[84]Andrew Drips was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (1789), went west, and with eight other St. Louis men formed the Missouri Fur Company (1820). He was later a member of the independent firm of Fontenelle and Drips. When the American Fur Company began their westward expansion, Drips entered into their employ, having charge after 1836 of annual expeditions to the mountains. In 1842, the company having encountered strong opposition, the federal government was prevailed upon to revive the office of Indian agent. Drips served four years as agent to the Sioux of the upper Missouri, with an annual salary of $1500. In this capacity, Drips rendered valuable service to the company. Upon the expiration of his term of office, he re-entered the company's employment, in which he continued until his death at Kansas City, Missouri (1860). He married a woman of the Oto Indian nation. Their daughter, Mrs. William Mulkey of Kansas City, has in her possession many of her father's valuable papers. See H. M. Chittenden,American Fur-Trade of the Far West(New York, 1902).—Ed.[85]For a sketch of the Cheyenne, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 140, note 88.—Ed.[86]The rendezvous in 1840 was held in the upper valley of Green River, near Fort Bonneville, in western Wyoming. Near the headwaters of the Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado rivers, this place was a natural and well-known meeting point. For a description of Green River, see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38; for the rendezvous at this place in 1834, see Townsend'sNarrative, in the same volume, p. 192, note 40.—Ed.[87]For a sketch of the Snake Indians, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 227, note 123.—Ed.[88]In theVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, De Smet says, "on the 4th of July, I resumed my travels, with my Flatheads."—Ed.[89]Flathead was a term applied to various tribes of Indians who were supposed to practice the custom of flattening the heads of their infants. A division of the Choctaw was known by this name. The tribe here referred to belonged to the Salishan stock; see Franchère'sNarrative, in our volume vi, p. 340, note 145. They were not in the habit of flattening the head, and the origin of their cognomen is unknown. The specific tribe visited by De Smet dwelt along the lake and river which bear their name, with their chief centre in the Bitterroot Valley. By the treaty of 1855 they ceded to the government an extensive tract of land in this region, being nearly two degrees in width and extending from near the forty-second parallel to the British line. In November, 1871, the president issued an order for their removal from Bitterroot Valley to the Jocko reservation. Arrangements were further completed by the article of agreement of August 27, 1872. After considerable delay they removed thither, and together with the Pend d'Oreille and Kutenai, kindred tribes, still inhabit the reservation. See Peter Ronan,Historical Sketch of the Flathead Indian Nation(Helena, 1890).The Pend d'Oreille (Ear-ring) Indians, whose native name was Kalispel, were kindred to the Flathead, speaking a similar dialect. Their habitat lay northwest of the Flathead proper, upon the Idaho lake and its tributary river bearing their name.—Ed.[90]The Bishop.—De Smet.[91]Evidently a misprint for 27th of August. Consult the succeeding letter.—Ed.[92]For sketches of the Blackfeet and the Crows, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, pp. 225 and 226, notes 120, 121 respectively. InVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, De Smet says that this camp of Crows consisted of one thousand souls.The Big Horn River, so called from the Rocky Mountain sheep, rises in the Wind River range, near the centre of Wyoming, flows north through the Big Horn Mountains into Montana, and bending toward the northeast joins the Yellowstone as its principal tributary. South of the Big Horn Mountains, the stream is usually called Wind River. The Big Horn Valley, the home of the Crows, was a rich fur-bearing region and frequently visited by trappers and traders.—Ed.[93]The post visited by Father de Smet was Fort Van Buren, located on the south bank of the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Rosebud. It was built in 1835 by A. J. Tulloch for the American Fur Company, and stood until 1842, when it was burned by instructions from Charles J. Larpenteur, who at once ordered the erection of Fort Alexander, on the north side of the Yellowstone, twenty miles higher up. De Smet was mistaken when he said that Fort Van Buren was the first fort of the Yellowstone erected by the American Fur Company. Fort Cass was built by A. J. Tulloch in 1832 at the mouth of the Big Horn, but three years later was abandoned. The fourth and last fort erected in this region by the American Fur Company was Fort Sarpy, on the south side of this river, twenty-five miles below the old site of Fort Cass. Consult Major Frederick T. Wilson, "Old Fort Pierre and its Neighbors," with editorial notes by Charles E. De Land, inSouth Dakota Hist. Colls.(Aberdeen, S. D., 1902), i, pp. 259-379.—Ed.[94]Ensyla (Insula), sometimes called Little Chief because of his station, also named Red Feather from his official emblem, and christened Michael because of his faithfulness, was one of the most influential of the Flathead chiefs, and figures prominently in De Smet's work among the Indians of his tribe. In 1835 he had visited the rendezvous in Green River Valley, in the hope of securing missionary aid, and there met Samuel Parker and Marcus Whitman. See Samuel Parker,Journal of an Exploring Tour among the Rocky Mountains(Ithaca, 1838), p. 77. According to L. B. Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest(Baltimore, 1894), Insula was disappointed not to find a "black robe," and preserved his tribe for Catholic missionaries. His integrity, judgment, and bravery made him highly esteemed.—Ed.[95]For sketches of the Arikara and Sioux, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, pp. 113 and 90, notes 76 and 55 respectively; for the Assiniboin, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 370, note 346; for the Gros Ventres, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76.—Ed.[96]For a more complete account of John de Velder, see succeeding letter.—Ed.[97]For sketches of Fort Union and James Kipp (not Kipps), see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, pp. 373, 345, notes 349, 319 respectively.—Ed.[98]"He has given his angels charge of thee, that they guard thee in all thy ways."—De Smet.[99]For a sketch of the Mandan Indians, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76; for an account of their burial customs, see p. 160, in the same volume; and for the location of their villages, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 234, note 192. The smallpox scourge occurred in 1837.In reference to buffalo-boats or skin-boats, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 246.—Ed.[100]For the original location of the Arikara villages, see our volume xxii, pp. 335, 336, notes 299, 300. At the time of the great small-pox scourge (1837), the Arikara were encamped near the Mandan village. The latter tribe abandoned their villages, and the small remnant moved some three miles up the Missouri, where they erected fifteen or twenty new huts; while the Arikara took possession of their old villages, where De Smet found them. For their location see our volume xxiii, pp. 254, 255. When the missionary in the succeeding sentence speaks of starting from the "Mandan village," he means the former Mandan village, now inhabited by the Arikara. The latter tribe remained at this site until their removal to Fort Berthold, about 1862.—Ed.[101]In reference to Fort Pierre, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 315, note 277. For a description of the Little Missouri River, more frequently known as Teton or Bad, see our volume xxiii, p. 94, note 81.—Ed.[102]The reference is to the various divisions of the Dakota or Sioux; but the classification is unsatisfactory. For recent classification, see J. W. Powell, U. S. Bureau of EthnologyReport, 1885-86, pp. 111-113; also Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 326, note 287. By the "Jantonnais" and "Jantons," De Smet intends the modern Yanktonai and Yankton.—Ed.[103]Vermillion Post, established for trading with the lower Sioux tribes, was located on the east bank of the Missouri, ten miles below the mouth of the Vermillion. The shifting of the stream has since 1881 rendered difficult the locating of the old post, which was described by Audubon, who passed there in 1843; see M. R. Audubon,Audubon and his Journals(New York, 1897), i, pp. 493, 494. Also consultSouth Dakota Historical Collections, i, pp. 376, 377. Dickson's post, also called Fort Vermillion, was some miles above the river of that name. See our volume xxiv, p. 97, note 73. It is uncertain which post is intended.—Ed.[104]By the treaty made at Chicago in September, 1833, the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa ceded to the United States government about five million acres of land, whereupon the Potawatomi were assigned to a reservation between the western borders of the state of Missouri and the Missouri River, in what was later known as the Platte purchase. This tract was incorporated with Missouri in 1836, and the Indian tribe was transferred to a reservation in southwestern Iowa, with Council Bluffs as their chief village. Here in 1838 Father Verreydt, with Father de Smet and two lay brothers, laid the foundation of a mission dedicated to the "Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph," where De Smet served until his departure for the Flathead country (1840). Father Christian Hoecken succeeded him. By the treaty of 1846 the Potawatomi were transferred from Iowa to Kansas, where another Catholic mission was begun among them, frequently visited by De Smet in his later life.—Ed.[105]In 1839 Father de Smet undertook a journey from St. Joseph's mission, at Council Bluffs, into the Sioux territory for the purpose of effecting a treaty between these tribes and the Potawatomi. He ascended the Missouri in the steamer of the American Fur Company, on which J. N. Nicollet, the famous geographer, was likewise a passenger. See Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 179-192.—Ed.[106]Jean Philip von Roothan, born in Amsterdam (1785) of Catholic parents, entered a Jesuit novitiate in Russia (1804) and was educated at the college of Polotsk. He conducted a mission in Switzerland, and was the first superior of the province of Turin, when in 1829 he was elected twenty-first general of the order of Jesuits, an office in which he continued until his death in 1853. He was much interested in the over-seas missions, in 1833 issuing an encyclical on their behalf.—Ed.[107]The reader will note that this letter concerns itself with the same journey as that described in the previous epistle—the first visit to the Flatheads and return (1840). De Smet wrote several descriptions of this journey; that contained in hisVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheusesis more detailed than either presented herein. A translation of the latter is given in Chittenden and Richardson, who do not reprint this letter to Roothan.—Ed.[108]For a brief description of Nebraska or Platte (flat or shallow) River, see our volume xiv, p. 219, note 170. It is the common belief that Nebraska is the aboriginal term for Platte, signifying "Shallow." De Smet's alternative, "Bighorn," is not found elsewhere. See also Nebraska Historical SocietyTransactions, i, p. 73—Ed.[109]For the route of the first portion of the Oregon trail, over which De Smet went out, see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. There were several fording places for the South Platte, depending upon the state of the river. In subsequent pages, De Smet gives a vivid description of the difficulties and dangers of crossing this stream. See also Frémont's account inSenate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., ii.—Ed.[110]See Washington Irving,Astoria(Philadelphia, 1841), chapter xxii.—Ed.[111]Laramie River, one of the principal tributaries of the North Platte, rises in northern Colorado, flows north through Alba County, Wyoming, and breaking through the Laramie Mountains turns northeast into the Platte. The name is derived from a French Canadian trapper, Jacques Laramie, who about 1820 was killed upon its upper waters, by the Arapaho.—Ed.