who  was  in  the  field  with  a  party  of  surveyors,  had 
an  encounter  with  the  Indians.  About  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  a  small  band  of  savages  dashed  into  the  surveyors' 
camp,  shot  one  of  their  horses  and  stampeded  the  rest, 
which,  however,  were  soon  recaptured.  The  whites,  realiz- 
ing that  they  were  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  body  of  Indians, 
decided  to  go  to  the  nearest  place  on  the  Platte  river  where 
they  could  secure  arms  and  ammunition  for  the  purpose  of 
equipping  themselves,  so  as  to  be  prepared  to  resist  an  at- 
tack.   They  had  not  proceeded  far  until  they  were  sur- 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  33 

rounded  by  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  Indians. 
Knowing  them  to  be  hostile,  and  that  it  would  be  useless 
to  try  to  escape,  the  surveyors  concluded  to  stop  and  to 
make  the  best  defense  they  could.  They  turned  their 
horses  loose,  and  while  the  Indians  were  pursuing  the 
animals  the  whites  sought  to  entrench  themselves.  Daugh- 
erty  himself  has  left  the  following  description  of  the  battle: 

"As  soon  as  they  got  the  stock  they  surrounded  us 
and  fought  us  in  Indian  style  all  day.  Fortunately,  none 
of  us  was  seriously  hurt,  though  one  of  the  men  was  slightly 
wounded  in  the  forehead  by  a  glancing  shot,  and  my  brother 
was  disabled  for  duty  by  the  explosion  of  a  cartridge  in  his 
face,  which  blinded  him  so  he  could  not  see  for  nearly  the 
whole  day.  We  disabled  several  of  their  horses  and  know 
that  we  shot  twelve  Indians,  three  of  whom  we  know  were 
killed — two  of  them  lay  in  our  sight  all  day,  they  not 
venturing  to  take  them  away  until  dark.  Although  their 
bullets  rained  around  us  all  day  like  hail,  not  a  man  flinched, 
nor  do  I  think  one  felt  the  least  despondent.  About  dark 
they  ceased  firing  and  seemed  by  their  actions  to  be  station- 
ing sentinels  in  squads  at  different  points,  sounding  as  though 
the  main  body  was  stationed  at  a  point  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  rods  southwest  of  us,  in  a  ravine.  About  dark 
we  commenced  digging  with  more  energy  to  make  them 
believe  we  intended  to  stay  there;  but  at  half  past  nine 
o'clock  we  left  our  little  fort  by  crawling  on  our  bodies 
about  a  mile,  which  we  thought  extremely  dangerous,  as 
the  moon  shone  and  it  was  almost  as  light  as  day,  and  we 
expected  to  crawl  upon  the  Indians  every  moment.  But 
we  did  not,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  left  a  ridge  of  land  between 
us  and  the  Indians  we  skedaddled  the  best  we  could  and 
arrived  safely  at  the  river  the  next  day.  I  lost  the  entire 
outfit,  not  excepting  anything.  My  brother  and  two  other 
men  are  now  out  with  a  party  of  cavalry  helping  to  rescue  a 
part  of  our  outfit." 

This  fight  is  believed  to  have  taken  place  in  southern 
Chase  or  northern  Dundy  county;  but,  as  has  been  said,  it 
is  not  known  exactly  where  it  occurred. 


34       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
THE  ROYAL  BUCK  EXPEDITION 

The  incidents  that  have  been  recounted  have  a  passing 
interest,  because  nothing  that  has  to  do  with  men  is  without 
interest;  but  they  left  no  permanent  mark  upon  the  land, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  we  find  in  the  dust-covered 
volumes  of  our  libraries  recital  of  their  occurrence  we  would 
not,  to-day,  know  they  had  happened. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  a  corporation  called  the  Republican 
Valley  Land  Company  was  organized  in  Nebraska  City  for 
the  purpose  of  exploiting  the  resources  of  southwestern 
Nebraska.  Among  the  incorporators  were  J.  Sterling  Mor- 
ton, whose  name  is  so  intimately  identified  with  the  early 
history  of  eastern  Nebraska,  and  W.  W.  W.  Jones,  who 
afterwards  was  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 
On  the  ninth  day  of  November,  1871,  a  party  of  nine  men, 
including  officers  and  stockholders  of  the  company,  started 
from  Nebraska  City  for  the  mouth  of  Red  Willow  creek. 
They  traveled  by  railroad  as  far  as  Sutton,  which  was  then 
the  terminus  of  the  Burlington  and  Missouri  River  Railroad; 
there  they  overtook  their  wagons,  which  had  been  sent  on 
ahead  to  await  their  coming,  and  continued  the  journey  in 
them.  At  that  time  the  grading  for  the  railroad  between 
Sutton  and  Fort  Kearny  was  nearly  completed,  but  there 
were  no  towns  in  all  that  stretch  of  country.  Settlers' 
cabins  were  scattered  along  the  way,  but  beyond  the  fort 
few  of  these,  even,  were  to  be  seen. 

Royal  Buck,  who  was  a  member  of  the  party  and  who 
afterwards  settled  in  the  valley,  where  he  resided  for  a 
number  of  years  and  became  an  influential  citizen,  kept  a 
diaryio  in  which  he  described  the  trip.  His  story  is  one  of 
fascinating  interest.  The  weather  in  the  early  winter  of 
1871  was  unusually  severe.    One  storm  after  another  swept 


10  A  transcript  of  this  diary  is  in  the  library  of  the  Nebraska  State  His- 
torical Society. — Ed. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  35 

over  the  prairies.  A  tent  was  the  only  shelter  for  the  men, 
while  the  horses  were  tied  on  the  lee  side  of  the  wagons. 
A  number  of  hunters  were  caught  in  the  fearful  storms,  and 
the  explorers  passed  many  of  them  eastward  bound,  loaded 
with  meat.  They  suffered  from  the  severe  cold,  as  few  of 
them  were  prepared  for  it.  None  had  tents,  and  only  a  part 
of  them  had  sufficient  food.  Mention  is  made  of  one  party 
that  had  nothing  to  eat  but  corn  and  meat  and  so  sub- 
stituted parched  corn  for  bread.  The  Buck  party  gave 
them  a  few  quarts  of  beans  and  sent  a  pot  of  coffee  to  their 
camp,  receiving  in  return  a  stock  of  buffalo  meat.  In 
another  party  there  was  a  man  who  had  been  lost  on  the 
prairies  in  the  storm  and  was  badly  frozen.  He  had  been 
found  accidentally  as  he  was  in  his  last  sleep.  Once,  when 
storm-bound,  for  lack  of  a  stove  the  men  filled  a  camp 
kettle  with  coals,  and  stood,  shivering,  over  it.  Two  of 
them  extemporized  a  checker  board  on  the  end  of  a  cracker 
box,  and  at  that  game  whiled  away  the  hours. 

The  almost  daily  program  was  to  arise  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  breakfast,  feed  their  horses  and  be  on  their 
way  as  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  to  see.  Sometimes  they 
camped  at  noon  for  lunch,  and  sometimes  they  pushed  on 
till  night.  Sometimes  the  weather  compelled  them  to  lie 
by  for  a  few  hours.  Game  was  plentiful,  and  when  they  were 
in  the  western  country  not  a  day  passed  that  they  did  not 
see  buffaloes,  deer,  elks,  antelopes  and  wild  turkeys.  On 
the  twenty-second  day  of  November  they  reached  Red 
Willow  creek,  and  for  several  days  camped  on  its  banks. 
They  selected  a  site  for  a  town,  and  every  member  of  the 
party  chose  a  claim.  To  show  of  what  stuff  these  men  were 
made,  I  quote  from  the  diary : 

I  take  spade  and  stakes  and  go  out  to  plant  peach  pits 
and  bulbs  found  in  my  carpet  bag  and  wend  my  way  to 
selected  homestead,  select  the  ground  and  shovel  off  the 
snow  spade  up  a  trench  about  ten  feet  long,  plant  in  tulip 


36       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

bulbs  and  peach  pits,  and  as  I  cover  up  the  ground  again 
with  snow,  and  as  I  sit  in  the  snow  bank  by  the  side  of 
my  planting  I  involantarily  Hft  up  an  audible  prayer  to 
my  heavenly  father  to  bless  the  planting — that  fruit  and 
flower  may  bloom  together  and  gladen  the  hearts  of  house- 
hold and  friends— that  God  also  will  bless  the  planting  of 
the  new  town  and  those  who  have  planted  it  and  that  all 
together  may  be  prospered  in  all  their  plannings  and  that 
God  may  be  glorified  and  his  Kingdom  be  built  up  here 
on  this  virgin  soil.  And  as  I  prayed  a  little  bird  lit  upon 
my  shoulder  and  chirped  about  my  head  &  again  rested 
on  my  coat  as  it  was  spread  out  on  the  snow.  I  am  not 
superstitious — do  not  believe  much  in  signs  and  omens, 
but  it  did  seem  that  here  was  a  significant  expression — a 
promise  of  good. 

The  homeward  journey  was  attended  with  even  greater 
hardships  than  the  outward  trip:  cold,  storms,  deep  snows 
made  traveling  difficult  and  dangerous.  On  Sunday, 
the  third  of  December,  an  unusually  violent  storm  forced 
them  to  seek  shelter  for  the  day.  At  the  risk  of  being  tedious 
I  shall  quote  once  more  from  the  diary: 

Sunday  3. 

We  are  wakened  at  3  o'clock  this  morning  by  the 
blowing  of  the  wind,  a  regular  north  wester.  It  shakes 
our  tent  and  the  boys  go  out  and  drive  additional  stakes — 
the  cooks  get  out  at  5  o'clock  and  get  breakfast  and  we 
all  get  around  our  camp  fire  to  eat  and  all  shivering  and 
shaking. 

The  wind  blows  fearfully  and  the  snow  is  flying  briskly 
and  0!  how  cold!  We  feel  that  we  ought  to  drive  15  miles 
today,  but  is  it  safe?  We  wait  two  hours— it  gets  no  better, 
teamsters  say  start  and  we  strike  tent  and  pack  our  baggage 
and  drive  a  half  mile  and  all  say:  No  farther!  turn  to  the 
timber.  We  drive  to  a  cabin  for  hay  and  Mr.  Ellis  & 
myself  seek  shelter  in  it.  We  find  a  Wisconsin  family  by 
the  name  of  Moss  [Morse].  We  take  our  blankets  and 
stay — the  wind  is  blowing  and  drifting  and  sifts  through 
the  logs  and  we  keep  our  coats  and  wrappings  on  as  we 
site  around  the  cook  stove — green  wood!    We  shake  and 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  37 

shiver  as  badly  as  in  camp,  and  it  is  as  hard  to  keep  warm 
as  any  place  we  have  been  in.  Mrs.  M.  gets  supper  con- 
sisting of  fried  bacon,  corn  griddle  cakes,  coffee,  butter, 
potatoes.  The  latter  we  have  not  had  before  since  we 
left  home.  We  sit  by  the  stove — our  backs  to  the  stove 
to  eat  and  our  fingers  are  so  cold  that  we  can  hardly  hold 
our  knives  and  forks,  but  we  eat  a  hearty  meal  and  feel 
warmer.  Our  hostess  is  a  3^oung  woman  with  bright  eyes 
and  curly  hair  with  one  child,  a  little  boy  3  years  old. 

At  the  end  of  the  house  is  the  horse  shed — one  horse 
is  near  dead  and  we  hold  a  consultation  and  advise  a  rifle 
ball  as  cure  and  it  is  administered  and  the  poor  animal  is 
out  of  her  misery.  Towards  evening  the  sun  comes  out, 
wind  goes  down  and  sun  sets  clear,  but  0,  how  cold! 

Our  host  has  been  out  with  his  remain  ng  horse  and 
drawn  up  a  stick  of  dry  wood  and  we  get  warm.  In  the 
evening  Mrs.  M.  brings  out  a  straw  bed,  we  lay  it  on  the 
dirt  floor  before  the  stove  and  with  our  blankets  make  a 
very  comfortable  bed.  A  Mr.  Marsh — brother-in-law  of 
Morse  a  young  man  about  30  takes  the  other  side  of  the 
stove  in  front  of  the  bed  and  sleeps  on  the  floor.  It  is 
the  calculation  to  keep  a  fire  all  night. 

Monday  4 

It  is  broad  daylight  before  we  peep  out  from  our 
blankets — have  had  a  good  nights  sleep,  the  fire  is  all  out 
and  has  been  since  midnight.  Soon  a  fire  is  built  and  we 
crawl  out.  The  little  dog  put  out  in  the  evening  is  in  the 
house  this  morning.  ''How  did  he  get  in?"  says  Mrs.  M. 
He  must  have  found  some  hole  says  Mr.  M.  We  have 
breakfast  at  8  and  prepare  for  a  start.  Our  teams  are 
pulling  out  and  we  hasten  on  our  wrapings  and  bid  good  by 
and  are  off  for  Turkey  creek  towards  Kearney.  It  is  a 
clear  cold  day — the  coldest  of  the  trip,  and  the  snow  is 
drifted  and  very  hard — so  hard  that  it  sometimes  bears 
the  horses  and  wagons.  We  all  walk  to  favor  the  teams 
&  we  do  it  very  comfortably,  the  snow  is  so  hard. 

The  party  reached  home  without  further  adventures. 
To  complete  the  story  of  this  organized  effort  to  colonize 
southwestern  Nebraska,  it  need  only  be  said  that  it  failed. 
No  town  was  built  upon  the  site  selected,  and  the  company 


38       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

was  disbanded.  Several  of  the  stockholders  settled  in  that 
section,  and  one  of  the  nine  who  was  with  this  first  party  is 
still  living  in  Red  Willow  county.  In  the  spring  of  1872 
and  later  the  people  flocked  thither,  settling  first  along  the 
streams,  but  finally  spreading  over  the  divides,  and  to-day 
you  will  find  the  shacks  of  the  pioneers  scattered  even  among 
the  sand-hills  of  the  extreme  western  part  of  southwest 
Nebraska. 

PAWNEE-SIOUX  MASSACRE,   AUGUST  5,   1873 

On  the  fifth  day  of  August,  1873,  occurred  the  battle 
between  the  Sioux  and  the  Pawnee  Indians,  in  what  has 
since  come  to  be  known  as  Massacre  Canon,  a  ravine  about 
four  miles  north  of  the  subsequent  site  of  Trenton,  Hitch- 
cock county.  The  Pawnee— about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  one  hundred  women  and  fifty  children — were  on  a 
buffalo  hunt.  On  the  third  day  of  July  they  had  left  their 
reservation  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  in  the  Republican 
valley  with  the  consent  of  the  authorities  and  in  charge  of 
a  special  agent,  a  white  man.  Their  hunt  had  been  success- 
ful, and  they  were  about  to  return  to  their  reservation 
with  the  meat  and  skins  of  eight  hundred  buffaloes. 

The  day  before  the  battle  they  had  come  across  from 
the  Beaver  and  camped  in  the  caiion.  At  the  moment  of 
the  attack,  which  occurred  in  the  early  morning,  most  of 
the  men  of  the  tribe  were  hunting  straggling  buffaloes,  and 
the  women  were  making  preparations  for  the  day's  journey. 
The  Sioux,  comprising  six  hundred  members  of  the  Ogalala 
and  Brule  bands,  surprised  the  Pawnee,  who  briefly  resisted 
but  soon  fled  to  avoid  being  surrounded  and  annihilated 
by  overwhelming  numbers.  They  abandoned  all  of  their 
possessions,  including  their  winter's  supply  of  meat  and 
other  provisions,  robes  and  saddles.  The  women  and 
children,  less  able  than  the  men  to  escape,  suffered  most  in 
the  ensuing  slaughter. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  39 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Indian  agent, ^^  twenty 
men,  thirty-nine  women  and  ten  children — or  sixty-nine  in 
all — were  killed,  and  eleven  women  and  children  captured. 
The  latter  were  restored  to  the  tribe,  and  about  a  dozen 
wounded  were  also  taken  home  and  recovered.  Those  who 
lived  in  the  vicinity  at  the  time  remember  the  frenzied 
flight  of  the  Pawnee  through  the  valley,  and  their  pitiable 
condition.  It  seems  that  the  military  authorities  knew  of  the 
proximity  of  the  Sioux  and  of  the  danger  to  the  Pawnee. 
Major  Russell,  of  the  army,  with  sixty  privates  and  twenty 
scouts,  was  camped  within  a  few  miles  of  the  scene  of  the 
massacre,  and  was,  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  on  his 
way  up  the  valley  to  intercept  the  Sioux.  He  met  the 
fleeing  Pawnee  about  ten  miles  from  the  battle  field.  When 
the  Sioux  saw  the  soldiers  they  stopped  the  pursuit  and 
retreated  to  the  northwest.  The  bodies  of  several  Sioux 
warriors  were  subsequently  found,  suspended  in  trees,  near 
the  Frenchman.  Those  who  visited  the  scene  of  the  conflict 
a  few  days  after  it  occurred  found  indescribable  carnage 
and  disorder. 

FAMINE  OF  1874 

In  the  late  summer  and  fall  of  1871  a  few  homesteaders 
settled  in  what  is  now  Furnas  county,  but,  with  possibly 
a  single  exception,  no  white  man  lived  in  southwestern 
Nebraska  west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian  at  that  time. 
During  the  next  three  years  settlers  swarmed  in  until,  by 
the  fall  of  1874,  they  numbered — men,  women  and  child- 
ren— not  less  than  two  thousand.  Farming  had  been  carried 
on  with  but  indifferent  success.  The  area  under  cultivation 
as  early  as  1872  was  necessarily  restricted.    The  following 


"  Report  of  William  Burgess,  agent  of  the  Pawnee,  Messages  and 
Documents  1873-74,  pt.  1,  p.  562.  See  also  the  statement  of  Barclay  White, 
superintendent  of  the  northern  superintendency,  ibid.,  page  554,  and  an 
interesting  story  of  the  battle  by  William  Z.  Taylor,  in  volume  16  of  the 
society's  Collections,  page  165. — Ed. 


40       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

year  drouth  cut  short  the  crops.  In  1874  the  grasshoppers 
came  in  clouds  that  darkened  the  sun  and  consumed  every 
vestige  of  vegetation.  The  settlers  in  a  new  country  are 
usually  people  of  limited  means,  and  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances  the  struggle  for  existence  is  severe. 
With  the  base  of  supplies  a  hundred  miles  away  and  wagons 
the  only  means  of  transportation,  and  nothing  grown  to 
eke  out  the  scanty  supplies  a  few  dollars  possessed  by  the 
settlers  would  buy,  to  avoid  starvation,  their  alternative 
was  to  abandon  the  country  or  ask  for  aid. 

The  destitution  on  the  western  prairies  in  the  fall  of 
1874  was  so  appallingly  universal  as  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  civilized  world.  Congress  appropriated  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  relief  of  the  needy,  and 
donations  came  from  every  corner  of  the  nation.  But  for 
this  charity,  hundreds  of  people  would  have  starved  to  death. 
The  war  department  sent  Colonel,  afterwards  General 
Dudley,  12  to  investigate  conditions.  He  reported  that  in 
Red  Willow  county,  out  of  a  total  estimated  population  of 
eight  hundred,  five  hundred  and  forty-four  would  require 
aid  before  the  winter  was  half  over;  that  three  hundred 
would  need  assistance  within  twenty  days;  and  that  at  the 
time  of  his  visit  more  than  one  hundred  were  either  already 
out  of  food  or  would  be  in  less  than  five  days.  Some  of  the 
families  had  one  or  two  cows  and  others  a  yoke  of  oxen  or 
a  horse,  but  many  of  them  had  worn  down  their  animals 


12  Nathan  A.  M.  Dudley  was  made  brevet  colonel  March  13,  1865. 
July  1,  1876,  he  was  appointed  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  Ninth  cavalry.  He 
was  brevetted  brigadier  general  of  volunteers  January  19,  1865.  Accord- 
ing to  the  report  of  the  adjutant  general,  October  9,  1874,  he  was 
Major  of  the  Third  cavalry  and  in  command  of  three  companies  of  that 
regiment  at  Fort  McPherson.  (Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1874-75, 
V.  1,  p.  72.)  The  federal  congress  appropriated  thirty  thousand  dollars 
in  money  and  clothing  worth  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  be 
distributed  among  the  people  of  the  several  states  which  had  suffered 
from  grasshoppers.  The  legislature  of  1875  authorized  the  issue  of  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  their  proceeds  to  be  expended  in 
providing  seed  for  the  sufferers.— Ed. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  41 

attempting  to  hunt  buffalo  and  had  no  feed  with  which  to 
recuperate  them.  The  few  hogs  he  saw  were  mere  skeletons, 
having  had  no  corn  but  had  subsisted  almost  entirely  on 
wild  roots  they  found  in  the  bottoms.  Those  who  had 
property  of  this  kind  could  not  sell  it  if  they  would;  for 
there  were  no  buyers  with  money,  and  they  would  not  have 
dared  to  sell,  if  there  had  been,  for  then  they  would  have 
been  without  means  to  avail  themselves  of  the  assistance 
that  was  offered. 

Colonel  Dudley  reported,  further,  that  only  two  hun- 
dred bushels  of  corn  and  less  than  one  hundred  bushels  of 
potatoes,  half-grown,  had  been  raised  during  the  preceding 
season  in  all  the  afflicted  country.  Little,  or  no  wheat  had 
been  planted,  as  the  settlers  were  too  poor  to  buy  seed. 
Such  conditions  afforded  no  gainful  emplojrment,  and  no 
money  or  commodity  to  pay  for  it.  In  the  early  fall  buffalo 
meat  had  been  obtainable,  but  at  the  time  of  Colonel 
Dudley's  visit  the  buffalo  had  abandoned  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  gone  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sufferers.  Their 
homes  were  mostly  board  shacks,  which  were  scant  shelter 
from  the  biting  winds  that  sweep  over  the  prairies  in  winter. 
Fortunate  were  they  who  occupied  dugouts  or  sod  houses. 
Not  infrequently  sickness  added  to  the  misery  caused  by 
hunger  and  cold,  or  death  had  removed  the  mainstay  of  wife 
and  children,  and  families  subsisted  upon  the  carcasses  of 
animals  that  had  died  from  natural  causes.  Unable  even 
to  buy  ammunition  for  the  hunt,  the  settlers  set  traps  along 
the  streams  for  such  wild  creatures  as  would  walk  into  them. 
By  the  sale  of  occasional  pelts,  or  their  exchange  for  the 
barest  necessities,  and  by  eating  the  flesh  of  such  of  the 
trapped  animals  as  were  fit  for  food,  they  managed  to  survive. 
It  should  be  noted  that  this  section  was  remote  from  any 
railroad  and  that  all  imported  supplies  were  hauled  in 
wagons  weary  miles  across  the  almost  trackless  prairies. 

Far  into  the  following  year  rations  were  issued  to  the 
needy,  under  the  supervision  of  the  federal  authorities. 


42       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

At  times  as  many  as  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  of 

this  region  obtained  their  entire  subsistence  at  the  hands 

of  charity. 

CHEYENNE  RAID  OF  1878 

After  the  settlement  of  southwestern  Nebraska  began, 
the  people  were  singularly  free  from  molestation  by  the 
Indians.  Although  in  the  early  years  the  Indians  ranged 
over  the  country  west  of  the  settlements,  and  sometimes 
small  parties  of  savages  were  seen  by  the  homesteaders,  it 
was  not  until  the  early  part  of  October,  1878,  that  a  serious 
Indian  scare  occurred.  A  report  that  the  Cheyenne  were  on 
the  warpath  sent  the  occupants  of  the  outlying  ranches 
scurrying  to  the  towns,  where  preparations  were  made  to 
repulse  the  expected  attacks. 

The  story  of  the  flight  of  the  Cheyenne  from  their 
reservation  in  the  Indian  Territory,  upon  which  they  had 
been  placed  two  years  before,  to  their  old  haunts  in  the 
Black  Hills,  is  one  of  the  most  dramatic  in  history;  but  it 
shall  not  be  told  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  three  hundred 
of  that  tribe,  under  the  leadership  of  Dull  Knife,  Little 
Wolf,  Wild  Hog  and  Old  Crow,  comprising  but  eighty-nine 
warriors,  the  others  being  women  and  children,  started  from 
the  Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  agency  on  the  ninth  day  of 
September,  1878,  and  crossed  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bound- 
ary on  the  first  day  of  October.  They  were  pursued 
by  detachments  of  soldiers  and  posses  of  civilians,  and  were 
overtaken  and  attacked  at  a  place  called  Sand  Creek  in 
Kansas;  but,  eluding  their  pursuers,  they  continued  on 
their  course  and  were  not  brought  to  bay  until  they  reached 
the  northwestern  corner  of  the  state.  There,  in  a  winter 
campaign,  they  were  practically  exterminated.  It  is  re- 
ported that  they  killed  thirty-two  people  in  Rawlins  and 
Decatur  counties,  Kansas,  just  across  the  Nebraska  line; 
but,  so  far  as  is  known,  only  one  man  fell  a  victim  to  their 
vengeance  in  the  adjacent  part  of  Nebraska. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  43 

George  Rowley,  who  kept  a  "cow  camp"  at  Wauneta 
Falls,  had  been  to  Greeley,  Colorado,  for  supplies.  When 
he  reached  Ogalala  on  his  return  he  learned  the  Cheyenne 
were  on  the  warpath,  and,  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his 
family,  he  left  his  team  and  wagon  and  started  for  his  home 
alone,  on  horseback.  Two  weeks  after  the  passage  of  the 
Indians,  his  saddle,  from  which  the  leather  had  been  cut, 
was  found.  This  led  to  the  discovery  of  his  body,  riddled 
with  bullets,  and  hidden  in  a  growth  of  sunflowers  on  the 
brink  of  a  canon.  It  is  believed  that  the  Indians,  seeing 
him  coming  along  the  cattle  trail,  which  was  a  well-marked 
highway  between  Texas  and  Montana,  concealed  themselves 
in  a  pocket,  and  shot  him  to  death  as  he  passed. 

Records  are  extant  which  disclose  that  on  this  raid  the 
Indians  stole  horses,  killed  cattle  and  destroyed  other 
personal  property  of  the  settlers.  Probably  the  only  reason 
that  comparatively  few  of  the  pioneers  were  killed  is  that 
most  of  them  had  been  warned  of  the  danger  and  fled  to 
safety.  This  raid  of  the  Cheyenne  was  the  last  hostile  ap- 
pearance of  the  Indians  in  this  part  of  the  state. ^^ 


1'  For  a  further  account  of  the  return  trip  of  this  band  of  forcibly  exiled 
northern  Cheyenne  to  their  old  home — for  that  it  really  was — see  my 
history  of  the  Indian  war  on  the  Nebraska  plains,  ms.  pages  192,  200,  and 
202.  According  to  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  interior,  cited  at  page 
192,  there  were  about  three  hundred  Indians  in  all,  eighty-seven  of  them 
warriors.  General  Terry  says  (page  200)  there  were  about  sixty  men  with 
their  families.  The  agent  at  the  Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  agency  in  his 
report  dated  September  20, 1878,  (House  Executive  Documents  1878-79,  v. 
2,  p.  49)  says  that  this  band  of  Northern  Cheyenne  wereseceders  from  the 
agreement  of  the  majority  to  unite  with  the  Southern  Cheyenne,  Major 
J.  K.  Mizner,  of  the  Fourth  cavalry  says  (ibid. ,p  48)  that  the  band  comprised 
eighty-nine  men,  one  hundred  and  twelve  women  and  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  children — about  one-third  of  the  entire  Northern  Cheyenne 
tribe.  Major  Mizner  said  they  ran  away  on  account  of  bad  rations  and  the 
unhealthy  condition  of  the  country.  General  George  Crook,  commander 
of  the  Department  of  the  Platte,  in  his  report  for  1879  (House  Executive 
Documents  1879-80,  v.  2,  p.  77),  with  his  characteristic  courage  and  sense 
of  justice,  apologized  for  the  flight  of  the  fugitives,  which  he  attributed  to 
chills  and  fever  and  insufficient  food.  He  chided  the  government  for  having 
forgotten  the  distinguished  services  of  the  exiles  on  its  side  in  the  campaigns 


44       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

It  was  customary  for  the  old  men  of  the  Indian  tribes 
unacquainted  with  the  art  of  wiiting  as  we  know  it,  to 
gather  their  clansmen  around  them  for  the  purpose  of 
relating  to  them  the  valorous  deeds  of  their  ancestors. 
From  father  to  son  the  tales  descended;  and  thus  the 
chronicles  of  the  tribes  were  perpetuated.  In  these  days, 
when  we  have  a  press  that  records,  daily,  not  only  the 
happenings  of  our  own  people  but  of  the  whole  world,  we 
do  not  charge  our  memories  with  facts;  and,  anomalous  as 
it  may  seem,  we  are  better  informed  about  what  occurs  in 
the  antipodes,  than  about  what  transpires  around  us. 
Things  that  are  of  first  importance  to  us  are  forgotten  in  the 
consideration  we  give  to  things  that  are  of  consequence  to 
men  who  are  naught  to  us.  And  yet  with  all  our  means  for 
the  preservation  of  facts,  much  of  that  which  is  of  real  signif- 
icance is  left  unrecorded. 

No  history  is  fuller  of  tragedy  and  sacrifice,  of  poetry 
and  romance,  of  sorrow  and  mystery,  than  that  of  the 
people  who  first  came  to  the  region  of  which  I  write.  The 
pioneers  of  southwestern  Nebraska,  after  crossing  the  great 
river  that  forms  the  eastern  boundary  of  our  state,  drove 
their  white-covered  wagons  across  the  frontier,  beyond  the 
outposts  of  civilization  and  the  help  of  men,  into  a  land 
that  was  uncharted  as  the  ocean.  They  found  a  prairie 
stretching,  like  the  ocean,  away  to  limits  of  vision,  the  sur- 
face tossed,  as  if  by  the  wind,  into  mighty  waves  that  were 
crested,  not  with  foam,  but  with  flowers.  They  found  the 
land  tenanted  by  wild  animals  and  by  savage  men,  the  up- 
lands teeming  with  buffaloes,  the  lowlands  sheltering  elks, 
deer,  and  antelopes.     At  night,  out  of  the  darkness  that 


against  the  Sioux  in  1876  and  1878.  They  surrendered  to  a  detachment  of 
soldiers  under  Major  Carlton  on  the  23d  of  October,  1878,  in  the  sand-hills, 
about  forty  miles  southeast  of  Camp  Sheridan.  They  were  confined  at 
Fort  Robinson,  and  the  undertaking  to  remove  them  again  to  Indian 
Territory  on  the  9th  of  January,  1879,  was  met  with  desperate  and  bloody 
resistance. — Ed. 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  45 

rimmed  their  camp  fires,  they  heard  the  wail  of  the  coyote. 
From  the  branches  of  the  trees  beneath  which  they  sought 
shelter,  they  saw  the  eyes  of  some  great  cat,  glowing  like 
living  coals. 

When  they  reached  their  chosen  land,  they  unhitched 
their  horses  or  unyoked  their  cattle,  and  turned  them  loose 
to  graze.  The  first  desire  of  every  white  man,  indeed  his 
first  need,  is  to  have  a  home.  They  selected  the  site  for 
the  dwelling  they  meant  to  raise.  They  cut  the  trees  that 
nature  had  furnished  for  their  use  along  the  streams  and 
from  them  fashioned  their  habitation,  or  they  turned  the 
prairie  sod,  and  from  it  built  a  shelter  from  the  sun  and 
wind  and  rain,  using  poles  to  support  the  roof  and  the  un- 
tanned  skins  of  deer  or  buffaloes  for  door  and  windows ;  or, 
like  the  wild  creatures  that  had  been  in  undisputed  pos- 
session of  the  land  since  their  first  coming,  they  dug  a  cave 
in  a  canon's  bank ;  or  they  traveled  wearily  back,  across  the 
trackless  plain,  to  the  nearest  railway  station,  where  they 
loaded  their  wagons  with  boards  with  which  they  constructed 
shacks  to  shield  them  from  winter's  blasts.  There  were  no 
carpenters,  no  artisans — none  to  help  them  but  their  com- 
rades. They  learned  the  lesson  of  self-reliance,  the  first 
lesson  of  the  pioneer,  of  which  we  of  to-day  know  too  little. 

In  health,  the  life,  though  hard,  had  its  compensations 
in  the  prairies,  in  the  glorious  sunshine,  in  the  free,  pure 
air  of  this  westland;  but  in  sickness  there  was  no  doctor 
who  might  be  summoned  by  telephone,  no  one  to  administer 
comfort,  but  some  kindly  neighbor-woman  with  her  homely 
remedies.  And  all  that  could  be  done  for  the  dead  was  to 
lay  them  in  the  earth,  on  some  lonely  hillside,  sometimes  in 
a  rude  pine  box  to  save  them  from  molestation  by  prowling 
wolves,  but  often  merely  wrapped  in  blankets  to  protect 
the  closed  eyes  from  the  pressing  clods.  Tears  and  a  prayer 
were  awarded  the  departed,  and  outpouring  of  sympathy 
from  all  the  countryside  for  the  living."    Even  to  the  poor 


46       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

sick  Indian  who  came  to  their  door  the  white  settlers  ex- 
tended the  hand  of  charity. 

But  all  was  not  pain  and  sorrow.  There  were  parties 
and  social  gatherings  at  the  homestead  houses.  There 
were  weddings  and  other  joyous  occasions.  There  were 
devotional  services  and  times  of  thanksgiving,  when  the 
hearts  of  the  pioneers  were  grateful  for  such  blessings  as 
they  enjoyed.  There  were  holiday  seasons  when,  despite 
the  poor  harvest,  the  Christmas  spirit  prevailed. 

Carlyle  said,  "Happy  the  people  whose  annals  are  blank 
in  history  books."  In  the  popular  signification  of  the  term, 
we  have  had  no  history.  No  armies  have  marched  across  our 
land ;  no  decisive  battles  have  been  fought  upon  our  soil ;  none 
of  our  people  have  done  anything  to  achieve  fame  and  honor. 
The  writers  of  history  find  nothing  in  our  homely  annals 
worth  recording;  and  yet  our  pioneers  can  chronicle  events 
that  have  the  profoundest  human  interest.  The  happenings 
of  their  daily  life  contribute  to  a  story  that  is  as  thrilling  and 
as  tragic  as  any  that  is  told.  After  all,  who  shall  say  they 
are  too  insignificant  to  warrant  repetition? 

"All  service  ranks  the  same  with  God: 

God's,  puppets,  best  and  worst, 

Are  we:  there  is  no  last  nor  first." 

The  incidents  that  filled  those  early  days  did  not  con- 
stitute the  sum  of  life.  Aside  from  the  human  element  that 
entered  into  the  computation,  the  manifestations  of  nature 
cast  spells  that  were  felt  but  that  cannot  be  defined.  The 
expanse  of  prairie,  the  tree-bordered  streams,  the  flooding 
sunlight,  the  cloud  flecked  sky,  the  chasing  shadows,  the 
slipping  waters,  the  sifting  snowflakes,  the  sparkling  stars, 
the  silent  moonlight,  the  scent  of  the  wild  flowers,  the  sweep 
of  the  storm  cloud,  the  flash  of  the  lightning,  the  crash  of 
the  thunder,  the  hiss  of  the  rattle  snake — all  inspired  senti- 
ments that  make  the  memory  of  those  days,  to  those  who 


SOUTHWESTERN  NEBRASKA  47 

lived  in  them,  pleasant  to  contemplate,  and  that  will  some 
day  find  expression  in  masterpieces  of  art  and  literature. 

The  proudest  distinction  any  of  us  can  enjoy  should  be 
that  of  calling  ourselves  pioneers;  but  the  honor  should  be 
reserved  for  those  who  endured  the  hardships  and  privations 
of  frontier  life;  for  those  who  prepared  the  way  for  things 
that,  in  a  material  sense,  are  better;  for  those  who  have 
made  this  country  what  it  is.  To  the  first  settlers  we,  who 
find  this  land  a  fit  place  to  abide,  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  we 
cannot  repay. 


NEBRASKA,  MOTHER  OF  STATES 
By  Albert  Watkins 

Virginia  was  called  the  mother  of  presidents — before 
she  lost  her  political  "pull"  through  the  errancy  of  rebellion 
and  Ohio  succeeded  to  it  through  strategic  location  and 
even  more  aptitude,  or  greed,  in  grasping  opportunity  than 
her  venerable  hegemonic  predecessor  had  shown.  So,  also, 
prior  to  the  prolific  parturition  of  Nebraska's  Titan  terri- 
tory, the  Northwest  Territory  was — or  might  have  been — 
called  the  mother  of  states.  The  265,878  square  miles  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  produced  the  five  medium  sized 
states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin 
and  contributed  26,320  square  miles  of  the  83,531  contained 
in  Minnesota.  The  351,558  square  miles  of  Nebraska 
Territory  produced  the  three  great  states  of  Nebraska, 
South  Dakota,  and  North  Dakota;  about  three-fourths  of 
the  greater  state  of  Wyoming;  nearly  all  of  the  immense 
state  of  Montana;  and  made  a  considerable  contribution 
to  Colorado. 

Until  the  territory  of  Arkansas  was  formed,  in  1819,  all 
of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  north  of  the  part  now  comprised 
in  the  state  of  Louisiana  wa^  under  a  single  territorial 
organization,  bearing  the  successive  names  of  The  District 
of  Louisiana,  The  Territory  of  Louisiana,  and  Missouri. 
Out  of  this  vast  territory  of  Missouri  there  have  been  created 
the  states  of  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  and,  in 
part,  Oklahoma,  Kansas,  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Montana, 
North  Dakota  and  South  Dakota.  But  the  territory  of 
Missouri,  except  that  part  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Louis, 
was   an   unsettled   wilderness   occupied   only   by   savage 

(48) 


NEBRASKA,  MOTHER  OF  STATES  49 

Indians.  White  settlement,  of  economic  and  political  im- 
portance, in  the  heart  of  this  wilderness  immediately 
followed  the  organization  of  Nebraska  territory. 

The  part  of  Oklahoma  which  lies  outside  the  Purchase 
was  known  as  the  "Public  Land  Strip"  or  "No  Man's 
Land."  It  forms  the  northwest  projection  of  the  state, 
contains  approximately  5,580  square  miles,  and  constitutes 
Beaver  county.  The  southwest  corner  of  the  state  of 
Kansas — west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian  and  south  of 
the  Arkansas  river  and  containing  7,776  square  miles — 
belonged  successively  to  Spain,  Mexico,  and  Texas,  and 
was  outside  the  Purchase. 

The  original  territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
extended  from  the  Missouri  river  to  the  summit  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  Kansas  contained  126,283  and  Nebraska 
351,558  square  miles.  From  Kansas  44,965  square  miles 
and  from  Nebraska  16,035  square  miles  were  taken  to  form 
the  territory  of  Colorado  and  remain  a  part  of  the  state  of 
Colorado.  But  the  part  of  the  territory  of  Kansas  so  in- 
corporated in  Colorado  which  lies  south  of  the  Arkansas, 
containing  approximately  7,000  square  miles,  is  outside  the 
Purchase;  so  that  about  54,000  of  the  total  104,500  square 
miles  comprised  in  Colorado  belong  to  the  Purchase.  The 
corner  of  original  Nebraska  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
forty-second  parallel  of  latitude,  on  the  east  by  the  one 
hundred  and  sixth  meridian,  and  on  the  southwest  by  the 
continental  divide,  containing  about  7,400  square  miles — 
1,400  in  Colorado  and  6,000  in  Wyoming — is  outside  the 
Purchase.  Most  of  this  fraction  was  comprised  in  the 
strip  about  three-fourths  of  a  degree  in  width,  extending  up 
to  the  forty-second  parallel — the  northern  boundary  of 
Mexico  prior  to  her  war  with  the  United  States.  This 
elongated  projection  was  a  part  of  Texas  when  that  in- 
surgent offshoot  of  Mexico  was  annexed  to  the  United 
States.    It  was  given  up  to  the  mother  country  as  a  part 


50       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

of  the  compromise  of  1850.  Title  to  a  small  tract  of  this 
casual  corner  of  Nebraska  lying  next  to  the  divide,  is  traced 
directly  to  Spain. 

The  western  boundary  of  the  Purchase,  as  fixed  in 
our  treaty  with  Spain,  of  February  22,  1819,^  did  not 
constantly  follow  the  Rocky  mountain  divide  but,  after 
reaching  it  at  latitude  39°  20'  and  longitude  106°  15',  near 
the  subsequent  site  of  Leadville,  proceeded  directly  north 
to  the  forty-second  parallel  and  thence  directly  west — 
crossing  the  mountains  three  degrees  beyond — to  the 
Pacific  ocean.  Prior  to  the  treaty,  the  western  boundary 
of  the  Purchase  was,  somewhat  indefinitely  of  course,  the 
watershed  of  the  Mississippi;  and,  proceeding  north- 
westerly from  a  point  about  one  hundred  miles  west  of  the 
mouth  of  that  river,  it  first  struck  the  Rocky  mountain 
range,  at  its  southern  limit  by  that  name,  near  the  thirty- 
sixth  parallel  of  latitude — not  far  northeast  of  the  sub- 
sequent site  of  Santa  Fe. 

In  the  preliminary  Oregon  treaty  of  October  20,  1818, 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,-  the  "Stony 
Mountains"  were  acknowledged  to  be  the  western  American 
boundary,  by  virtue  of  our  purchase  of  Louisiana;  and, 
accordingly,  in  the  final  treaty — June  15,  1846'' — the  south- 
east corner  of  our  new  Oregon  acquisition  was  fixed  three 
degrees  west  of  the  right  angle  of  the  boundary  line  of  the 
treaty  of  1819  with  Spain,  and  which  subsequently  became 
the  northeastern  limit  of  the  state  of  Texas.  The  tradi- 
tional and  natural  western  boundary  of  the  Purchase — the 
summit  of  the  mountains — was  followed  in  the  organization 
of  the  territories  of  Utah  and  Nebraska,  in  the  main  of 
Kansas  and  Montana,  and,  in  part,  of  New  Mexico. 
Nebraska  contributed  from  its  original  territory  16,035  of 


1  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  8,  p.  252. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  248. 

3  Ibid.,  V.  9,  p.  869. 


NEBRASKA,  MOTHER  OF  STATES  51 

the  104,500  square  miles  contained  in  the  territory  of 
Colorado;  74,287  of  the  97,883  square  miles  contained  in 
the  territory  of  Wyoming;  68,972  of  the  150,932  square 
miles  contained  in  the  territory  of  Dakota — all  of  it  west  of 
the  Missouri  river;  and  116,269  of  the  143,776  square  miles 
contained  in  the  territory  of  Montana.  The  remainder, 
75,995  square  miles,  constituted  the  state  of  Nebraska. 
That  part  of  the  original  territory  of  Nebraska  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  forty-fifth,  and  on  the  south  by  the  forty- 
third  parallel  of  latitude;  on  the  east  by  the  twenty-seventh 
meridian,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Rocky  mountains — at 
the  northwest  by  the  thirty-fourth  meridian — containing 
43,666  square  miles,  was  first  taken  to  form  a  part  of 
Dakota,  next  to  form  a  part  of  Idaho,  next  to  form  a  part 
of  the  territory  of  Wyoming,  and  is  now  a  part  of  the  state 
of  Wyoming.  The  part  of  original  Nebraska  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  forty-third  parallel,  on  the  east  by  the 
twenty-seventh  meridian,  on  the  south  by  the  forty-first 
parallel  and  on  the  west  by  the  Rocky  mountains,  con- 
taining 30,621  square  miles,  was  first  transferred  to  the 
territory  of  Idaho,  next  to  the  tenitory  of  Dakota,  next 
to  the  territory  of  Wyoming,  and  is  now  a  part  of  the  state 
of  Wyoming. 

Colorado,  Wyoming,  Dakota  and  Montana  retained 
their  territorial  form  when  they  became  states,  though 
Dakota  was  divided  into  the  two  states  of  North  Dakota 
and  South  Dakota.  The  part  of  Montana  which  was  not 
taken  from  Nebraska — 27,507  square  miles — lies  between 
the  Rocky  mountain  divide  and  the  Bitter  Root  mountains, 
and  so  is  outside  the  Purchase. 

The  act  of  March  2,  1861,  which  established  the 
territory  of  Dakota,  also  added  to  Nebraska  that  part  of 
Washington  (4,638  square  miles)  and  Utah  (10,740  square 
miles),  lying  east  of  the  one  hundred  and  tenth  meridian 
and  between  the  forty-first  and  forty-third  parallels  of 


52       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

latitude.  The  Rocky  mountain  divide  formed  its  eastern 
boundary,  so  that  it  was  outside  the  Purchase.  But  this 
alien  acquisition  was  only  temporary.  It  was  incorporated 
in  the  territory  of  Idaho  in  1863,  and  in  the  territory  of 
Wyoming  in  1868.'' 


*  The  respective  original  areas  of  the  territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
and  the  area  of  each  of  the  parts  of  other  territories  taken  from  them  are 
given  in  the  Compendium  of  the  Ninth  Census  (1870),  pp.  540,  542  and 
voliime  1  of  the  same  census,  pp.  573-587.  These  areas  have  been  slightly 
changed  by  subsequent  surveys.  In  two  instances  the  areas  of  small  parts 
of  these  territories  which  are  outside  the  Louisiana  Purchase  were  obtained 
by  the  editor  by  counting  the  townships  contained  in  them  as  they  appear 
in  reliable  maps.    They  are,  therefore,  not  entirely  accurate. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION 

By  Albert  Watkins 

Though  Nebraska's  parturition  was  prohfic  beyond 
that  of  any  other  territory/  her  state  area  has  been  in- 
creased only  by  the  small  tract  above  the  Keyapaha  and 
Niobrara  rivers  transferred  from  Dakota  by  the  act  of 
congress  passed  March  28,  1882,  and  accepted  by  an  act 
of  the  legislature  passed  May  23,  1882.2  How  Nebraska 
came  by  this  quite  important  territorial  acquisition  and  at 
the  expense  of  Dakota,  is  an  interesting  and  original  inquiry. 

On  the  fifth  of  May,  1879,  Alvin  Saunders,  United 
States  senator  from  Nebraska  and  a  member  of  the  senate 
committee  on  territories,  introduced  a  bill — s.  550 — to 
extend  the  northern  boundary  of  the  state  of  Nebraska, 
which  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  territories  of 
which  the  senator  was  a  member.  Following  is  a  copy  of 
the  bill: 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 

the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled: 

That  when  the  Indian  title  to  all  that  portion  of  the 
Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the  forty-third  parallel 
of  north  latitude  and  east  of  the  Keyapaha  River  and  west 


1  See  "Nebraska,  The  Mother  of  States,"  ante. 

-  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  22,  p.  35;  Laws  of  Nebraska  1882,  p.  56. 
In  the  year  1867  the  Missouri  river  cut  directly  across  a  projection  of 
Union  county,  Dakota,  containing  about  three  sections  which,  according 
to  the  law  of  avulsion — abrupt  cut-oflf — inconveniently  remained  a  part  of 
Dakota  until  it  was  detached  and  added  to  Nebraska  by  an  act  of  congress 
passed  April  28,  1870.  By  the  act  of  February  9,  1871,  the  legislature  of 
Nebraska  accepted  this  gift  of  the  freakish  Missouri  and  attached  it  to 
Dakota  county  (United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  16,  p.  93;  Laws  of 
Nebraska  1871,  p.  131).  For  a  further  account  of  this  incident  see  my 
footnote  3,  Nebraska  Constitutional  Conventions,  v.  3,  p.  195. 

(53) 


54       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

of  the  Missouri  River,  shall  be  extingushed,  the  jurisdiction 
over  such  lands  shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  ceded  to  the  State  of 
Nebraska,  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  shall  be 
extended  to  said  forty-third  parallel,  reserving  to  the  United 
States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands,  and  disposing 
of  the  same.  Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  take  effect 
until  the  President  shall  by  proclamation  declare  that  the 
Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall 
it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act.^ 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1880,  the  bill  was  further  con- 
sidered as  follows: 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  have  the  consent  of  the  Senator  who 
has  the  special  order  of  the  day  in  charge  to  call  up  the 
bill  (S.  No.  550)  to  extend  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Davis,  of  West  Virginia.  I  ask  for  the  regular 
order.     I  do  not  like  to  antagonize  any  gentleman. 

Mr.  Saunders.  This  probably  will  not  take  three 
minutes;  certainly  not  five.  If  it  takes  more  than  that 
time,  I  shall  withdraw  it. 

Mr.  Davis,  of  West  Virginia.  Well,  I  give  notice  that 
I  shall  call  for  the  regular  order  after  the  bill  of  the  Senator 
from  Nebraska  is  disposed  of. 

Mr.  McMillan  [Minnesota].  I  should  like  to  ask  the 
Senator  from  Nebraska  to  permit  this  bill  to  lie  over  until 
I  have  an  opportunity  of  looking  at  it. 

Mr.  Saunders.  If  the  Senator  is  not  satisfied,  I  will 
state  that  the  bill  was  unanimously  recommended  by  the 
Committee  on  Territories,  with  the  amendment  now  pro- 
posed. There  is  no  objection  to  it  by  any  one.  It  was  a 
unanimous  report.    The  bill  merely  changes  the  line. 

Mr.  McMillan.     I  reserve  the  right  to  object. 

Mr.  Saunders  It  merely  extends  the  Une  between  the 
Territory  of  Dakota  and  the  State  of  Nebraska,  a  thing 
which  would  probably  have  been  done  when  the  State  was 
admitted,  only  they  did  not  know  at  the  time  where  the 
rivers  ran. 


'  Congressional  Record,  v,  9,  pt.  1,  p.  1043.    This  copy  was  made  from 
the  original  bill,  on  file  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        55 

The  amendment  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories was  read,  being  to  strike  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause  of  the  bill,  and  in  lieu  thereof  to  insert: 

That  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  extended  so  as  to  include  all  that 
portion  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the  forty- 
third  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  east  of  the  Keyapaha 
River  and  west  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missouri  River; 
and  when  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  thus  described  shall 
be  extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over  said  lands  shall  be, 
and  hereby  is,  ceded  to  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  state  shall  be,  and  hereby  is, 
extended  to  said  forty-third  parallel,  as  fully  and  effectually 
as  if  said  lands  had  been  included  in  the  boundaries  of  said 
state  at  the  time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union;  reserving 
to  the  United  States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands 
and  of  disposing  of  the  same:  Provided,  That  this  act,  so 
far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned,  shall  not  take  effect  until 
the  President  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare  that  the 
Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall 
it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Mr.  McMillan.  I  shall  be  compelled  to  ask  the  Senator 
from  Nebraska  to  permit  this  bill  to  lie  over  that  I  may 
have  an  opportunity  to  examine  it.  It  is  a  matter  of  too 
much  importance  to  be  acted  on  hastily. 

Mr.  McPherson  [New  Jersey].  Then  I  call  for  the 
unfinished  business.* 

On  the  3d  of  May  the  amendment  or  substitute  was 
considered  at  length.  Many  of  the  most  noted  senators 
participated  in  the  discussion,  and  gave  Senator  Saunders 
a  severe  giilling. 

The  bill  was  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories with  an  amendment,  to  strike  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause  and  insert: 

That  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  extended  so  as  to  include  all  that 


*  Ibid.,  V.  10,  pt.  1,  p.  410. 


56       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

portion  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the  forty- 
third  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  east  of  the  Keyapaha 
River  and  west  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missouri  River; 
and  when  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  thus  described  shall 
be  extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over  said  lands  shall  be, 
and  hereby  is,  ceded  to  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  state  shall  be,  and  hereby  is, 
extended  to  said  forty-third  parallel,  as  fully  and  effectually 
as  if  said  lands  had  been  included  in  the  boundaries  of  said 
state  at  the  time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union;  reserving 
to  the  United  States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands 
and  of  disposing  of  the  same:  Provided,  That  this  act  so 
far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned,  shall  not  take  effect  until 
the  President  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare  that  the 
Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall 
it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Mr.  Cockrell  [Missouri].  I  offer  the  following  amend- 
ment— 

Mr.  Saunders.  Let  me  put  in  one  from  the  committee 
first.  The  committee  have  authorized  me  to  make  another 
amendment,  which  I  wish  to  move  first. 

Mr.  Cockrell.    Very  well. 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  move  to  strike  out  the  words  "and 
hereby  is"  where  they  occur  in  lines  9  and  10,  and  where 
they  occur  in  line  11,  so  as  to  read: 

The  jurisdiction  over  said  lands  shall  be  ceded  to  the 
State  of  Nebraska,  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  state 
shall  be  extended  to  said  forty- third  parallel. 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Cockrell.  I  desire  to  insert  in  line  9,  immediately 
after  the  word  "extinguished",  the  words  "if  it  shall  ever 
be  extinguished";  that  is,  if  the  Indian  title  shall  ever  be 
extinguished. 

Mr.  Saunders.    I  have  no  objection  to  that  amendment. 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Cockrell.    At  the  close  I  move  to  add: 

Nor  shall  this  act  create  any  liability  or  obligation  of 
any  kind  whatever  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to 
extinguish  said  Indian  title. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        57 

Mr.  Dawes  [Massachusetts].  I  ask  the  Senator  to 
add  "or  in  any  way  affect  the  Indian  title  thereto." 

Mr.  Coda-ell.     I  have  no  objection  to  that. 

Mr.  Teller  [Colorado].    Would  that  do  any  good? 

Mr.  Dawes.  I  do  not  know  that  it  would,  but  I  do 
not  think  it  would  do  any  harm. 

Mr.  Cockrell.  There  can  be  no  objection  to  that,  as 
a  matter  of  course. 

Mr.  Teller.  It  is  well  enough  for  Senators  to  look 
after  the  interests  of  these  Indian  reservations,  but  it  does 
seem  to  me  a  remarkable  thing  that  in  the  Senate  we 
should  put  words  into  a  bill  that  everybody  admits  will 
have  no  meaning  whatever.  Does  anybody  suppose  that 
because  we  put  this  piece  of  land  in  the  State  of  Nebraska 
the  Government  loses  its  title  to  the  land  or  that  the 
Indians  lose  any  title  they  may  have  under  any  stipulation 
of  a  treaty?  Then  why  put  in  these  unmeaning  and  need- 
less words? 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Ingalls  [Kansas].  I  wish  to  know  whether  the 
words  "and  hereby  is,"  after  the  amendment  offered  by 
the  Senator  from  Nebraska,  remain  in  any  portion  of  the 
bill.  I  was  not  able  to  learn  from  the  reporting  of  his 
amendment  at  the  Clerk's  desk. 

Mr.  Cockrell.    They  remain  in  the  fourth  line. 

Mr.  Ingalls.  Those  words,  in  my  judgment,  should 
also  be  stricken  from  that  line.  After  the  word  "be",  in 
line  4,  I  move  to  strike  out  the  words  "and  hereby  is." 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Thurman  [Ohio].  I  have  never  read  this  bill,  but 
I  have  just  heard  it  read  at  the  desk,  and  it  strikes  me  as 
something  anomalous  that  requires  explanation.  Are  we 
going  to  extend  the  line  of  a  State  to  embrace  territory 
within  it,  and  at  the  same  time  say  the  State  shall  have 
no  jurisdiction  over  the  Indian  territory  thus  acquired? 

Mr.  Saunders.  No  jurisdiction  until  the  Indian  title 
shall  have  been  extinguished. 

Mr.  Thurman.  But  it  is  a  mere  promise  to  give  the 
lands  to  the  State  in  future.  How  can  you  extend  the  line 
of  a  State  so  as  to  include  new  territory  and  at  the  same 


58       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

time  say  the  State  shall  have  no  jurisdiction  over  it.  That 
passes  my  comprehension. 

Mr.  Saunders.  Probably  as  good  an  answer  as  I 
could  give  to  the  Senator  from  Ohio  would  be  to  say  that 
the  very  same  words  were  used  in  the  act  attaching  the 
Platte  district  to  the  State  of  Missouri.  That  was  done 
with  the  same  provision  exactly  used  in  this  bill,  that  the 
jurisdiction  should  not  extend  over  the  territory  until  the 
Indian  title  had  been  extinguished. 

Mr.  Thurman.  If  it  meant  to  say  that  the  act  should 
not  take  effect  until  that  happened,  and  the  President 
should  make  a  proclamation  to  that  effect,  then  I  could 
understand  it;  but  how  you  can  include  by  words  of  present 
significance  a  territory  in  a  State  and  at  the  same  time  say 
that  the  State  shall  have  no  jurisdiction  at  all,  is  what  I 
cannot  understand.  AVhile  I  am  up,  as  I  know  nothing 
about  it,  I  wish  to  inquire  of  the  Senator  how  much  new 
territory  does  this  embrace? 

Mr.  Saunders.  It  will  make  somewhere  probably  about 
eighteen  townships.  The  territory  is  about  sixty  miles 
long,  a  sort  of  irregular  triangle.  It  is  on  an  average 
about  eight  or  nine  miles  wide  and  runs  a  length  of  sixty 
miles.  It  is  one  mile  wide  at  the  west  end.  The  purpose 
is  simply  to  straighten  the  line.  I  have  a  map  of  it  here 
if  any  one  wishes  to  look  at  it. 

Mr.  Thurman,  It  is  eight  miles  wide  at  one  end  and 
one  mile  at  the  other  and  sixty  miles  long? 

Mr.  Saunders.  Yes.  There  are  about  eighteen  town- 
ships of  land  all  told. 

Mr.  Kirkwood  [Iowa].  It  runs  up  to  the  Niobrara 
River? 

Mr.  Saunders.  As  the  line  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
now  stands  it  runs  up  the  Missouri  River  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Niobrara  River,  and  then  up  that  stream  until  it  comes 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Keyapaha,  then  up  the  Keyapaha 
until  it  strikes  the  forty-third  parallel  of  north  latitude, 
then  running  west  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  State. 
What  we  are  asking  is  to  extend  that  line  east  of  [to]  the 
Missouri  so  as  to  get  on  the  forty-third  parallel  as  the 
north  line  of  Nebraska  and  the  south  line  of  Dakota. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       59 

Mr.  Allison.  May  I  ask  the  Senator  from  Nebraska 
what  the  character  of  this  land  is  that  is  to  be  transferred? 

Mr.  Paddock.  About  the  average  character  of  the 
whole  Sioux  reservation.    It  is  a  part  of  that. 

Mr.  Saunders.  There  are  two  or  three  large  streams 
running  through  it,  furnishing  bottom  land. 

Mr.  Allison.     Good  agricultural  or  pasture  land? 

Mr.  Saunders.    Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Teller.     Good  land? 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  should  like  to  read  for  the  informa- 
tion of  Senators  the  act  to  extend  the  western  boundary  of 
the  State  of  Missouri  to  the  Missouri  River,  which  has 
been  adapted  to  this  case: 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  when  the  Indian  title  to  all  the 
lands  lying  between  the  State  of  Missouri  and  the  Missouri 
River  shall  be  extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over  said  lands 
shall  be  hereby  ceded  to  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  the 
western  boundary  of  said  State  shall  be  then  extended  to 
the  Missouri  River,  reserving  to  the  United  States  the 
original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands,  and  of  disposing  of  the 
same:  Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  take  effect  until 
the  President  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare  that  the 
Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall 
it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Missouri  shall  have  assented 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Approved  June  7,  1836. 

Mr.  Thurman.  That  is  just  as  I  suggested.  The  act 
itself  was  not  to  take  effect  until  the  Indian  title  was 
extinguished  and  the  President  should  have  issued  his 
proclamation ;  but  if  I  understood  this  bill  aright — perhaps 
I  did  not  understand  it  correctly,  as  I  have  never  seen  it — 
it  takes  effect  in  presenti. 

Mr.  Saunders.     It  is  the  same  act. 

Mr.  Thurman.  I  do  not  wish  to  interfere  with  the 
bill  at  all.  The  State  of  Nebraska  is  a  very  small  State, 
and  no  doubt  needs  these  two  hundred  and  seventy  square 
miles! 

Mr.  Paddock  [Nebraska].  I  desire  to  state  to  the 
Senator  from  Ohio  that  the  acquisition  of  the  territory  is  a 
matter  of  very  little  account  to  the  State  of  Nebraska; 
but  a  part  of  the  boundary  is  on  a  dry  creek  a  portion  of 


60       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

the  year,  and  it  is  not  a  proper  boundary.  The  Keyapaha 
is  a  very  small,  insignificant  stream,  and  a  dry  creek  is  a 
very  poor  boundary  for  a  State.  The  desire  is  that  the 
established  parallel,  the  forty-third  parallel,  shall  be  the 
boundary.  That  is  the  object  sought  to  be  accomplished, 
and  not  the  acquisition  of  the  territory,  which  is  a  matter 
of  very  small  importance. 

Mr.  Williams  [Kentucky].  I  want  to  say  just  one 
word.  The  proposition  is  merely  to  include  this  strip  of 
land  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  State  without  bring- 
ing it  under  the  lawful  jurisdiction  of  the  State  until  the 
Indian  title  shall  be  extinguished.    That  is  the  proposition. 

Mr.  Paddock.  Of  course  there  will  be  no  jurisdiction 
on  the  part  of  the  State  until  the  title  is  extinguished  any- 
way. This  is  a  defined  permanent  reservation,  and  of 
course  the  State  would  have  no  jurisdiction  over  it,  even 
if  it  had  been  originally  within  its  limits. 

Mr.  Williams.  I  am  not  urging  that  as  an  objection 
to  the  bill,  but  as  a  reason  why  we  should  dispose  of  it. 

Mr.  Dawes.  I  should  like  to  inquire  of  the  Senator 
from  Nebraska  whether  this  bill  includes  within  the  State 
of  Nebraska  the  entire  old  Ponca  reservation,  so  that  no 
part  of  it  is  left  out? 

Mr.  Paddock.  It  does  not  interfere  with  the  Ponca 
reservation  at  all. 

Mr.  Dawes.     It  does  not  cut  it  in  two? 

Mr.  Saunders.    Oh,  no. 

Mr.  Paddock.    Not  at  all. 

The  Presiding  Officer.  The  question  is  on  agreeing  to 
the  amendment  of  the  committee  as  amended. 

The  amendment,  as  amended,  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Teller.    Let  the  bill  be  read  as  amended. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  the  bill  as  amended. 

The  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  as  amended,  and 
the  amendment  was  concurred  in. 

Mr.  Hoar  [Massachusetts].  I  should  like  to  inquire 
of  the  Senator  from  Nebraska,  is  there  not  a  jurisdiction 
in  the  United  States,  so  far  as  offenses  committed  by  white 
men  are  concerned,  over  the  Indian  reservation? 

Mr.  Saunders.  If  so,  it  belongs  to  the  Territory  of 
Dakota.    We  are  not  interfering  at  all  with  the  title. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        61 

Mr.  Hoar.  Then  the  difficulty  suggested  by  the 
Senator  from  Ohio  is  not  answered  to  my  mind.  I  should 
like  to  know  whether  this  becomes  a  part  of  the  State  of 
Nebraska;  and  if  the  State  of  Nebraska  at  once  accepts, 
so  far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned,  when  the  Indian  title 
may  not  be  extinguished  for  twenty  years,  under  what 
authority  can  the  United  States  punish  one  white  man  for 
an  offense  upon  another  in  a  State?  If  it  is  a  part  of  the 
State,  the  United  States  cannot  deal  with  this  offense 
merely  because  it  is  on  an  Indian  reservation. 

Mr.  Saunders.  How  do  they  do  mth  the  Indians 
residing  in  the  State  of  New  York? 

Mr.  Hoar.  The  United  States  does  not  punish  white 
men  who  commit  offenses  one  on  another  on  an  Indian 
reservation  in  the  State  of  New  York.  I  do  not  under- 
stand that  it  does. 

Mr.  Saunders.    I  ask  the  question  for  information. 

Mr.  Hoar.  I  suggest  why  not  strike  out  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  lines  the  words  "so  far  as  juris- 
diction is  concerned,"  the  entire  act  to  take  effect  when 
the  President  shall  make  his  proclamation?  That  answers 
all  the  Senator's  purpose. 

The  Presiding  Officer.  Does  the  Senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts offer  an  amendment? 

Mr.  Hoar.  Yes,  sir;  although  I  confess  I  do  not 
understand  the  subject  as  well  as  the  Senators  in  charge. 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  think  that  this  subject  was  thor- 
oughly discussed  at  the  time  the  Platte  purchase  was 
added  to  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Blaine  [Maine].  Then  why  not  employ  the  same 
language? 

Mr.  Saunders.    We  have. 

Mr.  Blaine.    The  exact  language? 

Mr.  Thurman.  If  the  Senator  will  pardon  me,  he  does 
not  follow  the  language.  The  words  "so  far  as  jurisdiction 
is  concerned"  are  not  in  the  Missouri  act.  That  is  just 
what  makes  the  distinction. 

Mr.  Saunders.    The  Missouri  act  reads: 

Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  take  effect  until  the 
President  shall  by  proclamation  declare  that  the  Indian 
title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall  it  taJke 


62       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

effect  until  the  State  of  Missouri  shall  have  assented  to 
the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Mr.  Hoar.  My  amendment  makes  this  bill  conform 
to  that  act. 

Mr.  Paddock.  There  can  be  no  objection  to  the 
amendment. 

Mr.  Hoar.  The  Senator  from  Nebraska  will  observe 
that  in  his  bill  the  words  are  not  that  the  act  shall  have  no 
effect  but  only  that  it  shall  not  take  effect'  so  far  as  the 
jurisdiction  is  concerned.  Those  words  are  not  in  the  old 
Missouri  act,  not  in  the  statute.  Therefore  the  operation 
of  this  bill  is  to  attempt  to  make  the  territory  a  part  of 
a  State  and  to  provide  that  the  State  shall  have  no  juris- 
diction over  it.  If  it  be  a  part  of  the  State,  certainly  the 
United  States  can  have  no  jurisdiction  over  it  except  as  it 
has  over  all  State  territory. 

Mr.  Saunders.  What  is  the  proposition  of  the  Senator 
from  Massachusetts? 

Mr.  Hoar.  The  proposition  is  to  strike  out  the  words 
"so  far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned"  from  the  bill,  which 
makes  it  exactly  correspond  to  the  act  to  which  the  Senator 
says  it  does  correspond. 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  have  no  objection  to  that  amend- 
ment. 

Mr.  Blaine.  The  Senator  from  Nebraska  will  observe 
that  the  committee  undoubtedly,  when  framing  the  bill, 
referred  to  that  act.  One  of  the  most  elaborately  discussed 
propositions  of  that  day  was  the  Platte  purchase.  The 
wording  of  that  act  by  Colonel  Benton  was  done  with  great 
care  and  to  avoid  the  very  points  which  have  come  up  in 
this  discussion;  and  as  it  is  a  precedent  of  such  great 
moment  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  wise  in  our  legislation 
to  follow  it. 

Mr.  Saunders.  The  bill  was  intended  to  follow  it 
exactly. 

Mr.  Paddock.  There  can  be  no  objection  to  the 
amendment  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Saunders.  There  is  no  objection  to  the  amend- 
ment. 

Mr.  Teller.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  shall  get  into 
trouble  with  this  bill  in  the  shape  we  are  putting  it  in,  at 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       63 

all  events.  This  is  well  known  to  be  on  the  southern  line 
of  a  portion  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota.  From  the  present 
indications  Dakota  will  be  a  State  probably  in  the  next 
two  or  three  years.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Dakota  has  a 
population  at  this  time  sufficient  to  entitle  her  to  a  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress,  and  I  know  they  will  be  here  at  the 
next  Congress  asking  to  be  admitted,  and  undoubtedly  will 
be  admitted.  When  the  State  of  Dakota  is  admitted  the 
Indian  title  will  remain  unextinguished.  The  Government 
will  probably  admit  Dakota  when  it  demands  admission, 
with  some  provision  with  reference  to  the  Indian  lands  and 
Indian  title,  and  here  will  be  a  little  strip  of  land  a  mile 
wide  at  one  end  and  eight  miles  wide  at  the  other  which 
will  be  neither  in  a  State  nor  in  a  Territory,  which  will 
neither  be  subject  to  the  laws  of  Dakota  nor  to  the  laws  of 
Nebraska.  I  should  like  to  inquire  in  what  kind  of  a  con- 
dition the  people  who  are  living  there,  whether  they  be 
white  or  red,  would  be  placed. 

Mr.  Paddock.  I  do  not  think  there  is  a  single  person 
living  in  the  district  of  territory  involved  in  this  bill.  So 
far  as  the  intercourse  laws  are  concerned,  I  should  like  to 
inquire  of  the  Senator  if  he  thinks  a  change  of  that  district 
from  the  Territory  to  State  limitations  changes  the  state 
of  the  intercourse  laws. 

Mr.  Teller.  That  has  not  anything  to  do  with  the 
question.  It  will  neither  be  in  a  State  nor  in  a  Territory, 
but  will  be  between  two  States  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  neither. 

Mr.  Paddock.  I  think  the  Senator's  conclusion  is  a 
wrong  one. 

Mr.  Teller.     It  may  be  that  it  is  wi'ong. 

Mr.  Paddock.  It  certainly  is  wrong,  because  until 
the  act  itself  takes  effect  the  State  does  not  obtain  juris- 
diction; it  is  not  a  part  of  the  State  until  the  law  takes 
effect;  it  is  still  within  the  limits  of  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Teller.  If  the  honorable  Senator  from  Nebraska 
will  wait  until  I  get  through  he  will  understand  more  about 
it,  or  less,  I  do  not  know  which. 

Mr.  Paddock.    Less. 

Mr.  Saunders.    I  cannot  hear  what  the  Senator  says. 


64       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Mr.  Teller.  It  is  not  my  fault.  I  am  talking  as  loud 
as  any  decent  man  ought  to  talk. 

This  piece  of  ground  will  not  be  in  Nebraska  or  Dakota, 
because  we  put  in  here  a  provision  that  it  shall  not  be  in 
Nebraska  until  the  Indian  title  is  extinguished.  That  is 
an  indefinite  period.  It  may  be  for  a  thousand  years. 
Then  it  will  not  come  into  Dakota,  because  it  would  be 
very  unfair  when  we  admit  the  State  of  Dakota  to  include 
after  the  passage  of  this  bill  this  very  piece  of  ground  in 
Dakota;  and  so  where  will  it  be?  What  government  will 
have  jurisdiction  of  it?  Neither  of  the  States.  I  suppose 
the  General  Government  will,  as  a  piece  of  ground  that  is 
included  in  neither  State;  and  it  will  be  a  remarkable 
condition  of  affairs  for  the  Government  to  have  a  little  strip 
of  ground  a  mile  wide  at  one  end  and  eight  miles  wide  at 
the  other  and  sixty  miles  long,  without  any  government 
over  it  at  all.  The  truth  is,  it  ought  to  be  put  in  the  State 
of  Nebraska,  with  some  provision  that  the  Government 
shall  reserve  the  right  to  manage  the  Indians  and  take  care 
of  them  as  it  does  now.  There  is  no  objection  to  the 
Government  having  an  Indian  reservation  within  a  State 
if  when  the  Government  puts  it  in  the  State  the  Govern- 
ment reserves  the  right  to  have  exclusive  control  of  the 
Indians,  and  that  they  have  done  in  some  instances  in 
Nebraska,  as  I  recollect  in  their  organic  act. 

Mr.  Paddock.  Does  the  Senator  understand  that 
every  inch  of  this  territory  is  now  within  the  limits  of  the 
Sioux  reservation? 

Mr.  Teller.    Certainly  I  do. 

Mr.  Paddock.  It  is  a  part  of  the  Sioux  reservation. 
Therefore,  of  course,  the  intercourse  laws  are  in  force 
absolutely,  and  no  other  laws  so  far  as  that  tract  is  con- 
cerned, and  putting  it  into  the  State  does  not  change  the 
state  of  the  law  in  respect  of  offenses  that  may  be  committed 
there.  It  will  be  in  the  Territory  until  this  law  takes 
effect. 

The  Presiding  Officer.  The  question  is  on  the  amend- 
ment of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Hoar]. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Cockrell.    Now  let  the  bill  be  read  as  amended. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       65 

The  Presiding  Officer.  The  Secretary  will  read  the 
bill  as  amended. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska  shall  be  extended  so  as  to  include  all 
that  portion  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the 
forty-third  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  east  of  the  Keya- 
paha  River  and  west  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missouri 
River;  and  when  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  thus  described 
shall  be  extinguished,  if  it  shall  ever  be  extinguished,  the 
jurisdiction  over  said  lands  shall  be  ceded  to  the  State  of 
Nebraska,  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  shall 
be  extended  to  said  forty-third  parallel,  as  fully  and  effect- 
ually as  if  said  lands  had  been  included  in  the  boundaries 
of  said  State  at  the  time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union, 
reserving  to  the  United  States  the  original  right  of  soil  in 
said  lands,  and  of  disposing  of  the  same:  Provided,  That 
this  act  shall  not  take  effect  until  the  President  shall,  by 
proclamation,  declare  that  the  Indian  title  to  said  lands 
has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall  it  take  effect  until  the 
State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act;  nor  shall  this  act  create  any  liability  or  obligation 
of  any  kind  whatever  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to 
extinguish  said  Indian  title,  or  in  any  way  affect  the  Indian 
title  thereof. 

Mr.  Ingalls.  I  observe  by  an  inspection  of  the  map 
that  this  projected  line  bisects  the  Fort  Randall  military 
reservation.  What  I  want  to  know  is,  this  bill  taking 
effect  when  the  Indian  title  is  extinguished,  and  the  juris- 
diction of  this  entire  country  being  then  ceded  to  Nebraska, 
if  by  operation  of  law  we  shall  not  then  give  the  reservation 
to  Nebraska  without  intending  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Eaton  [Connecticut].  "Reserving  to  the  United 
States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands  and  of  disposing 
of  the  same"  is  the  language  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  Ingalls.  But  here  is  not  only  an  Indian  reservation 
but  a  military  reservation  that  comes  down  south  of  this 
rectified  frontier  of  Nebraska,  and  we  provide  that  the 
entire  jurisdiction  of  this  territory  shall  be  ceded  to  Nebraska 
when  the  Indian  title  is  extinguished.  Now,  if  we  pass  the 
bill  in  this  shape  do  we  not  necessarily,  without  intending 


66       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

to  do  so,  cede  the  portion  of  this  military  reservation  that 
lies  south  of  that  line,  and  thereby  perhaps  very  seriously 
interfere  with  the  authority  of  the  United  States  in  that 
reservation?  I  suppose  the  intention  of  the  Senator  from 
Nebraska  is  to  except  from  the  operation  of  this  act  not 
only  the  Indian  reservations,  but  the  military  reservations. 

Mr.  Saunders.  It  was  supposed  that  that  was  covered 
by  saying  that  the  right  to  dispose  of  the  soil  was  reserved 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Davis,  of  Illinois.  It  seems  to  me  this  bill  is  very 
immature  and  it  ought  to  go  back  to  the  committee.  I 
therefore  move  its  recommittal  to  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories. They  can  report  it  back  in  a  better  shape  than  it  is 
now. 

The  Presiding  Officer.  The  Senator  from  Illinois 
moves  that  the  bill  be  recommitted. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to.^ 

On  the  22d  of  May  the  senate  finally  considered  the 
bill  as  follows: 

The  bill  was  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories with  an  amendment  to  strike  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause  of  the  bill  and  to  insert: 

That  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
shall  be  extended  so  as  to  include  all  that  portion  of  the 


*  Ibid.,  pt.  3,  pp.  2960-62. 
The  part  of  the  Fort  Randall  military  reservation,  referred  to  by 
Senator  Ingalls,  which  was  included  in  the  transfer  from  Dakota  to  Ne- 
braska, was  bounded  on  the  northeast  by  the  Missouri  river;  on  the  south- 
east by  a  direct  line  starting  from  the  Missouri  river,  in  fractional  section 
24,  township  34,  north,  range  10,  west  of  the  sixth  principal  meridian,  and 
running  southwesterly  to  the  southwest  corner  of  section  3,  township  33 
of  the  same  range;  on  the  southwest  by  a  direct  line  running  from  the  point 
last  described  northwesterly  until  it  intersected  the  forty-third  parallel  of 
latitude  in  the  middle  of  section  19,  township  35,  north,  range  12,  west; 
on  the  north  by  the  forty-third  parallel — from  the  point  last  described 
to  its  intersection  with  the  Missouri  river.  The  new  territory  was  divided 
between  Knox  county  and  Holt  county  (Laws  of  Nebraska,  1883,  pp.  199, 
201).  Knox  county  retains  its  part  of  the  acquisition;  but  all  of  Holt 
county's  part  of  it,  except  the  fractional  townships  lying  between  its  north 
boundary  line  and  the  Niobrara  river,  was  taken  toward  forming  Boyd 
county.  The  southwestern  corner  of  Boyd  county  lying  south  of  the 
Keyapha  river  is  outside  the  acquired  territory  in  question. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        67 

Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the  forty-third  parallel 
of  north  latitude  and  east  of  the  Keyapaha  River  and  west 
of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missouri  River;  and  when  the 
Indian  title  to  the  lands  thus  described  shall  be  extinguished, 
if  it  ever  shall  be  extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over  said 
lands  shall  be  ceded  to  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  State  shall  be  extended  to  said 
forty-third  parallel  as  fully  and  effectually  as  if  said  lands 
had  been  included  in  the  boundaries  of  said  State  at  the 
time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union ;  reserving  to  the  United 
States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands  and  of  disposing 
of  the  same:  Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  take  effect 
until  the  President  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare  that  the 
Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished;  nor  shall 
it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act;  nor  shall  this  act  create  any 
liability  or  obligation  of  any  kind  whatever  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  to  extinguish  said  Indian  title  or  in  any 
way  affect  the  title  thereto:  And  provided  further,  That 
this  act  shall  in  no  way  affect  the  right  of  the  United  States 
to  control  any  military  reservation,  or  any  part  thereof, 
which  may  now  or  hereafter  be  on  said  land. 

Mr.  Edmunds  [Vermont].  I  move  to  amend  the 
amendment  where  the  subject  of  military  reservations  is 
spoken  of  by  inserting  after  the  word  "military"  the  words 
"or  other;"  so  as  to  include  any  lawful  reservation,  whether 
you  call  it  a  military  reservation  or  one  for  some  public 
building  or  an  Indian  reservation,  &c. 

Mr.  Saunders.    That  is  all  right. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  amendment  will  be 
reported. 

The  Chief  Clerk.  In  line  24,  after  the  word  "military", 
it  is  proposed  to  insert  "or  other;"  so  as  to  read: 

That  this  act  shall  in  no  way  affect  the  right  of  the 
United  States  to  control  any  military  or  other  reservation, 
or  any  part  thereof,  which  may  now  or  hereafter  be  on 
said  land. 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Teller.  I  do  not  desire  to  obstruct  the  passage 
of  this  bill,  but  I  made  an  objection  to  it  the  other  day 
which  I  think  still  exists.    Here  is  a  proposition  to  take 


68       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

out  from  the  Territory  of  Dakota  a  strip  of  country  very 
narrow  at  one  end  and  not  very  wide  at  the  other,  containing 
but  a  few  [square]  miles,  and  to  leave  it  in  such  a  condition 
that  it  will  neither  be  in  a  State  nor  in  a  Territory  should 
Dakota  be  admitted.  It  cannot  be  contemplated  that  the 
Government  will  extinguish  the  title  of  the  Indians  to  this 
land  for  many  years.  When  the  State  of  Dakota  comes 
here,  which  it  will  very  shortly  if  we  pay  due  regard  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people  there  and  the  population  is  sufficient, 
we  shall  have  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  a  little  strip 
that  is  neither  in  Nebraska  nor  Dakota  nor  anywhere  else. 
I  think  it  should  be  put  in  the  State  of  Nebraska  at  once. 
I  can  see  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be;  and  it  certainly 
will  be  found  eventually  to  make  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
But  the  Senators  who  have  this  bill  in  charge  and  who  are 
especially  anxious  about  its  passage,  do  not  seem  to  be 
willing  that  that  should  be  done,  I  suppose  for  fear  that  it 
would  embarrass  the  bill.  I  do  not  intend  to  make  any 
factious  opposition  to  it.  I  have  just  stated  what  I  think 
about  the  measure. 

Mr.  Allison  [Iowa].  As  I  understand  this  bill,  it  makes 
no  change  whatever  in  the  existing  status  until  the  Indian 
title  shall  have  been  extinguished;  therefore  I  take  it  that 
if  Dakota  should  be  admitted  as  a  State  next  year,  this 
Territory  would  be  within  the  boundary  of  Dakota  for  the 
time  being. 

Mr.  Teller.  If  that  is  the  fact,  we  shall  have  a  very 
remarkable  condition  of  affairs.  This  will  be  in  Dakota, 
and  whether  it  remains  in  Dakota  or  not  depends  upon  the 
action  with  reference  to  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian 
title.  Why  not  put  it  now  in  Nebraska?  It  will  not  inter- 
fere with  the  relations  of  the  Indians  to  the  Government. 
If  it  will,  guard  with  such  language  as  may  be  proper,  and 
see  that  it  shall  not. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  It  rather  strikes  me  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  fix  a  time  within  which  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall 
assent  as  is  provided  in  this  amendment,  because  giving  her 
an  unlimited  time  within  which  to  assent,  it  puts  it  con- 
ditionally out  of  our  power  and  out  of  the  power  of  Dakota 
in  arranging  for  the  admission  of  that  State  hereafter. 
Therefore  I  think  it  would  be  reasonable  to  provide  where 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       69 

the  assent  of  the  State  of  Nebraska  is  spoken  of — which  is 
necessary  as  it  changes  her  boundary — that  that  assent 
shall  be  given  within  a  certain  period  of  time. 

Mr.  Saunders.     I  have  no  objection  to  that. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  When  does  the  Legislature  of  Nebraska 
meet? 

Mr.  Saunders.     It  meets  next  winter. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  If  we  provide  that  the  assent  shall  be 
given  within  one  year  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  it  would 
give  the  Legislature  an  opportunity  to  act.  After  the  word 
"act",  in  line  19,  I  move  to  insert  "which  assent  shall  be 
given  within  one  year  from  the  passage  hereof." 

Mr.  Saunders.     I  have  no  objection  to  that. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  I  think  that  is  right.  It  will  not 
embarrass  it. 

The  amendment  to  the  amendment  was  agi'eed  to. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  question  now  is  on 
the  amendment  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Territories 
as  amended. 

Mr.  Dawes.  Before  we  vote  on  it,  I  should  like  to 
hear  the  amendment  read  as  amended. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  the  amendment  as  amended. 

The  amendment,  as  amended,  was  agreed  to. 

The  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  as  amended,  and 
the  amendment  was  concurred  in. 

The  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading, 
read  the  third  time,  and  passed. 

On  the  5th  of  June  the  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  house 
and  referred  to  the  committee  on  the  judiciary.  ^  It  had 
not  been  reported  back  when  the  forty-sixth  congress 
finally  adjourned  on  the  16th  of  June. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  first  session  of  the  47th  congress, 
Senator  Saunders,  who  in  the  meantime  had  become  chair- 
man of  the  senate  committee  on  territories,  introduced  the 
bill  avowedly  in  the  form  in  which  it  had  passed  the  senate 
at  the  last  session,  but  as  senate  bill  number  17.^    When 


•  Ibid.,  pt.  4,  p.  3644. 
'  Ibid.,  pt.  5,  p.  4220. 
"  Ibid.,  V.  13,  pt.  1,  p.  3. 


70       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

the  senator  undertook  to  call  up  the  bill  on  the  31st  of 
January,  1882,  he  explained  his  wish  to  have  it  considered 
hastily  as  follows: 

Mr.  Saunders.  This  bill  is  the  same  exactly  that 
passed  the  Senate  unanimously  at  the  last  session  of  Con- 
gress after  having  been  thoroughly  canvassed,  and  it  has 
been  reported  unanimously  by  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories again.  The  hurry  we  have  in  this  matter  is  that  it 
cannot  take  effect,  according  to  one  of  the  conditions, 
until  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  have 
acted  on  it,  and  the  Legislature  expects  to  be  called  to- 
gether early  this  spring.  As  the  bill  will  have  to  go  through 
the  other  House,  and  then  notice  must  be  given  to  the 
governor  of  Nebraska,  I  desire  very  much  that  the  bill 
shall  be  allowed  to  go  through  this  morning.  I  think  there 
is  no  objection  to  it. 

But  the  wily  senator  from  Vermont  again  interfered, 
and  the  following  colloquy  ensued: 

Mr.  Edmunds.  It  is  a  pretty  serious  business  to  en- 
large or  diminish  the  boundaries  of  a  sovereign  State,  and 
it  is  still  more  serious  if,  as  I  have  been  told,  this  enlarge- 
ment of  the  boundaries  of  Nebraska  is  to  take  in  both  an 
Indian  reservation  and  a  military  reservation;  and  before 
I  vote  to  take  it  up,  I  should  be  glad  to  have  the  Senator 
from  Nebraska  tell  us  whether  I  am  correctly  informed 
that  this  is  to  bring  within  the  jurisdictional  territory  of 
Nebraska  a  reservation  already  set  apart  for  some  Indians 
along  that  border. 

Mr.  Saunders.  It  provides  that  it  shall  not  take  effect 
until  the  Indian  title  shall  have  been  extinguished. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  That  was  not  precisely  the  question. 
I  asked  whether  this  change  of  boundary  does  not  bring 
into  the  State  of  Nebraska  an  Indian  reservation  already 
established,  on  which  the  Indians  are  living  in  peace  and 
quiet. 

Mr.  Saunders.  It  is  called  the  Indian  reservation, 
though  it  is  that  part  which  was  held  by  the  Poncas,  and 
some  mistakes  were  made,  they  claim,  when  it  was  turned 
over  to  the  Sioux;  but  call  it  a  reservation  or  what  you 
please,  it  is  no  doubt  a  part  of  the  Indian  reservation,  and 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       71 

in  that  regard  it  is  provided  that  the  bill  shall  not  take 
effect  until  the  Indian  title  shall  have  been  extinguished. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  What  is  the  object  of  this  enlargement 
of  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Nebraska?  What  good 
does  it  do?    Why  is  it  necessary? 

Mr.  Saunders.  It  is  merely  to  straighten  the  line  and 
bring  in  a  very  irregularly  formed  piece  of  land.  It  will 
not  help  the  Territory  of  Nebraska  particularly. 

Mr.  Ingalls.  It  is  very  important  that  all  States 
should  have  straight  lines,  rectangular  frontiers;  but  I  am 
advised  that  this  proposed  change  takes  in  the  capital 
of  the  Territory  of  Dakota.    Is  that  the  case? 

Mr.  Saunders.  The  capital  of  Dakota  is  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  this  all  lies  west  of  the 
Missouri  River,  so  that  it  does  not  touch  it  or  come  within 
a  long  distance  of  it. 

Mr.  Edmunds.    Mr.  President — 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  morning  hour  has 
expired.  The  Chair  lays  before  the  Senate  its  unfinished 
business. 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  ask  unanimous  consent  to  take  a 
vote  on  this  bill  this  morning. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  The  Senator  cannot  get  it  this  morn- 
ing. The  present  boundary  line  of  Nebraska  follows  the 
stream — 

Mr.  Saunders.  The  bill  is  just  to  straighten  that  line. 
[Indicating  on  a  map.] 

Mr.  Kellogg  [Louisiana].  I  desire  to  inquire  of  the 
Chair  if  I  have  lost  my  opportunity  now,  the  morning  hour 
having  expired,  to  call  up  a  resolution? 

The  President  pro  tempore.    The  Senator  has. 

Mr.  Kellogg.  I  desire  to  say  that  I  yielded  as  a  matter 
of  courtesy  to  my  good-natured  friend  from  Nebraska,  and 
I  hope  he  will  not  ask  me  to  do  so  again. 

Mr.  Saunders.     I  only  want  to  rectify  this  boundary. 

Mr.  Edmunds.     Regular  order  !^ 

Senator  Saunders  was  sharply  cross-examined  on  the 


'  Ibid.,  pp.  745-46.  The  rather  notorious  carpetbag  senator  from 
Louisiana,  William  Pitt  Kelogg,  who  engaged  in  this  debate,  had  been  a 
judge  of  the  territorial  court  of  Nebraska. 


72       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

bill,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  just  before  it  was  reported 
for  a  third  reading. 

Mr.  Saulsbury  [Delaware].  I  should  like  to  ask  the 
senator  from  Nebraska  who  has  title  or  claim  now  to  the 
land  that  it  is  proposed  to  incorporate  into  the  state  of  Ne- 
braska?   Is  it  public  land? 

Mr.  Saunders,  It  belongs  to  the  government;  that  is, 
it  is  included  in  an  Indian  reservation. 

Mr.  Saulsbury.  Then  this  is  a  proposition  to  take 
part  of  an  Indian  reservation  and  incorporate  it  in  the 
state  of  Nebraska? 

Mr.  Saunders.  The  provision  of  the  bill  is  that  it 
does  not  take  effect  until  the  Indian  title  is  extinguished, 
so  that  is  all  provided  for  in  the  bill. 

Mr.  Saulsbury.  Then  it  is  to  give  the  public  lands  to 
the  state  of  Nebraska,  which  I  understand  has  a  large 
territory  now? 

Mr.  Saunders.  No;  under  the  bill  the  government 
will  have  the  right  to  control  the  lands. 

Mr.  Plumb  [Kansas].  I  should  like  to  inquire  why  it 
is  that  the  State  of  Nebraska  has  not  by  some  home  author- 
ity made  some  profert  of  its  wishes  in  regard  to  this  matter, 
and  I  should  like  to  ask  further  what  is  the  feeling  of  the 
people  of  Dakota  about  it?  We  are  taking  away  what  is 
apparently  valuable  property  from  the  Territory  of  Dakota, 
which  is  here  seeking  admission  as  a  State.  It  seems  to 
me  we  ought  to  have  regard  for  the  wishes  of  those  people, 
and  the  fact  that  the  State  of  Nebraska  apparently  never 
has  put  in  an  appearance  here  or  asked  anything  about  it 
ought  to  enter  into  the  considerations  bearing  upon  this 
question. 

Mr.  Saunders.  This  bill  was  before  the  Senate  more 
than  a  year  ago,  almost  two  years  ago,  and  it  was  thoroughly 
canvassed  both  in  committee  and  in  the  Senate.  Seven 
times,  I  think,  it  was  up  and  finally  it  was  adopted  exactly 
as  reported,  and  the  amendments  which  have  been  agreed 
to  this  morning  [February  3,  1882]  were  suggested  by  the 
Senator  from  Vermont,  and  remove  all  possible  objection 
to  the  measure.    So  far  as  the  territory  is  concerned  it 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       73 

belongs  to  an  Indian  reservation,  and  there  are  no  persons 
particularly  affected  by  it,  because  there  are  no  white 
people  upon  the  reservation,  and  I  do  not  know  that  there 
are  any  Indians  on  it  now. 

The  object  of  the  bill  is  to  straighten  the  line  between 
Dakota  and  Nebraska.  If  the  line  had  been  straight,  or  if 
there  had  been  a  well-defined  line,  no  bill  would  have  been 
brought  before  Congress  in  regard  to  the  matter.  The  bill 
provides  that  the  line  shall  go  up  the  Niobrara  River  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Keyapaha  River.  The  Niobrara  River 
in  many  places  there  is  a  very  wide  and  shallow  stream, 
changing  its  channel  frequently.  Sometimes  in  twenty- 
four  hours  the  channel  has  been  removed  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  or  more.  So  difficult  has  it  been  to  decide  what  is  the 
real  channel  of  that  stream,  that  one  of  the  judges  in  that 
district  told  me  himself  that  he  had  released  a  prisoner 
and  refused  to  act  upon  the  case  because  he  would  not  take 
it  upon  himself  to  decide  the  northern  boundary  of  Nebraska 
where  it  was  the  main  channel  of  that  stream,  because  it 
was  so  difficult  to  tell  where  the  channel  was. 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  the  main  reason  being  to 
straighten  the  line  (which  would  have  been  done  when  the 
act  was  passed  originally  if  Congress  had  known  anything 
about  where  it  would  be,)  and  not  for  the  purpose  alone  of 
attaching  territory  to  Nebraska,  I  ask  for  the  passage  of 
the  bill.  It  does  not  affect  anybody's  interest  particularly, 
but  straightens  the  line  and  gives  the  map  an  appearance 
which  it  would  not  have  without  this  enactment. 

Mr.  Cameron,  of  Wisconsin.  I  desire  to  inquire  of 
the  Senator  from  Nebraska  how  extensive  the  territory  is 
which  it  is  proposed  by  the  bill  to  transfer  from  the  Terri- 
tory of  Dakota  to  the  State  of  Nebraska;  that  is,  how 
many  square  miles  does  it  contain? 

Mr.  Saunders.  I  cannot  tell  exactly,  but  it  is  about 
forty  miles  in  length  and  probably  there  is  a  mean  width 
of  about  three  miles,  perhaps  not  quite  so  much.  There  are, 
I  think,  over  two  townships  of  land,  but  it  is  in  such  an 
irregular  shape  that  I  cannot  tell  exactly  the  quantity. 

Mr.  Hale  [Maine].  Is  there  any  population  there 
whatever? 


74       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Mr.  Saunders.  There  is  no  population  there,  and  no 
population  is  affected  by  the  bill  at  all. 

Mr.  Teller.  I  should  like  to  inquire  if  the  Indians  are 
not  affected  by  it? 

Mr.  Saunders.    Not  the  Indians  themselves. 

Mr.  Dawes.  The  Indians  have  all  been  removed  to 
the  Indian  Territory. 

Mr.  Edmunds.    At  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

Mr.  Dawes.  They  have  been  removed  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  so  that  the  bill  does  not  affect  them. 

Mr.  Butler  [South  Carolina].  I  think  it  is  fair  to  say 
in  behalf  of  the  bill  that  it  was  considered  by  the  Committee 
on  Territories  and  unanimously  reported  favorably.  My 
friend  from  Kansas  [Mr.  Plumb]  made  an  inquiry  as  to 
what  the  feeling  of  tlie  people  of  Dakota  is  upon  the  sub- 
ject. The  only  information  I  have  on  that  point  is  that 
quite  a  large  delegation  of  very  intelligent  gentlemen  from 
Dakota  was  before  the  Committee  on  Territories,  where 
this  matter  was  informally  discussed,  although  not  specially 
with  reference  to  this  line,  and  no  objection  was  made  to  it 
by  them  that  I  could  hear.  I  think  the  bill  is  an  entirely 
proper  one  for  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  chairman  of 
the  committee,  and  I  hope  the  Senate  will  pass  it.  I  do 
not  see  that  it  can  affect  the  Indians,  as  their  rights  are 
thoroughly  protected  by  the  proviso.  It  simply  straightens 
the  line  and  gives  sjrmmetry  to  the  northern  line  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska.    That  is  about  all  there  is  in  it. 

The  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  as  amended. 

Mr.  Pendleton  [Ohio].    Let  the  bill  be  read  in  full. 

The  Acting  Secretary  read  the  bill. 

Mr.  Edmunds.  The  Senator  from  Iowa  [Mr.  Allison] 
has  just  suggested  to  me,  and  I  think  with  great  wisdom, 
that  this  grant  of  territory  should  be  subject  to  all  the 
provisions  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
into  the  Union.  The  only  real  point  about  it  that  I  can 
now  think  of  would  be  as  to  reserving  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Missouri  River.  I  do  not  remember  how  the  old 
acts  in  regard  to  the  States  that  border  on  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Missouri  run,  whether  their  jurisdiction  is  extended 
to  the  center,  to  the  main  channel,  or  whether  to  the  shore. 

Mr.  Saunders.    To  the  main  channel. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        75 

Mr.  Edmunds.  If  it  is  extended  to  the  main  channel, 
then  there  should  be  what  was,  I  am  sure,  in  the  earlier 
acts  in  regard  to  these  States,  a  provision  that  would 
make  the  whole  of  the  river  free  for  navigation,  &c.,  to  all 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  Undoubtedly  if  we  had  a 
provision  subjecting  this  tract  to  all  the  conditions  and 
limitations  of  the  original  act  of  admission,  it  would  prob- 
ably cover  the  point,  although  I  have  not  looked  at  the 
law.  At  any  rate  I  will  move  to  insert,  after  the  word 
"Nebraska",  in  line  10,  the  words  "and  subject  to  all  the 
conditions  and  limitations  provided  in  the  act  of  Congress 
admitting  Nebraska  into  the  Union."  That  will  probably 
secure  what  I  have  in  view. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  agi^eeing 
on  the  amendment  of  the  Senator  from  Vermont. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  Dawes.  I  think  the  safeguards  that  have  been 
put  upon  the  bill  are  very  desirable.  As  to  the  question 
of  extending  the  boundary,  I  think  any  one  who  looks 
upon  the  map  will  see  the  propriety  of  it.  The  bill  includes 
in  the  State  of  Nebraska  just  the  old  Ponca  reservation, 
about  which  so  much  was  said  in  the  last  Congress.  It 
does  not  affect  the  title  to  that  reservation,  which  has 
never  by  any  legal  means  been  taken  out  of  the  Ponca 
tribe.  I  suppose  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of 
lawyers  that  it  still  remains  there.  The  Ponca  tribe  have 
been  driven  off;  no  one  inhabits  the  reservation  now,  and 
their  dwellings,  those  that  have  not  been  carried  over  this 
river  by  enterprising  settlers  in  Nebraska,  have  been  swept 
down  the  river  by  the  floods  that  have  been  described  by 
the  Senator  from  Nebraska.  But  the  rights  of  the  Indians, 
whatever  they  are,  do  not  seem  to  be  affected  by  the  bill, 
and  the  straightening  of  the  line  of  Nebraska  does  seem  to 
be  very  desirable.     I  hope,  therefore,  the  bill  will  pass. 

The  President  pro  tempore.  Does  the  Senator  from 
Vermont  propose  any  further  amendment? 

Mr.  Edmunds.  I  think  that  the  provision  we  have 
inserted  is  adequate  to  the  purpose  I  had  in  view. 

The  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  as  amended,  and 
the  amendments  were  concurred  in. 


76       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading, 
read  the  third  time,  and  passed. ^^ 

In  the  house  the  bill  was  referred  to  the  committee  on 
the  territories;"  but  it  was  sponsored  by  Mr.  Valentine  (then 
the  sole  member  from  Nebraska),  though  he  was  not  a 


">  Ibid.,  p.  861. 

The  queries  of  Senator  Plumb  and  Senator  Butler  as  to  the  reason 
why  Dakota  showed  no  interest  in  the  proposed  dismemberment  of  her 
territory  are  sufficiently  answered,  probably,  in  letters  to  the  editor  from  Mr. 
Ed.  A.  Fry,  founder  of  the  Nebraska  Pioneer,  and  now  a  resident  of  Yankton, 
under  dates  of  September  12  and  14,  and  October  11,  1913.    Mr.  Fry  said: 

"In  regard  to  what  we  know  of  the  'Ponca  Strip,'  comprising  the  west 
part  of  Knox  and  all  of  Boyd,  it  was  the  child  of  the  late  Alvin  Saunders 
while  a  member  of  the  Indian  and  territorial  committees  in  the  U.  S.  senate, 
and  was  done  to  straighten  out  the  Nebraska  boundary  to  the  Missouri 
river.  I  recall  no  opposition  from  Dakota  Territory,  but  E.  K.  Valentine 
made  a  strenuous  effort  to  get  credit  for  it,  and  quite  a  controversy  arose 
over  it,  in  which  I  was  a  part. 

"  Mr.  [George  W.]  Kingsbury,  who  was  editor  of  the  Press  and  Dakotan 
at  the  time,  tells  me  that  there  was  no  protest  from  South  Dakota  respecting 
the  'Ponca  Strip.'  The  territory  at  that  time  was  more  interested  in  division 
than  the  96,000  acres  of  land,  and  Senator  Saunders  was  in  position  to  aid 
them  and  did  so.  He  says  that  Senator  Plumb  of  Kansas,  as  the  Congres- 
sional Record  at  that  time  will  show,  made  some  inquiries  in  debate,  but 
beyond  this  no  effort  was  made  lest  opposition  might  be  made  to  division. 

"  Mr.  Van  Osdel  says  there  was  no  contention  on  the  part  of  the  South 
Dakota  delegate.  As  before  stated,  he  said  statehood  was  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  the  leaders.  Niobrara,  of  course,  had  a  desire  at  that  time  to 
see  this  territory  come  into  Nebraska  on  account  of  the  Niobrara  river, 
that  it  might  come  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  state.  The  Ponca 
treaty  did  not  even  give  Nebraska  the  river,  reading  to  the  south  bank  as 
the  line  of  the  Ponca  possession. 

