Flagg's The Far West, 1836-1837, part 2; and De Smet's Letters and Sketches, 1841-1842

89

Evidently a misprint for 27th of August. Consult the succeeding letter. – Ed.

90

For sketches of the Blackfeet and the Crows, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, pp. 225 and 226, notes 120, 121 respectively. In Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, De Smet says that this camp of Crows consisted of one thousand souls.

The Big Horn River, so called from the Rocky Mountain sheep, rises in the Wind River range, near the centre of Wyoming, flows north through the Big Horn Mountains into Montana, and bending toward the northeast joins the Yellowstone as its principal tributary. South of the Big Horn Mountains, the stream is usually called Wind River. The Big Horn Valley, the home of the Crows, was a rich fur-bearing region and frequently visited by trappers and traders. – Ed.

91

The post visited by Father de Smet was Fort Van Buren, located on the south bank of the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Rosebud. It was built in 1835 by A. J. Tulloch for the American Fur Company, and stood until 1842, when it was burned by instructions from Charles J. Larpenteur, who at once ordered the erection of Fort Alexander, on the north side of the Yellowstone, twenty miles higher up. De Smet was mistaken when he said that Fort Van Buren was the first fort of the Yellowstone erected by the American Fur Company. Fort Cass was built by A. J. Tulloch in 1832 at the mouth of the Big Horn, but three years later was abandoned. The fourth and last fort erected in this region by the American Fur Company was Fort Sarpy, on the south side of this river, twenty-five miles below the old site of Fort Cass. Consult Major Frederick T. Wilson, "Old Fort Pierre and its Neighbors," with editorial notes by Charles E. De Land, in South Dakota Hist. Colls. (Aberdeen, S. D., 1902), i, pp. 259-379. – Ed.

92

Ensyla (Insula), sometimes called Little Chief because of his station, also named Red Feather from his official emblem, and christened Michael because of his faithfulness, was one of the most influential of the Flathead chiefs, and figures prominently in De Smet's work among the Indians of his tribe. In 1835 he had visited the rendezvous in Green River Valley, in the hope of securing missionary aid, and there met Samuel Parker and Marcus Whitman. See Samuel Parker, Journal of an Exploring Tour among the Rocky Mountains (Ithaca, 1838), p. 77. According to L. B. Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest (Baltimore, 1894), Insula was disappointed not to find a "black robe," and preserved his tribe for Catholic missionaries. His integrity, judgment, and bravery made him highly esteemed. – Ed.

93

For sketches of the Arikara and Sioux, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, pp. 113 and 90, notes 76 and 55 respectively; for the Assiniboin, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 370, note 346; for the Gros Ventres, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76. – Ed.

94

For a more complete account of John de Velder, see succeeding letter. – Ed.

95

For sketches of Fort Union and James Kipp (not Kipps), see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, pp. 373, 345, notes 349, 319 respectively. – Ed.

96

"He has given his angels charge of thee, that they guard thee in all thy ways." – De Smet.

97

For a sketch of the Mandan Indians, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 114, note 76; for an account of their burial customs, see p. 160, in the same volume; and for the location of their villages, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxiii, p. 234, note 192. The smallpox scourge occurred in 1837.

In reference to buffalo-boats or skin-boats, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 246. – Ed.

98

For the original location of the Arikara villages, see our volume xxii, pp. 335, 336, notes 299, 300. At the time of the great small-pox scourge (1837), the Arikara were encamped near the Mandan village. The latter tribe abandoned their villages, and the small remnant moved some three miles up the Missouri, where they erected fifteen or twenty new huts; while the Arikara took possession of their old villages, where De Smet found them. For their location see our volume xxiii, pp. 254, 255. When the missionary in the succeeding sentence speaks of starting from the "Mandan village," he means the former Mandan village, now inhabited by the Arikara. The latter tribe remained at this site until their removal to Fort Berthold, about 1862. – Ed.

99

In reference to Fort Pierre, see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 315, note 277. For a description of the Little Missouri River, more frequently known as Teton or Bad, see our volume xxiii, p. 94, note 81. – Ed.

