PIKE'S DISSERTATION ON LOUISIANA.[IV-1]
From the entrance of the Missouri, on the south bank the land is low
until you arrive at Belle Fontaine, four miles from its entrance. In
this distance are several strata of soil, one rising above the other.
As the river is cutting off the north point, and making land on the
south, this is well timbered with oak, walnut, ash, etc.
From Belle Fontaine to St. Charles the north side of the Missouri is
low, bounded on its banks by timbered land extending from half a mile
to one mile from the river. Six miles below St. Charles, on the south
side, in front of a village called Florissant, is a coal hill, or, as
it is termed by the French, La Charbonniere. This is one solid stone
hill, which probably affords sufficient fuel for all the population of
Louisiana. St. Charles is situated on the west side of the Missouri,
where the hill first joins the river, and is laid out parallel to the
stream.
The main street is on the first bank, the second on the top of the
hill. On this street is situated a round wooden tower, formerly
occupied by the Spaniards as a fort or guard-house, now converted into
a prison. From this tower you have an extensive view of the river
below. St. Charles consists of about 80 houses, principally occupied
by Indian traders or their engagees. It is the seat of justice for the
district of St. Charles.
From St. Charles to the village of La Charrette, the west side is
generally low, but with hills running parallel at a great distance
back from the river; the south side is more hilly, with springs.
Scattering settlements are on both sides.
La Charrette is the last settlement we saw on the Missouri, although
there is one above, at a saline on the west side. From La Charrette to
the Gasconade river, you find on the north low land heavily timbered;
on the south, hills, rivulets, and a small number of small creeks,
with very high cane. The Gasconade is 200 yards wide at its entrance;
it is navigable at certain seasons 100 miles. At the time we were at
it, it was backed by the Mississippi,[IV-2] but was clear and
transparent above their confluence. On the side opposite their
confluence commences the line between the Sac Indians and the United
States. [See p. 339, and note 14, p. 11.]
From the Gasconade to the entrance of the Osage river, the south side
of the river is hilly but well timbered. On the north are low bottoms
and heavy timber. In this space of the Missouri, from its [the
Gasconade's] entrance to the Osage river, we find it well timbered,
rich in soil, and very proper for the cultivation of all the
productions of our Middle and Western States. It is timbered generally
with cottonwood, ash, oak, pecan, hickory, and some elm; but the
cottonwood predominates on all the made bottoms. From the entrance of
the Osage river to the Gravel river, a distance of 118 miles, the
banks of the Osage are covered with timber and possess a very rich
soil. Small hills, with rocks, alternately border the eastern and
western shores; the bottoms being very excellent soil, and the country
abounding in game. From thence to the Yungar, the river continues the
same in appearance; the shoals and islands being designated on the
chart. The Yungar, or Ne-hem-gar, as termed by the Indians, derives
its name from the vast number of springs at its source; it is supposed
to be nearly as extensive as the Osage river, navigable for canoes 100
miles, and is celebrated for the abundance of bear which are found on
its branches. On it hunt the Chasseurs du Bois of Louisiana, Osage,
and Creeks or Muskogees, a wandering party of whom have established
themselves in Louisiana; and between whom and the French hunters
frequent skirmishes have passed on the head of the Yungar.
A few miles above this river the Osage river becomes narrower, and
evidently shows the loss experienced by the deficiency of [gain not as
yet acquired from] the waters of the Yungar. On the east shore is a
pond of water, about 20 paces from the bank of the river, and half a
mile in circumference; it was elevated at least 20 feet above the
surface of the river. This appeared the more singular, as the soil
appeared to be sandy, whence it would be concluded that the waters of
the pond would speedily discharge through the soil into the river; but
there appeared to be no reason for any such deduction.
Thence to a few miles below the Park (see chart [and diary of Aug.
14th]), the banks of the river continue as usual. We now, for the
first time, were entertained with the sight of prairie land; but it
still was interspersed with clumps of woodland, which diversified the
prospect.
In this district the cliffs, which generally bordered one of the sides
of the river, were covered with the largest and most beautiful cedars
I ever saw. Thence to the Grand Forks [confluence of Little with main
Osage], the banks of the river continue the same; but thence up to the
Osage town, there is a larger proportion of prairie. At the place
where Mr. Chouteau formerly had his trading-establishment, the east
bank of the river is an entire bed of stone-coal; whence by land by
the villages is but nine miles, but by water at least 50. The country
round the Osage villages is one of the most beautiful the eye ever
beheld. The three branches of the river, viz.: the large east fork
[Sac river], the middle one [Little Osage], up which we ascended, and
the northern one [main Osage], all winding round and past the
villages, giving the advantages of wood and water, and at the same
time the extensive prairies crowned with rich and luxuriant grass and
flowers, gently diversified by the rising swells and sloping lawns,
present to the warm imagination the future seats of husbandry, the
numerous herds of domestic animals, which are no doubt destined to
crown with joy those happy plains. The best comment I can make on the
navigation of the Osage river is a reference to my chart and journal
on that subject. From the last village on the Missouri to the prairies
on the Osage river we found plenty of deer, bear, and some turkeys.
Thence to the towns there are some elk and deer, but near the villages
they become scarce.
From the Osage towns to the source of the [Little] Osage river there
is no difference in the appearance of the country, except that on the
south and east the view on the prairies becomes unbounded, and is only
limited by the imbecility of our sight. The waters of the White
[Neosho] river and the [Little] Osage are divided merely by a small
ridge in the prairie, and the dry branches appear to interlock at
their head. From thence to the main branch of the said [Neosho] river
the country appeared high, with gravelly ridges of prairie land. On
the main White river is large timber and fine ground for cultivation.
Hence a doubt arises as to the disemboguing of this stream. Lieutenant
Wilkinson, from some authority, has drawn the conclusion that it
discharges itself into the Arkansaw a short distance below the
Vermilion river; but from the voyages of Captain Maney [Many] on White
river, the information of hunters, Indians, etc., I am rather induced
to believe it to be the White river of the Mississippi, as at their
mouths there is not so great a difference between their magnitude; and
all persons agree in ascertaining [asserting] that the White river
heads between the Osage, Arkansaw, and Kansas rivers, which would
still leave the Arkansaw near 800 miles more lengthy than the White
river. From the proofs, I am perfectly confident in asserting that
this was the White river of the Mississippi which we crossed.[IV-3] At
the place where we traversed it, the stream was amply navigable for
canoes, even at this dry season (August) of the year.