"As  to  Congressman  Valentine's  claim  of  the  shifting  channel  of  the 
Niobrara  river,  this  is  correct.  It  is  liable  to  be  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
stream  over-night — this  is  where  it  spreads  out  to  any  extent.  There  are 
occasional  confined  rapids  after  the  turn  in  the  river  about  five  miles  above. 
These  do  not  shift  materially.  It  is  a  remarkable  river,  in  that  it  seldom, 
if  ever,  leaves  its  banks  unless  gorged  by  ice.  It  is  a  spring-fed  stream  its 
whole  length  and  is  probably  the  least  affected  by  drouth  or  flood  of  any 
stream  known." 

Dakota  was  not  divided  until  1889,  when  it  was  changed  from  the 
territorial  status  into  the  states  of  North   Dakota  and  South  Dakota. 
Therefore,  the  delegate  to  congress  was  from  Dakota  and  not  from  South 
Dakota  as  Mr.  Fry  inadvertently  has  it. 
"  Ibid.,  pt.  2,  p.  1501. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       77 

member  of  the  committee.    The  colloquy  in  the  house  was 
brief: 

Mr.  Valentine.  I  ask  unanimous  consent  for  the 
present  consideration  of  a  senate  bill.  If  the  house  will 
give  me  a  moment  for  a  statement  of  the  case,  I  think  there 
will  be  no  objection. 

The  Speaker.    The  Clerk  will  read  the  title  of  the  bill. 

The  clerk  read  as  follows: 

A  bill  (S.  No.  17)  to  extend  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  State  of  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Valentine.  I  would  like  to  have  a  moment  to 
state  the  object  of  this  bill. 

Mr.  Springer  [Illinois].    I  reserve  points  of  order. 

Mr.  Bragg  [Wisconsin].  And  I  reserve  the  right  to 
object. 

Mr.  Valentine.  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  intended  by  this 
bill  to  straighten  the  northern  boundary  of  the  state  of 
Nebraska.  A  portion  of  the  present  northern  boundary  is 
down  the  Keyapaha  and  the  Niobrara  Rivers.  The  Niobrara 
is  a  shallow  sandy  stream,  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  and 
a  quarter  in  width,  full  of  timber  islands.  Under  the 
present  law  the  northern  boundary  of  our  state  down  that 
stream  is  the  main  channel  of  the  stream.  That  channel 
shifts  with  the  wind.  When  the  wind  is  blowing  from  the 
north  or  the  northwest  the  channel  is  upon  the  southern 
bank  of  the  stream.  If  the  wind  shifts  to  the  south  or 
southwest  the  channel  moves  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile 
and  a  quarter  northward  around  these  islands.  It  is  very 
necessary  to  have  a  fixed,  well-defined  boundary  line.  I 
will  add  that  there  is  no  objection  to  this  bill  on  the  part 
of  the  people  of  Dakota  who  are  as  much  interested  in 
having  this  line  straightened  as  are  the  people  of  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Bunnell  [Minnesota].  Has  this  bill  been  examined 
by  the  House  committee? 

Mr.  Valentine.  Yes,  sir;  they  have  had  it  under  con- 
sideration, and  allowed  me  to  take  it  from  the  hands  of  the 
committee  to  bring  it  up  at  this  time. 

The  bill  was  read,  as  follows: 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
State  of  Nebraska  shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  subject  to  the 


78       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

provisions  hereinafter  contained,  extended  so  as  to  include 
all  that  portion  of  the  Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of 
the  forty-third  parallel  of  north  latitude  and  east  of  the 
Keyapaha  River  and  west  of  the  main  channel  of  the 
Missouri  River;  and  when  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands 
thus  described  shall  be  extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over 
said  lands  shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  ceded  to  the  State  of 
Nebraska,  and  subject  to  all  the  conditions  and  limitations 
provided  in  the  act  of  Congress  admitting  Nebraska  into 
the  Union;  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  shall 
be  extended  to  said  forty-third  parallel  as  fully  and  effectu- 
ally as  if  said  lands  had  been  included  in  the  boundaries 
of  said  State  at  the  time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union, 
reserving  to  the  United  States  the  original  right  of  soil  in 
said  lands  and  of  disposing  of  the  same:  Provided,  That 
this  act,  so  far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned,  shall  not  take 
effect  until  the  President  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare 
that  the  Indian  title  to  said  lands  has  been  extinguished, 
nor  shall  it  take  effect  until  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall 
have  assented  to  the  provisions  of  this  act;  and  if  the 
State  of  Nebraska  shall  not,  by  an  act  of  its  Legislature, 
consent  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  within  two  years  next 
after  the  passage  hereof,  this  act  shall  cease  and  be  of  no 
effect. 

Mr.  Springer.  How  much  territory  is  to  be  added  to 
the  State  by  this  change? 

Mr.  Valentine.    About  a  township  and  a  half. 

There  being  no  objection,  the  Committee  on  the 
Territories  was  discharged  from  the  further  consideration 
of  the  bill;  which  was  ordered  to  a  third  reading,  read  the 
third  time,  and  passed. ^^ 

The  process  of  coaching  this  measure  followed,  now 
and  then,  darksome  ways.  For  example.  Senator  Saunders 
declared  that  the  second  bill — which  was  enacted — "is  the 
same  exactly  that  passed  the  senate  unanimously  at  the 
last  session  of  congress  after  having  been  thoroughly  can- 
vassed. .  ."  On  the  contrary,  it  was  the  bill  as  it  was 
originally  reported,   without   the   numerous   amendments 


"  Ibid.,  p.  2007. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        79 

which  were  made  "after  having  been  thoroughly  canvassed" 
on  the  3d  of  May,  1880.  The  bill,  with  amendments,  which 
first  passed  the  senate  and  to  which  Senator  Saunders 
referred  has  already  been  copied  (ante,  pp.  66,  67,  68)." 

The  bill  which  the  senator  offered  the  second  time  was 
as  follows: 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  of  Nebraska  shall  be, 
and  hereby  is,  extended  so  as  to  include  all  that  portion  of 
the  Territory  of  Dakota  lying  south  of  the  forty-third 
parallel  of  north  latitude  and  east  of  the  Keyapaha  River 
and  west  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missouri  River;  and 
when  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  thus  described  shall  be 
extinguished,  the  jurisdiction  over  said  lands  shall  be  and 
hereby  is  ceded  to  the  State  of  Nebraska,  and  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  State  shall  be,  and  hereby  is,  extended 
to  said  forty-third  parallel  as  fully  and  effectually  as  if  said 
lands  had  been  included  in  the  boundaries  of  said  State  at  the 
time  of  its  admission  to  the  Union ;  reserving  to  the  United 
States  the  original  right  of  soil  in  said  lands  and  of  disposing 
of  the  same:  Provided,  That  this  act,  so  far  as  jurisdiction 
is  concerned,  shall  not  take  effect  until  the  President  shall, 
by  proclamation,  declare  that  the  Indian  title  to  said  lands 
has  been  extinguished,  nor  shall  it  take  effect  until  the 
State  of  Nebraska  shall  have  assented  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act." 

The  words  "hereby  is"  occurred  three  times  in  the 
bill  before  it  was  amended,  in  1880,  by  striking  them  out. 
They  were  stricken  out  in  only  one  instance,  just  before 
final  passage.  Thus  the  senator  gained  two  important 
points,  to  which  strong  objections  had  been  made  in  the 
debate  on  amendments,  by  slipping  in  cards  from  his  sleeve. 


"  The  bill  and  the  amendments  adopted  are  printed  on  page  3644,  pt. 
4,  V.  10,  Congressional  Record. 

"  The  elimination  of  the  amendments  adopted  (Congressional  Record, 
V.  13,  pt.  1,  pp.  860-861)  from  the  act  as  it  passed  (U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large, 
V.  22,  p.  35)  leaves  the  bill  as  it  was  introduced. 


80       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  words,  "so  far  as  jurisdiction  is  concerned/'  which 
were  stricken  out  at  the  instance  of  Senator  Hoar  before 
the  passage  of  the  first  bill  in  the  senate,  slipped  by  on 
final  passage  through  Saunder's  masterly  mistake  as  to 
the  contents  of  the  bill.  By  the  same  misapprehension  the 
senator  got  rid  of  the  amendments,  "if  it  [the  Indian  title] 
ever  shall  be  extinguished";  "nor  shall  this  act  create  any 
liability  or  obligation  of  any  kind  whatever  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  to  extinguish  said  Indian  title  or  in 
any  way  affect  the  title  thereto";  and  "and  provided 
further,  That  this  act  shall  in  no  way  affect  the  right  of 
the  United  States  to  control  any  military  or  other  reserva- 
tion, or  any  part  thereof,  which  may  now  or  hereafter  be 
on  said  land."  By  leaving  out  the  one  year  limit  for  ac- 
cepting another  year  was  gained.  Thus  Senator  Saunders 
got  back  by  indirection  most  of  that  which  had  been  directly 
taken  from  him  and,  in  a  way,  got  even  with  the  irreverent 
eastern  senators  who  had  so  inconsiderately  put  and  kept 
him  on  the  gridiron. 

There  is  an  inexplicable  discrepancy  between  Senator 
Saunders'  estimates  of  the  area  of  the  proposed  transfer  in 
1880  and  in  1882.  In  response  to  Senator  Thurman's 
specific  inquiry  during  the  discussion  of  the  first  bill  Saun- 
ders replied:  "It  will  make  somewhere  probably  about 
eighteen  townships."  ^^  To  a  like  specific  inquiry  by  Senator 
Cameron,  of  Wisconsin,  during  the  debate  of  February  3d, 
1882,  Saunders  repHed:  "There  are,  I  think,  over  two 
townships  of  land,  but  it  is  in  such  an  irregular  shape  that 
I  cannot  tell  exactly  the  quantity."  ^^    On  the  day  the  bill 


1'  Congressional  Record,  v.  10,  pt.  3,  p.  2960.  According  to  the  census 
of  1880  the  area  of  the  state  was  76,185  square  miles,  and  by  that  of  1890 
it  was  76,855  square  miles.  The  difference  between  these  sums,  670  square 
miles,  or  18.6  townships,  is  approximately  the  area  of  the  transferred  terri- 
tory. According  to  the  surveys,  as  indicated  on  the  township  plats,  the 
total  area  of  the  addition  appears  to  have  been  406,566  acres,  or  17.64 
townships. 

"  Ibid.,  V.  13,  pt.  1,  p.  861. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        18 

passed  the  house — March  17,  1882 — to  Mr.  Springer's 
question,  "How  much  territory  is  to  be  added  to  the  state 
by  this  change?"  Mr.  Valentine  repHed:  "About  a  town- 
ship and  a  half."^^  The  correctness  of  the  Nebraska  sen- 
ator's first  estimate  and  the  near  agreement  between  his 
second  and  Valentine's  estimate  precludes  the  supposition 
that  either  was  a  clerical  error.  The  original  boundary  line 
between  Dakota  and  Nebraska  followed  the  mid-channel 
of  the  Niobrara  river,  so  that  Nebraska  acquired  by  the 
transfer  only  such  islands  as  lay  north  of  that  line. 

The  great  and  the  near-great  men  who  engaged  in  the 
debates  alike  lacked  knowledge  of  the  status  or  rights  of 
the  Indians  in  the  debated  territory.  Senator  Dawes, 
though  chairman  of  the  committee  of  Indian  affairs  and  a 
general  Indian  godfather  or  philanthropist,  very  erroneously 
informed  his  uninformed  colleagues  that  the  bill  included 
"just  the  old  Ponca  reservation,"  which  was  as  discrepant 
from  the  truth  as  the  information  about  the  area  of  the 
whole  tract  offered  by  the  members  from  Nebraska.  Of 
the  approximate  total  of  406,566  acres,  the  Ponca  laid 
claim  to  only  96,000.'^ 

The  claims  of  neighboring  Indian  tribes  to  lands 
naturally  overlapped  one  another  until  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  adjusted  them,  more  or  less  arbitrarily, 
through  treaties.  Until  the  Fort  Laramie  treaty  of  1851, 
the  Ponka  claimed  the  territory  bounded  by  a  line  running 
westerly  from  the  mouth  of  Aoway  river  to  the  Black  Hills ; 
thence  along  the  Black  Hills  to  the  source  of  White  river; 
thence  down  the  White  river  to  the  Missouri,  which  was 
their  eastern  boundary. '^    By  the  same  treaty,  a  line  drawn 


''  Ibid.,  pt.  2,  p.  2007. 

18  Report  of  the  secretary  of  the  interior  1881,  v.  2,  p.  277;  ibid.,  1878, 
pt.  1,  p.  467;  ibid.,  1879,  v.  1,  p.  78. 

"  Eighteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology, 
pt.  2,  p.  819. 


82       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

southwesterly  from  the  mouth  of  White  river  (now  in 
South  Dakota  not  far  below  the  city  of  Chamberlain) 
through  the  forks  of  the  Platte  was  fixed  as  the  eastern 
boundary  of  Sioux  territory  and  so  the  western  boundary 
of  Ponka  claims.20  By  the  treaty  of  March  12,  1858,  the 
Ponka  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  lands  they  owned  or 
claimed  except  a  tract  bounded  as  follows:  "Beginning  at 
a  point  on  the  Niobrara  river  and  running  due  north  so  as 
to  intersect  the  Ponca  River  twenty-five  miles  from  its 
mouth;  thence  from  said  point  of  intersection  up  and 
along  the  Ponca  River  twenty  miles;  thence  due  south  to 
the  Niobrara  River;  and  thence  down  and  along  said  river 
to  the  place  of  beginning.  .  ."  Through  a  mistake  in  the 
wording  of  the  treaty  this  reservation  was  placed  farther 
west  than  the  contracting  parties  intended;  consequently, 
in  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  commissioner  of 
Indian  affairs,  made  on  the  26th  of  July,  1860,  the  com- 
missioner of  the  general  land  office  ordered  that  the  east 
and  west  boundaries  should  be  removed  twelve  miles  east- 
ward. By  this  change  the  line  between  ranges  8  and  9 
west  of  the  sixth  principal  meridian  became  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  reservation.^^  By  the  treaty  of  March  10, 
1865,  the  Ponka  ceded  to  the  United  States  that  part  of 
their  reservation  west  of  the  line  between  ranges  10  and  11 
and  received  as  consideration  therefor  the  tract  between 
the  Ponka  river  and  the  Niobrara  river  east  of  the  line 
between  ranges  8  and  9,  subsequently  the  western  boundary 
of  Knox  county. 22 

The  recitation  in  the  treaty  that  this  cession  was  made 
also  "by  way  of  rewarding  them  for  their  constant  fidelity 
to  the  government  and  citizens  thereof,  and  with  a  view  of 


2°  Ibid. 

"  Ibid.;  Copy  of  treaty,  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  12,  p.  997. 
22  Ibid.,  pp.  836-37;    U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  14,  p.  675;    Report 
Secretary  of  Interior  1879,  v.  1,  p.  78. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION       83 

returning  to  the  said  tribe  of  Ponca  Indians  their  old  bury- 
ing grounds  and  cornfields"  is  characteristically  ironical, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that,  by  an  alleged  mistake,  the  whole 
reservation,  sacred  and  otherwise,  was  included  in  the 
great  reserve  assigned  to  the  Sioux  by  the  trouble-breeding 
treaty  of  April  29,  I868.23  The  bill  of  appropriations  of 
1876  for  the  Indian  department  contained  a  proviso  "that 
the  secretary  of  the  interior  may  use  of  the  foregoing 
amounts  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
removal  of  the  Poncas  to  the  Indian  Territory,  and  pro- 
viding them  a  home  therein,  with  the  consent  of  said  band." 
The  corresponding  bill  of  1877  contained  an  appropriation 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  "for  the  removal  and  permanent 
location  of  the  Poncas  in  the  Indian  territory."  24 

The  precedent  condition  of  consent  was  omitted  from 
the  second  removal  measure  because  an  agent  of  the  depart- 
ment had  failed,  in  the  preceding  January,  to  obtain  it, 
though  he  resorted  to  intimidation  to  gain  a  nefarious  end. 
Accordingly,  in  April  and  May  of  the  same  year,  the  Ponka 
were  forced  from  their  ancestral  homes,  literally  "at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet",  as  asserted  by  Senator  Edmunds 
and  Senator  Dawes."  In  1879  sixty-five  of  the  homesick 
exiles  deserted  from  the  new  reservation  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  and  by  1882  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  of  them 
had  returned  to  their  old  reservation. 2 ^  A  sense  of  this 
injustice  gradually  came  to  be  comprehended,  and  at  the 
second  session  of  the  46th  congress  (Feb.  16,  1880)  Senator 


"  U.  S.  statutes  at  Large,  v.  15,  p.  636. 

» Ibid.,  V.  19,  pp.  192,287. 

'^  Report  of  special  investigation  commission,  in  the  report  of  the 
secretary  of  the  interior  1881,  v.  2,  p.  278. 

26  Report  of  Secretary  of  Interior  1879,  v.  1,  pp.  21,  77,  179;  ibid.,  1882, 
V.  2,  p.  176.  For  extended  accounts  of  the  removal,  see  reports  of  the 
secretary  of  the  interior,  1877,  pp.  417,  492;  1878,  p.  466;  1879,  v.  1,  pp. 
21,  78,  179;  1880,  v.  1,  p.  110;  1881,  v.  2,  pp.  38,  186,  275;  1882,  v.  2, 
pp.  52,  176. 


84       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Dawes  introduced  a  bill  (s.  1298)  ^^  for  the  relief  of  the  Ponka, 
which  was  referred  to  the  select  committee  to  examine 
into  the  removal  of  the  Northern  Cheyenne  and  by  it 
reported  back  favorably,  when  it  was  placed  upon  the 
calendar  where  it  rested. ^^  At  the  3d  session  of  the  same 
congress  (January  28,  1881)  Senator  Dawes  introduced  a 
bill  (s.  2113)  "to  establish  the  rights  of  the  Ponca  tribe 
of  Indians  and  to  settle  their  affairs",  which  was  referred 
to  the  same  committee. ^^  On  the  23d  of  February  Senator 
Kirkwood,  on  behalf  of  a  minority  of  that  committee, 
introduced  a  bill  (s.  2215)  *'for  the  relief  of  the  Ponca 
Indians."  30  On  the  18th  of  December,  1880,  President 
Hayes  appointed  a  commission  consisting  of  Brigadier 
General  George  Crook,  Brigadier  General  Nelson  A.  Miles, 
William  Stickney,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Walter 
Allen,  of  Massachusetts,  *'to  ascertain  the  facts  in  regard 
to  their  [the  Ponka's]  removal  and  present  condition,  so 
far  as  is  necessary  to  determine  the  question  what  justice 
and  humanity  require  should  be  done  by  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  and  report  their  conclusions  and 
recommendations  in  the  premises."  The  commission  made 
a  majority  and  a  minority  report  on  the  25th  of  January, 
1881,  which  were  referred  to  the  committee  named  above. 
Both  reports  represented  that  the  Ponka  had  been  wrong- 
fully removed  from  their  old  reservation  and  recommended 
that,  by  way  of  restitution,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land,  to  be  selected  by  them  from  their  old  reservation  or 


"  Congressional  Record,  v.  10,  pt.  1,  p.  912;  ibid,  pt.  4,  p.  3950.  The 
department  of  Indian  affairs  presented  to  congress  a  liberal  bill  for  the 
same  purpose  on  the  3d  of  February,  1879.  (Report  Secretary  of  Interior 
1879,  V.  1,  p.  78). 

-*  Kirkwood  of  Iowa;  Dawes  of  Massachusetts;  Plumb  of  Kansas; 
Bailey  of  Tennessee;  Morgan  of  Alabama.  (Cong.  Record,  v.  10,  pt.  1, 
p.  19 — 2d  sess.  46th  Congress). 

'» Ibid.,  V.  11,  pt.  2,  p.  988. 

»» Ibid.,  pt.  3,  p.  1965. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        85 

from  their  new  one  in  the  Indian  Territory,  should  be  given 
to  every  member  of  the  tribe  and  in  addition  thereto,  that 
the  annual  appropriation  of  $53,000  should  be  continued 
for  five  years  after  the  passage  of  an  act  allotting  them 
lands,  and  that  $25,000  should  be  appropriated  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  farm  implements,  stock  and  seed.^^ 
Carl  Schurz,  secretary  of  the  interior,  was  a  firm  friend  of 
the  Ponka,  and  in  his  reports  for  1877,  1879,  and  1880,  he 
warmly  advocated  that  they  should  be  reimbursed  for  the 
loss  of  their  reservation. 

The  Sioux  gave  evidence  of  contrition  on  account  of 
their  part  in  the  cruel  treatment  of  this  defenseless  little 
band  of  former  kinsmen,  and  on  the  20th  of  August,  1881, 
representatives  of  the  Ogalala,  Brule,  and  Standing  Rock 
tribes  signed  an  agreement  at  Washington  to  relinquish 
enough  of  the  old  Ponka  reservation  to  provide  heads  of 
families  and  males  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  belonging 
to  the  Standing  Bear  band  and  residing  on  or  near  the  old 
reservation,  a  section  of  land  apiece.  But  the  requisite 
signatures  of  three-fourths  of  all  the  adult  male  Sioux 
interested  in  the  reservation  were  apparently  not  obtained.^^ 
It  was  not  until  1888  that  the  demand  of  justice  to  the 
Ponka  was  substantially  recognized.  The  act  of  congress 
of  April  30  of  that  year,  which  divided  the  great  Sioux 
reservation  into  six  distinct  reserves,  contained  the  follow- 
ing provision: 

"Each  member  of  the  Ponca  tribe  of  Indians  now 
occupying  a  part  of  the  old  Ponca  reservation,  within  the 
limits  of  said  great  Sioux  reservation,  shall  be  entitled  to 
allotments  upon  said  old  Ponca  reservation  as  follows: 


'»  Senate  Documents  1880-81,  v.  1,  doc.  30,  pp.  1-13.  The  proceedings 
of  the  Commission,  including  the  testimony  of  representatives  of  the  tribe, 
are  published  in  the  same  document,  beginning  at  page  13,  and  in  Senate 
Miscellaneous  Documents,  1880-81,  v.  1,  document  49. 

32  House  Executive  Documents,  1881-82,  v.  10,  doc.  1,  p.  39;  ibid., 
1882-83,  V.  11,  p.  52. 


86       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

To  each  head  of  a  family,  one-quarter  of  a  section;  to  each 
single  person  over  eighteen  years  of  age,  one-eighth  of  a 
section;  to  each  orphan  child  under  eighteen  years  of  age, 
one-eighth  of  a  section;  and  to  each  other  person  under 
eighteen  years  now  living,  one-sixteenth  of  a  section.  .  .  . 
And  said  Poncas  shall  be  entitled  to  all  other  benefits  under 
this  act  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  conditions 
as  if  they  were  a  part  of  the  Sioux  nation  receiving  rations 
at  one  of  the  agencies  herein  named." 

The  Sioux,  however,  refused  to  ratify  this  provision! 
and  so  it  did  not  become  effective.  A  provision  for  the 
same  purpose  was  incorporated  in  the  act  of  March  2,  1889, 
further  dividing  and  curtailing  the  Sioux  reservation;  and 
it  was  accepted  by  the  Sioux  according  to  its  conditions. 
By  this  act,  each  head  of  a  Ponka  family  then  occupying 
a  part  of  the  old  Ponka  reservation  was  granted  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  said  reservation;  each  single 
person  over  eighteen  years  of  age,  one-fourth  of  a  section; 
each  orphan  child  under  eighteen  years  of  age,  one-fourth 
of  a  section;  and  each  other  person  under  eighteen  years 
of  age  now  living  one-eighth  of  a  section.^^  Accordingly, 
27,236  acres  of  the  land  in  question  were  allotted  to  one 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  Indians,^^  and  thereupon,  on  the 
23d  of  October,  1890,  President  Benjamin  Harrison  issued 
a  proclamation  which  declared  that  "the  Indian  title  is 
extinguished  to  all  lands  described  in  said  act  of  March  28, 
1882,  not  allotted  to  the  Ponca  Indians.  .  ."  In  the  proc- 
lamation the  president  reserved  from  entry  "that  tract  of 
land  now  occupied  by  the  agency  and  school  buildings  of 
the  old  Ponca  agency,  to- wit:  the  south  half  of  the  south- 
east quarter  of  section  twenty-six,  and  the  south  half  of 
the  southwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-five,  all  in  town- 


»»  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  25,  pp.  99,  892. 

"  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  1911,  Interior  Depart- 
ment, Administrative  Reports,  v.  2,  p.  82. 


NEBRASKA  TERRITORIAL  ACQUISITION        87 

ship  thirty-two  north,  range  seven  west  of  the  sixth  principal 
meridian."  ^^  The  act  of  1889,  cited  above,  provided  for  re- 
linquishment by  the  Sioux. 

This  was  the  final  act  of  the  acquisition  comedy,  and 
also  of  the  Ponka  tragedy.  Though  the  domains  of  the 
Ponka  of  Nebraska  were  greatly  circumscribed  by  the 
white  man's  more  urgent  land-hunger  and  superior  power, 
yet  they  received  generous  additional  gifts  in  money  and 
goods,  and  their  selection  of  land  is  said  to  have  been  wise. 

"  The  Ponca  Indians  located  at  this  agency  are  fortunate 
in  having  good  land.  Nearly  all  the  land  taken  by  these 
Indians  is  situated  along  the  Niobrara  or  Running  Water 
river  and  Ponca  creek,  and  lies  mostly  in  broad  and  fertile 
valleys,  just  undulating  enough  to  have  good  drainage." 
"They  have  received  a  large  body  of  the  choicest  land  on 
the  reservation."  3  6 

No  longer  harassed  by  Sioux  ferocity  or  fear  of  rapine 
by  their  white  fellow  citizens,  they  are  slowly  increasing  in 
numbers.    Their  aggregate  in  1912  was  three  hundred." 


35  U.  S.  statutes  at  Large  v.  26,  p.  1560. 

"  Statements  of  the  agent  and  of  the  teacher,  Report  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  1890,  v.  2,  pp.  146,  147. 

5'  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  1912,  Interior  Depart- 
ment, Administrative  Reports,  v.  2,  p.  76. 


ADDRESSES  BY  JAMES  MOONEY 

Of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Washington,  D.  C. 

[Delivered  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January  10-11,  1911.] 

LIFE  AMONG  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES  OF  THE  PLAINS 

It  has  been  announced  that  I  am  to  speak  of  my  life 
with  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  plains.  That  is  a  very  large 
subject  and  could  not  be  exhausted  in  an  evening's  talk. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  go  into  details,  but  try  merely  to 
suggest  a  few  things  of  Indian  life  that  may  help  to  give 
you  an  impression  that  an  Indian  community  is  not  a  mere 
aggregation  of  individuals,  but  is  an  organization,  and 
that  Indian  life  runs  along  channels  as  definite  as  those  of 
civilized  life. 

The  Indian  is  more  than  an  Indian;  he  is  a  member  of 
a  tribe;  and  each  tribe  is  practically  a  small,  distinct 
nation,  usually  with  a  distinct  language.  In  North  and 
South  America  we  have  nobody  knows  how  many  tribes, 
because  they  never  have  been  counted.  We  have  at  least 
a  thousand  different  languages:  putting  it  in  another 
shape,  we  may  say  there  are  a  thousand  ways  to  say  the 
word  "dog"  in  Indian.  In  Europe  there  are  not  more  than 
fifty  languages.  In  the  United  States  we  had  over  two 
hundred  distinct  Indian  languages,  each  unintelligible  to 
those  speaking  the  others.  Most  of  these  languages  are 
still  in  existence;  but  some  of  them  have  been  wiped  out. 

I  have  been  with  tribes  all  the  way  from  Dakota  to 
central  Mexico,  and  west  into  Arizona  and  Nevada;  but 
the  most  of  my  work  and  acquaintance  has  been  with  the 

(88) 


LIFE  AMONG  INDIANS  89 

tribes  of  the  southern  plains,  more  particularly  with  the 
Kiowa.  After  them  I  was,  on  the  plains,  chiefly  with  the 
Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  Comanche,  Sioux,  Caddo,  and  Wichita. 
I  have  been  with  Navaho,  Hopi,  Piute,  Pueblos,  one  or 
two  tribes  in  Mexico  and  several  remnant  tribes;  but  of 
all  I  know  best  the  Kiowa,  having  lived  with  them  as  a 
member  of  an  Indian  family  for  several  years  of  my  first 
western  experience,  and  having  visited  them  since  every 
year,  staying  with  them  a  large  part  of  each  year. 

The  Kiowa  originally  came  from  the  north,  somewhere 
near  the  head  of  the  Missouri  river,  but  within  the  historic 
period  they  have  ranged  along  the  plains  from  the  Black 
Hills  in  Dakota  southward.  They  are  great  riders  and  make 
long  distances  in  traveling.  I  have  known  of  one  band  of 
them  starting  from  Kansas  to  go  up  into  Montana  for  a 
couple  of  years,  while  another  band  went  south  into  Mexico; 
and  while  there  made  a  raid  on  the  city  of  Durango.  So 
their  range  must  have  been  something  like  two  thousand 
miles  north  and  south.  As  a  general  rule*  they  kept  on 
the  plains  and  did  not  go  into  timbered  country. 

To  go  into  detail  of  Indian  life,  as  I  have  seen  it, 
would  take  a  long  time.  I  might  give  you  one  or  two  days 
of  the  winter  camp,  and  one  or  two  days  of  the  summer 
camp.  It  was  customary,  years  ago,  for  the  roaming  tribes 
to  stay  out  on  the  open  priairie  throughout  the  summer 
season.  They  scattered  about,  but  generally  camped  near 
some  convenient  spring  in  the  neighborhood  of  grass  and 
timber.  There  parties  from  other  tribes  would  come  and 
visit  them,  sometimes  hundreds  together,  and  they  would 
have  a  dance.  The  Kiowa  now  live  in  southwestern  Okla- 
homa. Anadarko,  their  agency,  has  now  about  six  thousand 
people.  When  I  first  knew  it,  it  had  about  fifty  whites — 
agency  employees,  two  or  three  traders,  and  a  few  mis- 
sionaries— all  the  rest  were  Indians;  but  the  Indians 
stayed  there  only  a  part  of  the  time  as  a  rule.    Along  late 


90       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

in  the  fall  they  would  come  down,  one  camp  after  another, 
all  within  a  week  or  so,  setting  up  their  tipis  close  to 
Anadarko,  in  the  timber  along  the  bottom  lands  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Washita  river.  Some  of  you  have  read 
General  Custer's  work,  "My  Life  On  The  Plains",  and 
will  remember  that  he  tells  about  the  battles  which  he 
fought  with  the  Cheyenne,  Kiowa,  and  other  tribes  in  this 
part  of  the  country. 

In  the  winter  camp  the  tipis  were  set  up  and  strung 
out  from  five  to  eight  miles  along  the  river.  Sometimes 
around  the  tipi  they  would  build  a  windbreak,  made  of 
interwoven  brush.  If  the  timber  was  pretty  close  they  did 
not  need  to  make  a  windbreak.  I  first  joined  them  in  the 
winter  camp  and  remember  distinctly  my  first  night  there. 
The  headman  was  presiding  at  the  supper  and  dishing  out 
soup,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  did  not  think  it  was  good;  but 
I  was  wondering  how  it  was  possible  for  any  one  to  eat  it. 
The  soup  was  made  of  jerked  beef,  cut  into  small  pieces 
and  cooked  in«salted  water.  With  the  soup  they  had  bread, 
made  by  mixing  flour  with  water  and  frying  it  in  a  pan 
over  a  hole  in  the  ground.  In  the  Indian  sign  language 
the  sign  for  bread  is  this — (indicating  the  smoothing  of 
the  cake  with  the  hands).    They  call  coffee  "black  soup". 

Our  family  had  two  tipis,  each  set  up  with  twenty 
poles  and  with  three  beds  around  the  circle  inside.  The 
old  man  had  been  one  of  the  war  chiefs  in  his  best  days, 
which  gave  him  a  reputation  outside  of  his  own  tribe.  He 
was  known  as  one  of  their  best  story-tellers  and  master  of 
ceremonies;  and  he  was  also  a  "beef  chief"  or  distributor 
of  the  beef  rations.  He  was  the  grandfather,  and  after  we 
became  acquainted  he  called  me  his  son.  He  had  three 
daughters  and  a  son,  all  married,  who  with  the  husbands, 
wives  and  children  made  a  family  of  sixteen,  besides  my- 
self. The  Indians  were  constantly  visiting  from  one  camp 
to  another,  so  that  we  were  not  all  together  all  the  time; 
but  we  usually  had  one  or  two  visitors  to  make  up. 


LIFE  AMONG  INDIANS  91 

In  the  center  of  the  tipi  there  was  a  hole  in  the  ground 
for  the  lire,  where  the  cooking  was  done,  and  the  three 
beds  were  facing  it.  The  bed  consisted  of  a  platform 
about  a  foot  above  the  ground,  covered  with  a  mat  of 
peeled  willow  rods  laid  lengthwise,  and  looped  up  at  one 
end  in  hammock  fashion.  You  may  have  seen  some  of 
these  Indian  bed  platforms  in  museum  collections.  The 
bed  is  covered  with  buffalo  skins  and  there  is  a  pillow  at 
one  end.  If  you  ever  have  a  chance  to  see  one  of  these 
beds  and  examine  it  carefully,  you  will  find  that  each  of  the 
willow  rods  is  fastened  to  the  other  in  a  very  unique  way, 
the  narrow  top  end  of  one  rod  alternating  with  the  thicker 
bottom  end  of  the  next  rod,  so  as  to  preserve  an  even 
balance.  (Here  the  speaker  gave  a  diagram,  and  described 
this  bed  platform,  and  the  particular  construction  of  it.) 

After  dark  we  have  supper,  and  then,  when  they  are 
through  telling  stories  and  shaking  the  rattle,  we  go  to  bed. 

In  the  morning  one  of  the  women  gets  up  and,  in 
winter,  takes  her  bucket  and  ax  and  goes  down  to  the  river 
for  water.  If  it  is  not  too  cold  she  dips  it  up;  if  the  river 
is  frozen,  she  has  to  break  the  ice.  While  she  is  about 
that  her  sister  has  brought  in  some  wood  and  made  the 
fire.  They  do  not  pile  the  wood  on  as  we  do,  but  push  the 
sticks  endways  into  the  fire.  So  arranged  they  give  out 
a  uniform  heat.  The  tipi  is  very  comfortable  in  winter, 
more  so  than  most  of  the  poorly  built  frontier  houses. 
We  had  three  women  in  our  family  besides  the  old  grand- 
mother. While  one  went  after  the  water  and  the  other 
after  the  wood,  the  third  prepared  the  breakfast.  They 
make  bread  hot  for  every  meal,  baking  it  in  the  pan,  with 
tallow  for  grease.  The  regular  ration  issue  every  two 
weeks  consisted  of  beef,  flour,  coffee  and  sugar.  A  few 
days  after  the  rations  are  issued  the  meat  which  is  eaten 
with  it  gives  out,  and  then  there  is  only  the  flour  and  coffee. 
They  use  the  black  coffee,  which  is  always  made  fresh. 


92       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Sometimes  they  have  sugar,  but  never  cream.  The  Indian 
woman  is  as  good  a  coffee  maker  as  you  will  find  anywhere. 
When  breakfast  is  ready  they  spread  out  a  piece  of  canvas 
or  something  of  the  kind  in  front  of  the  bed  platforms  and 
set  out  on  it  the  dishes  and  cups.  They  have  these  things 
from  the  traders  now.  They  formerly  used  bowls  and 
spoons.  The  food  is  divided  and  handed  around  by  the 
woman  who  is  the  head  of  the  household.  After  the  meal 
is  over  a  cloth  is  passed  around  for  a  napkin.  When  they 
had  nothing  else,  I  have  seen  them  use  dry  grass  tied  up 
into  a  knot. 

After  breakfast  they  arrange  the  work  for  the  day. 
The  women  look  after  the  children  and  do  the  sewing. 
Their  clothing  is  made  of  cheap  calico  or  of  buckskin,  the 
latter  being  sewn  with  sinew  taken  from  the  backbone  of 
the  larger  animals.  An  awl  is  used  for  a  needle.  Bead- 
work  is  done  in  the  same  way,  the  beads  being  strung  on  a 
sinew  thread  as  a  shoemaker  handles  his  wax  ends.  While 
the  women  get  to  work,  each  man  saddles  his  favorite  pony 
and  goes  out  to  herd  the  range  ponies.  The  Indian  man's 
time  is  largely  taken  up  with  his  pony.  They  are  a  worth- 
less set  of  horses,  usually,  as  very  few  of  them  are  fit  for 
heavy  work,  but  they  answer  for  riding  purposes.  They 
keep  one  pony  tied  near  the  camp  to  use  in  rounding  up 
the  others.  It  is  hard  for  them  to  give  up  their  horses. 
The  man  in  whose  family  I  lived  had  about  forty.  As  they 
have  no  corrals,  the  ponies  graze  wherever  they  can  find 
gi-ass. 

The  children  go  out  and  play.  When  there  is  snow  on 
the  ground  they  slide  downhill.  Sometimes  they  have 
little  darts  to  slide  along  on  the  ice.  The  young  men 
practice  arrow  throwing.  Three  or  four  get  together  with 
arrows  about  four  feet  long — not  the  kind  that  they  use 
for  shooting,  but  an  ornamented  kind  for  throwing.  One 
of  them  throws  the  arrow  as  far  as  he  can,  and  then  the 


LIFE  AMONG  INDIANS  93 

others  try  how  near  to  where  the  first  arrow  is  sticking  in 
the  ground  they  can  lodge  their  own. 

About  the  middle  of  the  day  they  have  dinner,  which  is 
about  the  same  as  breakfast.  In  the  afternoon,  if  not  too 
cold,  the  women  take  their  work  outside  the  tipi.  After 
sewing  perhaps  an  hour  or  so,  they  think  it  is  about  time 
to  play,  and  so  they  start  up  the  awl  game.  They  play 
this  game  mostly  in  the  winter.  Upon  the  grass  they 
spread  a  blanket,  which  has  certain  lines  marked  all  around 
the  edge,  and  a  large  flat  stone  at  its  center.  There  are 
four  differently  marked  sticks,  each  one  of  which  has  a 
special  name.  They  throw  down  all  four  sticks  at  once 
upon  the  stone  and  count  so  many  tallies  according  to  the 
markings  on  the  sticks  as  they  turn  up.  Each  woman  has 
an  awl,  and  as  she  counts  a  tally  she  moves  the  awl  up  so 
many  lines  along  the  blanket.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
she  scores  a  tally  which  brings  her  to  the  central  line,  when 
she  is  said  to  "fall  into  the  river"  and  has  to  begin  all 
over  again.  In  this  way  they  play  until  the  game  is  finished, 
sometimes  until  nearly  sunset,  when  it  is  time  to  think 
about  supper. 

They  usually  have  supper,  when  there  is  anything  to 
eat,  rather  late  and  after  dark.  It  is  about  that  time  that 
the  Indian  day  really  begins.  When  supper  is  nearly 
ready  the  old  grandfather,  sitting  inside  the  tipi,  which  is 
open  at  the  top,  announces  by  raising  his  voice  so  as  to 
be  heard  outside,  that  he  invites  certain  of  the  old  men  to 
come  and  smoke  with  him.  The  announcement  is  carried 
all  through  the  camp.  Then  the  old  men  who  have  been 
invited  get  out  their  pipes  and  start  for  the  first  man's 
tipi,  so  that  by  the  time  supper  is  ready  there  are  three 
or  four  old  men  of  the  tribe  gathered  together  for  the 
evening,  all  of  them  full  of  reminiscences  and  stories. 

The  father  of  the  family — not  the  old  man,  but  the 
father  of  some  of  the  children — usually  takes  that  time  to 


94       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

give  the  children  a  little  moral  instruction.  It  is  not  gener- 
ally known  that  the  Indian  father  ever  teaches  his  children 
about  their  duties;  but  he  does,  and  it  is  usually  done  in 
that  way  and  at  that  time,  without  addressing  himself  to 
any  child  in  particular,  and  without  any  conversation  in 
particular.  Sitting  there  with  his  head  down,  without 
looking  around,  he  begins  a  sort  of  recitation,  telling  the 
boys  what  they  must  soon  be  doing,  and  as  men  what 
might  be  expected  of  them.  At  another  time  the  mother 
will  tell  the  girls  something  to  the  same  effect — what  is 
expected  of  them  now  that  they  are  growing  old  enough  to 
know  about  these  things. 

Supper  is  a  little  more  formal  than  the  other  meals, 
especially  when  there  are  visitors.  During  the  mealtime 
not  very  much  is  said;  but  after  it  is  over  the  old  man 
who  has  invited  his  guests  gets  out  his  pipe  and  tobacco 
pouch,  and  they  get  out  their  tobacco  and  light  their 
pipes.  The  ordinary  Indian  pipe  is  of  red  stone.  It  has 
a  long  stem,  and  there  is  a  projection  below  the  bowl,  so  as 
to  rest  it  upon  the  ground,  because  when  the  Indian  smokes 
he  is  sitting  cross-legged  upon  the  ground;  therefore  the 
pipe  is  just  the  right  length  for  this  purpose.  He  lights  his 
pipe,  and  then  raises  it  in  turn  to  each  of  the  cardinal 
points.  On  one  occasion  I  remember  one  of  the  old  men 
in  our  camp  holding  up  the  pipe  to  the  sky,  and  saying, 
"Behabe,  Sinti!"  (Smoke,  Sinti!),  addressing  a  mystic 
trickster  of  the  Kiowa  tribe,  of  whom  they  tell  many  funny 
stories  and  say  that  at  the  end  of  his  life  on  earth  he  ascended 
into  the  sky  and  became  a  star,  so  they  offer  their  pipe  to 
him  in  smoking  at  night.  Immediately  after  saying  this 
he  raised  his  pipe  to  the  sky  again,  and  said,  "Behahe, 
Jesus!"  (Smoke,  Jesus!).  When  the  pipe  is  lighted  it  is 
passed  around,  and  each  man  takes  a  whiff  or  two  and 
hands  it  on  to  the  next;  and  so  it  goes  around  the  circle. 
After  it  has  gone  a  round  or  two  they  begin  to  tell  of  the 


THE  INDIAN  WOMAN  95 

old  war  times,  just  as  grand  army  men  tell  stories  of  their 
war  days.  There  are  myths  and  fables,  stories  concerning 
warriors  who  have  been  noted  for  their  bravery,  and  humor- 
ous stories  which  are  told,  usually  by  the  old  men,  to  amuse 
children.  (Mr.  Mooney  here  related  one  of  these  stories, 
similar  to  the  fairy  story  of  "Jack  and  the  Beanstalk", 
and  described  a  "hand  game",  similar  to  the  game  of 
"Button,  button,  who's  got  the  button?")  Stories  are 
told  by  the  old  men  and  games  played  by  the  children 
until  late  in  the  night;  and  then,  one  after  another,  they 
retire.  Those  who  remain  are  assigned  their  places  for  the 
night,  the  others  going  back  to  their  own  tipis,  each  one 
saying  for  goodby,  simply,  "I'm  going  out";  and  so  closes 
one  of  the  winter  nights. 

(Mr.  Mooney  now  exhibited  a  number  of  views  of 
Indian  life  and  pictures  of  famous  Indians,  after  which  the 
meeting  adjourned.) 


THE  INDIAN  WOMAN 

Among  Indians  particular  attention  is  given  to  every- 
thing relating  to  the  birth  of  a  child.  Even  in  cutting  the 
wood  and  shaping  the  pieces  for  the  cradle,  the  sticks  are 
placed  in  the  cradle  as  they  grew  upward  in  the  living  tree, 
in  order  that  the  child  may  grow  in  the  same  way.  While 
the  father  is  making  the  cradle,  the  mother  is  busy  prepar- 
ing the  little  moccasins  that  the  child  will  need.  About  the 
only  sanitary  precaution  taken  by  the  mother  is  the  wearing 
of  a  tight  belt  about  the  body.  When  the  child  is  born 
there  is  usually  a  woman  nurse  in  attendance,  a  relative 
of  the  family  of  some  professional  ability.  The  newborn 
child  is  washed,  usually  in  the  running  stream,  and  then 
is  put  into  the  cradle.    It  is  not  kept  in  the  cradle  through- 


96       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

out  the  day,  but  only  while  the  mother  is  going  from  one 
camp  to  another. 

When  the  baby  is  about  a  year  old  its  ears  are  pierced. 
In  the  summer  season  it  often  happens  that  a  large  party 
of  visitors  from  some  neighboring  tribe  will  come  down  to 
dance  for  several  weeks.  Let  us  suppose  that  about  five 
hundred  Cheyenne  are  coming  to  visit  with  the  Kiowa. 
The  first  intimation  will  be,  as  I  have  seen  it,  that  a  wagon 
drives  up  near  to  our  camp  and  a  strange  man  and  woman 
get  out,  set  up  a  little  tent,  and  then  sit  down  and  await 
developments.  Our  women  go  into  the  tipi  and  prepare 
to  receive  them.  After  some  time  our  man  goes  out  to 
welcome  the  strangers  and  bring  them  up  to  our  place  for 
dinner.  They  cannot  speak  Kiowa ;  but  in  the  sign  language 
they  tell  us  that  a  large  party  of  their  own  tribe  are  on  the 
way  and  close  at  hand,  to  visit  the  Kiowa  and  dance  in 
their  various  camps.  About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
there  is  a  great  noise  in  the  distance,  out  on  the  prairie. 
We  look  out  and  see  several  hundred  Indians  coming,  the 
women  and  children  in  wagons,  and  the  men,  all  in  full 
buckskin,  riding  ahead,  shouting  and  firing  guns.  When 
they  get  in,  the  wagons  are  unloaded,  the  tipis  are  set  up, 
and  then  the  visiting  and  the  dancing  begin,  to  continue 
for  several  weeks,  from  one  camp  to  another.  The  cere- 
mony of  piercing  the  children's  ears  takes  place  at  one  of 
these  dances.  A  priest  of  the  visiting  tribe  does  the  work. 
The  baby,  dressed  in  a  buckskin  suit,  is  held  up  in  the  arms 
of  its  mother,  and  the  old  man  pierces  both  of  its  ears  with 
an  awl.  At  that  time,  or  very  soon  afterward,  the  grand- 
mother of  the  child,  or  some  other  older  relative,  gives  the 
child  its  name.  The  name  of  a  girl  is  not  very  apt  to 
change,  but  the  name  of  a  boy  changes  as  he  grows  up, 
according  to  circumstances.  The  old  man  who  pierces  the 
ears  receives  as  a  fee  a  horse,  a  blanket  or  some  other 
valuable  gift  of  that  kind.    After  the  ears  are  bored  the 


THE  INDIAN  WOMAN  97 

father  of  the  child  asks  the  old  man's  prayers  for  the  child, 
that  it  may  have  long  life,  health  and  success.  He  does 
this  by  laying  both  his  hands  upon  the  old  man's  head, 
who  in  turn  puts  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  child, 
praying  that  it  may  grow  up  well  formed  and  healthy  and 
have  long  life. 

The  little  girl  has  playmates  as  soon  as  she  is  old 
enough  to  run  around  with  her  older  sisters  and  cousins. 
They  are  fond  of  swimming  and  in  summer  the  boys  and 
girls  are  in  the  water  almost  half  the  time.  The  little 
girls  play  house,  and,  with  their  dolls  and  toys,  go  visiting 
from  one  camp,  or  one  tipi,  to  another.  When  the  little 
girl  goes  visiting  she  ties  all  her  dolls  upon  a  stick  to  show 
them  to  her  girl  playmates.  She  has  her  pets  too,  usually 
a  pony  and  a  small  dog,  each  of  which  has  a  name.  One 
name  that  I  remember  for  a  little  dun-colored  pet  pony 
was  Sai-guadal-i,  which  means  "Red  Winter  Baby".  A 
pet  dog  in  our  family  was  called  Adal-kai-ma,  which  means 
"Crazy  Woman".  The  name  of  the  child  might  be  given 
from  some  incident  connected  with  its  birth.  Thus  one 
little  girl  in  our  family  was  named  Aismia,  which  means 
"Tipi  Track  Woman".  She  was  so  called  because  she  was 
bom  one  night  when  her  parents  had  camped  on  a  former 
camp  site,  and  had  set  up  their  tipi  in  the  old  tracks.  The 
name  of  another  little  girl  in  our  family  was  Imguana, 
which  means  "They  are  dancing".  That  is  what  might 
be  called  a  medicine  name,  and  has  reference  to  a  dream 
in  which  her  gi-andfather  had  a  vision  of  spirits  in  a  dance. 

As  the  girl  grows  older,  about  eight  or  ten  years,  she 
begins  to  help  her  mother  in  looking  after  the  affairs  of  the 
household  and  learns  to  sew  and  do  different  kinds  of  bead- 
work.  All  beadwork  and  blanket  weaving  are  done  with- 
out any  pattern,  the  woman  carrying  the  patterns  in  her 
mind.  As  the  buffalo  tribes  of  the  plains  were  roving 
about  most  of  the  time,  they  could  not  keep  breakable 


98       NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

articles,  and  so  did  not  make  pottery.  They  had  buckskin 
sewing  and  painted  rawhide  or  panfleche  work,  such  as 
vaHses  and  food  bags.  While  learning  to  do  all  her  mother's 
work,  the  little  girl  had  also  time  to  play.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  the  women's  awl  game.  I  have  here  some  of 
their  gaming  outfits  which  may  be  seen  after  the  meeting 
is  over.  Besides  the  awl  game,  the  women  have  a  foot- 
ball game  of  which  they  are  very  fond.  The  object  in  this 
game  is  not  to  send  the  ball  as  far  as  possible,  but  to  keep  it 
up  in  the  air  as  long  as  possible  by  kicking  it  with  the  toe. 
Football  and  the  awl  game  are  the  two  most  common 
games  among  the  Indian  girls,  aside  from  playing  with 
dolls  and  pets. 

At  times  the  girls  go  down  to  the  creek  bottom  and 
cut  the  bark  of  a  particular  tree  that  grows  there,  a  very 
small  bushy  tree  with  glassy  leaves  and  gummy  sap.  They 
make  chewing  gum  by  beating  up  this  bark  and  washing 
away  the  woody  fiber  in  the  creek.  Indian  girls  are  as 
fond  as  other  girls  of  chewing  gum.  By  the  time  the  girl 
gets  to  be  about  twelve  years  old  she  is  considered  a  young 
woman,  and  her  mother  is  constantly  talking  to  her  about 
the  duties  of  women,  particularly  in  married  life.  She  is 
supposed  by  that  time  to  have  learned  all  the  household 
duties  and  the  buckskin  sewing;  but  there  are  other  special 
arts  of  an  expert  nature  which  she  learns  later. 

There  is  a  puberty  ceremony  when  the  young  woman 
comes  to  the  proper  age.  This  ceremony  is  often  very 
arduous,  especially  with  some  tribes  in  southern  California. 
With  them  a  fire  is  built  and  a  pit  is  dug  and  heated  with 
hot  stones  from  the  fire.  A  bed  of  grass  is  laid  on  the 
bottom  of  the  pit,  and  the  young  girls  are  stretched  upon 
it  and  compelled  to  lie  there  almost  without  getting  out 
for  as  long  a  time  as  a  week.  During  this  time  they  are 
not  allowed  to  look  at  any  one,  and  to  prevent  this  a  cover 
is  placed  over  their  eyes.    All  this  time  certain  old  women 


THE  INDIAN  WOMAN  99 

are  going  around  the  mouth  of  the  pit  reciting  chants 
which  bear  upon  the  future  duties  of  the  young  girls. 
The  longer  the  girl  endures  this  ordeal  the  greater  the  honor. 
In  most  tribes  the  performance  closes  with  a  dance  termed 
a  puberty  dance.  In  this  way  it  is  announced  throughout 
the  tribe  that  the  young  woman  has  made  her  entrance 
into  society,  and  the  young  men  take  notice  of  it.  She 
has  grown  up  knowing  the  young  men  of  her  own  camp 
and  others  who  may  visit  back  and  forth,  but  if  some 
young  man  thinks  she  has  a  special  preference  for  him,  as 
he  has  for  her,  he  undertakes  to  get  an  idea  of  the  state  of 
her  mind.  It  is  a  point  of  etiquette  among  the  plains 
Indians,  in  social  matters,  that  if  you  do  not  see  anybody, 
nobody  sees  you.  They  do  not  have  assembly  rooms  and 
parlors  to  meet  in,  but  come  together  as  they  are  going 
about  in  ordinary  camp  life.  So  when  a  young  man  has 
taken  a  fancy  to  this  particular  girl  and  wants  to  know 
whether  she  has  any  reciprocal  feeling  for  him,  he  finds 
occasion  to  meet  her.  Having  his  blanket  wrapt  arround 
him,  as  he  comes  up  to  the  young  girl  he  deliberately 
throws  one  end  of  it  over  her  head.  If  she  does  not  like 
him  she  forces  him  away.  If  she  does  like  him  she  stands 
still,  and  with  the  blanket  over  both  their  heads  they  talk 
together  awhile.  There  may  be  hundreds  of  people  around, 
but  nobody  shows  any  sign  of  noticing.  After  they  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  like  each  other  well  enough  to 
be  married,  the  young  man  sends  a  friend  to  talk  with  her 
family,  but  more  particularly  to  talk  with  her  brother,  as 
he  usually  assumes  more  control  and  authority  over  the 
girl  than  does  her  father  or  mother.  If  it  seems  all  right 
and  the  girl  is  satisfied,  they  begin  to  bargain  as  to  how 
much  the  young  man  ought  to  pay  or  give;  that  has  been 
spoken  of  as  buying  a  wife.  A  young  woman  often  makes 
the  boast  that  her  husband  has  paid  a  large  price,  a  con- 
siderable number  of  ponies,  to  get  her.    She  would  con- 


100     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

sider  it  a  disgrace  to  be  given  over  to  her  lover  for  a  small 
consideration. 

When  a  young  Indian  man  and  woman  marry  in  the 
Indian  way,  as  a  rule  it  is  because  they  want  to  be  together. 
I  believe  most  of  the  tribes  of  the  plains  have  polygamy; 
in  some  tribes  it  does  not  exist.  Usually  the  man 
who  marries  the  eldest  daughter  in  a  family  has  a  prior 
claim  on  the  other  daughters,  from  which  it  happens  in 
some  cases  that  a  man  has  two  or  three  wives,  all  sisters. 
The  theory  is  that  mothers  thus  closely  related  will  take  a 
greater  interest  in  all  the  children  of  the  same  family. 
At  any  rate,  if  a  man  has  more  than  one  wife,  two  of  them 
are  likely  to  be  sisters. 

There  is  no  formal  method  of  divorce;  but  either 
party  is  at  liberty  to  separate  from  the  other.  When  the 
woman  leaves  she  takes  her  children  with  her,  and  this 
custom  applies  to  all  the  tribes  that  I  know.  When  with 
the  Hopi  Pueblos  of  Arizona  who  lead  a  sedentary  life,  I 
had  opportunity  to  witness  their  marriage  ceremony  which 
took  about  two  weeks  altogether.  Outside  of  the  regular 
marriage  ceremony,  as  you  might  call  it,  all  the  various 
societies  connected  with  the  families  of  the  two  contracting 
parties  took  part.  On  this  occasion  nine  societies  par- 
ticipated, and  the  dances  and  other  ceremonies  occupied 
from  ten  days  to  two  weeks.  But  with  the  tribes  of  the 
plains  there  is  no  formal  announcement.  The  news  spreads 
abroad  rapidly,  and  it  is  well  known  when  a  man  and 
woman  are  married,  and  equally  well  known  when  they 
separate.  On  an  average  an  Indian  man  or  woman  of 
fifty  years  of  age  has  been  married  about  three  times; 
that  is  to  say,  has  been  man-ied  and  separated  three  times. 
That  is  a  fair  average.  Of  course  some  couples  live  together 
all  their  lives.  The  grandfather  and  grandmother  of  the 
family  with  which  I  made  my  home  among  the  Kiowa 
had  never  separated. 


THE  INDIAN  WOMAN  101 

The  everyday  work  of  the  Indian  woman  is  looking 
after  the  children,  cooking,  and  making  clothes.  They 
have  some  work  specialties,  one  of  which  is  the  art  of 
cutting  and  fitting  the  tipi  cover.  This  and  other  specialties 
are  not  part  of  the  ordinary  woman's  knowledge  but  belong 
to  work  societies,  for  the  women  have  their  labor  unions 
just  as  our  tradesmen  have.  The  women  nurses  in  the 
Kiowa  tribe,  who  look  after  the  mother  at  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  a  child,  belong  to  a  society  called  the  "Star  Gh'l" 
or  Pleiades  society,  taking  their  name  and  medical  power 
from  the  Pleiads,  who  are  believed  to  have  been  originally 
seven  sisters  of  the  tribe.  If  it  is  the  ambition  of  a  young 
woman  to  learn  all  that  a  woman  should  know,  she  joins 
the  women's  labor  unions  and  work  societies.  If,  for 
instance,  she  wants  to  learn  how  to  cut  out  a  tipi,  which 
is  an  especially  difficult  operation,  on  the  payment  of  a 
certain  number  of  blankets  the  head  woman  of  the  tipi 
society  agrees  to  teach  her.  She  tells  the  young  woman 
the  names  of  the  different  parts  and  how  to  arrange  the 
skins  so  that  when  cut  out  they  shall  make  the  tipi  pattern. 
I  have  watched  the  building  of  a  tipi  from  start  to  finish 
and  think  I  am  the  only  white  man  in  the  country  who 
knows  how  to  cut  one  out.  It  is  not  such  a  simple  matter 
as  one  might  think.  The  tipi,  as  you  know,  is  of  a  general 
conical  shape,  but  if  you  look  at  it  closely  you  will  see  that 
it  has  not  the  same  slope  on  all  sides;  there  is  one  slope 
from  top  to  back  and  a  longer  slope  from  top  to  front 
which  gives  it  greater  solidity  when  set  up.  For  the 
ordinary  tipi  from  twenty  to  twenty-two  poles  are  required. 
They  used  to  count  one  buffalo  hide  to  a  pole,  so  that  it 
took  twenty  hides  for  a  tipi  of  the  usual  size. 

Another  part  of  woman's  work  is  the  dressing  of  these 
hides.  This  is  a  work  of  several  days.  After  killing  the 
animal,  which  must  be  done  at  the  proper  season  to  insure 
the  best  results,  the  skin  is  removed  and  scraped  on  both 


102     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

sides  to  remove  the  flesh  and  hair.  It  is  then  treated  with 
a  mixture  of  cooked  lime,  grease  and  soap  root  (3aicca), 
pounded  up  together  and  spread  over  the  surface  of  the 
skin  to  render  it  soft  and  pHable.  This  application  is 
repeated  several  times,  together  with  a  great  deal  of  scrap- 
ing, stretching  and  soaking  in  water,  before  the  work  is 
done,  the  whole  process  taking  about  a  week. 

Having  prepared  the  skins,  the  woman  of  the  house- 
hold gets  a  professional  expert  to  fit  and  cut  them  out  for 
the  tipi.  The  woman  who  does  this  work  is  supposed  to  be 
of  good  disposition,  because  if  any  other  kind  of  a  woman 
builds  the  tipi,  things  will  never  go  right  inside.  She 
spreads  the  skins  out  on  the  ground  in  order  that  they 
may  be  arranged  to  fit  properly,  one  particular  skin  being 
chosen  to  go  at  the  top  of  the  tipi.  When  she  has  them 
all  spread  out  in  an  approximate  circle,  she  marks  with 
some  red  paint  on  the  end  of  a  stick  the  lines  along  which 
the  women  under  her  supervision  are  to  cut  out  the  pattern. 
When  the  cutting  is  done  she  fits  these  pieces  together  and 
the  women  sew  them  into  one  piece  to  cover  the  poles  as 
they  are  set  up.  The  tipi  is  painted,  by  the  men,  to  represent 
some  vision  of  the  owner  or  to  depict  some  war  scene. 
Everything  relating  to  it  is  woman's  work,  including  the 
interior  furnishings.  I  have  here  some  specimens  of  Indian 
women's  work,  beaded  pouches,  moccasins,  dolls,  and  buck- 
skin sewing. 

The  Pueblo  tribes  and  the  eastern  tribes  in  the  timber 
country  make  pottery.  I  have  given  particular  attention 
to  the  process  and  find  it  to  be  essentially  the  same  east 
and  west.  Much  depends  upon  the  proper  selection  of 
the  clay,  the  mixing  of  the  two  different  kinds  and  the 
burning.  All  of  this  work  is  done  by  women.  Woman 
is  the  great  industrial  factor  in  Indian  life. 

I  have  now  described  many  of  the  things  that  concern 
the  life  of  the  Indian  woman.     On  two  occasions  I  was 


NEBRASKA  ETHNOLOGY  103 

present  at  the  death  and  burial  of  a  woman  in  our  tribe. 
In  the  case  of  one,  immediately  after  death  her  two  sisters 
took  charge  of  the  body  and  arrayed  it  in  her  best  buckskin 
dress  with  all  her  personal  adornments.  Then  some  of  the 
friends  carried  the  body  out  to  a  cave  in  the  hills,  while 
others  of  the  same  camp  took  out  her  household  belongings, 
dishes  and  such  things,  and  they  all  went  out  together. 
The  husband  went  on  his  pony.  It  was  a  simple  matter 
to  lower  the  body  down  into  the  cave  and  cover  the  open- 
ing with  logs  and  large  stones.  Then  the  dishes  and  other 
property  were  destroyed  beside  the  grave  by  breaking 
them  to  pieces  with  an  ax.  After  the  funeral  the  relatives, 
more  particularly  the  women,  show  their  giief  by  cutting 
of?  their  hair  and  gashing  their  faces,  arms  and  legs  repeat- 
edly with  butcher  knives,  while  waiting  in  solitary  places 
night  and  morning  on  the  hills  for  perhaps  a  month.  I 
have  even  known  a  woman  to  cut  off  her  finger  on  the 
death  of  a  child.  In  our  family  they  destroyed  the  property 
and  cut  off  their  hair,  but  I  was  able  to  persuade  them 
not  to  gash  themselves. 


SYSTEMATIC  NEBRASKA  ETHNOLOGIC  INVESTIGATION 

I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words  this  evening 
about  a  systematic  Nebraska  ethnological  investigation. 
I  do  not  know  what  your  society  is  now  doing  along  that 
line,  but  having  had  a  little  experience  in  the  matter,  I 
shall  make  a  few  suggestions  as  to  method. 

In  the  first  place,  I  should  try  to  get  legislative  author- 
ity, and  then  try  to  interest  as  many  people  of  the  state  of 
Nebraska  as  possible  in  this  work.  Ethnology  means  the 
science  which  treats  of  the  division  of  mankind  into  races, 
their  origin,  distribution  and  relations,  and  the  peculiarities 
which  characterize  them — that  is,  the  study  of  tribes  and 


104     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

races.  It  includes  archaeology,  anthropometry  and  psychol- 
olgy;  and  besides  our  Indian  tribes  it  includes  our  white 
and  colored  population.  A  systematic  ethnological  in- 
vestigation should  include  and  cover  all  these  things. 
Having  authority  to  do  something,  the  first  obvious  step 
would  be  to  have  your  state  surveyor  prepare  a  large  map 
of  Nebraska  with  all  the  ranges,  townships,  and  eveiything 
else  necessary  for  a  survey  sheet  properly  outlined,  also 
indicating  county  lines,  towns,  and  so  on.  Then  go  to  the 
state  school  superintendent,  explain  the  nature  of  the  work 
to  him  and  try  to  interest  him,  and  get  him  to  send  out  to 
the  teachers  of  every  district  school  in  the  state  a  circular 
letter,  asking  him  to  aid  in  the  work  by  calling  the  attention 
of  the  pupils  to  what  is  proposed.  This  is  something  I 
have  had  occasion  to  do  in  our  bureau,  in  an  investigation 
of  a  similar  character  some  years  ago  for  the  south  Atlantic 
states.  Draw  up  a  circular  letter  covering  the  principal 
points  of  ethnological  investigation.  In  this  case  it  would 
relate  to  Indian  tribes;  but  the  circular  letter  should  call 
for  location  of  presumed  Indian  sites,  archaeologic  sites^ 
battle  sites,  camp  sites  and  what  might  be  called  site.3  of 
supplies,  as  paint  quarries,  flint  deposits,  etc. 

The  letter  should  call  for  names  of  streams  and  othei- 
places  within  the  tenitory,  of  Indian  origin  or  having  an 
Indian  connection.  Have  a  paragraph  also  calling  for 
names  and  addresses  of  any  persons  of  Indian  blood  or  any 
old  settlers  or  frontiersmen  living  in  the  neighborhood. 
These  circulars  should  be  printed,  two  or  three  thousand 
of  them,  and  mailed  to  those  whose  opportunity  or  business 
might  give  them  knowledge  of  these  things  in  their  several 
localities.  For  instance,  physicians  who  travel  about  and 
know  nearly  every  family  in  certain  country  districts, 
postmasters,  and  ministers,  ai-e  generally  interested  in  such 
things.  I  should  try  to  have  one  circular  sent,  not  only  to 
every  school  teacher,  but  to  every  country  minister  through- 


NEBRASKA   ETHNOLOGY  105 

out  the  whole  state.  I  speak  now  of  districts  outside  of 
large  cities. 

Then,  having  sent  out  these  circulars,  sit  down  and 
wait  a  while  for  results.  You  will  probably  find  that  a 
large  per  cent  of  the  circulars  will  not  come  back,  and 
that  a  great  deal  of  the  information  received  will  not  be 
to  the  point.  There  are  many  ideas  in  connection  with 
places,  names  and  so  on  that  have  no  valid  foundation, 
and  you  will  find  a  good  many  such  theories  set  forth  in 
the  answers.  Aside  from  all  this,  however,  you  will  acquire 
a  very  large  fund  of  information  that  you  could  not  have 
obtained  readily  in  any  other  way,  and  it  will  cover  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  state. 

As  a  i-ule,  besides  the  men  who  have  given  attention 
to  such  things,  you  can  usually  count  upon  a  gi'eat  deal  of 
efficient  field  service  from  young  university  students. 
They  like  to  see  that  their  own  county  is  properly  repre- 
sented, and  they  have  a  sufficient  amount  of  training  in 
that  direction  to  go  at  it  in  the  right  way,  and  many  of 
them  will  post  up  for  the  occasion.  You  can  get  the  pioneers 
and  pioneer  associations;  you  can  get  associations  of  doctors 
and  ministers  and  others;  and  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
lawyers  should  not  take  part  in  the  work. 

Then,  when  these  results  begin  coming  in,  send  out 
your  field  force.  A  very  essential  thing  to  remember  is 
that  a  large  part  of  this  ethnologic  work  is  really  Indian 
work.  Go  to  the  Indians  and  ask  them  for  information; 
and  hire  an  Indian  to  go  around  with  you.  Nebraska  is 
particularly  fortunate  in  still  having  representatives  of 
each  one  of  the  native  tribes,  so  that  you  do  not  have  to 
begin,  as  you  would  if  you  were  in  an  older  state,  by  hunting 
up  books  and  documents  for  information.  And  you  have 
the  younger  generation  of  Indians,  who  have  been  educated 
as  interpreters,  whom  you  can  get.  In  the  northeast  you 
have  the  Omaha  tribe,  and  they  have  a  particularly  large 


106     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

proportion  of  intelligent  old  men  and  intelligent  young  and 
middle  aged  who  can  give  information.  On  your  northern 
border  you  still  have  the  great  tribe  of  the  Sioux,  who 
claimed  to  the  South  Platte.  Down  in  Oklahoma  are  the 
Pawnee,  who  held  the  central  region  with  the  Kiowa  and 
Cheyenne  who  ranged  over  the  same  region,  and  the  Oto, 
who  held  the  southeastern  part  of  the  state;  and  back  in 
Colorado  are  the  Ute,  who  used  to  come  down  from  their 
mountains  and  raid  them  all. 

Mr.  Gilder  told  you  today  of  remarkable  finds  he  had 
made  along  the  Missouri  river  and  in  some  cases  gave  his 
opinion  as  to  the  tribe  that  originated  those  things.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  ascribe  them  to  any  of  the  tribes  we 
know  to-day,  because  before  the  historical  period  that 
region  was  occupied  by  more  than  one  tribe  that  has  now 
passed  out  of  remembrance. 

You  can  get  from  the  Omaha  anything  that  is  within 
the  memory  of  their  tribe.  It  is  not  a  difficult  matter  to 
go  down  to  the  Pawnee  and  others  in  Oklahoma  and  find 
out  all  that  they  can  tell  of  the  central  region,  or  to  get 
one  or  two  of  them  up  into  Nebraska.  They  are  all  able 
to  tell  their  own  story. 

You  are  also  particularly  fortunate  that  Nebraska  is 
still  a  pioneer  state,  and  you  can  get  direct  information 
from  the  first  settlers.  They  are  still  here  to  tell  their 
story,  and  you  should  secure  this  now,  before  it  is  too  late. 

You  should  make  it  a  point  to  get  the  real  Indian 
name  of  all  rivers  and  hills  and  places.  Get  them  correctly; 
get  the  name  from  the  Indian  himself  (he  is  the  best  author- 
ity), and  not  the  modern  name  manufactured  as  a  trans- 
lation by  some  white  man.  Get  the  real  Indian  name  in 
scientific,  phonetic  spelling,  and  get  the  definite  trans- 
lation. It  is  well  to  remember  that  the  Indian  tribes  in 
this  central  plain  originally  had  no  fixed  boundaries,  and 
often  the  same  territory  was  covered  or  claimed  by  two  or 


NEBRASKA  ETHNOLOGY  107 

more  tribes.  Consequently  in  getting  these  names  from 
all  of  the  tribes  that  ranged  over  the  same  country  there 
may  be  some  duplication.  That  does  not  matter  so  much, 
because  it  will  be  found  that  the  names  for  the  same  place, 
in  the  various  languages,  have  usually  the  same  translation 
and  are  all  indicated  by  the  same  signs  in  the  sign  language. 
For  the  Omaha  territory  get  the  Omaha  names  first.  For 
the  section  of  country  claimed  by  the  Pawnee  put  the 
Pawnee  names  first.  Along  with  names  of  rivers,  streams, 
hills,  village  sites  and  other  places,  you  will  get  the  names 
of  plants,  gods  and  notable  heroes;  and  before  you  are 
done  with  it  you  will  have  a  good  deal  of  Indian  mythology 
and  Indian  botanj?"  and  many  other  things  that  you  were 
not  expecting  when  you  started  out.  In  that  way  cover 
the  whole  state  from  the  Indian  to  the  pioneer,  with  battle 
grounds  and  camp  sites,  posts  and  trails.  Locate  all  these 
things  by  definite  range,  township  and  quarter  section, 
and  on  one  or  the  other  side  of  a  river.  Anything  that 
concerns  Nebraska  history  you  should  follow  out. 

Some  years  ago  in  this  way  I  made  an  archaeologic 
survey  of  the  old  Cherokee  country  in  the  southern  Alle- 
ghanies.  I  located  about  one  thousand  sites  of  Indian 
archaeologic  interest,  village  sites,  mounds,  quarries  and 
stone  graves.  Each  class  was  indicated  on  the  map  by 
means  of  a  special  symbol,  and  every  site  was  numbered, 
with  a  separate  series  of  numbers  for  each  county.  Cor- 
responding to  each  number  there  was  a  manuscript  note 
descriptive  of  the  site  or  ancient  remains,  with  a  statement 
that  it  was  so  many  miles  in  a  certain  direction  from  the 
nearest  postoffice  and  on  a  certain  side  of  the  creek.  That 
is  an  important  point  which  is  often  neglected  in  mapping 
out  these  things.  A  man  may  tell  you  that  a  certain  site 
is  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Omaha,  but  you  are  not  sure 
then  even  what  state  it  is  in;  and  if  you  know  that  it  is 
within  the  state,  you  are  not  certain  what  county  it  is  in. 


108     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Get  these  things  down  exactly  by  state,  county  and  quarter 
section,  distance  in  certain  direction  from  the  nearest  post- 
office,  and  on  which  side  of  the  stream,  if  any.  In  order  to 
follow  up  the  investigation  get  the  name  and  postoffice 
address  of  the  man  who  owns  the  site,  so  that  you  can 
correspond  with  him  or  send  somebody  there  to  talk  with 
him.  In  that  way  you  can  map  out  your  ethnologic  and 
archaeologic  nomenclature  and  pioneer  landmarks  for  the 
whole  state.  You  will  find  in  many  cases  that  the  emigrant 
trails  and  later  railroad  lines  have  followed  the  original 
Indian  trails.  You  will  also  find  that  the  trails  lead  to 
the  village  and  battle  sites.  Get  all  the  data  relating  to 
these  things. 

Here  again  it  is  important  that  you  call  in  the  aid  of 
the  state  to  save  archaeologic  sites  from  the  vandalism  of 
ignorant  people  in  order  to  preserve  everything  that  is  of 
sufficient  importance  for  the  state  museum  deposit.  Espec- 
ially if  it  forms  part  of  a  chain  of  evidence,  try  to  secure  it 
from  interference  until  the  proper  students  come  to  examine 
it.  Photograph  every  stage  of  the  excavation,  then  take 
out  what  you  find  and  put  it  into  your  museum. 

I  believe  I  have  suggested  most  of  the  things  in  con- 
nection with  the  archaeologic  and  Indian  ethnologic  survey 
of  your  state;  but  there  is  something  beyond  that  which 
is  growing  rapidly  in  importance  in  this  country.  It  has 
already  been  once  or  twice  emphasized  in  these  meetings 
that  we  are  a  new  nation,  a  conglomerate,  especially  in  these 
western  states,  from  older  nations.  One  of  these  days  our 
children  and  their  children  will  want  to  know  concerning 
their  forefathers,  and  what  are  the  constituent  racial 
elements  that  have  combined  to  make  up  our  present  citi- 
zenship. It  is  still  possible  to  fill  in  the  record,  especially 
here  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas  and  these  younger  western 
states.  You  can  form  some  sort  of  impression  of  the  line 
of  general  census  work  that  would  be  required  to  make  up 


NEBRASKA  ETHNOLOGY  109 

such  an  ethnologic  map  for  the  state.  Find  out  where 
your  immigrants  have  come  from  and  where  they  have 
settled — your  Germans,  Irish,  Swedes,  Danes,  etc.,  and 
your  native  Americans  by  states,  and  tabulate  the  result 
and  put  it  upon  a  map.  Then  you  will  not  only  know 
who  were  your  aboriginal  predecessors,  but  who  were  your 
immediate  ancestors  in  this  country,  and  you  will  have 
put  upon  map  record  everything  possible  of  past,  present 
or  future  ethnologic  interest  to  the  people  of  Nebraska. 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 
By  George  W.  Hansen 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historicai 
Society,  January,  1912.] 

Upon  a  beautiful  swell  of  the  prairie  between  the  forks 
of  Whisky  Run,  five  miles  north  and  one  mile  west  of 
Fairbury,  Jefferson  county,  Nebraska,  and  close  to  the 
"old  legitimate  trail  of  the  Oregon  emigrants"  a  red  sand- 
stone slab,  twenty  inches  in  height,  of  equal  width,  and  six 
inches  thick,  marks  a  lone  grave.  An  inscription  cut  in 
this  primitive  headstone  reads:  "Geo.  Winslow,  Newton, 
Ms.  AE.  25."  On  a  footstone  are  the  figures  "1849". 
A  deep  furrow  marks  the  course  of  the  oldest  white  man's 
highway  in  Nebraska  through  this  still  virgin  meadow 
which  overlooks  the  charming  wooded  valley  of  the  Little 
Blue. 

The  Oregon  Trail  had  become  well  known  some  four 
or  five  years  prior  to  1849,  when  the  rush  to  the  California 
gold  fields  set  in.  A  letter  written  by  William  Sublette 
and  others,  in  1830,  and  published  with  President  Jackson's 
message,  January  25,  1831,  reads,  in  part,  substantially 
as  follows:  On  the  10th  of  April  last  (1830)  we  set  out 
from  St.  Louis  with  eighty-one  men,  all  mounted  on  mules, 
ten  wagons,  each  drawn  by  five  mules,  and  two  light  carts, 
each  drawn  by  one  mule.  Our  route  was  nearly  due  west 
to  the  western  limits  of  the  state  of  Missouri,  and  thence 
along  the  Santa  Fe  trail  about  forty  miles,  from  which  the 
course  was  some  degrees  north  of  west,  across  the  waters 
of  the  Kansas  and  up  the  Great  Platte  river  to  the  Rocky 
mountains,  and  to  the  head  of  Wind  river  where  it  issues 

(110) 


Nebraska  State  Historical  Society 


Vol.  17        Plate  2 


GEORGE  WINSLOW 

1824-1849 


XV 


/ 


KiEWTOKl,  *^'\^- 


*  '■  % 


ORIGINAL  MARKER  AT 
WINSLOW  GRAVE 


PRESENT  MONUMENT  AT  WINSLOW  GRAVE 
Unveiled  October  29,  1912 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   111 

from  the  mountains.  This  took  us  until  July  16,  and  was 
as  far  as  we  wished  the  wagons  to  go,  as  the  furs  to  be 
brought  in  were  to  be  collected  at  this  place.  On  the 
fourth  of  August,  the  wagons  being  loaded  with  furs,  we 
set  out  on  the  return  to  St.  Louis.  Our  route  back  was 
over  the  same  ground,  nearly,  as  going  out,  and  we  arrived 
at  St.  Louis  on  the  10th  of  October.  The  usual  progress 
was  fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  per  day,  the  country  being 
almost  all  open,  level,  and  prairie.  The  chief  obstructions 
were  ravines  and  creeks,  the  banks  of  which  required 
cutting  down.  "This  is  the  first  time  that  wagons  ever 
went  to  the  Rocky  mountains  .  .  .  ." 

To  William  Sublette,  then,  belongs  the  honor  of  making 
the  first  wagon  track  over  this  historic  road  to  the  Rocky 
mountains.  1  On  the  first  of  May,  1832,  Captain  Bonne- 
ville, with  one  hundred  and  ten  men,  "some  of  whom  were 


1  The  letter,  a  part  of  which  is  here  restated,  is  a  report  to  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  signed  by  Jedediah  S.  Smith,  David  E.  Jackson,  and  William 
L.  Sublette,  in  the  order  named.  Smith  and  Jackson,  however,  remained 
in  the  hunting  grounds  during  the  winter  of  1829  while  Sublette  returned 
to  St.  Louis  for  an  outfit  for  their  new  rendezvous  in  Pierre's  Hole.  They 
were  partners  and  all  celebrated  traders  and  trappers  in  the  Rocky  moun- 
tain region.  Their  report  is  published  as  document  39,  Senate  Executive 
Documents,  2d  session  21st  congress,  pp.  21-23,  and  in  the  Quarterly  of 
the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  December,  1903,  page  395.  Their  statement 
that  the  wagons  of  this  expedition  were  the  first  that  ever  went  to  the 
Rocky  mountains  is  erroneous.  There  were  three  wagons  in  William 
Bicknell's  expedition  of  1822,  which  passed  up  the  Arkansas  river  to  the 
mountains  and  thence  south  to  Santa  Fe.  Numerous  wagon  trains  passed 
over  the  trail  to  Santa  Fe — which  is  situated  at  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  Rocky  mountain  range  by  that  name — between  1822  and  1830.  One 
of  these  trains,  in  1824,  contained  twenty-five  wagons.  So  far  as  is  known. 
Smith,  Jackson  and  Sublette's  wagons  were  the  first  to  reach  the  Rocky 
mountains  over  the  route  which  came  to  be  known  as  the  Oregon  trail 
about  fifteen  years  later;  but  William  H.  Ashley  took  a  mounted  cannon 
to  and  beyond  the  mountains,  presumably  over  this  route,  in  1826.  This 
is  regarded  as  the  first  vehicle  on  wheels  to  cross  the  plains  to  the  mountains 
north  of  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  because  there  is  no  proof  or  knowledge  to  the 
contrary. 

The  statement  in  the  report  as  to  the  place  where  the  wagons  were 
taken  is  hopelessly  confused.    "The  head  of  Wind  River,    ...  as  far  as 


112     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

experienced  hunters  and  trappers,"  and  a  train  of  twenty 
wagons  left  Fort  Osage — about  twenty-two  miles  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Kansas  river — arrived  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Kansas  on  the  12th,  reached  Grand  Island,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  below  its  head,  on  the  2d  of  June,  and  Green 
river  on  the  27th  of  July.^  The  same  year  came  William 
Sublette,  a  partner  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Company, 
in  command  of  a  party  of  sixty  men  carrying  merchandise 
to  the  annual  rendezvous  of  the  company  in  the  Wind  river 
valley.  At  Independence,  Missouri,  he  took  under  his  care 
a  party  of  New  Englanders,  fitted  out  and  commanded  by 


we  wished  the  wagons  to  go,"  is  a  hundred  miles  north  of  "the  Southern 
Pass,  where  the  wagons  stopped  ..." 

Chittenden  (History  of  the  American  Fur  Trade,  v.  1,  p.  292,  note) 
forces  a  guess  that  the  authors  of  the  report  mistook  the  Popo  Agie,  whose 
headwaters  are  only  fifteen  miles  from  the  South  Pass,  for  the  Wind  river. 
But  the  head  of  the  Popo  Agie  is  about  forty  miles  from  the  nearest  point 
of  the  Wind  river — too  far,  it  would  seem,  to  be  mistaken  for  the  main 
stream  with  which  all  three  of  the  partners  must  have  been  familiar,  since 
they  had  followed  it  to,  or  crossed  it  near  its  head,  the  year  before,  on 
their  way  to  Jackson's  Hole  and  Pierre's  Hole. 

Only  two  years  later  than  the  date  of  the  report  Captain  Bonneville 
shows  that  the  Popo  Agie  and  the  Wind  river  were  distinctively  known. 
(The  adventures  of  Captain  Bonneville,  pp.  235,  237.)  Still,  if  Smith, 
Jackson  and  Sublette's  statement  is  to  be  regarded  at  all  it  must  be  assiuned 
that  they  called  Wind  river  the  Popo  Agie.  Irving — in  his  Captain  Bonne- 
ville— appropriately  calls  the  Popo  Agie  the  head  of  the  Big  Horn  which 
is  a  direct  continuation  of  it;  but  now  the  name  Big  Horn  is  applied  to 
the  river  beyond  the  junction  of  the  Wind  and  the  Popo  Agie,  which  occurs 
in  Fremont  county,  Wyoming. 

Coutant's  History  of  Wyoming  (v.  1,  p.  132)  says  that  the  rendezvous 
was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Popo  Agie — which  is  fifty  miles  northwest  of 
South  Pass — and  that  the  wagons  were  taken  to  the  Wind  river  valley, 
that  is  to  the  rendezvous  itself,  which  seems  the  most  likely  theory,  though, 
unfortunately,  no  authority  is  given  for  it. — Ed. 

2  The  Adventures  of  Captain  Bonneville  (Lippincott,  1871)  pp.  39,  44, 
51,  79.  Bonneville  was  granted  leave  of  absence  by  the  war  department 
to  explore  "the  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States  between  our 
frontier  and  the  Pacific."  (Ibid.,  p.  502.)  Pierre's  Hole,  the  rendezvous 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Company,  was  his  immediate  objective.  (Ibid., 
p.  41)  The  Columbia  river  region  did  not  then  belong  to  the  United 
States. — Ed. 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   113 

Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth,  whose  name  was  given  to  a  small 
creek  now  called  Rock  creek,  in  Jefferson  county,  Nebraska.^ 

In  the  year  1842,  on  the  evening  of  the  22d  day  of 
June,  John  C.  Fremont,  his  guide,  Kit  Carson,  and  ordinary 
employees — in  all  twenty-seven  or  twenty-eight,^  including 
the  son  of  Senator  Benton — made  their  bivouac  at  the  same 
cold  spring,  by  the  side  of  which,  seven  years  later,  George 
Winslow  died.  The  Fremont  party  took  their  mid-day 
meal  at  Wyeth's  creek,  a  few  miles  east  of  the  present  town 
of  Fairbury,  and  "John  C.  Fremont,"  "Christopher  Carson/' 
and  "1842",  are  carved  on  a  rocky  face  of  its  bank. 

Fremont  had  no  difficulty  in  following  this  path,  for, 
as  he  says,  "about  three  weeks  in  advance  of  us  was 
Doctor  Elijah  White  with  a  party  of  sixteen  or  seventeen 
families,  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  people  in  all,  in 
heavy  wagons  on  their  way  to  Oregon."  This  caravan  was 
the  earliest  organized  home-seeking  overland  emigration  to 
Oregon.  5 


3  Authorities  generally  agree  that  the  number  in  Sublette's  party  was 
sixty-two.  (Wyeth's  Oregon,  p.  47;  History  of  the  Northwest  Coast,  v.  2, 
p.  561.)  John  Ball  says  in  his  journal  of  the  expedition  that  it  followed  the 
Big  Blue  and  crossed  over  from  its  source  to  the  Platte,  and  his  estimate 
of  distances  agrees  with  this  statement;  but  other  circumstances  indicate, 
though  not  conclusively,  that  he  miscalled  the  Little  Blue  the  Big  Blue. — Ed. 

*  The  uncertainty  arises  from  the  fact  that  Fremont  gives  the  number 
of  his  ordinary  employees  as  twenty-one  while  his  list  of  them  contains 
twenty-two  names.      Randolph  Benton  was  a  lad  of  twelve  years. — Ed. 

^  The  author  has  a  standard  authority — F.  G.  Young,  Quarterly  of 
the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  December,  1900,  page  350 — for  his  statement 
of  the  total  number  of  the  colony;  but  estimates  vary  greatly.  The  total 
niunber  is  commonly  put  at  one  hundred  and  twenty.  (History  of  the 
Pacific  Northwest,  p.  175;  Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society, 
December,  1905,  p.  386.)  Eells  in  his  "Marcus  Whitman"  (p.  125)  says 
the  number  was  "about  a  hundred  and  ten."  In  "Ten  Years  in  Oregon" 
(p.  144),  virtually  Doctor  White's  autobiography,  it  is  said  that  "additions 
were  made  to  the  party  till  it  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  twelve  persons." 
Medorem  (also  variously  spelled  in  the  books  Medorum,  Medoram,  etc.) 
Crawford,  a  member  and  historian  of  the  expedition,  gives  the  number  as 
one  hundred  and  five,  and  Gray  (History  of  Oregon,  p.  212)  says  that 
there  were  forty-two  families  and  one  hundred  and  eleven  persons.  The 
9 


114     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

In  June,  1844,  Doctor  Marcus  Whitman,  pursuant  to 
a  request  of  the  secretary  of  war,  drafted  a  bill  providing 
for  the  establishment  of  posts  along  the  road  to  Oregon  for 
the  protection  of  emigrants.  The  first  section  of  this  bill 
provided  that  these  posts  should  be  established  beginning  at 
the  present  most  usual  crossing  of  the  Kansas  river,  thence 
ascending  the  Platte  on  the  southern  boundary  thereof. 
In  his  brief.  Doctor  Whitman  suggested  the  crossing  of 
the  Blue,  the  Little  Blue,  and  the  junction  of  the  road  with 
the  Platte  as  sites  for  such  posts.  He  says:  "I  have,  since 
our  last  interview,  been  instrumental  in  piloting  across  the 
route  described  in  the  accompanying  bill,  and  which  is 
the  only  eligible  wagon  road,  no  less  than  two  hundred 
families,  consisting  of  one  thousand  persons  of  both  sexes, 
with  their  wagons,  amounting  in  all  to  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  with  six  hundred  and  ninety-four  oxen 
and  seven  hundred  and  seventy-three  loose  cattle.  As 
pioneers,  these  people  have  established  a  durable  road  from 
Missouri  to  Oregon,  which  will  serve  to  mark  permanently 
the  route  for  larger  numbers  each  succeeding  year."'' 


highest  number  of  any  authority  is  one  hundred  and  sixty.  See  History  of 
Oregon  (Bancroft),  v.  1,  p.  256,  footnote.  It  is  there  said  that  there  were 
one  hundred  and  twelve  in  the  original  organization  which  was  increased 
on  the  road  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five. — Ed. 

6  The  number  of  people  and  animals  in  this  great  expedition  cannot 
be  given  accurately  since  they  vary  in  the  best  accounts  of  it;  but  those 
here  given  are  approximately  correct.  Dr.  Whitman's  statement  that  he 
piloted  the  expedition  is  misleading.  Though,  by  common  consent,  his 
services  as  guide  were  of  great  value,  yet  he  did  not  join  the  colony  until 
the  Platte  river  was  reached,  and  he  left  it  at  Fort  Hall  to  go  in  advance 
to  the  Columbia  river — over  the  least  known  and  probably  most  difficult 
part  of  the  road.  In  "A  Day  with  the  Cow  Column  in  1843"  (Quarterly 
Oregon  Historical  Society,  page  381),  Jesse  Applegate,  a  member  of  the 
colony,  and  afterwards  very  prominent  in  Oregon,  said:  "From  the  time 
he  joined  us  on  the  Platte  until  he  left  us  at  Fort  Hall,  his  great  experience 
and  indomitable  energy  were  of  priceless  value  to  the  migrating  column." 
In  his  "Marcus  Whitman"  (page  222)  Eells,  a  strong  partisan  of  Whitman's, 
explains  why  he  left  the  expedition  at  Fort  Hall.  Doctor  Whitman's  bill 
provided  for  establishing  "a  chain  of  agricultural  posts  or  farming  stations", 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   115 

During  the  summers  of  1844  and  1845  eight  hundred 
wagons,  with  four  thousand  people,  traveled  over  the  Trail 
from  Independence  to  the  Columbia.  In  June,  1846,  over 
three  thousand  people,  with  five  hundred  wagons,  were 
upon  the  trail.  In  1847  the  high  water-mark  in  the  Oregon 
migration  of  the  first  decade  was  reached,  five  thousand 
people  with  eight  hundred  wagons  making  the  journey. 
The  California  gold  fever  became  epidemic  in  1849  and 
1850,  and  in  those  years  vast  numbers  of  emigrants  passed 
Winslow's  grave.' 

Following  the  clue  of  the  headstone,  last  summer  I 
met  George  Winslow's  sons,  George  E.,  of  Waltham,  Mass., 

and,  as  he  describes  their  purpose,  they  would  have  been  truly  pioneer 
agricultural  experiment  stations,  with  military  equipment  also. — Ed. 

^  Many  estimates  of  the  amount  of  travel  over  the  Trail  have  been 
published — some  careful,  some  careless  and  none,  possibly,  quite  accurate. 
Horace  Greeley,  who  went  to  California  by  the  overland  route  in  1859, 
estimates  that  thirty  thousand  people  went  over  the  road  that  year;  and 
it  appears  that  a  third  of  them  were  bound  for  Oregon.  (Bancroft's  History 
of  Oregon,  v.  2,  p,  4^5,  note.)  The  Oregon  emigration  was  as  high  as  ten 
thousand  in  1862  also.  (Ibid.,  p.  493;  History  of  Wyoming,  Coutant, 
p.  379.)  For  estimates  of  emigration  to  Oregon,  1842-1852,  by  F.  G. 
Young,  see  Quarterly  Oregon  Historical  Society,  December,  1900,  p.  370. 
For  estimates  of  emigration  for  1844,  1845  and  1846,  see  Bancroft's  History 
of  Oregon,  v.  1,  pp.  446-572.  The  total  overland  emigration  to  the  Pacific 
Coast  in  1846  was  2,500.  Bancroft  (Ibid.,  p.  108)  and  The  History  of 
the  Pacific  Northwest  (p.  209)  say  that  the  emigration  of  1845  was  three 
thousand,  doubling  the  population,  and  greaterthan  any  that  had  precededit. 

A  conservative  estimate  of  the  number  of  emigrants  passing  over 
the  South  Pass  in  1849  puts  it  at  25,000,  and  in  1850,  40,000.  (History 
of  California — Bancroft — ,  v.  6,  p.  159;  v.  7,  p.  696.)  Major  Osborne 
Cross,  who  went  to  Oregon  in  1849  with  the  Mounted  Rifles  regiment, 
estimated  the  total  number  of  overland  emigrants  to  California  that  year 
at  thirty-five  thousand,  a  considerable  part  of  whom  took  the  Santa  Fe 
route.  He  remarked  that  few  of  those  on  the  upper  route  went  to  Oregon. 
(Senate  Executive  Documents,  1850-51,  v.  1,  doc.  1,  p.  149.)  F.  G.  Young 
estimated  the  number  going  to  Oregon  at  only  four  hundred.  (Quarterly 
of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  December,  1900,  p.  370.)  According  to 
the  same  authority — ibid.,  p.  354 — "after  1850  the  Council  Bluffs  route 
had  the  largest  transcontinental  travel."  The  number  going  by  the  Council 
Bluffs  route  in  1849  and  in  1850  and  by  the  minor  routes  between  that 
place  and  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  trail  would  reduce  the  number  passing 
up  the  Little  Blue  in  the  two  years  far  below  the  total  of  65,000  overland 
passengers. — Ed, 


116     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

and  Henry  0.,  at  the  home  of  the  latter  in  Meriden,  Conn. 
They  were  intensely  interested  in  the  incident  of  their 
father's  death  and  in  the  protection  of  his  grave.  Henry 
Winslow  will  himself  fashion  a  bronze  tablet  for  the  marker 
to  be  erected  by  the  state  of  Nebraska.  I  learned  from 
them  that  George  Gould,  the  last  survivor  of  the  party, 
lives  at  Lake  City,  Minn.  I  now  present  to  this  society 
a  daguerreotype  portrait  of  him,  taken  in  1849,  and  a  re- 
cent photograph ;  also  his  diary  covering  the  entire  journey. 

From  the  Winslow  memorial  published  in  1877,  a 
copy  of  which  I  found  in  the  Winslow  home,  and  also  in 
the  New  York  city  public  libraiy,  we  learn  that  George 
Winslow  was  descended  from  Kenelm  Winslow  of  Droit- 
witch,  England,  whose  two  sons,  Edward  and  Kenelm, 
emigrated  to  Leyden,  Holland,  and  joined  the  Pilgi^im 
church  there  in  1617.  Edward  came  to  America  with  the 
first  company  of  emigrants  in  the  Mayflower  and  was  one 
of  the  committee  of  four  who  wrote  the  compact  or  magna 
charta,  which  was  subscribed  to  by  all  before  landing.  He 
became  governor  of  Plymouth  colony  in  1833.  His  brother 
Kenelm  came  to  America  in  the  Mayflower  with  the  long- 
hindered  remainder  of  the  Pilgrim  church  on  a  later  voyage. 
His  son,  Kenelm  Winslow,  was  born  at  PljTnouth,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1635,  and  became  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of 
land.  He  bought  a  thousand  acres  at  Mansfield,  Connect- 
icut for  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  He  was  fined  ten 
shillings  for  riding  a  journey  on  the  Lord's  day,  although 
he  pleaded  necessity  and  that  it  was  not  want  of  respect 
for  religion,  for  on  three  occasions  he  went  sixty  miles 
that  his  children  might  not  remain  unbaptized. 

His  son  Josiah,  born  1669,  established  the  business  of 
cloth  dressing  at  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  He  was  a 
captain  in  the  Massachusetts  militia.  His  son  James, 
born  1712,  continued  his  father's  business,  and  was  a 
colonel  in  the  Second  regiment,  Massachusetts  militia.    His 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   117 

son  Shadrach,  born  1750,  gi-aduated  at  Yale  in  1771  and 
became  an  eminent  physician.  Hs  diploma,  dated  Septem- 
ber 11,  1771,  in  the  possession  of  his  grandson,  is  a  relic  of 
general  interest,  diplomas  from  Yale  of  that  early  date 
being  very  rare.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  revolutionary  war, 
being  a  gentleman  of  independent  fortune,  he  fitted  out  a 
warship,  or  privateer,  and  was  comm  ssioned  to  attack  the 
enemy  on  the  high  seas.  He  was  captured  off  the  coast  of 
Spain  and  confined  in  a  dismal  prison  ship  where  he  suffered 
much.  His  son  Eleazer,  born  1786,  took  up  his  abode  in 
the  Catskill  mountains  with  a  view  to  his  health,  hunting 
bears  and  wolves  for  which  a  bounty  was  then  paid ;  and 
while  there,  at  Ramapo,  New  York,  on  August  11,  1823, 
his  son  George  Winslow  was  bom.  The  family  moved  to 
Newton,  Massachusetts,  now  a  suburb  of  Boston,  where 
George  learned  his  father's  trade — machinist  and  molder. 
In  the  same  shop  and  at  the  same  time  David  Staples  and 
Brackett  Lord,  who  afterward  became  his  brothers-in-law, 
and  Charles  Gould,  were  learning  this  trade.  In  the 
organization  of  the  Boston  and  Newton  Joint  Stock  Associa- 
tion Mr.  Lord  was  chosen  captain  and  Mr.  Staples  one  of 
the  directors,  the  latter  becoming  the  active  man  in  the 
purchase  of  animals  and  supplies.  Mr.  Staples  was  later 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Fireman's  Fund  Insurance 
Company  of  San  Francisco,  and  its  first  president.  He 
was  a  delegate  from  California  to  the  Republican  national 
convention  that  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for  president. 
George  Winslow  was  mai'ried  in  1845.  His  first  son, 
George  Edward,  was  born  May  15th,  1846,  and  is  now  a 
manufacturer  of  electrical  supplies  in  Waltham,  Massa- 
chusetts. His  second  son,  Henry  0.,  was  born  May  16th, 
1849,  the  day  the  father  left  the  frontier  town  of  Independ- 
ence, Missouri,  driving  his  half-broken  mules  and  white- 
topped  wagon  through  the  mud,  hub  deep,  over  the  Oregon 
trail,  bound  for  California.    Henry  0.  Winslow  learned  his 


118     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

father's  trade,  as  did  his  two  sons  George  and  Carlton,  and 
each  of  these  men  are  managers  of  factories  at  Meriden, 
Connecticut,  manufacturing  silverware,  brass  and  bronze 
goods  and  employing  from  nine  hundred  to  one  thousand  men. 

The  Boston  and  Newton  Joint  Stock  Association  con- 
sisted of  twenty-five  picked  young  men  from  Newton  and 
the  vicinity  of  Boston.  The  capital  of  the  company  was 
sufficient  to  pay  the  traveling  expenses  of  the  company  to 
Independence,  Missouri,  and  to  purchase  animals,  wagons 
and  supplies  for  the  overland  journey  to  California,  each 
member  paying  three  hundred  dollars  into  the  treasury. 
The  incidents  along  the  journey  I  obtain  from  Mr.  Gould's 
excellent  journal,  from  which  I  quote  freely.  They  left 
Boston  April  16,  1849,  traveling  by  rail  to  Buffalo,  taking 
the  steamer  Baltic  for  Sandusky,  Ohio,  and  then  by  rail 
to  Cincinnati,  where  they  arrived  April  20,  at  9  o'clock 
p.  m.,  making  the  journey  in  four  and  one-half  days. 
Mr.  Gould  says  they  "found  the  city  very  regularly  laid 
out  and  having  a  handsome  appearance,  but  what  appears 
very  disgusting  to  eastern  people  is  the  filth  and  the  hogs 
that  roam  the  streets  and  seem  to  have  perfect  liberty 
throughout  the  city." 

They  left  Cincinnati  April  23,  on  the  steamer  Griffin 
Yeatman,  for  St.  Louis,  and  arrived  there  April  27.  A 
bargain  was  stmck  with  the  captain  of  the  steamer  Bay 
State  to  take  them  to  Independence,  Missouri,  for  eight 
dollars  apiece.  The  boat  was  crowded,  principally  with 
passengers  bound  for  California.  They  now  saw  specimens 
of  western  life  on  boats;  a  set  of  gamblers  seated  around 
a  table  well  supplied  with  liquor  kept  up  their  games  all 
night.  Religious  services  were  held  on  board  on  the  sab- 
bath, Rev.  Mr.  Haines,  of  Boston,  preaching  the  sermon. 
The  usual  exciting  steamboat  race  was  had,  their  boat 
leaving  the  steamer  Alton  in  the  rear,  where,  Mr.  Gould 
remarks,  "we  think  she  will  be  obliged  to  stay." 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL        119 

On  May  3d,  they  landed  at  Independence,  Missouri, 
pitching  their  tents  and  beginning  preparations  for  the 
overland  journey.  This  letter  which  I  hold  in  my  hand, 
yellowed  with  years,  was  written  by  George  Winslow  to  his 
wife,  from  Independence,  Missouri,  May  12,  1849. 
Mrs.  George  Winslow  gave  it  to  her  grandson,  Carlton  H. 
Winslow,  in  whose  name  it  is  presented  to  the  Nebraska 
State  Historical  Society,  together  with  an  excellent  copy 
of  a  daguerreotype  of  George  Winslow  taken  in  1849. 

