F 474 .07 S8 Copy 1 ORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI I ITS LOCATION AND HISTORY, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF BOURGMONT'S EXPEDITIONS TO THE PADOUCAS Bv MILLARD FILLMORE STIPES JAMESPORT, MO PRtNTSD AT THE GAZBTTB OFFICE 1906 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI ITS LOCATION AND HISTORY, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF BOURGMONT'S EXPEDITIONS TO THE PADOUCAS By MILLARD FILLMORE STIPES JAMESPORT, MO PRLNTED AT THE GAZETTE OFFICE 1906 2^ '^ 'A? PREFATORY NOTE A PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE of the topography of the country about all the sites claimed for old Fort Orleans has roade its history attractive to the writer, and that attraction has resulted in this pamphlet. All known authorities on its history have been consulted, and the lan- guage of the French writers themselves is giv- en rather than a mere summary of their pages. The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to Judge Walter B. Douglas, of St. Louis; Miss Mary Louise Dalton, Librarian of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis; Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites, of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin; Phil E. Chappell,' of Kan- sas City; Hiram Ferril and G. W. Latimer, Mar- shall, Missouri; and George W. Martin, of the Kansas Historical Association, Topeka. The extracts from the sixth volume of Margry, ex- cept where otherwise noted, are from the man- uscript translation by E. A. Kilian, of Manhat- tan, Kansas, in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society, at St. Louis, and kindly loaned the writer for use in the preparation of this pamphlet. M. F. S. Jamesport, Mo, JO November, igo6. CONTENTS. PAGE First Explorers of Missouri, . . . 6 First Settlements in Missouri. . . ■ . 6 Dutisne's Expeditions, . . . . 7 Spanish Caravan of 1720, . . . 8 Bourgmont- Establishes Fort Orleans, . . 9 Fort Orleans Under Du Bois, . . .11 Old Fort in Saline County, . , . 13 Sites Claimed for Fort Orleans, . . . 17 Bradbury and Brackenridge, . . , .18 Statement of Lewis and Clark, . . '''. 19 The Missouris at Petitesas Plains . . ■ . ^^ Du Pratz's Location of the Fort. , . . 22 Government Survey of Lewis and Clark's Island, . 23 Affidavit of Surveyor of Saline County, . . 23 Letter of Sieur Pi esle, .... 25 Letter of Bienville, .... 25 Bienville to Board of Regents, ... 26 Memoranda for Bourgmont, ... 26 Bourgmont's Instructions, . . .28 Bienville to Boisbriant, .... 30 Memoire of Renaudiere, . . , .31 Bourgmont to Council of Louisiana, . . 35 Commission of Bourgmont, . , . 37 Frauds by French Traders, ... 40 •'Le Grande Passe," .... 41 Location of Village of the Missouris, . , 42 Quotations from Le Page du Pratz, ... 44 Remarks on Map of Du Pratz, ... 47 Bourgmont's Relation of Expeditions to the Padoucas, 48 Gaillard Sent to the Padouca Villages, . . 53 Bourgmont's Second Expedition, ... 55 Arrives at Padouca Village. . . .57 Effects a Treaty With the Padoucas, . , 58 Manners and Customs of the Padoucas, . . 58 7 ABLE OF CONTENTS bourgmont Reaches Fort Orleans Again. Signatures to the Relation, Instructions to Abandon Fort Orleans, La Harpe's Relation of Dutisne's Journty, Stoddard on the Spanish Caravan, . Date of the Location of Missouris at Petitesas Plains, Statement in Coues's Edition of Lewis and Clark, D'Anville's and Perrin du Lac's Maps, Destruction ot Fort Orleans and Massacre of Garrison, Remarks on Bourgmont's Journey, Location of Fort Orleans According to Bourgmont, Significance of French Term, "Riviere," Author's Conclusions, PAGE 6t 62 62 63 63 64 64 64 65 65 66 67 67 Erkatum.— On page 47, in second line from bottom, read •sixth" instead of "first." FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI It is not known who was the first white man to penetrate the wilds in the interior of the region which now comprises the imperial State of Missouri, nor w^ho first traversed our commonwealth to its Western limits; but it was doubtless some wandering couretir de bois or voyageur, lured up the swift and muddy current of the Missouri by the promise of a canoe-load of rich peltries. To be sure it may be, as some claim, that the wanderings of the ill-starred command of De Soto took the Spaniards under him within the present boundaries of the State, but even if this surmise be correct, it is of no historical value. It is probable, however, that ere the closing year of the seventeenth century canoes driven by w^hite men had plowed the dark waters of the Missouri at least as far up as the mouth of the Kaw. It is not on record that Marquette and Jol- liet, who, in 1673, passed both dow^n and up the Mississippi along the entire Eastern boundary of Missouri, made a single landing on the 6 FORT ORLEANS ON THE AflSSOUR/ Western bank, nor do their journals mention that any Indians were seen on that side of the stream within the present limits of the State. The same is true of the voyage of La Salle, made nine years later. Tljey were told of tribes who lived farther to the West, but neith- er these tribes nor the buffaloes upon which they subsisted penetrated far into the great forests that covered the Eastern portions of the commonwealth. In the very beginning of the eighteenth century the French began to explore Missouri, and as early as 1705 sent an expedition up the Missouri River, which ascended that stream to the site of Kansas City, "meeting with a friend- ly reception from the natives. Soon after they were engaged in a profitable trade with the Kanzas and Missouri." (Peck's Annals, p. 670.) About 1710 they began to make settlements, but none of these earlier ones were permanent, — they were merely stations established for convenience while exploring for mineral wealth. The first of these, according to Judge Walter B. Douglas, of St. Louis, was near the mouth of the Riviere dcs Peres, between Jeffer- son Barracks and Carondelet, "a party of mis- sionaries establishing themselves there in the latter part of the seventeenth century, probably the same party who established themselves at Cahokia and started the settlement there be- FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 7 tween 1690 and 1700. In 1719 there was a set- tlement, if it can be so called, on the Maramec River, started by the Sieur de Lochon who was then with a party to open a silver mine. He found only poor lead and -went back to France disgusted. Others went there seeking silver until finally, in 1721, Renaud, who was repre- senting a private company, found a good lead mine. From that time on there w^ere w^hite people established in that part of the State." (Judge W. B. Douglas.) One of the earlest expeditions into Mis- souri was that made by M. De Dutisne in 1719. He iirst ascended the Missouri River, so Park- man says in his "Half Century of Conflict," to a point afterward called Petitesas (Petite Osage) Plains, w^hen his farther advance was barred by the Missouris whose village stood at this place. He then returned to the Illinois and shortly afterward started Westward from a point about where Ste. Genevieve is located, and at a distance of seventy leagues (210 miles) came to the Osage River. On the Western shore he met the first Indians seen <)n the jour- ney — the Osages. A few more leagues to the West brought him to the Pawnees, who forbade his progress farther in that direction. Then he turned his steps to the North or Northeast and came to a village of the Little Osages, near the present site of Malta Bend (Saline County). 8 FORT ORLEANS ON THE AflSSOURI His journal locates this village "six leagues above the luouth of ( rrand Kiver." This expedition of Dutisne aroused the Spaniards to a realization of the fact that if they wished to secure the fur trade of the re- gion contiguous to the Missouri River, they must obtain possession of that territory. Ac- cordingly an expedition was dispatched from Santa Fe in 1720, under the command of Gen- eral Villageur. This caravan, as it is usually termed, was comprised of soldiers and adven- turers, some at least of w^hom took their fami- lies along. The instructions given Villageur were that the French must be driven off the Missouri. Somewhere along the Missouri be- tween the mouth of the Kaw and the mouth of Grand River the caravan fell in \vith the Mi.