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 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
 
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KANZAS AND NEBRASKA: 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY, GEOGRAPHICAI, AND PHYSICAL CHAEACTBRISTICS. 
 AND POLITICAL POSITION OB THOSE TERRITORIES ; 
 
 AN ACOOmra OF THE 
 
 EMIGRANT AID COMPANIES, 
 
 DIRECTIONS TO EMIQRANTS. 
 
 BT 
 
 EDWAKD E. HALE. 
 
 WITH AS 
 
 ORIGINAL MAP FROM THE LATEST AUTHORITIES. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY. 
 
 NEW YORK: J. C. DERBY. 
 
 1854. 
 
4 y^ 7 / ^ 
 S 
 
 F 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO., 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 afSItSOTYPED HT 
 
 HOBART gi ROBBINS, 
 
 New England Tjpo and SUrootypo Foundrj, 
 BOSTOK. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The history of two territories whose first goTernors have 
 as yet never seen their dominions, — in which, indeed, there 
 is not yet a single town, — may seem to be easily writ- 
 ten. 
 
 When, however, my attention was directed to the study 
 of the various researches which have been made in the 
 regions now known as Kanzas and Nebraska, I knew that I 
 had a wide range before me. 
 
 I have followed up, as carefully as I could, the memoirs 
 of the early French travellers who first opened to the civil- 
 ized world the valley of the Missouri. Of more use, in the 
 view in which that valley is now regarded, are the more 
 recent travels of our own countrymen, a body of ofiicial 
 reports which deserve very high praise for the skill and gal- 
 lantry displayed in exploration, and the care with which 
 their history has been written. I have made such use as I 
 could of the travels of Lewis and Clarke, Capt. Pike, Col. 
 Long, Mr. Breckenridge, Maj. Bonneville, Col. Premont, 
 Col. Emory, Lieut. Abert, Mr. Parkman, Maj. Cross, Capt. 
 
IV PKBFAOE. 
 
 Stansbury, Capt. Gunnison, Gov. Stevens, Lieut. William- 
 son, and others. 
 
 I have used some recent letters published in newspapers, 
 and have been favored with personal narratives of agents of 
 the Emigrant Aid Company. 
 
 The interest which is now sending into these territories a 
 large and well-trained population has been roused by the in- 
 terest felt in their political condition. I have, therefore, given 
 such a sketch of their political history as the size of the vol- 
 ume admitted. I have drawn my materials for a history of 
 the great Missouri debate from the copious contemporary 
 files in the library of the Antiquarian Society. The mem- 
 oranda of other political passages in the history of a region, of 
 which the civilized government has not yet begun, are from 
 official documents. So few people have read " the Nebraska 
 Act," of which so many have talked, that I have thought it 
 desirable to publish an accurate copy of it, as the constitu- 
 tion of the new states. 
 
 Since the formation of the Emigrant Aid Companies. I 
 have been deeply interested in their success. The trustees 
 of the Boston company offered me, very kindly, any assist- 
 ance in their power ; but they are in no sense responsible 
 for my opinions, as expressed here. I should never have 
 undertaken this work, however, but from a wish to assist in 
 the great enterprise of settling Kanzas at once, — an enter- 
 prise which appears to me to open a nobler field for effort 
 than any public undertaking which has called upon our 
 energies for many years. To contribute as I could to the 
 immediate settlement of Kanzas, I have given such hints to 
 emigrants, and special information for their wants, as my 
 materials afforded me. 
 
PKEFACE. V 
 
 The map is accurate as far as may be witli our present 
 knowledge of the country. It is compiled from more than 
 twenty of the recent surveys made by government. 
 
 In my sketch of the Indian tribes I have followed the 
 invaluable treatise of Mr. Gallatin, the spirited sketches of 
 Mr. Catlin, and Mr. Parkman's interesting journal of his 
 sojourn with the Ogillalah, besides the notices in the travel- 
 lers I- have named. 
 
 It will not be long, I suppose, before historical societies 
 and antiquarian institutes in Kanzas and Nebraska will be 
 collecting materials far more abundant for their history and 
 geography. I shall watch such collections with great 
 interest, as well as with the pride of being the first col- 
 lector in the field. Working with the disadvantages of a 
 first collector, I have simply tried to make this book accu- 
 rate as far as it goes. 
 
 In that view I have held to the spelling Kan^ras, of most 
 of the travellers and of the Indian department, in prefer- 
 ence to Kansas, the more fashionable spelling of a few 
 weeks past. There is no doubt that the z best expresses 
 the sound, that it has been almost universally used till 
 lately, and that it is still used by those most familiar with 
 the tribe and the river which have, time immemorial, borne 
 this name. Kanzas, too, will soon be a state. Its name 
 then will, at best, too much resemble the name of Arkansas, 
 which was, in fact, derived from it. To keep them by one 
 letter more apart is to gain something. 
 
 WoKCESTBR, Mass., Aug. 21, 1854. 
 1* 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Discovery of these regiona — Marquette — La Salle — La Hontan — Cro- 
 zat — The Mississippi scheme — Dutisne the discoverer of Kanzas, . 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Native tribes — General divisions — The Dahootah or Sioux race — Paw- 
 nees — Pahdoucahs — Arapahoes — Rapids — Blaokfeet — Emigrant 
 Indians from the East — Aboriginal Indians — Population and customs 
 of Knistineaux or Crees, Ojibwas, Assineboins, Grros-Ventres, Blaok- 
 feet, Mandans, Sioux, Crows, Puncas, Omahas, Ottoes, Pawnees, Kan- 
 zas, Osages — The past condition and present prospects of the race, . 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEBRASKA. 
 
 Eivers — Valleys — Soil and face of the country, 61 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KANZAS. 
 
 Rivers — Valleys — Soil and face of the country, 81 
 
 ' ■ CHAPTER V. 
 
 Stations — Military, trading and missionary posts — projected cities in 
 Nebraska and Kanzas 129 
 
Tin CONTENOg. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Routes of travel — The Pacific railroad — Navigable rivers, . . . .139 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 >^LiiioAi HiSTORT. — Sovereignty of France, Spain, France, and the 
 
 ^HJnitod States — Missouri debate — Indian legislation — Platte purchase 
 
 jB^ Organization of the territories — Nebraska debate 162 
 
 H^ CHAPTER VIII. 
 > An act to organize the territories of Nebraska and Kanzas, 194 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 ^<Emigration to Kanzas — The Emigrant Aid Companies, 216 
 
KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DisooTery of these regions — Marquette — La Salle — La Hontan — 
 Crozat — The Mississippi scheme — Dutisne the discoverer of Kanzas. 
 
 The discovery to the civilized world of the valley of the 
 Missouri was made by Father Marquette. In writing to 
 the Superior of Missions, in 1670, he spoke of this river, 
 from the report he had of it from the Indians. " Six or 
 seven days below the Hois " (Illinois river), he says, " is 
 another great river, on which are prodigious nations, who 
 use wooden canoes ; we cannot write more till next year, if 
 God does us the grace to lead us there." Among these 
 "prodigious nations " was the Kanzas. 
 
 His expedition down the Mississippi did not take place so 
 soon as he had hoped. But, in 1673, accompanied by Joliet, 
 he crossed to the Fox river portage, and, on the 10th of 
 June, embarked on the waters of the Mississippi. In the 
 
10 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 course of the voyage -ffliicli followed, they passed the mouth 
 of the Missouri. In the Algonquin language, this river 
 was called the Pekitanoui, or Muddy river, and it retained 
 that name for some time in the French books and maps.* 
 
 "We descend," says Father Dablon, in his narrative 
 of this expedition, "following the course of the river to- 
 ward another called Pekitanoui, which empties into the 
 Mississippi, coming from the north-west, of which I have 
 something considerable to say, after what I have remarked 
 of this river." This "something considerable" is an inti- 
 mation which our own time has proved correct, that by this 
 river's valley would be found an overland route to Califor- 
 nia. "We judged," he says, "by the direction the Missis- 
 sippi takes, that, if it keeps on the same course, it has its 
 mouth in the gulf of Mexico. It would be very advan- 
 tageous to find that which leads to the South Sea toward 
 California, and this, as I said, I hope to find by Pekitanoui, 
 following the account which the Indians have given me ; for 
 from them I learn that, advancing up this river for five or 
 six days, you come to a beautiful prairie, twenty or thirty 
 leagues long, which you must cross to the north-west. It 
 terminates at another little river, on which you can embark, 
 it not being difficult to transport canoes over so beautiful a 
 country as that prairie. The second river runs south-west 
 for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a small lake, 
 
 * A branch of Eock river is still called Pekatonioa. 
 
MAKQUETTB AND LA SALLE. 11 
 
 which is the source of a deep river, running to the west, 
 where it empties into the sea. I have hardly any doubt that 
 this is the Red Sea (Gulf of California), and I do not des- 
 pair of one day making the discovery, if God does me this 
 favor and grants me health, in order to be able to publish 
 the Gospel to all the nations of this new world, who have 
 so long been plunged in heathen darkness." 
 
 This narrative was published in 1678. It has lately 
 been translated and edited by Mr. Shea, who publishes with 
 it a fac simile of Marquette's manuscript map, still preserved 
 at St. Mary's College, Montreal. The Pekitanoui or Mis- 
 souri is here laid down, at its entrance into the Mississippi, 
 and for one hundred miles back. On the map, to the west- 
 ward, are the names of several tribes. Of these the Pana and 
 Paniassa are probably our Pawnees ; the Ouemessourit are 
 the Missouri ; the Ouchage, the Osages ; the Tontanta, our 
 Tetons ; the Moingouena are Moingonans, and the Pewarea, 
 the Peorias ; while the names of the Kansa and Maha tribes 
 are put down as upon our maps. 
 
 The expectation of discovering the gulf of California by 
 following up the Missouri, and so crossing to the waters of 
 the Pacific, is alluded to a second time in the same narra- 
 tive. 
 
 The celebrated La Salle repeated Marquette's expedition, 
 in 1681 and 1682. He was detained by ice and winter, at 
 the mouth of the Illinois, till Jan. 13, 1682. "Then," 
 writes Father Membre, in his narrative, " we set out, and, 
 
12- KANZAS AND NBBKASKA. 
 
 six leagues lower down, found the Ozage (Missouri) river 
 coming from the west. It is full as large as the river Col- 
 bert (Mississippi), into which it empties, troubling it so 
 that from the mouth of the Ozage the water is hardly 
 drinkable. The Indians assure us that this river is formed 
 by many others, and that they ascend it for ten or twelve 
 days, to a mountain, where it rises ; that beyond this moun- 
 tain is the sea, wh^re they see great ships ; that on the river 
 are a great number of large villages, of many different 
 nations ; that there are arable and prairie lands, and abun- 
 dance of cattle and beaver. Although this river is very 
 large, the Colbert does not seem augmented by it ; but it 
 pours in so much mud, that, from its mouth, the veater of the 
 great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear mud 
 than river water. Without changing at all, it reaches the 
 sea, a distance of more than three hundred leagues, although 
 it receives some large rivers, the water of which is very 
 beautiful, and which are almost as large as the Missis- 
 sippi." * 
 
 In 1687, La Salle attempted to cross, with a party of 
 sixteen men, from his settlement called St. Louis, on the 
 gulf of Mexico, to the Mississippi, and ascend its stream. In 
 a mutiny among his men, he was killed, but six of the party 
 continued on the expedition, crossing the Red river and de- 
 scending the Arkansas to the Mississippi. They then went 
 
 * Father Membre in Shea's History of the Mississippi, p. 166. 
 
FATHEE DOUAT's NARKATIVB. 13 
 
 up to the Canadian frontier in canoes. Father Douay, of 
 this partj, thus speaks of the Missouri : — 
 
 " On the north--west, the famous river of the Massourites 
 or Osages, at least as large as the river into which it emp- 
 ties ; it is formed by a- number of known rivers, everywhere 
 navigable, and inhabited by many populous tribes, as the 
 Panimaha, who had but one chief and twenty-two villages, 
 the least of which has two hundred cabins ; the Paneassa, the 
 Pana, the Paneloga, and the Matotantes, each of which, 
 separately, is not inferior to the Panimaha. They include 
 also the Osages, who have seventeen villages on a river of 
 their name, which empties into that of the Massourites, to 
 which the maps have also extended the name of Osages." * 
 In these Indian names it is easy to recognize the tribes 
 known by us as dififerent divisions of Pawnees and Mahas. 
 Father Douay says, also, that the Arkansas Indians formerly 
 inhabited one of the upper valleys of the Missouri, but were 
 driven down to the valley of the Arkansas river by cruel 
 wars with the Iroquois. 
 
 In 1680, La Salle established fort Creve Coeur, on Illi- 
 nois river, of easy access from the mouth of the Mis- 
 souri, and from this time probably its valley was visited by 
 French traders. 
 
 In the somewhat notorious letter of La Hontan, dated 
 Mackinaw, May 28, 1689, he describes an expedition of his 
 
 * Father Douay in Shea, as above, p. 222. 
 2 
 
14 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 own, whicli, if it were possible, would have made him the 
 discoverer of Nebraska. He professes to have gone down 
 to the Mississippi by the Wisconsin river, and then sailed 
 westward for several days, by the " Long river" till he 
 came to the neighborhood of waters flowing into the Pacific. 
 Had he done this, he would have been the first white man 
 in Nebraska. 
 
 But the Long river does not exist, and his narrative re- 
 futes itself by describing his voyage in detail, as made in 
 January, in the parallel of 46° north latitude. In fact, all 
 rivers of that region' are closed with ice for several of the 
 winter months. And the detail of the narrative, therefore, 
 is enough to discredit the story as completely a romance. 
 
 His map of the Missouri indicates, however, that he had 
 received from the savages correct general information as to 
 its course, to a point more than a hundred miles west of its 
 mouth, and above the mouth of the Osage river, where, he 
 says, he burned an Indian village. 
 
 Not long after, the French establishment at St. Louis 
 was founded. At home the valley of the Mississippi be- 
 came one of the regions of romantic speculation. In 1712, 
 Louis XV. granted the whole valley of the Mississippi to 
 Crozat. In that grant he changed the name of the Missouri 
 to the river St. Philip, which name, however, it never re- 
 tained. In 1717, Crozat abandoned this grant, and Law's 
 famous Mississippi scheme was started. A great im- 
 pulse at once was given to emigration and exploration. 
 
DTJTISNB S EXPEDITION. 15 
 
 The immense funds raised in France were, in part, devoted 
 to tlie purposes of the Louisiana colony. Many settlers 
 were sent over, and efforts made to establish additional com- 
 munication with the interior. To this gigantic scheme of 
 finance and fraud we owe the discovery of the territory of 
 Kanzas. 
 
 M. Dutisne, a French oiEcer, was sent from New Or- 
 leans, in 1719, by Bienville, the governor, into the terri- 
 tory west of the Mississippi. He visited the village of the 
 Osage Indians, five miles from the Osage river, at eighty 
 leagues above its mouth. Thence he crossed to the north-west 
 one hundred and twenty miles, over prairies abounding in buf- 
 falo, to the villages of the Panionkees or Pawnees. Here were 
 two villages, of about one hundred and thirty cabins, and 
 two hundred and fifty warriors each, who owned nearly three 
 hundred horses. They were not civilized, he says, but 
 readily accessible on receiving a few presents. Fifteen days 
 more westward marching brought him to the Padoucahs, a 
 very brave and warlike nation. Here he erected a cross, with 
 the arms of the king, Sept. 27th, 1719. In his report of 
 his expedition he gives the details which we have quoted, 
 and notices the salines and masses of rock salt found to this 
 day in the region he travelled over. 
 
 He found the Osage villages at the spot which they still 
 occupy. If his measurements were exact, his first Pawnee 
 or Panionkee village was near the mouth of Republican 
 Fork. Fifteen days westward travel must have been up the 
 
16 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 valleys of one of the forks of Kanzas river ; but the name 
 of the Padoucah Indians is now lost. 
 
 Prom the time he reached the Osage villages, Dutisne 
 ■was exploring the territory of Kanzas. A report of an 
 invasion of its Indians by Spaniards, in the same year, 
 probably belongs really to the year 1722 ; and Dutisne, 
 therefore, may be regarded as the discoverer of Kanzas to 
 the civilized world. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Native tribes — General divisions — The Dahootah or Sioux race — Paw- 
 nees — PaMoucalis — Arapahoes — Eapids — Blactfeet — Emigrant 
 Indians from the East — Aboriginal Indians — Population and customs 
 of Knistineaux or Crees, Ojibwas, Assineboins, G-ros-Ventres, Black- 
 feet, Mandans, Sioux, Crows, Punoas, Omahas, Ottoes, Pawnees, Kan- 
 zas, Osages — The past condition and present prospects of the race. 
 
 Fkom the period -when thus discoyered by the first white 
 explorers, up to the present time, the valleys of the Mis- 
 souri and of its western tributaries, comprising the territo- 
 ries of Kanzas and Nebraska, have been constantly visited 
 by white traders, hunters or trappers. The French hunt- 
 ers from Louisiana and Canada were the first explorers ; 
 but, after the establishment of the British North West 
 Company, its agents dealt with the Indians in these wilder- 
 nesses. On the transfer of the Louisiana purchase to the 
 United States, in 1803, the fur trade began to come into 
 the hands of American merchants ; and, from that time, 
 there have been American traders among those who resorted 
 to these territories. The great exploration by Capts. Lewis 
 
 and Clarke, in 1805, 1806, 1807, gave a key to the geog- 
 
 2* 
 
18 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 raphy of the region ; but, up to the present moment, a few 
 trading houses, military stations and missionary posts are 
 the only habitations of white men west of the State of Mis- 
 souri and of the Missouri river. There is not, at this mo- 
 ment, August 1, 1854, a town or village of whites in Kan- 
 ZAS or Nebraska. 
 
 The region is still in possession of the Indian tribes. And 
 they, with some changes of position, retain on the whole 
 much the same general divisions and homes as are described 
 to us by their first discoverers. Their population has gen- 
 erally diminished. 
 
 The most of these tribes belong to the great Dahcotah or 
 Sioux family of the Indian race. This is the same family 
 which "inhabited the region between the Missouri and Mis- 
 sissippi, now Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Ne- 
 BKASKA the Mandans, Minetaries and Crow Indians speak a 
 variety of the Dahcotah dialect. Eight other tribes speak 
 it with little variation. Among these are the Ogillalahs, with 
 whom Mr. Parkman made his Indian visit, described with 
 great spirit in " The California Trail." Two of these tribes, 
 the Osages and Arkansas, belong only in part in Kanzas. 
 Their homes are farther south. The Arkansas were driven 
 from the Kanzas river not long before the discovery by the 
 French. The Ottoes, with whom the Missouris have joined 
 themselves, and the Omahaws, now live on the west side of 
 the Missouri, near the mouth of the Platte or Nebraska 
 
INDIAN TEIBES. 19 
 
 river. The Puncas, a hundred miles above, use the same 
 dialect. 
 
 Of Indians using the Dahcotah language, there are, 
 therefore. 
 
 In Nebraska, Mandans and Crows, or Upsarokas, neither 
 of which tribes call themselves Dahcotahs ; and Puncahs 
 and Omahas, who acknowledge their Dahcotah origin. 
 
 In Kanzas, Ottoes, Kanzas, Osages, Arkansas and Ogil- 
 lalahs. Farther west than the Ottoes and Omahas, on the 
 Nebraska or Platte river, are the Pawnees, whose language 
 is entirely unlike that of the Dahcotahs, and that of any 
 other Indians known to us. They have occupied the neigh- 
 borhood of this position at least since 1719. 
 
 Another division of Pawnees are the Ricaras, sometimes 
 called the Black Pawnees. 
 
 South and west of the villages of these tribes, range 
 small bodies, of various names, as Kaskaias and Kioways, 
 who use a different language from any of the others, and 
 may be regarded as remnants of the Pahdoucahs, described 
 by the early explorers, but not now found under that 
 name. 
 
 .With these the Arapahoes have lately united themselves. 
 They speak a distinct language, however, having emigrated 
 from the hunting-seats of the Rapid Indians, who belong in 
 the north-western parts of Nebraska, between the head 
 waters of the Missouri and Saskachawin. These Rapid (or 
 Fall, or Paunch) Indiana are generally found on the Brit- 
 
20 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ish side of the line. Their hunting-grounds, however, come 
 as far south as the Yellowstone. 
 
 The Blackfeet, who occupy the western part of Nebraska, 
 are one of the most powerful Indian tribes remaining. Their 
 hunting-grounds extend as far north as the 52d degree of 
 latitude, and take in all the region of the Upper Missouri 
 and its waters, from the mountains as far east as the 103d 
 meridian of longitude. Their population is estimated at 
 thirty thousand. 
 
 Besides these tribes, which have inhabited this region 
 since its history begins, there are, in the territory of Kan- 
 ZAS, a few small tribes, which have been removed thither by 
 treaties with the United States government. These are the 
 Wyandots, Kickapoos, Sacs and Foxes, Peorias and Kaskas- 
 kias ; Ottowas ; Chippewas ; Weas and Piankshaws, Potta- 
 watomies, Shawnees and Delawares. These are, in number, 
 very insignificant. But they hold, by treaty, the right to 
 some of the best lands in Kanzas, and the officers of the 
 United States government have endeavored, therefore, and 
 with some success, for the last year, to make treaties with 
 them for the purchase of parts of their territory. Of these 
 treaties we shall give some account in a subsequent chapter. 
 It is intended, in all of these treaties, to give to each indi- 
 vidual in each tribe his own quota of land, and not' to at- 
 tempt again their removal to a distant location. 
 
 The Shawnees occupy a belt of country immediately 
 south of the Kanzas river, running westward one hundred 
 
INDIAN TKIBBS. 21 
 
 miles from the Missouri line, and about fifteen miles in 
 •width ; a district one-fifth as large as Massachusetts. They 
 are but nine hundred and thirty in number. Among them 
 are some quite good farmers, a few of whom hold a few 
 slaves. 
 
 Immediately south of their reservation are the small 
 reservations of the Weas and Piankshaws, and of the 
 Peorias and Kaskaskias. These are the only tribes who 
 consented to sell, when invited by the Indian commissioner 
 last year. They hold, together, only two hundred and fifty- 
 six thousand acres, and are very few in number. 
 
 "West of them are the Chippewas, thirty in number, and 
 the Ottowas, two hundred and forty-seven in number. The 
 Chippewas hold eight thousand three hundred and twenty 
 acres, and the Ottowas three thousand four hundred acres 
 only. This is mostly prairie land. 
 
 The Wyandots occupy one of the most eligible tracts in 
 Kanzas, which they purchased of the Delawares. It is the 
 fork between the Kanzas and Missouri rivers. They are 
 five hundred and fifty-three in number, and own only 
 twenty-three thousand nine hundred and sixty acres of land. 
 
 On the Osage river is a reservation belonging to Sacs 
 and Foxes, removed from the Upper Mississippi. 
 
 On the Missouri, just south of the northern line of Kan- 
 zas, is a reservation for the lowas, another for the Sacs and 
 Foxes, from Missouri, and next them, a colony of " Half- 
 breeds." 
 
22 KANZAS.AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 It mil be seen from this brief catalogue of the Indian 
 tribes in Kanzas and Nebraska, that they are very widely 
 scattered over those iminense territories ; that they are of 
 different customs and degrees of civilization, and that their 
 origin is from so many different sources that they speak sev- 
 eral distinct languages. Their numbers, compared with the 
 immensity of the ground they hunt over, are very small. 
 
 Of them all, the Wyandots, Shawnees, Ottowas, and some 
 others of the emigrant Indians, are, in part, civilized. The 
 Wyandots" and Ottowas, numbering eight hundred persons, 
 have some simple laws. None of the others have. All of 
 these tribes cultivate their reservations, and have such 
 knowledge of agriculture as enables them to do so. 
 
 To name these in order, there is, first, between the Little 
 and Great Nemaha rivers, a colony of sixty half-breeds, 
 who have comfortable houses, large fields well fenced, and a 
 considerable stock of cattle. 
 
 Next them, just south of the north line of Kanzas, are a 
 body of lowas, removed from their old homes. They num- 
 ber four hundred and thirty-seven. They have profited but 
 little from the payments annually made to them ; are seduced 
 into a loitering, lazy life, by the emigrants passing to the 
 Pacific ; improvident in their habits, and consequently de- 
 creasing in numbers. From eight hundred and thirty, they 
 have diminished, in sixteen years, to four hundred and 
 thirty-seven ; having been all that time receiving annuities 
 from government, and most of it under the care of mission- 
 
INDIAN TRIBES. 23 
 
 aries and government agents. They wear no dress but the 
 blanket. Their crops are short, and the houses built for 
 them by government have gone to decay. 
 
 Of the lowas and Sacs nineteen girls and seventeen boys 
 were last year at school. They live at the school, under 
 the care of the teacher. There is not in the Iowa reserva- 
 tion one adult professing Christianity, and the reports of 
 those in charge of them are truly disheartening. 
 
 The Kickapoos are next south of them on the Missouri 
 river; their condition is better than their neighbors', and 
 the agent seems to consider that it will improve with the 
 stoppage of their annuities, which, by treaty, were to cease 
 last year. Two hundred and eight Winnebagoes have lived 
 on the same agency, but were to remove last spring. Two 
 hundred and fifty Pottawatomies have also homes on the 
 Kickapoo land ; but were to remove in tlie spring to their 
 own reservation south of the Shawnees. 
 
 The Delawares, Wyandots and Shawnees hold the lower 
 valleys of the Kanzas, and the rivers which flow into it. 
 Among them are six missionary stations ; and four circuit 
 preachers attempt to preach the Gospel to them. Of these 
 stations, the Friends' Shawnee Labor-school has won an 
 honorable name from its patient and successful care of the 
 children confided to it. It is more than fifty years since 
 the Friends first labored for the civilization of the Shawnees. 
 In this school there are forty-nine scholars, and- a good 
 farm is connected 'with it. About twenty-five scholars are 
 
24 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 at tke Delaware school, twenty at the Baptist Mission ; and 
 Mr. Johnson, the superintendent of the " Indian Mission" 
 established in 1851, reports that he has as many as he can 
 take care of. It is understood that they prove effective 
 work-people on his valuable farm. 
 
 The Shawnees, Delawares, Pottawatomies and Wyandots, 
 hold the best parts of KanzaS. They are addicted to liquor, 
 which they obtain from traders of their own nation. Half 
 of them, it is said, are drunkards, and the estimate that a 
 quarter part are Christians, made by Mr. Robinson, the 
 agent, must be made with reference to some very low stand- 
 ard of Christianity. 
 
 South of the Shawnees, as has been said, are the Sacs 
 and Foxes of the Mississippi, the Ottowas, and the Chip- 
 pewas (of Swan Creek and Black River). There are emi- 
 grant tribes also. The Sacs and Foxes numbered, in 1853, 
 two thousand one hundred and seventy-three persons, who 
 draw from the government, annually, seventy-one thr asand 
 dollars in money, forty kegs of tobacco, and forty barrels 
 of salt. Twenty thousand dollars of this annuity, with the 
 salt and tobacco, ceases after 1862 ; the rest is a perpetual 
 payment. They are a roving people, supporting themselves 
 chiefly by the chase ; but they have had the sense to agree 
 to " spill " all whiskey, or other liquor, brought into their 
 country. This is the tribe in which Keokuk and Black 
 Hawk were chiefs, in their war against the United States. 
 
INDIAN TRIBES. 25 
 
 The Chippewas are but five families, holding thirteen 
 sections of land, and drawing a perpetual annuity of three 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 The Ottowas are a farming people, honest, industrious 
 and prosperous. They receive a perpetual annuity of two 
 thousand six hundred dollars. Their land is good, lying on 
 the Osage river. These two little communities have a sur- 
 plus of their crop for sale. The Ottowas are increasing in 
 numbers. They are now two hundred and forty-seven, 
 which is forty-two more than they were six years ago. The 
 influence of Rev. Jotham Meeker, supported by the Baptist 
 Union among them, seems to have been of enduring and 
 real value. 
 
 These comprise all the tribes removed by the government 
 into the territory of Kanzas. The government cannot 
 fairly be charged with intentional cruelty or neglect to 
 them. The annuities awarded to them by treaty have been 
 large, and have been paid ; and attempts have been made to 
 initiate them in the arts of civilized life. 
 
 But it appears to be the universal impression now, 
 among those concerned in the management of these tribes, 
 that the payment of a money annuity to them is anything 
 but an advantage. It renders them improvident, indolent 
 and dissolute. The most energetic officers fail to keep 
 liquor from the tribes. The Indians themselves go for it to 
 the white settlements in Missouri ; and the strictest prohibi- 
 tion of the trade in it is of no avail. 
 3 
 
26 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 In Michigan, and in some of the reservations -which have 
 now heen named, it has proved that \Yhere each Indian 
 family has had its OTyn house and farm, and the same stim- 
 ulus has thus been brought to bear as an inducement to 
 labor Tvhich acts among the settlers themselves, they really 
 fall into the habits of civilized life, and, in some instances, 
 redeem themselves from those vices which have seemed 
 almost inseparable from savage life on the borders. It is to 
 be hoped, indeed, that, by such a policy, and the care of the 
 new government now to be established in Kanzas, these 
 remnants of the Indian tribes may be saved from a further 
 downward progress, and secured the blessings of improve- 
 ment, like that which has been made by two of the smallest 
 communities of their number. 
 
 With the exception of the little community of Half- 
 Breeds, on the Nemaha rivers, all the tribes now described 
 are in Kanzas, whither they have been removed from old 
 homes. We proceed to speak of the tribes, of which the 
 names are given above, which retain their aboriginal posi- 
 tion within the borders of these two territories. 
 
 The map will show how extensive the regions are which 
 they occupy. Nbbeaska is bounded on the north by the 
 parallel of 49°, the northern boundary of the United States ; 
 on the south by the parallel of 40°, which separates it from 
 Kanzas. Its eastern boundary is the (northern) White 
 Earth river and the Missouri, which divide it from Minne- 
 sota and Iowa ; and its western, the ridge of the Eocky 
 
INDIANS IN NEBRASKA. 27 
 
 Mountains. Kanzas extends tbree degrees, or two hun- 
 dred and eight miles, further south. Its eastern boundary 
 is the state of Missouri ; its northern, the line of 37°, -which 
 divides it from the Cherokee reservation ; its western, the 
 Rocky Mountains. 
 
 We have given a general catalogue of the native Indian 
 tribes which are now scattered over this vast domain. We 
 proceed to speak of their different characteristics in more 
 detail, beginning with the tribes in the northern part of 
 Nebraska, and speaking in succession of those further 
 south. 
 
 North of the valley of the Mississippi river are the head 
 waters of some streams which flow into the British posses- 
 sions. The tribes of Ejiistinaux or Crees, of Ojibwas and 
 Assineboins, hunt on these waters, and frequently pass 
 further south into the territory of Nebraska. 
 
 The Crees are the most northern branch of the great 
 Algonkin Lenape family of Indians. Their language is a 
 different dialect from that speken by the New England 
 Indians and the Delawares, with which, however, it agrees 
 in its basis. Their hunting-grounds extend as far north as 
 Lake Athapasca, and as far east as Hudson's Bay. Mr. 
 Catlin speaks of those who reside on one side of the frontier 
 of Nebraska as "a very pretty and pleasing tribe," about 
 three thousand in number. They cultivate the soil with 
 some success. 
 
 The Ojibwas are a section of the great Chippewa race. 
 
28 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 Their principal trade is with the British trading-houses, and 
 their hunting-grounds within the British territory. 
 
 The Assineboins give the name to the Assineboin river, 
 which flows east into the Lake of the Woods, just north of 
 the parallel of 49°. This name means " stone-boilers." For 
 this tribe, from want of better utensils, had formerly the 
 habit of boiling their meat in holes made in the ground, 
 lined with hide. The meat and water were put in these 
 holes. Large stones, heated red hot, were then dropped in 
 successively, until the meat was cooked, and the tribe took 
 the name of "Stone-boilers" accordingly. An acquain- 
 tance, however, with the Mandans, who made earthen pot- 
 tery, and their trade with the whites, have done away with 
 this custom, except at public festivals, where it is still pre- 
 served. 
 
 The Assineboin language is a dialect of the Dahcotah. 
 
 The Gros- Ventres, Paunch, Fall or Rapid Indians, range 
 over the northern a;;d western parts of Nebraska. They 
 number four hundred and twenty lodges, each lodge aver- 
 aging nine inhabitants. Their language is said to be the same 
 as the Arrapahoes', who live in the neighborhood of the Ar- 
 kansas. They are a wild, roving people, subsisting entirely 
 by hunting. Mr. Catlin supposes that they intermarry with 
 the Blackfeet, who are the enemies of every other race of 
 Indians. This is not the impression of Mr. Vaughn, the 
 Indian agent for the Upper Missouri. 
 
 The Blackfeet are the largest and most warlike nation of 
 
BLACKEBBT AND GROS-VENTKES. 29 
 
 all the native tribes. The traders, in former years, have 
 fixed their number as high as fifty thousand, but this is un- 
 doubtedly an exaggeration. Mr. Vaughn thinks it is not 
 more than eleven or twelve thousand. They live altogether 
 by the chase, roving in every direction, as far as the head 
 ■waters of the rivers of Hudson's Bay on the north, and as 
 far as the Great Salt Lake to the south-west. They are 
 rich in horses, bold in war, and the avowed enemies of all 
 the other tribes, unless the Gros- Ventres be an exception. 
 The whole eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, north of 
 the Platte river, may be regarded as their country, though 
 their roving life admits of no fixed home. 
 
 Neither they nor the Gros- Ventres have ever entered 
 into any treaty with the United States government. Sev- 
 eral years since, however, they made a friendly treaty with 
 Messrs. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., & Co., to trade with them 
 near the falls of the Missouri. 
 
 So adventurous are the warriors of this nation that it is 
 said there is among them a great preponderance of women. 
 But few of the men have less than two wives, the common 
 number is four, and many have ten. 
 
 A few of the Gros- Ventres have separated themselves 
 from the great body of the tribe, and pay some attention to 
 agriculture in villages near the Missouri river. The Ri-caras 
 or Arick-a-rees do the same, and the small remnant of the 
 unfortunate Mandans, in their village on the Missouri, is the 
 most civilized native tribe in the whole region. 
 3* 
 
30 KANZAS AND ITEBEASKA. 
 
 The history, customs and position of this remarkable 
 tribe, now so nearly extinct, are so singular as to deserve a 
 fuller notice than their present population would seem to 
 demand. 
 
 Their history is known, from civilized authorities, as far 
 as a hundred years ago. They were then settled in nine 
 villages, seven on the west, and two on the east side of the 
 Missouri, eighty miles south of the Fort Mandan of Lewis 
 and Clarke. Their life being in a fixed locality, they were 
 constantly exposed to the attacks of other tribes ; and, grad- 
 ually wasting away before the Sioux, they removed again 
 and again, till, in 1805, Lewis and Clarke found them in 
 two villages, one on each side of the river, near the point 
 called Fort Mandan, where those explorers spent the year 
 of 1805-6. Their population was then estimated at one 
 thousand two hundred and fifty ; they numbered three hun- 
 dred and fifty fighting men. 
 
 They had a decided superiority over any of the other 
 western tribes in the arts of domestic life. Their pottery 
 was quite convenient, and they relied, without fear, upon 
 their crops of corn, squashes and pumpkins. They did not 
 make war, unless attacked, but fortified their positions with 
 skill and care. ' ^ , 
 
 They presented an additional peculiarity, in the frequent 
 whiteness of their skin, and light color of their hair. Many 
 of them, who are full-blooded, have beautiful white com- 
 plexions. 
 
THE MANDANS. 31 
 
 These singularities have undoubtedly given rise to the 
 very general impression which prevailed during the latter 
 part of the last century, that a tribe of " Welsh Indians " 
 existed on the waters of the Missouri. On that impression 
 Mr. Southey was tempted, in part, to found his celebrated 
 poem Madoc. Mr. Catlin, who spent much time among the 
 Mandans. and was greatly interested by them, believes the 
 impression that they are descended from Madoc' s colony 
 well founded. He says that remains of villages like theirs 
 may be found all down the valley of the Missouri and along 
 the Ohio. His impression is that Madoc and his followers 
 formed a settlement in the valley of the Ohio ; that they in- 
 termarried with the natives, and lost some of the distinctive 
 characteristics of their race. He supposes that they were 
 gradually driven from these seats, lower and lower down the 
 Ohio river, till they were obliged to cross the Mississippi ; 
 that then the same course of emigration brought them to 
 their present home. 
 
 He sustains his theory by an examination of their lan- 
 guage. Mr. Gallatin, whose authority we have uniformly 
 followed in classifying the Indian languages, says that the 
 fabulous account of a Welsh origin to the tribe is entirely 
 set aside by a knowledge of its language ; and it is regarded 
 by him as a dialect of the Dahcotah. Mr. Catlin, however, 
 gives a few Mandan and Welsh words, from familiar lan- 
 guage, together ; which certainly sustain, in part, his hy- 
 pothesis. These are, 
 
32 
 
 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 English. 
 
 Mandau. 
 
 Welsh. 
 
 Pronounced. 
 
 I 
 
 Me 
 
 Mi 
 
 Me 
 
 You 
 
 Ne 
 
 Chwi 
 
 Chwe 
 
 He 
 
 E 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 She 
 
 Ba 
 
 E 
 
 A 
 
 It 
 
 Ount 
 
 Hwynt 
 
 Hooynt 
 
 We 
 
 Noo 
 
 Ni 
 
 Ne 
 
 They 
 
 Eonah 
 
 H-wna, mas 
 
 Hoona 
 
 
 
 Hona,/em 
 
 Hona 
 
 No : there is 
 
 mot: Megosh 
 
 Nagoes 
 'Nage 
 
 Nagosh 
 
 No 
 
 
 Nag 
 LNa 
 
 
 Head 
 
 Pan 
 
 Pen 
 
 Pan 
 
 The Great"! 
 
 Maho peneta 
 
 Mawr peneathir 
 
 * Maoor panaether 
 
 Spirit J 
 
 \ 
 
 Ysprid Mawr f 
 
 Uspryd Maoor 
 
 There can be no doubt that the chief element of the lan- 
 guage as spoken to-day is Dahcotah. But the chief part 
 of the language spoken by cultivated Welshmen, in Wales, 
 is English. All that could be expected in the case of the 
 relic of a Welsh colony would be that a few words should 
 be preserved. The women of such a colony would be mostly 
 Indians ; and, in the changes of nearly a thousand years, the 
 Welsh element of language would fare ill. 
 
 A more decisive argument against the Welsh origin of 
 this interesting people, is the silence of their own traditions 
 regarding it. They call themselves " the people of the pheas- 
 
 * To act aa supreme. 
 
 t The Great Spirit. 
 
THE MANDANS. 33 
 
 ant," See-pohs-ka-nu-mali-ka-kee. It is to be noticed that 
 there are no pheasants nearer them .than the forests of Indi- 
 ana, on the east, or those of the Rocky Mountains, six hun- 
 dred miles west of them. 
 
 This fact is a decisive indication that they are emigrants 
 from a very considerable distance. They contend that they 
 were the first people on the earth. " They originally lived 
 inside the earth," says one of their legends. "They raised 
 many vines, and one of them had grown up through a hole 
 in the earth, overhead, and one of their young men climbed 
 up it, until he came out on the top of the ground, on the 
 bank of the river where the Mandan village stands. He 
 looked around and admired the beautiful country and 
 prairies about him, saw many buffaloes, killed one with his 
 bow and arrows, and found its meat was good to eat. He 
 returned and related what he had seen, when a number of 
 others went up the vine with him, and witnessed the same 
 things. Among those who went up were two very pretty 
 young women, who were favorites with the chiefs ; and 
 among those who were trying to get up was a very large 
 and fat woman, who was ordered by the chiefs not to go up, 
 but whose curiosity led her to try it as soon as she got a 
 secret opportunity, when there was no one present. When 
 she got part of the way up, the vine broke under the great 
 weight of her body, and let her down. She was very much 
 hurt by the fall, but did not die. The Mandans were very 
 sorry about this, and she was disgraced for being the cause 
 
34 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 of a great calamity which she had brought upon them, 
 which could never be averted, for no pore could ever 
 ascend, nor could those descend who had got up ; but thejl, 
 built the Mandan village where it formerly stood, a great- 
 way below on the river ; and the remainder of the people 
 live under ground to this day." 
 
 This tradition is told with great gravity by the chiefs' 
 and doctors, who even profess to hear their friends talk 
 throucrb the earth at certain times and places. 
 
 When Mr. Catlin visited them, both villages were on the 
 west side of the Missouri, at the point just now described. 
 These villages are about two miles distant from each other; 
 beautifully located, and judiciously, also, for defence against 
 the assaults of their enemies. The site of the lower town, 
 which is the principal one, in particular, is one of the most 
 beautiful and pleasing spots that can be seen in the world, 
 It is in the very midst of an extensive valley, surrounded 
 by hills covered with an interminable green, fading to blue 
 as they recede into the far distance. On an extensive plain, 
 covered with green turf, upon which, as far as the eye can 
 possibly range, not a tree or bush is to be seen, rise from 
 the ground, and towards the heavens, the domes of the 
 earth-built huts which constitute this semi-subterraneous 
 village. 
 
 The ground on which it is built is upon a nearly perpen- 
 dicular bank of solid rock, forty or fifty feet above the bed 
 of the river, which, at this place, changes its course to a 
 
THE MANDANS. 35 
 
 fight-angle, thereby making a natural defence upon two 
 sides of the village. They have, therefore, but one side to 
 protect, which is effectually done by a strong piquet, and a 
 ditch inside of it, of three or four feet in depth. 
 
 The village has a most novel effect to the eye of a 
 stranger ; the lodges are closely grouped together, leaving 
 but just room enough for walking or riding between them ; 
 they appear, from without, to be built entirely of dirt ; but 
 one is surprised on entering them to see the interior neat- 
 ness and comfort. They are all of a circular form, and are 
 from forty to sixty feet in diameter. Their foundations are 
 prepared by digging some two feet in the ground, where a 
 floor of earth is formed, and the superstructure is then pro- 
 duced, by arranging inside the - excavation a barrier of 
 timbers, of about six feet in height. From the tops of 
 these converge, to a central point, smaller timbers, forming 
 a roof; rising, at an angle of forty-five degrees, to the apex 
 or sky-light, which, at the same time, serves as a chimney.' 
 The roof is supported and strengthened by timbers under- 
 neath it ; the exterior is covered with a close matting of 
 willow boughs to protect it from the thick incrustation of 
 earth and clay with which the lodge is covered to the depth 
 of two or three feet. This, by long use, becomes hardened, 
 and is quite impervious to water. It is here that the whole 
 family, resident inside, assemble in pleasant weather, mak- 
 ing it their observatory and lounging-place ; when the 
 weather is favorable, upon the roof of almost every lodge 
 
36 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 may be seen a group of its inhabitants, — chiefs, -women, 
 children and dogs. 
 