Up this river to the dividing ridges between it and the Verdigrise
river, the bottom is of some magnitude and importance; but the latter
river is bounded here in a narrow bed of prairie hills, affording not
more than sufficient timber for firewood for a limited number of
inhabitants for a few years. From the Verdigrise our course again lay
over gravelly hills and a prairie country, but well watered by the
branches of the Verdigrise and White (alias Grand) rivers. From this
point to the source of White river there is very little timber, the
grass short, prairies high and dry. From the head of White river over
the dividing ridge between that and the eastern [Smoky Hill] branch of
the Kans river, the ridge is high, dry, and has many appearances of
iron ore, and on the west side are some spaw springs [spas]. Here the
country is very deficient of water. From the east branch of the Kans
river (by our route) to the Pawnee Republic on the Republican fork
(see chart), the prairies are low, with high grass; the country
abounds with salines, and the earth appears to be impregnated with
nitrous and common salts. The immediate border of the Republican fork
near the village is high ridges, but this is an exception to the
general face of the country. All the country between the forks of the
Kans river, a distance of 160 miles, may be called prairie,
notwithstanding the borders of woodland which ornament the banks of
those streams, but are no more than a line traced on a sheet of paper,
when compared to the immense tract of meadow country.
For some distance from the Osage villages you only find deer, then
elk, then cabrie, and finally buffalo. But it is worthy of remark that
although the male buffaloes were in great abundance, yet in all our
route from the Osage to the Pawnees we never saw one female. I
acknowledge myself at a loss to determine whether this is to be
attributed to the decided preference the savages give to the meat of
the females, so that consequently they are almost exterminated in the
hunting-grounds of the nations, or to some physical causes; for I
afterward discovered the females with young in such immense herds as
gave me no reason to believe they yielded to the males in numbers.
From the Pawnee town on the Kansas river to the Arkansaw, the country
may almost be termed mountainous; but want of timber gives the hills
less claim to the appellation of mountains. They are watered and
created, as it were, by the various branches of the Kans river. One of
those branches, a stream of considerable magnitude (say 20 yards),
which I have designated on the chart by the name of Saline, was so
salt, where we crossed it on our route to the Arkansaw, that it salted
sufficiently the soup of the meat which my men boiled in it. We were
here very eligibly situated; had a fresh spring, issuing from a bank
near us; plenty of the necessaries of life all around, viz.: buffalo;
a beautiful little sugar-loaf hill, for a lookout post; fine grass for
our horses; and a saline in front of us.
As you approach the Arkansaw on this route within 15 or 20 miles, the
country appears to be low and swampy; or the land is covered with
ponds extending out from the river some distance. The river at the
place where I struck it is nearly 500 yards wide, from bank to bank,
those banks not more than four feet high, thinly covered with
cottonwood. The north side is a swampy low prairie [Cheyenne Bottoms],
and the south a sandy sterile desert. Thence, about halfway to the
mountains, the country continued with low prairie hills, and scarcely
any streams putting into the river; and on the bottom are many bare
spots on which, when the sun is in the meridian, is congealed a
species of salt sufficiently thick to be accumulated, but so strongly
impregnated with nitric qualities as to render it unfit for use until
purified. The grass in this district, on the river bottoms, has a
great appearance of the grass on our salt marshes. From the first
south fork ([Purgatory river] see chart) the borders of the river have
more wood, and the hills are higher, until you arrive at its entrance
into the mountains. The whole of the timber is cottonwood, from the
entrance of the Arkansaw into the mountains to its source, a distance
of about 170 miles by the meanders; it is alternately bounded by
perpendicular precipices and small, narrow prairies, on which the
buffalo and elk have found the means to arrive, and are almost secure
from danger from their destroyer--man. In many places the river
precipitates itself over rocks, so as at one moment to be visible only
in the foaming and boiling of its waters--at the next moment it
disappears in the chasms of the overhanging precipices.
The Arkansaw[IV-4] river, taking its meanders agreeably to Lieutenant
Wilkinson's survey of the lower part, is 1,981 miles from its entrance
into the Mississippi to the mountains, and from thence to its source
192 miles, making its total length 2,173 miles: all of which may be
navigated with proper boats, constructed for the purpose, except the
192 miles in the mountains. It has emptying into it several small
rivers navigable for 100 miles and upward. Boats bound up the whole
length of the navigation should embark at its entrance on the 1st of
February, when they would have the fresh [high water] quite to the
mountains, and meet with no detention. But if they should start
later, they would find the river 1,500 miles up nearly dry. It has one
singularity which struck me very forcibly at first view, but which, on
reflection, I am induced to believe is the same case with all the
rivers which run through a low, dry, sandy soil in warm climates, as
I observed it to be the case with the Rio del Norte, viz.: for the
extent of 400 or 500 miles before you arrive near the mountains, the
bed of the river is extensive and a perfect sand-bar, which at certain
seasons is dry, or at least the water is standing in ponds not
affording sufficient to procure a running course; but when you come
nearer the mountains you find the river contracted, a gravelly bottom,
and a deep, navigable stream. From these circumstances it is evident
that the sandy soil imbibes all the [not evaporated] waters which the
sources project from the mountains, and renders the river in dry
seasons less navigable 500 than 200 miles from its source.
The borders of the Arkansaw river may be termed the terrestrial
paradise of our territories for the wandering savages. Of all
countries ever visited by the footsteps of civilized man, there never
was one probably that produced game in greater abundance. We know that
the manners and morals of the erratic nations are such (the reasons I
leave to be given by the ontologists) as never to give them a numerous
population; and I believe that there are buffalo, elk, and deer
sufficient on the banks of the Arkansaw alone, if used without waste,
to feed all the savages in the United States territory one century. By
the route of the Arkansaw and the Rio Colorado of California, I am
confident in asserting, if my information from Spanish gentlemen of
information is correct, there can be established the best
communication, on this side of the Isthmus of Darien, between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans; as, admitting the utmost, the land
carriage would not be more than 200 miles, and the route may be made
quite as eligible as our public highways over the Alleghany mountains.
The Rio Colorado is to the great Gulph of California what the
Mississippi is to the Gulph of Mexico, and is navigable for ships of
considerable burden, to opposite the upper parts of the province of
Senora.
From the Arkansaw to the Rio del Norte, by the route I passed, the
country was covered with mountains and small prairies, as per chart;
but the game became much more scarce, owing to the vicinity of the
Spanish Indians and the Spaniards themselves.
In this western traverse of Louisiana, the following general
observations may be made, viz.: that from the Missouri to the head of
the [Little] Osage river, a distance in a straight line of probably
300 miles, the country will admit of a numerous, extensive, and
compact population; thence, on the rivers Kanses, La Platte, Arkansaw,
and their various branches, it appears to me to be only possible to
introduce a limited population on their banks. The inhabitants would
find it most to their advantage to pay attention to the multiplication
of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, all of which they can raise in
abundance, the earth producing spontaneously sufficient for their
support, both winter and summer, by which means their herds might
become immensely numerous; but the wood now in the country would not
be sufficient for a moderate share of population more than 15 years,
and it would be out of the question to think of using any of it in
manufactures; consequently, the houses would be built entirely of
mud-brick [adobe], like those in New Spain, or of the brick
manufactured with fire. But possibly time may make the discovery of
coal-mines, which would render the country habitable.