«.- Bouri tribe of Indians w^hom the Spaniards mistook for a friendl3'^ tribe. The white men boasted loudly of their intention to drive the French out of that region. The red chiefs con- cealed their true character, summoned their absent w^arriors, two thousand of whom speed- ily gathered, and on the night before the Span- iards were to march, murdered the entire cara- van save one priest who afterward escaped and made known the fate of his companions. Recognizing the necessity of taking armed possession of the region thus threatened by the Spaniards, the French commandant at New FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 9 Orleans, in the spring of 1721, sent a detach- ment of thirty soldiers under the command of Etienne Vengard de Bourgmont, of Mobile. His instructions were to establish a fort some- where above the mouth of the Osage. The lo- cation of this fort (which was called Orleans) has never been definitely determined; but it was somewhere near the mouth of Grand Riv- er,— perhaps on an island five miles below said mouth, perhaps on a bluff two miles South of the present town of Miami, perhaps on the North side of the Missouri and opposite the Petitesas Plains. It will be our task to give in these pages the arguments and data urged in favor of each of these locations. Neither do historical writers agree as to the date of its es- tablishment, as we shall show. In the summer of 1724 (though some Wri- ters give an earlier date), Captain Bourgmont set out from Fort Orleans on a visit to the Kan sas Indians, near the mouth of the Kaw, thence to the villages of the Padoucas (Comanches) in Western Kansas. Bourgmont was accompa- nied by Ensign Bellrive, Sieur Philip Renau- diere (mining engineer and director-general for the mines of Louisiana), five soldiers, three Canadians, servants, and 176 Osage and Mis- souri Indians, under the command of a grand chief of the latter tribe. Eleven soldiers under rharge of Lieutenant Saint Ange had previous- 10 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI ly been dispatched to the Kansas village with several boats laden with merchandise. On the afternoon of July 7th, 1724, Bourgmont's party arrived at the East bank of the Missouri, oppo- site the village of the Kansas Indians. On the next morning the white men of the expedition crossed over in a pirogue, the horses being swam over, while the Indians w^ere ferried on rafts. Says Bourgmont: "We debarked within gunshot distance of the village where we en- camped." The river detachment arrived on the 19th, and on the 24th was the "grand departure" for Western Kansas. To use the words of Bourg- mont's Relatiojt, yuiti-Nov., 1724: "We put our- selves in battle array on the heights of the vil- lage, the drum began to beat the march and we marched away." In Renaudiere's Memoire oc- curs th<; following: "At six o'clock on the morn- ing of July 24th, 1724, we began our march. I stood by the side of the path and watched the whole procession as it passed by. The white men were about twenty in all. I counted three hundred Indian warriors, with as many squaws, some five hundred children, and a pro- digious number of dogs, the largest and strong- est of which dragged heavy loads. The squaws all served as beasts of burden and they will carry as much as a dog will drag." Tlie In- dians were under two grand chiefs and thirteen FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 11 war chiefs. The object of the expedition was to induce the Paducas, who were friendly to the Spaniards, to enter into a treaty of peace with the tribes along the Missouri River. During the absence of Bourgmont, Sergeant Du Bois (according to some authorities) was left in charge at Fort Orleans. Du Bois had taken for wife a maiden of the Missouris, said to be as beautiful as an houri. But all Indian women w^ho became the ivives of w^hite men are said to have been beautiful. The village of her tribe was located on the Bowling Green Prairie, a few miles below the mouth of Grand River, on the North bank of the Missouri, and opposite the island on which stood Fort Or- leans. The Frenchmen made canoe trips up the Missouri and the Grand {La Riviere de Grande they designated the latter), and it may be that some of these plucky Gauls ventured within the present limits of Livingston and Daviess Counties, —being, if the conjecture be correct, the first white men in this region. And here they doubtless met some of those savages who afterwards were instrumental in the destruc- tion of the fort, — unless that were the work of the Missouri tribe, as some w^riters claim. Bourgmont's first expedition was a failure, owing to the serious illness of its commander. With great reluctance, doubtless, the party, af- ter six days' journey from the Kansas village. 12 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI retraced its steps, carrying the helpless leader on a litter, reaching Fort Orleans in safetj^ first dispatching one Gaillard and two Coman- che slaves to the tribe of the latter with friend- ly messages. Receiving news that the mission of Gaillard was successful, Bourgmont on the 20tli of September, of the saine year, set out again for the Padouca villages. This time his lucky star attended him and the desired peace became an accomplished fact. Some writers (among them Phil H. Chappell) claim that on his return to Fort Orleans in November fol- lowing, Bourgtnont found that during his ab- sence the entire garrison at the fort had been massacred, "probably by the fierce Indians from the North side of the Missouri," and that he, with his few remaining followers, made his way East, reaching the forts on the Illinois the last of December, 1724. But in the proper place we shall show, from Bourgmont's own Relation, that the soldiers of the garrison at Fort Orleans were very much alive on his return in Novem- ber. The garrison was massacred — there seems to be no doubt as to that, — but it was at a date subsequent to the commander's return. The consensus of f)pinion is that Fort Or- leans was established on an island five miles below the mouth of the Grand, and on the South side of the main channel of the Missouri. Two miles Soiitli of Miami, however, are still FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 13 plainly visible the ruins of an earthen fort, be- lieved by some to be the location of this French fort. And one early writer (Margry) put the fort near the Petitesas Plains, apparently on the North side of the Missouri, as stated above. Of the old fort near Miami and the region thereabouts, rich in historic finds, the History of Saline County, compiled and published by the "Missouri Historical Company, of St. Louis," in 1881, says: "On the Missouri River, near the Pinnacles, in Saline County, in Section 19, Township 52» Range 21, and Section 24, Township 52, Range 22, in the field of Edward Casebolt, there is one of these old forts, in which have been found at various times human bones, entire skeletons, jawbones and leg bones, all much larger than men of the present time. This field of Mr. Casebolt's and also that of Mr. Richard Wil- liams contain numerous mounds. West by Southwest from this old fort in the Pinnacles are to be seen a series of conical shaped mounds, varying from three to seven feet in height, and having a circumference of from fifty to one hundred feet, w^hich evidently (as well from the remains found as from their conical shape) be- long to the sepulchral class of mounds. Many specimens of pottery have been found here — jars, double-headed jugs, very similar to those used