 To a stranger, standing upon one of these roofs, the view 
 presented is the strangest medley that can be imagined. On 
 the roofs, besides the living groups, are buffaloes' skulls, 
 skin canoes, pots and pottery, sleds and sledges ; and on 
 poles, erected some twenty feet above the doors of their 
 ■wigwams, are suspended, on a pleasant day, the scalps of 
 ■warriors, preserved as trophies, and thus proudly exposed 
 as evidences of their ■warlike deeds. In other parts are 
 raised on poles the warriors' whitened shields and quivers, 
 with medicine bags attached ; and here and there a sacrifice 
 of red cloth, or other costly stuff, offered up to the Great 
 Spirit, over the door of some benignant chief, in humble 
 gratitude for the blessings he is enjoying. Amidst all this, 
 and through the blue smoke that rises from every lodge, 
 can be seen, stretching into distance, the green and bound- 
 less prairie. 
 
 The floors of these dwellings are of earth, but so hardened 
 by use, and swept so clean, that they have almost a poUsh, 
 and would hardly soil the whitest linen ! In the centre is 
 the fire-place, a circular hole, sunk a foot or more from the 
 surface, and curbed with stone. Over the fire-place is gen- 
 erally seen the pot or kettle, filled with buffalo meat, and 
 around it are the family, reclining in the most picturesque 
 attitudes upon their buffalo robes, or mats of rushes. 
 
 These cabins are so spacious that they hold from twenty 
 
THE MANDANS. 37 
 
 to forty persons, — a family and all its connections. They 
 all sleep on bedsteads, similar to ours in form, of round 
 poles lashed rudely together with thongs, while buffalo robes 
 take the place of mattrass, pillow and blanket. They are 
 uniformly screened with a covering of buffalo or elk skins, 
 placed over the flame-like curtains, leaving a hole in front, 
 for the occupant to pass in or out. Some of these cover- 
 ings are exceedingly beautiful, being cut tastefully into 
 fringe, and handsomely. ornamented with porcupine's quills 
 and hieroglyphics. 
 
 la the centre of the village is an open space, or public 
 area, of one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, and circular 
 in form, which is used for all public games and festivals, 
 shows and exhibitions, and also for the annual religious 
 ceremonies. The lodges around the open space front in, 
 with their doors towards the centre. 
 
 The Mandaus never bury their dead, but place the bodies 
 on slight scaffolds, just above' the reach of human hands, 
 and out of the way of wolves and dogs. They are there left 
 to moulder and decay. This cemetery, or place of deposit 
 for the dead, is just behind the village on a level prairie. 
 With its appearance, history and forms, it is one of the 
 strangest and most interesting objects to be described in the 
 vicinity of this peculiar race. 
 
 When a person dies in the Mandan village, and the cus- 
 tomary honors have been paid to bis remains, the body is 
 brought to this spot, where a separate scaffold is erected for 
 4 
 
38 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 it, on wliicli it is placed, dressed in its best attire, painted, 
 oiled, supplied with bow and quiver, shield, pipe and 
 tobacco, and provision enough to last him a few days on the 
 journey which it is believed is to be performed. A fresh 
 buffalo skin is wrapped about the body, .and tightly 'bound 
 with thongs of raw hide. The feet are carefully turned 
 towards the rising sun. Some hundreds of these bodies 
 may be seen reposing in this manner in this curious place, 
 which- the Indians call "the village of the dead." 
 
 When the scaffolds, on which the bodies rest, decay and 
 fall to the ground, the nearest relations, having buried the 
 rest of the bones, take the 'skulls, which are perfectly 
 bleached and purified, and place them in circles, of a hun- 
 dred or more, on the prairie, placed at equal distances 
 apart, with the faces all looking to the centre, where they 
 are religiously protected and preserved, in their precise 
 positions, from year to year, as objects of religious and 
 affectionate veneration. 
 
 There are several of these circles, of twenty or thirty 
 feet in diameter, on which uniformly rest two buffalo skulls ; 
 and in the centre of the little mound is erected a ' ' medicine 
 pole," about twenty feet 'high, supporting many curious 
 articles, which are supposed to have the power of guarding 
 and protecting the sacred spot. To this strange place do 
 these people resort, to hold conversations of affection and 
 fond endearment with the dead. There is scarcely an hour 
 in a pleasant day when more or less of the women may not 
 
THE MANDANS. ' 39 
 
 be seen sitting by the skull of a child or husband, while 
 they are embroidering a pair of moccasins, or engaged in 
 other needlework ; or, perhaps, one fallen asleep with her 
 arms around the skull, forgetting herself for hours. 
 
 Living in permanent homes, during the period when they 
 were not exposed to the contaminations of civilization, the 
 Mandans acquired an agreeable gentleness and courtesy of 
 manners, scarcely known to roving tribes, which all travel- 
 lers have noticed. They are constantly called the ' ' friendly 
 and hospitable Mandans," " the gentlemanly Mandans," 
 "the polite Mandans;" and it is proverbial, says Mr. 
 Vaughn, that they have always received the whites with 
 graceful and dignified hospitality. The peculiar ease and 
 elegance of their manners seem to indicate, indeed, some 
 peculiarity of origin. 
 
 A stranger in the Mandan village is first struck with 
 the different shades of complexion, and various colors of 
 hair, which he sees in the crowd about him, and is at once 
 almost disposed to exclaim that "these are not Indians ! " 
 There are a great many of the people whose complexions 
 appear as light as half-breeds, and, among the women par- 
 ticularly, there are many whose skins are almost white, 
 with the most pleasing symmetry and proportion of features ; 
 with hazel, gray, and blue eyes ; mildness and sweetness 
 of expression, and excessive modesty of demeanor, which 
 render them exceedingly pleasing and beautiful. 
 
 {Chey render no account themselves of this diversity of 
 
40 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 complexion. Their traditions afford ns no information of 
 their having had any knowledge of white men before the 
 visit of Lewis and Clarke to the village. Since that time 
 there have been but very few visits of white men to this 
 place, and surely not enough to have changed the complex- 
 ions and customs of a nation. 
 
 The differences in the color of hair are as great as in 
 complexions ; for, in a numerous group of these people (and 
 more particularly among the females, who never take pains 
 to change its natural color, as the men often do), there may 
 be seen every shade and color of hair, with the exception of 
 red or auburn, which is not to be found, and it is a strange 
 peculiarity that there are very many natives, of both sexes 
 and of every age, from infancy to manhood and old age, 
 with hair of a bright silvery gray, and, in some instances, 
 almost perfectly white. 
 
 The stature of the Mandans is rather below the ordinary 
 size of man, with beautiful symmetry of form and propor- 
 tions, and wonderful suppleness and elasticity. They are 
 pleasingly erect and graceful, both in their movements and 
 attitudes, easy and polite in their manners, neat in their 
 persons, and beautifully clad. 
 
 Like all the other tribes, the Mandans lead lives of idle- 
 ness, and, of course, devote a great deal of time to their 
 sports and amusements, of which they have a great variety. 
 Of these dancing is one of the principal, and may be seen in 
 a variety of forms, such as the buffalo dance, the scalp dance, 
 
THE MANDANS. 41 
 
 and a dozen other kinds of dances, all of ■which have their 
 peculiar characters and meanings, or objects. 
 
 The principal occupations of the women consist in pro- 
 curing wood and water, in cooking, dressing robes and other 
 skins, drying meat and wild fruit, and raising Indian corn. 
 
 The Mandans raise a great deal of corn, and some pump- 
 kins and squashes. This is all done by the women, who 
 make their hoes of the shoulder-blade of the buffalo or the 
 elk, and dig the ground over instead of ploughing it ; a duty 
 involving, of course, a vast deal of labor. They raise a 
 small sort of corn, the ears of which are not much larger 
 than a man's thumb. The green corn season is one of great 
 festivity with them, and one of much importance. The 
 greater part of their crop is eaten during these festivals, and 
 the remainder is gathered and dried on the cob before it has 
 ripened, and is packed away into holes in the ground, tightly 
 closed at the top. 
 
 The annual religious ceremony of the Mandans is an oc- 
 casion of much importance, in their estimation ; and, like 
 too many of the similar rites of Indian tribes, it is con- 
 ducted with inhuman barbarities and cruelties, one of the 
 objects of it being to conduct all the young men of the 
 tribe through an ordeal of privation and torture, which, 
 while it is supposed to harden their muscles and prepare 
 them for extreme endurance, enables the chiefs, wha are 
 spectators to the scene, to decide upon their comparative 
 
 bodily strength and ability to endure the extreme privations 
 
 4* 
 
42 KANZAS and NEBRASKA. 
 
 and sufiferings that fall to the lot of Indian warriors. This 
 part of the ceremony is too shocking and revolting to be 
 described to civilized ears. 
 
 The season of these ceremonies is fixed at the time when 
 the -willow is in full leaf ; — a reference to their traditional 
 history of the flood, which, it is very evident from this and 
 other features of the grand ceremony, they have in some 
 way or other received, and are endeavoring to perpetuate, 
 by vividly impressing it on the minds of the whole nation. 
 This is not surprising, as in the vicinity of almost every 
 Indian tribe there is some high mountain where they in- 
 sist upon it the " big canoe " landed ; but that these people 
 should hold an annual celebration of the event, and the sea- 
 son should be decided by such circumstances as the full leaf 
 of the willow, is truly remarkable. Their tradition is that 
 " the twig that the bird brought home was a willow bough, 
 and had full-grown leaves on it," and the bird to which they 
 allude is the turtle dove, which is not to be destroyed or 
 harmed by any one, and even their dogs are trained not to 
 do it injury. 
 
 It would seem from these traditions that these people must 
 have had some proximity to some part of the civilized world ; 
 or that missionaries or others have been formerly among them, 
 inculcating the Christian religion and the Mosaic account of 
 the flood, which is, in this and some other respects, decid- 
 edly different from the theory which most of the aborigines 
 have regarding that event. This vague resemblance, how- 
 
THE MANDANS. 43 
 
 ever, to the Mosaic account of the deluge, seems to he the 
 only token that has been observed of any knowledge of any 
 of the Christian Scriptures. Now, Madoc and his colony 
 were men trained in the Christianity of their day, and took 
 with them, doubtless, Christian ministers, and the symbols 
 of the Christian faith. * 
 
 These accounts are mostly digested from Mr. Catlin's 
 narrative. In the summer of 1838, however, after his visit 
 there, while besieged by Sioux war-parties, the Mandan vil- 
 lage was ravaged by small pox, and almost the whole popu- 
 lation swept away. The fragment now existing is but a 
 wreck in numbers and in spirit. They retain their old char- 
 acteristics, however, as may be seen by the expression which 
 we have quoted above from Mr. Vaughn's report of last 
 
 * Mr. Southey's remarks, in the pre&ce to his poem, are in these words : 
 " Madoo abandoned his barbarous country, and sailed away to the west, 
 in search of some better resting-place. The land which he discovered 
 pleased him : he left there part of his people, and went back to Wales for 
 a fresh supply of adventurers, with whom he again set sail, and was heard 
 of no more. Strong evidence has been adduced that he reached America, and 
 that his posterity exist there to this day, on the southern branches of the 
 Missouri, retaining their complexion, their language, and, in some degree, 
 their arts." This was written in 1805 ; but, in 1815, he added this note : 
 
 " That country has now been fully explored, and, wherever Madoc may 
 have settled, it is now certain that no Welsh Indians are to be found upon 
 any branches of the Missouri." 
 
 The most plausible ground, perhaps, for an enthusiast in the Welsh 
 origin of the Mandans to take, would be that they are the representa- 
 tives, not of Madoo's large colony, but of the small party he left in pos- 
 session after his first voyage. A Welsh colony of ten ships, fitted for set- 
 tlement, would have left some sign, had they ever landed ; a handful of 
 seamen would be more easily absorbed. 
 
44 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 year. They and the Arickarees and Gros- Ventres, who 
 plant the soil, do not all together number more than two 
 thousand two hundred and fifty souls. 
 
 South of the settlements of this unfortunate tribe, and 
 ranging all along the Missouri river north of the Platte, are 
 the Dahcotah or Sioux tribes. The names of the leading 
 divisions have been given above. It must be understood, 
 however, that these several bands unite under no central 
 government, and acknowledge no common head. We copy 
 Mr. Parkman's well-digested account of them, reminding 
 the reader that this gentleman spent several weeks in the 
 Ogillalah lodges. 
 
 "They do not unite," he says, "even in their wars. 
 The bands of the east fight the Ojibwas on the upper 
 lakes ; those of the north make incessant war upon the 
 Snake Indians in the Rocky Mountains. As the whole 
 people is divided into bands, so each band is divided into 
 villages. Each village has a chief, who is honored and 
 obeyed only so far as his personal qualities may command 
 respect and fear. Sometimes he is a mere nominal chief; 
 sometimes his authority is little short of absolute, and his 
 fame and influence reach even beyond his own village ; so 
 that the whole band to which he belongs is ready to ac- 
 knowledge him as their head. This was, a few years since, 
 the case with the Ogillalah. Courage, address and enter- 
 prise may raise any warrior to the highest honor, especially 
 if he be the' son of a former chief, or a member of a numer- 
 
THE DAHCOTAH OR SIOUX. ■ 45 
 
 ous family, who will support him and avenge his quarrels. 
 But, when he has reached the dignity of chief, and the old 
 men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have formally 
 installed him, let it not be imagined that he assumes any of 
 the outward semblances of rank and honor. He knows too 
 well on how frail a tenure he holds his station. He must 
 conciliate his uncertain subjects. Many a man in the vil- 
 lage lives better, owns mo're squaws and more horses, and 
 goes better clad than he. Like the Teutonic chiefs of old, 
 he ingratiates himself with his young men by making them 
 presents, thereby often impoverishing himself Does he fail 
 in gaining their favor, they will set his authority at naught, 
 and may desert him at any moment ; for the usages of his 
 people have provided no sanctions by which he may enforce 
 his authority. Very seldom does it happen, at least among 
 these western bands, that a chief attains to much power, 
 unless he is the head of a numerous family. Frequently 
 the village is principally made up of his felatives and de- 
 scendants, and the wandering community assumes much of 
 the patriarchal character. A people so loosely united, torn, 
 too, with rankling feuds and jealousies, can have little power 
 or eflSciency. 
 
 " The western Dahcotah have no fixed habitations. 
 Hunting and fighting, they wander incessantly, through 
 summer and winter. Some are following the herds of buf- 
 falo over the waste of prairies, others are traversing the 
 Black Hills, thronging, on horseback and on foot, through 
 
46, KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the dark gulfs and sombre gorges, beneath the vast splinter- 
 ing precipices, and emerging at last upon the ' Parks,' those 
 beautiful but most perilous hunting-grounds. The buffalo sup- 
 plies them with almost all the necessaries of life ; with habi- 
 tations, food, clothing and fuel; with strings for their bows; 
 with thread, cordage and trail-ropes for their horses ; witli 
 coverings for their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with 
 boats to cross streams, with glue, and with the means of pur- 
 chasing all that they desire from the traders. When the 
 buffalo is extinct, they, too, must dwindle away. 
 
 "War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of 
 the neighboring tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous 
 hatred, transmitted from father to son, and inflamed by con- 
 stant aggression and retaliation. Many times a year, in 
 every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are 
 made, the war-parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out 
 by handfuls at a time against the enemy. This fierce and 
 evil spirit awakens their most eager aspirations, and calls 
 forth their greatest energies. It is chiefly this that saves 
 them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without its 
 powerful stimulus, they would be like the unwarlike tribes 
 beyond the mountains, who are scattered among the caves 
 and rocks like beasts, living on roots and reptiles. These 
 latter have little of humanity except the form; but the 
 proud and ambitious Dahcotah warrior can sometimes boast 
 of heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction and 
 influence are attained among them by any other course than 
 
THE DAHCOTAH OR SIOUX. 47 
 
 that of arms. Their superstition, however, sometimes gives 
 great power to those among them who pretend to the char- 
 acter of magicians. Their wild hearts, too, can feel the 
 power of oratory, and yield deference to the masters of it. 
 
 " But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you 
 can bear the stifling smoke and the close atmosphere. 
 There, wedged close together, you will see a circle of stout 
 warriors passing the pipe around, 'joking, telling stories, 
 and making themselves merry, after their fashion. We 
 were also infested by little copper-colored naked boys and 
 snake-eyed girls. They would come up to us, muttering 
 certain words, which, being interpreted, conveyed the con- 
 cise invitation, ' Come and eat ! ' Then we would rise, 
 cursing the pertinacity of Dahcotah hospitality, which 
 allowed scarcely an hour of rest between sun and sun, and 
 to which we were bound to do honor, unless we would 
 offend our entertainers. This necessity was particularly 
 burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to walk from the 
 effects of illness, and was, of course, poorly qualified to 
 dispose of twenty meals a day. So bounteous an entertain- 
 ment looks like an outgushing of good- will ; but, doubtless, 
 one half, at least, of our kind hosts, had they met us alone 
 and unarmed on the prairie, would have robbed us of our 
 horses, and, perchance, have bestowed an arrow upon us 
 beside. Trust not an Indian. Let your rifle be ever in 
 your hand. Wear next your heart the old chivalric motto, 
 ' Semper Paratus.' " 
 
48 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 It must be understood that most of the Dahcotah or 
 Sioux tribes are scattered among the valleys of the Upper 
 Missouri ; although some, like that visited by Mr. Park- 
 man, range in the neighborhood of the mountains in the 
 western part of Kanzas. Those of the Upper Missouri are 
 divided into the 
 
 Prulle band, one hundred and fifty lodges, the most 
 southerly. 
 
 Yancton band, three hundred and seventy-five lodges, 
 from White river up to Fort Pierre, on both sides of the 
 river. 
 
 Two Kettle band, one hundred and sixty-five lodges, on 
 the Little Missouri. 
 
 Yanctonais band, east of the Missouri. 
 
 Blackfeet Sioux, one hundred and fifty lodges, and Ouk- 
 pa-pas, two hundred and eighty lodges, from the Cannon- 
 ball river, one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles 
 south-west. 
 
 Sans Arcs band, one hundred and sixty lodges, and 
 Minne Conzus, two hundred and twenty-five lodges, north 
 of Washteg river, and running back to the Black Hills. 
 
 In calculating the population, about nine persons may he 
 estimated as the average number in each lodge. 
 
 The Dahcotah language has been carefully studied. Its 
 grammar, and a vocabulary, edited by Rev. S. R. RiggS| 
 are among the Smithsonian Institution's " Contributions to 
 Science." 
 
CROWS, PUNCASj ETC. 49 
 
 The Crow Indians, or TJpsarokas, inhabit the country 
 on the waters of the Yellowstone. In September, 1851, 
 when they entered into a treaty with the government, they 
 numbered four hundred lodges, but, in the same year, they 
 suffered under a very severe visitation of small pox, which 
 reduced their number four hundred. They have never cul- 
 tivated the soil, but subsist entirely upon buffalo, deer, elk, 
 and antelope, with which their country abounds. They are 
 eager to accumulate horses, and own large numbers, as 
 many as twenty to a lodge. Like the other prairie tribes, 
 they marry several wives, — each man having from two to 
 five, it is said. One of these is the favorite, who is, in a 
 measure, exempt from labor. The drudgery of the lodge 
 falls upon the others. 
 
 Below the Indians known as Dahcotahs, on the Missouri 
 river, are the Puncas, Omahas, and Ottoes, all speaking 
 kindred dialects of Dahcotah origin. The Puncas are most 
 northerly. They are but a handful, their once powerful tribe 
 having been almost exterminated by small pox. Next them 
 are the Omahas, whose country is opposite to Iowa,, stretch- 
 ing northerly from Council Bluff. The temptations afforded 
 by the white settlements are unfortunately too strong for 
 them ; — the agent complains that he cannot check the 
 traffic in liquor. The Omahas raised corn enough for their 
 winter's supply, last year ; and the agent reported that the 
 judicious use of an annuity of five thousand dollars, due 
 5 
 
50 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 them from government, would save them from suffering 
 during the -winter and spring. 
 
 With the Ottoes are confederated the Missouris. Their 
 country is on the Missouri, from the Little Nemaha to the 
 Nebraska. They are reduced to wretched poverty, from a 
 series of circumstances, first among which the agent places 
 the failure of the government to fulfil its treaties with them. 
 Their game is driven off by the emigrants to Utah, Cali- 
 fornia and Oregon, and they have never received the agri- 
 cultural implements to which they are entitled. If, mean- 
 while, they trespass on the territory of other tribes to hunt, 
 they are driven- back with loss of life and property. Even 
 what is called their hunting-ground is not safe from incur- 
 sions of northern Sioux who rob and kill them. 
 
 The first tribe known to the whites in this region was 
 the Pawnees, who were visited by Dutisne, as we have 
 seen, in 1719. They were, for a century, divided into four 
 villages : the Republican Pawnees, who gave its name to 
 Republican Fork of the Kanzas, the Loup Pawnees, the 
 Tappage Pawnees', and the Grand Pawnees. A warhke 
 tribe numbering some twenty-five thousand, they claimed 
 sway, thirty years ago, over the whole region watered by 
 the Nebraska river, from the Rocky Mountains to its mouth. 
 The Ottoes, Omahas, Missouris and Puncahs, at last 
 acknowledged their superiority, and lived under their pro- 
 tection. In 1832, however, all these tribes were ravaged 
 by the small pox, and it is said that the Pawnees then lost 
 
THE PAWNEES. 51 
 
 half of their population. On the ninth of October, the next 
 year, they disposed of all their land lying south of the 
 Nebraska river, and agreed to locate themselres north of 
 that river, and west of the Missouri. This they did. The 
 government assisted them, and provided them with comfort- 
 able houses, good farms,, mechanic shops, and a school- 
 house, and the new village seemed to prosper. But large 
 bodies of Dahcotahs came down on the new settlement, 
 . burned the Pawnees' houses, carried off their horses, mules 
 and other stock, drove away the blacksmiths and teachers, 
 and the poor Indians were compelled to retreat to the south 
 side of the Nebraska ; some to their allies the Ottoes, some 
 to their old villages. They are now settled near the Ottoes 
 and Omahas. Like them, they suffer by the loss of their 
 game, which is driven off by emigrants. More unfortunate 
 than they, they cannot obtain from government the agricul- 
 tural implements promised them in the treaty, apparently 
 because they have returned to the south side of the river, 
 to the lands which they then abandoned. Within three or 
 four years only it is said that they have lost half their 
 number by sickness, and by the murderous assaults of the 
 Sioux and other tribes. They are dependent altogether 
 upon hunting, stealing and begging from the emigrants. 
 The Pawnee children are represented more largely than 
 any others at the school of the Ottoe and Omaha mission. 
 
 Their language is entirely distinct from that of any other 
 Indian nation. 
 
52 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 We have thus named, in order, from the north, the vari- 
 ous native tribes, till we have come to the reservations of 
 the Indians removed from the east by the general govern- 
 ment. These fragments of tribes have been already de- 
 scribed. 
 
 West of them, around the forks of Kanzas river, is the 
 huntinf-Krotind of the Kanzas tribe, from whom this river 
 and territory have their names. This name is spelled by 
 different writers in many different ways. Cansas, Conzas, 
 Konsas, Kansas, and Kanzas, are the most frequent. The 
 tribe has always existed in this vicinity. 
 
 The Santa Fe road passes through their country, and 
 the temptation which the emigration gives to their stealing 
 propensities seems to afford their principal occupation. 
 They are a wild, roving people, wholly careless of civilized 
 arts. " I am unable to say whether they have been im-- 
 proved by the efforts of the missionaries," is the bitter 
 report of the government agent, " who have labored for 
 them for the last thirty years, or not ; if they have been, I 
 am inclined to think they were a miserable set of beings 
 when the missionaries began." They have a school, but 
 will not send their daughters to it, and take the boys away 
 as soon as they are old enough to hunt. 
 
 Some years ago the government had three hundred acres 
 of land prepared for planting. Early in the spring, a few 
 Indians began to plough, under the direction of their teach- 
 ers ; but the chiefs sent out their braves, cut up the harness, 
 
KANZAS INDIANS. 53 
 
 broke the ploughs, and whipped the men away, saying that 
 the women should do all the work, as they had done. The 
 nation numbers one thousand three hundred, and there are 
 but two log cabins among them all. The rest prefer the 
 lodges of their savage life. 
 
 The Kanzas Indians intermarry with the Osages, having 
 been at peace with them for most of the last fifty years. 
 These two tribes speak the same dialect of the Dahcotah. 
 
 The Osages inhabit the southern line of the territory of 
 Kanzas. This, also, is a tribe spoken of by the first ex- 
 plorers. They are still in the savage condition of their 
 fathers. They go, twice a year, six or eight hundred miles 
 into the grand prairie to hunt, and to trade with the 
 still wilder Indians of the west and north-west. These 
 hunting expeditions occupy three or four months each, 
 la the spring they plant a little corn, which they attempt 
 to harvest in the fall, before the fall hunt begins. They 
 live in lodges covered with mats, made oTit of the flag that 
 grows in the swamp lands of their prairies. Their land, 
 except along the streams, is generally poor. The low 
 lands are subject to annual inundations. 
 
 Besides these tribes, which have some settled habitations, 
 roving tribes of Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and sometimes 
 Camanches, infest these territories. Their customs are 
 those of all wandering Indians, and their incursions dreaded, 
 if they are in considerable numbers, by all the settled tribes. 
 
 A small band of Munsee or Moravian Christian Indians 
 5* 
 
54 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 reside on the Delaware lands. They are represented as 
 rather a dissipated set, -vvith a few good and intelligent men, 
 Their number in all is about one hundred and forty. 
 About twenty-five Stockbridge Indians, half civilized and 
 somewhat educated, live in the neighborhood of Fort 
 Leavenworth. 
 
 We have thus attempted a rapid review of the emigrant 
 Indians, and of those native to the region now found within 
 the territories of Nebraska and Kanzas. We have spoken, 
 in detail; only of those tribes whose present position offers 
 anything of special interest. The review is anything but 
 agreeable. It seems fair to say, however, that a careful 
 view of the Indian character and history does not wholly 
 bear out the charges, constantly made, that these tribes are 
 reduced to poverty and misery by the advance of civiliza- 
 tion. Poverty and misery- are, in fact, their normal and 
 original condition. They are their own worst enemies. As 
 Lewis and Clarke found them, when there was almost no 
 trade, when they had not fire-arms, liquor, nor the diseases 
 of civilized life, they were suffering, as they suffer now, 
 under the wretchedness which will follow childish improvi- 
 dence and indolence. Lewis and Clarke supposed that there 
 might be one hundred and fifty thousand Indians east of the 
 Rocky Mountains, west of the Missouri and Mississippi. 
 On that estimate, they occupied the finest country in the 
 world, in as scanty a proportion as one man to ten square 
 
CONDITION OF THE INDIANS. 55 
 
 miles. Its valleys and prairies were the most fertile known. 
 Its wild game, alone, is enough to feed a vastly greater pop- 
 ulation. Yet, even then, these tribes knew the agonies of 
 starvation, and were not increasing in number. Their con- 
 stant wars kept down their population, and their distaste for 
 settled habitation made any sort of civilization impossible. 
 The Mandans were the only exception. And the Mandans 
 were diminishing in number under the attacks of the wan- 
 dering tribes. 
 
 Of the Emigrant Indians the history is more sad. The 
 government of the United States has assumed a responsibil- 
 ity with them. It pays large sums to them, annually, in 
 annuities ; it supports teachers of agriculture and of religion 
 among them ; it supplies smiths, tools, stock, salt, and the 
 necessities of farming, and attempts to call them to the hab- 
 its of civilized life. These efforts are not wholly without 
 success, as has been seen. The great obstacle in the way 
 of them is the passion of the Indians for spirits, and the 
 difficulty in checking the introduction of spirits among 
 them. 
 
 The agents and missionaries agree in pointing this out as 
 the greatest of evils to the natives. They acknowledge that 
 they fail in keeping the fascinating poison from the people 
 of their charges. If the whites do not bring it, the Indians 
 go for it. Where traders do not sell it, emigrants do. 
 
 The only success that has been achieved in any of the 
 Indian agencies of the West, in calling the natives into civ- 
 
56 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ilized life, has been in cases where the " tribe " system has 
 been wholly broken up, where each family has its own free- 
 hold, and lives under the same responsibilities, and with the 
 same stimulants for useful labor, as civilized men. 
 
 The little community of Ottowas and that of Chippewas, 
 described above, under Mr. Meeker's truly Christian care, 
 increasing in numbers, by a happy exception to the al- 
 most universal law of Indian annihilation, illustrate the 
 success of this system. It is understood that in the treaties 
 now pending, by which the general government attempts to 
 release for settlement some of the lauds now held in In- 
 dian reservations, this principle is to be tested.* Each head 
 of a family is to select his own homestead, and, when the 
 rest is sold, the proceeds are to be given, not to the tribe, but 
 to the several families of the tribe. Side by side with this 
 effort is to be ranked a petition of the Wyandots, that they 
 may be admitted to the privileges of American citizens. 
 There is no reason why, if they assume the habits and the 
 culture of civilized life, they should not be so admitted. 
 They will soon learn that their application should be made, 
 not to the general government, but to the local government 
 of Kanzas. If the hopes entertained of civilizing the In- 
 dians, by giving each man his own home, be gratified ; if 
 the Indian settlers show the manliness which the little com- 
 panies of Chippewas and Ottowas alluded to have shown, 
 
 * As this book is passing through the press, it is understood that these 
 treaties have heen ratified. 
 
POPULATION. 57 
 
 there is no reason why the constitution of the new state 
 should not recognize this claim. It may then safely grant 
 the privileges of citizenship to all men within its borders, 
 and the Indians of Kanzas have the fairest chance for them- 
 selves and their children, which, since America was discov- 
 ered, any natives have enjoyed. 
 
 Among these Indians, in general, the men are taller than 
 the average of Europeans. The women are shorter and 
 thicker. The average facial angle is 78°, the transverse 
 line of direction of the eyes is rectilinear, the nose aquili»e, 
 the lips thicker than those of Europeans, the cheek-bones 
 prominent but* not angular. The Arkansas Indians, an 
 off-shoot .from the Kanzas, struck the French as such fine 
 men, that they called them " les Beaux Hommes" sup- 
 posing that to be the meaning of their name. 
 
 The word Nebraska means flat. It is given by the In- 
 dians, therefore, to the broad and shallow Nebraska river. 
 
 It is almost impossible to present any accurate statement 
 of the population of these tribes. The estimates of the gov- 
 ernment agents, corrected in one or two instances where we 
 have additional information, give, of 
 
 Assineboins in the United States, 4,000 
 
 Rapids or Gros- Ventres, •• 3,500 
 
 Blackfeet, 11,000 
 
 Mandans, Ricaras and Minetares, 2,250 
 
 Crows, 2,600 
 
 Dahcotahs or Sioux of Upper Missouri, . . . 15,640 
 
58 KANZAS AND NEBKASEA. 
 
 Puncali3,IoTtas,Winnebagoes and "Half-breeds," . 1,000 
 Other EMIGRANT TRIBES, namely, Sacs and 
 Foxes of the Missouri (200) ; Kickapoos, 
 Delawares, Wyandots (553) ; Shawnees, Pot- 
 tawatomies, Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi 
 (2,173); Chippewas of Swan Creek (30); 
 Ottowas (247) ; Peorias, Kaskaskias, Weas 
 and Piankeshaws, with Omahas, and Ottoes, 
 and Missourias, who are not Emigrants, 14,384* 
 
 Pawnees, Kanzas, Osages, 11,000 ■\ 
 
 There are also fragments of Munsees and Stock- 
 bridges, ■ • . 150 
 
 * 
 
 Total, 65,374 
 
 who are scattered over a territory embracing about five hun- 
 dred thousand square miles. 
 
 The Camanches, Kiaways, Apaches, Arapahoes and Chey- 
 ennes are roving tribes, of whom no estimate is made. The 
 Camanches seldom come so far north as Kanzas in large 
 numbers. 
 
 The tribes here described as Emigrant tribes held the 
 finest portions of Nebraska and Kanzas, under the treaties 
 with government, by which they were removed from their 
 
 * With these Indians, councils were held last year. At that time they 
 held thirteen million two hundred and twenty thousand four hundred and 
 eighty acres of land ; an average of nine hundred and twenty acres each. 
 
 t Who held, before the recent treaties, about eighteen million acres of 
 land. 
 
INDIAN TITLE CANCELLED. 59 
 
 old homes. Their number, however, had- been diminishing 
 so rapidly, that even had they ever needed all this land, 
 they could not now occupy it, while the beauty and fertility 
 of the land attracted the eager attention of settlers. The 
 obligations of the government, however, have been loyally 
 maintained. No "squatting" has been permitted on these 
 regions, and, although the Indians have suffered from the 
 passage of emigrant parties through their reservations, that 
 right was left to the whites by the treaties by which the 
 reservations were made. 
 
 As early as 1848 the Indian department suggested some 
 measures for obtaining possession for the government of a 
 part of these lands, that they might be thrown open to 
 settlement. No authority was granted for treaties, however, 
 till 1853, when Mr. Manypenny, the Indian commissioner, 
 went into the territories to attempt some arrangement with 
 the tribes. He was not very successful, however, and the 
 matter was deferred till the last spring. This year treaties 
 have been negotiated with almost all of these tribes. These 
 sheets are put to press before those treaties have been 
 printed. But it appears from a letter of Mr. Manypenny 
 that the Omahas, Ottoes and Missourias, Sacs and Foxes of 
 the Missouri, and Kickapoos, have sold all their land to the 
 government, with the reservation of their own homesteads 
 only. The lowas have sold all theirs but ninety-six thou- 
 sand acres ; and the Delawares, all but five hundred and 
 thirty-eight thousand five hundred acres. These two reser- 
 
60 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 vations, amounting to six hundred and thirty-four thousand 
 five hundred acres, are, however, to be surveyed and put 
 into the market with the rest, by the United States officers ; 
 but there will be no preemption rights upon these, and the 
 money paid by purchasers will be paid to the Indians them- 
 selves. These treaties have been ratified by the Senate. 
 
 Similar treaties with the tribes south of the Kanzas throw 
 open to settlers two million twenty-six thousand acres of 
 their land ; all, indeed, owned by these tribes, except two 
 hundred and eight thousand one hundred and sixty acres, 
 belonging to the Weas and Piankeshaws, which is to be sold 
 for their benefit, like the Delaware and Iowa reservations 
 spoken of above. It is understood that these treaties were 
 ratified by the Senate at the close of the session just fin- 
 ished, although the official promulgation had not been made 
 when this sheet was prepared for publication. There are, 
 therefore, no material obstructions to settlement arising from 
 the Indian titles, though it may be necessary, for a few 
 months, for settlers to abstain from locating on the three 
 small reservations spoken of Nearly fourteen million acres 
 are open, however, for their selection. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEBRASKA. 
 . Eivera — Valleys — Soil and face of the country. 
 
 The opportunities offered in the new territories for the 
 arts of civilized life, open the questions most interesting at 
 the present time. 
 
 Thej_are watered by streams, whiab-fi)rja.„iQgether^.the 
 most remarkable system' of rivers inJJia_w€*M. From the 
 hraTwaters'of'tbErMissoTirtplothe sea, is a longer channel 
 than that of any other river. This majestic stream has no 
 break to navigation, from the Great Falls to the ocean, a dis- 
 tance of more than four thousand miles. Steamboats of fif- 
 teen inches draft can ascend to the falls, at any season of the 
 year, excepting when the river is frozen ; and much larger 
 vessels, for a considerable part of the spring and summer. 
 
 The current of the Missouri is rapid, its shores generally 
 bold. Its water is deeply tinged with the earth it bears 
 along. In time of freshet, a piece of shell or of silver can- 
 not be seen when more than a quarter of an inch from the 
 6 
 
62 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 surface. This peculiarity gave it the name of the Muddy 
 river, that being the meaning of the two names Pekitanoui 
 and Missouri, which, in different languages of the Indians, 
 it has borne. 
 
 Where the Kanzas river enters it, at the western bound- 
 ary of the State of Missouri, this magnificent stream is, ac- 
 cording to the measurement of Lewis and Clarke, five hun- 
 dred yards wide. At the Great Falls they found it, in dif- 
 ferent places, three hundred and four hundred yards wide, 
 and occasionally expanding to a much greater breadth. Two 
 or three hundred miles above the falls, by the river, ixs 
 width varies from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and 
 fifty yards. At that point, Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin 
 rivers unite to form it, and the name Missouri there begins. 
 These streams are of nearly the same width, about seventy 
 yards wide each. Gov. Stevens, in his late report, expresses 
 the opinion that a small steamboat, built above the falls, 
 could perform most of the distance to this point without in- 
 terruption. 
 
 The measurements here given are to be regarded only as 
 approximations even to an average estimate of the width of 
 the river in various parts. In spring, the volume of its 
 waters is materially increased, and they overflow the bottom 
 lands upon its shores. 
 
 The country from the falls down to the river, a distance 
 of two thousand six hundred miles, may be in general char- 
 acterized as prairie. Its general level is high above the 
 
NEBRASKA VALLEY. 63 
 
 bed of the river, varying from two to three hundred feet 
 above it. The river has formed for itself a bed, now two, 
 now twenty miles wide, through this prairie region. It over- 
 flows the whole of this bed at the highest water, and leaves 
 on the meadows the deepest and richest alluvial soil, through 
 which winds the singularly circuitous current of the river. 
 
 The channel constantly changes in the passage through 
 this alluvial formation, new sand-bars are formed, and old 
 ones washed away. 
 
 The bluffs formed at the edge of the meadows present very 
 curious appearances to the voyager. They are sometimes 
 entirely bare, but generally clothed with verdure. Thou- 
 sands of different forms may be made out, sometimes assum- 
 ing the aspect of artificial works — domes, ramparts, terraces, 
 towers, castles, solitary columns, and even spires of clay. 
 The singularity of these formations puzzles the geologist, 
 while it amuses the traveller. As he passes up the river, 
 the country is less broken and more picturesque. A thou- 
 sand miles, or more, just below the Yellowstone, is described 
 by Mr. Catlin as enchanting as fairy land ; of the deepest 
 green, varied with every possible diversity, and covered with 
 herds of buffaloes, with elk, antelopes, mountain goats and 
 sneaking wolves. 
 
 In general, the country of the lower part of this valley 
 lacks wood for useful purposes. The imhiediate shores of 
 the river, however, abound in cotton-wood, which fills it 
 with snags, sawyers and drift-wood ; and the bottoms of the 
 
64 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 tributary streams are, in general, well wooded. At Fort 
 Mandan, Lewis and Clarke used elm wood of large size, and 
 found ash of inferior size. 
 
 On tbe tributaries of the Upper Missouri, above the Yel- 
 lowstone, timber is more abundant, and will probably be 
 found valuable for lumbering purposes. In his survey, last 
 summer, of the Maria river, which discharges into the Mis- 
 souri on its north side, about the meridian of 110°, Gov. 
 Stevens found immense forests, obstructing the way in all 
 directions. These are, he says, the principal obstacles to 
 the survey of all these passes. On the great river itself, 
 Lewis and Clarke speak of the timber as more abundant as 
 they ascended to its sources. 
 
 The most important tributary to the Missouri in the north- 
 ern part of the territory is the Yellowstone, so called after 
 the French, who had named it La Eoche Jaune. Its sources 
 are in the Wind River Mountains, near the South Pass. 
 Capt. Clarke descended it, from near its source to its mouth, 
 in 1807. Its general direction is north-east. For eight 
 hundred and thirty-seven miles above its junction with the 
 Missouri, he found it large and navigable for batteaux, there 
 being none of the moving sand-bars of the Missouri, and 
 only one ledge of rock, which is not diflScult to pass. Its 
 tributary rivers may be ascended in boats for a considerable 
 distance. The banks are low, but bold, and nowhere sub- 
 ject to be overflowed, except for a short distance below the 
 mountains. In the upper parts of the river, Capt. Clarke 
 
THE YELLOWSTONE VALLEY. 65 
 
 found the current four and a half miles an hour ; at its 
 mouth, not more than two. The whole country watered by 
 it is described as fertile, rich, and open. Above Clarke's 
 Fork, it consists of high, waving plains, bordered by stony 
 hills partly supplied with pine. There is less timber below, 
 and still less near the Missouri. 
 
 The valleys of the Yellowstone, and of its tributaries, 
 will be the garden of northern Nebraska. They abound 
 in buffalo, beaver, and otter, and are a favorite resort of 
 hunters and trappers, notwithstanding the hostility of the 
 Blackfeet, who range through them. In Captain Bonne- 
 ville's Adventures, edited by Mr. Irving, will be found 
 interesting narratives of several journeys of his through 
 this region. 
 
 At the mouth of the Yellowstone, at a point indicated 
 as early as 1806, by Lewis and Clarke, as a favorable spot 
 for a station, the American Fur Company have their prin- 
 cipal fort, Fort Union. The Missouri here is three hun- 
 dred and thirty yards wide, with a deep channel ; the Yel- 
 lowstone, near three hundred. The space between the 
 rivers is well wooded, and rises, in a series of plains, quite 
 above the inundations of the stream, and extending back 
 several miles to the hills. The fort is three hundred feet 
 square, with bastions armed with ordnance. 
 
 It seems very probable that a route to Oregon and Wash- 
 ington territories up the valley of the Yellowstone, and 
 so across the Rocky Mountains, may be found, and prove 
 6* 
 
66 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 to have the advantage of the more northerly route by the 
 Upper Missouri. 
 
 .-^hese great valleys of the waters of the Upper Missouri 
 \and the Yellowstone, with the uplands which separate 
 
 em, constitute by far the principal part of the territory 
 |f Nebkaska, though not that which will be first sought by 
 iettlprs. 
 