On  May  16th,  this  company  of  intrepid  men,  rash  with 
the  courage  of  youth,  set  their  determined  faces  toward  the 
west  and  started  out  upon  the  long  overland  trail  to  Cali- 
fornia. By  night  they  had  crossed  the  "line"  and  were  in 
the  Indian  country.  They  traveled  up  the  Kansas  river, 
delayed  by  frequent  rains,  mud  hub  deep,  and  broken 
wagon  poles,  reaching  the  lower  ford  of  the  Kansas  on  the 
26th,  having  accomplished  about  fifty  miles  in  ten  days. 
The  wagons  w^ere  driven  on  flatboats  and  poled  across  by 
five  Indians.  The  road  now  becoming  dry,  they  made 
rapid  progress  until  the  29th,  when  George  Winslow  was 
suddenly  taken  violently  sick  with  the  cholera.  Two 
others  in  the  party  were  suffering  with  symptoms  of  the 
disease.  The  company  remained  in  camp  three  days,  and 
the  patients  having  so  far  recovered,  it  was  decided  to 
proceed.  Winslow's  brothers-in-law,  Da\id  Staples  and 
Brackett  Lord,  or  his  uncle  Jesse  Winslow,  were  with  him 
every  moment,  giving  him  every  care.  As  they  journeyed 
on  he  continued  to  improve.  On  June  5th,  they  camped 
on  the  Big  Blue,  and  on  the  6th,  late  in  the  afternoon,  they 
reached  the  place  where  the  trail  crosses  the  present  Ne- 
braska-Kansas line  into  Jefferson  county,  Nebraska.  Mr. 
Gould  writes:  "The  road  over  the  high  rolling  prairie  was 
hard  and  smooth  as  a  plank  floor.  The  prospect  was 
beautiful.  About  a  half  hour  before  sunset  a  terrific  thunder 
shower  arose  which  baffles  description,  the  lightning  flashes 


120     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

dazzling  the  eyes,  and  the  thunder  deafening  the  ears,  and 
the  rain  falling  in  torrents.  It  was  altogether  the  grandest 
scene  I  have  ever  witnessed.  When  the  rain  ceased  to 
fall,  the  sun  had  set  and  darkness  had  closed  in." 

George  Winslow's  death  was  attributed  to  this  exposure. 
The  next  morning  he  appeared  as  well  as  usual,  but  at 
three  o'clock  became  worse,  and  the  company  encamped. 
He  failed  rapidly,  and  at  9  the  next  day,  the  8th  of  June, 
1849,  painlessly  and  without  a  struggle,  he  sank  away  as 
though  going  to  sleep.  He  was  taken  to  the  center  of  the 
corral,  where  funeral  services,  consisting  of  reading  from 
the  Scriptures  by  Mr.  Burt  of  Freetown,  and  prayer  by 
Mr.  Sweetser  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  was  offered.  The 
body  was  then  carried  to  the  grave  by  eight  bearers,  fol- 
lowed by  the  rest  of  the  company.  Tears  rolled  down 
the  cheeks  of  those  strong  men  as  if  they  were  but  children 
when  each  deposited  a  green  sprig  in  the  grave. 

For  George  Winslow  the  Trail  ended  here — upon  this 
beautiful  scene,  in  these  green  pastures.  All  the  rest  of 
his  company  traveled  its  tedious  length  across  plains, 
mountains  and  deserts,  and  reached  the  fabled  gardens 
and  glittering  sands  of  El  Dorado,  only  to  find  them  the 
ashes  of  their  hopes.  Peradventure  the  grave  had  been 
kind  to  Winslow,  for  it  held  him  safe  from  the  disillusions 
which  befell  the  rest.  ♦ 


winslow's  last  letter  to  his  wife 

Letter  No.  3.  Direct  your  letters  to  Sutters  Fort, 
California. 

Independence  May  12  1849. 

My  Dear  Wife  I  have  purposely  delayed  writing  to 
you  until  now  so  that  I  might  be  enabled  to  inform  you 
with  some  degree  of  certanity  of  our  progress  &  prospects; 
after  starting  for  this  State  we  heard  so  many  Stories  that 
I  could  with  no  certanity  make  up  my  mind  wether  we 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   121 

should  suceed  in  getting  farther  than  here  &  of  course  felt 
unwilling  to  mail  too  many  letters  as  we  neared  this  Town 
lest  we  might  return  before  they  did.  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  I  heard  from  you  to  day  Uncle  Jesse  &  Brackett  were 
gratified  by  their  wifes  in  the  same  maner.  I  am  glad  to 
hear  that  you  are  well.  My  health  was  never  better  than 
now. 

You  ask  me  to  tell  you  what  they  say  out  here  about 
the  route  well  those  who  have  travelled  it  say  we  need 
borrow  no  trouble  about  forage;  that  Millions  of  Buffaloes 
have  feasted  on  the  vast  praries  for  ages  and  now  they 
have  considerably  dimmished  by  reason  of  the  hunters  &c. 
it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  few  thousand  emigrants  can- 
not cross.  I  have  conversed  with  Col.  Gilpin  a  Gentleman 
who  lives  near  by  upon  the  subject  and  who  has  crossed 
to  the  Pacific  five  times:  and  his  testimony  is  as  above  we 
all  feel  very  much  encouraged  and  every  bod}^  says  there 
is  not  a  Co  in  town  better  fitted  out  than  ours:  we  have 
bought  40  mules  &  6  horses  and  will  have  two  more  horses 
by  monday:  our  mules  average  us  $52.  each  we  have  also 
4  waggons  and  perhaps  may  buy  another:  one  of  our 
waggons  left  Camp  to  day  for  the  plaines  10  miles  from 
here  there  to  recruit  up  before  starting,  we  shall  probably 
get  underway  next  Tuesday  or  Wednesday:  as  to  your 
2d  question  vis.  How  I  like  to  ride  a  mule.  I  would  say 
that  I  have  not  ridden  one  enough  to  know  and  do  not 
expect  to  at  present  as  I  have  been  appointed  Teamster 
and  had  the  good  luck  to  draw  the  best  waggon  we  have 
covered  it  to  day  in  tall  shape:  the  top  has  two  thicknesses 
of  covering  so  that  it  will  be  first  rate  in  rainy  weather  or 
very  warm  weather  also  to  sleep  in  nights.  As  to  "  camping  " 
I  never  slept  sounder  in  my  life — I  always  find  myself  in 
the  morning — or  my  bed  rather,  flat  as  a  Pan  Cake  as  the 
darned  thing  leaks  just  enough  to  land  me  on  Terra  Firma 
by  morning — it  saves  the  trouble  of  pressing  out  the  wind 
so  who  cares;   it  is  excellent  to  keep  off  dampness. 

We  die'  on  Salt  Pork,  Hard  &  Soft  Bread,  Beans  Rice 
Tea  Hasty  Pudding  &  Apple  Sauce  also  smoked  pork  and 
Ham.  Being  out  in  the  Air  we  relish  these  dainties  very 
much.  My  money  holds  out  very  well  after  buying  several 
articles  in  Boston  and  'eating'  myself  on  the  road  part  of 


122     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

the  time  I  have  about  $15.  on  hand  out  of  $25.  which  I 
had  on  leaving  home.  I  have  lost  nothing  except  that 
Glazed  Cup  which  was  worth  but  little.  Uncle  Jesse 
Gould  and  Nichols  are  talking  in  our  tent  so  I  will  defer 
writing  more  until  morning. 

Sunday  morning  May  13.  This  is  a  glorious  morning, 
and  having  fed  and  curried  my  mules  and  Bathed  myself 
and  washed  my  clothes  I  can  recommence  writing  to  you 
Elisa  I  will  number  this  Letter  3  as  I  have  sent  you  2  before, 
the  2d  from  Sanduskey.  I  wish  you  would  adopt  the  same 
system,  then  we  may  know  if  we  receive  every  letter.  We 
arrived  here  Friday  P.  M.  May  4.  Pitched  our  tents  cooked 
and  eat  our  supper  &  went  to  Grass,  slept  first  rate,  com- 
menced the  next  day  to  get  ready  to  move  on:  it  being 
considerable  of  a  job  &  the  season  backward  we  shall  not 
get  fairly  started  before  15  or  16  the  weather  is  now  warm 
and  the  grass  is  growing  finely.  For  two  days  we — or  some 
mexicans  that  we  engaged  have  been  busily  employed 
breaking  10  mules:  it  was  laughable  to  see  the  brutes 
perform.  To  harness  them  the  Mex's  tied  their  fore  legs 
together  and  throwed  them  down  the  fellows  then  got  on 
them  rung  their  ears  (which  like  a  niggers  shin  is  the  ten- 
derest  part)  by  that  time  they  were  docile  enough  to  take 
the  Harness.  The  animal  in  many  respects  resemble  a 
sheep:  they  are  very  timid  and  when  frightened  will 
sometime's  kick  like  thunder:  They  got  6  harnessed 
into  a  team  when  one  of  the  leaders  feeling  a  little  mulish 
jumped  right  straight  over  the  other  one's  back.  &  one 
fellow  offered  to  bet  the  liquor  that  he  could  ride  an  un- 
broken one  he  had  bought:  the  bet  was  taken — but  he 
no  sooner  mounted  the  (fool)  mule  than  he  landed  on  his 
hands  &  feet  in  a  very  undignified  manner:  a  roar  of 
laughter  from  the  spectators  was  his  reward. 

After  they  are  broken  they  are  of  the  two  more  gentle 
than  the  Horse  I  suppose  by  this  time  you  have  some 
idea  of  a  Mule,  we  have  formed  a  coalition  with  two 
other  (small)  companies  (one  of  which  Edward  Jackson  of 
Newton  Con.  belongs  to)  The  other  from  Me.  consisting 
of  only  4  persons  one  of  which  is  Col.  Boafish  whom  we 
have  selected  for  our  military  commander.  He  belonged 
to  the  New  Eng.  Regiment  and  fought  under  Gen.  Scott 


A  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL   123 

in  Mexico.  I  think  he  is  a  first  rate  man  for  the  office — by 
this  union  we  have  two  Doctors  and  a  man  of  miUtary 
experience. 

We  found  Samuel  Nicholson  here:  his  co.  will  start 
the  fore  part  of  the  week.  There  has  been  some  sickness 
here  principally  among  the  intemperate  which  is  the  case 
every  where  you  know.  Our  Co.  is  composed  mostly  of 
men  who  believe  that  God  has  laid  down  Laws  that  must 
be  obeyed  if  we  would  enjoy  health — &  obeying  those  laws 
we  are  all  in  the  possession  of  good  health. 

I  see  by  your  letter  that  you  have  the  blues  a  little  in 
your  anxiety  for  my  welfare.  I  think  we  had  better  not 
indulge  such  feelings.  I  confess  I  set  the  example.  I  do 
not  worry  about  my  self — then  why  should  you  for  me — 
I  do  not  discover  in  your  letter  any  anxiety  on  your  own 
account — then  let  us  for  the  future  look  on  the  bright  side 
of  the  subject  and  indulge  no  more  in  useless  anxiety — it 
effects  nothing  and  is  almost  universally  the  Bug  Bear  of 
the  Imagination. 

The  reports  of  the  Gold  regions  here  are  as  encouraging 
as  they  were  at  Ms.  just  imagine  to  your  self  seeing  me 
return  with  from  $10,000  to  $100,000.  I  suppose  by  this 
time  I  may  congratulate  you  upon  possessing  a  Family 
circle  without  me:  for  you  know  we  use  to  say  it  required 
three  to  make  a  circle  and  Edward  always  confirmed  it  by 
saj^ng  'No'  I  wish  you  would  keep  a  sort  of  memorandum 
of  kindnesses  received.  I  shall  write  to  Br.  David  to  day 
requesting  him  to  make  great  exersion  to  send  you  money 
when  needful,  you  will  of  course  inform  him  when  that 
time  arrives.  I  do  not  wonder  that  Gen.  Taylor  was 
opposed  to  writing  long  letters  when  on  the  Field.  I  am 
new  writing  at  a  low  Box  and  am  compelled  to  stoop  to  con- 
quer. I  offer  this  as  an  appology  for  not  writing  more  to  you 
now:  and  writing  so  little  to  others  I  wish  you  would  pre- 
serve my  letters,  as  they  may  be  useful  for  future  reference. 
Although  we  shall  leave  probably  before  your  next  letter 
arrives  I  expect  to  get  it  as  one  of  our  Co.  will  not  start 
till  about  the  23,  but  will  overtake  us  as  he  will  have  no 
Baggage  of  importance:  he  is  from  Ohio.  Lord  &  Uncle 
Jesse  will  write  to  day  They  are  both  up  and  dressed  and 
go  it  like  men  at  a  days  work    Hough  &  Staples  Have 


124     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

just  returned  from  buying  horses  they  have  brought  two 
with  them:  they  are  very  beautiful  I  should  like  to  send 
one  home  to  Father  we  pay  about  $50.  for  them  apiece: 
in  Boston  they  would  bring  $150.    Respects  to  all 

Yours  truly 

George  Winslow. 

LETTER  FROM  BRACKETT  LORD  DESCRIBING  WINSLOW'S 
SICKNESS,  DEATH  AND  BURIAL 

Fort  Kearny  June  17'  1849. 

My  very  beloved  wife  |  It  has  thus  far  been  a  pleasure 
for  me  to  write  to  you  from  the  fact  that  I  have  had  nothing 
to  write  that  you  would  not  with  pleasure  peruse  but  my 
dear  wife  the  scene  has  changed  and  this  letter  will  bear 

to  you  intellegence  of  the  most  unwelcome  character 

intellegence  of  the  most  painful  for  me  to  write  aad  which 

will   wring  your  hearts  with   anguish  and   sorrow 

George  is  dead what  more  shall  I  write what 

can  I  write but  unpleasant  as  the  news  may  be  you 

will  be  anxious  to  hear  the  particulars. 

About  the  27th  of  May  he  was  taken  with  the  diareahea 
which  lasted  several  days  and  which  visibly  wore  upon 
him.  He  was  taken  the  day  we  crossed  Kansas  river. 
He  however  partially  recovered  but  on  the  following  Tues- 
day he  ate  some  pudding  for  dinner  which  hurt  him  and 
about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  was  taken  much 
worse  vomiting  &  purging  also  cramping;  here  we  stopped 
he  continued  to  grow  worse  &  became  very  sick.  Doct 
Lake  Uncle  Jessee  Mr.  Staples  &  myself  watched  with  him 
during  the  night,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  we 
thought  him  dying  I  told  him  of  the  fact  spoke  to  him  of 
home,  asked  him  if  he  did  not  wish  to  send  some  word  to 
Eliza  and  his  Father  &  mother  &  others — he  did  not  leave 
any — seemed  very  sick.  Wednesday  morning  appeared  a 
little  better  and  continued  to  improve  so  during  the  day— 
we  remained  camped  during  the  day  and  untill  Friday 
morning  continued  to  improve  so  much  so  that  he  wanted 
to  start  on  and  the  road  being  smooth  we  concluded  to 
go  on  giving  him  as  comfortable  a  bed  as  possible  in  one 
of  our  large  waggons  and  I  took  charge  of  the  wagon  & 


A  TRAGEDY  OP  THE  OREGON  TRAIL    125 

drove  it  all  the  time  that  he  rode — that  he  might  receive 
all  the  attention  that  our  circumstances  would  allow — 
Evening  he  continued  about  the  same — Saturday  we 
travelled  part  of  the  day  Doctor  thought  him  improving. 
Sunday  we  moved  a  short  distance  to  water  and  camped 
remained  till  Monday  10  o'clock  A.  M.  George  appeared 
much  improved — we  started  on  our  journey  he  stood  the 
ride  much  better  than  on  the  previous  day  we  felt  quite 
encourged  all  said  that  he  was  visibly  improving.  Tuesday 
we  started  at  6  o'clock  A.  M.  George  continued  improving 
the  day  was  pleasant  till  the  afternoon  &  George  continued 
in  good  spirits.  At  5  o'clock  P.  M.  there  come  up  a  most 
violent  shower  such  an  one  you  perhaps  never  saw,  there 
is  nothing  on  these  plains  to  break  the  wind  and  it  sweeps 
on  most  furiously  the  lightning  is  truly  terrific  &  when 
accompanied  with  wind  hail  &  rain  as  in  this  case  it  is 
truly  sublime.  To  this  storm  I  attribut  G's  death.  I  was 
however  aware  of  its  violence  &  guarded  him  as  thougroughly 
as  possible  with  our  rubber  blankets  from  all  dampness  that 
might  come  through  our  covered  wagons  George  did  not 
appear  worse.  Wednesday  morning  George  remains  about 
the  same — travelled  most  of  the  day.  3  o'clock  George 
appeared  worse.  I  sent  immediately  for  the  Doctor  who 
was  behind.  Camped  as  soon  as  we  could  get  to  water. 
George  did  not  appear  better.  Uncle  Jessee  watched  the 
first  part  of  the  night  but  George  growing  worse  uncle 
Jessee  called  Staples  &  myself  &  we  remained  with  him 
till  he  died.  Thursday  morning  George  was  very  sick  & 
much  wandering — did  not  know  us  only  at  intervals — 
seemed  to  fail  very  fast — continued  to  sink  very  fast — 
9  o'clock — George  is  dead — his  body  lays  here  in  the  tent 
but  his  spirit  has  fled — Our  company  feel  deeply  this 
solemn  providence.  I  never  attended  so  solemn  funeral — 
here  we  were  on  these  plains  hundreds  of  miles  from  any 
civilized  being — and  to  leave  one  of  our  number  was  most 
trying.  The  exercises  at  the  funeral  consisted  in  reading 
the  scriptures  and  prayer:  this  closed  the  scene — we  erected 
grave  stones  on  which  we  inscribed  "George  Winslow 
Newton  Mass  aged  25 — 1849"  my  dear  Clarissa  you  will 
sympathise  deeply  with  Eliza  in  her  affliction.  What  a 
pity  that  such  a  young  family  should  be  broken  up.    I  hope 


126     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

that  it  may  never  be  thus  with  us.  George  remarked 
several  times  during  his  sickness  that  he  had  a  ways  had 
a  poor  opinion  of  human  nature  but  that  he  had  received 
during  his  sickness  more  sjmipathy  and  attention  than  he 
supposed  a  member  could  receive.  I  am  sorry  that  I  have 
no  particular  word  from  him  to  send  to  Eliza  or  his  Father 
and  Mother  or  you — he  left  none.  It  was  not  because  he 
did  not  think  of  home  but  because  he  thought  he  might 
get  better — then  at  the  last  attack  he  was  too  sick  to  say 
anything:  he  used  to  say  to  me  frequently  "Lord  if  you 
are  taken  sick  you  will  think  more  of  your  folks  at  home 
than  yourself.  I  dont  care  anything  about  myself  but  my 
wife  and  my  children  they  are  dependent  on  me."  I  had 
every  reason  to  know  that  he  thought  much  of  home  and 
his  folks  though  he  said  but  little.  I  was  with  him  most 
of  the  time  during  his  sickness  all  the  time  days  and  most 
of  the  time  nights.  We  did  not  leave  him  from  the  time 
he  was  taken  sick  till  his  death  without  a  watch  and  here 
let  me  say  that  he  seemed  to  sink  away  as  though  he  was 
going  to  sleep  and  died  without  a  struggle.  We  shall  take 
care  of  all  his  things.  It  is  most  time  for  us  to  start  and 
I  must  close  this  letter  and  leave  it.  I  have  not  yet  said 
anything  to  you  and  I  cannot  say  much  now  but  I  can 
assure  you  in  the  first  place  that  I  am  well  and  I  hope 
that  you  are  all  well — dont  let  the  children  forget  papa, 
we  are  getting  along  very  well  and  determined  if  possible 
to  go  through.  I  hope  that  you  will  not  give  yourself 
much  anxiety  about  us  in  regard  to  sickness.  I  think  we 
have  passed  through  the  most  of  it  all  of  our  party  are 
well.  I  must  now  close  hoping  that  when  I  arrive  in  Cali- 
fornia I  shall  receive  a  letter  from  you.  As  to  your  getting 
along  in  my  abscence  do  as  you  think  best. 

Very  affectionately  yours, 

B.  Lord 


THE  OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION 

By  Albert  Watkins 

The  object  of  early  travel  from  the  Missouri  river  to 
the  region  beyond  the  Rocky  mountains  was,  first,  explora- 
tion, as  in  the  example  of  the  expeditions  of  Lewis  and 
Clark,  and  Frm^ont;  second,  trapping  and  trading;  third, 
the  colonization  of  Oregon;  fourth,  the  reaching  of  the  Cali- 
fornia and  intramontane  go  d  mines;  fifth,  the  trans- 
portation of  soldiers  and  military  supplies  for  the  protection 
of  these  enterprises  from  hostile  Indians.  Prior  to  the 
period  of  transcontinental  railroad  building  there  were 
several  rival  experimental  routes  to  the  northerly  part  of 
those  regions  and,  more  particularly,  to  Oregon;  but  the 
Platte  river  route,  known  as  the  Oregon  Trail,  gained 
supremacy  during  the  decade  of  1830-1840,  and  held  it 
until  the  opening  of  the  Pacific  roads  north  of  the  first 
(Union  Pacific)  line  divided  the  traffic.^  The  military 
department  of  the  federal  government,  including  its  en- 
gineers, had  faith  in  the  superiority  of  upper  routes  while 
the  general  traffic  persistently  preferred  the  Platte  route. 
In  this  test  native  instinct  and  experiment  seem  to  have 
been  wiser  than  science  unassisted  by  experimental  knowl- 
edge. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1855,  congress  appropriated 
thirty  thousand  dollars  "for  the  construction  of  a  military 
road  from  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri  River,  in  the 
Territory  of  Nebraska,  to  intersect  the  military  road  now 


'  For  an  account  of  the  evolution  of  the  Oregon  Trail  see  History  of 
Fort  Kearny,  Collections  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society,  v.  16;  The 
Evolution  of  Nebraska,  Proceedings  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical 
Association,  1909-1910,  p.  126  et.  seq. 

(127) 


128     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

established  leading  from  Walla  Walla  to  Puget's  Sound", 
but  no  action  was  taken  upon  this  scant  allowance.  In 
subsequent  appropriations  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  road 
was  fixed  at  Fort  Benton,  which  was  forty  miles  below 
the  great  falls  and  practically  the  head  of  navigation,  and 
also  an  important  post  of  the  American  Fur  Company. 
It  was  only  in  very  high  water  that  boats  could  run  to  a 
point  a  little  below  the  great  falls. 

On  the  od  of  March,  1859,  the  federal  congress  ap- 
propriated one  hundred  thousand  dollars  "for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  military  road  from  Fort  Benton  to  Walla  Walla", 
and  another  hundred  thousand  was  appropriated  for  the 
same  purpose  by  the  act  of  May  25,  1860.^  Lieutenant 
John  Mullan,  of  the  Second  artillery  regiment,  was  detached 
to  superintend  the  construction  of  the  work.^ 

On  the  31st  of  March,  1860,  Pierre  Choteau,  Jr.,  of 


2  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  10,  p.  603;  11,  p.  434;  12,  p.  19. 
Fort  Walla  Walla,  situated  contiguous  to  the  city  of  the  same  name  on 
the  Walla  Walla  river,  about  thirty-five  miles  above  its  mouth,  was 
established  as  a  military  post  September  23,  1856.  Whitman's  mission, 
at  Waiilatpu,  five  miles  farther  down  the  river,  was  established  near  the 
close  of  1836.  The  original  Fort  Walla  Walla,  a  post  of  the  Northwest 
Fur  Company  (British),  was  established  at  the  junction  of  the  Walla 
Walla  and  Columbia  rivers  in  1818. 

Fort  Benton  was  established  in  1846  by  Alexander  Culbertson,  as  a 
post  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  On  the  17th  of  October,  1869,  it  was 
taken  over  for  a  military  post  of  the  United  States.  A  town  was  laid  out 
there  in  1864  (Report  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  House  Executive  Docu- 
ments 1864-5,  V.  5,  p.  415).  Trade  and  steamboat  traffic  fell  off  from  the 
time  that  it  became  a  military  establishment;  but  they  revived  again  in 
1882-83.  The  river  trade  was  destroyed  and  the  town  crippled  by  the 
advent  of  the  Great  Northern  railroad.  (Forty  years  a  Furtrader,  v.  2, 
p.  258,  note.) 

3  Lieutenant  MuUan's  regiment  was  already  in  Oregon  on  account  of 
the  Indian  troubles.  He  received  his  instructions  on  the  15th  of  March, 
1859,  had  organized  his  party  and  started  from  Fort  Dalles  on  the  8th  of 
June  and  began  the  work  of  construction  on  the  25th.  (Senate  Documents 
1859-60,  V.  2,  doc.  2,  p.  542;  House  Ex.  Docs.  1859-60,  v.  9,  doc.  65,  p.  108.) 
On  the  19th  of  March  the  adjutant  general  of  the  army  directed  General 
W.  S.  Harney,  then  in  command  of  the  Oregon  department,  to  provide 
MuUan's  party  with  a  military  escort  and  supplies,    (Ibid.,  p.  118.) 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  129 

St.  Louis,  contracted  with  Thomas  S.  Jesup,  quartermaster, 
to  transport  from  St.  Louis  to  Fort  Benton  "about  three 
hundred  enlisted  men,  officers,  servants,  and  laundresses, 
with  their  military  stores  and  supplies,  and  to  be  paid 
one  hundred  dollars  for  each  officer,  fifty  dollars  per  man, 
laundress,  and  servant,  and  ten  dollars  per  hundred  pounds 
for  stores  and  supplies,  including  the  subsistence  of  the 
men  during  the  trip".^ 

General  order  number  37,  dated  at  the  headquarters 
of  the  army.  New  York,  March  31,  1860,  directed  the  two 
departments  of  the  recruiting  service  to  organize,  at  Fort 
Columbus  and  Newport  Barracks,^  four  companies  of 
recruits — two  at  each  post — of  seventy-five  men  each, 
'*for  the  troops  serving  in  the  department  of  Oregon"; 
the  recruits  to  be  detached  to  Jefferson  Barracks,  near 
St.  Louis,  April  20th  next;  to  move  from  St.  Louis,  April 
20th,  by  the  Missouri  river  to  Fort  Benton;  and  thence  to 
Fort  Dalles  by  the  route  being  passed  over  by  Lieutenant 
Mullan  of  the  Second  artillery;  arrangements  for  trans- 
portation beyond  St.  Louis  to  be  made  by  the  quartermaster- 
general;  the  four  companies  to  be  armed  and  equipped  as 
infantry  at  Jefferson  Barracks  and  supplies  to  be  obtained 
at  St.  Louis.  Brevet  Lieutenant  Colonel  Robert  C. 
Buchanan,  Fourth  infantry,  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  recruits,  but  was  superseded  by  Major  G.  A.  H. 
Blake,  of  the  First  dragoons.  Colonel  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
acting  inspector-general  of  the  army,  afterward  a  con- 


*  House  Executive  Documents  1860-61,  v.  8,  doc.  47,  p.  5.  Lieutenant 
Mullan  in  a  report  of  progress  in  the  construction  of  the  road,  dated 
January  3,  1860,  says  (ibid.,  doc.  44,  p,  33)  that  Choteau  had  agreed  upon 
a  price  of  thirty  dollars  per  head  for  carrying  the  three  hundred  recruits; 
but  this  must  have  been  an  error. 

'  Fort  Columbus  was  situated  on  Governor's  Island,  New  York,  and 
Newport  Barracks  in  Kentucky,  on  the  Ohio  river,  nearly  opposite  Cin- 
cinnati. 

10 


130     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

federate  general  of  our  sectional  war,  was  ordered  to  inspect 
the  recruits  prior  to  their  departure.^ 

The  official  reports  disclose  the  fortunes  of  the  expedi- 
tion up  the  Missouri  river  and  also  its  exploration  purpose. 
For  many  years  after  the  introduction  of  steamboats  to 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  the  more  rapid  and  changeable 
current,  the  ubiquitous  sandbar,  whose  formations  were 
more  fickle  even  than  political  personal  preference  or  public 
opinion,  and  the  equally  numerous  and  more  damaging 
snags  of  the  Missouri  were  the  preclusive  bugbear  of  steam 
navigation.  The  first  steamboat  to  tempt  this  triplex 
obstruction  and  destruction  was  the  Independence  which 
started  from  St.  Louis  on  the  15th  of  May,  1819,  reached 
Franklin  on  the  28th,  whence  it  proceeded  as  far  as  Chariton, 
about  thirty  miles  beyond,  before  returning  to  St.  Louis.' 


*  The  minor  officers  were  Captains  John  H.  Lendrum,  Third  artillery, 
and  Delancey  Floyd  Jones,  Fourth  infantry;  First  Lieutenants  August  V. 
Kautz,  Fourth  infantry,  La  Rhett  L.  Livingston,  Third  artillery,  John  C. 
Kelton,  Sixth  infantry;  Second  Lieutenant  Edwin  H.  Stoughton,  Sixth 
infantry — to  report  at  Fort  Columbus,  April  15;  Captain  Thomas  Hendrick- 
son,  Sixth  infantry,  and  First  Lieutenants  John  T.  Mercer,  First  dragoons, 
Benjamin  F.  Smith,  Sixth  infantry,  George  W.  Carr,  Ninth  infantry, 
to  report  at  Newport  Barracks,  April  15.  {The  Century,  April  7,  1860, 
p.  79.)  Brevet  Second  Lieutenants  M.  D.  Hardin,  C.  H.  Carleton,  and  J.  J. 
Upham,  of  the  Third  artillery,  Fourth  and  Sixth  infantry,  respectively, 
were  assigned  to  duty  with  the  recruits.  (Ibid.,  April  14,  1860,  p.  108.) 
Two  detachments,  two  hundred  and  nineteen  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
strong,  respectively,  left  Fort  Columbus  and  Newport  Barracks  April  20. 
(Ibid.,  April  28,  1860,  p.  164.)  Brevet  Second  Lieutenant  H.  C.  Pearce, 
First  dragoons,  was  assigned  to  the  detachment  of  recruits  for  Oregon. 
(Ibid.,  May  5,  1860,  p.  189.)  In  the  post  returns  of  July,  1859,  it  appears 
that  Lieutenant  John  S.  Mason,  of  the  Third  artillery,  was  at  Fort  Colum- 
bus, New  York,  on  general  recruiting  service.  (House  Executive  Docu- 
ments 1859-60,  V.  9,  doc.  65,  p.  197.) 

^  Franklin  was  situated  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  in  Howard 
county,  Missouri,  two  hundred  and  five  miles,  by  the  river,  above  St. 
Louis.  Within  a  year  after  this  demonstration  of  the  practicability  of 
steamboat  navigation  on  the  lower  Missouri,  Franklin  became  a  very  im- 
portant and  thriving  place,  as  the  initial  and  outfitting  point  of  the  Santa 
Fe  trail.  It  held  this  monopoly  for  six  or  seven  years,  when  the  overland 
initial  terminal  was  pushed  up  the  river  about  one  hundred  and  eight 


P5 

Oh 
< 

o 

;^ 

o 

o 
>^ 

W 

w 

00 

W 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  131 

It  was  the  public  purpose  that  the  both  famous  and 
infamous  Yellowstone  Expedition  of  the  same  year  should 
demonstrate  the  practicability  of  steamboat  navigation  to 
the  far  upper  Missouri;  but  of  the  four  boats  that  entered 
the  river  only  one,  Major  Long's  Western  Engineer,  was 
able  to  get  as  far  as  the  Council  Bluff  of  Lewis  and  Clark; 
though  the  next  year  one  of  these  failing  boats,  the  Expedi- 
tion, reached  the  same  point  with  a  full  cargo.  In  1831  five 
steamboats  made  trips  throughout  the  season  from  St.  Louis 
to  the  settlements  along  the  Missouri,  Glasgow,  successor 
to  Chariton,  and  Boonville  being  the  principal  upper 
terminal  points.  By  1836  from  fifteen  to  twenty  boats 
were  regularly  engaged  in  this  traffic.  As  early  as  1829 
a  packet  boat  ran  regularly  to  Fort  Leavenworth.  In  1831 
the  Yellowstone,  built  by  the  American  Fur  Company  for 
the  upper  river  fur  trade,  went  as  far  as  the  site  of  the  sub- 
sequent Fort  Pierre  in  South  Dakota,  but  it  accomplished 
the  latter  part  of  the  voyage  only  by  much  lightening  and 
through  the  pertinacity  of  Pierre  Choteau,  Jr.,  who  con- 
ducted the  enterprise.  The  next  season  this  boat  reached 
Fort  Union,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  river.  This 
was  accounted  a  great  triumph  of  transportation.  Until 
1845  an  annual  voyage  of  the  Yellowstone  to  the  same 
point  Was  the  limit  of  steamboat  traffic  to  the  high-up 
Missouri.  In  1834  a  boat  had  ventured  as  far  as  the  mouth 
of  Poplar  river,  about  a  hundred  miles  beyond  the  Yellow- 
stone; in  1853,  another — the  El  Paso — went  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  miles  farther — a  little  beyond  the  mouth  of 
Milk  river;  and  in  1859,  the  Chippewa,  one  of  the  trinity 
of  our  Oregon  recruit  expedition,  went  still  farther,  to  a 
point  about  seventeen  miles  below  Fort  Benton,  the  acknowl- 
edged head  of  navigation.    The  Mormon  immigration  to  the 


miles  farther,  to  Independence,  and  Franklin  rapidly  declined.  In  1832 
the  buildings  were  moved  to  a  new  location,  two  miles  back  from  the  river, 
which  soon  after  carried  away  the  original  site. 


132     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Missouri  river,  beginning  in  1846,  and  its  subsequent  settle- 
ment in  Utah;  the  resulting  traffic  to  Utah  augmented  by 
the  transportation  of  vast  quantities  of  military  supplies 
to  the  army  sent  there  in  1857  and  1858  to  suppress  the 
Mormon  rebellion;  the  emigration  to  Oregon  and  California 
which  reached  a  great  volume  in  the  latter  half  of  the  decade 
of  1840-50,  and  the  establishment  of  a  chain  of  military 
posts  in  the  interior  to  protect  this  traffic  from  hostile 
Indians;  the  development  of  a  considerable  fur  trade  in 
the  lower  Rocky  Mountain  region;  and  the  political 
organization  and  resultant  rapid  settlement  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  had  created  by  1860  a  heavy  business  for  regular 
lines  of  steamboats  to  Leavenworth,  Atchison,  St.  Joseph, 
Brownville,  Nebraska  City,  Omaha,  and  Sioux  City.  As 
far,  then,  as  Sioux  City  our  Oregon  recruit  expedition 
traversed  familiar,  and  on  to  the  Yellowstone  not  untried, 
waters.  The  experimental  features  of  the  journey  were 
the  extreme  upper  reaches  of  the  possibly  navigable  Mis- 
souri and  the  testing  of  the  relative  practicability  of  the 
two  routes  to  Oregon. 

The  official  records  of  the  war  department  tell  us  that, 
on  the  3d  of  May,  1860,  a  detachment  consisting  of  thirteen 
officers,  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  enlisted  men,  under 
Major  George  A.  H.  Blake,  of  the  First  dragoons,left 
St.  Loui  for  Oregon,  via  Forts  Union  and  Benton  and  the 
wagon  road  commenced  by  Lieutenant  John  Mullan  from 
Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Benton.  "The  detachment  embarked 
on  three  steamers  and  the  march  was  undertaken  to  test 
the  feasibility  of  that  route  to  Oregon."  The  march  was 
successfully  accomplished  and  the  command  kept  in  good 
health,  except  some  fifteen  cases  of  scurvy  and  other  dis- 
eases. The  sick  soldiers  were  sent  back  from  Fort  Benton 
on  the  returning  boats.  The  expedition  arrived  at  Sioux 
City  May  23,  the  water  being  very  low;  Fort  Randall, 
May  27,  where  it  met  a  temporary  rise  of  water  from  rains. 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  133 

which  faciHtated  progress;  Fort  Pierre  June  2,  noon,  water 
very  low  again;  mouth  of  Milk  river,  June  22;  Fort  Union 
evening  of  June  15;  Fort  Benton  July  2,  where  the  boats 
remained  until  Aug-ust  2.^  The  Nebraska  City  News  of 
February  23,  1861,  notes,  in  a  steamboat  itinerary  of  1860, 
that  the  fleet  passed  that  place  on  the  15th  of  May.  The 
Omaha  Nebraskian  of  May  19,  1860,  noted  the  passage  of 
the  fleet  in  its  characteristically  breezy  style: 

"On  the  16th  inst.  a  fleet  of  Steamers,  consisting  of  the 
Spread  Eagle,  Key  West  and  Chippewa,  touched  at  this 
port  on  their  way  to  the  head  w^aters  of  the  Missouri — 
distant  over  two  thousand  miles.  Each  boat  was  crowded 
to  its  utmost  capacity,  with  United  States  troops  whose 
destination  is  Oregon,  and  the  Territory  of  Washington. 
They  will  ascend  the  Missouri  as  far  as  navigable  by  the 
steamers  above  mentioned,  and  from  thence  will  be  marched 
across  the  Mountains  to  the  forts  of  their  destination.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  this  is  the  same  route  that  the 
Nebraskian  recommended  to  Oregon  emigrants  some  two 
years  ago,  and  it  is  a  source  of  some  gratification  to 
know  that  our  suggestions  are  properly  appreciated  by  the 
general  government,  and  to  believe  that  this  is  destined  to 
be  the  traveled  route  to  one,  at  least,  of  the  Pacific  States. 
The  trial  trip  was  made  by  two  of  the  boats  mentioned, 
last  season,  in  taking  up  a  party  of  Government  explorers. 
They  then  ascended  the  Missouri  higher  than  any  attempt 
was  ever  before  made  to  navigate  it,  but  we  understand 
this  fleet  expects  to  ascend  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
nearer  the  source  of  this  mightiest  of  streams.  The  distance 
from  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri,  to  the  head 
waters  of  the  Columbia,  is  only  about  three  hundred  miles. 
If  the  Mississippi  be  the  "Father  of  Waters"  it  is  not  too 
much  to  claim  that  the  Missouri,  is  at  least  the  mother, 
the  grandfather,  the  grandmother,  the  great-grandfather, 
the  great-grandmother,  numberless  uncles,  aunts  and 
cousins,  besides  not  a  few  poor  relations." 


*  Senate  Executive  Documents  1860-61,  v.  7,  doc.  1,  p.  131 — report  of 
the  adjutant  general,  S.  Cooper. 


134     NEBRASICA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Alfred  J.  Vaughan,  agent  of  the  Blackfeet  Indians,  in 
a  report  to  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  dated  at 
the  agency,  tells  the  following  concise  story  of  the  voyage: 

"Blackfeet  Farm,  August  31,  1860. 

"Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  regulations  of  the 
department,  I  have  the  honor  to  respectfully  submit  the 
following  as  my  annual  report  for  1860: 

"The  fleet  of  steamers  for  the  Upper  Missouri,  viz: 
Spread  Eagle,  Captain  Labarge,  Chippewa,  Captain  Hum- 
phreys, and  Key  West,  Captain  Wright,  all  under  the 
control  of  Mr.  C.  P.  Choteau,  of  the  firm  of  C.  Chouteau, 
Jr.,  &  Co.,  contractors  of  the  government  troop's  stores  and 
Indian  annuities.  The  troops  commanded  by  Major  Blake 
left  St.  Louis  on  May  3.  We  arrived  safe  at  Fort  Randall 
after  a  tedious  trip  on  account  of  the  low  stage  of  the  river. 
At  this  point  we  met  a  rise,  which  enabled  us  to  make  the 
balance  of  the  trip  without  any  detention.  We  arrived  at 
Fort  Union  on  June  15,  and,  after  discharging  the  Assina- 
boine  annuities,  went  on  our  way  rejoicing. 

"In  due  time  we  made  Milk  river;  the  landing  of  the 
steamer  El  Paso  was  passed:  the  steamer  Spread  Eagle 
accompanied  us  some  ten  miles  further  and  then  returned 
on  her  homeward  way,  having  been  ten  miles  further  up 
than  any  side-wheel  boat  was  before. 

"Our  little  fleet,  now  reduced  to  two,  the  Key  West, 
commanded  by  Captain  Labarge,  in  the  van,  boldly  and 
fearlessly  steered  their  way  up  what  would  seem  to  the  un- 
initiated an  interminable  trip.  At  length  the  long  expected 
goal  is  made,  and  on  the  evening  of  July  2  the  two  gallant 
crafts,  amidst  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the  acclamations 
of  the  people,  were  landed  at  Fort  Benton  with  one  single 
accident,  and  that  was  a  man  falling  overboard,  who 
unfortunately  was  drowned. 

"Without  wishing  to  be  thought  invidious  when  all 
do  v/ell,  too  much  praise  cannot  be  bestowed  upon  Captain 
Labarge  and  all  the  officers  of  the  command  for  the  untiring 
skill  and  energy  displayed  by  them  on  this  remarkable  trip. 
Also  to  Mr.  Andrew  Dawson,  partner,  in  charge  of  Fort 
Benton,  for  his  forethought  and  sagacity  in  having  wood 
hauled  some  sixteen  miles  below  the  fort,  which  enabled 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  135 

the  two  gallant  crafts  to  land  where  no  steamer  was  moored 
before."^ 

Periodical  communications  from  the  fleet  published  in 
The  Century  are  full  of  interesting  information.  Following 
is  a  synopsis  of  one  of  these  letters,  dated  "The  Expedi- 
tion,— near  Sioux  City,  la..  May  20, 1860,"  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  issue  of  June  16: 

Left  St.  Louis  May  31,  have  made  nine  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  in  seventeen  days,  average  per  day,  fifty-six 
miles;  on  some  days  eighty  miles;  v/ater  the  lowest  '"in  the 
memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant.'  If  we  had  only  this 
boat" — the  Chippewa — "and  the  Key  West,  both  stern- 
wheelers,  drawing  thirty-two  inches,  loaded  as  they  now 
are,  we  would  have  averaged  seventy-five  miles  a  day." 
The  delays  are  all  caused  by  waiting  for  the  Spread  Eagle, 
a  side-wheeler,  drawing  four  feet  and  intended  to  go  only 
to  Fort  Union. i« 


5  Messages  and  Documents  1860-61,  p.  306. 

I''  The  statement  by  the  correspondent  of  The  Century,  as  early  as 
May  20th,  that  the  Spread  Eagle  was  intended  to  go  only  to  Fort  Union 
seems  questionable.  An  article  in  the  Missouri  Democrat,  written  by 
Mr.  J.  A.  Hull  and  copied  in  the  Peoples  Press  (Nebraska  City)  of  July  19, 
1860,  says: 

"The  mountain  fleet  arrived  at  mouth  of  Milk  river  Friday  June  22d, 
fifty  days  out  from  St,  Louis,  and  as  the  river  had  commenced  falling  it 
was  thought  advisable  to  send  the  'flagship*  back.  Accordingly  we  trans- 
ferred the  balance  of  our  freight  to  the  Chippewa  and  Key  West.  Mr. 
P.  W.  [C.  P.]  Choteau  then  proposed  that  the  Spread  Eagle  should  make  a 
pleasure  trip  above  the  point  where  the  EI  Paso  landed  several  years  since 
{1853].  And  with  the  officers  of  the  army,  and  most  of  the  officers  of  the 
boats,  we  run  about  fifteen  miles  above  El  Paso  point — the  Spread  Eagle 
has  now  been  higher  up  the  Missouri  river  than  any  other  side  wheeled 
boat,  and  Captain  La  Barge  has  the  honor  of  being  her  commander.  On 
our  arrival  at  the  point  two  guns  were  fired,  a  basket  of  champagne  was 
drank  by  the  officers  and  guests,  and  one  bottle  buried  on  the  point.  I 
suppose  any  one  who  goes  after  it  can  have  it.  The  Spread  Eagle  could 
have  very  easily  got  higher  up — indeed  it  was  thought  at  one  time  she 
would  reach  Fort  Benton,  the  river  rose  so  rapidly,  but  Captain  Choteau 
did  not  wish  to  risk  so  much  merely  for  glory." 

In  the  same  communication  it  is  said  that  on  the  return  trip  the 
Spread  Eagle  arrived  at  Sioux  City  July  5,  met  the  Florence  at  Florence 


136     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Have  passed  some  very  pretty  towns,  "especially 
Omaha  City."  The  party  consists  of  three  hundred  and 
forty  recruits,  "collected  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and 
not  very  strictly  selected  either";  one  hundred  boatmen 
and  fifty  officers,  "passengers,  etc.,  gathered  out  of  every 
nation  under  heaven." 

The  writer  correctly  predicts  the  drying  up  of  river 
traffic  by  railroads — now  at  St.  Joseph,  next  at  Sioux  City, 
then  when  the  Northern  Pacific  reaches  Fort  Union  that 
will  be  the  starting  point  for  steamboats. 

Besides  the  soldiers  there  were  about  a  dozen  pas- 
sengers on  the  three  boats,  including  Colonel  Vaughn, 
agent  of  the  Blackfeet,  Major  Schoonover,  agent  for  the 
tribes  near  Fort  Union,  several  employees  of  the  American 
Fur  Company,  and  two  New  York  artists — Hays  and  Terry — 
going  to  Fort  Union,  "to  paint  our  great  animals  of  the 
plains  from  life."  The  officers  included  Major  Blake, 
Captains  Lendrum  and  Jones,  Lieutenants  Cass,  Livingston, 
Smith,  Kautz,  Carleton,  Upham,  Hardin  and  Stoughton, 
and  Doctors  Head  and  Cooper,  all  going  to  the  Columbia 
river,  and  Captain  Getty  and  a  lieutenant  for  Fort  Pierre. 
The  "navy  of  the  Missouri"  was  under  "Commodore 
Choteau",  with  Captains  Labarge,  Humphreys  and  Wright. 

The  next  letter,  appearing  in  the  issue  of  July  5,  and 
dated  June  2,  at  Fort  Pierre,  notes  progress  since  May  20 
of  six  hundred  miles,  an  average  of  only  fifty  miles  a  day. 
All  agi'eed  that  starting  so  early  was  a  mistake.  If  they 
had  waited  at  St.  Louis  until  about  May  15,  or  until  a 
rise  of  water  began  to  show  itself,  two  weeks  time  on  the 
river  would  have  been  saved.  There  were  only  twenty-six 
inches  of  water  on  the  bars  at  the  Sioux  City  bend,  so  that 

on  the  6th,  passed  the  Emilia  at  Brownville  on  the  7th,  and  met  the  Omaha 
just  below. 

The  Omaha  Nebraskian,  of  July  28,  1860,  contains  this  notice:  "The 
Chippewa  from  Fort  Benton,  touched  at  this  point  on  her  way  down,  on 
the  25th  inst.    We  did  not  get  her  news." 


ORECxON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  137 

it  was  necessary  to  unload  the  Chippewa  and  lighten  the 
Spread  Eagle  to  get  them  over,  causing  a  delay  of  three 
days  in  making  thirty  miles.  Just  above  this  point  the 
fleet  met  a  rise  of  eighteen  inches,  and  the  next  day  as 
much  more,  the  increase  alone  being  sufficient  to  float  the 
two  smaller  boats.  Consequently,  for  the  following  three 
days  seventy-five  miles  a  day  was  made,  and  Fort  Randall 
was  reached  while  the  voyagers  were  "highly  elated  with 
the  prospect  of  a  quick  voyage  through."  At  the  fort  "the 
full  band  of  the  Fourth  artillery  greeted  our  arrival .  .  .  and 
cheered  us  as  we  again  started  towards  the  wilderness  with 
the  echoes  of  'Home  Sweet  Home'  and  'The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me'".  About  thirty  miles  farther  on,  a  terrific 
storm  of  rain  and  hail  forced  the  boats  to  lie  by  under 
shelter  of  bluffs  for  a  day  and  a  half;  but  while  the  resulting 
rise  lasted  ninety  miles  a  day  was  made.  "We  travel,  of 
course,  only  by  day,  though  the  high  water  and  almost 
total  absence  of  snags  would  make  night  travel  easy  if  the 
channel  were  better  known." 

Above  Fort  Randall  it  became  difficult  to  obtain 
enough  dry  fuel  for  the  boats.  Betwen  this  post  and  Fort 
Pierre — two  hundred  and  forty  miles — "not  a  human  being 
lives,  except  some  white  cedar  log-cutters,  and  the  reason 
of  its  desertion  bj^  Indians  is  evident  in  the  almost  total 
absence  of  game".  Fort  Pierre  was  nearly  half  way — 1,450 
miles — from  St.  Louis  to  Fort  Benton. 

The  next  letter — published  in  The  Century  July  26, 
1860 — was  dated,  "Missouri  River,  Fifty  miles  From 
Fort  Marion,  Nebraska,  June  19,   1860."  ^^     From  Fort 


"  This  point  was  probably  at  Marion's  Bend,  about  ten  miles  above 
the  mouth  of  Poplar  river,  now  in  Valley  county,  Montana.  The  Spread 
Eagle,  the  slowest  boat  of  the  three,  and  the  Chippewa  made  the  voyage  in 
1859  to  a  point  "a  few  miles  below  Fort  Benton"  in  ten  days  less  time. 
The  Spread  Eagle  went  as  far  as  Fort  Union  and  there  transferred  her  cargo 
of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons  to  the  Chippewa  which  completed 
the  voyage,     (Messages  and  Documents,  1859-60,  pt.  1,  p.  483.) 


138     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Pierre  progress  had  been  at  the  average  rate  of  fifty-nine 
miles  a  day,  "including  long  delays  from  being  obliged  to 
cut  all  our  wood  where  it  was  often  very  scarce  and  from 
stopping  to  unload  freight  at  the  American  Fur  Company's 
Forts  Clark  and  Berthold  .  .  .  The  water  has  risen  con- 
stantly and  rapidly,  so  that  it  is  higher  now  at  Fort  Union 
than  ever  before  seen  at  the  arrival  of  the  arsenal  of  boats 
which  have  previously  reached  there  only  during  its  fall. 
And  though  the  great  river  there  divides,  the  Yellowstone, 
which  had  contributed  half  its  volume,  no  longer  helping 
us,  yet  the  upper  Missouri  seems  scarcely  diminished  in 
breadth  or  depth,  the  boats  winding  boldly  along  without 
fear  of  striking.  The  answer  to  the  sounding-bell  is  almost 
invariably  that  forcible,  if  not  exactly  nautical  phrase,  *no 
bottom'." 

A  letter  dated  "Mouth  of  Milk  River,  Nebraska, 
June  22,  1860",  was  published  in  the  same  issue  of  the 
magazine  as  the  preceding.  The  Spread  Eagle  was  to  start 
back  down  the  river  from  this  point  the  next  day.  The 
expedition  had  already  advanced  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  above  Fort  Union,  a  comparatively  high  up  point; 
but  in  that  region  of  magnificent  distances  the  superlative 
objective  was  still  five  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles  beyond. 
The  correspondent  was  encouraged  by  progress  already 
made  to  believe  that  "boats  can  easily  be  built  which  will 
make  the  trip  from  St.  Louis  to  Benton,  thirty-five  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  in  thirty  days."  Wood  was  scarce  for  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above  and  below  Fort  Pierre 
but  increased  in  amount  northward.  Above  the  great  bend 
(now  in  South  Dakota)  there  were  "large  groves  of  that 
excellent  wood,  the  red  cedar,  much  of  it  now  dead,  and 
ready  for  fuel  if  there  were  inhabitants  to  cut  it".  Lieuten- 
ant Warren  was  in  error  in  saying  in  his  topographical 
report  to  congress  that  this  valuable  tree  disappeared  at 
the  forty-sixth  parallel,  for  it  reappears  again  at  the  forty- 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  139 

seventh  and  becomes  more  abundant  above  the  bend, 
growing  thirty  feet  high  and  near  a  foot  in  diameter,  accom- 
panied by  the  low  carpet-Hke  juniper.  "  Milk  river  is  named 
from  its  whiteness,  caused  by  a  great  quantity  of  alkaline 
mud  it  always  contains,  and  which  gives  to  the  Missouri 
below  most  of  its  turbidity,  in  color  like  weak  coffee  and 
milk  .  .  .  Above  the  Musselshell  it  will  be  found  quite 
clear  .  . .  The  artists  left  us  last  week  having  already  painted 
some  beautiful  heads  of  animals."  Our  correspondent, 
whose  name  was  concealed  in  the  initial  signature  J.  G.  C., 
sketched  views  almost  daily  and  also  busily  collected 
specimens  of  natural  history. 

A  letter  published  in  the  issue  of  August  2  informs  us 
that  the  exped  tion  arrived  at  Fort  Benton  July  2,  sixty 
days  from  St.  Louis;  and  that  boats  of  proper  draught 
would  have  made  the  trip  in  thirty  days.  Assistant  Surgeon 
S.  F.  Head,  U.  S.  A.,  and  Doctor  Cooper  of  New  York,  were 
attached  to  the  expedition.  The  issue  of  August  9  con- 
tained a  etter  dated  "Camp  near  Fort  Benton,  Jul}'-  3, 
1860."  The  fleet  advanced  from  Milk  river  at  the  average 
rate  of  sixty  miles  a  day.  Large  groves  of  Oregon  fir, 
excellent  pitch  pine,  and  red  cedar  began  to  appear  a  few 
miles  above  Milk  river.  They  only  bordered  the  river 
where  tracts  bare  of  grass  protected  them  from  fire.  It 
was  necessary  to  cordelle  the  boats  up  much  of  the  rapids 
below  Fort  Benton,  three  hundred  men  hauling  by  the 
ropes  "to  help  the  steam."  Lieutenant  Mullan  would  not 
be  able  to  get  through — over  his  new  road  from  Walla 
Walla — before  the  end  of  a  month.  He  could  get  oxen 
enough  for  only  twenty-five,  instead  of  the  needed  forty 
wagons  for  transportation  for  the  expedition. 

On  the  first  of  August  Lieutenant  Mullan's  expedition 
arrived  at  the  fort,  "the  road  of  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  miles  from  Fort  Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Benton  being 
opened".     On  his  arrival  he  turned  over  all  his  wagon 


140     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

transportation  to  Major  Blake;  but  he  retained  a  force 
of  about  twenty-five  men  with  which  he  returned  over  the 
road  in  advance  of  Major  Blake's  command,  starting 
August  5— "having  seen  that  the  party  to  descend  the 
Missouri  were  properly  provided  for  their  trip  ..."  He 
had  previously  reported  that  he  had  at  Fort  Benton  "a 
ninety-foot  keel  boat,  which  I  shall  use  in  sending  my 
party  down  the  Missouri  ".^^ 

On  November  1,  1860,  in  a  communication  to  the 
assistant  adjutant  general,  headquarters  department  of 
Oregon,  Lieutenant  Mullan  sought  to  demonstrate  that  in 
future  it  would  be  more  economical  to  use  Fort  Snelling 
as  a  rendezvous  for  troops  destined  for  the  easterly  posts 
of  the  department  of  Oregon,  the  supplies,  however,  to  be 
transported  by  steamboat  to  Fort  Union  and  Fort  Benton. 
In  the  course  of  his  demonstration  he  states  the  experimental 
case  of  transportation  of  troops  via  the  Missouri: 

"As  you  are  aware,  during  the  summer  of  1859  and 
1860  the  Missouri  river  was  proved  to  be  navigable  to 
within  100  miles  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  during  the 
present  season  a  military  detachment  of  300  recruits,  under 
Major  Blake,  ascended  in  steamers  as  high  as  Fort  Benton, 
where,  taking  land  transportation,  they  moved  safely  and 
in  good  season  to  Fort  Walla  Walla. 

"This  demonstrated  that  the  Missouri  river,  together 
with  the  intervening  land  transit  to  the  Columbia,  could 
be  used  as  a  military  line  whenever  the  necessity  for  a 
movement  existed,  and  provided  the  proper  season  for 
navigation  be  taken  advantage  of.  But  in  future  years,  or 
until  the  condition  of  the  interior  shall  guarantee  an  abun- 
dance of  land  transportation  at  the  head  of  navigation  on 
the  Missouri,  the  element  of  uncertainty  must  ever  enter 
into  the  movement  of  any  body  of  troops  to  this  coast  via 
the  Missouri  and  Columbia.  During  the  last  season  it 
was  practicable  because  we  had  land  transportation  at  hand 
for  the  movement  westward." 


13  House  Executive  Documents  1860-61,  v.  8,  pp.  32,  53,  54. 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  141 

This  objection  is  probably  overrated  to  accommodate 
a  prepossession. 

In  a  letter  following  Lieutenant  Mullan's,  Colonel 
Wright  of  the  Ninth  infantry  concurs  in  his  views,  and  he 
adds  that  the  passage  of  a  body  of  troops  from  Fort  Snelling 
to  Washington  Territory  would  have  an  excellent  effect 
upon  the  Indians  on  the  route,  checking  a  disposition  to 
commit  hostilities. ^^ 

"A  report  on  Lieutenant  Mullan's  Wagon  Road"  .  .  . 
by  Major  E.  Steen  to  Quartermaster-General  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  dated  at  Fort  Walla  Walla  January  5,  1861, 
states  the  case  for  the  overland  road  in  a  manner  which 
discloses  a  somewhat  bitter  feeling  between  partisans  of 
the  rival  routes: 

"General:  I  take  the  liberty,  and  feel  it  my  duty,  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  Fort  Benton  wagon  road,  as  I 
believe,  from  experience  in  the  service,  and  crossing  the 
plains  frequently  for  the  last  thirty  years,  that  the  cost 
of  sending  recruits  or  horses  to  this  coast  by  that  route  will 
be  ten  times  as  much  as  by  the  route  from  Fort  Leaven- 
worth, via  Forts  Riley,  Laramie,  Hall,  and  Boise,  to  this 
post;  for  by  the  boat  to  Benton  each  soldier  will  cost  one 
hundred  dollars,  and  each  wagon  the  same;  then  to  get 
mules  or  oxen  for  the  wagons  would  be  double  the  cost  that 
it  would  be  at  Leavenworth. 


"  Senate  Documents  1860-61  (special  session),  v.  4,  doc.  2,  p.  3. 
John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  said  in  his  report:  "I  took  active 
measures  to  have  a  road  constructed  from  Fort  Walla- Walla  on  the  Oregon 
river,  across  the  mountain  ranges  to  Fort  Benton,  on  the  head  of  the  Mis- 
souri river  .  .  .  After  a  prosperous  march  of  less  than  sixty  days  from  Fort 
Benton  |600  miles]  the  command  arrived  in  safety  and  good  condition  at 
Fort  Walla- Walla  .  .  .  Although  the  movement  was  an  experiment  alone, 
it  has  demonstrated  the  important  fact  that  this  line  of  intercommunication 
can  be  made  available  for  moving  large  bodies  of  men  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  .  .  .  With  comparatively  a  small  sum  of  money  spent  upon  the 
removal  of  obstructions  from  the  Missouri  river  and  some  additional 
expenditure  on  the  road,  this  line  would  constitute  a  most  valuable  improve- 
ment, second  only,  and  hardly  second  for  military  purposes,  to  any  of  the 
projected  lines  of  railroads  to  the  Pacific."  (Senate  Documents,  2d  Sess. 
36th  Cong.,  V.  2,  p.  6.) 


142     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

"Purchase  your  horses,  wagons,  and  oxen  or  mules  to 
transport  your  supplies  at  Leavenworth,  and  if  the  trans- 
portation is  not  needed  here  on  its  arrival,  it  can  be  sold 
at  public  auction  for  its  full  value  in  the  States.  By  this 
means  each  soldier  will  hardly  cost  ten  dollars,  whereas  by 
the  Benton  route  each  one  would  cost  three  hundred  by 
the  arrival  here. 

*'One  more  suggestion.  Could  not  the  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  already  appropriated,  and  not  yet  ex- 
pended, be  transferred  to  the  old  road  I  speak  of?  It  is 
much  the  shortest  and  best  route — and  emigrants  come 
through  every  season,  arriving  here  by  the  end  of  September, 
their  animals  in  very  good  condition. 

"A  post  is  to  be  established  at  Boise  in  the  spring,  and 
there  will  always  be  troops  at  Fort  Hall  to  protect  emigra- 
tion, and  all  that  is  needed  are  ferries  at  these  posts,  and 
very  little  work  on  the  road. 

'*  There  will  then  be  grass,  water,  and  all  that  is  requisite 
for  a  military  or  emigrant  road. 

"I  do  believe,  if  the  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  is 
expended,  and  the  Benton  road  finished,  that  not  ten 
emigrants  will  travel  it  for  twenty  years  to  come. 

"But  suppose  you  make  the  road  from  St.  Paul  to 
Benton,  then  you  must  establish  a  line  of  posts  through  the 
Sioux  and  Blackfoot  country,  requiring  at  least  1,500 
soldiers,  at  a  cost  of  half  a  million  annually,  and  there 
would  be  a  war,  at  a  cost  of  three  or  four  millions  more. 

"In  a  conversation  with  Major  Blake,  of  the  army, 
who  came  by  the  Benton  route  with  300  recruits  last 
summer,  he  spoke  favorably  of  the  route,  and  said  he  would 
apply  to  bring  over  horses  from  St.  Paul,  via  Benton,  to 
this  department.  Now,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  cost  by 
that  route  will  be  ten  t  mes  as  much  as  by  the  route  from 
Leavenworth,  via  Laramie,  Hall,  and  Boise;  and,  in  addi- 
tion, the  major's  route  is  much  the  longest;  and  in  the 
months  of  May  and  June,  from  St.  Paul  west,  say  one 
thousand  miles,  you  have  much  wet  and  marshy  prairie, 
which  I  consider  impassable. 

"Starting  in  July,  then,  you  could  not  come  through 
in  the  same  season;  and  wintering  in  the  mountains  north- 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  143 

east  of  us  would  cause  much  expense,  the  loss  of  many 
animals,  and  much  suffering  amongst  the  men."  ^^ 

Against  Major  Steen's  unsupported  statement  that  the 
cost  per  soldier  from  Fort  Snelling  to  Washington  Territory 
would  be  three  hundred  dollars,  Lieutenant  Mullan  shows 
an  estimate  in  detail  that  it  would  be  only  fifty-four  dollars. 
The  road  was  used  but  little  for  military  transportation, 
though,  contrary  to  Major  Steen's  prediction,  it  became 
an  important  highway  for  emigrants  to  Idaho,  Washington 
and  Montana.  1^  The  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  in  1883  in  the  main  superseded  the  Mullan  road. 
The  arrival  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  at  Bismarck 
in  1873  greatly  reduced  the  traffic  from  Sioux  City,  and  the 
last  through  trip  of  a  commercial  steamboat  from  St.  Louis 
to  Fort  Benton  was  made  in  1878.  Steamboat  traffic  on 
the  river  was  reduced  and  its  main  initial  points  changed 
by  the  successive  arrivals  of  railroads  at  the  Missouri  river 
from  the  east, — the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  at  Council 
Bluffs  in  1867;  the  Sioux  City  &  Pacific  at  Sioux  City  in 
1868;  the  Northern  Pacific  at  Bismarck  in  1873;  and  the 
body  blow  was  struck  when  the  Great  Northern  reached 
Helena,  Montana,  in  1887.  In  his  booklet,  ''Nebraska  in 
1857",  James  M.  Woolworth  said  that  Omaha  "is  at  present 
the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Missouri  river".  A  very 
promising  commercial  traffic  by  barges  has  recently  been 
established  between  Kansas  City  and  St.  Louis. 

In  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  high  up  Missouri 
river  points  mentioned  herein  are  placed  in  Nebraska,  it 
should  be  said  that  until  the  territory  of  Dakota  was 
estab  ished,  March  2,  1861,  Nebraska  territory  extended 
north  to  the  Canadian  boundary  and  west  to  the  Rocky 
mountains.  The  Lieutenant  Warren  mentioned  became 
famous  afterward  in  our  sectional  war.     He  was  chief 


"  Ibid.,  p.  1. 

'5  Bancroft's  Works,  v.  31,  pp.  384,  406. 


144     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

engineer  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  and  ordered  the 
occupation  of  Little  Round  Top  on  the  Gettysburg  battle- 
field, a  point  of  great  strategic  importance.  He  participated 
in  the  famous  battle  of  Ash  Hollow,  Nebraska,  in  1855,  and 
made  important  surveys  in  the  territory  in  1857-58.  The 
Century  magazine  was  published  at  New  York  and  gave 
special  attention  to  military  affairs.  Copies  of  it  are  in 
the  public  library  of  Chicago.  Its  issue  of  June  16,  1860, 
describes  the  Spread  Eagle  as  a  side-wheel  vessel  drawing 
four  feet ;  therefore  it  could  not  keep  up  with  the  Chippewa 
and  the  Key  West  which  had  stern  wheels  and  drew  only 
thirty-two  inches.  According  to  Larpenteur,  ^ « the  Chippewa, 
the  crack  steamboat  of  the  Missouri  at  that  time,  reached 
Fort  Brule,  six  miles  above  Marias  river  and  sixteen  miles 
below  Benton,  July  17,  1859.1^    The  boat  was  burned  at 


'« Forty  Years  a  Furtrader,  v.  2,  pp.  326,  446,  notes. 

"  In  his  report  to  the  commander  of  the  Military  Division  of  the 
Missouri,  dated  October  20,  1869,  General  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  com- 
mander of  the  Department  of  Dakota,  gives  interesting  information  about 
the  navigation  of  the  upper  Missouri  as  follows: 

"The  navigation  of  the  Missouri  River  above  Sioux  City,  and, 
indeed,  above  St.  Louis,  may  properly  be  divided  into  two  parts:  one  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone,  (Fort  Buford,)  north  of  St.  Louis  two 
thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles;  or  of  Sioux  City,  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles;  the  other,  above  Fort  Buford  to  Fort 
Benton,  the  head  of  navigation,  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles. 
Boats  drawing  three  feet  of  water  may  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone 
at  almost  any  time  during  the  season  for  boating  on  the  Missouri.  The 
Yellowstone  is  the  first  great  tributary  the  Missouri  receives.  It  gives 
the  character  to  the  Missouri  River  below  the  point  of  meeting,  gives  it 
depth,  and  changes  the  color  of  its  waters.  The  Missouri  is  a  clear  stream 
above  its  junction  with  the  Yellowstone;  below  that  point  it  is  yellow  and 
muddy  as  it  appears  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.  Boats  drawing  eighteen 
inches  can  only  reach  Fort  Benton  when  the  year  is  a  favorable  one,  after 
the  first  high  water  of  spring,  derived  from  the  melting  snows  in  the  moun- 
tains. At  Fort  Buford,  no  doubt,  will  be  the  point,  hereafter,  where  the 
larger  boats  will  transfer  their  loads  to  craft  more  suitable  for  the  Upper 
Missouri.  The  obstacles  met  with  in  a  low  stage  of  water  are  bowlders 
in  the  bed  of  the  river,  deposited  there  by  floating  ice,  and  which  may  be 
felt  grating  against  the  bottom  of  boats  at  many  points  during  low  water. 
The  most  noted  obstacles  of  this  nature  are  those  at  Dauphin  Rapids,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  below  Fort  Benton,  by  water,  and  thence  in  a  lesser 


OREGON  RECRUIT  EXPEDITION  145 

Disaster  Bend,  fifteen  miles  below  the  mouth  of  Poplar 
river,  June  23,  1861.  "She  was  a  stern-wheeler,  160x32 
feet,  owned  by  the  A.  F.  Co.,  W.  H.  Humphreys  master." 


degree  to  Cow  Island  Rapids,  thirty-five  miles  below.  When  I  passed 
down  the  river,  9th  of  July,  1869,  the  year  being  an  unfavorable  one  for 
water,  there  having  been  during  the  winter  but  little  snow  in  the  moun- 
tains, we  found  there  were  but  seventeen  inches  of  water  on  Dauphin 
Rapids,  and  scarcely  more  at  Cow  Island.  The  steam  boat  "Only  Chance", 
on  which  we  were,  drawing  that  number  of  inches  light  and  empty,  the 
passengers  and  baggage  having  been  removed,  passed  over  it  with  difficulty, 
and  I  believe  was  the  last  boat  to  pass  over  either  rapids."  (Report  of 
the  Secretary  of  War,  2d  sess.  41st  cong.,  v.  1,  p.  61.) 


11 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL  ON  THE 
EARLY  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEBRASKA 

By  H.  G.  Taylor 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January,  1912.] 

Surrounded  with  comforts  of  every  description,  nour- 
ished by  a  prosperity  so  prodigal  that  its  resources  seem 
exhaustless,  conquering  and  successful,  we  of  Nebraska  are 
inclined  to  scorn  the  achievements  of  the  past  and  claim 
for  ourselves  the  credit  of  the  accomplishments  and  high 
standing  of  our  state.  To  be  sure,  there  is  reason  for  a 
vaulting  pride.  In  point  of  educational  efficiency  Nebraska 
heads  the  list  of  states.  In  productivity  of  soils  there  is  no 
state  of  the  same  area  that  is  her  superior,  and  in  the 
intelligent  treatment  of  these  soils  her  citizens  are  abreast 
of  the  latest  thought  and  method.  In  the  number  and 
quality  of  her  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  other  live  stock  she 
finds  a  source  of  wealth  and  fame.  In  the  character  and 
prominence  of  her  statesmen,  educators  and  other  leaders 
of  thought  she  is  unusually  well  favored.  Pride  in  these 
things  is  pardonable  because  it  forms. the  basis  of  a  firm 
and  enduring  loyalty,  but  it  should  not  be  indulged  to  the 
point  of  forgetting  that  others  besides  ourselves  are  respons- 
ible to  a  large  degree  for  this  happy  condition. 

While  over  a  million  of  us  here  in  Nebraska  are  enjoying 
the  comforts  and  privileges  of  modern  life,  we  should  be 
reminded  now  and  then  that  many  of  our  blessings  are  the 
fruits  that  have  ripened  from  the  sacrifices,  privations,  labor 
and  forethought  of  the  men  and  women  who  first  came  to 
this  country  and  caught  the  vision  of  its  possibilities.    We 

(146) 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL    147 

need  to  return  now  and  then  to  the  altar  of  the  past  and  be 
endowed  therefrom  with  some  of  the  fire  that  burned  in 
the  hearts  of  the  pioneers.  Through  all  of  their  vicissitudes 
their  courage  remained  undaunted,  and  their  spirits  mounted 
to  the  vision  that  eventually  became  a  reality.  In  the  face 
of  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  they  left  the  indelible 
imprint  of  their  plans  and  work  on  the  history  of  Nebraska. 

It  shall  not  be  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  smother 
the  pioneers  with  fulsome  flatteries,  simply  because  they 
came  here  first.  There  is  really  no  honor  or  distinction  in 
having  lived  in  one  community  for  a  long  period  of  time. 
Indeed,  such  an  extended  residence  may  suggest  the  impious 
thought  that  it  was  necessary  because  the  pioneer  did  not 
have  brains  and  energy  enough  to  move  to  some  other 
place.  We  can  claim  no  credit  for  entering  this  world 
because  the  advent  was  not  due  to  our  own  volition.  For 
the  same  reason  we  may  stay  in  one  locality  simply  because 
it  is  more  comfortable  to  do  that  than  to  go  to  another. 
But  if  the  old  resident  has  worked  faithfully,  if  he  has  had 
foresight  and  energy  enough  to  improve  the  raw  conditions, 
then  his  deeds  are  entitled  to  recognition.  And  there  have 
been  thousands  in  Nebraska  who  are  deserving  of  remem- 
brance at  our  hands. 

Little  do  we  realize  to-day,  as  we  meditate  complacently 
on  the  standing  of  our  commonwealth,  the  dreary  and  for- 
bidding prospect  that  faced  the  pioneers  when  they  came 
here  in  the  sixties  and  seventies.  Where  we  see  paved 
streets,  verdant  fields  and  beautiful  trees,  they  saw  only 
pathless  prairies,  shifting  sands  and  buffalo  grass.  Where 
we  retire  each  night  to  the  security  and  comfort  of  modern 
homes,  they  went  to  bed  beside  the  trail,  in  dugouts  and 
sod  houses,  secure  only  in  the  knowledge  that  their  safety 
depended  on  the  whims  and  designs  of  bloodthirsty  Indians. 
Where  we  travel  in  palace  car  and  automobile,  they  traveled 
by  ox  team  and  horseback,  spending  tedious  months  in 


148     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

journeys  that  we  accomplish  to-day  in  hours.  Where  we  talk 
to-day  with  distant  friends  as  soon  as  "central"  can  make 
the  connection,  they  waited  weary  months  on  the  occasional 
freighter  and  passing  traveler.  We  see  as  much  money  in 
one  month's  income  as  they  saw  after  a  year's  hard  toil. 
We  secure  princely  luxuries  with  less  effort  than  it  required 
for  them  to  gain  dire  necessities.  A  vast  contrast!  you 
exclaim.  Yea,  verily,  and  the  wonder  increases  when  we 
recall  that  it  covers  less  than  fifty  years  of  time. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  accomplished,  we  have  a 
right  to  say  that  Nebraska  was  favored  in  the  class  of 
people  who  made  the  first  settlement  here,  that  they  were 
above  the  average  in  intelligence,  courage  and  general 
excellence.  It  took  a  certain  degree  of  heroism  to  even 
contemplate  getting  here,  to  say  nothing  of  staying  here 
after  the  journey  was  completed.  Only  the  virile,  ambitious, 
hopeful  ones  would  endure  the  hardships  incident  to  a  six 
month's  overland  journey  through  an  uncharted  wilderness, 
with  no  prospect  at  the  .end  but  years  of  sacrifice  and  priva- 
tion. The  gold  seekers  of  1849  were  of  this  intrepid  class. 
Bleaching  bones  from  the  Missouri  river  to  California  gave 
mute  testimony  to  the  stern  nature  of  that  journey.  Ne- 
braska profited  from  this  move  westward  because  it  lay 
in  the  path  of  the  fortune  hunters  and  the  California  trail 
extended  from  one  end  of  the  state  to  the  other.  A  few  of 
these  daring  prospectors  stopped  in  the  state  for  one  reason 
or  another  on  the  outward  journey;  and  many  of  them, 
disappointed  in  their  futile  search  for  wealth  in  the  gold 
fields,  returned  to  Nebraska  to  assist  in  developing  an 
agricultural  industry,  the  products  of  which  surpass  in 
wealth  the  gold  produced  in  any  state  in  the  Union.  Othef 
gold  seekers  hurried  across  the  state  to  Colorado  a  little 
later  and,  finding  the  tales  of  the  richness  of  the  mines 
greatly  exaggerated,  returned  to  settle  along  the  trail  and 
establish  homes.    I  need  not  dwell  on  the  character  of  the 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL    149 

Mormon  empire  builders  who  crossed  the  state  in  1847. 
Regardless  of  what  we  think  of  their  religion,  we  cannot 
but  marvel  at  their  splendid  courage  and  constructive 
ability.  They  were  builders  and  developers  the  like  of 
which  the  world  has  not  often  seen.  Like  the  others  men- 
tioned, their  route  led  them  across  Nebraska,  following 
what  is  now  known  as  the  old  Mormon  trail  from  Omaha 
and  up  the  Platte  valley.^  Few  stopped  on  the  outward 
journey,  but  many  became  dissatisfied  with  the  life  in 
Utah  and,  retracing  their  steps  eastward,  came  once  again 
to  Nebraska,  bringing  with  them  their  genius  for  develop- 
ment. They  settled  here  and  there  along  the  trail  and 
became  thrifty  and  progressive  ranchere  and  farmers. 

The  first  general  movement  westward  began  in  the 
early  sixties,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  rude  interruption 
of  the  civil  war  doubtless  Nebraska  would  be  ten  years 
older  in  her  development.  In  spite  of  the  war,  however, 
hundreds  of  prospective  home  builders  found  their  way  to 
the  state  during  that  decade;  and  among  them  were  some 
of  the  sturdiest  and  most  capable  men  the  state  has  ever 
had.  For  example,  J.  Sterling  Morton  arrived  in  1854. 
He  was  a  man  of  power — brilliant,  constructive  and  far- 
seeing.  His  influence  is  still  a  factor  in  shaping  the  develop- 
ment of  the  state.  Of  course  we  remember  him  best  because 
of  his  consuming  ambition  to  make  this  a  land  of  trees. 
How  well  he  succeeded  we  need  to  travel  but  a  few  hours 
to  determine.  Arbor  Day  is  observed  not  only  in  Nebraska 
but  everywhere  in  the  United  States,  and  nodding  trees 
throughout  the  land  whisper  gentle  tributes  to  the  man 


^  The  pioneer  colony  of  Mormons  marched  from  Winter  Quarters 
(now  Florence)  by  the  Mormon  road,  along  the  north  side  of  the  Platte 
river;  but  continuous  emigration  passed  over  the  Oregon  Trail  from  its 
beginning  at  Independence  and  Westport,  and  also  over  the  branches  from 
their  initial  points  on  the  Missouri  river — at  Leavenworth,  Atchison, 
St.  Joseph,  Brownville,  Nebraska  City,  Council  Bluflfs,  and  other  points 
still  farther  up  the  river. — Ed. 


150     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

whose  enthusiasm  and  foresight  did  much  to  redeem  the 
deserts  and  make  the  waste  places  habitable.  It  would 
come  near  the  truth  to  say  that  he  was  the  original  con- 
servationist. Undoubtedly  there  would  have  been  many 
trees  in  Nebraska  had  J.  Sterling  Morton  never  lived,  but 
his  example  and  energy  brought  them  sooner  and  in  greater 
numbers  than  would  have  been  the  case  had  he  not  lived. ^ 
Tree-planting  is  not  the  only  service,  however,  for  which 
Nebraska  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Morton.  As  a  politician  and 
statesman  he  had  ideals  that  were  woven  into  the  govern- 
mental design  and  that  have  an  enduring  permanence  to 
this  day.  His  honesty  and  frankness  in  political  matters 
were  unusual  qualities  in  those  days,  and  the  "progressives" 
of  to-day  can  draw  upon  his  conception  of  public  office  with 
profit  and  advantage. 

Almost  equally  prominent  with  him  was  Robert  W. 
Furnas.  Mr.  Furnas  published  the  first  agricultural  paper 
in  the  state  and  always  took  a  deep  interest  in  its  agri- 
cultural development.  As  we  have  indicated  above,  the 
state  in  those  days  was  not  very  flattering  in  its  promise 
of  fertility  and  it  took  a  man  with  a  clear  vision  and  much 
confidence  to  advocate  improved  methods  and  extensive 
farming.  But,  like  other  venturesome  spirits  who  had  been 
attracted  by  the  call  of  the  West,  he  had  faith  in  the  future, 
and  eastern  Nebraska  particularly  is  indebted  to  him  for 
his  work  in  behalf  of  horticulture  and  agiiculture. 

Typical  of  the  genius  for  overcoming  obstacles  that 
was  characteristic  of  the  men  who  carved  this  kingdom  out 
of  a  wilderness  was  the  projection  and  construction  of  the 
Union  Pacific  railroad.  While  by  no  means  a  Nebraska 
enterprise,  this  great  undertaking  was  identified  closely 
with  the  development  of  the  state,  and  the  story  of  the 


2  An  account  of  the  origin  of  Arbor  Day  and  of  its  influence  on  tree 
planting  may  be  found  in  the  third  volume  of  the  history  of  Nebraska, 
page  327.— Ed. 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL    151 

making  of  this  great  thoroughfare  is  intermingled  with  the 
settlement  of  the  state.  No  project  could  have  presented 
a  more  discouraging  aspect.  General  Grenville  M.  Dodge, 
who  made  surveys  for  the  course  of  the  road,  says  that 
when  he  first  saw  the  country  west  of  the  Missouri  river 
it  was  supposed  to  be  without  natural  resources  or  produc- 
tivity, a  vast  expanse  of  arid  plain.  Tracts  of  shrubby 
sagebrush  and  tumbleweed  wearied  the  eye  with  their 
ragged,  endless  monotony.  High  winds  stripped  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  and  terrific  wind  storms  drove  clouds  of  dust 
about.  One  writer  says  that  "scarcely  a  mile  of  the  Pacific 
railroad  was  built  without  creating  its  story  of  courage, 
adventure  and  endurance.  The  history  of  the  armed 
conquest  of  our  national  expanse  is  scarce  fuller  of  romance 
than  is  that  of  its  industrial  conquests  in  the  building  of 
the  railroads.  As  we  see  later,  even  this  was  a  conquest, 
if  not  by  arms,  at  least  under  arms."  Every  line  had  to 
be  run  within  range  of  the  muskets  of  guarding  soldiers; 
there  was  not  a  moment's  security.  Men  stacked  their  arms 
on  new  piles  of  earth  and  were  ready  at  a  moment's  notice 
to  fall  in  and  fight  for  the  territory  they  were  sent  to  win. 
Handicapped  by  such  obstacles,  the  men  would  have  been 
justified  in  demanding  a  generous  allowance  for  hasty  work 
and  faulty  engineering,  but  they  asked  for  no  such  considera- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  their  work  was  so  well  done  that 
when  a  few  years  ago  Edward  Harriman  commanded  his 
engineers  to  shorten  the  Union  Pacific  line  they  found  that 
modern  engineering  could  improve  but  little  on  the  route 
selected  by  the  original  engineers.^    The  spirit  that  built 


3  Peter  A.  Dey  was  the  first  chief  engineer  of  the  Union  Pacific  rail- 
road, and  he  established  the  eastern  end  of  the  line.  General  Dodge  suc- 
ceeded him  in  1866  and  directed,  in  the  field,  the  greater  part  of  the  engineer- 
ing work  to  the  end  of  the  line.  Silas  Seymour  was  consulting  engineer 
during  the  whole  period  of  construction,  and  his  influence  in  the  choice 
of  the  line  was,  no  doubt,  great,  though  the  main  practical  responsibility 
was  borne,  doubtless,  by  General  Dodge. — Ed. 


152     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

the  Union  Pacific  was  the  spirit  that  settled  Nebraska. 
Indeed,  many  of  the  very  men  who  helped  to  build  the  one 
tarried  to  assist  in  the  development  of  the  other,  lending 
their  genius  and  courage  to  the  making  of  a  state. 

It  was  in  the  early  seventies  that  the  general  settlement 
of  the  state  began.  Following  the  war  the  discharged 
soldiers,  turning  westward  in  search  of  homes,  were  attracted 
to  Nebraska,  and  thousands  of  them  arrived  in  a  short  time. 
No  better  citizens  ever  lived.  Inured  to  hardships,  schooled 
in  discipline,  abounding  in  patriotism,  they  had  been  tried 
in  the  fires  of  a  mighty  conflict  and  were  fit  subjects  out  of 
which  to  make  a  commonwealth.  The  majority  of  them 
were  young  men,  and  they  had  families.  They  came  to 
make  homes  and  there  was  nothing  of  uncertainty  about 
their  purpose.  They  were  terribly  in  earnest;  for  they 
were  without  much  means  and  their  whole  future  depended 
on  their  efforts.  They  came  largely  in  families,  companies 
and  a  few  colonies,  which  did  much  to  create  a  home 
atmosphere  from  the  beginning.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  their  first  concern  was  to  establish  schools  and 
churches.  The  experience,  for  instance,  of  Samuel  C. 
Bassett,  of  Buffalo  county,  furnishes  a  striking  illustration 
of  this  early  desire  for  educational  advantages.  Mr.  Bassett 
reached  Buffalo  county  with  a  colony,  April  7,  1871.  At 
that  time  but  four  claims  had  been  filed  in  the  United  States 
land  office,  and  not  an  acre  of  railroad  land  had  been  sold. 
The  county  had  been  organized  less  than  one  year.^     The 


*  It  is  more  accurate  to  say  that  Buffalo  county  was  reorganized 
about  a  year  before  this  time.  The  first  territorial  legislature  passed  an 
act,  March  16,  1855,  declaring  that  certain  prescribed  territory  "is  hereby 
organized  into  a  county  to  be  called  Buffalo"  and  constituting  Nebraska 
Center  the  county  seat.  (Laws  of  Nebraska  1-3  Territorial  Sessions,  p. 
339.)  In  1859  the  territorial  canvassing  board  counted  the  vote  purporting 
to  have  been  cast  in  Buffalo  county  for  a  delegate  to  congress;  but  in  the 
ensuing  contest  at  Washington  the  house  of  representatives  threw  it  out 
on  the  ground  that  the  county  was  not  organized  at  the  time  of  the  election. 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL    153 

families  lived  in  the  cars  until  they  could  build  homes. 
On  the  15th  of  April,  1871,  before  any  members  of  this 
company  had  filed  on  homesteads,  and  while  they  were  yet 
living  in  the  cars,  a  meeting  was  held  to  consider  the 
organization  of  a  school  district.  On  the  22d  of  April  a 
meeting  was  held,  school  district  officers  were  elected,  and 
a  tax  voted  to  build  a  schoolhouse.  Think  of  it!  Within 
two  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  this  little  company  of  pioneers 
and  before  thej^  had  even  commenced  to  erect  homes  of 
their  own,  even  before  they  were  certain  that  they  would 
have  homes,  taxes  had  been  voted  to  build  a  schoolhouse! 
And  in  less  than  three  months  a  term  of  school  began  in 
the  wing  of  a  private  house,  just  completed.  Do  you 
wonder  that  Nebraska  is  able  to  boast  of  the  lowest  per- 
centage of  illiteracy  of  any  state  in  the  Union?^  Is  it  sur- 
prising that  the  state  is  right  in  the  forefront  of  all  progress 


The  county  voted  at  the  congressional  elections  of  1860  and  1866,  and  at 
the  provisional  state  election,  June  2,  1866. 

At  the  eighth  session  of  the  territorial  legislature  an  act  was  passed, 
December  31,  1861,  constituting  Hall,  Buffalo,  Kearney,  and  Lincoln, 
counties  a  legislative  district.  (Laws  of  Nebraska  Eighth  Territorial 
Session,  p.  107.)  At  the  eleventh  session  of  the  territorial  legislature  an 
act  was  passed,  February  12,  1866,  authorizing  the  probate  judge  of  Buffalo 
county  "to  appoint  all  officers  in  said  county  necessary  to  complete  county 
and  precinct  organizations",  who  should  hold  their  respective  offices  until 
their  successors  were  elected  and  qualified.  The  probate  judge  was  author- 
ized also  "to  demand  and  receive  all  the  records  .  .  .  belonging  to  said 
county",  and  to  keep  them  until  the  proper  officers  for  their  custody  were 
elected  and  qualified.  Thus  Buffalo  exercised  distinct  county  functions 
intermittently  from  1860  until  its  permanent  organization  in  1870.  (Special 
Laws  of  the  Eleventh  Territorial  Session,  p.  710.)  By  the  act  of  June  12, 
1867,  Buffalo  county  was  placed  in  the  third  judicial  district.  (Laws 
of  Nebraska  Third  Session,  p.  50.)  By  the  act  of  February  10,  1871, 
Buffalo  county  was  attached  to  Hall  county  for  judicial  purposes.  (Laws 
of  Nebraska  1870-71,  p.  195.)  By  the  act  of  February  27,  1873,  terms  of 
the  district  court  to  be  held  in  Buffalo  county  were  appointed.  (General 
Statutes  1873,  p.  260.)— Ed. 

^  The  percentages  of  illiteracy  in  the  three  states  having  the  lowest 
rate  for  the  four  decades  ending  1880,  1890,  1900,  1910,  are  as  follows: 
1880:  Wyoming,  3.4;  Nebraska,  3.6;  Iowa,  3.9.  1890:  Nebraska,  3.1; 
Wyoming,  3.4;   Iowa,  3.6.    1900:    Nebraska,  2.3;   Iowa,  2.3;   Oregon,  3.3. 


154     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

in  educational  matters  and  that  other  states  are  demanding 
our  educators  as  fast  as  we  can  produce  them?  Our  stand- 
ing in  these  things  is  not  a  matter  of  chance.  It  was  de- 
termined by  the  men  and  women  who  had  a  passion  for  self- 
improvement  and  who  laid  a  foundation  so  broad  and  deep 
that  we  could  not  overturn  it  if  we  would.  To  be  sure, 
Nebraska  is  favored  by  many  advantages  in  the  way  of 
geographical  location,  climatic  conditions,  soil  fertility, 
transportation  facilities  and  unlimited  natural  resources; 
but  it  took  the  vision,  the  foresight  and  the  indomitable 
will  of  the  pioneers  to  make  them  full  measure  of  benefit. 
These  little  clusters  of  war  veterans,  with  their  families  and 
friends,  composed  an  influence  that  ramified  into  every 
part  of  the  political,  commercial,  social  and  moral  life  of 
the  community. 

It  would  be  easy  to  cite  other  examples  to  show  that  in 
the  play  of  the  great  forces  that  shaped  the  destiny  of  this 
nation  Nebraska  was  favored  as  only  one  or  two  other 
states  were  favored;  but  we  have  indicated  enough  to 
show  that  Nebraska  civilization  grew  from  good  seed, 
selected  without  a  doubt  by  the  great  Agriculturist  Himself 
and  cultivated  according  to  his  eternal  design. 

I  cannot  leave  the  subject,  however,  without  turning 
my  eyes  for  a  moment  from  the  past  to  the  future.  We 
must  remember  that  the  success  of  the  pioneers  depended 
almost  wholly  on  the  fact  that  they  kept  their  eyes  stead- 
fastly to  the  front;  and  we  will  not  be  true  to  the  spirit 
that  dominated  them  if  we  do  not  follow  their  example. 
It  is  our  duty  to  acknowledge  the  obligation  we  owe  to  the 
men  and  women  who  handed  us  an  empire,  enduring  and 
glorious,  which  they  had  fashioned  out  of  a  wilderness,  but 
their  splendid  example  will  be  lost  if  we  halt,  contented 


1910:  Iowa,  1.7;  Nebraska,  1.9;  Oregon,  1.9.  (Twelfth  Census  U.  S. 
1900,  V.  2,  Population  Part  2,  p.  c;  Thirteenth  Census,  1910,  Abstract 
With  Nebraska  Supplement,  p.  245) — Ed. 


INFLUENCE  OF  OVERLAND  TRAVEL    155 

with  what  has  already  been  accompHshed.  Croly  says, 
"All  history  is  but  a  romance  unless  it  is  studied  as  an 
example."  There  is  much  of  the  desert  to  conquer  yet, 
many  streams  to  bridge,  many  schools  to  build,  many  farms 
to  improve,  many  resources  to  develop,  many  wrongs  to 
right  and  many  problems  to  solve.  The  future  has  a 
challenge  to  strong  men  as  compelling  as  any  that  came  to 
the  pioneers  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  it  will  be  as  rich  as  the 
past  if  we  keep  our  minds  open  to  the  visions  that  they 
had  and  our  hearts  free  to  make  them  come  true.  In 
closing  I  am  tempted  to  borrow  a  verse  that  the  poet, 
Harry  Kemp,  has  recently  dedicated  to  Kansas,  because 
it  is  expressive  of  the  sentiments  and  aspirations  of  all 
loyal  Nebraskans — 

"Let  other  countries  glory  in  their  Past, 
But  Nebraska  [Kansas]  glories  in  her  days  to  be, 
In  her  horizons,  limitless  and  vast, 
Her  plains  that  storm  the  senses  like  the  sea: 
She  has  no  ruins  grey  that  men  revere — 
Her  time  is  Now,  her  Heritage  is  Here." 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE  EARLY  SETTLEMENT  OF 
NUCKOLLS  COUNTY 

By  George  D.  Follmer 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January,  1912.] 

In  the  winter  of  1870-71  I  started  with  a  team  and  an 
old  style  mail  buckboard  from  Grant,  in  Montgomery 
county,  Iowa.  I  passed  through  Red  Oak  and  Sidney, 
crossing  the  Missouri  river  at  Nebraska  City,  and  thence, 
by  way  of  Beatrice,  to  Oak  Grove  Ranch  in  Nuckolls 
county.  I  struck  the  Oregon  Trail  at  the  Helvey  Ranch 
on  Big  Sandy  in  Jefferson  county.  There  were  but  few 
settlers  between  this  point  and  Meridian  where  there  was 
a  small  store  and  post  office  kept  by  Hugh  Ross.  From 
Meridian  to  Kiowa  Ranch  (in  Thayer  county,  kept  by  E. 
Vanderwork)  there  were  no  settlements;  and  there  were 
none  along  the  trail  between  Kiowa  Ranch  and  Oak  Grove 
Ranch  which  was  situated  at  the  mouth  of  a  large  draw  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Little  Blue  river,  in  the  northwest 
quarter  of  section  15,  township  3,  range  5  west  of  the  sixth 
principal  meridian.  The  ranch  house  was  erected  in  Septem- 
ber, 1865,  by  E.  S.  Comstock.  The  stockade  on  the  south 
side  of  the  house  was  put  up  by  Philip  Michael  in  iVpril, 
1870.  The  house  was  twenty-four  feet  in  length  and  four- 
teen in  width,  with  an  addition  on  the  north  side  eight  feet 
by  ten  feet.    The  main  building  had  one  story. 

About  fifty  feet  a  little  east  and  south  from  the  house, 
the  first  election  for  the  organization  of  Nuckolls  county 
was  held  under  a  large  elm  tree,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
June,  1871.    Thirty- two  votes  were  cast  at  this  election. 

(156) 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NUCKOLLS  COUNTY        157 

D.  W.  Montgomery  drove  to  Lincoln  to  induce  Governor 
W.  H.  James  to  order  an  election  at  which  officers  were 
chosen  as  follows:  Judges  of  election,  Philip  Michael,  Jonas 
Hannum,  Alexander  Naylor;  clerks  of  election,  Thomas 
B.  Johnson,  Charles  W.  Goodman;  county  officers: 
commissioners,  Adam  Simonton,  Jonas  Hannum,  Alexander 
Naylor;  clerk,  Elbridge  L.  Downing;  treasurer,  Willis Henby; 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  Charles  W.  Goodman; 
probate  judge,  Abner  E.  Davis;  sheriff,  A.  Edwards;  sur- 
veyor, D.  W.  Montgomery;  coroner,  James  Candy. 

Mr.  Thaine,  who  had  homesteaded  the  south  half  of 
the  southeast  quarter  and  the  south  half  of  the  southwest 
quarter  of  section  23,  township  3,  range  5,  was  killed  by 
Indians  in  May,  1870 — the  last  person  killed  by  Indians  in 
Nuckolls  county.  The  first  white  child  born  in  the  county 
after  the  organization  was  Ella  Simonton. 

There  were  buffaloes,  antelopes,  elks,  deer  and  wild 
turkeys  in  abundance  in  1871,  but  the  Oto  and  Omaha 
Indians  soon  chased  them  out. 

The  nearest  post  office  in  1871  and  1872  was  at  Meridian, 
thirty- two  miles  from  Oak  Grove  Ranch.  The  nearest  mill 
was  at  Beatrice.  The  first  railroad  in  the  county  was  the 
St.  Joseph  and  Western,  which  was  built  across  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  county  about  1872. ^  At  present  Nuckolls 
county  ranks  third  in  the  state  in  length  of  railroad  track, 
having  141.59  miles.  The  Burlington  &  Missouri  company 
has  three  lines,  and  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern,  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  &  Pacific,  Missouri  Pacific,  Santa  Fe,  St. 
Joseph  and  Grand  Island  have  a  single  line  each.  Only  one 
township  is  without  a  railroad.  Nelson,  the  county  seat, 
was  surveyed  in  the  winter  of  1872  and  1873.    The  court- 


1  This  road  was  built  by  the  St.  Joseph  &  Denver  City  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  was  opened  to  Hastings  in  1872.  It  was  called  the  St.  Joseph 
&  Western  after  it  was  taken  over  by  the  new  company  of  that  name  in 
1877.— Ed. 


158     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

house  was  built  in  the  spring  of  1873.  The  first  district 
court  was  held  in  a  small  frame  building  May,  1873,  by 
Judge  Daniel  Gantt  and  prosecuting  attorney  A.  J.  Weaver. 
The  county  records  were  moved  from  D.  W.  Montgomery's 
residence  on  the  n.  w.  |  s.  8,  t.  3,  r.  5,  to  the  new  courthouse 
in  September,  1873.  The  first  female  child  born  at  the 
county  seat  was  a  daughter  of  J.  M.  Shank,  and  the  first 
male  child  was  C.  S.  Follmer. 

The  first  frame  house  in  the  county  was  built  in  1871 
by  D.  W.  Montgomery  on  the  northwest  quarter  of  section 
8,  township  3,  range  5.  The  siding,  finishing  lumber,  and 
shingles  were  hauled  from  Fairbury,  Jefferson  county. 

The  length  of  the  Oregon  Trail  in  Nuckolls  county  was 
about  sixteen  ipiles.  It  ran  through  the  followng  sections, 
townships  and  ranges:  Sections  13,  14,  15,  16,  9,  8,  7,  6, 
township  3,  range  5;  n.  e.  i  s.  1,  t.  3,  r.  6;  sections  36,  35, 
26,  23,  22,  15,  16,  9,  8,  7,  6,  t.  4,  r.  6;  n.  |  s.  2,  t.  4,  r.  7. 
The  trail  is  nearly  obliterated  in  this  county  but  traces 
remain  on  the  e.  ^  of  w.  |  of  n.  e.  j,  s.  e.  ^  of  s.  14,  t.  3,  r.  5 
where  it  comes  out  of  a  draw;  also  on  the  n.  e.  j,  s.  e.  I, 
s.  15,  t.  3,  r.  5,  where  it  leaves  the  bottom  to  get  on  higher 
ground.  Then  again  on  the  n.  w.  j,  s.  e.  {,  s.  15,  t.  3,  r.  5, 
as  it  comes  out  of  the  draw  onto  higher  ground.  The  next 
point  is  on  the  n.  w.  |  of  n.  e.  I,  s.  16,  t.  3,  r.  5,  as  it  comes 
out  of  the  draw  on  the  south  side.  Then  on  the  n.  e.  |  s.  7, 
t.  3,  r.  5,  where  it  leaves  the  third  bottom  through  a  cut 
to  the  second  bottom.  It  is  visible  again  east  of  The 
Narrows,  on  the  s.  e.  |,  s.  w.  J,  s.  6,  t.  3,  r.  5;  also  on  the 
e.  ^,  s.  w.  J  and  n.  ^  of  n.  w.  I,  s.  36,  t.  4,  r.  6.  The  last 
sign  is  where  it  leaves  the  Nine  Mile  Ridge  on  the  west 
side  of  the  n.  |  s.  1,  t.  4,  r.  7. 

The  massacre  on  the  Little  Blue  occurred  on  Sunday 
afternoon  August  7,  1864.  The  attack  seemed  general 
along  the  Little  Blue  extending  east  within  a  mile  of  Kiowa 
Ranch  in  Thayer  county.    At  this  point  one  of  the  Eubank 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NUCKOLLS  COUNTY       159 

boys  was  killed  and  scalped.  Two  of  the  Eubank  boys 
were  killed  and  scalped  on  n.  ^  of  n.  w.  J  16-3-5  and  were 
buried  under  an  elm  tree  on  s.  w.  l  of  s.  w.  I  8-3-5  on  the 
banks  of  the  Little  Blue.  It  is  stated  that  nine  of  these 
were  killed.  William  Eubank  and  the  others  were  killed  on 
n.  w.  I  7  &  s.  w.  J  6-3-5,  all  on  August  7,  1864.  The 
wife  and  child  of  one  Eubank  boy  and  Miss  Laura  Roper 
were  carried  off  captives.  Because  the  child  was  fretful  it 
was  killed  soon  after  starting.  In  about  six  months  these 
women  were  exchanged  near  Denver,  Colorado,  for  Indian 
prisoners.2  Those  killed  at  Oak  Grove  Ranch  August  7, 
1864,  were  W.  R.  Kelley  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Butler* 
Those  who  escaped  were  E.  S.  Comstock  sr.;  Harry  C. 
Comstock;  J.  M.  Comstock,  wife  and  child;  Mrs.  Francis 
Blush  and  child;  Sarah  Comstock;  Mary  Comstock;  Ella 
Butler;  Tobias  Castor;  George  Hunt.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Ostrander  was  wounded  and  died  a  short  time 
afterward  in  Seneca,  Kansas.  George  Hunt,  at  present 
county  commissioner  of  Saline  county,  Nebraska,  was 
wounded  in  the  calf  of  the  leg. 

The  bodies  of  Kelley  and  Butler  were  put  into  the 
small  smokehouse  on  Monday,  August  8,  before  the  people 
left.  The  building,  smokehouse  and  stable  were  burnt 
sometime  Monday.  The  bodies  in  the  smokehouse  were 
nearly  cremated  when  found  on  Thursday,  August  11,  by 
J.  M.  Comstock,  James  Douglas,  John  Gilbert  and  others, 
who  had  returned  to  bury  them. 

