Travels in the Interior of North America Part 15

[191] Wakenda Creek, the largest stream in Carroll County, is named from an Indian term meaning "divinity" or "wors.h.i.+pped."--ED.

[192] Some accounts say that the Osages were the a.s.sailants, but I believe the above statement to be correct, because it was given me by Major Dougherty.--MAXIMILIAN.

[193] This defeat of the Missouri, once the most powerful tribe on the lower reaches of the river, occurred toward the close of the eighteenth century. Small-pox completed the destruction of the tribe.

See Bradbury's _Travels_, in our volume v, p. 56, note 26.--ED.

[194] Fire Prairie is on the south bank of the Missouri, in the present Lafayette County, a creek of the same name entering the river at this point. It is said to take its name from the death there of several Indians in a prairie fire.--ED.

[195] See Plate 37, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.

[196] Fis.h.i.+ng Creek (or River) rises in Clinton County and flows south and southeast into the Missouri through Clay and Ray counties.--ED.

[197] An historical notice of old Fort Osage is given in Bradbury's _Travels_, our volume v, p. 60, note 31. The Osage Indians, _ibid_, p.

50, note 22. The cession by which the Osage were forced back was made at St. Louis in June, 1825, under General William Clark's superintendency.--ED.

[198] Now known as Little Blue Creek, rising on the southern borders of Jackson County and flowing nearly north into the Missouri.--_Ed._

[199] Liberty, the county seat of Clay, was settled in 1822, but up to 1826 had only about a dozen houses; it was incorporated in 1829.

During the Mormon troubles of the fourth decade of the nineteenth century, Liberty rose into prominence. The town is set back about six miles from the river, on the high, salubrious uplands. Liberty Landing, on the river, was in the days of the Santa Fe trade of some commercial importance.--ED.

[200] Maximilian's remarks are misleading in regard to the operations of these traders. Ashley began his fur-trading ventures in 1822; four years later he sold out to Smith, Jackson, and Sublette; they in turn relinquished their business to younger traders in 1830. So the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had for about eleven years been an efficient rival to the American.

For a brief sketch of Sublette see our volume xix, p. 221, note 55 (Gregg).

General William Henry Ashley was born in Virginia in 1778. Soon after the beginning of the nineteenth century he went to Missouri, settling first at Ste. Genevieve, later in St. Louis, and embarking in various mercantile enterprises. In 1816-17 he surveyed in the state, and the knowledge thus obtained permitted him to make heavy investments for some English capitalists, which laid the foundation of his fortune. In 1820 he was elected lieutenant-governor, and during his term (1820-24) began his fur-trading exploits, from which he derived profit and fame.

His t.i.tle came as leader of the state militia, in whose development he was much interested. In 1831 he was appointed to a vacant seat in Congress, being re-elected thereto two successive terms. He died at St. Louis in 1838.--ED.

[201] The Big Blue rises in Johnson County, Kansas, and flows northeast and north through Jackson County, Missouri, until it joins the Missouri six miles below Kansas City.--ED.

[202] This trading post was on the south side of the Kansas, opposite Muncie, in what is now Wyandotte County, built about 1828. It was for many years in charge of Cyprian Chouteau (1802-79), half brother of Pierre, jr. Fremont set out thence on his journey (1842).--ED.

[203] See our volume xiv, pp. 183-198.--ED.

[204] These villages of the Iowa, on the Little Platte, appear to have been temporary. Probably the tribe had fled in this direction after the troubles of the Black Hawk War (1832). In 1836 they ceded this strip--which was added to Missouri as the "Platte Purchase"--and removed to Kansas. The author cannot intend that the language of the Iowa resembled that of the Ottawa; the former is of Dakota stock, the latter of Algonquian. The Sauk and Foxes, at this time intimately commingled with the Iowa, spoke Algonquian.--ED.

[205] For these islands, see our volume xiv, p. 174, note 141.--ED.