 An intelligent writer in the New York Tribune, who is 
 familiar with the country, thus describes the agricultural 
 capabilities of the several parts of it : — 
 
 "The surface of the country, from the Missouri river west- 
 ward to the spurs of the mountains, is rolling prairie, but 
 little diversified in its aspect save by the intersection of its 
 viStreams. The soil, for a space varying from fifty to one 
 hundred miles west of the Missouri river and the state line, 
 is nearly identical with that of Iowa and Missouri. The 
 highlands are open prairies, covered with grasses ; the river- 
 bottom a deep rich loam, shaded by dense forests. From 
 ^fis first district to about the mouth of U Eau qui Court 
 (Running Water river), it is one boundless expanse of roll- 
 ing prairie, so largely intermixed with sand as to be almost 
 unfit for ordinary agricultural purposes. The prairies are, 
 however, carpeted with succulent grasses, affording an inex- 
 haustible supply for herds of cattle and sheep. 
 
 " The third district is a formation of marl and earthy 
 limestone, and extends in a belt of many miles east and 
 west of the Mandan village, on the most northern bend of 
 
SOIL OF NEBRASKA. 67 
 
 the Missouri river, and southward across the southern boun- 
 dary of the territory. This soil cannot be otherwise than 
 very productive. I should think it especially adapted to 
 wheat, rye, barley, and oats. I have seen, also, very fine 
 Indian corn along the upper valleys of the Missouri river. 
 It is in this district that what are called buttes by the 
 Canadian French, and cerros by the Spaniards, are pro- 
 fusely scattered. Here and there the traveller finds sur- 
 faces, varying in diameter from a hundred feet to a mile, 
 elevated from fifteen to fifty feet above the surrounding 
 surface. They are not hills or knobs, the sides of which are-^ 
 more or less steep and covered with grass. Their sides are 
 nearly perpendicular, their surfaces flat, and often covered 
 with mountain cherries and other shrubs. They have the 
 appearance of having been suddenly elevated above the sur- 
 rounding surface by some specific cause. This marl and 
 limestone formation is, in many localities, worked into fan- 
 •tastio or picturesque forms by the action of the elements. 
 In one place, especially, called by the traders La Mauvaise 
 Terre (the bad ground), and about thirty miles in diame- 
 ter, it has assumed a marvellous variety of singular forms. 
 From one point of view it assumes the aspect of an exten- 
 sive and frowning fortification ; from another, the appear- 
 ance of an oriental city crowned with domes and minarets; 
 and from a third, the appearance of a sterile, broken, and 
 unattractive congregation of incongruous elements. These 
 
68 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA, 
 
 delusive appearances are produced by distance and the posi- 
 tion of the sun. [ 
 
 " The wrecks of the diluvian period of geology are spread - 
 all over this region, and most profusely on that portion north 
 of the Missouri river. Detached masses of rock, some of 
 them hundreds of tons in weight, wholly unconnected with 
 the adjacent geological formations, and evidently allied to 
 those of the northern Eocky Mountain region, dot the whole 
 country. 
 
 " The district which I will call the fourth, lying north 
 of the Missouri river and west of Minnesota, is a succession 
 of undulating plains, the soil of which is quite fertile hut 
 rather dry. These plains are covered with a thick grassy 
 sward, which sustains innumerable herds of bison, elk, and 
 deer. 
 
 " The fifth district is at the base of the Black Hills, 
 between that range and the Rocky Mountains, and includes 
 the valley of the Yellowstone, of the Maria's river, and a« 
 variety of other small valleys, circumvallated by an amphi- 
 theatre of mountains and gorgeous mountain scenery. The 
 valley of the Yellowstone is spacious, fertile, and salubri- 
 ous. The streams are fringed with trees, from whence the 
 valley expands many miles to the mountains. The travel- 
 ler can almost imagine himself upon the Danube ; for the 
 valley is sprinkled over at long intervals with cyclopean 
 structures of granite, closely assimilated in appearance, 
 from a distant view, to the stern and solitary castles with 
 
69 
 
 which Europe was covered and guarded during the middle 
 ages. But these structures exceed those of Europe in 
 magnitude and grandeur, and the woods and waters are dis- 
 posed with a taste and beauty which the highest art must 
 ever toil after in vain. It is encircled by a rich girdle of 
 heights and mountains, the bases and dark sides of which 
 are obscured in shrubs, and the summits tufted with noble ' 
 forest trees. And here is to be the seat of a populous and 
 powerful community in the far future." 
 
 Snow falls at the foot of the mountains as early as Sep- 
 tember, and in the extreme south-eastern points of the 
 territory as early as the first of November. These may 
 be regarded as the two limits, between which the beginning 
 of winter in different parts will range. In general, as one 
 travels farther north and nearer to the mountains, the tem- 
 perature will, of course, be colder than that of Iowa, which 
 is opposite its south-eastern frontier. 
 
 The valley of the Nebraska or Platte river, and that ^ 
 part of the western side of the Missouri river which is below 
 this, will be the parts of Nebraska which will first attract^ 
 settlers. 
 
 The little section of the territory opposite Missouri, now 
 occupied by the Ottoes and by the little colony of Half- 
 breeds which has been described, is, undoubtedly, one of 
 the finest regions in the world. The part of Missouri 
 opposite, known as the Platte Purchase, is regarded as the 
 richest agricultural part of that state. A recent report of 
 
70 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the geological surveyor states, as the result of careful meas- 
 urements, that the soil there is fourteen feet deep. The 
 corner of Nebraska alluded to, and the eastern side of 
 Kanzas, appear to share these great physical advantages. 
 Settlers from Iowa and other states have already been 
 "locating" there. The various positions which have re- 
 ceived names will be described in another chapter. 
 
 The following extract describes an expedition from Coun- 
 cil Bluffs into this lovely region : — 
 
 " A short drive brought us to the Winter Quarters Fer- 
 ry, twelve miles above on the river, where a good, well- 
 manned, and capacious steam ferry-boat was waiting, and 
 in three minutes we landed all our company upon the far- 
 famed soil of Nebraska. After a refreshing draught from 
 a clear, cold spring that gushes from the hill-side, a few 
 minutes brought us to the encampment of Messrs. Babbitt 
 and Stiles, situated upon a pretty grassy knoll, with the 
 green carpet thickly bespangled with myriads of red, juicy 
 strawberries, which, by the by, abound plentifully in the 
 river-borders of this highly interesting country. A cheer- 
 ful camp-fire was soon blazing, and our animals turned 
 loose to graze. 
 
 "We encircled the broad, spread table (buffalo skins 
 spread on the ground), and regaled upon luxuries. At a 
 reasonable hour the camp-fire was well replenished, and a 
 circular bed of robes, etc., spread, and all retired in quiet to 
 repose, and to dream of the great future of that lovely land. 
 
EXPLOKING PARTY. 71 
 
 " Early morn brought the report of horses being missing. 
 A scout soon returned ivith the conviction that they had 
 been stolen by the Indians. A company of horsemen 
 started on one trail north, while we, with a small company, 
 took the road for the Elkhorn, where we arrived (thirty 
 miles) in good camp time, after passing over a most delight- 
 ful country for nearly the whole distance. There is, how- 
 ever, quite a scarcity of timber, which may only be found 
 upon the streams. 
 
 "We encamped for dinner on the Papillon, where there is 
 some nice timber and excellent water. In approaching near 
 the Elkhorn, a glorious and grand scenery breaks upon the 
 vision. The eye takes in, at a glance, the country ahead 
 for some twenty miles, giving a full view of the Elkhorn 
 and Platte rivers, with their winding courses, groves, bluffs, 
 and valleys ; at sundown the scenery is both grand and 
 enchanting. 
 
 " The river being high, we met with no success in fishing, 
 although there are fine fish in the stream. Our roast veni- 
 son was eaten with a relish while seated on nature's grassy 
 carpet around the camp-fire. Here we found a number of 
 Pawnee Indians, one of whom had a monster of a young 
 black eagle which he had captured after having broken one 
 of its wings. We had an excellent night's' rest, and at an 
 early hour started homeward, snatching occasionally from 
 their native beds a cluster of sweet flowers." 
 
 Settlers are also passing into the fertile region between 
 
72 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the Nebraska and Kanzaa rivers, farther back from the 
 valley of the Missouri. 
 
 The lower part of the valley of the Nebraska, with the 
 uplands on either side, offer an attractive soil and climate. 
 The name of this river, as has been said, signifies the Flat 
 Eiver. The French name La Platte designates its great 
 width. It often seems almost lost in the broad bed of sand 
 through which its various currents pass. It does not make 
 any considerable falls in its long eastward course, and trad- 
 ers descend sometimes in canoes and batteaux from Fort 
 Laramie to the Missouri river, — nearly the whole length 
 of the southern line of Nebraska. This navigation, how- 
 ever, is intricate, and very tedious. The canoes or boats 
 constantly get aground, and it seems to be regarded, even 
 at the season of freshets, as a last resort in the way of trans- 
 fer of goods from above. 
 
 These remarks only apply, however, to the very high- 
 est waters of the stream. The steamboat El Paso is said 
 to have ascended the river last year, when the water was 
 high, more than five hundred miles from its mouth, pass- 
 ing up the North Fork above Fort Laramie. In token 
 of this triumph, she still "wears the horns; " for it is a 
 custom on the western waters for a steamboat which has dis- 
 tinguished herself by any decided feat like this, to wear a 
 pair of antlers, until some more successful boat surpasses her 
 in the same enterprise by which she won them. The dis- 
 tance achieved by the El Paso is probably over-estimated. 
 
SOIL, ETC., OF NEBRASKA. 73 
 
 At most seasons of the year the river is of httle use for 
 navigation. 
 
 For about two hundred and fifty miles west of the Mis- 
 souri river, the prairie through which the Nebraska passes 
 is very rich, and admirably adapted for cultivation. On the 
 nqrthern side it has been less explored than on the southern. 
 On the southern side, the regular road from Fort Leaven- 
 worth to Fort Kearney passes directly through it. The 
 whole "divide " between the Kanzas and Nebraska, for the 
 distance named from the Missouri, is soil of loam mixed with 
 gravel; " a delightful soil to till, and yielding heavy crops." 
 The valleys are quite well supplied with timber. The want 
 of timber for fencing, in any part of this prairie, is abun- 
 dantly made good by the ease with which the Osage orange 
 is cultivated. This is indigenous a little farther south, and 
 the finest hedged farms are made from it with less expense, 
 time, and labor, than the clearing and fencing of timber- 
 land requires under the most favorable circumstances. The 
 country is well watered. In rainy weather the roads now 
 followed become muddy and diiBcult of travel, but in this 
 respect, says Major Cross, in his report, it does not differ 
 from any of the prairies of the west. When the season is 
 dry, the ground becomes very firm, and as there are no hills 
 to impede travelling, there is no reason why the best public 
 highways in the western country should not be laid out 
 here. 
 
 So immense is the prairie country of Nebraska, of which 
 7 
 
74 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the " divide " now described forms the southern frontier, that 
 cattle were driven across, from the valley of the Missouri to 
 St. Peter's river in Minnesota, as long since as 1828, when 
 there was not a road in the whole country. The traders 
 often prefer crossing it with their goods to the more circuit- 
 ous and tedious route by boat up the Missouri river. 
 
 The immediate valley of the Nebraska is a rich bottom 
 soil. In 1842, Col. Fremont passed down on the left bank 
 of the river without going inland. There was, even then, an 
 excellent, plainly-beaten road there. He says that Grand 
 Island, fifty-two miles long, with an average breadth of a 
 mile and three-quarters, has on it some small eminences, and 
 is sufficiently elevated to be secure from the annual floods of 
 the river. It is well timbered, Avith an excellent soil. From 
 the junction of the North and South Forks he found the 
 Nebraska occupied with numerous islands, many of them 
 large and all well timbered, possessing, as well as the bottom 
 lands of the river, a very excellent soil. With the excep- 
 tion of some scattered groves on the banks, the bottoms are 
 generally without timber. A portion of these consist of 
 low grounds, covered with a profusion of fine grasses, and are 
 probably inundated in the spring ; the remainder is high 
 river prairie, entirely beyond the influence of the floods. 
 The breadth of the river is usually three-quarters of a mile, 
 except where it is enlarged by islands. 
 
 None of the recent exploring expeditions of the govern- 
 ment have passed through the prairie country north of the 
 
SOIL, EOT., OF NEBRASKA. 75 
 
 Nebraska within the fertile belt of the first two hundred 
 miles from Missouri. In 1820, howoTer, Capt. Long passed 
 from Council Bluffs across to Grand Island with a party of 
 men. The prairie on that side appears to resemble that on 
 the southern side in the richness of the soil, and there is, 
 apparently, even less timber. Kev. Mr. Parker, who crossed 
 it in 1835, thus describes it : — 
 
 " For about twenty-five miles since we crossed the Elk- 
 horn, and between this river and the Platte, which are about 
 ten miles apart, there is not a single hill. It is rich bottom 
 land, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. No country 
 could be more inviting to the farmer, with only one excep- 
 tion — the want of woodland. The latitude is suificiently 
 high to be healthy ; and, as the climate grows warmer as we 
 travel west, until we approach the snow-topped mountains, 
 there is a degree of mildness not experienced east of the 
 Alleghany Mountains. The time will come, and probably 
 is not far distant, when this country will be covered with a 
 dense population. * * * Then this amazing extent of 
 most fertile land will not continue to be the wandering ground 
 of a few thousand Indians, with only a very few acres under 
 cultivation ; nor will millions of tons of grass grow up to 
 rot upon the ground, or to be burned up with the fire 
 enkindled to sweep over the prairie, to disencumber it of its 
 spontaneous burden. The herds of bufialo that once fattened 
 upon these meadows are gone, and the deer that once crop- 
 ped the grass have disappeared, and the antelopes have fled 
 
76 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 away, and shall solitude r£ign here till the end of time? 
 No ; here shall be heard the din of business, and the church- 
 going bell shall sound far and wide." 
 
 Freestone and limestone boulders of large size are found 
 on the "divide" between the Kanzas and Nebraska. In the 
 bluffs of the Missouri, brick clay is found, and there seems 
 no lack of stone for building purposes. The supply of pine 
 lumber will be at first from the waters of the James and 
 Sioux rivers on the Upper Missouri. It may prove, how- 
 ever, that in high water pine lumber can be obtained from 
 the upper waters of the Platte. From a private letter from 
 one of the explorers of that region, it appears that there are 
 pines and firs of considerable size on the Black Mountains 
 west of Fort Laramie. In some of the valleys and gorges 
 there is a thick growth of tall and slender spruces. Pines 
 of good size are sometimes found in the adjacent prairies, 
 growing in small groups or singly. As one travels south- 
 ward from Fort Laramie to the Arkanzas, the hills to the 
 westward are seen often densely wooded with firs and pines, 
 though in other places quite bare. If it proves possible to 
 run this timber down the waters of the upper streams in the 
 freshets, it will be a material assistance to the prairie 
 country. 
 
 The fertile region thus described nowhere extends more 
 than two hundred and fifty miles west from the Missouri. 
 A more inhospitable country then begins, on both sides of 
 the Nebraska, which affords pasturage for buffalo and for 
 
SOIL, ETC., OF NEBRASKA. 77 
 
 cattle, but little more ■which tempts the farmer. It is for a 
 great distance unbroken by hills. For eighty-five miles 
 west of Fort Kearney the road to Fort Laramie is wholly 
 level. A gentle rolling country then begins. It is upon 
 these sandy plains that the buffalo are now first found by 
 westward emigrants. 
 
 Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty-seven miles 
 west of Fort Kearney by the travelled route, and six hun- 
 dred and thirty-nine miles from Fort Leavenworth. It is 
 situated on Laramie's Creek, a rapid stream, about sixty 
 yards wide, with a firm pebbly bottom. This stream rises 
 in the Black Hills to the west, and falls into the north 
 branch of the Nebraska, about half a mile below the fort. 
 There is good grazing on the creek, and pine and cedar 
 wood for the purposes of the fort are procured from the hills 
 on the north of the river, at a distance of about eight 
 miles. 
 
 Westward of Fort Laramie the country is more broken 
 and hilly. The spurs of the Eocky Mountains are covered 
 with pine forests. The plains beneath are sometimes broken 
 into more uneven surfaces, so as to render travelling more 
 difficult. Thus the route up the North Platte to the Great 
 South Pass, the route followed by all Oregon emigrants and 
 by most of the California parties, is more severe beyond 
 Fort Laramie than to the west of it. The route followed by 
 the track of the emigrants shows specimens of coal for forty 
 miles. Major Cross has no doubt, from his observations 
 7* 
 
78 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 there,* that, from Deer Creek to Sweet Water river, the 
 country abounds in it. It is found on the left bank of the 
 river at the Mormon ferry, and up to the valley of the 
 Sweet Water the hills bear every sign of it. He expresses 
 the opinion that the coal region continues entirely across to 
 the Wind River Mountains, and says it evidently exists in 
 great quantities. His specimens were of a very fair quality. 
 
 Col. Fremont says, of the same region, "In the precipit- 
 ous bluffs were displayed a succession of strata, containing 
 fossil vegetable remains and several beds of coal. In some 
 of the beds the coal did not appear to be perfectly mineral- 
 ized ; and in some of the seams it was compact and remark- 
 ably lustrous." For several days he notes the appearance 
 of coal. 
 
 South of Fort Laramie, a trail, crossing the head waters 
 of the Platte and the various forks of the Kanzas, leads to 
 the Pueblo, on the Arkansas, and to Bent's Fort. This 
 trail opens to observation a country mostly barren, like the 
 plains below, sometimes broken by the spurs of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and occasionally showing, by the infrequent 
 water-courses, fresh and green meadows. 
 
 The view which we have noAY taken of the great valleys 
 of the Missouri, Yellowstone and Nebraska rivers, of their 
 tributaries, and of the ranges between them, covers the 
 whole territory established under the recent act as the 
 territory of Nebraska. Of this vast region, which is from 
 * In Ms report to goYernment of 1850. 
 
SOIL, ETC., OF NEBRASKA. 79 
 
 north to south six hundred and thirty miles, and almost the 
 same general width from east to west, the south-eastern por- 
 tion will be that which will first attract the attention of 
 settlers. The " divide " between the Kanzas river and the 
 Nebraska is one of the most promising regions now thrown 
 open to settlers. The boundary line, which is the parallel 
 of 40°, leaves the larger part of this "divide" in the 
 Nebraska territory. The lower part of the immediate 
 valley of the Nebraska may offer some attractions to settlers, 
 and the adjacent parts of the Missouri valley are, undoubt- 
 edly, highly attractive. It is there that the small reserva- 
 tion is made for the Iowa Indians, which has been described 
 in the last chapter. 
 
 The northern parts of the territory will remain, for some 
 time to come, principally in the hands of the fur traders. 
 From the Upper Missouri, were sent, last year, buffalo 
 robes to the number of one hundred thousand, and the value 
 of three hundred thousand dollars, and other peltry, worth 
 fifty thousand dollars. But, as we have seen, there are 
 attractions, all the way up that river, which will every 
 year draw further and further north, first the more lonely 
 settler, and then companies of emigrants to follow up his 
 discoveries. The northern route for emigrants to Oregon 
 will probably gain more favor than it has done, — so great 
 is the advantage of a steamboat navigation, even of three 
 times the length of the land trail, to the very foot of the 
 Rocky Mountains. Lumber, coal, and other natural re- 
 
80 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 sources of the northern parts of the territory, -will also be 
 inducements, not to explorers only, but to settlers. The 
 success of the native tribes in the cultivation of the soil, even 
 as far north as the parallel of 48°, shows that the climate is 
 not unfavorable to agriculture. 
 
 We proceed to speak, in similar detail, of the different 
 parts of the southern territory, Kanzas. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 KANZAS. 
 Rivers — Valleys — Soil and face of tlie country. 
 
 The territory of Kanzas is bounded on the north by 
 Nebraska, on the east by Missouri, on the south, in part, 
 by the line of 37°, which divides it from the Cherokee 
 country, and, in part, by New Mexico ; and on the west by 
 the highest ridge of the Eocky Mountains. It is a strip of 
 land, about two hundred and eight miles in width, running 
 back from Missouri to the mountains. Its principal water 
 courses flow eastward, from the Rocky Mountains toward 
 the Mississippi, to which they all run. The Kanzas river 
 and its branches, and the Upper Arkansas with its "Branches, 
 are the principal streams. In the eastern parts are some 
 small streams which flow directly into the Missouri, or into 
 the Osage river, one of its tributaries. 
 
 The general aspect of the difierent divisions of this terri- 
 tory are thus described in a letter from the writer already 
 quoted. 
 
82 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 " The face of the country is nearly uniform from the 
 state line to the base of the mountains. It is one con- 
 tinued succession of gently undulating ridges and valleys. 
 The ridges are not uniformly north and south, or east and 
 ■west ; their general inclination is north and south, but they 
 are thrown into various other directions "by the course of 
 the streams and the conformations of their valleys. Within 
 the mountain chain there is to be found every variety of 
 aspect peculiar to mountain districts. The first district of 
 country, travelling westward from any point on the Mis- 
 souri border, is marked by all the characteristics of the soil 
 inside of that border. This district stretches from the 
 northern to the southern boundary, and varies in width 
 from eighty to one hundred and fifty and two hundred 
 miles. It includes the sources of the Neosho, the Verde- 
 gris, the Marais des Cygnes, and other tributaries of the 
 Osage, and the lower section of the Kanzas river. It is 
 unrivalled for the fertility of its soil, the value of its tim- 
 ber and forest trees, the amenity and beauty of its broad 
 prairies, the number of its crystal streams, and the salubrity 
 of its cliin-ite. It is rather more scant of timber than is the 
 country in the same range in Missouri, but it is identical and 
 equal in soils and productions, and superior in purity and 
 vitality of atmosphere. This fertile district does not grad- 
 ually deteriorate as we progress westward to the "second 
 district, but ceases suddenly. Travelling from Independ- 
 ence westward, its boundary is Sandy Creek, a tributary of 
 
SOIL, ETC., OP EANZAS. 83 
 
 the Kanzas, and trayelling on the Santa Fe trail, it is 
 bounded by Council Grove. Within a belt of one hundred 
 yards in width, from the northern to the southern boundary 
 of the territory, the observer ■will find two distinct soils, 
 marking the first and second districts. The hundred yard 
 belt is not a right line from north to south, but is serpen- 
 tine, and with a general direction north and south. 
 
 " The second district presents to the eye a surface appar- 
 ently of sand, but it must be impregnated largely with 
 nutritive properties, for it is covered with grasses and 
 rushes. In the valleys and hollows, where the soil is moist, 
 the grass is abundant during the whole season ; but upon 
 the ridges it becomes stunted in June and July, and dry 
 enough to burn after the middle of September. This dis- 
 trict is essentially a pastoral region. There is no timber 
 upon it, and not trees enough to serve as fire-wood for any 
 great length of time. The only trees to be found at all are 
 in the valley of the Kanzas, and they are chiefly cotton- 
 wood and willow. It is wholly unfit for agricultural pur- 
 poses, and must remain so forever. Its geological structure 
 is a suflScient indication of this fact. This district, from 
 Sandy Creek, extends westward to a north and south line a 
 few miles east of Fort Laramie, — say about three hundred 
 and fifty miles. 
 
 " The third district is a formation of marl and earthy 
 limestone, and is a continuation southward of a similar dis- 
 trict described in my former letter as existing in Nebraska. 
 
84 EANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 It is in this district that what are termed buttes most 
 frequently occur. These buttes are elevations varying in 
 width from a hundred feet to several hundred yards. They 
 are not knolls or hills. Theu' surfaces are flat, and their 
 sides are nearly perpendicular. They can be likened to 
 nothing hut the trap-doors on the stages of theatres when 
 elevated above the floors. It seems as if the general sur- 
 face had suddenly sunk down, leaving them scattered all 
 over the plains. I have never heard a plausible guess made 
 touching the causes of their existence, and imagine that 
 geologists will be much troubled to account for them. It is 
 of this formation that what are called by the traders, in 
 consequence of a fancied resemblance to these objects, the 
 Court-House, the Cathedral, and the Chimneys — noted 
 objects on the road to Oregon and California — are made. 
 This is, however, only a narrow, irregular belt, and is suc- 
 ceeded by a fourth district, intervening between it and the 
 Black Hills. It is very fertile, and admirably adapted to 
 grain and vegetables. It is wholly destitute of timber. 
 
 "The fourth district is somewhat similar to the first, at 
 least along the base of the Black Hills, where it has been 
 enriched for ages by the debris. There is more wood upon 
 it than in the last named, because the small affluents of the 
 great streams are more numerous along the base of the 
 Black Hills than anywhere else. The eastern portion of it 
 is pastoral, like the second district ; but the western por- 
 tion, skirting the hills, consists of a broad bank of fertile 
 
SOIL, ETC., OF KANZAS. 85 
 
 soil, finely timbered and watered, and abounding in game, 
 ■wild fruits and flowers. It is one of tbe most lovely and 
 desirable regions upon the continent. 
 
 "The fifth district is the space between the Black Hills 
 and the main chain of the Rocky Mountains. Here nature 
 has presented us with every variety of aspect and soil. 
 There are stupendous mountains, the grandeur and sublim- 
 ity of which create mingled emotions of awe and terror. 
 There are beautiful valleys, embosomed by amphitheatres of 
 hills, where Calypso and her nymphs might have delighted 
 to ramble, variegated by hill and dale, traversed by sparkling 
 rivulets, and adorned with placid lakes. Fruits and flowers 
 spangle the greensward; vines hang in festoons from tree 
 to tree ; cascades spring in rainbow hues from the cliffs ; 
 pines and cedars, the growth of ages, spread their sombre 
 shade upon the mountain-sides, and the stupendous peaks, 
 shooting up into the skies, are crowned with a glittering 
 coronet of snow. A few hours' travel leads us out of this 
 scene of primeval beauty into one in intense contrast with 
 it. Here we find a sterile expanse of many miles in ex- 
 tent, covered with waving lines of sand, producing only 
 stunted artemisia and a few other miserable plants ; the 
 rivulets are lost as they descend from the bare ridges 
 around — their hollow murmurs may be heard beneath the 
 feet ; and the surrounding peaks are immense piles of bare 
 granite, which seem to have been thrown, by some great 
 convulsion, into inextricable confusion. Small settlements 
 
86 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ■will, in the progress of time, be made in the rich valleys, 
 and they will be happy little communities. 
 
 " The Republican and the Smoky Hill Forks take their 
 rise in the Rocky Mountains, and unite to form the Kanzas 
 river in about latitude 39° and longitude 96°. It flows 
 thence in a general course eastward, to its mouth, in lati- 
 tude 39° and longitude 94°. The upper portions of its two 
 great forks are timbered with poplar, cedar, pine and other 
 trees of mountain origin ; thence to the eastern line of the 
 first district I have described, the growth is cotton-wood, 
 willow and other smaller shrubs ; and across the first dis- 
 trict to the Missouri line, the growth is hickory, ash, walnut, 
 oak and sugar-maple. The valley of the Kanzas is not over 
 twenty to forty miles broad in the first district ; it becomes 
 narrower as the stream is ascended. It is a deep alluvion, 
 and wonderfully productive in grain and vegetables. 
 
 " The tributaries of the Kanzas are not numerous, and 
 their valleys are narrow. The only portions which can be 
 occupied now for agricultural purposes are the first district 
 and the valley of the Kanzas. Flocks and herds must for- 
 ever occupy the second district. The third will be also pas- 
 toral, until the means of supplying it with fuel can be 
 created. The fourth will be, in the course of time, partly 
 agricultural and partly pastoral, and the like may be said 
 of the fifth. 
 
 " The first district has a limestone basis ; the second is 
 underlaid by sandstone ; the basis of the third is not known, 
 
NORTH-EASTEKN KANZAS. 87 
 
 nor is that of the fourth and fifth determined with any reli- 
 able accuracy. The great coal-fields of Missouri, south of 
 the Missouri, extend thirty or forty miles into Kanzas. I 
 incline to the belief that detached or fragmentary coal will 
 be found in much abundance in the north-eastern corner of 
 the territory. In the fourth and fifth districts there is doubt- 
 less an abundance of it, besides water-power superior to any 
 in the world." 
 
 Of the geological character of the north-eastern part of 
 Kanzas, and the neighboring section of Nebraska, Prof 
 James writes : 
 
 " The country between the Kanzas and Platte is drained 
 principally by Wolf river and the great Nemaha. These 
 rivers, like the Nodowa and Nishnebottona, which enter the 
 Missouri nearly opposite them, from the north-east, rise in 
 the prairies, at an elevation, probably, of forty or fifty feet 
 above the level of the Missouri. As they descend, their 
 valleys, becoming gradually wider, embosom a few trees, and 
 at length, near their entrance into the Missouri valley, are 
 forests of considerable extent. The surface of these prairies 
 presents a constant succession of small rounded hills, be- 
 coming larger and more abrupt as you approach the beds of 
 the rivers. The soil is deep, reposing usually on horizontal 
 beds of argillaceous sandstone and secondary limestone. In 
 all the limestones along the Missouri, we observe a tendency 
 to crystalline structure, and they have often a reddish or 
 yellowish-white color. There is, however, something in the 
 
88 KANZAS AND NBBKASKA. 
 
 arrangement and in the aspect of the crystals to distinguish 
 these sparry varieties from the primitive granular limestone, 
 to which they have something of general resemblance. The 
 horizontal disposition of the strata of this limestone, the great 
 number of organic relics contained in it, and its intimate 
 connection with coal strata, indicate, with sufficient clear- 
 ness, its rrlition to the secondary rocks. No person who 
 shall examine this stratum with the least attention, either 
 about the Nemaha or the Kanzas, or in the mining district 
 at the sources of the Gasconade, the Merameg and the St. 
 Francis, will, for a moment, mistake it for any of those va- 
 rieties of transition or primitive limestone, which, in some 
 respects, it so closely resembles. The crystalline varieties, 
 no less than the compact blue limestones, embrace numer- 
 ous masses of chert or hornstone. This occurs of various 
 colors, and these are arranged in spots or stripes. Some 
 specimens have several distinct colors, arranged in zigzag 
 lines, somewhat resembling the fortification agate. The 
 hunters use fragments of this stone for gun-flints ; the sav- 
 ages also formerly employed it in the manufacture of arrow- 
 points and other implements.* 
 
 " The soil superimposed upon these strata of limestone 
 is a calcareous loam. Near the rivers it is intermixed with 
 sand ; this is also the case with the soil of the high prairies 
 about the Kanzas village. In ascending the Kanzas river, 
 
 * Jeasup's MS. Eeport. 
 
NOKTH-EASTBRN KANZAS. 89 
 
 one hundred or one hundred and twenty miles from the Mis- 
 souri, you discover numerous indications, both in the soil 
 and in its animal and vegetable productions, of an approach 
 to that great sandy desert, which stretches eastward from 
 the base of the Rocky Mountains. You meet there with 
 the orbicular lizard or ' horned frog,' an inhabitant of the 
 arid plains of New Mexico. You distinguish, also, some 
 cacti, as well as many of those plants allied to cheropodium 
 and salsola, which delight in a thirsty, muriatiferous soil. 
 The catalogue of the forest-trees belonging to the valleys of 
 this region is not very copious. The cotton-wood and the 
 plane-tree everywhere form conspicuous features of the for- 
 ests. With these are intermixed the tall and graceful aca- 
 cia, the honey-locust and the bonduc or coffee-tree, and sev- 
 eral species of juglans, carya and fraxinus (walnut, hickory 
 and ash), with pinnated or many-parted leaves. Trees of 
 the family of the coniferse are not of frequent occurrence 
 on the Missouri. About the summits of rocky chffs are, 
 here and there, a few cedars or junipers, the only trees that 
 retain their verdure during the winter. 
 
 " The prairies, for many miles on each side of the Mis- 
 souri, produce abundance of good pasturage ; but, as far 
 as our observation has extended, the best soil is a margin 
 of from ten to twelve miles in breadth, along the west bank 
 of the river. In the summer very little water is to be found 
 in the prairies, all the smaller streams failing, even though 
 the season be not unusually dry. On account of the want 
 8* 
 
90 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 of wood and of ^^ater, the settlements will be, for a long 
 time, confined to the immediate valleys of the Missouri, the 
 Kanzas, and the larger rivers ; but it is probable forests 
 will hereafter be cultivated in those vast woodless regions, 
 which now form so great a proportion of the country, and 
 wells may be made to supply the deficiency of running wa- 
 ter." * 
 
 In describing the southern part of the territory of Ne- 
 braska, we have already spoken of the fertile " divide " be- 
 tween the waters of the Kanzas and those of the Nebraska 
 river. The following notes from Col. Fremont's journey of 
 1842 will describe that portion of it which falls in Kanzas. 
 Col. Fremont followed up the valley of the Kanzas, about a 
 hundred miles, and then crossed to the usual emigrant trail 
 in the valley of the Nebraska river. 
 
 " From the belt of wood which borders the Kanzas, in 
 which we had passed several good-looking Indian farms, we 
 suddenly emerged on the prairies, which received us, at the 
 outset, with some of their striking characteristics. We en- 
 camped in a remarkably beautiful situation on the Kanzas 
 bluffs, which commanded a fine view of the river-valley, 
 here from three to four miles wide. The central portion 
 was occupied by a broad belt of heavy timber, and nearer 
 the hills the prairies were* of the richest verdure. 
 
 " We reached the ford of the Kanzas late in the after- 
 
 * Long's Expedition, Yol. i., pp. 137 — 139. 
 
THE "divide." 91 
 
 noon of June 14th, where the river was two hundred and 
 thirty yards wide, and commenced immediate preparations 
 for crossing. I had expected to find the river fordable, but 
 it had been swollen by the late rains, and was sweeping by 
 with an angry current, yellow and turbid as the Missouri. 
 Up to this point the road we had travelled was a remark- 
 ably fine one, well beaten and level, the usual road of a 
 prairie country. By our route the ford was one hundred 
 miles from the mouth of the Kanzas river. 
 
 " It proved necessary, however, to swim the river, and to 
 carry the stores across by a boat. 
 
 " The dense timber, in which we had encamped, interfered 
 with astronomical observations, and our wet and damaged 
 stores required exposure to the sun. Accordingly the tents 
 were struck the next morning, and, leaving camp at six 
 o'clock, we moved about seven miles up the river, to a 
 handsome, open prairie, some twenty feet above the water, 
 where the fine grass afibrded a luxurious repast to our 
 horses. 
 
 " We left this camp on the 18th, journeying along the 
 foot of the hills which border the Kanzas valley, generally 
 about three miles wide, and extremely rich. We halted for 
 dinner, after a march of about thirteen miles, on the banks 
 of one of the many little tributaries to the Kanzas, which 
 look like trenches in the prairie, and are usually well tim- 
 bered. After crossing this stream, I rode off some miles to 
 the left, attracted by the appearance of a cluster of huts, 
 
92 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 near the moutli of the Vermilion. It -was a large but de- 
 serted Kanzas village, scattered in an open -wood, along the 
 margin of the stream, on a spot chosen with the customary 
 Indian fondness for beauty of scenery. 
 
 "The next morning, quitting the run bottom, the road 
 ran along the uplands, over a rolling country, generally in 
 view of the Kanzas, from eight to twelve miles distant. 
 Many large boulders, of very compact sandstones, of various 
 shades of red, some of them four or five tons in weight, 
 were scattered along the hills, and many beautiful plants in 
 flower enlivened the green of the prairie. We pitched our 
 tents, at evening, on the head waters of a small creek, 
 now nearly dry, but having in its bed several fine springs. 
 The barometer indicated a considerable rise in the country, 
 here about fourteen hundred feet above the sea, and the in- 
 creased elevation appeared already to have some slight influ- 
 ence upon the vegetation. 
 
 " The next morning was fine. The country to-day was 
 rather more broken, rising still, and covered everywhere 
 with fragments of silicious limestone, particularly on the 
 summits, where they were small, and thickly strewed as 
 pebbles on the shore of the sea. In these exposed situations 
 grew but few plants ; though, wherever the soil was good ■ 
 and protected from the winds, in the creek bottoms and ra- 
 vines, and on the slopes, they flourished abundantly. We 
 crossed, at ten A. M., the Big VermiUon, which has a rich 
 bottom of about one mile in breadth, one-third of which is 
 
THE " DIVIDE." 93 
 
 occupied by timber." The next day " in the afternoon the 
 people seemed to suffer for want of water. The road led along 
 a high, dry ridge ; dark lines of timber indicated the heads 
 of streams in the plains below ; but there was no water 
 near, and the day was very oppressive. Along our route 
 the amorpha canescens has been in very abundant but va^ 
 riable bloom, in some places bending beneath the weight of 
 purple clusters, in others without a flower. It seems to love 
 best the sunny slopes, with a dark soil and southern expos- 
 ure. Everywhere the rose is met with, and reminds us of 
 cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scattered over the 
 prairies in small bouquets, and, when glittering in the dews 
 and waving in the pleasant breeze of the early morning, is 
 the most beautiful of the prairie flowers. The artemisia, 
 abzinthe, or prairie sage, as it is variously called, is increas- 
 ing in size, and glitters like silver as the southern breeze 
 turns up its leaves to the sun. All these plants have their 
 insect inhabitants, variously colored, generally taking the 
 hue of the flower on which they live." 
 
 The party had by this time crossed the line of 40°, which 
 is the northern line of Kanzas. The notes which follow 
 continue the narrative of the journey in Nebraska to the 
 river of that name. 
 
 " Our mid-day halt was at "Wyeth's Creek, in the bed of 
 which were numerous boulders of dark, ferruginous sand- 
 stone, mingled with others of the red sandstone already men- 
 tioned. At the close of the day we made our bivouac in 
 
94 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 some Tvell timbered ravines near the Little Blue. Crossing, 
 the next morning, a number of handsome creeks mth clear 
 water and sandy beds, we reached, at ten A. M., a very 
 beautiful wooded stream, about thirty-five feet wide, called 
 Sandy Creek, and sometimes, as the Ottoes winter there, 
 the Ottoe Fork. The country has become very sandy, and 
 the plants less varied and abundant, with the exception of 
 the amorpha, which rivals the grass in quantity. 
 
 ' ' At the Big Trees, where we had intended to noon, no 
 water was to be found. The bed of the little creek was 
 perfectly dry, and on the adjacent sandy bottom cacti, for 
 the first time, made their appearance. We made here a 
 short delay in search of water, and, after a hard day's 
 march of twenty-eight miles, encamped, at five o'clock, on 
 the Little Blue, where our arrival made a scene of the Ara- 
 bian desert. As fast as they arrived, men and horses rushed 
 into the stream, where they bathed and drank together in 
 common enjoyment. Our route the next morning lay up 
 the valley, which, bordered by hills with graceful slopes, 
 looked uncommonly green and beautiful. The stream was 
 about fifty feet wide, and three or four deep, fringed by cot- 
 ton-wood and willow, with frequent groves of oak tenanted 
 by flocks of turkeys. Game here, too, made its appearance 
 in greater plenty. Elk were frequently seen on the hills, 
 and now and then an antelope bounded across our path, or 
 a deer broke from the groves. The road, in the afternoon, 
 was over the upper prairies, several miles from the river, and 
 
SOUTHERN SIDE OF KANZAS. 95 
 
 we encamped, at sunset, on one of its small tributaries, 
 where an abundance of prele {equisetuni) afiforded fine for- 
 age to our tired animals. 
 
 " The road of the next day kept the valley, which is 
 sometimes rich and well timbered, though the country is 
 generally sandy." 
 
 It will be understood that in this journey Col. Fremont ' 
 was passing constantly westward, and was thus approaching 
 the wide sandy plains which make the second division of the 
 country to one travelling in that direction. The next day 
 he crossed the high prairie ridge, destitute of water, between 
 the Blue and Nebraska rivers, and came to the head of 
 Grand Island, near where Fort Kearney is now located. 
 
 In his expedition of the next year, Col. Fremont passed 
 up the valley of the Eepublican Fork, and the notes of his 
 journey, therefore, describe yet another region of Kanzas, 
 passing from the fertile section through the sandy plains to 
 the mountains. 
 
 " Leaving at the ford the usual emigrant road to the 
 mountains, we continued our route along the southern side 
 of the Kanzas, where we found the country much more 
 broken than cm. the northern side of the river, and where 
 our progress was much delayed by the numerous small 
 streams, which obliged us to make frequent bridges. On 
 the morninq of the 4th we crossed a handsome stream, 
 called by tne Indians Otter Creek, about one hundred and 
 thirty feet wide, where a flat stratum of limestone, Avhich 
 
96 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 forms the bed, made an excellent ford. We met here a 
 small party of Kanzas and Delaware Indians, the latter re- 
 turning from a hunting and trapping expedition on the up- 
 per -waters of the river ; and, on the heights above, were 
 five or six Kanzas women engaged in digging prairie pota- 
 toes (psoralea esculenta). 
 
 "We arrived, on July 8th, at the mouth of the Smoky 
 Hill Fork, which is the principal southern branch of the 
 Kanzas, forming here with the Kepublican or northern 
 branch the main Kanzas river. For several days we con- 
 tinued to travel along the Republican, through a country 
 beautifully watered with numerous streams, handsomely 
 timbered ; and rarely an incident occurred to vary the mo- 
 notonous resemblance which one day on the prairies here 
 bears to another, and which scarcely require a particular 
 description. Now and then we caught a glimpse of a small 
 herd of elk ; and occasionally a band of antelopes, whose 
 curiosity sometimes brought them within rifle range, would 
 circle round us, and then scour off into the prairies. 
 
 " The bottoms which form the immediate valleyof the 
 main river were generally about three miles wide, having a 
 rich soil of black vegetable mould, and, for a prairie coun- 
 try, well interspersed with wood. The country was every- 
 where covered with a considerable variety of grasses, occa- 
 sionally poor and thin, but far more frequently luxuriant 
 and rich. We had been gradually and regularly ascending in 
 our progress westward, and, on the evening of the 14th, 
 
Fremont's journal. 97 
 
 when we encamped on a Jittle creek in the valley of the 
 Republican, two hundred and sixty-five miles by our travel- 
 ling road from the mouth of the Kanzas, we were at an 
 elevation of one thousand five hundred and twenty feet. 
 
 " On the morning of the 16th, bearing a little out from 
 the river, with a view of heading some of the numerous af- 
 fluents, after a few hours' travel, over somewhat broken 
 ground, we entered upon an extensive and high level prairie, 
 on which we encamped towards evening at a little stream, 
 where a single dry cotton-wood afforded the necessary fuel 
 for preparing supper. 
 
