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

133

Absaroka (Upsahroku) is the name by which the Crows know themselves, although according to Lewis and Clark it designated but one band of the tribe. Its significance is uncertain, although usually thought to be a certain species of hawk. The name "Crow" – literally raven, but translated "Corbeaux" by the French – is an Anglicized form of the name given to this tribe by the surrounding Indians, and may refer to their pilfering tendencies. See our volume v, p. 226, note 121. – Ed.

134

For a sketch of this fort see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, p. 373, note 349. – Ed.

135

For these two animals, the latter of which is commonly known as the black-tailed or mule deer, see our volume xix, p. 327, note 137 (Gregg). – Ed.

136

On these ceremonies, see our volume xxiii, p. 324, note 292, and p. 378, note 350. – Ed.

137

On the subject of cannibalism see our volume xxiii, p. 278, note 242. – Ed.

138

Consult references cited in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 245. – Ed.

139

See the brief account of Arikara jugglers in Maximilian's Travels, our volume xxiii, pp. 393, 394 – Ed.

140

Juggleries are much practised among the savages, although many of them consider them as so many impostures. Mr. Belcourt, who witnessed a great many of them, always succeeded in discovering the deception. One of the most celebrated jugglers acknowledged, after his conversion to Christianity, that all their delusion consists in their cleverness in preparing certain tricks, and in the assurance with which they predict to others what they themselves know not, and, above all, in the silly credulity of their admirers. They are like our own calculators of horoscopes. —Extract from the Journal of a Missionary in Canada.– De Smet.

141

For references on burial customs among the Indians of the Missouri, see Maximillian's Travels, in our volume xxiii, p. 360, note 329. – Ed.

142

For a sketch of Independence, Missouri, see Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies in our volume xix, p. 189, note 34. – Ed.

143

De Smet had been associated with Nicollet in his exploration of the Missouri River in 1839. Nicollet intended another expedition westward, but was detained in Washington by business connected with the publication of his hydrographical map, and the report to Congress, and was never again in the Western country. See his letter in Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, iv, pp. 1552, 1553.

Jean Nicolas Nicollet was born in Savoy in 1786. After being educated in Switzerland, he was for a time assistant professor of mathematics at Chambery, and later librarian and secretary at the Paris observatory under the celebrated La Place. In 1832 he came to America, and occupied himself in scientific exploration of the Arkansas and Red rivers. In 1836 he made his well-known voyage to the sources of the Mississippi, and in 1839 explored the Missouri, crossing over to the Red River Valley, being accompanied on this expedition by John C. Frémont. The following years, until his death in 1843, he was employed in government service at Washington. – Ed.

144

This was the first overland emigrant train to California, composed of members of the Western Emigration Society, organized in the winter of 1840-41 in Platte County, Missouri, under the stimulus of reports of the fertility and beauty of California, brought back by one of the Roubidoux brothers. Discouraged by contrary accounts, most of the members of the society withdrew, leaving John Bidwell to organize the caravan, which finally consisted of sixty-nine persons, exclusive of De Smet's party. See Bidwell's account in Century Magazine, xix, pp. 106-120. De Smet's party of eleven consisted of the priests and brothers, one guide, one hunter, and three French Canadian drivers. – Ed.

145

See De Smet's letter on securing funds, and preparations, in Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, i, pp. 272-275. – Ed.

146

Father Nicolas Point was sojourning at Westport when De Smet returned from his first mission to the Flatheads. Selected to accompany the new mission, Father Point served at St. Mary's until 1842, when after a summer with the Indians on a buffalo hunt, he founded in the autumn of that year the Cœur d'Alène mission. This he made the seat of his work until his recall in 1846. On his return journey he spent some months among the Blackfeet, laying the foundation for the work that later ripened into St. Peter's mission. He baptized over six hundred persons, chiefly children, and turned to much advantage his talent for drawing, whereby he attracted the indifferent tribesmen. He passed the ensuing winter at Fort Union, where he exercised a salutary restraint over the lawless traders and half-breeds. See Historical Society of Montana Contributions, iii, pp. 246-248. The next spring he was sent to Upper Canada, and died at Quebec in 1868. – Ed.