in early times in Eastern countries. One 14 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI human skull was here found with an arrow point sticking in it, entering about the corner of the frontal bone. An iron crown was also found here, indicating that somewhere in the shadowy past royalty dwelt in these fair and favored regions. Pikes, hatchets, axes and clubs of stone and iron have been found in great abundance. Mortars and pestles, not for the compounding of drugs and medicines, but for the preparation of food, were found near this old fort, but made of peculiar stone that does not belong to this region. Many have been led to believe from the vast quantity of human bones found in this vicinity that there was either a common burial place here, or that once a great battle was fought in this locality, in which the slain were numbered by thous- ands. "Indeed these mounds are to be found, at intervals of a few hundred yards to a mile, all along the high ground bordering the adjacent river bottom. The mounds of the Mound Huilders are to be found in almost every part of the county, on the bluffs of the streams. They are by no means confined to the Pinna- cles, though the most important of them are there. These mounds all antedate the recollec- tion of the Indians who were found here by the first white men. They told the first white set- tlers that they were utterly ignorant of the ori- FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 15 gin of them. They abound along the bluffs from Arrow Rock up. Near Arrow Rock a jaw- bone was found that, upon close investigation, was determined belonged to a child not over ten years of age, yet it was fully as large as the present adult jawbone. How it was deter- mined that the owner of the jaw^bone was only and exactly ten years of age is not recorded. The pottery found in these mounds is very sim- ilar to some made by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. "The old fort alluded to above is situated in Section 24, Township 52, Range 22. It crowns the summit of one of the Pinnacles, comprises an area of perhaps six acres. In a complete sense it is not at all a fort; it is merely a breast- work of an irregular elliptical form, made to conform to the topography of the ground en- closed. The ground slopes from the breast- work on every side but one — that next the mainland. This sloping, in nearly t?very part, is quite steep, and the crest of the, Pinnacle is several hundreds of feet above the main land below. Immediately at the foot of the Pin- nacleds the Missouri River bottom, along which or over w^hich the river ran at one time. Upon the Eastern side of the ^vorks a narrow neck of level ground leads to the main land; and at one place on the side next the river is an in- clined plane leading down to the bottom. This 1({ rORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI plane is not covered with trees of any consider- able size or age, although the surrounding land is heavily timbered." (History of Saline Coun- ty, Missouri, pp. 135, 136, 137.) A newspaper correspondent (kollins Bing- ham) who visited the site of this fort in 1904 says of it: "The old fort is now almost obliterated and hard to trace. Some years ago a negro put in a crop of corn over the site and now the whole is covered with a scrub growth of thorny bush- es, sumac and sassafras. The plowing so re- duced the height of the embankments that now they show but little above the level, but those w^ho remember the place before it became a cornfield are all agreed that the walls were from four to six feet high and bore marks of having once been much higher. Inside the fortified area the ground is comparatively level, and, curiously enough, they tell me no relics of any kind have ever been found there. Prof. Lewis, of Minnesota, who is an authority on such matters as prehistoric remains in Amer- ica, came to Miami some years ago and naade an exhaustive examination and survey of the old fort. He pronounced it the work of the Mound Builders." The writer has never been able to find a description of Fort Orleans, but frontier forts in that day were usually made by setting hewn FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 17 logs on end, fitting them closely together, with loop holes at frequent intervals through \srhich to fire rifles. And there were at the corners or other salient points small blockhouses, standing out from the corners, t^^ro stories in height, so placed and constructed that contiguous outer walls of the fort could be protected. If the fort boasted of cannon (as did Fort Orleans), these were usually placed in these little blockhouses. The only earthw^orks were sloping w^alls of earth on the inner side of the palisades, to strengthen the wall and to elevate the riflemen while firing through the loopholes. Now it has been seen that the earthworks at the old fort on the "Pinnacles" covered some six acres and the wall was originally six or eight feet in height. The force at Fort Or- leans was never greater than twenty-five or thirty men; nor w^as the station occupied for a period longer than four years — probably for considerably less. It is scarcely necessary to add that a garrison so small would never build an earthen fortification covering six acres, nor could they protect or defend it if they had. So it is safe to dismiss this old fort as the possi- ble remains of Fort Orleans, established by Captain Bourgmont about 1722. Stoddard, in his "Historical Sketches," says that Fort Orleans was located on an Island in 18 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI the Missouri, some distance above the mouth of the Osage. Peck's "Annals of the West" (p. 071) makes the same statement. The sit«; of this island, which several wri- ters locate opposite the plain on which stood the village of the Missouris, is, according to re- cent measurements of United States engin- eers, 255 miles above the mouth of the river. Le Page du Pratz, "who settled near the Nat- chez [in 1718], where he resided for eight years, gathered much curious information from the Indians. This information he gave to the world in a Histoirc de la Louisianc forty years later (1758)." (Justin Winsor, "The Mississippi Basin," p, 106.) Du Pratz locates Fort Orleans on an island in the Missouri, opposite the vil- lage of the Indians of the same name. De Dutisne, in the voyage up the Missouri, to which reference has been made above, states that it is eighty leagues to the village t)f the Missouris from the mouth of the river of that name. Charlevoix conversed with a woman of the Missouri tribe in October, 1721, who informed him that her nation was the first met with in going up the Missouri River, and that it was eighty leagues above the confluence of that iilream with the Mississippi. John Bradbury says in his "Travels in the Interior of America," p. 39. "April 2, 1811. -We FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 19 this day passed the scite of a village on the Northeast side of the river, once belonging to the Missouri tribe. Four miles above it are the remains of Fort Orleans, formerly belong- ing to the French; it is 240 miles from the mouth of the Missouri. We passed the mouth of La Grande Riviere, near w^hich I first ob- served the appearance of prairie." H. M. Hrackenridge, who journeyed up the Missouri in the same year, says: "At 236 miles there had been an ancient village of the Mis- souris, and near by formerly stood Fort Or- leans." (Table of Distances, p. 243.) Uossu's "Travels in Louisiana" (1752) says that the fort was near the town of the Missouri Indians. In the Riddle edition of the Journals of Lew^is and Clark, we find the following: "June 10, 1804. — Passed two rivers called by the French the two Charatons, a corruption of Thieraton, the first of which is thirty, and the second seventy yards w^ide, and enter the Mis- souri together." (Five miles above the party w^ent into camp, where they remained