 " The country afforded us an excellent road, the route 
 being generally over high and very level prairies, and we 
 met with no other delay than being frequently obliged to 
 bridge one of the numerous streams, which were well tim- 
 bered with ash, elm, cotton-wood and a very large oak, the 
 latter being occasionally five or six feet in diameter, with 
 a spreading summit. Sida coccinea is very frequent in 
 vermilion-colored patches on the high and low prairie, and I 
 remarked that it has a very pleasant perfume. The wild 
 sensitive-plant {schrankia angustata) occurs frequently, 
 generally on the dry prairies, in valleys of streams, and 
 frequently on the broken prairie bank. I remark that the 
 leaflets close instantly to a very light touch. Amorpha, 
 with the same psoralea, and a dwarf species of lupinus, are 
 the characteristic plants. 
 
 '■^ June 21. During the forenoon we travelled up a branch 
 9 
 
98 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 of the creek on which we had encamped, in a broken coun- 
 try, where, however, the dividing ridges always afforded a 
 good road. Plants were few ; and with the short swards of 
 the buffalo grass, which now prevailed everywhere, giving 
 to the prairies a smooth and mossy appearance, were min- 
 gled frequent patches of a beautiful red grass {aristida 
 pallens), which has made its appearance only within the 
 last few days. We halted to noon at a solitary cotton- 
 wood in a hollow, near which was killed the first buffalo, 
 a fine bull. 
 
 "At noon, on the 23d, we descended into the valley of a 
 principal fork of the Republican, a beautiful stream, with 
 a dense border of wood, consisting principally of varieties 
 of ash, forty feet wide and four feet deep. It was musical 
 with the notes of many birds, which from the vast expanse 
 of silent prairie around seemed all to have collected here. 
 We continued, during the afternoon, our route along the 
 river, which was populous with prairie-dogs (the bottoms 
 being entirely occupied with their villages), and late in the 
 evening encamped on its banks. The prevailing timber is 
 a blue-foliaged ash {^fraxinus, near F. Americana) and 
 ash-leaved maple. With these were Fraxinus Americana, 
 cotton-wood, and long-leaved willow. 
 
 "A few miles further we entered the valley of a large 
 stream, afterwards known to be the Republican Fork of the 
 Kanzas, whose shallow waters, with a depth of only a few 
 inches, were spread out over a bed of yellowish-white sand 
 
FREMONT'S JOURNAL. 99 
 
 six hundred yards wide. With the exception of one or two 
 distant and detached groves, no timber of any kind was to 
 be seen. Our encampment this evening was three thou- 
 sand five hundred feet above the sea. We travelled now 
 for several days through a broken and dry sandy region, 
 about four thousand feet above the sea, where there were 
 no running streams, and water only to be found in small 
 lakes that occurred occasionally among the hills." 
 
 By this expedition Mr. Fremont arrived at St. Train's 
 Fort. Soon afterwards he travelled south. 
 
 Along the eastern spurs of the mountains, as we have 
 already said, a trail passes through the country southward to 
 the upper waters of the Arkansas. These streams water the 
 southern part of the territory. Mr. Parkman describes this 
 journey, singularly varied by mountain spurs, fertile "bot- 
 toms" watered by small streams, and by sandy "divides." 
 
 Mr. Fremont, by a trail of his own, had passed through 
 the same, region. In this journey he followed up the south 
 fork of the Nebraska. 
 
 "July 8. On the easternmost branch, up which we took 
 our way, we first came among the pines, growing on the 
 top of a very high bank ; and where we halted on it to noon, 
 quaking asp (^populus tremuloides) was mixed with the 
 cotton-wood, and there were excellent grass and rushes for 
 the animals. 
 
 " July 9. We turned to the eastward along the upper 
 waters of the stream on which we had encamped, entering 
 
100 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 a country- of picturesque and varied scenery ; broken into 
 rocky hills of singular shapes ; little valleys, Tvith pure 
 crystal water, here leaping swiftly along, and there losing 
 itself in the sands ; green spots of luxuriant grass ; flowers 
 of all colors, and timber of different kinds : everything to 
 give it a varied beauty, except game. To one of these 
 remarlvn'':'!T shaped hills, having on the summit a circular 
 flat rock two or three hundred yards in circumference, 
 some one gave the name of Pound-cake, which it has been 
 permitted to retain, as our hungry people seemed to think 
 it a very agreeable companion." 
 
 The next day, "leaving the encampment at six o'clock, 
 we continued our easterly course over a rolling country 
 near to the high ridges, which are generally rough and 
 rocky, with a coarse conglomerate displayed in masses, and 
 covered with pines. This rock is very friable ; and it is 
 undoubtedly from its decomposition that the prairies derive 
 their sandy and gravelly formation. During the morning, 
 our route led over a dark vegetable mould, mixed with sand 
 and gravel, the characteristic plant being esparceite {ono- 
 brychis saliva), a species of clover, which is much used 
 in certain parts of Germany for pasturage of stock, princi- 
 pally hogs. It is sown on rocky waste ground, which would 
 otherwise be useless, and grows very luxuriously, requiring 
 only a renewal of the seed about once in fifteen years. Its 
 abundance here greatly adds to the pastural value of this 
 region. A species of artemisia, in flower, was very com- 
 
pkbmont's journal. 101 
 
 mon along the line of road, and the creeks were timbered 
 with willow and pine. 
 
 "July 11. I turned this morning to the southward, up 
 the valley of Bijou. Esparcette occurred universally ; 
 and among the plants on the river I noticed a few small 
 hushes of the absinthe of the voyageurs, which is com- 
 monly used for firewood (the artemisia tridentata spoken 
 of above). 
 
 "Yesterday and to-day the road has been ornamented 
 with the showy bloom of a mountain lupinus, a character- 
 istic in many parts of the mountain region, on which were 
 generally great numbers of an insect with very bright 
 colors. 
 
 " We followed the stream to its head in a broken ridge, 
 which, according to the barometer, was about seven thou- 
 sand five hundred feet above the sea. This is a piny ele- 
 vation, into which the prairies are gathered, and from which 
 the waters flow, in almost every direction, to the Arkansas, 
 Platte (or Nebraska), and Kanzas rivers ; the latter stream 
 having here its remotest sources. Although somewhat 
 rocky and broken, and covered with pines, in comparison 
 with the neighboring mountains it scarcely forms an inter- 
 ruption to the great prairie plains which sweep up to their 
 bases. 
 
 " These plains sweep almost directly to the bases of the 
 mountain barrier, an immense and comparatively smooth 
 and grassy prairie, in very strong contrast with the black 
 9* 
 
102 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 masses of timber and the glittering snow above them. With 
 occasional exceptions, comparatively so small as not to 
 require mention, these prairies are everywhere covered with 
 a close and vigorous growth of a great variety of grasses, 
 among which the most abundant is the buffalo grass {see- 
 leria dactyloides). Between the Nebraska and Arkansas 
 rivers, that part of this region which forms the basin drained 
 by the waters of the Kanzas, with which our operations 
 made us more particularly acquainted, is based upon a for- 
 mation of calcareous rocks. The soil of all this country is 
 excellent, admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, and 
 would support a large agricultural and pastoral population. 
 A glance at the map shows that this plain is watered by 
 many streams. Throughout the western half of the plain 
 these are shallow, with sandy beds, becoming deeper as 
 they reach the richer lands approaching the Missouri river. 
 They generally have bottom-lands, bordered by bluffs vary- 
 ing from fifty to five hundred feet ia height. In all this 
 region the timber is entirely confined to the streams. In 
 the eastern half, where the soil is a deep, rich vegetable 
 mould, retentive of rain and moisture, it is of vigorous 
 growth, and of many different kinds ; and throughout the 
 western half it consists entirely of various species of cotton- 
 wood, which deserves to be called the tree of the desert, — 
 growing in sandy soils where no other tree will grow; point- 
 ing out the existence of water, and furnishing to the travel- 
 ler fuel and food for his animals. 
 
PUEBLO. - 103 
 
 " Turning the next day to the south-west, we reached the 
 wagon-road to the settlements on the Arkansas river ; an 
 extremely good lodge-trail which issues by the head of the 
 Fontaine qui bouille, from the bayou Salade (South Park), 
 a high mountain-valley behind Pike's Peak. The soil 
 along the road was sandy and gravelly, and the river well 
 timbered." 
 
 The next day brought the party to the Pueblo on the 
 Arkansas river. Here a number of mountaineers, who 
 have married Spanish women in the valley of Taos, have 
 occupied themselves in farming and trading with the Indi- 
 ans. All travellers on the Santa Fe road visit the Pueblo. 
 Mr. Parkman describes the first view of it as a welcome 
 sight. " The Arkansas ran along the valley below, among 
 woods and groves, and closely nestled in the midst of wide 
 cornfields and green meadows, where cattle were grazing, rose 
 the low mud- walls of the Pueblo." There was at that time a 
 Mormon settlement in progress on the south side of the river. 
 
 In a subsequent expedition Mr. Fremont passed from the 
 Nebraska to the Arkansas by a course directly through the 
 mountains, crossing the ridge, in fact, three times. He 
 thus visited the New Park^ the Old Park, and the South 
 Park, — curious birth-places of rivers. The New or 
 North Park will fall within the limits of Nebraska ; the 
 South Park, within Kanzas. 
 
 "We changed our course, and turned up the valley of 
 the Platte (Nebraska), instead of going down it. We 
 
104 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 crossed several small affluents, and again made a fortified 
 camp in a grove. The country had now become very beau- 
 tiful, rich in water, grass, and game; and to these were 
 added the charm of scenery and pleasant weather. 
 
 "June 14. Our route lay along the foot of the mountain, 
 over the long, low spurs which sloped gradually down to the 
 river, forming the broad valley of the Platte. The country 
 beautifully watered. In almost every hollow ran a clear, 
 cool mountain stream ; and, in the course of the morning, 
 we crossed seventeen, several of them being large creeks, 
 forty and fifty feet wide, with a swift current, and tolerably 
 deep. These were variously wooded with groves of aspen 
 and cotton-wood, with willow, cherry, and other scrubby 
 trees. Buffalo^ antelope, and elk, were frequent during the 
 day, and in their abundance the latter sometimes reminded 
 us slightly of the Sacramento valley. The next day we 
 continued our journey up the valley, the country present- 
 ing much the same appearance, except that the grass was 
 more scanty on the ridges, over which was spread a scrubby 
 growth of sage ; but still the bottoms of the creeks were 
 broad, and afforded good pasture ground. Our course in 
 the afternoon brought us to the main Platte river (Nebras- 
 ka), here a handsome stream, with a uniform breadth of 
 seventy yards, except where widened by frequent islands. 
 It was apparently deep, with a moderate current, and wood- 
 ed with groves of large willow. 
 
 " The valley narrowed as we ascended, and presently 
 
HEAD--WATERS OF THE NEBRASKA. 105 
 
 degenerated into a gorge, through which the river passed as 
 through a gate. We entered it, and found ourselves in the 
 'New Park,' a beautiful, circular valley of thirty miles' 
 diameter, walled in all round with snowy mountains, rich with 
 water and with grass, fringed with pine on the mountain 
 sides below the line, — and a paradise to all grazing ani- 
 mals. The Indian name for it signifies ' cow lodge,' of 
 which our own may be considered a translation ; the enclo- 
 sure, the grass, the water, and the herds of bufialo roaming 
 over it, naturally presenting the idea of a park. Its eleva- 
 tion above the sea is seven thousand seven hundred and 
 twenty feet. From this elevated cove, and from the gorges 
 of the surrounding mountains, and some lakes within their 
 bosoms, the great Platte (Nebraska) river collects its first 
 waters and assumes its first form ; and certainly no river 
 could ask a more beautiful origin. The 16th and 17th we 
 continued through the park, and fell into a broad and excel- 
 lent trail made by bufialo, where a wagon would pass with 
 ease. In the course of the 17th we crossed the summit of 
 the Rocky Mountains, through a pass, which was one of the 
 most beautiful we had ever seen. The trail led us among 
 the aspens, through- open grounds, richly covered with 
 grass, and carried us over an elevation of about nine thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the sea. Descending from the 
 pass, we found ourselves again on the western waters, and 
 halted to noon on the edge of another mountain- valley called 
 the Old Park, in which is formed Grand river, one of the 
 
106 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 principal branches of the Colorado of California. The 
 appearance of the country in the Old Park is interesting, 
 though of a dififerent character from the New ; instead of 
 Being a comparative plain, it is more or less broken into 
 hills, and surrounded by the high mountains, timbered on 
 the lower parts with quaking asp and pines." 
 
 In another part of his expedition Lieut. Fremont at- 
 tempted to cross from St. Vrain's to the South Pass by a 
 new route. His journal of this will give some further idea 
 of the mountain scenery and vegetation. 
 
 He was following along the Cache a la Poudre river, a 
 stream which flows northwards from the high mountains 
 around Long's Peak. 
 
 " July 29. We were compelled, by the nature of the 
 ground, to cross the river eight nr nine times, at difiScult, 
 deep and rocky fords, — the stream running with great 
 force, swollen by the rains, — a true mountain torrent, only 
 forty or fifty feet wide. Towering' mountains rose round 
 about ; their sides sometimes dark with forests of pine, and 
 sometimes with lofty precipices, washed by the river ; while 
 below, as if they indemnified themselves in luxuriance for 
 the scanty space, the green river-bottom was covered with a 
 wilderness of flowers, their tall spikes sometimes rising 
 above our heads as we rode among them. A profusion of 
 blossoms on a white-flowering vine {clematis lasianthi), 
 which was abundant along the river, contrasted handsomely 
 with the green foliage of the trees. The mountain ap- 
 
Fremont's journal. 107 
 
 peared to be composed of a greenish-gray and red gran- 
 ite, which, in some places, appeared to be in a state of 
 decomposition, making a red soil. The stream was -wooded 
 with cotton-wood, box-elder, and cherry, with currant and 
 service-berry bushes. We halted at noon on a small 
 branch ; and in the afternoon travelled over a high country, 
 gradually ascending towards a range of buttes, or high hills 
 covered with pines, which forms the dividing ridge between 
 the waters we had left and those of Laramie river. 
 
 '■'■July 31. A fine rolling road, among piny and grassy 
 hills, brought us this morning into a large trail where an 
 Indian village had recently passed. The country was cer- 
 tainly extremely beautiful; the slopes and broad ravines 
 were absolutely covered with fields of flowers of the most 
 exquisitely beautiful colors. Among those which had not 
 hitherto made their appearance, and which here were charac- 
 teristic, was a new delphinium (larkspur), of a green and 
 lustrous metallic-blue color, mingled with compact fields of 
 several light colored varieties of astralagus, which were 
 crowded together in splendid profusion. This trail conducted 
 us through a remarkable defile to a little timbered creek, 
 up which we wound our way, passing by a singular and 
 massive wall of dark-red granite. The formation of the 
 country is a red feldspathic granite, overlying a decompos- 
 ing mass of the same rock, forming the soil of all this 
 region, which is everywhere red and gravelly, and appears 
 to be of a great floral fertility. 
 
108 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 " August 1. We travelled, to-day, over a plain, or open 
 rolling country, at the foot of the Medicine Bow Mountain ; 
 the soil in the morning being sandy, with fragments of 
 rock abundant ; and in the afternoon^ when we approached 
 closer to the mountain, so stony that we made but little 
 way. The beautiful plants of yesterday reappeared occa-- 
 sionally ; flax in bloom occurred during the morning, and 
 esparcette in luxuriant abundance was a characteristic of 
 the stony ground in the afternoon. 
 
 " The mountain is thickly studded with pines, inter- 
 mingled with the brighter foliage of aspens, and occasional 
 spots like lawns between the patches of snow among the 
 pines, and here and there on the heights. Our route below 
 lay over a comparative plain, covered with the same brill- 
 iant vegetation. During the morning we crossed many 
 streams, clear and rocky, and broad grassy valleys, of a 
 strong, black soil, washed down from the mountains, and 
 producing excellent pasturage. These were timbered with 
 the red willow and long-leaved cotton- wood, mingled with 
 aspen, as we approached the mountain more nearly towards 
 noon. Esparcette was a characteristic, and flax occurred 
 frequently in bloom. We halted at noon on the most 
 western fork of Laramie river, a handsome stream, about 
 sixty feet wide and two feet deep, with clear water and a 
 swift current, over a bed composed entirely of boulders or 
 roll-stones. There was a large open bottom here, on which 
 were many lodge-poles lying about ; and in the edge of the 
 
HEAD-WATERS OF THE ARKANSAS. 109 
 
 surrounding timber were three strong forts, that appeared 
 to have been recently occupied. We encamped at evening 
 on the principal fork of Medicine Bow river, near to an 
 isolated mountain called the Medicine Butte, which ap- 
 peared to be about one thousand eight hundred feet above 
 the plain, from which it rises abruptly, and was still white, 
 nearly to its base, with a great quantity of snow. The 
 streams were timbered with the long-leaved cotton- wood and 
 red willow ; and during the afternoon a species of onion 
 was very abundant." 
 
 It must be understood again, that here, as in another 
 part of this route, Mr. Fremont was within the territorial 
 limits of Nebraska. The nature of the country being quite 
 the same at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, 
 whether just south or just north of the parallel of 40°, the 
 boundary line between the territories, we prefer not to 
 separate the descriptions of them. 
 
 After a reconnoissance of the head waters of Grand river, 
 Lt. Premont returned to the head waters of the Arkansas. 
 
 "Our elevation was ten thousand four hundred and 
 thirty feet, but still the pine forest continued, and the grass 
 was good. In the afternoon, of the 20th, we continued our 
 road, occasionally through open pines, with a very gradual 
 ascent. In a ride of about three-quarters of an hour, and 
 having ascended, perhaps, eight hundred feet, we reached 
 
 the SUMMIT OF THE DIVIDING KIDGE, which WOuld thus 
 
 have an estimated height of eleven thousand two hundred 
 10 
 
110 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 feet. Here the river spreads itself into small branches and 
 springs, heading nearly in the summit of the ridge, which 
 is very narrow. Immediately below us was a green val- 
 ley, through which ran a stream ; and a short distance 
 opposite rose snowy mountains, whose summits were formed 
 into peaks of naked rock. We soon afterwards satisfied 
 ourselves that immediately beyond those mountains was the 
 main branch of the Arkansas river, most probably heading 
 directly with the little stream below us, which gathered its 
 ■waters in the snowy mountains near by. In about a quar- 
 ter of an hour, we descended from the summit of the pass 
 into the creek below, our road having been very much con- 
 trolled and interrupted by the pines and springs on the 
 mountain-side. Turning up the stream, we encamped on a 
 bottom of good grass near its head, which gathers its waters 
 in the dividing crest of the Kocky Mountains. 
 
 " On the following day, we descended the stream by an 
 excellent bufialo-trail, along the open grassy ^bottom of the 
 river. On our right, the bayou was bordered by a moun- 
 tainous range, crested with rocky and naked peaks; and 
 below, it had a beautiful park-like character of pretty level 
 prairies, interspersed among low spurs, wooded openly with 
 pine and quaking asp, contrasting well with the denser 
 pines which swept around on the mountain-sides. 
 
 "The next day we left the river, which continued its 
 course towards Pike's Peak; and taking a south-easterly 
 direction, in about ten miles we crossed a gentle ridge, and^ 
 
HEAD-WATEES OF THE ARKANSAS. Ill 
 
 issuing from the South Park, found ourselves involved 
 among the broken spurs of the mountains which border the 
 great prairie plains. Although broken and extremely 
 rugged, the country was very interesting, being well 
 watered by numerous affluents to the Arkansas river, and 
 covered with grass and a variety of trees. The streams, 
 which in the upper part of their course ran through grassy 
 and open hollows, after a few miles all descended into deep 
 and impracticable caSons, through which they found their 
 way to the Arkansas valley. During the day our road was 
 fatiguing and diiBcult, reminding us much, by its steep and 
 rocky character, of our travelling the year before, among 
 the Wind River mountains ; but always at night we found 
 some grassy bottoms, which afforded us a pleasant camp. 
 In the deep seclusion of these little streams we found always 
 an abundant pasturage, and a wild luxuriance of plants and 
 trees. Aspens and pines were the prevailing timber ; on 
 the creeks, oak was frequent, but the narrow-leaved cotton- 
 wood (populus angustifolia), of unusually large size, and 
 seven or eight feet in circumference, was the principal tree. 
 With these were mingled a variety of shrubby trees, which 
 aided to make the ravines almost impenetrable. After 
 several days' laborious travelling, we succeeded in extricat- 
 ing ourselves from the mountains, and, on the morning of 
 the 28th, encamped immediately at their foot, on a hand- 
 some tributary to the Arkansas river. In the afternoon 
 we descended the stream, winding our way along the bot- 
 
112 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 toms, Trliich were densely -wooded with oak, and in the eve- 
 ning encamped near the main river." 
 
 "We have been the more full in these descriptions of the 
 Great Plains and of the broken country west of them, in 
 which the South Fork of the Nebraska and the waters of 
 the Kanzas rise, because the frequent statement and general 
 impression is that those plains are wholly desert and worth- 
 less. They do not vie, indeed, with the rich, invaluable 
 agricultural country of eastern Kanzas. It may be doubted 
 whether any country in the world does. But the timber 
 scattered among the hills, the richness of the pasturage in 
 many parts, and the under-lying lime formation, are so many 
 sources of comfort and wealth which will not permit this 
 region to remain the desert which it now is. 
 
 The southern parts of Kanzas lie in the upper valley of 
 the Arkansas river. This stream has been so named, since 
 its discovery by the French, from the Arkansas tribe, whom 
 they found near its mouth. These Indians represented that 
 they had then but lately separated from the Kanzas Indians 
 on the Kanzas river. The lower part of the valley of the 
 Arkansas is, as is well known, a rich and fertile country. 
 That part of its valley, however, which lies in Kanzas is not 
 well wooded, and, though fertile farms have been established 
 in the immediate vicinity of the river, it does not appear to 
 be, in general, a promising agricultural region. In the 
 neighborhood of the Pueblo tall woods line the river with 
 green meadows on each side. The crops raised there are 
 
SOUTHERN EANZAS. 113 
 
 abundant. At Bent's Fort there is but little timber. Tim- 
 ber sometimes appears in small sections ; but, in general, for 
 several hundred miles the river is most of the year a broad 
 sand-bed, over ■which a few threads of water glide along, 
 occasionally expanding into wide shallows. In the autumn, 
 the water sometimes sinks into the sand and disappears alto- 
 gether. At the "Big Timbers," about thirty-five miles 
 below Bent's Fort, the river widens, and the banks on each 
 side fall towards it in gentle slopes. The "timber" is a 
 thinly-scattered growth of large cotton- woods, not more than 
 three-quarters of a mile wide, and three or four miles long. 
 "The bed of the river," says Col. Emory, "is seldom more 
 than one hundred and fifty yards wide, and, but for the quick- 
 sands, is everywhere fordable. The bottom-land, a few feet 
 above the level of the water, varies in width from half a mile to 
 two miles, and is generally covered with good, nutritious grass. 
 Beyond this the ground rises by gentle slopes into a wilder- 
 ness of sand-hills on the south, and into prairie on the north. 
 There are one or two exceptions ; for instance, at the great 
 bend, the sand-hills from the south impinge abruptly on the 
 course of the river ; at Pawnee rock, a long swell in the 
 ground terminates in an abrupt hill of highly ferruginous 
 sandstone ; and ten miles above Chouteau's island the hills 
 along the river are vertical, as if the river had cut a pass- 
 age through them ; and, as you approach Bent's Fort, the 
 hills generally roll in more boldly on the river, and the 
 bottoms become narrower, and the grass more precious. 
 10* 
 
114 , KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 "At these places the geological formation can be seen dis- 
 tinctly. On the lower part of the river it is a conglomerate 
 of pebbles, sometimes shells cemented by lime and clay 
 overlying a stratum of soft sandstone, which in turn over- 
 lies a blue shale, and sometimes the richest description of 
 marl. 
 
 "Higher up the river we find the same formation, but in 
 addition argillaceous limestone, containing ammonites and 
 other impressions of shells in great variety, and in more 
 than one instance distinct impressions of oyster shells. 
 The dip in both cases about 6° and a little north of east. 
 
 "The soil of the plains is a granitic sand, intermixed with 
 the exuviae of animals and vegetable matter, supporting a 
 scanty vegetation. The eye wanders in vain over these 
 immense wastes in search of trees. Not one is to be seen. 
 The principal growth is the buiFalo grass, cacti in endless 
 variety, and very rarely that wonderful plant, the Ipomea 
 leptophylla, called by the hunters man-root, from the simi- 
 larity of its root in size and shape to, the body of a man. It 
 is esculent, and serves to sustain human life in some of the 
 many vicissitudes of hunger and privation to which men 
 who roam the prairies as an occupation are subjected. 
 
 " The narrow strip which I have described as the bottom- 
 land of the Arkanzas, varying from half a mile to two or 
 three miles wide, contains a luxuriant growth of grasses, 
 which, by the judicious selection and distribution of the 
 camps, sustained all the animals of the army of the west 
 
EASTERN KANZAS. 115 
 
 whilst on the river. The only tree of any magnitude found 
 on ita course is the cotton-ivood {Populus Canadensis), and 
 it frequently happens that not one of these is seen in a whole 
 day's journey, and the buflfalo-dung and wild sage constitute 
 the only fuel to be procured." x 
 
 The droughts described render the Arkansas river a very 
 uncertain reliance for communication. It is said, however, 
 that a steamboat can ascend at full water within twenty-four 
 miles of the Great Bend, — the point where the river gains 
 its greatest northern latitude. 
 
 Having thus given a general account of the northern 
 region of Kanzas, the plains and mountains of the west, and 
 the sandy valley of the Arkansas on its southern frontier, 
 we may now speak, in more detail, of the eastern part of 
 the territory ; the basin of the Lower Kanzas river, which 
 will be the resort of settlers from all parts of the world, and 
 offers indeed ^he most remarkable attractions. 
 
 For nearly two hundred miles west from Missouri, a rich 
 vegetable soil, sufficiently wooded, is found through the 
 whole of this valley. It is the region of which the eastern 
 part has been principally occupied by the Shawnees, Dela- 
 wares, and Pottawatomies, whose indolent farming, even, 
 produces there the most remarkable results. The soil pro- 
 duces wheat, corn, or hemp in great abundance, and is, to 
 all appearance, inexhaustible. Every variety of timber 
 known in the western forests is found there in sufficient 
 
116 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 quantity to answer the purposes of settlers. Ash, burr oak, 
 black walnut, chestnut oak, black oak, long-leaved willow, 
 sycamore, buck-eye American elm, pignut hickory, hack- 
 berry, and sumach are. named by Col. Emory, whose botan- 
 ical skill is well known. The general appearance of the, 
 country, he says, is that of vast rolling fields, enclosed with 
 colossal hedges. It is not till you approach the meridian of 
 99° that the growth of exclusive cotton-wood begins. 
 
 Every letter and memoir written regarding this remarkable 
 valley confirms the accounts of its surprising loveliness and 
 fertility. The following sketch is by Mr. Parkman : — 
 
 " We were passing through the country of the half-civil- 
 ized Shawnees. It was a beautiful alternation of fertile 
 plains and groves, whose foliage was just tinged with the 
 hues of autumn, while close beneath them rested the neat 
 log-houses of the Indian farmers. Every field find meadow 
 bespoke the exuberant fertility of the soil. The maize stood 
 rustling in the wind, matured and dry, its shining yellow 
 ears thrust out between the gaping husks. Squashes and 
 enormous yellow pumpkins lay basking in the sun, in the 
 midst of their brown and shrivelled leaves. Eobins and 
 blackbirds flew about the fences ; and everything, in short, 
 betokened our near approach to home and civilization. The 
 forests that border on the Missouri soon rose before us, and 
 we entered the wide tract of shrubbery that forms their out- 
 skirts. We had passed the same road on our outward jour- 
 ney in the spring, but its aspect was totally changed. The 
 
EASTERN KANZAS. 117 
 
 young vrild apple-trees, then flushed with their fragrant 
 blossoms, were now hung thickly with ruddy fruit. Tall 
 grass flourished by the road-side in place of the tender shoots 
 just peeping from the warm and oozy soil. The vines were 
 laden with dark purple grapes, and the slender twigs of the 
 maple, then tasselled with their clusters of small red flowers, 
 now hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the 
 frost with burning crimson. On every side we saw the 
 tokens of maturity and decay where all had before been fresh 
 and beautiful. We entered the forest, and ourselves and 
 our horses were checkered as we passed along by the bright 
 spots of sunlight that fell between the opening boughs. On 
 either side the dark rich masses of foliage almost excluded 
 the sun, though here and there its rays could find their way 
 down, striking through the broad leaves, and lighting them 
 with a pure transparent green. Squirrels barked at us from 
 the trees ; coveys of young partridges ran rustling over the 
 leaves below, and the golden oriole, the blue-jay, and the 
 flaming red-bird, darted among the shadowy branches." 
 
 A recent letter thus describes a journey up the valley 
 and across the northern "divide." 
 
 "We landed at the mouth of the Kanzas river, and 
 travelled up it, on the south side, for a distance of one hun- 
 dred and twenty miles. We then crossed over, and pro- 
 ceeded about seventy miles in a north-westerly course. Here 
 we changed, and went in a north-easterly direction until we 
 struck the Missouri river. We had now travelled not far 
 
118 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 from three hundred miles. Through all this section we 
 found the soil excellent, consisting mainly of high rollin" 
 prairie; — indeed, it is as dark-colored and as rich as the 
 soil in the Wabash valley. The water is of the best qual- 
 ity, and as good as could be desired. The streams have 
 high banks, consisting, to a considerable extent, of lime- 
 stone rock. We did not see the first stream ■which over- 
 flows its banks, though Vfe crossed many -vvhieh would 
 furnish an indefinite amount of water-power. There were 
 no stagnant pools to render the country unhealthy. The 
 timber is similar to that in northern Illinois, consisting of 
 burr oak, Spanish oak, shell-bark hickory, black walnut, 
 linn, elm, etc. The timber is principally upon the creeks 
 and margins of the rivers, and is found in considerable 
 abundance, though, if there was more of it, it would be no 
 objection to the country. I should like to remove there, 
 and think it would be an object for me to do so, though I 
 reside in a fertile region in Indiana." 
 
 The Pottawatomies have occupied a reservation on the 
 southern side of the Kanzas. The following letter from 
 Mr. Duerinck, the superintendent of the Catholic mission 
 among them, shows what is the success of farming opera- 
 tions here : 
 
 " We have raised this season sixty acres oats, forty corn, 
 six potatoes, — the oats very heavy; we cut them all in five 
 days with a mowing machine. This implement is the won- 
 der of the country, — the Indians are lost in admiration 
 
EASTBKN KANZAS. 119 
 
 when they see it work. The corn and potatoes bid fair to 
 yield a good crop. Our horned stock consist of two hundred 
 and fifty head ; say eighty cows, fifteen yoke of oxen, forty 
 two-year old steers, — the balance is young cattle of our 
 own raising. We derive no inconsiderable part of our sup- 
 port from our stock. There is also a good demand for corn, 
 potatoes, oats, which the mission as well as the Indians can 
 sell at fair prices. The government is establishing a new 
 military post, Fort Riley, on the Upper Kanzas, fifty-one 
 miles above the mission; the Pottawatomie settlement is 
 the nearest point from which the fort can draw its supplies. 
 If our Indians were thrifty and enterprising, they would 
 find a ready market for all the produce they can raise ; but, 
 unfortunately, the greater part of our people are glad when 
 they have enough to supply their own wants. The Indians 
 in our immediate vicinity are not in want ; they have raised 
 good crops of corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and beans, without 
 giving themselves much pains to do it." 
 
 Another letter, written, on the 6th of July, 1854, by a 
 gentleman who had passed up the valley of the Kanzas, 
 says: 
 
 " The best portion of the land in the Kanzas valley is 
 held by the Indians, but almost every acre of this fine 
 country is said to be susceptible of agricultural improve- 
 ment. The climate is generally admitted to be remarkably 
 serene and temperate, being well suited to out-door employ- 
 
120 ii^ KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ment, but the extensive prairies will especiallj make the 
 raising of live stock the most profitable occupation. 
 
 "The chief products are likely to be wheat, oats, and 
 Indian corn. Wool-growing is also likely to become a 
 favorite employment. The accounts respecting the scarcity 
 of timber are not substantially correct. In those parts of 
 the territory where timber is not in abundance, there are 
 many substitutes to replace it. But the country seems 
 generally to be divided into timbered, opening, and prairie. 
 The rolling prairie, interspersed with opening, mostly pre- 
 vails. The great range of pasturage on the prairies makes 
 it an uncommonly fine grazing country. 
 
 "The water-power is admirable. Besides the Kanzas, 
 there are innumerable smaller streams and branches run- 
 ning throughout the whole extent of the territory, so that 
 no portion of it is without a plentiful supply of good and 
 generally pure water." ^ 
 
 The following statement is from the pen of a most intel- 
 ligent gentleman, who has travelled over all parts of 
 America : 
 
 " The soil, for the most part, is unsurpassed for richness 
 and depth by any in the world. True, in some parts, as 
 near the mountains, and some other places, it is thin and 
 sandy, but for hundreds of miles from the Missouri state 
 line, not an acre of waste or poor land was to be seen on 
 our route. The land is gently rolling, thus giving an end- 
 less variety to the scenery, as well as ridding the country 
 
EASTERN KANZAS. 121 
 
 of all low marshes, swamps, and stagnant pools of water, 
 so productive of malaria and disease. Lest it should be 
 thought that this is written for effect at the present time, 
 and, therefore, the representation toe strong, I will quote, 
 upon this subject, a line from my journal written on the 
 spot, in April, 1849, after visiting the Wyandott tribe of 
 Indians in this territory, as follows : ' The land they occupy 
 is immensely rich and very beautiful. All this region, both 
 the Indian territory and this side of the Kanza,s river (in 
 Missouri), is superior to any I ever saw for cultivation, 
 and if it were occupied by New England society, I would 
 never think of visiting California.' The soil is not only 
 rich, but well watered. Not only are the clouds more 
 prodigal of their treasures than at Salt Lake Valley, and in 
 California, during the summer season, but streams of pure 
 water are to be found, at short intervals, in every direction. 
 These streams are almost invariably skirted with timber, in 
 the eastern portion of the territory, and can afford water- 
 power in abundance for every kind of manufactures." 
 
 " The scenery, " he continues, "that most attracts emi- 
 grants, is found in the eastern portion of this territory, 
 where the deep virgin soil of the rolling prairie invites the 
 plough and spade. To give some idea of this scenery, I 
 will quote my impressions, as they were pencilled while 
 travelling through the territory, south of the Kanzas river. 
 
 "May 11th, 1849. Our course to-day has been over 
 the rolling prairie, and we passed along without diflSculty. 
 11 
 
122 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 The prairie seems to be an endless succession of rolls, with 
 a smooth, green surface, dotted all over -with most beautiful 
 flowers. The soil is of Ihe most rich and fertile character, 
 •with no waste land. The feelings that come over a person, 
 as he first views this immense ocean of land, are indescrib- 
 able. As far as the eye can reach, he sees nothing but 
 a beautiful green carpet, save here and there perhaps a 
 cluster of trees ; he hears nothing but the feathered song- 
 sters of the air, and feels nothing but a solemn awe in view 
 of this infinite display of creative power. 
 
 "13th. Turned out this morning at four o'clock, to 
 watch the cattle. Went upon a high roll of land, where I 
 had an extensive and enchanting view of this seemingly 
 boundless and ever varying prairie. The sun is rising out 
 of this sea of land in the east, a line of timber skirts Cedar 
 Creek to the N. E., also Spoon Creek to the N. W., while 
 still further on, in the same direction, is seen a thick fog, 
 marking the course of the Kanzas river. All is still save 
 the grazing of the cattle, and the concert of birds, which is 
 composed of a great variety of songsters. The cooing of 
 the prairie hens, heard in every direction, constitutes the 
 base; the loud cawing of the crows, the tenor; the fine 
 sweet voices of the ground and small birds, the treble ; and 
 a noise as of distant wild geese, the alto. 
 
 " 23rd. Passed a beautiful little creek of pure cold 
 water, about twelve M., where we found a newly-made 
 grave. Ascended a high bluff near the creek, where I had 
 
EASTEKN KANZAS. 123 
 
 a most delightful view of the country to a great distance. 
 I was reminded of the view of the Connecticut river valley 
 from Mt. Holyoke. There is this difference, however : 
 while one is circumscribed by hill and forests, the other is 
 illimitable in extent, and stretches from the rising to the 
 setting sun; and while one is striped and checked with 
 cornfields and meadows like a carpet, the other is capable 
 of being checked as numerously with states and nations." 
 
 The character of the Kanzas river itself has been indi- 
 cated in some of these notices of journeys along its shores. 
 The western boundary of Missouri, by the act establishing 
 it in 1820, is fixed as the meridian of longitude which in- 
 tersects the Missouri river at the entrance of the Kanzas. 
 Of course, therefore, the point of land between the Kanzas 
 and the Missouri is in the territory of Kanzas. It is fre- 
 quently represented, even in official maps, as if it belonged 
 in Missouri. It is the chief station of the Wyandot tribe, 
 whose governor, Mr. Walker, resides there, as his brothers 
 do. Their church, also, is on this point of land. Kanzaa 
 city is opposite in Missouri, just east of the state line. It 
 has two advantages which give its inhabitants great hopes 
 that it will become a great commercial city. One of these 
 is its "landing." The river shore is here stone, so that 
 the landing is in no danger of washing away by inundations, 
 an evil to which most of the cities on the Missouri are 
 exposed. The other is that the town has been selected as 
 the present western terminus of the " Pacific Eailroad," 
 
124 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 incorporated by the State of Missouri, and now under contract. 
 The line of this road leaves the Missouri river at Jefferson 
 Citj, and does not approach it again till it strikes at Kanzas. 
 
 From this point to Republican Fork the Kanzas river is 
 free from interruption, and navigable except when the wa- 
 ter is very low, as it is through part of the summer. By 
 Lewis and Clarke's measurement it was three hundred and 
 forty yards wide at its mouth. It is wider above, and sel- 
 dom fordable. A steamboat carried up the supplies needed 
 for the building of Fort Riley, the new government post at 
 the mouth of Republican Fork. 
 
 This post was well selected, and the neighborhood will 
 become important. The Republican Fork is navigable far- 
 ther up, but no explorations have been made public to show 
 how far. The Republican Fork takes its name from the 
 Republican Pawnees, who formerly lived in its vicinity. 
 
 In 1844, Col. Fremont descended the valley of the Re- 
 publican Fork and Kanzas. The following are his notes of 
 the country as he saw it then. 
 
 " Agreeably to your instructions, which required me to 
 complete, as far as practicable", our examinations of the 
 Kanzas, I left, at twenty miles below Bent's Fort, the Ar- 
 kansas river, taking a north-easterly direction across the 
 elevated dividing grounds which separate that river from 
 the waters of the Nebraska. On the 7th of July we crossed 
 a large stream, about forty yards wide, and one or two feet 
 
VALLEY OF THE KANZAS, 125 
 
 deep, flowing with a lively current on a sandy bed. . The 
 discolored and muddy appearance of the water indicated that 
 it proceeded from recent rains, and we are inclined to consider 
 this a branch of the Smoky Hill river, although possibly it 
 may be the Pawnee Fork of the Arkansas. Beyond this 
 stream we travelled over high and level prairies, halting at 
 small ponds and holes of water, and using for our fires the 
 bois de vache, the country being without timber. On the 
 evening of the 8th we encamped in a cotton-wood grove on 
 the banks of a sandy stream bed, where there was water in 
 holes sufficient for the camp. Here several hollows or dry 
 creeks, with sandy beds, met together, forming the head 
 of a stream which afterwards proved to be the Smoky Hill 
 Fork of the Kanzas river. 
 
 "As we travelled down the valley, water gathered rap- 
 idly in the sandy bed from many little tributaries, and at 
 evening it had become a handsome stream, fifty to eighty 
 feet in width, with a lively current in small channels, the 
 water being principally dispersed among quicksands. 
 
 " Gradually enlarging, in a few days' march it became a 
 river eighty yards in breadth, wooded with occasional groves 
 of cotton- wood. Our road was generally over level uplands 
 bordering the river, which were closely covered with a sward 
 of buffalo-grass. 
 
 " The country through which we had been travelling 
 since leaving the Arkansas river, for a distance of two hun- 
 dred and sixty miles, presented to the eye only a succession 
 11* 
 
126 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 of far-stretcliing prairies, covered witli the unbroken ver- 
 dure of the buffalo-grass, and sparingly wooded along the 
 streams with straggling trees and occasional groves of cot- 
 ton-wood ; but here the country began perceptibly to change 
 its character, becoming a more fertilg, wooded and beautiful 
 I'egion, covered with a profusion of grasses, and watered 
 with innumerable little streams, which were wooded with 
 oak, large elms, and the usual varieties of timber common 
 to the lower course of the Kanzas river. 
 
 "As we advanced, the country steadily improved, grad- 
 ually assimilating itself in appearance to the north-western 
 part of the State of Missouri. The beautiful sward of the 
 buffalo-grass, which is regarded as the best and most nutri- 
 tious found on the prairies, appeared now only in patches, 
 being replaced by a longer and coarser grass, which cov- 
 ered the face of the country luxuriantly. The difference 
 in the character of the grasses became suddenly evident in 
 the weakened condition of our animals, which began sensi- 
 bly to fail as soon as we quitted the buffalo-grass. 
 
 " The river preserved a uniform breadth of eighty or a 
 hundred yards, with broad bottoms continuously timbered 
 with large cotton- wood trees, among which were interspersed 
 a few other varieties." 
 
 In the extracts already made from Col. Fremont and Col. 
 Emory, their notes on the geology of the sections they 
 passed have appeared. The bituminous coal of the Missouri 
 coal measures appears in numerous places in the eastern 
 
GEOLOaiCAL FORMATION. 127 
 
 parts of the territory, on both sides of the Kanzas river. 
 The limestone on which the soil rests is the carboniferous 
 hmestone. Near the state line, south of the mouth of the 
 river, is one of these beds of coal at the surface. At the 
 Wah-ka-rusi river, forty miles west, the Shawnee Indians 
 work the coal, and carry it as far as Westport in Missouri. 
 
 Coal is also found in New Mexico, in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the south-western parts of the territory, 
 and the coal region of south-western Nebraska probably ex- 
 tends through western Kanzas. 
 