100

The reference is to the various divisions of the Dakota or Sioux; but the classification is unsatisfactory. For recent classification, see J. W. Powell, U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1885-86, pp. 111-113; also Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 326, note 287. By the "Jantonnais" and "Jantons," De Smet intends the modern Yanktonai and Yankton. – Ed.

101

Vermillion Post, established for trading with the lower Sioux tribes, was located on the east bank of the Missouri, ten miles below the mouth of the Vermillion. The shifting of the stream has since 1881 rendered difficult the locating of the old post, which was described by Audubon, who passed there in 1843; see M. R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals (New York, 1897), i, pp. 493, 494. Also consult South Dakota Historical Collections, i, pp. 376, 377. Dickson's post, also called Fort Vermillion, was some miles above the river of that name. See our volume xxiv, p. 97, note 73. It is uncertain which post is intended. – Ed.

102

By the treaty made at Chicago in September, 1833, the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa ceded to the United States government about five million acres of land, whereupon the Potawatomi were assigned to a reservation between the western borders of the state of Missouri and the Missouri River, in what was later known as the Platte purchase. This tract was incorporated with Missouri in 1836, and the Indian tribe was transferred to a reservation in southwestern Iowa, with Council Bluffs as their chief village. Here in 1838 Father Verreydt, with Father de Smet and two lay brothers, laid the foundation of a mission dedicated to the "Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph," where De Smet served until his departure for the Flathead country (1840). Father Christian Hoecken succeeded him. By the treaty of 1846 the Potawatomi were transferred from Iowa to Kansas, where another Catholic mission was begun among them, frequently visited by De Smet in his later life. – Ed.

103

In 1839 Father de Smet undertook a journey from St. Joseph's mission, at Council Bluffs, into the Sioux territory for the purpose of effecting a treaty between these tribes and the Potawatomi. He ascended the Missouri in the steamer of the American Fur Company, on which J. N. Nicollet, the famous geographer, was likewise a passenger. See Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, i, pp. 179-192. – Ed.

104

Jean Philip von Roothan, born in Amsterdam (1785) of Catholic parents, entered a Jesuit novitiate in Russia (1804) and was educated at the college of Polotsk. He conducted a mission in Switzerland, and was the first superior of the province of Turin, when in 1829 he was elected twenty-first general of the order of Jesuits, an office in which he continued until his death in 1853. He was much interested in the over-seas missions, in 1833 issuing an encyclical on their behalf. – Ed.

105

The reader will note that this letter concerns itself with the same journey as that described in the previous epistle – the first visit to the Flatheads and return (1840). De Smet wrote several descriptions of this journey; that contained in his Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses is more detailed than either presented herein. A translation of the latter is given in Chittenden and Richardson, who do not reprint this letter to Roothan. – Ed.

106

For a brief description of Nebraska or Platte (flat or shallow) River, see our volume xiv, p. 219, note 170. It is the common belief that Nebraska is the aboriginal term for Platte, signifying "Shallow." De Smet's alternative, "Bighorn," is not found elsewhere. See also Nebraska Historical Society Transactions, i, p. 73 – Ed.

107

For the route of the first portion of the Oregon trail, over which De Smet went out, see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. There were several fording places for the South Platte, depending upon the state of the river. In subsequent pages, De Smet gives a vivid description of the difficulties and dangers of crossing this stream. See also Frémont's account in Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., ii. – Ed.

108

See Washington Irving, Astoria (Philadelphia, 1841), chapter xxii. – Ed.

109

Laramie River, one of the principal tributaries of the North Platte, rises in northern Colorado, flows north through Alba County, Wyoming, and breaking through the Laramie Mountains turns northeast into the Platte. The name is derived from a French Canadian trapper, Jacques Laramie, who about 1820 was killed upon its upper waters, by the Arapaho. – Ed.