[206] Fort Leavenworth was founded to supersede two smaller posts--Forts Osage and Atkinson--the latter near Council Bluffs. The site was chosen because of the increasing interest in the Santa Fe trade, and because of the removal of large tribes of Indians west of the Missouri border. On March 7, 1827, Colonel Henry Leavenworth was ordered to proceed from Jefferson Barracks and choose the site for an establishment on the left bank of the Missouri, within twenty miles of the mouth of Little Platte. He selected instead Rattlesnake Hills on the right bank, a site later approved by the government. Fort Leavenworth has been an important military post throughout the history of the West. It was called Leavenworth Cantonment until the name was officially changed to "Fort," about 1832.

For Major Bennett Riley see our volume xix, p. 185, note 25 (Gregg).--ED.

[207] This law was pa.s.sed in the first session of the twenty-second congress, and was merely a portion of an act to create an Indian commissioner. It caused but little debate, and apparently was fathered by General Ashley and others cognizant of conditions in the fur-trade.

For the consternation it created among the traders consult Chittenden, _Fur-Trade_, index.--ED.

[208] According to the treaty held at St. Louis in 1832, with the Kickapoo chiefs, a deputation was to visit the new territory in Kansas and agree to the lands chosen. This was accordingly done in November, and this would appear to be among the arrivals early in the spring of 1833 to take possession of the new reservation.--ED.

CHAPTER XI

JOURNEY FROM THE CANTONMENT OF LEAVENWORTH TO THE PUNCA INDIANS, FROM APRIL 22ND TO MAY 12TH

Dangerous place, Wa.s.soba-Wakandaga--Independence River--Blacksnake Hills, with Roubedoux Trading House--The Joways and Saukies--Nadaway River--Wolf River--Grand Nemahaw River--Country of the Half-breeds--Nishnebottoneh River--Little Nemahaw River--Violent Storm--Weeping-water Creek--La Platte River--Belle Vue, Dougherty's Agency--The Omaha Indians--Their Dance--Council Bluffs--Boyer's Creek--Little Sioux River--Blackbird Hills--Floyd's Grave--Big Sioux River--Joway River--Vermilion Creek--Jacques River--The Punca Indians--Meeting with the a.s.siniboin Steamer.

The Yellow Stone left the cantonment at five in the afternoon of the 22nd of April, and we soon reached the narrow part of the river called, by the Osages and Konzas, Wa.s.soba-Wakandaga (Bear-Medicine).[209]

There were so many trunks of trees in the river that it seemed very problematical whether we should be able to pa.s.s between them. Our people cut off some of the most dangerous branches below water, and got our vessel gradually through; soon after which we lay to for the night.

The next morning, 23rd of April brought us a storm, with thunder, but without lightning. Early in the morning a large branch of a tree, lying in the water, forced its way into the cabin, carried away part of the door case, and then broke off, and was left on the floor. After this accident, when one might have been crushed in bed, we came to Cow Island, where, in 1818, some troops, on their way to Council Bluff, were overtaken by the frost, and obliged to pa.s.s the winter.[210] At half-past seven o'clock, the temperature was 67. The heat of the preceding day had greatly advanced vegetation; the forests were beautifully verdant, and there were many flowers. The Indians now make sugar from the maple. The Kikapoo Indians, whom we had seen at St.

Louis, were to have lands a.s.signed them in these parts, and their territory is said to extend to Independence River. There were no fixed Indian villages at that time, but the [pg. 123] Joways, Saukies, and Foxes hunt in these parts. We proceeded past Cow Island, which is six miles in length, and covered with poplars, and shave gra.s.s. The sand was marked by the footsteps of the stags which come here to drink, by which they tread down deep paths to the water's edge, and lick holes in the saline clay of the bank. Here began green hills without wood, which are the transition to the entirely naked prairie, as they at first alternate with woods, which grow in the ravines, and on the banks of the river. At twelve o'clock the thermometer was at 77. Our navigation was attended with many difficulties to Independence River, the mouth of which is on the right bank; here we reached, on the same side of the river, naked gra.s.sy eminences, where a village of the Konzas formerly stood, and which is still usually marked in the maps.