 Capt. Stansbury's notes of the geology of the section 
 from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Kearney are full and in- 
 teresting. The strata are generally shale, sometimes carbon- 
 iferous, on which is limestone, sometimes siliceous, and al- 
 ways with fossils, and a ferruginous sandstone lying over the 
 limestone. The limestone is sometimes tinged with iron. 
 The fossils are spirifer, productus, terebratula and some 
 crinoidese. Flint is found with the limestone, and on the 
 surface are pebbles and granite, of quartz and porphyry, 
 with some large blocks of porphyritic granite. At the Big 
 Blue river, where, in a ravine a hundred feet deep, he saw 
 the strata best exposed, they were horizontal from north to 
 south, f ith a dip of ten degrees to the west. Here the low- 
 est stratum of all was red clay and sand, gray shales were 
 next, then blue limestone, gray limestone, with flint and 
 Avhite sandstone. All these but the clay contained fossils. 
 
 The specimens collected here are pronounced by Prof. 
 
128 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 James Hall to belong all to the limestone of the carbonifer- 
 ous period, and apparently form the upper of the two great 
 limestones of this period in the west. This limestone con- 
 tinues as far as the Big Blue (in longitude 97°). It is suc- 
 ceeded by strata of cretaceous age, covered in considerable 
 measure by drift. 
 
 Of the route from Fort Kearney to Fort Laramie, which 
 indicates the geology of the whole western region, Prof 
 Hall remarks that nothing older than tertiary formations is 
 observed. In the neighborhood of Fort Laramie is carbon- 
 iferous limestone again, probably of the same character as 
 that of the eastern part of Kanzas. Farther west the rocks 
 are metamorphic, probably of "silurian" age. The coal of 
 that region (already described) coming in with sigillaria 
 and catamites as fossils, and in the neighborhood of lime- 
 stone, probably belongs to the true coal measures, and indi- 
 cates to Prof Hall the existence of a great coal basin. 
 
 From the general aspect of .the country it is probable 
 that the most available water-power for immediate use will 
 be found on the streams flowing into the Kanzas from the 
 north. These have often a bold, rapid current, and invari- 
 ably flow through quite deep channels. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Stations — Military, trading and missionary posts — Projected cities in 
 Nebraska and Kanzas. 
 
 We have already said that at the present time, Aug. 1, 
 1854, there is nothing which deserves the name of a town 
 either in Nebraska or Kanzas. 
 
 The most prominent positions, as yet, are the military\ 
 posts established by government. In Nebraska there are 
 two of these, already alluded to, Fort Kearney and Fort , 
 Laramie. ^..^^ 
 
 Fort Kearney was established in accordance with Col. \ 
 Fremont's suggestion, in his first report, at the head of 
 Grand Island, in the Nebraska river. All the emigrant 
 routes by that river to California, Utah or Oregon, converge 
 here, so that it becomes a position of importance. Col. Fre- 
 mont selected the site because in the neighborhood of Grand 
 Island, which supplies it with timber. It has scarcely any 
 other natural advantages. The government has established^ 
 a post-office there ; the mihtary hospital is supplied with 
 
130 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ample stores for the relief of emigrants, and the soil, though 
 not good, has been made to yield some vegetables in the 
 gardens and farm of the fort. The return of last autumn 
 names the 6th regiment of infantry as the garrison, under 
 command of Capt. H. S. Wharton. 
 
 We have already spoken of Fort Laramie, which also 
 occupies an unpromising position. In 1849 it was transferred 
 to the United States government by the Fur Company who 
 had established it, and the accommodations of the fort were 
 considerably enlarged. It is the fort originally known as 
 Fort John, and so marked on the oldest maps. At the last 
 return it was garrisoned by a company of the 6th infantry, 
 under Lieut. Garnett. There is a post-office here also. 
 
 A post-office is established also at a spot on the Nebraska 
 river known as Wood River, which is called the Nebraska 
 Centre post-office. This is one hundred and fifty miles up 
 the river, not far below Fort Kearney. It is said the ser- 
 vice is not very regular. 
 
 The insignificant stations of the Omaha and Ottoe Indians 
 take rank, with names, as towns, at the present time. 
 
 Table Creek post-office is at Old Fort Kearney, at the 
 mouth of Table Creek, thirty miles below the mouth of the 
 Nebraska. Here is Boulware's Ferry, one of the principal 
 ferries across the Missouri, and the site of Nebraska City, 
 so called on paper. 
 
 Nebraska Depot is a ferry three miles below the 
 Nebraska river. 
 
FORTS IN KANZAS. 131 
 
 Bbllevue is a lovely spot on the Missouri river, about 
 nine miles above the mouth of the Nebraska. Here is an 
 Indian agency, and the school of the Ottoe and Omaha 
 Mission. 
 
 In the northern parts of the territory, Forts Pierre, UnionTx 
 Clarke, Benton ; Manuel's Fort, Fort Berthold, Fort Alex- 
 ander, are stations of the Fur Company. The last three^are 
 on the Yellowstone. Fort Mandanj at which Lewis and 
 Clarke made their winter quarters in 1805, has not since 
 been tenanted. It is in the territory of Minnesota. 
 
 In Kanzas the government forts now occupied are Fort 
 Leavenworth, Fort Riley, and Fort Atkinson. 
 
 Fort Leavenworth is on the west side of the Missouri 
 river, three hundred and ninety-eight miles above its mouth, 
 thirty-one miles above the mouth of the Kanzas river, and 
 four miles below "Weston, Mo., in lat. 39° 21' 14" N., and 
 long. 94° 44' W. It was established in 182T. " It is the 
 great frontier depot for the other military posts on the Santa 
 Fe and Oregon routes, and the general rendezvous for troops 
 proceeding to western forts. The government reservation of 
 nine square miles is on a handsome location, which rises 
 gradually from the river to a height of one hundred and 
 fifty feet. There is a good landing for steamboats. All the 
 buildings are well constructed of stone, and present quite an 
 imposing appearance. They consist of the barracks for the 
 troops, a large structure, three stories high; a hospital, which 
 cost from $12,000 to |15,000; the quartermaster's build- 
 
132 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ing, a capacious warehouse, etc. Coimected with the fort is 
 a large farm." 
 
 A letter written this spring says: — "About noon we 
 began to approach the vicinity of Fort Leavenworth. This 
 is without exception the most beautiful place on the river. 
 When within two or three miles, whoever has been in the 
 country once will know that he is approaching it by the 
 scenery, which much resembles that of some old English 
 Manor that has been given up for a few years to the keep- 
 ing of nature, or rather like some gigantic park. It is dif- 
 ficult to believe that the hand of art has not been busy there ; 
 the banks of the river are quite high and steep, presenting a 
 mural face of limestone, and the bluffs above are covered 
 with a small growth of elms, their branches covered with a 
 dense foliage and bending gracefully toward the ground like 
 those of the weeping willow. As soon as the boat touched 
 the landing all the passengers stepped on shore and ascended 
 the hill to the barracks, about a quarter of a mile. Much 
 had been said of the beauty of the location and the fine 
 prospect we should enjoy from the top of the blufi's, and con- 
 sequently the interest was considerable. Nor were we in 
 the least disappointed. As far as the eye could reach on 
 either hand hill rose above hill in an almost endless series 
 of undulations, beautiful streams were winding their sinuous 
 course through fertile valleys, and the whole diversified with 
 fine groves, gave to the view the air of enchantment. Add 
 to this an inexhaustible fertility of soil, and we have a truly 
 
FOKT KILEY. 133 
 
 fine country. At the foot of the landing is a large store- 
 house, at which considerable business is done. On the sum- 
 mit of the bluflf is a large plateau, on which the fort, or 
 rather village, stands, for it has far more the appearance of 
 a beautiful village than fort. In the centre are three or four 
 large buildings, much like " city blocks," in which the sol- 
 diers have their mess and lodge. At a little distance from 
 these, and at the several corners, are a number of fine houses, 
 the residences of the ofiicers. In the rear is a splendid 
 grove of elms, with their branches bending to the ground, 
 and through the dense foliage a fine prairie breeze is ever 
 playing, rendering the atmosphere cool and healthy. This is 
 the promenade ground." 
 
 At the last return Fort Leavenworth was garrisoned by 
 one company of the Fourth Artillery and one of the First 
 Dragoons, under Col. Fauntleroy. 
 
 The government has vacillated regarding a western fort 
 in Kanzas, and only last spring established that which seems 
 likely to be permanent, at the junction of Republican Fork. 
 This is called Fort Riley. The report of last winter thus 
 describes its progress : — 
 
 "The work authorized by Congress, at its last session, to 
 be established at the mouth of the Republican Fork of the 
 Kanzas river, was commenced, under the superintendence of 
 Major Ogden. Much labor has been done, and materials 
 procured for future operations. A steam saw-mill is in 
 operation, with shingle machine, lath saws, and mortising 
 12 
 
134 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 machine attached. The original plan contemplated barracks 
 of stone for eight companies. Only three companies were 
 detailed at first for the garrison, and they arrived so late in 
 the season, that, with the difficulties to be overcome, more 
 than quarters sufficient for the officers and men of two com- 
 panies, according to the plan, could not be completed ; they 
 vpill, however, during the winter, shelter the four companies 
 of which the garrison is now composed. 
 
 " Major Ogden reports that the estimate for the work, based 
 upon prices of labor and material at the time it was made, 
 has proved entirely too small. Prices have increased thirty 
 per cent., and in place of two hundred soldiers which it was 
 estimated might be employed as mechanics and laborers, 
 only from sixty to seventy could be spared from other duties. 
 The increase in the prices of labor and materials, with the 
 addition to the hired force rendered necessary by the small 
 military force furnished, will increase the expense of the 
 work about seventeen thousand dollars ; and the barn, stables, 
 granaries, and other buildings necessary for a large mounted 
 force, are estimated to cost about twelve thousand dollars 
 more, making together twenty-nine thousand dollars required 
 to complete the work." 
 
 This fort is one hundred and ten miles above the mouth 
 of the Kanzas river, which, as we have said, is navigable 
 thus far. It is in latitude 39° 03' 38" N., longitude 96° 24' 
 56" W., at an elevation of nine hundred and twenty-six feet 
 
FORTS IN KANZAS. 135 
 
 above the Gulf of Mexico. Its garrison is four companies 
 of the Sixth Infantry, under Capt. Loude. 
 
 The necessity of establishing a post on the Arkansas 
 river, to protect emigrants and merchants on the Santa F6 
 route, early attracted attention. Different sites have been 
 recommended and occupied for a time, under the different 
 names of Fort Sumner, Fort Atkinson and Fort Mann. 
 Last year the force at Fort Atkinson was withdrawn, from 
 the difficulty of obtaining provision and forage, but it has 
 been reestablished, within a few weeks past, and two com- 
 panies stationed there. It stands where the Santa Fe trail 
 crosses the Arkansas river, not far from the Big Timbers, 
 which supply it with wood, and even forage. 
 
 At the extreme northerly point of Arkansas river, where 
 Walnut Creek enters it. Walnut Creek post-office was estab- 
 lished when the troops were withdrawn from Fort Atkinson. 
 
 The Big Timbers, already alluded to, are a favorite coun- 
 cil-ground and point of rendezvous. They are thirty-five 
 miles below Bent's Fort. This is Mr. Charles Bent's prin- 
 cipal trading-house. The buildings are of adobe, well for- 
 tified. The farms have been already alluded to. The Pueblo 
 de San Carlos, already described, is the largest station on 
 the Upper Arkansas. Fort Scott, near the Missouri line, 
 was abandoned in 1853, for Fort Riley. 
 
 There is a- post-office in Kanzas at the Delawares' City, 
 ten miles above the mouth of the Kanzas. 
 
 The Kickapoo mission station is on the Missouri, four 
 
136 KASZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 miles above Fort Leavenworth ; the Iowa and Sac, just 
 south of the northern line of Kanzaa. On the Kanzas 
 river is Rev. Mr. Johnson's farm, of the Shawnee (Metho- 
 dist South) mission. This is eight miles up the river. The 
 Shawnee Baptist mission is two miles from it, and the 
 Friends' school three miles west. The American Baptist 
 mission, at Briggwall, is in this neighborhood. Farther up 
 is St. Mary's, the Catholic mission to the Pottawatomies, 
 about sixty miles from the mouth of the Kanzas. The suc- 
 cess of its farms has already been described. The interest- 
 ing mission of Mr. Meeker among the Ottowas is south 
 of the river, near the state line. And in that neighborhood 
 is Mr. Lykin's mission, the Baptist Mission and Labor 
 School, supported by the American Indian Missionary As- 
 sociation of Louisville. 
 
 The Catholic Osa&e Mission, on the Neosho river, 
 forty-five miles from Fort Scott, is one of the largest mis- 
 sions and schools in Kanzas. It was commenced in 1847, 
 the boys' school having been opened on May Ist, and the 
 girls' school Oct. 10th of that year. The experiment proved 
 so successful that more ample buildings were needed, which 
 were built in 1849 and 1850. The Rev. John Schoenma- 
 ker has been the Superior of this mission from its com- 
 mencement. He is assisted by two other clergymen of the 
 Society of Jesus, and by several lay brothers. Sermons 
 are preached in Osage and English. There are ten mis- 
 sionary stations at as many difierent Indian villages within 
 
CATHOLIC MISSION — ELM GKOVE. 137 
 
 sixty miles, attended monthly from this mission. The Cath- 
 olic population of this district is reported to be between six 
 hundred and seven hundred, and that of the upper country 
 at three thousand. Attached to this mission is a Manual 
 Labor School for boys, under the direction of the Fathers, 
 assisted by the Rev. Theodore Heiman and eight lay broth- 
 ers, who attend to the farm, gardens and household business. 
 During the past year, thirty-nine Osage boys were admit- 
 ted, of whom thirty-four were in constant attendance. The 
 school lately received an important accession by the United 
 States government's transferring, in April, 1853, the Qua- 
 paw school to this. Of the Quapaw children, eighteen attend 
 at the male department. The latter is under the care of the 
 Sisters of Loretto, eight in number, formerly from Ken- 
 tucky, — Mother Concordia, Superior. The number of girls 
 during the year ending Sept. 1, 1853, was thirty-two, and 
 twenty -four of these attended constantly. The girls have 
 improved very rapidly, and are daily instructed in house- 
 hold business, fine sewing, working on lace and embroidery, 
 painting in oil and water colors, etc. 
 
 Elm Gbove, or Eound Grove, is a noted camping- 
 place on the Santa Fe road, twenty-five miles from 
 Westport, Mo., in lat. 38° 49' 41" N., and Ion. 94° 25' 
 31" W. Col. Fremont encamped here May 31, 1843, at 
 the commencement of his second expedition. Traders 
 often locate here, for a season, in the prosecution of their 
 
 business. 
 
 12* 
 
138 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 Council Grove, a noted stopping-place on the great 
 thoroughfare to Santa Fe, contains some half dozen trad- 
 ing houses, a missionary establishment and school, two 
 blacksmiths' shops, etc. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Routes of travel — The Pacific railroad — Navigable rivers. 
 
 The territory of Kanzas, from its position, is the great 
 geographical centre of the internal commerce of the United 
 States. 
 
 The only overland routes from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
 which have thus far accommodated emigrants or merchants, 
 either pass through its borders, or along the Missouri river 
 to the valley of the Nebraska, thus passing along on its 
 eastern side. 
 
 A southern route through Texas, and another through 
 Arkansas, have been explored, ■without thus far attracting 
 the travel of any but explorers. 
 
 Of the routes really used, the great emigrant track, 
 through the " South Pass," to Oregon and California, is by 
 far the most important. 
 
 It must be understood that the " South Pass " is so 
 called only because it is south of the passes of the upper 
 valley of the Missouri, explored by Lewis and Clarke. It 
 
140 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 is more northerly than the pass proposed by Col. Fremont 
 for a railroad, near the line of ISTew Mexico. 
 
 The travel along the great emigrant road is equal to 
 that on a considerable turnpike at the east. Settlers leave 
 the river at different places, according as they choose differ- 
 ent towns for an outfit. From Independence, Westport, 
 Kanzas City, Weston, St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, and other 
 towns in Missouri and Iowa, are different roads, therefore, 
 leading west or north-west to the valley of the Nebraska, 
 along which is the proper emigrant road. Those of these 
 tracks which pass Fort Leavenworth are accommodated by 
 the military road which the government has completed be- 
 tween that fort and Fort Kearney. 
 
 This road, called the "New Military Road," was con- 
 structed in 1850, by the government, which caused it to he 
 surveyed, improved and bridged, and, having since kept it in 
 good repair, it is called the best of the emigrant routes, be- 
 ing high, level, dry, with fine grass and convenient water. 
 /The old military road, into which the road from St. Joseph 
 / enters, was abandoned on account of the large streams, 
 i swamps, barrens and hills, and its general crookedness. 
 I At Fort Kearney all these roads unite, and there is from 
 I that place but one road up the valley. Blacksmith shops 
 ! and ferries are established along this road for the accom- 
 \modation of travellers. 
 
 ~ The great Santa Fe route has been for many years fol- 
 lowed by the overland traders to New Mexico. Its history 
 
EOUTES THKOUflH KANZAS. 141 
 
 will be found fully described in Mr. Gregg's " Commerce of 
 the Prairies." It follows, for a short distance, the Kanzaa 
 valley, crosses the " divide " to the great bend of the Arkan- 
 sas, and by that valley proceeds westward to New Mexico. 
 By this route Gen. Kearney's command advanced in 1846. 
 Leaving the Arkansas river at Bent's Fort and soon turning 
 southwards, it keeps along the east flank of the " Spanish 
 Peaks" until a little south of Santa Fe, when, by a series 
 of passes, it crosses into the valley of the Del Norte. 
 
 These two great lines of travel are the only two which 
 are used in general by settlers or merchants passing over- 
 land to the west. It is by some modification of the one or 
 the other that almost all the projects for a Pacific railroad 
 propose to cross the continent. — •- 
 
 In view, however, of the fact that the Missouri river it- 
 self gives, far north, the nearest navigable access to the 
 Eocky Mountains, Gov. Stevens, the governor of the terri- 
 tory of Washington, was directed last year to survey the 
 mountains in the neighborhood of the head waters of that 
 stream, with reference to a route for travel through some of 
 their passes. 
 
 Meanwhile, since the annexation of New. Mexico, several 
 methods of passing the mountains to the north of Santa Fe 
 have been suggested, one of which is that adopted by Col. 
 Fremont in his project for a Pacific railroad. 
 
 The following general sketch of the country, through 
 which the various routes to the Pacific must pass, is from 
 
142 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the last report of the Secretary of War. It wiU enable the 
 reader to understand the details which follow, as to the vari- 
 ous passes of the mountains suggested by different enterprises. 
 " The western portion of the continent of North Amer- 
 ica, irrespective of the mountains, is traversed, from north 
 to south, by a broad, elevated swell or plateau of land, 
 which occupies the greater portion of the whole space be- 
 tween the Mississippi river and the Pacific Ocean. The 
 crest of this plateau, or the water-shed of the country, is 
 nearly midway between the Pacific coast and the Mississippi. 
 It may be represented on the map by an undulating line 
 traced between the head waters of the streams which flow 
 eastward and those which flow westward. It divides the 
 whole area between the Mississippi and the Pacific into two 
 nearly equal portions — that on the east being somewhat 
 the larger. This crest of the water-shed has its greatest 
 elevation in Mexico ; and thence declines to its lowest point 
 about the latitude of 32°, where it has a height of about 
 four thousand five hundred feet, between the waters of the 
 Rio Grande and those of the San Pedro, a tributary of the 
 Gila. From this parallel it increases in altitude northward, 
 and reaches its maximum near the 38th parallel, where it is 
 about eight thousand feet high. Thence it declines as we 
 pass northward ; and, in lat. 42° 24', it has an elevation of 
 say seven thousand feet ; and, in the latitude of about 47°, 
 it is reported to be at least one thousand feet lower. The 
 heights here given are those of the lowest passes over the 
 
TIfE GREAT PLATEAU. 143 
 
 crest or water-shed of the great plateau of the country, 
 and not those of the mountain peaks and ridges which have 
 their base upon it, and rise, in some cases, to the height of 
 seventeen thousand feet into the region of perpetual snow. 
 
 "The slope of the plateau, on the east and south, to- 
 wards the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, is compara- 
 tively gentle ; and, in Texas, is by several steps, of which 
 the highest is that known by the name of Llano Estacado, 
 or Staked Plain. It is traversed by the Missouri, the 
 Platte, the Arkansas, and other large rivers which rise 
 among the mountains near the crest, and flow eastward and 
 southward in channels sunk beneath the general surface- 
 level of the plains. 
 
 " In lat. 42°, near the source of the Platte, it has an 
 elevation of about five thousand feet above tide, and in the 
 same latitude on the Mississippi about one thousand feet. 
 Towards the sources of the Arkansas, in lat. 36°, it has a 
 height of four thousand feet ; and in the same latitude on 
 the Mississippi, two hundred and seventy-five feet. These 
 elevations give an average declination, eastward, to the 
 whole plain, of about four and a half feet per mile, and 
 southward, of about two and a third feet. 
 
 " The crest of the plateau, and nearly the whole of its 
 western portion to the Pacific, is occupied by a great moun- 
 tain system — the continuation of the Andes of South 
 America. It has a variable breadth, narrowest within our 
 possessions, near the Gila, in lat. 32°, where it has a width 
 
144 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 of about five hundred miles, and attains its greatest expan- 
 sion in the parallel of 40°, where it occupies a space of 
 about nine hundred miles. On this mountain base, as has 
 been said before, are situated a series of elevated peaks, 
 ridges, and ranges. Those on the eastern side are nearly 
 continuous for about nine hundred miles, and known by the 
 name of the Rocky Mountains ; those on the western side 
 are perhaps less continuous, though equally elevated above 
 their base, and designated as the Sierra Nevada, Coast 
 Range, Cascade Mountains, etc. The whole space between 
 these extreme ranges is occupied by high peaks, and in va- 
 rious directions by a series of ridges, including elevated val- 
 leys, and forming great basins, having no outlet to the sea. 
 The most important of these is Salt Lake Basin, having an 
 elevation of four thousand one hundred feet. 
 
 " This mountain region is not, as is frequently supposed, 
 a single chain, but a system extending from a little east of 
 the crest of the water-shed to near the shores of the Pacific, 
 and occupying about one-half of all the space between the 
 Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. The position of this belt 
 of mountain region, stretching from north to south, gives 
 rise to a peculiarity of climate and soil. Fertility depends 
 principally upon the degree of temperature and amount of 
 moisture, both of which are much afiected by increase of 
 elevation ; and the latter, also, depends on the direction of 
 the wind. The upper or return current of the trade-wind, 
 flowing backward towards the north-east, gives a prevalence 
 
RAILROAD ACROSS THE PLATEAU. 145 
 
 of westerly winds in tte north temperate zone, which tends 
 to spread the moisture of the Pacific over the western por- 
 tion of our continent. 
 
 "These winds, however, ascending the western slope of 
 the mountain ridges, are deprived of their moisture by the 
 diminished temperature of the increased elevation ; and 
 hence it is that the plains and valleys on the eastern side 
 of the ridges are generally parched and barren, and that 
 the mountain system, the highest chain of which, known as 
 the Rocky Mountains, by presenting, as it were, a screen 
 against the moisture with which the winds from the west 
 come laden, has for its eastern margin a sterile belt, which 
 probably extends along the whole range, with an average 
 width of about two hundred and fifty miles." 
 
 There is no physical difiiculty of m.ore than ordinary char- 
 acter in the way of a railroad route from the Mississippi to 
 the eastern base of the great mountain region thus described, 
 or to what is usually called the line of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. The slopes are gentle, and an average ascent of 
 about six feet to a mile would carry a railroad route to the 
 great sandy plains which stretch about two hundred or three 
 hundred miles east of the mountains proper. The route 
 through the plains, and then through the ridges of the 
 mountains themselves, becomes the question of especial 
 practical interest. The various passes proposed refer to 
 different methods of crossing this region. To describe these 
 several passes through the mountains, in the order in which 
 13 
 
KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 "they have claimed public attention, we speak first of the 
 South Pass. This is at the head of the Sweet Water river, 
 one of the highest tributaries of the North Pork of the 
 Nebraska. It was early known to the trappers, and is 
 described in Capt. Bonneville's adventures, as Mrjmog. 
 has presented them. It was first examined with scientific 
 '|)recision by Lieut. Fremont, in 1842, and. afterwards, on 
 his return from the Pacific, in 1844. In his journal of 
 that year he gives the following account of this remarkable 
 highway between the oceans : — 
 
 " The morning of August 13th was clear and cold, there 
 being a white frost, and the thermometer, a little before 
 sunrise, standing at 26.5°. Leaving this encampment 
 (our last on the waters which flow towards the rising sun), 
 we took our way along the upland, towards the dividing 
 ridge which separates the Atlantic from the Pacific waters, 
 and crossed it by a road some miles further south than the 
 one we had followed on our return in 1842. We crossed 
 very near the Table Mountain, at the southern extremity of 
 the South Pass, which is near twenty miles in width, and 
 already traversed by several difierent roads. Selecting as 
 well as I could, in the scarcely distinguishable ascent, what 
 might be considered the dividing ridge in this remarkable 
 depression in the mountain, I took a barometrical observa- 
 tion, which gave seven thousand four hundred and ninety 
 feet for the elevation above the Gulf of Mexico. You will 
 remember that, in my report of 1842, I estimated the ele- 
 
THE SOUTH PASS. 147 
 
 vation of this pass at about seven thousand feet ; a correct 
 observation ^¥ith a good barometer enables me now to give 
 it with more precision. Its importance, as the great gate 
 through which commerce and traveUing may hereafter pass 
 between the valley of the Mississippi and the north Pacific, 
 justifies a precise notice of its locality and distance from 
 leading points, in addition to this statement of its elevation. 
 As stated in the report of 1842, its latitude at the point 
 where we crossed is 42° 24' 32"; its longitude, 109" 26' 00"; 
 its distance from the mouth of the Kanzas, by the common 
 travelling route, nine hundred and sixty-two miles ; from 
 the mouth of the Great Platte, along the valley of that 
 river, according to our survey of 1842, eight hundred and 
 eighty-two miles ; and its distance from St. Louis about 
 four hundred miles more by the Kanzas, and about seven 
 hundred by the Great Platte route ; these additions being 
 steamboat conveyance in both instances. From this pass to 
 the mouth of the Oregon is about one thousand four hun- 
 dred miles, by the common travelling route ; so that, under 
 a general point of view, it may be assumed to be about half 
 way between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, on the 
 common travelling route. Following a hollow of slight 
 and easy descent, in which was very soon formed a little 
 tributary to the Gulf of California (for the waters which 
 flow west from the SOuth Pass go to this gulf), we made 
 our usual halt four miles from the pass, in latitude, by obser- 
 vation, 42° 19' 53". Entering here the valley of Green 
 
148 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 river, — the great Colorado of the West, ■ — and inclinincf 
 very much to the southward along the streams which form 
 the Sandy river, the road led for several days over dry and 
 level uninteresting plains, to which a low, scrubby growth 
 of artemisia gave a uniform dull grayish color ; and on the 
 evening of the 15th we encamped in the Mexican territory, 
 on the li'ft bank of Green river, sixty-nine miles from the 
 South Pass, in longitude 110° 05' 05", and latitude 41° 
 53' 54", distant one thousand and thirty-one miles from 
 the mouth of the Kanzas. This is the emigrant road to 
 Oregon, which bears much to the southward, to avoid the 
 mountains about the western heads of Green river, — the 
 Rio Verde of the Spaniards." 
 
 Through this pass, as has been already said, all the over- 
 land emigration to Oregon passes, and almost all that to 
 California. The emigrant route follows up the north fork 
 of the Nebraska river from Fort Laramie, in order to pass 
 the dividing line of the mountains at this favorable depres- 
 sion. This requires a course so far northerly as to make a 
 consiJciabIc deHection in the route of those proceeding to 
 California or Utah ; and, in order, if possible, to find a 
 more direct pass, Capt. Stansbury, in returning from the 
 valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1850, made a reconnois- 
 sance of Bridger's Pass, which is so called after Major 
 Bridger, who has charge of Fort Bridger, an Indian trad- 
 ing post on the Black Fork of the Green river. This pass 
 is at the head waters of one of the northern tributaries of 
 
BBiD gee's pass. 149 
 
 the Grand river, called Muddy Creek, just above where it 
 unites with St. Vrai.n's. Capt. Stansbury thus describes 
 the crossing of the ridge at this point, indicating, also, his 
 opinion that St. Vrain's will furnish a pass still better : — 
 
 "Sept. 20. Leaving the camp-ground early, we con- 
 tinued up the right bank of the Muddy Creek, over rather 
 rough ground covered with sage, for a couple of miles, to 
 within one mile of the point where the main fork comes in 
 from the Park Mountains on the south-east, where it heads. 
 Here we turned to the left up a beautiful pass about a mile 
 and a half in length, with a uniform gentle ascent to its 
 summit. From the top of this pass we continued for four 
 miles over a gently undulating country, sloping to the right 
 into the drainage of the Muddy. Here we reached the 
 dividing height between the waters of the Atlantic and 
 those of the Pacific. 
 
 " Before us lay an undulating country, descending gently 
 to the east ; beyond, in the distance, frowned the Medicine- 
 bow Butte, at the foot of which flowed the waters of the 
 Platte, while to the southward of this famous headland 
 stretched far away the Park Mountains, whence issue so 
 many tributaries to the Pacific. From this important sum- 
 mit we commenced a scarcely perceptible descent into a wide 
 grassy hollow, forming the valley of a now dry rivulet, 
 which, in the spring, discharges its waters into Sage Creek, 
 an aiHuent of the north fork of the Platte. Two miles 
 east of the " divide " we halted to take a noon observation, 
 13* 
 
150 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 for latitude, which placed us in 41° 83' 22".3, the computed 
 longitude being 107° 30' 48". Grass and water were scarce, 
 and the growth of artemisia very thick, making it somewhat 
 difficult to pass our little wagon over it. Near the mouth of 
 this little stream, we crossed over to another, heading near to 
 it, and running parallel with it, upon the banks of which we 
 encamped, after a deeply interesting march of more than 
 twenty-two miles. 
 
 " From what has been seen since crossing the summit, I 
 am satisfied that it would have been better had we kept more to 
 the southward before crossing it. If, leaving the ridge 
 forming the southern boundary of the valley, we had followed 
 either the stream upon which we are now encamped, or even 
 the valley of another, some miles still farther south, we 
 should not only have somewhat shortened our route, but 
 obtained a greater abundance of grass, wood, and water, from 
 a high ridge which bounds all these little streams on the 
 south. Observations gave for latitude of the camp 41° 35' 
 41", longitude 107° 21' 32". Distance from Fort Bridger, 
 two hundred and seven miles. With the exception of the 
 rough ground near the head of the Muddy, whicli offers no 
 obstruction of consequence, a perfectly feasible, and indeed 
 a most excellent route, whether for a wagon or railroad, has 
 thus been traced, presenting fewer obstacles to the construc- 
 tion of either than almost any tract of the same length in 
 the country. The grades will be easy, the bridging com- 
 paratively light, and, with the exception of the crossing of 
 
PASSES TO THE DEL NOKTE. 151 
 
 the valley of the Muddy, where a long and heavy embank- 
 ment may be required, the cuttings and fillings ^Yill be 
 entirely -within moderate hmits. In no case will an inclined 
 plane be required, and the route is more than usually free 
 from the objection of high and narrow canons, liable to be 
 filled up or obstructed by snow during the winter." 
 
 There appears to be no depression in the mountain range 
 south of Bridger's Pass, or of St. Train's Fork near it, 
 which ofiers, even to the most sanguine, the idea of a route 
 fit for a railroad, until about the parallel of 38° — north of 
 the Spanish Peaks, but south of the high land around Pike's 
 Peak. Col. Fremont suggests this region as the line for the 
 projected line of railway ; and the late Capt. Gunnison was 
 directed to explore it by the government in 1853. 
 
 To come into the valley of the Del Norte, several moun- 
 tain passes were in use by the muleteers ; four of which 
 were known as the Sangre del Christo Pass, the Roubidoux 
 or Musca Pass, Williams's Pass, and the San Luis Pass. 
 Once in the valley of the Del Norte, by one of these passes, 
 the traveller has to get out again, and there are open to him 
 westward the Coo-chi-tope Pass and the Leroux Pass. All 
 of these passes were examined by Capt. Gunnison. The 
 first four named proved quite useless for any purposes of a 
 railroad; indeed, the "Sangre del Christo," which was im- 
 proved as a supply road for Fort Massachusetts on the Del 
 Norte, is but a diiEcult wagon road. , Capt. Gunnison him- 
 self discovered a better summit level very low, over which 
 
152 EANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 even a railroad can easily be made from the plains of the 
 Arkansas to Fort Massachusetts in the valley of the Del 
 Norte.* He also explored the San Luis Pass, and thought 
 these more practicable than the others. These passes are 
 just west of the western line of Kanzas, ■which, as it vrill be 
 remembered, is on the dividing ridge over which they cross. 
 By the last but one of these passes does Col. Fremont propose 
 to carry the California railroad into the valley of the Grand 
 River of the west. It was free from snow, Dec. 8th, 1853. 
 
 The survey which Capt. Gunnison was conducting in the 
 valley of the Great Salt Lake was interrupted by his death. 
 He was killed by the Indians, on the 26th of October, with 
 thirteen of his party. His first oiEcer was Lieut. Beckwith, 
 who remained with the remnant of the party in the Great 
 Salt Lake City through the winter, to complete the survey 
 and drawings. His report has not been published. 
 
 The traders' route to Santa Fe does not follow the valley 
 of the Kanzas river far. Capt. Gunnison found a line by 
 which, following the valley of that river, a road could cross 
 the Saline and Smoky Hill Forks, and pass directly to the 
 Arkansas, without following the bend of that river or of the 
 Smoky Hill. 
 
 The usual route to Santa Fe crosses a line of country 
 easier than these described so far as that city. A line yet 
 
 * It must be remembered that Utah Creek, on which Fort Massachusetts 
 stands, is a tributary of the Del Norte, and has no connection with the 
 waters of Utah river or Utah lake. It is not in the Utah Territory. 
 
KEARNEY'S MARCH TO SANTA FE. 153 
 
 irther south has been surveyed along the valley of the 
 ]imarron, joining the traders' route near Vegas, eighty 
 ailes south of the line of Kanzas. The greatest height on 
 he traders' route, as observed by Lieut. Emory when he 
 rossed with Gen. Kearney, is seven thousand "five hundred 
 3et. He thus describes the pass, beginning at an encampment 
 f which the height was five thousand eight hundred and 
 linety-six feet ; — 
 
 '^August 6. Colonel Kearney left Colonel Doniphan's 
 egiment and Major Clarke's artillery at our old camp- 
 ;round of last night, and scattered Sumner's dragoons 
 hree or four miles up the creek, to pass the day in reno- 
 'ating the animals by nips at the little bunches of grass 
 pread at intervals in the valleys. This being done, we 
 ommenced the ascent of the Eaton, and, after marching 
 eventeen miles, halted with the infantry and general staff 
 rithin a half mile of the summit of the pass. Strong par- 
 ies were sent forward to repair the road, which winds 
 hrough a picturesque valley, with the Raton towering to 
 bie left. Pine trees here obtain a respectable size, and 
 ned the valley through the whole day's march. A few 
 aks {Qnerciis olivaformis), big enough for axles, were 
 )und near the halting-place of to-night. When we first 
 jft the camp this morning, we saw several clumps of the 
 inon {Pinus eduUs). It bears a resinous nut, eaten by 
 lexicans and Indians. We found, also, the lamita in 
 reat abundance. It resembles the wild currant, .and is. 
 
154 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 probably, one of its varieties ; grows to the height of sev- 
 eral feet, and bears a red berry, which is gathered, dried, 
 pounded, and then mixed with sugar and water, making a 
 very pleasant drink, resembling currant cordial. We were 
 unfortunate in not being able to get either the fruit or 
 flower. Neither this plant, the pinon, nor any of the plum 
 trees nor grape vines, had any fruit on them, which is 
 attributable to the excessive drought. The stream, which 
 was last year a rushing torrent, is this year dry, and in 
 pools. 
 
 ' ' The view from our camp is inexpressibly beautiful, and 
 reminds persons of the landscapes of Palestine. Without 
 attempting a description, I refer to the sketch. 
 
 " The rocks of the mountain were chiefly a light sand- 
 stone, in strata, not far from horizontal ; and the road was 
 covered with many fragments of volcanic rocks, of purphsh- 
 brown color, porous, and melting over a slow fire. 
 
 "The road is well located. The general appearance is 
 something like the pass at the summit of the Boston and 
 Albany railroad, but the scenery bolder, and less adorned 
 with' vegetation. 
 
 " An express returned from the spy -guard which report- 
 ed all clear in front. Captain Cooke and Mr. Liffendorfer 
 have only reached the Canadian river. It was reported to 
 me that, at Captain Sumner's camp, about seven miles 
 above where we encamped last night, and twelve miles from 
 the sumnjit, an immense field of coal crops out, the seam 
 
THE RATON. 155 
 
 being thirty feet deep. To-night our animals were refreshed 
 with good grass and water. 
 
 " Nine observations on Polaris give, for the latitude of 
 the place, 37° 00' 21". Seven on Arcturus, in the west, 
 and seven on Alpha Aquilse, in the east, give the chrono- 
 metric longitude 6A. 51m. 01.35s. Height above the sea, 
 seven thousand one hundred and sixty-nine feet. 
 
 "August 7, camp 36. We recommenced the ascent of 
 the Raton, which we reached with ease, with our wagons, 
 in about two miles. The height of this point above the 
 sea, as indicated by the barometer, is seven thousand five 
 hundred feet. From the summit Ave had a beautifuLview 
 of Pike's Peak, the Wattahyah, and the chain of mountains 
 running south from the Wattahyah. Several large white 
 masses were discernible near the summits of the range, 
 which we at first took for snow, but which, on examination 
 with the telescope, were found to consist of white limestone, 
 or granular quartz, of which we afterwards saw so much in 
 this country. As we drew near, the view was no less im- 
 posing. To the east rose the Raton, which appeared still 
 as high as from the camp, one thousand five hundred feet 
 below. On the top of the Raton the geological formation 
 is very singular, presenting the appearance of a succession 
 of castles. As a day would be required to visit it, I was 
 obliged to forego that pleasure, and examine it merely with 
 the glass. The mountain appears to be formed chiefly of 
 sandstone, disposed in strata of various shades of color, 
 
156 KANZAS AXl) XEI3RASKA. 
 
 dipping gently to the east, until you react near tlie summit, 
 where the castellated appearance commences, the sides here 
 being perpendicular and the seams vertical. The valley is 
 strewed with pebbles and fragments of trap rock, and the 
 fusible rock described yesterday, cellular lava, and some 
 pumice. 
 
 " For two days our way was strewed with flowers ; exhil- 
 arated by the ascent, the green foliage of the trees in strik- 
 ing contrast with the deserts we had left behind, they were 
 the most agreeable days of the journey. 
 
 " There is said to be a lake about ten miles to the east 
 of the summit, where immense herds of deer, antelope, 
 and buffalo congregate, but this may be doubted. 
 
 " The descent is much more rapid than the ascent, and 
 for the first few miles through a valley of good burned 
 grass and stagnant waters, containing many beautiful flow- 
 ers. But frec^uently you come to a place where the stream 
 (a branch of the Canadian) has worked itself through the 
 mountains, and the road has to ascend and then descend a 
 sharp spur. Here the diiEculties commence ; and the road, 
 for three or four miles, is just passable for a wagon ; many 
 of the train were broken in the passage. A few thousand 
 dollars judiciously expended here would be an immense 
 saving to the government." 
 
 These various routes of travel westward are all which 
 have been in fact followed by persons crossing with goods or 
 
ROUTES FOR A PACIFIC RAILROAD. 157 
 
 A southern route contemplates a line draTvn from St. 
 Louis to the south-west corner of Missouri, thence westerly 
 to the neighborhood of Bent's Fort, where it would unite 
 •with that already described. 
 
 The various southern routes, converging from various di- 
 rections in Upper Texas, propose to pursue a route almost 
 ■west, through El Paso and the strip of territory purchased 
 of Mexico by the treaty of December 30th, 1853, to San 
 Francisco. But these routes, though explored, have not 
 been travelled on by emigrants or merchants. 
 
 The great practicable routes, thus far used, lead through 
 Kanzas, or the valley of Nebraska river. 
 
 There are various detailed questions already agitated as 
 to the route which a railroad should follow on leaving the 
 valley of the Missouri, and at what point of that valley it 
 should begin. 
 
 The Hannibal and St. Joseph's railroad, running through 
 the State of Missouri, from the Mississippi river to the Mis- 
 souri, nearly westward, is already in progress of construc- 
 tion. The friends of this enterprise are eager in pressing 
 its continuation westward, through Kanzas, as the begin- 
 ninc of a railway to the Pacific. 
 
 Further south the " Pacific Railroad," so called, of Mis- 
 souri, which is open about forty miles westward from St. 
 Louis, is to run to Kanzas City, at the mouth of Kanzas 
 river. Col. Benton and Col. Fremont, in proposing what is 
 called " Fremont's line of railroad," suggest that it should 
 14 
 
158 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 be a continuation of this road, and run from Kanzas City. 
 Between these lines, Lynceus, the anonymous author of 
 a remarkable pamphlet published in 1853, in St. Louis, 
 urges that any road undertaken by the government should 
 run from Fort Leavenworth by Bridger's Pass. It would 
 thus pass through the great fertile "divide" between the 
 Kanzas and Nebraska rivers, and, avoiding the passage of 
 any wide river, proceed nearly westward to the Salt Lake 
 City. 
 
 To hazard a guess from the entirely insufficient informa- 
 tion which we have as to the mountain passes, the western 
 part of this route would be the most feasible. The advan- 
 tage of beginning at Fort Leavenworth is simply that the 
 government has already a large establishment at that post. 
 It would be necessary to build a line from Kanzas City, 
 thirty miles, on the west bank of the Missouri, to connect 
 with the "Pacific railroad" of the Missouri. A line of 
 about the same length would connect with the Hannibal and 
 St. Joseph's railroad, at the north, but its continuity 
 would be interrupted by the Missouri river. 
 