[112]This information as to the origin of the Cheyenne is derived from Lewis'sStatistical View(London, 1807). SeeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vi, p. 100. It is now conceded that the Cheyenne, with their kindred tribe the Arapaho, probably once dwelt about the waters of the St. Croix River, in Wisconsin. Their tribal name (according to Lewis) was Sharha (Shaway), possibly a variant of the Sioux form Shaiela or Shaiena, whence their present name. Apparently they were driven northwestward from their Wisconsin habitat, and first settled upon Cheyenne River, North Dakota—a tributary of Red River of the North. It is conjectured that they were forced southwest by the Sioux. The Warreconne, where they made their final stand, is the present Big Beaver, in Emmons County, North Dakota. According to Cheyenne tradition, they were formerly an agricultural people, forced into nomadic habits by these various removals.The term "Black Coasts" is an incorrect translation of "Côtes Noirs," Black Hills. See our volume xxiii, p. 244, note 204.—Ed.[113]For Red Buttes see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 183, including note 31.—Ed.[114]For Independence Rock see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 34.—Ed.[115]For a sketch of this river see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 69, note 45.—Ed.[116]The Ute belong, as De Smet says, to the Shoshonean stock, and originally occupied the country directly south of the habitat of the Snake Indians, or Shoshoni proper, which extended from the Rocky Mountains to California. The Ute were divided into numerous bands, differently classified by various authorities, and when first known to the whites numbered about four thousand souls. There are now over two thousand on two reservations—the Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and the other bands on the Unita reservation, in northeastern Utah.—Ed.[117]Although this mode of funeral exists amongst the Snakes, it is not, however, common to all the Indian tribes. Amongst the people who live on the borders of lake Abbitibbi, in Lower Canada, as soon as a warrior happens to die, they wrap the body in a shroud, lower it into a grave about a foot and a half deep, and place alongside it a pot, a knife, a gun, and such other articles as are of prime necessity to the savages. Some days after the burial, the relations of the deceased assemble to smoke over his grave. They then hang presents upon the nearest tree, particularly tobacco for the soul of the deceased, which is to come occasionally and smoke upon the grave, where the body is laid. They suppose that the poor soul is wandering not far from thence, until the body becomes putrified; after which it flies up to heaven. The body of a wicked man, they say, takes a longer time to corrupt than that of a good man; which prolongs his punishment. Such, in their opinion, is the only punishment of a bad life.In Columbia we find that a different custom prevails. There, so soon as the person expires, his eyes are bound with a necklace of glass beads; his nostrils filled with aiqua (a shell used by the Indians in place of money), and he is clothed in his best suit and wrapped in a winding-sheet. Four posts, fixed in the ground, and joined by cross beams, support the ærial tomb of the savage: the tomb itself is a canoe, placed at a certain height from the ground, upon the beams I have just mentioned. The body is deposited therein, with the face downwards, and the head turned in the same direction as the course of the river. Some mats thrown upon the canoe finish the ceremony. Offerings, of which the value varies with the rank of the deceased, are next presented to him; and his gun, powder-horn and shot-bag are placed at his sides.Articles of less value, such as a wooden bowl, a large pot, a hatchet, arrows, &c. are hung upon poles fixed around the canoe. Next comes the tribute of wailing, which husbands and wives owe to each other, and to their deceased parents, and also to their children: for a month, and often longer, they continually shed, night and day, tears, accompanied with cries and groans, that are heard at a great distance. If the canoe happen to fall down in course of time, the remains of the deceased are collected, covered again with a winding-sheet, and deposited in another canoe.—Extract of a letter from M. Demers, Missionary among the Savages.Some individuals of other tribes, seen by Father de Smet on his tour, are the following: The Kootenays and the Carriers, with a population of 4,000 souls, the Savages of the Lake, who are computed at about 500, the Cauldrons 600, the Okinaganes 1,100, the Jantons and Santees 300, the Jantonnees 4,500, the Black-Feet Scioux 1,500, the Two-Cauldrons 800, the Ampapas 2,000, the Burned 2,500, the Lack-Bows 1,000, the Minikomjoos 2,000, the Ogallallees 1,500, the Saoynes 2,000, the Unkepatines 2,000, the Mandans, Big-Bellies, and Arikaras, who have formed of their remnants one tribe, 3,000, the Pierced-Noses, 2,500, the Kayuses 2,000, the Walla-Wallas 500, the Palooses 300, the Spokanes 800, the Pointed-Hearts 700, the Crows, the Assinboins, the Ottos, the Pawnees, the Santees, the Renards, the Aonays, the Kikapoux, the Delawares, and the Shawanons, whose numbers are unknown. The following are the names of the principal chiefs, who received the Missionary in their tents: The Big-Face and Walking-Bear, the Patriarchs of the Flat-Heads and Ponderas; the Iron-Crow, the Good-Heart, the Dog's-Hand, the Black-Eyes, the Man that does not eat cow's flesh, and the Warrior who walks barefooted; the last named is chief of the Black-Feet Scioux.—De Smet.[118]"Sampeetch" was a term applied to a small band of Ute dwelling in central Utah along the river now known as San Pitch, with a valley and mountain ranges of the same designation. The name was frequently used in descriptions of Ute bands until about 1870, when these Indians, reduced in number to less than two hundred, were segregated upon the Unita reservation and lost their distinctive appellation.—Ed.[119]InVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, containing the French original of this letter, Father de Smet classes the Paiute and Yampah Ute with the Sampeetches as the tribes called by the Frenchles Dignes de pitié.—Ed.[120]The following account of the religious beliefs relates to the mountain tribes with whom De Smet was most familiar, chiefly those of the Salishan stock.—Ed.[121]A Canadian Missionary, who lived for a long time among the savages, gives the following account of the popular tradition of the Indians respecting the creation of the world:—"Water, they say, was every where formerly; and Wiskain, a spirit, or subordinate deity, commanded the castor to dive into it, in order to procure some earth. The castor obeyed the order, but he was so fat that he could not possibly descend to the bottom, and he had to return without any earth. Wiskain, nothing discouraged, charged the musk-rat with the commission which the castor was unable to perform. The new messenger having remained a long while under water, and with as little success as the castor, returned almost drowned. The rat expected that he should not be required a second time, as he had already nearly lost his life. But Wiskain, who was not discouraged by obstacles, directed the rat to dive again, promising him, that if he should happen to be drowned, he (Wiskain) would restore him to life. The rat dived a second time, and made the greatest efforts to comply with Wiskain's orders. After remaining a considerable while under the water, he arose to the surface, but so exhausted by fatigue that he was insensible. Wiskain, upon a careful and minute examination, finds at length in the claws of the poor animal a little earth, upon which he breathes with such effect, that it begins to augment rapidly. When he had thus blown for a long time, feeling anxious to know if the earth was large enough, he ordered the crow, which at that period was as white as the swan, to fly round it, and take its dimensions. The crow did accordingly, and returned, saying that the work was too small. Wiskain set about blowing upon the earth with renewed ardour, and directed the crow to make a second tour round it, cautioning him, at the same time, not to feed upon any carcass that he might see on the way. The crow set off again without complaint, and found, at the place which had been pointed out, the carcass which he was forbidden to touch. But, having grown hungry on the way, and being also, perhaps, excited by gluttony, he filled himself with the infected meat, and on his return to Wiskain, informed him that the earth was large enough, and that he need not, therefore, resume his work. But the unfaithful messenger, at his return, found himself as black as he had been white at his setting out, and was thus punished for his disobedience, and the black colour communicated to his descendants." The above tradition, which bears some striking vestiges of the tradition respecting original sin, and several circumstances of the deluge, makes no mention whatever of the creation of man and woman; and, however illogical it may be, it is, perhaps, not more ridiculous than the systems of certain pretended philosophers of the last century, who, in hatred of revelation, have endeavoured to explain the formation of the earth, by substituting their extravagant reveries for the Mosaic account.—De Smet.[122]For Pierre's Hole (Peter's Valley) see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 63, note 41. Concerning the hostile and implacable character of the Blackfeet tribes consult Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 220, note 120; also Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, pp. 90-92.—Ed.[123]For a description of these hats, woven chiefly by the Pacific coast Indians, and an article of traffic with the interior, seeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 294, 296, 359-361.—Ed.[124]Compare with this the description of the Flatheads given in 1814 by Ross Cox,Adventures on the Columbia River(New York, 1832), pp. 121-127.—Ed.[125]Probably our author here refers to the sage-brush of the Western plains,Artemisia tridentata.—Ed.[126]De Smet had accompanied the Indians in their journey from Pierre's Hole westward and then northward along the Teton River to its junction with the Henry; thence they proceeded up that stream to its source in Henry Lake, the northeastern corner of Idaho. As the source of a chief fork of the Snake, this is one of the mountain origins of the Columbia. It was named for Andrew Henry, an adventurous trader, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107.—Ed.[127]Probably the stream that runs into Red Rock Lake, in southwestern Montana, the source of Jefferson River, the main branch of the Missouri.—Ed.[128]This was the main chain of the Rockies, on the boundary between Idaho and Montana, just above the present Reynolds Pass.—Ed.[129]In this letter, Father de Smet does not describe his movements with the Flatheads, who having crossed to Red Rock Lake advanced slowly down the Jefferson until August 21, where they camped at the Three Forks of Missouri, and prepared to lay in their winter's supply of buffalo meat. There he left them for his return to St. Louis.—Ed.[130]As a beautiful specimen of an affecting farewell address, we take from the journal of a Canadian Missionary the following discourse spoken by one of the savages of the Red River, to the Black-Gown who had converted them, when he was about leaving them. After expressing, in the name of all the Indians of his locality, the grief which they felt at the Missionary's departure, he added the following words, which prove their gratitude to the worthy Priest, who had brought to them the truths of salvation, and to the members of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, whose charity had procured them so great a benefit:—"Dear Father, you are going to leave us, but we hope to see you again. We are quite sensible that you naturally wish to see your relations and friends, your towns and country—we shall find the time of your absence very long, but the winter is soon over.—We conceived it to be our duty to assemble before your departure, and to express our feelings. We shall only say these few words: we formerly led very wicked lives, and we know this day to what destruction we were hastening. There was a thick cloud before our eyes; you have dispersed it; we see the sun. We shall never forget what you have done and suffered for us.