on the 11th on account of a heavy head wind. On the 12th, but nine miles w^ere made, and on the 13th, after going five miles— or ^ total of nine- teen from the mouths of the Charitons — two small streams called Round Bend Creeks, empt- ying from the North side, were reached.) "Be- 20 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI tween these two creeks is the prairie in which once stood the ancient village of the Missouris. Of this village there remains no vestige, nor is there anything to recall this great and numer- ous nation, except a feeble remnant of about thirty' families. They were driven from their original seats In' the incursions of the Sauks and other Indians from the Mississippi, who destroyed at this village two hundred of them in one contest, and sought refuge near the Lit- tle Osage, on the other side of the river. The encroachments of these same enemies forced, about thirty years ago, both these nations from the banks of the Missouri, A few retired to the village on the Osage, and the remainder found an asylum on the river Platte, among the Ottoes, who are themselves declining. Op- posite the plain there was an island and a French fort, but there is now no appearance of either, the successive inundations having prob- ably washed them away, as the willow island which is in the situation described by I)u Pratz is small and of recent formation. Five miles from this place is the mouth of Grand River, where w^e encamped." On the 15th is this record of their encamp- ment, twenty-two miles above the mouth of the Grand and on the North bank of the Missouri: "In front of our encampment are the remains (»f an old village of the Little Osage, situated FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 21 at some distance from the river, and at the foot of a small hill. About three miles above them, in view of our camp, is the situation of the old village of the Missouris after they fled from the Sauks." The location of this village of the Missouris seems to be definitely ascertained, as these authorities practically agree, — though it is pos- sible that all base 'their statements on that made by Du Pratz in his Histoire de la Louisiane. The old fort in the "Pinnacles," described above, is up the river some nineteen miles from Round Bend, though distant only ten miles as the bee flies, owing to a great bend in the stream. At the time of the exploration of the Mis- sissippi by Marquette and Jolliet (1673), the Missouri tribe of Indians were located near the mouth of the great stream w^hich today bears their name. They were then a numerous and warlike nation. Continuous warfare with the Sacs and Foxes drove them from this locality about the close of the seventeenth century, and they set up their wigwams on the Bowling Green Prairie, on the North bank of the Mis- souri and a few miles below the mouth of the Grand. But misfortune in the shape of their hereditary enemies followed them, for Du Pratz, writing about 1758, says: "The Missouris were recently engaged in another w^ar with the Sacs and Foxes and more than two hundred of them 22 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI were killed in one engagfenieiit. The remain- der, consisting of thirty families, then sought refuge with their neighbors, the Little Osages, across the river." Here they remained until about I77f) when both tribes were attacked by their old enemies, the Sacs and Foxes, and the beautiful Petitesas Plains were abandoned by the aborigines forever. Knins of fortifications yet mark the location of both villages, only a short distance apart, that of the Osages on land owned by Mrs. A. G. Discus, and the other on a tract belonging to Ben McKoberts, both near the present town of Malta Bend (Phil E. Chap- pell). A portion of the Missouris followed the Osages to the village of the (ireat Osages, in the Southwest part of the State; the remainder took refuge with the Otoes, at the mouth of the Platte. At the upper end of the Petitesas Plains was Le Grayide Pass, near the present vil- lage of Grand Pass, which was the crossing for all Indian war parties from the North side of the river. The boyhood home of the present w^riter was between this Round Bend mentioned ])3'' Lewis and Clark and the old fort in the "Pinna- cles," perhaps three miles from the first and seven from the latter. Now, Lewis and Clark to the contrary, t/iere is an island at the precise location given by I)u Pratz, covered sixty years ago with trees fully as large as tliose on the FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 23 bottom lands contiguous. Its appearance has been practically unchanged since the advent of the first white settlers in that locality, which was shortly after the explorations by Lewis and Clark, and it w^ill be show^n that this island existed in 1820. It is true that the channel cut- ting this island from the main land on the South is dry excepting when the river ap- proaches a high stage, but often has the writer beheld a strong and deep current racing through said channel. As sandbars have formed across both the inlet and the outlet of this channel, it is probable that at the time the ex- plorers passed the island the river was at an ordinary stage, and that the ends of this chan- nel were supposed by the voyagers to be sand- bars. One would have to sfo some distance back from the river to discover the old channel. In this connection the following certificate w^ill be of interest: Marshall, Mo., February 21, 1906. This is to certify that the island located about five or six miles below the present site of Brunswick, Missouri, was surveyed and plat- ted by the government surveyors in 1820, as a portion of Sections 13 and 24, Township 53, Range 20, and Section 19, Township 53, Range 19, as found on record in the office of the Re- corder of Saline County, State of Missouri, and 21 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI that the said ishiiul is nearly one mile North and South, and a little over one-half mile East niul West, and contained about 350 acres. This was the first island below the town of Miami surveyed by the said government surveyors. G. \V. Latimer, Surveyor of Saline County, Missouri. Mr. Latimer adds to the above: "You will note that this island (No. 23 in the government surve}") is on the Kange line between Kanges 19 and 20, and Brunswick is a little East of this line should it be extended from the Saline side. The mouth of Grand River was formerly above Brunswick, but of late years a large bar has formed in front of the tow n, which changes the mouth of the river to several miles below." He adds that what was known as Buckthorn Point, opposite the site of Brunswick, w^as cut off some years ago, and now forms an island on the North side of the Missouri, which indicates a great change since the writer last visited that locality in 1878. And it appears that much of the old island has washed away. Indeed the entire channel from a point some iwn miles above Brunswick to the Bowling Green plain seems to be much South of where it wat thirty years ago. But we have heard the remark that the Missouri holds a mortgage on all the lands between its bluffs, and when it sees tit it will foreclose wheresoever it will. FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 25 In a letter from Sieur Presle, resident of the Isle of Dauphine, occurs the following: "June 10, 1718. "A resident of the Island of Dauphine writes that Sieur de Bourgmont, who for fifteen years has resided among the Missouris, may be able by cnaking 2000 livres' worth of presents to the Indians to effect some discoveries 400 or 500 miles beyond and enter into commercial rela- tions with a nation of small men who have very large eyes, expand their noses one inch, who are clothed like the Europeans, go always boot- ed, wear spurs and plates of gold on their half boots, very well domiciled around a large lake about 600 leagues from the Panis, and always engaged in some