147

Henri de Verger, count de La Rochejacquelein (1772-94), was one of the most popular generals of the Vendéan peasants, during their revolt against the republic of the French Revolution. He had been a member of the king's guard, but after the famous Tenth of August retreated to his ancestral home, and there put himself at the head of the uprising, and although but twenty-one years of age was chosen general-in-chief (1793). His courage and military daring made him the favorite hero of the royalists. He was killed by a republican soldier. – Ed.

148

Father Gregory Mengarini remained in charge of the Flathead mission at St. Mary's until 1850. He was an accomplished linguist, and so mastered the Indian dialect that by means of his speech he could pass for a Flathead. He printed a Salishan grammar (1861), and prepared a Salishan-English dictionary. In 1850 it was decided to abandon St. Mary's for a time, whereupon Father Mengarini retired to the newly-established Jesuit college at Santa Clara, California, where he died in 1886. For his portrait see Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 31. – Ed.

149

William Claessens lived at the Flathead mission until near the close of his life. Ordered to Santa Clara, California, to rest, he died there (October 11, 1891), just after celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance upon missionary work. For his portrait see ibid., p. 62.

Joseph Specht never permanently left the Flathead mission, dying at St. Ignatius in 1884, one of the oldest white inhabitants of Montana. For his portrait see ibid., p. 60.

Charles Huet joined Father Point in establishing the Cœur d'Alène mission. See ante, note 67. – Ed.

150

De Smet went up to Westport by the "Oceana," a steamboat of about 300 tons, built in 1836. – Ed.

151

A mission school was established among the Shawnee in 1829 by Reverend Thomas Johnson of the Missouri conference of the Methodist church, and was conducted by that missionary and his wife, and Reverend and Mrs. William Johnson. In 1839 the school was removed to a location about two miles southwest of Westport, where a grant of land was secured, and an industrial school maintained for Indian children until 1862. – Ed.

152

For the early stretch of the Oregon Trail see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. The California emigrants were met at Sapling Grove.

For the Kansa Indians see our volume v, p. 67, note 37. – Ed.

153

Soldier's Creek, a northern tributary of the Kansas, entering the latter just below Topeka, near the Kansas River fording place. – Ed.

154

The Englishman's name was Romaine. He had come up from New Orleans on a hunting trip, and accompanied the caravan as far as Green River. De Smet testifies to his engaging qualities, his skill as a hunter, and his courtesy in camp.

The Kansa village here visited was near the mouth of Vermillion Creek, in Pottawatomie County (not to be confused with the Black Vermillion, tributary of the Big Blue). When Frémont passed this way in 1842, the village was deserted, having the preceding spring suffered a Pawnee attack. – Ed.

155

For an earlier visit to a Kansa village see our volume xiv, pp. 184-200. See also illustration of the interior of a Kansa lodge, ibid., p. 208. – Ed.

156

See more detailed description in our volume xiv, pp. 196, 197. – Ed.

157

For this noted chief see our volume xiv, p. 177, note 144. Washington Irving's semi-humorous description of him occurs in The Rocky Mountains (Captain Bonneville's Journal), chapter ii. – Ed.

158

Charles de la Croix, born at Hoorebeke, Belgium, 1792, was impressed into the imperial guards; but escaping with difficulty from Paris in 1814, was ordained for the American mission. He arrived in the United States in 1817, at first being made pastor at Barrens, Missouri. In 1820 he became curé at Florissant, whence he made two visits (1821-22) to the territory of the Osage, but was compelled by illness to return. Upon the coming of the Jesuits to Florissant (1823) he resigned his charge to them, becoming pastor of St. Michael's parish, Louisiana, where he remained until failing health made necessary his return to Europe (1834). He served as canon of the cathedral at Ghent until his death in 1869. – Ed.

159

De Smet probably intends the chapel at Westport, where Father Point was stationed before his departure for the Flathead country. – Ed.

160

For the Pawnee bands see our volume xiv, p. 233, note 179. Their depredations were nearly as much dreaded by the traders on the southern routes, as those of the Blackfeet were in northern climes. – Ed.