—Go now, go and tell the Prayers, those kind Prayers, who take pity on us; who love us without knowing us; and who send us priests; go and tell them that savages know how to remember a benefit; go and tell them that we also pray for them, in the desire which we feel to know them, one day, in the abode of our common Father. Set out, but return and instruct those whom you have baptized: leave us not forever in affliction; depart, and in the meanwhile remember that we are counting the days."—De Smet.[131]De Smet thus describes his route: "For two days we were going up the Gallatin, the southern fork of the Missouri; thence we crossed by a narrow pass (Bozeman's) thirty miles in length to the Yellowstone river, the second of the great tributaries of the Missouri."—Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, p. 234.—Ed.[132]On the mourning habits of the Western Indians, see our volume xxiii, p. 362, note 331.—Ed.[133]For references on the Indian sign language see our volume xix, p. 221, note 56 (Gregg); also our volume xxiv, pp. 300-312.—Ed.[134]In prehistoric times, the horse was indigenous in America. Evidence thereof was collected by Professor O. C. Marsh, and has recently been corroborated by the results of the Whitney Exploring Expedition; see H. F. Osborn, "Evolution of the Horse in America," inCentury Magazine, lxix, pp. 3-17. Why this animal became extinct on the western continent is unknown; but it seems certain that the Spanish discoverers found no trace thereof among the American Indians, and that the horses of the plains Indians were derived from those lost or abandoned by or stolen from the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. These soon reverted to a wild state and became what De Smet calls "the Maroon race of the prairies." Upon the changes in the economy of life among American aborigines, brought about by their possession of the horse, consult A. F. Bandelier, "Investigations in the Southwest," in Archæological Institute of AmericaPapers, American Series, iii, p. 211.—Ed.[135]Absaroka (Upsahroku) is the name by which the Crows know themselves, although according to Lewis and Clark it designated but one band of the tribe. Its significance is uncertain, although usually thought to be a certain species of hawk. The name "Crow"—literally raven, but translated "Corbeaux" by the French—is an Anglicized form of the name given to this tribe by the surrounding Indians, and may refer to their pilfering tendencies. See our volume v, p. 226, note 121.—Ed.[136]For a sketch of this fort see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 373, note 349.—Ed.[137]For these two animals, the latter of which is commonly known as the black-tailed or mule deer, see our volume xix, p. 327, note 137 (Gregg).—Ed.[138]On these ceremonies, see our volume xxiii, p. 324, note 292, and p. 378, note 350.—Ed.[139]On the subject of cannibalism see our volume xxiii, p. 278, note 242.—Ed.[140]Consult references cited in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 245.—Ed.[141]See the brief account of Arikara jugglers in Maximilian'sTravels, our volume xxiii, pp. 393, 394—Ed.[142]Juggleries are much practised among the savages, although many of them consider them as so many impostures. Mr. Belcourt, who witnessed a great many of them, always succeeded in discovering the deception. One of the most celebrated jugglers acknowledged, after his conversion to Christianity, that all their delusion consists in their cleverness in preparing certain tricks, and in the assurance with which they predict to others what they themselves know not, and, above all, in the silly credulity of their admirers. They are like our own calculators of horoscopes.—Extract from the Journal of a Missionary in Canada.—De Smet.[143]For references on burial customs among the Indians of the Missouri, see Maximillian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 360, note 329.—Ed.[144]For a sketch of Independence, Missouri, see Gregg'sCommerce of the Prairiesin our volume xix, p. 189, note 34.—Ed.[145]De Smet had been associated with Nicollet in his exploration of the Missouri River in 1839. Nicollet intended another expedition westward, but was detained in Washington by business connected with the publication of his hydrographical map, and the report to Congress, and was never again in the Western country. See his letter in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, iv, pp. 1552, 1553.Jean Nicolas Nicollet was born in Savoy in 1786. After being educated in Switzerland, he was for a time assistant professor of mathematics at Chambery, and later librarian and secretary at the Paris observatory under the celebrated La Place. In 1832 he came to America, and occupied himself in scientific exploration of the Arkansas and Red rivers. In 1836 he made his well-known voyage to the sources of the Mississippi, and in 1839 explored the Missouri, crossing over to the Red River Valley, being accompanied on this expedition by John C. Frémont. The following years, until his death in 1843, he was employed in government service at Washington.—Ed.[146]This was the first overland emigrant train to California, composed of members of the Western Emigration Society, organized in the winter of 1840-41 in Platte County, Missouri, under the stimulus of reports of the fertility and beauty of California, brought back by one of the Roubidoux brothers. Discouraged by contrary accounts, most of the members of the society withdrew, leaving John Bidwell to organize the caravan, which finally consisted of sixty-nine persons, exclusive of De Smet's party. See Bidwell's account inCentury Magazine, xix, pp. 106-120. De Smet's party of eleven consisted of the priests and brothers, one guide, one hunter, and three French Canadian drivers.—Ed.[147]See De Smet's letter on securing funds, and preparations, in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 272-275.—Ed.[148]Father Nicolas Point was sojourning at Westport when De Smet returned from his first mission to the Flatheads. Selected to accompany the new mission, Father Point served at St. Mary's until 1842, when after a summer with the Indians on a buffalo hunt, he founded in the autumn of that year the Cœur d'Alène mission. This he made the seat of his work until his recall in 1846. On his return journey he spent some months among the Blackfeet, laying the foundation for the work that later ripened into St. Peter's mission. He baptized over six hundred persons, chiefly children, and turned to much advantage his talent for drawing, whereby he attracted the indifferent tribesmen. He passed the ensuing winter at Fort Union, where he exercised a salutary restraint over the lawless traders and half-breeds. See Historical Society of MontanaContributions, iii, pp. 246-248. The next spring he was sent to Upper Canada, and died at Quebec in 1868.—Ed.[149]Henri de Verger, count de La Rochejacquelein (1772-94), was one of the most popular generals of the Vendéan peasants, during their revolt against the republic of the French Revolution. He had been a member of the king's guard, but after the famous Tenth of August retreated to his ancestral home, and there put himself at the head of the uprising, and although but twenty-one years of age was chosen general-in-chief (1793). His courage and military daring made him the favorite hero of the royalists. He was killed by a republican soldier.—Ed.[150]Father Gregory Mengarini remained in charge of the Flathead mission at St. Mary's until 1850. He was an accomplished linguist, and so mastered the Indian dialect that by means of his speech he could pass for a Flathead. He printed a Salishan grammar (1861), and prepared a Salishan-English dictionary. In 1850 it was decided to abandon St. Mary's for a time, whereupon Father Mengarini retired to the newly-established Jesuit college at Santa Clara, California, where he died in 1886. For his portrait see Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 31.—Ed.[151]William Claessens lived at the Flathead mission until near the close of his life. Ordered to Santa Clara, California, to rest, he died there (October 11, 1891), just after celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance upon missionary work. For his portrait seeibid., p. 62.Joseph Specht never permanently left the Flathead mission, dying at St. Ignatius in 1884, one of the oldest white inhabitants of Montana. For his portrait seeibid., p. 60.Charles Huet joined Father Point in establishing the Cœur d'Alène mission. Seeante, note67.—Ed.[152]De Smet went up to Westport by the "Oceana," a steamboat of about 300 tons, built in 1836.—Ed.[153]A mission school was established among the Shawnee in 1829 by Reverend Thomas Johnson of the Missouri conference of the Methodist church, and was conducted by that missionary and his wife, and Reverend and Mrs. William Johnson. In 1839 the school was removed to a location about two miles southwest of Westport, where a grant of land was secured, and an industrial school maintained for Indian children until 1862.—Ed.[154]For the early stretch of the Oregon Trail see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. The California emigrants were met at Sapling Grove.For the Kansa Indians see our volume v, p. 67, note 37.—Ed.[155]Soldier's Creek, a northern tributary of the Kansas, entering the latter just below Topeka, near the Kansas River fording place.—Ed.[156]The Englishman's name was Romaine. He had come up from New Orleans on a hunting trip, and accompanied the caravan as far as Green River. De Smet testifies to his engaging qualities, his skill as a hunter, and his courtesy in camp.The Kansa village here visited was near the mouth of Vermillion Creek, in Pottawatomie County (not to be confused with the Black Vermillion, tributary of the Big Blue). When Frémont passed this way in 1842, the village was deserted, having the preceding spring suffered a Pawnee attack.—Ed.[157]For an earlier visit to a Kansa village see our volume xiv, pp. 184-200. See also illustration of the interior of a Kansa lodge,ibid., p. 208.—Ed.[158]See more detailed description in our volume xiv, pp. 196, 197.—Ed.[159]For this noted chief see our volume xiv, p. 177, note 144. Washington Irving's semi-humorous description of him occurs inThe Rocky Mountains(Captain Bonneville's Journal), chapter ii.—Ed.[160]Charles de la Croix, born at Hoorebeke, Belgium, 1792, was impressed into the imperial guards; but escaping with difficulty from Paris in 1814, was ordained for the American mission. He arrived in the United States in 1817, at first being made pastor at Barrens, Missouri. In 1820 he became curé at Florissant, whence he made two visits (1821-22) to the territory of the Osage, but was compelled by illness to return. Upon the coming of the Jesuits to Florissant (1823) he resigned his charge to them, becoming pastor of St. Michael's parish, Louisiana, where he remained until failing health made necessary his return to Europe (1834). He served as canon of the cathedral at Ghent until his death in 1869.—Ed.[161]De Smet probably intends the chapel at Westport, where Father Point was stationed before his departure for the Flathead country.—Ed.[162]For the Pawnee bands see our volume xiv, p. 233, note 179. Their depredations were nearly as much dreaded by the traders on the southern routes, as those of the Blackfeet were in northern climes.—Ed.[163]De Smet refers here to the medicine bundle. One of these belonged to each family of importance, and a still more sacred one to each band of the tribe. Its contents were various, frequently containing skins of sacred birds, although not exclusively so composed. See John B. Dunbar, "Pawnee Indians," inMagazine of American History, viii, pp. 738-741.—Ed.[164]This custom of human sacrifice appears to have been confined to the Skidi or Loup band of Pawnee, and to have been abolished only with much difficulty. James'sLong's Expedition, in our volume xv, pp. 151-155, relates the rescue of one such captive in 1817, and the apparent abolition of the custom. John T. Irving, Jr.,Indian Sketches(Philadelphia, 1835), ii, pp. 146-153, describes an ineffectual attempt in 1831 to rescue a captive designed for this fate. The account given by De Smet of the sacrifice of 1837 appears to be authentic. Dunbar (op. cit.in preceding note) says that the last known instance occurred in April, 1838; but probably it has been repeated since. See also George B. Grinnell,Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales(New York, 1893), pp. 363-369; and George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee," in American Folk Lore SocietyPublications(Boston, 1904), viii.—Ed.