Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1902)
J. 3.2S ' . " " * ' , ' ' ' ' > * ' . % V < > 7 : > t&e Conservative * treat and apprehensive of pursuit. At such time it is not safe oven for friends to fall in with them , as they are apt to be in a savage humor , and disposed to vent their spleen in capricious outrage. These signs , therefore , , of a baud of marauders on the prowl , called for some degree of vigilance on the part of the travelers. "After passing the Nebraska , the party halted for part of two days on the bank of the river , a little above Papillion Creek , to supply themselves with a stock of oars aad poles from the tough wood of the ash , which is not met with higher u $ the Missouri. While the voyageurs were thus occupied , the naturalists rambled over the ad jacent country to collect plants. From the summit of a range of bluffs on the opposite side of the river , about two hundred and fifty feet high , they had one of those vast and magnificent pros I pects which sometimes unfold them selves in those boundless regions. Be low them was the Valley of the Mis souri , about seven miles in breadth , clad in the fresh verdure of spring ; enameled with flowers and interspersed with clumps and groves of noble trees between which the mighty river poured its turbulent and turbid stream. The interior of the country presented a singular scene ; the immense waste be- I ing broken up by innumerable green \ hills , not above eight feet in height , but extremely steep , and actually pointed . at their summits. [ These pyramids , in the bottoms between Pacific Junction and Council Bluffs , are mentioned by several early travelers. ] A long line ol bluffs extended for upwards of thirty miles parallel to the Missouri , with a shallow lake stretching along their base which had evidently once formed a bed of the river. The surface of this laue was covered with aquatic plants , on the broad leaves of which numbers of water ( i snakes.drawn forth by the genial warmth of spring , were basking in the sunshine * # * "On the 10th of May the party arrivec at the Omaha ( pronounced Omawhaw village , about eight hundred and thirtj miles above the mouth of the Missouri and encamped in its neighborhood. The village was situated under a hill on the bank of the river , and consisted of about eighty lodges. Those were of a circular and conical form , and about sixteen feet in diameter ; being mere tents of dressed buffalo skins , sewed together and stretched on long poles , inclined towards each other so as to cross at about half their height. "Tho forms of Indian lodges are worthy of attention , each tribe having a different mode of shaping and arrang ing them , BO that it is easy to tell , on seeing a lodge or an encampment at a distance , to what tribe the inhabitants betong. The exterior of the Omaha lodges have often a gay and fanciful ap- pearauce , being painted with undulat- ug bauds of red and yellow , or decorated - rated with rude figures of horses , deer , , nd buffaloes , and with human faces , lainted like full moons , four or five 'eet ' broad. "The Omahas were once one of the numerous and powerful tribes of the > rairies , vying in warlike might and jrowess with the Sioux , the Pawnees , ; he Sauks , the Konzas , and the latans Comanches ] . Their wars with the Sioux , however , had thinned their ranks , and the smallpox in 1802 had iwept off two-thirds of their number. A.t the time of Mr. Hunt's visit they till boasted about two hundred war riors and hunters , but they are now fast melting away , and before long will be numbered among those extinguished na tions of the west that exist but in tra dition. ' ' On the , loth of May they departed from the village of the Omahas , and set forwards towards the country of the formidable Sioux Tetous. For the first five days they had a fair and fresh breeze , and the boats made good progress. The wind then came ahead , and the river beginning "to rise , and to increase in rapidi ty , betokened - tokened the commencement of the annual flood , caused by the melting of the..snow on the Rooky Mountains , and the vernal rains of the upper ' prairies. "As they were now entering a region where foes might be lying in wait on either bank , it was deter mined , in hunting for game , to con fine themselves principally to the islands , whi ° h sometimes extend to considerable length , and arc beauti fully wooded , affprding abundant pas turage and shade. On one of these they .killed three buffaloes aud two elks , and halting on the edge of a beautiful prairie , made a sumptuous hunter's repast. They had not long resumed their boats and pulled along the river bants when they de scried a canoe approaching , navigated by two men , whom , to their surprise , they ascertained to be white men. They proved to be two .of those strange and fearless wanderers of the wilderness , the trappers. . . .Thoir names wore Benjamin Jones and Alexander Carson. They had been for two years past hunting and trap ping near the head of the Missouri , and wore thus floating for thousands of miles in a cncklo-sholl , down a turbulent , stream , through regions infested' by savage' tribes , yet ap parently as easy and unconcerned as if navigating securely in the midst of civilization. "Tho acquisition of two such hardy , experienced , and dauntle&s hunters was peculiarly desirable at the present moment. They needed but little persuasion. The wilder ness' is the homo of the trapper ; like the sailor , ho cares but little to which point of the compass he steers ; and Jones and Carson readily abandoned their voyage to St. Louis , and turned their faces towards the Rocky ] Mountains and the Pacific. "On the following morning ( May $ Gth , ) as they wore all on shore , roakfasting on one of the beautiful auks of the river , they observed two ( janoes descending along the opposite f ide. By the .aid of spy-glasses , they iscertaiucd that there were two white men in one of the canoes , and one in the other. A gun was dis charged , which called the attention of the voyageurs , who crossed over. They proved to bo three Kentucky milters' of the true "dreadnought" stamp. Their names were Edward Robinson , John Hoback , and Jacob Rizuer. Robinson was a veteran jackwoodsman , sixty-six years of age. Ho had been one of the first settlers of Kentucky , and engaged in many of the conflicts of the Indians on "tho Bloody Ground. " In one of. these battles he had been scalped , aud lie still wore a handkerchief bound round his head to protect the part. These men had passed several years in the upper wilderness. They had been in the service of the Missouri Company under Mr. Henry , [ An drew Henry , later General Ashley's partner ] and had crossed the Rocky Mountains with him in the preced ing year , when driven from his .post on the Missouri by the hostilities of. the Blackfeot. After crossing the mountains , Mr. Henry had estab.- . lished himself on one of the head branches of the Columbia River. There they had remained with him for some months , hunting and trap ping , until , having satisfied their wandering propensities , they felt dis posed to return to the families and comfortable homes which they had loft in Kentucky. They had accord ingly made their way back across the mountains , and down the rivers , and were in full career for St. - Louis , when thus suddenly inter rupted. The sight of a powerful party of traders , trappers , hunters , and voyageurs , well armed and equipped , furnished at all points , in high health and spirits , and banqueting - quoting lustily on the green margin of'the river , was a spectacle equally stimulating to these veteran back woodsmen with the glorious array of a campaigning army to an old sol dier ; but whou they learned the grand scope and extent of the enter prise in hand , it was irresistible ; homos and families and all the , charms of green Kentucky vanished from their thoughts ; they east loose