fine work. It is said in this land are much gold and many rubies. It is be- lieved they are Chinese. Indians have re- ported the above." Following is an extract from a letter writ- ten by Hienville to the Council of Regents: "At Fort St. Louis of Louisiana, July 20, 1721, "Two hundred Spanish cavaliers with a large number of Indians, Padoucas, came from New^ Mexico to Missouri to conquer the French of -Illinois. They were discovered by the na- tions* of the Houatoototas and Panimahas, our allies, who met them with such vigor that they entirely defeated the Spaniards and their allies, the Padoucas. M. de Boisbriant, who com- 20 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI mands in Illinois, has questioned one of the Spaniards whose life was spared by the In- dians and who brought him to Fort St. Louis [an error by copyist or printer— Fort Chartres it should be] in order to ascertain from the man which route they had taken from New Mexico to the Missouri and the distance, and will report to the Council. "Done and executed the 22d day of Novem- ber, 1721. L. A. DE Bourbon." Extract from a letter written by Bienville to the Council of Regents: "At Fort St. Louis in Louisiana, April 25, 1722. "Of late I have been informed by Indians of Missouri that the Spaniards of New Mexico ■are contemplating to return in consequence of their defeat and to establish themselves on the Canzes, which flows into the Missouri. I have issued orders to M. de Boisbriant to prevent this by sending a detachment of twenty sol- diers to construct a small fort on the same river and garrison it so as to protect our children from insult, who, when furnished with ammu- nition, are in such a condition as to resist the Spaniards." The following were the memoranda pre- pared for Bourgmont, and approved by S. A. Koyal: "Sieur this being the only favor he expects for the -important services he renders in establishing peace between all Indian nations located in Louisiana and New Mexice, to assure a route iox t\\Q: voyageurs \^\\\c.\v ^\\\ place the mines of Illinois in such a condition that they can be 28 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI protected against the encroachments of the Spaniards and upon a profitable overland trade to the French, something which has not yet been executed, and which he can do more promptly and with more fidelity than any one else, according to the ideas of the commander of that colony. "Good with the approval of S. A. Royal." We now present the instructions given to Bourgmont on his assuming command on the Missouri: **S. A. Koyal having approved the commis- sion given by the India Company to Sieur de Bourgmont to assume the command on the river Missouri and to establish a post, he will without delay proceed to Louisiana and em- bark on the first vessel sailing to Louisiana. "On his arrival in that colony he will re- ceive the orders of M. de Bienville, Conamander- General, instructing him to repair to his desti- nation and to execute there to the welfare of the King's and the India Company's service. "He will request the said Sieur de Bien- ville and the Council of the Colonies to speed his expedition and to furnish him promptly with the material necessary for his expedition and the success of the project. "He will then proceed to the Illinois, where he will receive the orders of M. de Boisbriant, fir«t lirutenant to the King in the colonies, and FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 29 at this place will determine the site where the post is to be established on the Missouri River, and upon the course he is to pursue in regard to the Indian nations, and the proper conditions under which he will make peace treaties with them. "The said Sieur* de l^oisbriant is to give him an order and instructions in writing and sign these in duplicate, one of which the said M. de Boisbrant shall forward to us. "Sieur de Bourgmont, knowing w^ell enough the object of a post on the Missouri and ap- proaching the Spaniards, in order to establish commercial relations with them, however, whenever he establishes his post, he has to for- tify it, so that in case of a rupture with the Spaniards it will afford support. He cannot be too careful in the choice of a location where the establishment is to be founded, for on its situa- tion success of the enterprise is dependent. "He also know^s the importance of inducing the Padoucas to enter into a treaty of peace with all Indian nations allied with the French. He will spare no endeavor to bring this about, as this is one of the principal objects of the expedition. "After having made said establishment and effected an alliance with the Padoucas, we ask M. de Boisbriant that the said Sieur de Bourg- mont shall engage several chiefs of the princi- 30 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI pal nations to accompany him to France, in or- der to give them an idea of the power and the might of the French, and said Sieur de Bois- briant and the Council of the Colonies will pro- vide all that is necessary for this purpose. "If Sieur de Bourgmont is successful in carrying out the agreement into whicli he has entered with the company and whereof men- tion is made heretofore, for a period of two years, if he desires the Council will permit him to return to France, and enjoy the favors prom- ised by S. A. Koyal. In order to avail himself of this permission he shair report to M. de Bois- briant and the Council of the Colonies for a certificate showing that he has established a strong fort on the Missouri and that he has ef- fected a treaty of peace between the Padoucas and those savage tribes, allied with the French, against whom they are at war. "Done in France the 17th day of January; 1722. "Signed: Fagon, . Ferrani, Machault, Dodun." The following is an extract from a letter written to Boisbriant by Bienville, at New Or- leans, on August 20, 1723, which extract Bois- briant sent to Bourgmont in Missouri, and which he received at the Cantonment, Febru- ary H, 1724: "If I were in your place I would order M. FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 31 • de Bourgmont to proceed higher up the Mis- souri, if you judge proper, with twenty soldiers to establish a small post and I w^ould select for him a small assortment of merchandise to make presents to the Indians. You know that these nations are not accustomed to receive much; they are contented with little. In case he can- not accomplish a peace treaty with the Padou- cas, I cannot see that it will be a very great misfortune. You know as w^ell as I do that this peace will not last very long, your nations of the Missouri are invariably, after such a treaty, troublesome, and new presents are alw^ays de- manded to bring them around again." In the Memoire of' Sieur de la Renaudiere, who accompanied Bourgmont on his expedi^ tion up the Missouri and to the Padoucas, ap- pears the following, as adjoined to a letter by M. Perry, of September 1, 1723. It is of interest as it gives the ideas prevalent at that time re- garding the mines on the Missouri: **In order to locate these mines he has to go to the great villages of the Osagefe, the habita- tions of the Indians among whom the voyageurs go, situated on a river by that name. It has its source in Missouri; it is 150 leagues long. From its mouth to Fort Chartres in Illinois are fifty leagues, to-w^it: from this fort to the mouth of the Missouri, twenty leagues; from the mouth to a small' river flowing from the South, ten 32 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI • U-agues; higher up from thi8 river is another flowing from the same direction, again ten leagues; and at the same distance from the last one is that of the Osages. The voyageurs and In- dians report for certain that the village of the Osages is surrounded by fine mountains and prairies, and these Indians report that there are a number of mines of pure copper, and that they found pieces weighing seven and