The Spaniards had a post of a few soldiers here.[211] The soil is said to be very fertile and favourable to settlers. The forests were now in their greatest beauty, and began to afford some shade.

On the 24th we saw the chain of the Blacksnake Hills, but we met with so many obstacles in the river that we did not reach them till towards the evening. They are moderate eminences, with many singular forms, with an alternation of wooded and open green spots. Near to the steep bank a trading house has been built, which was occupied by a man named Roubedoux, an agent of the Fur Company.[212] This white house, surrounded by the bright green prairies, had a very neat appearance, and Mr. Bodmer sketched this pretty landscape, which had a beautiful effect of light and shade. It is only this part of the chain that is called Blacksnake Hills, for the chain itself is no other than that which we had long observed on the banks, of which there are two, one on each side, running parallel to each other, and forming the valley of the Missouri, more or less approaching to or receding from it. The river flows through the alluvial soil which it has thrown up, and which is changed, every year, crossing from one chain to the other, and, where it reaches the chain, produces high banks by the shock.

When the steam-boat lay to, between 500 or 600 paces from the trading house, some of the _engages_ of the company came on board, and reported that the Joway Indians, whose village was about five or six miles distant, had made an incursion into the neighbouring territory of the Omahas, and killed six of these Indians, and brought in a woman and child as prisoners, whom they offered for sale. Major Dougherty, to whose agency the Joways belong, immediately landed to rescue the prisoners, accompanied by Major Bean and Mr. Bodmer, but they returned, at eleven o'clock at night, without having accomplished their object, because the Joways, fearing his reproaches, had completely intoxicated both themselves and their prisoners.[213] Mr.

Bodmer brought some beautiful plants from the prairie, among which were [pg. 124] the fine orange-coloured flowers of the _Batschia canescens_, which we here saw for the first time.

On the forenoon of the following day, the 25th, we pa.s.sed the mouth of the Nadaway River,[214] and met with many difficulties, so that we were even obliged to back for some distance, and landed our wood-cutters in Nadaway Island. A Captain Martin wintered on this island for two seasons, 1818 and 1819, with three companies of riflemen.[215] At that time there was so much game that they entirely subsisted on it. We were told that in one year they killed 1,600, in the other 1,800 head of game (_Cervus Virginia.n.u.s_), besides elks and bears; and wounded, perhaps, as many more of those animals, which they were unable to take. The woods were very picturesque. The numerous horse-chestnuts were in full leaf; the white ash was in flower, as well as many species of pear and plum, which looked as if covered with snow, and formed a beautiful contrast with the red ma.s.ses of the flower of the _Cercis_. The ca.n.a.l between Nadaway Island and the cantonment is called Nadaway Slew, at the end of which we saw the remains of some Indian huts. In a dark glen in the forest, we observed a long Indian hut, which occupied almost its whole breadth, and must have served for a great number of persons. The bald eagle had built its nest on many of the high trees on the bank. In some places we saw smoke rising in the forest; in others, the trees and the ground were burnt quite black. Such fires are sometimes caused by the Indians, in order to escape the pursuit of their enemies, and sometimes, also, by the agents of the fur traders. We were told that the forest was green, this year, a fortnight earlier than usual. We saw everywhere pairs of the beautiful _Anas sponsa_, which came out of the holes in the bank, where they doubtless had their nests. Before dusk we reached the mouth of Wolf River, where an eagle had built her nest. The Oto Indians, mixed with some Missouris, live in these parts, on the west bank of the Missouri.[216] They are allies of the Joways, and hunt as far as the river La Platte.

On the following morning, April 26th, we saw great numbers of water fowl, and many wild geese with their woolly young; the parents never abandoned them, even when our people shot at them. The care and anxiety which these birds shewed for their young interested us much.