The source of La Platte is situated in the same chain of mountains
with the Arkansaw (see chart), and comes from that grand reservoir of
snows and fountains which gives birth on its northeastern side to the
Red river of the Missouri (the yellow stone river of Lewis [and
Clark], its great southwestern branch), and La Platte; on its
southwestern side it produces the Rio Colorado of California; on its
east the Arkansaw; and on its south the Rio del Norte of North Mexico.
I have no hesitation in asserting that I can take a position in the
mountains, whence I can visit the source of any of those rivers in one
day.[IV-5]
Numerous have been the hypotheses formed by various naturalists to
account for the vast tract of untimbered country which lies between
the waters of the Missouri, Mississippi, and the Western Ocean, from
the mouth of the latter river to 48° north latitude. Although not
flattering myself to be able to elucidate that which numbers of highly
scientific characters have acknowledged to be beyond their depth of
research, still I would not think I had done my country justice did I
not give birth to what few lights my examination of those internal
deserts has enabled me to acquire. In that vast country of which I
speak, we find the soil generally dry and sandy, with gravel, and
discover that the moment we approach a stream the land becomes more
humid, with small timber. I therefore conclude that this country never
was timbered; as, from the earliest age the aridity of the soil,
having so few water-courses running through it, and they being
principally dry in summer, has never afforded moisture sufficient to
support the growth of timber. In all timbered land the annual
discharge of the leaves, with the continual decay of old trees and
branches, creates a manure and moisture, which is preserved from the
heat of the sun not being permitted to direct his rays perpendicularly,
but only to shed them obliquely through the foliage. But here a barren
soil, parched and dried up for eight months in the year, presents
neither moisture nor nutrition sufficient to nourish the timber. These
vast plains of the western hemisphere may become in time as celebrated
as the sandy deserts of Africa; for I saw in my route, in various
places, tracts of many leagues where the wind had thrown up the sand
in all the fanciful form of the ocean's rolling wave, and on which not
a speck of vegetable matter existed.
But from these immense prairies may arise one great advantage to the
United States, viz.: The restriction of our population to some certain
limits, and thereby a continuation of the Union. Our citizens being so
prone to rambling and extending themselves on the frontiers will,
through necessity, be constrained to limit their extent on the west to
the borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, while they leave the
prairies incapable of cultivation to the wandering and uncivilized
aborigines of the country.
The Osage appear to have emigrated from the north and west; from their
speaking the same language with the Kans, Otos, Missouries, and
Mahaws, together with their great similarity of manners, morals, and
customs, there is left no room to doubt that they were originally the
same nation, but separated by that great law of nature,
self-preservation, the love of freedom, and the ambition of various
characters, so inherent in the breast of man. As nations purely
erratic must depend solely on the chase for subsistence, unless
pastoral, which is not the case with our savages, it requires large
tracts of country to afford subsistence for a very limited number of
souls; consequently, self-preservation obliges them to expand
themselves over a large and extensive district. The power of certain
chiefs becoming unlimited, and their rule severe, added to the
passionate love of liberty and the ambition of young, bold, and daring
characters who step forward to head the malcontents, and like the
tribes of Israel, to lead them through the wilderness to a new
land--the land of promise which flowed with milk and honey, alias
abounded with deer and buffalo--these characters soon succeed in
leading forth a new colony, and in process of time establishing a new
nation. The Mahaws, Missouries, and Otos remained on the banks of the
Missouri river, such a distance up as to be in the reach of that
powerful enemy, the Sioux, who, with the aid of the smallpox, which
the former nations unfortunately contracted by their connection with
the whites, have reduced the Mahaws, formerly a brave and powerful
nation, to a mere cipher, and obliged the Otos and Missouries to join
their forces, so that these now form but one nation. The Kanses and
Osage came further to the east, and thereby avoided the Sioux, but
fell into the hands of the Iowas, Sacs, Kickapous, Potowatomies,
Delawares, Shawanese, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Chactaws, Arkansaws,
Caddoes, and Tetaus; and what astonished me extremely is that they
have not been entirely destroyed by those nations. But it must only be
attributed to their ignorance of the enemies' force, their want of
concert, wars between themselves, and the great renown the invaders
always acquire, by the boldness of their enterprise, in the minds of
the invaded.
Their government is oligarchical, but still partakes of the nature of
a republic; for, although the power nominally is vested in a small
number of chiefs, yet they never undertake any matter of importance
without first assembling the warriors and proposing the subject in
council, there to be discussed and decided on by a majority. Their
chiefs are hereditary, in most instances, yet there are many men who
have risen to more influence than those of illustrious ancestry, by
their activity and boldness in war. Although there is no regular code
of laws, yet there is a tacit acknowledgment of the right which some
have to command on certain occasions, whilst others are bound to obey,
and even to submit to corporeal punishment; as is instanced in the
affair related in my diary of July 29th, when Has-ha-ke-da-tungar or
Big Soldier, whom I had made a partisan to regulate the movements of
the Indians, flogged a young Indian with arms in his hands. On the
whole, their government may be termed an oligarchical republic, where
the chiefs propose and the people decide on all public acts.
The manners of the Osage are different from those of any nation I ever
saw except those before mentioned of the same origin, having their
people divided into classes. All the bulk of the nation being warriors
and hunters--with them these terms being almost synonymous--the
remainder is divided into two classes, cooks and doctors; the latter
of whom likewise exercise the functions of priests or magicians, and
have great influence in the councils of the nation by their pretended
divinations, interpretations of dreams, and magical performances. An
illustration of this will be better given by the following anecdote of
what took place during my stay at the nation, in August, 1806: Having
had all the doctors or magicians assembled in the lodge of
Ca-ha-ga-tonga, alias Cheveux Blancs, and about 500 spectators, they
had two rows of fires prepared, around which the sacred band was
stationed. They commenced the tragicomedy by putting a large
butcher-knife down their throats, the blood appearing to run during
the operation very naturally; the scene was continued by putting
sticks through the nose, swallowing bones and taking them out of the
nostrils, etc. At length one fellow demanded of me what I would give
if he would run a stick through his tongue, and let another person cut
off the piece. I replied, "a shirt." He then apparently performed his
promise, with great pain, forcing a stick through his tongue, and then
giving a knife to a bystander, who appeared to cut off the piece,
which he held to the light for the satisfaction of the audience, and
then joined it to his tongue, and by a magical charm healed the wound
immediately. On demanding of me what I thought of the performance, I
replied I would give him 20 shirts if he would let me cut off the
piece from his tongue; this disconcerted him a great deal, and I was
sorry I had made the observation.