[165]Sweetwater River, for which see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 33.—Ed.[166]The route followed from the point where the trail reached the Platte, was along the river to its forks, thence up the South Fork to its ford, across to the North Fork at Ash Creek, along the south bank of the former stream to the junction of the Laramie, thence continuing by the North Fork to its crossing, near the present Caspar, Wyoming, and along the north bank, across country to the Sweetwater, to avoid the cañon of the North Platte.—Ed.[167]For a brief sketch of Captain Bonneville, see our volume xx, p. 267, note 167.—Ed.[168]The highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and of the whole Cordilleran system within the boundaries of the United States, do not much exceed fourteen thousand feet.—Ed.[169]The sage-brush (Artemisia tridentata), the European species of which is known as wormwood or absinth (A. absinthium). Seeante, p. 174, note44.—Ed.[170]Bidwell thus describes this landmark: "A noted landmark on the North Fork, which we sighted fifty miles away, was Chimney Rock. It was then nearly square, and I think it must have been fifty feet higher than now, though after we passed it a portion fell off."Century Magazine, xix, p. 118.—Ed.[171]See engravings of these fantastically cut rocks inCentury Magazine,op. cit., p. 121.—Ed.[172]Bidwell mentions both the cyclone with its destructive hail, and the water-spout which passed a quarter of a mile behind the camp.—Ed.[173]The three forks of the Missouri were named by Lewis and Clark (1805) in honor of the president of the United States and his chief advisers, the secretaries of state and of the treasury.—Ed.[174]Maria's River, for which see our volume xxiii, p. 84, note 73.—Ed.[175]Dearborn River, named by Lewis and Clark (1805) for the secretary of war, was in reality a western affluent above, not below, the Great Falls. By "Fancy," De Smet probably intends the stream named by Lewis and Clark "Tansy," but now known as Teton River—a tributary, however, of Maria's River, although approaching very near the Missouri.—Ed.[176]For the "Yellowstone" see our volume xxii, p. 375, note 351.—Ed.[177]On these streams see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, pp. 367, 368, 369, notes 342, 344, 345.—Ed.[178]For these rivers consult the following: Cane (Knife), our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333; Cannonball,ibid., p. 338, note 306; Winnipenhu (Grand), our volume xxiv, p. 87, note 59; Sewarzena (Moreau), our volume v, p. 127, note 82; Cheyenne,ibid., p. 126, note 81.—Ed.[179]For Teton River, South Dakota, see our volume xxiv, p. 45, note 26; for White River and its "bad lands,"ibid., p. 90, note 64.—Ed.[180]For Ponca Creek see our volume xxii, p. 291, note 253; the Niobrara (Running Water) is noted in our volume v, p. 90, note 54; the James (Jacques), in volume xxii, p. 282, note 238. Medicine is a small creek in northeastern Nebraska.—Ed.[181]Whitestone is the name given by Lewis and Clark to the stream afterwards known as the Vermilion—see our volume vi, p. 87, note 31; for the Big Sioux seeibid., p. 85, note 30; Floyd's Creek comes in just below the bluff of the same name, where Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition was buried—see our volume v, p. 91, note 56; the Boyer (Roger) is noted in our volume xxiv, p. 105, note 83; the Maringoin is probably intended for the Moingoina (Des Moines), a western tributary of the Mississippi; see our volume vi, p. 73, note 24, for the Nishnabotna; and v, p. 37, note 5, for the Nodaway (Nedowa).—Ed.[182]For the Nemaha see our volume vi, p. 72, note 23; the Little Platte rises in Union County, southern Iowa, and flows southward through that part of Missouri known as the Platte purchase.—Ed.[183]These are all Missouri streams, mentioned for the most part by Lewis and Clark (seeOriginal Journals, index). Upon Wood River (Du Bois) the expedition rendezvoused during the winter of 1803-04.—Ed.[184]For this first deputation see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. The deputies apparently arrived in the autumn of 1831 and passed the winter in or near the city, where two of their number died. See Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 21, 22.—Ed.[185]Both the second and third embassies were headed by the Iroquois Indian known as "Old Ignace," otherwise Ignace la Mousse, who was educated at the mission of Caughnawaga, and had gone to the Rocky Mountains between 1812 and 1820. The Iroquois were much employed by the North West Company and later by the Hudson's Bay Company, to assist fur-trading parties in the Far West. Ignace settled among the Flatheads, where he married, and taught the tribe the rudiments of the religion he had learned at the Canadian mission. Townsend (see our volume xxi) notes their observance of Sunday, and forms of worship. The delegation which Ignace undertook for the purpose of securing a "black robe," set out in 1835. His first intention was to visit Canada, but learning that Jesuits were at St. Louis he journeyed thither, taking with him his two sons to be baptized. See Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, pp. 19, 20, where a record of this baptism is given. Again in 1837, Ignace headed a second delegation. Upon the South Platte they were overtaken by a band of Sioux, who at first dismissed Ignace, for he was dressed as a white man. Unwilling to abandon his companions, he declared himself an Indian, whereupon all were killed after a brave defense.—Ed.[186]Young Ignace, who accompanied Father de Smet on his first visit (1840) to the Flatheads, became a zealous convert, and lived at St. Ignatius mission until his death in the winter of 1875-76.—Ed.[187]For further details of this exploit of Pilchimo see letter ix,post.—Ed.[188]This Indian was known as Francis Saxa, and as late as 1903 was living on his own ranch in Missoula County. See his portrait in Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 20.—Ed.[189]Francis Ermatinger, one of the chief factors for the Hudson's Bay Company, came to the Columbia region about 1824; two years later he was in command of Fort Kamloops when Governor Simpson passed that way. In 1828, he appears to have been stationed at Fort Okinagan on the upper Columbia, while Wyeth met him in the Snake River country in 1832-34. He married a niece of Madame McLoughlin, wife of the governor of Vancouver, and held various important stations. In the autumn of the year in which De Smet encountered him, he led the brigade into California as far as Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Upon the establishment of the provincial government in Oregon, he was elected (1845) treasurer. He is thought to have ultimately retired to Canada.—Ed.[190]For Fort Hall see our volume xxi, p. 210, note 51 (Townsend).—Ed.[191]Bidwell (Century Magazine, xix, p. 120) gives the names of three in addition to Romaine, the Englishman—Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. Thirty-two of the California party went on to Fort Hall with the missionaries, while the remainder, among them Bidwell, branched off to the west from Soda Springs.—Ed.[192]For Bear River and Soda Springs see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, pp. 199, 200, notes 44, 45.—Ed.[193]According to Bidwell (op. cit., p. 120), these two men were Bartleson, from Jackson County, Missouri, and "a Methodist Episcopal preacher, whose name I think was also Williams."—Ed.[194]This cañon of the Sweetwater is about five miles above Independence Rock. It is a cut about three hundred yards long, and thirty-five wide through a spur of the mountains in Natrona County, Wyoming. See illustration of cañon in Frémont's "Exploring Tour,"Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, p. 57.—Ed.[195]The ascent of the South Pass is so gradual that without instruments it is difficult to know when one attains the summit. See Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37.—Ed.[196]For Little and Big Sandy, see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 187, note 36. The former was the beginning of Sublette's Cut Off, sometimes called the "Dry Drive," because of scarcity of water on the route. This crossed directly to Bear River, without passing southward by Fort Bridger. Such would seem to have been the route taken by De Smet's company. The regular trail went down the Big Sandy, forded Green River near its forks, and proceeded across to the site of Fort Bridger, founded two years later.—Ed.[197]Captain Bonneville's expedition of 1832 was the first to cross the Green River in wagons. See Irving,Rocky Mountains, chapter ii.—Ed.[198]They were in reality upon Green River, a tributary of the Colorado. See Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38.—Ed.[199]Captain Henry Fraeb (Frapp), who was one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (1830-34). He was well known in the mountain fur-trade, frequently being associated therein with Fitzpatrick, De Smet's guide. According to Bidwell, he was killed the night after leaving this party; Frémont says—Exploring Expedition, p. 40—that this occurred the latter part of August, 1841, in a battle with Sioux and Cheyenne.—Ed.[200]This tribe is often classified with the Digger Indians, for whom seeante, p. 167, note38; but the latter possessed no horses. The Soshocoes (Shoshocoes) appear to be a band of the Shoshoni proper—closely allied, as De Smet notes, but with less property, and less virile in character. They were the branch of Shoshoni which had their roving habitat along the banks of the Green River; whereas the Shoshoni (or Snake) roved chiefly on Lewis River.—Ed.[201]The name of Don Quixote's steed, a charger all skin and bone.—Ed.[202]For these springs see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 200, note 45.—Ed.[203]This was the route by which the trail crossed from the waters of the Colorado to those of the Lewis, a difficult mountain path in Bannock County, Idaho, approximating the route of the Oregon Short Line Railway.—Ed.[204]The captain and guide of this expedition was Thomas Fitzpatrick, for whom see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 192, note 40. See De Smet's letter recommending his services, in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, iv, p. 1465.—Ed.[205]The Portneuf River, for which see our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49 (Townsend). This characteristic of the Portneuf—a series of dams of mineral deposit—make it a beautiful succession of still, dark pools and foaming cascades, and may now be noted from the windows of trains on the Oregon Short Line Railway.—Ed.[206]Beaverhead River is the main branch of the Jefferson, one of the three great sources of the Missouri. It runs through a mountainous valley in a county of the same name, in which is located Dillon, the chief town of southwestern Montana. The valley is named for a rocky point that bears a resemblance to the head of a beaver. Lewis and Clark were the first white men known to have visited this locality. The cliff they called "Beaverhead" is now known as "Point of Rocks," about eighteen miles north of Dillon. SeeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, ii, p. 321.—Ed.[207]The principal chief of the Flathead tribe was an hereditary officer. This chief, whose Indian name was Tjolzhitsay, the equivalent of Big or Long Face, was the first of the nation to be baptized in 1840. For a further account of his life see letterix,post.—Ed.[208]Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750) was by many accounted the foremost scholar and antiquarian of his time. Born near Modena, he was appointed keeper of public archives at that place, and seldom left the city. His chief work was in the classics, publishingAnecdota GræcaandAnecdota Latina, valuable collections of hitherto unedited fragments. Through a fellow-townsman who went as missionary to the Jesuit community in Paraguay, Father Muratori became interested in that land and wrote in ItalianIl Christianesimo Felice nelle Missione dei Padri della Compagnia di Jesu nel Paraguai(Venice, 1743). He states in the preface that his information was derived from the memoirs of the Jesuits, and from conversations and correspondence with those who had lived in Paraguay. This work was translated into several languages, the English version having been published at London in 1759. Muratori represents the Jesuit community of converted Indians as a veritable earthly paradise. De Smet's reference to this work shows his ambition to establish a Paraguayan régime in the continent of America.—Ed.