161

De Smet refers here to the medicine bundle. One of these belonged to each family of importance, and a still more sacred one to each band of the tribe. Its contents were various, frequently containing skins of sacred birds, although not exclusively so composed. See John B. Dunbar, "Pawnee Indians," in Magazine of American History, viii, pp. 738-741. – Ed.

162

This custom of human sacrifice appears to have been confined to the Skidi or Loup band of Pawnee, and to have been abolished only with much difficulty. James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xv, pp. 151-155, relates the rescue of one such captive in 1817, and the apparent abolition of the custom. John T. Irving, Jr., Indian Sketches (Philadelphia, 1835), ii, pp. 146-153, describes an ineffectual attempt in 1831 to rescue a captive designed for this fate. The account given by De Smet of the sacrifice of 1837 appears to be authentic. Dunbar (op. cit. in preceding note) says that the last known instance occurred in April, 1838; but probably it has been repeated since. See also George B. Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales (New York, 1893), pp. 363-369; and George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee," in American Folk Lore Society Publications (Boston, 1904), viii. – Ed.

163

Sweetwater River, for which see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 33. – Ed.

164

The route followed from the point where the trail reached the Platte, was along the river to its forks, thence up the South Fork to its ford, across to the North Fork at Ash Creek, along the south bank of the former stream to the junction of the Laramie, thence continuing by the North Fork to its crossing, near the present Caspar, Wyoming, and along the north bank, across country to the Sweetwater, to avoid the cañon of the North Platte. – Ed.

165

For a brief sketch of Captain Bonneville, see our volume xx, p. 267, note 167. – Ed.

166

The highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and of the whole Cordilleran system within the boundaries of the United States, do not much exceed fourteen thousand feet. – Ed.

167

The sage-brush (Artemisia tridentata), the European species of which is known as wormwood or absinth (A. absinthium). See ante, p. 174, note 44. – Ed.

168

Bidwell thus describes this landmark: "A noted landmark on the North Fork, which we sighted fifty miles away, was Chimney Rock. It was then nearly square, and I think it must have been fifty feet higher than now, though after we passed it a portion fell off." Century Magazine, xix, p. 118. – Ed.

169

See engravings of these fantastically cut rocks in Century Magazine, op. cit., p. 121. – Ed.

170

Bidwell mentions both the cyclone with its destructive hail, and the water-spout which passed a quarter of a mile behind the camp. – Ed.

171

The three forks of the Missouri were named by Lewis and Clark (1805) in honor of the president of the United States and his chief advisers, the secretaries of state and of the treasury. – Ed.

172

Maria's River, for which see our volume xxiii, p. 84, note 73. – Ed.

173

Dearborn River, named by Lewis and Clark (1805) for the secretary of war, was in reality a western affluent above, not below, the Great Falls. By "Fancy," De Smet probably intends the stream named by Lewis and Clark "Tansy," but now known as Teton River – a tributary, however, of Maria's River, although approaching very near the Missouri. – Ed.

174

For the "Yellowstone" see our volume xxii, p. 375, note 351. – Ed.

175

On these streams see Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxii, pp. 367, 368, 369, notes 342, 344, 345. – Ed.

176

For these rivers consult the following: Cane (Knife), our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333; Cannonball, ibid., p. 338, note 306; Winnipenhu (Grand), our volume xxiv, p. 87, note 59; Sewarzena (Moreau), our volume v, p. 127, note 82; Cheyenne, ibid., p. 126, note 81. – Ed.

177

For Teton River, South Dakota, see our volume xxiv, p. 45, note 26; for White River and its "bad lands," ibid., p. 90, note 64. – Ed.

178

For Ponca Creek see our volume xxii, p. 291, note 253; the Niobrara (Running Water) is noted in our volume v, p. 90, note 54; the James (Jacques), in volume xxii, p. 282, note 238. Medicine is a small creek in northeastern Nebraska. – Ed.