The cooks are either for the general use, or attached particularly to
the family of some great man; and what is the more singular, men who
have been great warriors and brave men, having lost all their families
by disease, in the war, and themselves becoming old and infirm,
frequently take up the profession of cook, in which they do not carry
arms, and are supported by the public or their particular patron.
They likewise exercise the functions of town criers, calling the
chiefs to council and to feasts; or if any particular person is
wanted, you employ a crier, who goes through the village crying his
name and informing him he is wanted at such a lodge. When received
into the Osage village you immediately present yourself at the lodge
of the chief, who receives you as his guest, where you generally eat
first, after the old patriarchal style. You are then invited to a
feast by all the great men of the village, and it would be a great
insult if you did not comply, at least as far as to taste of their
victuals. In one instance, I was obliged to taste of 15 different
entertainments the same afternoon. You will hear the cooks crying,
"come and eat"--such an one "gives a feast, come and eat of his
bounty." Their dishes were generally sweet corn boiled in buffalo
grease, or boiled meat and pumpkins; but San Oriel [Sans Oreille],
alias Tetobasi, treated me to a dish of tea in a wooden dish, with new
horn spoons, boiled meat, and crullers; he had been in the United
States. Their towns hold more people in the same space of ground than
any places I ever saw. Their lodges are posted with scarcely any
regularity, each one building in the manner, directions, and
dimensions which suit him best, by which means they frequently leave
only room for a single man to squeeze between them; added to this,
they have pens for their horses, all within the village, into which
they always drive them at night, in case they think there is any
reason to believe there is an enemy lurking in the vicinity.
The Osage lodges are generally constructed with upright posts, put
firmly in the ground, of about 20 feet in height, with a crotch at the
top; they are about 12 feet distant from each other; in the crotch of
those posts are put the ridge-poles, over which are bent small poles,
the ends of which are brought down and fastened to a row of stakes
about five feet in height; these stakes are fastened together with
three horizontal bars, and form the flank walls of the lodge. The
gable ends are generally broad slabs, rounded off to the ridge-pole.
The whole of the building and sides are covered with matting made of
rushes, two or three feet in length and four feet in width, which are
joined together, and entirely exclude the rain. The doors are on the
sides of the building, and generally are one on each side. The fires
are made in holes in the center of the lodge, the smoke ascending
through apertures left in the roof for the purpose. At one end of the
dwelling is a raised platform, about three feet from the ground, which
is covered with bear-skins, generally holds all the little choice
furniture of the master, and on which repose his honorable guests. In
fact, with neatness and a pleasing companion, these dwellings would
compose a very comfortable and pleasant summer habitation, but are
left in the winter for the woods. They vary in length from 36 to 100
feet.
The Osage nation is divided into three villages, and in a few years
you may say nations, viz.: the Grand Osage, the Little Osage, and
those of the Arkansaw.
The Little Osage separated from the Big Osage about 100 years since,
when their chiefs, on obtaining permission to lead forth a colony from
the great council of the nation, moved on to the Missouri; but after
some years, finding themselves too hard pressed by their enemies, they
again obtained permission to return, put themselves under the
protection of the Grand village, and settled down about six miles off.
(See chart.)
The Arkansaw schism was effected by Mr. Pierre Choteau, 10 or 12 years
ago, as a revenge on Mr. Manuel De Sezei [Liza or Lisa], who had
obtained from the Spanish government the exclusive trade of the Osage
nation, by the way of the Osage river, after it had been in the hands
of Mr. Choteau for nearly 20 years. The latter, having the trade of
the Arkansaw, thereby nearly rendered abortive the exclusive privilege
of his rival. He has been vainly promising to the government that he
would bring them back to join the Grand village. But his reception at
the Arkansaw village, in the autumn of 1806, must have nearly cured
him of that idea. And in fact, every reason induces a belief that the
other villages are much more likely to join the Arkansaw band, which
is daily becoming more powerful, than the latter is to return to its
ancient residence. For the Grand and Little Osage are both obliged to
proceed to the Arkansaw every winter, to kill the summer's provision;
also, all the nations with whom they are now at war are situated to
the westward of that river, whence they get all their horses. These
inducements are such that the young, the bold, and the enterprising
are daily emigrating from the Osage village to the Arkansaw village.
In fact, it would become the interest of our government to encourage
that emigration, if we intend to encourage the extension of the
settlement of Upper Louisiana; but if the contrary (our true policy),
every method should be taken to prevent their elongation from the
Missouri.
They are considered by the nations to the south and west of them as a
brave and warlike nation; but are by no means a match for the northern
nations, who make use of the rifle, and can combat them two for one;
whilst they again may fight those armed with bows, arrows, and lances,
at the same disproportion.
The humane policy which the United States have held forth to the
Indian nations, of accommodating their differences and acting as
mediators between them, has succeeded to a miracle with the Osage of
the Grand village and the Little Osage. In short, they have become a
nation of Quakers, as respects the nations to the north and east of
them, at the same time that they continue to make war on the naked and
defenseless savages of the west. An instance of their forbearance was
exhibited in an attack made on a hunting-party of the Little Osage,
in the autumn of 1808, on the grand river of the Osage, by a party of
the Potowatomies, who crossed the Missouri river by the Saline, and
found the women and children alone and defenseless. The men, 50 or 60,
having found plenty of deer the day before, had encamped out all
night. The enemy struck the camp about ten o'clock in the morning,
killed all the women and boys who made resistance, also some infants,
the whole number amounting to 34; and led into captivity near 60, 46
of whom were afterward recovered by the United States and sent under
my protection to the village. When the men returned to camp, they
found their families all destroyed or taken prisoners. My narrator had
his wife and four children killed on the spot; yet, in obedience to
the injunctions of their great father, they forebore to revenge the
blow.
As an instance of the great influence the French formerly had over
this nation, the following anecdote may be interesting: Chtoka, alias
Wet Stone, a Little Osage, said he "was at Braddock's defeat, with all
the warriors who could be spared from both villages; that they were
engaged by Mr. M'Cartie, who commanded at Fort Chartres,[IV-6] and who
supplied them with powder and ball; that the place of rendezvous was
near a lake and large fall (supposed to be Niagara); the Kans did not
arrive until after the battle; but the Otos were present. They were
absent from their villages seven months, and were obliged to eat their
horses on their return."
The Osage raise large quantities of corn, beans, and pumpkins, which
they manage with the greatest economy, in order to make them last from
year to year. All the agricultural labor is done by women.
If the government think it expedient to establish factories for the
Grand and Little villages, equidistant from both, which would answer
for the Grand and Little villages, the other establishment should be
on the Arkansaw, near the entrance of the Verdigrise river, for the
Arkansaw Osage, as stated by Lieutenant Wilkinson.