110

This information as to the origin of the Cheyenne is derived from Lewis's Statistical View (London, 1807). See Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, vi, p. 100. It is now conceded that the Cheyenne, with their kindred tribe the Arapaho, probably once dwelt about the waters of the St. Croix River, in Wisconsin. Their tribal name (according to Lewis) was Sharha (Shaway), possibly a variant of the Sioux form Shaiela or Shaiena, whence their present name. Apparently they were driven northwestward from their Wisconsin habitat, and first settled upon Cheyenne River, North Dakota – a tributary of Red River of the North. It is conjectured that they were forced southwest by the Sioux. The Warreconne, where they made their final stand, is the present Big Beaver, in Emmons County, North Dakota. According to Cheyenne tradition, they were formerly an agricultural people, forced into nomadic habits by these various removals.

The term "Black Coasts" is an incorrect translation of "Côtes Noirs," Black Hills. See our volume xxiii, p. 244, note 204. – Ed.

111

For Red Buttes see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, p. 183, including note 31. – Ed.

112

For Independence Rock see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 34. – Ed.

113

For a sketch of this river see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 69, note 45. – Ed.

114

The Ute belong, as De Smet says, to the Shoshonean stock, and originally occupied the country directly south of the habitat of the Snake Indians, or Shoshoni proper, which extended from the Rocky Mountains to California. The Ute were divided into numerous bands, differently classified by various authorities, and when first known to the whites numbered about four thousand souls. There are now over two thousand on two reservations – the Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and the other bands on the Unita reservation, in northeastern Utah. – Ed.

115

Although this mode of funeral exists amongst the Snakes, it is not, however, common to all the Indian tribes. Amongst the people who live on the borders of lake Abbitibbi, in Lower Canada, as soon as a warrior happens to die, they wrap the body in a shroud, lower it into a grave about a foot and a half deep, and place alongside it a pot, a knife, a gun, and such other articles as are of prime necessity to the savages. Some days after the burial, the relations of the deceased assemble to smoke over his grave. They then hang presents upon the nearest tree, particularly tobacco for the soul of the deceased, which is to come occasionally and smoke upon the grave, where the body is laid. They suppose that the poor soul is wandering not far from thence, until the body becomes putrified; after which it flies up to heaven. The body of a wicked man, they say, takes a longer time to corrupt than that of a good man; which prolongs his punishment. Such, in their opinion, is the only punishment of a bad life.

In Columbia we find that a different custom prevails. There, so soon as the person expires, his eyes are bound with a necklace of glass beads; his nostrils filled with aiqua (a shell used by the Indians in place of money), and he is clothed in his best suit and wrapped in a winding-sheet. Four posts, fixed in the ground, and joined by cross beams, support the ærial tomb of the savage: the tomb itself is a canoe, placed at a certain height from the ground, upon the beams I have just mentioned. The body is deposited therein, with the face downwards, and the head turned in the same direction as the course of the river. Some mats thrown upon the canoe finish the ceremony. Offerings, of which the value varies with the rank of the deceased, are next presented to him; and his gun, powder-horn and shot-bag are placed at his sides.

Articles of less value, such as a wooden bowl, a large pot, a hatchet, arrows, &c. are hung upon poles fixed around the canoe. Next comes the tribute of wailing, which husbands and wives owe to each other, and to their deceased parents, and also to their children: for a month, and often longer, they continually shed, night and day, tears, accompanied with cries and groans, that are heard at a great distance. If the canoe happen to fall down in course of time, the remains of the deceased are collected, covered again with a winding-sheet, and deposited in another canoe. —Extract of a letter from M. Demers, Missionary among the Savages.