eight pounds. "Following the Missouri fifteen leagues higher up you find the river of the Barque com- ing from the South; six leagues from there is another river called the river La Mine. The voyageurs who traveled about in the neighbor- hood report as above, that there are mines of several kinds of ore; they have no knowledge of metals and know nothing of their produc- tiveness. "Continuing to ascend, there is another riv- er called Grand River coming from the North, there the Indians report quantities of pieces of copper which they find in the vicinity of that river. From there you go to the village of the Missouris which is not more than six leagues from there to the Southward. There are at that place one hundred lodges. There is the place where M. de Bourgmont should establish himself. "Tliirty leagues farther up 3'ou find thrt riv- FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 33 er of the Quans, a beautiful stream. Voyageurs and Indians report likewise a number of mines, but do not know the locality. Thirty leagues still higher up a small river is found coming from the South where the great village of the Quans, consisting of 150 lodges, adjoining the Missouris, is found. There are fine prairies to the South and many mountains to the West. There are, pursuant to the reports of several voyagetcrs, copper mines; they have reported sev- eral heavy pieces of about fifteen pounds in weight, together with rock crystal. "Continuing to ascend farther up you find a river which leads you to another river, called Panis River, distance twenty-two leagues, which is also large like the Missouri; you find fifteen leagues up this river a village by this name (Panis) composed of 150 lodges. The voy- ageurs report, according to information received, that there are many mines. "In ascending the latter river eight leagues you w^ill find one called Cerfecorne (Broken Deer Horn — Klk River). Within thirty leagues eight Panis villages are found, about a half league distant from each other; the number of inhabitants is not know^n. "Thirty leagues from the Missouri River are a number of mines. At all of these places the Spaniards have located mines, in order to establish posts. The Indians, in 1720, would 34 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI not tolerate them. After their war the Indians found manj' pieces of money made by the Spaniards. "The mountains in these parts are like those where that nation always found silver mines of which they always make much use. Voyageurs brought to Pensacola in 1715 pieces from these mines, which they melted and ex- tracted very fine silver, as good, they say, as that they take from their mines. "Sixty leagues up the Missouri, travelling across several rivers, the Mahas are found to- wards the North, where there are also a num- ber of mines. There are several roving nations who are much at war with the Spaniards, and ^vho often charge upon the mules and other an- imals with which the Spaniards form their trains, when working near them. If the In- dians catch any one they kill them, but aban- don their treasures, for they do not know the value thereof, saying it is tin. "There is every reason to believe that they are very cunning, for the Canadian called La Fleur, a voyageur, w^ho went to trade with them, found some pieces carelessly laj'ing about their lodges; they told him that it was tin. It is of value. He traded for more than two hun- dred dollars' worth. This opened their eyes, and they promised to gather more of it and give it to him tile next time he would come again. FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 35 *'Ten leagues from this place is the nation of the Ricaras. They reported that there are mountains of stupendous height, and a number of streams, and where sand is of yellow color, and it is said by the interpreter that this sand does not yield to the strike of the hammer. The experience and knowledge I have of ores and earths containing metals, I must say there is no sand of this color and hardness, unless found as gold dust or otherwise in placer diggings. "New Orleans, August 23, 1723." The following is a letter -written by Bourg- mont to the Council of Louisiana, on January 11, 1724: "The season had advanced, w^here we are, w^hen I had the honor to write to you in my last dated November 27, 1723, the departure of our boats has stopped, for the floating ice renders navigation impossible. I state to you, gentle- men, that I expect an interview with the na- tions on the upper part of the river, allied w^ith us, and to take measures to enter into a treaty of peace with the Padoucas. I have been very much surprised to hear that the Hotos and Agovis have formed a strong alliance w^ith the Sioux and the Reynards, our enemies. These two nations w^anted to sing the calumet w^ith me, but which I w^ould not accept, until the chiefs of these two nations had given me satis- 36 FORT ORLEANS ON THE AflSSOURI faction. I have made them all reasonable re- proaches, accompanied by menaces. They have bewailed it and carried me in triumph, promis- ing not only to break their alliance, but also to fight them, and to do all I order them to do. "I came at the right time to break a league, when indeed the two nations had dropped their mask against us. The Mahas and Panimahas have also united with them. It would have been impossible to found an establishment on this river, I doubt if M. de Boisbriant will be able to hold this post. I believe that poverty caused by the want of merchandise has induced the Agovis and Hotos to engag<; in an alliance with the Sioux and Reynards. Only a single Frenchman has visited them at this village since I departed frorri them five years ago to go to France. "In all my letters, gentlemen, I have had the honor to state that in order to induce these Indians to further our interests, it is absolutely necessary to have merchandise sufficient to buy their beaver skins and other peltries. I have- sent the calumet to all nations to assemble here at the end of next March; after the calumet is sung, to agree with them to set out for the Padoucas." All the foregoing documents and letters are translated from Pierre Margry's "Decouvertes et Etablissements des Francais dans I'Ouest et FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 37 dans le Sud de TAmerique Septentrionale (1614- 1754)," Vol. VI, and so far as we know appear here for the first time in English. We giv^e thena complete, comprising as they do the prin- cipal source whence our knowledge of Fort Or- leans and of Bourgmont's expeditions (the Re- lation of the latter w^ill be given below) is ob- tained. The title given these papers in Margry is as follows: "Relations of the French w^ith Va- rious Peoples, the Missouris, the Canzes, the Ototoctas, the Osages, the Agovis, the Panis, the Panimahas, the Ricaras, and the Padoucas. — Etienne Vengard de Bourgmont Establishes- Fort Orleans on the Missouri and Effects Peace Between Several Nations and the Padoucas." In the library of the Missouri Historical So- ciety, at St. Louis, is the original commission that Bourgmont received from the Company of the Indies. This document has been translated- (for the first time) especially for this brochure, and we present it herewith, — doubtless the first time it has been printed. It will be observed that the name of the officer is spelled "Bour- mont" in the commission. Justin Winsor gives this and one or two other variations in the or- thography of this name — indeed it seems that each French writer had his own method of spelling proper nouns. The document is not entirely legible and the translator was unable to decipher some words: 38 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI "Commission of Captain of Infantry in Louisiana, for the Sieur de Bourmont. "The Directors of the Company of the In- dies to tlie Sieur de Hourinont, Greeting: Ta- king into consideration the services which you have rendered to the King