The Pawnees are a numerous nation of Indians, who reside on the rivers
Platte and Kans. They are divided into three distinct nations, two of
them being now at war; but their manners, language, customs, and
improvements are in the same degree of advancement. On La Platte
reside the Grand Pawnees, and on one of its branches the Pawnee Loups,
with whom the Pawnee Republicans are at war. [See note 73, p. 412.]
Their language is guttural, and approaches nearer to the language of
the Sioux than the Osage; and their figure, tall, slim, with high
cheek-bones, clearly indicates their Asiatic origin. But their
emigration south, and the ease with which they live on the buffalo
plains, have probably been the cause of a degeneracy of manners, for
they are neither so brave nor so honest as their more northern
neighbors. Their government is the same as the Osages', an hereditary
aristocracy, the father handing his dignity of chieftain down to his
son; but their power is extremely limited, notwithstanding the long
life they have to establish their authority and influence. They merely
recommend and give council in the great assemblage of the nation.
They are not so cleanly, neither do they carry their internal policy
so far as, the Osage; but out of the bounds of the village it appeared
to me that they exceeded them; as I have frequently seen two young
soldiers come out to my camp and instantly disperse a hundred persons,
by the strokes of long whips, who were assembled there to trade with
my men. In point of cultivation [agriculture], they are about equal to
the Osage, raising a sufficiency of corn and pumpkins to afford a
little thickening to their soup during the year. The pumpkin they cut
into thin slices and dry in the sun, which reduces it to a small size,
and not more than a tenth of its original weight.
With respect to raising horses, the Pawnees are far superior to the
Osage, having vast quantities of excellent horses which they are daily
increasing, by their attention to their breeding mares, which they
never make use of; and in addition they frequently purchase from the
Spaniards.
Their houses are a perfect circle, except where the door enters,
whence there is a projection of about 15 feet; the whole being
constructed after the following manner: First, there is an excavation
of a circular form made in the ground, about 4 feet deep and 60 in
diameter, where there is a row of posts about 5 feet high, with
crotches at the top, set firmly in all round, and horizontal poles
from one to the other. There is then a row of posts, forming a circle
about 10 feet wide in the diameter of the others, and 10 feet in
height; the crotches of these are so directed that horizontal poles
are also laid from one to the other; long poles are then laid slanting
upward from the lower poles over the higher ones, and meeting nearly
at the top, leaving only a small aperture for the smoke of the fire to
pass out, which is made on the ground in the middle of the lodge.
There is then a number of small poles put up around the circle, so as
to form the wall, and wicker-work is run through the whole. The roof
is then thatched with grass, and earth is thrown up against the wall
until a bank is made to the eaves of the thatch; that is also filled
with earth one or two feet thick, and rendered so tight as entirely to
exclude any storm, and make the houses extremely warm. The entrance is
about six feet wide, with walls on each side, and roofed like our
houses in shape, but of the same materials as the main building.
Inside there are numerous little apartments constructed of wicker-work
against the wall, with small doors; they have a great appearance of
neatness, and in them the members of the family sleep and have their
little deposits. Their towns are by no means so much crowded as the
Osage, giving much more space; but they have the same mode of
introducing their horses into the village at night, which makes it
extremely crowded. They keep guards with the horses during the day.
They are extremely addicted to gaming, and have for that purpose a
smooth piece of ground cleared out on each side of the village for
about 150 yards in length, on which they play the three following
games: One is played by two players at a time, and in the following
manner: They have a large hoop about four feet in diameter, in the
center of which is a small leather ring; this is attached to leather
thongs which are extended to the hoop, and by that means kept in its
central position; they also have a pole about six feet in length,
which the player holds in one hand; he then rolls the hoop from him,
and immediately slides the pole after it; and the nearer the head of
the pole lies to the small ring within the hoop, when they both fall,
the greater is the cast. But I could not ascertain their mode of
counting sufficiently to decide when the game was won. Another game is
played with a small stick, with several hooks, and a hoop about four
inches in diameter, which is rolled along the ground, and the forked
stick darted after it, the value of the cast being estimated by the
hook on which the ring is caught. This game is gained at 100. The
third game alluded to is that of la platte, described by various
travelers [as the platter or dish game]; this is played by the women,
children, and old men, who, like grasshoppers, crawl out to the circus
to bask in the sun, probably covered only with an old buffalo robe.
The Pawnees, like the Osage, quit their villages in the winter, making
concealments under ground of their corn, in which [caches] it keeps
perfectly sound until spring. The only nations with whom the Pawnees
are now at war are the Tetaus, Utahs, and Kyaways. The two latter of
these reside in the mountains of North Mexico, and shall be treated
when I speak of the Spanish Indians. The former generally inhabit the
borders of the Upper Red river, Arkansaw, and Rio del Norte. The war
has been carried on by those nations for years, without any decisive
action being fought, although they frequently march with 200 or 300
men.
The Pawnees have much the advantage of their enemies in point of arms,
at least one-half having firearms, whilst their opponents have only
bows, arrows, lances, shields, and slings. The Pawnees always march to
war on foot; their enemies are all cavalry. This nation may be
considered as the one equidistant between the Spanish population and
that of our settlements in Louisiana, but are at present decidedly
under Spanish influence, and, should a war commence to-morrow, would
all be in their interest. This circumstance does not arise from their
local situation, because they are all situated on navigable waters of
the Missouri; nor from their interest, because from the Spaniards they
obtain nothing except horses and a few coarse blankets of W. Mexico;
whilst from us they receive all their supplies of arms, ammunition,
and clothing--but all those articles in very small quantities, not
more than half having blankets, and many being without breech-cloths
to cover their nakedness. But the grand principle by which the
Spaniards keep them in their influence is fear, frequently chastising
their small parties on the frontiers. Their sending out the detachment
of 600 horsemen, in 1806, has made such an impression that the
Spaniards may safely calculate on the Pawnees in case of war. This
detachment took with them some of the Pawnees to Chihuahua, at the
same time that I entered the Spanish provinces. But, by our
withholding their supplies of arms, ammunition, and clothing for one
or two years, bringing on their backs the Osage and Kans, the Pawnees
would be in great distress, and feel the necessity of a good
understanding with the United States.
If there should ever be factories established for their accommodation,
these should be at the entrances of La Platte and Kans rivers, as
those waters are of so uncertain navigation (only in freshets) that it
would be folly to attempt any permanent establishments high up them;
and to make those establishments useful to the Pawnees, we must
presuppose our influence sufficient to guarantee them peace and a safe
passage through the nations of the Kans, Otos, and Missouries--the
former on the Kans river, the two latter on the river Platte. My
journal will give various other striking traits of the national
character of the Pawnees, and my dissertation on the subject of the
Spanish claims will further elucidate the political and relative
situation of that nation.