The  size  of  the  building  burnt  was  40  x  22,  with  a 
kitchen  on  west  side,  40  x  12,  and  a  bedroom  on  north  side, 


2  Stories  of  this  Oak  Grove  tragedy  and  the  recovery  of  the  captives 
are  conflicting.  Various  authorities  are  cited  in  footnote  1  of  my  history 
of  the  Indian  war  on  the  Nebraska  plains,  ms.  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society.  See,  also,  the  account  of  Captain  Henry  E.  Palmer,  History  of 
Nebraska,  v.  2,  p.  188,  note;  Kansas  Historical  Collections,  v.  8,  p.  354; 
History  of  Wyoming  (Coutant)  p.  441. — Ed. 


160     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

12  X  22.  The  main  building  was  two  stories  and  was  built 
by  Charles  and  Preston  Butler  in  1859. 

The  Emery  incident  occurred  August  9,  1864.  He 
saved  nine  stagecoach  passengers  by  discovering  an  Indian 
pony  in  a  clump  of  willows  as  he  was  about  to  descend 
into  the  bottom  land.  He  coolly  turned  his  four  horses 
and  started  on  the  race  for  life.  He  was  fortunate  enough 
to  meet  George  Constable's  ox  train.  Constable,  seeing 
him  coming,  corralled  the  train  and  saved  all  in  the  coach. 
E.  Umphrey,  and  G.  G.  and  Hattie  Randolph  presented 
Emery  a  short  time  before  his  death  with  a  fine  gold  ring. 
It  was  lost  in  1885. 

This  incident  was  reported  at  the  time  to  have  taken 
place  near  the  The  Narrows;  but  it  occurred  on  the  south- 
west quarter  of  section  13,  township  3,  range  5,  which  is 
five  to  six  miles  east  of  The  Narrows.  George  Constable 
was  afterwards  killed  by  the  Indians  on  the  divide  between 
Elk  Creek  and  the  Little  Blue  and  buried  in  the  brakes 
of  the  Little  Blue  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  35, 
township  4,  range  6.  A  considerable  number  of  wagons 
loaded  with  goods  were  burned  on  this  quarter  section. 
Pieces  of  crockery  can  now  be  found  at  this  place. 

Following  are  the  names  of  ranches  from  Kiowa, 
Thayer  county,  Nebraska,  to  Kearney,  Nebraska;  also  those 
that  had  charge  August  7,  1864.  The  location  is  given 
of  those  in  Nuckolls  county.  Kiowa  Ranch,  Thayer  county, 
James  Douglas;  Oak  Grove  Ranch,  E.  S.  Comstock;  Eu- 
bank Ranch,  Eubanks,  on  the  n.  e.  i,  n.  w.  I  s.  7,  t.  3,  r.  5; 
Ewing  or  Kelley  Ranch,  by  W.  R.  Kelley,  on  the  n.  e.  I  of 
n.  w.  I  s.  1,  t.  3,  r.  6;  Little  Blue  station,  by  J.  M.  Comstock, 
on  the  s.  e.  I  of  n.  e.  i  s.  35,  t.  4,  r.  6;  Buffalo  Ranch,  by 
Milligan  and  Mudge,  s.  e.  i,  n.  e.  |  s.  2,  t.  4,  r.  7;  Liberty 
Farm,  by  Charles  Emery;  Pawnee  Ranch,  by  Jas.  Bainter; 
Spring  Ranch,  by  Nute  Metcalf ;  Lone  Tree  Ranch,  party 
not  known  by  writer;  Elm  Tree  Ranch,  by  William  Moody; 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NUCKOLLS  COUNTY       161 

Thirty-two  Mile  Creek  Ranch  by  George  and  Ansel  Corn- 
stock;  Hook  or  Junction  Ranch,  by  Hook.  At  this  point 
the  road  from  Omaha  formed  a  junction  with  the  Oregon 
Trail  nine  miles  east  of  Kearney.  The  incidents  along  the 
Oregon  Trail  were  given  by  a  party  who  lived  on  the  trail 
from  1862  till  after  the  massacre,  and  who  was  at  Oak 
Grove  ranch  Sunday  morning,  August  7,  1864. 


IS 


FIRST  STEAMBOAT  TRIAL  TRIP  UP  THE 
MISSOURI 

By  Albert  Watkins 

If  we  do  not  wish  to  go  so  far  with  skepticism  or 
cynicism  as  to  endorse  the  old  apothegm,  "Might  makes 
right",  we  may  hit  off  a  compromise  by  agreeing  that,  at 
any  rate,  might  secures  right  and  then  find  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  our  maxim  in  our  western  frontier  conditions  from 
the  time  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  which  recognized  the  in- 
dependence of  our  colonies  and  the  Mississippi  river  as  our 
western  boundary  line,  until  the  Oregon  question  was 
settled  in  1846.  For  some  time  after  the  treaty  of  in- 
dependence England  insolently  kept  up  military  establish- 
ments on  our  western  frontier;  and  France  and  Spain,  the 
other  two  great  powers,  continued  to  menace  and  snub  us. 
We  won  their  respectful  consideration  only  when  our 
gi'owing  military  might  could  command  it.  Even  after  the 
war  of  1812-15,  England  continued  to  covet  trade  with 
our  upper  Missouri  Indians  and  to  take  unwarranted 
liberties  in  that  region. 

This  mixed  Indian-English  question  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment, in  1819,  of  Fort  Atkinson,  the  first  military  post 
within  the  Nebraska  Country  and  the  first  of  more  than 
local  importance  on  the  Missouri  river;  and,  incidentally, 
to  the  first  attempt  at  steamboat  navigation  of  the  upper 
Missouri.  The  expressed  expectations  of  the  expedition, 
flowing  from  its  ostensible  objects,  carry  the  mind  back  to 
the  vaunted  hopes  and  glories  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus, 
Cabot,  Magellan  and  others  of  the  period  of  continental 
discovery  and  investigation.     It  was  charged  to  spy  out 

(162) 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      163 

the  land  with  reference  to  topogi-aphy,  animal  and  vegetable 
products,  actual  and  prospective,  and  ascertain  as  certainly 
as  practicable  its  northern  boundary,  the  better  to  judge 
of  and  repress  British  encroachment ;  to  impress  the  Indian 
occupants  with  white  prowess  by  means  of  military  demon- 
strations and  the  wonderful  method  of  transportation  by 
steamboats;  and,  under  this  spell,  to  make  favorable 
treaties  with  the  Indians  and  ascertain  the  most  favorable 
points  for  establishing  military  posts.  The  enterprise  was  to 
be  a  second  edition  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition  but 
with  the  impressive  adjunct  of  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
of  power.  In  this  respect  it  proved  disastrously  top-heavy ; 
in  apter  metaphor,  perhaps,  the  tail  so  effectively  wagged 
the  dog  as  to  effectually  break  the  animal  down  long  before 
the  accomplishment  of  his  ostentatious  journey.  This 
great  conception  for  illuminating  the  magnificence  of  ends 
and  means  put  the  trans-Missouri  country  and,  inclusively, 
the  Nebraska  section  of  it,  in  the  public  eye  almost  as  con- 
spicuously as  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  did  a  generation 
later. 

President  Monroe,  in  his  message  to  congress,  Novem- 
ber 16,  1818,  said:  "With  a  view  to  the  security  of  om' 
inland  frontiers  it  has  been  thought  expedient  to  establish 
strong  posts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Stone  River,  and 
at  the  Mandan  village  on  the  Missouri.  It  can  hardly  be 
presumed,  while  such  posts  are  maintained  in  the  rear  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  that  they  will  venture  to  attack  our 
peaceable  inhabitants."  ^  It  was  also  contended  that  this 
movement  would  ultimately  promote  civilization  of  the 
Indians  who  would  be  unable  to  exist  alongside  of  the 
civilized  whites;  to  prevent  their  extinction  they  must  be 
under  dependent  control  of  the  United  States. ^  No  men- 
tion is  made  of  establishing  a  post  at  Council  Bluffs,  whose 


1  state  Papers,  2d  Sess.,  15th  Cong.,  1818-19,  v.  1,  doc.  2,  p.  10. 
« Ibid. 


164     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

invention  as  a  substitute  for  the  original  plan  turned  out  to 
be  the  child  of  necessity.  The  president  correctly  forecasted 
the  ultimate  Indian  policy;  but  he  was  mistaken  in  his 
forecast  of  its  results,  for  the  extennination  he  would  have 
prevented,  professedly,  goes  on  inexorably,  and  no  prac- 
ticable policy  could  have  avoided  it. 

Nile's  Register,  v.  15,  p.  117,  quotes  from  the  St.  Louis 
Enquirer  an  interesting  statement  of  the  objects  of  the 
expedition.  A  battalion  of  the  Rifle  regiment,  three  hundred 
strong,  embarked  at  Belle  Fontaine  September  4,  1818,  to 
ascend  the  Missouri  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  to 
establish  a  post  there.  This  advance  force  was  commanded 
by  Lieutenant  Colonel  Talbot  Chambers.  The  three 
captains  were  Martin,  Merger  and  Riley.  It  was  intended 
that  the  expedition  should  encamp  for  the  winter  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kansas  and  continue  its  voyage  in  the  spring. 
The  officers  were  instructed  to  carry  such  seed  grains  as  it 
was  expected  would  thrive  in  that  climate.  Wheat,  barley, 
rye  and  oats,  it  was  believed,  would  do  well  there.  "The 
Mandan  .corn  will  find  itself  in  its  own  climate"  there. 
A  reason  for  this  provision  was  "that  the  post  may  have 
within  itself  some  resource  against  the  failure  of  con- 
tractors .  .  .  Our  fellow  citizen,  Manuel  Lisa,  so  well  known 
for  his  enterprise,  will  precede  the  expedition  to  prepare  the 
Indians  for  its  reception.  He  will  quiet  their  apprehensions 
by  showing  the  benevolent  and  humane  intentions  of  the 
American  government  and  will  silence  the  British  emissaries 
who  shall  represent  the  expedition  as  an  act  of  war  against 
the  Indian  nations.  The  establishment  of  this  post  will 
be  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  west.  It  will  go  to  the  source 
of  the  fatal  British  influence  which  has  for  so  many  years 
armed  the  Indian  nations  against  our  western  frontiers. 
It  carries  the  arms  and  power  of  the  United  States  to  the 
ground  which  has  hitherto  been  exclusively  occupied  by 
the  British  North  West  and  Hudson's  Bay  companies,  and 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      165 

which  has  been  the  true  seat  of  the  British  power  over  the 
Indian  mind  .  .  .  The  North  West  and  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
panies will  be  shut  out  from  the  commerce  of  the  Missouri 
and  Mississippi  Indians;  the  American  traders  will  penetrate 
in  safety  the  recesses  of  the  rocky  mountains  in  search 
of  its  rich  fur;  a  commerce  yielding  a  million  per  annum 
will  descend  the  Missouri;  and  the  Indians,  finding  their 
wants  supphed  by  the  American  traders,  their  domestic 
wars  restrained  bj^  American  policy,  will  learn  to  respect 
the  American  name."  The  article  then  proceeds  to  describe 
the  Yellowstone  in  glowing  terms.  The  same  volume  of 
the  Register  (p.  160)  copies  from  the  Inquisitor  a  private 
letter,  dated  Belle  Fontaine,  September  4,  1818,  saying 
the  troops,  three  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  left  there  on 
the  30th  ult. ;  their  equipment  was  extensive,  including  six 
boats  and  a  tender.    They  proceeded  with  ease. 

Captain  (Brevet  Major)  Thomas  Biddle,  of  the  Rifle 
regiment,  also  a  handy  journalist-historian  military  attache 
of  the  expedition,  at  the  request  of  Colonel  Henry  Atkin- 
son, its  commander,  reported  to  that  officer^^  from  "  Camp 
Missouri",  October  29,  1819,  results  of  his  pereonal  observa- 
tions among  the  Osage,  Kansas,  Oto  and  Missouri,  Iowa, 
Pawnee,  and  Omaha  tribes  of  Indians  and  some  account 
of  the  trade  between  whites  and  Indians.  The  history  of 
the  trade  on  the  Missouri  river  under  the  Spanish  and  French 
colonial  governments,  "would  be  the  recital  of  the  expeditions 
of  vagrant  hunters  and  traders  who  never  ventured  up  the 
river  beyond  a  few  miles  of  this  place.  The  return  of 
Captains  Lewis  and  Clark,  and  the  favorable  account  they 
brought  with  them  of  the  rich  furs  to  be  obtained  on  the 
upper  branches  of  the  Missouri,  and  the  respectful  reception 
which  their  admirable  deportment  towards  the  natives  had 


'  state  Papers  1819-20,  1st  Sess.,  16th  Cong.,  doc.  47,  p.  2;  American 
State  Papers,  v.  6 — Indian  Affairs,  v.  2,  p.  201. 


166     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

gained  for  them,  encouraged  Manuel  Lisa,  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  of  these  traders,  to  venture  up  the  Missouri 
with  a  small  trading  equipment,  as  far  as  the  Yellow  Stone 
river," — in  1807.  The  party  passed  the  winter  of  1807-8 
"at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Stone  and  Big  Horn  Rivers." 
John  Coulter  was  dispatched  by  Lisa  to  the  forks  of  the 
Missouri  "to  find  the  Blackfeet  nation  and  bring  them  to 
his  establishment  to  trade" — the  first  of  these  Indians 
which  had  been  met  having  been  friendly;  but  Coulter 
fell  in  with  the  Crows,  who  were  attacked  by  Blackfeet; 
and  he  helped  his  hosts  and  so  incurred  the  enmity  of  their 
assailants.  Afterward  they  attacked  Coulter,  killing  his 
companion;  and  soon  attacked  the  whites  without  parley. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  hostility,  ''which  has  prevented 
American  traders  from  penetrating  the  fur  country  of  the  Mis- 
souri." Lisa  returned  to  St.  Louis  in  1808,  and  the  Missouri 
Fur  Company  was  organized  in  1809;  its  object  being  "to 
monopolize  the  trade  among  the  lower  tribes  of  the  Mis- 
souri" and  to  send  a  large  party  to  the  headwaters  "capable 
of  defending  and  trapping  beaver  themselves."  The 
principal  partners  went  up  with  a  party  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  and  left  small  trading  establishments  at 
the  Arikara,  Mandan,  and  Gros  Ventre  villages.  The  main 
body  wintered  at  Lisa's  old  trading  post  at  the  junction  of 
the  Yellowstone  and  the  Bighorn.  In  the  spring  of  1810 
they  went  to  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri,  erected  a  fort 
and  began  trapping  with  good  prospects;  but  soon  the 
Blackfeet  attacked  them  and  killed  thirty  of  their  number. 
Then  the  whole  party  crossed  the  mountains  southwardly 
and  wintered  on  the  waters  of  the  Columbia,  suffering  great 
privations.  A  part  returned  discouraged  down  the  Mis- 
souri, but  others  went  south  to  Spanish  settlements  via  the 
Rio  del  Norte.  The  company  languished  through  1812, 
1813,  and  1814,  and  then  expired. 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      167 

In  1808  another  company  of  eighty  men,  headed  by 
McClinnon  [McClellan]  and  Crooks,  soon  after  leaving  Camp 
Missouri  met  the  government  boat  which  had  returned 
home  the  Mandan  chief  taken  to  Washington  by  Lewis  and 
Clark.  The  boat  had  been  attacked  by  the  Stricherons.* 
This  hostility  discouraged  the  party  but  they  followed  the 
Missouri  Fur  Company's  party  up  the  river  in  1809.  The 
Sconi  Sioux  stopped  them;  but  they  escaped  and,  returning, 
wintered— 1809-10 — at  the  Oto  village.  They  attributed 
the  Indian  hostility  to  the  Missouri  Fur  Company.  In  1811 
these  traders  (apparently  meaning  "McClinnon"  and 
Crooks)  added  Wilson  P.  Hunt  to  their  association,  "and 
appear  to  have  acted  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Astor  of 
New  York."  They  ascended  again,  "but  they  carried  no 
goods  nor  made  any  attempts  to  trade  or  trap  on  the 
Missouri;  whatever  might  have  been  their  intentions,  they 
were  probably  frustrated  by  the  war  of  1812. "^  All  these 
disasters  extinguished  enterprise  on  the  Missouri.  Two 
companies  since  formed  had  dissolved,  unsuccessful,  and  a 
third  was  in  operation,  independent  of  several  individual 
traders;  but  there  were  no  attempts  to  carry  on  trade 
beyond  the  Arikara,  and  traders  did  not  often  venture 
beyond  the  upper  band  of  the  Sioux.  Traders  cheated  one 
another  and  set  a  bad  example  to  Indians.  They  made  the 
Omaha,  and  particularly  Chief  Big  Elk,  drunk  with  whiskey 
to  get  their  furs.^ 


^Probably  a  misspelling  of  Starrahe,  an  early  name  of  the  Arikara. 

*  It  is  asserted  in  historical  documents  and  also  by  many  local  con- 
temporaneous persons  that  this  Astorian  expedition  established  a  post  at 
Bellevue  which  turned  out  to  be  the  first  permanent  settlement  in  the 
territory  now  included  in  Nebraska.  This  statement  of  Biddle's  is  cu- 
mulative evidence  that  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  allegations  in  question. 
For  a  critical  discussion  of  this  topic  see  Collections  Nebraska  State  Histor- 
ical Society,  volume  16,  page  68,  footnote  3. 

•  Augustus  Choteau  (State  Papers  1815-16,  1st  Sess.,  14th  Cong.,  v.  3, 
p.  104)  says  the  Missouri  river  furs  amounted  in  1805  to  $77,971,  and 
now — 1815 — going  no  farther  up  than  the  Omahas  and  Poncas,  and  adding 


168     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Though  this  famous  adventure  became  commonly 
known  as  the  Yellowstone  Expedition,  the  war  department 
appears  to  have  called  it  "the  expedition  to  the  Mandan 
villages  on  the  Missouri  river".  January  15,  1820,  Thomas 
S.  Jesup,  quartermaster-general,  reported  to  John  C. 
Calhoun,  secretary  of  war,  the  agreement  with  James 
Johnson  of  Kentucky.  The  contract,  signed  December  2, 
1818,  provided  that  Johnson  should  have  two  steamboats 
ready  by  March  1,  1819,  "calculated  to  navigate  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  its  waters",  which  should  be  "charged  with 
the  transportation  of  provisions  and  munitions  of  war, 
detachments  and  their  baggage,  or  other  articles,  to  the 
military  posts  on  said  waters,  viz:  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Peters,  near  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony;  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellow  Stone  on  the  Missouri,  and  Bellepoint  on  the 
Arkansaw;  and  all  other  points,  whether  intermediate  or 
beyond  those  enumerated  ".    If  two  boats  were  not  sufficient, 


that  of  the  St.  Peters,  Red,  Crow's  Wing,  and  "a  great  many  more  of  the 
Mississippi",  $150,000.  William  Clark,  governor  of  Missouri  Territory, 
said  (ibid.,  p.  101)  that  Choteau  had  been  familiar  with  Indians  for  fifty 
years,  "a  part  of  which  time  the  greater  part  of  the  Indian  trade  of  this 
country  was  conducted  by  him."  Choteau  contended  that  the  reason  why 
the  United  States  factors  could  not  compete  with  British  traders'  goods 
was  that  the  former  did  not  go  to  the  Indians  but  they — the  Indians — must 
go  a  long  way  to  the  factories  and  then  got  but  limited  credit,  while  the 
British  traders  followed  them  up  and  catered  to  their  wants,  especially  in 
credit,  without  which  they  cannot  go  on  their  hunts.  He  thought  that, 
with  a  store  with  a  capital  of  $100,000  established  at  St.  Louis  by  the 
government  and  conducted  by  thoroughly  practical  Indian  traders,  furs 
worth  $200,000  could  be  brought  annually  from  the  Missouri  river,  between 
Cedar  Island,  above  the  Ponca,  and  headwaters.  The  Northwestern 
Company  of  Canada,  he  believed,  was  getting  200,000  pounds  sterling  from 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  branches  on  the  left  side  of  the  Missouri. 
The  governor  thought  that  such  a  company  with  a  capital  of  six  hundred 
thousand  to  a  million  dollars  would  "sweep  the  whole  of  the  valuable  fur 
trade  of  the  Missouri  and  [upper]  Mississippi  rivers;  expel  all  the  petty, 
though  now  very  powerful  British  traders,  and  bring  into  our  markets 
immense  quantities  of  the  most  valuable  fur  and  peltries."  (Ibid.,  p.  96.) 
Choteau  thought  the  government  ought  to  estabhsh  this  company,  and 
Clark  that  it  should  receive  "liberal  aid  and  encouragement  from  the 
government." 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      169 

on  due  and  reasonable  notice,  Johnson  was  to  provide  one 
other  or  more  boats,  "as  the  case  may  require."  If,  "upon 
experiment",  it  should  be  found  impracticable  to  do  all 
the  transportation  with  steamboats  then  Johnson  should, 
"in  a  reasonable  time,  say  thirty  days,  provide  a  sufficient 
number  of  keel  boats"  to  supply  the  deficiency.  It  was 
agreed  that  two  arbitrators,  one  to  be  chosen  by  each 
party  and  a  third  bj^  the  original  two  arbitrators  in  case 
they  could  not  agree,  should  settle  all  differences  about 
compensation  "other  than  ordinary  freight." 

Knox,  Halderman  &  Co.,  of  the  town  of  St.  Louis, 
agreed,  July  1819,  to  furnish,  from  time  to  time  and  on 
ten  days  notice  during  the  present  year,  such  number  of 
well  rigged  keel  boats  as  might  be  required  for  the  trans- 
portation of  troops,  provisions,  and  all  other  articles  to  the 
several  military  posts  on  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
rivers."  For  the  conveyance  and  safe  delivery  of  such 
stores  as  may  be  delivered  them  for  transportation  to  the 
Council  Bluffs,  the  company  was  to  be  paid  $5.50  per 
hundred  pounds;  to  Martin  Cantonment,  $4  per  hundred 
pounds.  Whereas  circumstances  might  render  it  necessary 
to  send  empty  boats  "some  distance  up  the  Missouri  to 
take  on  board  the  troops,  provisions,  and  other  stores,  now 
ascending,"  the  company  was  to  have  $2,327.27  for  every 
such  boat  of  thirty  tons  and  not  over  thirty-three  tons 
thus  freighted,  if  sent  to  Martin  Cantonment,  and  $3,200 
if  sent  to  the  Council  Bluffs;  for  each  boat  over  thirty-three 
tons  and  not  over  thirty-six  tons,  $2,700  to  Martin  Canton- 
ment and  $3,400  to  Council  Bluffs.  In  a  contract  signed  at 
St.  Louis,  August  18,  1819,  John  Walls  agreed  to  take  a 
keel  boat  of  at  least  thirty-five  tons  burden  to  the  steam- 
boat Jefferson,  "now  lying  near  the  mouth  of  Petite  Bonne 
Femme  creek  (about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above 
the  mouth  of  Missouri) ",  and  there  receive  a  full  load  of 
troops  and  provisions  and  other  stores  and  proceed  to 


170     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Martin  Cantonment  or  the  Council  Bluffs,  "as  may  be 
directed  by  the  commanding  officer  of  the  expedition." ^ 

The  signatories  of  the  Johnson  contract  were  James 
Johnson,  principal,  and  William  Ward,  John  T.  Johnson, 
Joel  Johnson,  and  Henry  Johnson,  sureties.  Richard  M. 
Johnson  held  their  power  of  attorney.  Thomas  S.  Jesup, 
quartermaster-general,  signed  for  the  United  States.^  These 
Johnsons  were  a  notable  Kentucky  family,  and  their 
dauntless  spirit  (as  manifested  in  this  hazardous  pioneer 
adventure)  had  already  won  national  fame  for  two  of  them. 
Richard  Mentor  Johnson,  the  most  conspicuous  personage 
of  the  family,  was  a  leader  in  the  movement  of  1802  to 
raise  a  force  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  frontiersmen  to 
descend  the  Mississippi  and  compel  the  Spaniards  to  grant 
them  the  right  of  navigation  to  its  mouth  and  facilities  for 
trade  at  New  Orleans.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Kentucky 
legislature;  then  of  the  national  house  of  representatives, 
from  1807  to  1819;  of  the  United  States  senate  from  1819 
to  1829;  again  of  the  house  of  representatives;  vice  presi- 
dent during  Van  Buren's  presidency;  and  back  to  the 
state  legislature  again.  But  he  won  more  fame  in  war  than 
in  politics.  When  the  war  of  1812  broke  out  he  raised,  and 
was  colonel  of,  a  regiment  of  Kentucky  mounted  riflemen; 
and  the  brilliant  charge  of  his  regiment  brought  victory  at 
the  battle  of  the  Thames,  in  1813.  His  successful  hand-to- 
hand  fight  with  an  Indian  chief,  supposed  to  have  been 
Tecumseh,  the  famous  Shawnee  chief,  added  additional 
glory  to  this  exploit. 

There  is  an  imposing  monument  of  Colonel  Johnson 
on  the  state  house  grounds  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky;  and 
it  is  related  in  Niles  Register^  that  a  magnificent  sword, 
manufactured  by  order  of  congress,  was  presented  to  him 


^  state  Papers,  1st  Session,  16th  Congress,  v.  3,  doc.  50,  pp.  5-10. 

8  Ibid.,  2d  Sess.,  16th  Cong.,  v.  8,  doc.  110,  pp.  7,  8. 

9  April  22,  1820,  v.  18,  p.  151. 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      171 

by  the  president  of  the  United  States.  One  side  of  the  hilt 
bore  the  arms  of  the  United  States;  on  the  other  was  this 
inscription:  *' Voted  by  act  of  Congress  to  Col.  Richard 
M.  Johnson,  in  testimony  of  the  sense  of  his  gallantry  in 
the  battle  of  the  Thames  in  Upper  Canada,  October  5th, 
1813." 

James  Johnson  was  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  regiment; 
and  while  his  brother  was  putting  the  Indian  contingent 
of  the  enemy  to  rout  he  successfully  charged  the  wing 
composed  of  British  soldiers.  After  his  remarkable  cam- 
paign amidst  the  perils  of  steamboating  on  the  Missouri 
river,  he,  also,  entered  politics  and  became  a  member  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  19th  Congress — 1825-6.  Johnson 
county,  Nebraska,  was  named  for  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
probably  through  the  influence  of  early  settlers  from  Indiana 
or  Kentucky;  and,  on  account  of  a  like  association,  the 
county  seat  was  named  Tecumseh.^o     The  provision  for 


1"  The  first  legislative  assembly  of  Nebraska,  by  the  act  of  March  2, 
1855,  defined  the  boundaries  of  Johnston  county.  The  act  designated 
John  B.  Robertson,  Jesse  Cowles  and  John  A.  Singleton  as  commissioners 
"to  locate  the  seat  of  justice  in  said  county",  which  "shall  be  called 
'Frances'".  Robertson  was  a  member  of  the  house  from  Burt  county; 
and  Singleton  a  member  of  the  house  from  Richardson  county.  Cowles 
was  a  brother  of  James  H.  Cowles,  member  of  the  house  from  Pierce, 
afterward  Otoe  county. 

Contemporary  and  other  early  historians  fatuously  alleged  that 
Frances  was  the  name  of  Colonel  Johnson's  wife  and  that  the  intended 
capital  of  Johnson  county  was  her  namesake.  The  fact  that  this  state- 
ment has  been  accepted  without  contradiction  illustrates  the  easy  fallibility 
of  history.  Reliable  information  just  obtained  by  the  editor,  from  Ken- 
tucky, establishes  the  fact  that  Colonel  Johnson  was  never  married; 
though  he  lived  out  of  wedlock  with  a  woman — a  negress,  strange  to  say — to 
whose  children  he  left  his  considerable  fortune.  It  is  probable  that  the 
legislature  intended  to  name  the  coming  county  seat  after  Francis  Burt, 
the  first  governor  of  the  territory.  The  discrepancy  in  the  speUing  of  the 
name  should  not  be  permitted  to  weaken  this  theory  because  misspelling 
was  so  common  in  the  pubHc  prints  of  those  days  that  its  occurrence  in 
any  given  case  might  almost  be  presumed.  For  example:  in  the  title  of 
the  act  to  establish  the  county  and  several  times  in  its  body  the  name  of 
the  county  is  spelled  with  a  t,  making  it  Johnston;  while  it  is  twice  spelled 
without  the  t,  making  it  Johnson,  as  it  was  doubtless  intended  to  be. 


172     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

arbitration  in  the  contract  was  doubtless  due  to  recognition 
or  anticipation  of  the  gi^eat  hazard  and  uncertainty  of  the 
undertaking;  but,  apparently,  the  Johnsons  relied  more 
upon  their  influence  at  Washington  than  upon  judicial 


This  first  Johnston,  or  Johnson,  county  lay  immediately  west  of 
Nemaha.  By  act  of  the  second  assembly  it  was  absorbed  by  Nemaha  and 
Clay.  The  third  legislature — of  1857 — re-established  Johnson  county  with 
its  present  territory,  taken  from  the  west  end  of  Nemaha  and  the  north 
side  of  Pawnee.  The  same  legislature  added  the  northeast  corner  of  Pawnee 
county  to  Nemaha,  making  its  south  boundary  line  continuous  with  that 
of  Johnson.  A  county  government  was  at  least  formally  organized  near 
the  end  of  the  year  1856;  but  it  was  ignored  by  the  act  of  1857.  Johnson 
county  was  also  placed  in  the  second  judicial  district  by  an  act  of  the  same 
session.  It  was  first  included  in  the  legislative  apportionment  by  Governor 
Izard  in  his  election  proclamation  of  May  30,  1857  (see  Nebraska  Advertiser, 
June  11, 1857),  Johnson  and  Nemaha  comprising  the  representative  district, 
and  was  represented  for  the  first  time  in  the  fourth  legislative  assembly, 
which  convened  December  8,  1857.  Albert  J.  Benedict,  Samuel  A.  Cham- 
bers, and  John  S.  Minick,  all  residents  of  Nemaha  county,  were  the  members 
of  the  house  of  representatives  from  the  district.  The  county  participated 
in  a  general  election,  for  the  first  time,  in  1857,  when  it  cast  70  votes. 
(Nebraska  Advertiser,  August  13,  1857;  Records  of  Nebraska  Territory, 
p.  140)  Councilmen  were  elected  in  the  even  numbered  years;  but  Gover- 
nor Richardson  made  no  apportionment  in  his  election  proclamation  of 
1858;  yet  the  clerk  of  Nemaha  county  designated  Nemaha  and  Johnson 
counties  as  a  councilmanic  district  in  his  election  notice,  though  without 
legal  authority.  (Nebraska  Advertiser,  June  24,  1858)  An  act  of  the 
second  legislative  assembly,  January  26,  1856,  authorized  the  governor 
of  the  territory  to  apportion  the  membership  of  the  council  and  the  house 
of  representatives  on  the  basis  of  a  census  to  be  taken  between  August  1st 
and  September  1st,  1856,  and  fixed  the  number  of  the  members  of  the  house 
for  the  next  session  at  thirty-five.  (Laws  of  2d  session,  p.  181)  This  act 
was  the  basis  of  Governor  Izard's  apportionment  for  the  3d  assembly, 
(Nebraska  Advertiser,  Sept.  20,  1856),  which  convened  January  5th,  1857. 
The  organic  act  provided  that  the  governor  should  apportion  the  districts 
for  the  first  session;  "but,  thereafter,  .  .  .  the  apportioning  the  representa- 
tion in  the  several  counties  or  districts  to  the  council  and  house  of  repres- 
entatives .  .  .  shall  be  prescribed  by  law,  as  well  as  the  day  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  legislative  assembly  ..."  It  is  pretty  clear  that  under 
this  fundamental  law  the  legislature  could  not  deputize  the  governor  to 
apportion  the  representation;  and  perhaps  it  was  because  Governor 
Richardson  was  a  lawyer  of  ability  that  he  did  not  undertake  to  make  an 
apportionment  in  his  election  proclamation  of  1858.  In  a  newspaper 
clipping,  pasted  on  the  page  of  the  Records  of  Nebraska  Territory  (p.  193) 
which  contains  a  copy  of  the  proclamation,  it  is  said  that,  "We  believe  the 
former  executive   (Izard)  issued  proclamations  for  general  elections,  by 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      173 

adjustment;  and  so  it  seems  as  if  they  played  a  bold  bluff 
from  first  to  last. 

Items  in  the  State  Papers  from  time  to  time  constitute 
an  official  account,  in  considerable  detail,  of  the  progress 
of  the  enterprise. 

State  Papers,  1st  session  16th  Congress,  v.  1,  doc.  2, 
p.  11,  the  president's  message,  December  7,  1819,  says: 
"  The  troops  ordered  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow  Stone,  on 
the  Missouri,  have  ascended  that  river  to  the  Council 
Bluff,  where  they  will  remain  until  the  next  spring,  when 
they  will  proceed  to  the  place  of  their  destination."  This 
measure,  the  president  says,  has  been  executed  in  amity 
with  the  Indian  tribes  and  promises  to  produce  all  the 
advantages  which  were  contemplated  by  it. 

The  president's  message,  Novemxber  14,  1820,  says: 
"Our  mihtary  positions  have  been  maintained  at  Belle 
Point,  on  the  Arkansas,  at  Council  Bluff,  on  the  Missouri, 
at  St.  Peters  on  the  Mississippi,  and  at  Green  Bay  on  the 


what  authority  we  do  not  know.  There  is  certainly  nothing  in  the  law 
requiring  it.  We  speak  by  authority  when  we  say  that  Governor  Richardson 
understands  the  law  and  his  duty  better".  The  writer  then  says  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  county  commissioners  to  issue  election  notices  and  urges 
them  not  to  neglect  it.  The  governor's  proclamation  in  question  gave 
notice  that  a  territorial  auditor  would  be  elected  on  the  day  of  the  general 
election,  to  fill  a  vacancy. 

Nevertheless,  Robert  W.  Furnas  canvassed  Johnson  county  in  his 
campaign  of  1858,  as  a  candidate  for  councilman,  and  published  the  election 
returns  from  the  two  counties  jointly  for  councilman  and  members  of  the 
house  of  representatives.  (Nebraska  Advertiser,  July  22,  and  August  12, 
1858.)  In  the  Advertiser  of  July  29,  Furnas  says,  with  emphasis,  that  he 
will  be  a  representative  "of  the  entire  people  of  Nemaha  county";  which 
suggests  that  he  knew,  or  thought,  that  he  would  represent  Johnson  county 
only  informally.  The  act  of  the  fifth  general  assembly,  November  3,  1858, 
apportioned  members  of  the  house  of  representatives,  but  not  of  the  council; 
and  Johnson,  Clay,  and  Gage  counties  were  constituted  a  representative 
district.  This  status  continued  until  the  ninth  assembly — act  of  January 
28,  1864 — apportioned  members  of  the  council  and  house  of  representa- 
tives, constituting  Pawnee,  Gage,  Johnson,  Clay,  and  Jones  the  eleventh 
council  district  and  Johnson  a  representative  district.  This  apportionment 
was  incorporated  in  the  revised  statutes  of  1866. 


174     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Upper  Lakes".  Commodious  barracks  had  been  erected 
at  most  of  them.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  reason  for 
the  change  to  Council  Bluffs.  (Ibid.,  2d  Sess.  16th  Congress, 
V.  11,  doc.  2,  p.  8). 

First  land  on  the  Missouri  river  purchased  for  military 
purposes  at  Belle  Fontaine — "tract  on  the  Missouri" — 
April  20,  1806,  five  acres;  tract  of  five  hundred  French 
acres  at  same  place,  July  29,  1806. 

Ibid.,  2d  Sess.  16th  Cong.,  v.  8,  doc.  110,  page  4. 
Proposals  from  sixteen  persons  for  transporting  military 
stores  from  St.  Louis  to  Council  Bluffs  ranged  from  $3.25 
to  $4  per  100  lbs. — among  them  one  from  Frederick  Dent. 

P.  9.  Thomas  S.  Jesup,  quartermaster-general,  pro- 
posed to  allow  Colonel  James  Johnson  "  thirty- three  and 
one-third  per  cent  in  addition  to  the  usual  freight,  for  the 
stores  and  provisions  transported  to  the  Council  Bluffs"; 
the  usual  freight  to  Martin  Cantonment. 

Pp.  10,  11.  Commodore  John  Rodgers  and  Gen.  John 
Mason  were  agreed  upon  as  referees  with  Walter  Jones  as 
umpire  in  place  of  William  Wirt,  attorney-general,  who 
dechned  to  act. 

Only  charges  for  transportation  on  the  Missouri  to  be 
referred.  The  claim  for  detention  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri  of  the  Expedition,  $13,333.33;  and  the  Johnson, 
$7,200,  was  to  be  referred;  the  award  to  be  final. 

Ibid.,  p.  5. 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      175 
DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  CASE 

Section  1.     Contract   between   war   department   and 
James  Johnson 

2.  Mr.  Johnson's  case — correspondence,  etc. 

3.  "  ''  "      depositions 

4.  "  "  "      opinion   of    William 

Pinkney 

5.  "  "  "       argument  of  Henry 

Clay. 

6.  "  "  "      letters  of  Col.  Atkin- 

son 

7.  Depositions  on  behalf  of  war  department. 

8.  Statement  to  referees  on  behalf  of  war 

department. 

9.  Argument  of  William  Wirt,  attorney  gen- 

eral. 

10.  Documents  of  arbitrators. 

11.  Award  of  arbitrators. 

12.  Settlement  under  the  award. 

P.  3.  Silas  Craig  was  the  lowest  bidder,  but  he  was 
unable  to  furnish  the  security  required,  and  the  quarter- 
master at  St.  Louis  gave  the  contract  to  Colonel  James 
Johnson,  the  next  lowest. 

P.  6.     Contract. 

P.  8.  Bond  signed  by  WilHam  Ward,  John  T.  Johnson, 
Joel  Johnson,  Henry  Johnson,  as  sureties, — penalty,  $50,000. 

January  5, 1820,  Thomas  Jesup,  quartermaster-general, 
proposed,  among  other  things,  to  pay  the  usual  freight 
from  St.  Louis  to  Martin  Cantonment,  Fort  Osage,  and  the 
Council  Bluffs,  on  the  Missouri,  and  to  allow  thirty-three 
and  one-third  per  cent  in  addition  for  the  stores  and  pro- 
visions transported  to  Council  Bluffs. 

P.  9.    Referees  named. 

P.  10.    Final  decision  to  refer  to  Commodore   John 


176     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Rodgers,  General  John  Mason,  and  William  Wirt,  attorney 
general  of  the  United  States. 

P.  11.  Only  charge  for  transportation  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  operations  on  the  Missouri  river  to  be  referred. 

It  is  agreed  by  both  parties  that  claims  for  detention 
of  the  Expedition  and  Johnson  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri—the first  for  $13,333.33,  the  second  for  $7,200— and 
for  detention  of  the  Expedition,  Jefferson,  and  Johnson  up 
the  Missouri,  be  referred. 

Award  of  arbitrators,  or  a  majority  of  them,  to  be 
final. 

Ml-.  Wirt  declined  to  act  as  umpire  (in  January,  1820) ; 
probably  because  he  was  attorney-general,  and  by  agi'eement 
of  the  parties  the  arbitrators  named  Walter  Jones  in  his 
place. 

P.  12.  Johnson's  bill  charged  16|  cents  for  freight  on 
the  three  steamboats  and  on  six  keel  boats  from  Belle 
Fontaine  to  Council  Bluffs.  In  each  instance  the  quarter- 
master-general's memorandum  was  "usual  price,  5|  cents"; 
also  fifty  dollars  each  for  three  hundred  officers  and  soldiers 
in  the  three  steamboats  from  Belle  Fontaine  to  Council 
Bluffs,  as  to  which  the  quartermaster-general  remarked, 
"fifty  per  cent  too  much." 

P.  13.  September  30,  1819,  James  Johnson  writes  to 
Richard  M.  Johnson,  his  brother  and  attorney,  a  very 
vigorous  denunciation  of  the  alleged  attempt  of  the  Bank 
of  St.  Louis  which  has  undertaken  to  attach  his  boats  and 
provisions.  He  says  the  bank  has  already  swindled  him 
out  of  $50,000. 

Col.  Talbot  Chambers,  of  the  Rifle  regiment,  com- 
manding at  Belle  Fontaine,  charged  that  Johnson's  steam- 
boats did  not  furnish  proper  accommodations  for  troops; 
to  which  Johnson  replied  that,  "The  accommodation  of 
soldiers  and  boatmen  must  of  necessity  be  very  different 
from  that  which  is  prepared  for  ladies  in  a  ball  room,  or 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      177 

even  the  silk  stocking  gentry  of  your  luminous  cities,  not 
that  soldiers  are  less  meritorious  than  other  classes  of  our 
fellow  citizens;  I  should  be  the  last  to  say,  or  believe  so, 
for  the  soldier  is  his  country's  stay  in  the  day  and  hour  of 
danger.  But  the  soldier  expects  to  meet  with  difficulties 
and  dangers  and  privations.  He  neither  expects  the  silver 
spoon  nor  the  silver  slippers.  Now,  what  is  the  fact  in 
this  case?  The  Expedition  contained  a  plain,  nice,  level 
deck  about  120  feet  long,  and  it  would  have  taken  [but?] 
a  day  to  have  stretched  the  soldiers'  tents  on  a  ridge  pole, 
to  be  fixed  so  as  to  form  an  awning;  a  detachment^had 
come  on  from  Louisville  in  that  way,  comfortably.  The 
soldiers  appeared  much  pleased,  and  so  did  the  officers, 
with  their  situation  in  the  cabin."  The  charge  that  the 
soldiers  could  have  no  exercise  he  said  went  to  the  general 
question — the  practicability  of  this  mode  of  traveling — to 
be  settled  between  the  secretary  of  war  and  Colonel  Cham- 
bers. He  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  the  soldiers  on  shore, 
pulling  at  the  cordelle,  could  be  more  safe  from  Indian 
ambuscade  than  men  in  the  center  of  the  river  on  a 
steamboat,  "particularly  when  the  mattresses  could  all  be 
thrown  up  in  a  few  minutes,  and  we  were  provided  with 
extra  plank,  which  was  intended  to  be  thrown  against  the 
hand  rails  above,  which  would  form  a  complete  fortifica- 
tion against  Indian  bullets  or  balls." 

Johnson  seems  to  have  made  one  good  point,  namely, 
that  while  he  considered  that  he  was  not  bound  to  repack 
and  resalt  for  the  voyage  up  the  Missouri  the  provisions 
which  he  delivered  in  good  order,  yet  he  was  willing  to 
furnish  salt  and  hands  and  leave  the  question  of  expense  to 
the  secretary  of  war. 

There  was  flat  contradiction  as  to  whether  a  portion 
of  the  meats  was  good  or  bad. 

P.  17.  The  sheriff  from  St.  Louis  undertook  to  serve 
civil  process  on  Johnson's  representatives  at  Belle  Fontaine 

13 


178     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

on  the  written  permission  of  Colonel  Chambers.  "The 
sheriff  was  defeated  by  the  firmness  and  decision  of  Captain 
Craig,  and  the  government  provisions  being  thus  abandoned, 
by  the  orders  of  Colonel  Chambers,  were  safely  conveyed 
back  to  the  Expedition."  Johnson  plausibly  contended 
that^the  goods  were  virtually  delivered,  except  as  to  those 
that'might  be  found  unfit  when  they  were  presented  for 
inspection,  and  that  no  third  party  might  interfere.  He 
says  he  was  threatened  with  force  by  the  state  authorities; 
but  he  prepared  to  resist  under  the  United  States  flag. 

P.  19.  May  20,  1819.  Colonel  Chambers  requests 
Johnson  (to  forward,  by  keel  boat,  a  partial  supply  of 
provisions  to  Martin  Cantonment  at  once,  "to  save  the 
battalion  of  riflemen  stationed"  there.  This  necessity,  he 
says,  was  caused  "by  the  failure  of  the  steamboats  and  the 
uncertainty  which  exists  of  their  being  enabled  to  ascend 
the  Missouri  river  ..."  May  22d  Colonel  Chambers  says, 
in  reply  to  Johnson's  inquiry  of  the  same  date  whether  the 
two  steamboat  loads  of  provisions  which  were  at  Belle 
Fontaine  would  be  protected  from  arrest  by  the  civil 
authority,  "when  delivered  in  the  garrison,"  that  he  was 
not  authorized  to  receive  them  until  inspected  and  turned 
over  by  the  commissary.  Major  Hemstead,  or  he  was 
ordered  to  do  so  in  writing  by  General  Bissell.  Johnson  at 
once  replies  that  he  is  ready  for  inspection.  Chambers 
insists  that  the  guard  Johnson  asks  for  will  only  protect 
property  from  injury,  not  from  the  civil  authority  of  St. 
Louis.  In  view  of  the  actual  menace.  Chambers'  caution 
seemed  justified.  He  refused  to  put  the  property  in  the 
storehouse  previous  to  inspection ;  therefore  Johnson  asked 
Major  Whistler  to  deposit  the  goods  as  near  the  store  as 
possible;  but  he  declined  on  the  23d  to  formally  recognize 
the'^offer  to  deposit  the  goods,  much  less  to  receive  them. 
Colonel  Chambers,  on  the  21st,  wrote  to  General  Bissell 
that  the  Expedition,  a  boat  of  two  hundred  tons,  drawing 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      179 

seven  feet,  reached  St.  Louis  on  the  13th  and  Belle  Fontaine 
on  the  18th,  taking  five  days  to  accompHsh  twenty-five 
miles;  "her  machinery  appears  to  be  so  feeble  that  it  v/as 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  she  could  reach  this  place," 
and  the  rapidity  of  the  current  could  not  be  compared  with 
that  of  the  Missouri  river;  troops  would  be  exposed  to 
scorching  sun  by  day  and  rain  and  dew  by  night  on  the 
open  platform  on  the  upper  deck,  and  with  no  chance  for 
exercise;  the  crew  was  inexperienced  and  the  boat  deficient 
in  anchors  and  other  appendages. 

"  There  exists  but  little  doubt  that  she  can  never  reach 
her  destination.  So  soon  as  the  annexed  arrangements 
were  [completed  I?]  immediately  proposed  to  Colonel  John- 
son, to  have  the  provisions  inspected  and  turned  over  to 
the  commissary,  in  order  to  expedite;  but,  in  consequence 
of  a  civil  suit,  which  had  been  adjudged  unfavorably  to 
Colonel  Johnson,  which  he  determined  to  resist,  by  force, 
and  the  opinion  which  he  entertains  that  he  is  not  subject 
to  the  expense  of  repacking  and  rendering  the  provisions 
sure  from  becoming  tainted,  no  progress  had  yet  been 
made  except  the  landing  of  a  few  barrels,  which  were  im- 
mediately seized  by  a  civil  ofl^cer." 

From  the  apparent  state  of  the  provisions  it  was  im- 
possible that  they  could  be  preserved  one  month.  The 
few  barrels  weighed  were  deficient  twenty  pounds  each  "and 
the  brine  which  I  obtained  from  them  was  not  only  high 
colored,  but  the  smell  extremely  offensive."  He  understood 
the  civil  authority  at  St.  Louis  was  determined  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  the  boats  unless  the  claims  against  Johnson 
were  adjusted,  and  as  he  was  equally  determined  to  oppose, 
the  expedition  would  be  very  much  retarded. 

But  Colonel  Chambers  had  no  legal  right  to  anticipate 
all  this,  and  the  boats  were,  in  fact,  cleared.  Colonel  Cham- 
bers seemed  to  be  in  collusion  with  the  bank,  as  Johnson 
charged,  though  Johnson  also  was  a  great  bluffer. 

May  24,  Johnson  writes  Chambers:    "I  am  ready,  at 


180     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

a  moments  warning,  to  ascend  either  of  these  rivers  with  the 
boats  now  here  in  the  employment  of  government." 

July  4  Jesup  writes  Johnson — both  being  at  Belle 
Fontaine — that  his  agent  at  Louisville  had  forced  Captain 
Pickett,  the  quartermaster-general's  assistant,  to  contract 
freight  at  three  dollars  a  hundred  from  that  place  to  St. 
Louis,  whereas  the  regular  rate  from  Pittsburgh  to  St.  Louis 
was  only  a  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents. 

"  It  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  make  you  any  further 
advances;  half  the  sum  already  advanced  ought  to  have 
defrayed  the  whole  expense  of  the  expedition  both  on  the 
Missouri  and  Mississippi.  Congress  at  their  last  session 
appropriated  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  dollars  for 
transportation,  viz:  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars 
for  the  transportation  of  troops  and  stores,  and  fifty  thou- 
sand for  the  transportation  of  provisions;  of  that  sum  you 
have  received  already  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  dollars,  and  you  have  furnished  transportation 
for  four  companies  of  men  only,  and  for  about  three  hundred 
and  thirty  tons  of  provisions  and  stores  .  .  .  The  season  has 
so  far  advanced  that  delay  can  be  no  longer  tolerated." 

Answering  on  the  same  date,  Johnson  says  the  three 
steamboats  are  here — at  Belle  Fontaine — ready  and,  he 
presumes,  will  proceed  up  the  river  in  the  morning.  He 
whines  for  still  more  money.  (There  was,  undoubtedly, 
corrupt  carelessness  in  these  advances.)  He  is  ready  to 
provide  any  amount  of  transportation  needed  on  very  short 
notice. 

July  9  Johnson  writes  the  quartermaster-general  that 
on  that  day  he  left  the  Expedition,  Jefferson,  and  Johnson 
at  St.  Charles,  their  cargoes  all  safe  and  in  good  plight  and 
the  boats  competent  to  oppose  the  rapid  current  of  the 
Missouri  with  entire  success.  Yet  the  Jefferson  and  Johnson 
had  already  been  aground.  He  left  orders  for  them  to 
proceed  at  once  to  Council  Bluffs,  as  his  pilots  informed 
him  that  the  water  was  deep  enough.    For  a  report  of  the 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      181 

committee  of  the  house  of  representatives  on  the  award, 
March  1,  1821,  see  Military  Affairs,  v.  2,  p.  324. 

On  the  9th  Johnson  rephes  further  to  Jesup's  strictures 
(p.  28),  contending  that  his  agreement  with  Pickett  was 
fair  and  that  the  three  steamboats  took  on  three  hundred 
and  seventy-five  tons  in  freight  and  men;  when  they  left 
Belle  Fontaine  enough  flour  was  left  for  a  keel  boat  load. 
He  had  a  boat  ready  to  take  it,  except  that  a  patroon  had 
not  returned  with  hands  for  loading  from  St.  Louis;  but 
Captain  McGunnegle  saw  fit  to  give  it  to  other  boats  which 
he  said  were  ready,  yet  on  that  day  they  were  still  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river — waiting  for  hands.  He  contends  that 
he  lost  half  a  month  in  vain  efforts  to  unload  and  deliver 
his  cargoes  at  Belle  Fontaine.  August  27  Jesup  advises 
Johnson  of  a  large  sum  advanced  to  him  by  order  of  the 
president;  the  quartermaster-general  therefore  calls  on 
Johnson  "for  such  sums  as  may  be  necessary  to  enable 
him  (Captain  McGunnegle)  to  dischar-ge  the  boats  which 
were  employed  in  consequence  of  the  deficiency  of  your 
aiTangements " ;  and  he  asks  Johnson  to  give  a  mortgage 
or  bill  of  sale  on  the  Johnson  and  the  Expedition  as  further 
security,  the  bond  being  only  $50,000.    (P.  31.) 

On  the  28th  Johnson  denies  that  McGunnegle  was 
compelled  to  employ  any  boats  on  account  of  deficiency  in 
his  arrangements.  He  was  ready  to  give  any  additional 
security  required ;  but  the  property  in  question  was  already 
mortgaged  to  the  government.  There  follows  plenty  of 
trouble  about  necessary  supplementary  keel  boats.  By 
August  31  Captain  McGunnegle  had  heard,  through  a 
Frenchman  w^ho  left  Martin  Cantonment  on  the  20th, 
that  the  Expedition  was  taking  out  her  cargo  at  Ft.  Osage, 
being  unable  to  proceed  farther  "for  want  of  depth  of 
water."  He  had  met  the  Johnson  about  thirty  miles  below 
Fort  Osage.     (P.  34). 

Johnson  undertakes  to  lay  the  foundation  for  further 


182     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

contracting  next  year  by  advising  Calhoun,  secretary  of 
war,  that  proper  inspection  be  made  at  Louisville  as  early 
as  February  and  then,  in  case  of  disaster,  the  loss  should 
be  the  contractor's.  This  year  the  Expedition  arrived  at 
Belle  Fontaine  about  May  17  and  the  inspection,  resalting, 
and  repacking  took  sixty  days,  during  which  time  the  boat 
would  have  gone  a  thousand  miles  up  the  river.  There 
were  only  five  months  with  good  water  after  ice  was  broken. 
His  plan  was  to  carry  all  provisions  in  flat  bottom  boats 
and  keels  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  there  loading  steam- 
boats and  keels  for  the  rest  of  the  journey.    (P.  42.) 

Pp.  44-58.  On  the  26th  of  November,  1819,  Johnson 
sent  from  Great  Crossings,  his  Kentucky  home,  to  the 
secretary  of  war,  a  long  story  of  his  vicissitudes  and  the 
causes  of  delay  in  arriving  at  St.  Louis.  The  Jefferson 
broke  her  piston  head  below  St.  Louis  and  was  delayed  a 
short  time;  the  Calhoun  failed  in  her  boiler;  the  Expedition 
arrived  May  12,  lay  two  and  one-half  days  to  make  repairs, 
arriving  at  Belle  Fontaine  the  17th,  the  Johnson  about  the 
21st,  and  the  Exchange  at  St.  Louis  about  the  same  time. 
It  was  intended  that  this  boat  should  go  no  farther  than 
Belle  Fontaine.  The  Expedition,  Johnson  said,  had  taken 
a  fourth  more  than  her  ordinary  tonnage  to  Belle  Fontaine, 
"through  a  current,  universally  admitted  by  navigators 
of  that  river,  as  difficult  and  rapid  as  any  that  we  should 
encounter.  The  citizens  generally  partook  of  the  joy, 
except  a  faction  at  St.  Louis,  composed  of  the  friends  of 
the  poor  old  broken  St.  Louis  Bank,  to  see  a  steamboat, 
carrying  more  than  two  hundred  tons  of  actual  cargo, 
ascending  their  waters."  At  Belle  Fontaine  he  had  told 
Colonel  Chambers  that  the  attempt  of  the  bank  to  attach 
the  property  was  indefensible,  because  he  regarded  it  as 
government  property,  "as  it  was  purchased  by  advances 
made  to  myself  as  contractor."  He  wanted  Chambers  to 
receive  the  cargo  in  keel  boats  direct  from  the  Expedition, 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      183 

the  inspection  to  be  at  Johnson's  risk;  but  Chambers 
declined.  Johnson  puffs  Col.  Atkinson  (p.  50)  liberally, 
but  ineffectually,  and  then  he  accuses  him,  as  well  as  Jesup, 
Chamberlain,  and  Captain  McGunnegle,  of  conspiring 
against  himself.  The  Expedition,  Jefferson,  and  Johnson 
all  received  their  cargoes  "composed  of  provisions,  munitions 
of  war,  and  military  stores,  and  arrived  at  Belle  Fontaine 
about  the  second  of  July,  where  a  quantity  of  quarter- 
master's and  hospital  stores  were  put  on  board,  and  the 
baggage  belonging  to  officers  and  soldiers."  They  set  sail 
July  3.  A  few  days  before  they  set  out  Johnson  found 
that  he  must  have  some  more  money  to  buy  fuel;  but 
Jesup  refused  the  requested  advance.  August  30  Uriel 
Sebree  sent  word  that,  though  one  of  Johnson's  keel  boats 
had  arrived  and  was  alongside  the  Jefferson,  Captain  Bliss, 
the  commanding  officer  on  board,  did  not  think  that  his 
instructions  permitted  him  to  unload  on  Johnson's  keel 
boat.  The  hands  had  been  persuaded  that  they  would  not 
get  paid  and  were  not  inclined  to  go  on  with  Johnson's 
keel  boats. 

P.  56.  October  12,  Johnson  says:  "Major  Sebree, 
with  the  last  article  from  on  board  the  steamboat  Expedi- 
tion and  part  from  the  steamboat  Johnson,  was  a  hundred 
miles  above  Martin's  Camp  with  my  keel  boats,  going  on 
well." 

On  the  16th  Captain  Craig  had  received  every  pound 
of  cargo  from  the  Johnson  on  Johnson's  keel  boats,  and 
was  going  in  person  to  Council  Bluffs  with  all  possible 
dispatch.    Then  Johnson  drops  into  self-praise: 

"Long  before  this  day  (Nov.  26)  every  pound  of  pro- 
visions is  at  headquarters;  this  cargo  was  conveyed  by  my 
keel  boats,  which  boats  returned  from  the  Council  Bluffs, 
after  having  discharged  their  cargoes.  The  two  last  keel 
boats  sent  from  Belle  Fontaine  may  not  have  reached 
headquarters,  but  they  must  be  near  at  hand.  Thus,  is 
this  great  concern  closed,  and  I  have  conveyed  from  Belle 


184     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Fontaine,  up  the  two  rivers,  nine  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
tons,  and  could  have  conveyed  much  more  if  desired." 

(This  was  vain  boasting  considering  that  the  great 
power  of  the  government  had  advanced  him  extravagant 
remuneration  and  over  $76,000  in  excess;  and  that  for  many 
years  trappers  and  traders  had  been  successfully  freighting 
in  keel  boats  far  beyond  Council  Bluffs.) 

"...  It  was  generally  feared  that  it  was  impracticable. 
It  was  admitted  by  all,  except  a  squad  at  St.  Louis,  to  be 
a  most  high-minded  attempt  to  benefit  the  west  in  particular; 
and  that  squad  was  composed  of  those  who  were  in  the 
British  interest,  as  I  believe.  But,  as  respected  the  success 
of  the  steamboats,  this  was  thought  out  of  the  question: 
sir,  may  I  be  believed  that  I  find  very  few  indeed  but  what 
believed  the  same  thing?  Louisville,  Cincinnati,  and  the 
whole  country,  contained  the  same  sentiment.  All  this, 
I  confess,  did  not  change  my  belief  that  success  was  ours; 
and  we  have  certainly  succeeded  as  far  as  a  trial  could 
have  been  obtained.  I  can  put  the  provisions  as  high  up 
as  the  government  requires  next  year.  And,  if  I  shall  have 
your  confidence  and  support,  the  world  shall  be  deceived 
as  to  the  fact  of  success,  and  that  too  in  steamboats  in  part, 
and  keel  boats  the  balance.  Many  who  own  steamboats 
now  believe  in  its  practicability.  I  have  broken  the  way 
at  immense  expense  and  risque." 

Halderman,  "the  great  freighter",  declined  his  offer  of 
six  cents  a  pound  to  carry  goods  to  Martin  Cantonment 
last  fall,  now  he  is  apparently  freighting  half  as  far  again 
for  five  and  one-half  cents. 

P.  59.  May  20,  Johnson  was  hoping  at  Belle  Fontaine 
that  the  government  boat  commanded  by  Major  Long 
would  arrive  and  that  Jesup  and  Colonel  Atkinson  would 
come  on  her.  In  another  place  he  says  their  arrival  would 
be  his  day  of  jubilee;  but  it  was  only  a  frost. 

P.  60.  A  sketch  of  General  Jesup  from  the  George- 
town Patriot.  He  entered  the  army  in  1808  as  an  ensign 
or  lieutenant;   is  now  about  thirty  years  old;   was  in  the 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      185 

battles  of  Niagara,  Chippeway,  etc.,  in  which  he  was 
severely  wounded,  having  lost  two  fingers  from  his  right 
hand.  The  objects  of  the  expedition  were  "to  ascertain 
the  point  where  the  Rocky  mountains  are  intersected  with 
the  49th  degree  of  latitude,  which  forms  the  western 
[northern]  boundary  between  the  possessions  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States;  to  inquire  into  the  trading 
capacity  and  genius  of  the  various  tribes  through  which 
they  may  pass;  and,  finally,  to  investigate  whatever  may 
be  novel  or  interesting  in  the  geology,  botany,  mineralogy 
and  natural  history  of  those  yet  unknown  regions." 

Johnson  adduced  a  great  mass  of  testimony  to  show 
that  navigation  on  the  Missouri  was  four  or  five  times  as 
difficult  as  on  the  Mississippi.  Major  Stephen  H.  Long 
(p.  73)  said  that,  at  a  moderate  stage,  the  velocity  of  the 
Ohio  from  Louisville  was  three  miles  and  a  quarter  an 
hour;  of  the  Mississippi,  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Mis- 
souri, four  and  a  half  miles;  of  the  Missouri  to  Council 
Bluffs,  during  the  navigable  season,  five  and  a  quarter  miles. 
Select  French  crews  had  voyaged  from  St.  Louis  to  Council 
Bluffs  in  forty-five  or  fifty  days.  The  journey  required 
great  skill  in  hands. 

P.  8L  John  O'Fallon  testified  that  for  nearly  the  last 
two  years  he  had  been  "actively  employed  in  transporting 
merchandise,  etc.,  for  the  troops  up  the  river  Missouri,  and 
the  last  year  as  high  up  as  the  Council  Bluffs;  which  place 
I  have  once  visited  in  that  time  .  .  .  Owing  to  the  great  and 
extraordinary  drought  that  prevailed,  not  only  in  the  western 
country,  but,  I  believe,  throughout  the  United  States,  I 
was  informed  b}^  the  oldest  traders  residing  on  the  Missouri, 
that  the  river  was  lower,  and  its  navigation  worse  than  they 
ever  knew  it  before."  He  had  always  doubted  that  any 
steamboat  could  navigate  the  Missouri  with  profit  or 
safety;  and  Major  Long  concurred  with  him  "after  his 
arrival  near  the  Council  Bluffs."    O'Fallon  eulogized  Major 


186     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Sebree,  Johnson's  agent,  and  Captain  Craig,  commander 
of  the  Expedition,  for  competency.  He  noticed  that  one  of 
Halderman's  boats,  employed  by  the  quartermaster  at 
St.  Louis,  when  it  arrived  at  Council  Bluffs  from  the 
Jefferson,  had  hardly  twenty  tons;  while  on  the  Mississippi 
or  Ohio  it  would  carry  thirty  tons.  "Personally  appeared 
John  O'Fallon  and  made  oath.  On  the  Holy  Evangelists  of 
Almighty  God",  etc.,  was  the  form  of  oath  in  O'Fallon's 
deposition. 

Christopher  Crow,  ''clerk  and  steersman  to  the  steam- 
boat Expedition,  from  Louisville  until  she  stopped  at  Cow 
Island,  in  the  Missouri",  testified  to  the  good  condition  of 
the  Expedition  and  Johnson  on  their  arrival  at  Belle 
Fontaine,  and  that  repairs  would  not  have  detained  them 
more  than  forty-eight  hours.  These  boats  failed  to  reach 
Council  Bluffs  "on  account  of  the  low  water  and  nothing 
else."  Atkinson  issued  his  order  that  the  Expedition  should 
stop  and  the  provisions  be  taken  by  keel  boats,  on  account 
of  the  low  state  of  the  water.     (P.  88) 

Andrew  Johnson  said,  (p.  95)  that  it  was  necessary 
to  lie  by  at  night  on  the  Missouri,  but  not  on  the  Mississippi. 
It  was  necessary  to  clear  the  boiler  of  mud  every  two  or 
three  days.  It  takes  about  five  days  to  go  from  Cow  Island 
to  Council  Bluffs.  A  boat  would  last  only  half  as  long  on 
the  Missouri  as  on  other  streams.  The  Johnson's  capacity 
was  ninety  tons;  the  Expedition  carried  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  tons  and  the  Jefferson  three  hundred,  to  St. 
Louis.  By  a  round  trip  on  the  Mississippi  that  season  the 
Jefferson  would  have  made,  clear,  $20,000 ;  the  Expedition, 
$22,000;  and  the  Johnson,  $10,000. 

James  Taylor  (p.  97)  testified  that  the  distance  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs  was  upwards 
of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  A.  Johnson,  agent  for 
the  contractor  at  St.  Louis,  dilates  (p.  108)  on  the  allegation 
that  the  army  officers  criticized  the  government  for  risking 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      187 

too  much  on  Johnson's  credit,  alleging  that  he  had  drawn 
$180,000  more  than  he  could  account  for  and  that  Haider- 
man,  who  at  first  wanted  to  engage  to  furnish  him  with 
keel  boats,  afterward  refused  and  was  employed  by  Captain 
McGunnegle,  representing  the  government,  to  supply 
them. 

P.  110.  August  29,  1820  [1819],  Captain  Bliss,  com- 
manding the  Sixth  infantry,  ordered  that  "in  consequence 
of  the  stoppage  and  final  failure  of  the  steamboat  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  the  master  and  agent  of  the  same  having, 
on  the  10th  of  July,  declined,  to  the  commanding  officer, 
to  navigate  the  same  to  Council  Bluffs,  the  place  of  its 
destination,  ...  by  the  department  order  of  the  3d  of  July 
last,  Lieutenant  Brown,  quartermaster  Sixth  infantry,  will 
immediately  demand  and  receive  from  the  master  and  agent 
of  the  said  boat  the  provisions,  stores  and  munitions  of  war, 
and  all  the  property  on  board  of  it  belonging  to  the  United 
States,  or  the  troops  thereof,  preparatory  to  its  being 
loaded  into  keel  boats,  provided  for  that  purpose  by  the 
quartermaster-general's  department";  to  which  Sebree,  the 
agent,  presumptuously  refused  to  accede,  insisting  on  retain- 
ing forty  tons  to  put  on  Colonel  Johnson's  keel  boat,  "now 
with  said  steam  boat." 

P.  112.  Sebree  states  that  he  left  Belle  Fontaine 
July  5,  on  board  the  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  proceeded  to  a 
point  forty  miles  below  Franklin, ^^  "which  is  about  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river;  the  water 
then  became  so  low  that  it  was  impossible  for  her. to  proceed 


'1  According  to  Kansas  Historical  Collections,  v.  8,  p.  439,  note,  this 
point  was  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Osage  river;  but  that  is  about 
double  the  distance  of  Major  Sebree's  estimate.  The  same  writer  says, 
also,  that  the  Jefferson  was  sunk  here  by  a  snag,  but  there  is  no  men- 
tion of  such  an  occurrence  by  Major  Sebree  and  none  in  the  comprehen- 
sive report  of  the  investigation  of  the  expedition.  There  is  much  mis- 
statement in  the  brief  account  of  the  expedition  given  by  Houck's  His- 
tory of  Missouri,  v.  3,  p.  199. 


188     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

further  up  the  river."  Without  delay  he  advised  James 
Johnson  of  the  impossibihty  of  going  farther  with  the 
Jefferson,  and  Johnson  replied  that  with  a  few  days  to 
provide  hands  he  could  furnish  keel  boats  to  take  all  the 
loading  of  the  Jefferson,  that  one  boat  was  sent  at  once, 
and  another  would  start  in  a  few  days.  But  McGunnegle 
informed  Johnson  that  unless  he  could  start  boats  on 
Monday  (it  was  then  Saturday)  the  government  would  start 
its  own  boats.  Sebree  put  three  hundred  and  thirteen 
barrels  of  flour  on  Johnson's  fifty  ton  boat.  The  rest  went 
by  government  boats,  sent  by  McGunnegle;  and  on  account 
of  orders  given  the  officer  commanding  the  detachment 
(Captain  Bliss),  "it  was  with  some  difficulty  I  obtained 
even  that." 

Why,  being  cognizant  of  Johnson's  overdraft,  did  not 
the  officers  get  all  they  could  out  of  him?  seems  a  pertinent 
but  not  answerable  query. 

Ibid.  Thomas  Hempstead  testified  that,  from  the  rise 
in  the  spring  to  August  1st,  the  Missouri  would  afford  ten 
to  thirty  feet  of  water  and  the  cuiTent  three  and  a  half  to 
seven  miles  an  hour. 

P.  113.  John  Harris  testified  that  boats  the  size  of 
the  Johnson  carried  ninety  tons  up  and  down  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Ohio;  that  the  Expedition  brought  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  tons,  and  the  Jefferson  two  hundred  tons 
to  St.  Louis;  but  it  would  not  answer  to  load  them  more 
than  half  that  amount  for  the  Missouri.  The  Expedition 
arrived  at  St.  Louis  May  12,  and  the  Johnson  May  17; 
they  were  detained  near  Belle  Fontaine  till  July  5,  but  were 
ready  with  their  crews  to  start  on  from  the  17th  of  May, 
and  in  consequence  of  detention  were  prevented  from 
reaching  Council  Bluffs — which  is  probably  correct  as  to 
lateness  of  starting,  though  this  explanation  of  the  respons- 
ibility for  it  is  at  least  doubtful.  "The  difficulties  of  the 
river  increase  very  much  from  Cow  Island  .  .  ." 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      189 

P.  116.  George  Colefax  testified  that  the  Jefferson 
and  the  Expedition  were  entirely  new  for  the  Council  Bluffs 
voyage  and  were  of  the  first  class.  The  damage  to  the 
Expedition  from  wear  and  tear  in  going  to  Cow  Island 
was  at  least  thirty  per  cent.  The  Johnson  was  a  very  fast 
boat. 

Six  officers  on  board  the  Expedition  gave  Captain  Craig 
and  his  outfit  bright  encomiums.  Where  there  was  sufficient 
depth  of  water  he  could  out-run  the  keel  boats  and  cut  and 
load  his  own  wood.  Date  lines  designated  Martin  Canton- 
ment as  "Camp  Martin,  Cow  Island,  on  the  Missouri 
river" — about  ten  miles  above  the  site  subsequently 
occupied  by  the  city  of  Leavenworth. 

P.  118.  Smith  Calvert  went  on  the  Johnson  in  May, 
1819,  from  Louisville  to  Belle  Fontaine.  Both  the  Johnson 
and  the  Expedition  were  fine  boats  and  were  ready  to  pro- 
ceed at  any  time  after  arrival.  He  saw  Colonel  Atkinson's 
troops  go  by  Colonel  Johnson's  warehouse  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Missouri  in  keel  boats  after  he  had  fallen  back  there 
from  Belle  Fontaine.  St.  Louis  was  fifteen  to  eighteen 
miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri. 

P.  128.  Captain  James  McGunnegle  testified  that 
Gen.  Jesup  arrived  at  St.  Louis  about  May  twenty-eighth, 
Col.  Atkinson  June  first,  and  the  Sixth  regiment  at  Belle 
Fontaine  about  June  fifth.  Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the 
troops  he  heard  Col.  Atkinson  say  that  his  movement  was 
entirely  depending  upon  the  steamboats  and  supplies  on 
board  which  would  not  be  ready  to  move  for  ten  or  fifteen 
days;  and,  in  the  meantime,  he  would  experiment  with  the 
apphcation  of  wheel  power  to  propel  the  keel  boats.  This 
work  was  commenced  by  the  troops  about  eight  or  ten 
days  after  their  arrival  and  was  not  completed  until  one  or 
two  days  after  the  steamboats  reached  Belle  Fontaine  from 
the  mouth  of  Wood  river.  He  thought  it  was  about 
the  twenty-seventh  of  June  that  the  Expedition  and  Johnson 


190     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

were  reported  to  be  in  readiness  to  sail  from  the  mouth  of 
Wood  river  to  Belle  Fontaine,  The  troops  were  employed 
in  making  wheels  for  the  keel  boats  until  a  very  few  days 
before  starting;  "but  this  labor  was  never  considered 
indispensable  to  the  movement."  He  had  frequently  heard 
Col.  Atkinson  say  that  he  could  have  moved  within  ten 
days  after  the  infantry  arrived  but  for  the  detention  on 
account  of  boats  and  supplies.  Andrew  Johnson  promised 
him  that  the  Johnson  would  be  sent  below  to  get  the  troops 
and  stores  from  the  Jefferson. 

P.  125.  H.  J.  Offutt,  master  of  the  Jefferson,  tells  a 
story  of  the  difficulties  of  the  Missouri  on  account  of  sand 
which  cuts  machinery,  the  many  bars,  shifting  channels, 
planters — large  trees  fast  in  the  sand — and  the  extreme 
rapid  current.  A  double  set  of  hands  was  required  for  keel 
boats.  The  crew  of  the  Jefferson  for  a  year  cost  $15,000; 
rigging  and  other  outfits,  $8,000;  tonnage,  22,281.95;  the 
vessel  was  inferior  to  none  on  the  western  waters;  and  her 
engine  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  powerful  on  western 
waters.  It  propels  her  with  full  cargo — 222  tons — on  the 
Mississippi  at  all  times,  but  can  ascend  the  Missouri  only 
with  little  more  than  half  of  full  tonnage.  A  steamboat 
will  last  only  four  years  on  the  Missouri;  nearly  double 
that  time  on  the  Mississippi.  Anchors  get  caught  in  logs 
and  can't  be  got  loose  and  so  are  lost.  The  tonnage  of  the 
Expedition  was  little  more  than  the  Jefferson's;  the  John- 
son's was  a  hundred  tons,  and  she  was  one  of  the  fastest 
boats  on  the  Mississippi  river. 

P.  130.  Colonel  Talbot  Chambers  testified  that  during 
the  last  summer  (1819)  one  keel  boat,  manned  by  a  detach- 
ment of  infantry  under  Captain  Livingston,  was  sunk  near 
Grand  river;  and  another,  loaded  with  munitions  of  war, 
about  sixty  miles  below  the  Council  Bluffs.  Nothing  of  the 
cargoes  of  consequence  was  saved.  In  July  the  river  was 
uncommonly  high;    in  the  fall  proportionately  low.     At 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      191 

Fort  Osage  Captain  Craig  lost  confidence  and  wanted  to 
send  the  cargo  by  keel  boats,  but  was  overruled.  There 
were  three  companies  of  riflemen — ninety  men  in  each — at 
Cantonment  Martin. 

P.  132.  Capt.  Craig  says  the  Expedition  arrived  at 
St.  Louis  May  twelfth  or  thirteenth,  where  they  were 
detained,  with  their  crews — at  Belle  Fontaine — until  July 
fifth,  and  on  that  account  prevented  from  reaching  Council 
Bluffs  with  their  loads,  and  probably  returning.  The 
Johnson  could  carry  about  ninety  tons;  the  Expedition, 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five;  the  Jefferson,  two  hundred, 
to  St.  Louis,  but  only  half  that  on  the  Missouri  river. 

P.  133.  William  Pinkney's  *' letter  and  opinion",  sub- 
mitted to  the  arbitrators,  dated  Washington,  March  29, 1820, 
makes,  pretty  clearly,  the  point  that  the  goods  should  pass 
an  authorized  inspection  at  St.  Louis,  and  there  Johnson's 
responsibility  ended,  except  as  to  their  transportation. 
Repacking  and  resalting  were  extraneous.  If  detained  for 
any  cause  but  his  own  negligence  the  contractor  must  be 
fully  compensated. 

Pp.  140-157.  Henry  Clay's  argument,  dated  Washing- 
ton, March  28,  1820,  summarized  the  objects  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States:  to  establish  a  military  post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  river,  the  post  to  be  "one  of 
a  line  and  part  of  a  system  whose  object  was  a  monopoly 
of  the  rich  fur  trade  of  the  northwest,  the  suppression  of 
British  influence  on  the  numerous  and  warlike  Indian 
tribes  who  inhabit  or  hunt  in  those  regions,  and  the  com- 
munication of  a  just  dread  amongst  them  of  the  power  and 
resources  of  the  United  States."  Another  object  was 
exploration,  "and  particularly  to  determine  if  the  benefits 
which  the  genius  of  Fulton  has  conferred  upon  our  country 
and  upon  the  world,  in  the  improvement  of  navigation, 
could  be  realized  on  that  great  river.  The  conception  of 
this  daring  enterprise  was  grand  and  worthy  of  the  distin- 


192     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

guished  individuals  who  preside  over  the  department  of 
war  and  the  quartermaster's  department,  to  whom  the. 
merit  of  it  is  believed  to  belong." 

The  great  compromiser  (this  was  the  very  year  in 
which  he  won  that  vain  title)  followed  this  preliminary 
dish  of  taffy  with  the  regular  course  of  his  argument. 
''Success,"  he  contended,  "required  adequate  means  not 
measured  out  upon  calculating  parsimony,  but  liberally 
supplied,  on  a  scale  proportionate  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking."  Johnson  was  to  furnish  at  least  two  steam- 
boats calculated  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  "and  its 
waters."  Johnson  complied  with  conditions  "amply  com- 
mensurate", at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  "long  before 
the  arrival  of  Col.  Atkinson  with  his  regiment."  The 
Expedition  arrived  at  St.  Louis  May  12th;  the  Johnson,  on 
the  17th;  the  Jefferson,  "shortly  after."  Repairs  necessary 
to  continue  the  journey  required  not  over  forty-eight  hours. 
The  faults  were  (1)  Col.  Chambers'  failure  to  cooperate  in 
inspection;  (2)  the  demand  for  resalting  and  repacking; 
(3)  non-arrival  of  Colonel  Atkinson  and  Gen.  Jesup;  (4) 
unavoidable  delay  "incident  to  the  operation." 

It  was  nearly  a  month  after  the  arrival  of  the  steam- 
boats when  Atkinson  and  his  regiment  and  Jesup,  with 
definite  authority,  came.  "It  would  be  monstrous  to 
apply  any  huckstering  principles  to  such  a  contract." 
It  required  only  five  days  more  to  go  from  St.  Louis  to 
Cow  Island  than  from  Cow  Island  to  Council  Bluffs.  In 
July  and  August  of  this  year  the  quartermaster  contracted 
for  the  transportation  of  provisions,  etc.,  at  five  and  one- 
half  cents  per  pound  on  keel  boats  from  Belle  Fontaine  to 
Council  Bluffs;  but  they  were  only  half  loaded.  He  paid 
by  capacity  or  tonnage  of  the  boats,  so  that  the  real  rate 
was  eleven  cents.  Mr.  Clay  argued  plausibly  for  an  extra- 
contractual  bonus  for  pioneer  experiment.  "In  the  mean- 
time the  government  is  entitled  to  the  everlasting  gratitude 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      193 

of  posterity  for  having  demonstrated  the  interesting  fact 
that  the  Missouri  is  navigable  by  steamboats  ....  That 
the  whole  of  the  voyage  was  not  performed  is  not  the  fault 
of  James  Johnson.  The  non-performance  of  it  proceeded 
from  causes  beyond  his  control.  The  stage  of  the  water 
was  such  that  he  could  make  no  further  progress,  and  the 
prosecution  of  it  was  suspended  by  order  of  the  officer  of 
the  government"; — which  more  than  smacks  of  specious 
pettifogging.  He  might  better  have  contended,  frankly, 
that  the  United  States  ought  to  foot  almost  any  bill,  regard- 
less of  contractual  limitations,  treating  the  undertaking  as 
an  extra-contractual  enterprise.  But  he  wished  to  "catch 
'em  coming  and  going".  Johnson,  he  insisted,  was  excused 
from  executing  his  contract  by  act  of  God  and  was  also 
entitled  to  detention  damages  as  if  the  order  to  stop  on 
account  of  low  water  was  the  fault  of  the  other  party. 
Good  evidence  was  deduced  that  his  own  crew  insisted  that 
they  could  go  no  farther.  "It  is  conceived  that  so  much 
of  the  whole  period  of  detention  up  the  Missouri  as,  in 
navigable  states  of  the  river,  would  have  been  sufficient  to 
complete  the  voyage,  should  be  deducted,  and  the  com- 
pensation for  detention  up  the  river  to  that  extent  reduced, 
in  consideration  of  the  admission  of  the  charge  for  full 
freight." 

The  contract  contained  the  liberal  clause,  "such 
reasonable  and  further  allowance" — beyond  the  usual 
compensation — "as  may  be  equitable  and  just;  provided, 
that  if,  in  the  arrangements  and  operations  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  said  steamboats  should  be  detained  in  their 
destination,  from  the  want  of  concentration  of  the  articles, 
etc.  to  be  transported,  or  otherwise,  and  not  imputable  to 
the  negligence  of  the  said  James  Johnson".  "Otherwise" 
contemplated  "the  arrangements  and  operations  of  the 
government",  not  the  act  of  God.  Moreover,  all  risks 
were  discounted  in  the  unprecedented  rate.     Clay,  how- 

14 


194     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

ever,  assumed  that  the  detention  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri  was  not  imputable  to  the  fault  or  negligence  of 
Johnson,  and  that  but  for  it  ''the  voyage  might  unquestion- 
ably have  been  completed."  If  this  is  true,  then  the  low 
water  catastrophe  might  be  imputed  to  the  government. 
"The  testimony  shows  that,  in  ordinary  seasons,  and  but 
for  the  unexampled  low  state  of  the  river,  the  voyage 
might  have  been  completed".  This  was  not  relevant; 
because  Johnson  ran  that  risk  himself. 

Colonel  Atkinson's  letters  (pp.  159-171)  illuminate  the 
anti-Johnson  side  of  the  controversy.  Though  he  arrived 
at  St.  Louis  June  first,  he  writes  under  date  of  June  seventh. 
He  says  it  will  probably  take  a  fortnight  to  finish  inspecting 
the  provisions  intended  for  the  supplies  on  the  Missouri. 
Two  of  Johnson's  boats  arrived  "a.  few  days  before  me". 
The  Jefferson  was  lying  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  below, 
in  consequence  of  a  part  of  her  machinery  having  given  way. 
In  three  or  four  days  he  will  send  off  Colonel  Chambers 
from  Belle  Fontaine,  with  two  hundred  and  seventy  men 
of  his  regiment,  in  four  transport  boats  brought  from 
Pittsburg,  to  join  the  part  of  the  regiment  at  Cantonment 
Martin," with  instructions  to  be  ready  to  ascend  with  my 
regiment  on  its  arrival  there  with  steamboats.  The  rifle 
regiment  will  be  transported  in  keel  boats  and  my  own  in 
the  four  steamboats" — Expedition,  Jefferson,  Johnson, 
Calhoun — "attended  by  four  keel  boats  ...  I  have  not  the 
least  doubt  of  the  practicabilitj^  of  navigating  the  Missouri 
with  steam  power,  notwithstanding  the  almost  universal 
opinion  to  the  contrary.  My  regiment  and  the  detachment 
of  the  Fifth  arrived  this  morning"  [seventh],  "and  will 
probably  reach  Belle  Fontaine  today  ...  I  do  not  think 
that  we  can  get  off  sooner  than  a  fortnight.  Colonel 
Johnson  will,  most  probably,  not  be  ready  earher  .  .  .  The 
steamboat  under  care  of  Major  Long"  (Western  Engineer) 
"is  a  short  distance  below  and  will  probably  arrive  to- 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      195 

day  .  .  .  The  detachment  of  the  Fifth  regiment,  under 
Captain  Pelham,  is  at  Belle  Fontaine.  The  part  of  it 
intended  for  the  rifle  regiment  will  be  immediately  trans- 
ferred, and  the  remainder,  with  the  detachment  that 
accompanied  my  regiment,  ordered  up  the  Missouri,  to 
join  the  Fifth." 

June  19.  He  is  sorry  that  Johnson's  steamboats  have 
not  all  arrived.  The  Calhoun  has  not  been  heard  from,^ 
but  he  will  go  in  six  or  seven  days  ''with  the  three  steam 
boats  and  four  of  our  keels".  The  troops  are  ready  but  it 
will  require  several  days  to  reload  the  steamboats.  Only 
a  part  of  the  provisions  necessary  had  arrived.  He  will 
certainly  establish  himself  at  Council  Bluffs  this  season 
and  very  possibly  carry  the  Rifle  regiment  to  the  Mandan 
villages.  He  will  not  risk  too  much  nor  leave  anything 
undone  that  can  be  prudently  accomplished.  Long's 
"exploring  steamboat"  will  start  tomorrow — June  20. 

St.  Charles,  July  11.  After  exerting  himself  for  more 
than  a  month  he  was  not  able  to  get  from  Johnson  sufficient 
provisions  to  justify  the  movement  until  the  second  of  July. 
Immediately  on  receipt  of  provisions  he  ordered  the  troops 
(the  Sixth  regiment)  to  embark,  four  companies  on  the 
three  steamboats  and  four  on  keels  started  on  the  fourth 
and  fifth.  The  keels  made  fine  progress.  Two  steamers 
went  aground  the  first  day  and  were  got  off  with  much 
difficulty ;  they  all  reached  St.  Charles  on  the  eighth.  On  the 
10th  the  Jefferson  was  again  delayed  by  broken  machinery. 
He  doubts  that  she  will  reach  Council  Bluffs,  but  thinks 
the  others  will.  The  Johnson  is  still  short  of  necessary 
provisions.  He  regretted  that  anything  relating  to  trans- 
portation connected  with  the  expedition  had  been  delegated 
to  other  hands — than  the  quartermaster-general's. 

Franklin,  July  30.  Four  companies  of  the  Sixth 
regiment  in  keels  and  one  company  and  a  half  in  the  Expedi- 
tion arrived  on  the  twenty-second.    The  other  two  steam- 


196     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

boats  were  sixty  miles  below.  Those  in  keels  went  on, 
after  a  day  to  dry  baggage.  The  Expedition  was  delayed 
till  to-day  to  repair  machinery.  Doubts  that  either  of  the 
steamboats  will  reach  their  destination.  The  keels  behind, 
with  the  residue  of  provisions,  will  insure  reaching  Council 
Bluffs  in  good  season.    He  is  waiting  for  the  Johnson. 

Franklin,  August  13.  Colonel  Chambers  is  now  at 
Fort  Osage,  with  a  detachment  of  his  regiment  and  four 
companies  of  the  Sixth  regiment.  Three  days  ago  the 
Expedition,  with  one  company  and  a  half,  was  progressing 
fifty  miles  below  Fort  Osage.  The  Johnson,  with  a  com- 
pany, was  progressing  forty-five  miles  above  Franklin,  on 
the  eleventh.  He  was  advised  by  express  two  days  ago 
that  the  Jefferson,  with  one  company  and  a  half  on  board, 
was  aground  forty  miles  below.  The  captain  of  the  boat 
had  notified  the  commanding  officer  of  the  troops  that  he 
could  proceed  no  farther.  Agreeable  to  special  instinictions, 
left  the  commanding  officer,  he  at  once  sent  to  St.  Louis 
for  keel  boats  to  receive  the  Jefferson's  cargo.  A  keel  boat 
was  also  sent  from  Franklin  this  day  to  the  Jefferson,  for 
articles  needed  above  for  immediate  use.  The  assistant 
deputy  quartennaster-general  had  been  advised  to  hold  the 
boats  in  readiness  "to  meet  any  failure  of  the  steamboats". 

Having  arranged  for  forwarding  the  Jefferson's  cargo. 
Colonel  Atkinson  intended  to  set  out  that  day  to  join  the 
Johnson  at  Fort  Osage  ''and  from  thence  proceed  in  her 
to  the  Cantonment  above".  His  arrangements  would  get 
the  cargo  up  in  good  season  if  both  the  other  boats  failed. 
"The  tardiness  of  the  Jefferson  would  have  authorized  me 
to  have  discharged  her  two  or  three  weeks  ago,  which 
would  have  been  so  much  time  saved.  But,  knowing  as  I 
did,  that  Colonel  Johnson  had  drawn  largely  on  account  of 
transportation,  I  thought  it  most  prudent,  as  I  had  yet 
time  on  my  hands,  to  wait  till  a  failure  was  acknowledged 
on  the  part  of  the  boat,  that  he  might  not  have  the  slightest 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      197 

reason  to  say  that  SLny  interference  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  expedition  caused  to  him  a  loss. 
Indeed,  I  have  been  careful  to  avoid  giving  him  the  smallest 
clue  by  which  he  could  claim  indemnity  from  government 
for  losses  which  he  must  certainly  sustain  in  his  contract 
for  transportation."  Colonel  Atkinson  declares,  now,  that 
Colonel  Johnson  is  greatly  deficient  in  supplies  furnished 
and  (p.  164)  gives  specific  figures. 

At  Chariton,  August  14.  Advises  the  use  of  keel  boats 
only,  for  future  transportation,  and  not  to  be  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  quartermaster-general's  department. 
Thinks  he  would  fail  in  his  object  next  year  if  supplies 
should  be  entrusted  to  Johnson.  "The  meat  part  of  the 
ration  could  be  abundantly  and  cheaply  supplied  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Franklin.  Fine  pork  could  be  bought  at 
two  dollars  and  a  half  a  hundred,  and  beef  at  the  same 
price."  Colonel  Atkinson  left  that  day  to  join  the  Johnson 
at  Fort  Osage  and  take  passage  on  her  for  Martin  Canton- 
ment. 

Fort  Osage,  August  25.  Arrived  on  the  23d.  The 
detachment  of  the  Rifle  regiment  and  five  companies  of 
the  Sixth  regiment  moved  on  that  day,  under  Colonel 
Chambers,  on  the  Expedition  and  keel  boats,  for  Martin 
Cantonment. 

Martin  Cantonment,  September  6.  An-ived  on  the 
31st  ultimo.  Colonel  Chambers  with  the  detachment  of 
riflemen  and  five  companies  of  the  Sixth  regiment,  got  there, 
with  the  Expedition,  on  the  twenty-ninth. 

"The  steamboat  Expedition  has  halted  here,  it  being 
deemed  impracticable,  in  consequence  of  the  lowness  of  the 
river,  to  get  her  to  the  Council  Bluffs.  The  Johnson  will 
probably  be  able  to  reach  that  point,  as  her  draught  of 
water  is  much  fighter.  The  cargo  of  the  Expedition  has 
been  reshipped  in  our  transport  boats  and  a  keel  employed 
by  Colonel  Johnson's  agent,  and,  should  the  Johnson  fail, 
I  have  ample  means  within  my  control  to  have  her  cargo 


198     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

taken  up  in  good  season.  The  Rifle  regiment  and  the  five 
companies  of  the  Sixth  embark  today  at  one  o'clock  for  the 
Council  Bluffs.  We  shall,  no  doubt,  make  the  march  in 
twenty  days.  The  infantry  which  were  on  board  the 
steamboat  Jefferson  are  charged  with  the  safe  conduct  of 
the  keels  that  received  her  cargo,  and  may  be  expected  to 
join  us  above  by  the  15th  proximo;  those  on  board  the 
Johnson  will  be  up  sooner;  therefore,  it  may  be  safely 
calculated,  that  the  principal  part  of  the  troops  will  be 
established  at  the  Council  Bluffs  by  the  first  of  October, 
and  the  residue  by  the  20th,  together  with  all  our  ordnance, 
munitions,  and  provisions  for  twelve  months." 

Colonel  Atkinson  has  requested  Major  O'Fallon, 
Indian  agent,  to  inhibit  all  trade  with  the  Pawnee  till 
proper  restitution  is  made  for  depredations  against  Major 
Biddle  and  party  while  on  a  tour  through  the  Kansas 
country. 

Camp  Missouri,  near  the  Council  Bluffs,  October  3, 
1819.  Arrived  ''with  the  Rifle  regiment  and  five  and  a  half 
companies  of  the  Sixth,  at  a  point  a  few  miles  below  this, 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  ult.,  where  we  remained 
till  yesterday  morning  to  examine  the  neigboring  country 
for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  position  to  canton  the  troops. 
Having  fixed  on  this  place  (an  extensive  rich  bottom, 
covered  with  suitable  timber  for  huts,  situated  a  mile  above 
the  Council  Bluffs)  we  reached  it  yesterday  evening.  To- 
morrow we  shall  commence  hutting  and  probably  cover 
ourselves  in  five  weeks."  Light  Company  A  and  part  of  B 
had  left  the  steamboat  Jefferson  in  keels,  and  were,  on  the 
7th  ult.,  eighty  miles  below  Fort  Osage.  ''They  may  be 
expected  to  reach  this  by  the  20th  instant,  together  with 
the  cargo  of  the  Jefferson  escorted  by  Captain  Bliss's 
command.  Battalion  company  H  is  also  behind.  It  was 
on  board  the  Johnson,  which  broke  part  of  her  machinery 
thirty  miles  above  Fort  Osage.  Keel  boats  were  discharged 
from  here  some  days  ago  and  sent  down  to  her;   therefore 


fM 


o 

ay 
P5 

CO 
GO 

O 

CO 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      199 

the  cargo  and  the  company  will  no  doubt  be  up  in  all  this 
month."  The  colonel  expects  that  a  light  boat  will  return 
to  St.  Louis  a  few  days  hence  when  he  will  give  a  detailed 
account.  In  the  meantime  he  sends  this  letter  by  precarious 
means. 

Pp.  169-171.  Camp  Missouri,  October  19,  1819.  Has 
received  a  communication  from  Calhoun,  secretary  of  war, 
dated  August  18,  which  disclosed  that  his  movements, 
up  to  July  11,  were  approved.  The  three  steamboats  all 
failed; — one  below  Franklin;  another,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Kansas  river,  ''in  the  wilderness";  and  the  third  at 
Cantonment  Martin.  One  keel  boat,  with  troops  and  pro- 
visions from  the  Jefferson,  arrived  on  the  12th  of  October, 
another  is  near  at  hand.  A  third  may  be  expected  in  four 
days,  and  the  fourth,  about  the  same  time.  The  Expedi- 
tion's cargo  has  been  brought  up,  and  the  boats  sent  for  the 
Johnson's  should  arrive  by  the  end  of  the  month.  Captain 
Bliss  has  lately  come  up  in  a  keel  from  the  Jefferson  and 
gives  information  that  all  the  boats  with  supplies  will  come 
through,  except  one  that  left  Belle  Fontaine  September  15 
v,dth  flour,  vinegar,  etc.  On  account  of  deficiency  in  meat, 
"an  article  the  contractor  fell  far  short  in".  Colonel  Atkinson 
had  beef  cattle  contracted  for  and  driven  to  this  place. 
Upwards  of  two  hundred  head  had  arrived  which  would 
make  the  supply  ample.  A  keel  boat  from  the  Jefferson, 
"with  such  articles  of  the  quartermaster's  and  ordnance 
stores  as  we  should  most  want  in  making  our  first  establish- 
ment", struck  a  snag  about  ten  days  ago  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Platte,  "whilst  running  under  easy  sail,  in  the  middle 
of  the  river."  It  passed  through  her  bow;  and  she  im- 
mediately filled  and  sank  in  twelve  feet  of  water.  No  lives 
were  lost.  Her  crew  abandoned  her  two  days  after.  Colonel 
Atkinson  at  once  sent  Lieutenant  Keeler,  acting  ordnance 
officer,  well  supplied  with  spare  anchors,  cable,  etc.,  and  a 


200     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

strong  crew  of  soldiers,  to  try  to  raise  the  boat  or  as  many 
of  her  articles  as  possible. 

Councils  had  been  held  with  the  Kansas,  Oto  and 
Missouri,  Iowa,  Grand  Pawnee,  Pawnee  Loup,  Pawnee 
Republic  and  Maha  tribes;  Colonel  Atkinson  attended 
councils  with  the  last  four  named.  The  chiefs  were  invited 
to  sit  and  eat  with  them.  The  agent.  Major  O'Fallon,  had 
exhibited  much  talent  in  executing  his  duties.  The  Pawnee 
Republicans  had  returned  the  property  stolen  from  Biddle. 
Barracks  were  up  as  high  as  the  roofs  "which  will  soon  be 
put  on".  Boards  for  covering,  floors,  &c.,  are  in  a  state  of 
forwardness.  Troops  will  be  comfortably  quartered  next 
month. 

"The  barracks  are  laid  out  as  well  for  defense  as  for 
accommodation.  They  form  a  square,  each  curtain  present- 
ing a  front  of  five  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  made  of  heavy 
logs,  the  wall  about  sixteen  feet  high  and  the  whole  of  the 
roofs  sloping  to  the  interior.  In  the  center  of  each  curtain 
there  is  a  projection  twenty  feet,  its  width  twenty  with  a 
heavy  ten  foot  gate  in  the  front.  These  projections  will 
be  pierced  with  three  embrasures  for  cannon,  two  raking 
the  curtain  each  way  from  the  center,  and  the  other  through 
the  gate  to  the  front.  The  upper  part  of  the  projection 
will  have  a  second  floor  and  still  project  over  the  lower  part 
to  afford  loops  to  fire  down  through.  It  will  be  raised  to 
barbet[te]  height  and  will  answer  for  cannon  and  musketry. 
The  barrack  rooms,  the  exterior  of  which  form  the  curtains, 
are  twenty  feet  by  twenty  and  will  be  pierced  with  loop 
holes  for  small  arms.  When  completed,  no  force  will  be 
able  to  carrj^  the  work  without  the  aid  of  cannon.  As  soon 
as  the  engineer,  Lieut.  Talcott,  arrives,  who  took  passage 
in  the  Johnson,  you  shall  be  furnished  with  a  plan  of  the 
work  and  a  topographical  survey  of  the  ground,  the  river, 
and  the  adjacent  country." 

Hardhart,  an  Indian  chief,  had  led  the  colonel  to 
believe  that  an  excellent  road  might  be  made  with  but 
little  trouble  from  hence,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river, 
across  to  Chariton,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  or 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      201 

two  hundred  miles.  He  would  send  an  officer  in  four  or 
five  days,  with  a  party  of  six  or  eight  soldiers,  to  mark  out 
a  road  by  the  nearest  route.  Pack  horses  and  Hardhart  as 
guide  would  accompany  them.  The  road  would  afford 
easy  communication  to  the  post  office  at  Chariton  which 
might  be  kept  up  once  a  month  and  oftener  if  necessary  by 
expresses  "and  which  will  be  put  in  practice."  Colonel 
Atkinson  would  return  to  St.  Louis  as  soon  as  troops  and 
boats  arrived  from  below,  "for  the  purpose  of  attending  to 
the  arrangements  necessary  for  the  completion  of  the  expedi- 
tion next  season".  Troops  in  excellent  health  and  all  well 
disposed  to  do  duty. 

P.  238.  March  27,  1819,  Secretary  Calhoun  orders 
Jesup  to  St.  Louis  with  full  discretionary  powers  in  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  his  office  as  to  the  important  move- 
ments on  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri. 

Ibid.  The  secretary  of  war  offered  Johnson  $160,000 
for  all  transportation  on  both  rivers.  His  whole  outfit, 
including  price  of  boats  and  their  expenses,  did  not  exceed 
$190,000.  He  has  his  three  steamboats  left  which,  ad- 
mitting that  they  are  depreciated  in  value,  are  now  worth 
$70,000. 

$160,000,  offered  by  secy,  of  war 
70,000,  present  value  of  boats 


230,000 

190,000      Outfit  and  Expenses 


40,000,  sum  cleared  in  less  than 

one  year. 

H.  M.  Brackenridge  ascended  from  St.  Louis  to  Fort 

Osage  in  twenty-five  days;    from  Fort  Osage  to  Council 

Bluffs  in  eighteen  days — seven  days  less  for  the  upper  than 

for  the  lower  part. 

Pp.  242-256,  Jesup's  brief  or  statement  to  the  referees. 


202     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

"...  It  had  been  previously  proven  by  a  voyage  to 
Chariton,  performed  by  that  very  Independence,  which, 
by  the  testimony  of  Captain  OTallon,  had  been  towed  by 
the  Expedition  over  the  Falls  of  [the]  Ohio,  that  the  Mis- 
souri was  well  adapted  to  steamboat  navigation  .  .  .  When 
the  Expedition  was  unable  to  progress  and  was  compelled 
to  fall  back  to  her  anchoring  ground,  the  Independence 
passed  up  the  Missouri  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  half  knots 
an  hour.  This  one  fact  is  worth  more  in  the  investigation 
than  volumes  of  vague  opinion.  It  was  never  contemplated 
that  the  Expedition  should  wait  the  arrival  of  the  Sixth 
regiment,  but  the  plan  was  for  the  Rifle  regiment  to  move 
whenever  the  depot  of  480,000  rations,  which  Colonel 
Johnson,  as  subsistence  contractor,  had  been  required  to 
establish,  should  be  completed." 

Jesup  continues:  There  were  officers  of  every  depart- 
ment at  St.  Louis:  General  Bissell,  senior  in  rank  to  Jesup, 
and  Colonel  Atkinson  commanded.  Captain  McGunnegle, 
one  of  the  most  efficient  officers  of  the  army,  was  at  the 
head  of  the  quartermaster's  department;  and  if  the  con- 
tract had  not  been  made  void  by  Johnson's  ow^n  statement, 
the  expedition  might  have  progressed  without  either  Colonel 
Atkinson  or  the  quartermaster-general.  The  visit  of  the 
latter  to  St.  Louis  was  not  so  much  to  direct  operations  as 
to  provide  for  any  failure. 