179

Whitestone is the name given by Lewis and Clark to the stream afterwards known as the Vermilion – see our volume vi, p. 87, note 31; for the Big Sioux see ibid., p. 85, note 30; Floyd's Creek comes in just below the bluff of the same name, where Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition was buried – see our volume v, p. 91, note 56; the Boyer (Roger) is noted in our volume xxiv, p. 105, note 83; the Maringoin is probably intended for the Moingoina (Des Moines), a western tributary of the Mississippi; see our volume vi, p. 73, note 24, for the Nishnabotna; and v, p. 37, note 5, for the Nodaway (Nedowa). – Ed.

180

For the Nemaha see our volume vi, p. 72, note 23; the Little Platte rises in Union County, southern Iowa, and flows southward through that part of Missouri known as the Platte purchase. – Ed.

181

These are all Missouri streams, mentioned for the most part by Lewis and Clark (see Original Journals, index). Upon Wood River (Du Bois) the expedition rendezvoused during the winter of 1803-04. – Ed.

182

For this first deputation see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. The deputies apparently arrived in the autumn of 1831 and passed the winter in or near the city, where two of their number died. See Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, i, pp. 21, 22. – Ed.

183

Both the second and third embassies were headed by the Iroquois Indian known as "Old Ignace," otherwise Ignace la Mousse, who was educated at the mission of Caughnawaga, and had gone to the Rocky Mountains between 1812 and 1820. The Iroquois were much employed by the North West Company and later by the Hudson's Bay Company, to assist fur-trading parties in the Far West. Ignace settled among the Flatheads, where he married, and taught the tribe the rudiments of the religion he had learned at the Canadian mission. Townsend (see our volume xxi) notes their observance of Sunday, and forms of worship. The delegation which Ignace undertook for the purpose of securing a "black robe," set out in 1835. His first intention was to visit Canada, but learning that Jesuits were at St. Louis he journeyed thither, taking with him his two sons to be baptized. See Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest, pp. 19, 20, where a record of this baptism is given. Again in 1837, Ignace headed a second delegation. Upon the South Platte they were overtaken by a band of Sioux, who at first dismissed Ignace, for he was dressed as a white man. Unwilling to abandon his companions, he declared himself an Indian, whereupon all were killed after a brave defense. – Ed.

184

Young Ignace, who accompanied Father de Smet on his first visit (1840) to the Flatheads, became a zealous convert, and lived at St. Ignatius mission until his death in the winter of 1875-76. – Ed.

185

For further details of this exploit of Pilchimo see letter ix, post. – Ed.

186

This Indian was known as Francis Saxa, and as late as 1903 was living on his own ranch in Missoula County. See his portrait in Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest, p. 20. – Ed.

187

Francis Ermatinger, one of the chief factors for the Hudson's Bay Company, came to the Columbia region about 1824; two years later he was in command of Fort Kamloops when Governor Simpson passed that way. In 1828, he appears to have been stationed at Fort Okinagan on the upper Columbia, while Wyeth met him in the Snake River country in 1832-34. He married a niece of Madame McLoughlin, wife of the governor of Vancouver, and held various important stations. In the autumn of the year in which De Smet encountered him, he led the brigade into California as far as Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Upon the establishment of the provincial government in Oregon, he was elected (1845) treasurer. He is thought to have ultimately retired to Canada. – Ed.

188

For Fort Hall see our volume xxi, p. 210, note 51 (Townsend). – Ed.

189

Bidwell (Century Magazine, xix, p. 120) gives the names of three in addition to Romaine, the Englishman – Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. Thirty-two of the California party went on to Fort Hall with the missionaries, while the remainder, among them Bidwell, branched off to the west from Soda Springs. – Ed.

190

For Bear River and Soda Springs see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, pp. 199, 200, notes 44, 45. – Ed.

191

According to Bidwell (op. cit., p. 120), these two men were Bartleson, from Jackson County, Missouri, and "a Methodist Episcopal preacher, whose name I think was also Williams." – Ed.

192

This cañon of the Sweetwater is about five miles above Independence Rock. It is a cut about three hundred yards long, and thirty-five wide through a spur of the mountains in Natrona County, Wyoming. See illustration of cañon in Frémont's "Exploring Tour," Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, p. 57. – Ed.