We came to the mouth of the Grand Nemahaw river in a beautiful romantic country, from which, to the Little Nemahaw, the territory of the people called Half-breeds extends. Among the Omaha, Oto, Joway, and Yankton (Sioux) Indians, there lived from 150 to 200 of their descendants by white men, to whom they a.s.signed this tract of land as their property. They had taken this resolution two years before, but had not yet carried it into execution. The land was given by the Otos to whom it belonged, and the other tribes bore part of the expenses.

Towards noon, when the thermometer was at 27, we again, several times touched the bottom, near Tarkio [pg. 125] River, but without receiving any injury. Picturesque forests alternate with the verdant alluvial banks of the river, and Indian hunting huts were everywhere seen, but no inhabitants. One may travel thousands of miles along this river without seeing a human being. From the mouth of the Nishnebottoneh to Council Bluffs, there is a narrow green prairie before the chain of hills; the mouth itself is between lofty trees on the east bank. In the wood below, Major Dougherty once killed twenty elks, all belonging to one troop. They had divided, and part broke into the ice in the river, where they fell a prey to the Otos who pursued them. Beavers formerly abounded in this river, but they are now extirpated. When the evening sun, gradually sinking behind the tall forest, illumined the whole country, we had a lovely view of the chain of hills, variously tinged with brilliant hues of violet, pink, and purple, while the broad mirror of the river and adjacent forest shone as if on fire.

Silence reigned in these solitudes, the wind was hushed, and only the das.h.i.+ng and foaming of our steamboat interrupted the awful repose. We were disagreeably roused from our reverie by our vessel striking against the snags in the river. We pa.s.sed the night near Morgan's Island, not far from which there was formerly a trading house for the Oto Indians, but it no longer existed.[217] The note of the whip-poor-will, which we had not before met with, was heard in all the adjacent forests.

The next morning, proceeding on our voyage, we plainly observed in the steep banks of the river, the alternate strata of clay and sand, with a thick layer of fertile black mould at the top, and, about eight feet below the surface, a black stratum of bituminous coal, or coal slate, which we were, however, unable to examine closely. On the bank we saw what are called pumice stones, which are pieces of the rock of the Upper Missouri, changed by fire, and brought down by the river; the Indians use this pumice stone to smooth their tanned and hardened skins. At the mouth of the Little Nemahaw River, the Missouri was very shallow. Our vessel having received several violent shocks by striking, and a storm, accompanied by heavy rain, arising, we ran aground, about noon, on a sand bank, and were obliged to put out a boat to take soundings, but the wind, which blew with increasing violence from the open prairie on the south-west, drove us further into the sand bank. Every moment it became more furious; our vessel lay almost on her side, which the people endeavoured to counteract by fastening her with strong cables to the trees lying in the water.

After dinner several of our hunters went on sh.o.r.e, but the boat had scarcely returned, when the storm suddenly increased to such a degree that the vessel appeared to be in imminent peril. One of our chimneys was thrown down, and the foredeck was considered in danger; the large coops, which contained a number of fowls, were blown overboard, and nearly all of them drowned. As they got upon the sand banks they were afterwards taken up, with other things which we had been obliged to throw overboard; our cables had, happily, held fast, and, as the wind abated a little, Captain Bennett hoped to lay the vessel close to the bank, which was twenty feet high, where it would be safe [pg. 126] but the storm again arose, and we got deeper and deeper into the sands.

Some of our hunters and Mr. Bodmer appeared on the bank, and wanted to be taken on board, but the boat could not be sent, and they were obliged to seek shelter from the storm in the neighbouring forests.

Mr. Mc Kenzie, and other persons acquainted with the Missouri, a.s.sured us they had never encountered so violent a storm in these parts. After four o'clock, however, the wind abated, and the boat was dispatched to pick up the articles we had lost.