 It is scarcely probable that the advantages resulting from 
 the establishment of a base of operations at Fort Leaven- 
 worth, would compensate for the considerable divergence 
 from a western line which would be necessary to get there. 
 If Bridger's Pass, or St. Vrain's, just south of it, prove 
 practicable, a line from Kanzas City, up the valley of Kan- 
 
A PACIFIC KAILEOAD. 159 
 
 zas river, through this pass, would unite the advantages ' 
 claimed for a route from Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 But it must be understood that all such speculations with 
 regard to a Pacific railway are, thus far, simply specula- 
 tions. The public and the newspapers are fond of talking 
 as if an enterprise of this sort were to be completed in a 
 year or two, by what is called the "indomitable energy of 
 the American people." In fact, two bids have been oifered 
 to Congress, offering to build a road from the Mississippi to 
 San Francisco in five years. If two hundred working days 
 could be crowded into each year, besides the exceptions nec- 
 essary in the mountains, in winter, and those arising from 
 storms and other interruptions, this would be at the rate of 
 two miles of railroad a day, half of which, through the 
 great mountain plateau described, is through a worse coun- 
 try than a railroad was ever carried through, completely 
 destitute of supplies and often of water. 
 
 To begin to build a great route of communication to the 
 Pacific, the first necessity is to begin to talk reasonably about 
 it. And first, it will require a population through the country 
 which it is to pass, so far as the country can support a pop- 
 ulation. The emigration to Kanzas will give it that popu- 
 lation for two hundr-ed miles, perhaps three hundred miles, 
 farther than now exists. Settlers, who establish themselves 
 along the valley of the Kanzas, and between Fort Eiley and 
 Fort Kearney, may indulge the hope that the great line of 
 
160 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 'western communication will one day pass near tliem. At 
 present, as has been said already, the great line of emigrant 
 travel is along the military road north-west from Fort 
 Leavenworth. 
 
 The largest number of overland emigrants which ever 
 crossed the plains in one year is eighty thousand. 
 
 A military road is now in progress from Fort Leaven- 
 worth to Fort Riley. 
 
 We have spoken of these various routes together, because 
 they passed in or near the regions of Nebraska and Kan- 
 zas which will be first settled. It remains to speak of 
 the remarkable passes much farther north, explored, in 
 1853, by Gov. Stevens. This officer, after a rapid recon- 
 noissance of a line through the territory of Minnesota, from 
 the city of St. Paul to the neighborhood of old Fort Man- 
 dan, carried a survey along the north side of the Missouri 
 river to the neighborhood of Fort Benton. West of this 
 fort he examined two passes, one called Cadet's Pass, the 
 other surveyed by Lieut. Mullan. He represents the level of 
 Cadet's Pass as three thousand feet lower than that of the 
 South Pass, as measured by Col. Fremont. His full report 
 is not yet published. His sketch of the surveys west of the 
 mountains does not appear very encouraging. But the 
 officers who wintered in the neighborhood of Cadet's and 
 Mullan's Passes report that these were but little encum- 
 bered with snow. It may yet prove that 'the supplies for 
 
NAVIGABLE RIVERS. 161 
 
 Oregon and Washington territories may be forwarded by tlie 
 Missouri and one of these passes. The main difficulties will 
 be found, not in the main ridge of the Kocky Mountains, 
 but in the territories themselves. 
 
 It may be well to repeat here what has already been 
 stated, that the Missouri river can be navigated by steam- 
 boats to the Great Falls. 
 
 The Yellowstone has been navigated eighty miles from 
 its mouth. 
 
 It is navigable by flat-boats two or three hundred miles 
 farther. 
 
 The El Paso steamboat ascended the Nebraska four or 
 five hundred miles, in the spring of 1853. 
 
 Steamboats ascend the Kanzas river to Fort Riley. 
 
 A steamboat has ascended the Arkansas, during high 
 water, for nearly a hundred miles above the south line of 
 Kanzas. 
 
 These are the only navigable rivers in the two territories. 
 14* 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Political history — Sovereignty of France, Spain, France and the United 
 States — Missouri debate — Indian legislation — Platte purchase — 
 Organization of the territories — Nebraska debate. 
 
 Up to the summer of 1854, Kanzas and Nebraska have 
 had no civilized residents, except the soldiers sent tb keep 
 the Indian tribes in order, the missionaries sent to convert 
 them, the traders who bought furs of them, and those of 
 the natives who may be considered to have attained some 
 measure of civilization from their connection with the whites. 
 
 For a region that has had so little practical connection 
 with the political arrangements of civilized states, this im- 
 mense territory has had a political history singularly varied. 
 
 It has been successively under the dominion of France, 
 of Spain, of France again, and of the United States. A 
 part of Kanzas was under the dominion of Mexico. The 
 government of the United States now resigns its sovereignty 
 to the men who shall settle in it, under the modern phrase 
 of allowing " squatter sovereignty " {o the first comers. 
 
 Discovered by Dutisne, so far as appears, in 1719, the 
 valleys of the Kanzas and Nebraska were then claimed as a 
 
CESSI0K3 OF " LOUISIANA." 1C3 
 
 part of the empire of Louis XIV. A very short time after, a 
 Spanish force, from New Mexico, ravaged an Indian village, 
 and was cut to pieces by the savages. It is probable that 
 the Spanish government of that province always made some 
 claims to the neighboring regions east of the mountains. 
 By the treaty of November, 1762, France ceded to Spain 
 all her possessions west of the Mississippi, and these terri- 
 tories, which she had never in any form settled, and scarcely 
 begun to explore, passed under the dominion of the Spanish 
 crown with the rest. 
 
 Spanish garrisons were then placed in the forts on the 
 Mississippi, and that at St. Louis* was thus occupied with 
 the rest. But Spain took no notice of such distant regions 
 as Kanzas and Nebraska, which have-not yet been cursed 
 by any discoveries of gold or silver. 
 
 In 1795 the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured 
 to the United States, by treaty. But, in 1798, the Spanish 
 posts north of the parallel of 31° were evacuated, and when, 
 in 1801, some representations were made by the United 
 States government for redress for violations of the treaty, 
 the Spanish government replied that it had ceded the whole 
 territory to France again. The French force destined for 
 the occupation of the country was, however, blockaded in 
 the Dutch ports by the English, and Mr. Jefferson seized 
 the occasion for that celebrated negotiation, by which, for 
 fifteen million dollars, he purchased the whole territory of ■ 
 Louisiana. 
 
164 KANZAS AND NEBSASKA. 
 
 The whole region having thus passed peacefully into the 
 hands of the United States, was divided, in 1804, into two 
 parts, the territorial government of Orleans, and the dis- 
 trict of Louisiana. A territorial government was after- 
 wards established in this district. " Orleans," in 1812, was 
 admitted as a state into the Union, under the name of Louis- 
 iana. The Louisiana territory was then known under the 
 general name of the Missouri territory, of which the only 
 parts settled by whites were some plantations in Arkansas 
 and the eastern parts of Missouri. 
 
 The government still exercised no further sovereignty 
 over the parts of this territory which are the especial sub- . 
 jects of the present volume, except to send out exploring ex- 
 peditions, and to pass laws regulating trade with the Indians. 
 The great expedition of Lewis and Clarke passed up the 
 Missouri in 1804. They wintered at Fort Mandan, went up 
 the river to its sources, and across to the Pacific the next 
 year, and returned in 1806. In this year Lieut. Pike was 
 sent to survey the country east of the Rocky Mountains, in 
 the valleys of the Nebraska, Kanzas and Arkansas. He per- 
 formed his task with bravery and assiduity, but, having 
 trespassed on Spanish territory, under the mistaken impres- 
 sion that he was on the sources of the Arkansas, was taken 
 prisoner with his men and carried to Santa Fe. They were 
 afterwards set at liberty and sent to Nachitoches. In 1819 
 and 1820, an expedition, under Maj. Long, examined the 
 
THE " MISSOURI RESTRICTION." 165 
 
 valley of the Nebraska, crossed to the Arkansas, and de- 
 scended the valley of that stream. 
 
 In 1818 the population of the settled parts of the terri- 
 tory of Missouri had become so considerable that the inhab- 
 itants were desirous of admission into the Union. A bill 
 for that purpose was introduced into Congress, in the ses- 
 sion of 1818 and 1819. It did not attract very general 
 attention out of Congress at that time. The proceedings 
 of Congress were not so immediately known or so thoroughly 
 canvassed through the country then as now. The bill was 
 lost at that session, because the House of Representatives 
 insisted on what was then called "the Restriction," intro- 
 duced by Mr. Taylor, of New York, providing that in the 
 new state involuntary servitude should not exist. The Sen- 
 ate refused to concur with the House in the " Restriction," 
 and the bill was lost. 
 
 Rufus King, of New York, had distinguished himself in 
 the Senate by urging " the Restriction." As the next session 
 of Congress approached, the necessity of fixing it upon the 
 bill attracted universal attention at the North. Mr. King 
 was greatly interested in calling to it the general interest 
 of the public. The substance of his speeches of the last 
 session, as prepared by himself for the press, was printed 
 and circulated widely. Before the session of Congress a 
 public meeting was held in New York, to insist on the 
 adoption of the " Restriction" in the Missouri bill. It was 
 addressed by Mr. King, and was the first of a series of sim- 
 
166 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ilar meetings held at the principal towns in the Northern 
 States. 
 
 On the discussion thus begun, the future institutions of 
 the territory, still unsettled, in a measure depended. And 
 the great question was battled, not as if it concerned Mis- 
 souri only, but as one in which all the future of the West 
 was concerned. 
 
 It has been often said, during the past year, that the 
 excitement on the similar question regarding Nebraska and 
 Kanzas is unparalleled. This is said only by those who 
 have not examined the history of the " Missouri debate." 
 Incidents occurred every day which showed the deep-seated 
 excitement and irritation of the public mind at the North 
 and at the South. 
 
 Such, for instance, was the display of wounded pride at 
 Savannah. A disastrous fire had ravaged that city. Its 
 government had implored relief from abroad in the most 
 earnest tones. Public meetings and contributions at the 
 North answered this call. Among other cities, New York 
 acted, and remitted near eleven thousand dollars for the 
 relief of the sufferers. It happened that, just before. New 
 York had sent similar relief to the town of Schenectady, 
 ravaged in the same way. The worthy citizens of Schenec- 
 tady regarded this as a gift to all who had lost, partaking of 
 the nature of insurance, and divided it pro rata among the 
 sufferers, giving most, of course, to those richest inhabitants 
 who had most to lose. Fearful of such a disposition of 
 
THB NORTH AMERICAN EBVIEW. 167 
 
 their Savannah fund, the government of Nevr York sent 
 ■ffith it the request — not, certainly, very extravagant — 
 that it might be distributed among the poorest citizens, and 
 added the condition, '■'•without distinction of color." 
 These unfortunate words sealed its fate. The hot blood of 
 Savannah boiled, and by a vote of the councils the insult 
 was met by sending back the money with a short, imperti- 
 nent letter. We have had but one evidence of ill-feeling 
 more marked than this in our own time. 
 
 On the other side, a Philadelphia insurance company, 
 when asked at what rate it would insure some southern 
 property, answered that its directors had concluded that 
 they would not take any more risks south of Mason and 
 Dixon's line. 
 
 The January number of the North American Review, in 
 1820, published a paper, by Judge Shaw, in defence of the 
 restriction, which was widely circulated. It was lumin- 
 ous, decided and Christian in its tone, singularly applicable 
 to the discussion just passed. It might have been reprinted, 
 — changing the word Missouri to the word Nebraska, — 
 and would have completely met the case recently before the 
 country. It is to be remembered, at the same time, that 
 the introduction of African slaves by smuggling was still 
 going on at the South. One of Judge Story's charges on 
 the slave-trade was printed in the midst of this discussion, 
 and in Congress it was admitted, on all hands, that large 
 numbers of recently captured slaves were brought in by 
 
168 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 way of Galveston and the ports of Florida. Mr. King's 
 speeches, as has been said, had also been very widely circu- 
 lated. They contain a review of the policy of the govern- 
 ment on the subject of slavery, which has been used, 
 and to advantage, in the composition of speeches made 
 during the present year at Washington. 
 
 At the beginning of the session, there was at the North 
 no question whatever as to the success of the northern 
 view, — at least so far as an arrest of the introduction of 
 Missouri by a disagreement on the "restriction" between 
 the branches. 
 
 Congress met on the 7th of December. It is worthy of 
 remark, that, all the preliminaries having been adjusted, a 
 bill passed, the very first week, for the admission of the 
 slave" state of Alabama ; the questions regarding the new 
 states of Maine and Missouri having been reserved for 
 after discussion. 
 
 The territory of Arkansas had been organized the pre- 
 ceding year. The immediate question related, therefore, to 
 the new state of Missouri, — to the present state of Iowa, 
 and to the present territories of Minnesota, Kanzas, and 
 Nebraska, all then known as the Missouri territory. The 
 debates began simultaneously in both houses. 
 
 In the great discussion which followed, the southern 
 policy and skill at tactigs showed itself in an effort to unite 
 the fate of Maine and Missouri, both of which states had 
 applied for admission. The difference of position of the 
 
THE MISSOURI DEBATE. 1G9 
 
 two is manifest. It need not be better expressed than in 
 Mr. Otis's witty way. It fell to him to oppose the union 
 of the Maine and Missouri bills in the Senate. "A young 
 lady," he says, "no longer young, of a certain age, in fact, 
 presents herself on her wedding day, when every one has 
 given consent, and there is no objection to the match at all ; 
 and you delay the nuptials because a young miss in her 
 teens has not got her corsets ready." 
 
 The debate was conducted with great spirit on both sides. 
 On the 14th of January, 1820, the Senate passed the bill 
 for the admission of the district of Maine, with the addition 
 of the bill introducing Missouri, by a vote of twenty-five 
 to eighteen. This was the first vote taken in the Senate, 
 and, as it was known that the House was decidedly in favor 
 of the restriction, here was an evidence that the disagree- 
 ment of the last session still continued. This vote, hoAV- 
 ever, was by no means a final one ; and the debate in the 
 Senate went on side by side with that in the House, at inter- 
 vals, on one proposition or another, until the beginning of 
 March. 
 
 Unfortunately, a part only of the speeches made in the 
 two bodies is preserved. Of the debate in the House, in 
 particular, very little is recorded. Many of the leading 
 speeches, however, were written out by the authors. But 
 we have to regret, especially, the almost entire loss of that 
 of Mr. Clay. He was then speaker, but left the chair in 
 15 
 
170 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 order to speak against the restriction, which he did with 
 great power. 
 
 The debate was certainly marked by signal ability, and 
 almost entirely exhausted the subject. It is remarkable to 
 see how precisely appropriate the various speeches preserved 
 are to the recent discussion. Indeed, one need only read 
 them to see that they have been freely used, with and with- 
 out credit, by the orators of our day, on both sides, in 
 Congress. 
 
 An argument in favor of the restriction, not much relied 
 upon in later times, drawn from the constitution of the 
 United States, was pressed then with a good deal of energy. 
 It is drawn from Sec. 9 of the first article, which pro- 
 vides : — 
 
 Aet. 1. — Sec. 9. The migration or importation of such 
 persons as any of the states noio existing shall think proper 
 to admit, shall not be prohibited by Congress prior to the 
 year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such 
 importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 
 
 Mr. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rufus King, 
 and other statesmen who favored the restriction, argued that 
 the word "migration" here meant the movement of slaves 
 from state to state, and that, therefore, the power to prevent 
 that movement was distinctly given to Congress. Mr. Pink- 
 ney opposed this view. Mr. Otis, in his reply to Mr. 
 Pinkney, did not insist upon it ; and it has not attracted 
 much notice in recent arguments on the subject. On the 
 other hand, the arguments of the opponents of the restric- 
 
PECULIARITIES OP THE DISCUSSION. 171 
 
 tion differed in one point from those who take similar ground 
 now. There was then no defence of the institution of 
 slavery, except as a temporary misfortune, which should 
 not be harshly dealt with. Mr. Clay's argument against 
 the restriction rested on the impression, which has since 
 proved completely fallacious, that the more widely the 
 slaves in the country were scattered, the more rapid would 
 be the natural decline of the institution of slavery. Mr. 
 Pinkney, the leading opponent of the restriction in the 
 Senate, was taunted in public because his opinions had been 
 expressed, at an early age, in favor of the emancipation of 
 slaves. He had made his debut in public life by a speech, 
 in the Maryland Convention, in favor of that principle. 
 Copies of this speech were now sent from Connecticut to 
 every member ; but Pinkney said, when he read the speech 
 again, that it was a better speech than he had feared, and 
 that he was glad that it was put in circulation. ' And in 
 his great speech of this session he says that his effort is, 
 not to answer any arguments on the evils of slavery, but 
 simply to show that the restriction of those evils would 
 rest op no rights granted in the constitution. No southern 
 statesman attempted the defence of slavery as a permanent 
 institution. 
 
 These two are the only important differences between the 
 principles of the debate of that winter and those of that 
 which has but recently closed. 
 
 In the Senate, this speech of Mr. Pinkney's was the 
 
172 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA- 
 
 leading speech, — a masterly effort, which met a masterly 
 reply from Harrison Gray Otis. A part of it is preserved, 
 as it was reconstructed from Mr. Pinkney's notes, by his 
 biographer, Mr. Wheaton. It was delivered with great 
 impetuosity of manner, attracted general applause, greatly 
 encouraged the opponents of the restriction, and was the 
 storehouse of constitutional argument, from which they 
 drew constantly through the remainder of the debate. In 
 the form in which it is preserved, it is marked with great 
 elegance and ability. The arrangement of its argument is 
 somewhat formal, and it abounds in the artistic display of 
 logical rules of which Mr. Pinkney was fond. His friends 
 considered it as one of the chief triumphs of his short 
 career in the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Rufus King was not yet reelected to his seat in the 
 Senate, and it was understood that Mr. Otis would reply. 
 His speech was not published for some months after. It is 
 somewhat singular that it has not been reprinted in the 
 midst of the interest which recent events have given to this 
 great debate. It is calm, dignified, and clear. He meets 
 the ingenuity of the southern orator with all the brilliancy 
 of his own fancy, and attacks this somewhat cumbrous 
 armor of the logical system of an older generation with 
 the blows of his own strong good sense, which have the 
 momentum always given by the eternal right in all discus- 
 sions as to laws and constitutions. His position, thus 
 standing for the right, is far simpler than that of Mr. 
 
PINKNBY ON woman's EIGHTS. 173 
 
 Pinkney, owning that slavery is wrong, but urging that there 
 is no constitutional power to restrict it. 
 
 It is curious to find, in these two great speeches on the 
 different sides of this great question, that there were adduced 
 two mere suppositions of fancy, which to the orators seemed 
 impossibilities, but which the generation which has passed 
 has shown as realities. 
 
 Mr. Pinkney was arguing that slavery could exist in a 
 republic, in reply to Mr. Morril, of New Hampshire, who 
 had defined a republic as a state where all the men united 
 in the government. 
 
 " I beg leave," said Mr. Pinkney, "if we are to enter- 
 tain these hopeful abstractions, — if it be true that all the 
 men in a republican government must help to wield its 
 power, and be equal in rights, — I beg leave to ask the 
 honorable member from New Hampshire, — and why not 
 all the women ? They too are God's creatures, and not 
 only very fair but very rational creatures ; and our great 
 ancestor, if we are to give credit to Milton, accounted them 
 the ' wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best ; ' although, to say 
 the truth, he had but one specimen from which to draw his 
 conclusion, and possibly if he had had more would not have 
 drawn it at all." * * * Continuing in the strain, 
 he pushes his argument, ad absurdum, so far as to say, 
 " If the ultra-republican doctrines which have now been 
 broached should ever gain ground among us, I should riot 
 be surprised if some romantic reformer, treading in the 
 15* 
 
174 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 footsteps of Mrs. Woolstoncraft, should propose to repeal 
 our republican law salique, and claim for our wives and 
 daughters a full participation in political power, and to 
 add it to that domestic power, which in some families, as I 
 have heard, is as absolute and unrepublican as any power 
 can be." 
 
 The idea is thrown out as a complete impossibility, — 
 only possible as a consequence of the wild theory of freedom. 
 A generation has called into being the reformers whose 
 existence seemed to him so incredible. 
 
 On the other hand, in Mr. Otis's reply, he also makes 
 the supposition of an impossibility which a generation has 
 exhibited in reality. " There were," he said, " it was well 
 known, in many parts of this country, societies of people called 
 Shakers, of good moral characters, exemplary habits of 
 industry, whose fundamental doctrines were founded on the 
 duty of celibacy. They are also a rich people, and in some 
 of the states experience interruptions in their endeavors to 
 increase their numbers, and inconvenience from laws which 
 press upon their consciences, especially in military con- 
 cerns. Imagine, sir," said he, "these societies combined 
 and determined to make a pilgrimage and become sojourners 
 in the new country of promise. Figure to yourself four or 
 five thousand adults of both sexes with their children in 
 spirit, — a dismal procession marching beyond the Mississippi, 
 until they shall find a spot suited to their occasions ; then 
 halting and sending a missionary to you, with the intelli- 
 
THE MONOPOLY OF A STATE. 175 
 
 gence of their ' demand ' to be admitted as a state. Are 
 yoa bound to admit them without a stipulation that they 
 shall make no laws prohibiting marriage, at the moment you 
 knew this to be the main design of their emigration, and 
 thus secure a sect of those peculiar and unsocial tenets a 
 monopoly of that entire state, and a power of virtually ex- 
 cluding from its territory the great mass of your citizens 1 " 
 
 In this passage, Mr. Otis presented as a policy wholly 
 insupportable and indefensible the very policy which has 
 permitted the establishment of the Mormon state of Utah. 
 For the argument applies as well to the Mormon laws re- 
 garding marriage, as to the laws of celibacy sustained by 
 the Shakers. And a " monopoly of that entire state, and 
 a power of virtually excluding from its territories the great 
 mass of the citizens of the United States," has been granted, 
 in exactly the way which then seemed fanciful, and even 
 impossible. 
 
 Both in Senate and House, the tone of oratoiy was even 
 more rabid and rancorous than we have heard in the last 
 few years. 
 
 John Eandolph, half mad, as his friends said, cried, 
 " God has given us the Missouri, and the devil cannot take 
 it from us." On the other hand, northern language was 
 decided, in reply. 
 
 " If the alternative," says Mr. Lowrie, of Pennsylvania, 
 in the House, " be the dissolution of this Union or exten- 
 sion of slavery over the whole western country, I choose the 
 
176 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 former." With the true oratory of the stump, Mr. Walker, 
 of Georgia, cries, " He must be badly acquainted with signs 
 of the times who does not perceive a storm portending, 
 and callous to all the finer feelings of our nature who does 
 not dread the bursting of that storm. 
 
 " I cannot but imagine to myself intestine feuds, civil 
 wars, and all the black catalogue of evils consequent on 
 such a state of things. I behold the father armed against 
 the son, and the son against the father. I see the brother 
 drawing his sword from his brother's breast. I perceive 
 our houses wrapt in flames and our wives and infant children 
 driven from their homes, forced to submit to the pelting of the 
 pitiless storm, with no other shelter but the canopy of heaven, 
 with nothing to sustain them but the cold charity of an un- 
 feeling world." On the other hand, Mr. Taylor, who had 
 first moved the " Eestriction," with curious foresight, 
 inveighing against the extension of slave representation, 
 states thiSj'climax of its claims : — "On an implied power 
 to acquire territory by treaty, you raise an implied right to 
 erect it into states, and imply a compromise by which 
 slavery is to be established and its slaves represented in 
 Congress. Is this just 1 Is it fair 1 Where will it end 1 
 * * * Your lust of acquiring is not yet satiated. You 
 must have the Floridas. Your ambition rises. You covet 
 Cuba and obtain it. You stretch your arms to the other 
 islands in the Gulf of Mexico, and they become yours. Are 
 the millions of slaves inhabiting those countries to be incor- 
 
CLAY AND SERGEANT. 177 
 
 porated into the Union and represented in Congress 1 Are 
 the freemen of the old states to become the slaves of the 
 representatives of foreign slaves ? You may have the power 
 to pass such laws, but beware how you use it." 
 
 Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, had called the restriction 
 "a spark ignited, which shall shake this Union to its 
 centre." 
 
 "The gentleman talks of sparks ignited," says Mr. Otis 
 in reply. "I can tell him that when the pine forests of 
 Maine are lighted, they will burn with quite as fierce a 
 flame as the spire grass of Missouri." 
 
 In this debate, Pennsylvania was fii'st called the " key- 
 stone state," by Mr. Clay, in his great speech, of which this 
 passage, preserved in the reply, is one of the few frag- 
 ments : — 
 
 " I appeal to Pennsylvania, — the unambitious Pennsylva- 
 nia, — the key-stone of the federal arch, whether she will 
 concur in a measure calculated to disturb the peace of this 
 Union ! " 
 
 " Sir," says John Sergeant in reply, with a direct al- 
 lusion to Mr. Clay, " this was a single arch, it is becoming 
 a combination of arches ; and where the centre now is, 
 whether in . Kentucky or Pennsylvania, might be very 
 hard to tell. Pennsylvania feels her responsibility to the 
 Union, but she feels also her responsibility to a great moral 
 principle. That principle she announced the day she ex- 
 pressed her gratitude for independence. 'We feel called 
 
178 KANZAS AKD NEBEASKA. 
 
 upon,' she said then, ' to show the sincerity of our profes- 
 sion. In commemoration of our own deliverance from the 
 tyranny of Britain, Be it enacted, that no child born here- 
 after shall be a slave.' " 
 
 Northern statesmen had reason for confident language. 
 In the House the first vote taken resulted in a division, 
 ninety-three to seventy-two in favor of the restriction, — a 
 clean majority of nineteen. And the first time what has 
 since been called the Compromise appeared, it was rejected 
 by a vote of one hundred and fifty-nine to eighteen, the 
 most eager men on both sides voting against it.* 
 
 In the Senate this proposal of the " Compromise " of the 
 line of 36° 30', as the future boundary between free and 
 slave states, was introduced by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. It 
 had been suggested in the debate of the year before. It 
 is now very curious to see how eagerly everybody after- 
 wards disowned it. Indeed, on the North it was a great 
 wrong. On the whole cause of the country it was a great 
 wrong. It is not singular, then, that it was always without 
 an acknowledged parent. 
 
 At this session it had been suggested again by Mr. Pink- 
 ney. For political eiFect, however, the mover was a north- 
 ern man, and Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, assumed that posi- 
 tion. It passed the Senate first. The northern votes for it 
 were two from Illinois, one from Rhode Island, and one from 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 * The wits of Congress, tired of tlie discussion by this time, called it 
 the " misery debate." 
 
THE HOUSE AND SENATE AT ISSUE. 179 
 
 The House refused to concur with the Senate. It insisted 
 on its own complete " Restriction " on all the territory. 
 The "Compromise line" was then moved again. It ob- 
 tained thirty-three votes only, and the complete restriction 
 passed by a clear majority of eight votes. This was on the 
 28th of February. 
 
 The succeeding votes indicated the same temper by about 
 the same majority, and, on the 1st of March, as the House 
 bill was sent to the Senate, it had passed by a majority of 
 nine, making every inch of land not included among the 
 states forever free. 
 
 The House took this vote upon its own bill, not that 
 which had come from the Senate. 
 
 In that temper was the House when it adjourned on Wed- 
 nesday. What happened on Wednesday night, what prom- 
 ises were made, what offices suggested, what terms instilled 
 into recusants, will never be told. It is in the history which 
 never was written, and it will be easier to find material for 
 telling twenty years hence than now. But Mr. Monroe, the 
 President, was doubtless eager that the Compromise meas- 
 ure should go through. Mr. Jefferson, in a letter written at 
 the time, had said, "This is the most portentous question 
 that ever threatened our Union. In the darkest moments 
 of the revolutionary war, I never had any apprehensions 
 equal to that I feel from this source." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun's account of the change in the House was, 
 that if no arrangement had been made, Missouri and Mis- 
 
180 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 souri territory would have set up in a republic of their OTvn ; 
 northern members, he says, knew this, and, having shown 
 their first wish, were anxious now to avert that danger in 
 any way that was honorable. 
 
 This theory hardly accounts for the rapidity of their 
 change of conviction. 
 
 The history which is written tells that the Senate having 
 returned the House bill non-concurring, the House was great- 
 ly excited. The Missouri Compromise was again suggested 
 by a committee of conference. The debate was kept up late. 
 After seven, Thursday evening, when Mr. Mercer, of Vir- 
 ginia, was pressing it, he fainted suddenly in front of the 
 chair. The vote was pressed at pnce. There were one or two 
 absentees who lost their vote by the rapidity of the decision, 
 and the House struck out the restriction from its own bill, 
 and acceded to the Compromise proposal by a vote of ninety 
 to eighty-six. The majority of nine had been tortured into 
 a minority of four. The Compromise provision, as it has 
 been called since, took the place of the complete restric- 
 tion. 
 
 At that moment there were two men, and only two in 
 that House, who supposed that that Compromise was uncon- 
 stitutional : John Randolph, who tells us so, and Mr. Archer, 
 of Virginia. And it so trembled, it so shook in the wind, so 
 fearful were its friends that it should fail, that they did not 
 dare meet the re-consideration which Randolph announced 
 that he should move in the morning. 
 
JOHN KANDOLPH. 181 
 
 He tells the story in one of his incoherent speeches, aim- 
 ing with great bitterness at Mr. Clay, whom he calls " Mr. 
 Manager ' ' in speaking of this matter, and to whom he as- 
 cribes the success of the whole affair. 
 
 The night of the passage of the bill he asked Mr. Clay 
 if he could move a re-consideration the next day. Mr. 
 Clay said he could. In the morning Randolph suspected 
 an intrigue to hurry the bill out of the House before he 
 should have his chance to make his motion. He exerted 
 himself to prevent this, as he could, out of the House, and 
 then took his seat. " I found the clerk reading the journal ; 
 the moment after he had finished I made the motion to re- 
 consider. I was seconded by my colleague, Mr. Archer, to 
 whom I could appeal — not that my testimony wants evi- 
 dence — I should like to see the man who would question it 
 as a matter of fact. This fact is well reinembered ; a lady 
 would as soon forget her wedding-day as I forget this. The 
 motion to re-consider was opposed ; it was a debatable ques- 
 tion ; and the speaker stated something this way, ' that it was 
 not for him to give any orders ; the clerk knew his duty.' The 
 clerk went more than once — my impression is that he went 
 more than twice. I could take my oath — and so, I be- 
 lieve, could Mr. Archer — that he made two efforts, and 
 came back under my eye, like a mouse under the eye of a cat, 
 with the engrossed bill in his hand. But his bread was at 
 stake. At last, with that face, and countenance, and manner 
 which only conscious guilt can inspire, he went off, his poverty, 
 IG 
 
182 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 not his will, consenting, and, before debate was finished, he 
 comes with the bill from the Senate, which had then become 
 a law, before it was decided whether the House would re- 
 consider it at my motion or not, which motion [should have] 
 nailed the bill to the table until it should be disposed of" 
 
 The bill was sent to President Monroe. He took the ad- 
 vice of all of his cabinet as to its constitutionality, as has 
 appeared from Mr. Adams's journal. All the members hav- 
 ing signified their opinion in its favor, he signed it, on the 
 6th of March, 1820, and it became a law. 
 
 The celebrated " Compromise provision" which thus set- 
 tled, as was then supposed, forever, the character of the 
 domestic institutions of Kanzas and Nebraska, with regard 
 to slavery, is in these words : 
 
 " Sect. 8. And be it further enacted, that in all that ter- 
 ritory ceded by France to the United States, under the 
 name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36° 30' north, not 
 included within the limits of the state contemplated by this 
 act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the 
 punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been 
 duly convicted, shall be and hereby is forever prohibited." 
 
 By the treaty of boundary with Spain, the boundary be- 
 tween the United States and the Spanish or Mexican prov- 
 inces is the western bank of the Sabine to the 32d degree 
 of north latitude ; thence a meridian line due north to the 
 crossing of the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches or Red river ; 
 
BNLAEQEMENT OF MISSOURI. 183 
 
 thence following the course of the Eio Roxo to the meridian 
 of 100° west ; thence crossing the Red river hy that merid- 
 ian to the Arkansas ; thence following the southern hank of 
 the Arkansas to its source ; thence north to the parallel of 
 42° N., thence by that parallel to the Pacific. An inspec- 
 tion of the map will show that some parts of Kanzas have 
 been since added under the arrangements by which the 
 United States acquired Texas and New Mexico. 
 
 The only change in the political arrangements for the 
 territories made by Congress, after the act of 1820, was the 
 remarkable act, which seems to have passed without com- 
 ment, by which, on the 7th of June, 1836, the triangle be- 
 tween the Missouri and the west line of the State of Mis- 
 souri was ceded to that state. By the " Compromise," this 
 land was to be forever free from slavery. Slaves have, how- 
 ever, been held there ever since it was a part of Missouri, 
 of which it is one of the richest parts. This was the first 
 distinct violation of "the Compromise," and passed Con- 
 gress without any opposition. The author "Lynceus," al- 
 ready alluded to, holds that the four thousand five hundred 
 and fifty-eight slaves in that region, if they could bring suit 
 for freedom, would be freed by a decision of the United 
 States Court, under the act of March 6, 1820. 
 
 Meanwhile the Indian policy of the government has been 
 gradually removing into these regions tribes from the east 
 of the Mississippi. As early as 1803, Congress authorized 
 the President to exchange tracts of land west of the Missis- 
 
184 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 sippi for tracts east of it; owned by Indians. In 1825 the 
 Kanzas and Osage Indians, reserving some lands for them- 
 selves, which have been described, ceded to the United 
 States all their claim to the lands on both sides of the Kan- 
 zas river. In 1833, by the treaty alluded to in our account 
 of the Pawnees, they ceded to the United -States all their 
 claims south of the Nebraska. Other smaller tribes ceded 
 their claims to lands south of the Arkansas. 
 
 Into the lands thus acquired, the government, since 1830, 
 has removed the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles 
 and Cherokees, who occupy the lands south of Kanzas. Into 
 Kanzas and Nebraska have been removed those emigrant 
 tribes already described. 
 
 The constant diminution of these tribes left the coun- 
 try, however, almost desert, as has been already stated. 
 And as early as 1849, the Indian department suggested the 
 expediency of new treaties with these tribes, which might 
 open the country to settlements by the whites. In 1853 an 
 act was introduced into Congress, which passed one house, 
 providing for the organization of one territory over the 
 whole region. This act contemplated an adherence to the 
 Missouri Compromise. In the summer of that year Mr. 
 Manypenny, the head of the Indian department, visited the 
 country, held councils with most of the tribes, and made 
 treaties with one or two of the smallest. He was generally 
 unsuccessful. The neighboring states were already greatly 
 interested in plans of emigration, and the Indians had oh- 
 
THE "NEBRASKA DEBATE." 185 
 
 In this position were the affairs of the territory when 
 Congress met in December, 1853. Of the celebrated debate 
 which followed, we do not attempt any minute account. Its 
 general character and many of its details are too familiar to 
 readers of the present day to need repetition now, and a 
 proper account of it for the pages of history would require 
 more space, and a closer analysis of the motives and actions 
 of living men, than can properly be given to such matters 
 in this work. The following mere summary of motions and 
 dates will enable the reader desirous of so doing to ex- 
 amine upon record the history of the act under which the 
 territories of Nebraska and Kanzas are to be organized. 
 
 In the Senate, 14th of December, 1853, two days after 
 the appointment of the standing committees of the Senate, 
 Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, according to previous notice, asked 
 and obtained leave to introduce a bill to organize the terri- 
 tory of Nebraska, and the bill having been read a first and 
 second time by unanimous consent, was referred to the com- 
 mittee on territories, consisting of Messrs. Douglas (chair- 
 man), Houston, Johnson, Bell, Jones of Iowa, and Everett. 
 On the 4th of January, 1854, Mr. Douglas, of Dlinois, 
 from this committee, reported back this bill with important 
 amendments. 
 
 On the 16th of January, Mr. Dixon, of Kentucky, gave 
 
 notice that, when the bill came up, he should move as an 
 
 amendment an additional section repealing the eighth section 
 
 of the act of March 6, 1820, and providing that citizens may 
 
 16* 
 
186 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 hold slaves in any territory, as if that act had not been 
 passed. 
 
 On the 17th, Mr. Douglas gave notice that he should call 
 up the bill on the ensuing Monday, and on the same day 
 Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, gave notice that he should 
 then move as an amendment an additional section, declaring 
 that the act does not abrogate or contravene the Missouri 
 act restriction on the subject of slavery. 
 
 On the day named, January 23, Mr. Douglas reported 
 from the committee on territories a substitute for the orig- 
 inal bill submitted by him, and it was ordered to be printed. 
 
 The bill, as originally introduced by Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, 
 provided that all that part of the territory of the United 
 States included between the summit of the Eocky Moun- 
 tains on the west, the states of Missouri and Iowa on the 
 east, the 43° 30' north latitude on the north, and the terri- 
 tory of New Mexico and the parallel of 36° 30' north lati- 
 tude on the south, should be organized into a temporary 
 government, by the name of the Territory of Nebraska; 
 but nothing in the act to be construed to impair the right 
 of persons or property now pertaining to the Indians in that 
 territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextin- 
 guished by treaty between the United States and such In- 
 dians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any 
 Indian tribe, is not, without their consent, to be included 
 within the territorial limits of any state or territory. The 
 usual provision was made for the appointment of executive 
 
THE DIFFERENT PROPOSITIONS. 187 
 
 officers in the new territory, and also for a territorial legis- 
 lalnire, a judiciary, and a territorial delegate in the Con- 
 gress of the United States. 
 
 The substitute before submitted changed somewhat, and 
 described more in detail the boundary of the proposed terri- 
 tory, 'fixed the seat of government at Fort Leavenworth and 
 contained the following proviso on the subject of slavery : — 
 
 Section 21. And be it further enacted. That in order 
 to avoid all misconstruction, it is hereby declared to be the 
 true intent and meaning of this Act, so far as the question 
 of slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the 
 following propositions and principles, established by the 
 compromise measures of 1850, viz. : First, that all ques- 
 tions pertaining to slavery in the territories, and in the 
 new states to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the 
 decision of the people residing therein, through their appro- 
 priate representatives. 
 
 Second, that " all cases involving title to slaves," and 
 "questions of personal freedom," are referred to the adju- 
 dication of the local tribunals, with the right of appeal to 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 Third, that the provisions of the constitution and laws 
 of the United States in respect to fugitives from service are 
 to be carried into faithful execution in all the "organized 
 territories," the same as in the states. 
 
 The substitute now reported provided for the creation of 
 two territories, and Mr. Douglas said that this change met 
 the views of the delegate from Iowa, the Missouri delega- 
 tion in Congress, so far as he had been able to discover, and 
 the agents who had been sent to Washington by the people 
 of the territory. One section provided that 
 
188 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 " All that part of the territory of the United States in- 
 cluded Tvithin the following limits, except such portioijs 
 thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the 
 operations of this act, to wit. Beginning at a point in the 
 Missouri river where the fortieth parallel of north latitude 
 crosses the same ; thence west on said parallel to the sum- 
 mit of the highlands separating the waters flowing into the 
 Green river or Colorado of the "West from the waters flow- 
 ing into the Great Basin ; thence northward on the said 
 highlands to the summit of the Rocky Mountains ; thence 
 on said summit northward to the forty-ninth parallel of 
 north latitude ; thence west on said parallel to the western 
 boundary of the territory of Minnesota ; thence southward 
 on said boundary to the Missouri river ; thence down the 
 main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and 
 the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by 
 the name of the Territory of Nebraska." , 
 
 Another section in the substitute provided that 
 
 " All that part of the territory of the United States in- 
 cluded within the following limits, except such portions 
 thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the oper- 
 ations of this act, to wit. Beginning at a point on the 
 western boundary of the State of Missouri where the thirty- 
 seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same ; thence 
 west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mex- 
 ico ; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty- eight ; 
 thence following said boundary westward to the summit of 
 the highlands dividing the waters flowing into the Colorado 
 of the West, or Green river, from the waters flowing into 
 the Great Basin ; thence northward on said summit to the 
 fortieth parallel of latitude ; thence east on said parallel to 
 the western boundary of the State of Missouri ; thence south 
 with the western boundary of said state to the place of be- 
 ginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary 
 government by the name of the Territory of Kanzas." 
 
 The section providing for the election of a delegate was 
 
MR. DOUGLAS'S ARGUMENT. 189 
 
 amended by adding to the words " that the constitution, 
 and all laws of the United States which are not locally in- 
 applicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said 
 territory as elsewhere in the United States," the following : 
 
 " Except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the 
 admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 
 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the legis- 
 lation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, 
 and is declared inoperative." 
 
 By the time that the debate upon the bill in this form 
 was at last commenced in the Senate, on the 30th of Jan- 
 uary, great excitement pervaded many parts of the North 
 on the subject of the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise, 
 and an address had been issued by Messrs. Chase and 
 Sumner, of the Senate, and several members of the House 
 of Eepresentatives, denouncing the measure in the strongest 
 terms, " as a gross violation of a sacred pledge; as a crim- 
 inal betrayal of precious rights ; as part and parcel of an 
 atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region 
 emigrants from the old world, and free laborers from our 
 own states, and to convert it into a dreary region of des- 
 potism, inhabited by masters and slaves." 
 
 Mr. Douglas opened his argument for the bill by a de- 
 nunciation of this address and its authors, no less violent and 
 personal than the document itself, and from this commence- 
 ment till its close long after in the other house, the struggle 
 in Congress on the one side and the other with regard to 
 this measure, heated and made more intense by constant 
 
190 KANZAS AND UHBEASKA. 
 
 appeals from without, made by memorials, public meetings, 
 and newspaper arguments, was carried on with a vehemence 
 and passion rarely exhibited in deliberative bodies. The 
 discussion was continued in the Senate until the first of 
 March, when nearly every Senator had spoken upon the 
 bill. On that day it was amended, on motion of Mr. 
 Badger, of North Carolina, so as to provide that it should 
 not " revive or put in force any law or regulation which 
 may have existed prior to the act of March, 1820, either 
 protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery; " 
 and also on motion of Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, so 
 that the proviso on the right of suffrage, etc., should read, 
 " that the right of suffrage shall be exercised only by citizens 
 of the United States." The bill thus amended was then 
 ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, by a vote of 
 twenty-nine to twelve. 
 
 The next day, March 3d, the bill came up for its final 
 passage, and a number of Senators took occasion to make 
 further speeches upon it ; so that the session was protracted 
 till nearly five o'clock in the morning, when the question 
 was taken, and the bill passed, — yeas thirty-seven, nays 
 fourteen. 
 