[84]Andrew Drips was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (1789), went west, and with eight other St. Louis men formed the Missouri Fur Company (1820). He was later a member of the independent firm of Fontenelle and Drips. When the American Fur Company began their westward expansion, Drips entered into their employ, having charge after 1836 of annual expeditions to the mountains. In 1842, the company having encountered strong opposition, the federal government was prevailed upon to revive the office of Indian agent. Drips served four years as agent to the Sioux of the upper Missouri, with an annual salary of $1500. In this capacity, Drips rendered valuable service to the company. Upon the expiration of his term of office, he re-entered the company's employment, in which he continued until his death at Kansas City, Missouri (1860). He married a woman of the Oto Indian nation. Their daughter, Mrs. William Mulkey of Kansas City, has in her possession many of her father's valuable papers. See H. M. Chittenden,American Fur-Trade of the Far West(New York, 1902).—Ed.
[85]For a sketch of the Cheyenne, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 140, note 88.—Ed.
[86]The rendezvous in 1840 was held in the upper valley of Green River, near Fort Bonneville, in western Wyoming. Near the headwaters of the Missouri, Columbia, and Colorado rivers, this place was a natural and well-known meeting point. For a description of Green River, see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38; for the rendezvous at this place in 1834, see Townsend'sNarrative, in the same volume, p. 192, note 40.—Ed.
[87]For a sketch of the Snake Indians, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 227, note 123.—Ed.
[88]In theVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, De Smet says, "on the 4th of July, I resumed my travels, with my Flatheads."—Ed.
[89]Flathead was a term applied to various tribes of Indians who were supposed to practice the custom of flattening the heads of their infants. A division of the Choctaw was known by this name. The tribe here referred to belonged to the Salishan stock; see Franchère'sNarrative, in our volume vi, p. 340, note 145. They were not in the habit of flattening the head, and the origin of their cognomen is unknown. The specific tribe visited by De Smet dwelt along the lake and river which bear their name, with their chief centre in the Bitterroot Valley. By the treaty of 1855 they ceded to the government an extensive tract of land in this region, being nearly two degrees in width and extending from near the forty-second parallel to the British line. In November, 1871, the president issued an order for their removal from Bitterroot Valley to the Jocko reservation. Arrangements were further completed by the article of agreement of August 27, 1872. After considerable delay they removed thither, and together with the Pend d'Oreille and Kutenai, kindred tribes, still inhabit the reservation. See Peter Ronan,Historical Sketch of the Flathead Indian Nation(Helena, 1890).
The Pend d'Oreille (Ear-ring) Indians, whose native name was Kalispel, were kindred to the Flathead, speaking a similar dialect. Their habitat lay northwest of the Flathead proper, upon the Idaho lake and its tributary river bearing their name.—Ed.
[90]The Bishop.—De Smet.
[91]Evidently a misprint for 27th of August. Consult the succeeding letter.—Ed.
[92]For sketches of the Blackfeet and the Crows, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, pp. 225 and 226, notes 120, 121 respectively. InVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, De Smet says that this camp of Crows consisted of one thousand souls.
The Big Horn River, so called from the Rocky Mountain sheep, rises in the Wind River range, near the centre of Wyoming, flows north through the Big Horn Mountains into Montana, and bending toward the northeast joins the Yellowstone as its principal tributary. South of the Big Horn Mountains, the stream is usually called Wind River. The Big Horn Valley, the home of the Crows, was a rich fur-bearing region and frequently visited by trappers and traders.—Ed.
[93]The post visited by Father de Smet was Fort Van Buren, located on the south bank of the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Rosebud. It was built in 1835 by A. J. Tulloch for the American Fur Company, and stood until 1842, when it was burned by instructions from Charles J. Larpenteur, who at once ordered the erection of Fort Alexander, on the north side of the Yellowstone, twenty miles higher up. De Smet was mistaken when he said that Fort Van Buren was the first fort of the Yellowstone erected by the American Fur Company. Fort Cass was built by A. J. Tulloch in 1832 at the mouth of the Big Horn, but three years later was abandoned. The fourth and last fort erected in this region by the American Fur Company was Fort Sarpy, on the south side of this river, twenty-five miles below the old site of Fort Cass. Consult Major Frederick T. Wilson, "Old Fort Pierre and its Neighbors," with editorial notes by Charles E. De Land, inSouth Dakota Hist. Colls.(Aberdeen, S. D., 1902), i, pp. 259-379.—Ed.
[94]Ensyla (Insula), sometimes called Little Chief because of his station, also named Red Feather from his official emblem, and christened Michael because of his faithfulness, was one of the most influential of the Flathead chiefs, and figures prominently in De Smet's work among the Indians of his tribe. In 1835 he had visited the rendezvous in Green River Valley, in the hope of securing missionary aid, and there met Samuel Parker and Marcus Whitman. See Samuel Parker,Journal of an Exploring Tour among the Rocky Mountains(Ithaca, 1838), p. 77. According to L. B. Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest(Baltimore, 1894), Insula was disappointed not to find a "black robe," and preserved his tribe for Catholic missionaries. His integrity, judgment, and bravery made him highly esteemed.—Ed.
[95]For sketches of the Arikara and Sioux, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, pp. 113 and 90, notes 76 and 55 respectively; for the Assiniboin, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 370, note 346; for the Gros Ventres, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76.—Ed.
[96]For a more complete account of John de Velder, see succeeding letter.—Ed.
[97]For sketches of Fort Union and James Kipp (not Kipps), see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, pp. 373, 345, notes 349, 319 respectively.—Ed.
[98]"He has given his angels charge of thee, that they guard thee in all thy ways."—De Smet.
[99]For a sketch of the Mandan Indians, see Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76; for an account of their burial customs, see p. 160, in the same volume; and for the location of their villages, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 234, note 192. The smallpox scourge occurred in 1837.
In reference to buffalo-boats or skin-boats, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 246.—Ed.
[100]For the original location of the Arikara villages, see our volume xxii, pp. 335, 336, notes 299, 300. At the time of the great small-pox scourge (1837), the Arikara were encamped near the Mandan village. The latter tribe abandoned their villages, and the small remnant moved some three miles up the Missouri, where they erected fifteen or twenty new huts; while the Arikara took possession of their old villages, where De Smet found them. For their location see our volume xxiii, pp. 254, 255. When the missionary in the succeeding sentence speaks of starting from the "Mandan village," he means the former Mandan village, now inhabited by the Arikara. The latter tribe remained at this site until their removal to Fort Berthold, about 1862.—Ed.
[101]In reference to Fort Pierre, see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 315, note 277. For a description of the Little Missouri River, more frequently known as Teton or Bad, see our volume xxiii, p. 94, note 81.—Ed.
[102]The reference is to the various divisions of the Dakota or Sioux; but the classification is unsatisfactory. For recent classification, see J. W. Powell, U. S. Bureau of EthnologyReport, 1885-86, pp. 111-113; also Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 326, note 287. By the "Jantonnais" and "Jantons," De Smet intends the modern Yanktonai and Yankton.—Ed.
[103]Vermillion Post, established for trading with the lower Sioux tribes, was located on the east bank of the Missouri, ten miles below the mouth of the Vermillion. The shifting of the stream has since 1881 rendered difficult the locating of the old post, which was described by Audubon, who passed there in 1843; see M. R. Audubon,Audubon and his Journals(New York, 1897), i, pp. 493, 494. Also consultSouth Dakota Historical Collections, i, pp. 376, 377. Dickson's post, also called Fort Vermillion, was some miles above the river of that name. See our volume xxiv, p. 97, note 73. It is uncertain which post is intended.—Ed.
[104]By the treaty made at Chicago in September, 1833, the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa ceded to the United States government about five million acres of land, whereupon the Potawatomi were assigned to a reservation between the western borders of the state of Missouri and the Missouri River, in what was later known as the Platte purchase. This tract was incorporated with Missouri in 1836, and the Indian tribe was transferred to a reservation in southwestern Iowa, with Council Bluffs as their chief village. Here in 1838 Father Verreydt, with Father de Smet and two lay brothers, laid the foundation of a mission dedicated to the "Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph," where De Smet served until his departure for the Flathead country (1840). Father Christian Hoecken succeeded him. By the treaty of 1846 the Potawatomi were transferred from Iowa to Kansas, where another Catholic mission was begun among them, frequently visited by De Smet in his later life.—Ed.
[105]In 1839 Father de Smet undertook a journey from St. Joseph's mission, at Council Bluffs, into the Sioux territory for the purpose of effecting a treaty between these tribes and the Potawatomi. He ascended the Missouri in the steamer of the American Fur Company, on which J. N. Nicollet, the famous geographer, was likewise a passenger. See Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 179-192.—Ed.
[106]Jean Philip von Roothan, born in Amsterdam (1785) of Catholic parents, entered a Jesuit novitiate in Russia (1804) and was educated at the college of Polotsk. He conducted a mission in Switzerland, and was the first superior of the province of Turin, when in 1829 he was elected twenty-first general of the order of Jesuits, an office in which he continued until his death in 1853. He was much interested in the over-seas missions, in 1833 issuing an encyclical on their behalf.—Ed.
[107]The reader will note that this letter concerns itself with the same journey as that described in the previous epistle—the first visit to the Flatheads and return (1840). De Smet wrote several descriptions of this journey; that contained in hisVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheusesis more detailed than either presented herein. A translation of the latter is given in Chittenden and Richardson, who do not reprint this letter to Roothan.—Ed.
[108]For a brief description of Nebraska or Platte (flat or shallow) River, see our volume xiv, p. 219, note 170. It is the common belief that Nebraska is the aboriginal term for Platte, signifying "Shallow." De Smet's alternative, "Bighorn," is not found elsewhere. See also Nebraska Historical SocietyTransactions, i, p. 73—Ed.
[109]For the route of the first portion of the Oregon trail, over which De Smet went out, see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. There were several fording places for the South Platte, depending upon the state of the river. In subsequent pages, De Smet gives a vivid description of the difficulties and dangers of crossing this stream. See also Frémont's account inSenate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., ii.—Ed.
[110]See Washington Irving,Astoria(Philadelphia, 1841), chapter xxii.—Ed.
[111]Laramie River, one of the principal tributaries of the North Platte, rises in northern Colorado, flows north through Alba County, Wyoming, and breaking through the Laramie Mountains turns northeast into the Platte. The name is derived from a French Canadian trapper, Jacques Laramie, who about 1820 was killed upon its upper waters, by the Arapaho.—Ed.
[112]This information as to the origin of the Cheyenne is derived from Lewis'sStatistical View(London, 1807). SeeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vi, p. 100. It is now conceded that the Cheyenne, with their kindred tribe the Arapaho, probably once dwelt about the waters of the St. Croix River, in Wisconsin. Their tribal name (according to Lewis) was Sharha (Shaway), possibly a variant of the Sioux form Shaiela or Shaiena, whence their present name. Apparently they were driven northwestward from their Wisconsin habitat, and first settled upon Cheyenne River, North Dakota—a tributary of Red River of the North. It is conjectured that they were forced southwest by the Sioux. The Warreconne, where they made their final stand, is the present Big Beaver, in Emmons County, North Dakota. According to Cheyenne tradition, they were formerly an agricultural people, forced into nomadic habits by these various removals.