On the following day we were obliged to lighten the s.h.i.+p before we could proceed, by landing the wood which we had taken in the previous day, and many other articles. Our vessel, however, soon ran aground again, and as we could not proceed, we made the vessel go backwards to the right bank, where we pa.s.sed the night. In the preceding year the Yellow Stone had been detained five days at this place. Towards evening a flock of above 100 pelicans, flying northwards, pa.s.sed over us. Their flight was in the form of a wedge, and sometimes of a semicircle. On the 29th, we found sufficient water, and proceeded; a still larger flock of pelicans induced our _engages_ to make use of their rifles, and they winged one of the birds, which strutted about on the sh.o.r.e, but we could not venture to take it. At half-past seven, A.M., we were at a place called the Narrows of Nishnebottoneh; here, about thirty miles from its mouth, this river comes so near to the Missouri, that between both there is an interval of only 200 paces.

The appearance of the chain of hills beyond the Nishnebottoneh is very remarkable.[218] The calcareous rock is in very strange forms, sometimes like entrenchments and bastions, partly clothed with verdure, partly with dry yellow gra.s.s, and spotted with yellowish red clay. The soil is extremely fertile, and well adapted for agriculture; formerly there were hundreds of elks and stags in these parts, but they are now rarely met with. By a general agreement the Otos, Joway, Fox, and Saukie Indians hunt this country in common. Having been on sh.o.r.e for some time, I was returning to the vessel when the pilot called out that there was a rattlesnake very near me, the rattle of which he heard; I looked, and immediately found the animal, and having stunned it with some slight blows, I put it into a vessel in which there were already a live heterodon and a black snake, where it soon recovered. The three agreed very well together, but were afterwards put into a cask of brandy to go to Europe. This rattlesnake was of the species _Crotalus tergeminus_, first described by Say, which is very common on the Missouri. The water being too shallow, it was necessary partly to unload the vessel on a sand bank, and to stop for the night.

On the morning of the 30th, many attempts were made to move from this spot; we sounded, put out thirty men, but were at last obliged to return to the place where we had pa.s.sed the night. Messengers were then sent up the river to endeavour to procure a keelboat; meanwhile all our hunters went ash.o.r.e. I found in the vicinity traces of the Indians, and large traces of wolves in the sand. A storm drove us back to the vessel, and soon drenched us with a torrent of rain. Our hunters killed a wild goose, a wood duck, and an owl, and brought a [pg. 127] black snake with them; one of them had broken off a piece of poison vine, by which his hands and face were much swollen; but the people here do not much mind such accidents, though the swelling frequently lasts many days.

The 1st of May set in with rain and a clouded sky; the forests were dripping wet; during the night we had observed some fireflies.

Numerous flocks of two kinds of swallows pa.s.sed us, flying to the north. About noon a white cat-fish was caught by one of the lines which we had thrown out; a second broke the strong line as we were drawing it up. The first we had caught weighed sixty pounds, and we soon took another weighing sixty-five pounds, and a third weighing 100 lbs, in the jaws of which was the hook of the line that had been broken. In the stomach of this and the other cat-fish were found large pieces of pork, the bones of fowls, &c., feet of geese, all refuse from the vessels; and likewise the entire gills of another large fish.

A great number of leeches were attached to the gills of these fish. It is only on the Upper Missouri that this fish attains so large a size.

On the following morning the Missouri had risen a little. In the neighbouring thickets some birds were singing, or rather twittering, and there was nothing like the loud concert which, at this season of the year, animates the European forests. The Yellow Stone did not set out till near eleven o'clock. In the afternoon we came to some almost perpendicular hills on the bank, the base of which consisted of violet, the middle of bluish grey, the upper part of yellow red clay.

In some places a whole colony of swallows had built against them.

About the place where Weeping-water Creek opens, among beautiful thickets, before the green hills of the prairies, we met with great obstructions, and were several times obliged to put the vessel back.