Some individuals of other tribes, seen by Father de Smet on his tour, are the following: The Kootenays and the Carriers, with a population of 4,000 souls, the Savages of the Lake, who are computed at about 500, the Cauldrons 600, the Okinaganes 1,100, the Jantons and Santees 300, the Jantonnees 4,500, the Black-Feet Scioux 1,500, the Two-Cauldrons 800, the Ampapas 2,000, the Burned 2,500, the Lack-Bows 1,000, the Minikomjoos 2,000, the Ogallallees 1,500, the Saoynes 2,000, the Unkepatines 2,000, the Mandans, Big-Bellies, and Arikaras, who have formed of their remnants one tribe, 3,000, the Pierced-Noses, 2,500, the Kayuses 2,000, the Walla-Wallas 500, the Palooses 300, the Spokanes 800, the Pointed-Hearts 700, the Crows, the Assinboins, the Ottos, the Pawnees, the Santees, the Renards, the Aonays, the Kikapoux, the Delawares, and the Shawanons, whose numbers are unknown. The following are the names of the principal chiefs, who received the Missionary in their tents: The Big-Face and Walking-Bear, the Patriarchs of the Flat-Heads and Ponderas; the Iron-Crow, the Good-Heart, the Dog's-Hand, the Black-Eyes, the Man that does not eat cow's flesh, and the Warrior who walks barefooted; the last named is chief of the Black-Feet Scioux. – De Smet.

116

"Sampeetch" was a term applied to a small band of Ute dwelling in central Utah along the river now known as San Pitch, with a valley and mountain ranges of the same designation. The name was frequently used in descriptions of Ute bands until about 1870, when these Indians, reduced in number to less than two hundred, were segregated upon the Unita reservation and lost their distinctive appellation. – Ed.

117

In Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, containing the French original of this letter, Father de Smet classes the Paiute and Yampah Ute with the Sampeetches as the tribes called by the French les Dignes de pitié. – Ed.

118

The following account of the religious beliefs relates to the mountain tribes with whom De Smet was most familiar, chiefly those of the Salishan stock. – Ed.

119

A Canadian Missionary, who lived for a long time among the savages, gives the following account of the popular tradition of the Indians respecting the creation of the world: – "Water, they say, was every where formerly; and Wiskain, a spirit, or subordinate deity, commanded the castor to dive into it, in order to procure some earth. The castor obeyed the order, but he was so fat that he could not possibly descend to the bottom, and he had to return without any earth. Wiskain, nothing discouraged, charged the musk-rat with the commission which the castor was unable to perform. The new messenger having remained a long while under water, and with as little success as the castor, returned almost drowned. The rat expected that he should not be required a second time, as he had already nearly lost his life. But Wiskain, who was not discouraged by obstacles, directed the rat to dive again, promising him, that if he should happen to be drowned, he (Wiskain) would restore him to life. The rat dived a second time, and made the greatest efforts to comply with Wiskain's orders. After remaining a considerable while under the water, he arose to the surface, but so exhausted by fatigue that he was insensible. Wiskain, upon a careful and minute examination, finds at length in the claws of the poor animal a little earth, upon which he breathes with such effect, that it begins to augment rapidly. When he had thus blown for a long time, feeling anxious to know if the earth was large enough, he ordered the crow, which at that period was as white as the swan, to fly round it, and take its dimensions. The crow did accordingly, and returned, saying that the work was too small. Wiskain set about blowing upon the earth with renewed ardour, and directed the crow to make a second tour round it, cautioning him, at the same time, not to feed upon any carcass that he might see on the way. The crow set off again without complaint, and found, at the place which had been pointed out, the carcass which he was forbidden to touch. But, having grown hungry on the way, and being also, perhaps, excited by gluttony, he filled himself with the infected meat, and on his return to Wiskain, informed him that the earth was large enough, and that he need not, therefore, resume his work. But the unfaithful messenger, at his return, found himself as black as he had been white at his setting out, and was thus punished for his disobedience, and the black colour communicated to his descendants." The above tradition, which bears some striking vestiges of the tradition respecting original sin, and several circumstances of the deluge, makes no mention whatever of the creation of man and woman; and, however illogical it may be, it is, perhaps, not more ridiculous than the systems of certain pretended philosophers of the last century, who, in hatred of revelation, have endeavoured to explain the formation of the earth, by substituting their extravagant reveries for the Mosaic account. – De Smet.

120

For Pierre's Hole (Peter's Valley) see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 63, note 41. Concerning the hostile and implacable character of the Blackfeet tribes consult Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 220, note 120; also Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxiii, pp. 90-92. – Ed.