When  offered,  it  was  known  to  the  oflncers  of  the 
government  that  the  provisions  were  deficient  in  quantity 
if  not  in  quality.  Johnson  was  prevented  from  delivering 
goods  by  difficulty  with  the  civil  authority.  It  was  his 
original  purpose  not  to  comply  with  his  contract  because 
it  would  be  against  his  interest  to  do  so.  If  Johnson  had 
complied  so  that  the  start  could  have  been  made  in  April 
instead  of  July  the  plan  would  have  been  accomplished 
during  that  season.  No  steamboats  were  navigating  the 
Missouri  at  the  time  the  contract  was  made,  so  keel  boat 
rates  must  have  been  meant  as  the  ordinary  rates.  0' Fallon 
was  sutler  to  the  troops  at  Council  Bluffs  when  he  testified 


FIRST  STEAMBOATS  UP  THE  MISSOURI      203 

and  so  was  an  interested  witness.  He  received  five  and  a 
half  cents  as  an  employe  of  the  quartermaster's  department 
to  transport  provisions  and  stores  to  the  Council  Bluffs. 
Now  he  thinks  Johnson  should  get  eighteen  to  twenty  cents. 
Many  witnesses  for  Johnson  were  interested. 

P.  258.  Attorney  General  Wirt  riddles  the  claim  and 
especially  as  to  the  patriotism  play.  The  award  of  the 
arbitrators  (pp.  278-288)  is  very  specious  pleading  for 
Johnson. 

Settlement,  pp.  290-292,  No.  12. 

Allowed  for  transportation  of  102  troops  at  $50 

i(  <<  (I  a       Qo  '(  <<      i' 

tt  ((  t(  (t  Q/?  ((  ((  (t 

Allowed  all  he  asked  which  overpaid  him  $76,372.65. 

Allowed  for  transportation  of  supplies  on  the  Expedi- 
tion, Jefferson  and  Johnson  from  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri 
to  Council  Bluffs  at  the  rate  of  16^  cents  a  pound,  and  for 
transportation  on  the  keel  boats  at  the  same  price.  The 
arbitrators  allowed  for  all  the  goods  transported  by  the 
government  keel  boats,  contending  that  they  infringed  on 
Johnson's  rights,  amount  $14,969.28.  Allowed  for  detention 
above  and  below,  $47,149.52. 

There  was  either  great  fatality  or  a  great  deal  of 
fooling  about  Johnson's  enterprise.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of 
July,  1820,  it  was  announced  in  Nile's  Register — v.  18, 
p.  360 — that  the  Calhoun  left  St.  Louis  about  the  first  of 
June  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony — the  first  expedition  of  its  kind  ever  attempted. 
And  yet  this  picked  vessel  had  not  been  able  to  reach 
St.  Louis  a  year  before  undertaking  this  formidable  trial 
trip. 

The  same  journal,  volume  15,  page  268,  notes  that 
"the  new  steamboat,  Johnson,  built  by  Colonel  Johnson 
of  Kentucky,  passed  Shawneetown  October  1  (1818).  It 
was  "intended  as  a  regular  trader  from  Kentucky  on  the 


204     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Mississippi  and  the  Missouri,  as  far  up  as  the  Yellow  Stone 
river."  Shawneetown  is  situated  on  the  Ohio  river,  in 
southeastern  Illinois. 

Ibid.,  V.  19,  p.  47.  "The  steam  boat  Expedition,  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  and  belonging  to  Col. 
James  Johnson,  lately  arrived  at  the  Council  Bluffs  on  the 
Missouri,  v^dth  a  large  cargo  in  fine  order."  The  date  of 
this  item,  September  16,  1820,  indicates  that  Johnson's 
"pull"  with  the  government  had  not  been  weakened  by 
the  damaging  showing  of  the  military  officers  and  the 
criticisms  in  congress. 


ORIGIN  OF  OLATHA,  NEBRASKA 

By  Cicero  L.  Bristol 

In  the  fall  of  1856  we  went  to  Salt  creek,  via  Weeping 
Water,  reaching  that  stream  several  miles  below  where 
Lincoln  now  is,  and  followed  up  to  Mr.  Etherton's  (some 
two  and  a  half  miles  below  the  present  Roca)  and  on  to 
Mr.  John  D.  Prey's  large  two-story  log  house.  It  was  on 
this  trip  that  we  located  our  claims  and  the  town  site  of 
Olatha. 

We  stayed  about  two  weeks  and  returned  eastward  to 
spend  the  winter  a  few  miles  below  Nebraska  City,  where 
there  was  a  settlement  of  Wisconsin  people.  During  the 
following  winter  we  heard  that  the  legislature  had  removed 
the  capital  from  Omaha  to  Salt  creek;  the  exact  location 
we  could  not  determine.  But  we  decided  to  make  a  trip 
at  once  in  order  to  save  our  claims.  The  snow  was  deep 
and  was  covered  with  glare  ice  thick  enough  to  hold  one 
for  about  two  steps  and  let  him  down  the  third.  All  we 
had  to  guide  us  was  the  knowledge  that  Salt  creek  would 
stop  us  if  we  did  not  get  too  far  south. 

We  put  long  sharp  spikes  in  the  heels  of  our  boots  to 
prevent  slipping.  Each  of  us  drew  a  hand-sled  loaded 
with  food,  bedding,  shovels,  axes,  guns,  ammunition,  etc. 
The  party  consisted  of  J.  L.  Davison,  J.  V.  Weeks,  J.  S. 
Goodwin,  and  C.  L.  Bristol.  The  ice  extended  back  from 
the  Missouri  river  only  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  but  the 
snow  was  deep  all  the  way.  The  first  night  out  a  fierce 
blizzard  started,  and  it  was  very  cold.  We  faced  the  fearful 
storm  until  the  night  before  we  reached  Salt  creek.  We 
were  five  days  on  the  trip  and  came  very  near  perishing. 

(205) 


206     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

In  the  spring,  Marmaduke  M.  Shelley  of  Mississippi, 
who  was  hired  by  the  government,  surveyed  the  land  in 
Clay  county.^  The  county  seat  of  Clay  county  was  Clayton, 
situated  in  the  extreme  southwest  corner  of  the  county. 
I  was  there  canvassing  for  the  office  of  county  commissioner, 
and  I  found  three  or  four  houses.  A  county  organization 
was  claimed,  and  there  was  a  county  judge  and  sheriff 
whose  names  I  do  not  remember. 

At  the  second  election  (I  think  in  1858)  James  S. 
Goodwin  was  elected  county  commissioner  by  a  majority 
of  nine  votes  over  myself.  At  the  same  election  Rev.  Joel 
Mason,  W.  W.  Dunham's  brother-in-law,  was  elected 
county  judge  by  a  small  majority,  only  three  as  I  remember 
it.  He  did  not  move  to  Clayton,  but  went  down  there 
occasionally.  He  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  but  a  strong 
republican ;  a  man  of  almost  gigantic  stature  and  a  tremend- 
ous worker.  The  first  season  he  broke  up  eighty  acres  of 
sod,  planted  it  to  corn  and  harvested  the  crop  without 
any  assistance  whatever.  All  this  time  he  preached  regularly 
and  conducted  a  Sunday  school  and  held  prayer  meetings 
each  week.  His  farm  was  on  the  west  side  of  Salt  creek, 
below  W.  W.  Dunham's  place.  He  lived,  however,  on  the 
east  side  with  the  Hiltons  while  I  remained  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

John  Greenleaf  Hilton,  senior,  was  the  father  of  Judge 
Hilton  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  a  democratic  politician  known 
at  that  time  all  over  the  country.  Mr.  Hilton  was  a  widower 
and  lived  at  the  home  of  his  son  Charles.  Mrs.  Mason  and 
Mrs.  W.  W.  Dunham  were  his  daughters.  The  two  Hiltons 
and  Mr.  Dunham  were  democrats.  All  were  deeply  religious, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Charles  and  his  wife.     A 


1  According  to  the  township  plats  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  commis- 
sioner of  public  lands  and  buildings,  Richard  Taylor  and  Thomas  O'Neal 
were  the  contractors,  and  M.  M.  Marmaduke  was  their  compass  man. 
The  surveying  was  begun  July  13.  1857. — Ed. 


ORIGIN  OF  OLATHA,  NEBRASKA  207 

regular  debating  society  was  organized  and  held  regular 
meetings  at  the  Hilton  residence.  Mr.  Hilton,  senior, 
although  aged  and  somewhat  decrepit,  was  mentally  bright 
and  a  fine  speaker.  He  and  Mason  were  the  leading  debaters, 
but  others,  including  myself,  regularly  took  part. 

Marmaduke  M.  Shelley  with  my  assistance  surveyed 
into  town  lots  forty  acres  of  Olatha  town  site.  The  organizers 
of  Olatha  town  site  company  were  Jonathan  L.  Davison, 
Joseph  V.  Weeks,  James  S.  Goodwin,  John  G.  Haskins,  and 
Cicero  L.  Bristol.  The  town  site  was  located  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  west  of  the  ford  across  Salt  creek.  The 
ford  was  a  few  yards  north  of  the  spot  where  the  present 
bridge  at  Roca  is  located.  The  Olatha  quarries  were  only 
a  few  rods  below  this  ford.  Jonathan  L.  Davison  and 
Joseph  Van  Renssellear  Weeks  each  had  a  house  on  the 
town  site.  The  Weeks  famil}^  consisted  of  Mr.  Weeks,  Mrs. 
Weeks,  three  daughters  and  a  son.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Weeks 
were  people  of  high  character  and  unusual  intelligence. 
The  eldest  daughter,  Mary  J.,  afterward  became  my  wife. 

Among  the  few  people  in  the  neighborhood  I  remember 
the  following,  besides  those  already  mentioned:  A  Mr. 
Woodruff  and  his  son  Charles  from  Ohio;  a  man  named 
Jones  and  his  son  (a  sailor)  from  Connecticut,  and  the 
Hiltons.  All  but  the  latter  lived  with  the  Etherton  family. 
Mr.  Woodruff  and  his  son  spent  a  year  and  a  half  drilling 
for  coal  which  cropped  out  wthin  two  hundred  yards  of 
Etherton's  house.  The  Ethertons  were  from  Kentucky. 
They  were  the  first  settlers  on  Salt  creek,  next  to  the  Preys. 
The  family  consisted  of  husband  and  wife,  a  son  and 
daughter.  They  had  a  comfortable  house  and  a  very  good 
blacksmith  shop,  and  Mr.  Etherton  did  blacksmithing  for 
the  settlers  all  along  the  creek.  Neither  husband  nor  wife 
could  read  or  write,  but  they  were  deeply  religious,  and 
Mrs.  Etherton  found  a  tutor  and  learned  to  read  the 
Testament.   She  said  that  was  all  the  education  she  wanted. 


208     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Living  near  Olatha  was  another  family  by  the  name 
of  Beach,  including  two  little  sons.  They  were  unusually 
intelligent  people,  Mrs.  Beach  was  a  musician  and  a  poet 
whose  productions  were  published  in  eastern  papers.  They 
were  strong  spiritualists. 

A  Scotch  settlement  consisting  of  several  families  was 
situated  about  nine  or  ten  miles  east  of  Olatha. 


THE  SEMI-PRECIOUS  STONES  OF  WEBSTER, 

NUCKOLLS  AND  FRANKLIN  COUNTIES, 

NEBRASKA 

By  Rev.  Dennis  G.  Fitzgerald 

[A  paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January,  1912.] 

At  the  end  of  May,  1906,  I  took  up  my  residence  in 
Red  Cloud,  Webster  county,  Nebraska.  From  the  very 
first  day  of  my  residence  in  the  county  my  attention  was 
very  closely  attracted  to  its  geological  formation.  To  the 
south  of  the  Republican  river  is  a  range  of  hills  reaching 
into  Kansas  and  extending  from  Hardy,  Nuckolls  county, 
northwestward  along  the  course  of  the  river  for  hundreds  of 
miles.  The  country  north  of  Red  Cloud  can  not  be  seen 
from  the  town;  so  one  beautiful  summer  evening  I  took  a 
walk  northward  from  the  city,  and  at  a  distance  of  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  my  attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  a 
sand  formation  which  extended  east  and  west  in  well- 
defined  strata.  The  formation  was  so  regular  in  its  irregular- 
ity that  I  at  once  perceived  it  to  be  the  southern  boundary 
of  a  great  and  ancient  river.  Further  investigations  showed 
beyond  all  doubt  that  before  me,  and  to  the  east  and  the 
west,  was  the  disturbed  bed  of  this  river,  from  two  to  three 
miles  wide  and  of  a  very  tortuous  course.  Here  was  a  very 
interesting  field  for  investigation. 

The  sand  formation  was  mixed,  in  places,  with  a 
coarse  gravel,  and  in  this  coarse  gravel  were  some  pebbles 
of  an  unusual  appearance  which  I  brought  home  in  my 
pockets  and  afterward  sent  to  Tiffany  &  Co.  of  New  York, 
who  very  graciously  gave  me  much  valuable  information, 

15  (209) 


210     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

and  returned  the  stones  by  registered  mail.  Following  is 
the  letter,  in  part,  I  received  from  them  under  date  of 
January  23,  1908: 

"Dear  Sir:— The  stones  you  sent  us  are  chalcedony 
and  jasper  of  value  only  as  mineral  specimens,  and  as  such 
we  could  use  a  few  for  our  collection.  If  you  have  any 
finer  ones,  we  would  be  pleased  to  see  them 

"Very  truly  yours,  Tiffany  &  Co." 

Guided  by  this  information  I  continued  my  prospecting, 
picking  up  in  each  trip  better  stones,  a  collection  of  which 
I  sent  to  Tiffany  and  Company.  The  reply  I  received  very 
agreeably  surprised  me,  for  they  offered  to  buy  the  stones. 
The  following  is  their  letter: 

"Dear  Sir: — We  are  in  receipt  of  your  stones  and  can 
give  you  $5  for  the  agates  in  the  tin  and  paper  box.  The 
others  we  do  not  care  for.    Awaiting  your  pleasure  we  are, 

"Respectfully,  Tiffany  &  Co." 

I  wrote  immediately  accepting  the  five  dollars  for  the 
stones.  I  continued  my  investigations  and  found  a  vast 
field  containing  many  and  various  beautiful  stones.  I  sent 
to  Messrs.  Tiffany  and  Company  another  collection  in  the 
early  part  of  the  following  May,  and  here  is  their  reply: 

"Dear  Sir:— What  you  send  us  are  agate  pebbles  and 
agatized  wood,  interesting,  but  not  of  such  color  as  to  have 
a  gem  value.  Some  of  the  State  Geological  people  at 
Lincoln,  Nebr.,  might  be  interested  in  them.  We  return 
them  by  registered  mail. 

"Very  truly  yours,  Tiffany  &  Co." 

I  wrote  to  the  department  of  the  interior,  sending  a 
small  box  of  Httle  specimens  and  stating  that  Tiffany  &  Co., 
of  New  York,  had  given  me  certain  information  relative  to 
similar  stones.    The  answer  is  as  follows: 

"Sir: — In  reply  to  your  letter  of  March  25,  trans- 
mitting a  package  of  minerals  for  identification:  I  can  add 
nothing  to  the  information  you  have  already  received 
through  Tiffany  &  Company.  Their  statement  that  the 
pebbles  consist  of  chalcedony  and  jasper  is  perfectly  correct. 


SEMI-PRECIOUS  STONES  IN  NEBRASKA      211 

To  what  extent  they  might  be  used  for  ornamental  purposes 
would  have  to  be  determined  by  some  manufacturing  jeweler. 
Most  of  the  material  of  that  kind  used  in  jewelry  is  cut 
and  polished  in  Germany  where  labor  is  very  cheap.  That 
fact  seems  to  limit  the  usefulness  of  such  minerals  when 
found  in  small  specimens  like  those  which  you  send. 

"Very  respectfully,  Geo.  Chas.  Smith,  Director." 

I  sent  only  small  specimens  but  with  the  request  for 
their  return  at  my  expense.  They  were  not  returned,  so 
I  presume  that  the  director  of  the  department  kept  them 
and,  I  trust,  classified  them  as  specimens  from  Nebraska. 
Soon  after  this  I  got  the  address  of  lapidaries  in  Denver, 
and  from  them  I  got  further  information.  The  collection 
which  I  now  possess  were  mostly  cut  and  polished  by  the 
George  Bell  Co.,  of  Denver,  Colorado.  They  also  classified 
the  specimens  as  I  sent  them  in  to  be  cut  or  polished. 

About  this  time  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr. 
Herman  Brown,  living  near  Upland,  Franklin  county,  who 
became  intensely  interested  in  the  finding  of  those  semi- 
precious stones;  and  he  now  possesses  a  very  fine  collection 
of  cut  stones,  many  of  which  he  has  had  mounted,  making 
very  beautiful  pieces  of  jewelry.  He  was  especially  for- 
tunate in  the  beautiful  specimens  of  moss  agate  which  he 
found  in  Franklin  county,  in  the  bed  of  the  Thompson 
river  [creek].  The  coarse  gravel  was  washed  by  heavy 
rains  into  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and  when  the  waters 
passed  away  the  pebbles  were  left  high  and  dry.  Mr.  Brown 
was  in  Red  Cloud  in  December  of  1909,  and  when  he  arrived 
home,  he  wi'ote  me  the  following  letter: 

"Dear  Father: — Thinking  perhaps  I  might  have  a 
few  items  interesting  to  you  at  this  time,  I  am  writing  this. 
So  first  of  my  return  trip :  I  took  it  very  leisurely,  arriving 
Sunday,  just  at  night.  I  'interviewed'  several  formations, 
finding  ever  something  new;  one  place  was  especially 
noticeable  for  a  few  really  fine  specimens  of  jasper. 

"At  one  place  that  I  hunted  over  a  man  came  out  from 
a  nearby  house,  and  wanted  to  know  if  there  was  *  anything 


212     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

the  matter  with  me';  then,  when  he  came  to  understand 
something  of  what  I  was  after,  his  tongue  became  loosened, 
and  he  proceeded  to  tell  me  all  about  it.  I  could  not  get 
a  word  in  edgewise.  He  invited  me  into  his  house  to  see 
some  'rocks'  he  had.  I  was  informed  he  had  just  returned 
from  a  trip  about  eighty  miles  east  and  eighty  miles  south 
from  the  state  line  into  Kansas,  where  he  had  been  visiting 
friends  &c.,  and  brought  forth  some  peculiar  specimens  of 
clay,  sand  &c.  and  a  specimen  which  really  did  interest  me. 
He  gave  me  a  little  piece  I  am  sending  you  herein.  He 
wanted  to  know  if  it  was  lava  or  petrified  wood  and  said 
there  was  any  amount  of  it,  and  in  larger  pieces,  to  be  had. 
It  was  difficult  to  get  an  intelligent  description  of  the 
formation.  He  said  it  was  a  very  rough  country  where  he 
was  at.  I  am  not  sufficiently  informed  to  judge,  yet  I 
thought  it  might  be  decomposed  or  partially  rotted  lava  (?). 
If  so,  could  it  have  come  from  'Sappa  Peak'?  Perhaps,  in 
the  bounds  of  possibility.  From  his  description  I  locate 
the  place  as  approximately  some  eighty  or  more  miles  south- 
east of  Red  Cloud.  He  told  me  the  county;  I  wrote  the 
address  on  something  which  I  am  not  able  to  find  for  you 
now.  It  was  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  county.  Or 
is  this  only  a  piece  of  wood? 

"Well,  I  have  only  been  able  to  extend  my  search 
upon  one  occasion,  to  a  formation  not  before  visited  and 
situated  northwest  from  Franklin.  This  locality  was 
noticeable  for  some  very  beautiful  and  clear  amber  speci- 
mens of  chalcedony  found,  and  also  some  quite  white  and 
transparent.  These  have  suggested  to  me  a  thought,  in 
explanation  say,  perhaps  many  of  these  very  light  and 
transparent  specimens  of  chalcedony  were  once  the  'chryso- 
prase ' .  The  '  International '  is  authority  for  this  statement. 
I  quote:  ' Chrysoprase  is  a  variety  of  chalcedony,  the  apple 
green  color  of  which  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  small  quan- 
tity of  nickel  oxide  ....  Was  much  sought  after  as  a  gem- 
stone,  but  as  it  loses  its  color  if  kept  in  a  warm  place — is 
no  longer  much  prized. 

"You  may  perhaps  recall  my  comment  that  with  the 
abundance  of  chalcedony  everywhere  in  evidence  we  should 
find  a  complete  collection  of  all  varieties.  I  have  everything 
but  the  chrysoprase.    If  this  authority  is  correct,  we  can- 


SEMI-PRECIOUS  STONES  IN  NEBRASKA      213 

not  hope  to  find  this  stone  in  this  exposed  formation  that 
has  been  open  to  many,  many  sun's  heat. 

"I  am  sending  in  this  mail  a  preliminary  letter  of 
inquiry  to  the  Bell  firm,  Denver.  A  collection  of  some 
thirty-five  really  pretty  specimens  is  tempting  me  to  have 
them  cut  and  polished,  but  there  is  one  regret  in  that, 
with  much  diligent  search,  I  have  as  yet  not  found  the 
topaz  stone.  I  am  afraid  it  is  not  in  the  Franklin  county 
formation  .... 

"Youi'S  sincerely, 

H.  M.  Brown,  Upland,  Nebr." 

Since  the  writing  of  this  letter  Mr.  Brown  has  found  in 
his  county  many  specimens  of  the  Topaz  stone,  both  white, 
smoky  and  a  plum  color. 

In  March,  1910,  I  received  the  following  interesting 
letter: 

''Dear  Father:  It  is  now  my  endeavour  to  make 
answer  to  your  interesting  letter  of  February  9th,  and 
chronicle  many  things  passing  by  ...  . 

"I  could  only  spend  the  one  day  at  Red  Cloud  and 
left  next  morning  for  Naponee  where  I  spent  a  day  exploring 
for  specimens  and  can  now  report  in  some  detail  of  the 
question  you  at  one  time  raised  as  to  'how  far  west  this 
formation  extends'.  As  to  Franklin  county,  I  can  say 
the  'drift'  is  found  at  about  eight  miles  north  of  Riverton 
in  series  of  gravel  outcrops;  going  west  it  trends  more 
southward  and  the  gravel  pockets  occur  in  a  series  of 
recurring  points  to  about  three  miles  north  of  Franklin, 
at  Bloomington  two  to  three  miles,  and  at  Naponee  about 
five  to  six  miles,  but  rather  'peter  out'.  I  penetrated  a 
mile  or  more  west  of  the  county  line  without  finding  any- 
thing, and  the  formation  at  this  edge  (Naponee)  contained 
but  few  specimens  worth  picking  up.  They  are  more 
plentiful  working  eastward,  and  evidences  of  volcanic 
action,  it  seems  to  me,  are  plainer.  However,  in  all  of 
Franklin  county's  deposits  there  occurs  nothing  quite  like 
the  formation  north  of  Red  Cloud  .  .  . 

"With  regards,  your  friend, 

"H.  M.  Brown,  Upland,  Nebr." 


214     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  specimen  that  Mr.  Brown  describes  in  his  letter 
is  a  triangular  piece  of  chalcedony,  resembling  a  triangle  in 
its  original  formation,  and  is  amongst  the  collection  of  cut- 
stones  now  on  exhibition  in  the  State  Historical  Society's 
rooms.  His  letter  also  is  interesting  in  telling  us  how  far 
west  the  gravel  formation  extends — as  far  as  he  knows — 
where  those  semi-precious  stones  may  be  found.  I  have 
traced  the  formation  as  far  east  as  Hardy,  near  the  point 
where  the  Republican  river  turns  south  into  Kansas.  From 
this  place  west  to  Naponee  is  a  distance  of  some  seventy 
miles,  and  so  in  this  extensive  territory  is  found  the  sand  and 
gravel  formation  containing  an  interesting  variety  of  un- 
common stones.  I  do  not  on  my  own  authority  name 
these  stones  that  I  have  found,  but  I  rely  upon  the  authority 
of  Tiffany  &  Company,  the  geological  department  at  Wash- 
ington, the  Geo.  Bell  Company,  of  Denver,  and  others. 

According  to  the  official  list  of  stones  discovered  in  the 
states,  Nebraska  has  only  been  credited  with  two,  namely, 
chalcedony  and  pearl;  but  I  have  found  many  other  kinds 
in  the  past  few  years,  about  which  there  is  no  uncertainty, 
and  a  great  number  of  others  about  which  I  am  uncertain. 
The  first  lot  of  stones  I  sent  to  Tiffany  and  Co.  were  described 
as  chalcedony,  jasper  and  agates.  The  Geo.  Bell  Co.,  of 
Denver,  have  called  the  stones  I  have  sent  them  topaz, 
clear  and  smoky ;  moss  agates,  agatized  and  opalized  wood ; 
the  amazonite  stone;  the  feldspar;  and  the  jasper  pebbles 
in  many  varieties.  Not  being  certain  of  many  other  speci- 
mens, I  withhold  giving  them  a  name. 

Whilst  writing  this  paper,  Mr.  T.  M.  Draper,  of  Hum- 
boldt, Nebraska,  has  called  on  me  and  shown  me  some  very 
small  and  beautiful  rubies  or  garnets,  and  sapphires  of  a 
delicate  canary  color,  Vs^hich  he  has  discovered  near  Hum- 
boldt, in  Richardson  county,  where  he  has  also  found 
traces  of  gold. 

It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  recognize  precious  or  semi- 
precious stones  when   they  are  found   in   their  original 


SEMI-PRECIOUS  STONES  IN  NEBRASKA      215 

formation,  and  the  text  books  on  mineralogy  are  a  very 
great  help ;  but  it  is  a  very  different  proposition  to  recognize 
those  stones  in  a  changed  condition  and  in  formations  for- 
eign to  their  original  surroundings.  This  leads  me  to 
observe  two  things:  all  the  stones  found,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  are  fractured;  and  they  are  scattered  over  a 
very  extensive  distance.  Sometimes  one  kind  is  found  in 
one  place  and  another  in  another  place,  and  again  many 
kinds  are  mixed  together.  Again,  different  kinds  of  stones 
are  fused  together  and  show  the  action  of  intense  heat. 
I  have  found  in  certain  places  mica  embedded  in  the  stones 
and,  in  a  few  cases,  pieces  of  mica  so  artistically  arranged 
in  pebbles  as  to  rival  the  skill  of  the  jeweler. 

Putting  all  these  things  together,  I  am  forced  to  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  some  great  upheaval  must  have  taken 
place  in  this  territory  in  the  very  remote  past.  Most  of 
us  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  volcanic  action  has 
been  one  of  the  causes  that  have  brought  together  so  many 
different  specimens  of  an  unusual  quality.  My  investiga- 
tion, I  may  say  here  in  passing,  has  been  confined  solely 
to  what  I  could  pick  up  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  never 
having  dug  or  sought  for  any  specimens  below  the  surface. 
What  may  be  found  by  digging  and  sifting  is  a  matter  which 
concerns  the  future,  and  which  may  reveal  more  interesting 
specimens  than  have  been  already  found. 

In  stating  that  this  territory  was  volcanic  at  one  time 
I  wish  to  have  it  understood  that  it  was  a  very,  very  long 
time  ago,  even  before  the  great  volcanoes  of  Mexico  were 
ever  heard  of  and  Mounts  Aetna  and  Vesuvius  were  dormant 
and  still.  This  being  so,  we  can  readily  understand  why 
nearly  all  the  stones  found  are  more  or  less  fractured  and 
why  so  many  show  evidences  of  intense  heat.  It  may 
have  been  that  when  the  waters  which  once  covered 
Nebraska  poured  into  the  volcanoes,  resulting  continued 
eruptions  threw  up  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  softened 


216     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

by  heat,  shattered  by  the  fall  from  a  great  height,  but  the 
parts  adhering  as  they  cooled,  the  fractured  specimens 
which  we  find  to-day. 

Or  it  may  be  the  action  of  water,  of  which  we  have 
undoubted  proof,  that  has  gathered  them  into  the 
formations  of  sand  and  gravel  in  which  we  find  them  to-day. 
But,  no  matter  what  the  agency,  they  are  there  in  vast 
profusion,  and  how  long  they  have  been  there  no  man  may 
say.  They  are  the  pages  of  nature's  book,  and  we  can,  if 
we  please,  read  between  the  lines.  To  many  they  may  be 
of  no  interest  whatever,  but  to  many  others  the  source  of 
great  pleasure  or  intense  delight.  Some  may  despise  them 
because  they  are  a  Nebraska  product,  but  there  are  others 
who  prize  them  because  they  are  some  of  the  multitudinous 
products  of  our  great  state.  They  are  perhaps,  after  all, 
only  indications  of  more  precious  things  that  a  keener 
search  may  reveal.  The  pursuit  of  them  has  been  a  mix- 
ture of  some  labor  and  keen  delight,  and  the  elixir  of  life 
and  health. 

I  do  not  wish  to  pose  here  as  a  deep  student  of  geology 
or  mineralogy — for  I  have  found  both  studies  exceedingly 
difficult — ,  but  as  one  who  has  made  some  observations  in 
both  fields  I  give  to  those  who  are  interested  the  fruits  of 
my  discoveries,  if  they  may  be  so  called.  I  have  purposely 
avoided  all  scientific  expressions  and  names — and  they  are 
very  abundant  in  the  fields  of  geology  and  mineralogy — ,  so 
that  the  simplest  may  be  able  to  follow  me  in  what  I  have 
written,  and  that  they  may,  if  they  feel  so  inclined,  hunt 
for  themselves  in  the  pure  country  air  of  Nebraska  things 
beautiful  in  what  appears  to  be  her  unproductive  and  useless 
sandhills. 

A  small  beginning  has  been  made,  and  no  man  knows 
to  what  it  might  lead.  The  sands  of  the  Ganges  have  yielded 
precious  things,  and  the  wastes  of  Africa  and  South  America 
have  done  the  same.    The  "great  American  desert"  has 


SEMI-PRECIOUS  STONES  IN  NEBRASKA      217 

become  a  garden,  and  her  gravel  walks  may  yield  up  a 
multiplicity  of  precious  stones. 

"Gems  are  mineral  flowers,  the  blossoms  of  the  dark, 
hard  mines.  They  are  the  most  lasting  of  all  earthly  objects, 
the  most  beautiful  as  well  as  the  most  unperishable  form  in 
which  matter  appears. 

"Gold  will  wear  away;  silver  will  tarnish;  wood  will 
decay;  the  granite  stone  itself  will  disintegrate;  but  jewels 
will  continue  unchanged  for  thousands  of  years. 

"Sjrmbols  be  they  of  eternal  love  and  joy  that  is  for- 
evermore." 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  CHEYENNE 
COUNTY,  NEBRASKA 

By  Albert  Watkins 

Cheyenne  county  was  organized  by  authority  of  an 
act  of  the  second  state  legislature  approved  June  12,  1867. 
This  legislature  was  called  in  the  third  special  session  for 
the  main  purpose  of  passing  laws  for  carrying  on  the  new 
state  government.  The  county  comprised  all  the  territory 
lying  between  the  one  hundred  and  second  and  the  one 
hundred  and  fourth  degrees  of  longitude  and  the  forty-first 
and  forty-second  degrees  of  latitude.  It  was  about  one 
hundred  and  four  miles  in  length  and  seventy  in  breadth, 
and  its  area  exceeded  that  of  twelve  counties  of  the  usual 
size. 

Perhaps  the  continuous  Indian  warfare  at  that  time 
kept  the  scanty  white  population  from  organizing  a  county 
government  until  three  years  after  the  passage  of  the  enab- 
ling act.  On  the  fifth  of  July,  1870,  David  Butler,  governor 
for  the  state,  on  the  petition  of  "  a  large  number  of  the  citizens 
of  the  unorganized  county  of  Cheyenne,"  issued  a  procla- 
mation^  ordering  an  election  to  be  held  at  the  post  office  in 
Sidney,  on  the  fourteenth  of  August,  1870,  for  the  purpose 
of  choosing  three  county  commissioners,  a  clerk,  a  treasurer, 
a  sheriff,  a  probate  judge,  a  surveyor,  a  superintendent 
of  schools,  a  coroner,  three  judges  of  election  and  two  clerks 
of  election.  The  governor  appointed  Thomas  Kane,  Joseph 
Fisher,  and  Joseph  C.  Cleburne,  judges,  and  A.  F.  Davis, 
and  D.  S.  Martin,  clerks  of  the  preliminary  election.  Ac- 
cordingly,  Andy   Golden   was   elected   treasurer;    H.   A. 


'  "Messages  &  Proclamations",  in  the  governor's  office. 

(218) 


HISTORY  OF  CHEYENNE  COUNTY  219 

Dygart,  clerk;  John  G.  Ellis,  sheriff;  D.  M.  Kelleher, 
probate  judge;  H.  L.  Ellsworth,  Frederick  Glover  and  C. 
A.  Moore,  commissioners;  Alexander  Miller,  surveyor. 
Golden  did  not  qualify  for  the  office  of  county  treasurer, 
and  Thomas  Kane  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  No 
county  superintendent  of  schools  was  elected  until  1871, 
presumably  because  the  population  was  so  sparse  that  the 
organization  of  schools  was  impracticable.  On  that  far 
frontier  individuals  were  so  self-sufficient  in  administering 
justice  that  a  coroner  was  needed  even  less  than  a  superin- 
tendent of  schools;  so  it  appears  that  none  was  elected  until 
1873.  However,  by  a  provision  of  the  statute,  the  sheriff 
might  act  as  coroner  in  case  of  need. 

By  a  general  statute  unorganized  counties  were  at- 
tached to  the  next  county  directly  east  for  judicial  and  reve- 
nue purposes.  The  northwest  corner  of  the  original  Lincoln 
county  was  contiguous  to  the  southeastern  boundary  of 
Cheyenne  county.  Buffalo  county  did  not  join  Cheyenne, 
but  was  the  next  county  from  it  directly  east.  By  the  act 
of  February  15,  1869 ^  the  *' county  of  Cheyenne"  was 
attached  to  Lincoln  county  for  judicial  and  revenue  pur- 
poses. There  was  no  election  until  1870.  By  the  act  of 
June  6,  1871,  Cheyenne  was  constituted  "a  separate  county 
for  judicial,  election,  and  revenue  purposes." 

The  first  general  election  in  which  Cheyenne  county 
participated  was  that  of  1870,  October  11.  The  electors 
voted  the  straight  ticket  for  state  executive  officers,  uni- 
formly— eighteen  for  the  democratic  candidates  and  six- 
teen for  the  republican.  David  Butler  was  the  republican 
candidate  for  governor,  and  John  H.  Croxton,  of  Nebraska 
City,  the  democratic  candidate.  John  Taffe,  of  Omaha, 
republican  candidate  for  member  of  congress,  received 
fifteen  votes,  and  George  B.  Lake,  of  Omaha,  fusion  can- 


2  Laws  of  Nebraska  1869,  p.  249. 


220     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

didate  of  the  democratic  party,  and  the  "people's  reform 
party  of  the  state  of  Nebraska,"  nineteen. 

According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1870  there 
were  only  fifty-two  white  inhabitants  in  the  "unorganized 
northwest  territory" — all  that  part  of  the  state  west  of 
longitude  one  hundred  and  one  degrees  and  thirty  minutes — 
and  Cheyenne  county  is  not  listed  at  all;  but  the  United 
States  census  returns  of  1880  give  the  population  of  the 
county  in  1870  as  one  hundred  and  ninety,  without  explain- 
ing how  or  when  it  was  ascertained.  The  state  began  to 
make  annual  enumerations  in  1874,  and  that  year  the  popu- 
lation of  Cheyenne  county  was  four  hundred  and  forty- 
nine;  it  was  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven  in  1875,  four 
hundred  and  seventy-six  (estimated)  in  1876',  eight 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  in  1878*;  by  the  United  States 
census,  1,558  in  1880;  by  the  state  census  1,653  in  1885; 
by  the  United  States  census  5,693  in  1890;  5,570  in  1900; 
4,551  in  1910. 

On  the  sixth  of  November,  1888,  a  majority  of  the  vot- 
ers of  Cheyenne  county  authorized  the  creation  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Banner,  Deuel,  Kimball,  and  Scott's  Bluff  out  of  its 
own  territory;  and  they  were  organized  accordingly.  By 
the  United  States  census  of  1890,  Banner  county  contained 
a  population  of  2,435;  Deuel,  2,893;  Kimball,  nine  hundred 
fifty-nine;  Scott's  Bluff,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-eight;  total,  8,175.  This  sum  added  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  reduced  Cheyenne  county  in  1890 — 5,693 — 
gives  13,868  as  the  population  contained  in  the  territory 
of  the  original  Cheyenne  county  in  1890.  Again,  by  author- 
ity of  an  election  held  November  3,  1908,  Morrill  county 
was  formed  out  of  Cheyenne,  and  by  the  census  of  1910  the 
population  of  the  new  county  was  4,584.  This  sum  added 
to  4,551,  the  population  of  the  reduced  Cheyenne  county  for 


» Senate  Journal  1877,  p.  879. 

*  Nebraska  Legislative  Manual  1877,  p.  48. 


HISTORY  OF  CHEYENNE  COUNTY  221 

1910,  yields  9,135  as  the  population  contained  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Cheyenne  county  as  it  was  before  Morrill  county 
was  taken  from  it. 

In  1880  the  population  of  Sidney  precinct  was  1,173, 
and  that  of  the  town  of  Sidney,  1,069.  In  1890  the  popula- 
tion of  Sidney  precinct  was  1,365.  That  of  the  town  of 
Sidney  was  not  enumerated  singly.  In  1900  the  population 
of  Sidney  was  1,001;  in  1910, 1,185.  In  1880  the  population 
of  the  several  precincts  was  as  follows:  Sidney,  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  seventy-three;  Lodge  Pole,  ninety-seven; 
Antelope,  thirty-eight;  Big  Spring,  ninety-nine;  Court 
House  Rock,  eighty-five;  Potter,  sixty-six;  total  1,558. 
Greenwood,  a  village  in  Lodge  Pole  precinct,  had  fifty 
inhabitants,  and  Camp  Clarke,  in  Court  House  Rock 
precinct,  forty-eight. 

Prior  to  1876  the  white  population  of  the  county  was 
confined  to  ranchers  along  the  Oregon  and  California  road, 
who  catered  to  the  travelers,  and  employees  at  the  stations 
of  the  overland  stage  company.  Additions  were  caused 
also  by  the  advent  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad.  Sidney 
was  started  as  a  station  of  the  road  which  reached  its  site 
in  August,  1867.  In  1876  Sidney  became  an  important  junc- 
tion and  outfitting  point  of  the  large  emigration  to  the  Black 
Hills  caused  by  important  discoveries  of  gold.  The  effect 
of  this  movement  is  indicated  by  the  large  increase  in  the 
population  of  the  county  in  1878  over  that  of  1876.  ^The 

^  Following  is  the  progressive  population  of  the  territory  of  the  original 
Cheyenne  county: 

1880       1890       1900       1910 

Cheyenne 1558      5693      5570      4551 

Banner formed  from  Cheyenne,  1888. .  2435      1114      1444 

Deuel 

Kimball 

Scott's  Bluff.. 

Morrill 

Garden "         "    Deuel, 


<< 

2893 

2630 

1786 

<( 

959 

758 

1942 

<< 

1888 

2552 

8355 

1908. 

4584 

1909. 

1558 

3538 

13868 

12624 

26200 

222     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

census  of  1876  was  taken,  evidently,  before  the  tide  of  travel 
had  set  in.  Camp  Clarke  also  became  an  important  center 
of  population  and  business  through  the  same  influence. 

Cheyenne  county  was  appropriately  named  for  the 
Cheyenne  Indians,  a  tribe  of  the  great  Algonkian  family. 
They  lived  on  the  lower  Cheyenne  river  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  but  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
were  driven  into  the  Black  Hills  by  the  more  powerful  and 
relentless  Sioux.  About  1845  they  had  become  wanderers 
between  the  north  fork  of  the  Platte  river  and  the  Arkansas, 
and  in  this  way  they  became  separated  into  two  bands 
called  Northern  Cheyenne  and  Southern  Cheyenne.  The 
Southern  Cheyenne  united  with  the  Arapaho,  their  kinsmen. 
In  these  migrations  they  roamed  and  hunted  over  the  terri- 
tory afterward  formed  into  Cheyenne  county,  and  the 
vicinity  of  Julesburg  was  a  favorite  rendezvous.  In  1865 
the  Cheyenne  at  the  Upper  Platte  agency  numbered  seven 
hundred  and  twenty ;  those  of  the  Upper  Arkansas  agency, 
1,600.  The  Arapaho  of  the  South  separated  from  the 
Cheyenne  in  1872.  At  the  same  time  the  Arapaho  at  these 
agencies  numbered  respectively  1,800  and  1,500.  In  May, 
1877,  nine  hundred  and  thirty-seven  Cheyenne  were  taken 
from  Red  Cloud  agency  to  Indian  Territory.  In  September 
of  the  same  year  about  three  hundred,  under  Dull  Knife, 
came  north  to  join  the  Sioux.  They  carried  captives 
captured  in  the  Custer  fight  the  year  before.  Their  total 
number  has  since  became  somewhat,  but  not  greatly, 
reduced.  The  Cheyenne  were  fierce  fighters.  The  men 
were  noted  for  their  fine  physique  and  the  women  for  their 
good  looks. 

Early  in  the  decade  of  1860-1870  the  Cheyenne  and  the 
Sioux  began  to  resent  the  intrusion  of  the  great  number  of 
white  travelers  and  settlers  into  their  territory,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1864  they  began  a  concerted  attack  on  the  line 
of  the  California  road,  from  the  Little  Blue  valley  four 


HISTORY  OF  CHEYENNE  COUNTY  223 

hundred  miles  westward.  The  war  continued  with  occa- 
sional cessation  for  about  fifteen  years.  The  construction 
of  the  Pacific  railroad  increased  the  hostility  of  the  Indians, 
and  their  attacks  were  furious  in  1867  while  the  Union 
Pacific  railroad  was  passing  through  their  country.  The 
Cheyenne  and  Sioux  cooperated  in  this  long  war. 

The  most  important  military  contest  within  the  terri- 
tory which  afterward  comprised  Cheyenne  county  is  called 
the  battle  of  Ash  Hollow.  This  battle  occurred  on  the  third 
of  September,  1855,  at  a  point  on  Blue  Water  creek,  about 
seven  miles  northwest  of  the  mouth  of  Ash  Hollow,  between 
nine  companies  of  United  States  troops  commanded  by 
General  W.  S.  Harney  and  about  seven  hundred  Brule, 
Ogalala,  and  Minneconjou  Sioux  and  Northern  Cheyenne. 
The  Indians  were  decisively  defeated  with  a  loss  of  eighty- 
six  killed  and  about  seventy  women  and  children  captured. 
On  the  night  before  the  battle  General  Harney's  force 
camped  at  the  mouth  of  Ash  Hollow. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  decade  of  1850-60  one  Jules 
Benoit,  or  Bene,  established  a  ranch  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Platte  river  about  a  mile  east  of  the  mouth  of  Lodge 
Pole  Creek. s  This  place  became  an  important  station  on  the 
California  road.  Early  in  September,  1864,  company  F  of 
the  Seventh  Iowa  cavalry  began  the  erection  of  sod  build- 
ings for  a  military  post  at  a  point  about  one  mile  west  of 
Jules  Station  and  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Lodge  Pole.^ 
The  order  to  establish  the  post  was  issued  May  19,  1864, 
and  its  official  name  was  Camp  Rankin  until  it  was  changed 
to  Fort  Sedgwick  by  an  order  of  September  27,  1865,  in 
honor  of  Major  General  John  Sedgwick  who  was  killed  in  the 
battle  of  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  Virginia,  in  1864. 
On  the  seventh  of  January,  1865,  the  company  named 
attacked  over  a  thousand  Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  Indians, 


6  The  Indian  War  of  1864  (Ware),  p.  427. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  326;  Report  of  Secretary  of  War,  2d  Sess.,  40th  Cong.,  p.  436. 


224     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

near  the  post,  and  were  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  fourteen 
killed.    Fifty-six  Indians  were  killed. 

On  the  sixth  and  seventh  of  February,  1865,  a  large 
force  of  Indians  besieged  two  hundred  men  of  the  Eleventh 
Ohio  cavalry,  at  Mud  Springs,  but  the  white  soldiers  held 
their  post.  On  the  second  of  February,  1865,  about  1,500 
Cheyenne  and  Arapaho  burned  all  the  buildings  at  Jules- 
burg  and  attacked  the  fort,  but  did  not  succeed  in  capturing 
it  before  they  discovered  the  near  approach  of  Colonel 
Robert  R.  Livingston  with  a  detachment  of  four  hundred 
men  of  the  Seventh  Iowa  cavalry  and  the  First  Nebraska 
veteran  volunteer  cavalry,  when  they  abandoned  the  siege. 

The  famous  Oregon  Trail  traversed  the  territory  after- 
ward formed  into  Cheyenne  county,  entering  it  from  the 
east  on  the  south  side  of  the  south  fork  which  it  crossed  at 
various  places  not  far  beyond,  reaching  the  north  fork  at 
Ash  Hollow  and  following  its  bank  until  it  crossed  to  reach 
the  Sweetwater.  The  Mormon  road,  and  later  the  Cali- 
fornia road,  starting  from  Omaha,  ran  along  the  north  side 
of  the  Platte  until  they  crossed  near  Fort  Laramie,  crossing 
again  at  the  bend  of  the  river  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  farther  on. 

The  earliest  travelers  to  and  beyond  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains followed  the  Missouri  to  its  upper  reaches.  In  1824 
W.  H.  Ashley,  a  noted  fur  trader,  led  a  party  of  three 
hundred  men  over  the  cut-off  route  afterwards  called  the 
Oregon  Trail  into  the  Green  river  fur  fields.  In  1830,  William, 
Sublette,  a  former  associate  of  Ashley's,  took  the  first  wag- 
ons— ten  in  number — to  the  mountains  by  this  route.  In 
1832  Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth,  of  Boston,  and  William  Sublette 
went  over  the  route  with  a  party  of  about  eighty  men  and 
three  hundred  horses.  In  the  same  year  the  famous  Captain 
Bonneville  took  a  train  of  twenty  wagons.  These  were  the 
first  wagons  to  cross  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  first 
organized  band  of  Oregon  emigrants,  about  a  hundred  and 


HISTORY  OF  CHEYENNE  COUNTY  225 

twenty  in  number,  went  in  1842,  and  another  company  of 
about  one  thousand  in  1843;  and  John  C.  Fremont,  the 
famous  explorer,  followed  closely  after  them.  The  road 
became  known  as  the  Oregon  Trail  about  this  time.  About 
fifteen  hundred  Mormons  went  through  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river  in  1847.  The  first  band,  numbering  one  hundred 
and  forty-nine,  passed  the  mouth  of  Ash  Hollow  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  on  the  20th  of  May.  In  1857, 
an  army  of  2,500,  under  command  of  Albert  Sidney  John- 
ston, afterward  the  famous  confederate  general,  who  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  marched  over  the  road  to  quell 
the  Mormon  insurrection  at  Salt  Lake  City.  About  three 
thousand  more  soldiers  were  started  from  Fort  Leavenworth 
in  the  spring  of  1858,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  were 
recalled  at  various  points  along  the  road.  The  remainder 
re-enforced  Johnston's  army  at  Salt  Lake.  In  all  4,956 
wagons  and  carriages  and  53,430  draught  animals  were 
required  for  this  expedition.  Not  far  from  Fort  Kearny, 
a  band  of  Cheyenne  successfully  ran  off  eight  hundred  beef 
cattle  which  were  being  driven  out  in  1857,  to  supply  the 
Salt  Lake  army. 

Lieutenant  General  Sherman,  commander  of  the  divi- 
sion of  the  Missouri,  traveled  over  the  trail,  as  far  as  Fort 
Laramie,  in  August,  1866,  to  make  a  personal  military  in- 
spection of  that  warlike  part  of  his  command.  He  traveled 
by  railroad  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Joseph,  thence  by  steam- 
boat to  Omaha,  thence  by  the  Union  Pacific  road  as  far  as 
it  was  finished — to  a  point  five  miles  east  of  Fort  Kearny — 
thence  by  ambulance  drawn  by  mules  to  Fort  Laramie. 
On  account  of  the  continuing  Indian  hostilities,  he  went  as 
far  as  Fort  Sedgwick  in  1867,  and  remained  there  from 
June  6  to  June  22. 

Military  posts  were  established  all  along  the  great 
highway  to  Oregon  and  California  for  the  protection  of 
travelers — Fort  Kearny,  the  first,  in  1848.    In  August  and 

16 


226     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

September,  1864,  Captain  Shuman,  of  the  Eleventh  Ohio 
cavalry,  built  Camp  Shuman  at  a  point  three  miles  west 
of  the  Scott's  Bluff  gap.  The  post  was  afterward  named 
Fort  Mitchell,  for  General  Robert  B.  Mitchell  then  com- 
mander of  the  district.  At  the  same  time  minor  fortifica- 
tions were  built  at  Ficklin's,  and  Mud  Springs.  Ficklin's 
was  nine  miles  east  of  Scott's  Bluff,  and  Mud  Springs, 
at  the  north  end  of  "Jules'  Stretch,"  was  eight  miles  east- 
erly from  Coui'thouse  Rock.  This  new  route  or  cut-off 
was  named  for  Jules,  the  ranchman.  It  crossed  the  south 
fork  of  the  Platte  river  at  his  establishment,  continued  up 
the  south  bank  of  the  Lodge  Pole  thirty-five  miles,  then 
across  the  stream  and  the  high  plateau  thirty-two  miles 
to  Mud  Springs  in  the  valley  of  the  North  Platte.  Passing 
about  two  miles  southwest  of  Courthouse  Rock,  it  inter- 
sected the  old  Ash  Hollow  road  about  midway  between 
Courthouse  Rock  and  Chimney  Rock. 

Fort  Grattan  was  built  of  sod  at  the  mouth  of  Ash 
Hollow  by  General  Harney's  command,  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  that  name.  It  was  abandoned  on  the  first  of 
the  following  October  when  the  force  left  to  occupy  Fort 
Pierre  on  the  Missouri  river.  Fort  Grattan  was  named  for 
Lieutenant  John  L.  Grattan,  who  with  a  detachment  of 
twenty-nine  men  was  killed  on  the  nineteenth  of  August, 
1854,  by  a  band  of  over  a  thousand  Sioux  warriors,  about 
six  miles  below  Fort  Laramie.  General  Harney  pursued 
these  Indians  and  punished  them  at  Ash  Hollow. 

Fort  Sidney  was  established  December  13,  1867, 
as  a  subpost  of  Fort  Sedgwick  and  was  known  as  Sidney 
Barracks.  It  became  an  independent  post  November  28, 
1870,  and  was  abandoned  June  1,  1874.  Its  reservation  of 
six  hundred  and  twenty  acres  was  relinquished  to  the  depart- 
ment of  the  interior  November  14, 1894,  except  twenty  acres 
of  the  northeast  corner  which  was  donated  to  Sidney  for 
cemetery  purposes,  by  act  of  congress,  June  10,   1892. 


HISTORY  OF  CHEYENNE  COUNTY  227 

In  1875  part  of  the  building  material  of  dismantled  Fort 
Kearny  was  used  in  improvements  of  Fort  Sidney. 

Cheyenne  county  contained  the  famous  Wild  Cat  range 
of  mountains  which  became  celebrated  by  reports  of  the 
early  travelers.  Among  the  most  noted  peaks,  near  the  great 
road,  are  Courthouse  Rock  and  Chimney  Rock,  now  in 
Morrill  county,  and  Scott's  Bluff,  now  in  Scott's  Bluff 
county.  The  two  highest  peaks  in  Nebraska  are  Hogback 
5,082  feet,  and  Wild  Cat,  5,038  feet — both  in  Banner  county. 
The  plain  of  the  northwest  part  of  Kimball  county  attains 
the  highest  elevation  of  the  state,  5,300  feet. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COUNTIES  OF  KEAR- 
NEY, FRANKLIN,  HARLAN  AND  PHELPS 

By  Albert  Watkins 

An  act  of  the  territorial  legislature,  passed  January  10, 
1860,  authorized  the  organization  of  Kearney  county  and 
defined  its  boundaries  which  included  the  territory  now 
comprised  in  the  counties  of  Franklin,  Harlan,  Kearney 
and  Phelps.  The  act  in  question  directed  the  governor  to 
appoint  county  officers  and  he  thereupon  commissioned 
J.  Tracy,  Amos  0.  Hook  and  Moses  Sydenham  for  county 
commissioners;  Dr.  Charles  A.  Henry,  county  clerk; 
John  Holland,  treasurer;  Thomas  Collins,  sheriff;  John 
Talbot,  1  probate  judge. 

Kearney  City  was  designated  in  the  act  as  the  county 
seat.  It  was  established  by  the  Kearney  City  company  in 
the  spring  of  1859  and  was  situated  just  outside  the  western 
line  of  the  Fort  Kearny  reservation,  two  miles  due  west 
from  the  fort.  It  grew  up  on  trade  with  the  occupants  of 
the  fort  and  travelers  to  California,  Oregon,  Salt  Lake  City 
and  the  Pike's  Peak  gold  fields.  In  the  spring  of  1860, 
according  to  a  statement  in  the  Huntsman's  Echo,  November 
2,  1860,  there  were  only  five  "hovels"  in  Kearney  City; 
but  by  November  of  that  year  it  had  grown  to  forty  or  fifty 
buildings,  about  a  dozen  of  them  stores.  According  to  the 
same  paper — April  25,  1861 — there  were  two  hundred 
residents  and  a  half  dozen  stores  in  Kearney  City  at  that 
date.  The  opening  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad — in  that 
part   of   the   territory   in    1866 — attracted   business   and 


1  Died  at  Cheyenne,  Wyo.,  in  1911.     D.  W.  Clendenan  says  he  kept 
a  saloon  there  and  was  called  "Major"  Talbot. 

(228) 


FOUR  SOUTHWESTERN  COUNTIES  229 

inhabitants  from  Kearney  City.  In  1860  it  was  not  recog- 
nized in  the  United  States  census  while  the  population  of 
the  county  was  469;  so  that  the  place  grew  up  suddenly 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  year.  At  the  election  of  1860 
111  votes  were  cast  in  the  county;  in  1864,  61;  in  1865, 
16;  in  1866,  28.  An  act  of  the  tenth  territorial  session, 
February  9,  1865,  attempted  to  revive  the  organization  of 
the  county,  by  ordering  a  special  election  of  county  officers 
to  be  held  on  the  second  Monday  in  March,  1865,  at  the 
store  of  William  D.  Thomas,  Kearney  City.  The  act  pro- 
vided that  the  notice  of  the  election  should  be  signed  by 
the  county  clerk— James  M.  Pyper.^  There  were  no 
more  election  returns  from  the  county  after  1866  until  1872, 
when,  under  reorganization,  fifty-eight  votes  were  cast. 
It  appears  that  the  county  government  was  dormant  in 
the  intervening  time.  It  was  revived  by  authority  of  a 
proclamation  issued  by  Acting  Governor  William  H.  James 
May  2,  1872,  ordering  an  election  for  county  officers  to 
be  held  "at  the  town  of  Lowell",  June  17,  1872. 

Franklin  county  was  set  off  from  the  original  Kearney 
county  by  an  act  of  the  last  territorial  legislature,  passed 
February  16,  1867.  A  supplementary  act  of  March  9, 
1871,  "for  the  speedy  organization  of  Franklin  county", 
designated  C.  J.  Van  Laningham,  D.  Van  Etten  and  R.  D. 
Curry  as  county  commissioners.  These  officers  were 
directed  to  qualify  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  passage 
of  the  act  and  to  call  an  election  for  county  officers,  giving 
fifteen  days  public  notice  of  the  time  and  place  thereof. 
The  commissioners  were  also  authorized  to  submit  the 
question  of  locating  the  county  seat  at  the  same  election. 
January  14,  1871,  Governor  Butler  issued  a  proclamation 
for  an  election  of  county  officers  to  be  held  at  the  house  of 
C.  J.  Van  Laningham,  in  Franklin  City,  on  Friday,  March 


^  Laws  of  Nebraska,  Tenth  Territorial  Session,  1865,  p.  61). 


230     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

3,  of  that  year;  but  evidently  no  election  was  held,  and  so 
the  legislature  intervened  as  already  stated. 

May  20,  1872,  Acting  Governor  James  ordered  an 
election  of  county  officers  for  Harlan  county,  to  be  held 
June  29  of  that  year — ^for  precinct  No.  1,  at  the  store  of 
John  McPherson ;  for  precinct  No.  2,  at  the  store  of  Frank 
A.  Beiyon.  Precinct  No.  1  comprised  all  that  part  of  the 
territory  east  of  range  19,  and  precinct  No.  2  that  part 
west  of  range  18.  The  act  of  February  11,  1873,  defining 
the  boundaries  of  Phelps  county,  designated  Edward 
Barnes,  Caleb  J.  Dilworth,  and  J.  Q.  Mustgi^ove  as  county 
commissioners.  They  were  required  to  qualify  within  sixty 
days  after  the  passage  of  the  act  and  to  call  an  election  for 
county  officers,  including  county  commissioners,  within 
thirty  days  of  their  qualification. ^ 

An  act  of  March  3,  1873,  authorized  Kearney  county 
to  fund  its  indebtedness  by  the  issue  of  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $20,000. 

The  Nebraska  State  Journal  of  July  8,  1870,  notes  that 
F.  A.  Beiyon  intends  to  go  with  a  party  from  Lincoln  to 
the  Republican  valley  about  the  first  of  August.  The 
Daily  State  Journal  of  April*  7,  1871,  notes  that  Franklin 
county  has  completed  its  organization  with  the  election  of 
officers  as  follows:  county  commissioners,  James  Knight, 
Charles  Vining,  B.  W.  Powell;  probate  judge,  C.  L.  Van 
Laningham;  clerk,  Matthew  Lynch;  sheriff  and  surveyor, 
Ernest  Arnold;  treasurer,  John  E.  Simmons;  super- 
intendent of  public  instruction,  Richard  Walters. 

The  Daily  Journal  of  January  10,  1871,  notes  that 
General  Victor  Vifquain  is  booming  the  settlement  in  the 
Republican  valley.  He  says  that  not  less  than  five  hundi-ed 
claims  had  been  taken  the  past  year.    The  site  of  the  new 


3  For  a  statement  of  votes  cast  at  elections  in  Kearney  county  for 
1860,  1864,  1865  and  1866  see  the  Illustrated  History  of  Nebraska,  v.  1, 
pp.  439,  493,  505. 


FOUR  SOUTHWESTERN  COUNTIES  231 

town,  called  Napoleon,  the  future  county  seat  of  the  county 
to  be  formed  west  of  Franklin  (Harlan),  belonged  to  about 
thirty  men.  They  had  offered  a  mill  site  to  the  men  who 
would  build  a  mill  upon  it.  General  Vifquain  insisted 
that  Fort  Kearny  should  be  moved  down  into  the  Repub- 
lican valley  because,  traffic  having  ceased  along  the  south 
side  of  the  Platte,  it  was  useless  in  its  original  position. 
But  the  new  town  was  called  Orleans  instead  of  Napoleon, 
and  Alma,  situated  about  five  miles  east,  became  the  county 
seat. 

In  the  Daily  State  Journal  of  June  22,  1872,  a  cor- 
respondent, writing  under  date  of  June  10,  describes  Kearney 
City.  It  was  composed  mostly  of  sod  and  log  houses,  **old 
and  weather-beaten".  There  were  about  twenty-five 
houses  in  all,  most  of  them  in  a  decaying  condition.  There 
were  innumerable  old  wagons  and  considerable  other 
government  property,  which,  the  correspondent  thought, 
would  be  "knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder  one  of 
these  days".  Moses  Sydenham  was  booming  Kearney  City 
as  the  coming  national  capital.  The  office  of  his  newspaper, 
the  Central  Star,  was  situated  there.  There  was  only  an 
occasional  settler  along  the  road  five  miles  west;  and  there 
were  none  on  Plum  Creek  twenty-eight  miles  west. 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  JOHN  LEE  WEBSTER 
PRESIDENT,  1913 

[Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society, 
January  16,  1913.] 

There  is  a  well  authenticated  tradition  among  the 
Omaha  Tribe  of  Indians,  that,  impelled  by  a  spirit  of  migra- 
tion like  that  which  has  gone  with  the  white  man  from  the 
cradle  of  his  life  in  the  far  east  to  his  invasion  of  the  red 
man's  country,  they  took  up  their  journey  from  their 
eastern  home  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio  and  followed 
that  river  to  the  union  of  its  waters  with  the  Mississippi, 
and  thence  up  the  eastern  side  of  the  Missouri,  and  eventu- 
ally permanently  settled  three  and  a  half  centuries  ago  in 
what  afterward  became  known  as  the  Nebraska  region, 
and  where  they  were  subsequently  found  by  the  white  man 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later. 

The  Omaha,  when  they  came  into  this  region,  were 
invaders  of  the  hunting  lands  of  the  Sioux,  and  both  tribes 
having  warlike  chieftains,  they  became  inveterate  enemies 
and  continued  in  almost  constant  warfare.  Within  the 
memory  of  the  white  man  the  Sioux  killed  the  Omaha  chief- 
tain, Logan  Fontenelle.  I  give  this  bit  of  Indian  history 
because  it  finds  its  parallel  in  the  invasion  of  the  Indian 
lands  by  the  white  men  at  a  later  day. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  for  a  reflection.  Three  and  a 
half  centuries  ago.  When  was  that  on  the  page  of  history? 
Queen  Elizabeth  was  just  beginning  her  reign.  It  was  about 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Shakespeare.  The  Pilgrims  had 
not  landed  at  Plymouth,  nor  had  the  cavaliers  settled  at 
Jamestown.     It  was  a  period  full  of  historic  interest  in 

(232) 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        233 

Europe,  yet  these  Indians  did  not  know  that  there  was  a 
Europe.  They  could  not  have  had  a  conception  that  in  a 
later  day  a  white  race  should  come  across  the  big  waters 
and  take  possession  of  these  lands  which  had  been  the 
homes  of  the  Indians  through  the  countless  ages  of  the  dim 
and  mysterious  past.  Yet  we  have  on  Nebraska  soil  a 
remnant  of  that  ancient  tribe  of  people,  a  living  link  con- 
necting that  remote  past  with  our  self -glorious  present. 
I  mention  these  incidents  as  a  subject  of  more  than  passing 
interest  and  as  an  inviting  and  stimulating  subject  for 
historic  research  by  our  people. 

Afterward  there  came  the  pioneer  days  of  the  white 
man  following  in  the  wake  of  the  Omaha  Indian  invasion 
of  this  western  country.  It  may  be  said  of  the  Indians  and 
pioneers  alike,  that  they  both  loved  the  serene  quiet  of  the 
open  expanse  of  the  prairies;  that  they  both  sought  happi- 
ness from  nature  and  enjoyed  the  peace  and  harmony  of 
the  wilderness  as  if  it  were  a  celestial  garden  set  apart  for 
them  when  the  work  of  the  creation  was  finished. 

Those  daj^s  have  now  passed  into  history.  They  have 
become  the  subject  of  romance.  By  reason  of  changed 
conditions  they  are  impossible  of  repetition.  Their  history 
is  only  to  be  gathered  from  relics  and  traditions  and  manu- 
scripts. Yet  those  days  have  for  us  a  fascinating  interest. 
They  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  the  progress 
of  our  people  and  the  formation  of  our  state. 

In  1878  a  few  of  the  strongest  and  most  honored 
citizens  of  this  state,  prompted  by  a  strong  desire  to  see 
that  these  historic  relics  and  traditions  and  manuscripts 
of  the  past  should  be  collected  and  housed  and  preserved 
for  the  present  and  future  ages,  issued  a  call  for  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society.  Among  that 
group  of  men  were  Thomas  W.  Tipton  v/ho  had  been 
United  States  Senator  from  '67  to  '75;  Alvin  Saunders 
and  Algernon  S.  Paddock  who  then  were  United  States 


234     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

senators;  Robert  W.  Furnas  who  had  been,  and  Silas 
Garber  who  then  was  governor;  J.  Sterling  Morton  the 
father  of  Arbor  day,  and  who  became  a  cabinet  officer 
under  Grover  Cleveland;  and  George  L.  Miller  the  public 
spirited  and  forceful  editorial  writer  of  the  Omaha  Herald. 

These,  with  others  who  became  associated  with  them, 
were  men  who  cherished  the  remembrance  of  these  Indian 
and  pioneer  days  as  memorable  events  in  our  early  history, 
very  dear  to  their  hearts,  and  who  were  always  prompted 
by  a  desire  to  do  the  most  and  the  best  that  could  be  done 
for  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  of  our  state.  So  they 
formed  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society  with  the 
puiT)Ose,  hope  and  expectation  that  all  legends  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  original  inhabitants  should  be  collected,  and  the 
relics  and  material  evidence  of  their  lives,  habits,  customs 
and  manner  of  dress,  should  be  collected  into  its  museum; 
and  that  biographies  and  memorials  and  historic  materials 
of  every  character  and  sort  relating  to  the  pioneer  days 
should  be  acquired  and  preserved  under  the  auspices  of 
the  society. 

Their  worthy  aim  and  purpose  was  that  there  should 
be  created  and  fostered  a  historic  society,  as  an  independent 
and  self-controlled  organization,  which  should  be  the 
custodian  of  the  historic  archives  and  a  place  to  collect  and 
give  out  information  relating  to  the  early  history  of  these 
regions  and  of  the  passing  and  current  events  which  have 
gone  along  with  the  making  and  development  of  our  state. 
They  believed,  as  Macaulay  once  said,  that  "a  people 
that  take  no  pride  in  the  noble  achievements  of  remote 
ancestors  will  never  a(^hieve  anything  worthy  to  be  remem- 
bered with  pride  by  remote  descendants." 

This  society  is  still  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  work 
which  its  founders  originated.  How  well,  and  how  success- 
fully this  has  been  done  may  be  illustrated  by  a  comparison 
taken  from  its  records  of  some  things  it  has  accomplished. 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        235 

The  minutes  of  the  society  in  Januarj^  1879,  show  that 
sixteen  dollars  was  appropriated  for  the  purchase  of  a  single 
bookcase,  presumably  sufficient  to  contain  all  of  its  books 
and  manuscripts.  A  report  of  1885,  seven  years  after  the 
organization,  states  that  the  books  and  pamphlets  of  the 
society,  catalogued  and  uncatalogued,  all  told,  were  four 
hundred  and  twenty-eight,  and  that  the  catalogue  of 
Indian  documents  and  relics  which  had  been  collected  to 
that  date  was  so  limited,  that  it  covered  less  than  two 
pages  of  printed  matter.  To-day  the  society  is  in  possession 
of  fifty  thousand  books  and  pamphlets  indexed  according 
to  titles,  and  has  thirty-three  thousand  relics  and  imple- 
ments and  articles  of  interest  of  various  sorts  on  display  in 
the  cabinets  in  its  rooms,  and  has  about  an  equal  number 
stored  away  in  boxes  for  want  of  space  to  exhibit  them. 
The  enumerations  given  above  do  not  include  a  vast  number 
of  letters,  memorials,  correspondence,  and  other  valuable 
material  relating  to  our  early  history. 

A  large  part  of  the  society's  collections  are  stored  in  the 
underground  apartment  of  a  building  east  of  the  capitol 
grounds,  which  is  awaiting  the  erection  of  a  superstruction, 
and  the  remainder  which  are  on  exhibition  are  in  the  base- 
ment of  a  building  on  the  university  grounds,  the  entrance 
to  which  is  uninviting  and  so  limited  in  accomodations  that 
the  property  of  the  society  cannot  be  shown  to  visitors  with 
advantage. 

This  collection  of  historic  material  is  priceless  to  our 
people.  If  you  ask  me  how  I  measure  its  worth,  I  answer, — 
"What  is  knowledge  worth?  what  is  education  worth? 
what  is  history  worth?"  Take  them  all  in  all  history  is 
worth  more  than  all  the  others,  for  without  it  the  others 
could  not  exist. 

The  days'of  our  pioneers  stand  out  as  bright  spots  in 
our  western  history.  The  day  will  come  when  the  memories 
of  their  adventures,  their  hardships  and  their  successes 


236     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

will  be  as  dearly  cherished  by  us  as  are  the  memories  of 
the  settlers  at  Jamestown  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  and  the 
lives  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  are  to  New  England. 

The  West  offered  to  the  young  pioneer  opportunity  for 
the  most  abundant  gratification.  There  was  ease  in  acquir- 
ing lands;  there  were  unsettled  modes  of  life;  there  was 
opportunity  for  adventure;  there  was  a  free  field  for 
struggle.  The  West  was  filled  with  alluring  promises  and 
bright  hopes  for  the  future. 

The  young  pioneer  bid  adieu  to  home — to  its  settled* 
prescribed,  regular,  inflexible  modes  of  life,  and  its  con- 
strained, contracted  promises  and  slender  hopes  for  the 
future — with  a  sense  of  relief.  He  preferred  to  try  the  new 
life  of  unformed  society,  to  assert  himself  among  the  new 
forces,  to  impress  them  with  his  personality,  to  guide  them 
by  his  intelligence,  and  to  help  in  the  making,  and  to  be  a 
part  of  the  new  state.  At  that  time  all  of  this  western 
country,  half  the  area  of  the  continent,  remained  to  be 
populated — land  to  be  tilled,  mines  to  be  opened,  prairies 
and  uplands  to  become  cattle  ranges,  cities  to  be  built, 
arts  to  be  cultivated  and  new  states  to  be  formed.  That 
which  was  a  waste,  or  a  solitude,  he  made  a  part  of  the 
empire  of  man,  ruled  by  the  supremacy  of  law. 

The  early  Nebraska  pioneers  were  men  who  possessed 
the  indomitable  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  of  courage  and  ad- 
venture which  irresistibly  impelled  them  to  cross  the  expanse 
of  the  prairies  and  plains,  to  search  every  solitude,  to 
roam  over  lands  that  had  rarely  been  moistened  by  rain. 
There  had  been  no  storms  they  did  not  encounter,  and  no 
hardships  which  they  did  not  endure.  On  their  travels 
westward  they  have  sat  by  the  camp  fire  at  night,  and 
while  smoking  in  silence,  lived  again  in  memories  their  life 
at  home.  The  husband,  through  the  white  moonlight  that 
fell  on  the  faces  of  his  wife  and  child,  thought  of  their 
wealth  of  heart  and.  deemed  them  as  fair  as  the  children  of 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        237 

Eden.  Our  records  tell  the  story  of  these  pioneers  when 
they  camped  on  the  hilltop,  and  when  the  shades  of  evening 
fell  upon  them  they  saw  the  Indian  camp  fires  flicker  in  the 
valley  below,  their  slender,  ghostlike  columns  of  smoke 
rising  heavenward  and  floating  away  in  a  white  cloud 
against  the  dark  blue  sky  of  the  evening.  They  heard  the 
soft,  plaintive  notes  of  the  nighthawk  and  prairie  owl  which 
mingled  with  the  prolonged  cry  of  the  wolf  in  the  distant 
foothills.  The  night  breeze  sprang  up,  fanning  the  parched 
prairie  with  its  cool  breath.  The  stars  came  forth  and  the 
silver  rim  of  the  moon  emerged  above  the  dark  clouds, 
outlining  the  crests  of  the  hills  in  broken  silvery  lines  as 
its  full  disk  swept  into  view,  flooding  the  valley  and  plains 
with  strange  ethereal  light. 

The  pioneer  then  learned  the  wild  man's  secret — that 
the  stars  sang  to  him  as  of  yore,  that  the  winds  and  the 
waters,  that  the  animals,  and  rocks  and  trees  spoke  in 
harmonies  not  known  to  modern  civilized  man. 

The  volumes  of  historical  papers  and  manuscripts  in 
the  rooms  of  the  society  tell  substantially  all  that  is  known 
of  the  rivers,  of  the  uplands,  and  of  the  prairies,  beautiful 
in  their  wilderness  and  impressive,  as  they  are  boundless, 
when  they  were  the  homes  of  the  American  Indians.  They 
tell  of  the  time  when  the  territory  west  of  the  Missouri 
river  was  a  solitude,  save  when  here  and  there  on  its  eastern 
fringe  there  was  an  embryo  settlement,  or  a  trapper's  hut, 
or  a  missionary's  abode.  They  tell  of  a  time  when  the 
Nebraska  territory  extended  northward  to  the  British 
possessions  and  westward  across  the  prairies,  and  over  the 
mountains  to  the  western  limits  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase. 

They  tell  of  the  lives  and  the  hardships  of  the  pioneers 
who  lived  to  see  law  and  order,  and  the  white  man's  civiliza- 
tion spread  silently  but  steadily  over  this  immense  territorial 
realm,  following  the  peaceful  communities  whose  aggressive 
industry  had  conquered  and  settled  localities  along  the 


238     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

virgin  valleys  and  the  hill  slopes,  protecting  and  shadowing 
the  pioneer  in  his  prairie  dugout,  the  freighter  on  his  lonely 
path  to  the  outposts,  and  the  miner  in  his  far  cabin  on  the 
mountain  side,  the  herder  in  the  solitudes  of  the  unmeasured 
plains,  the  citizen  wheresoever  his  remote  home  or  rude 
abode — that  same  law  and  order  and  civilization  which  has 
made  possible  the  cities  which  have  sprung  up  like  magic 
creations  from  the  soil.  They  tell  how  that  vast  expanse 
of  territory,  from  the  Missouri  to  the  coast,  has  been  formed 
into  new  states  and  become  the  homes  of  millions  of  Amer- 
ican citizens. 

Our  more  recent  books  and  publications  give  us  the 
biographies  of  men  whose  boyhood  days  were  over  before 
the  building  of  the  first  railroad  and  before  electricity  came 
into  use — that  mysterious  thing  that  links  the  natural  with 
the  supernatural  as  it  carries  messages  along  telegraph 
wires  or  on  lines  of  cable  under  the  ocean,  or  the  human 
voice  through  the  telephone,  or  delivers  its  wireless  messages 
as  winged  spirits  unseen  and  unheard,  a  realization  in  our 
time  of  something  more  wonderful  than  the  mythical  legend 
of  the  daughters  of  Odin  carrying  through  boundless  space 
the  souls  of  military  heroes  to  the  far  off  Walhalla. 

Why  preserve  the  biographies  and  records  of  the  days 
of  these  pioneers?  Why  concern  ourselves  with  their  hard- 
ships, their  adventures,  their  impulses,  their  motives?  Why 
dwell  upon  the  influences,  multitudinous  and  varied,  which 
took  them  out  into  the  wilderness  and  solitudes?  I  answer 
again,  because  they  made  history  in  the  west  as  our  fore- 
fathers made  it  in  the  east.  Without  them  our  cities  would 
not  be  here,  our  railroads  would  not  be  here,  our  commerce 
would  not  be  here,  our  prosperity  would  not  be  here,  our 
state  would  not  be  here,  and  we  ourselves  would  not  be 
here.  Ah,  more!  Out  of  the  expanse  of  wild  nature  they 
extended  the  borders  of  the  republic. 

There  are  some  good  citizens  who  are  indifferent  to 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        239 

the  antiquities  of  the  red  man,  who  have  no  concern  with 
anything  relating  to  his  past  existence.  They  may  ask  the 
question  why  is  it  worth  while  to  preserve  the  thirty 
thousand  specimens  of  Indian  reUcs,  implements,  utensils 
and  apparel  which  the  society  has  in  its  possession?  I 
answer,  they  have  a  special  value  as  they  give  us  a  lesson 
of  human  life.  Nothing  in  the  world's  history,  in  so  far  as 
we  know  it,  possesses  so  much  interest  as  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  the  existence  of  a  race  of  people.  We  know  little 
of  when  the  life  of  the  red  man  began,  but  we  are  the 
witnesses  of  his  rapid  disappearance. 

We  little  remember  that  these  lands  where  the  husband- 
men plow  the  fields  and  gather  the  harvests,  were  once  the 
homes  and  hunting  grounds  of  another  and  almost  extinct 
race  of  people.  It  is  a  transition  from  a  red  man's  village 
of  tepees  to  a  white  man's  city  of  brick  and  stone  and  steel 
buildings.  Yet  we  take  no  account  of  the  change.  W^e  have 
forgotten  the  red  man,  and  many  who  do  remember  him 
measured  him  by  our  own  self  arrogant  standard  of  ideals, 
and  so  regarded  him  as  a  useless  encumbrance  upon  the 
lands  he  possessed,  with  no  recognized  right  to  live  upon 
them  when  his  occupancy  stood  in  the  way  of  the  white 
man's  invasion. 

When  we  listen  to  the  Indian's  side  of  the  story  we  have 
presented  to  us  another  viewpoint  of  his  rights.  Standing 
Bear,  a  Ponka  chieftain,  who  had  been  wrongfully  and  force- 
fully removed  with  his  people  to  the  Indian  Territory  and 
who  afterward  returned  to  his  old  home  on  his  northern 
reservation,  and  was  about  to  be  again  removed  by  the 
government's  agents,  spoke  some  caustic  and  severe  truths, 
when  he  said  to  them,  "  You  can  read  and  write  and  I  can't, 
you  can  think  that  you  know  everything  and  that  I  know 
nothing.  If  some  man  should  take  you  a  thousand  miles 
from  home,  as  you  did  me,  and  leave  you  in  a  strange 
country  without  one  cent  of  money,  where  you  did  not 


240     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

know  the  language  and  could  not  speak  a  word,  you  would 
never  have  got  home  in  the  world.  You  don't  know  enough. 
This  is  my  land.  The  Great  Father  did  not  give  it  to  me. 
My  people  were  here  and  owned  this  land  before  there  was 
any  Great  Father.    God  gave  it  to  me". 

As  white  men  we  measure  our  success  and  all  that  we 
do  and  all  that  we  accomplish  by  the  environments  with 
which  we  are  surrounded.  By  our  commerce  we  trade  with 
all  the  world,  and  we  gather  the  articles  that  supply  our 
necessities  and  luxuries  from  all  the  producing  countries  of 
the  earth.  Take  us  as  we  are,  and  we  could  not  live  without 
them. 

With  the  Indian  it  was  not  so.  He  lived  in  the  land 
where  God  created  him.  He  had  no  commerce.  He  had 
no  mills  or  factories.  He  had  the  capacity  to  create  for 
himself  out  of  the  products  of  nature  what  he  needed  to 
supply  his  wants.  The  Great  Spirit  seemed  infinite  and 
dwelt  with  him,  and  communed  with  him  from  the  majestic 
mountains  and  spoke  to  him  from  the  bright  and  beautiful 
stars. 

If  the  Indian  were  here  to-day,  he  might  walk  into  the 
museum  of  our  historical  society  and  point  to  a  rope  made 
of  the  hairs  of  a  buffalo  and  truthfully  say  that  it  was 
woven  by  the  fingers  of  Indian  women  at  a  time  when  there 
was  no  other  method  of  manufacture  known  to  his  race. 
That  rope  of  buffalo  hair  hanging  in  the  cabinet  is  a  specimen 
of  native  ingenuity  which  contrasts  the  life  of  a  red  man, 
in  the  days  when  we  regarded  the  prairies  as  an  uninhabit- 
able wilderness,  with  our  days  of  civilized  world  affiliation. 

When  the  Indian  looks  at  that  rope  he  may  say  to  the 
white  man  with  some  degree  of  plausibility:  "What  do  you 
really  know  of  life  as  it  really  is?  You  were  not  born  under 
the  open  heavens;  you  have  not  slept  on  the  hard,  cold 
ground,  exposed  to  inclement  weather  and  nearly  perishing 
of  hunger  and  thirst.    Could  you  feed  and  clothe  yourself 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        241 

from  the  naked  earth  without  the  assistance  of  others?  We 
have  carried  wood  and  water,  cooked  and  fed  and  clothed 
ourselves  from  the  materials  gathered  by  our  own  hands. 
Where  our  tent  was  set  at  night  or  where  the  foot  rested, 
that  was  home  to  us.  We  roamed  at  times,  and  then  longed 
to  lie  down  in  the  embrace  of  mother  earth  and  breathe  the 
smoke  of  the  camp  fire.  But  the  wanderlust  would  come — 
a  feeling  of  unrest — like  that  of  the  birds  when  the  spell  of 
spring  or  autumn  comes  upon  them,  and  the  migratory 
instinct  seizes  them,  or  like  that  of  the  great  herds  of  rein- 
deer in  the  north  which  travel  each  year  to  the  sea  to  drink 
of  its  salty  waters,  and  which,  if  prevented,  die. 

The  aborigines  were  a  people  who  never  willingly  sub- 
mitted to  the  rule  of  the  white  man,  but  tenaciously  held  to 
the  ancient  beliefs  and  customs  of  their  forefathers.  They 
were  a  proud  spirited  people  whose  chiefs  had  the  personal 
dignity  of  born  rulers  and  the  fearless  qualities  of  military 
commanders. 

We  white  men  take  just  and  honorable  pride  in  our 
arts,  and  in  our  education,  in  our  philosophies  and  in  our 
scientific  attainments,  but  the  native  Indian  sage  may  ask 
how  long  these  will  continue  to  civilize  us.  He  might  call 
our  attention  to  the  writings  of  a  sentimental  American 
who  has  expressed  the  belief  that  unless  the  trend  of  modern 
materialistic  tendencies  becomes  supplanted  by  something 
higher,  the  same  fate  that  overtook  the  ancients  must 
inevitably  overtake  us. 

We  of  to-day  are  apt  to  say:  ''Behold  the  works  and 
glories  of  the  white  man ! "  But  the  Indian  may  say:  "I  see 
in  your  ancient  past  lands  that  are  desolate  and  the  ruins 
of  your  greatness.  The  same  mountains  that  stood  guard 
over  those  valleys  and  shadowed  you  in  those  prosperous 
ages  now  look  down  upon  broken  monoliths  and  remains  of 
decaying  temples.  The  mountains  stand  as  permanently 
now  as  then,  but  overlook  a  desolation  not  much  dissimilar 

17 


242    [NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

to  the  solitude  of  a  deserted  Indian  habitation  on  our 
western  plains". 

The  Egyptians,  once  so  highly  civilized  that  they  were 
the  supreme  rulers  of  the  world,  have  gone,  their  buildings 
and  temples  have  gone,  and  left  us  but  a  few  crumbling 
ruins.  They  have  left  us  no  poetry,  no  works  of  literature, 
no  paintings,  no  sculpture  in  marble  or  figures  of  bronze. 

The  Carthaginians,  once  the  rulers  of  Africa,  with  their 
cities  and  ships  and  commerce  and  conquering  armies  under 
a  Hannibal,  are  no  more ;  and  their  lands  have  been  despoiled 
by  the  invader,  like  unto  the  Indian  lands. 

The  Indian,  when  told  of  all  that  we  may  boast  of 
among  the  past  glories  of  our  race,  may  answer  in  words  of 
comment:  "The  sun  shines  alike  on  the  just  and  the  un- 
just, the  white  man  and  the  red  man,  and  the  great  world 
still  continues  to  laugh  and  goes  on  its  way  in  spite  of  men's 
philosophy". 

He  might  add,  too,  that  his  philosophy  has  taught  him 
that  one  might  as  well  expect  the  mountains  to  slip  into 
the  sea  or  the  stars  to  stop  in  their  courses  as  a  man  in  love 
with  his  own  ideal  of  a  vision  of  beauty  to  listen  to  ethics. 
Why  does  the  grass  grow?  Why  do  the  birds  sing?  Why 
do  the  flowers  turn  to  the  sun?  Answer  these  to  the  Indian 
and  he  will  tell  you  why  he  loves  his  ancient  and  proud 
spirited  independence. 

The  white  man  may  say  to  the  Indian,  "You  make 
war",  but  he  answers,  "So  do  you.  Our  bad  men  may 
steal  and  murder,  but  so  do  yours.  We  love  a  personal 
liberty  as  well  as  you.  We  may  have  been  guilty  of  in- 
describable tortures,  but  we  refrain  from  referring  to  the 
pages  of  history  that  are  filled  with  descriptions  of  yours." 
The  Indian  might  plead  the  excuse  that  he  had  no  means 
of  enforcing  obedience  to  law  but  force,  but  that  white  men 
had  officers  to  maintain  the  peace  and  courts  to  administer 
the  law.    Then,  too,  if  the  Indian  were  a  visitor  to  our 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        243 

museum  he  might  point  his  finger  to  the  slave  shackles, 
which  hang  in  a  cabinet  close  to  the  thousands  of  specimens 
of  Indian  relics,  and  explain:  "The  red  man  never  held  an 
abject  race  of  people  in  slavery  as  did  the  Americans  for 
near  a  century  of  their  boasted  freedom". 

Standing  today  on  the  threshold,  half  way  between 
savagery  and  civilization,  and  comparing  the  cruelties  and 
the  barbarisms  of  the  one  with  the  luxuries  and  vices  of  the 
other,  the  Indian  may  ask  himself  the  question,  "Which  is 
preferable — civilization  with  its  virtues  as  he  sees  it,  or 
the  simple  life  of  his  tribe?"  The  one  may  tell  the  time  of 
the  day  by  the  sun  and  the  stars,  the  other  by  his  watch. 
The  one  listens  to  his  music — the  opera,  the  drama — and  looks 
upon  works  of  created  art  and  reads  his  books,  but  the  other 
answers,  "But  what  harmony  compares  to  nature?  What 
books  contain  her  hidden  truths  and  mysteries?"  The 
mechanical  devices  of  the  one  are  wonderful,  but  spiritually 
both  stand  where  they  began  centuries  ago.  So  the  Indian 
chieftain  said:  "The  great  symphony  of  nature,  the  throbs 
of  our  mother  earth,  the  song  of  the  forest,  the  voices  of 
the  wind  and  the  waters,  the  mountains  and  the  plains, 
and  the  glory  of  the  stars  are  grander  by  far  and  more 
satisfactory  and  enduring  to  him  than  the  fancies  and 
artificial  harmonies  created  in  the  name  of  civilization". 

We  should  not  judge  the  Indian  too  harshly.  He  had 
his  standards,  his  ideals,  and  his  philosophy.  He  cannot 
fairly  be  measured  by  our  standards  of  life.  His  age  was 
not  our  age.  His  civilization  was  not  our  civilization.  His 
memory  remains  a  story  of  human  life. 

The  collections,  in  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  of  books  and  pamphlets  and  manuscripts  and  relics 
are  the  only  preservations  we  have  of  a  historic  past  that 
can  never  come  again.  The  original  proud,  romantic, 
vigorous  and  warlike  Indians  of  the  plains  have  disappeared 
forever.    Their  insignificant  remnants  are  fast  fading  away 


244     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

or  disappearing  in  our  civilization.  Their  hunting  grounds 
have  become  our  tilled  farm  lands;  their  battle  fields  remain 
unmarked;  their  chieftain  warriors  have  died  and  been 
buried  without  monuments;  their  languages  have  not  been 
transmitted  to  a  succeeding  race.  Aside  from  what  has 
been  collected  and  is  being  preserved  in  museums  and  our 
historical  societies,  the  history  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
of  the  soil  has  passed  into  legends  and  traditions  without 
a  Homer  to  write  them  in  poetry  or  a  Wagner  to  put  them 
into  music. 

The  white  race  has  a  characteristic  which  distinguishes 
it  from  all  other  races  of  people,  that  of  migration  and  in- 
vasion. It  began  its  course  in  the  earliest  times  in  the 
lands  of  the  east.  It  kept  moving  westward,  leaving  in  its 
wake  the  ruins  of  its  greatness.  When  it  had  peopled 
Europe  it  moved  westward  until  it  discovered  and  invaded 
and  peopled  America.  Our  western  pioneers  were  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  that  movement  which  kept  going  onward 
in  its  westward  course  until  it  reached  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific. 

The  white  men  in  their  march  met  the  aboriginal  red 
men  and  overwhelmed  them.  They  found  the  arid  lands 
of  the  prairies  and  conquered  them  with  fertility.  They 
have  built  towns  and  cities  in  places  that  were  once  a 
solitude.  What  was  once  a  wilderness  has  become  the 
homes  of  millions  of  men.  But  there  are  no  more  lands  to 
invade;  there  are  no  more  Indian  tribes  to  conquer;  there 
are  no  more  opportunities  for  the  pioneer.  Beyond  the 
Pacific  waters  are  different  races  of  people.  The  mighty 
Japan  with  her  brown  men,  the  populous  China  with  her 
millions  of  yellow  men  stand  as  a  bulwark  against  the  white 
men's  invasion.  Our  progress  westward  has  become 
bounded  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean. 

These  reflections  cannot  help  but  impress  upon  us  the 
importance  of  collecting  and  preserving  all  that  can  be 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  OF  J.  L.  WEBSTER        245 

obtained  relating  to  the  history  of  a  past  which  can  never 
be  repeated.  The  value  of  all  the  society  now  possesses  will 
be  enhanced  many  fold  as  the  years  more  widely  separate 
that  past  from  the  future.  The  white  men  are  confronted 
with  a  conjectural  problem  of  the  future.  We  read  in 
history's  pages  of  the  glories  of  ancient  Greece,  but  we  see 
her  only  in  ruins.  We  read  of  the  grandeur  of  Rome,  but 
we  see  her  in  decay.  If  we  would  go  back  to  more  antecedent 
days  we  find  evidences  of  civilization  only  by  excavations 
of  the  remains  of  buried  cities.  Here  on  this  continent  we 
have  seen  another  race,  that  has  been  the  proud  possessor 
of  these  lands  for  centuries,  disappear.  The  red  men  were 
not  able  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  their  race  nor  the 
lands  of  their  birthright.  When  we  look  back  over  our  past 
faded  glory  and  departed  grandeur  we  may  well  ask  our- 
selves, "Will  the  white  man  be  able  to  preserve  his  present 
high  standard  of  civilization  and  progress  and  prosperity?" 

If  he  is  to  do  so,  he  should  preserve  the  history  of  the 
extinct  race  that  dwelt  on  the  American  soil,  just  as  he 
should  preserve  the  history  of  his  own  past;  for  out  of 
these  he  may  gather  the  lessons  of  wisdom  that  will  give 
him  the  essential  promptings  for  his  own  preservation. 
This,  in  part,  is  the  mission  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society. 

The  Indian  collections  of  the  historical  society  will 
continue  to  become  more  valuable  as  antiquities.  They 
will  become  more  priceless  than  the  mummies  of  Pharaohs, 
or  the  hieroglyphics  from  the  Nile.  They  will  become 
more  interesting  than  the  groves  and  temples  of  the  Druids, 
the  wonderworkers  of  the  ancient  Celts.  This  collection  is 
all  we  have  left  to  tell  the  story  of  the  life  of  a  human  race 
that  has  been  swept  away  by  an  all  powerful  and  conquering 
white  man.  To  them  the  heavens  have  been  rolled  away 
as  a  scroll.  To  them  the  moon  and  stars  have  gone  back 
into  utter  darkness. 


246     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Putting  all  other  considerations  aside,  the  people  of 
Nebraska,  in  this  the  age  of  their  strong  manhood  and  un- 
restrained prosperity,  can  do  a  no  more  commendable  or 
worthy  thing  than  to  appropriate  a  part  of  their  revenues 
for  the  preservation  and  housing  of  these  valuable  collec- 
tions of  the  historical  society. 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67 
By  Dennis  Farrell 

I  was  a  little  over  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  I 
reached  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  with  the  full  intention  of 
crossing  the  plains  to  California.  I  was  slight  of  build  but 
large  in  ambition,  and,  while  I  am  not  brave,  I  dared  to 
go  anywhere  I  felt  like  going.  I  was  out  to  rough  it,  and 
hired  to  the  government  as  one  to  help  take  six  hundred 
head  of  horses  to  the  different  military  posts  between 
Leavenworth  and  Fort  Laramie.  We  started  on  the  30th 
of  April,  1865.  There  was  a  long  rope  fastened  to  the 
tongue  of  a  wagon  and  stretching  forward,  and  to  this 
rope  were  tied  one  hundred  horses  by  their  bridles,  with 
five  men  riders,  one  at  the  head  of  the  line,  three  in  the 
swings,  and  one  on  the  wheel  horse. 

Our  trip  was  uneventful  until  we  passed  Fort  Kearny. 
It  was  our  custom  to  drive  until  about  noon  or  later,  and 
then,  in  order  to  give  the  horses  water,  an  hour  or  two  of 
rest  and  a  chance  to  feed,  we  picketed  them  out.  We  used 
iron  picket  pins,  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  driven  well  into  the 
ground,  and  fifty  feet  of  rope.  Some  of  the  men  were 
always  out  among  the  horses  to  prevent  them  from  tangling 
or  being  thrown  by  the  ropes.  About  two  daj^-s  after  we 
left  Fort  Kearny,  suddenly  the  horses  became  excited  and 
turned  their  ears  toward  the  bluffs  across  the  river  where 
Indians  were  waving  their  red  blankets  and  yelling  their 
war  cry  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  The  horses  stampeded — 
I  was  in  the  midst  of  them  and  picket  pins  flying  in  the 
air — and  ran  toward  the  bluffs  on  our  side  of  the  river. 
Many  of  them  were  killed  and  many  others  so  badly  maimed 

(247) 


248     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

that  they  had  to  be  shot.  Our  miUtary  escort  of  cavalry- 
men and  some  of  our  own  men  followed,  but  failed  to  recover 
a  large  number  of  them.  At  the  first  alarm  some  one 
yelled,  "Lie  on  your  face!"  and  so  I  did,  expecting  every 
instant  to  be  crushed  by  the  horses  or  killed  by  flying 
picket  pins.  This  was  the  only  incident  of  note  until  we 
reached  Julesburg,  as  Fort  Sedgwick  was  then  called,  and 
I  stopped  at  this  place.  The  string  of  horses  with  which 
I  was  detailed  was  turned  over  to  the  commandant  of  that 
post. 

I  found  employment  in  the  quartermaster's  department 
under  Captain  Westbrook.  In  the  fall  I  left  the  govern- 
ment employ  and  bought  out  old  Sam  Watt's  interest  in 
the  eating  house  which  was  a  part  of  the  ranch  he  kept  in 
the  military  camp  at  Julesburg.  Sam  Watt  was  also  post- 
master. He  was  a  Missourian,  about  fifty  years  old,  and 
well  posted  on  frontier  life.  He  was  about  fifty  years  of 
age  then;  he  told  me  about  the  old  Frenchman,  Jules,  and 
how  he  was  attacked  and  killed  by  the  Indians  and  the 
ranch  set  on  fire.  Old  Jules'  ranch  was  about  a  mile  and 
a  half  below  or  east  of  the  fort  proper,  but  inside  of  the 
four-miles  circuit.  The  story  of  the  cattlemen  wearing  his 
ears  as  watch  guards  is  manufactured  out  of  whole  cloth, 
as  there  were  no  cattlemen  on  the  plains  at  that  time; 
there  were  nothing  but  bull-whackers,  wagon-masters  or 
mule-drivers.  Sam  Watt  knew  Jules  personally,  and  I 
regret  that  I  cannot  recall,  at  this  interesting  period,  some 
of  the  things  he  told  me.  In  reading  "The  Great  Salt  Lake 
Trail"  I  find  illustrations^  purporting  to  be  Old  Julesburg 


1  Fort  Sedgwick  was  established  May  19,  1864,  as  Camp  Rankin,  but 
was  not  constructed  until  September  of  that  year  when,  on  the  27th,  it 
was  christened  Fort  Sedgwick  by  the  war  department.  The  post  was 
situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  South  Platte  river,  about  a  mile  west 
of  Julesburg.  In  1867  the  name  was  transferred  to  the  station  on  the 
Union  Pacific  railroad  situated,  not  opposite  old  Julesburg,  but  a  little 
more  than  three  miles  farther  east  and  on  the  north  side  of  the  river. 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67       249 

when,  in  fact,  they  are  a  picture  of  Jack  Hughes'  (of  the 
firm  of  Hughes  &  Bissell  of  Denver)  Julesburg  of  1865  and 
1866.  Hughes  had  a  contract  with  the  government  to 
furnish  so  many  hundred  cords  of  wood.  Old  Julesburg 
did  not  have  any  frame  houses,  but  one  can  see  in  the 
picture  two  of  the  old  adobe  houses.  Old  Julesburg  was  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Platte,  and  when  the  railroad  builders 
reached  a  point  opposite  with  their  track,  they  called  their 
town  New  Julesburg,  and,  in  order  to  sell  lots,  they  adver- 
tised the  great  improvements  they  were  going  to  make 
there  at  once. 

Captain  Westbrook,  quartermaster  of  the  post,  was 
a  Californian.  He  was  succeeded  by  Captain  Neill,  a  West 
Point  soldier  from  Pennsylvania. 

While  keeping  this  eating  place  at  the  fort,  I  boarded 
some  of  the  officers  and  occasionally  served  transient  meals 

Lieutenant  General  William  T.  Sherman,  writing  from  Fort  Laramie, 
August  31,  1866,  said  that  Fort  Sedgwick  "is  sometimes  called  Julesburg, 
by  reason  of  a  few  adobe  houses  called  by  that  name,  three  miles  from 
the  post."  (House  Executive  Documents  39th  Congress,  2d  Session,  v.  6, 
doc.  23,  p.  9.)  This  statement  indicates  that  the  site  of  old  Julesburg  had 
been  abandoned  and  the  name  applied  to  the  place  which  became  a  station 
on  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  the  next  year. 

The  first  buildings  for  Fort  Sedgwick  were  constructed  of  sod  by 
Company  F  of  the  Seventh  Iowa  regiment,  under  Captain  Nicholas  J. 
O'Brien.  Captain  P.  W.  Neill  was  of  the  Eighteenth  U.  S.  infantry,  then 
in  the  Division  of  the  Missouri,  and  the  next  year,  under  the  reorganization, 
in  the  Department  of  the  Platte.  Captain  Eugene  F.  Ware  describes  the 
manner  of  constructing  the  first  buildings  in  his  History  of  the  Indian 
War  of  1864,  page  326.  Lieutenant  General  William  T.  Sherman,  writing 
from  Fort  Sedgwick,  August  24,  1866,  said:  "The  post  was  first  built  of 
sod,  and  now  looks  like  hovels  in  which  a  negro  would  not  go".  (House 
Executive  Documents  39th  Congress,  2d  Session,  p.  6.) 

Jules  was  not  killed  by  Indians,  but  by  Jack  Slade,  a  desperado,  at 
his  ranch  near  O'Fallon's  Bluff.  It  is  said  that  Slade  shot  off  one  of  Jule's 
ears  and  wore  it  as  a  memento.  This  brutal  incident  is  related  in  detail 
in  the  history  of  Nebraska,  volume  2,  page  180,  note;  and  in  "The  Great 
Salt  Lake  Trail",  p.  205.  The  pictures  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Farrell  are  in 
the  book  last  named,  page  162.  Captain  Royal  L.  Westbrook  was  in  the 
volunteer  service.  He  was  appointed  assistant  quartermaster  from  Cali- 
fornia in  1863.  It  does  not  appear  that  Captain  Neill  was  in  the  quarter- 
master service. — Ed. 


250     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

to  the  passengers  in  the  overland  stages  at  two  dollars  per 
meal.  This  would  seem  high,  but  flour  cost  twenty-five 
dollars  for  a  fifty-pound  bag,  and  other  necessaries  were 
equally  high.  I  remember  the  battle  with  the  Indians  nine 
miles  west  of  the  fort,  near  Ackerly's  ranch.  Two  women 
were  brought  to  the  fort  and  placed  in  the  hospital  tent, 
where  they  were  cared  for.  It  was  said  one  woman  was 
scalped,  and  whether  they  lived  or  died  I  cannot  say,  but 
the  reports  of  the  hospital  would  show.  I  remember  that 
one  morning,  about  ten  o'clock,  the  Indians  made  a  great 
dash  through  the  grounds  of  the  fort,  below  on  the  Platte 
river;  and  for  a  time  all  was  excitement  with  rumors  that 
the  fort  was  attacked. 

New  rules  were  made  at  the  fort  that  no  private 
business  should  be  carried  on  within  the  four-miles  limit; 
therefore  old  Sam  Watt,  myself  and  others  had  to  go. 
The  reason  for  this  was  that  Adams,  Green  &  Co.  became 
the  sutlers  at  the  fort.    That  was  in  the  summer  of  1866. 

While  at  the  fort  I  built  a  ranch  on  the  main  road  to 
Fort  Laramie,  twenty-two  miles  up  Lodgepole  Creek.  This 
ranch  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  valley  and  close  to  a  dry 
creek,  that  in  the  spring  used  to  fill  up  and  become  a  large 
stream.  It  drained  a  large  valley  directly  back  of  my 
ranch  in  a  northwesterly  direction  and  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  Lodgepole  Creek  valley.  Here  the  history  of  my 
settlement,  or  intended  settlement  in  Nebraska  begins.  By 
some  my  ranch  was  called  "Farrell's  Ranch"  and  by  others 
the  "Twenty-two  Mile  Ranch".  Most  of  the  time  at  the 
ranch  life  was  monotonous;  then,  again,  wagon  trains  used 
to  stop  there  and  make  things  quite  lively.  This  section  of 
your  state  at  that  time  had  few  ranchmen  and  no  settlers. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Indians  would  make  it  too  uncomfort- 
able for  anyone  who  tried  to  make  a  home  there,  as  the 
Cheyenne  wanted  it  for  their  hunting  grounds,  and  it  was 
pretty  good  for  that  use  at  that  time.    They  had  to  go  only 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67       251 

ten  miles  east  or  west  to  find  plenty  of  antelopes  and 
buffaloes.  Farther  northeast!?],  toward  Cheyenne,  in  the 
timber  section,  there  were  deer  and  moose.  At  the  ranch 
we  had  no  trouble  in  getting  antelopes,  as  they  used  to 
show  themselves  on  the  bluffs  on  either  side  of  the  valley. 