 On the 21st the bill came up in the House of Repeb- 
 SENTATIVES in order. It was read twice by its title, and 
 then referred, after an animated debate, to the committee of 
 the whole. As more than fifty bills and resolves had pre- 
 cedence of it, this reference, which prevailed by a vote of 
 
DEBATE IN THE HOUSE. 191 
 
 )ne hundred and ten to ninety-five, was pronounced, by its 
 
 friends, an "indirect defeat" of it. This was not its end, 
 
 lowever. The excitement and interest in Congress and 
 
 ;hroughout the country were continually on the increase, 
 
 ind all the members were prepared for an ardent and 
 
 protracted struggle, when, on the 8th of May, Mr. 
 
 Richardson, of Illinois, moved that that House resolve 
 
 itself into the committee of the whole, with the view 
 
 if laying aside all business until the committee reach 
 
 ;he Nebraska-Kanzas bill. This — - not without objection 
 
 — was done, and nearly twenty bills on the calendar having 
 
 seen, one by one, laid aside, the committee took up the 
 
 ■' Bill to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kanzas." 
 
 This was a bill formerly reported by the territorial commit- , 
 
 ;ee of the House, and not the Senate bill ; but Mr. Rich- 
 
 ... I 
 irdson immediately moved as a substitute a new bill, which] 
 
 ivas the Senate bill, with the omission of Mr. Clayton's 
 
 amendment, just above noted, and a few verbal amendA 
 
 nents. 
 
 The question being in this position, was discussed in com- 
 
 nittee of the whole on that day and the two following, and 
 
 )n the 11th Mr. Richardson, according to notice, introduced 
 
 I resolution closing the debate on the ensuing day. This 
 
 jroposition to cut oiF at once a discussion regarded as of so 
 
 nuch importance, excited the strongest feeling, and all the 
 
 nethods in the power of a minority to stave off taking a 
 
 luestion were adopted, in a session continued for thirty-six 
 
192 KANZAS AND NEBEASKA. 
 
 hours, ■when the House adjourned, after midnight, on the 
 12th. On the next day Mr. Richardson expressed a wil- 
 lingness to modify his motion, and on Monday, the 15th, a 
 resolution was passed, directing that the vote should be 
 taken on Saturday, May 20th. 
 
 The debate was continued throughout the week, and on 
 Saturday the committee proceeded to the consideration of 
 amendments proposed, with five-minute speeches under the 
 rule. Mr. Richardson offered a substitute for the whole 
 bill. Pending the discussion of amendments to this, the 
 House adjourned to the next Monday. On that day, after 
 many amendments had been proposed, and the business 
 of the committee of the whole had become much involved 
 by various questions of order, Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, 
 a friend of the bill, moved to strike out the enact- 
 ing clause. This motion takes place of all motions to 
 amend, and if carried is considered equivalent to a rejection. 
 The friends of the bill voted for this motion in committee, 
 in order to cut off amendments, but when that fact was 
 reported to the House they refused to adopt the recom- 
 mendation of the committee of the whole, replaced the 
 enacting clause, and Mr. Richardson proposed his substi- 
 tute. This was adopted by a vote of«one hundred and 
 fifteen to ninety. The bill was then ordered to be engrossed 
 and read a third time, by a vote of one hundred and twelve 
 to ninety-nine, and was finally passed, by a vote of one 
 
THE BILL PASSED. 193 
 
 hundred and thirteen to one hundred, on the same day, May 
 22, 1854. 
 
 The bill, as it thus went back to the Senate, was in the 
 same form as when it left that body, excepting that Mr. 
 Clayton's amendment, which omitted from the class of those 
 entitled to vote and to hold ofEce, "those who shall have 
 declared on oath their intention to become citizens of the 
 United States, and shall have taken oath to support the 
 constitution of the United States and the provisions of this 
 act," had been struck out by the House. In the Senate it 
 was again debated two days, when a motion to restore Mr. 
 Clayton's amendment (leaving only citizens of the United 
 States capable of voting or holding ofSce) was lost, yeas 
 seven, nays forty-one ; and the bill passed to a third read- 
 ing, thirty-five to thirteen, and was finally passed on the 
 25th of May. 
 
 It received the signature of the President, and became a 
 law. May 30th, 1854, in the words given in the next chap- 
 ter. 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AN ACT TO ORaANIZE THE TEKRITORIES OE NBBKASEA 
 AND KANZAS. 
 
 BOUNBAKT OF NEBRASKA. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
 Representatives of the United States of America in 
 Congress assembled, That all that part of the territory 
 of the United States included ■within the following limits, 
 except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly 
 exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, begin- 
 ning at a point in the Missouri river where the fortieth 
 parallel of north latitude crosses the same ; thence west on 
 said parallel to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, 
 on the summit of the Rocky Mountains ; thence on said 
 summit northward to the forty-ninth parallel of north lati- 
 tude ; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary 
 of the territory of Minnesota ; thence southward on said 
 boundary to the Missouri river; thence down the main 
 channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the 
 same is hereby, created into a temporary government by 
 
BOUNDARY OF NEBRASKA. 195 
 
 the name of the Territory of Nebraska ; and when admit- "^ 
 ted as a state or states, the said territory, or any portion 
 of the same, shall be received into the Union with or with- 
 out slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time 
 of their admission : Provided, That nothing in this act 
 contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of 
 the United States from dividing said territory into two or 
 more territories; in such manner and at such times as Con- 
 gress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching 
 any portion of said territory to any other state or territory 
 of the United States : Provided further, That nothing in 
 this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of 
 person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said 
 territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished 
 by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or 
 to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian 
 tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be in- 
 cluded within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any 
 state or territory ; but all such territory shall be excepted 
 out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the terri- 
 tory of Nebraska, until said tribe shall signify their assent 
 to the President of the United States to be included within 
 the said territory of Nebraska ; or to affect the authority of 
 the government of the United States, to make any regula- 
 tion respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other 
 rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have 
 
196 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 been competent to the government to make if this act 
 had never passed. 
 
 GOTEENOE. 
 
 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the executive 
 po>Yer and authority in and over said territory of Nebraska 
 shall be vested in a governor, Ti'ho shall hold his office for 
 four yeaiB, and until his successor shall be appointed and 
 qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the 
 United States. The governor shall reside within said ter- 
 ritory, and shall be commander-in-chief of the militia 
 thereof. He may grant pardons and respites for offences 
 against the laws of said territory, and reprieves for ofiences 
 against the laws of the United States, until the decision 
 of the President can be made known thereon ; he shall com- 
 mission all officers who shall be appointed to office under 
 the laws of the said territory, and shall take care that 
 the laws be faithfully executed. 
 
 Seoretaey. 
 
 Sdc. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall 
 be a secretary of said territory, who shall reside therein, 
 and hold his office for five years, unless sooner removed by 
 the President of the United States ; he shall record and 
 preserve all the laws and proceedings of the legislative 
 assembly hereinafter constituted, and all the acts and pro- 
 ceedings of the governor in his executive department ; he 
 shall transmit one copy of the laws and journals of the leg- 
 
LEfilSLATUKE. 197 
 
 islative assembly within thirty days after the end of each 
 session, and one copy of the executive proceedings and ofB- 
 cial correspondence semi-annually, on the first day of Jan- 
 uary and July in each year, to the President of the United 
 States, and two copies of the laws to the President of the 
 Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
 to be deposited in the libraries of Congress ; and in case of 
 the death, removal, resignation, or absence of the governor 
 from the territory, the secretary shall be, and he is hereby, 
 authorized and required to execute and perform all the 
 powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or 
 absence, or until another governor shall be duly appointed 
 and qualified to fill such vacancy. 
 
 Legislatuke. 
 
 Sec. 4. And he it further enacted^ That the legislative 
 power and authority of said territory shall be vested in the 
 governor and a legislative assembly. The legislative assem- 
 bly shall consist of a council and house of representatives. 
 The council shall consist of thirteen members, having the 
 qualifications of voters, as hereinafter prescribed, whose 
 term of service shall continue two years. The house of 
 representatives shall, at its first session, consist of twenty- 
 six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed 
 for members of the council, and whose term of service shall 
 continue one year. The number of representatives may be 
 increased by the legislative assembly, from time to time, in 
 17* 
 
198 KANZAS AND KEBKASKA. 
 
 proportion to the increase of qualified Toters : Provided, 
 That the whole number shall never exceed thirty-nine. An 
 apportionment shall be made, as nearly equal as practicable, 
 among the several counties or districts, for the election of 
 the council and representatives, giving to each section of 
 the territory representation in the ratio of its qualified 
 voters as nearly as may be. And the members of the coun- 
 cil and of the house of representatives shall reside in, and 
 be inhabitants of, the district or county, or counties, for 
 which they may be elected, respectively. Previous to the 
 first election, the governor shall cause a census, or enumer- 
 ation of the inhabitants and qualified voters of the several 
 counties and districts of the territory, to be taken, by such 
 persons and in such mode as the governor shall designate 
 and appoint ; and the persons so appointed shall receive a 
 reasonable compensation therefor. And the first election 
 shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in 
 such manner, both as to the persons who shall superintend 
 such election and the returns thereof, as the governor shall 
 appoint and direct ; and he shall at the same time declare 
 the number of members of the council and house of repre- 
 sentatives to which each of the counties or districts shall be 
 entitled under this act. The persons having the highest 
 number of legal votes in each of said council districts for 
 members of the council, shall be declared by the governor 
 to be duly elected to the council ; and the persons having 
 the highest number of legal votes for the house of repre- 
 
THE EIGHT OP SUFFRAGE. 199 
 
 sentatives, shall be declared by the governor to be duly 
 elected members of said house : Provided, That in case 
 two or more persons voted for shall have an equal number 
 of votes, and in case a vacancy shall otherwise occur in 
 either branch of the legislative assembly, the governor shall 
 order a new election ; and the persons thus elected to the 
 legislative assembly shall meet at such place and on such 
 day as the governor shall appoint ; but thereafter, the time, 
 place, and manner of holding and conducting all elections by 
 the people, and the apportioning the representation in the 
 several counties or districts to the council and house of 
 representatives, according to the number of qualified 
 voters, shall be prescribed by law, as well as the day of the 
 commencement of the regular sessions of the legislative 
 assembly : Provided, That no session in any one year shall 
 exceed the term of forty days, except the first session, which 
 may continue sixty days. 
 
 Right of Suffiiaob, &o. 
 
 Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That every free 
 white inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who 
 shall be an actual resident of said territory, and shall pos- 
 sess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be enti- 
 tled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any 
 ofiice within the said territory ; but the qualifications of 
 voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, 
 shall be such as shall be prescribed by the legislative assem- 
 
200 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 bly : Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding 
 office shall be exercised only by the citizens of the United 
 States, and those who shall have declared, on oath, their inten- 
 tion to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support 
 the constitution of the United States and the provisions of this 
 act : And provided further, That no officer, soldier, sea- 
 man or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the 
 United States, or attached to troops in the service of the 
 United States, shall be allowed to vote or hold office in 
 said territory, by reason of being on service therein. 
 
 Legislative Powek : Veto. 
 
 Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the legislative 
 power of the territory shall extend to all rightful subjects 
 of legislation consistent with the constitution of the United 
 States and the provisions of this act; but no law shall be 
 passed interfering with primary disposal of the soil ; no tax 
 shall be imposed upon the property of the United States ; 
 nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be 
 taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. 
 Every bill which shall have passed the council and house 
 of representatives of the said territory, shall, before it be- 
 comes a law, be presented to the governor of the territory ; 
 if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall return 
 it, with his objections, to the house in which it originated, 
 who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
 proceed to re-consider it. K, after such re-consideration, 
 
TOWN, DISTRICT AND COUNTY OFFICERS. 201 
 
 two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall 
 be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by 
 which it shall likewise be re-considered, and, if approved by 
 two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in 
 all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined 
 by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journal of each 
 house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by 
 the governor within three days (Sunday excepted) after it 
 shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in 
 like manner as if he had signed it, unless the assembly, by 
 adjournment, prevents its return, in which case it shall not 
 
 be a law. 
 
 Town, Disteiot and County Oppioees. 
 
 Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That all township, 
 district and county ofSoers, not herein otherwise provided 
 for, shall be appointed or elected, as the case may be, in 
 such manner as shall be provided by the governor and legis- 
 lative assembly of the territory of Nebraska. The gover- 
 nor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent 
 of the legislative council, appoint all officers not herein other- 
 wise provided for ; and, in the first instance, the governor 
 alone may appoint all said officers, who shall hold their offices 
 until the end of the first session of the legislative assembly ; 
 and shall lay off the necessary districts for members of the 
 council and house of representatives, and all other officers. 
 
 Membees not to hold Office. 
 Sec. 8- And be it further enacted, That no member of 
 
202 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 the legislative assembly shall hold, or be appointed to, any 
 office which shall have been created, or the salary or emolu- 
 ments of -ffhich shall have been increased, while he was a 
 member, during the term for which he was elected, and fpr 
 one year after the expiration of such term ; but this restric- 
 tion shall not be applicable to members of the first legisla- 
 tive assembly ; and no person holding a commission or 
 appointment under the United States, except post-masters, 
 shall be a member of the legislative assembly, or hold any 
 office under the government of said territory. 
 
 JUDIOIAET. 
 
 Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial 
 power of said territory shall be vested in a supreme court, 
 district courts, probate courts, and in justices of the peace. 
 The supreme court shall consist of a chief justice, and two 
 associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quo- 
 rum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government 
 of said territory annually, and they shall hold their offices 
 during the period of four years, and until their successor shall 
 be appointed and qualified. The said territory shall be di- 
 vided into three judicial districts, and a district court shall 
 be held in each of the said districts by one of the justices of 
 the supreme court, at such times and places as may be 
 prescribed by law ; and said judges shall, after their ap- 
 pointments, respectively, reside in the districts which shall 
 be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts 
 herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that 
 
JUDICIART. 203 
 
 of the probate courts and of justices of the peace, shall be 
 as limited by law : Provided, That justices of the peace 
 shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy, 
 when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or 
 where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred 
 dollars ; and the said supreme and district courts, respect- 
 ively, shall possess chancery as well as common law juris- 
 diction. Each district court, or the judge thereof, shall 
 appoint its clerk, who shall also be the register in chancery, 
 and shall keep his office at the place where the court may 
 be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals, 
 shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said 
 district courts to the supreme court, under such regulations 
 as may be prescribed by law ; but in no case removed to 
 the supreme court shall trial by jury be allowed in said 
 court. The supreme court, or the justices thereof, shall ap- 
 point its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at 
 the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been 
 appointed. "Writs of error, and appeals from the final decis- 
 ions of said supreme court, shall be allowed, and may be 
 taken to the supreme court of the United States, in the 
 same manner and under the same regulations as from the 
 circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the 
 property, or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by 
 the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent 
 witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars ; except only that 
 in all cases involving title to slaves, the said writs of error 
 
204 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 or appeals shall be allowed and decided by the said supreme 
 court, without regard to the value of the matters, property, 
 or title in controversy ; and except also that a writ of error 
 or appeal shall also be allowed to the supreme court of the 
 United States, from the decision of the said supreme court 
 created by this act, or of any judge thereof, or of the dis- 
 trict courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, 
 upon any writ of habeas corpus, involving the question of 
 personal freedom ; Provided, That nothing herein contained 
 shall be construed to apply to or affect the provisions of the 
 " act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping 
 from the service of their masters," approved February 
 twelfth, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, and the " act 
 to amend and supplementary to the aforesaid act," approved 
 September eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty ; and each 
 of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same 
 jurisdiction in all cases arising under the constitution and 
 laws of the United States as is vested in the circuit and dis- 
 trict courts of the United States ; and the said supreme 
 and district courts of said territory, and the respective 
 judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus 
 in all cases in which the same are granted by the judges of 
 the United States in the district of Columbia ; and the first 
 six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as 
 shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of 
 causes arising under the said constitution and laws, and 
 writs of error and appeal in all such cases shall be made to 
 
FUfflTIVE SLAVES : TERRITORIAL ATTORNEY. 205 
 
 the supreme court of said territory, the same as in other 
 cases. The said clerk shall receive, in all such cases, the 
 same fees which the clerks of the district courts of Utah 
 territory now receive for similar services. 
 
 Fugitive Slaves. 
 
 Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the provisions 
 of an act entitled "An act respecting fugitives from jus- 
 tice, and persons escaping from the service of their mas- 
 ters," approved February twelve, seventeen hundred and 
 ninety- three, and the provisions of the act entitled "An 
 act to amend, and supplementary to, the aforesaid act," 
 approved September eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty, 
 be, and the same are hereby, declared to extend to and be in 
 full force within the limits of said territory of Nebraska. 
 
 Tekkitokial Attoeney. 
 
 Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That there shall be 
 appointed an attorney for said territory, who shall continue 
 in office for four years, and until his successor shall be 
 appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the Presi- 
 dent, and who shall receive the same fees and salary as the 
 attorney of the United States for the present territory of 
 Utah. There shall also be a marshal for the territory ap- 
 pointed, who shall hold his office for four years, and until 
 his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner 
 18 
 
206 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA 
 
 removed by the President, and who shall execute all processes 
 issuing from the said courts when exercising their jurisdic- 
 tion as circuit and district courts of the United States ; he 
 shall perform the duties, be subject to the same regulations 
 and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as the marshal 
 of the district court of the United States for the present 
 territory of Utah, and shall, in addition, be paid two hun- 
 dred dollars annually as a compensation for extra services. 
 
 Appointments, Saiaeies, &c. 
 
 Sec. 12. And be if further enacted, That the governor, 
 secretary, chief justice,, and associate justices, attorney, and 
 marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the 
 United States. The governor and secretary to be appointed 
 as aforesaid, shall, before they act as such, respectively take 
 an oath or affirmation before the district judge or some justice 
 of the peace in the limits of said territory, duly authorized 
 to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in 
 force therein, or before the chief justice or some associate 
 justice of the supreme court of the United States, to sup- 
 port the constitution of the United States, and faithfully to 
 discharge the duties of their respective of&ces, which said 
 oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by 
 whom the same shall have been taken ; and such certificates 
 shall be received and recorded by the said secretary among 
 the executive proceedings ; and the chief justice and associ- 
 
APPOINTMENTS, SALARIES, ETC. 207 
 
 ate justices, and all other civil officers in said territory, before 
 they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation before 
 the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of 
 the peace of the territory who may be duly commissioned 
 and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified 
 and transmitted by the person taking the same to the secre- 
 tary, to be by him recorded as aforesaid ; and, afterw£n:ds, 
 the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified, and 
 recorded, in such manner and form as may be prescribed by 
 law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of five 
 thousand five hundred dollars. The chief justice and asso- 
 ciate justices shall each receive an annual salary of two 
 thousand dollars. The secretary shall receive an annual sal- 
 ary of two thousand dollars. The said salaries shall be paid 
 quarter-yearly, from the dates of the respective appointments, 
 at the treasury of the United States ; but no such payment 
 shall be made until said officers shall have entered upon the 
 duties of their respective appointments. The members of the 
 legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive three dollars 
 each per day during their attendance at the sessions thereof, 
 and three dollars each for every twenty miles' travel in going 
 to and returning from the said sessions, estimated according 
 to the nearest usually travelled route; and an additional 
 allowance of three dollars shall be paid to the presiding offi- 
 cer of each house for each day he shall so preside. And a 
 chief clerk, one assistant clerk, a sergeant-at-arms, and 
 door-keeper, may be chosen for each house ; and the chief 
 
208 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 clerk shall receive four dollars per day, and the said other 
 officers three dollars per day, during the session of the leg- 
 islative assembly ; but no other officers shall be paid by the 
 United States : Provided, That there shall be but one ses- 
 sion of the legislature annually, unless, on an extraordinary 
 occasion, the governor shall think proper to call the legisla- 
 ture together. There shall be appropriated, annually, the 
 usual sum, to be expended by the governor, to defray the 
 contingent expenses of the territory, including the salary of 
 a clerk of the executive department; and there shall be 
 appropriated, annually, a sufficient sum, to be expended by 
 the secretary of the territory, and upon an estimate to be 
 made by the secretary of the treasury of the United States, 
 to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, the print- 
 ing of the laws, and other incidental expenses ; and the gov- 
 ernor and secretary of the territory shall, in the disburse- 
 ment of all moneys entrusted to them, be governed solely by 
 the instructions of the secretary of the treasury of the 
 United States, and shall, semi-annually, account to the said 
 secretary for the manner in which the aforesaid moneys shall 
 have been expended ; and no expenditure shall be made by 
 said legislative assembly for objects not specially fiuthorized 
 by the acts of Congress making the appropriations, nor beyond 
 the sums thus appropriated for such objects. 
 
 Seat op Government. 
 
 Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That the legisla- 
 tive assembly of the territory of Nebraska shall hold its 
 
DELEGATE IN CONGKESS. 209 
 
 first session at such time and place in said territory as the 
 governor thereof shall. appoint and direct; and at said first 
 session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, 
 the governor and legislative assembly shall proceed to locate 
 and establish the seat of government for said territory at 
 such place as they may deem eligible ; which place, however, 
 shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor 
 and legislative assembly. 
 
 Deleoatb in Conqress ; Laws ot' United States in Fokcb ; 
 Question of Siavekt. 
 
 Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to 
 the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve 
 for the term of two years, who shall be a citizen of the 
 United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect 
 members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to 
 the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed 
 by the delegates from the several other territories of the 
 United States to the said House of Representatives, but the 
 delegate first elected shall hold his seat only during the term 
 of the congress to which he shall be elected. The first elec- 
 tion shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted 
 in, such manner, as the governor shall appoint and direct; 
 and at all subsequent elections the times, places, and manner 
 of holding the elections, shall be prescribed by law. The person 
 having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the 
 governor to be duly elected ; and a certificate thereof shall 
 18* 
 
210 ' KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 be given accordingly. That the constitution and all laws of 
 
 ^ the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall 
 
 7 have the same force and effect within the said territory of 
 
 / Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, except the 
 
 ; eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of 
 
 -I Missouri into the Union, approved March sixth, eighteen 
 
 ,, hundred and twenty, which, being inconsistent with the 
 
 ; principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the 
 
 'states and territories, as recognized by the legislation of 
 
 eighteen hundred and fifty, commonly called the compromise 
 
 / measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being 
 
 '^ the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery 
 
 i_^ into any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but 
 
 / to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regu- 
 
 :., late their domestic institutions in their own way, subject 
 
 / only to the constitution of the United States : Provided, 
 
 '""] That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or 
 
 / put in force any law or regulation which may have existed 
 
 ,' prior to the act of sixth March, eighteen hundred and twenty, 
 
 'J either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing 
 
 7 slavery. 
 
 / 
 
 Public Buildinqs and Libkabies. 
 
 Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That there shall 
 hereafter be appropriated, as has been customary for the 
 territorial governments, a sufficient amount, to be expended 
 under the direction of the said governor of the territory of 
 
SCHOOLS : JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 211 
 
 Nebraska, not exceeding the sums heretofore appropriated 
 for similar objects, for the erection of suitable public build- 
 ings at the seat of government, and for the purchase of a 
 library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of 
 the governor, legislative assembly, judges of the supreme 
 court, secretary, marshal, and attorney of said territory, 
 and such other persons, and under such regulations, as shall 
 be prescribed by law. 
 
 Land Eoeserted fob Schools. 
 
 Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That when the 
 lands in the said territory shall be surveyed under the direc- 
 tion of the government of the United States, preparatory to 
 bringing the same into market, sections numbered sixteen 
 and thirty-six in each township in said territory shall be, 
 and the same are hereby, reserved for the purpose of being 
 applied to schools in said territory„and in the states and ter- 
 ritories hereafter to be erected out of the same. 
 
 GOVEKNOK MAY ASSIGN JuDICIAI DiSTBIOTS. 
 
 Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That, until other- 
 wise provided by law, the governor of said territory may 
 define the judicial districts of said territory, and assign the 
 judges who may be appointed for said territory to the several 
 districts ; and also appoint the times and places for holding 
 courts in the several counties or subdivisions in each of said 
 judicial districts by proclamation, to be issued by him ; but 
 
212 KAKZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 « 
 
 the legislative assembly, at their first or any subsequent 
 session, may organize, alter, or modify such judicial districts, 
 and assign the judges, and alter the times and places of hold- 
 ing tJie courts, as to them shall seem proper and convenient. 
 
 Offioeks give Secukity fok Public Money. 
 
 Sec. 18. And he it further enacted, That all officers 
 to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, for the territory of Nebraska, 
 ■who, by virtue of the provisions of any law now existing, 
 or which may be enacted during the present congress, are 
 required to give security for moneys that may be entrusted 
 with them for disbursement, shall give such security, at such 
 time and place, and in such manner, as the secretary of the 
 treasury may prescribe. 
 
 BOUNDABY OP KANZAS. 
 
 Sec. 19. And be it further enacted, That all that part 
 of the territory of the United States included within the 
 following limits, except such portions thereof as are herein- 
 after expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to 
 wit, beginning at a point on the western boundary of the 
 state of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north 
 latitude crosses the same ; thence west on said parallel to 
 the eastern boundary of New Mexico ; thence north on said 
 
BOtJNDAEY OF KANZAS. 213 
 
 boundary to ktitude thirty-eight; thence following said 
 boundary westward to the east boundary of the territory of 
 Utah, on the summit of the Eocky Mountains; thence 
 northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of lati- 
 tude ; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary 
 of the state of Missouri ; thence south with the western 
 boundary of said state to the place of beginning, be, and 
 the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by 
 the name of the Territory of Kanzas ; and when admitted 
 as a state or states, the said territory, or any portion of the ' 
 same, shall be received into the Union with or without 
 slavery, as their constitution may prescribe a^b the time of 
 their admission : Provided, That nothing in this act con- 
 tained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the 
 United States from dividing said territory into two or more 
 territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress 
 shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any 
 portion of said territory to any other state or territory of 
 the United States : Provided further, that nothing in this 
 act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of per- 
 sons or property now pertaining to the Indians in said terri- 
 tory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by 
 treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to 
 include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian 
 tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included 
 within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state or 
 
"214 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 territory ; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the 
 boundaries, and constitute no part of the territory of Kan- 
 zas, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States to be included within the said 
 territory of Kanzas, or to affect the authority of the gov- 
 ernment of the United States to make any regulation re- 
 specting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, 
 by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been com- 
 petent to the government to make if this act had never 
 passed. 
 
 [Here follow in the act sections nineteen to thirty-six, 
 inclusive, which, being word for word the same as sections 
 two to seventee?i, excepting that they refer to the territory 
 of Kanzas, are here omitted.] 
 
 Indiau Rights Keseeved. 
 
 Sec. 37. And be it further enacted, That all treaties, 
 laws, and other engagements made by the government of the 
 United States with the Indian tribes inhabiting the territo- 
 ries embraced within this act, shall be faithfully and rigidly 
 observed, notwithstanding anything contained in this act ; 
 and that the existing agencies and superintendencies of said 
 Indians be continued vrith the same powers and duties 
 which are now prescribed by law, except that the President 
 
THE ACT APPROVED. 215 
 
 of the United States may, at his discretion, change the loca- 
 tion of the office of superintendent. 
 
 LINN BOYD, 
 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
 D. R. ATCHISON, 
 
 President of the Senate pro tempore. 
 
 Approved May 30th, 1854. 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
^W-v^ CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Emigration to Kanzas — The Emigrant Aid Companies. 
 
 The "Missouri Compromise" had settled the question 
 of slavery in Kanzas and Nebraska, ^^ forever." At the 
 end of a generation this settlement was set aside by the act 
 establishing their territorial governments. 
 
 So far as there is any especial principle regulating the 
 provisions of that act, it is its intention of leaving the in- 
 stitutions of the territories to those who may inhabit them. 
 I This principle is familiarly called " the principle of squat- 
 ter sovereignty," in language attributed to General Cass. 
 
 To carry out this principle fairly, it would be, of course, 
 necessary that no restriction of any kind should be placed 
 upon the emigration into these territories. 
 
 It has appeared, however, from the whole experience of 
 the United States, that there is scarcely any disposition on 
 the part of emigrants from Europe, or from the Northern 
 States, to move into regions where the institution of slavery 
 is permitted. Free labor will not place itself side by side 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT TO EMIGRATION. 217 
 
 with slave labor, and the great preponderance of northern 
 and foreign emigration has always been to the free states 
 and territories of the North-west. 
 
 As the discussion upon the Nebraska and Kanzas bill 
 proceeded, it became evident, from the very nature of the 
 case, that there was a desire of extending slavery into Kan- 
 zas, the southern territory of the two. There waa no need 
 of repealing the Missouri Compromise, except to gratify this 
 desire. 
 
 It was just as evident, that the great mass of the emigra- 
 tion would turn away from Kanzas, in proportion as there 
 was a probability of the establishment of slavery there. 
 No single man or single family, unwilling to enter a slave 
 state, would trust themselves, unsupported, in a territory 
 which would probably become one. 
 
 To secure to Kanzas, therefore, a fair proportion of the 
 western emigration; to secure for the principle of "squatter 
 sovereignty" a fair trial; and to make sure that the insti- 
 tutions, both of Kanzas and Nebraska, should be digested 
 by settlers of every class ; it became necessary that some 
 organization of the great current of western emigration 
 should encourage each emigrant from the North, by show- 
 ing him how strong a force was behind him and around 
 him. 
 
 Some organization of western emigration was also neces- 
 sary on pure grounds of humanity. The immense pilgiim- 
 age of four hundred thousand persons, arriving annually in 
 19 
 
218 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 America from Europe, has thus far scarcely attracted the 
 attention of the general government. It has cared for 
 their health on shipboard, but it makes jio provision for 
 them after their arrival. The decisions of its courts have 
 even harassed, very considerably, the police and hospital 
 provisions made for them by the maritime states. These 
 states succeed, however, in taxing the emigrant on his 
 arrival, that they may provide a fund for the care of the 
 emigrant body. . With this, the supervision of government 
 ceases entirely ; and those foreign emigrants who wish to 
 go to the West — perhaps one half of the whole number — 
 are left, scarcely protected by the public, to the rapacity of 
 all unprincipled persons, frequently that of their own coun- 
 trymen, who choose to prey on their ignorance of our 
 geography, our customs, our language, and of their own 
 rights and necessities. In the State of New York there is 
 even a system of slang language in use by the various 
 harpies who feed this emigration. So various are the forms 
 of fraud that they require a dialect of their own. Even the 
 humane legislation of New York has in vain attempted to 
 break up this system. Through the summer of 1854 for- 
 eign emigrants have been hurried to the West, so closely 
 and inhumanly packed away in trains of cars that they 
 were the first victims of cholera, in the western cities to 
 which they came, and have furnished to that disease a con- 
 stant supply of victims. 
 
EMIGRANT AID COMPANIES. 219 
 
 This condition of the foreign emigration -westward also 
 pointed to the necessity of an organization of emigration. 
 
 The activity of the Northern States, at the present time, 
 in the institution of " Emigrant Aid Companies," and 
 "leagues" and "associations" auxiliary to such compa- 
 nies, springs from one or both of these considerations. The 
 •number of persons in the Northern and North--western 
 States who move to some home westward of that they oc- 
 cupy, is probably three hundred thousand a year, including 
 the immense foreign contingent. Evidently, this move- 
 ment is so large as to demand the most careful oversight of 
 the travelling arrangements made for it ; and as evidently, 
 also, a small proportion of it only will be enough to give 
 Kanzas the population requisite for her admission as a state 
 into the Union. 
 
 Influenced by both the considerations spoken of, Mr. Eli 
 Thayer, a member of the Massachusetts house of repre- 
 sentatives, circulated a petition, in the month of March, 
 1854, for the incorporation, by the General Court of Mas- 
 sachusetts, of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. 
 The petition was at once granted by the Legislature, and 
 a charter given, of which the first section follows : 
 
 " Sec. 1. Benjamin C. Clark, Isaac Livermore, Charles 
 Allen, Isaac Davis, William G. Bates, Stephen C. Phillips, 
 Charles C. Hazewell, Alexander H. Bullock, Henry Wil- 
 son, James S. Whitney, Samuel E. Sewall, Samuel G. 
 Howe, James Holland, Moses Kimball, James D. Green, 
 
220 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 Francis W. Bird, Otis Clapp, Anson Burlingame, Eli 
 
 — ll tl WWIK it MJ WWLJIJUW i M jnmBijW i w 
 
 Thayer,, and Otis Rich, their associates, successors and 
 assigns, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the 
 Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, for the purpose of 
 assisting emigrants to settle in the West ; and, for this pur- 
 pose, they have all the powers and privileges, and be sub- 
 ject to fill the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth 
 in the thirty -eighth and forty-fourth chapters, of the Re- 
 vised Statutes." 
 
 The charter was signed by the Governor on the 26th day 
 of April, and took effect immediately. The persons named 
 in it, and others interested, met at the State House, in 
 Boston, on the 4th of May, accepted the charter, and 
 appointed a committee to report a plan of organization and 
 system of operations. The committee consisted of Eli 
 Thayer, Alexander H. Bullock, and E. E. Hale of Worces- 
 ter, Richard Hildreth and Otis Clapp of Boston, who sub- 
 mitted the following leport at an adjourned meeting : 
 
 "kepo ET. 
 
 " The objects of this corporation are apparent in its name. 
 The immense emigration to America from Europe intro- 
 duces into our ports a very large number of persons eager 
 to pass westward. The fertility of our western regions, 
 and the cheapness of the public lands, induce many of the 
 native-born citizens of the old states also to emigrate thither. 
 
EMIGRANT AID COMPANY. 221 
 
 At the present time, public and social considerations of the 
 gravest character render it desirable to settle the territories 
 west of Missouri and Iowa; and these considerations are 
 largely increasing the amount of westward emigration. 
 
 "The foreign arrivals in America last year were four 
 hundred thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven. In 
 the same year, the emigration to western states, of Ameri- 
 cans and foreigners, must have amounted to much more than 
 two hundred thousand persons. The emigration thither this 
 year will be larger still. And from the older western states 
 large numbers are removing into new territory. 
 
 "Persons who are familiar with the course of movement 
 of this large annual throng of emigrants know that under 
 the arrangements now existing they suffer at every turn. 
 The frauds practised upon them by 'runners,' and other 
 agents of transporting lines in the state of New York, 
 amount to a stupendous system of knavery, which has not 
 been broken up even by the patient endeavors of the state 
 officers, and by. very stringent state legislation. The com- 
 plete ignorance as to our customs in which the foreign emi- 
 grant finds himself, and, in more than half the foreign 
 emigration, his complete ignorance of our language, sub- 
 ject him to every fraud, and to constant accident. It is 
 in the face of every conceivable inconvenience that the 
 country receives every year four hundred thousand foreign- 
 ers into its seaports, and sends the larger portion of them 
 to its western country. 
 19* 
 
222 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 " The inconveniences and dangers to health to which the 
 pioneer is subject who goes out alone or with his family, 
 only in making a new settlement, are familiar to every 
 American. 
 
 "The Emigrant Aid Company has been incorporated to 
 protect emigrants, as far as may be, from such inconven- 
 iences. Its duty is to organize emigration to the west 
 and bring it into a system. This duty, which should 
 have been attempted long ago, is particula£lyessential now, 
 in the critical position of the western territories. 
 
 " The legislature has granted a charter, with a capital 
 sufficient for these purposes. This capital is not to exceed 
 $5,000,000. In no single year are assessments to a larger 
 amount than ten per cent, to be called for. The corporators 
 believe that if the company be organized at once, as soon 
 as the subscription to the stock amounts to $1,000,000, the 
 annual income to be derived from that amount, and the sub- 
 sequent subscriptions, may be so appropriated as to render 
 most essential service to the emigrant, toplant a free state 
 in Kanzas, to the lasting advantage of the country, and to 
 return a very handsome profit to the stockholders upon their * 
 investment. 
 
 "1. The emigrant suffers whenever he goes alone into 
 his new home. He suffers from the frauds of others ; 
 from his own ignorance of the system of travel, and of the 
 country where he settles ; and, again, from his want of 
 
EMiaKANT AID COMPANY. 223 
 
 support from neighbors, -ffhich results in the impossibility 
 of any combined assistajice, or of any division of labor. 
 
 " The Emigrant Aid Company will relieve him from all 
 these embarrassments by sending out emigrants in compa- 
 nies, and establishing them in considerable numbers. They 
 will locate these where they please on arrival in their new 
 home, and receive from government their titles. The com- 
 pany propose to carry them to their homes more cheaply 
 than they could otherwise go, to enable them to establish 
 themselves with the least inconvenience, and to provide the 
 most important prime necessities of a new colony. It will 
 provide shelter and food at the lowest prices after the arri- 
 val of emigrants, while they make the arrangements neces- 
 sary for their new homes. It will render all the assistance 
 which the information of its agents can give. And, by 
 establishing emigrants in large numbers in the territories, 
 it will give them the power of using at once those social 
 influences which radiate from the church, the school, and 
 the press, in the organization and development of a com- 
 munity. 
 
 " For these purposes it is recommended, first, that the 
 directors contract immediately, with some one of the com- 
 peting lines of travel, for the conveyance of twenty thousand 
 persons from Massachusetts to that place in the west which 
 the directors shall select for their first settlement. 
 
 " It is believed that passage may be obtained, in so large 
 a contract, at half the price paid by individuals. We recom- 
 
224 KANZAS AND NE3KASKA. 
 
 mend that emigrants receive the full advantage of this 
 diminution of price, and that they be forwarded in compa- 
 nies of two hundred, as they apply, at these reduced rates 
 of travel. 
 
 "2. It is recommended that, at such points as the direc- 
 tors select for places of settlement, they shall at once con- 
 struct a boarding-house or receiving-house, in which three 
 hundred persons may receive temporary accommodation on 
 their arrival; and that the number of such houses be 
 enlarged as necessity may dictate. The new comers or 
 their families may thus be provided for in the necessary 
 interval which elapses while they are making their selection 
 of a location. 
 
 "3. It is recommended that the directors procure and 
 send forward steam saw-mills, grist-mills, and such other 
 machines as shall be of constant service in a new settle- 
 ment, which cannot, however, be purchased or carried out 
 conveniently by individual settlers. These machines may be 
 leased or run by the company's agents. At the same time, 
 it is desirable that a printing press be sent out, and a week- 
 ly newspaper established. This would be the organ of the 
 company's agents ; would extend information regarding its 
 settlement, and be, from the very first, an index of that love 
 of freedom and of good morals which it is to be hoped may 
 SSSiicterrz'e the state now to be formed. 
 
 "4. It is recommended that the company's agents locate, 
 and take up for the company's benefit the sections of land 
 
EMIGRANT AID COMPANY. 225 
 
 in which the boarding-houses and mills are located, and no 
 otKers. And, further, that whenever the territory shall be 
 or ganized as a free state, the directors shall dispose of all 
 its interests there, replace by the sales the money laid out, 
 declare a dividend to the stockholders, and — 
 
 " 5. That they then select a new field, and make simi- 
 lar arrangements for the settlement and organization of 
 another free state of this Union. 
 
 " II. With the advantages attained by such a system of 
 eifort, the territory selected as the scene of operations 
 would, it is believed, at once fill up with free inhabitants. 
 There is reason to suppose that several thousand men of 
 New England origin propose to emigrate under the auspices 
 of some such arrangement this very summer. Of the 
 whole emigration from Europe, amounting to some four 
 hundred thousand persons, there can be no difficulty in 
 inducing thirty or forty thousand to take the same direc- 
 tion. Applicg-tions from German agents have already been 
 made to members of the company. We have also intima- 
 tions, in correspondence from the free states of the west, of 
 a wide-spread desire there, among those who know what it is 
 to settle a new country, to pass on, if such an organization 
 can be made, into that now thrown open. An emigrant 
 company of those intending to go has been formed in Wor- 
 cester county, and others in other states. 
 
 " In view of the establishment by such agencies of a new 
 free state in that magnificent region, it is unnecessary to 
 
226 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 dwell in detail on the advantages -whicli this enterprise 
 holds out to the country at large. 
 
 " It determines in the right way the institutions of the 
 unsettled territories, in less time than the discussion of 
 them has required in Congress. It opens to those who are 
 in want in the eastern states a home and a competence, 
 without the suffering hitherto incident to emigration. For 
 the company is the pioneer, and provides, before the settler 
 arrives, the conveniences which he first requires. Such a 
 removal of an over-crowded population is one of the great- 
 est advantages to eastern cities. Again, the enterprise 
 opens commercial advantages to the commercial states, just 
 in proportion to the population which it creates, of free men 
 who furnish a market to our manufactures and imports. 
 Whether the new line of states shall be free states or slave 
 states, is a question deeply interesting to those who are to 
 provide the manufactures for their consumption. Especially 
 will it prove an advantage to Massaphusetts if she create 
 the new state by her foresight, — supply the first necessi- 
 ties to its inhabitants, and open in the outset communica- 
 tions between their homes and her ports and factories. 
 
 "In return for these advantages, which the company's 
 rapid and simple effort affords to the emigrant and to the 
 country, its stockholders receive that satisfaction, ranked by 
 Lord Bacon among the very highest, of becoming founders 
 of states,* and, more than this, states which are prosperous 
 * See Mr. Everett's Bpeeoh on the Nebraska BUI. 
 
EMIGBANT AID COMPANY. 227 
 
 and free. They secure satisfaction by an investment which 
 promises large returns at no distant day. 
 
 " Under the plan proposed, it -will be but two or three years 
 before the company can dispose of its property in the territory 
 first occupied, and reimburse itself for its first expenses. At 
 that time, in a state of seventy thousand inhabitants, it will 
 possess several reservations of six hundred and forty acres 
 each, on which its boarding-houses and mills stand, and the 
 churches and school-houses which it has rendered necessary. 
 From these centres will the settlements of the state have 
 radiated. In other words, these points will then be the 
 large commercial positions of the new state. If there were 
 only one such, its value, after the region should be so far 
 peopled, would make a very large dividend to the company 
 which sold it, besides restoring its original capital, with 
 which to enable it to attempt the same adventure elsewhere. 
 