121

For a description of these hats, woven chiefly by the Pacific coast Indians, and an article of traffic with the interior, see Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 294, 296, 359-361. – Ed.

122

Compare with this the description of the Flatheads given in 1814 by Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia River (New York, 1832), pp. 121-127. – Ed.

123

Probably our author here refers to the sage-brush of the Western plains, Artemisia tridentata. – Ed.

124

De Smet had accompanied the Indians in their journey from Pierre's Hole westward and then northward along the Teton River to its junction with the Henry; thence they proceeded up that stream to its source in Henry Lake, the northeastern corner of Idaho. As the source of a chief fork of the Snake, this is one of the mountain origins of the Columbia. It was named for Andrew Henry, an adventurous trader, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107. – Ed.

125

Probably the stream that runs into Red Rock Lake, in southwestern Montana, the source of Jefferson River, the main branch of the Missouri. – Ed.

126

This was the main chain of the Rockies, on the boundary between Idaho and Montana, just above the present Reynolds Pass. – Ed.

127

In this letter, Father de Smet does not describe his movements with the Flatheads, who having crossed to Red Rock Lake advanced slowly down the Jefferson until August 21, where they camped at the Three Forks of Missouri, and prepared to lay in their winter's supply of buffalo meat. There he left them for his return to St. Louis. – Ed.

128

As a beautiful specimen of an affecting farewell address, we take from the journal of a Canadian Missionary the following discourse spoken by one of the savages of the Red River, to the Black-Gown who had converted them, when he was about leaving them. After expressing, in the name of all the Indians of his locality, the grief which they felt at the Missionary's departure, he added the following words, which prove their gratitude to the worthy Priest, who had brought to them the truths of salvation, and to the members of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, whose charity had procured them so great a benefit: —

"Dear Father, you are going to leave us, but we hope to see you again. We are quite sensible that you naturally wish to see your relations and friends, your towns and country – we shall find the time of your absence very long, but the winter is soon over. – We conceived it to be our duty to assemble before your departure, and to express our feelings. We shall only say these few words: we formerly led very wicked lives, and we know this day to what destruction we were hastening. There was a thick cloud before our eyes; you have dispersed it; we see the sun. We shall never forget what you have done and suffered for us. – Go now, go and tell the Prayers, those kind Prayers, who take pity on us; who love us without knowing us; and who send us priests; go and tell them that savages know how to remember a benefit; go and tell them that we also pray for them, in the desire which we feel to know them, one day, in the abode of our common Father. Set out, but return and instruct those whom you have baptized: leave us not forever in affliction; depart, and in the meanwhile remember that we are counting the days." – De Smet.

129

De Smet thus describes his route: "For two days we were going up the Gallatin, the southern fork of the Missouri; thence we crossed by a narrow pass (Bozeman's) thirty miles in length to the Yellowstone river, the second of the great tributaries of the Missouri." – Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, i, p. 234. – Ed.

130

On the mourning habits of the Western Indians, see our volume xxiii, p. 362, note 331. – Ed.

131

For references on the Indian sign language see our volume xix, p. 221, note 56 (Gregg); also our volume xxiv, pp. 300-312. – Ed.

132

In prehistoric times, the horse was indigenous in America. Evidence thereof was collected by Professor O. C. Marsh, and has recently been corroborated by the results of the Whitney Exploring Expedition; see H. F. Osborn, "Evolution of the Horse in America," in Century Magazine, lxix, pp. 3-17. Why this animal became extinct on the western continent is unknown; but it seems certain that the Spanish discoverers found no trace thereof among the American Indians, and that the horses of the plains Indians were derived from those lost or abandoned by or stolen from the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. These soon reverted to a wild state and became what De Smet calls "the Maroon race of the prairies." Upon the changes in the economy of life among American aborigines, brought about by their possession of the horse, consult A. F. Bandelier, "Investigations in the Southwest," in Archæological Institute of America Papers, American Series, iii, p. 211. – Ed.