One  afternoon,  about  the  last  of  August,  1866,  I  was 
riding  on  an  Indian  pony  from  my  ranch  to  Julesburg.  At 
a  point  about  nine  miles  from  Julesburg,  as  it  was  getting 
dark,  I  was  traveling  south,  the  creek  at  my  left  and  the 
bluffs  at  my  right,  when  suddenly  my  pony's  head  turned 
west  toward  the  bluffs  and  his  ears  shot  backward  and 
forward  very  excitedly.  He  kept  this  up  for  quite  a  while 
and  then  began  to  increase  his  speed  and  tried  to  leave  the 
road,  making  tow^ard  the  bluffs.  I  looked  in  the  direction 
that  he  was  trying  to  go  and  saw  w^hat  I  thought  was  a 
band  of  Indians  looming  up  on  the  crest  of  the  bluff  and 
riding  parallel  to  my  course,  in  the  same  direction.  It 
seemed  to  me  a  race  for  life,  and  I  desperately  dug  the 
spurs  into  the  pony's  flanks.  I  had  a  great  struggle  to 
keep  him  on  the  road.  He  seemed  to  want  to  go  to  the 
Indians,  as  I  supposed  because  he  was  a  real  Indian  pony. 
Soon  my  Indians  left  the  bluffs  and  were  heading  me  off, 
still  gaining  on  me  and  getting  closer  to  the  road.  I  had 
hoped  to  beat  them,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  I  then  began  to 
think  of  turning  back  as  there  seemed  to  be  about  a  mile 
between  us;  just  at  this  time  they  had  reached  the  road 
and  were  crossing  it  and  to  my  great  relief  and  astonishment 
I  discovered  they  were  a  herd  of  antelopes  going  down  to 
the  creek  to  water.  I  was  almost  paralyzed  from  excite- 
ment and  exhaustion. 

There  were  three  ranches  between  Julesburg  and  the 
divide — the  point  where  the  road  left  Lodgepole  Creek  and 
turned  north  toward  the  Platte  or  Mud  Springs;  there  was 
one  ranch  at  Mud  Springs.  The  first  ranch  was  twelve 
miles  from  Julesburg.    It  was  a  temporary  affair,  made  of 


252     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

lumber,  and  did  not  last  long.  I  cannot  recall  the  ranch- 
man's name.  My  ranch  was  next,  twenty-two  miles  from 
Julesburg;  the  next  fifteen  miles  farther  on,  and  Mud 
Springs  was  next  to  that.  The  ranch  next  beyond  mine  was 
kept  by  a  Frenchman  named  Louis  Rouillet  (?)  and  Jim 
Pringle.  They  did  a  very  large  business.  They  afterward 
left  the  ranch  and  moved  to  Sidney  Station,  on  the  Union 
Pacific  railroad,  situated  a  few  miles  up  the  valley.  The 
ranch  at  Mud  Springs  was  kept  by  a  man  named  James 
McArdle,  who  did  a  very  good  business.  The  last  time  I 
saw  him  he  was  starting  for  Texas. 

My  ranch  was  built  of  sod.  It  was  about  15x18  feet, 
and  the  walls  were  three  feet  thick.  It  had  a  rear  and  a 
front  door  and  three  windows,  one  on  either  side  of  the 
front  door  and  the  other  on  the  south  side,  looking  down 
the  road.  These  windows  were  built  like  portholes,  bevelled 
off  on  two  sides  and  bottom,  and  each  had  two  small  panes 
of  glass.  I  had  heavy  double  battened  doors,  and  the  roof 
was  of  sod  laid  on  poles.  I  began  an  addition  to  the  ranch 
house,  in  the  rear,  which  I  never  finished,  but  used  it  as 
a  stable  for  my  mules  and  ponies.  On  my  way  from  Cali- 
fornia, twenty-four  years  ago,  from  the  car  windows  I  saw 
the  walls  of  the  ranch  still  standing.  My  two  brothers 
lived  with  me  at  the  ranch.  I  had  quite  a  number  of  men 
working  for  me  from  time  to  time,  making  hay  in  summer 
and  cutting  wood  in  winter.  I  remember  that  the  names 
of  four  of  them  were,  Dickenson,  Wiley,  Tibbets,  and 
Walden,  but  always  called  "blueskin".  He  was  about 
sixty-five  years  of  age.  He  drove  a  stage  to  and  from 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  before  there  were  any  railroads  at  that 
town.  Tobacco  juice  was  always  running  down  his  pro- 
truding chin.  He  was  a  peculiar  character  and  chewed 
and  swore  by  note.  I  also  had  a  colored  man,  Dick  Turner, 
who  was  very  faithful  and  trustworthy.     He  went  west 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67       253 

with  Captain  Greene  to  Fort  Laramie  and  was  on  his  way 
back  to  the  states  when  I  got  him. 

In  the  summer  of  1866  I  cut  and  put  up  about  twenty 
tons  of  hay.  It  was  not  of  a  very  good  quaUty.  Some  of 
it  I  used  myself  and  some  of  it  I  sold,  but  most  of  it  was 
overrun  by  freighters'  cattle  in  the  storms  of  the  winter 
of  1866-67;  some  of  the  wagon  masters  would  pay  me  a 
little  for  the  hay  they  took  and  others  nothing.  There  was 
an  officer  at  the  fort  who,  while  he  was  supposed  to  be  giving 
all  his  time  to  the  government,  did  a  little  private  business 
with  a  cattle  train.  I  will  not  mention  his  name.  His 
cattle  not  only  used  my  hay  in  a  big  storm,  in  March,  1867, 
but  destroyed  what  might  have  been  used  by  myself;  his 
wagon  master  gave  me  a  receipt  for  the  hay,  but  the  gallant 
officer  refused  to  pay.  I  brought  suit  in  Julesburg,  catching 
him  over  from  the  fort  with  his  light  wagon  and  tried  to 
put  a  lien  on  it,  but  the  lawyers  discovered  that  there  was 
no  jurisdiction  in  such  cases  in  that  part  of  the  territory,  so 
I  lost  the  claim.  I  mention  this  to  show  what  law-abiding 
citizens  there  were  in  those  good  old  days.  In  1867  I  cut 
and  put  up  about  fifty  tons  of  hay  and  put  it  in  two  ricks, 
one  of  thirty,  and  the  other  of  twenty  tons.  The  larger 
rick  was  burned. 

In  the  summer  of  1867,  the  men  were  making  hay  on 
the  west  side  of  the  creek  when  the  Indians  made  a  dash 
down  on  them,  but  as  the  Indians  had  been  seen  before 
they  left  the  bluffs  and  were  delayed  by  high  water  in  the 
creek,  the  men  got  away  safely. 

Another  day  Dick,  the  colored  man,  was  down  fishing 
and  before  he  discovered  them  the  Indians  were  almost 
upon  him,  but  on  the  other  side  of  the  creek.  He  ran  so 
fast  to  the  ranch  that  he  dropped  at  the  door  and  could 
hardly  speak.  Dick's  steel  trap  down  at  the  creek  caught 
an  otter  by  the  hind  leg  and  he  would  not  be  led  or  driven. 


254     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Every  time  Dick  pulled  him  the  otter  made  a  dive  for  Dick 
and  they  kept  up  the  game  until  they  got  to  the  ranch, 
and  it  seemed  as  though  Dick  was  the  worst  used  up  of 
the  two. 

We  caught  a  coyote  in  the  trap,  and  we  thought  we 
could  tame  him.  We  had  made  a  house  for  him,  but  after 
keeping  him  several  months  we  found  he  was  just  as  wild 
as  the  day  we  caught  him,  so  let  him  go.  I  got  up  one 
morning,  early,  as  we  had  been  annoyed  all  night  by 
coyotes;  we  thought  there  were  about  a  thousand  of  them, 
but,  to  our  surprise,  I  found  only  two  or  three.  I  shot  at 
them  with  my  old  musket,  wounding  one  of  them  so  badly 
that  he  had  to  drag  his  hind  legs  after  him.  He  started  to 
run  up  the  cafion,  and,  thinking  that  a  blow  of  the  gun 
would  kill  him,  I  followed  him  nearly  a  mile  as  fast  as  I 
could  run  when  he  stopped  and  faced  around  to  fight  me. 
I  was  so  exhausted  that  I  could  not  raise  my  gun,  so  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  let  him  go. 

I  was  attacked  several  times  by  the  Indians,  usually 
very  early  in  the  morning.  According  to  the  New  York 
Herald  "the  Farrell  Ranch  was  burned  and  they  were 
killed  and  scalped".  I  came  very  near  being  killed  one 
day  while  alone  at  the  ranch.  A  half  dozen  Cheyenne,  led 
by  Chief  White  Eye,  marched  in  without  ceremony.  They 
were  somewhat  friendly  at  first.  The  chief  sat  on  the 
counter  near  a  show  case  and  demanded  sugar  and  coffee 
and  a  silk  handkerchief  and  other  trinkets,  and  I  got  a  pair 
of  moccasins  in  exchange.  The  others  wanted  whisky. 
I  had  a  loaded  gun  outside  the  counter,  and  one  of  the 
Indians  picked  it  up  and  pointed  it  at  me;  but  I  lifted  the 
lid  of  the  counter  and  went  out  and  took  the  gun  from 
him,  which  made  him  very  angry.  Another  of  them  caught 
a  mouse  and  brought  it  over  and  put  it  under  my  nose, 
ordering  me  in  broken  English  to  eat  it.  By  this  time  they 
were  getting  very  ugly  and   demanded  whisky.     Two  of 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67       255 

them  started  out  of  the  back  door  to  look  around.  I 
reached  behind  the  counter  and  picked  up  my  sixteen- 
shooter  Henry  rifle  and  leveled  it  at  the  fellow  who  put  the 
mouse  under  my  nose.  He  backed  out  of  the  door,  and 
then  I  waved  the  chief  to  go  after  him.  After  a  good  deal 
of  grunting  he  left.  When  outside,  they  mounted,  yelled, 
shot  at  the  ranch,  whooped  and  rode  away. 

Generals  Sherman  and  Myers,  while  on  their  way  to 
Fort  Laramie  (I  cannot  remember  the  date)^  went  into 
camp  just  north  of  the  ranch.  General  Sherman  came  to  the 
ranch  with  his  quartermaster  and  asked  me  if  he  could  see 
the  proprietor.  I  said,  "You  want  to  see  me.  General?" 
*'No",  he  said,  ''I  don't  want  to  see  you,  I  want  to  see 
the  proprietor  of  the  ranch".  "But",  I  said,  "I  own  this 
ranch".  "You!"  he  said,  "You!  Why  where  did  you 
come  from?"  I  said,  "I  came  from  New  York".  "What, 
a  New  York  boy  out  here  keeping  a  ranch!  Well!  Well!" 
He  got  what  he  wanted. 

I  had  fifty  cords  of  wood  cut  at  Lawrence's  Fork  the 
winter  of  1866-67  and  when  attempting  to  haul  some  of  it 
my  two  hundred  dollar  mule  was  taken  by  the  Indians  (?) 
I  suspect  they  were  white  Indians  in  uniform  going  to 
Fort  Laramie.  As  the  driver  heard  that  the  Indians  were 
coming,  he  took  to  a  place  of  safety  and  when  he  came  out 

-  General  Sherman  started  from  Fort  Sedgwick  to  Fort  Laramie  on 
the  25th  of  August,  1866,  and,  at  the  rate  he  traveled,  must  have  passed 
Farrell's  ranch  that  day.  (House  Executive  Documents,  39th  Congress, 
2d  Session,  Doc.  23,  p.  7.)  Brevet  Brigadier  General  William  Myers,  was 
quartermaster  of  the  department  of  the  Platte. 

A  letter  from  the  war  department  to  the  editor,  under  date  of  January 
19,  1914,  says: 

"It  does  not  appear  from  the  records  of  this  office  that  any  of  the 
companies  of  either  the  13th  or  18th  regiment  United  States  infantry,  was 
stationed  at  Fort  Sedgwick,  Colorado,  during  any  part  of  the  year  1865, 
nor  does  it  appear  that  Captain  P.  W.  Neill,  18th  Infantry,  or  that  an 
officer  named  Royal  L.  Westbrook,  was  stationed  at  that  fort  in  that  year. 
Royal  L.  Westbrook  was  not  an  officer  in  the  Regular  Army.  Nothing  has 
been  found  of  record  to  show  for  whom  the  fort  referred  to  was  first 
named." — Ed. 


256     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

he  found  the  mule  had  been  unhitched,  and  afterwards  he 
learned  that  some  of  Uncle  Sam's  Indians  had  passed. 

I  do  not  now  recall  the  exact  date  of  the  Plum  Creek 
massacre^  when  they  scalped  Mr.  Thompson,  who,  a  few 
years  ago  sent  his  dried  scalp  from  Australia  to  your 
society.  A  story  of  this  incident  in  the  New  York  Herald, 
copied  from  a  paper  in  your  city,  recalled  it  to  my  mind, 
and  I  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  Lincoln  paper  to  strengthen 
the  accuracy  of  the  account,  as  I  was  on  the  train  on  which 
this  man  was  taken  to  Omaha.  I  was  permitted,  with  a 
few  others,  to  go  into  the  car  where  he  lay.  The  man  in 
charge  of  him  raised  a  cloth  from  his  head  and  allowed  us 
to  look  at  it.  He  lay  motionless,  as  though  dead,  and  I 
was  always  under  the  impression  that  he  was  dead  until 
I  read  the  Herald's  article.  I  was  on  my  way  to  Omaha 
to  buy  goods  for  my  ranch.  I  dealt  with  Will  R.  King  &  Co., 
large  wholesale  merchants.  The  ranchmen  from  Mud 
Springs  went  down  a  few  days  ahead  of  me.  We  had  our 
goods  shipped  to  the  end  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  and 
there  we  loaded  our  teams.  We  traveled  up  the  north  side 
of  the  South  Platte,  but  waited  long  enough  to  get  a  number 
of  teams  together  to  form  a  corral,  as  the  Indians  were  ugly 
at  that  time.  At  the  end  of  the  second  day's  drive  we 
went  into  camp,  forming  a  close  corral.  Everything  was 
very  quiet,  we  had  finished  our  supper  and  it  was  growing 
dark  when,  suddenly,  the  horses  began  to  be  very  restless, 

3  "Plum  Creek  Massacre"  should  be  confined  to  the  tragedy  near 
Plum  Creek  station  which  was  an  incident  of  the  Indian  outbreak  of 
August  7,  1864.  This  station  was  on  the  old  Oregon  and  California  road, 
about  a  mile  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  creek.  It  is  said  that  eleven  emigrants 
were  massacred  there.  On  the  seventh  of  August,  1867,  Indians  attacked 
a  freight  train  on  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  about  six  miles  west  of  the 
new  Plum  Creek  station,  now  called  Lexington.  This  station  is  situated 
about  three  miles  west  and  six  miles  north  of  the  old  station  and  on  the 
opposite — north — side  of  the  Platte  river.  According  to  contemporary 
reports,  the  Indians  killed  four  men  and  destroyed  ten  cars  and  their 
contents.  Thompson's  scalp  was  deposited  in  the  Omaha  public  library. 
—Ed. 


ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS,  1865-67       257 

then  to  strain  at  their  halters.  We  looked  in  the  same 
direction  they  did  and  saw  a  band  of  Indians  dashing  down 
from  the  bluffs,  waving  red  blankets  and  yelling  as  loud 
as  they  could.  It  seemed  not  more  than  five  minutes 
before  they  were  upon  us.  We  grabbed  our  guns  and 
rushed  for  cover — some  into,  and  others  under  the  wagons. 
The  Indians  dropped  onto  the  off  side  of  their  ponies  and 
rode  so  fast  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  us  to  hit 
them.  They  answered  our  fire  mostly  with  bow  and  arrow. 
After  a  while,  when  it  was  quite  dark,  they  rode  away, 
as,  probably,  they  were  uncertain  of  our  numbers.  They 
scared  us  badly,  for  we  thought  they  were  some  of  the 
same  band  that  committed   the  massacre  at  Plum  Creek. 

When  the  Union  Pacific  road  reached  Julesburg  the 
camp  followers  moved  up  with  it  and  the  bad  element  was 
increased  by  others  of  the  same  kind  from  below.  The 
town  was  filled  with  gambling  houses,  and  tough  men  and 
women  from  "Bitter  Creek",  as  they  used  to  say. 

At  one  time  a  telegraph  operator  sent  up  a  notice  from 
Julesburg  that  he  and  his  friends  were  coming  up  to  the 
ranch  to  clean  me  out,  but  they  failed  to  come.  At  another 
time  a  young  Pennsylvanian  became  crazed  with  Julesburg 
liquor  and  when  he  reached  the  ranch  he  wanted  to  run 
everybody  and  everything.  I  objected  to  the  new  manager, 
and  then  he  grabbed  the  weights  from  the  counter  and  let 
them  fly  at  me,  one  after  another.  He  next  pulled  a  little 
pocket  revolver,  rushed  at  me  and  pressed  it  against  my 
forehead;  but  just  at  that  moment  some  one  struck  him 
and  he  fell  to  the  floor,  and  then  some  of  his  friends  took 
him  out  of  the  ranch. 

These  were  some  of  the  little  pleasantries  of  frontier 
ranching. 

In  the  fall  of  1867,  having  left  the  ranch  for  lack  of 
business,  I  moved  down  near  the  creek  and  near  the  hay 
which  I  afterwards  sold  at  twelve  dollars  a  ton  to  Captain 

18 


258     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

O'Brien.  From  there  I  moved  to  the  Black  Hills,  between 
Laramie  City  and  Cheyenne,  where  I  stayed  all  winter. 
This  ended  my  stay  in  Nebraska.  I  tried  to  file  a  govern- 
ment claim  to  the  land  on  the  bottom  in  front  of  the  ranch, 
but  it  was  only  a  squatter's  right,  and  I  never  went  any 
further  in  the  matter. 

I  served  in  the  army  from  1861  to  1863. 


AN  INDIAN  RAID  OF  1867 

By  John  R.  Campbell 

On  the  24th  of  August,  1865,  Peter  Campbell  with  his 
wife,  four  daughters  and  three  sons  sailed  from  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  on  the  steamship  St.  George  for  the  purpose  of 
settling  in  the  United  States.  Their  home  had  been  in  the 
hamlet  of  Lochgelly  in  the  county  of  Fife.  Mr,  Campbell's 
aged  father  and  other  members  of  his  family  had  already 
emigrated  to  this  country.  The  Campbell  family  landed 
at  Quebec,  Canada,  after  an  uneventful  voyage  of  thirteen 
days.  Travel  by  railroad  was  so  much  slower  then  than 
now  that  it  seemed  ages  before  they  arrived  at  St.  Joseph, 
Mo.,  then  the  farthest  western  limit  of  any  railway.  From 
that  place  they  traveled  by  steamboat  to  Nebraska  City. 
The  water  being  low  in  the  Missouri,  the  journey  required 
eight  days.  Nebraska  City  being  then  a  crowded  outfitting 
place  for  a  great  deal  of  the  westward  overland  travel, 
Mr.  Campbell  could  not  find  suitable  accomodations  for 
the  family ;  but  the  dauntless  Scot  spirit  rose  to  the  emerg- 
ency, and  the  man  with  his  wife  and  seven  children  proceeded 
to  occupy  a  vacant  lot  with  nothing  to  protect  them  from 
sun,  wind,  or  rain;  and  their  first  scanty  meal  on  Nebraska 
soil  was  procured  here  and  there  as  they  could  buy  it. 
They  paid  five  cents  a  quart  for  water  and  for  other  things 
in  proportion.  But  a  kind  brother  Scotchman  took  them 
into  his  home.  In  a  week's  time  the  emigrants  again 
started  westward  in  a  two-horse  wagon.  After  ten  or 
twelve  weary  days  they  arrived  at  Junctionville,  situated 
near  the  place  where  Doniphan,  Hall  county,  was  after- 
ward built. 

(259) 


260     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Mr.  Campbell's  first  care  was  to  provide  shelter  for  his 
family,  as  winter  was  approaching,  and  soon  a  log  house, 
roofed  with  sod  and  chinked  with  mud,  was  ready  for 
occupancy.  In  the  middle  of  the  unusually  long,  cold 
winter  Mrs.  Campbell  succumbed  to  hardship,  dying  in 
January,  1866.  The  husband  and  children  tenderly  buried 
her  in  a  rude,  unpainted  coffin  in  a  lonely  wilderness  gi-ave. 
In  the  spring  of  1867  Mr.  Campbell  went  to  Nebraska  City 
where  he  filed  a  homestead  claim  and  declared  his  intention 
to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  He  brought  back 
in  his  wagon  groceries  and  household  goods.  Their  crops 
of  corn,  oats,  wheat  and  vegetables  were  very  good  that 
season  and  a  ready  market  at  good  prices  was  found  for 
their  surplus.  There  were  then  less  than  a  dozen  settlers 
up  and  down  the  valley  a  distance  of  ten  miles  from  the 
Campbell  place. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  July,  1867,  Mr.  Campbell  and 
his  oldest  son,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  went  to  assist  a  farmer 
six  miles  away  at  his  harvest  which  began  that  day.  About 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  horseman  approached  the 
harvesters  at  full  speed  to  tell  them  that  Indians  were 
raiding  the  settlement.  Mr.  Campbell  and  his  son  at  once 
mounted  a  horse  and  started  for  their  home.  They  first 
came  to  a  neighbor's  house,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
their  own,  where  they  found  the  mother  of  the  family  lying 
dead  on  the  threshold  of  the  door,  clasping  her  infant  son 
in  her  arms;  and  nearby  a  son,  fourteen  years  of  age,  lay 
shot  through  the  thigh. 

They  found  their  own  home  robbed  and  destroyed  and 
all  the  family  missing  except  a  girl  nine  years  old,  who 
had  managed  to  elude  the  Indians  by  hiding  in  a  field  of 
grain  and  then  crawling  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  get  out 
of  sight  and  afterward  running  four  miles  to  notify  the 
neighbor  who  rode  to  give  the  terrible  news  to  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, as  already  related.    A  search  for  the  missing  children — 


AN  INDIAN  RAID  OF  1867  261 

two  daughters  and  the  two  youngest  sons — was  at  once 
organized.  The  settlers,  convinced  that  the  single  company 
of  soldiers  at  Fort  Kearny^  could  not  afford  them  protection, 
decided  to  abandon  their  homes  and  by  evening  of  the  next 
day  the  reduced  Campbell  family,  now  comprising  only  the 
father  and  one  son  and  the  grandfather  and  a  brother,  were 
the  only  inhabitants  left  in  the  neighborhood.  In  about 
a  w^eek  Captain  Wyman  with  a  detail  of  six  soldiers  from 
Fort  Kearny  joined  in  the  search  for  the  missing  children, 
exploring  the  country  for  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles 
southward  but  without  success. 

At  last,  about  the  20th  of  September,  news  came 
through  the  little  settlement  at  Grand  Island  that  the  prison- 
ers had  been  seen  at  a  camp  of  a  band  of  Oglala  Sioux  on 
the  Solomon  river.  It  was  rumored  also  that  government 
authorities  were  treating  with  these  Indians  for  the  purpose 
of  recovering  the  prisoners.  Soon  after  [September  25]  a 
communication  appeared  in  the  Omaha  Repuhlican,  as  I 
remember  it,  substantially  as  follows: 
"Dear  Repuhlican: 

Here  we  are  again  in  the  place  noted  in  bygone  days 
as  the  city  of  the  plains,  but  which  now  looks  more  like 
an  Indian  reservation.  Leaving  Omaha  at  6  p.  m.  nothing 
worthy  of  note  transpired  until  we  reached  Elm  Creek. 
Here  we  were  aroused  by  the  whistle  down  brakes  repeated 
several  times.  "Indians!  Indians!"  was  repeated  in  every 
car.  Guns  and  revolvers  were  soon  ready  for  action  but 
upon  closer  inquiry  the  cause  of  the  alarm  proved  to  be 
another  train  on  the  track  ahead  of  us  showing  a  red  flag. 
Antelopes  and  buffaloes  were  seen  at  a  distance,  but  too 


1  According  to  the  report  of  Lieutenant-General  W.  T.  Sherman, 
commander  of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Missouri,  dated  October  1 
1867,  there  was  only  "a  detachment  of  recruits"  at  Fort  Kearny;  and, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  adjutant  general,  dated  October  20,  the 
garrison  then  consisted  of  two  companies  of  the  Thirtieth  infantry — 
seventy-two  men — commanded  by  Captain  (Brevet-Major)  A.  J.  Dallas 
of  the  Twelfth  infantry.  (Report  Secy,  of  War,  2d  Sess.,  40th  Cong., 
pp.  40,  436.)— Ed. 


262     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

far  for  a  trj^  of  our  Henry  rifles.  We  reached  North  Platte 
in  safety  and  were  informed  that  the  peace  commissioners 
would  be  there  and  that  Spotted  Tail's  band  would  arrive 
some  time  that  day.^  The  commission  arrived  at  2:10  p.  m. 
and  the  Indians  at  7:30.  By  the  aid  of  our  glasses  we 
discovered  them  as  they  crossed  the  river.  Soon  there  was 
a  general  rush  to  the  camp,  by  men,  women  and  children, 
to  greet  the  brave  soldiers  who  had  been  so  successful  in 
rescuing  six  captives  out  of  the  hands  of  the  barbarous 
wretches." 

Four  of  the  prisoners  proved  to  be  the  Campbell 
children.  They  had  suffered  greatly  from  hunger  and  gen- 
eral ill  treatment.  In  the  early  spring  of  1868  the  Campbell 
family  abandoned  their  homestead  and  moved  to  Saunders 
county,  Nebraska. 

Little  more  need  be  said — only  a  few  lines  in  regard 
to  the  survivors.  The  father  died  in  November  1875. 
Christiana,  the  oldest  daughter,  became  the  wife  of  J.  P. 
Dunlap  of  Dwight,  Nebraska.  Jessie,  the  next  oldest,  died 
in  St.  Louis  ten  years  ago.  Agnes,  the  nine  year  old  daughter 
who  escaped  from  the  Indians,  died  nine  years  ago.  Peter, 
one  of  the  boys,  is  now  living  at  Weston,  Nebraska,  and 
Daniel,  the  other,  is  living  in  southern  Illinois.  John  R., 
the  oldest  son  of  the  family,  is  at  present  living  in  Omaha. 
Lizzie,  the  youngest  daughter,  died  six  yeai's  ago. 


2  This  peace  commission  was  appointed  by  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  July  20,  1867,  and  consisted  of  N.  G.  Taylor,  commissioner  of 
Indian  affairs;  J.  B.  Henderson,  chairman  of  the  senate  committee  of 
Indian  affairs;  S.  F.  Tappan,  John  B.  Sanborn,  and  Generals  W.  T.  Sher- 
man, W.  S.  Harney,  C.  C.  Augur,  A.  H.  Terry.  According  to  the  report 
of  the  commission,  printed  in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  interior, 
3d  session  40th  congress,  page  486,  it  left  Omaha  on  the  11th  of  September, 
1867,  bound  for  North  Platte  by  the  Union  Pacific  railroad.— Ed. 


HOW  SHALL  THE  INDIAN  BE  TREATED 
HISTORICALLY 

By  Harry  L.  Keefe 

[Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society, 
January  16,  1913.] 

Among  the  many  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
American  people  there  is  none  more  vital  or  far-reaching  in 
scope  and  effect,  than  the  obligation  to  fix  and  preserve 
the  true  relative  and  historical  position  of  the  American 
Indian.  We  do  not  realize  the  extent  of  the  influence  of 
this  race  on  American  life,  socially,  intellectually,  econom- 
ically and  spiritually,  until  we  consider  its  varied  mani- 
festations. Hardly  a  home  in  our  land  is  without  some 
specimen  of  Indian  craft.  Our  language  is  interwoven  with 
Indian  conception,  expressed  in  native  phrase.  Nearly 
every  geographical  feature  and  political  division  are  stamped 
with  an  Indian  name  or  tradition.  Our  literature  is  blended 
with  Indian  tales  and  stories  of  Indian  life,  from  The  Path- 
finder to  My  Friend,  the  Indian.  Operas  and  plays 
portraying  Indian  character  and  Indian  songs  and  harmony 
at  the  outset  gained  and  continue  to  hold  our  favor.  In 
the  process  of  the  settlement  of  our  country  Indians 
guided  the  white  man  across  the  pathless  prairies 
and  through  the  wilderness,  in  many  instances  without 
remuneration.  Many  more  of  the  early  white  settlers  would 
have  perished  but  for  the  timely  aid  of  the  Indians.  The 
corn  furnished  by  the  Indians  kept  the  pilgrims  of  Plymouth 
alive  through  a  severe  winter.  Raleigh's  little  band  of 
settlers  at  Roanoke  would  have  perished  lacking  provisions 
furnished  by  the  natives.    The  Jamestown  colony  obtained 

(263) 


264     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

corn  and  other  articles  of  food  and  knowledge  of  its  cultiva- 
tion of  Powhatan's  band.  The  Plymouth  colony  was 
assisted  in  like  manner  by  the  Narragansetts.  From  Indians 
pioneer  whites  learned  to  girdle  trees  and  make  clearings 
for  crops  which  were  new  to  them.  Colonies  from  the 
principal  nations  of  Europe,  otherwise  well  equipped,  were 
yet  largely  dependent  upon  guidance  by  the  natives 
who  were  skilled  in  utilizing  the  resources  of  the  country. 
They  adopted  the  Indian  mode  of  travel,  and  the  Indian 
system  of  flashes  and  signal  fires  was  adopted  and  adapted 
by  the  white  invaders. 

In  fact,  the  white  people  came  to  America  and  com- 
placently possessed  themselves  of  American  soil  for  a  pit- 
tance, sweeping  aside  any  vestige  of  prior  sovereignty; 
disregarding  vested  rights  of  possession,  they  destroyed  the 
resources  that  had  immemorially  maintained  these  people, 
leaving  them  to  live  their  former  primitive  life  only  in 
literature,  song,  and  tradition.  The  only  argument  which 
has  been  used  to  justify  the  ruthless  spoilation  of  these 
weaker  people  is  that  they  were  thereby  civilized  and  their 
condition  bettered.  The  weakness  of  this  argument,  for 
justification's  sake,  lies  in  this:  The  white  people,  the 
interested  party,  thus  sets  itself  up  as  the  judge  of  what 
was  best  for  the  Indians,  assuming  that  a  white  civilization 
was  his  salvation. 

After  fifteen  years  of  professional  life  on  an  Indian 
reservation,  bringing  me  in  touch  with  a  number  of  tribes, 
I  have  naturally  given  considerable  study  and  thought  to 
the  status  of  these  people  and  have  considered  what  they 
have  lost  and  what  they  have  gained  by  the  revolutionary 
change  in  their  environment.  I  have  endeavored  to  con- 
sider these  changes  from  the  standpoint  of  Indian  philosophy 
and  logic,  and  I  have  concluded  that  by  far  the  greatest 
loss  which  the  Indian  has  sustained  is  that  of  the  right  to 
develop,  in  his  own  way,  a  civilization  fitted  to  himself. 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  265 

This  right,  I  beheve,  belongs  to  every  people.  A  race 
occupying  a  defined  territory  and  free  from  outside  inter- 
ference, is  bound  in  time  to  develop  a  civilization  of  its 
own,  formed  in  a  great  measure  by  surrounding  physical 
conditions.  That  civilization  may  not  be  the  best,  judged 
by  the  standards  of  another  people;  but  it  is  the  best  for 
the  man  who,  through  heredity  and  environment,  is  its 
product  and  type. 

Now,  is  not  the  American  Indian,  who  has  given  and 
sacrificed  so  much  to  life  in  our  land,  entitled  to  have 
preserved  his  true  place  in  the  history  of  the  American 
people,  which  is  in  the  making?  While  not  criticising 
historical  research  which  has  accomplished  a  great  deal, 
still  there  has  not  been  due  effort  by  those  having  the 
passing  facts  close  at  hand  to  reach  and  record  the  full 
data  of  our  Indian  character  and  life  so  that  in  the  future 
the  Indian  may  be  seen  as  he  was. 

In  1900  there  were  270,544  Indians  ennumerated  in 
the  United  States;  in  1911,  322,715.  This  does  not  cer- 
tainly show  an  increase  of  52,000,  because  the  difference 
may  be  accounted  for  in  part  by  more  careful  enumeration. 
There  has,  however,  been  an  actual  increase  in  the  past 
ten  years,  and  possibly  the  increase  will  continue.  Indians 
will  never  be  separately  enumerated  again  by  the  census 
bureau.  Their  tribal  relations  are  rapidly  passing,  and  in 
a  few  years  they  will  pass  entirely  out  of  the  influence  of 
their  former  communistic  life  and  assume  individual 
responsibility.  Very  few  white  people  realize  the  meaning 
of  the  change,  in  a  single  generation,  from  tribal,  com- 
munistic Indian  life  to  the  white  men's  civilization,  with 
radically  different  property  rights  and  other  social  rela- 
tions— in  short,  different  philosophy  of  life.  Not  realizing 
his  drawbacks,  we  become  impatient  because  the  Indian 
does  not  at  once  assume  the  new  role  and  become  fired 
with  our  own  ambitions  and  desires.     The  development 


266     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

and  civilization  he  had  attained  in  his  centuries  of  free 
life  were  fastened  upon  him,  as  similar  characteristics 
became  fastened  upon  the  white  race.  Ought  the  Indian 
to  be  expected  to  drop  in  one  short  generation  the  influences 
of  hereditj''  and  environment,  as  the  snake  sheds  its  skin, 
and  at  once  assume  all  of  tKe  qualities  of  an  alien  civiliza- 
tion? 

Ten  years,  at  the  utmost,  will  see  the  passing  of  the 
last  Indian  who  came  to  manhood  in  the  purely  primitive 
Indian  life,  and  with  him  will  pass  many  of  the  traditions 
of  that  life.  Unless  steps  are  taken  now  to  preserve  these 
traditions,  they  will  be  forever  lost.  Does  not  the  great, 
rich  state  of  Nebraska,  which  took  its  name,  the  name  of 
its  streams,  the  name  of  its  metropolitan  city,  and  so  much 
more  from  this  vanishing  race  owe  some  duty  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  its  character  and  traditions?  I  do  not  mean  that 
nothing  has  been  done ;  but  what  has  been  accomplished  is 
the  result  of  the  unsupported  enthusiasm  of  a  few  in- 
dividuals. I  am  asking  for  a  carefully  planned,  thoroughly 
executed  system  of  research  and  conservation  which  will 
cooperate  with  the  efforts  made  by  the  federal  government 
through  the  Smithsonian  institution,  in  placing  Indian 
history  in  Nebraska  in  the  position  which  it  should  occupy. 

By  Indian  history  I  do  not  mean  merely  a  chronological 
account  of  the  tribal  movements,  hunting  trips,  festivities 
and  other  incidents  of  these  people,  but  a  fuller  and  truer 
reflection  of  the  eveiyday  life  of  this  race  in  its  primitive 
station  and  up  to  the  time  that  it  began  to  be  influenced 
by  the  white  people,  so  that  future  citizens  of  Nebraska 
may  see  these  early  inhabitants  of  our  territory  in  their 
everyday  life  as  they  came  into  the  world,  as  the  children 
played  and  were  trained,  as  the  people  built  houses  and 
raised  crops,  clothed  themselves,  prepared  for  winter, 
protected  their  families,  and  as  they  loved  their  neighbor 
and  worshipped  their  God.    Let  us  see  them  not  alone  on 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  267 

parade  and  in  powwow  dress  and  feathers,  but  let  us  observe 
their  life,  for  365  days  in  the  year  1800. 

Now  this  is  not  an  easy  task.  It  is  hard  to  get  through 
the  Indian's  shell.  He  is  reticent,  unpretentious.  He  cares 
nothing  for  our  conventionalities.  The  most  treasured 
memories  I  have  of  these  people  are  of  occasions  when  I 
have  come  close  to  individuals  in  their  private  personal 
and  domestic  affairs  when  they  have  talked  to  me  freely 
of  the  white  man  and  his  ways  and  of  the  Indian  and  the 
''Indian  way".  Those  are  the  little  glimpses,  the  little 
incidents  which  bridge  across  the  chasm  between  the  races. 

People  may  live  among  the  Indians  for  a  lifetime  and 
see  the  outward  signs  of  their  manners  and  customs  and 
know  nothing  of  the  true,  rich  inwardness  and  the  beauty 
and  meaning  of  those  things  that  appear  to  us  meaningless. 
Many  think  that  by  assuming  the  white  civilization,  cruelly 
thrust  upon  them,  the  Indians  were  the  beneficiaries,  giving 
up  nothing  worth  while,  and  falling  heirs  to  the  great 
blessing  of  citizenship  and  all  of  the  other  trappings  of 
civilization.  Such  a  view  is  hardly  correct  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  Indian.  He  had  a  means  of  livelihood  in  his 
primitive  condition  sufficient  for  that  condition.  He  had 
a  well  defined  attitude  toward  his  neighbor.  He  was 
circumscribed  by  laws  as  well  understood  and  as  efficient 
for  him  as  our  own  are  for  us.  He  had  a  philosophy  in- 
tricate and  deep,  a  religion  w^hich  satisfied  the  craving  of 
the  spirit;  in  short,  he  had  surrounded  himself  with  all  of 
the  means  and  equipment  necessary  to  his  well-being  in 
that  state  of  life.  It  required  but  the  influences  of  a  fixed 
habitation,  the  division  of  labor,  competition,  and  an  in- 
creased congestion  of  life  to  develop  the  true  Indian  civiliza- 
tion. The  fixed  habitation  had  been  realized  by  many 
tribes.  The  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  well  developed,  and 
the  Indian  was  well  on  the  way  to  his  own  development  of  a 
civilization  when  the  white  man  came  and  changed  the  map. 


268     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

I  am  sorry  that  time  will  not  permit  me  to  discuss  Indian 
industries  and  art  and  go  into  a  better  description  of  his 
products.  He  raised  and  developed  six  varieties  of  corn. 
He  cured  and  preserved  his  meats.  He  planted,  cultivated, 
gathered  and  preserved  his  potatoes,  turnips,  squash, 
berries  and  nuts.  The  Indian  had  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
medicinal  qualities  of  many  plants  and  applied  them  to 
human  ailments  very  effectively,  with  little  more  necromancy 
than  many  of  the  white  doctors  now  practice.  But  all  of 
these  subjects  must  be  left  to  the  historian. 

In  1847,  at  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  Peter  Wilson,  a  Cayuga  Indian,  said:  "The 
Empire  State,  as  you  love  to  call  it,  was  once  laced  by  our 
trails  from  Albany  to  Buffalo.  Your  roads  still  traverse 
the  same  lines  of  communication  which  bound  one  part  of 
the  Long  House  to  the  other.  Have  we,  the  first  holders  of 
this  prosperous  region,  no  longer  a  share  in  your  history?" 

I  believe  you  will  all  agree  with  me  that  the  Indians 
of  Nebraska  have  a  large  share  in  our  history  and  more 
than  has  been  so  far  recognized. 

No  person  realizes  more  than  I  do  the  many  obstacles 
besetting  the  work  of  the  investigator  in  these  lines.  Besides 
the  reticence  of  the  Indian,  there  is  the  difficulty  of  finding 
the  person  properly  prepared  and  equipped  who  will  give 
the  time,  care  and  patience  to  the  work,  who  can  lay  aside 
sentiment,  curiosity,  and  prejudice,  who  has  the  judgment 
to  distinguish  between  essentials  and  non-essentials  and  to 
avoid  tangents,  and  who  is  broad  enough  to  grasp  the 
whole  scope,  meaning,  and  import  of  Indian  manners  and 
customs  and  give  them  their  true  interpretation.  He 
must  be  able  to  get  the  confidence  of  the  older  Indians. 
This  you  cannot  buy.  He  must  also  be  able  to  discount 
poor  interpretation.  He  must  abandon  our  intricate  and 
extended  method  of  many  words  and  ask  his  questions 
candidly  and  directly.    He  must  learn  the  Indian  order  of 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  269 

expression.  In  other  words,  he  must  be  a  trained  and 
experienced  sociologist  and  know  Indian  life.  He  must  be 
equipped  with  the  best  facilities  for  recording,  and  he 
must  be  a  true  historian.  Now  where  is  the  man  and  from 
whence  will  come  the  support?  The  labor  is  hard,  but  the 
reward  is  great. 

I  shall  feel  well  repaid  if  this  paper  accomplishes  no 
more  than  to  create  enough  interest  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 
members  of  this  society  to  our  duty  to  the  Indians,  histor- 
ically, and  the  opportunity  now  open,  but  passing,  to 
perform  that  duty.  If  this  interest  is  awakened,  I  know  that 
action  mil  be  taken  and  Nebraska  will  not  forget  her  name- 
sake, and  that  Omaha  will  do  her  duty  towards  the  people 
who  gave  her  their  land  and  their  name. 


Continuing  extemporaneously  Mr.  Keefe  said:  One  of 
the  most  beautiful  things  in  the  Indian  philosophy  is  his 
idea  of  the  ownership  of  property.  It  was  that  the  elements 
consisting  of  air,  water,  and  land  belong  to  all  men;  that 
every  person  has  a  right  to  take  possession  of  so  much  of 
that  air,  so  much  of  that  water,  and  that  land  as  he  needs 
for  his  sustenance,  and  as  long  as  he  possesses  them,  or  as 
long  as  he  lives,  he  uses  them  for  himself,  but  the  moment 
he  passes  on,  they  go  back  to  the  community. 

That  is  the  idea  in  a  few  words.  The  Indian  is  com- 
munistic, in  a  sense.  He  claims  he  has  a  right  to  hold  his 
land  or  sell  it  if  he  wishes  to.  When  he  sells  a  piece  of 
land  and  spends  the  proceeds  of  it,  he  does  so  just  as  freely 
with  the  last  dollar  as  with  the  first.  We  blame  him  for  it. 
Go  back  fifty  years,  and  what  did  his  father  or  his  fore- 
fathers do?  How  did  they  live?  What  was  their  idea  of 
land?  It  goes  back  to  the  communistic  value.  •  It  is  of  no 
value  to  him  except  as  he  lives  upon  it,  uses  it,  and 
occupies  it. 


270     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  Indian  does  not  come  into  this  life  as  you  and  I 
came  in  with  generations  and  generations  of  people  behind 
us.  That  love  for  the  individual  holding,  with  the  idea  of 
value,  of  a  piece  of  land  that  you  and  I  have,  is  not  inbred 
in  him.  He  loves  his  home  just  as  much  as  anyone 
does,  but  without  the  idea  of  a  homestead  that  is  bred  by 
generations  into  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  I  have  heard  lots 
of  people  criticise  Indians  and  say,  "Why,  just  look  at 
them!  they  sell  the  very  last  piece  of  land  they  have  and 
buy  horses!"  And  that  is  true.  When  they  have  enough 
horses  they  will  buy  more,  and  when  they  have  bought 
them,  they  will  borrow  more  money  and  buy  more  horses; 
that  is  traditional.  The  horse  was  the  standard  of  value 
fifty  or  seventy-five  years  ago  among  them.  The  horse 
was  their  dollar  of  money.  Do  you  wonder  then  at  this 
prepossession? 

We  are  wont  to  look  at  the  Indian  as  if  he  were  on 
parade.  We  see  him  or  his  father  as  a  show  Indian,  which 
he  is  not.  I  remember  many  incidents  that  led  me  to  this 
belief.  Lately  it  was  my  privilege  to  appear  in  a  case  in 
court,  known  as  the  "Standing  Bear"  case  from  the  Ponka 
reservation,  which  had  been  pending  for  four  years.  Stand- 
ing Bear,  as  many  of  you  know,  was  a  Ponka  chief.  This 
case  was  the  subject  of  considerable  litigation,  over  the 
question  of  citizenship,  in  the  federal  court  in  Omaha. 
By  the  way,  the  president  of  this  association  appeared  in 
the  case  as  a  defender  of  Standing  Bear,  but  that  was  before 
I  came  to  Nebraska.  But  Standing  Bear  did  as  all  other 
good  Indians  did — left  a  family,  and  there  has  been  some 
litigation  over  his  estate. 

The  testimony  of  one  of  his  witnesses,  known  as 
Yellow  Horse,  a  very  careful  old  man  about  his  statements, 
was  taken  at  Niobrara  about  a  year  ago.  The  old  man 
was  sitting  in  the  room  where  the  evidence  was  being 
taken.    A  question  was  raised  as  to  the  age  of  a  certain 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  271 

child  at  a  certain  time.  You  know  with  an  Indian  you  can 
not  say,  referring  to  the  year  1904  or  1905,  such  things 
were  true.  You  must  go  back  and  say,  "At  the  time  the 
stars  fell,  then  the  Ponka  were  at  such  and  such  a  place, 
were  they?"  Answer,  "Yes,  sir".  "Very  well,  when  they 
camped  at  such  and  such  a  creek  (knowing  what  those 
days  were)  then  was  this  boy  living?" 

That  is  the  way  you  have  to  bring  out  Indian  testimony. 
I  asked  old  Yellow  Horse,  who  was  watching  the  proceed- 
ings, the  age  of  this  boy  at  a  certain  time.  They  never 
put  their  hands  this  way  (indicating).  I  said,  "The  boy 
was  seven  years  old,  was  he";  and  he  said,  "No".  I  said, 
"Was  he  six  years  old";  and  he  said,  "No".  Well,  was 
he  five  years  old  and  he  answered,  "No";  and  so  I  went 
on  down  to  three  years,  and  Yellow  Horse  did  not  believe 
the  child  was  three  years  old.  I  said  to  him,  "Give  us  the 
age  or  size  of  the  boy,  and  he  held  up  his  hands  this  way 
(indicating).  I  said,  "Just  hold  them  there",  and  went 
over  and  put  my  hands  up  and  marked  it  about  like  that. 
Then  I  stepped  back  and  said,  "You  say  the  boy  was 
that  tall  at  that  time"?  Old  Yellow  Horse  looked  at  me 
and  he  said  to  the  interpreter,  "  Oh,  I  thought  I  was  sitting 
on  the  ground".  He  was  sitting  on  the  ground  at  the 
time  he  had  referred  to.  He  was  sitting  on  the  ground  in 
the  tepee  and  did  not  realize  he  was  that  much  above 
the  ground  at  the  time  he  was  being  examined. 

There  are  dozens  and  dozens  of  those  incidents  oc- 
curring every  day  that  bring  a  person  in  close  touch  with 
the  simplicity  of  these  people  and  at  the  same  time  with 
their  truths. 

One  night  at  ten  o'clock,  about  four  years  ago,  I  was 
called  up  by  telephone  by  a  friend  of  mine  on  the  reserva- 
tion. He  said  that  an  Indian  boy  by  the  name  of  William 
Cox  had  shot  himself.  The  person  telephoning  was  a  young 
Indian  woman,  and  she  asked  me  to  come  over.    She  said 


272     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

this  boy  had  been  living  with  his  grandmother,  and  she 
wanted  me  to  come  and  bring  a  doctor.  I  went  over  with 
the  doctor.  The  boy  had  killed  himself  and  none  of  them 
had  been  anywhere  near  the  corpse.  By  the  way,  he  had 
been  somewhat  demented  for  years.  It  was  the  most  weird 
thing  I  ever  saw.  The  night  was  dark,  with  thunder  and 
lightning,  and  we  could  hardly  find  our  way  with  the  rain 
falling. 

When  we  got  where  the  boy  was  we  found  him  in  a 
little  opening  among  some  trees.  He  had  shot  himself 
with  a  shotgun,  but  none  of  the  people  had  been  anywhere 
near  him.  I  assisted  in  getting  the  corpse  into  a  room  and 
helped  prepare  it  for  burial.  We  did  this  because  the  Indians 
are  very  careful  about  touching  a  dead  body.  I  noticed 
they  were  especially  careful  in  this  case.  This  doctor,  by 
the  way,  had  some  Indian  blood.  Just  before  I  left  and 
before  locking  the  room,  a  very  old  lady  came  into  the 
room  with  a  blanket  around  her  and,  for  the  first  time, 
approached  the  corpse,  went  to  the  feet,  and  lifting  the 
sheet  over  the  corpse  did  something.  I  did  not  show  my 
curiosity  but  waited  until  she  was  gone  out  of  the  room ;  then 
I  looked  to  see  what  she  had  done,  and  I  found  that  with 
a  butcher  knife  she  had  slashed  the  feet  of  the  dead  body 
several  times.  I  said  nothing  about  it  at  the  time.  The 
doctor  saw  what  had  taken  place.  On  our  way  home 
I  asked  the  doctor  what  that  meant,  and  she  told  me  that 
this  was  the  second  instance  of  a  suicide  in  the  Omaha 
tribe  in  almost  a  generation.  She  said  there  is  a  tradition 
among  the  Indians  that  when  a  person  takes  his  own  life 
his  spirit  will  return,  and  if  the  corpse  is  buried  either  with 
the  face  down,  so  that  it  cannot  return,  or  the  feet  are 
slashed,  so  that  the  walking  will  be  difficult,  the  spirit  may 
not  come  back.  I  intended  speaking  something  of  Indian 
philosophy,  but  I  want  to  say  a  word  now  concerning  Indian 
literature.     I  believe  that  is  one  of  the  things  we  regret 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  273 

the  most  to  see  pass  away  unrecorded — Indian  eloquence 
and  Indian  literature.  I  think  the  most  touching  thing  I 
ever  heard  was  an  old  man  speaking  at  a  funeral.  At  such 
times  it  is  customary  for  one  of  the  oldest  men  to  address 
the  audience  or  mourners.  This  was  a  wrinkled  old  man, 
always  considered  simple,  of  little  or  no  business  judgment, 
and  who  had  always  appeared  to  me  as  without  very  much 
force  or  character.  He  stood  before  the  coffin  that  day  and 
his  speech  was  interpreted  to  me. 

The  old  man  pushed  back  his  hair  and  said:  "My 
sister"  (pointing  to  the  corpse),  "you  have  gone  before; 
you  have  passed  over  the  mountain.  On  its  peak  I  am 
standing.  I  can  look  over  into  the  world  to  which  you 
have  gone.  I  can  look  back  into  the  world  from  which 
you  have  gone.  I  hear  around  you  the  voices  of  your 
children.  You  have  gone  before  us.  I  hear  the  voices  of 
your  mother's  children  as  they  wept  when  she  passed  over 
the  mountain.  I  hear  the  voices  of  your  mother's  mother's 
children  as  they  wept.  And  such  is  the  course  of  man. 
You  have  gone  before.  You  were  taken  when  the  flowers 
were  blooming  in  your  life.  I  am  left  here  when  the  leaves 
have  fallen  off  their  branches.  We  don't  know  why  you 
were  taken;  we  can  only  say  that  the  One  above  knows 
why  I  was  left  standing  here  with  the  leaves  falling  upon 
my  branches." 

While  this  interpretation  is  quite  accurate,  it  has 
lost  all  its  beauty  in  translation.  It  is  the  crudest  kind  of 
an  interpretation,  but  is  as  near  as  I  can  give  it. 

Indian  life  is  full  of  that  kind  of  beauty,  with  that 
kind  of  expressions,  the  nicest  kind,  the  most  direct. 

About  two  years  ago  I  was  in  court  when  a  lawyer 
in  cross-examining  an  Indian  witness  queried:  "Now,  con- 
sidering your  relations  with  the  plaintiff,  and  the  various 
transactions  between  you,  what  was  your  opinion  as  to  the 
relative  state  of  facts  at  the  time  those  relations  were 

19 


274     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

had?" — or  something  to  that  effect.  The  Indian  looked 
at  the  lawyer  a  while  and  then  said,  "I  think  so".  I  am 
telling  this  to  illustrate  how  often  we  approach  these 
people  with  just  such  complicated  ideas  in  our  heads, 
which,  often,  we  don't  understand  ourselves  but  expect 
them  to  understand. 

Another  story  illustrates  the  point  directly.  Some 
years  ago  a  special  agent  came  from  Washington  with  a 
message  to  a  certain  western  tribe.  He  attempted  to 
impress  upon  the  Indians  a  conception  of  the  rich  blessing 
they  were  enjoying  through  American  citizenship;  but  of 
course  they  did  not  comprehend  it.  He  assured  them  that 
the  great  father  in  Washington  had  given  them  all  these 
blessings  and  the  protection  of  the  country  backed  by  a 
great  army  and  a  great  navy.  "  We  have  heard  in  Washing- 
ton", he  said,  "that  some  of  you  are  living  with  two  wives. 
We  are  pained  to  know  that  this  is  true".  The  Indians 
made  little  response  until  a  man  of  middle  age  arose  and 
said: 

"We  are  sorry  to  know  that  the  great  father  feels  this 
so  deeply.  It  is  true  that  some  of  us  live  with  two  women. 
It  is  true,  but  we  keep  those  two  women  in  the  same  tent, 
the  same  house.  I  find  that  some  white  men  live  with  a 
woman  as  his  wife  in  one  house  but  has  another  wife  some- 
times in  another  house,  but  does  not  say  anything  about 
it.  Our  fault  must  be  because  we  have  them  both  together 
in  the  same  house  and  tell  about  it." 

Last  Friday  a  young  man  and  a  young  woman  came 
to  me,  not  together,  separately  as  a  friend.  The  young  man 
was  quite  well  educated.  The  young  woman  said  she 
expected  to  be  married.  She  did  not  tell  the  prospective 
husband's  name  but  said  only,  "He  will  come".  In  an 
hour  or  so  the  young  man  came  and  said:  "We  are  going 
to  be  married".  He  did  not  say  to  whom — only  that  she 
had  been  here.  They  asked  me  to  go  to  Sioux  City  with 
them  and  help  them  to  get  a  license.    I  replied,  jokingly, 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  275 

"  I  will  go  with  you  but  there  is  one  thing  that  I  always  do 
in  such  circumstances,  or  if  I  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
ceremony,  I  always  kiss  the  bride."  He  did  not  know 
whether  I  was  joking  or  not.  He  hesitated  a  long  time 
before  replying:  "Well,  we  will  see.  I  guess  we  have  to 
have  you  go  along  and  I  guess,  sir,  that  will  be  all  right 
this  time." 

I  think  one  of  the  most  amusing  stories  of  Indian  life 
that  I  have  heard  was  told  to  me  about  two  years  ago, 
about  an  old  man,  a  fine  old  character  and  philosopher, 
who  had  discovered  the  right  way  of  living  and  who  was 
bubbling  over  with  good  nature  all  the  time,  telling  about 
some  jokes  that  passed  among  them  in  early  days.  A 
young  man  called  MAESHTIEGA  (meaning  a  rabbit)  had 
been  married  a  few  years  and  his  wife  was  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial kind  with  some  very  decided  ideas.  There  was  a 
little  trouble  council  in  which  a  man,  after  talking  for  some 
time  with  much  agitation,  said:  "My  friends,  there  is 
something  I  want  to  tell  you  all.  My  wife  loves  another 
man" — speaking  his  name.  This  seemed  to  have  a  de- 
pressing effect  upon  those  present.  Finally  the  speaker 
picked  up  his  wife's  blankets  and  laid  them  down  at  the 
feet  of  the  other  man,  saying:  "I  have  no  ill  will  toward 
you  or  against  either  of  you". 

In  Indian  life  that  was  the  bravest  thing  a  man  could 
do.  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  acts  of  personal  sacrifice 
that  a  man  could  make.  It  was  very  uncommon  also; 
but,  believing  that  his  wife  loved  another  man  more  than 
she  loved  him,  he  gave  her  to  him.  Among  those  present 
there  was  a  flutter  of  excitement,  showing  sympathy  and 
admiration  for  the  husband  for  his  bravery.  Rabbit  was 
looking  on  and  listening.  He  realized  what  this  man  had 
done,  the  bravest  thing  that  a  man  could  do.  Rabbit  was 
a  brave  man  himself,  though  he  was  so  good-natured  about 
it  that  the  people  did  not  take  him  seriously.    But  he  got 


276     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

up,  thinking  he  was  going  to  make  a  name  for  himself,  and, 
pointing  to  a  certain  man  among  them,  said:  "It  is  a 
great  sacrifice  that  I  am  making  but  I  give  my  wife  to 
that  man".  There  was  no  occasion  for  it.  The  old  lady 
wrapped  the  blankets  about  her  and  said,  "No  you  don't, 
I  shall  go  to  my  father's  tent".  And  she  took  her  blankets 
and  few  belongings  and  went  to  her  father's  tent.  Rabbit's 
bravery  had  been  turned  into  ridicule;  and  the  story  goes 
that  that  night  Rabbit  was  heard  approaching  the  tent  of 
his  wife's  father  singing  and  calling  her  to  come  back.  So 
the  Omaha  made  up  a  little  song  about  it  of  which  I  wish 
I  could  give  you  the  translation.  It  was  a  very  clever 
take-off  on  the  old  man's  bravery. 

On  the  Omaha  reservation  we  had  another  character; 
I  am  sure  she  was  something  like  Mrs.  Partington.  She 
spoke  English.  I  have  never  met  another  person  who 
could  twist  great  big  words  around  as  she  could.  My  wife 
and  I  once  called  on  the  old  lady  and  she  gave  me  a  present. 
Then  she  went  over  to  my  wife  and  said:  "Now,  Mrs. 
Keefe,  you  must  not  be  jocose  (meaning  jealous)  about  this 
man."  She  was  telling  a  short  time  before  about  her 
father,  who  was  a  fine  old  man.  She  said  he  told  her  that 
the  people  were  not  eating  the  right  things,  but  were 
eating  a  lot  of  things  out  of  tin  cans,  and  that  was  not 
the  right  way.  When  he  was  young  he  did  not  eat  meat, 
but  he  ate  turnips  and  herbs  and  such  things,  and  those 
old  people  who  ate  those  things  never  died  but  these  other 
people  died,  because  they  ate  things  out  of  stores  and  out 
of  tin  cans.  Then  she  said  to  her  father,  "Those  old 
people  never  die?"  He  said,  "No;  when  I  was  a  young 
man  they  never  died."  She  replied,  "My  father,  where 
are  those  old  people  that  never  died,  where  are  they  now?" 
And  added:    "Then  father  he  can't  talk  any  more." 

It  is  true  that  those  people  in  the  early  days  lived  on 
what  nature  furnished.    In  fact,  we  hear  people  say  after 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  277 

they  come  from  the  reservation,  "How  are  these  people 
going  to  support  themselves,  or  is  the  government  support- 
ing them?  Where  are  they  finding  sustenance  and  how?" 
They  supported  themselves  a  long  time  before  the  white 
people  came  and  very  few  of  them  ever  perished  from 
want. 

DISCUSSION  BY  MELVIN  R.  GfLMORE 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

We  have  a  duty  to  perform  in  relation  to  the  Indians 
who  inhabited  this  country  and  these  plains  before  the 
white  man  extended  his  powers  thus  far  west.  We  should 
preserve  a  true  portrayal  of  the  Indian  life.  It  is  our  duty 
to  preserve  for  their  descendants  representations  of  what 
their  ancestors  were.  How  fascinating  it  would  be  if  we 
could  know  what  our  ancestors  were  at  a  very  early  stage 
when  they  were  in  Europe  living  a  wild  life.  How  interest- 
ing it  would  be  if  we  knew  the  manner  of  life  of  our  ancestors 
who  lived  on  the  plains  and  in  the  forests  of  Germany  and 
northwestern  Europe.  If  the  Romans  who  conquered  us 
had  only  thought  it  worth  while  to  preserve  our  songs, 
dances  and  stories,  and  the  means  of  subsistence  which  we 
had,  you  can  imagine  readily  the  interest  it  would  be  to  us. 
We  owe  it  to  the  descendants  of  the  aborigines  of  this 
country,  that  we  have  overturned  and  made  into  another 
country,  to  get  a  picture  of  their  old  life.  We  are  fond  of 
calling  certain  characteristics  American  in  contradistinction 
to  others  of  Europe.  We  speak  of  the  American's  love  of 
personal  independence.  That  is  one  of  the  personal  char- 
acteristics of  the  Indians  before  they  were  made  dependents. 
I  suppose  there  were  no  more  self-reliant  people  in  the 
world  than  the  Indians  were  before  we  came  and  changed 
them  to  what  they  are  now,  forcing  them  into  a  new  mold. 
I  think  it  is  a  wonderful  thing  that  these  people  could  be 
made  over  in  one  generation  and  are  here  at  this  time, 


278     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

taking  their  place  as  citizens  under  our  form  of  government 
and  working  under  our  industrial  system. 

I  knew  an  old  man  who  was  of  mature  age  when  the 
tribe  went  upon  the  reservation.  He  lived  the  old  life  and 
was  known  as  a  good  member  of  the  tribe  in  the  old  way  of 
life.  When,  in  1855,  they  were  put  upon  the  reservation, 
he,  along  with  all  the  others,  had  to  make  his  life  all  over 
again;  and  he  succeeded  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  as 
good  a  farmer  as  there  was  in  the  county.  He  could  not 
read  the  Twentieth  Century  Farmer  and  got  no  help  from 
farmers'  institutes.  He  had  to  work  out  his  own  salvation. 
When  he  died  he  had  a  good  farm  and  cultivated  all  the 
grains  grown  in  our  climate.  He  raised  cattle,  hogs  and 
poultry.  The  care  of  poultry  is  the  last  thing  an  Indian 
will  undertake,  because  to  do  so  he  must  stay  at  home  to 
watch  the  young  chicks,  and  he  does  not  like  to  be  so 
bound  down,  but  this  man  had  all  these  things. 

There  is  no  primitive  people  that  has  so  strong  a  hold 
on  our  imagination  as  the  American  Indians.  How  large 
a  place  they  occupy  in  the  history  of  this  country!  I  regret 
that  there  is  so  much  fanciful  writing  concerning  them. 
The  truth  would  be  more  interesting  and  better  reading 
than  the  wild  fancies  of  \\Titers  who  wish  to  produce  what 
they  suppose  readers  require.  There  is  so  much  quackery 
practiced  by  white  people  in  their  writing  about  the  Indians. 
There  are  many  people  who  go  to  the  reservation,  look  at 
them,  go  away  and  write  volumes  when  they  do  not  know 
what  they  are  writing  about.  The  Indian  had  started  in 
the'^way  of  agriculture.  The  greatest  cereal  in  our  country 
was  developed  from  the  wild  state  by  Indian  planters, 
laboriously  working  with  rude  tools.  Think  of  the  long 
generations  and  succession  of  ages  required  to  develop 
maize — Indian  corn.  All  evidences  of  botany,  philosophy, 
ethnology,  folklore,  and  every  avenue  of  approach  to  the 
question  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  native  place  of 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  279 

the  wild  plant  that  was  developed  into  com  was  in  the 
southern  part  of  Mexico,  among  the  Maya,  a  nation  which 
had  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of  civilization.  There  are 
other  plants  that  we  have  received  from  them.  The  bean — 
except  the  white  navy  bean,  the  soy  bean,  and  perhaps  one 
or  two  others  from  Asia;  the  potato  from  South  America; 
the  squash,  red  peppers,  tomatoes,  tobacco  (though  that  is 
a  gift  of  doubtful  value)  have  come  to  us  from  the  Indians. 

Of  corn  the  PawTiee,  Omaha,  Ponka,  and  the  Oto 
raised  a  number  of  varieties  of  all  the  different  types  that 
we  have  now.  They  cultivated  fifteen  kinds  of  beans,  eight 
kinds  of  squash  and  one  of  melon.  We  have  many  medicines 
that  we  learned  of  from  the  Indians.  A  native  Nebraska 
plant  has  become  one  of  our  best  medicines.  The  old  name 
was  Echinacea  angustifolia,  but  in  the  revised  botanical 
nomenclature  it  is  now  called  Brauneria  pallida.  It  was 
known  to  the  Indians  many  years  ago,  and  Dr.  Meyer,  of 
Pawnee  City,  Nebraska,  introduced  it  into  our  materia 
medica  some  years  ago.  The  art  of  making  sugar  from 
trees  (maple  sugar)  is  of  American  Indian  origin.  The 
eastern  tribes  make  it  from  the  hard  maple  trees,  but  the 
tribes  out  here  in  Nebraska  made  sugar  from  the  sap  of 
the  soft  maple.  The  Omaha  word  for  sugar  is  ZHA^NI, 
ZHA^  means  wood,  and  NI  means  water.  The  very  word 
shows  that  they  had  the  article  before  they  ever  saw  a  white 
man.  In  the  Dakota  language  the  word  for  sugar  is  CHA^ 
HA^PI,  wood  juice,  or  tree  juice,  CHA^  meaning  wood, 
and  HA^PI  meaning  juice.  They  would  not  have  so  called 
it  if  they  had  first  seen  it  as  the  white  man's  manufactured 
product. 

Mr.  Keefe  said  something  about  taking  possession  of 
this  country  from  American  Indians.  It  is  common  to 
speak  of  the  Indians  as  dirty,  lazy  beings,  hanging  around 
white  settlements  begging.  I  would  ask  you  who  the 
beggars  were  a  hundred  years  ago?     In  Nebraska  the 


280     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Indians  were  the  independent  people  then.  They  knew  how- 
to  live  under  conditions  prevalent  at  that  time.  We  did 
not.  We  had  to  beg  from  them  shelter,  food  and  clothing. 
Our  trappers  and  explorers  could  not  have  lived  without 
the  aid  of  the  Indians.  They  were  dependent  upon  them. 
We  were  the  beggars  then.  We  have  destroyed  the  means 
of  support  they  had.  This  is  not  the  country  now  that  it 
was  to  them  at  that  time.  It  is  wonderful  that  in  one 
generation  they  could  learn  how  to  adapt  themselves  to 
these  new  conditions.  They  can  not  live  now  in  the  old  way, 
because  we  have  destroyed  the  resources  they  had.  They 
have  only  just  begun  to  adapt  themselves  to  this  new 
environment  and  to  support  themselves  under  these  con- 
ditions. The  woman's  work  then,  as  now,  was  much  the 
same.  Her  job  has  not  been  changed.  She  was  always, 
then  and  now,  the  home  maker,  but  the  man  has  been 
thrown  out  of  a  job  because  we  have  changed  the  conditions 
of  life  for  him.  He  was  a  provider  and  defender  under  old 
conditions,  as  a  hunter;  but  now  he  cannot  provide  because 
he  does  not  know  how  under  changed  conditions.  So  it 
came  to  be  said  that  the  Indian  "let  the  women  do  the 
work."  The  man's  work  is  changed,  so  he  must  learn  a 
new  job.  Imagine  China  coming  over  to  America  and 
overwhelming  us  and  putting  us  on  reservations  and  putting 
agents  over  us  to  mold  us  into  the  Chinese  form  of  civiliza- 
tion. Imagine  how  reluctant  we  should  be  to  take  on  that 
form  of  government  and  be  molded  that  way,  to  wear  our 
hair  in  a  queue,  to  eat  Chinese  food,  and  wear  Chinese 
clothes.  How  quickly  we  would  go  back  to  our  old  ways 
instead  of  the  way  the  Chinese  would  want  us  to  do.  We 
would  go  back  to  our  own  way  because  it  would  be  easier 
for  us  to  act  in  our  own  way.  I  would  not  want  to  be  made 
into  a  poor  imitation  of  a  Chinese;  no  more  does  the  Amer- 
ican Indian  want  to  be  made  into  a  poor  imitation  of  a 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  281 

European.  By  that  illustration  you  can  see  how  hard  it 
has  been  for  them  to  learn  a  new  job. 

Mr.  Keefe  said  that  the  American  Indian  is  entitled  to 
have  preserved  his  true  place  in  history.  The  Indians  have 
affection  for  their  home  land.  They  revere  the  graves  of 
their  ancestors.  They  commemorate  localities  indentified 
with  incidents  of  their  tribal  history.  We  are  strangers  in 
this  land;  we  have  not  been  here  so  very  long.  We  are 
not  attached  to  it  by  a  long  line  of  ancestry  as  they  are. 
The  Pawnee  were  a  Nebraska  people.  Their  country  was 
all  the  middle  part  of  Nebraska.  They  love  it  as  their 
fatherland.  Even  the  children  born  since  they  left  Nebraska 
have  heard  so  much  about  the  old  home  land  that  they 
think  of  it  with  affection  and  are  always  glad  to  talk  about 
it  with  any  one  from  Nebraska.  Now  they  are  carried 
away  into  another  land  where  climate  and  water  and  con- 
ditions of  life  are  different;  and  as  it  was  not  their  own 
choice,  they  went  away  in  1875  about  2,200  strong;  they 
are  less  than  seven  hundred  now.  Weakened  by  the  change 
in  climate,  by  being  pressed  into  the  arbitrary  mold  of  our 
manner  of  life,  and  by  homesickness  for  the  fatherland, 
they  have  dwindled  down  to  a  small  number.  The  Omaha 
are  about  as  numerous  as  they  ever  were.  They  are  still 
in  their  fatherland.  The  Pawnee  are  not  so  fortunate. 
Indians  of  many  tribes  have  been  taken  from  every  part  of 
the  country — from  timbered  lands,  prairie  lands  and  the 
mountains — and  dumped  into  Oklahoma.  ■  We  do  not  know 
the  human  interest  that  attaches  to  their  former  occupation 
and  their  early  life  in  this  land.  We  do  not  know  how  they 
lived.  We  do  not  know  the  songs  they  sang  or  the  shrines 
they  had.  We  do  not  know  the  holy  places  and  the  places 
of  their  graves.  These  would  have  been  of  great  interest 
to  us.    I  know  it  certainly  would  have  been  so  to  me. 

A  student  of  the  university  came  in  and  asked  some 
questions   concerning   Indian   geography   and   botany   of 


282     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Nebraska,  and  when  I  answered  her  questions  and  extended 
remarks  on  the  aboriginal  geography  and  botany  and 
showed  their  coiTelations  with  the  Indian  life  of  the  state, 
she  said:  "Nebraska  now  means  more  to  me  and  is  dearer 
than  ever  before."  So  when  all  our  people  know  there  is 
something  of  human  interest  that  attaches  to  Nebraska 
it  will  be  dearer  to  us  although  it  was  not  our  ancestors' 
home. 

As  to  the  difference  between  Indians  and  white  people, 
it  has  been  said,  "The  Indian  is  just  humanity  bound  in 
red."  There  is  another  saying  which  might  apply  here: 
"The  colonel's  lady  and  JuHa  O'Grady  are  sisters  under 
the  skin."  Indians  are  different  from  us  only  superficially. 
We  are  brothers  under  the  skin. 

I  remember  what  an  educated  Omaha  Indian  woman 
said  to  me  in  speaking  of  the  difficulty  of  being  built  over 
into  a  new  form  of  life:  "The  Omaha  have  not  had  time 
to  rightly  learn  the  white  man's  civilization,  because  it  has 
taken  all  their  time  and  attention  to  keep  from  being 
cheated  out  of  eveiy thing  they  have."  Although  her 
husband  is  a  white  man,  and  she  was  speaking  to  me, 
another  white  man,  she  said:  "Sometimes  I  wish  I  might 
never  see  a  white  face  again. "  She  was  not  thinking  of  her 
husband,  nor  of  me  as  a  white  man.  She  thought  of  her 
husband  as  a  husband  and  not  as  a  white  man,  just  as  she 
thought  of  me  as  a  friend,  not  as  a  white  man.  She  was 
thinking  of  white  men  in  the  mass.  If  you  lived  on 
the  reservation,  as  Mr.  Keefe  does,  you  would  know  how 
true  that  is. 

I  wonder  whether  Mr.  Keefe  had  the  story  of  MA^- 
SHTI^GA  correct  or  not.  I  heard  it  a  little  differently 
from  his  rendering.  This  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  a 
society  in  the  Mandan  tribe.  A  party  were  out  scouting 
for  the  enemy,  being  in  the  enemy's  country.  One  evening, 
at  just  about  the  beginning  of  the  evening  meal,  as  they 


THE  HISTORICAL  INDIAN  283 

were  sitting  around  the  fire,  all  at  once  they  heard  a  voice 
singing  a  song  of  defiance.  The  leader  put  ashes  over  the 
fire  to  extinguish  the  light.  Then  they  deployed  around  a 
wide  circle  and  when  they  came  together  they  were  around 
a  tree  which  showed  marks  of  a  fire  on  its  bark  about  five 
feet  high.  At  the  foot  of  the  tree  there  were  ashes  and 
burnt  human  bones.  The  leader  said :  "  Here  died  a  man  " ; 
and  out  of  this  incident  there  sprung  a  society  which  I 
think  is  something  like  the  society  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias.  It  was  founded  on  the  sentiments  of  loyalty  and 
devotion  to  duty  and  to  each  other.  The  society  increased 
in  numbers  and  spread  to  other  tribes.  A  member  of  the 
society  had  the  misfortune  of  which  Mr.  Keefe  spoke.  He 
made  a  feast  to  his  companions  in  the  society.  He  said  to 
his  wife,  "Boil  meat."  That  meant  to  make  a  feast  for 
his  companions.  He  invited  them  in.  The  woman  went 
to  the  spring  for  water.  One  of  his  companions  slipped 
away  from  the  tent  and,  out  of  her  sight,  saw  her  talking 
with  another  man,  her  lover,  by  the  spring.  Afterwards 
she  came  back  with  the  water.  Her  husband  knew  that  he 
could  not  hold  his  wife's  affections.  The  companion  came 
back  and  told  what  he  had  seen,  that  she  had  been  talking 
with  this  other  man,  her  lover.  The  feast  went  on,  and  they 
were  all  seated  about.  The  husband  arose  at  the  feast — he 
had  sent  some  of  his  companions  out  to  get  and  bring  in 
this  other  man  that  had  been  talking  to  his  wife  and  he 
had  come  in.  The  husband  then  arose  and  sang  this  song: 
"I  spoke  to  the  woman  but  she  would  not  hear,  so  I  give 
her  to  you."  These  words  are  all  there  is  to  the  song  and 
it  is  still  sung  among  the  Omaha  today.  Then  he  took  her 
blankets  over  and  laid  them  at  the  feet  of  the  other  man, 
his  wife's  lover,  as  Mr.  Keefe  narrated  to  you.  It  was 
considered  as  a  great  deed  of  resignation  and  an  act  of 
bravery.  It  was  several  generations  ago  that  this  original 
incident  occurred.  So  MA^SHTP'GA,  who  was  a  member 


284     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

of  the  Mandan  society  in  the  Omaha  tribe,  thought  it 
would  be  a  brave  act  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  at  a  feast 
which  he  made  to  his  companions  of  the  Mandan  society- 
he  got  up  and  sang  this  song.  There  was  no  cause  for  it, 
so  she  went  to  her  father's  lodge,  and  he  had  a  much  harder 
time  wooing  her  back  than  he  had  to  win  her  at  first. 

We  have  cut  the  Indians  off  from  the  development  of 
a  civilization  of  their  own  in  the  beginning  of  their  progress. 
If  they  had  not  been  disturbed  they  would,  of  course — as 
we  did,  as  the  Chinese  did,  and  as  every  other  nation  has 
done — have  developed  a  civilization  of  their  own  along 
the  line  of  resources  and  conditions  of  the  country.  We 
have  developed  our  civilization  under  European  conditions. 
We  never  can  know  what  their  civilization  would  have  been. 
We  do  not  know  what  shape  it  would  have  taken.  They 
would  have  progressed;  they  were  on  the  way.  We  are 
on  the  way,  only  a  little  farther  along.  They  would  have 
progressed  to  some  form  of  civilization  suited  to  their 
condition  here.  Of  course,  in  time,  there  will  be  only  one 
civilization  over  the  whole  world. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  LOCAL 
HISTORY 

By  James  E.  Le  Rossignol 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January  13,  1913.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Mr.  Paine,  your  secretary,  tells  me  that  he  would  like 
to  have  an  expression  from  an  outsider  on  the  subject  of 
local  history.  I  know  little  of  history  in  general  and  less 
of  local  history  and  therefore  think  myself  well  qualified 
to  speak  as  an  outsider.  True,  I  have  read  a  great  deal  of 
the  sort  of  history  that  was  written  thirty  or  forty  years 
ago,  before  modern  methods  of  investigation  were  well 
established,  but  now  I  know  that  most  of  the  information 
thus  obtained  was  quite  unreliable,  and  I  have  not  been 
able  to  improve  my  knowledge,  or  ignorance,  in  recent 
years.  But  I  have,  as  you  see,  a  proper  spirit  of  humility, 
which  should  lead  me  in  the  right  way,  though  it  may  not 
lead  me  far.  Also  I  have  much  sympathy  with  historians, 
knowing  the  difficulty  of  their  work  of  investigation  and 
the  still  greater  difficulty  of  arousing  the  public  to  a  due 
appreciation  of  this  great  and  important  work. 

It  was  courageous  in  Mr.  Paine  to  let  an  outsider  like 
myself  speak  on  this  platform  because  he  did  not  know  what 
I  might  say.  I  might  say  something  that  I  ought  not  to 
say.  For  example,  I  might  say  that  history  is  no  more 
important  than  political  economy,  but  it  would  be  an  im- 
pertinence to  make  such  a  statement  on  this  occasion,  so 
I  will  not  say  it.  I  might  say  that  all  historians  are  liars, 
but  I  will  not  say  that,  either,  for  it  is  not  true.    To  be 

(285) 


286     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

sure,  some  historians  of  the  past,  particularly  biographers 
and  genealogists,  have  told  a  good  many  lies,  but  they  are 
all  dead  now,  and  we  hope  that  they  have  long  since  expiated 
their  faults  and  have  been  admitted  to  the  historian's 
paradise. 

As  to  historians  of  the  present  day,  they  have  only 
one  virtue,  the  worship  of  truth,  and  no  redeeming  vices  at 
all.  They  will  tell  the  truth  and  shame  the  devil,  and  all 
their  best  friends  as  well.  Nothing  escapes  the  historian's 
searchlight,  and,  like  the  recording  angel,  he  sets  down 
everything — good,  bad,  and  indifferent — in  his  book.  I 
have  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  historian,  for  I  realize  that  at 
this  very  moment  he  may  be  taking  down  all  that  I  am 
saying  and  that  at  some  future  time,  in  this  world  or  the 
next,  my  words  may  rise  up  in  judgment  against  me.  So 
I  try  to  be  careful  as  to  what  I  say  before  an  audience  like 
this  and  am  tempted  to  use  words  not  to  express  thought 
but  to  conceal  it. 

There  is  a  good  story  about  an  Assyrian  historian  who 
used  to  write  upon  tables  of  clay,  which  were  then  dried  or 
burned  and  piled  away  in  the  library.  This  Assyrian  had  a 
mortal  enemy  and  spent  many  days  thinking  of  the  most 
cruel  and  unusual  punishment  that  he  could  inflict  upon 
him.  Finally  a  brilliant  thought  came  to  him,  and  before 
the  inspiration  cooled  he  ran  to  his  enemy  with  a  brick 
and  said:  "Sir,  you  are  the  meanest  man  I  know.  I  might 
curse  your  ancestors,  but  I  will  not.  I  might  curse  yourself 
and  all  your  posterity,  but  I  will  do  worse  than  that. 
Listen!  tremble!  I  will  write  your  evil  deeds  upon  this 
brick,  have  it  packed  away  in  the  royal  archives,  and  when, 
five  thousand  years  hence,  men  dig  up  the  ruins  of  our 
city,  they  will  read  about  your  crimes  and  you  shall  be 
infamous  forever." 

There  is  a  moral  in  this  story,  for  it  shows  very  well 
the  ethical  value  of  history.    The  historian  is  the  man  with 


STUDY  OF  LOCAL  HISTORY  287 

the  searchlight  who  peers  into  everything  and  tells  every- 
thing that  he  sees.  Like  the  law,  he  is  a  terror  to  evil 
doers  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well,  because  he  tells  the 
truth.  Publicity  kills  many  social  evils  as  sunlight  kills  the 
germs  of  many  diseases,  while  it  encourages  good  deeds  as 
the  sunlight  gives  life  to  grass  and  flowers.  Common  gossip 
contributes  to  this  end.  The  press  does  much  to  make 
people  respectable ;  and  history,  by  keeping  a  record  of  the 
words  and  deeds  of  men,  helps  them  to  realize  the  im- 
portance of  life  and  the  value  of  a  good  name.  We  live  not 
only  in  the  eyes  of  our  friends  and  neighbors  but  in  the 
sight  of  a  larger  world  and  in  the  view  of  future  generations, 
and  the  thought  of  many  eyes  looking  upon  us  and  many 
minds  pronouncing  judgment  upon  us  cannot  but  make  us 
careful  about  what  we  say  and  do. 

In  former  times  historians  used  to  color  and  distort 
facts  for  the  glorification  of  their  friends  and  patrons; 
more  recently  they  would  pervert  the  truth  for  the  edification 
of  children  and  the  development  of  patriotism;  but  now, 
in  this  age  of  science,  the  historian  follows  truth  alone  and 
worships  the  God  of  Things  as  they  are,  believing  that 
honest  character  and  worthy  patriotism  can  never  be  built 
upon  a  foundation  of  lies.  So  the  historian  describes  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  as  they  were,  gives  a  true  picture  of  colonial 
life  with  light  and  shade,  explains  the  right  and  wrong  of 
the  revolutionary  war,  the  war  of  1812,  the  civil  war,  doing 
justice  to  both  sides  and  favoring  none.  He  tells  of  the 
greatness  and  littleness  of  our  heroes,  shows  the  successes 
and  failures  of  the  past,  and  traces  the  path  of  progress  as 
well  as  he  can  for  example,  warning  and  guidance  to  future 
generations. 

It  used  to  be  the  custom  to  glorify  the  pioneer,  to 
make  of  him  a  sort  of  saint  or  missionary  who  came  to  the 
western  plains  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  the 
Indian.    There  were  saints  and  missionaries  in  those  days, 


288     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

as  now,  but  the  typical  pioneer  was  nothing  of  the  sort; 
and  to  paint  him  with  a  halo  about  his  head  is  to  do  him 
an  injustice  and  make  him  ridiculous.  The  surviving 
pioneers  do  not  desire  such  a  picture  and  those  who  have 
passed  into  the  eternal  world  do  not  need  it. 

For  all  that,  it  is  well  to  honor  the  pioneers,  to  treasure 
their  memory,  to  be  grateful  to  them  for  what  they  have 
done  in  making  it  possible  for  us  to  live  in  peace  and  comfort 
in  this  good  land.  The  worship  of  ancestors  is  not  altogether 
without  a  rational  basis.  If  we  honor  our  ancestors,  our 
children  will  honor  us,  and  there  is  something  beautiful  and 
inspiring  in  the  thought  of  successive  generations  looking 
backward  in  appreciation  of  all  that  was  good  in  their 
fathers  and  mothers,  and  looking  forward  in  hope  that  their 
children  and  children's  children  will  be  still  nobler  and 
better  than  they.  Family  pride  that  is  based  upon  honor 
and  virtue  is  a  good  thing,  and  the  just  pride  of  a  people 
in  the  character  and  achievements  of  their  ancestors  is  a 
power  that  makes  for  good  in  the  education  of  the  rising 
generation. 

The  people  of  the  Old  World  understand  the  import- 
ance of  this  more  than  we  do,  and  we  must  not  be  ashamed 
to  imitate  them.  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  see,  in  cities  like 
Edinburgh,  Munich,  and  Geneva,  how  they  remember 
their  great  men  by  monuments,  statues,  tablets,  memorial 
windows,  and  records  of  every  kind,  in  streets,  churches, 
colleges,  museums,  libraries  and  many  other  places.  As 
one  walks  along  Princess  street  in  Edinburgh,  for  example, 
and  sees  the  noble  monuments  to  Walter  Scott,  Robert 
Burns,  Allan  Ramsay,  James  Hogg  and  many  more  of  the 
worthies  of  Scotland,  one  cannot  but  think  how  inspiring 
it  must  be  to  live  in  a  place  where  the  past  is  remembered 
and  where  citizens  who  serve  their  country  well  may  hope 
to  live  in  the  thoughts  of  future  generations. 

In  this  respect  local  history  may  be  of  greater  ethical 


STUDY  OF  LOCAL  HISTORY  289 

value  than  national  or  world  history,  for  by  it  the  work  of 
obscure  men  and  women  of  whom  the  world  at  large  can 
never  hear,  may  be  noticed  and  remembered.  To  this  end 
we  need  not  only  the  history  of  the  country  as  a  whole, 
but  the  history  of  every  state,  city,  town,  county,  church, 
society,  and  family ;  and  it  should  be  the  ambition  of  every 
man,  woman  and  child  to  have  a  good  name  and  an  honor- 
able place  in  the  little  circle  to  which  he  belongs. 

If  it  is  true  that  the  study  of  local  history  can  and  will 
improve  the  character  of  individuals,  it  follows  that  it  will 
also  improve  the  government,  which  is  in  a  large  measure 
a  reflection  of  the  character  of  the  people.  It  will  develop 
local  patriotism  and  a  civic  consciousness,  without  which, 
in  a  democratic  country,  good  government  is  impossible. 
We  of  the  West  cannot  deny  that  we  are  somewhat  lacking 
in  local  pride.  We  are  always  talking  of  the  places  where 
we  were  born — of  Chicago,  New  York,  Philadelphia  or 
Boston,  instead  of  Omaha,  Lincoln,  Hastings  or  Beatrice. 
Our  heart  is  in  the  place  where  we  were  born  and  brought 
up  and  not  in  the  place  where  we  live.  We  are  pilgrims 
and  strangers  here.  Lincoln  is  our  dwelling  place,  but 
Boston  is  our  home.  This  is  not  right.  We  need  not  forget 
our  old  home,  indeed  we  cannot,  but  we  must  be  loyal  to 
the  place  where  we  live  and  work.  Here  is  our  home;  here 
are  our  friends;  here  is  our  opportunity;  our  duty  is  here, 
and  here  we  shall  find  our  reward — the  satisfaction  that 
comes  from  honest  effort,  from  the  approval  of  our  neigh- 
bors and  the  hope  that  the  work  of  our  hands  will  be  estab- 
lished for  good. 

We  are  not  altogether  responsible  for  our  lack  of  local 
patriotism,  which  is  largely  the  result  of  the  unsettled  con- 
dition of  a  new  country;  but  we  are  responsible,  in  so  far 
as  that  lack  is  due  to  our  own  selfish  indifference  and 
neglect.  Time  will  work  great  change  in  this  regard.  Con- 
ditions will  become  more  stable;  migration  will  be  relatively 

20 


290     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

less;  the  proportion  of  native  born  to  the  total  population 
will  increase;  the  people  will  have  a  stronger  attachment 
to  their  native  state;  they  will  be  less  tolerant  of  bad 
government  and  more  eager  to  make  improvements  of 
every  kind,  that  the  state  may  be  a  good  place  in  which  to 
live.  All  these  things  will  come  about  in  the  course  of 
time;  but  they  will  come  much  sooner  if  people  are  conscious 
of  their  need  and  willing  to  take  measures  for  bringing 
about  the  results  which  they  desire.  Among  these  measures, 
I  take  it,  none  is  more  important  than  the  works  of  an 
Historical  Society,  such  as  this. 

If  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society  did  nothing 
more  than  make  the  state  interesting  to  the  people  who 
live  in  it,  it  would  be  doing  a  work  the  value  of  which 
would  far  outweigh  the  cost.  The  West  is  a  wonderful 
country,  well  named  the  Golden  West.  It  has  good  soil, 
a  fine  climate,  great  fields  of  corn,  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills,  splendid  resources  and  prospects  of  every  kind.  In 
so  far  as  material  things  are  concerned  the  people  of  the 
West  have  everything  that  they  need:  food,  shelter, 
clothing — all  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life,  not  to 
mention  automobiles,  which  some  would  place  among  the 
best  things  that  the  world  can  give.  But  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  something  is  lacking;  it  is  hard  to  say  what. 
Man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone,  nor  even  by  automobiles. 
There  are  some  higher  values  without  which  the  lives  of 
the  richest  must  be  bare  and  empty. 

The  people  of  Europe  may  be  poor  in  material  wealth, 
but  in  their  places  of  historical  interest  with  all  the  senti- 
ments that  attach  to  them  they  have  treasures  that  money 
cannot  buy.  The  Germans  have  the  Rhine  which,  from 
Schaffhausen  to  Aachen,  is  an  epitome  of  their  history  for 
two  thousand  years.  The  English  have  Cromlechs,  Norman 
castles,  Gothic  cathedrals  and  historic  remains  of  every 
kind,  calling  up  memories  of  a  great  and  glorious  past. 


STUDY  OF  LOCAL  HISTORY  291 

The  Scots  never  cease  to  boast  of  their  little  hills  and 
vales,  their  insignificant  streams  and  barren  moors,  because 
they  are  full  of  memories  of  Bruce  and  Wallace,  of  Robert 
Burns  and  Walter  Scott.  The  Irish  may  be  exiled  from 
their  native  land,  but  ever  look  back  with  pride  and  affection 
to  the  land  of  the  shamrock,  the  hill  of  Tara,  the  lakes  of 
Killarney.  Memories  such  as  these  may  not  satisfy  bodily 
hunger  or  thirst  or  protect  against  the  winter's  cold,  but 
when  people  are  fed  and  clothed  and  sheltered  they  feel 
the  need  of  something  that  shall  beautify  and  glorify  life, 
make  them  proud  of  their  fellow  countrymen  and  willing 
to  live  and  die  for  their  native  land. 

Nebraska  is  by  no  means  without  a  history,  as  the  mem- 
bers of  this  society  well  know ;  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  the 
society  to  collect  and  preserve  the  records  of  the  past,  so  that 
the  people  at  large  may  know  that  they  are  living  on  historic 
ground,  may  take  a  greater  pride  in  the  state  and  be  willing 
to  make  great^f  sacrifices  for  the  general  good.  Material 
prosperity  is  desirable,  for  it  is  the  basis  and  foundation 
of  higher  things ;  but  very  many  of  our  fellow  citizens  have 
all  the  material  wealth  that  they  need,  all  the  lands,  houses 
and  automobiles  that  they  can  use,  and  it  is  high  time  that 
they  should  take  a  greater  interest  in  the  cultural  side  of 
life,  in  science,  art,  literature,  and  history,  without  which 
a  truly  gi'eat  civilization  is  impossible. 

Some  fingal  soul — a  taxpayer,  probably— may  ask  the 
very  pertinent  question,  "Will  it  pay?"  In  answer  to  this 
question  it  would  not  be  hard  to  show  that  all  the  money 
spent  on  the  study  of  local  history,  like  bread  cast  upon  the 
waters,  is  likely  to  be  returned  many  fold.  Consider  the 
value  of  real  estate  alone,  a  value  that  cannot  exist  unless 
people  stay  in  the  state,  where  they  will  not  stay  unless 
they  find  life  worth  living  there.  All  the  things  that  tend 
to  make  life  interesting,  to  glorify  and  beautify  life,  such 
as  parks  and  play  grounds,  beautiful  streets  and  public 


292     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

buildings,  churches,  schools,  colleges  and  universities,  art, 
music,  history,  science,  philosophy,  religion,  and  a  spirit 
of  patriotism  and  good  fellowship  among  the  people;  all  of 
these  things  tend  to  keep  the  people  of  Nebraska  at  home 
and  to  increase  the  value  of  real  estate.  On  the  contrary, 
the  lack  of  these  things  tends  to  drive  people  away  to 
Colorado,  California,  or  elsewhere,  and  to  cause  the  value 
of  real  estate  to  come  down. 

Again,  it  may  be  that  through  the  works  of  the  Histor- 
ical Society  other  important  contributions  will  be  made  to 
the  material  wealth  of  the  state  and  this  in  an  unexpected 
direction.  The  researches  of  Mr.  Gilmore,  for  example, 
show  that  most  valuable  results  might  follow  from  investiga- 
tions carried  on  in  a  purely  scientific  spirit.  Mr.  Gilmore 
has  made  a  study  of  cei'tain  food  plants  used  by  the  Indians 
long  before  the  arrival  of  the  whites,  and  it  may  be  that 
some  of  these  plants  will  prove  to  be  of  great  economic 
value  and  do  much  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  arid  West. 
If  so,  the  money  spent  on  the  Nebraska  Historical  Society 
will  be  returned  a  thousand  fold. 

But  even  if  this  work  should  not  pay  in  dollars  and 
cents,  if  there  should  be  no  increase  in  the  value  of  lands, 
or  houses,  or  cattle,  but  only  an  improvement  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  people,  an  addition  to  the  beauty  and  dignity 
of  life,  a  contribution  to  those  spiritual  values  which  make 
life  worth  living;  even  if  nothing  more  than  that  should 
come  of  the  study  of  local  history,  I  am  sure  that  the  best 
citizens  of  Nebraska  would  agree  with  the  members  of  the 
Historical  Society  in  thinking  that  all  the  effort  and  sacrifice 
that  had  been  made  was  well  worth  while. 


HISTORY 
By  Right  Reverend  J.  Henry  Tihen,  Bishop  of  Lincoln 

[Paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical 
Society,  January  13,  1913.] 

One  God,  one  human  race,  one  scene  of  human 
activity — the  world  in  which  we  live — one  story  of  it  all, 
that  is  history.  One  brotherhood  that  had  its  inception  in 
the  aeons  of  the  past  from  the  Fathers'  creative  hand,  that 
has  ramified  and  extended  itself  through  the  centuries  to 
the  present,  maintaining  its  unity  in  its  universality.  The 
great  family  is  still  intact,  the  blood  relationship  of  a 
common  origin  still  exists,  and  man  may  not  ignore  this 
relationship  nor  attempt  to  rupture  it,  or,  like  the  prodigal 
son,  to  set  himself  outside  the  fellowship  of  brother  and  the 
protecting  love  of  Father.  Distances  of  time  and  space 
are  accidentals  that  may  modify  the  manifestations  of  this 
relationship,  but  do  not  change  its  nature.  The  fur  clad 
Laplander  in  his  frozen  house  of  the  North  and  the  naked 
negro  in  the  jungles  of  Africa  are  bound  together  by  this 
common  tie.  Nor  does  time  essentially  influence  this 
relationship.  What  matter  though  a  thousand  years 
separate  me  from  my  brother  man?  He  is  still  my  brother 
because  of  the  common  Father  to  whom  "a  thousand 
years  are  as  one  day".  From  Adam  the  first  as  he  walked 
forth  from  the  creative  hand  of  his  God,  through  the  ages 
of  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future  to  last  of  mortals 
in  his  dying  hour,  when  the  world  shall  sink  back  into  its 
original  chaos,  there  runs  this  golden  chain  of  humanity, 
each  individual  human  being  a  link  in  this  chain.  No  man 
may  with  impunity  attempt  to  destroy  this  solidarity,  this 

(293) 


294     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

eternal  homogeneity  of  the  race.  No  man  can  place  him- 
self above  it,  no  man  may  seek  to  place  himself  beneath  it. 

From  these  general  fundamental  principles  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  human  race,  no  matter  where  or  when 
dispersed,  there  flows  naturally,  logically  and  rationally 
the  interest  that  men  take  or  ought  to  take  in  the  doings 
of  the  race  in  its  life  story.  That  is  history.  A  man  in 
action  is  biographical  history,  a  community  in  action  is 
local  history,  a  nation  in  action  is  a  nation's  history,  and 
the  world  in  action  is  universal  history.  The  energies  and 
the  activities  of  the  vast  army  of  men  and  women  of  the 
past  have  woven  the  fabric  of  the  world's  story.  It  is  all 
one.  The  men  and  women  of  to-day  weave  into  that  con- 
tinuous fabric  their  hopes  and  anxieties,  struggles  and 
victories  of  love  and  hate,  of  achievement  and  failure,  and 
then  retire  from  the  scene  of  action,  "to  sleep  with  their 
fathers",  and  another  generation  takes  their  place,  to  work 
into  the  same  fabric  the  story  of  the  new  achievements 
which  the  future  bears  in  her  womb,  but  hidden  from  the 
eyes  of  the  present.  And  so  on  until  the  end  of  time,  when 
the  last  page  of  the  world's  history  shall  have  been  written, 
the  last  thread  of  human  activity  woven  into  the  great 
fabric  of  the  world's  life  story,  and  a  supreme  judge  shall 
pass  on  its  merits.  And  who  does  not  even  now  discern 
in  this  great  fabric  made  by  the  men  and  women  of  all 
days  in  all  the  world,  running  through  it  all,  clearly  per- 
ceptible to  the  eye  that  is  willing  to  see,  the  golden  thread 
of  an  energ^T^  and  activity  that  comes  not  from  men,  not 
even  from  the  greatest  of  them,  the  golden  thread  of  a 
Providence  that  "ordereth  all  things  wisely  and  disposeth 
them  sweetly",  the  superior  power  that  is  omnipotence, 
the  intelligence  of  which  it  can  truly  be  said  that  the  **  wis- 
dom of  men  is  only  its  folly". 

Here  then  the  reason  for  history.  Here  its  value. 
Here  its  commendation.    Here  the  cause  why  the  deeds  of 


HISTORY  295 

men  in  any  generation  or  place  be  not  permitted  to  dis- 
appear, but  be  incorporated  into  the  great  acts  of  humanity. 

Naturally  this  general  relationship  of  all  men  is  sub- 
ject to  intensification  by  circumstances  and  conditions  of 
time  and  place.  Family  and  community  and  nation  are 
ties  that  bind  closer  and  increase  the  interests  men  have  in 
each  other.  So  does  time.  Men  are  more  interested  in  the 
affairs  of  to-day  than  of  yesterday,  more  in  those  of  this 
year  and  century  than  in  those  of  last.  Perhaps  it  is  due 
to  our  innate  weakness  or  selfishness  that  we  truly  care  so 
little  for  anybody  or  anything  except  what  is  close  to  us 
in  time  and  place.  Some  one  has  well  said  that  no  man  can 
truthfully  say  that  he  is  deeply  concerned  about  the  future 
of  his  great-gi-andchildren.  This  trait  of  human  nature 
probably  accounts  for  the  fact  that  local  and  contemporary 
historj^  has  more  attraction  for  the  average  man  than  general 
and  ancient. 

Yet  we  must  in  theory  at  least — even  though  we  be  not 
strong  enough  to  "suit  the  action  to  the  word" — hold  to 
the  solidarity  of  the  great  human  family.  It  was  a  God 
who  solicitously  inquired,  "Where  is  thy  brother?"  It 
was  a  murderer  who  answered,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  " 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  our  day  in  the  world's  history  that 
men  realize  more  than  ever  this  relationship  and  solidarity 
of  the  great  human  family.  Fast  trains  and  fast  boats 
have  virtually  annihilated  distance.  Because  of  these  the 
world  is  close  to-day,  geographically  speaking.  Telegraph 
and  telephone  and  a  perfect  mail  service  have  brought  it 
close  together,  intellectually  and  socially.  Over  the  sentient 
wire,  in  cable  and  on  pole,  comes  the  story  of  the  heartbeat 
and  the  mind  flashes  of  my  brother  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  And  back  to  him  travels  the  news  of  myself.  World- 
wide movements  for  world-wide  betterments  are  probably 
only  one  of  the  natural  and  logical  results  of  this  nearness 
of  mankind  to  itself.     Peace  movements  and  a  general 


296     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  masses  rather  than  of  the 
classes,  sociological  activity  in  general,  the  care  of  children, 
the  housing  of  men  and  women,  the  banishment  of  factors 
that  tend  to  shorten  or  destroy  their  lives  are  so  many 
evidences  of  the  quickened  consciousness  in  our  generation 
of  the  solidarity  of  our  race.  And  we  go  beyond  our  age 
of  the  present  we  know  into  the  past  of  which  we  know 
only  a  little.  We  have  gone  to  the  fountainheads  for  in- 
formation. We  want  to  know  something  of  the  men  and 
women  of  the  past.  We  have  ransacked  the  libraries,  have 
noted  the  story  of  the  printed  page,  of  the  musty  manu- 
script, have  looked  everywhere  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
for  the  signposts  that  would  point  the  hand  for  us  to  the 
way  in  which  our  forefathers  walked.  Into  the  bowels  of 
the  earth  have  we  gone  for  futher  information.  We  got 
from  the  excavated  ruins  of  the  past  the  textbooks  of 
another  school,  the  story  of  another  civilization.  It  is 
unfair  to  past  generations  to  say  that  they  were  indifferent 
in  these  matters.  There  always  was  among  men  a  certain 
regard  and  even  veneration  for  the  past;  but  the  spirit  of 
homogeneity  was  never  so  pronounced  as  it  is  to-day.  *'  Our 
great  highways  of  commerce  and  civilization  to-day  are  no 
longer,  it  has  been  well  said,  than  those  'threads  of  soil', 
the  Indian  trails;  but  they  are  much  wider,  much  smoother, 
far  more  serviceable  and  do  more  for  us  to-day,  than  did 
the  beginning  in  trail-making  for  the  men  and  women  of 
that  day.  Braddock's  road  through  the  wilderness  reached 
no  farther  than  the  trail  he  followed.  The  Cumberland 
Road  was  paralleled  its  entire  distance  by  an  Indian  path 
which  in  turn  was  preceded  by  the  track  of  the  buffaloes 
to  their  salt-licks.  Yet  both  were  wide  roads  infinitely 
more  useful  and  serviceable  than  their  forerunners.  Note 
the  double  ti-ack  of  one  of  our  great  railways,  following  the 
exact  line  of  buffalo  trails  and  Indian  paths,  to  figure  the 
difference  in  service  to  man."     Through  expansion  of  our 


HISTORY  297 

views  with  regard  to  our  fellow  men  of  the  present  and  the 
past  we  should  improve  in  service  and  use  to  them. 