and to the Company in the country of Louisiana, both by the discov- eries which you have made and by your acts of war which have caused the French nation to be respected and honored amongst the savages, and wishing to show you our (satisfaction in eiving you among the troops which are or may afterwards be sent to the said country a rank above that which you have until the present held; "For these causes, and other good consider- ations, we, in virtue of the power accorded by His Majesty, have named you, commissioned and established you, name, commission, and establish you, to take and hold the rank of cap- tain in the troops of infantry that the Company sends or will send in future to the colony of Louisiana, from the day and date present, taut amsif (the same as if?) you held the chief com- mand under the authority of the commandant general of the colony and of other superior offi- cers (of the service?). We have given and give power, commission, authority, special manda- mus. We give order to the Sieur de Bienville, Commandant-General of the colony, and in his FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 39 absence to whoever may be in command, to re- ceive you into service, recognizing (manuscript blurred) quality of captain and to ( ? ) which he belongs to obey and hear all that you shall order for the glory of the name of His Majesty and the good of the service of the Company and the advantage of its commerce in the said colo- ny of Louisiana. These letters are the ( ? ) of the Company in the faith of what you have done. Sealed in presence w^ith the seal of the Company and countersigned by the Directors of the same. "Done in Paris, in (the hotel?) of the Com- pany of the Indies, the 26th day of the month of July, 1720." Affixed to the commission are eight signa- tures, two of which cannot be entirely deci- phered. The translator renders them thus: Mouchard, Fromaget, Corneau, Castanier, D'Ar- taguiette Diron, Lallemant de Bet, Remy (or Premy). Below the signatures appears, "By the Company, for (duplication?), Delaloe(?)." Gayarre, in his History of Louisiana, Vol. I, p. 233, says: "1 have already said that Law, who was director-general of the Royal Bank of France, was also appointed director-general of the Mississippi Company. The other directors were, D'Artaguette, Duche, Moreau, Piou, Cas- taignes and Mouchard." Another authority, a pamphlet published 40 FORT ORLEANS OX THE MISSOURI in 1719, gives an official list of the directors as follows: Law, Kigby, Raudot, Hardancourt, J. (lastebois, d'Artaguiette Diron, Piou, Fromaget, Castanier, Gilly de Moutaud, F. Mouchard. There were sharpers and tricksters in the days of Fort Orleans, — men who increased the size of their packs of furs by playing upon the credulity and ignorance of the red men of the forests. One of these, it is related by Bossu, exchanged a barrel of gunpowder w^ith the In- dians about the fort for twenty times its value in furs, assuring them that the gunpowder so much desired t)v the savages was a seed, a spe- cies of grain, propagated by planting. His hearers believed him implicitly, planted their "seed," and waited patiently for its growth. After a time they realized that they had been duped. And it is recorded that the next French trader who appeared among those Indians with a varied assortment of merchandise, w^as con- siderably astf)nished, after his wares had been artistically displayerl in the wigwam to which lie had been assigned, to have the braves pounce upon them and carry off his entire stock without deigning to say a word to the trader. On complaining t<» the chief, the Frenchman was told the story of the gunpow- der (leal and assured that when the gunpowder seed grew and the crop matured, the brav©« FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 41 would be sent on a general hunt and that out of the first fruits of the chase \t^ould he be re- munerated for the goods so ruthlessly confis- cated by the w^arriors. Such transactions as this may have led to the massacre of the little garrison. "Le Grande Passe," as it was designated by the French, was located three miles West of the present town of Malta Bend, in Saline County, and near the Western extremity of the Petitesas Plains. It w^as so called because here was the principal crossing on the Missouri Riv- er of the Iowa, Sioux, Pottaw^atomie, Fox and other Indian tribes of the North side of the stream in their frequent predatory raids against the Osages and the Missouris, It is near this crossing, on the North bank of the river, that some historians, following Margry, as they claim, locate Fort Orleans. They direct atten- tion to the fact that w^hen Bourgmont went on his first expedition to the Conaanches, he crossed the Missouri at or near the present site of Kansas City from the North side, but no men- tion is made in his journal of his crossing to that side on leaving Fort Orleans. This point will be taken up later. The country about Grand Pass was a hunter's paradise. Deer, bear, elk, buffalo, and w^ild fowl were found in great abundance. VJ FORT OR f. FANS ON THF. MISSOURI As wi' li.ivi' stritid. the Osage Indians liad a villagf near this Pass, as did the Missouris also. The establishment of the Osage village antedates the visit of the first white man to the loeality. but it is generally stated that the Mis- souris did not locate here until after the estab- lishment of Vovt (Orleans. Whent e comes the authority for tuch a statement, we know not. After a careful examination of the authorities at hand, we give it as <^ur opinion that Fort Or- leans was established subsecjuent to the loca- tion of the Missouris at Petitesas Plains. In support of this opinion we shall present a few facts, Dutisne, whose vo^'age up the Missouri we have heretofore mentioned, in a report written at Kaskaskia on November 22, 1719, to Bien- ville, at New Orleans, says that the village of the Missouris, which he had visited on the said voyage made earlier in that same year (1719), was situatetl eighty leagues up the Missouri River. At a distance of one league from this village, to the Southwest, was the village of the Osages, and the latter village, he adds, was thirty leagCies from the other village of the Osage nation, situated oti the river of the same name. It is impossible to make this apply to a village sit uatt'd on the Howling rrreen F'rairie, hut it accurately locates the remains of those still «,MMi oil the Petit<'sas Plains. FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 43 Francis Parkman was a most careful writer. Few of the statements in his monumental his- tory of "France and England in North America" have been successfully controverted. Subse- quent historical research may bring to light new matter bearing: on some topics, but for the most part Parkman's w^ork will stand for all time to come. On page 13 of the second vol- ume of his "A Half Century of Conflict" occurs this statement: "In the same year [1719] one Dutisne went up the Missouri to a point six leagues above Grand River, where stood the village of the Missoiiris." In proof of this statement, Parkman refers to the 6th volume of Margr}'^, pages 309-313, a letter from Dutisne to Bienville, probably the same one to which reference is made above. It w^ill be remembered that the Spanish caravan, in 1720, was attacked and destroyed by the Missouris, on the South side of the river. Had the great village of this nation stood on the Bowling Green Prairie at this time, it is not probable that a force of w^arriors sufficient to utterly annihilate the Spaniards would have been encountered on the South side of the Missouri. Le Page du Pratz is responsible for the claim that Fort Orleans was built on an island. Here is all that a careful examination of his "Historj'^ of Louisiana" reveals on this subject. n FOA'T ORL/L4NS ON THE MISSOURI \Vt* (junte from pii^es 290 Mtid 2i>7 of his first voliiiiu', the Kiiglisli edition: "'PluTc was a l-'rench