We reached Five Barrel Islands, in a broad part of the river, just when the evening sun gave a peculiar charm to the verdant landscape.[219] The forest was picturesque but not very lofty; the bird cherry was in flower, but the blossoms of the red bud had lost their bright colour. Vines twined round the trunks of the trees, and the numerous blossoms of the phlox formed blue spots amongst the rocks. Towards night we met a canoe, with two persons on board, one of whom was M. Fontenelle, clerk to the Fur Company, who resided near at hand at Belle Vue. He was a man who had much experience in the trade with the Indians, and had often visited the Rocky Mountains. As he was shortly to undertake an expedition to the mountains, with a body of armed men, he turned back with us.[220]

Early on the morning of the 3rd of May, we came to the hill called by the Otos and Omahas--Ischta Maso, or Ischta Manso (the iron eye). It is rather higher than the neighbouring hills, and a small stream of the same name runs from its side into the Missouri.[221] We were now near the month of La Platte River. Four or five miles before you come to the conflux, you distinguish the water of the two rivers by their colour, that of the La Platte being clear and green, and keeping unmixed on the western bank. A mile further up, the water was covered with foam, in [pg. 128] consequence of the heavy rains. In half an hour we came to the first mouth of the river, which is divided from the second by a low island, with gently rounded verdant hills in the back ground. The second mouth is the largest. There were large piles of drift wood on the sand bank, next the island. The river, which was much swollen, brought down wood and foam, and its waters, though, at present, not quite clear, yet still of a bluish tint, were plainly distinguished as they ran in a semicircular bend, from the yellowish, dirty water of the Missouri. After pa.s.sing the sand bank at its mouth, we reached, in twenty minutes, Papilion Creek, and saw before us the green-wooded chain of hills with the buildings of Belle Vue, the agency of Major Dougherty. There were many sand banks in the river, on which there were numbers of wild geese, and some quite white birds, with black quill feathers--perhaps cranes or pelicans. At two in the afternoon we reached M. Fontenelle's dwelling, consisting of some buildings, with fine plantations of maize, and verdant wooded hills behind it. A part of the plantations belongs to the government. The prairie extends beyond the hills. The land is extremely fertile; even when negligently cultivated, it yields 100 bushels of maize per acre, but is said to produce much more when proper care is bestowed on it.

The cattle thrive very well, and the cows give much milk, but some salt must now and then be given them. M. Fontenelle expected to possess, in a few years, 5,000 swine, if the Indians did not steal too many of them. The government of the United States bought of the Indians a great tract of land to the east of the Missouri, extending to Big Sioux River, but have hitherto left them in possession of this land.[222]

Belle Vue, Mr. Dougherty's post, is agreeably situated. The direction of the river is north-west. Below, on the bank, there are some huts, and on the top the buildings of the agents, where a sub-agent, Major Beauchamp, a blacksmith, and some servants of the company, all lived with their families, who attend to the plantations and affairs of the company. These men were mostly married to women of the tribes of the Otos and Omahas; all, on our landing, immediately came on board. Their dress was of red or blue cloth, with a white border, and cut in the Indian fas.h.i.+on. Their faces were broad and coa.r.s.e, their heads large and round, their b.r.e.a.s.t.s pendent, their teeth beautiful and white, their hands and feet small and delicate. Their children had dark brown hair, and agreeable features. Belle Vue was formerly a trading post of the Missouri Fur Company, on the dissolution of which it was bought by M. Fontenelle, who parted with it to the government, and was appointed to the agency of the Otos, Omahas, p.a.w.nees, and Joways.[223] M. Fontenelle settled, as I have said, 600 or 800 paces further down the river. Here the Yellow Stone lay to, and we inspected the buildings of the agency, from which there is a very fine view of the river, especially from the summit of the hill, where the cemetery is situated. The rock here is limestone, with a great number of sh.e.l.ls, of which, however, I could see only bivalves; but our time was too short to decide on this point.