I  realize  that,  practical  and  utilitarian  in  view  as 
Americans  generally  are,  some  in  the  audience  are  perhaps 
inclined  to  say  to  me:  "These  things  about  the  past  and 
the  reason  for  the  knowledge  of  general  history  are  all  very 
good  in  their  way;  but  of  what  practical  benefit  are  they?" 
In  reply,  permit  me  to  cite  a  few  authorities.  Jowett  tells 
us  that: 

"The  greatest  changes  of  which  we  have  had  experience 
as  yet  are  due  to  our  increasing  knowledge  of  history  and 
of  nature.  They  have  been  produced  by  few  minds  appear- 
ing in  three  or  four  favored  nations  in  comparatively  a  short 
period  of  time.  May  we  be  allowed  to  imagine  the  minds 
of  men  everywhere  working  together  during  many  ages 
for  the  completion  of  our  knowledge?  May  not  the  increase 
of  knowledge  transfigure  the  world?" 

Another  tells  us:  "Nothing  is  so  likely  to  beget  in  us 
a  spirit  of  enlightened  liberality,  of  Christian  forebearance, 
as  a  careful  study  of  the  history  of  doctrine".  Another 
says:  "A  man  who  does  not  know  what  has  been  thought 
by  those  who  have  gone  before  him  is  sure  to  set  an  undue 
value  upon  his  own  ideas.  All  our  hopes  of  the  future 
depend  upon  a  sound  understanding  of  the  past".  "The 
thoughts  that  were  developed  in  the  past  are  of  infinite 
consequence".  "He  who  has  learned  to  understand  the 
true  character  and  tendency  of  many  suceeding  ages  is  not 
likely  to  go  very  far  wrong  in  estimating  his  own".  Even 
poets  are  urged  to  study  history  as  Wordsworth  declares: 
"I  hold  that  the  degree  in  which  poets  dwell  in  sympathy 
with  the  past  marks  exactly  the  degree  of  their  poetical 
faculty".  "There  are  no  truths  which  more  readily  gain 
the  assent  of  mankind  or  are  more  firmly  retained  by  them 
than  those  of  an  historical  nature".  Goethe  declared  that 
he  who  cannot  give  to  himself  a  satisfactory  account  of  at 
least  3,000  years  of  the  world's  history  merely  exists  in 


298     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

darkness,  cannot  emerge  into  the  full  sunlight  of  human 
life.  History  broadens  the  mind,  enlarges  the  viewpoint. 
A  narrow,  prejudiced  mind  cannot  study  history.  The  one 
or  the  other  will  be  dropped". 

I  will  not  tire  you  by  further  citations  or  arguments. 
Your  very  presence  here  under  the  auspices  of  a  society 
that  has  for  one  of  its  objects  the  fostering  of  historical 
study  and  the  membership  of  many  of  you  in  that  organiza- 
tion is  conclusive  evidence  of  your  views  upon  the  subject. 
I  do  wish,  however,  in  closing,  to  call  attention  to  history's 
claim  and  service  on  the  patriotic  heart.  As  a  nation 
making  force,  history  stands  out  preeminent.  The  main 
influences  working  in  the  making  of  a  nation  may  be  said 
to  be,  ''(1st)  physical  environment;  (2d)  race;  (3d)  lan- 
guage; (4th)  custom;  (5th)  religion;  (6th)  common 
interests;  (7th)  history,  or  the  men  who  made  it;  (8th)  the 
government".  The  history  of  the  nations  past  and  of  the 
worlds  past  is  its  lesson  for  the  present.  "  This  solidarity  in 
time,  as  it  has  been  called,  is  no  mere  sentiment;  or,  if  a 
sentiment,  it  is  one  that  is  strong  enough  to  hold  together 
in  unit}^  of  nationhood  men  who  have  little  else  in  common. 
Thus  the  Swiss  have  no  unity  of  language,  or  of  race,  or  of 
religion;  their  government  is  most  decentralized;  their 
country  is  divided  into  well  marked  regions  that  differ  in 
almost  every  respect  and  are  well-nigh  cut  off  from  mutual 
intercourse.  But  the  nation  has  common  memories.  It 
has  not  forgotten  Morgarten  and  Sempach,  where  it  over- 
threw the  Austrians,  nor  Grandson  and  Morat  where  it 
ruined  Charles  the  Bold.  Nor  must  it  forget  the  still  more 
crucial  struggles  in  which  it  weathered  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. So  too  the  three  imperial  eagles  that  divided  the 
fallen  Polish  state  could  neither  destroy  the  people  nor 
tear  up  the  pages  of  her  history.  They  cannot  debar  her 
during  the  long  night  of  her  captivity  from  dreaming  of  the 
days  when  she  vindicated  her  right  to  live  against  Russian 


HISTORY  299 

and  German  and  Swede  and  became  the  bulwark  of  Christen- 
dom against  the  Turk."  Brunetiere  sums  up  the  import- 
ance of  history  to  a  nation  in  the  one  sentence:  ''There  is 
no  fatherland  without  a  long  history,  which  is  at  one  and 
the  same  time  its  stay,  its  justification,  the  source  of  its 
life  and  of  its  perpetual  rejuvenation".  Here  then  is  the 
additional  fact  that  history  in  its  making  and  in  its  study 
is  the  duty  of  the  citizen  as  well  as  the  privilege  of  the 
student. 

If  there  has  been  rhyme  or  reason,  argument  or  senti- 
ment in  aught  I  have  said  to  you,  then  have  I  spoken  a 
word  in  favor  of  the  work  in  which  the  officers  and  members 
of  the  Nebraska  State  Historical  Society  have  applied 
themselves  so  diligently  in  the  past,  a  work  of  which  every 
student  and  patriot  will  spontaneously  saj^,  "God  speed  it". 


THE   PATHFINDERS,   THE    HISTORIC   BACK- 
GROUND OF  WESTERN  CIVILIZATION 

By  Hem  an  C.  Smith 

[Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of 
Nebraska,  January  16,  1913.] 

Mark  Twain  is  reported  to  have  said,  "Anybody  can 
write  a  book,  but  to  wTite  a  preface — ah,  there's  the  rub". 
I  strongly  sympathize  with  this  sentiment  when  asked  to 
write  a  thirty  minute  paper  on  a  subject  which  requires 
volumes  to  treat  intelligently.  Of  course  I  can  only  present 
an  introduction  to  this  exhaustless  subject. 

The  children  of  modern  Egypt,  India,  Persia,  Palestine 
and  other  oriental  countries,  when  studying  the  history  of 
their  several  countries  find  a  rich  historic  background  which 
dates  backward  many  centuries  and  furnishes  inspiration  for 
delightful  research.  The  children  of  modern  Europe  have 
also  a  valuable  heritage  in  their  historic  relation  to  classic 
Greece  and  Rome,  and  even  our  eastern  states  have  the 
history  of  the  colonial  period  of  which  we  of  the  West  can 
make  no  boast.  True  our  western  valleys  are  dotted  with 
mounds,  indicating  a  prehistoric  civilization,  and  our 
western  mountains  reveal  the  strongholds  of  the  Cliff 
Dwellers.  Hence  the  study  of  occidental  archaeology  is  of 
entrancing  interest,  rivaling  the  study  of  the  same  subject 
in  the  orient;  yet  our  deductions  therefrom  are  largely 
conjecture,  and  the  historic  value  of  these  relics  of  antiquity 
is  misty  and  uncertain  as  no  generally  accepted  history  of 
former  ages  has  been  transferred  to  this  generation. 

We  dream  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people 
of  antiquity  who  once  inhabited  our  fertile  valleys  and 

(300) 


THE  PATHFINDERS  301 

chiseled  their  habitation  in  the  rocky  ribs  of  our  towering 
mountains.  We  ask,  "Who  were  they?  Wliither  have 
they  gone?  Were  they  civihzed  or  barbarian?  Were  they 
Christian  or  heathen?  What  was  the  extent  of  their  en- 
lightenment in  arts  and  sciences?"  We  turn  inquiringly 
to  the  contents  of  our  large  and  accumulating  libraries  but 
find  no  answer.  We  speculate  and  conjecture,  but  our 
conjectures  and  deductions  lack  historic  confirmation. 

Fortunately  the  early  pioneers  of  western  civilization, 
the  pathfinders,  who  traversed  our  fertile  plains  and  scaled 
our  romantic  mountains  were  dreamers.  They  dreamed  of 
an  Eldorado  with  mountains  of  gold  and  perpetual  springs, 
whose  crystal  waters  were  a  fountain  of  youth.  Those 
dreams  and  the  hope  of  their  realization  moved  them  to 
heroic  efforts,  nor  did  they  falter  when  in  the  quest  of  the 
fondly  cherished  goal;  they  met  suffering  and  sacrifices 
even  to  the  facing  of  death  itself.  The  love  of  gold  is 
authentically  declared  to  be  the  root  of  all  evil,  and  yet,  in- 
cidentally, good  often  springs  from  its  quest — not  always  to 
those  who  make  the  sacrifice  or  bear  the  suffering,  but 
frequently  as  a  legacy  to  those  who  come  after. 

To  our  immediate  ancestors  who  were  the  first  per- 
manent settlers  of  the  west,  great  credit  is  due ;  for  without 
their  great  practical  accomplishments,  through  sacrifice  and 
suffering,  their  dreams  would  be  like  the  baseless  fabric  of 
a  night  dream,  "as  when  an  hungry  man  dreameth,  and, 
behold,  he  eateth;  but  he  awaketh,  and  his  soul  is  empty; 
or  as  when  a  thirsty  man  dreameth,  and,  behold,  he  drink- 
eth;  but  he  awaketh,  and,  behold,  he  is  faint,  and  his  soul 
hath  appetite."  .  .  . 

As  the  streams  that  drain  North  America  have  a 
general  trend  toward  the  south,  one  would  naturally  suppose 
the  course  of  migration  would  be  either  southward  or  north- 
ward; but  some  power  not  easy  to  explain  had  a  stronger 
influence  than  the  natural  contour  of  the  country,  and  the 


302     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

trend  of  migration  was  toward  the  west  or  northwest. 
This,  however,  has  not  been  pecuHar  to  our  western  civiliza- 
tion, as  the  trend  of  civilization  since  history  began  has 
been  westward.  From  its  oriental  cradle  civilization  has 
ever  turned  its  face  westward.  There  have,  however,  been 
a  few  exceptions  to  this  general  rule,  as  in  the  instance  of 
Vasquez  de  Coronado,  the  earliest  pathfinder  among 
civilized  men  who  traversed  these  western  plains.  Allured 
by  the  reports  of  vast  wealth  brought  by  Friar  Marcos  of 
Nice,  he  fitted  out  an  expedition  in  a  province  of  Western 
Mexico,  and  started  February  23,  1540,  through  a  trackless 
desert  to  the  north  and  northeast.  The  reports  of  riches 
still  spurred  him  on  though  often  disappointed  by  finding 
abject  poverty. 

The  exact  localities  visited  by  Coronado  are  diflScult 
to  determine,  but  all  students  are  agreed  that  he  was  in  the 
territory  embraced  in  modern  Kansas.  Whether  he  ever 
entered  the  territory  embraced  in  Nebraska  is  doubted, 
though  presented  as  probable  by  some  writers.  Authors 
differ  widely,  and  the  destination  of  Coronado  is  located 
from  Genoa,  Nebraska,  to  Junction  City,  Kansas.  On  a 
map  showing  routes  of  all  the  principal  explorers  and  early 
roads  and  highways,  from  data  prepared  by  Frank  Bond, 
chief  clerk,  issued  in  1908  by  the  department  of  the  interior, 
Richard  Ballinger  secretary,  the  route  of  Coronado  crosses 
the  line  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  and  thence  northeast  to 
a  point  in  Clay  county,  Nebraska,  near  the  present  location 
of  Clay  Center.  According  to  the  map  his  route  crossed 
the  south  line  of  the  state  of  Nebraska  and  the  Republican 
river  near  the  southeast  corner  of  Harlan  county. 

Some  color  to  the  approximate  correctness  of  this 
theory  is  afforded  by  the  finding  of  the  old  sword  on  the 
Republican  river  some  years  ago.  The  theory  is  rendered 
even  more  plausible  from  an  account  published  in  the 
fourteenth  annual  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  which 


THE  PATHFINDERS  303 

claims  to  give  distances,  times  and  direction  collated  from 
all  the  accounts.  Herrera,  who  accompanied  the  expedi- 
tion, speaks  of  finding  a  river  of  more  water  and  more 
population  than  others  before  passed,  and  Coronado,  in  a 
letter  to  the  king,  said  that  after  a  journey  of  seventy- 
seven  days,  in  which  he  traveled  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
leagues  from  Mexico,  he  came  to  the  province  called 
Quivii'a.  "Where  I  reached  it,  it  is  in  the  fortieth  degree. " ' 
(Page  582.)  "After  nine  days  march  I  reached  some 
plains,  so  vast  that  I  did  not  find  their  limit  anywhere 
that  I  went,  although  I  traveled  over  them  for  more  than 
three  hundred  leagues".    (Page  580.) 

Law's  map  of  1721  indicates  that  the  French  had  then 
explored  the  Missouri  river  as  far  north  as  Pierre,  South 
Dakota;  but  the  records  of  their  explorations  are  very 
meager  and  indefinite.  It  is  well  known  that  the  elder 
Verendrye  reached  the  Missouri  river  as  early  as  1738. 
The  map  issued  by  the  department  of  the  interior  indicates 
that  the  Verendrye  brothers,  sons  of  the  above,  crossed  the 
Canada  line  in  1743,  in  an  effort  to  find  the  western  ocean, 
and  pursued  a  westerly  course  to  a  point  near  the  later  site 
of  Fort  Benton,  Montana,  and  then  turned  south  and  east 
to  the  region  of  the  Bad  Lands,  now  in  Wyoming,  where 
they  gave  up  the  search  and  turned  backward. - 

In  1769  Portalo,  entering  the  territory  of  California 
below  San  Diego,  traveled  through  the  rich  valleys  of  the 
Pacific  slope  to  the  region  of  San  Francisco.^ 

In  1776-77,  Dominguez  and  Escalente  were  exploring 
some  of  the  more  rugged  sections  of  our  mountain  regions. 

1  See  F.  W.  Hodge's  statement,  footnote  p.  17,  infra,  that  the  fortieth 
degree  of  latitude  in  question  was  at  that  time  equivalent  to  the  thirty- 
eighth  degree. — Ed. 

-  For  a  sketch  of  these  expeditions  see  "French  Pathfinders"  (Johnson) 
pp.  316-18;  also  South  Dakota  Historical  Collections,  v.  2,  pt.  1,  pp.  115, 
118,  119.— Ed. 

3  See  Early  Western  Travels,  v.  18,  p.  283,  note,  for  an  account  of 
Caspar  de  Portalo's  expedition. — Ed. 


304     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Starting  from  Santa  Fe  they  traveled  westward  through 
northern  Arizona  to  a  point  in  or  near  the  southeastern 
corner  of  Nevada  and  thence  in  a  northeastern  course 
through  the  mountainous  regions  of  southern  Utah  and 
on  to  a  point  nearly  as  far  north  as  the  south  line  of  Wyoming, 
thence  east  and  southeast  through  portions  of  Colorado 
and  back  into  New  Mexico.^ 

The  Commercial  Company,  organized  for  the  discovery 
of  the  nations  of  the  Upper  Missouri,  in  its  three  expeditions 
led  by  Clanmorgan  and  James  Mackay  in  1794-5,  made 
extensive  surveys  of  the  Missouri  river  and  tributaries  as 
far  north  as  the  forty-seventh  degree,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bismarck,  North  Dakota.^ 

All  these  explorers  by  land  added  to  the  incentives  of 
later  brave  spirits  to  make  history  for  our  western  civiliza- 
tion. Add  to  these  those  who  sailed  our  western  waters 
following  the  Pacific  coast  and  leaving  no  trail  upon  the 
trackless  deep,  but  leaving  impressions  never  to  be  ob- 
literated from  the  mind  by  their  reports  of  these  wonderful 
regions  and  we  have  a  background  for  our  history  as  rich 
and  varied  as  any  country  on  the  globe. 

These,  all  of  the  eighteenth  century,  may  be  classed 
with  the  dreamers  whose  discoveries  form  our  wonderful 
background  of  history;  and  yet,  with  few  exceptions,  they 
accomplished  nothing  practical  towards  the  building  up  of 
civilization,  and  their  work  has  perished,  except  so  far  as 


*  See  History  of  Utah  (Bancroft),  pp.  8-18.  According  to  an  accom- 
panying map,  the  route  of  the  explorers  extended  no  farther  north  than 
Utah  Lake. — Ed. 

5  Zeno  Trudeau,  lieutenant-governor  of  Upper  Louisiana,  urged  the 
organization  of  the  Spanish  Commercial  Company  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
covery and  trade  on  the  upper  Missouri.  James  Mackay  was  a  member  of 
an  expedition  which  left  St.  Louis  in  August,  1795,  under  the  aiispices  of 
the  company,  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific  ocean  being  one  of  its  objects. 
(History  of  Missouri  (Houck),  v.  2,  pp.  58,  70-71);  also  Annals  of  St. 
Louis  1804-1821  (Billon),  p.  9;  South  Dakota  Historical  Collections,  v.  1, 
p.  373;  ibid.,  v.  3,  p.  379.— Ed. 


THE  PATHFINDERS  305 

they  have  served  as  examples  for  the  practical  generation 
following.  With  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
came  what  we  might  call  the  semi-practical  dreamers; 
for,  though  largely  controlled  by  dreams  of  gold  and 
adventure,  these  expeditions  contained  many  practical  men 
who,  seeing  the  value  of  the  rich  soils  and  varied  resources 
of  the  country,  dropped  out  by  the  way,  forming  colonies 
and  settlements  which  became  the  basis  of  our  practical 
western  civilization. 

The  Mormons  are  unique,  not  alone  because  of  their 
peculiar  doctrine,  which  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper 
to  discuss,  but  because  it  was  not  the  love  of  gold,  glory 
or  adventure  that  caused  them  to  join  the  company  of 
pathfinders.  Passing  over  their  advent  into  the  west — into 
Missouri  in  1831 — their  finding  uncongenial  surroundings 
there  and  subsequently  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  the 
murder  of  their  leading  men  in  June,  1844,  we  find  they 
became  pathfinders  in  their  search  for  a  location  where  they 
could  dwell  in  peace.  Their  advent  into  the  world  was 
received  much  as  was  the  infant's  by  its  elder  brother  who 
was  led  into  the  mother's  room  to  greet  the  new  arrival. 
He  looked  at  it  for  a  few  minutes  then  exclaimed:  "We 
didn't  need  that!"  But  room  had  to  be  made  for  the 
little  fellow  whether  he  was  needed  or  not.  So  the  Mormons, 
whether  needed  and  worthy  or  not,  they  have  made  their 
place  in  history,  so  that  now,  neither  the  history  of  our 
western  civilization,  nor  the  history  of  the  United  States 
nor  of  the  world  can  be  written  without  recognizing  them. 

In  August,  1844,  a  company  of  these  people  under  the 
leadership  of  James  Emmett  left  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  and, 
following  up  the  courses  of  the  Mississippi  and  Iowa  rivers, 
wintered  in  the  vicinity  of  State  Center,  Iowa.  The  next 
spring,  over  the  then  trackless  prairies  of  Iowa,  they  pro- 
ceeded westward  into  what  is  now  South  Dakota  until 
their  progress  was  impeded  by  the  swollen  condition  of  the 

21 


306     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Missouri  and  Dakota  rivers,  and  so  the  succeeding  winter 
was  spent  in  Vermillion.  In  the  spring  of  1846  they  sent 
emissaries  back  to  Nauvoo  who  returned  with  the  intelli- 
gence that  the  main  body  was  on  itsway  westward  and  would 
cross  the  Missouri  river  somewhere  about  Sarpy's  old 
trading  point.  This  caused  them  to  move  again,  this  time 
southward,  following  the  course  of  the  Missouri  river,  I 
think  on  the  east  side,  until  they  made  a  junction  with  the 
main  body  in  the  vicinity  of  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

In  1845  another  colony  of  these  people,  under  Lyman 
Wight,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  leaving  Black  River, 
Wisconsin,  a  hundred  miles  above  Prairie  du  Chien,  drifted 
down  the  river  on  rafts  of  lumber  to  a  point  near  Daven- 
port, Iowa,  and,  there  exchanging  lumber  for  outfits,  passed 
through  Iowa  in  a  southwest  direction,  through  northwest 
Missouri,  Kansas  and  Indian  Territory  into  Texas,  where 
they  founded  settlements  in  Travis,  Gillespie,  Burnet  and 
Bandera  counties. 

The  general  exodus  from  Nauvoo  began  early  in  1846 
and  passed  through  the  southern  counties  of  Iowa,  making 
settlements  in  Decatur  and  Union  counties,  and  established 
Winter  Quarters  on  what  is  now  the  site  of  Florence, 
Nebraska,  just  above  Omaha. 

A  vanguard  was  formed  of  the  James  Emmett  company, 
before  mentioned,  and  a  company  under  Bishop  George 
Miller.  On  July  7, 1846,  this  vanguard  crossed  the  Missouri 
river  with  instructions  to  winter  near  Grand  Island  on  the 
Platte  river,  but  at  the  Pawnee  village  below  Fremont 
they  were  visited  by  some  Ponka  chiefs  who  told  them  of 
good  range  for  cattle  on  the  Running  Water,  or  Niobrara 
river.  Bishop  Miller,  under  the  impression  that  the  Ponka 
knew  more  about  the  country  than  Brigham  Young,  turned 
northward  and  wintered  in  the  lands  of  the  Ponka.  In  the 
spring  of  1847  they  returned  to  Winter  Quarters,  where 
James  Emmett  and  his  followers  became  identified  with  the 


THE  PATHFINDERS  307 

main  exodus  to  the  west,  while  George  Miller  disagreed 
with  the  constituted  authorities  and  proceeded  south  to 
join  the  Lyman  Wight  colony  in  Texas.  The  company 
under  the  leadership  of  Brigham  Young,  as  is  well  known, 
followed  up  the  north  side  of  the  Platte  river  which  they 
crossed  at  Fort  Laramie  and  struck  the  Oregon  Trail, 
following  it  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  From  the  crossing 
of  the  Loup  to  Fort  Laramie,  they  made  their  own  road, 
though  from  a  point  just  west  of  the  east  line  of  Deuel 
county,  Nebraska,  they  paralleled  the  Oregon  Trail  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river. 

All  along  the  path  of  those  Mormon  parties  through 
Iowa  and  Nebraska  there  were  left  men  who  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  administration  of  the  leaders.  These 
formed  the  nucleus  of  a  protesting  organization  and  made 
homes  on  what  was  then  esteemed  the  desert,  and  also 
formed  the  beginning  of  many  a  pioneer  settlement  which 
turned  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  virgin  soil.  I 
mention  the  Mormons  particularly  because  the  public  is 
less  acquainted  with  them  than  with  others.  Not  from  the 
Mormons  alone,  but  from  many  of  these  pioneer  companies 
of  travelers  have  come  the  sturdy  sons  of  toil.  They  have 
learned  that  there  is  more  profit  in  the  golden  harvest 
than  in  the  yellow  dust  for  which  the  dreamer  sought.  To 
them  we  are  indebted  for  the  existence  of  our  prosperous 
cities  and  towns,  our  smiling  fields  and  richly  laden  orchards. 

Let  us  mark  the  trails  of  the  dreamer  so  that  we  can 
follow  with  unerring  certainty  the  footprints  made  on  the 
old  Spanish,  Santa  Fe,  Oregon  and  other  trails,  while  the 
more  splendid  monument  of  western  civilization  shall 
commemorate  the  deeds  of  the  practical  men  who  built 
our  factories,  our  farms,  our  railroads,  our  churches,  our 
schools,  colleges,  universities,  and  other  evidences  of 
advancing  civilization. 


AN  INTERESTING  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT 
By  Albert  Watkins 

Below  is  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  I  recently  found  in 
the  collections  of  the  Historical  Society  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa.  Thomas  B.  Cuming  is  still  remembered  by  some  of 
the  oldest  residents  of  Nebraska  as  the  first  secretary  of 
the  territory  and  the  first  real  governor.  Governor  Burt 
died  on  the  18th  of  October,  1854,  after  having  held  the 
office  nominally  for  two  days  only,  when  Secretary  Cuming 
succeeded  him  according  to  a  provision  of  the  organic  law, 
as  acting  governor.  He  continued  in  that  office  until  the 
appointment  of  Governor  Izard,  February  20,  1855.  The 
designation  of  Omaha  as  the  first  capital  of  the  territory- 
was  directly  due  to  Acting  Governor  Cuming's  Napoleonic 
management. 

Governor  Cuming's  wife  was  a  sister  of  the  late  Frank 
Murphy  of  Omaha. 


Council  Bluff  City 
Nov.  30,  -54 
Dear  Genl. 

The  county  named  after  you  in  this  territory  extends 
from  a  point  60  miles  west  of  the  Missouri  to  the  west 
boundary  of  U.  S.  lands  (the  101°  west  longitude)  bounded 
north  by  the  Platte  river,  &  south  by  the  boundary  between 
Kansas  &  Nebraska.  It  has  the  largest  area  of  any  county 
in  the  territory,  and  with  the  others  is  subject  to  alteration 
or  abrogation  by  the  Legislature. 

I  shall  send  you,  before  long,  a  more  substantial  token 
of  regard,  in  the  shape  of  a  certificate  of  stock  in  the  future 

(308) 


AN  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENT  309 

Capitol — a  slight  memento  of  a  friendship  whose  expression, 
with  me,  to  all  my  friends,  is  moderateed  only  by  circum- 
stances. 

In  haste,  Truly  yrs  — 
(Hon.  Geo.  W.  Jones)  T.  B.  Cuming 


George  W.  Jones,  to  whom  the  letter  is  addressed,  was 
a  United  States  senator  from  Iowa  at  the  time  in  question. 
The  other  senator  from  Iowa  was  Augustus  C.  Dodge,  and 
Bemhart  Henn  was  the  member  of  the  House  of  Repres- 
entatives from  the  Council  Bluffs  district.  These  three 
were  perhaps  the  most  active  lieutenants  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  in  pushing  through  the  bill  for  the  territorial 
organization  of  Nebraska,  and  doubtless  Cuming  was  under 
obligations  to  his  "dear  friend"  Jones  for  his  appointment 
as  secretary  of  the  territory. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  1854,  Acting  Governor 
Cuming  issued  an  order  for  the  organization  of  Jones 
county,  but,  presumably,  because  it  was  ascertained  that 
there  were  no  people  there  to  organize,  the  order  was  not 
executed.  On  the  26th  of  January,  1856,  the  legislature 
authorized  the  organization  of  Jones  county,  but  the 
authority  was  not  acted  upon  until  September  28,  1864. 
On  the  18th  of  Februaiy,  1867,  Jones  county  was  added  to 
Jefferson  county  by  an  act  of  the  legislature.  Jones  county 
was  coextensive  with  the  present  Jefferson  county.  The 
original  Jefferson  county  is  now  Thayer  county. 

So  long  as,  according  to  vicious  custom,  our  counties 
commonly  had  to  be  named  after  politicians,  we  should  all 
be  grateful,  I  think,  that  the  name  of  a  politician  of  the 
very  first  class  was  in  this  case  substituted  for  that  of  a 
politician  of  the  second  class;  but  the  judicious  will  con- 
tinue indefinitely  to  grieve  that  the  many  available  and 
musical  local  names,  Indian  and  others,  should  have  been 
neglected  for  the  politician  preference  at  all. 


MEMORABILIA— GEN.  G.  M.  DODGE 
By  Albert  Watkins 

On  the  30th  day  of  December,  1909,  I  interviewed 
General  Grenville  M.  Dodge  at  his  home  in  Council  Bluffs, 
Iowa.  Though  seventy-nine  years  of  age,  he  was  physically 
vigorous  and  his  memory  seemed  to  me  to  be  remarkably 
clear.  For  an  account  of  his  western  Indian  campaigns  in 
1864  and  1865  he  referred  me  to  Reports  of  Indian  Wars 
of  1865,  War  of  the  Rebellion,  vol.  48,  pts.  1  and  2,— serial 
Nos.  101-102.  General  Dodge  engaged  actively  in  the 
project  of  constructing  a  Pacific  railroad  for  as  much  as 
ten  years  before  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1862,  which  pro- 
vided for  the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad.  He  is 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  movements,  political  or 
otherwise,  toward  that  great  purpose.  He  is  positively  of 
the  opinion  that  no  well  defined  railroad  interest  or  organiza- 
tion, prospective  or  otherwise,  undertook  to  influence  or 
encourage  Stephen  A.  Douglas  or  other  political  leaders  in 
their  struggle  for  procuring  the  territorial  organization  of 
Nebraska.  He  says  that  there  was  no  such  movement 
sufficiently  well  defined  before  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  to  warrant  any  effort  toward  obtaining 
political  influence  of  the  kind  in  question.  This  opinion  of 
General  Dodge  corresponds  with  that  which  I  have  always 
held. 

In  his  Indian  campaign  of  December,  1864,  General 
Dodge  opened  the  overland  route  across  the  plains  which 
had  been  closed  by  the  hostile  Indians.  The  Arapaho, 
Cheyenne  and  Sioux  were  the  hostile  tribes,  that  first 
named  being  the  fiercest  and  most  aggressive.     General 

(310) 


MEMORABILIA,  GRENVILLE  M.  DODGE      311 

Dodge  thinks  that  the  peace  policy  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, which  withdrew  his  army  from  the  Indian  campaign 
in  1865  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  good  prospect  of  soon 
subduing  the  Indians  and  in  that  way  establishing  lasting 
peace,  was  ill-advised  and  wrong,  and  that  the  great  loss 
of  property  and  life,  culminating  in  the  Custer  massacre, 
was  the  legitimate  fruit  of  that  mistaken  policy.  According 
to  the  attitude  of  the  local  newspapers  at  the  time,  the 
peace  policy  was  generally  questioned  or  condemned  by 
the  people  of  the  plains  country. 

During  this  Indian  campaign  General  Dodge  named 
Fort  Caspar,  Wyoming,  after  Lieutenant  Caspar  Collins 
when  he  was  killed  by  Indians,  July  27, 1865. ^  Fort  Caspar 
was  a  stockade  fortification  at  the  Platte  bridge,  a  low, 
floating  structure,  built  by  the  soldiers  of  his  army.  It  was 
situated  at,  or  near,  the  point  where  the  Mormons  crossed 
the  North  Platte  river  on  their  way  to  Salt  Lake  City. 

In  1865  General  Dodge  and  his  brother,  Nathan  P. 
Dodge,  who  also  resided  at  Council  Bluffs,  lived  in  a  cabin 
on  the  Elkhorn  river  about  six  miles  above  the  present 
town  of  Elkhorn,  which  is  a  station  on  the  Union  Pacific 
railroad.  Their  farm  or  ranch  lay  alongside  the  California 
trail. 

In  1853  General  Dodge  assisted  Peter  A.  Dey  in  running 
the  line  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri — now  called  the 
Rock  Island — railroad.  In  1854  he  threw  his  influence 
in  favor  of  the  Mosquito  creek  entrance  to  the  valley  of  the 
Missouri  river  instead  of  the  Pigeon  creek  route.  The 
former  route  was  favored  by  Cook  and  Sargent,  capitalists, 
of  Davenport,  Iowa,  who  were  backing  the  enterprise. 
They  had  interests  at  Florence,  Nebraska,  and  afterwai'd 


1  Coutant's  History  of  Wyoming,  v.  1,  p.  478,  copies  the  order  of  Major 
General  John  Pope,  dated  November  21,  1865,  naming  "the  military  post 
situated  at  Platte  river  bridge,  between  Deer  and  Rock  creeks,"  Fort 
Caspar. 


312     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

owned  the  "wild  cat"  bank  at  that  place.  They  intended 
that  the  road  should  eventually  cross  the  river  there;  but 
General  Dodge's  influence  prevailed,  and  the  road  came 
into  Council  Bluffs,  and  its  trains  now  cross  to  Omaha  as  a 
result  of  his  decision. 

General  Dodge  said  that  the  claim,  much  exploited 
at  the  time,  that  the  rock  bottom  of  the  river  at  Florence 
made  a  much  easier  and  less  expensive  place  for  a  railroad 
bridge  was  entirely  without  foundation  in  fact,  because, 
as  he  ascertained,  the  alleged  rock  bottom  was  not  stable 
enough  to  maintain  the  weight  of  a  bridge  with  a  current 
of  water  flowing  under  the  stratum  of  rock.  General  Dodge 
also  contends  that  there  was  no  virtue  in  the  same  condition 
in  favor  of  a  crossing  at  Bellevue;  that  the  only  practical 
advantage  of  the  rock  bottom  was  to  tend  to  prevent  the 
shifting  of  the  current  at  those  places.^ 

General  Dodge  made  the  first  reconnoissance  for  the 
discovery  of  a  line  for  the  Pacific  railroad  west  of  the 
Missouri  river.  At  the  instance  of  Henry  Farnham,  after 
whom  Farnham  street,  Omaha,  was  named,  General  Dodge 
went  up  the  Platte  Valley  in  1861  on  the  business  in  question. 
During  his  Indian  campaign  of  1865-66  he  continued 
his  investigations  for  the  route  for  a  Pacific  railroad.  In 
1864  he  discovered  the  west  side  of  the  pass  through  the 
Rocky  mountains,  which  the  Union  Pacific  subsequently 
followed,  and  in  1865  he  found  the  pass  on  this  side.  The 
grade  of  this  passage  was  much  more  favorable  than  that 
of  Cheyenne  pass,  about  twenty  miles  above,  or  of  the 
South  pass.  He  named  the  new  passage  way  "Sherman 
Pass"  and  had  it  accurately  surveyed  in  1866.  His  dis- 
covery of  that  route  was  not  made  known  until  the  year 
last  named. 


2  Professor  Barbour,  head  geologist  University  of  Nebraska,  is  very 
skeptical  as  to  this  statement  that  the  rock  bottom  was  not  stable  and 
that  water  flowed  just  below  it. 


MEMORABILIA,  GRENVILLE  M.  DODGE      313 

General  Dodge  says  that  at  the  time  he  and  his  brother 
lived  on  their  ranch  on  the  Elkhorn  the  Pawnee  Loup  had 
a  regular  village  on  the  Beaver,  near  the  place  where  the 
town  of  Genoa  was  afterward  built.  His  brother,  Nathan 
P.  Dodge,  had  some  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  general's 
memory  upon  this  point.  He  himself  supposed  that  the 
Pawnee  were  all  settled  at  the  village  near  Fremont. 


A  STUDY  IN  THE  ETHNOBOTANY  OF  THE 
OMAHA  INDIANS 

By  Melvin  Randolph  Gilmore,  M.  A. 

[A  thesis  submitted  by  Mr.  Gilmore  to  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska  as  part  requirement  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts — June, 
1909.] 

This  paper  is  intended  to  be  a  preliminary  report  of 
plants  native  to  Nebraska,  used  in  any  way  by  the  indigenous 
population  of  our  state,  in  particular  the  people  of  the  Omaha 
tribe;  of  the  uses  made  of  the  native  plants,  methods  of 
gathering  and  preparing,  together  with  folk-notice  of  any 
plants  not  used;  and  also  of  native  or  introduced  plants 
cultivated  by  the  people  before  the  advent  of  the  white 
man.  My  purpose  is  to  demonstrate  the  natural  resources 
of  our  state  and  the  resourcefulness  of  her  native  people. 
It  may  also  serve  to  suggest  the  domestication  of  plants 
which  might  be  valuable  acquisitions  to  our  gardens  and 
orchards  and  which  have  the  important  property  of  being 
already  adjusted  to  the  conditions  of  our  soil  and  climate. 

It  would  be  a  most  interesting  and  instructive  exercise 
to  draw  a  mental  picture  of  the  economic  conditions  of  this 
region  before  there  came  the  varied  and  abundant  crops  of 
introduced  cereals,  vegetables  and  fruits  which  may  be 
cultivated  anywhere  in  our  latitude,  together  with  the  great 
variety  of  products  which  our  greatly  improved  transporta- 
tion facilities  bring  to  our  hand  daily  from  the  most  distant 
places  in  all  zones.  We  can  scarcely  imagine  what  the 
conditions  of  sustenance  would  be  here  if  everything  of 
origin  foreign  to  Nebraska  were  eliminated. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  preserve,  so  far  as  possible,  a 
knowledge  of  the  uses  of  plants  native  to  our  soil,  in  a  stage 

(314) 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         315 

of  culture  and  a  set  of  conditions  now  vanished  forever 
from  the  hills  and  valleys  and  plains  of  our  state.  The 
prompt  prosecution  of  this  work  and  its  early  accomplish- 
ment are  very  important  and  much  to  be  desired,  for  the 
reason  that  the  old  people  who  alone  possess  this  knowledge 
are  year  by  year  becoming  fewer  in  number,  and  before 
long  will  all  be  gone,  and  with  them,  unless  it  be  now 
recorded,  will  pass  away  all  certain  knowledge  of  the  old- 
time  lore.  For  the  young  people's  time  and  attention  are 
occupied  in  the  schools  of  the  white  man  and  in  learning 
his  arts  and  in  the  practice  of  the  same  in  making  their  way 
and  filling  their  places  as  fellow  citizens,  neighbors  and 
competitors  with  the  white  man,  so  that  they  have  neither 
time,  opportunity  nor  inclination  to  learn  the  things  per- 
taining to  a  former  time  and  conditions  very  different  and 
now  superseded.  But,  much  as  has  been  lost  already,  a 
vast  amount  of  information  is  still  available  which  can  now 
be  easily  obtained  by  one  who  is  in  the  confidence  of  the 
Indians,  but  which  will  soon  be  utterly  lost  to  science 
unless  prompt  action  be  taken  to  preserve  it. 

I  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  information  as  to  the  uses 
of  plants  in  the  industries  and  arts,  which  at  first  seems 
strange,  but  will  not  seem  so  when  we  consider  that  for 
more  than  half  a  century  the  Omaha  have  been  limited  to 
the  bounds  of  their  reservation — Thurston  county,  Ne- 
braska— and  that  for  that  period  or  longer  their  industries 
have  been  decadent  and  their  products  have  been  replaced 
by  those  of  the  white  man.  On  the  other  hand,  I  was 
somewhat  surprised  at  the  store  of  information  that  is  to 
be  had  as  to  the  medical  uses  of  plants;  still  perhaps  that 
is  not  to  be  counted  strange  when  we  take  note  that  among 
ourselves  folk-remedies  persist  long  after  the  rise  of  medical 
science. 

In  my  endeavor  to  obtain  and  record  items  of  informa- 
tion on  this  subject  I  have  at  all  times  met  the  most  courteous 


316     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

treatment  on  the  part  of  all  Omaha  whom  I  interrogated, 
and  with  willing  response  to  the  full  extent  of  their  ability 
to  serve  my  needs.  All  members  of  the  tribe  with  whom 
I  have  come  in  contact  have  been  kind,  generous  and 
patient  in  all  efforts  to  aid  me  in  my  work,  whether  by 
directly  imparting  knowledge  when  they  were  able,  or  by 
referring  me  to  those  who  could  give  certain  information, 
by  interpreting  for  me  in  talking  with  old  people  who  could 
not  speak  English,  by  inviting  me  to  ceremonials  of  their 
secret  societies,  to  social  gatherings;  and  in  all  other  ways 
I  was  treated  with  uniform  courtesy  and  hospitality.  Among 
the  many  to  whom  I  owe  my  thanks  I  would  especially 
mention  Mrs.  Susan  La  Flesche-Picotte,  M.  D.,  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Walter  Diddock,  of  Walthill,  Nebraska,  and  their 
mother,  Mrs.  Mary  La  Flesche.  Mrs.  La  Flesche  is  the 
widow  of  Joseph  La  Flesche  or  Iron  Eye  (I^SHTA-MA^'ZA), 
the  last  head  chief  of  the  Omaha.  I  owe  much  also  to  Mr. 
Francis  La  Flesche,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  his  brother, 
Mr.  Carey  La  Flesche,  sons  of  Joseph  La  Flesche,  to  Mr. 
Alfred  Blackbird,  a  great-grandson  of  Black  Bird  {WASH- 
INGA-SABE),  who  was  head  chief  of  the  Omaha  about 
one  hundred  years  ago.  Mr.  Cyrus  Blackbird  {TCy^'WA- 
GAHE-ZHINGA,  Little  Village  Maker),  in  recognition  of 
my  work,  did  me  the  honor  to  confer  upon  me  the  name 
of  his  great  ancestor,  WAZHINGA-SABE.  I  am  much 
indebted  also  to  Mr.  George  Miller,  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Noah 
La  Flesche,  to  WAJAPA,  his  son,  Francis  Fremont,  and 
daughter.  Miss  Nettie  Fremont,  and  others  of  the  tribe. 
The  Omaha  are  a  tribe  of  the  great  Siouan  stock  which 
includes  the  confederacy  of  the  ten  tribes  of  the  Sioux 
nation,  and  in  addition  to  these  the  tribes  of  the  Assiniboin, 
Omaha,  Ponka,  Osage,  Kansa,  Kwapa,  Iowa,  Oto,  Crow, 
Missouri,  Minetari,  Winnebago,  Hidatsa,  Tutelo,  Biloxi, 
Catawba,  and  others.  The  territorial  seat  of  the  Omaha 
was  comprised  within  the  region  bounded  on  the  north 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS        317 

by  the  NIOBRARA  (Spreading  water),  on  the  east  by  the 
NISHUDE  (Smoky  Water,  the  Missouri  River),  on  the 
south  by  the  NEBRASKA  (Flat-water  or  Flat  River),  which 
we  call  the  Platte,  and  on  the  west  by  the  stream  which 
we  call  Shell  creek.  Their  neighbors  on  the  west  were  the 
Pawnee  nation  with  whom  they  were  in  political  alliance 
although  of  an  alien  stock.  To  the  south  their  neighbors 
were  of  their  own  stock,  the  Oto,  Osage  and  Missouri,  while 
to  the  east  were  their  kinsmen,  the  Iowa. 

It  is  commonly  thought  that  the  aborigines  of  America 
subsisted  almost  wholly  or  very  largely  upon  the  products 
of  the  chase,  but  this  is  far  from  true,  for  many  of  the 
tribes  were  essentially  agricultural.  This  is  the  more 
remarkable  when  we  consider  that  these  peoples  passed,  or 
were  passing,  directly  from  the  hunter  stage  to  the  agri- 
cultural stage  without  coming  by  way  of  the  commonly 
intermediate  pastoral  stage.  And  even  the  non-agricultural 
tribes  made  extensive  use  of  wild  seeds,  fruits,  berries,  roots, 
and  other  vegetable  products,  either  separately  or  in  com- 
binations, with  or  without  meats,  fish  or  fowl. 

Now,  taking  up  the  particular  uses  of  plants  in  domestic 
arts,  I  would  mention  first  Cornus  asperifolia,  MA^SA- 
HTE-HI.^  The  straight  shoots  were  used  for  arrow  shafts 
as  indicated  by  the  name  MA^SA,  arrow;  HTE,  real; 
HI,  plant.  Fraxinus  viridis,  T ASHIN A^GA-HI ,  was 
also  used  for  arrow  shafts  and  for  bows.    Another  wood 


1 1  have  tried  to  render  the  sounds  in  the  Omaha  words  approximately 
by  the  following  principles: 

1.  All  vowels  to  be  given  their  sounds  as  in  continental  languages. 

2,  The  ^  above  the  line,  e.  g.,  MA^DE,  has  a  vanishing  sound, 
somewhat  like  the  French  n. 

,3.     A  lengthened  vowel  is  shown  by  doubling,  e.  g.,  BUUDE. 

4.  A  consonant  sound  approximating  the  German  ch  or  Greek  X 
is  shown  by  H,  e.  g.,  H.TE. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  word  HI  recurs  repeatedly  in  combinations, 
as  HAZI-HI,  TASPA^-HI.  The  word  signifies  plant.  It  is  a  general 
term  covering  herbs,  shrubs,  trees  or  vines. 


318     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

used  for  bows  was  Toxylon  pomiferum,  ZHO^-PAHIDHA- 
DHA,  which  was  imported  by  trade  with  tribes  to  the 
southward.  For  fish  weirs  several  species  of  Salix  were 
used.  Scirpus  lacustris,  SA-HI,  was  used  for  matting. 
Baskets  were  made  from  Salix  fluviatilis  and  S.  luteoseria. 
Ulmus  americana  and  Quercus  spp.  were  used  for  mortars 
for  corn,  a  section  of  the  trunk  having  been  hollowed  out 
for  the  purpose  by  fire.  Pipestems  were  made  from  Frax- 
inus  viridis,  the  drilling  being  done  by  means  of  a  soft  stick 
dipped  in  water  and  sharp  sand  and  twirled  by  hand.  Pipe- 
stems,  arrow  shafts,  bows  and  other  implements  and 
utensils  of  wood  were  smoothed  and  polished  by  rubbing 
with  Equisetum  spp.yMA^'DE-IDHE-SHNAHA;  MA^DE, 
bow;   IDHE-SHNAHA,  to  smooth. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  psychological  study  to 
account  for  the  sacred  or  mystic  character  ascribed  to 
certain  plants  used  as  ceremonial  agents. 

Of  such  I  mention  first  Lophophora  williamsii  Coult. 
{Echinocactus  williamsii  Lem.)  This  is  not  a  native  of 
Nebraska  and  was  not  anciently  used  in  Nebraska,  but  its 
use  has  in  modern  time  been  introduced  from  the  southern- 
tribes  and  ultimately  from  Mexico,  where  it  was  known 
and  used  immemorially.  This  is  what  has  come  to  be 
commonly  called  the  ''mescal".  The  mescal  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Omaha  tribe  in  the  winter  of  1906-7  by  an 
Omaha  returning  from  a  visit  to  the  Oto  in  Oklahoma.  He 
had  been  much  addicted  to  the  use  of  alcoholics  and  was 
told  by  an  Oto  that  this  plant  and  the  religious  cult  con- 
nected therewith  would  be  a  cure.  On  his  return  he  sought 
the  advice  and  help  of  the  leader  of  the  mescal  society  in 
the  Winnebago  tribe,  the  Winnebago  being  neighbors  of 
the  Omaha  on  a  contiguous  reservation.  These  men  and 
a  few  others  of  the  Omaha  who  also  suffered  from  alcoholism 
formed  a  society  which  has  increased  in  numbers  and 
influence  against  much  opposition  till  it  includes  more  than 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS        319 

half  of  the  tribe.  The  mescal  plant  and  its  cult  appeal 
strongly  to  the  Indian's  sense  of  the  mysterious  and  occult, 
and  his  appreciation  of  ceremonialism  and  symbolism.  The 
Indian  mind,  being  in  that  psychic  stage  which  peoples  all 
natural  objects  with  spirits,  quite  naturally  attributes  to 
the  mescal  plant  most  wonderful  properties  and  powers. 
As  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  minds  have  found  it  possible  to 
conceive  that  deity  may  be  incarnated  in  an  animal — in  a 
human  body,  so  to  the  Indian  mind  it  seems  just  as  reason- 
able to  conceive  that  deity  may  dwell  in  a  plant  body.  So 
he  pays  it  divine  honors  and  makes  prayers  to,  or  in  con- 
nection with  it  and  eats  it  or  drinks  a  decoction  of  it  in 
order  to  appropriate  the  divine  spirit,  to  induce  the  good, 
and  exorcise  the  evil,  making  its  use  analogous  to  the 
Christian  use  of  bread  and  wine  in  the  eucharist. 

James  Mooney  says:     "The  greatest  of  the  Kiowa 

gods  is  the  sun Next  to  the  sun  the  buffalo  and  the 

'seni'  or  peyote  plant  claim  reverence,  and  these  may  be 
reduced  to  the  same  analysis,  as  the  buffalo  bull  in  his 
strength  and  majesty  is  regarded  as  the  animal  symbol  of 
the  sun,  while  the  peyote,  with  its  circular  disk  and  its 
bright  center,  surrounded  by  white  spots  or  rays,  is  its 
vegetal  representative."  ^  The  same  author  in  an  article  on 
"The  Mescal  Plant  and  Ceremony",  says: 

"The  traders  call  it  mescal  ....  The  local  Mexican 
name  upon  the  Rio  Grande  is  peyote,  or  pellote,  from  the 
old  Aztec  name,  peyotl.'  The  u^e  of  the  plant  for  medical 
and  religious  purposes  is  probably  as  ancient  as  the  Indian 
occupancy  of  the  region  over  which  it  grows.  The  cere- 
mony lasts  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours,  beginning  about 
nine  or  ten  o'clock  and  lasting  sometimes  till  nearly  noon 
the  next  day.  The  worshippers  sit  in  a  circle  around  the 
inside  of  the  sacred  tipi,  with  a  blazing  fire  in  the  center. 


2  Calendar  History  of  the  Kiowa  Indians,  17th  Annual  Report  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology,  p.  237. 

3  Therapeutic  Gazette,  Detroit,  January,  1896,  p.  7. 


320     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  exercises  open  with  a  prayer  by  the  leader  who  then 
hands  to  each  man  four  mescals  which  he  takes  and  eats 
in  quick  succession,  first  plucking  out  the  small  tuft  of 
down  from  the  center.  After  this  first  round,  the  leader 
takes  the  rattle  while  his  assistant  takes  the  drum,  and 
together  they  sing  the  first  song  four  times,  at  the  same 
time  beating  the  drum  and  shaking  the  rattle.  The  drum 
and  rattle  are  then  handed  to  the  next  two,  and  so  the  song 
goes  on  round  the  circle.  I  know  from  experience  that  the 
mescal  is  a  powerful  stimulant  and  enables  one  to  endure 
great  physical  strains  without  injurious  reactions,  in  which 
it  seems  to  differ  from  all  other  known  stimulants." 

In  Merck's  Index,  1907,  p.  66,  I  find  this  account  of 
mescal: 

"Seed  of  Anhalonium  lewinii  {Lophophora  lewinii) — 
Habitat:  Mexico  and  southern  United  States.  Etymology: 
Greek,  4»ep£iv,  a  crest  or  tuft,  and  \6<f>o^  to  bear,  i.  e., 
tufted  or  crested.  'Mescale'  is  the  Mexican  name  for  the 
plant.  The  mescal  button  is  top  shaped  and  bears  a  ring 
of  leaves  bent  around  a  tuft  of  short  yellowish  white  filaments 
or  hairs  one-half  inch  in  diameter.  The  button  is  one  to 
one  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter,  one-fourth  inch  thick, 
with  convex  under  surface,  brittle  and  hard  when  dry,  but 
soft  when  moist,  very  bitter,  disagreeable  taste  and  peculiar 
disagreeable  odor. — Constit.  Anhalonine,  C12H15N03;  mes- 
caline, C11H17N03;  anhalinodine,  C12H15N03;  and  lopho- 
phorine,  C12H17N03.  Cardiac  and  respiratory  stimulant. — 
Uses:  Neurasth.,  hyster.,  insomn.,  angina  pect.,  and 
asthmatic  dysnea.  On  being  chewed  the  buttons  cause  a 
form  of  intoxication  accompanied  by  most  wonderful 
visions,  remarkably  beautiful  and  varied  kaleidoscopic 
changes,  and  a  sensation  of  increased  physical  ability,  the 
physical  and  psychic  functions  however  remaining  un- 
impaired." 

For  incense  Juniperus  virginiana,  MAZI-HI,  and 
Savastana  odorata,  PEZHE  ZONSTA,  have  been  of  im- 
memorial use.  Juniperus  was  used  on  the  hot  stones  in  the 
vapor  bath,  especially  in  purificatory  rites.  By  the 
" MA^'CHU'IDHE-EDHE"  (the  bear-favored,  i.  e.,  those 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         321 

whose  totemic  vision  had  been  the  bear)  the  cedar  branch 
was  used  as  a  badge  and  in  connection  with  their  sacred 
ceremonies.     J.  0.  Dorsey  says: 

"In  the  Osage  traditions  cedar  symboHzes  the  tree  of 
Hfe.  When  a  woman  is  initiated  into  the  secret  society  of 
the  Osages,  the  officiating  man  of  her  gens  gives  her  four 
sips  of  water,  symbohzing,  so  they  say,  the  river  flowing  by 
the  tree  of  hfe,  and  then  he  rubs  her  from  head  to  foot  with 
cedar  needles,  three  times  in  front,  three  times  at  her 
back,  and  three  times  on  each  side."  * 

Kroeber  says,  in  speaking  of  customs  in  connection 
with  death:  "Immediately  after  the  burial  the  relatives 
bathe  because  they  have  touched  the  corpse.  For  several 
nights  they  burn  cedar  leaves,  the  smoke  or  smell  of  which 
keeps  the  spirit  away."  *  George  A.  Dorsey,  writing  of  the 
sun  dance  ceremony,®  and  in  discussing  the  symbolism  of 
the  seven  trees  used  in  the  sun  dance  of  the  Arapaho,^  says 
of  the  cedar:  "It  is  always  green,  is  durable,  pleasing  to 
the  eye,  the  gift  of  God.  The  twigs  are  used  as  incense." 
Populous  sargentii,  MAA-ZHA^',  literally,  "cottonwood", 
was  used  for  the  sacred  pole  and  for  the  poles  of  the  "buffalo 
tent",  i.  e.,  the  temple  of  the  divine  powers  of  sustenance. 
It  should  be  said,  however,  that  use  was  not  confined  to 
the  species  sargentii,  for  any  poplar  was  used ;  but  sargentii 
is  common  in  the  territory  of  the  Omaha. 

Ritualistic  use  was  made  of  Artemisia  gnaphaloides 
especially,  and,  failing  that  species,  other  species  of  the 
same  genus  were  used.  It  is  commonly  associated  with 
sacred  things  and  in  rites  of  lustration  for  man  or  beast, 
as,  if  by  accident  a  man  should  touch  the  sacred  tent,  or  if 
a  horse  in  grazing  should  touch  it,  in  either  case  the  man 
or  the  horse  must  be  bathed  with  an  infusion  of  Artemisia, 


*  Siouan  Cults.,  p.  391. 

°  The  Arapaho,  p.  17. 

« Field-Columbian  Museum  Pub.  Anthrop.  Series,  May,  1903,  p.  300. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  121. 

22 


322     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

The  display  of  sprays  of  the  plant  would  indicate  the  sacred 
character  of  the  article  or  place  with  which  it  was  con- 
nected; thus  when  I  entered  the  tent  of  meeting  of  the 
Mescal  society  and  saw  the  ground  decked  with  a  covering 
of  the  plant  in  a  circle  about  the  fireplace  in  the  center, 
I  recognized  that  here  its  character  as  a  symbol  of  sacred- 
ness  had  been  transferred  to  the  paraphernalia  of  this  exotic 
cult.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  Hopi  tribe  a  similar 
meaning  was  attached  to  the  same  plant.  J.  W.  Fewkes 
says:  "A  sprig  of  this  plant  {Artemisia  frigida)  is  attached 
to  the  paho  or  prayer  emblem  and  is  regarded  as  efficacious 
in  petition  for  water."  ^  Juniperus  virginiana,  MAZI-HI; 
Savastana  odorata,  PEZHE-ZONSTA;  Populus  sargentii, 
MAA-ZHU'';  Zea  mays,  WAHABE;  Typha  latifolia, 
WAHABAGASKONDHE;  Fraxinus  viridis,  TASHINA^- 
GA-HI;  Salix  spp.,  THIHSPA^,  were  used  in  various  of 
the  old  time  rituals,  and  now  in  modern  time  Lophophora 
williamsii  has  been  used  as  has  already  been  described. 
Salix  spp.  was  used  in  the  ritual  of  mourning.  Young  men, 
friends  of  the  deceased  or  of  the  mourners,  on  the  day  of 
burial  appeared  before  the  lodge  as  the  funeral  procession 
was  about  to  start  for  the  grave  and,  having  incised  the 
left  forearm,  they  inserted  twigs  of  willow  down  which 
trickled  their  blood  as  a  token  of  their  sympathy  with  the 
living  while  they  sang  the  tribal  song  to  the  spirit,  a  song 
of  joyous  melody  intended  to  cheer  the  spirit  of  the  deceased 
as  he  entered  on  the  last  long  journey,    J.  0.  Dorsey  says: 

"The  Omaha  have  two  sacred  trees,  the  ash  and  the 
cedar.  The  ash  is  connected  with  the  beneficent  powers. 
Part  of  the  sacred  pole  of  the  Omaha  and  Ponka  was  made 
of  ash,  the  other  part  of  cottonwood.  The  stems  of  the 
*  WIN  IB  A  WAWA^\  or  'sacred  pipes  of  friendship',  are 


8  A   Contribution   to   Ethnobotany,   American   Anthropology,   v.   9, 
(1896),  p.  21. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         323 

made  of  ash.  But  the  cedar  is  hnked  with  the  destructive 
agencies,  thunder,  Hghtning,  wars."  * 

The  leaf  of  Typha  latifolia  was  used  as  one  of  the 
required  articles  in  dressing  the  sacred  pipes. 

One  of  the  tribal  fetishes  of  the  Kansa  was  the  sacred 
clamshell,  kept  wrapped  in  five  coverings,  as  follows: 

1.  The  innermost  covering,  the  bladder  of  a  buffalo 

bull. 

2.  A  covering  made  of  the  spotted  skin  of  a  fawn. 

3.  A  covering  made  of  braided   stems  of  Scirpus 

lacustris. 

4.  A  very  broad  piece  of  deerskin. 

5.  The  outermost  covering,  made  of  braided  hair  from 

the  head  of  a  buffalo  bull. 
Of  the  esthetic  uses  of  plants  it  may  first  be  stated  as  a 
rather  notable  fact  that  the  Omaha  never  use  flowers  of 
any  kind,  either  in  personal  adornment,  in  symbolism,  or 
in  mortuary  customs.  As  a  perfume  for  hair  oil  the  petals 
of  Rosa  arkansana,  WAZHIDE-HI,  were  used,  and  still 
more  commonly  for  the  same  purpose  the  leaves  of  Monarda 
fistulosa,  PEZHE-PA.  Young  men  used  as  a  perfume  the 
seeds  of  Aquilegia  canadense,  INA-BTH(F-KITHE-SABE- 
HI,  the  method  of  preparation  being  by  trituration  with 
the  teeth,  the  paste  being  then  placed  among  the  blankets 
or  other  effects.  The  fruits  of  Xanthoxylum  americana, 
PAHIDHADHA  or  ZHO^'-PAHIDHADHA,  were  also 
used  as  a  perfume  by  the  young  men.  Galium  triflorum, 
WAU  PEZHE  or  WAU-INA-MA^'KA'',  was  used  as  a 
perfume  by  the  women  only.  For  this  purpose  it  was 
gathered  and  used  in  its  green  state  by  tucking  into  the 
girdle.  Savastana  odorata,  PEZHE  ZONSTA,  was  of 
general  use  as  perfume.  The  plants  here  named  are  the 
sources  of  some  of  the  perfumes  of  the  Omaha,  and  it 
should  be  noted  that  there  are  no  heavy  scents  among 


»  J.  O.  Dorsey,  Siouan  Cults.,  11th  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Am.  Ethnol.,  p.  390. 


324     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

them,  but  that  all  are  of  a  fine,  delicate,  elusive,  evanescent 
fragrance,  a  mere  suggestion  of  an  odor  and  yet  pervasive. 

Sanguinaria  canadensis  was  used  as  a  red  stain  for  the 
skin. 

Now  to  speak  of  the  general  utilities:  the  framework 
of  the  vapor  bath  lodges  was  made  of  young  poles  of  various 
species  of  Salix.  The  inner  bark  of  Tilia  americana, 
HINDE-HI,  was  used  for  ropes  and  cordage  and  for 
baskets,  as  also  the  inner  bark  of  Ulmus  fulva,  EZHO^ 
ZHIDE  or  EZH(y  GTHIGTHIDE.  Combs  or  hair- 
brushes were  made  by  firmly  binding  together  the  grains 
of  Stipa  spartea,  MIKA  HI  (MIKA,  comb;  HI,  plant). 
Sinew  was  used  for  the  binding  substance,  the  points  being 
broken  or  burned  off,  the  grains  forming  the  teeth,  the 
awns,  bent  back,  making  attachment.  As  an  agent  for 
giving  a  black  dye  in  tanning  leather,  the  twigs  of  Acer 
saccharinum,  WENU^  SHABATHE  HI,  (plant-to-make- 
black),  were  used.  The  twigs  and  bark,  together  with  an 
iron  stained  clay  from  the  lower  portion  of  the  Pierre  shales 
exposed  along  the  Niobrara  river  in  northern  Nebraska, 
were  mixed  with  tallow  and  roasted  in  a  pot.  On  sub- 
mitting a  sample  of  the  clay  obtained  from  an  Indian  to 
Prof.  N.  A.  Bengtson  of  the  department  of  geography  and 
economic  geology.  University  of  Nebraska,  he  returned  the 
geological  data  upon  it  as  just  stated.  The  same  being  sub- 
mitted to  Dr.  Samuel  Avery  of  the  department  of  chemistry, 
he  supplied  the  information  that  in  connection  with  the 
bark  ferrous-tannic  acid  is  formed,  and  on  exposure  to  the 
air  ferric-tannic  acid  is  formed,  which  is  a  still  more  intense 
black.  He  stated  further  that  the  same  principle  is  at 
present  used  commercially  in  the  manufacture  of  black  ink. 
Snow  shoes,  SEHPBE,  were  made  with  rims  of  hickory, 
NO^SI  HI,  tied  with  thongs  of  rawhide  woven  across.  A 
yellow  dye  was  made  from  the  leaf  buds  of  Populus  sargentii, 
MAA  ZHCF.    A  yellow  dye  was  also  made  from  the  inner 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         325 

bark  of  Rhus  glabra,  MI^BDI-HI.  A  black  dye  for  por- 
cupine quills  was  made  from  the  bark  of  Quercus  rubra, 
BUUDE-HI. 

Passing  to  the  native  food  plants,  I  mention  first  roots, 
bulbs  and  tubers.  The  bulbs  and  tops  of  Allium  spp.  were 
eaten  both  raw  and  cooked.  The  thickened  roots  of  Apios 
apios,  NU,  were  eaten  after  being  boiled  until  the  skin 
came  off.  The  annual  report  of  the  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture for  1870  says:  "Apios  tuberosa,  on  the  banks  of 
streams  and  in  alluvial  bottoms,  is  the  true  'pom.me  de 
terre'  of  the  French  and  the  MODO,  or  wild  potato,  of  the 
Sioux  Indians  and  is  used  extensively  as  an  article  of  diet . . . 
It  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  groundnut  of  the 
south."  Helianthus  tuberosa,  PA^HE,  tubers  were  a  com- 
mon article  of  food.  The  thickened  root  of  Psoralea 
esculenta,  NUGTHE,  was  eaten  fresh  and  raw  or  dried  and 
cooked  with  soup.  This  is  the  root  called  "  pomme  blanche  " 
and  "pomme  de  prairie"  by  the  French  voyageurs.  The 
annual  report  of  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  for  1870 
(p.  408),  says:  "...  Indian  turnip,  pomme  de  prairie  of 
the  French,  TIPSINNAH  of  the  Sioux,  who  used  it  ex- 
tensively. Generally  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg,  of  a  regular 
ovoid  shape  ....  Indians  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  consider 
this  root  an  especial  luxury." 

The  tubers  of  Sagittaria  latifolia,  SI^,  were  cooked 
and  furnished  a  farinaceous  food.  I  have  not  found  that 
any  plants  were  used  as  salads  or  relishes.  As  a  pot  herb 
Asclepias  syriaca,  WAHTHA-HI,  was  eaten  at  three  stages. 
First,  the  young  shoots  were  used  much  as  we  use  the 
young  sprouts  of  asparagus.  Next,  the  inflorescences  before 
the  flower  buds  open  are  cooked  as  greens,  and  in  the  last 
stage  the  very  young  fruits  are  used  in  the  same  way. 
The  bark  of  Ulmusfulva,  EZHO''  ZHIDE,  was  cooked  with 
rendering  fat  to  give  it  a  pleasant  flavor,  and  also  it  was 
supposed  that  it  gave  the  suet  keeping  quality.     After 


326     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

cooking  in  the  fat  the  pieces  of  bark  are  much  prized  by 
the  children  as  special  titbits.  The  nuts  of  Corylus  americana, 
U^ZHINGA,  and  Juglans  nigra,  TDAGE,  were  eaten  plain 
or  prepared  by  mixing  with  honey.  The  fruits  of  Crataegus 
coccinea  and  C.  mollis,  TASPA^HI,  were  eaten  fresh  from 
the  hand  by  children  and  also  sometimes  by  adults  in  case 
of  famine.  Logan  creek  in  northeastern  Nebraska  is  called 
NI-TASPA^'-BATE  by  the  Omaha  in  reference  to  the 
abundance  of  Crataegus  growing  thereon,  BATE  meaning 
groups  or  thickets.  The  fruits  of  Ribes  missouriensis, 
PEZI;  Rubus  occidentalis,  AGATHUNKEMONGE-HI; 
Fragaria  virginiana,  BASHTE-HI;  Morus  rubra,  ZHO^ZI; 
and  Lepargijraea  argentea,  ZHO^HOJE  WAZHIDE,  were 
eaten  fresh  and  also  dried  for  winter  use.  The  fruits  of 
Prunus  besseyi,  NA^PA-TANGA,  were  eaten  fresh,  those 
of  P.  virginiana,  NA^PA-ZHINGA,  were  eaten  fresh  and 
also  pounded  up,  pits  and  all,  made  into  thin  cakes,  dried 
and  used  in  winter  with  dried  corn,  or  cooked  alone  with 
sugar.  P.  americana,  KANDE,  was  eaten  fresh,  or,  after 
being  pitted,  was  dried  for  winter  use.  Vitis  riparia  and 
V.  vulpina,  HAZI,  were  eaten  both  fresh  in  season  and 
dried  for  winter  use.  There  is  a  certain  wild  bean  which 
grows  very  generally  over  the  continent  from  which  the 
Omaha  formerly  obtained  a  considerable  item  of  their 
alimentation.  It  is  Falcata  comosa  (L.)  They  call  the  vine 
HI'^BTHI-HI  and  the  fruits  HI^'BTHI  ABE.  The  plant 
grows  most  luxuriantly  and  fruits  profusely.  From  the 
aerial,  conspicuous  flowers  a  great  abundance  of  legumes 
is  produced,  each  containing  several  grayish  mottled  beans 
about  the  form  and  size  of  lentils,  but  from  geotropic,  non- 
twining,  leafless  vines  at  the  base  of  the  plant  are  produced 
subterranean  legumes  each  of  which  contains  one  bean 
which  may  attain  a  diameter  of  seventeen  millimeters.  The 
subterranean  legumes  are  produced  from  cleistogamous 
flowers.    The  geotropic  runners  on  which  they  are  produced 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         327 

are  leafless  and  colorless  and  form  a  perfect  network  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground  beneath  the  twining  vines.  The  sub- 
terranean beans  are  gathered  by  the  field  mice  and  stored 
by  them  in  quantities  from  a  quart  to  several  quarts  in  a 
place.  These  stores  w^re  sought  by  the  women,  and  after 
soaking  the  membranaceous  hulls  were  rubbed  off  and  the 
beans  were  boiled,  affording  an  article  of  food  similar  in 
taste  and  quality  to  the  common  kidney  bean. 

The  acorn  most  used  by  the  Omaha  for  food  was  that 
of  Quercus  rubra,  BUUDE  HI.  All  other  species  of  Quercus 
were  without  differentiation  called  by  them  TASHKA-HI. 
The  acorns  were  freed  from  tannic  acid  by  boiling  with 
wood  ashes.  Q.  rubra  is  also  called  by  the  Omaha  NU^'BA 
NAHADI,  in  reference  to  its  characteristic  in  burning  to 
flame  again  after  it  has  apparently  burned  down  to  coals — 
NV'BA,  twice;  NAHADI,  flames. 

The  plant  of  first  importance  in  aboriginal  use  was 
zea  mays,^'^  which  by  all  evidence  of  tradition,  history, 
archaeology,  meteorology,  ethnology,  philology  and  botany, 
had  central  and  southern  Mexico  as  its  place  of  origin,  as 
is  so  well  shown  by  Harshberger  in  "Maize:  A  Botanical 
and  Economic  Study  ".^^  But  prior  to  the  coming  of  Colum- 
bus it  had  been  artificially  distributed  and  cultivated  over 
almost  all  the  tropical  and  temperate  regions  of  the  western 
hemisphere.    For  the  gift  of  this  grain  the  whole  modern 


If  Brinton,  "Myths  of  the  New  World"  N.  Y.  1873,  says:  "It  (maize) 
was  found  in  cultivation  from  the  southern  extremity  of  Chile  to  the 
fortieth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  beyond  which  the  low  temperature 
renders  it  an  uncertain  crop." 

Le  Page  du  Pratz,  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,  Tome  III,  p.  342,  Paris, 

1758:  "  Le  Mahiz  ...  est  la  nourriture  principale  des  Peuples  de  I'Amerique." 

Lafitau,  Moeures  des  Sauvages  Ameriquains,  Tome  III,  p.  57,  Paris, 

1724:    "La  mais  .  .  .  lequel  est  le  fondement  de  la  nourriture  de  presque 

toutes  les  Nations  sedentaires  d'un  bout  de  I'Amerique  a  I'autre." 

"  Harshberger,  v.  1,  No.  2,  Contributions  from  the  Botanical  Labora- 
tories of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania:  "Maize  originated  in  all  prob- 
ability .  .  north  of  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  and  south  of  the  22d  degree 
north  latitude,  near  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Maya  tribes." 


328     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

world  is  indebted  to  those  remote  and  obscure  toilers  who 
labored  all  their  lives  and  for  many  generations  without 
thought  of  their  incalculable  service  to  humanity  or  of  the 
richness  of  their  contribution  to  the  world's  storehouse. 
But  too  often  does  it  so  occur  that  we  complacently  accept 
the  good  things  that  have  come  to  us  and  to  our  times, 
congratulating  ourselves  upon  our  possessions  and  accom- 
plishments, and  too  seldom  do  we  remember  to  bestow 
credit  where  it  is  due  for  legacies  we  have  received  from 
remote  times  and  alien  peoples. 

Another  cereal  which,  though  not  cultivated,  was  by 
some  tribes  artificially  distributed  and  formed  a  staple  food 
for  the  tribes  living  in  its  range,  was  wild  rice,  Zizania 
aquatica.  This  formerly  grew  in  the  northeast  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  Omaha  along  the  Missouri  river  to  a  very 
limited  extent,  but  has  been  extinct  there  for  many  years, 
having  been  exterminated  by  the  pasturing  of  cattle.  It 
still  grows  in  the  ponds  of  the  sand-hill  region.  The 
Omaha  called  it  SPWANINDE.  Of  plants  used  for  food 
my  informants  would  often  say:  "We  used  to  use  this,  but 
we  don't  now.  Before  the  white  man  came  we  had  to  eat 
whatever  we  could  get  of  just  what  grew  in  the  country 
then." 

They  had  the  beginnings  of  agriculture,  cultivating 
many  varieties  of  flint  corn,  flour  corn,  dent  corn,  sweet 
corn,  and  popcorn.  They  also  raised  beans,  squashes, 
pumpkins,  gourds,  melons,  and  a  kind  of  tobacco  which 
was  different  from  the  tobacco  of  commerce  to-day.  They 
say  it  was  milder.  These  crops  they  cultivated  by  means 
of  digging  sticks  and  hoes  made  of  the  shoulder  blade  of  the 
buffalo  fastened  with  rawhide  to  a  wooden  handle.  For 
the  rest  of  their  vegetal  food  they  depended  upon  wild 
fruits,  seeds,  nuts,  roots,  tubers  and  fungi. 

Sugar  and  syrup  were  obtained  by  boiling  down  the 
sap  of  Acer  saccharinum,  WENW-SHABATHE-HI,  and  of 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         329 

A.  negundo,  ZHABATE-ZHO^'-HI.  Indeed  the  derivation 
of  sugar  from  the  maple  tree  is  another  of  the  contributions 
of  the  North  American  Indian  to  the  benefit  of  the  world. 
All  the  tribes  dwelling  in  regions  in  which  grew  Acer  sac- 
charum,  A.  saccharinum  and  A.  negundo  practiced  this  art, 
and  European  colonists  learned  it  from  them.  In  this  con- 
nection it  should  be  said  that  the  Omaha  word  for  sugar  is 
ZHO^-NI—ZHO^,  wood,  and  NI,  water,  showing  that  they 
had  a  w^ord  for  sugar,  and  also  indicating  the  source  of  the 
article  before  contact  with  the  whites. 

Of  the  use  of  fungi,  MIKAI  HTHI,  as  food,  it  may  be 
said  that  meadow  mushrooms  were  roasted,  and  certain 
mushrooms,  TENI  HAGTHE  ZHA  EGA,  growing  on  de- 
caying wood,  were  boiled  and  seasoned  with  salt.  To  our 
mind,  perhaps,  the  most  curious  fungal  food  is  Ustilago 
maydis,  WAHABE-HTHI  (literally  "corn  sores").  This 
was  cooked  and  eaten  before  the  spores  matured,  "before 
it  turns  black",  as  my  informant  said.  They  say  it  tastes 
somewhat  like  corn  and  is  very  palatable. 

The  Omaha  had  no  alcoholic  drinks  previous  to  the 
coming  of  the  white  men,  but  they  made  hot  aqueous 
drinks  from  the  leaves  of  a  number  of  plants,  including 
Ceanothus  americana,  T ABE-HI;  Verbena  stricta,  PEZHE 
MA'^KA^;  Mentha  canadense,  PEZHE  BTHO^\  {PEZHE, 
herb;  BTifa^', fragrant) ;  Rubusoccidentalis,AGATHU''KA 
MU^GI-HI;  and  the  young  twigs  of  Crataegus  coccinea,  or 
of  C.  mollis,  TASPA^HI. 

Tobacco  seems  to  have  been  firmly  interwoven  in  the 
ceremonial  life  of  all  the  tribes  of  Indians.  In  the  old  time  no 
journey  was  undertaken  by  the  Omaha  without  making  an 
offering  of  tobacco  in  the  following  formula.  The  pipe  was 
extended  with  the  mouthpiece  toward  the  sun  with  these 
words:  "Ho,  Mysterious  Power,  you  who  are  the  Sun. 
Here  is  tobacco.  I  wish  to  follow  your  course.  Grant  that 
it  may  be  so.    Cause  me  to  meet  whatever  is  good  for  me 


330     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

and  to  pass  around  whatever  is  bad  for  me.  In  all  the 
world  you  control  everything  that  moves,  including  human 
beings.  When  you  decide  for  man  that  his  last  day  on 
earth  is  come,  it  is  so.  It  cannot  be  delayed.  Therefore, 
0  Mysterious  Power,  I  ask  a  favor  of  you."  In  the  cere- 
mony of  the  Hako  among  the  Pawnee,  corresponding  to 
the  Wawan  Waan,  or  Pipes  of  Fellowship  ceremony  of  the 
Omaha  and  the  Calumet  of  some  other  tribes,  tobacco 
holds  a  very  important  ceremonial  place.  In  Part  III  of 
the  seventh  ritual  in  this  ceremonial  "The  son  takes  a 
pinch  of  tobacco  from  the  bowl  of  the  pipe  and  passes  it 

along  the  stem  and  offers  it  as  the  priest  directs When 

the  pinch  of  tobacco  has  been  offered  to  the  powers  above, 
it  is  placed  on  the  earth."  In  Newport's  Discoveries  in 
Virginia  (1608)  the  writer  says:  "They  sacrifice  tobacco  to 
the  sun,  fayre  picture  or  a  harmfull  thing, — as  a  swoord  or 
peece  also:  they  strincle  some  into  the  water  in  the  morning 
before  they  wash." 

One  of  the  cultivated  plants  of  the  Omaha,  as  also  of 
the  other  plains  tribes,  was  a  species  of  Nicotiana.  The 
Omaha  have  now  many  years  since  lost  the  seed  of  it,  but 
they  told  me  that  sometimes  on  visits  to  some  of  the  northern 
tribes  they  receive  presents  of  it,  which  they  are  always 
glad  to  get  because  they  prefer  its  mild  quality  to  the 
common  tobacco  of  commerce.  They  all  agree  on  the 
characteristics  of  the  plant,  and  they  told  me  that  the 
Arikara  still  cultivate  it.  I  wrote  to  the  agent  of  Fort 
Berthold  Reservation,  North  Dakota,  where  the  Arikara 
reside,  inquiring  about  the  plant.  It  was  not  known  to  any 
of  the  government  employes  that  the  Indians  there  had  any- 
such  plant,  but  on  inquiring  they  found  it  was  true,  and 
that  it  was  grown  by  both  Arikara  and  Grosventres.  Mr. 
G.  W.  Hoffman,  the  agent,  took  the  trouble  to  obtain  for 
me  some  seed  and  specimens  of  the  plant  from  a  Gros- 
ventre  by  the  name  of  Long  Bear,  a  man  seventy-three 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         331 

years  of  age  in  1908,  who  kindly  supplied  the  material  for 
the  purpose  of  my  investigation.  By  comparison  I  conclude 
that  it  is  Nicotiana  quadrivalvis,  which  is  described  as  being 
found  in  Mexico.  This  agrees  with  the  traditions  of  the 
origin  of  the  Arikara,  who  are  an  offshoot  of  the  Caddo 
stock,  coming  originally  from  Mexico  by  way  of  Texas, 
Oklahoma,  Kansas,  Nebraska  and  so  to  North  Dakota. 
The  other  tribes  of  the  Caddoan  stock  are  Caddo,  Hueco — 
from  which  Waco,  Texas,  is  named — Wichita,  and  the 
Pawnee  nation.  The  Omaha  call  the  Arikara  the  Sand-hill 
Pawnee,  referring  to  their  relation  to  the  Pawnee  and  to 
their  former  position  in  the  sand-hills  of  Nebraska. 

Another  substance  used  for  smoking,  either  alone  or 
mixed  with  tobacco,  was  the  inner  bark  of  Cornus  amomum, 
NINIGA-HI-HTI  ZHIDE.  Straight  growths  of  this  shrub 
were  cut  and  after  scraping  off  the  outer  bark  with  a  dull 
knife,  the  inner  bark  was  scraped  off  which,  after  drying, 
was  finely  comminuted  with  a  quantity  of  tobacco  for 
smoking.  It  is  commonly  but  erroneously  said  that  Indians 
smoke  the  bark  of  "red  willow".  No  species  of  Salix  is 
ever  used  for  smoking.  The  bark  used  for  this  purpose  is, 
as  just  stated,  that  of  Cornus  amomum.  When  NINIGA- 
HI-HTI-ZHIDE  could  not  be  obtained,  the  leaves  of 
Rhus  glabra,  MPBDI-HI,  were  used,  being  gathered  for 
this  purpose  after  they  turned  scarlet  in  autumn  and 
prepared  by  stripping  out  the  veins.  The  parenchymatous 
area  of  the  leaf  then  made  brittle  by  drying,  was  broken 
fine  and  used  like  the  bark  of  Cornus. 

For  the  medicinal  uses  of  plants  it  is  not  necessary  to 
the  Indian's  mind  that  there  should  be  any  connection 
between  the  physical  and  chemical  properties  of  plants  and 
of  the  human  body.  His  notions  of  disease  are  thoroughly 
demonistic,  and  his  notion  of  medicine  is  of  something 
occult,  of  mysterious  power,  and  with  his  animistic  ideas  of 
the  universe  there  dwell  mystic  powers  in  everything  in 


332     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Nature,  both  plant  and  animal,  and  in  inanimate  objects. 
Indeed  the  demonistic  notion  of  disease  is  not  so  far  distant 
from  our  own  stage  of  civilization. 

Dr.  G.  A.  Stockwell,  writing  in  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  1866  (v.  29,  p.  649),  says: 

"The  medicine  of  the  Indian  is  his  religion  and  philos- 
ophy, and  it  comprises  everything  in  Nature,  real  or 
imaginary,  superstitious  or  occult  ....  The  savage  knows 
absolutely  nothing  of  the  relationships  between  cause  and 
effect,  of  the  action  of  the  remedies  as  remedies,  of  physio- 
logical conditions  and  phenomena,  or  indeed  of  any  agency 
not  directly  born  of  the  occult." 

Often  the  suggestion  to  the  Indians  of  a  plant  as  a 
remedial  agent  came  from  a  dream  or  vision;  and  yet  they 
have  happened  upon  many  remarkably  useful  therapeutic 
agents  which  have  been  adopted  into  our  own  materia 
medica,  as,  for  example.  Echinacea  angustifolia,  the  uses  of 
which  the  Indians  of  the  plains  have  known  for  ages. 

In  Lloyd  Brothers'  Bulletin  for  1907-8  they  say:  "In 
the  year  1897  we  introduced  to  the  medical  profession  a 
preparation  of  Echinacea  angustifolia,  a  western  plant 
native  to  Nebraska  and  other  sections  of  the  northwest.  .  .  . 
The  credit  for  discovering  the  qualities  of  the  drug  belong, 
however,  to  Doctor  Meyer,  who  had  used  it  since  1870." 
Dr.  D.  T.  Powelson,  in  a  paper  read  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Eclectic  Medical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  says: 

"The  introduction  of  the  remedy  into  professional 
practice  is  due  conjointly  to  Dr.  H.  F.  G.  Meyer,  of  Pawnee 
City,  Nebraska,  and  the  late  Professor  King.  Doctor 
Meyer  had  been  using  it  for  sixteen  years  previous  to 
reporting  it  to  Doctor  King,  his  claim  for  it  being  as  an 
antispasmodic  and  an  antidote  for  blood  poisoning;  among 
his  claims  for  it  was  also  its  action  as  an  antidote  for  the 
poison  of  various  insects  and  particularly  to  that  of  the 
rattlesnake." 

I  must  say  that  the  origin  of  most,  if  not  all,  so-called 
"Indian  medicines"  sold  as  nostrums  by  street  venders  and 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         333 

others,  lacks  the  slightest  connection  with  any  tribe  of 
Indians;  but  the  name  Indian,  having  so  large  a  place  in 
the  imagination  and  credulity  of  the  common  people,  is 
used  to  foist  upon  the  gullible  buyers,  to  the  mercenary 
advantage  of  the  venders,  articles  either  trivial  or  useless. 
Among  the  Omaha,  and  this  is  true  also  with  other  tribes, 
the  efRcacy  of  a  plant  as  a  remedy  was  believed  to  lie  in 
its  specific  use  by  the  properly  authorized  persons  in  con- 
nection with  the  prescribed  songs,  prayers  and  other  religious 
ceremonies.  A  plant  useful  for  medicine  was  the  property 
of  some  individual  or  of  one  of  the  secret  societies  which 
pertained  to  the  religious  political  organization  of  the  tribe 
and  could  be  used  only  by  them  or  by  their  authority  and 
upon  the  payment  of  a  fee,  but  could  not  even  be  offered 
by  the  proprietor  unless  requested  by  the  sufferer  or  his 
friends,  otherwise  there  was  no  virtue  or  healing  power. 

Of  plants  used  medicinally,  one  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance is  Echinacea  angustifolia,  called  I^SHTOGAHTE- 
HI  in  reference  to  its  use  for  sore  eyes;  called  also  MIKA 
EGA^TASHI,  in  reference  to  the  use  of  its  spiny  cone  for 
a  comb  by  children  in  play.  In  medicine  the  part  used  was 
the  root,  macerated  and  applied  as  an  antidote  for  snake 
bites,  stings,  and  all  septic  diseases.  It  was  applied  to 
the  hands  and  arms  by  the  "mystery  man"  as  a  local 
anaesthetic  to  deaden  sensation  so  that  they  might  remove 
pieces  of  meat  from  the  boiling  pot  without  flinching — thus 
manifesting  their  "supernatural  power"  and  so  obtaining 
influence  over  the  credulous.  Two  kinds  were  distinguished 
as  NUGA,  male,  and  MIGA,  female,  the  apparent  differences 
being  the  size,  NUGA  being  larger,  the  small  size  or  MIGA 
being  considered  the  efficient  medicine. 

It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  the  Indian  does  not 
make  specific  distinctions  in  plants.  He  gives  names  to 
such  as  are  useful  to  him  in  any  way  and  to  such  as  strike 
his  fancy,  while  he  ignores  others  which  may  be  in  the  same 


334     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

genus.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  makes  the  same  use  of 
two  or  more  species  of  the  same  genus,  he  will  call  both  by 
the  same  name;  for  example,  the  Omaha  use  the  acorns 
of  Quercus  rubra  for  food.  They  call  this  tree  BUUDE  HI. 
They  do  not  make  so  much  use  of  the  acorns  of  any  other 
oak,  though  they  may  use  the  timber.  So  all  oaks  except 
Q.  rubra,  BUUDE  HI,  are  by  them  indifferently  called 
TASHKA  HI.  So  with  Salix,  Solidago  and  other  genera, 
specific  differences  may  not  be  noted.  This  may  explain 
any  uncertainty  of  specific  indication  in  my  list.  The  leaves 
of  Amorpha  canescens,  TDE-HU^TO^-HI,  were  dried, 
powdered,  and  used  to  blow  into  cuts  and  open  wounds,  by 
their  astringent  property  causing  an  incrustation.  Also 
the  very  small  ends  of  twigs  were  broken  into  pieces  of 
five  or  six  millimeters  length  and  used  as  a  moxa,  being 
applied  by  sticking  into  the  skin  over  a  region  affected  with 
neuralgia  or  rheumatism  and  there  burned.  The  fruits  and 
roots  of  Rhus  glabra  were  steeped  together  to  make  a  wash 
for  sores,  probably  their  astringent  quality  being  the  agent 
sought.  Mentha  canadensis,  PEZHE-NUBTHO^-HI,  was 
used  as  a  carminative.  Acorus  calamus  (sweet  flag), 
MA^KA^-NINIDA,  was  used  to  the  same  effect,  and  also 
as  a  tonic,  the  rootstock  being  chewed  at  will,  or  triturated 
and  given  in  doses. 

For  alleviation  of  colds  in  the  head  and  for  pain  in  any 
part,  various  plants  were  used  in  a  manner  of  treatment 
called  ASHUDE-KITHE.  In  this  treatment  the  affected 
part  was  enveloped  in  a  skin  or  blanket  under  which  was 
placed  a  vessel  of  coals,  and  on  the  coals  were  placed  some 
fat  and  the  part  of  the  plant  to  be  used  for  medication. 
Thus  the  warm  smoke  of  the  root  or  other  part  of  the  plant 
was  caused  to  permeate  the  affected  part.  For  ASHUDE- 
KITHE  the  root  of  Silphium  perfoliatum,  ZHABEHOHO- 
HI,  was  very  commonly  used.  A  decoction  was  made  from 
the  leaves  of  Artemisia  gnaphalodes,  PEZHE  HOTE,  for 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         335 

use  in  bathing  for  fevers.  The  dried  and  powdered  leaves 
of  this  plant  were  used  for  nasal  hemorrhage,  being  applied 
by  blowing  into  the  nostrils.  I  suppose  the  astringent 
effect  was  sought,  as  well  as  the  mechanical  obstruction  of 
the  flow  of  blood,  by  the  powder. 

The  root  of  Caulophyllum  thalictroides  (blue  cohosh), 
ZHU  NAKADA  TANGA  ikfA^KA^,  was  the  favorite 
febrifuge.  The  name  indicates  the  value  ascribed  to  it  in 
this  use— ZHC7,  flesh  or  body;  NAKADA,  hot;  TANGA, 
great;  MA^KA-^,  medicine;  altogether  signifying  the 
medicine  for  great  or  severe  fever. 

The  inflorescences  of  Oxalis  stricta  (yellow  sheep- 
sorrel),  HADE  SATHE,  (sour  grass),  were  used  as  a 
poultice  for  swellings.  The  fruits  of  Rhus  glabra  were  used 
to  make  a  poultice  in  case  of  poisoning.  Dried  and  powdered 
they  were  used  to  blow  into  wounds  and  open  sores  for 
their  astringent  effect.  The  people  were  afraid  to  touch 
the  leaves  of  Rhus  toxicodendron,  HTHI  WAT  HE  (to  make 
sore).  The  root  of  Lacinaria  scariosa  (button  snake  root, 
or  blazing  star),  MA^KA^-SAGI  (hard  medicine),  was 
powdered  and  applied  in  a  poultice  for  external  inflamma- 
tion and  was  taken  internally  for  abdominal  troubles. 
L.  spicata  they  called  TDE  SINDE  (buffalo  tail)  from  the 
resemblance  of  its  inflorescence,  but  it  was  not  considered 
to  have  any  medicinal  value. 

The  bark  of  Gymnocladus  dioica  (Kentucky  Coffee 
Tree),  NWTITA,  was  powdered  and  mixed  with  NIA- 
SHIGA  MA^KA^,  Cucurhita  foetidissima,  and  the  root  of 
Lacinaria  scariosa,  MA^KA^-SAGI,  and  the  mixture  used 
for  a  tonic  and  appetizer.  The  root  of  Silphium  laciniatum, 
ZHA-PA  (bitter  weed),  was  given  to  horses  with  their  salt 
as  a  tonic.  It  was  said  to  give  them  avidity  for  water  and 
forage  and  make  them  take  on  flesh — a  sort  of  aboriginal 
condition  powder. 

A  common  ailment  amongjthe  Omaha  is  eye  trouble, 


336     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

and  for  its  alleviation  various  agents  were  employed,  among 
them  being  the  root  of  Echinacea  angustifolia,  the  hips  of 
Rosa  arkansana,  and  various  other  plants. 

Concerning  plants  of  miscellaneous  mention,  it  may 
be  said  that  when  hunting  buffaloes  on  the  Platte  and 
Republican  rivers,  on  seeing  Solidago  spp.,  ZHA  SAGE  ZI 
(hard  yellow  weed),  coming  into  bloom,  the  people  would 
say:  "Now  our  corn  is  becoming  hard  at  home  on  the 
NI-SHUDE  (Missouri  river).  Micrampelis  lobata,  WA- 
HTANGA-HI,  was  called  by  the  people  "ghost  melons". 
I  suppose  the  ghostly  white,  vapory  appearance  of  the 
blooming  vines  as  seen  in  the  dusk  of  evening  running  over 
the  bushes  in  the  hollows  of  the  hills,  suggested  the  name; 
or  perhaps  the  airy  structure  of  the  fruit  itself  after  the 
decay  of  the  parenchymatous  tissue  may  have  suggested  it. 
The  pits  of  Prunus  americana,  KANDE,  were  marked  by 
burning  to  make  a  sort  of  dice  for  gambling.  Charcoal 
from  Acer  negundo  was  used  as  the  agent  for  the  tribal 
tattooing  of  girls.  Out  on  the  buffalo  hunt,  when  fuel  was 
scarce,  they  sometimes  utilized  the  great  gnarled  roots  of 
Ceanothus  americana  for  that  purpose.  The  resinous 
exudation  of  Silphium  laciniatum  was  very  commonly  used 
for  chewing  gum.  The  root  of  Lithospermum  canescens, 
being  red,  was  often  chewed  by  children  to  color  their  gum. 
I  was  told  by  a  woman  of  the  I^KA  SABE  gens  of  the 
Omaha  tribe  that  red  corn  was  a  tabu  to  her  gens.  Melilotus 
alba  was  introduced  and  very  widely  distributed  over  the 
Omaha  reservation  from  the  first  establishment  of  the 
mission.  There  is  a  curious  circumstance  in  this  connection. 
Some  of  the  plants  sprang  up  about  the  mission,  having 
come  from  the  east  in  the  effects  of  the  missionaries.  The 
Indians,  coming  to  the  mission,  observed  it  and  noticed 
that  its  odor  resembled  Savastana  odorata,  which  they 
already  used  as  incense,  and  being  pleased  with  its  odor, 
they  also,  I  suppose,  since  they  found  it  about  the  mission, 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         337 

naturally  connected  it  with  the  white  man's  form  of  religion. 
So  they  often  gathered  and  carried  it  home  with  them,  and 
it  has  become  very  generally  distributed  over  the  reservation. 


ECONOMIC  PLANTS  BY  FAMILIES 

1.  EQUISETACEAE  Michx. 

The  genus  Equisetum,  of  which  several  species  as 
named  below  are  found  in  the  region  occupied  by  the 
Omahas,  is  characterized  by  having  cylindrical,  hollow, 
simple  or  branched,  green  stems,  the  nodes  being 
ringed  by  a  whorl  of  scales  or  vestigial  leaves,  the 
internodes  being  fluted,  the  stem  easily  separable  at 
the  nodes,  the  whole  plant  being  exceedingly  siliceous. 
E.  arvense  L.,  E.  hyemale  L.,  E.  Laevigatum  A.  Br., 
E.  robustum  A.  Br.,  and  E.  variegatum,  Schleich. 

2.  PINACEAE   Lindl.     Juniperus  virginiana  L.    (Red 

cedar),  MAAZI. 

A  small  tree,  about  5-10  m.  in  height.  Leaves 
mostly  opposite,  subulate,  spiny.  Foliage  blue-green 
when  young,  becoming  rusty  brown-green  when  old. 
Aments  terminal,  berry-like  cones  blue,  glaucous.  On 
islands  in  Platte  river  and  in  ravines  in  bluffs  of 
Missouri  river. 

3.  TYPHACEAE  J.  St.  Hil.     Typha  latifolia  L.  (Cat- 

tail), WAHAB-IGASKONTHE. 

Stems  1-2  in.  high;  flat  leaves  6-25  mm.  broad; 
spikes  dark-brown,  staminate  and  pistillate  portions 
contiguous. 

4.  ALISMACEAE  DC.    SagittariaarifoliaNutt.  (Arrow 

leaf),  SI"". 

Glabrous,  terrestrial  or  partially  submerged. 
Leaves  broadly  sagittate,  acute  at  apex;  basal  leaves 
acute.    Petioles  outward  curving. 


2S 


338     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

5.  GRAMINEAE  Juss.     Savastana  odorata  (L.)  Scribn. 

(Sweet  grass)  or  (Holy  grass),  PEZHE  ZONSTA. 

Sheaths  smooth;  lower  leaves  elongated,  glossy, 
tender,  fragrant.  Found  in  infrequent  patches  among 
other  herbage  in  partial  shade  near  clumps  of  trees. 

Stipa  spartea  Trin.     (Porcupine  grass),  MIKA-HI; 
MIKA,  comb;  HI,  plant. 

Six  to  twelve  dm.  tall.  Basal  leaves  one-third  to 
one-half  as  long  as  the  culm.  Panicle  1-25  dm.  long. 
Awn  1-2  dm.  long,  usually  twice  bent,  tightly  spiral. 
On  prairies. 

Zixania  aquatica  L.  (Wild  rice),  SI^'WANINDE. 

Erect  from  annual  root,  9-30  dm.  tall.  Long  flat 
leaves.  Pistillate  flowers  on  upper  branches,  staminate 
on  lower.    Of  wide  range  in  swamps. 

Zea  mays  L.,  (Maize)  (Indian  corn),  WAHABE. 

Culms  often  several  from  the  same  fibrous  root. 
Internodes  alternately  furrowed,  sheathed  by  the 
bases  of  the  leaves;  aborted  branches  within  the 
furrows.  Leaves  long,  tapering  to  an  acuminate  point. 
Plant  1.5  to  2.5  m.  high.  Flowers  monoecious,  pro- 
tandrous.  Staminate  inflorescence  terminal  on  central 
stalk,  racemose-paniculate.  Pistillate  inflorescence 
axillary,  spicate,  sometimes  branched. 

6.  ARACEAE.    Acorus  calamus  L.,  (Sweet  flag),  MA^- 

KAmiNIDA. 

Leaves  linear,  erect,  5-15  dm.  tall.  Leaves  sharp- 
pointed  and  sharp-edged,  closely  sheathing  each  other 
and  the  scape.    Flowers  minute,  greenish-yellow. 

7.  CYPERACEAE.   J.   St.   Hil.     Scirpus    lacustris    L. 

(Great  bulrush)  (mat-rush),  SA-HI. 

Perennial  by  rootstocks;  culm  terete,  1-3  m.  tall. 
Umbel  compound  appearing  lateral.    In  marshy  places. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS        339 

8.  LILIACEAE.     Adans.     Allium  spp.    (Wild  onions), 

MA^'ZH^'KA-MANTANAHA-HL      Allium    cer- 
num  Roth.,  A.  canadense  L.,  A.  mutahile  Michx., 
A.  nutallii  S.  Wats.,  A.  reticulatum  Don.,  and  A. 
stellatum  Ker. 

These  are  the  species  of  the  region  and  were  all 
used  without  specific  differentiation. 

9.  SALICACEAE  Lindl. 

Populus  sargentii   Dode    (Populus  deltoides  Marsh), 
(Cottonwood),  MAA-ZHO^. 

Large  tree,  younger  bark  grayish-green,  dark  and 
rough  when  old.  Leaves  glabrous,  deltoid-ovate, 
coarsely  crenate,  in  autumn  turning  clear,  bright 
yellow  before  falling,  apex  abruptly  acuminate.  Young 
stems  shining,  light  yellowish  green. 

Salix  luteosericea  Rydb. 

Shrub,  1-6  m.  high,  grayish  bark,  leaves  linear, 
yellowish  silky;  aments  at  ends  of  leafy  branches.  On 
sandbars. 

S.  fluviatilis  Nutt. 

Much  branched  shrub,  1-4  m.  high  in  thickets  on 
sandbars  and  along  streams  and  ponds.  Bark,  brown 
or  grayish. 

Both  these  species  of  Salix  are  commonly  called 
sandbar  willow,  and  by  the  Omaha  THI  'HE  SAGE- 
HI. 

10.    JUGLANDACEAE  Lindl. 

Juglans  nigra  L.  (Black  walnut),  TDAGE. 

Large  tree,  rough,  dark  bark.  Leaflets  13-23, 
pubescent  beneath,  rounded  at  base,  apex  acuminate. 
Fruit  spherical,  nut  corrugated,  slightly  compressed, 
black. 


340     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Hicoria  alba  (L.)  Britton. 

A  large  tree,  foliage  and  twigs  fragrant  whea 
crushed;  bark  close,  leaflets  7-9,  long  acuminate;  but 
grayish-white,  angled,  pointed  at  summit. 

H.  glabra  (Mill)  Britton. 

Tree,  bark  close,  rough;  nut  brown,  angled, 
pointed;  astringent,  bitter,  inedible. 

H.  laciniosa  (Michx.  f.)  Sarg. 

Large  tree,  bark  separating  in  long,  narrow  plates; 
leaflets  7-9;  husk  thick;  nut  oblong,  pointed  at  both 
ends,  yellowish-white. 

H.  minima  (Marsh)  Britton. 

Slender  tree,  bark  close,  rough;  leaflets,  7-9, 
long  acuminate;  husk  thin,  irregularly  4-valved;  but 
short-pointed. 

All  hickories  are  called  N(y SI-HI. 

11.  BETULACEAE  Agardh.     Corylus  americana  Walt., 

(Hazel-nut),  mZHINGA. 

A  shrub  of  variable  height  up  to  25  m.  Downy 
shoots,  leaves  and  involucre,  the  latter  open  down 
to  the  slightly  compressed  globular  nut. 

12.  FAGACEAE  Drude.     Quercus  rubra  L.,  (Red  oak), 

BUUDE-HI. 

Large  tree  in  deep  woods;  bark  dark,  slightly 
roughened.  Leaves  dull  green  above,  paler  below; 
acorn  ovoid,  2-3  cm.  long,  2-4  times  as  long  as  saucer- 
shaped  cup. 