The Kans are a small nation, situated on a river of that name (see the
chart), and are in language, manners, customs, and agricultural
pursuits, precisely similar to the Osage; with whom I believe them, as
before observed, to have had one common origin. It may be said,
however, that their language differs in some degree, but not more than
the dialect of our Eastern States differs from that of the Southern.
But in war they are yet more brave than their Osage brethren; being,
although not more than one-third of their number, their most dreaded
enemies, and frequently making the Pawnees tremble.
The Tetaus, or Camanches as the Spaniards term them, [called] Padoucas
by the Pawnees, are a powerful nation who are entirely erratic,
without the least species of cultivation, and subsist solely by the
chase. But their wanderings are confined to the frontiers of New
Mexico on the W., to the nations on the Lower Red river on the S., to
the Pawnees and Osage on the E., and to the Utahs, Kyaways, and
various unknown nations on the N. This nation, although entirely in
our territories, is claimed exclusively by the Spaniards, and may be
said to be decidedly in their interest, notwithstanding the few who
lately paid a visit to Natchitoches.
They are the only nation bordering on the Spanish settlements whom
that nation treats as an independent people. They are by the Spaniards
reputed brave--indeed, they have given some very strong evidences of
this; for when I first entered the province of New Mexico, I was shown
various deserted villages and towns beaten down, which had been
destroyed by the Tetaus in an invasion of that province, when they
were at war with the Spaniards about ten years since.
From the village of Agua Caliente (see chart) they carried off at one
time 2,000 head of horses; but they now have an excellent
understanding with the Spaniards, which Don Facundo Malagare's
[Malgares'] late expedition has served very much to increase. He
personally related his rencounter with the Tetaus in the following
manner: Having been personally apprised of each other's approximation,
and appointed a time for the Indians to receive him on an extensive
prairie, he sallied forth from his camp with 500 men, all on white
horses, excepting himself and his two principal officers, who rode jet
black ones, and was received on the plain by 1,500 of the savages,
dressed in their gay robes, and displaying their various feats of
chivalry. I leave this subject to the judicious, whether the
circumstance would not be handed down to the latest posterity as an
instance of the good will and respect which the Spaniards paid their
nation, as no doubt Malgares had policy sufficient to induce them to
believe that the expedition was principally fitted out with a view to
pay them a visit. As I was not in their country, and did not meet with
any of the wandering parties, I shall not attempt to describe their
manners and customs; but in my statistical tables I shall include
them, agreeably to the best information obtained of their nation.
I shall here conclude my account of the nations with whom I became
acquainted in our boundaries; as I conceive the Spanish Indians
require a different discussion and attention from a different point of
view, as their missionaries have succeeded with them beyond what we
can form an idea of. My diary will present numerous additional
circumstances, to form an idea of those savages, their manners,
customs, principles, and biases, political and local.
WASHINGTON CITY, January, 1808.
FOOTNOTES:
[IV-1] Chapter IV consists of an article which came first in the App.
to Pt. 2 of the orig. ed., pp. 1-18. This had no number among the
various pieces of which that Appendix was made up; but as it came
first, and the next piece was No. 2, the lack of numeration was a mere
inadvertence, and it is to be taken _pro formâ_ as No. 1. It was
lengthily entitled: "A Dissertation On the Soil, Rivers, Productions,
Animal and Vegetable, with General Notes on the Internal Parts of
Louisiana, compiled from observations made by Capt. Z. M. Pike, in a
late tour from the mouth of the Missouri, to the Head Waters of the
Arkansaw and Rio del Norte, in the years 1806 and 1807; including
Observations on the Aborigines of the Country." Such notes as I should
otherwise have to offer on the substance of this Dissertation are for
the most part already made in the foregoing three chapters of the
Itinerary. The present chapter may therefore be passed without remark,
excepting in so far as concerns some new points that come up for
notice.
[IV-2] Read Missouri--"Mississippi" being the slip of a pen which had
so often written the latter word. The clause means that muddy
backwater from the Missouri ran some way into the Gasconade.
[IV-3] The river which the Expedition crossed was of course the
Neosho, which Wilkinson was correct in stating to fall into the
Arkansaw a short distance below the Vermilion or Verdigris--"a quarter
of a mile," his Report says. Pike's wrong conclusion is not here
animadverted upon, as it has been set right before; but I wish to note
that the "White river of the Mississippi" has given rise to much
confusion, from the very simple circumstance that it is a branch both
of the Mississippi and of the Arkansaw. It runs into the very crotch
between these two, and has a sort of a delta of its own, as well as a
double debouchment. Various maps consulted on this point, as I have
never been on the spot, differ in that some run White r. into the
Arkansaw, some into the Mississippi, and some into both these rivers.
The latter seems to be the present arrangement; but this may have
repeatedly altered in former times.
[IV-4] The route from the Missouri, at or near the mouth of the
Kansas--that is, from old Westport (now Kansas City), Mo., and
Independence, Mo.--to the great bend of the Arkansaw, near the mouth
of Walnut cr., was established as an overland highway during the
'20's, when it began to be regularly taken by the traders' caravans en
route to Santa Fé. The trade attained such proportions that some years
merchandise of the value of $250,000 and $450,000 was hauled over this
road: see Gregg's statistics for 1822-43, Comm. Pra., II. 1844, p.
160. Pack-animals or wagons were used, 1822-25, but after that wagons
only; and these soon wore a road as plain as a turnpike. It will be
interesting to go over this road, and identify the camping-grounds of
those hardy pioneers by the modern names of the places on and near
their route; especially as no railroad now follows this primitive
trace exactly. It held a pretty straight westward course, bearing all
the while southward; the distance from the usual starting place
(Independence, Mo.) was called 300 m. roundly, but is somewhat less
than this. The most noted point on the route was Council Grove, so
called since 1825, when the U. S. Commissioners Reeves, Sibley, and
Mathers, who there treated with the Osages, gave the place its present
name. In the most general terms, the road followed the divide between
Kansan waters on the N., or right hand going W., and on the other,
first those of the Osage (a branch of the Missouri), then those of the
Neosho (a branch of the Arkansaw), and finally those of the Arkansaw
itself. But the route was nearly everywhere in the latter water-shed;
after the first few miles, every stream crossed ran to the left. In
some places, the divide between the two sets of streams had little
breadth; one place was called The Narrows, the approximation was so
close. The wagon-train that started from Independence usually left
"the States" the first day out, and entered "the Indian
territory"--that is, it went from the present State of Missouri into
the present State of Kansas; and all the rest of the way to Great Bend
was through the latter. Let us look up some maps and itineraries of
half a century ago--say Gregg's, pub. 1844; Wislizenus', of 1846; and
Beckwith's, 1853--to see what sign-posts they set up. These point to
such places as the following, in regular order from E. to W.:
Independence and Westport, Mo.--Big Blue camp--Round Grove, Lone Elm,
The Glen--Bull cr., Black Jack cr. and pt., Willow springs, and The
Narrows--two Rock creeks in succession--One Hundred and Ten Mile
cr.--Bridge cr.--Dwissler's or Switzler's cr.--five creeks to which
the names First Dragoon, Second Dragoon, Soldier, Prairie Chicken,
Elm, and One Hundred and Forty-two Mile attach in some itineraries and
are to be collated with Fish and Pool, or Fish and Pleasant Valley, of
others--Bluff cr.--Big Rock cr.--Big John spring and cr.--_Council
Grove_, on its own cr.--another Elm cr.--Diamond spring and cr.--Lost
spring and Lost or Willow cr.--Cottonwood cr.--two or three Turkey
creeks in succession--Little Arkansaw r.--several Little Cow creeks,
among them one called Chavez or Charez and Owl--Big Cow cr.--approach
to the Arkansaw r. at Camp Osage--up the Arkansaw to Walnut cr. and
thus to Great Bend. From such _indicia_ as these it may not be
difficult to reopen the road in terms of modern geography. 1.
