Conservative *
a door , and in many instances there
were windows in the doors.
( You will perceive the proper location
of the various buildings by examining
the plat , which is constructed on a scale
of 80 feet to the inch ) .
We also built a hospital and a sutler's
store. No white people were to be
found in that section prior to our com
ing , though there were quite a good
many Indians there and to the east of
us. They belonged to the Otoe tribe.
An Indian had been buried just west
of our quarters prior to our coming.
The grave was fresh , built up of sod
above the ground on the high prairie.
The Indian must have been buried in a
sitting posture.
Wo drilled every day. When it
chanced to be too cold to bring out the
horses , we drilled on foot.
My company and some others built
polo sheds covered with brush as stables
for our horses , just south-west of our
quarters and at their rear , but many of
the horses were kept in the haystack
yard and corall that we constructed
about two hundred yards north-west of
Col. Powell's quarters"
The river was about a half mile
north-east of the sutler's store , and
there old John Boler [ Boulwaro ] estab
lished a ferry after we came.
There were just two trails that led
from "Old Fort Kearney" at that time.
They were little trails , one leading to
Fort Leavenworth and the other led
west to the Platte river. [ The California
trail , by way of Ashland. ]
Nothing of special interest happened
during the winter , save that 250 of us
wore sent out under Captain Craig on a
scouting expedition after Sioux Indians.
Wo went up through Council Bluffs to
away above "Old Fort Vermillion , " to
ward where Yankton now stands. Wo
ran the Indians across the Missouri
river and shelled them with a twelve
pound howitzer we had , but the Indians
would not stand to fight. We suffered
much with the cold. A blizzard came
up and wo lay for throe days in one
place. Wore gene over two mouths ,
( October and November ) . Wore on
half rations the last month.
Col. Powell was at headquarters all
the time I was at the fort. He was a
largo , portly man , and his adjutant
( Todd ) was also a large man. Neither
one of them over appeared at drill , nor
did either one of them ever go on a scout.
Wo left "Old Fort Kearney" and estab
lished "Fort Kearney on the Platte" in
May , 1848.
Trusting that I have helped you some
in this matter , and assuring you that I
shall gladly assist you more in any way
possible , I submit these hastily written
lines. Yours truly ,
S. P. Cox.
This letter and the plat- which ac
companies it , are both executed in a firm
and fine hand. The lettering on the
map is , indeed , so fine that it threatens
to prevent our reproducing it photo
graphically , as wo should like to do , the
characters being almost too small to ad
mit of the necessary further reduction.
It shows the sutler's store , hospital ,
captains' and colonel's quarters , res
pectively northeast , southeast , south
west and northwest from the block
house , and each removed about a hun
dred feet from it ; the sutler's store being ,
therefore , about on the site of the Mor
ton House , a building 40 x20 , standing
north and south ; the hospital south of
it , 60x20 , east and west ; the five cap
tains somewhere in Rolfe's lumber yard ,
each having a room 20x20 , running east
and west , Captain Sublette being to the
west and the others following in the or
der in which they are named in the letter -
tor ; the colonel's quarters , consisting of
three such rooms , perhaps about the
Masonic building , standing north and
south , with the colonel in the middle ,
the quarter-master on the north and the
adjutant to the south.
Then the barracks run south , with the
stables parallel to them several rods
west ; the barracks , therefore , approxi
mately along the east line of Sixth
street and the stables along the west
line. Major Cox shows eight cabins for
each company , Captain Sublette's com
pany coming first , to the north , and the
.next three following in the previous or
der ; but Captain Stewart's detachment
being set apart from the others , at right
angles to them and eighty feet east from
the southern extremity of the row. The
parade ground was thus partially on-
closed.
Wo hopto be able to offer further
treasures from the major's store-house
of recollections of that early time.
There are not many men able to give
reminiscences of Nebraska in the 40's.
A. T. RICHARDSON.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN.
Notable among the vast array of su
perb exhibits in the United States govern
ment building at the Pan-American Ex
position is the Indian exhibit installed
by Miss Alice Fletcher. The exhibit
shows both her knowledge of the sub
ject and her artistic appreciation of In
dian character.
At the entrance to the exhibit is a case
full of Indian relics which antedate the
discovery of America.
To the initiated these are full of
meaning. Then the evolution of the
Indian under the influences of civiliza
tion is told in the systematic installa
tion until the final group , enclosed in
beautiful grill work , shows the educated
Indian to be artist , poet , scholar and
author. This represents a modern sit
ting room , mainly designed by Angel do
Cora , an Indian girl who graduated
from the Institute at Hampton , Vir
ginia , and is now studying art , her
*
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cliosou profession , in Boston. The fireplace -
place is a poem in wood.
A conventionalized engle The Thun
der Bird of the Indian in dark wood is
inlaid on the light panel which supports
the mantel shelf. It is placed hero be
cause the Thunder Bird is also a typo of
the sun , the source of all heat and fire.
Around the entire mantel is a wood-
carved scroll made up of the sacred fire
sticks with which the Indian produced
fire by friction.
In the topmost panel is an oil paint
ing representing a fiery sunset on the
prairie.
In the left of the picture is a group of
Indian tents through which the glow of
the evening fires shine. On a knoll near
the center are an Indian maiden and an
Indian brave grouped so as to indicate
the formation of another hearthstone in
the near future.
In this room are articles of furniture ,
hand-carved and inlaid with onyx. This
dainty apartment is hung with beautiful
portieres woven by the Navajo Indi
ans.
ans.Near
Near the entrance , is a column of dif
ferent colored woods arranged so as to
look from a distance like a costly mo
saic.
saic.The
The pedestal has four faces , on which
are inlaid mythological designs and
symbols of Indian allegories much older
than the advent of the pale face to this
hemisphere , which cannot be interpre
ted by Miss Fletcher or any other ex
pert in the history or religion of the
American Indiau.
The capital is as ornate as that of a
Corinthian column and reproduces four
heads of Moqui. Indiau maidens , clust
ers of oak leaves and acorns , etc.
Gu top of this column is an ancient
urn of classic shape , which suggests
those seen at Pompeii and the Museums
of Greece.
Around the bottom o ? this pedestal
is a reproduction of the well known
Greek border. A suggestion of this bor
der occurs on many of the more ancient
water jugs , plaques , etc.
The exhibit is in charge of the Indian
author , Francis La Flesche.
FOOL LAWS.
If some people have in-growing toenails -
nails they think there should bo a law
passed to relieve them. There are more
fool laws on the statute books of Ne
braska than good ones. A law against
sunflowers and another against thistles ,
when elbow grease and brine are the
only remedy. There are laws to make
railroads put in switches whore there
never was any thing to switch , and
laws to make them maintain stations
where there is not enough business to
board a station agent. There are laws
to restrain men from plowing the road
way and laws compelling them to keep
down weeds in the roadway. And so
each succeeding legislature passes some
fool bills at the solicitation of some fool
member who thinks a state law can
make anybody a good living without
work aiid make trees grow where none
have ever been planted. York Times.