Quercus  spp.  other  than  rubra,  TASHKA-HI. 

13.  ULMACEAE    Mirbel.      Ulmus  falva    Michx.    (Red 

elm)  (Slippery  elm),  EZHO''  GTHIGTHIDE. 

Large  tree,  twigs  rough-pubescent;  leaves  ovate, 
rough-pubescent  beneath,  doubly  serrate,  acuminate  at 
apex,  obtuse  inequilateral,  cordate  at  base.  Inner  bark 
mucilaginous,  may  be  stripped  into  long  strands. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         341 

14.  MORACEAE  Lindl. 

Morus  rubra  L.   (Red  mulberry),  ZHO^-ZI,  (Yellow 
wood). 
Bark  brown  and   rough;    leaves  ovate,   nearly 
orbicular,  scabrous  above,  pubescent  beneath,  acu- 
minate at  apex.    Fruit  dark  purple-red,  pendulous. 

Toxylon  pomiferum  Raf.  (Osage  orange),  (Bois  d'arc), 
ZHO'^ZI-ZHU.    ZH(F,  wood;   ZI,  yellow;   ZHU, 
flesh  or  body. 
A  spiny  tree,  shrubby,  leaves  ovate,  glossy,  entire, 

acuminate  at  apex,  base  obtuse.     Head  of  pistillate 

flowers  ripening  into  a  hard  greenish-yellow,  tubercled 

syncarp. 

15.  RANUNCULACEAE  Juss.     Aquilegia  canadensis  L. 

(Wild  columbine),  INU-BTH(FKITHE-S ABE-HI. 
Glabrous,  2-6  dm.  high,  lower  leaves  biternate, 
upper  leaves  cunate,  pale  beneath,  flowers  nodding. 

16.  BERBERIDACEAE  T.  and  G.    Caulophyllum  thalic- 

troides  (L.)  Michx.  (Blue  cohosh),  ZHU-NAKADA- 

TANGA-MA^KA''.     ZHU,    body   or   flesh; 

NAKADA,    hot;      TANGA,    great;      MA'^KA^, 

medicine. 

Glabrous,  glaucous  when  young,  3-9  dm.  high. 
A  large  triternate,  nearly  sessile  leaf  near  summit, 
generally  smaller,  similar  one  near  base  of  inflorescence. 
Flowers  greenish-purple.    In  deep  woods. 

17.  PAPAVERACEAE  B.  Juss.    Sanguinaria  canadensis 

L.  (Blood  root). 
Rootstock  horizontal,  several  cm.  long,  with  thick, 
fibrous  roots;  juice  red.    Leaves  palmately  5-9  lobed. 
Flowers  white.    Rich,  damp  woods. 

18.  GROSSULARIACEAE  Dumont.    Rihes  missouriensis 

Nutt,  (Gooseberry),  PEZI. 
Branches  stout,  gray  shreddy  bark;  spines  usually 
three    together,    stout,    bristles    on    younger   stems. 
Flowers  white,  fruit  purple.    River  banks  and  thickets. 


342     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

19.  ROSACEAE  B.  Juss. 

Rubtis  occidentalis  L.,  (Black  raspberry),  AGATHCN- 
KEMONGE-HI. 

Stems  cane-like,  recurved,  often  rooting  at  tip. 
Leaves  pinnately  3-foliate,  leaflets  ovate,  acuminate. 
Fruit  purple-black,  depressed  hemispheric. 

Fragaria    virginiana    Duchesne    (Wild    strawberry), 
BASHTE. 

Rather  stout,  tufted,  dark  green;  scape  equal  or 
shorter  than  leaves;  fruit  bright  red,  ovoid,  delicious. 

Rosa  arkansana  Porter  (Prairie  rose),  WAZHIDE. 

Erect  3-6  dm.  high.  Stems  prickly.  Leaflets  7-11, 
ovate;  fruit  globose.    Prairies. 

20.  POMACEAE  L. 
Crataegus  coccinea  L. 

Shrub  or  small  tree.  Leaves  broadly  ovate,  in- 
cised and  sharply  serrate.  Fruit  bright  red,  globose, 
or  oval,  rarely  hairy. 

Crataegus  mollis  (T.  &  G.)  Scheele. 

Shrub  or  small  tree.  Leaves  broadly  ovate, 
truncate  at  base,  sharply  serrate.  Fruit,  bright  red, 
hairy. 

Note — Both  these  species  are  commonly  called 
red  haw,  and  by  the  Omaha  TASPA^-HI. 

21.  DRUPACEAE  DC. 

Prunus  americana  Marsh  (Wild  plum),  KANDE. 

Shrub  or  small  tree,  branches  thorny;  leaves 
ovate,  serrate,  flowers  white,  fragrant,  drupe  yellow 
or  red. 

P.  hesseyi  Bailey  (Sand  cherry),  NO^TA-TANCA. 

Shrub,  3-12  dm.  high,  branches  spreading  or 
prostrate;  leaves  oval,  apex  and  base  acute.  Flowers, 
white,  in  sessile  umbels.  Fruit  edible,  somewhat 
astringent,  black  or  mottled  brown. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         343 

P.  virginiana  (L.)  (Choke  cherry),  A^C/^P A  ZHINGA. 

Shrub  or  small  slender  tree,  gray  bark;  leaves 
thin,  broadly  oval;  flowers  in  loose  racemes.  Drupe 
nearly  black,  very  astringent. 

22.  CESALPINACEAE  KI.  and  Darcke.     Gymnocladus 

dioica(L.)  Koch  (Kentucky  coffee  tree),  ATO^-T/rA 
HI. 

Large  tree,  rough  bark,  leaves  large,  leaflets  7-15, 
racemes  many-flowered.  Pod  coriaceous,  flat.  Sweet- 
ish pulp  between  seeds. 

23.  PAPILONACEAE  L. 

Melitotus  alba  Desv.    (Sweet   clover),  INU-BTHO^- 
KITHE-HI. 

Erect,  1-3  m.  high,  branching,  white  flowers  in 
loose  racemes.    Leaves  fragrant  in  drying. 

Psorales  esculenta  Parsh   (Pomme  de  prairie),  NUG- 
THE. 

1-5  dm.  high,  erect,  from  turning-shaped,  farina- 
ceous root.     Corolla  blue. 

Amorpha  canescens  Pursh  (Lead  plant,  shoe  string), 
TDE-HV^TO^-HI. 

Bushy,  white-canescent  shrub,  3-9  dm.  high. 
Leaves  sessile  or  nearly  so,  leaflets  2-49,  almost  sessile. 
Spikes  5-18  cm.  long,  standard  bright  blue. 

Falcata  comosa  (L.)  Kuntze  (Hog  peanut),  HI^BTHI- 
HI. 

Sometimes  perennial.  Slender  twining  vines 
running  over  bushes,  racemes  of  purplish  or  white 
flowers  in  great  numbers;  pods  2.5  mm.  long,  con- 
taining four  or  five  grayish-mottled  beans  resembling 
lentils.  From  the  base  of  the  ascending  stems  leafless 
vines  spread  like  a  network  over  the  ground,  bearing 
geotropic  cleistogamous  flowers  which  produce  each 
a  single  subterranean  bean  6-17  mm.  in  diameter. 


344     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Apios  apios  (L.)  MacM.  (Ground  nut),  NU. 

Thick,  perennial  vines,  pinnately  3-7  foliate  leaves; 
rather  large  brownish-purple  or  red  flowers.  Rachis 
of  inflorescence  knobby.  Stamens  diadelphous  (9-1). 
Rootstocks  form  chains  of  edible  tubers. 

24.  OXALIDACEAE  Lindl.     Oxalis  stricta   L.    (Yellow 

sheep-sorrel),    HADE-SATHE.      HADE,    grass; 

SATHE,  sour. 
Stem  commonly  branched,   spreading,   1-3  dm. 
long;   fohage  pale  green;   flowers  pale  yellow.    Cap- 
sules columnar. 

25.  RUTACEAE  Jusa.     Xanthoxylum  americanum  Mill. 

(Prickly  ash),  ZHO^'-PAHIDHADHA  or  WEDE- 

HOHO-HL 
A  shrub;  leaves  pubescent  when  young,  glabrous- 
when  old,  leaflets  5-11,  ovate,  opposite,  dark  green 
above,  lighter  beneath;   flowers  axillary  or  terminal, 
appearing  before  the  leaves. 

26.  ANACARDIACEAE  Lindle.  Rhus  glabra  L.,  (Sumac), 

MI'^BDI-HI. 
Shrub  6-60  dm.  high;    leaves  alternate;    leaflets 
11-31,  dark  green  above,  whitish  below,  sharply  serrate; 
drupe  covered  with  short  reddish,  acid  hairs. 

Rhus  toxicodendron  L.,  (Poison  oak). 

Low,  erect.  Leaflets  ovate,  mostly  obtuse,  often 
crenately  lobed  to  resemblance  of  an  oak.  Fruit 
depressed  globose. 

27.  ACERACEAE  St.  Hil. 

Acer  saccharinum  L.  (Silver  maple),  WENU^SHABE- 
THE-HL 
A  tree  with  flaky  bark,  young  growth  distinctly 
reddish.    Leaves  deeply  5-lobed,  green  above,  silvery 
white  below. 

A.  negundo  L.  (Box-elder),  ZHABATA-ZHO^-HI. 

Bushy,  gnarled  and  crooked  tree,  bark  rough. 
Leaves  3-5  foliate,  leaflets  ovate,  acute.   Along  streams. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         345 

28.  RHAMNACEAE  Dumort.    Ceanothus  americana  L. 

(Jersey  tea.    Red-root),  T ABE-HI. 

Stem  ascending  from  deep  reddish  root,  puberulent. 
Cymose  panicles  of  white  flowers.  Fruit  depressed, 
nearly  black. 

29.  VITACEAE  Lindl.     Vitis  vulpina  L.,  (Wild  grape), 

HAZL 

Leaves  thin,  shining,  terminal  lobe  commonly 
long;  branches  rounded  or  slightly  angled,  greenish, 
tendrils  intermittent;  berries  bluish-black,  8-10  mm. 
diameter. 

SO.    TILIACEAE  Juss.   Tilia  americana  L.  (Linden,  bass- 
wood),  HINDE-HL 

Forest  tree  with  spreading  branches,  leaves  5-13 
cm.  wide,  coriaceous,  sharply  serrate,  abruptly  acu- 
minate.   River  bottoms. 

31.  CACTACEAE  Lindl.     Lophophora  williamsii  Coult. 

{Echinocactus  williamsii  Lem.)     {Anhalonium  wil- 
liamsii Eng.)     (Mescal),  MA^ KANAKA. 

Note — MA^KA^,  medicine;  AKA,  a  word  which 
gives  a  suggestion  of  personality,  regarded  as  distinctly 
different  from  any  other  medicine. 

"Napiform  cactus"  with  fissured  top,  hardly  ris- 
ing above  the  ground,  producing  a  handsome  pink 
flower  in  early  summer,  with  flattened  tubercules 
arranged  in  ribs. — (Havard). 

32.  ELEAGNACEAE  Lindl.    Lepargyraea  argentea  (Nutt) 

Greene  (Buffalo  berry),   ZHO'^HOJE-WAZHIDE. 

Shrub  2-6  m.  high,  thorny;  leaves  oblong,  obtuse 
at  apex,  cuneate  narrowed  at  base,  densely  silvery- 
scurfy  on  both  sides;  flowers  fascicled  at  nodes;  fruit 
ovoid,  scarlet,  acid,  edible,  4-6  mm.  long. 


346     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

33.  CORNACEAE  Link. 

Cornus  asperifolia  L'Her  (Dogwood),  MA^SA-HTE- 
HI. 

Shrub,  0.8-3  m.  high;  leaves  broadly  ovate,  pale 
beneath,  rather  dense  cymes  3-7  cm.  broad;  fruit 
globose,  light  blue. 

C.   amomum  L.    (Kinnikinnik),    NINIGA-HI-HTE- 
ZHIDE. 

A  shrub  1-3  m.  high;  bark  dark  red  in  winter, 
grayish  in  summer;  leaves  petioled,  ovate,  acuminate 
at  apex;  flowers  white,  in  compact  cymes;  fruit 
globose,  light  blue. 

34.  OLEACEAE  Lindl.    Frazinus  viridis  Michx.  (Green 

ash),  TASHINANGA-HL 

A  tree  20  m.  or  more  in  height;  leaves  glabrous, 
bright  green;  leaflets  7-9,  occasionally  coated  with 
pale  tomentum  below. 

35.  ASCLEPIADACEAE   Lindl.     Asclepias    syriaca    L. 

(Common  milkweed),  WAH'DHA-HI. 

Stem  stout,  simple  9-15  dm.  high;  leaves  ovate, 
densely  pubescent  beneath,  soon  glabrous  above; 
corolla  green-purple;  hoods  ovate,  lanceolate  with  a 
tooth  on  each  side. 

36.  VERBENACEAE  J.  St.  Hil.    Verbena  stricta  Vent. 

(Hoary  vervain),  PEZHE  MA'^KA''. 

Perennial,  soft-pubescent;  stem  4-angled,  leafy, 
strict,  3-8  dm.  high;  leaves  ovate,  laciniate,  spikes 
mostly  sessile.     Corolla  purplish-blue. 

37.  LABIATAE  B.  Juss. 

Monarda  fistulosa  L.    (Wild   bergamot.  Horse-mint), 
PEZHE-PA. 

Perennial,  fragrant,  villous-pubescent,  6-9  dm. 
high;  leaves  thin,  lanceolate  -  acuminate,  serrate; 
corolla  purplish.     Dry  hills. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         347 

Mentha  canadensis  L.  (American  wild  mint),  PEZHE- 
NUBTHO"^. 
Perennial   by   suckers;    leaves   varying,    ovate- 
oblong  to  lanceolate,  tapering  at  both  ends.     Very 
fragrant. 

38.  SOLANACEAE  Pers.    Nicotiana  quadrivalvis  Pursh. 

Herb  about  2  dm.  high;  viscid-pubescent,  low 
branching.  Leaves  oblong,  or  uppermost  lanceolate; 
lower  ovata-lanceolate;  both  ends  acute.  Calyx  teeth 
much  shorter  than  the  tube,  about  equalling  the  4- 
celled  capsule.  Tube  of  corolla  about  2  cm.  long; 
5-lobed  limb  8-5  cm.  in  diameter.  Cultivated  by 
Indians  from  the  Missouri  river  to  Oregon ;  their  most 
prized  tobacco.  Perhaps  derived  from  N.  bigelovii 
Watson. 

39.  RUBIACEAE    B.   Juss.     Galium    triflorum    Michx. 

(Fragrant    bedstraw),    WAU-PEZHE    or    WAU- 
INU-MA'^KA''. 
Perennial,  procumbent,   shining,    delicately   fra- 
grant in  drying;  leaves  in  6's.    In  deep  woods. 

40.  CAPRIFOLIACEAE    Vent.      Symphoricarpos    sym- 

phoricarpos  (L.)  MacM.  (Coral  berry). 
Shrub    6-15    dm.    high.      Leaves    oval,    entire, 
glabrous  above  or  nearly  so,  soft-pubescent,  whitish 
below.      Corolla  pinkish,  berry  purphsh-red,   ovoid, 
globose. 

41.  CUCURBITACEAE    B.    Juss.     Micrampelis   lobata 

Michx.)  Greene. 
Stem  nearly  glabrous,  angular  and  grooved, 
chmbing  on  bushes  to  height  of  4-7  m.;  leaves  thin, 
sharply  and  deeply  8-7  lobed;  copious  and  pretty 
white  flowers,  fruit  ovoid,  greenish-white,  spiny,  dry 
and  bladdery  after  opening. 

42.  COMPOSITAE  Adans. 

Lacinaria    scariosa    (L.)    Hill     (Button    snake-root, 

Blazing  star),  MA'^KA^'-SAGI,  "the  hard  medicine." 

Stout  stem  3-18  dm.  high;   lanceolate  leaves,  or 


348     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

lower  spatulate  oblong  very  numerous  scales  of  the 
involucre,  with  rounded  tips,  often  purple  on  the 
margins.     Flowers  bluish-purple. 

L.   spicata  (L.)  Kuntze    (Dense   button   snake-root. 
Blazing  star),  TDE-SINDE,  "buffalo  tail." 
In  low  grounds,  6-18  dm.  high,  dense  spike,  1-4 
dm.  long.    Flowers  blue-purple. 

Solidago  (Golden  rod),  ZHA-SAGI-ZI,  "hard  yellow 
weed." 

Perennial  erect  herbs,  sometimes  woody  at  base, 
mostly  simple  stems,  alternate  simple,  toothed  or 
entire  leaves;  small  heads  of  both  tubular  and  radiate 
yellow  flowers  in  panicles,  thyrsi,  or  capitate  clusters. 
Bracts  of  involucre  imbricated  in  several  series,  outer 
successively  shorter. 

Numerous  species  of  Solidago  are  found  in  Ne- 
braska, including  S.  arguta  Ait.,  S.  canadensis  L.,  S. 
missouriensis  Nutt.,  S.  mollis  Bartl.,  S.  nemoralis  Ait., 
S.  rigida  L.,  S.  rupestris  Raf.,  and  S.  serotina  Ait.,  the 
latter  being  the  state  flower. 

Silphium  perfoliatum  L.  (Cup  plant),  ZHABAHOHO- 
HI. 

Stem  square,  glabrous,  branched  above  or  simple, 
1-2.4  m.  high,  around  which  ovate,  coarsely  toothed 
leaves  are  connate  into  cup  holding  rainwater.  Moist 
soil. 

S.  laciniatum  L.  (Compass  plant),  (Pilot  weed),  ZHA- 
PA. 
Rough,  very  resinous  2-5  m.  high,  basal  leaves 
pinnatafid;     stem    leaves    alternate,    vertical,    edges 
tending  to  north  and  south. 

Helianthus  tuherosus  L.  (Jerusalem  artichoke), 
PA^'HE. 
Perennial  by  fleshy,  thickened,  root-stocks,  ending 
in  ovate,  edible,  tubers.  Stems  branched  above,  2-3.5 
m.  high;  leaves  ovate,  acuminate,  upper  alternate, 
lower  opposite. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         349 

Artimisia  gnaphaloides  Nutt.    (Prairie    mugwort) 
PEZHE-HOTE. 
Perennial;  stem  white-tementose,  much  branched, 
3-12    dm.    high;     heads    numerous,    erect,    spicate- 
paniculate.     Dry  prairies. 


Of  fungi  they  had  found  the  useful  qualities  of  the 
meadow  mushroom  and  the  several  species  of  mushrooms 
which  are  found  growing  on  decaying  wood  in  the  wood- 
land along  the  Missouri  river.  Ustilago  maydis  was  used 
for  food  while  still  firm,  before  maturity. 


PLANTS  ARRANGED  ACCORDING  TO  USES  AMONG 
THE  OMAHA 

I. 

DOMESTIC  USES 

1.    IMPLEMENTS 

For  War,  Hunting  and  Fishing 
Arrow  shafts:    Cornus  asperifolia,  MA^SA-HTE- 

HI. 
Bows,  Fraxinus  viridis,  TASHINANGA-HI;  Toxy- 

lon  pomiferum,  ZHO^-ZI  ZHU. 
Fish  weirs,  Salix  spp. 
For  Household  Employments 

Matting:  Scirpus  lacustris,  SA-HI. 
Basketry:    Salix  fluviatilis,  S.  luteosericea,  THIHE' 
SAGE-HI. 
Mortars  for  corn :   Ulmus  americana,  EZHO^ -SKA- 
HI;  Quercus  spp.,  TASHKA-HL 
Pipestems:  Fraxinus  viridis,  TASHINANGA-HI. 


350     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

2.  CEREMONIAL  AGENTS 

Incense :  Juniperus  virginiana,  MAAZI-HI;  Sava- 
stana  odorata,  PEZHE  ZONSTA. 

Sacred  tent:   Populus  sargentii,  MAA-ZHO^. 

Ritual:  Artemisia  ludoviciana,  A.  gnaphalodes, 
PEZHE  HOTE;  Populus  sargentii,  MAA-ZHO^; 
Salix  spp.;  Juniperus  virginiana,  MAAZI- 
HI;  Zea  mays,  WAHABE;  Savastana  odorata, 
PEZHE-ZONSTA;  Typha  latifolia,  WAHABE 
GASKONTHE;  Fraxinus  viridis,  Lophophora 
williamsii  Coult.  {Echinocactus  williamsii  Lem.), 
MA^'KA^'AKA. 

Note — All  plants  in  this  table  are  native  to  Nebraska 
and  of  aboriginal  use,  except  Lophophora,  which  is  not 
native  nor  of  ancient  use,  but  was  imported  in  modern  times 
for  use  in  the  borrowed  cult  of  the  "Mescal  Society",  and 
Toxylon  pomiferum  which  in  aboriginal  time  was  imported 
from  southern  Oklahoma. 

3.  ESTHETIC  USES 

Perfumes  for  hair-oil:  Rosa  arkansana,  WAZHIDE, 
Monarda  fistulosa,  PEZHE -PA. 

Perfumes  for  general  uses:  Aquilegia  canadensis, 
INUBTHO''KITHE-S  ABE-HI;  Xanthoxylum 
americana,  ZHO'^-PAHI-DHADHA,  Galium 
triflorum,  WAU-INU-MA^'KA''  or  WAU- 
PEZHE. 

Skin  stain:  Sanguinaria  canadensis. 

4.  GENERAL  USES 

Vapor  bath  lodges:  Salix  spp. 

Fibres  and  cordage:  Ulmus  fulva,  ZHO^GTHI- 
GTHIDE  {ZHO'',  wood;  GTHIGTHIDE,  slip- 
pery);  Tilia  americana,  HINDE-HI. 

Snow  shoes:  Hicoria  spp.,  NO^ SI-HI. 

Hairbrushes:   Stipa  spartea,  MIKA-HI. 

Dyes:  Rhus  glabra,  MI^BDI-HI;  Quercus  rubra, 
BUU  DE-HI;  Acer  saccharinum,  WENU^- 
SHABETHE-HI;  Populus  sargentii,  MAA- 
ZHO^;  Juglans  nigra,  TDAGE;  Acer  Sac- 
charinum, WENV'-SHABE-THE-HI. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         351 

II. 

FOODS 

1.  FOODS  PROPER 

Roots,  bulbs  and  tubers:  Allium  spp.,  MA^ZHO^- 
KA-MANTANAHA-HI;  Apios  apios,  NU; 
Helianthus  tuberosa,  PA^HE;  Psoralea  esculenta, 
NU-GTHE;  Sagittaria  latifoUa,  SI^. 

Potherbs  and  greens:  Asdepias  syriaca,  WAHTHA, 

Bark:   Ulmus  fulva,  ZHO^'-GTHIGTHIDE. 

Fungi:    Ustilago  maydis,  WAHABE-HTHI. 

They  also  used  the  meadow  mushroom  and  the 

several   species   of  edible  mushrooms  which   are 

found  on  decaying  wood  in  the  woodland  along  the 

Missouri  river. 

Fruits,  seeds  and  nuts:  Corylus  americana,  U^- 
ZHINGA;  Juglans  nigra,  TDAGE;  Quercus 
rubra,  BUUDE;  Crataegus  mollis,  C.  coccinea, 
TASPA^;  Fragaria  virginiana,  BASHTE;  Le- 
pargyraea  argentea,  ZHO^-HOJE-WAZHIDE; 
Prunu^  besseiji,  NO^PA  TANG  A;  P.  virginiana, 
NO^PA  ZHINGA;  P.  americana,  KANDE; 
Ribes  missouriensis,  PEZHI;  Rubus  occidentalis, 
AGATHUNKEMONGE-HI;  Falcata  comosa, 
HI^BTHI  ABE;  Viburnum  lentago,  Vitis  vul- 
pina,  HAZI;  Zea  mays,  WAHABE;  Zizania 
aquatica,  SI^'WANINDE. 

Sugar  and  syrup:  Acer  saccharinum,  WENU- 
SHABATHE'HI;  A.  negundo,  ZHABATE- 
ZHO'^-HI. 

2.  BEVERAGES 

Ceanothus  americana,  T ABE-HI. 

Crataegus  mollis,  C.  Coccinea,  TASPA^-HI. 

Mentha  canadensis,  PEZHE  NUBTHO''. 

Verbena  stricta,  PEZHE-MA'^KA''. 

Rubus  occidentalis,  AGATHUNKEMO^'GE-HI. 

3.  SMOKING 

Nicotiana  quadrivalvis,  Cornus  sericea,  NINIGA- 

HIHTE-ZHIDE. 
Rhus  glabra,  MI'^BDI-HI. 


352     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

III. 

MEDICINES 

1.  PROPERTIES  and  USES 

Anaesthetic  (local) :  Echinacea  angustifolia. 
Antitode  for  snakebites,  stings  and  septic  condi- 
tions: Echinacea  angustifolia. 
Astringent  for  wounds  and  open  sores:    Amorpha 

canescens,  TDE  HU'^TO'^-HL 
Carminative:    Mentha  canadensis,  PEZHE  NUB- 

THO^. 
Febrifuge :  Artemisia  gnaphalodes,  PEZHE-HOTE; 

Caulophyllum  thalictroides,    ZHU    NAKADA 

TANGA  MA'^KA''. 
Moxa:   Amorpha  canescens,  TDE-HU^TO^-HI. 
Poultice:    Oenothera  rhomhipetala,  WEOSHI;    As- 

clepias  tuber osa,  KIU-MAKA^;    Oxalis  stricta, 

HADE  SATHE;    Rhus   glabra,    MFBDI-HI; 

Lacinaria  scariosa,  MA^KA^-SAGI. 
Tonic:    Acorus  calamus,  Silphium  laciniatum  (for 

horses),  ZHA  PA. 
Smoke   treatment:     ASHUDE-KITHE;    S.   per- 

foliatum,  ZHABAHOHO-HI. 

2.  DISEASES 

Abdominal    troubles:     Lacinaria   scariosa,    MA^- 

KA'^-SAGI. 
Eye  troubles:    Echinacea  angustifolia,  Symphori- 

carpos    symphoricarpos,    Rosa   arkansana,    WA- 

ZHIDE. 
Fever:  Caulophyllum  thalictroides,  ZHU  NAKADA 

TANGA      MA^KA^;     Artemisia    gnaphalodes, 

PEZHE  HOTE. 
Headache:  Artemisia  gnaphalodes,  PEZHE  HOTE; 

Monarda  fistulosa,  PEZHE-PA. 
Inflammation :  Lacinaria  scariosa,  MA^KA^-SAGL 
Nasal  hemorrhage:  Artemisia  gnaphalodes,  PEZHE 

HOTE. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS        353 

IV. 
PLANTS  OF  CASUAL  MENTION 

1.  Solidago  spp.,  ZHA  SAGE  ZI. 

2.  Micrampelis  lobata,  WAHA  TANGA-HI. 

3.  Prunus  americana,  KANDE. 

4.  Acer  negundo,  ZHABATA-ZHO^'-HI. 

5.  Ceanothus  americana,  T ABE-HI, 

6.  Silphium  laciniatum,  PEZHE-PA. 

7.  Zea  mays  (red  variety),  W  AH  ABE. 

8.  Melilotus  alba,  IN U-BTHO'' -KIT HE-HI. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  ECONOMIC  BOTANY  OF 
AMERICAN  ABORIGINES 

1.  Barrows,  D.  P.,  Ethnobotany  of  Coahuilla  Indians  of 

California,  Chicago,  1900,  1-82. 

2.  Blankenship,  J.  W.,  Economic  Plants  of  Montana. 

Bui.  56,  Mont.  Agric.  Coll.  Exp.  Sta.,  Bozeman, 
Montana. 

3.  Carr,  L.,  The  Food  of  Certain  American  Indians  and 

Their  Method  of  Preparing  it.    Proc.  Amer.  Antiq. 
Soc,  Worcester,  Mass.,  1895  (reprint  1-36). 

4.  Chamberlain,  L.  S.,  Plants  Used  by  Indians  of  Eastern 

North  America.    American  Naturalist,  1901,  v.  35, 
1-10,  Boston. 

5.  Chamberlain,  A.  F.,  Maple  Sugar  and  the  Indians. 

American   Anthropologist,    1891,    No.   4,    381-383. 
Wash. 

6.  Chestnut,  V.  H.,  Plants  Used  by  Indians  of  Mendocino 

County,  California,  Cont.  from  U.  S.  Nat.  Herb., 
V.  7,  Wash. 

7.  Cook,  0.  F.,  Food  Plants  of  Ancient  America.    Smith- 

son.  Rep.,  1903,  481-497.    Wash.,  1904. 


24 


354     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

8.  Coville,  F.  V.,  Notes  on  Plants  Used  by  the  Klamath 

Indians  of  Oregon.    Cont.  from  U.  S.  Nat.  Herb., 
V.  5,  Wash. 
Panamint   Indians   of   California.     Amer.   Anthrop., 
1892,  No.  15,  551-561,  Wash. 

Wokas,  a  Primitive  Food  of  the  Klamath  Indians. 
Rep.  U.  S.,  Nat.  Mus.,  1902,  725-739,  Wash.,  1904. 

9.  Dorsey,  James  Owen,  Siouan  Cults.     Eleventh  Ann. 

Rep.  B.  A.  E.,  Wash.,  1894. 
Omaha  Sociology.    Third  Ann.  Rep.  B.  A.  E.,  Wash., 
1894. 

10.  Dorsey,  George  A.,  Field-Columbian  Museum  Pub- 

lications, Anthropological  Series,  May,  1903. 

11.  DeCandolle,  Alphonse,  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants. 

12.  Dunbar,  John  B.,  The  Pawnee  Indians.    Magazine  of 

American  History,  v.  5,  No.  5,  Nov.  1890. 

13.  Ellis,  Havelock,  Mescal;    A  New  Artificial  Paradise. 

Ann.  Rep.  Smithson.  Inst.,  1897.    Wash. 

14.  Fletcher,  AHce  C,  The  Hako;   A  Pawnee  Ceremony. 

Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Am.  Eth.,  1904,  Wash. 

15.  Fewkes,    J.    W.,    A    Contribution    to    Ethnobotany. 

Am.  Amthrop.,  v.  9:21,  (1896). 

16.  Goodale,  George  L.,  Some  Possibilities  of  Economic 

Botany.     Amer.  Jour,  of  Science,  v.  42:271,  New 
Haven,  1891. 

17.  Grinnell,  George  Bird,  Some  Cheyenne  Plant  Medi- 

cines.   Am.  Anthrop.,  v.  7,  n.  s.,  1905,  p.  73. 

18.  Handbook  of  American   Indians   North   of   Mexico. 

Bulletin  30,  B.  A.  E.,  Wash. 

19.  Hansen,  N.  E.,  The  Western  Sand  Cherry.    Bui.  87, 

South  Dakota  Agric.  Coll.  Exp.  Sta.,  June,  1904. 

20.  Harshberger,  J.  W.,  Maize;  An  Economic  and  Botanic 

Study.    Cont.  from  Bot.  Lab.  Univ.  of  Pennsylvania. 
V.  1,  No.  2,  1893. 

Purposes  of  Ethnobotany.    Botanical  Gazette,  v.  21, 
No.  3,  p.  146,  Madison. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS         355 

21.  Havard,  V.,  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  Food  Plants  of  North 

American  Indians.  Bui.  Torrey  Bot.  Club.,  v.  22; 
No.  3,  1895,  p.  121. 

Drink  Plants  of  the  Indians.  Am.  Jour.  Pharm., 
May,  1897,  p.  265. 

22.  Henshaw,  H.  W.,  Who  Are  the  American  Indians? 

Amer.  Anthrop.,  v.  2,  No.  3,  p.  197  (July,  1889). 

23.  Hrdlicka,  Ales,  Physiological  and  Medical  Observa- 

tions Among  the  Indians  of  Southwestern  United 
States  and  Northern  Mexico.  Bui.  34,  Bureau  of 
Am.  Eth.,  1908,  Wash. 

24.  Hough,  Walter,  Environments  and  the  Indians.  Amer. 

Nat.,  V.  11,  May,  1898,  p.  137. 

25.  Jenks,  Albert  Ernest,   Wild  Rice  Gatherers  of  the 

Upper  Lakes.  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Am.  Eth., 
1897-8,  pt.  2,  1013-1137,  Wash.,  1900. 

26.  Josselyn,  John,  New  England  Rarities.    London,  1672 

Reprint,  Boston,  1865. 

27.  Kroeber,  A.  L.,  The  Arapaho.    Bui.  Am.  Mus.  Nat. 

Hist.,  V.  18  (1902). 

28.  Lloyd  Brothers'  Bulletin,  1907-8. 

29.  Lloyd  Brothers'  Publications,  No.  75,  85. 

30.  Mason,  0.  T.,  Migration  and  the  Food  Quest.     A 

Study  of  the  Peopling  of  America.  Amer.  Anthrop., 
V.  7,  0.  S. 

31.  Matthews,  Washington,  Ethnography  and  Philology 

of  the  Hidatsa  Indians.  Rep.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey, 
1877,  Wash. 

Was  Willow  Bark  Smoked  by  the  Indians?  Amer. 
Anthropologist,  v.  5,  n.  s.,  1903,  p.  170. 

32.  Merck's  Index,  1907,  p.  66.    Subject:  Anhalonine. 

33.  Mooney,  James,  The  Mescal  Plant  and  Ceremony. 

Therapeutic  Gazette,  Jan.  1896,  p.  7,  3d  series, 
V.  12,  No.  1,  Detroit. 

A  Kiowa  Mescal  Rattle.  Am.  Anthrop.,  v.  5,  o.  s., 
Oct.  1893,  p.  377. 


356     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Cherokee  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  Jour, 
of  Amer.  Folklore,  v.  3,  1890,  p.  44,  Cambridge. 
Calendar  History  of  Kiowa  Indians.  Seventeenth 
Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Am.  Eth.,  p.  238,  Wash. 

34.  Newberry,  J.  S.,  Food  and  Fibre  Plants  of  North 

American  Indians.  Popular  Science  Monthly,  v.  32, 
p.  31,  New  York. 

35.  Palmer,  Edward,  Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  Food  Products  of 

North  American  Indians,  Rep.  U.  S.  Com.  Agric, 
1870,  p.  412,  Wash. 

Plants  Used  by  Indians  of  the  United  States.  Amer. 
Naturalist,  1878,  v.  12,  593-596,  646-655,  Phila. 
Customs  of  the  Coyotero  Apaches.     Amer.  Jour. 
Pharm.,  v.  50,  p.  586. 

36.  Powers,   Stephen,   Aboriginal   Botany.     Proc.   Calif. 

Acad.  Sci.,  1873-4,  v.  15,  p.  373. 

37.  Rau,   Charles,   Ancient  Aboriginal   Trade  in   North 

America.    Smithson.  Rep.  1872,  Wash. 

38.  Rhind,  William,  Vegetable  Kingdom.    London,  1868. 

39.  Stevenson,  Matilda  Coxe,  The  Zuni  Indians.    Twenty- 

third  Ann.  Rep.  B.  A.  E.,  1901-2,  1-634,  Wash., 
1904. 

40.  Sturtevant,    Lewis,    Indian    Corn    and    the    Indian. 

Amer.  Naturalist,  v.  19,  No.  3,  p.  15,  March,  1885. 
Kitchen  Garden  Esculents  of  American  Origin. 
Amer.  Naturalist,  v.  19. 

41.  Stockwell,  G.  A.,  M.  D.,  Indian  Medicine.    Popular 

Science  Monthly,  v.  29,  p.  649,  (1886). 

42.  Stickney,  G.  P.,  Indian  Uses  of  Wild  Rice,  Amer. 

Anthrop.,  v.  9,  p.  115,  (1896). 

43.  Trumbull,  J.  Hammond,  Vegetables  Cultivated  by  the 

American  Indians.  Bui.  Torrey  Bot.  Club,  Jan., 
1876;  April,  1876. 

44.  Thomas,    Cyrus,    Agriculture    Among    the    Indians. 

Twelfth  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Am.  Eth.,  p.  615, 
Wash. 


ETHNOBOTANY  OF  OMAHA  INDIANS        357 

45.    Thompson,  Charles  Henry,  Cacti  Cultivated  Under 

the  Generic  Name  Anhalonium.     From  the  Ninth 

Ann.  Rep.  Missouri  Bot.  Garden.    St.  Louis,  1898. 

Note — This  report  is  of  special  interest  in  that  it 

contains  an  excellent  plate  of  Lophophora  williamsii  and  one 

of  L.  lewinii  as  they  are  therein  specifically  distinguished. 


SOME  NATIVE  NEBRASKA  PLANTS  WITH 
THEIR  USES  BY  THE  DAKOTA^ 

By  Melvin  Randolph  Gilmore,  M.  A. 

[Being  the  result  of  inquiry  among  the  Oglala  Dakota 
on  Pine  Ridge  Reservation,  August,  1912.] 

MONOCOTYLEDONEAE 

I.  ALISMACEAE.    Sagittaria  sp.    PSHITOLA. 

Tubers  used  for  food  after  boiling  till  the  peeling 
slips  off. 

II.  LILIACEAE.    Yucca  glauca.    HUPESTULA. 

The  root  was  used  like  soap  in  washing  the  scalp. 
The  Indians  said,  '*It  makes  the  hair  grow."  The 
most  ordinary  saponific  was  the  ashes  of  deciduous 
trees. 

Another  use  for  Yucca  was  in  the  contrivance  of 
a  fire-making  apparatus,  on  the  high  plain  where  wood 
was  absent.  The  hard  sharp-pointed  leaves  were  very 
firmly  bound  into  a  slender  bundle  forming  the  fire- 
drill  to  be  twirled  by  the  hands.  The  hearth  was  made 
of  the  peeled  and  well  dried  stem  of  the  plant,  a  de- 
pression was  cut  in  one  side  in  which  the  point  of  the 
drill  was  inserted  and  twirled  until  it  smouldered,  when 
the  breath  was  blown  upon  it  till  flame  sprang  up. 

Another  use  was  in  tanning  hides.  The  roots  of 
Yucca  were  boiled  hard  and,  after  cooling,  the  decoction 


^  In  spelling  the  Dakota  words  in  this  paper  I  have  used  the  letters  ac- 
cording to  their  continental  values  instead  of  the  English,  for  the  sake  of 
clearness.  Each  vowel  forms  a  syllable.  The  letter  "h"  with  a  dot  over 
it  represents  the  German  sound  of  "ch."  An  apostrophe  after  a  letter 
represents  an  explosive  sound  of  that  letter. 

(358) 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  359 

was  sprinkled   over   the  hides  after  they  had  been 
treated  with  the  brain-hver-marrow  dressing. 

III.  ARACEAE.      Acorus    calamus.      SP'KPELA    TA 

WOTE.     (Food  of  the  muskrat). 

The  root  was  gathered  and  dried  and  taken  as  a 
carminative  and  also  chewed  at  will  for  its  agreeable 
aromatic  flavor. 

IV.  TYPHACEAE.    Typlia  latifolia  L.    WIHUTA  HU. 

The  down  was  used  for  filling  pillows  and  especially 
for  padding  cradles  and  quilting  baby  wrappings. 

Children  used  the  leaves  in  playing  at  making 
mats  and  so  forth,  but  because  of  their  brittleness  after 
drying  they  were  not  put  to  serious  purpose  by  adults. 
From  the  name,  WIHUTA  HU,  it  would  seem  to  have 
been  in  common  use  to  spread  at  the  bottom  of  the 
tipi,  for  WIHUTA  means  the  bottom  of  a  tent  and 
HU  means  plant  stem. 

V.  CYPERACEAE.    Scirpus  lacustris  L.    PSA. 

The  tender  white  part  of  the  base  of  the  stem  was 
eaten  fresh  and  uncooked. 

The  long  stems  were  made  into  a  ball  by  bending 
over  the  base  of  several  together,  then  the  remaining 
length  of  stems  was  braided  into  a  swinging  handle, 
the  whole  contrivance  forming  the  instrument  of  a 
children's  game. 

Mats  for  household  use  were  woven  from  the 
stems  after  they  were  first  pressed  flat  between  thumb 
and  fingers. 

VI.  POACEAE.     Savastana  odorata. 

This  grass  was  used  in  propitiatory  rites  in  order 
to  enlist  the  good  offices  of  the  divine  mediator, 
WOHPA,  in  the  cause  of  the  person  who  was  offering 
worship  to  a  benevolent  deity. 


360     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Zizania  aquatica  L.    PSI^. 

The  grain  formed  an  important  and  prized  item  of 
food,  so  important  as  to  give  the  name  PSI'^-HNA- 
KETU-WI  to  the  month  of  the  Dakota  calendar  cor- 
responding to  September;  PSI'',  rice;  HNAKETU, 
to  lay  up  to  dry;   WI,  moon. 

VII.  RANUNCULACEAE.     Thalictrum  purpurascens  L. 

WAZIMNA. 

When  the  fruits  approach  maturity  in  August  the 
tops  are  broken  off  and  stored  in  bags  for  their  agree- 
able odor,  being  rubbed  and  scattered  on  the  clothing 
at  any  time  when  the  effect  is  desired.  They  say  that 
the  fragrance  is  emitted  more  when  the  substance  is 
dampened,  and  that  it  is  LILA  WASHTEMNA— very 
fragrant.  They  speak  of  a  number  of  plants  as  being 
WASHTEMNA  which  we  Europeans  do  not  think  of 
as  remarkable  for  fragrance.  But  with  them  whatever 
gives  a  suggestion  of  the  fresh  outdoors  is  WASH- 
TEMNA, though  its  odor  be  ever  so  evanescent  and 
slight. 

VIII.  SALICACEAE.    Populus  sp.    WAGA  CHA^\ 

The  wood  was  used  for  fuel.  The  standing  trees 
of  large  size  were  sometimes  made  depositories  of 
dead  bodies  in  the  tree  burial  of  old  times.  The  body 
might  be  placed  in  the  hollow  trunk  of  a  tree  or  laid 
on  a  support  placed  across  branches.  Green  cotton- 
wood  bark  was  fed  to  their  horses.  They  said  it  was 
as  good  for  horse  feed  as  the  white  man's  oats.  In 
spring  when  sap  was  abundant  young  sprouts  were 
sometimes  peeled  and  the  inner  bark  was  eaten  by 
people  because  of  its  sweet  taste  and  agreeable  flavor. 
Even  in  winter  the  inner  bark  was  chewed  to  extract 
its  sweetness,  and  after  chewing  the  fibre  was  rejected. 

A  very  interesting  and  charming  use  for  the  leaves 
was  had  by  children  in  play.    They  tore  the  leaf  down 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  361 

a  little  way  from  the  tip  along  the  midrib,  and  at  an 
equal  distance  from  the  tip  they  tore  the  leaf  in  a 
little  way  from  the  margin  of  each  side  and  turned 
back  these  two  parts  to  represent  smoke  flaps,  then 
turned  the  two  margins  of  the  leaf  together  and  pinned 
them  so  with  a  splinter  and  had  a  realistic  toy  tipi. 
Children  would  make  a  number  of  such  tipis  and  set 
them  in  a  circle,  just  as  the  tribal  encampment  was 
set  in  a  circle.  It  is  interesting  to  note  this  manifesta- 
tion of  the  inventive  genius  and  resourcefulness  of  the 
Indian  child  mind  thus  reacting  to  its  environment 
and  providing  its  own  amusement.  Children  some- 
times gathered  the  fruits  of  the  cottonwood  before 
they  were  scattered  by  the  wind  and  used  the  cottony 
seeds  like  gum  for  chewing. 
Salix  fluviatilis  Nutt.    WAHPE  POPA. 

The  stems  were  peeled  and  woven  into  baskets. 

IX.  NYCTAGINACEAE.     Allionia   nyctaginea   Michx. 

(Wild  Four-O'clock).  POIPIE. 
The  root  was  boiled  and  used  as  a  febrifuge.  It 
was  also  boiled  with  Brauneria  pallida  root  for  a 
vermifuge.  It  was  taken  for  four  nights  and  next 
morning  "the  worms  came  away".  If  one  has  "the 
big  worm"  (tape-worm)  "it  comes  away  too".  Boiled 
with  Brauneria  it  was  applied  to  swellings  of  Hmbs, 
arms  or  legs,  always  being  applied  by  rubbing  down- 
ward, never  upward. 

X.  CHENOPODIACEAE.      Chenopodium  albidum  L. 

WAHPE  TOTO. 
The  young  plants  were  boiled  for  food. 

XI.  POLYGONACEAE.      Rumex   altissimus    (wood). 

SHIAKIPI. 

The  green  leaves  were  bound  on  boils  for  the 
purpose   of  drawing  them   out.     Dried  leaves  were 


362     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

crushed  up  and  bound  on  with  green  leaves  for  the 
same  purpose. 

XII.  MALVACEAE.    Malvastrum  coccineum  (Pursh.)  A. 

Gray.    HEYOKA  TA  PEZHUTA. 

Used  to  deaden  sensation  of  pain,  so  that,  when 
rubbed  on  hands  and  arms  by  jugglers,  they  were  able 
to  pick  up  boiling  meat  from  the  pot  to  the  mystifica- 
tion of  onlookers. 

XIII.  ULMACEAE.     Celtis  occidentalis  L.  (Hackberry). 

YAMANUMANUGAPI  CHA^\ 
The  fruits  were  pounded  up  as  were  the  cherries 
and  dried  for  use  as  a  condiment  for  seasoning  the 
meat  in  cooking. 

XIV.  MORACEAE.   Humulus  lupulus  L.  (Hops).   CHA^ 

lYUWE. 

The  fruits  were  boiled  to  make  a  drink  used  as  a 
remedy  for  fever  and  for  intestinal  pains. 

XV.  CONVOLVULACEAE.    Cuscuta  sp.  (Dodder). 

My  Oglala  informant  knew  nothing  about  it,  but 
my  interpreter,  who  was  an  Apache,  said  his  tribe  call 
it  "rattlesnake  food". 

They  said  that  rattlesnakes  take  it  into  their  dens 
for  food. 

XVI.  SOLANACEAE.     Physalis  heterophylla.     (Ground 

cherry) .     TAMANIOHPE. 
Made  into  a  sauce.    When  plentiful  enough  they 
are  sometimes  dried  for  winter  use. 
Physalis  lanceolata.     (Inedible  groundcherry).     Also 
called  TAMANIOHPE  by  the  Dakota. 
The  only  use  of  this  species  is  by  children  in  play. 
They  inflate  the  large  persistent  calyx  with  the  breath 
and  pop  the  same  by  suddenly  striking  it  on  the  fore- 
head or  hand. 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  363 

XVII.  ASCLEPIADACEAE.    Asdepias  syriaca  L.    (Big 

milkweed).  WAHCHAH  CHA. 
So  named  from  the  bursting  out  of  the  ripened 
pods  like  a  flower,  WAHCHA.  Used  for  food,  the 
sprouts  in  early  spring,  later  the  bud  clusters,  and  last 
the  young  seed  pods,  while  firm  and  green,  are  cooked 
by  boiling,  usually  with  meat. 

XVIII.  SCROPHULARIACEAE.       Pentstemon    grandi- 

florus  Nutt.     WAHCHAHSHA. 
The  root  was  boiled  and  used  for  pains  in  the 
chest. 

XIX.  VERBENACEAE.  Verbena  stricta  Vent.  (Common 

wild  Verbena).    CHA''  HALOGA  PEZHUTA. 
The  leaves  are  steeped  and  the  infusion  taken  for 
stomach  ache. 

XX.  LAMIACEAE.    Monarda  fistulosa  L.    (Horsemint). 

HEHAKA  TA  PEZHUTA  (medicine  of  the  red 

elk). 

Flowers  and  leaves  boiled  together  in  an  infusion 
to  be  taken  for  abdominal  pains. 

Bachelors  carry  bunches  of  it  in  their  clothes  for 
the  pleasant  fragrance. 
Monarda  fistulosa  L.  (var.?) 

Used  as  the  Omaha  use  it  for  a  perfume. 
Hedeoma  sp.     (Pennyroyal).    MA^'KA^'CHIAKA, 

Used  in  form  of  an  infusion  for  colds;   also  used 
as  a  flavor  and  tonic  appetizer  in  diet  for  the  sick. 
Mentha  canadensis  L.     (Wild  mint).    CHIAKA. 

It  was  used  as  a  flavor  for  meat.  In  cooking  or  in 
packing  dried  meat  wild  mint  was  laid  in  alternate 
layers  with  the  meat  in  the  packing  case.  CHIAKA 
was  also  used  to  make  a  hot  aqueous  beverage  like  tea. 


364     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

XXI.    ROSACEAE.    Amelanchier  alnifolia.    (June  berry). 

WIPAZUKA. 

I  did  not  see  any  of  the  fruit  but  heard  mention 
of  it  as  being  gathered  along  the  streams. 
Prunus  americana  Marsh.    (Wild  Plum).    KA^TE. 

Used  fresh,  raw  or  made  into  a  sauce,  or  boiled 
and  pitted  and  dried  for  winter  use.  Dried  plums  are 
called  KA^'SHTAGIYAPI.  In  the  days  of  buffalo 
hunting  the  scrapings  of  the  hides  in  preparing  them 
for  tanning  were  saved  and  mixed  with  the  plums  and 
dried  together.  When  asked  if  the  scrapings  of  the 
hides  of  domestic  cattle  are  now  so  used  the  Indians 
replied  that  they  do  not  taste  so  good  and  so  are  not 
desirable. 

Plum  seeds  are  used  to  make  the  playing  pieces  of 
a  certain  game  in  a  manner  like  dice.  Three  pairs  of 
pieces  are  used  in  this  game,  the  devices  being  burned 
on  the  plum  pit.  The  pieces  are  cast  in  a  small  basket 
woven  of  willow  withes.  The  play  is  made  by  striking 
against  the  ground  the  bottom  of  the  basket  containing 
the  plum  pits. 
Prunus  besseyi  Bailey.    (Sand  cherry).    AO^YEYAPI. 

Used  for  food  in  fresh  state  or  dried  for  winter, 
first  being  pitted  as  are  the  plums. 
Prunus  melanocarpa  (A.  Nels.)  Rydb.    (Western  choke- 
cherry).    CHA^'TA. 

Used  for  food  in  fresh  state,  or  prepared  for  winter 
use  by  pounding  to  a  pulp  with  a  stone  mortar  and 
pestle.  The  entire  cherry,  pit  and  all,  is  pulped  and 
formed  into  small  cakes  and  dried  in  the  sun. 

The  cherries  are  prepared  thus  in  large  quantities, 
the  cherry  harvest  being  an  event  of  great  importance 
in  the  domestic  economy  of  the  people,  so  great  that 
the  month  in  which  the  cherries  ripen  is  called  in  the 
Dakota  calendar  by  the  name  of  that  fruit,  "Ripe 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  365 

cherry  month",  CHA'^PA  SAP  A  WI,  literally,  "Black- 
cherry  moon".     The  people  travel  for  miles  to  the 
streams  where  the  cherries  are  abundant  and  there  go 
into  camp  and  work  up  the  cherries  while  they  last,  or 
until  they  have  prepared  as  great  a  quantity  as  they 
require.    The  sun  dance  began  on  the  day  of  the  full 
moon  when  the  cherries  were  ripe. 
XXII.    PAPILIONACEAE.     Melilotus  alba  L.     (Sweet 
clover). 
Has  been  introduced  as  a  weed  and  the  Dakota, 
noting  the  likeness  of  its  odor  in  withering  to  that  of 
sweet  grass,  Savastana  odorata,  gather  handfuls  of  it  to 
hang  up  in  their  houses  for  the  pleasure  of  its  fragrance. 
Astragalus  crassicarpus  Nutt.     (Buffalo  pea.  Ground 

plum).    PTE  TA  WOTE,  literally  ''Buffalo  food", 

PT^,  buffalo;  WOTE,  food;  TA,  sign  of  the  genitive 

case. 
Sometimes  eaten  raw  and  fresh  by  people. 
Astragalus  canadensis  L. 

An  infusion  was  made  from  the  root  to  be  used  as 
a  febrifuge  for  children. 
Glycyrrihiza    lepidota    Pursh.      (Wild    licorice).      WI 

NAWIZI,  "jealous  woman". 
The  leaves  are  chewed  to  make  a  poultice  for 
sores  on  horses.  The  root  is  kept  in  the  mouth  for 
toothache;  "it  tastes  strong  at  first,  but  after  a  while 
becomes  sweet."  The  leaves  are  steeped  and  applied 
to  the  ears  for  earache. 
Psoralea  esculenta  Pursh.    (Pomme  blanche,  Pomme  de 

prairie).     TIP  SI  LA    (Oglala    dialect;     TIPSINA 

(Yankton  dialect). 

The  roots  were  an  important  item  of  the  vegetal 

diet.    They  were  peeled  and  eaten  fresh,  or  dried  for 

winter  use.    For  drying  they  were  peeled  and  braided 

into  festoons  by  their  tapering  roots,  or  were  split  into 


366     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

halves  or  quarters  and  after  drying  were  stored  in  any 

convenient  container. 

Psoralea  floribunda  Nutt.    TICHANICHA-HU. 

Two  other  plants  (unidentified)  and  root  of  P. 
floribunda  boiled  and  used  as  a  remedy  for  consump- 
tion.   In  summer,  garlands  were  made  of  the  tops  of 
this  plant  and  worn  like  hats  in  hot  weather. 
Parosela  enneandra  (Nutt.)  Britton. 

The  root  said  to  be  poisonous.  By  the  description 
of  its  effect  as  given  by  my  informant,  the  wife  of  Fast 
Horse  of  the  Oglala  tribe  of  Dakota,  I  think  that  it 
must  be  a  powerful  narcotic. 

Parosela   aurea    (Nutt.)    Britton.      PEZHUTA    PA, 
(bitter  medicine). 

The  leaves  were  used  to  make  an  infusion  to  drink 
in  cases  of  stomach  ache  and  dysentery. 

XXIII.  CACTACEAE.    Opuntia  humifusa.   V'KCHELA 

TA^'KA,  (big  cactus). 

Large  yellow  blossoms. 

The  fruits  of  this  cactus  were  stewed  for  food  and 
sometimes  eaten  raw.  They  were  also  dried  for  winter. 
The  cactus  fruit  is  called  TASPU^.  Sometimes  when 
food  was  very  scarce  the  stems  of  this  cactus  were 
cleared  of  their  spines  and  roasted  for  food. 

XXIV.  ACERACEAE.     Acer   negundo   L.      (Boxelder). 

CHA^  SHUSHKA. 
Sugar  was  made  from  the  sap  of  this  tree  by 
gashing  in  the  spring.  The  Dakota  word  for  sugar  is 
CHA^  HA^PI,  which  is  significant  of  the  aboriginal 
sugar-making  process.  CHA^  is  the  Dakota  word  for 
wood  or  tree,  HA^PI  is  the  word  for  juice,  so  the  con- 
ventionalized term  for  sugar  indicates  its  origin  from 
tree  sap.  Box  elder  wood  was  used  to  obtain  charcoal 
for  tattooing. 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  367 

XXV.  ANCARDACEAE.      Rhus    glabra    L.      (Smooth 

Sumac).     CHA'''  ZIZI. 

The  leaves  when  turning  scarlet  in  the  fall  were 
gathered  and  dried  for  smoking. 
Rhus  trilohata  Nutt.    CHA'''  WISKUYE  SHA. 

The  ripe,  red  fruits  were  boiled  very  thoroughly 
with  the  fruits  of  Lepargyraea  argentea  to  make  a  red 
dye.  The  Rhus  fruits  were  probably  used  for  effect 
as  a  mordant,  though  they  may  also  have  contributed 
to  the  color  effect  as  well. 

XXVI.  JUGLANSDACEAE.    Juglans  nigra  L.     (Black 

walnut).  CHA^'SAPA. 
By  the  description  of  my  informant  I  thought  a 
certain  tree  found  growing  on  WAZI  WAKPA  (Solo- 
mon River?)  far  south  from  the  winter  camp  of  the 
Dakota  must  be  black  walnut.  His  wife  said  a  black 
dye  was  made  from  the  roots  of  the  tree.  Afterwards 
by  specimen  it  was  identified  as  black  walnut,  but  the 
San  tee  Dakota  call  the  walnut  HMA. 

XXVII.  CORNACEAE.     Cornus  amomum  Mill.     (Kin- 

nikinnik.)     CHA''  SHASHA. 
The  inner  bark  was  dried  for  the  purpose  of  smok- 
ing. 

XXVIII.  RUBIACEAE.    Galium  triflorum  Mich. 
Among  stores  of  perfume  plants  was  one  which  by 

odor  and  by  usual  appearance  of  broken  fragment  I 
judged  to  be  this  plant,  and  as  it  grows  in  the  country 
of  the  Dakota  was  probably  used  by  them,  since  it 
was  so  used  by  the  Omaha. 

XXIX.  CAPRIFOLIACEAE.    Symphoricarpos  symphori- 

carpos  L.  MacM.    KA'^TO-HU. 
The  green,  inner  bark  was  used  together  with  root 
of  Brauneria  pallida  to  make  a  decoction  for  sore  eyes. 
The  leaves  of  this  plant  were  also  used  alone  for  the 


368     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

same  purpose.    The  wood  was  used  to  make  charcoal 
used  in  tattooing. 

XXX.    ASTERACEAE.      Gutierrezia    sarothrae    (Pursh.) 
Britton  and  Rusby.  PEZHI ZIZI,  (yellow  herb). 

Used  as  a  medicine  for  horses  in  case  of  too  lax  a 
condition  of  the  bowels.  The  flowering  tops  of  the 
herb  are  boiled  and  the  horses  are  caused  to  drink  the 
bitter  infusion  by  being  kept  from  drinking  other 
water. 

Grindelia   squarrosa    (Pursh.)      Dunal.     PTE  ICHI 
YOHA. 

The  tops  are  used  to  make  an  infusion  which  is 
given  to  children  for  stomach  ache. 
Ratihida  columnaris  (Sims.)  D.  Don.     (Prairie  Cone- 
flower).     WAHCHA-ZI-CHIKALA. 

The  leaves  were  used  to  make  a  hot  aqueous  drink 
like  tea,  merely  as  a  food  accessory.  The  flowers  are 
used  as  an  auxiliary  to  other  plants  (not  yet  identified), 
in  preparation  of  a  remedy  for  chest  pains  and  other 
ailments,  and,  with  certain  others  (also  unidentified), 
as  a  remedy  for  wounds.  The  people  said  of  it  that 
it  is  LILA  WASHTEMNA— very  pleasant  to  smell. 
Brauneria  pallida  (Nutt.)  Britton.  (Nigger-head, 
Black  Sampson.)     ICHAHPE-HU. 

The  root  was  used  for  all  sorts  of  ailments.  It 
was  applied  to  areas  of  inflammation  to  relieve  the 
burning  sensation.  It  was  said  to  give  a  feeling  of 
coolness.  It  was  probably  used  as  an  antidote  for  snake 
bites  as  with  other  tribes,  though  my  informant  did  not 
seem  to  know  of  that  use,  which  I  thought  strange,  as 
the  knowledge  of  this  property  of  it  is  so  common 
among  the  Omaha.  My  interpreter,  a  Mexican  Indian, 
volunteered  the  information  that  it  was  used  by  his 
people  for  snake  bites. 


NATIVE  PLANTS  OF  NEBRASKA  369 

Helianthus  tuberosus  L,     (Jerusalem  artichoke.)    PA^- 
Gl-HU. 
The  tubers  were  boiled  for  food,  sometimes  fried 
after  boiling.    They  said  that  too  free  a  use  of  them 
in  the  dietary  caused  flatulence. 

Helianthus  annuus  L.  (Sunflower.)  W  ARCH  A  ZI, 
(yellow  flower). 
An  infusion  used  for  chest  pains  was  made  from 
the  heads,  they  first  being  cleared  of  involucral  bracts. 
When  the  sunflower  grew  large  and  was  in  full  flower 
the  people  would  say,  "Now  the  buffalo  are  fat  and 
the  meat  is  good". 

Ambrosia  artemisiaefolia  L.     (Ragweed.)    PEZHJJTA 
PA,  (bitter  medicine). 

An-  infusion  was  made  from  the  leaves  and  small 
tops  of  this  plant  to  be  taken  as  a  remedy  for  bloody 
flux,  and  also  to  stop  vomiting. 
Boebera   papposa    (Vent.)    Rydb.      (Fetid   marigold.) 
PIZPIZA  TA  WOTE,  (Prairie-dog  food). 

They  say  it  is  found  more  abundantly  than  else- 
where about  prairie  dog  towns,  and  that  it  is  a  choice 
food  of  this  animal. 

It  is  used  in  conjunction  with  Gutierrezia  sarothrae, 
PEZHI  ZIZI,  in  making  a  medicine  for  cough  in 
horses. 
Artemisia  sp.     (Mugwort,  Wild  sage,  Wormwood). 

Short  Bull,  the  well-known  Brule  chief,  said  the 
larger  Artemisia  {Artemisia  gnaphaloides)  was  used  by 
men  in  purificatory  rites,  as  in  case  of  unwitting  in- 
fraction of  a  tabu.  In  the  Dakota  mythology  the 
T0^\  or  immaterial  essence  or  spirit  of  Artemisia  is 
repugnant  to  malevolent  powers,  wherefore  it  is  proper 
to  use  it  in  exorcising  evil  spirits,  either  by  burning 
the  herb  or  in  lustrations  with  an  infusion  of  it.    Short 

25 


370     NEBRASKA  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Bull   said   the  little   sage  (Artemisia  carta  Pursh.)  is 
used  in  purificatory  rites  by  women  after  menstruation. 


INDEX 


Ackerly's  ranch:  250 
Adams,  Green  &  Co.:  250 
Adventures  on  the  Plains,  1865-67, 

Dennis  Farrell:  247 
Alderdice,  Mrs.  Susannah:  28 
Allen,  Walter:  85 
Alma:  231 

Almy,  Lieutenant  Jacob:  30 
American  Fur  Company:  131,  138 
An  Indian  Raid  of  1867, 

John  R.  Campbell:  259 
An  Interesting  Historical  Document, 

Albert  Watkins:  308 
Anadarko  (Oklahoma):  89 
Andrews,  George:  28 
Annual  address  of  John  Lee  Webster, 

President  1913:  232 
Applegate,  Jesse:  114 
Arbor  Day:  150 
Arnold,  Ernest:  230 
Ash  Hollow:  144,  223,  226 
Ashley  expedition:  224 
Astorian  expedition:  167 
Atchison:  132 
Atkinson,  Colonel  Henry:    165,  175, 

183,  184,  189,  192,  194,  196,  198, 

199,  202 
Augur,  Gen.  C.  C:  28,  262 
Avery,  Dr.  Samuel:  324 


Bainter,  James:  160 

Banner  county:  220 

Barnes,  Edward:  230 

Bassett,  Samuel  C:  152 

Beaver  creek:  21,  22,  23,' 29,  30,  31 

Beach  family:  208j 

Beatrice:  157 

Beiyon,  Frank  A.:  230 

Belle  Fontaine:    164,  174,   176,  189, 

194 
Bellevue:  167 
Bene:  see  Benoit 


Benedict,  Albert  J.:  172 

Bengtson,  Prof.  N.  A.:  324 

Benoit,  Jules:   223,  226,  248;    death 
of,  249 

Benton,  Randolph:  113 

Botany  of  American  Aborigines, 
Bibliography  on  Economic;  353 

Biddle,  Major  Thomas:  165,  198 

Big  Blue  river:  113,  119 

Big  Elk:  167 

Big  Horn  river:  112 

Bissell,  General:  178,  202 

Black  Tail  Deer  Fork  creek:  29 

Blackbird,  Alfred:  316 

Blake,  Major  G.  A.  H.:  129, 132,  134, 
136,  140 

Bliss,  Captain:  183,  187,  198 

Blue  Water  creek:  223 

Blush,  Mrs.  Francis:  159 

Bonneville,  Captain:  224 

Boonville  (Missouri):  131 

Boston  &  Newton  Joint  Stock  Asso- 
ciation: 117,  118 

Boyd  county:  76 

Brackenridge,  H.  M.:  201 

Bristol,  Cicero  L.,  Origin  of  Olatha, 
Nebraska:  205 

Brown,  Herman  M.:  211 

Brown,  Lieutenant:  187 

Brownville  (Nebraska):  132 

Buchanan,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Robert 
C:  129 

Buck,  Nelson:   30;    surveying  party, 
massacre  of:  30 

Buck,  Royal:  34 

Buffalo  county,  organization  of:   152 

Buffalo  Ranch:  160 

Burgess,  William:  39 

Burlington  &   Missouri   River  Rail- 
road: 34 

Burt,  Mr.:  120 

Burt,  Governor  Francis:  308 

Butler,  Charles:  160 


871 


372 


INDEX 


Butler,  David:  157,  218,  219 
Butler,  Ella:  159 
Butler,  Preston:  160 

C.  Choteau,  Jr.,  &  Co.:  134 
Camp  Rankin:  248 
Campbell  family:  259,  260 
Campbell,  John  R.,  An  Indian  Raid 

of  1867:  259 
Campbell,  Peter:  259,  260 
Campbell,  Mrs.  Peter:  260 
Calhoun  (steamboat):  194,  195,  203 
California  road:  224 
Calvert,  Smith:  189 
Camp  Clarke:  222 

Camp  Martin:  see  Martin  Cantonment 
Camp  Missouri:    165,  167,  198,  199; 

barracks  at:  200 
Camp  Ruskin:  223 
Camp  Sheridan:  44 
Camp  Shuman:  226 
Candy,  James:  157 
Carlton,  Major:  44 
Carr,  Major  General  E.  A.:    22,  27, 

28,  29,  130 
Carson,  Kit:  113 
Cass,  Lieutenant:  136 
Castor,  Tobias:  159 
Chambers,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Talbot : 

164,  176,  178,  190,  192,  196,  197 
Chambers,  Samuel  A. :  172 
Chariton  (Missouri):    130,  131,  200, 

201,  202 
Charleton,  Lieutenant  C.  H.:  130, 136 
Chase  county:  20,  33 
Cheyenne  county:   219,  220;   deriva- 
tion of  name:    222;    organization: 

218;  population:  221 
Cheyenne  pass:  312 
Cheyenne  raid  of  1878:  42 
Chief  White  Eye:  254 
Chimney  Rock:  226 
Choteau,  August:  167,  168 
Choteau,  C.  P.:  134,  135,  136 
Choteau,  Pierre  Jr.:  128,  131 
Chippewa  (steamboat) :  131,133,  134 

135,  136,  137,  144, 
Chivington,  John  M.:  24 


Chivington  massacre:  23 

Clay  county:  172,  206 

Clay,  Henry:  175,  192,  193 

Clayton:  206 

Cleburne,  Joseph  C:  218 

Coal  in  Nebraska:  207 

Colefax,  George:  189 

Collins,  Lieutenant  Caspar:  311 

Collins,  Thomas:  228 

Comstock,  Ansel:  161 

Comstock,  E.  S.,  Sr.:  156,  159,  160 

Comstock,  George:  161 

Comstock,  Harry  C:  159 

Comstock,  J.  M.:  159,  160 

Comstock,  Mary:  159 

Comstock,  Mrs.  Sarah:  159 

Constable,  George:  160 

Cooper,  Doctor:  136,  139 

CoRDEAL,  John  F.,  Historical  Sketch 

of  Southwestern  Nebraska:  16 
Coronado:  18;  route  of:  16,  17 
Coulter,  John:  166 
Council  Bluffs:    131,   169,  175,   195, 

198,  202,  203 
Council  Bluffs  route:  115 
Courthouse  Rock:  226 
Cow  Island:  186,  188,  189 
Cow  Island  rapids:  145 
Cowles,  James  H.:  171 
Cowles,  Jesse:  171 
Cox,  William:  271 
Craig,  Captain:    178,  183,  186,  189, 

191 
Craig,  Silas:  175 
Crawford,  Medorem:  113 
Crook,  General  George:  43,  84 
Crow,  Christopher:  186 
Croxton,  JohnH.:  219 
Culbertson,  Alexander:  128 
Curry,  R.  D.:  229 
Cuming,  Thomas  B.:   308;    letter  to 

George  W.  Jones:  309 

Dallas,  Captain  A.  J.:  261 
Daugherty,  W.  E.:    32;    battle  with 

the  Indians:   32;   surveying  party: 

28 
Dauphin  rapids:  144,  145 


INDEX 


373 


Davis,  A.  F.:  218 

Davis,  Abner  E.:  157 

Davison,  Jonathan  L.:  205,  207 

Dawes,  Senator:  81 

Dawson,  Andrew:  134 

Dent,  Frederick:  174 

Deuel  county:  220 

Dey,  Peter  A.:  151,  311 

Dickenson  [Mr.]:  252 

Diddock,  Mrs.  Walter:  316 

Dilworth,  Caleb  J.:  230 

Disaster  Bend:  145 

Dodge,  Augustus  C:  309 

Dodge,  General  Grenville  M.:    151, 

310,  312 
Dodge,  Nathan  P.:  311,  313 
Dog  creek:  29 
"Dog-soldiers":  27 
Doniphan:  259 
Douglas,  James:  159,  160 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.:  309 
Downing,  Elbridge  L.:  157 
Draper,  T.  M.:  214 
Dudley,  General  Nathan  A.  M.:  40, 

41 
Dull  Knife:  42,  222 
Dundy  county:  20,  33 
Duncan,  General:  30 
Dunham,  W.  Y^f.:  206 
Dunham,  Mrs.  W.  W.:  206 
Dunlap,  J.  P.:  262 
Dygart,  H.  A.:  219 

Economic  plants  by  families:  337 

Edwards,  A.:  157 

El  Paso  (steamboat):  131,  134 

Ellis,  Mr.:  36 

Ellis,  John  G.:  219 

Ellsworth,  H.  L.:  219 

Elm  Tree  Ranch:  160 

Emery  [Bob]:  160 

Emery,  Charles:  160 

Emilie  (steamboat):  136 

Emmett,  James:  305,  306 

Etherton  [Mr.]:  205 

Eubank  Ranch:  160 

Eubank,  William:  158 

Ewing  Ranch:  see  Kelley  Ranch 


Expedition  (steamboat):  131,  174, 
176,  178,  183,  188,  189,  190,  203, 
204 

Farnham,  Henry:  312 

Farrell,  Dennis,  Adventures  on  the 

Plains,  1865-67:  251 
Farrell's  Ranch:  250,  254 
Fewkes,  J.  W.:  322 
Ficklin's:  226 
First  Steamboat   Trial   Trip    Up  the 

Missouri,  Albert  Watkins:  162 
Fish,  Lieutenant:  22 
Fisher,  Joseph:  218 
Fitzgerald,  Rev.  Dennis  G.,  The 

Semi-precious    Stones    of    Webster, 

Nuckolls   and    Franklin    Counties, 

Nebraska:  209 
Florence  (steamboat):  135 
Floyd,  John  B.:  141 
FoUmer,  C.  S.:  158 
FoLLMER,  George  D.,  Incidents  of 

the   Early   Settlement    of   Nuckolls 

County:  156 
Fontenelle,  Logan:  232 
Fort  Atkinson:  162 
Fort   Benton:     127,    129,    131,    132, 

133,  134,  137,  141,  144 
Fort  Berthold:  138 
Fort  Boise:  141 
Fort  Brule:  144 
FortBuford:  144 
Fort  Caspar:  311 
Fort  Clark:  138 

Fort  Columbus  (New  York):  130 
Fort  Cottonwood:  25 
Fort  Dallas:  128,  129 
Fort  Grattan:  226 
Fort  Hall:  114,  141 
Fort  Julesburg:  24 
Fort  Kearny:    23,  30,  34,  225,  227, 

231,  247,  261 
Fort  Laramie:    141,  225,  247,  255; 

treaty  of:  81,  82,  83 
Fort  Leavenworth:  131,  141,  225 
Fort  Lyon:  24 
Fort  Marion:  137 
Fort  McPherson:  27,  28,  40 


374 


INDEX 


Fort  Mitchell:  226 

Fort  Osage:  112,  175,  191,  196 

Fort  Pierre:  131,  133,  l36,  137,  138 

Fort  Randall:  132,  134,  137 

Fort  Riley:  141 

Fort  Robinson:  44 

Fort  Sedgwick:    24,   223,  226,  255; 

history  of:  248 
Fort  Sidney:  226,  227 
Fort  Snelling:  140 
Fort  Union:   131,  132,  134,  135,  136, 

138 
Fort  Walla  Walla:  128 
Forts:  see  Camps 
Franklin  City:  229 
Franklin   county,    geology   of:     211; 

organization  of:  229 
Franklin  (Missouri):  130 
Fremont,  Francis:  316 
Fremont,  John  C:  19,  113 
Fremont,  Nettie:  316 
French  explorers:  303 
Frenchman  river:  20 
Frenchman's  Fork  (creek) :  30 
Fry,  Ed  A.:  76 
Furnas,  Robert  W.:  150,  173,  234 

Garber,  Silas:  234 

Gantt,  Judge  Daniel:  158 

George  Bell  Co.:  211 

Getty,  Captain:  136 

Gilbert,  John:  159 

GiLMORE,  Melvin  R.:  277,  292; 
A  Study  in  the  Ethnobotany  of  the 
Omaha  Indians:  314;  Some  Native 
Nebraska  Plants  With  Their  Uses 
by  the  Dakota:  358 

Glasgow  (Missouri):  131 

Glover,  Frederick:  219 

Golden,  Andy:  218 

Goodman,  Charles  W.:  157 

Goodwin,  James  S.:  205,  206,  207 

Gould,  George:  116 

Grand  Island:  112 

Grasshopper  devastation:  40 

Grattan,  Lieutenant  John  L. :  226 

Greeley,  Horace:  115 

Green  river:  112 


Halderman,  [Mr.]:  184,  186,  187 

Hall  county:  152 

Hancock,  General  Winfield  S.:  144 

Hannum,  Jonas:  157 

Hansen,  George  W.,  A  Tragedy  of 

the  Oregon  Trail:  110 
Harahey:  17 
Hardhart:  200,  201 
Hardin,  Lieutenant,  M.  D.:  130,  136 
Hardy  (Nebraska) :  209 
Harlan  county,  organization  of:  230 
Harney,  General  W.  S.:  128,  223,  262 
Harris,  John:  188 
Haskins,  John  G.:  207 
Head,  Dr.  S.  F.:  136,  139 
Helvey  Ranch:  156 
Hemstead,  Major  Thomas:  178,  188 
Henby,  Willis:  157 
Henderson,  J.  B.:  262 
Hendrickson,  Captain  Thomas:  130 
Henn,  Bernhart:  309 
Henry,  Dr.  Charles  A.:  228 
Hilton,  Charles:  207 
Hilton,  John  Greenleaf:  206,  207 
Historical  Sketch  of  Cheyenne  County, 

Nebraska,  Albert  Watkins:  218 
Historical  Sketch  of  Southwestern  Ne- 
braska, John  F.  Cordeal:  16 
Historical  Society,  Work  of,  John  Lee 

Webster;  1 
History,   Right   Reverend   J.   Henry 

Tihen:  293 
Hodge,  F.  W.:  17 
Hogback  peak:  227 
Holland,  John:  228 
Hook,  Amos  O.:  228 
How    Shall    the    Indian    be    Treated 

Historically,  Harry  L.  Keefe:  263 
Howard  county  (Missouri):  130 
Hughes,  Jack:  249 
Hull,  J.  A.:  135 
Humphreys,    Captain   W.    H.:     134, 

136,  145 
Hunt,  Wilson  P.:  167 

Illiteracy,  by  states:  153 
Importance    of   the    Study    of   Local 

History,   James   E.   Le   Rossignol: 

285 


INDEX 


375 


Incidents  of  the  Early  Settlement  of 

Nuckolls  County,  George  D.  Foll- 

mer:  156 
Independence  (Missouri):    115,  119, 

149 
Independence  (steamboat):  130 
Indian  battles: 

Ash  Hollow:  223 

August  6,  1860:  21 

Carr's  with  the  Sioux:  26 

Julesburg:  224 

Mud  Springs:  224 
Indian  manners  and  customs: 

Agriculture:   268,  279,  317,  328 

Beverages:  329 

Breakfast:  91,  92 

Civilization:  267 

Clothing:  324 

Ceremonies:  98,  330 

Death  and  burial:    103,  273,  321, 

322,  360 

Courtship:  99 

Dyes:  324,  325,  367 

Foods:    325,   326,   327,   328,   334, 

358,  359,  361,  363,  364,  366 

Games:  92,  93,  98 

Gum  chewing:  98 

Hand  work:  318 

Instruction:  94,  98,  101 

Language:  88 

Literature:  273 

Marriage:  100 

Medicines:  314,  332,  334,  361,  362, 

368 

Men's  work:  92,  102 

Perfumes:  323,  359,  360,  363,  367 

Pets:  97 

Play:  361,  362 

Religion:  319,  320,  321,  273 

Tanning:  101,  358 

Tipi,  description  of:  91 

Visiting:  96 

Winter  camp:  92 

Women's  work:  97,  101,  102,  280 

Work  societies:  101 
Indian  massacres: 

Chivington:  23 

Custer:  311 


Junction ville,  1867:  260,  261 
Little  Blue,  1864:  158,  159 
Pawnee-Sioux:  38 
Plum  Creek:  256 

Indian  molestations:    253,  254,  255, 

256 
Indians: 

Arapaho:   20,  23,  89,  222,  223,  310 

Arikara:  167 

Assinaboine:  134,  316 

Biloxi:  316 

Blackfeet:  134,  166 

Brule  Sioux:  31,  85 

Caddo:  89 

Catawba:  316 

Cheyenne:    20,  23,  27,  28,  42,  43, 

89,  222,  223,  310 
Comanche:  89 
Crow:  166,  316 
Dakota:  358 
Hidatsa:  316 
Hopi:  89 
Iowa:  316 
Kansa:  316 
Kiowa:  89 
Kwapa:  316 
Minetari:  316 
Missouri:  316,  317 
Navajo:  89 
Ogalala  Sioux:  85 
Omaha:  167,  232,  315,  316 
Osage:  316,  317 
Oto:  279,  316,  317 
Pawnee:  20,  26,  39,  279,  306,  317 
Pawnee  Loups:  313 
Ponka:  84,  87,  167,  168,  270,  279, 

306,  316 
Piute:  89 
Pueblo:  89 
Sioux:  20,  26,  27,  31,  38,  85,  89,  222, 

232,  310;    Standing  Rock  tribes: 

85 
Stricheron  (Starrahe):  167 
Tutelo:  316 
Wichita:  89 
Winnebago:  316,  318 
Indian  Woman,  James  Mooney,  95 


376 


INDEX 


Influence  of  Overland  Travel  on  the 
Early  Settlement  of  Nebraska,  H.  G. 
Taylor:  146 

Ingraham,  Lieutenant:  22 

Iron  Eye:  316 

Izard,  Governor:  308 

Jackson's  Hole:  112 

James,  Acting  Governor  William  H.: 

229,  230 
Jefferson  (steamboat):   176,  183,  186, 

188,  189,  190,  203 
Jefferson  Barracks:  129 
Jefferson  county,  original:  309 
Jesup,  General  Thomas  S.:   129,  168, 

170,  174,  175,  184,  189,  192,  202 
Johnson  (steamboat):    174,  176,  183, 

188,  189,  190,  203 
Johnson,  Andrew:  186,  190 
Johnson,  Henry:  170,  175 
Johnson,  James:    168,  170,  174,  175, 

176,  193 
Johnson,  Joel:  170,  175 
Johnson,  John  T.:  170,  175 
Johnson,  Richard  Mentor:    170,  171, 

176 
Johnson  county,  history  of:  172 
Johnston,  Albert  Sidney:  225 
Johnston,  Colonel  Joseph  E.:  129 
Johnston,  Thomas  B.:  157 
Jones,  Captain  Delancey  Floyd:  130, 

136 
Jones,  George  W.:  309 
Jones,  W.  W.  W.:  34 
Jones,  Walter:  174 
Jones  county,  organization  of:  309 
Jules  station:  223 
Julesburg:  224,  248,  251 

Kane,  Thomas:  218,  219 

Kautz,  Lieutenant  August  V.:    130, 

136 
Kearney  City:  228 
Kearney  county:    153;    organization 

of:  228,  229 
Keefe,  Harry  L.,  How  Shall  the  Indian 

be  Treated  Historically:  263 


Keeler,  Lieutenant:  199 

Kellogg,  William  Pitt:  71 

Kelleher,  D.  M.:  219 

Kelley,  W.  R.:  159,  160 

Kelton,  John  C:  130 

Keyapaha  river:  53 

Key   West    (steamboat):     133,    134, 

135,  144 
Kimball  county:  220 
King,  Professor:  332 
Kinnikinnik:  367 
Kiowa  (Nebraska):  160 
Kiowa  Ranch:  156,  158,  160 
Kingsbury,  George  W.:  76 
Knight,  James:  230 
Knox,  Halderman  &  Co.:  169 
Knox  county:  76 
Kyle,  Corporal  John:  29 


Labarge,  Captain:  134,  185,  136 

La  Flesche,  Carey:  316 

La  Flesche,  Francis:  316 

La  Flesche,  Joseph:  316 

La  Flesche,  Mrs.  Mary:  316 

La  Flesche,  Noah:  316 

Lake,  George  B.:  219 

Leavenworth:  132 

Lendrum,  Captain  John  H.:  130,  186 

Le  Rossignol,  James  E.,  The  /m- 

portance    of    the    Study    of    Local 

History:  285 
Lexington:  256 
Liberty  Farm:  160 
Life  Among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the 

Plains,  James  Mooney:  88 
Lincoln  county:  153,  219 
Lisa,  Manuel:  164,  166 
Little  Blue  river:  113,  115 
Little  Blue  Station:  160 
Little  Wolf:  42 
Little  Wound:  27,  28 
Livingston,  Colonel  Robert  R.:  224 
Livingston,  Lieutenant  La  Rhett  L.: 

130,  136 
Logan  creek,  Indian  name  of:  326 
Lodgepole  creek:  251 


INDEX 


377 


Lone  Tree  Ranch:  160 

Long  Bear:  330 

Long,  Major  Stephen  H.:    184,  186, 

196 
Lord,  Brackett:  119 
Lowell,  (town):  229 
Lynch,  Matthew:  230 

McArdle,  James:  252 
McClinnon,  [Mr.]:  167 
McGunnegle,  Captain:  183,  188,  189, 

202 
McPherson,  John:  230 
Mackay,  James:  304 
Mad  Bear,  Sergeant:  29 
Mallet  Brothers:  18 
Marias  river:  144 
Marion's  Bend:  137 
Marsh,  Mr.:  37 
Martin,  Captain:  164 
Martin,  D.  S.:  218 
Martin  Cantonment:    169,  174,  175, 

184,  189 
Martin's  Camp:  183 
Mason,  Rev.  Joel  S.:  206,  207 
Mason,  Mrs.  Joel:  206 
Mason,  General  John:  174,  176 
Mason,  John  S.:  130 
Massacre  Canon:  38 
Memorabilia — Gen.     G.     M.     Dodge, 

Albert  Watkins:  312 
Mercer,  JohnT.:  130 
Merger,  Captain:  164 
Meridian:  156,  157 
Mescal:  see  Peyote 
Metcalf,  Nute:  160 
Meyer,  Dr.  H.  F.  G.:  279,  332 
Michael,  Philip:  156,  157 
Miles,  General  Nelson  A.:  84 
Milk  river:  131,  134 
Miller,  Alexander:  219 
Miller,  Bishop  George:  306 
Miller,  George:  316 
Miller,  Dr.  George  L.:  31,  234 
Milligan  [Mr.]:  160 
Minick,  John  S.:  172 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  railroad:  311 
Missouri  Fur  Company:  166,  167 
Missouri  river,  Indian  name:  317 


Missouri  river,   navigation   of:    127, 

162 
Mitchell,  General:  25 
Mizner,  J.  K.:  43 
Montgomery,  D.  W.:  157,  158 
Moody,  William:  160 
MooNEY,  James:    319;    Life  Among 

the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Plains:  88; 

The  Indian  Woman:  95;  Systematic 

Nebraska  Ethnologic  Investigation: 

103 
Moore,  C.  A.:  219 
Mormon  road:  224 
Mormon  trail:  149,  225,  307 
Mormons,  expedition  to  Texas:   306; 

western  exodus:  306 
Morrill  county:  220 
Morrow's  ranch.  Jack:  25 
Morton,  J.  Sterling:   34,  149,  150 
Moss  [Morse]  family:  36 
Mudge  [Mr.]:  160 
Mud  Springs:  224 
Mud  Springs  ranch:  251 
Mullan,  Lieutenant  John:    128,  129, 

132,  139 
Murphy,  Frank:  309 
Mustgrove,  J.  Q.:  230   ' 
Myers,     Brevet     Brigadier     General 

William:  255 

Napoleon  (town):  231 

Naponee  (Nebraska):  213 

Native  Nebraska  plants: 
Acer  saccharinum:  324,  328 
Acer  negundo:  366 
Acorus  calamus:  334,  359 
Allionia  nyciaginea:  361 
Allium  spp.:  325 
Amelanchier  alnifolia:  364 
Amorpha  canescens:  334 
Apios  apios:  325 
Apios  tuberosa:  325 
Aquilegia  canadense:  323 
Artemisia  gnaphalodes:  321,  334 
Asclepias  syriaca:  325,  363 
Astragalus  canadensis:  365 
Astragalus  crassicarpus:  365 
Brauneria  pallida:  361,  368 


378 


INDEX 


Native  Nebraska  plants:  {Continued 
Caulophyllum  thalictroides:  335 
Ceanothus  americana:  329,  336 
Celtis  occidentalis:  362 
Chenopodium  albidum:  361 
Corylus  americana:  326 
Cornus  amomum:  331,  367 
Cornus  asperifolia:  317 
Crataegus  coccinea:  326,  329 
Crataegus  mollis:  326 
Cucurbita  foetidissima:  335 
Cuscuta  sp.:  362 
Echinacea  augustifolia:  332,  336 
Equisetum  spp.:  318 
Falcata  comosa:  326 
Fragaria  virginiana:  326 
Fraxinus  viridis:  317,  318,  322 
Galium  triflorum:  323,  367 
Glycyrrhiza  lepidota:  365 
Grindelia  squarrosa:  368 
Gutierrezia  sarothrae:  368 
Gymnocladus  dioica:  335 
Hedeoma  sp.:  363 
Helianthus  tuberosa:  325 
Humulus  lupulus:  362 
Indian  tobacco:  331 
Indian  turnip:  325 
Juglans  nigra:  326,  367 
Juniperus  virginiana:  320,  322 
Kinnikinnik:  367 
Lacinaria  scariosa:  335 
Lophophora  ivilliamsii:  322 
Lepargyraea  argentea:  326 
Lithospermum  canescens:  336 
Malvastrum  coccineum:  362 
Melilotus  alba:  365 
Mentha  canadense:  329,  334,  363 
Micrampelis  lobata:  336 
Monarda  fistulosa:  323,  363 
Morus  rubra:  326 
Nicotiana:  330 
Opuntia  humifusa:  366 
Oxalis  stricta:  335 
Parosela  aurea:  366 
Parosela  enneandra:  366 
Pen^stemon  grandiflorus:  363 
Physalis  heterophylla:  362 
Powww  d«  prairie:  325 


Pomme  de  terre:  325 
Populus  sp.:  360 
Populus  sargentii:  321,  322,  324 
PruTiMS  americana:  326,  336,  364 
PmriMS  besseyi:  326,  364 
Prunus  melonacarpa:  364 
Prunus  virginiana:  326 
Psoralea:  325 
Psoralea  esculenta:  365 
Psoralea  floribunda:  366 
QwercMS  r«6m;  325,  327 
Ratibida  columnaris:  368 
jR?iMS  ff?a6ra;  325,  331,  334,  335,  367 
Kibes  missouriensis:  326 
Rosa  arkansana:  323,  336 
Rw6ms  occidentalis:  326,  329 
Rwmex  altissimus:  361 
Sagittaria  latifolia:  325 
Sagittaria  sp.:  358 
SaKx;  319,  324 
Salix  fluviatilis:  361 
Sahx  spp.:  322 
Sanguinaria  canadensis:  324 
Savastana  odorata:  320,  322,  359 
Scirpus  lacustris:  323,  359 
Silphium  laciniatum:  335,  336 
Silphium  perfoliatum:  334 
Solidago  spp.:  336 
Siipa  spartea:  324 
Symphoricarpos   symphoricarpos: 

367 
Thalictrum  purpurascens:  360 
Tz'h'a  americana:  324 
Toxylon  pomiferum:  318 
T^/p^o  latifolia:  322,  323,  359 
C/ZmMS  /ttZ2;o;  324,  325 
Ustilago  maydis:  329,  349 
Ferfeena  stricta:  329,  363 
Vtiis  riparia:  326 
Viiis  vulpina:  326 
Wild  potato:  325 
Xanthoxylum  americana:  323 
Yucca  glauca:  358 
Zea  mai/s;  322,  327 
Zizania  aquatica:  328 
Nauvoo  (Illinois):  305,  360 


INDEX 


379 


Navigation  of   Missouri  river:    181, 

193 
Naylor,  Alexander:  157 
Nebraska  Center:  152 
Nebraska  City:  132,  205,  259 
Nebraska-Dakota  boundary  line:  81 
Nebraska,  Mother  of   States,    Albert 

Watkins:  48 
Nebraska,  original  area  of:    48,   49; 

original  boundaries  of:   49,  50,  51, 

52 
Nebraska  Territorial  Acquisition, 

Albert  Watkins:  53 
NeiU,  Captain  P.  W.:  249,  255 
Nelson  (Nebraska):  157 
Nemaha  county:  172 
Newport  Barracks  (Kentucky):  130 
Newspapers,  value  of  preserving:  2 
Niobrara  river:   53,  76,  87;    meaning 

of  Indian  name:  317 
North,  Major  Frank:  27,  29 
North  Platte  river:  20 
Northwest  P\ir  Company:  128 
Nuckolls  county:    156;    geology  of: 

214;  organization  of:  156 

Oak  Grove  Ranch:  156, 157, 159, 160, 

161 
O'Brien,  Captain  Nicholas  J.:    249, 

258 
O'Fallon,  Captain  John:    185,  202 
O'Fallon,  Major:  198,  200,  202 
O'Fallon's  Bluff:  249 
Offutt,  H.  J.:  190 
Olatha  (Nebraska) :  205,  208 
Olaiha,   Nebraska,   Origin  of,   Cicero 

L.  Bristol:  205 
Old  Crow:  42 
Omaha:  132,  205 
Omaha  City:  136 
Omaha  (steamboat):  136 
Omaha  Nebraskian:  133 
O'Neal,  Thomas:  206 
Only  Chance  (steamboat) :  145 
Oregon  emigration:  114,  115 
Oregon    Recruit    Expedition,    Albert 

Watkins:  127 
Oregon  Trail:  113, 114, 115, 117, 127, 

149,  156,  158,  161,  224,  307 


Oregon  Trail,  A  Tragedy  of,  George 

W.  Hansen:  110 
Organization  of  the  Counties  of  Kearney, 

Franklin,  Harlan  and  Phelps,  Albert 

Watkins:  228 
Origin  of  Olatha,  Nebraska,  Cicero  L. 

Bristol:  205 
Orleans:  231 


Pacific  railroad:  312 
Paddock,  Algernon  S.:  233 
Palmer,  Henry  E.:  159 
Pathfinders,  The  Historic  Background 

of  Western  Civilization,  Heman  C. 

Smith:  300 
Pawnee  Killer:   27,  28,  30,  31,  32 
Pawnee  Ranch:  160 
Pawnee  scouts:  27,  28,  29 
Pawnee-Sioux  massacre:  38 
Pawnee  village  on  the  Beaver:  313 
Pearce,  H.  C:  130 
Pelham,  Captain:  195 
Peyote:  319 

Phelps  county,  organization  of:  230 
Picotte,  Mrs.  Susan  La  Flesche,  M.  D.: 

316 
Pierre's  Hole:  111,  112 
Pinkney,  William:  175 
Plants  Arranged  According  to  Uses 

Among  the  Omaha:  349 
Platte  river:  19 
Plum  Creek  station:  256 
Ponca  Indian  commission:  84 
Ponca  reservation:  81,  82 
"Ponca  Strip":  76;  area  of:  80 
Pope,  Major  General  John:  311 
Poplar  river:  131,  137 
Popo  Agie  river:  112 
Powell,  B.W.:  230 
Prairie  Dog  creek:  29 
Prey,  John  D.:  205 
Pringle,  Jim:  252 
Pyper,  James  M.:  229 


Quivira:  17 
Randolph,  G.  G.:  160 


380 


INDEX 


Republican  river:  19,  20,  30 
Republican  Valley  Land  Company: 

34 
Red  Willow  creek:  30,  35 
Red  Cloud  (Nebraska) :  209 
Red  Willow  county:  23,  40 
Richardson  county,  geology  of:  214 
Riley,  Captain:  164 
Robertson,  John  B.:  171 
Roca  (Nebraska) :  205 
Rock  creek:   113 
Rock  Island  railroad:  311 
Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Company:  112 
Rodgers,  Commodore  John:  174,  176 
Roper,  Laura:  159 
Ross,  Hugh:  156 
Rouillet,  Louis:  252 
Rowley,  George:  43 
Royal  Buck  expedition:  34 
Russell,  Major:  39 

St.  Joseph:  132 

St.  Joseph  &  Denver  City  Railroad 
Company:  157 

St.  Joseph  &  Western  railroad:  157 

St.  Paul  (Minn.):  142 

Salt  creek:  205;  ford:  207 

Sappa  Peak:  212 

Sanborn,  General  John  B.:  24,  262 

Sand  creek  (Colo.):  23 

Sand  creek  (Kansas):  42 

Sand  creek  massacre:  24 

Santa  F6  trail:  110,  130 

Sarpy's  trading  point:  306 

Saunders,  Alvin:  69,  76,  78,  80,  233 

Schoonover,  Major:  1S6 

Schurz,  Carl:  85 

Scott's  Bluff  county:  220 

Sebree,  Major:  183,  186,  187,  223 

Sedgv/ick,  Major  General  John:  223 

Semi-precioiis  Stones  of  Webster, 
Nuckolls  and  Franklin  Counties, 
Nebraska,  Rev.  Dennis  G.  Fitz- 
gerald: 209 

Sentegaleska:  see  Spotted  Tail 

Seymour,  Silas:  151 

Shank,  J.  M.:  158 

Shell  creek:  317 

Shelley,  Marmaduke  M.:  206,  207 


Sherman,  Lieutenant  General  William 

T.:  225,  249,  255,  262,  312 
Shuman,  Captain:  226 
Sidney:  218,  221 
Sidney  Station:  252 
Simmons,  John  E.:  230 
Simonton,  Adam:  157 
Simonton,  Ella:  157 
Singleton,  John  A.:  171 
Sioux  City:  132 

Sioux  reservation,  division  of:  85 
Smith,  Lieutenant  Benjamin  P.:  130, 

136 
Smith,  George  Charles:  211 
Smith,  Heman  C,  The  Pathfinders, 

The  Historic  Background  of  Western 

Civilization:  300 
Solomon  river:  21 
Some  Native   Nebrai^ka  Plants   With 

Their  Uses  by  the  Dakota,  Melvin 

Randolph  Gilmore:  358 
South  Pass:  112,  312 
Southern  Pass:  112 
Southwestern      Nebraska,      Historical 

Sketch  of,  John  F.  Cordeal:  16 
Spotted  Tail:  28,  31,  262 
Spread  Eagle  (steamboat):    133,  134, 

135,  137,  138,  144,  160 
Standing  Bear:  239,  270 
Staples,  David:  119 
State  Center  (Iowa) :  305 
Steen,  Major  E.:  141,  143 
Stickney,  William:  84 
Stockton,  Lieutenant:  22 
Stoughton,    Lieutenant    Edwin    H.: 

130,  136 
A   Study   in  the  Ethnobotany  of  the 

Omaha  Indians,  Melvin  Randolph 

Gilmore:  314 
Sturgis,  Captain  S.  D.:  21,  23 
Sublette,  William:  224 
Summit  Springs:  28 
Sutton  (Nebr.):  34 
Sweetser,  Mr.:  120 
Sydenham,  Moses:  228,  231 
Systematic    Nebraska   Ethnologic   In- 
vestigation, James  Mooney:  103 


INDEX 


881 


Taffe,  John:  219 

Talbot,  John:  228 

Talcott,  Lieutenant:  200 

Tall  Bull:  27,  28 

Tappan,  S.  F.:  262 

Tatarrash:  17 

Taylor,  H.  G„  Influence  of  Overland 

Travel   on   the   Early  Settlement  of 

Nebraska:  146 
Taylor,  James:  186 
Taylor,  N.  G.:  24,  262 
Taylor,  Richard:  206 
Taylor,  William  Z.:  39 
Tecumseh:  171 
Terry,  General  A.  H.:  43,  262 
Thaine,  Mr.:  157 
Thayer  county:  309 
The  Whistler:  27,  28,  30 
Thirty-two  Mile  Creek  Ranch:  161 
Thomas,  William  D.:  229 
Thompson  [Mr.]:  256 
Tibbets  [Mr.]:  252 
Tiffany  «&  Co.:  210,  214 
TiHEN,  Right  Reverend  J.  Henry, 

History:  293 
Tipton,  Thomas:  233 
Tracy,  T.:  228 
"Traders  Trail":  25 
Trading  posts:  166 
Trudeau,  Zeno:  304 
Turkey  creek:  29,  37 
Turner,  Dick:  252 

Twenty-two  Mile  Ranch:  see  Farr ell's 
Ranch 


Umphrey,  E.:  160 
Upham,  Lieutenant  J.  J.:  130,  136 
Union  Pacific  railroad:  312 
Upland  (Nebraska):  211 

Valentine,  E.  K.:  76 

Van  Elten,  D.:  229 

Van  Laningham,  C.  J.:  229,  231 

Vanderwork,  E.:  156 

Vaughan,  Alfred  J.:  134,  136 

Vifquain,  General  Victor:  230 

Vining,  Charles:  230 


Wajapa:  316 

Waiilatpu:  128 

Walden  [Mr.]:  252 

Walls,  John:  169 

Walters,  Richard:  230 

Ward,  William:  170 

Ware,  Captain  Eugene  F.:  249 

Warren,  Lieutenant:  138,  144 

Wash-inga-sabe:  316 

Watkins,   Albert,   First   Steamboat 
Trial  Trip  Up  the  Missouri:    162; 
Historical  Sketch  of  Cheyenne  County, 
Nebraska:  218;   An  Interesting  His- 
torical   Document:     308;    Memora- 
bilia—Gen.    G.    M.    Dodge:     310 
Nebraska,    Mother    of   States:    48 
Nebraska    Territorial    Acquisition 
53;     The  Oregon    Recruit   Expedi- 
tion:   127;       Organization     of   the 
Counties    of     Kearney,     Franklin, 
Harlan  and  Phelps:  228 

Watt,  Sam:  248,  250 

Weaver,  A.  J.:  158 

Webster  John  lee.  Annual  Address, 
1913:  232;  The  Work  of  the  His- 
torical Society:  1 

Webster  county,  geology  of:  209 

Weeks,  Joseph  V.:  205,  207 

Weeks,  Mary  J.:  207 

Westbrook,  Captain:  248,  249 

Westbrook,  Royal  L.:  255 

Western  Engineer  (steamboat):  131, 
194 

Westport:  149 

Whelan's  creek:  see  Beaver  creek 

Whistler,  Major:  178 

White  Antelope:  24 

White,  Barclay:  39 

White,  Doctor  Elijah:  113 

Whitman,  Marcus:  114 

Whitman's  Mission:  128 

Wiechel,  Mrs.:  28 

Wight,  Lyman:  306 

"Wild  cat"  bank,  Florence:  312 

Wild  Cat  mountains:  227 

Wild  Cat  peak:  227 

Wild  game:  35,  44,  157,  251,  253, 
254 


382 


INDEX 


Wild  hay:  253 

Wild  Hog:  42 

Wiley  [Mr.]:  252 

Will  R.  King&  Co.:  256 

Wind  river:  111 

Winter  Quarters:  149,  306 

Winslow  family:  117 

Winslow,  George:  110, 116;  last  letter 

to  his  wife:  120 
Winslow,  George  E.:  115 
Winslow,  Henry  O.:  116 
Winslow,  Jesse:  119 
Wirt,    Attorney    General    William: 

174,  176,  203 


Woodruff  [Mr.j:  207 
Woodruff,  Charles:  207 
Woolworth,  James  M.:  143 
Wright,  Captain:  134,  136 
Wright,  Colonel:  141 
Wyeth,  Nathaniel  J.:  113,  224 
Wyman,  Captain:  261 


Yellow  Horse:  270 
Yellowstone  (steamboat)  :^131 
Yellowstone  expedition  :7 130,  168 
Young,  Brigham:  306 
Young,  F.  G.:  115