Independence maintains its independence as the seat of Jackson Co.,
Mo., 2 or 3 m. S. of the Missouri r., and about the same E. of Big
Blue cr.; but Westport is practically absorbed in the suburbs of
Kansas City, Mo. Starting from Independence, the first halt on the
prairie, after crossing Big Blue r., was likely to be "Big Blue camp."
This was about the heads of Brush cr., a small tributary of the Big
Blue from the W., and in the vicinity of present Glenn. Being nearly
on the present inter-State boundary, it was the "jumping-off place"
from "the States," where the traveler entered "the Indian territory."
The military road between Forts Towson (on Red r.) and Leavenworth
passed by. A little to the N. W. was the Shawnee agency and mission,
on a branch of Turkey cr., the first tributary of the Kansas from the
S.; Shawnee is there now, and other places on Turkey cr. are called
Merriam, South Park, and Rosedale; the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and
Gulf R. R. meanders Turkey cr. into Kansas City. The position is about
lat. 38° 59´ N. and long. 94° 35´ W. 2. About 5 m. further S. W. the
road passed by Lenexa, Johnson Co., and a camp could be made on a head
of Indian cr., which is a small stream joined by Tomahawk cr. before
it reaches the Big Blue. The road continued S. W., approximately by
the present S. Kan. R. R., and thus past Olathe, now seat of Johnson
Co., where six tracks diverge in various directions. This is in the
center of the county, near the head of Indian cr., on the head of Mill
cr., a tributary of the Kansas, and near the head of a branch of Cedar
cr., another Kansan affluent. 3. "Round Grove," "Lone Elm," or "The
Glen" was a camping-place on one of the heads of Cedar cr., between
Olathe and the village of Gardner; it was reckoned 15 m. from Big Blue
camp, and 22 m. from Westport. Thus far the Santa Fé route coincided
with the even more celebrated "Oregon trail." But at a point beyond
Gardner, in the direction of Edgerton, and 6 or 8 m. from Round Grove,
the road forked--that is, the Oregon trail struck off to the right in
the N. W. direction of the Kansas, while the Santa Fé trail kept on
the left-hand fork westward. 4. Bull cr. is still so called, or
specified as Big Bull cr. to distinguish it from Little Bull cr.
which, with other tributaries, such as Rock, Ten Mile, and Wea, it
receives before it falls into Marais des Cygnes (main Osage) r. This
is the creek on which is Paola, seat of Miami Co., near the junction
of Wea cr., and it was the first of the Osage waters which the road
crossed. The crossing was high up on its main course, between Gardner
and Edgerton, whence the road continued W. from Johnson into Douglas
Co. 5. From the crossing of Bull cr. it is 9 m. to Black Jack cr. and
pt., so called from the kind of oak (_Quercus nigra_) which grows
there. Black Jack is still the name of a place between the heads of
Captain cr. (tributary of the Kansas) and Rock cr. (a branch of Bull
cr.); it is 3 m. due E. of Baldwin City. 6. "Willow springs" was a
noted camping place W. of Baldwin City, on one of the heads of Ottawa
cr., which flows southward into the Marais des Cygnes r., a little
below Ottawa, county seat of Franklin. The distance of Willow springs
from the crossing of Black Jack cr. is 10½ m. Willow springs seems to
be the same place that was called Wakarusa pt., or was at any rate
very near it. Here the approximation of Kansan and Osage waters is
very close, and this is the place which consequently became known as
"The Narrows." The interlocking is between several heads of the Ottawa
cr. just said and some tributaries of Cole cr., a branch of the
Wakarusa. Camp could also be made at a place called Hickory pt., short
of Willow springs by 3 or 4 m. 7. Two "Rock" creeks were passed at
distances given as 9 and 12 m. from Willow springs by some writers,
and quite differently by others; some also mention but one "Rock" cr.
Eight Mile cr. was headed if not crossed by the road; and beyond this
the road crossed one or both heads of Appanoose cr. These creeks are
tributaries of the Marais des Cygnes, falling in a mile apart at
Ottawa and just beyond. Part of the uncertainty about these "Rock"
creeks arose from the fact that they often ran dry, were woodless, and
thus ineligible for camping-grounds; hence they would often be passed
without remark. The names seem to me to apply rather to the two forks
of the Appanoose than to the main fork of the latter and to Eight Mile
cr. 8. One Hundred and Ten Mile cr., which still floats its long name,
was so called because it was taken to be 110 m. from Fort Osage, our
earliest establishment of the kind on the Missouri. This was built in
Sept., 1808, at Fort Point (present Sibley: see L. and C., ed. 1893,
p. 30), and was sometimes called Fort Clark. The creek in mention was
crossed at a point taken to be 24 m. from Willow springs, and thus in
the vicinity of present Scranton, Osage Co. It is a branch of the
Dragoon cr. we have next to consider. 9. Continuing nearly due W., the
road crossed several heads of present Dragoon cr., in the vicinity of
Burlingame, Osage Co. This is a comparatively large creek, which runs
southeastward to fall into the Marais des Cygnes near Quenemo. That
one of the several heads of Dragoon cr. on which Burlingame is
situated is now called Switzler's cr.; the next beyond is the main
source of Dragoon cr., into which a branch called Soldier's cr. falls,
about 2 m. W. of Burlingame. But none of the older itineraries I have
consulted speak of either "Dragoon" or "Soldier's" cr.; instead of
which, they give a certain Bridge cr., as crossed 8 m. W. of One
Hundred and Ten Mile cr. This is precisely the distance given by
Beckwith for his "Dwissler's" cr. No doubt "Switzler" and "Dwissler"
are the same person's names; but whether this has always been applied
to the same creek may well be doubted. The "First Dragoon" cr. is now
Dragoon cr.; the "Second Dragoon" cr. is now Soldier's cr.; these were
passed near their confluence. 10. In the next few miles the road
crossed in rapid succession several heads of the Marais des Cygnes
itself, thus finishing with the Osage water-shed. Three of these are
now known as Onion, Chicken or Prairie Chicken, and Elm; the latter is
the main head, and seems to be the one which appears as "Fish" cr. in
the early narratives--the name by which it is mapped both by Gregg and
by Wislizenus. A fourth head of the Marais des Cygnes which the road
crossed is that now known as One Hundred and Forty-two Mile cr., which
joins the main stream much lower down than the other three. This is
mapped by Gregg as Pool cr. and by Wislizenus as Pleasant Valley cr.