post for some time in MM ishuul :) few k'a^ues in lenj^th, over against the Missouris; tlie French settled in this fort at the Kast point, and called it I'ort Orleans. M. de Hoiirgmont commanded a sufficient time to gain the friendship of the Indians of the coun- tries adjoining to this great river. He brought about a peace among all those nations, who be- fore his arrival were all at war; the nations to the North being more warlike than those to the South. After the departure of that command- ant, thev murdered all the garrison, not a single Frenchman escaped to carry the new^s; nor could it be ever known whether it happened through the fault of the French or through treachery." In his relation of Hourgmont's expedition to the Comanches, w^e find the following in the same volume of Uu I'ratz, p. 107 et seqticutia: "The Padoucas, who lie West by Northwest of the Misscniris, happened at that time to be at war with the neighbouring nations, the Canzas, Othouz, Aiaouez, (3sages, Missouris, and Pani- mahas, all in unit}' with the I'rench. To con- ciliate a peace between all these nations and the Padoucas, M. l*adoucas, in order to bring FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 45 about a general pacification, and by that means to facilitate the traffick or truck between them and us, and conclude an alliance with the Padoucas. "For this purpose M. de Bourgmont set out on the 3d of July, 1724, from Fort Orleans, which lies near the Missouris, a nation dwell- ing on the banks of a river of that name, in order to join that people, and then to proceed to the Canzas, where a general rendezvous of the several nations was appointed. '•M. de Bourgmont was accompanied by an hundred Misscniris, commanded by their grand chief, and eight other chiefs of war, and by sixty-four Osages, commanded by four chiefs of war, besides a few Frenchmen. On the 6th he joined the grand chief, six other chiefs of war, and several warriors of the Canzas, who presented him the pipe of peace, and performed the honours, customary on such occasions, to the Missouris and Osages. "On the 7th they passed through extensive meadows and woods, and arrived on the banks of the rivver Missouri, over against the village of the Canzas. On the 8th the French crossed the Missouri in a pettyauger, the Indians on floates of cane, and the horses were swam over. They camped within gun-shot of the Canzas, who flocked to receive them with the pipe." The remainder of the account of Du Pratz 46 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI is apparently a summary of the Relation of Hourgmont, which the former evidently had read, though the work of Hourginont was not pul)lished until 18S8, while Du Pratz's History appeared in 1758, the English edition in 1763. Copious extracts from Bourgmont's Relation, which has heretc^fore appeared only in the French language, are given below, hence we. do not follow farther the account of I)u Pratz. In this connection we reprint a few lines from the Memoire of Renaudiere (see p. Wl atite) that the weight of his testimony may be added to the authorities quoted above: "(Continuing to ascend, there is another river called Grand River coming from the North From there you go to the vil- lage of the Missouris which is not more than six leagues from there to the Southward. There are at that place one hundred lojiges. There is where M. de Bourgmont should estab- lish himself." It is upon the above statements that we base our conclusion that the establishment of the village of the Missouris in the Petitesas Plains, three miles Northwest of the village of the Little Osages, was antecedent to the found- ing of Fort Orleans by Bourgmont. As far as our researches have extended, it seems conclu- sive that Lewis and Clark are responsible for the statement that Le Page du Pratz located FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 47 the fort on an island some five miles below the mouth of Grand River. Their statement giving this as the location of the fort is followed by both liradbury and Brackenridge, who ascend- ed the Missouri in 1811, though neither claims to have seen any ruins or other evidences of the fort. We have already quoted what each of these writers says in regard to the matter. But a careful examination of the histor3'- w^rit- ten by Du Pratz fails to discover any statement to warrant such a conclusion, and one i? puz- zled to understand upon what Lewis and Clark base their assertion that Du Pratz locates Fort Orleans on an island a few miles below the mouth of the Grand. The map which accompanies the history of Du Pratz locates a great island, as large as an average county, some forty or fifty miles belo^v Grand River and puts Fort Orleans on the East end thereof, which would locate it neai-er the mouth of the Osage than the mou«th of the Grand. Du Pratz evidently had a very indefi- nite conception of the geography of the Mis- souri Valley. But even this map does not au- thorize Lew^is and Clark to put the fort on an island five miles below the Grand. We shall now give our attention to the Re- lation of Bourgmont's expeditions to the Pa- doucas, as the same appears in the first volume of Margrj'^. and learn w^hat basis there is for the 48 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI claim that Fort Orleans stood on the North sitle of the Missouri, opposite the Fetitesas I'laitis. We shall first invite the attention of the reader to those portions of the Relation that bear upon the suhject under discussion. Sum- maries of those portions not pertinent to this inquiry are enclosed in brackets: Relation of the Expeditions of Sieur de Bourgmont, Cav- alier of the Order of St. Louis, Commander on th^ Missouri River, the Upper Part of the Arkansas and the Missouri. Departure from F(^rt Orlccins, Sunda}', June 25, 1724. The detachment whicli is to go by water set out for the Canzas and Padoucas; it is com- manded by M. de Saint-Ange, ensign at Fort Orleans, with Dubois, sergeant, kotisseur and Gentil, corporals, and eleven private soldiers, to wit: La Jeunesse, Bonneau, Saint Lazarre, Ferret, Derl^ert, Avignon, Sans Chagrin, Pou- part, Gaspari, Chalons, and Hrasseur; five Ca- nadians, Merciere, Quesnel, Kivet, Kollet, and Lespine; and engaged by Kenaudiere, Toulome and Antoine. Monday, yttly j. — M- de Bourgniont departed overland, accompanied by MM. Renaudiere and Bellrive, cadet to the Company, d'Etienne, Rou- lot, and Derbet, soldiers, and a drummer, d'Ha- melin, a Canadian Gaillard, engaged by Sieur FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI 49 Renaudiere, and Simon, servant of M. de Bourg- mont, with 100 Missouris commanded by eight chiefs and the head war chief of the nation, and 64 Osages commanded by four chiefs of their nation. We passed two small rivers and arrived at our camp at 4 o'clock in the after- noon. We have traveled according to our es- timate six leagues. Great heat. Tiesday, yuly 4.. — We set out about 5 o'clock in the morning. We marched until 10 o'clock, w^hen we stopped till about 3 and then at 6. We have made according to our estimate about six leagues. Heat, good breeze on the hills. We have passed three small rivers; fine road, great prairies, hills, many hazel bushes laden witli nuts along the streams and valleys; deer are plentiful, Wednesday , July 5, — We made six leagues, according to our estimate. We have passed some streams, little groves of timber to right and left. Since our departure we have followed the point of the compass West and a quarter West-Northwest, Thzirsday, yuly 6. —We departed at 4 o'clock, at 5 we passed a small river, at 8 we entered a wood, about 10 we passed a fine river on the banks of which we halted until 2 o'clock. [Met two Kansas Indians; at 4 o'clock met grand chief ui Kansas; smoked calumet; had feast and dance that evening.] We camped at the head 50 FORT ORLEANS ON THE MISSOURI of the prairie. During our whole journey we ha%'e marched Westward. We ma