The term "Black Coasts" is an incorrect translation of "Côtes Noirs," Black Hills. See our volume xxiii, p. 244, note 204.—Ed.
[113]For Red Buttes see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 183, including note 31.—Ed.
[114]For Independence Rock see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 34.—Ed.
[115]For a sketch of this river see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 69, note 45.—Ed.
[116]The Ute belong, as De Smet says, to the Shoshonean stock, and originally occupied the country directly south of the habitat of the Snake Indians, or Shoshoni proper, which extended from the Rocky Mountains to California. The Ute were divided into numerous bands, differently classified by various authorities, and when first known to the whites numbered about four thousand souls. There are now over two thousand on two reservations—the Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and the other bands on the Unita reservation, in northeastern Utah.—Ed.
[117]Although this mode of funeral exists amongst the Snakes, it is not, however, common to all the Indian tribes. Amongst the people who live on the borders of lake Abbitibbi, in Lower Canada, as soon as a warrior happens to die, they wrap the body in a shroud, lower it into a grave about a foot and a half deep, and place alongside it a pot, a knife, a gun, and such other articles as are of prime necessity to the savages. Some days after the burial, the relations of the deceased assemble to smoke over his grave. They then hang presents upon the nearest tree, particularly tobacco for the soul of the deceased, which is to come occasionally and smoke upon the grave, where the body is laid. They suppose that the poor soul is wandering not far from thence, until the body becomes putrified; after which it flies up to heaven. The body of a wicked man, they say, takes a longer time to corrupt than that of a good man; which prolongs his punishment. Such, in their opinion, is the only punishment of a bad life.
In Columbia we find that a different custom prevails. There, so soon as the person expires, his eyes are bound with a necklace of glass beads; his nostrils filled with aiqua (a shell used by the Indians in place of money), and he is clothed in his best suit and wrapped in a winding-sheet. Four posts, fixed in the ground, and joined by cross beams, support the ærial tomb of the savage: the tomb itself is a canoe, placed at a certain height from the ground, upon the beams I have just mentioned. The body is deposited therein, with the face downwards, and the head turned in the same direction as the course of the river. Some mats thrown upon the canoe finish the ceremony. Offerings, of which the value varies with the rank of the deceased, are next presented to him; and his gun, powder-horn and shot-bag are placed at his sides.
Articles of less value, such as a wooden bowl, a large pot, a hatchet, arrows, &c. are hung upon poles fixed around the canoe. Next comes the tribute of wailing, which husbands and wives owe to each other, and to their deceased parents, and also to their children: for a month, and often longer, they continually shed, night and day, tears, accompanied with cries and groans, that are heard at a great distance. If the canoe happen to fall down in course of time, the remains of the deceased are collected, covered again with a winding-sheet, and deposited in another canoe.—Extract of a letter from M. Demers, Missionary among the Savages.
Some individuals of other tribes, seen by Father de Smet on his tour, are the following: The Kootenays and the Carriers, with a population of 4,000 souls, the Savages of the Lake, who are computed at about 500, the Cauldrons 600, the Okinaganes 1,100, the Jantons and Santees 300, the Jantonnees 4,500, the Black-Feet Scioux 1,500, the Two-Cauldrons 800, the Ampapas 2,000, the Burned 2,500, the Lack-Bows 1,000, the Minikomjoos 2,000, the Ogallallees 1,500, the Saoynes 2,000, the Unkepatines 2,000, the Mandans, Big-Bellies, and Arikaras, who have formed of their remnants one tribe, 3,000, the Pierced-Noses, 2,500, the Kayuses 2,000, the Walla-Wallas 500, the Palooses 300, the Spokanes 800, the Pointed-Hearts 700, the Crows, the Assinboins, the Ottos, the Pawnees, the Santees, the Renards, the Aonays, the Kikapoux, the Delawares, and the Shawanons, whose numbers are unknown. The following are the names of the principal chiefs, who received the Missionary in their tents: The Big-Face and Walking-Bear, the Patriarchs of the Flat-Heads and Ponderas; the Iron-Crow, the Good-Heart, the Dog's-Hand, the Black-Eyes, the Man that does not eat cow's flesh, and the Warrior who walks barefooted; the last named is chief of the Black-Feet Scioux.—De Smet.
[118]"Sampeetch" was a term applied to a small band of Ute dwelling in central Utah along the river now known as San Pitch, with a valley and mountain ranges of the same designation. The name was frequently used in descriptions of Ute bands until about 1870, when these Indians, reduced in number to less than two hundred, were segregated upon the Unita reservation and lost their distinctive appellation.—Ed.
[119]InVoyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, containing the French original of this letter, Father de Smet classes the Paiute and Yampah Ute with the Sampeetches as the tribes called by the Frenchles Dignes de pitié.—Ed.
[120]The following account of the religious beliefs relates to the mountain tribes with whom De Smet was most familiar, chiefly those of the Salishan stock.—Ed.
[121]A Canadian Missionary, who lived for a long time among the savages, gives the following account of the popular tradition of the Indians respecting the creation of the world:—"Water, they say, was every where formerly; and Wiskain, a spirit, or subordinate deity, commanded the castor to dive into it, in order to procure some earth. The castor obeyed the order, but he was so fat that he could not possibly descend to the bottom, and he had to return without any earth. Wiskain, nothing discouraged, charged the musk-rat with the commission which the castor was unable to perform. The new messenger having remained a long while under water, and with as little success as the castor, returned almost drowned. The rat expected that he should not be required a second time, as he had already nearly lost his life. But Wiskain, who was not discouraged by obstacles, directed the rat to dive again, promising him, that if he should happen to be drowned, he (Wiskain) would restore him to life. The rat dived a second time, and made the greatest efforts to comply with Wiskain's orders. After remaining a considerable while under the water, he arose to the surface, but so exhausted by fatigue that he was insensible. Wiskain, upon a careful and minute examination, finds at length in the claws of the poor animal a little earth, upon which he breathes with such effect, that it begins to augment rapidly. When he had thus blown for a long time, feeling anxious to know if the earth was large enough, he ordered the crow, which at that period was as white as the swan, to fly round it, and take its dimensions. The crow did accordingly, and returned, saying that the work was too small. Wiskain set about blowing upon the earth with renewed ardour, and directed the crow to make a second tour round it, cautioning him, at the same time, not to feed upon any carcass that he might see on the way. The crow set off again without complaint, and found, at the place which had been pointed out, the carcass which he was forbidden to touch. But, having grown hungry on the way, and being also, perhaps, excited by gluttony, he filled himself with the infected meat, and on his return to Wiskain, informed him that the earth was large enough, and that he need not, therefore, resume his work. But the unfaithful messenger, at his return, found himself as black as he had been white at his setting out, and was thus punished for his disobedience, and the black colour communicated to his descendants." The above tradition, which bears some striking vestiges of the tradition respecting original sin, and several circumstances of the deluge, makes no mention whatever of the creation of man and woman; and, however illogical it may be, it is, perhaps, not more ridiculous than the systems of certain pretended philosophers of the last century, who, in hatred of revelation, have endeavoured to explain the formation of the earth, by substituting their extravagant reveries for the Mosaic account.—De Smet.
[122]For Pierre's Hole (Peter's Valley) see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 63, note 41. Concerning the hostile and implacable character of the Blackfeet tribes consult Bradbury'sTravels, in our volume v, p. 220, note 120; also Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, pp. 90-92.—Ed.
[123]For a description of these hats, woven chiefly by the Pacific coast Indians, and an article of traffic with the interior, seeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 294, 296, 359-361.—Ed.
[124]Compare with this the description of the Flatheads given in 1814 by Ross Cox,Adventures on the Columbia River(New York, 1832), pp. 121-127.—Ed.
[125]Probably our author here refers to the sage-brush of the Western plains,Artemisia tridentata.—Ed.
[126]De Smet had accompanied the Indians in their journey from Pierre's Hole westward and then northward along the Teton River to its junction with the Henry; thence they proceeded up that stream to its source in Henry Lake, the northeastern corner of Idaho. As the source of a chief fork of the Snake, this is one of the mountain origins of the Columbia. It was named for Andrew Henry, an adventurous trader, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107.—Ed.
[127]Probably the stream that runs into Red Rock Lake, in southwestern Montana, the source of Jefferson River, the main branch of the Missouri.—Ed.
[128]This was the main chain of the Rockies, on the boundary between Idaho and Montana, just above the present Reynolds Pass.—Ed.
[129]In this letter, Father de Smet does not describe his movements with the Flatheads, who having crossed to Red Rock Lake advanced slowly down the Jefferson until August 21, where they camped at the Three Forks of Missouri, and prepared to lay in their winter's supply of buffalo meat. There he left them for his return to St. Louis.—Ed.
[130]As a beautiful specimen of an affecting farewell address, we take from the journal of a Canadian Missionary the following discourse spoken by one of the savages of the Red River, to the Black-Gown who had converted them, when he was about leaving them. After expressing, in the name of all the Indians of his locality, the grief which they felt at the Missionary's departure, he added the following words, which prove their gratitude to the worthy Priest, who had brought to them the truths of salvation, and to the members of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, whose charity had procured them so great a benefit:—
"Dear Father, you are going to leave us, but we hope to see you again. We are quite sensible that you naturally wish to see your relations and friends, your towns and country—we shall find the time of your absence very long, but the winter is soon over.—We conceived it to be our duty to assemble before your departure, and to express our feelings. We shall only say these few words: we formerly led very wicked lives, and we know this day to what destruction we were hastening. There was a thick cloud before our eyes; you have dispersed it; we see the sun. We shall never forget what you have done and suffered for us.—Go now, go and tell the Prayers, those kind Prayers, who take pity on us; who love us without knowing us; and who send us priests; go and tell them that savages know how to remember a benefit; go and tell them that we also pray for them, in the desire which we feel to know them, one day, in the abode of our common Father. Set out, but return and instruct those whom you have baptized: leave us not forever in affliction; depart, and in the meanwhile remember that we are counting the days."—De Smet.
[131]De Smet thus describes his route: "For two days we were going up the Gallatin, the southern fork of the Missouri; thence we crossed by a narrow pass (Bozeman's) thirty miles in length to the Yellowstone river, the second of the great tributaries of the Missouri."—Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, p. 234.—Ed.
[132]On the mourning habits of the Western Indians, see our volume xxiii, p. 362, note 331.—Ed.