All four of these streams are crossed in Lyon Co., the boundary
between this and Osage Co. having been passed at long. 95° 50´ 57´´ W.
nearly. 11. The road continued across Big Rock cr., having first
passed its branch, Bluff cr. This is a tributary of the Neosho. It is
probable that the Bluff cr. of early writers refers to the main Big
Rock rather than to the branch now called Bluff, as it is the last one
they give before coming to--12. Big John cr., another tributary of the
Neosho, which was crossed immediately before Council Grove was
reached; on which account, as well as for its beautiful spring and
eligible camping-ground, it early became noted under the name it still
bears. 13. Council Grove, now the seat of Morris Co. This was always
the most marked place on the route--a sort of halfway station between
the Missouri settlements and the great bend of the Arkansaw. Its area
was indefinitely extensive along the wooded bottom-land of the Neosho,
or, as it was called here, Council Grove cr.; but as the situation
became peopled, settlement was made chiefly on the W. or right bank of
the stream, at the mouth of Elm cr., a tributary from the W. This is
not far from the center of a tract about 45 m. square known as the
Kansas Trust Lands, of which the Kansas Diminished Reserve is a
southwestern portion. Council Grove is only some 8 m. from the
boundary between Lyon and Morris Co., which runs on a meridian close
by the course of Big Rock cr. 14. The road continued W. up the left or
N. bank of Elm cr. for about 8 m., crossed it at or near present
station Milton of the Topeka, Salina, and Western R. R., and went on
S. W. to Diamond spring, about 8 m. further. This was a camping place
high up on the waters of Diamond or, as it is also called, Six Mile
cr., a branch of the Cottonwood. 15. Hence W. about 16 m. to Lost
spring, on Lost or Clear cr.--that branch of the Cottonwood which
falls in at Marion. This place is a little over the border of Marion
Co., and a town or station Lost Spring perpetuates the name, at the
point where the Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska R. R. crosses a branch
of the A., T., and S. F. R. R. 16. From Lost spring the route turned
S. W. 17 m. to the Cottonwood, approximately by the present railroad
line, and struck that river at or near Durham, Marion Co. 17.
Continuing S. W. and then bearing more nearly W., the road passed by
or near Canton and thence to McPherson, both in the county of the
latter name. Both are situated among the heads of Turkey cr., a branch
of the Little Arkansaw; two or three of these were crossed. When two
were noted, it used to be by the names of Little and Big Turkey
creeks; map names are now Running Turkey, Turkey, and West Turkey;
McPherson is on the last of these, some 25 m. from the crossing of the
Cottonwood. The Turkey creeks vary very much in character with season
and the weather. 18. The road continued about 20 m. to the crossing of
the Little Arkansaw, in the vicinity of the place now called Little
River. 19. In 10 m. the road reached one of the tributaries of Cow
cr., and it was 10 more before all of these were passed; there are
five or six of them, and some hardly ever run water. One of them is
now called "Jarvis" cr.: see note 10, p. 424. Another is known as Long
Branch; between this and Little Cow cr. is Lyons, seat of Rice Co.,
and beyond this Big Cow cr. is crossed. 20. The road now makes for the
Arkansaw on a due W. course, and comes on to that river at a place
which was known as Camp Osage, in the vicinity of present Ellinwood,
Barton Co. This town is only 3 m. from the mouth of Walnut cr., and
the city of Great Bend is a mile or two beyond that.
[IV-5] This wild notion was a pet of Pike's, which he indulged to the
extent of embodying it in the title of his book, and making his map
fit it. No man can go, afoot or on horseback, in anything like one
day, from any possible position, to the sources of all those rivers.
It can be taken as an indication of the really close approximation of
certain pairs of rivers, which drain from opposite sides of the same
range, or made elastic enough to suit the situation about Mt. Lincoln,
where some heads of the Grand, the Arkansaw, and the South Platte
approximate; but the other rivers are entirely out of the question.
Owing to Pike's ignorance of the existence of the _North_ Platte, all
that he says in various places of his hypothetical Yellowstone comes
nearer the facts in the case of the Platte. "La Platte" he only knew
from the sources of the _South_ Platte.
[IV-6] This "Mr. M'Cartie" was Le Chevalier Macarty, Makarty, etc.,
who in 1751 succeeded Le Sieur de St. Clair as major-commandant of the
Illinois. He was by birth an Irishman, became a major of engineers,
and served about nine years in the position indicated. The far-famed
Fort Chartres is called by Wallace "the only great architectural work
of the French in the entire basin of the Mississippi, over which, in
succession, had proudly floated the flags of two powerful nations."
Old Fort Chartres, or De Chartres, supposed to have been so named for
the Duc de Chartres, son of the then Regent of France, was built in
1719 and 1720, under the direction of Pierre Duqué de Boisbriant, the
king's lieutenant for France, at the expense of the Company of the
West; it at once became military headquarters and the center of
authority, and was long prominent in the French history of Illinois.
It was rebuilt in 1753-56 during Major Macarty's incumbency, upon the
plans of the French engineer Saucier, at an estimated cost of
5,000,000 livres; and this "new Chartres" is described as a "huge
structure of masonry, an object of wonder and curiosity to all who
ever beheld it"--some of these being antiquarians of the present day.
The historic fortress suffered encroachments of the Mississippi for
several years; it was finally dilapidated during a freshet in 1772,
then evacuated by the British garrison, which removed to Fort Gage,
and never reoccupied. We have many memorials of the progress of its
decay, as well as of the period of its greatness: see Wallace's
Illinois and Louisiana under French rule, 1893, pp. 270, 271, 313-318,
which include various important references, notably to Pittman, whose
description of the fort as it was in 1766 is transcribed, and to
Beck's Gazetteer, giving a plan of the fort from observations made in
1820. The name stands for a steamboat landing near Prairie du Rocher,
Randolph Co., Ill.