193

The ascent of the South Pass is so gradual that without instruments it is difficult to know when one attains the summit. See Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37. – Ed.

194

For Little and Big Sandy, see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, p. 187, note 36. The former was the beginning of Sublette's Cut Off, sometimes called the "Dry Drive," because of scarcity of water on the route. This crossed directly to Bear River, without passing southward by Fort Bridger. Such would seem to have been the route taken by De Smet's company. The regular trail went down the Big Sandy, forded Green River near its forks, and proceeded across to the site of Fort Bridger, founded two years later. – Ed.

195

Captain Bonneville's expedition of 1832 was the first to cross the Green River in wagons. See Irving, Rocky Mountains, chapter ii. – Ed.

196

They were in reality upon Green River, a tributary of the Colorado. See Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 60, note 38. – Ed.

197

Captain Henry Fraeb (Frapp), who was one of the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (1830-34). He was well known in the mountain fur-trade, frequently being associated therein with Fitzpatrick, De Smet's guide. According to Bidwell, he was killed the night after leaving this party; Frémont says —Exploring Expedition, p. 40 – that this occurred the latter part of August, 1841, in a battle with Sioux and Cheyenne. – Ed.

198

This tribe is often classified with the Digger Indians, for whom see ante, p. 167, note 38; but the latter possessed no horses. The Soshocoes (Shoshocoes) appear to be a band of the Shoshoni proper – closely allied, as De Smet notes, but with less property, and less virile in character. They were the branch of Shoshoni which had their roving habitat along the banks of the Green River; whereas the Shoshoni (or Snake) roved chiefly on Lewis River. – Ed.

199

The name of Don Quixote's steed, a charger all skin and bone. – Ed.

200

For these springs see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, p. 200, note 45. – Ed.

201

This was the route by which the trail crossed from the waters of the Colorado to those of the Lewis, a difficult mountain path in Bannock County, Idaho, approximating the route of the Oregon Short Line Railway. – Ed.

202

The captain and guide of this expedition was Thomas Fitzpatrick, for whom see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, p. 192, note 40. See De Smet's letter recommending his services, in Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, iv, p. 1465. – Ed.

203

The Portneuf River, for which see our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49 (Townsend). This characteristic of the Portneuf – a series of dams of mineral deposit – make it a beautiful succession of still, dark pools and foaming cascades, and may now be noted from the windows of trains on the Oregon Short Line Railway. – Ed.

204

Beaverhead River is the main branch of the Jefferson, one of the three great sources of the Missouri. It runs through a mountainous valley in a county of the same name, in which is located Dillon, the chief town of southwestern Montana. The valley is named for a rocky point that bears a resemblance to the head of a beaver. Lewis and Clark were the first white men known to have visited this locality. The cliff they called "Beaverhead" is now known as "Point of Rocks," about eighteen miles north of Dillon. See Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, ii, p. 321. – Ed.

205

The principal chief of the Flathead tribe was an hereditary officer. This chief, whose Indian name was Tjolzhitsay, the equivalent of Big or Long Face, was the first of the nation to be baptized in 1840. For a further account of his life see letter ix, post. – Ed.

206

Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750) was by many accounted the foremost scholar and antiquarian of his time. Born near Modena, he was appointed keeper of public archives at that place, and seldom left the city. His chief work was in the classics, publishing Anecdota Græca and Anecdota Latina, valuable collections of hitherto unedited fragments. Through a fellow-townsman who went as missionary to the Jesuit community in Paraguay, Father Muratori became interested in that land and wrote in Italian Il Christianesimo Felice nelle Missione dei Padri della Compagnia di Jesu nel Paraguai (Venice, 1743). He states in the preface that his information was derived from the memoirs of the Jesuits, and from conversations and correspondence with those who had lived in Paraguay. This work was translated into several languages, the English version having been published at London in 1759. Muratori represents the Jesuit community of converted Indians as a veritable earthly paradise. De Smet's reference to this work shows his ambition to establish a Paraguayan régime in the continent of America. – Ed.