[133]For references on the Indian sign language see our volume xix, p. 221, note 56 (Gregg); also our volume xxiv, pp. 300-312.—Ed.
[134]In prehistoric times, the horse was indigenous in America. Evidence thereof was collected by Professor O. C. Marsh, and has recently been corroborated by the results of the Whitney Exploring Expedition; see H. F. Osborn, "Evolution of the Horse in America," inCentury Magazine, lxix, pp. 3-17. Why this animal became extinct on the western continent is unknown; but it seems certain that the Spanish discoverers found no trace thereof among the American Indians, and that the horses of the plains Indians were derived from those lost or abandoned by or stolen from the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. These soon reverted to a wild state and became what De Smet calls "the Maroon race of the prairies." Upon the changes in the economy of life among American aborigines, brought about by their possession of the horse, consult A. F. Bandelier, "Investigations in the Southwest," in Archæological Institute of AmericaPapers, American Series, iii, p. 211.—Ed.
[135]Absaroka (Upsahroku) is the name by which the Crows know themselves, although according to Lewis and Clark it designated but one band of the tribe. Its significance is uncertain, although usually thought to be a certain species of hawk. The name "Crow"—literally raven, but translated "Corbeaux" by the French—is an Anglicized form of the name given to this tribe by the surrounding Indians, and may refer to their pilfering tendencies. See our volume v, p. 226, note 121.—Ed.
[136]For a sketch of this fort see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, p. 373, note 349.—Ed.
[137]For these two animals, the latter of which is commonly known as the black-tailed or mule deer, see our volume xix, p. 327, note 137 (Gregg).—Ed.
[138]On these ceremonies, see our volume xxiii, p. 324, note 292, and p. 378, note 350.—Ed.
[139]On the subject of cannibalism see our volume xxiii, p. 278, note 242.—Ed.
[140]Consult references cited in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 245.—Ed.
[141]See the brief account of Arikara jugglers in Maximilian'sTravels, our volume xxiii, pp. 393, 394—Ed.
[142]Juggleries are much practised among the savages, although many of them consider them as so many impostures. Mr. Belcourt, who witnessed a great many of them, always succeeded in discovering the deception. One of the most celebrated jugglers acknowledged, after his conversion to Christianity, that all their delusion consists in their cleverness in preparing certain tricks, and in the assurance with which they predict to others what they themselves know not, and, above all, in the silly credulity of their admirers. They are like our own calculators of horoscopes.—Extract from the Journal of a Missionary in Canada.—De Smet.
[143]For references on burial customs among the Indians of the Missouri, see Maximillian'sTravels, in our volume xxiii, p. 360, note 329.—Ed.
[144]For a sketch of Independence, Missouri, see Gregg'sCommerce of the Prairiesin our volume xix, p. 189, note 34.—Ed.
[145]De Smet had been associated with Nicollet in his exploration of the Missouri River in 1839. Nicollet intended another expedition westward, but was detained in Washington by business connected with the publication of his hydrographical map, and the report to Congress, and was never again in the Western country. See his letter in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, iv, pp. 1552, 1553.
Jean Nicolas Nicollet was born in Savoy in 1786. After being educated in Switzerland, he was for a time assistant professor of mathematics at Chambery, and later librarian and secretary at the Paris observatory under the celebrated La Place. In 1832 he came to America, and occupied himself in scientific exploration of the Arkansas and Red rivers. In 1836 he made his well-known voyage to the sources of the Mississippi, and in 1839 explored the Missouri, crossing over to the Red River Valley, being accompanied on this expedition by John C. Frémont. The following years, until his death in 1843, he was employed in government service at Washington.—Ed.
[146]This was the first overland emigrant train to California, composed of members of the Western Emigration Society, organized in the winter of 1840-41 in Platte County, Missouri, under the stimulus of reports of the fertility and beauty of California, brought back by one of the Roubidoux brothers. Discouraged by contrary accounts, most of the members of the society withdrew, leaving John Bidwell to organize the caravan, which finally consisted of sixty-nine persons, exclusive of De Smet's party. See Bidwell's account inCentury Magazine, xix, pp. 106-120. De Smet's party of eleven consisted of the priests and brothers, one guide, one hunter, and three French Canadian drivers.—Ed.
[147]See De Smet's letter on securing funds, and preparations, in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 272-275.—Ed.
[148]Father Nicolas Point was sojourning at Westport when De Smet returned from his first mission to the Flatheads. Selected to accompany the new mission, Father Point served at St. Mary's until 1842, when after a summer with the Indians on a buffalo hunt, he founded in the autumn of that year the Cœur d'Alène mission. This he made the seat of his work until his recall in 1846. On his return journey he spent some months among the Blackfeet, laying the foundation for the work that later ripened into St. Peter's mission. He baptized over six hundred persons, chiefly children, and turned to much advantage his talent for drawing, whereby he attracted the indifferent tribesmen. He passed the ensuing winter at Fort Union, where he exercised a salutary restraint over the lawless traders and half-breeds. See Historical Society of MontanaContributions, iii, pp. 246-248. The next spring he was sent to Upper Canada, and died at Quebec in 1868.—Ed.
[149]Henri de Verger, count de La Rochejacquelein (1772-94), was one of the most popular generals of the Vendéan peasants, during their revolt against the republic of the French Revolution. He had been a member of the king's guard, but after the famous Tenth of August retreated to his ancestral home, and there put himself at the head of the uprising, and although but twenty-one years of age was chosen general-in-chief (1793). His courage and military daring made him the favorite hero of the royalists. He was killed by a republican soldier.—Ed.
[150]Father Gregory Mengarini remained in charge of the Flathead mission at St. Mary's until 1850. He was an accomplished linguist, and so mastered the Indian dialect that by means of his speech he could pass for a Flathead. He printed a Salishan grammar (1861), and prepared a Salishan-English dictionary. In 1850 it was decided to abandon St. Mary's for a time, whereupon Father Mengarini retired to the newly-established Jesuit college at Santa Clara, California, where he died in 1886. For his portrait see Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 31.—Ed.
[151]William Claessens lived at the Flathead mission until near the close of his life. Ordered to Santa Clara, California, to rest, he died there (October 11, 1891), just after celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance upon missionary work. For his portrait seeibid., p. 62.
Joseph Specht never permanently left the Flathead mission, dying at St. Ignatius in 1884, one of the oldest white inhabitants of Montana. For his portrait seeibid., p. 60.
Charles Huet joined Father Point in establishing the Cœur d'Alène mission. Seeante, note67.—Ed.
[152]De Smet went up to Westport by the "Oceana," a steamboat of about 300 tons, built in 1836.—Ed.
[153]A mission school was established among the Shawnee in 1829 by Reverend Thomas Johnson of the Missouri conference of the Methodist church, and was conducted by that missionary and his wife, and Reverend and Mrs. William Johnson. In 1839 the school was removed to a location about two miles southwest of Westport, where a grant of land was secured, and an industrial school maintained for Indian children until 1862.—Ed.
[154]For the early stretch of the Oregon Trail see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. The California emigrants were met at Sapling Grove.
For the Kansa Indians see our volume v, p. 67, note 37.—Ed.
[155]Soldier's Creek, a northern tributary of the Kansas, entering the latter just below Topeka, near the Kansas River fording place.—Ed.
[156]The Englishman's name was Romaine. He had come up from New Orleans on a hunting trip, and accompanied the caravan as far as Green River. De Smet testifies to his engaging qualities, his skill as a hunter, and his courtesy in camp.
The Kansa village here visited was near the mouth of Vermillion Creek, in Pottawatomie County (not to be confused with the Black Vermillion, tributary of the Big Blue). When Frémont passed this way in 1842, the village was deserted, having the preceding spring suffered a Pawnee attack.—Ed.
[157]For an earlier visit to a Kansa village see our volume xiv, pp. 184-200. See also illustration of the interior of a Kansa lodge,ibid., p. 208.—Ed.
[158]See more detailed description in our volume xiv, pp. 196, 197.—Ed.
[159]For this noted chief see our volume xiv, p. 177, note 144. Washington Irving's semi-humorous description of him occurs inThe Rocky Mountains(Captain Bonneville's Journal), chapter ii.—Ed.
[160]Charles de la Croix, born at Hoorebeke, Belgium, 1792, was impressed into the imperial guards; but escaping with difficulty from Paris in 1814, was ordained for the American mission. He arrived in the United States in 1817, at first being made pastor at Barrens, Missouri. In 1820 he became curé at Florissant, whence he made two visits (1821-22) to the territory of the Osage, but was compelled by illness to return. Upon the coming of the Jesuits to Florissant (1823) he resigned his charge to them, becoming pastor of St. Michael's parish, Louisiana, where he remained until failing health made necessary his return to Europe (1834). He served as canon of the cathedral at Ghent until his death in 1869.—Ed.
[161]De Smet probably intends the chapel at Westport, where Father Point was stationed before his departure for the Flathead country.—Ed.
[162]For the Pawnee bands see our volume xiv, p. 233, note 179. Their depredations were nearly as much dreaded by the traders on the southern routes, as those of the Blackfeet were in northern climes.—Ed.
[163]De Smet refers here to the medicine bundle. One of these belonged to each family of importance, and a still more sacred one to each band of the tribe. Its contents were various, frequently containing skins of sacred birds, although not exclusively so composed. See John B. Dunbar, "Pawnee Indians," inMagazine of American History, viii, pp. 738-741.—Ed.
[164]This custom of human sacrifice appears to have been confined to the Skidi or Loup band of Pawnee, and to have been abolished only with much difficulty. James'sLong's Expedition, in our volume xv, pp. 151-155, relates the rescue of one such captive in 1817, and the apparent abolition of the custom. John T. Irving, Jr.,Indian Sketches(Philadelphia, 1835), ii, pp. 146-153, describes an ineffectual attempt in 1831 to rescue a captive designed for this fate. The account given by De Smet of the sacrifice of 1837 appears to be authentic. Dunbar (op. cit.in preceding note) says that the last known instance occurred in April, 1838; but probably it has been repeated since. See also George B. Grinnell,Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales(New York, 1893), pp. 363-369; and George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee," in American Folk Lore SocietyPublications(Boston, 1904), viii.—Ed.
[165]Sweetwater River, for which see Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 33.—Ed.
[166]The route followed from the point where the trail reached the Platte, was along the river to its forks, thence up the South Fork to its ford, across to the North Fork at Ash Creek, along the south bank of the former stream to the junction of the Laramie, thence continuing by the North Fork to its crossing, near the present Caspar, Wyoming, and along the north bank, across country to the Sweetwater, to avoid the cañon of the North Platte.—Ed.