 " It is to be remembered that all accounts agree that the 
 region of Kanzas is the most desirable part of America now 
 open to the emigrant. -It is accessible in firc^ays continu- 
 ous travel from Boston. Its crops are very bountiful, its 
 soil being well adapted to the staples of Virginia and Ken- 
 tucky, and especially to the growth of hemp. In its eastern 
 section the woodland and prairie-land intermix, in proportions 
 very well adapted for the purposes of the settler. Its min- 
 eral resources, especially its cqal, in the central and western 
 parts, are inexhaustible. A steamboat is already plying on 
 the Kanzas river, and the territory has uninterrupted steam- 
 
228 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 boat communication with New Orleans, and all the tributa- 
 ries of the Mississippi river. All the overland emigration 
 to California and Oregon, by any of the easier routes, passes 
 of necessity through its limits. Whatever roads are built 
 westward must begin in this territory. For it is here that 
 the emigrant leaves the Missouri river. Of late years the 
 demand for provisions and breadstuffs, made by emigrants 
 proceeding to California, has given to the inhabitants of the 
 neighboring parts of Missouri a market at as good rates as 
 they could have found in the Union. 
 
 "It is impossible that such a region should not fill up rap- 
 idly. The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company proposes 
 to give confidence to settlers, by giving system to emigration. 
 By dispelling the fears that Kanzas will be a slave state, the 
 company will remove the only bar which now hinders its 
 occupation by free settlers. It is to be hoped that similar 
 companies will be formed in other free states. The enterprise 
 is of that character, that, for those who first enter it, the 
 more competition the better. 
 
 "It is recommended that the first settlement made by the 
 directors shall receive the name of that city in this, Com- 
 monwealth which shall have subscribed most liberally to the 
 capital stock of the company, in proportion to its last decen- 
 nial valuation; and that the second settlement be named 
 from the city next in order so subscribing, 
 
 "It is recommended that a meeting of the stockholders be 
 called on the first Wednesday in June, to organize the com- 
 
ORGANIZATION. 229 
 
 pany for one year ; and that the corporators, at this time, 
 make a temporary organization, with power to obtain sub- 
 scriptions to the stock, and make any necessary preliminary 
 
 arrangements. 
 
 "ELI THAYER, 
 
 "jPor the Committee." 
 
 The capital stock of the Massachusetts company was 
 originally fixed at $5,000,000, from which it was proposed 
 to collect an assessment of four per cent, for the operations 
 of 1854, so soon as $1,000,000 were subscribed. It sub- 
 sequently proved that the provisions of the charter were not 
 such as to satisfy all the parties interested, and the company 
 finally organized on the 13th of June, under private arti- 
 cles of association, the management of its afiairs being 
 entrusted to three trustees : Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, Mr. 
 Eli Thayer, and Mr. J. M. S. "Williams, of Cambridge. 
 These trustees have proceeded to collect subscriptions to the 
 stock, to collect and circulate information regarding the ter- 
 ritories, and to make negotiations for the passage of emi- 
 grants to the territory of Kanzas, and for such provision as 
 can be made for them there, under the general plan of the 
 association. 
 
 It must be understood that this plan does not contemplate 
 
 the purchase of land in large quantities. The company 
 
 does not stand between the emigrant and the United States 
 
 government. He may get his land as he can, as a squatter 
 
 20 
 
230 KANZAS AND NBBKASKA. 
 
 or by purchase. The company only takes up such land as it 
 needs for its central establishments. By providing cheap 
 passage, — passage in companies, — ■ and information to 
 settlers ; by establishing mills and other conveniences ivhich 
 need capital, the company gives such facilities to emigrants 
 as capital can give, but does not interfere at all with their 
 selection of land, except by the advice of the agents ■whom 
 it has upon the ground. 
 
 A small party of about thirty men went forward, as a 
 pioneer party of this company, on the 17th of July. 
 
 The Emigrant Aid Company of New York and Connecti- 
 cut organized on the 18th of July, under a charter granted 
 by the legislature of Connecticut at the session of the same 
 summer. Its objects are of the same general character as 
 those of the Boston company. Its affairs are in the hands 
 of a board of twenty-seven trustees, who- choose an executive 
 committee of three for their immediate direction. The 
 capital stock of this company is not to exceed five million 
 dollars, to be raised in shares of five dollars each. Mr. 
 Eli Thayer is president, Mr. R. N. Havens vice-presi- 
 dent, and Mr. M. H. Grinnell treasurer of this company. 
 
 These two parent companies propose to send forward trains 
 of emigrants to Kanzas as rapidly as possible after the 
 general arrangements for their cheap and safe conveyance 
 have been made. They carry all who apply for tickets for 
 the journey. It is not within the immediate power of two 
 such companies to conduct a correspondence with every indi- 
 
LOCAL "LEAGUES." 231, 
 
 vidual who wishes to emigrate, noi* to arrange that compa- 
 nies of neighbors shall go together, without the intervention 
 of local societies, which shall take in hand the details of 
 such arrangements. Local "leagues" or emigrant societies, for 
 the detailed care of the arrangements of parties of emigrants, 
 have been formed, therefore, in several of the large towns. 
 There are such societies, auxiliary to the "Aid Companies,'' 
 in New York, in Albany, in Rochester, and probably in 1 / 
 other towns. It is greatly to be desired that the number of | 
 such auxiliaries may be enlarged. Each of them should 
 appoint and pay a master of emigration, who may find out/ 
 all those who wish to move westward in his neighborhood ; 
 make such arrangements with the Emigrant Aid Company 
 that, if they wish, they can go together; and, in general, 
 conduct their negotiations with the parent company, without 
 subjecting each man to the necessity of writing himself, and 
 for himself receiving a reply. 
 
 Side by side with the associations now described, the 
 Union Emigration Society was organized in the city of , 
 Washington, " by such members of Congress and citizens j 
 generally as were opposed to the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise, and to the opening of Nebraska and Kanzas to \ 
 the introduction of slavery." This society is understood to 
 have appointed agents in several states, for the purpose of 
 calling public attention to its movements, and organizing 
 auxiliary societies. 
 
 The operations of the two Emigrant Aid Companies, and 
 
232 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 of the "leagues" auxiliary to them, are so completely in 
 their infancy, that it is impossible to make a statement of 
 their plans much more definite than that contained in the 
 report of their first committee. To all applicants for pas- 
 sage they will be able to furnish passage tickets, of the first 
 class, from Boston to Kanzas, at an expense of twenty or 
 twenty-five dollars. Passage with a simpler class of ac- 
 commodations may probably be furnished for ten dollars. 
 These rates are much lower than the regular rates of travel, 
 and emigrants who take these tickets have the assurance of 
 the company's guarantee that the tickets will be serviceable 
 for their purpose, and that no further exactions for travel 
 will be made on the way to Kanzas. They will travel in 
 parties of persons bound to the same home with themselves. 
 They will arrive at a station of the company, where they 
 will meet with friends, and receive such information and 
 general assistance as it is in the power of the company to 
 give them. 
 
 Applications have already been received from large num- 
 bers of persons from almost every one of the free states, and 
 from some of the slave states, who wish to join in this emi- 
 gration. The officers of several of the foreign benevolent 
 societies have interested themselves in the operations of the 
 companies, intending to direct to Kanzas large bodies of 
 European emigrants, as they arrive. 
 
 So soon as the heat of summer abates, parties of these 
 emigrants are to move forward. A party from Conneaut- 
 
EMIGRATION OE 1854. 233 
 
 ville, Pennsylvania, accompanies Mr. Geor^^W. Brown, 
 who carries out a steam press and types, with which to 
 establish the "Herald of Freedom" newspaper, in Kanzas. 
 A general interest in the movement has extended among 
 mechanics of every craft; and, as the companies will, 
 doubtless, soon establish mills, with steam or water power, 
 at central and accessible positions, we may believe that 
 even the first settlers will have around them, not merely 
 the luxuries of a teeming soil, but even the conveniences of 
 manufactures, near their own homes, with the arrangements 
 of an advanced civilization. 
 
 Meanwhile, a rapid emigration has been going on into 
 the territories, particularly into Kanzas, quite independent 
 of the Emigrant Aid Companies. During the close of the 
 winter of 1853-54, it is said, large numbers of persons from 
 north-western states collected in the towns on the eastern 
 side of the Missouri, awaiting the opening of the territo- 
 ries, that they might go in and stake out their locations. As 
 the spring opened, a rapid current of emigration began. At 
 first, the northern settlers went generally into Nebraska, 
 but so soon as it was known that determined and combined 
 arrangements would be made to settle Kanzas from the 
 North, the natural attractions of that territory began to 
 exercise their influence, and the preponderance of emigra- 
 tion, through the summer of 1854, has been into its bor- 
 ders. The Indian treaties were ratified only at the close of 
 the session of the Senate ; some of them not till the begin- 
 20* 
 
234 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 ning of August. Settlement on the Indian lands was, 
 therefore, until that time, strictly illegal. But persons in- 
 tending to emigrate, in many instances, made arrangements 
 with the Indians, or, at the least, staked off the land on 
 which they wished to settle, and made registry of the pri- 
 ority of their claim on the books of some " Squatter's 
 Association." 
 
 A large number of the residents of western Missouri 
 have in this manner passed over the line, and made claim to 
 such sections as pleased them, intending, at some subse- 
 quent period, to make such improvements as will give them 
 a right of preemption, when the lands are offered for sale, 
 but for the present not residing on the new territory. The 
 Indian reservations run westward not more than forty, sixty, 
 or eighty miles. West of these the country has been open 
 without restriction to settlers, many of whom, have already 
 begun their permanent improvements. Since the ratifi- 
 cation of the treaties there is no obstacle to such a proceed- 
 ing, except in the few small reservations, already described, 
 left for the present by the terms of the treaties." It is, of 
 course, impossible to estimate the number of scattered per- 
 sons who have gone into Kanzas already in this way; 
 indeed, there is little use in an estimate of a number which 
 is enlarging every day. Some newspaper statements have 
 fixed the number of claims made before the first of August, 
 1854, at three or four thousand. This was, probably, at 
 that time, an exaggeration, but our best information leads 
 
RIGHTS OF SETTLERS. 235 
 
 US to suppose that that number of claims will have been 
 made before these pages meet the reader's eye. 
 
 The law providing for the survey of Kanzas and Ne- 
 braska passed Congress late in the session of 1854. Its 
 title is, ' ' An Act to establish the offices of surveyor-general 
 of New Mexico, Kanzas and Nebraska, to grant donations 
 of land to actual settlers therein, and for other purposes." 
 From this title the impression has gone abroad, very natu- 
 rally, that actual settlers in Kanzas and Nebraska will 
 receive donations of land from the government; but it 
 appears, from the act itself, that this is a mistake. The 
 second section of the act grants a quarter-section of land to 
 every white male person, above the age of twenty-one 
 years, who shall live in the territory of New Mexico 
 before the year 1858, with certain conditions. Subsequent 
 sections provide for the land offices in Kanzas and Nebraska, 
 but make no provision for donations of land to settlers. 
 The title of the bill is therefore false, and the position of 
 a settler in Kanzas is precisely what it is in any other of 
 the western states or territories. 
 
 Whether the land has been surveyed or not, he may 
 enter where he likes, and build his house, and cultivate his 
 farm, unless he trespass upon some previous settler. It is 
 the universal custom, at the West, for settlers in the same 
 neighborhoods to enter into associations for mutual protec- 
 tion ; and such associations give a guarantee, always bind- 
 ing, which secures to each settler the proprietorship of his 
 
236 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 land. The "squatter right" thus becomes a title to the 
 land occupied, which is distinctly recognized in mercantile 
 transactions, and may be bought or sold. When the gov- 
 ernment has completed its surveys, and considers the land 
 to be marketable, it advertises a public sale of the lands. 
 The minimum price is one dollar and twenty-five cents; 
 and the mutual support given by settlers is such, that no 
 person bids over the claimant who has entered upon his 
 land. Practically, therefore, the settler has the use of his 
 land for nothing until the government sale is ordered, and 
 then obtains his own quarter-section at one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents an acre. A' "section" of land is six 
 hundred and forty acres. A quarter-section is the smallest 
 section which the government officers sell at a time. 
 
 The surveys of Kanzas or Nebraska will scarcely begin 
 before late in the fall of 1854. 
 
 Such associations as these described have already been 
 found among the settlers, in both Kanzas and Nebraska. 
 An effort has been made, particularly by one person, to 
 induce such associations to refuse to admit "Abolitionists," 
 under the pretext that they would wish to "run off" 
 slaves from their neighbors' lands. Resolutions to this 
 effect have been passed in one or two instances, but have 
 been rejected or neglected more often. When passed they 
 have been mildly stated, 'and have amounted only to a reso- 
 lution to support slave-holders in their "legal rights;" 
 disavowing any intention to interfere with persons who do 
 
PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS. 237 
 
 not attempt to violate those rights, as the future laws shall 
 state them. 
 
 The actual settler, then, has simply to go into Kanzas 
 or Nebraska, to select the best spot he can find unoccupied, 
 and to put up his cabin or his house there, secure of pur- 
 chasing the best land in the world at one dollar and twenty- 
 five cents an acre, when the government, from whom he 
 will hold it, is ready to sell. 
 
 The accounts already given of the two territories give 
 some idea of the opportunities opened to settlers. The pas- 
 sage every year of large companies of emigrants to the 
 Pacific over the plains, gives, for the present, a good mar- 
 ket for provisions to those who are situated in positions to 
 avail themselves of it. The supplies for the government 
 posts in New Mexico have thus far been carried in through 
 Kanzas, and this course must, for the present, continue. 
 
 The crop of hemp is the most valuable crop in western 
 Missouri, and will prove equally successful in the virgin 
 lands of Kanzas and Nebraska, opposite. At present the 
 price of this staple is very high. 
 
 There is, of course, the same demand for mechanics as in 
 every new territory. The mill powers, now necessary in 
 almost every department of mechanical business, will be 
 supplied by the water powers on the tributaries of Kanzas 
 river, and by steam engines, — the supply of coal being so 
 large as to make steam power cheap in favorable localities. 
 There is bark sufficient for tanning ; but, thus far, there is 
 
238 ' KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 no large manufacture of shoes in the states adjacent to 
 Kanzas and Nebraska. The iron ore of Missouri has been 
 called the best in the world. Iron ore has been found be- 
 tween the Kanzas and Nebraska rivers, but has not been 
 collected in any considerable quantity. 
 
 Such natural resources as these, on a soil which yields 
 its treasures almost spontaneously, may well tempt indus- 
 trious men to seek fortune in the new territories. For men 
 who will not work, they have no more prizes than the rest 
 of the world. The population will grow very rapidly. The 
 land, almost given away to-day, will command the prices 
 of the finest farming land when this region shall be peo- 
 pled, and the first comers, who know how to bear the 
 hardships of a frontier life, are those who will bear away 
 the prizes. It is impossible to point out to. settlers favor- 
 able regions in which to locate, nearly so acceptable to 
 them as they will themselves select after a few days' exam- 
 ination. The valley of the Kanzas and the valley of the 
 Missouri have thus far been the most popular districts. 
 The lines of the great routes to Santa Fe and to Fort Kear- 
 ney will have the inducements given by the constant passage 
 of merchants and emigrants. These roads pass through 
 some fine regions of country also. The government is 
 opening a military road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort 
 Riley, which will open a district of country north of the 
 Kanzas to easy settlement. 
 
 The pioneer body of the Emigrant Aid Company have 
 
ENTEANCB Tp KANZAS. 239 
 
 made their claims on a beautiful spot bordering on the Kan- 
 zas river, about seven miles -west of the mouth of Wah-ka- 
 rusi Creek. They have here a good landing, wood and stone 
 in abundance for building, the neighborhood of coal, and a 
 good commercial position. 
 
 The easiest route for emigrants from the east is through 
 the city of Alton in Illinois, whither the steamboats on the 
 Mississippi or the railroads from the eastward will carry 
 passengers. This city is nearly opposite the mouth of the 
 river Missouri. Here, or at St. Louis, passage may be 
 taken in a steamboat almost daily to any of the landings on 
 the Upper Missouri. At either of these cities, or at the 
 landings above, may settlers make their outfits. The voyage 
 up the river takes three days or more, according to the speed 
 of the boat or the state of the water. 
 
 The climate of Kanzas and southern Nebraska has always 
 been singularly healthy. In 1849, when the cholera was 
 very fatal in the adjoining towns of Missouri, companies of 
 emigrants, in some instances, escaped from it, by going into 
 the prairie and encamping there. The cholera, however, has 
 not wholly spared these regions. The Indians and emigrants 
 exposed to the fatigues of travelling, and exposed to varia- 
 ble weather, have suffered from it there as elsewhere. There 
 is in these territories comparatively little of that bottom- 
 land which is the favorite seat of western diseases. It may 
 be hoped that as the forests are not so dense as those of 
 some regions, the clearing away of the woods may not be 
 
240 KANZAS AND NEBKASKA. 
 
 followed by those forms of disease which sometimes accom- 
 panies the decay of great masses of vegetable matter. It is 
 understood that these regions have, thus far, been in a great 
 measure exempt from fever and ague, and bilious fever. 
 They are thoroughly drained ; they have little or no stand- 
 ing water ; they are high above the level of the ocean, and 
 are swept by winds from the not distant mountains. All 
 these are reasons for hoping that this partial exemption from 
 the diseases of a new settled country may be lasting. Emi- 
 grants need to be cautioned not to commit themselves to the 
 cheapest lines of travel, unless some responsible emigrant 
 company assures them that cars and boats shall be properly 
 arranged for their accommodation. A great deal of sickness 
 has been caused 'by the unrighteous crowding together of 
 foreign emigrants in the worst class cars. Emigrants, again, 
 ought not be in a hurry. Their arrival a day or two sooner 
 or later is of little consequence, if a day or two's delay will 
 check an attack of illness in its infancy. Again, they ought, 
 if possible, to go in considerable companies. The presence 
 of neighbors alone spares them many of the hardships of 
 pioneer life. This advantage is secured to them, together 
 with the greatest possible economy in travel, by the arrange- 
 ments of the Emigrant Aid Companies. 
 
 Any class of men or of women who are of use anywhere, 
 will be of use in the new territories. Their population 
 increases rapidly every day, and the useful arts and sciences 
 of civilized life will be needed at once within their borders. 
 
INSTITUTIONS. 241 
 
 As has been already said, the civil institutions of the ter- 
 ritories will be in the hands of those who inhabit them. It 
 is only a temporary arrangement by which the United States 
 government now appoints their officers. The territorial leg- 
 islatures will be filled by the vote of the people, and in their 
 hands will be the 'establishment of the first laws of the new- 
 born settlements. 
 
 Francis Burt, of South Carolina, has been appointed 
 the first governor of Nebraska. 
 
 Almon H. Reedee, of Pennsylvania, has been appointed 
 the first governor of Kanzas. 
 
 The religious institutions of the territories will also be in 
 the hands of the settlers. It is to be hoped that they will 
 not be afraid to let the principles of religion regulate the 
 system of law. The missionary boards of the Eastern 
 States have thus far sent ministers to these regions to care 
 for the Indians. The settlers now must carry the gospel 
 with them, and the teachers of the gospel must go too. The 
 settlers must remember that no state can stand firm whose 
 foundations are not on the Rock of Ages. To preserve that 
 prosperity for which they wish, they must see to it that the 
 active efforts of active religion shall preserve the morals of 
 their men, and train the lives of their children. 
 
 Ministers of every religious body already offer themselves 
 
 as the pioneer apostles of the gospel in this new land. Some 
 
 have already gone, others will soon follow. They have a 
 
 noble field for their labors, and a chance, if there is one 
 
 21 
 
242 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 anywhere, to see, in time, the fruits from their plant- 
 ing. 
 
 Missionary bodies will feel the importance of assisting in 
 this work. A singly church in Worcester, Mass., the 
 Old South Church, has raised among its members the sum 
 requisite to support its own missionary in Kanzas for a year. 
 
 Arrangements have already been suggested for a High 
 School in Kanzas. The government gift of public land for 
 education will provide eventually a large common school 
 fiind. 
 
 It must be that the settlement of the new territories by 
 the best population which can be given them shall command 
 the active effort of all true lovers of their country. This 
 effort ought not to be spolcen of as a little affair, or as inci- 
 dental or siibsidiary to other enterprises, but as the greatest 
 duty now before American patriots and Christians. It is a 
 way of work more hopeful than any which has been opened 
 for years. It gives room for the exertion of every one, in 
 whatever position, and holds out rewards such as satisfy the 
 most eager. In the long, painful, irritating, and perplexing 
 discussion which has sought to check and hem in the insti- 
 tution of slavery, the great diflSculty has been the want of 
 a field of action, where working men should not feel that 
 they were wasting life in mere talk or wordy protest or 
 prophecy. That field is found in "Kanzas. To send men to 
 Kanzas, or to go to Kanzas, resolved that free labor shall be 
 
FREE EMIGRATION. 243 
 
 honored ia Kanzas, and shall make itself honorable, is an 
 effort which can enlist the energies of every man. It is an 
 effort which the whole providence of God demands, and 
 which is made easy by the wonderful arrangements of his 
 wisdom. From the time of Moses to this time there has 
 never been seen so gigantic an emigration as He has been 
 pleased, in less than forty years, to lead from Europe into 
 America. As part of this, and as consequence of this, every 
 year has seen the wave of emigration passing ivestward from 
 the Northern States into the north-western deserts. . That 
 wave is moving now, larger than it ever was. There needs 
 no Peter the Hermit to enlist crusaders. The crusaders are 
 already on their way. There need only the guides who 
 shall show them the fairest lands in the world ; the counsel 
 and assistance which shall organize them, that they may 
 encourage and support each other, and they will pass into 
 the valleys of the Nebraska and the Kanzas, as the waters 
 of a mountain stream pass into the lake in the valley. 
 Passing thither, they carry with them the principles which 
 sent them forth. No propagandism is needed to instil them. 
 These emigrants would not have left their old homes had 
 they not wanted to work somewhere, and had they not meant . 
 to find a home where they could work with fit prospect of 
 reward. That reward they can only gain in a state which 
 shall be free. The dignity of working men will only be 
 preserved by the institutions which give all men equal chance 
 before the law. And without special instrliction, without 
 
244 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 pledge to any political or social party, the great pilgrimage 
 of free emigrants from Germany, from New England, from 
 the Middle States, or from the states of the God-protected 
 old " North-western Territory," know that this is so. (The 
 Emigrant Aid Companies ask no questions of their emi- 
 grants. They sell their tickets at the cheapest rates to all 
 who come for them. They take no political position. They 
 make no political pledges or promises. 7 But none the less 
 is it sure that when twenty thousand men have gone into 
 the new territories from the seaboard and the North, they 
 will be men who will know that, to preserve the value of 
 their virgin farms, to maintain the dignity of their own 
 lives, to sustain the honor of their new-born states, those 
 states must be forever free. 
 
 Thus will this emigration, with the rapidity with which it 
 now proceeds, add almost at once two new free states to the 
 American Union. It is not within the province of this 
 book to look farther. It is enough to foresee so great a 
 victory of the right as is this. Two free states planted 
 west of the Missouri are two new securities for American 
 freedom. By so much the more is the perpetuity of the 
 American Union possible. By so much the more is the 
 principle of republican government redeemed and made con- 
 sistent. And so far does the American church show its 
 power in checking the advance of one of the best organized 
 of its enemies. They are two free states which command 
 the gates to the Pacific, and to the colonies on the way 
 
EMIGKATION FROM THE WEST. 245 
 
 there. They are the lines of approach to New Mexico and 
 Utah. They will long command the only highways of travel 
 to California, to Oregon, and to the territory of Washing- 
 ton. In the centre ef the United States, in what may yet 
 be the heart of its empire, they will maintain in its purity 
 the principle on which that empire is founded. So far as 
 their long frontier stretches, the wave of southern slavery 
 will break on a rock which will not let it pass. No cara- 
 vans of unwilling servants shall be led over their deserts or 
 through their valleys. And if any one of the western 
 regions should ever seek to introduce slave labor, it must 
 not look to the mountain passes for its supply. 
 
 Indeed, it is not too much to hope, that, as the passage 
 of the desert becomes shorter, in the western growth of the 
 civilization of these valleys and the eastward progress of 
 California and of Oregon, a tide of emigration may set 
 eastward into these regions from the Pacific. The destuiy 
 of America is to call all races of men into a freer life within 
 her borders than they have ever enjoyed at home. In her 
 government is the secret which gives to each rehgion its 
 exercise, to each oppressed nation its refuge, to each race 
 of man its development. She makes "one out of many." 
 There are reasons for supposing that this comprehensiveness 
 of welcome will still draw in increasing companies of re- 
 cruits from the crowded millions of China. They have 
 their foothold already upon California. It may be that they 
 shall pass eastward from the Pacific, by the same law which 
 21* 
 
246 KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 draws the exiles of Germany westward from the Atlantic 
 And Asiatic labor, careful, simple, and skilful, may come 
 in as an element, assisting in the reconciliation of the diffi- 
 culties not incurable which accompany the meeting of Afri- 
 can labor and of European labor upon the American soil. 
 
 This is only one glimpse into that immense future which 
 opens in the prospect, if these two territories be kept free 
 by the immediate emigration of freemen. It is no question 
 of the politicians. It is not a temporary piece of the bal- 
 ance of parties. 'It is one of the critical questions where 
 we can see that the nation's prosperity is in question, and 
 that the dignity and real yictory of the nation are to be lost 
 or won. 
 
 Every indication now points to victory. The movement 
 of freemeii is ten times as fast as is possible to men who 
 must sell plantations before they can move, and carry field 
 hands before they can labor. The whole foreign emigration 
 comes principled or prejudiced against slave institutions. 
 And the whole feeling of the North, whatever its politics or 
 its religion, turns eagerly to seek a field of action for free- 
 dom. That field is open now, inviting efibrt, fair, loyal, 
 constitutional, and manly. In that effort the whole energy 
 of the North may be enlisted, wi,thout one word of anger, 
 without one partisan appeal, — with a simple reliance on the 
 principle which is diffused through the whole system of 
 northern life, thought, and industry. 
 
 It will only be by a miraclo of indolence^ by blindness 
 
KANZAS AND NEBRASKA. 247 
 
 Utterly incurable, that the men of the free states can forfeit 
 such a prize. 
 
 Unless freedom refuse the strength she always has given 
 to freemen, that victory is gained. It is gained unless 
 the intelligent, high-trained industry of the North, -which 
 has surrounded the -world -with its commerce, and made 
 all nature tributary to its arts, meets no-w its first defeat. 
 It is gained unless the great principle of association in a 
 great cause fails as it never failed before. It is gained un- 
 less the church of Christ, -which has thrown over the world 
 a net-work, along the cords of which run the electrical 
 words of good tidings, is false at home to a golden opportu- 
 nity of advancing His kingdom. 
 
 Unless, in one word, the providence of God be wholly 
 neglected, and the immense power for freedom flung away 
 which God gives when he sends an army of his children 
 westward over sea and land, the freedom of Kanzas and 
 Nebraska is secured, and the firmest step for the future 
 prosperity of America made'sure. 
 
 That victory will be won ! God gives it to the energy 
 and wisdom of those who go, to the sympathy and prayers 
 of those who stay. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 THE WORCESTER CO. KANZAS LEAGUE. 
 
 It has been thought that the following constitution and plan of organization may be useful 
 as a guide in forming other societies with the same object. 
 
 Constitution. 
 
 Article 1. Any person may become a member of this Society, 
 by signing his name to this Constitution, and paying to the use of the 
 Society the sum of one dollar, and shall continue to be a member so 
 long as he shall pay such sum annually. 
 
 Article 2. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice 
 President, seven Directors, Treasurer, and Secretary, who shall be 
 Master of Emigration, — to be elected, in the first instance, immedi- 
 ately, and thereafter, on the second Monday in March, annually, at 
 a meeting held in Worcester. The President, Vice President, and 
 Treasurer shall be, eoc officio, members of the Board of Directors. 
 
 Article 3. The officers shall perform such duties as shall apper- 
 tain to their respective situations, and such, also, as shall devolve upon 
 them under the By-Laws of the Society. 
 
 Article 4. It shall be the duty of the Master of Emigration to 
 receive and keep the names of all persons desiring to emigrate to Kan- 
 zas from Worcester county ; to agree upon the time and conveniences 
 for their departure, and to confer with the Emigrant Aid Company, 
 so as to make the best arrangements for their conveyance to Kanzas, 
 and their location there. 
 
 Article 5. The moneys of the Society shall be appropriated to 
 promote such emigration into the above-named territory as shall be 
 opposed to the introduction of slavery into the same ; or, if slavery 
 shall be introduced, as shall be in favor of repealing all laws tolerat- 
 ing the same ; and also for such means of promoting free emigration 
 as the Directors may select. Provided that nothing shall be done, in 
 
250 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ■virtue hereof, in contravention of the Constitution, nor in conflict 
 ■with the existing laws of the land. 
 
 Article 6. Suitable By-La^vfs shall be adopted, at the first meet- 
 ing of the Society, and the same may be altered or amended at any 
 annual meeting. 
 
 Article 7. It is the design of this Society to cooperate .'with the 
 Emigrant Aid Company in the colonization of Kanzas with freemen. 
 
 Article 8. The Directors shall have power to fill any vacancies 
 in their Board, or in the list of officers, antecedent to the annual 
 meeting of the Society. 
 
 Bt-La'ws. 
 
 Article 1. A majority of the Board of Directors shall be a quo- 
 rum for the transaction of business, and a majority shall reside in 
 the city of Worcester. 
 
 Article 2. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep safely 
 all moneys of the Society, and to pay the same over, from time to 
 time, on the order of the President, or, in his absence, of the Vice 
 President. 
 
 Article 3. Neither President nor Vice President shall give such 
 an order except in pursuance of an appropriation by the Board of 
 Directors. 
 
 Article 4. The Secretary of the Society shall also be Secretary 
 of the Board of Directors. 
 
 Article 5. The compensation of the Master of Emigration shall 
 be determined by the Board of Directors. 
 
 OrriCERS OF the League. 
 
 President — A. H. Bclloch. Vice President — William T. Mbk- 
 EiErBLD. Treasurer — P. L. Moen. Directors — Henry Chapin, Chas. 
 Thurber, Horace James, Wm. H. Harris, Edward E. Hale, William 
 A. Wheeler, Oliver C. Pelton, P. L. Moen. 
 
 We, the undersigned, citizens of , pledge ourselves to 
 
 pay the sums afBxed to our names, to constitute ourselves members 
 of the Worcester County Kanzas League, and to promote the objects 
 Bet forth in its Constitution i 
 
 SUBSCBIBERS' NaMES. I $ I C. | 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 The following extract from a letter by George S. Park, published 
 )y the Emigrant Aid Company too late to take its place in the text, 
 lescribes the most interesting parts of the valley of the Kanzas and 
 Smokyhill rivers : 
 
 " From the Pottawatomie line to its mouth, the Kanzas river 
 presses on the southern bank, touching the uplands every four or five 
 niles ; while on the north side, from a point just below the mouth 
 )f the Blue, down some fifty miles, there is a continuous bottom, four 
 )r five miles wide, larger and more magnificent than the far-famed 
 imericau Bottoms, below St. Louis. Here excellent corn has been 
 •aised, by the Half-breeds, for many years. The soil is a black, sandy 
 oam — kind, warm, and quick; and produces much earlier in the 
 leason than farms in the same latitude east. Emigrants to Oalifor- 
 lia and Oregon, who are aware of this fact, prefer to cross the Mis- 
 louri river, at ParkvUle, and take the great road up the Kanzas val- 
 ey, on the north side, on this account. They find most excellent 
 p:azing for their stock by the 1st of April, often earlier. We have 
 lot seen a swamp or wet slough, nor any stagnant water, in the val- 
 ey drained by the Kanzas river. The streams generally speaking 
 low over gravelly beds ; most of the bottoms are high ; the few that 
 -re low are of a dry, sandy character, and the prairies are rolling 
 nough to drain off the water freely. 
 
 " Passing the west line of the Pottawatomie nation, we entered upon 
 ipen prairie, often reaching the river on both sides ; now and then a 
 mall grove and a light fringe of timber on the banks. On the right, 
 a a great prairie bottom, in a bend of the river extending back to 
 lock Creek, Jlr. Perry has made a selection for a stock farm ; and a 
 ittle way above his claim there is another great bend, offering a 
 empting inducement to some other enterprising farmer who has a 
 aste for stock-raising. Beyond this we passed a large grove of tim- 
 ler on the right, and then passed a most appropriate bluff for a "own 
 ite the first we saw for several miles. Here we saw Blue Hill, 
 
252 APPENDIX. 
 
 which is a prominent landmark overlooking the mouth of Blue river. 
 From this point upward the bluffs are higher and more abrupt, and 
 the country back more elevated and broken. Here we saw a large 
 eagle nest, out of which the old bird looked angrily at us, for intrud- 
 ing on its preemption ; but she, too, must give way, with the red 
 skins, to manifest destiny. A little way above another huge buffalo 
 floated past ; he may have been anxious to slake his thirst in the Re- 
 publican or Smokyhill, lost foothold, and got carried away by the 
 rolling flood. 
 
 " Passing the mouth of the Blue, which comes in from the north 
 (as nearly all the tributaries of Kanzas do) , and appears to be navi- 
 gable for some distance, we were pleased with its iine bottoms and 
 long streak of timber ; while, on the left, were conical bluifs and high 
 prairie mounds, with figured lines and steps rising one above another 
 in the distance, contributing to the scenery a very romantic appear- 
 ance. Immediately above this important tributary, there is another 
 beautiful prairie bottom , sloping back northward farther than we could 
 see ; and, on the left, still another, containing more than two thou- 
 sand acres, in a bend not more than three-fourths of a mile across the 
 neck. The enticing features of the latter are — a little gi'ove of 
 timber on the height, a cool gushing spring, and plenty of rock at 
 hand in the bluff, with which to raise an enduring fence over the 
 narrow isthmus. The world does not present a more excellent situa- 
 tion for a stock farm ; indeed, the whole line of the main river and 
 branches, from here upward, may be said to be adapted for a contin- 
 uous series of such farms. On the right a bluff comes into the river, 
 the first above the mouth of the Blue, offering an appropriate town 
 site ; and we saw stakes set on the slope, as well as a tent or cabin 
 back on the high prairie, indicating that our countrymen were there. 
 Just above, there is a clear, running stream, and a line of timber 
 reaching far back. Prom this to the fort, the river winds like a nat- 
 ural canal through green, flowery meadows, with similar scenery in 
 the distance. On the left we saw some splendid country for farms, 
 up the valley of a stream, the name of which we do not recollect ; 
 there were fine groves of timber and rich valley land. We understand 
 tha#sevoral claims have been made there. 
 
 " On Monday night, just before reaching Fort Riley, wo were over- 
 
APPENDIX. 253 
 
 taken by a tremendous ttunder-storni. We were surrounded by 
 prairie ; and the captain had to lay his craft close to the shore, and 
 cast anchor, there being no stump or tree to hitch to. He is of 
 opinion, that there should not be a cabin on steamers naYigatiug 
 these prairie rivers, where the winds sometimes sweep along with 
 unbroken violence. We saw the Pilot Mounds in the distance, 
 where the military road leaves the Kanzas bottoms and passes 
 through a depression in the bluff to the crossing of the Blue. We 
 passed some small creeks on the right, with settlements on them ; 
 and Clark's Creek on the left, affording some fine timbered lands and 
 good springs. 
 
 " A little after sunrise on Tuesday morning, we neared Tort Eiley, 
 its fine stone buildings looming up grandly in the sunbeams. It is 
 located at the junction of the Republican and Smokyhill forks of the 
 Kanzas, on the second bench or roll of the prairie, having higher 
 bluffs immediately behind, from which the building rook is quarried. 
 It is soft limestone, easily cut into with a pick, and can be split into 
 any shape ; we noticed the same horizontal strata cropping out at all 
 elevated points in the prairie. Crossing the Pawnee or Republican 
 fork by the government bridge, we had a good view of the fine 
 country between the two rivers, which rises gracefully backward in 
 high, swelling prairies. Here there is a saw-mill just started. We 
 strolled up the Republican, gathered some black raspberries, and 
 crossed a spring branch, then mounted a high bluff, whence we could 
 see the beautiful Republican valley a long way up. It is nearly 
 three miles wide, high, dry, and level, with a loose, black, rich soil. 
 The river flows in a serpentine course through the prairie bottoms, 
 at some bends making nearly a circuit of six or eight miles, and 
 coming back to within a mile of itself again — the banks generally 
 having a light fringe of timber, with occasional groves near the 
 water's edge, in the ravines, and on the bluffs. This is truly a 
 delightful valley — the most inviting for settlement we ever saw. 
 
 " The ' Excel ' made a short trip up Smokyhill. Lieut. Sargent, 
 from the fort, accompanied us. We had an exciting time. The 
 constant announcement from the man who heaved the lead was, 
 ' No bottom.' The river was full and the current strong, but we 
 had great difficulty in getting round the short bends. It keeps on 
 22 
 
254 APPENDIX. 
 
 the course of the main Kanzas, coming a little more from the south- 
 west. There is more timber on this river than on the Kanzas, above 
 Pottavfatomie, and the soil is better. "We observed a deep marl 
 deposit on the bluffs, beneath black soil, and the bottoms inclined up 
 prettily from the river. A little way up we saw a band of Fox In- 
 dians crossing over, going north on a buffalo-hunt ; and their motley 
 procession stretched along over the prairies for mUes. Here and 
 there in the party was carried a pole, with a swan's neck or eagle's 
 head and tail, &c., stuck upon it for a flag. They had with them 
 about five hundred horses, all of which looked well. Great was the 
 surprise manifested on seeing the ' Excel ' puffing along up these 
 unknown waters ; but, poor fellows ! the startling scream of the 
 shrill steam-whistle, and the impetuous snorting of the iron-horse, 
 will soon scare off the buffalo and other game from your hunting- 
 grounds, to return no more — you, too, must follow in their trail, or 
 succumb to the irresistible influence of civilization. 
 
 " Some forty miles -up Smoky hill, an extensive bed of gypsum has 
 been found, specimens of which have been tested and proved to be 
 of superior quality ; we brought a small specimen home with us. 
 Salt is also alleged to be very abundant on the Saline fork ; the 
 waters of the Smokyhill are often quite brackish, and when the 
 boilers of the ' Excel ' are filled from that river, there is a slight 
 incrustation of salt deposited. Specimens of coal, both bituminous 
 and anthracite, and of tin, lead, and iron ore, have been brought in. 
 Hints have been given that gold abounds, but in parts — unknown'. 
 There cannot be a doubt, however, that valuable minerals will he 
 found cropping out beneath or interspersed in the primitive forma- 
 tion, as we ascend toward the Rocky Mountains. The country rises 
 very rapidly in that -direction from Fort Riley ; up the Republican, 
 for instance, the ascent, in the first three hundred miles, is said to be 
 two thousand feet. The rock in the vicinity of Smokyhill is princi- 
 pally limestone, and the river bottoms are a sandy loam. The upland 
 prairies are broken, but of black, rich soil, particularly where lime- 
 stone predominates ; the valleys are also very rich, and the soil mel- 
 low. Passing over the high uplands, often there is nothing to be 
 seen but prairie spreading out beyond, till it is lost in dim distance ; 
 when all at once, as if by magic, you come upon a 
 
 ' Woody valley, warm and low,' — 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 ■with fine springs and clear running water. This is, indeed, a well- 
 watered region, and must be salubrious and healthy. "We previously 
 mentioned the scarcity of timber above Pottawatomie ; it may here 
 be added, that it is inadequate to supply what would be needed for 
 agricultural purposes, and hardly sufficient for firewood. Here and 
 to the westward, a new era in agriculture must be inaugurated — a 
 new system must be practised. Nature demands that it should be 
 so. Instead of clearing timber lands, as in eastern states, the citi- 
 zen-farmers of Kanzas must grow their timber. There is fuel wanted, 
 but coal in many places can be got with little labor ; houses must 
 be built, and fences made, but, in the absence of sufficient timber, 
 excellent rock for all purposes can be procured in abundance ; or, 
 for fencing, the farmer can hedge himself in most completely vrith 
 Osage orange. The country abounds with the most luscious grapes. 
 Stock of all kinds are remarkably healthy ; and these rolling prai- 
 ries will make the finest sheep-walks in the world. In fact, this may 
 be designated the Pastoral Kegion of America. The gardens at 
 Fort Eiley look well ; and we procured some beautiful wUd prairie 
 flowers. 
 
 " The difficulty of navigating the Smokyhill with a stern- wheel 
 steamer of such length as the ' Excel ' prevented Capt. Baker from 
 venturing so far up as he otherwise would. A shorter side-wheel 
 steamer, of very light draught, adapted to the navigation of these 
 interior rivers, will soon be put on the trade. We left Fort Riley, 
 on the return trip, on "Wednesday morning, and came down ' kite- 
 ing.' Passing rapidly in review the splendid scenery of which we 
 have attempted to make hasty memoranda, we entered the Missouri 
 about daylight next morbing. 
 
 " Before concluding these brief notes, it must be remarked, in 
 reference to the productions and climate of Kanzas Territory, that 
 there are, no doubt, superior hemp lands in its central and western 
 portions ; but Nature unmistakably indicates stock-raising as the 
 proper and most profitable occupation for the farmers who shall set- 
 tle there. In the great Kanzas valley below Pottawatomie, and in 
 the eastern region along the Missouri, there are some of the finest 
 hemp lands in the world. Wheat, corn, oats and vegetables, grow 
 as well there as in any of the western states. Those in the Platte 
 
256 APPENDIX. 
 
 Purchase, immediately east of the Missouri river, who attend to 
 fruit-growing, say that their apples, peaches, plums, &o., cannot be 
 surpassed anywhere ; we can see no reason why as much may not be 
 said of the same crops in the region across the river. 
 
 " The winters are generally dry and pleasant, and the roads fine ; 
 but little snow falls, and this lies on the ground only for a short 
 time. Sometimes, however, there are very ' cold spells ' of weather, 
 but they are not of long duration. For instance, the masons in 
 ParkviUe, Platte Co., Mo., quarried and laid stone last winter with 
 but little interruption on account of the weather. Common cattle, 
 colts, mules and sheep, can be vrintered on blue-grass, provided the 
 pastures are allowed to grow up in the fall, and the stock have a 
 little corn or hay occasionally. February and March are frequently 
 quite pleasant, and much ploughing can be done in the mellow dry 
 loam of the Kanzas valley. The summers are quite warm and long, 
 the thermometer (Fahr.) not unfrequently marking up to near one 
 hundred degrees in the shade. The high prairies, however, are gen- 
 erally fanned by cool, refreshing breezes ; and as we ascend the 
 branches of the Eanzas from Fort Eiley, there is a rapid rise to a 
 cooler region. In May and June there is a superabundance of rain ; 
 but the latter end of summer and fall is generally dry." 
 
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