[167]For a brief sketch of Captain Bonneville, see our volume xx, p. 267, note 167.—Ed.
[168]The highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and of the whole Cordilleran system within the boundaries of the United States, do not much exceed fourteen thousand feet.—Ed.
[169]The sage-brush (Artemisia tridentata), the European species of which is known as wormwood or absinth (A. absinthium). Seeante, p. 174, note44.—Ed.
[170]Bidwell thus describes this landmark: "A noted landmark on the North Fork, which we sighted fifty miles away, was Chimney Rock. It was then nearly square, and I think it must have been fifty feet higher than now, though after we passed it a portion fell off."Century Magazine, xix, p. 118.—Ed.
[171]See engravings of these fantastically cut rocks inCentury Magazine,op. cit., p. 121.—Ed.
[172]Bidwell mentions both the cyclone with its destructive hail, and the water-spout which passed a quarter of a mile behind the camp.—Ed.
[173]The three forks of the Missouri were named by Lewis and Clark (1805) in honor of the president of the United States and his chief advisers, the secretaries of state and of the treasury.—Ed.
[174]Maria's River, for which see our volume xxiii, p. 84, note 73.—Ed.
[175]Dearborn River, named by Lewis and Clark (1805) for the secretary of war, was in reality a western affluent above, not below, the Great Falls. By "Fancy," De Smet probably intends the stream named by Lewis and Clark "Tansy," but now known as Teton River—a tributary, however, of Maria's River, although approaching very near the Missouri.—Ed.
[176]For the "Yellowstone" see our volume xxii, p. 375, note 351.—Ed.
[177]On these streams see Maximilian'sTravels, in our volume xxii, pp. 367, 368, 369, notes 342, 344, 345.—Ed.
[178]For these rivers consult the following: Cane (Knife), our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333; Cannonball,ibid., p. 338, note 306; Winnipenhu (Grand), our volume xxiv, p. 87, note 59; Sewarzena (Moreau), our volume v, p. 127, note 82; Cheyenne,ibid., p. 126, note 81.—Ed.
[179]For Teton River, South Dakota, see our volume xxiv, p. 45, note 26; for White River and its "bad lands,"ibid., p. 90, note 64.—Ed.
[180]For Ponca Creek see our volume xxii, p. 291, note 253; the Niobrara (Running Water) is noted in our volume v, p. 90, note 54; the James (Jacques), in volume xxii, p. 282, note 238. Medicine is a small creek in northeastern Nebraska.—Ed.
[181]Whitestone is the name given by Lewis and Clark to the stream afterwards known as the Vermilion—see our volume vi, p. 87, note 31; for the Big Sioux seeibid., p. 85, note 30; Floyd's Creek comes in just below the bluff of the same name, where Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition was buried—see our volume v, p. 91, note 56; the Boyer (Roger) is noted in our volume xxiv, p. 105, note 83; the Maringoin is probably intended for the Moingoina (Des Moines), a western tributary of the Mississippi; see our volume vi, p. 73, note 24, for the Nishnabotna; and v, p. 37, note 5, for the Nodaway (Nedowa).—Ed.
[182]For the Nemaha see our volume vi, p. 72, note 23; the Little Platte rises in Union County, southern Iowa, and flows southward through that part of Missouri known as the Platte purchase.—Ed.
[183]These are all Missouri streams, mentioned for the most part by Lewis and Clark (seeOriginal Journals, index). Upon Wood River (Du Bois) the expedition rendezvoused during the winter of 1803-04.—Ed.
[184]For this first deputation see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. The deputies apparently arrived in the autumn of 1831 and passed the winter in or near the city, where two of their number died. See Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, i, pp. 21, 22.—Ed.
[185]Both the second and third embassies were headed by the Iroquois Indian known as "Old Ignace," otherwise Ignace la Mousse, who was educated at the mission of Caughnawaga, and had gone to the Rocky Mountains between 1812 and 1820. The Iroquois were much employed by the North West Company and later by the Hudson's Bay Company, to assist fur-trading parties in the Far West. Ignace settled among the Flatheads, where he married, and taught the tribe the rudiments of the religion he had learned at the Canadian mission. Townsend (see our volume xxi) notes their observance of Sunday, and forms of worship. The delegation which Ignace undertook for the purpose of securing a "black robe," set out in 1835. His first intention was to visit Canada, but learning that Jesuits were at St. Louis he journeyed thither, taking with him his two sons to be baptized. See Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, pp. 19, 20, where a record of this baptism is given. Again in 1837, Ignace headed a second delegation. Upon the South Platte they were overtaken by a band of Sioux, who at first dismissed Ignace, for he was dressed as a white man. Unwilling to abandon his companions, he declared himself an Indian, whereupon all were killed after a brave defense.—Ed.
[186]Young Ignace, who accompanied Father de Smet on his first visit (1840) to the Flatheads, became a zealous convert, and lived at St. Ignatius mission until his death in the winter of 1875-76.—Ed.
[187]For further details of this exploit of Pilchimo see letter ix,post.—Ed.
[188]This Indian was known as Francis Saxa, and as late as 1903 was living on his own ranch in Missoula County. See his portrait in Palladino,Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 20.—Ed.
[189]Francis Ermatinger, one of the chief factors for the Hudson's Bay Company, came to the Columbia region about 1824; two years later he was in command of Fort Kamloops when Governor Simpson passed that way. In 1828, he appears to have been stationed at Fort Okinagan on the upper Columbia, while Wyeth met him in the Snake River country in 1832-34. He married a niece of Madame McLoughlin, wife of the governor of Vancouver, and held various important stations. In the autumn of the year in which De Smet encountered him, he led the brigade into California as far as Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Upon the establishment of the provincial government in Oregon, he was elected (1845) treasurer. He is thought to have ultimately retired to Canada.—Ed.
[190]For Fort Hall see our volume xxi, p. 210, note 51 (Townsend).—Ed.
[191]Bidwell (Century Magazine, xix, p. 120) gives the names of three in addition to Romaine, the Englishman—Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. Thirty-two of the California party went on to Fort Hall with the missionaries, while the remainder, among them Bidwell, branched off to the west from Soda Springs.—Ed.
[192]For Bear River and Soda Springs see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, pp. 199, 200, notes 44, 45.—Ed.
[193]According to Bidwell (op. cit., p. 120), these two men were Bartleson, from Jackson County, Missouri, and "a Methodist Episcopal preacher, whose name I think was also Williams."—Ed.
[194]This cañon of the Sweetwater is about five miles above Independence Rock. It is a cut about three hundred yards long, and thirty-five wide through a spur of the mountains in Natrona County, Wyoming. See illustration of cañon in Frémont's "Exploring Tour,"Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, p. 57.—Ed.
[195]The ascent of the South Pass is so gradual that without instruments it is difficult to know when one attains the summit. See Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37.—Ed.
[196]For Little and Big Sandy, see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 187, note 36. The former was the beginning of Sublette's Cut Off, sometimes called the "Dry Drive," because of scarcity of water on the route. This crossed directly to Bear River, without passing southward by Fort Bridger. Such would seem to have been the route taken by De Smet's company. The regular trail went down the Big Sandy, forded Green River near its forks, and proceeded across to the site of Fort Bridger, founded two years later.—Ed.
[197]Captain Bonneville's expedition of 1832 was the first to cross the Green River in wagons. See Irving,Rocky Mountains, chapter ii.—Ed.
[198]They were in reality upon Green River, a tributary of the Colorado. See Wyeth'sOregon, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38.—Ed.
[199]Captain Henry Fraeb (Frapp), who was one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (1830-34). He was well known in the mountain fur-trade, frequently being associated therein with Fitzpatrick, De Smet's guide. According to Bidwell, he was killed the night after leaving this party; Frémont says—Exploring Expedition, p. 40—that this occurred the latter part of August, 1841, in a battle with Sioux and Cheyenne.—Ed.
[200]This tribe is often classified with the Digger Indians, for whom seeante, p. 167, note38; but the latter possessed no horses. The Soshocoes (Shoshocoes) appear to be a band of the Shoshoni proper—closely allied, as De Smet notes, but with less property, and less virile in character. They were the branch of Shoshoni which had their roving habitat along the banks of the Green River; whereas the Shoshoni (or Snake) roved chiefly on Lewis River.—Ed.
[201]The name of Don Quixote's steed, a charger all skin and bone.—Ed.
[202]For these springs see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 200, note 45.—Ed.
[203]This was the route by which the trail crossed from the waters of the Colorado to those of the Lewis, a difficult mountain path in Bannock County, Idaho, approximating the route of the Oregon Short Line Railway.—Ed.
[204]The captain and guide of this expedition was Thomas Fitzpatrick, for whom see Townsend'sNarrative, in our volume xxi, p. 192, note 40. See De Smet's letter recommending his services, in Chittenden and Richardson,De Smet, iv, p. 1465.—Ed.
[205]The Portneuf River, for which see our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49 (Townsend). This characteristic of the Portneuf—a series of dams of mineral deposit—make it a beautiful succession of still, dark pools and foaming cascades, and may now be noted from the windows of trains on the Oregon Short Line Railway.—Ed.
[206]Beaverhead River is the main branch of the Jefferson, one of the three great sources of the Missouri. It runs through a mountainous valley in a county of the same name, in which is located Dillon, the chief town of southwestern Montana. The valley is named for a rocky point that bears a resemblance to the head of a beaver. Lewis and Clark were the first white men known to have visited this locality. The cliff they called "Beaverhead" is now known as "Point of Rocks," about eighteen miles north of Dillon. SeeOriginal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, ii, p. 321.—Ed.
[207]The principal chief of the Flathead tribe was an hereditary officer. This chief, whose Indian name was Tjolzhitsay, the equivalent of Big or Long Face, was the first of the nation to be baptized in 1840. For a further account of his life see letterix,post.—Ed.
[208]Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750) was by many accounted the foremost scholar and antiquarian of his time. Born near Modena, he was appointed keeper of public archives at that place, and seldom left the city. His chief work was in the classics, publishingAnecdota GræcaandAnecdota Latina, valuable collections of hitherto unedited fragments. Through a fellow-townsman who went as missionary to the Jesuit community in Paraguay, Father Muratori became interested in that land and wrote in ItalianIl Christianesimo Felice nelle Missione dei Padri della Compagnia di Jesu nel Paraguai(Venice, 1743). He states in the preface that his information was derived from the memoirs of the Jesuits, and from conversations and correspondence with those who had lived in Paraguay. This work was translated into several languages, the English version having been published at London in 1759. Muratori represents the Jesuit community of converted Indians as a veritable earthly paradise. De Smet's reference to this work shows his ambition to establish a Paraguayan régime in the continent of America.—Ed.