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kURPKISR may legitimately b felt that
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Ouiini, the none too fretiueiit times of
peare iM-twtcn the Indians and the early
HPttlcTS in Nebraska and other western
Biates the latter should have been very
iiinicable with the former and, in many
casos. intimately friendly. Hut it must
remembered t hat Intercourse between them s
unavoidable and that barter and sale produced much
revenue to the settlers and the hatchet was sometimes
buried that, the whites might gain a financial advati
tae over a bitterly hated enemy. The settlers also
continually hoped that the last outbreak of the In
lians would be the last, and then what opportunities
would be available for aggrandizement, and the In
dians would bo made to suffer, pecuniarily, and as a
species of votive offering (if unwitting) to the manes
of the settlers who had yielded up their lives In the
frontier development. i
Writing of those early days, Fred A. Ihuit. now of
Ban Francisco, but formerly of Nebraska, says:
"While the settlers were thus doing their part In
helping themselves, the Union and Southern Pacific
were seething in the brains of those who were also
desirous of helping themselves. The traders, like
wise, were deterred by no untoward modesty in try
ing to assimilate all the traffic would bear, but in this
they met attempted defense from the head men of
the bands with whom they desired to do business.
For example, Al Gay was one o fthe well known trad
ers who was employed by Isadlor P. Boyer, at Cotton
wood Springs; Boyer was known as Hook-saw or Cut
Leg. The wagons would be carefully loaded with
provisions for the outfit and for feasts for the Indians,
and with the varied articles that the Indians coveted
Mackinac blankets, three and four point; boop iron,
beads, tobacco, calico, gingham, knives, looking
glasses a veritable Junk-shop of stuff that, for the
most part, cost but. little outside of the transporta
tion, but that the Indians were avid for. Of course,
staple groceries were also among the articles for bar
ter. The wagons being duly prepared, the cavalcade
started for some favorite stamping ground of the In
dians, usually toward V Ku qui Court (the Rapid,
or Niobrara ) 'river, or southward toward the Repub
lican. On stumbling- upon an Indian camp AI would
go into camp with his wagons and would interview
the chief of the band and express a desire to enter
upon a campaign of swapping, and would invite the
chief and the head men to a feast.
"There the chief and head men would examine
the size of the tin pint cups, which were the uUt for
measurement of flour, sugar, etc., and If (he if tit cup
was foud o have shriveled too much In its endeavors
to assume something of the proper dimensions of a
four-gill measure the chief would usually drop the
cup on the ground, crush it with his foot and walk
The Mile-Long
1TH 1,000 uicn working every day and an
AJTI additional thousand to be put to work the
I ilrst of May. rui U rauid uroercss is being
made on the mile-long $20,000,000 dam
across the Mi.UMppi river at Keokuk, la..
that Hugh L. Cooper, engineer in charge, announces
the dam will be completed June 1, 1913. Inasmuch
as the first shovelful pf dirt was not turned until
fifteen months ago and active operations were not
begun on the Iowa shore until three months ago, this
Is considered remarkable progress. Especially is this
so in view of the fact that the dam is the largest pub
lic enterprise on American soil, with the single excep
tion of the Panama canal. r
Already the industrial awakening of the upper
Mississippi valley is beiug brought about by theac-
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away. That terminated all effort to trade with that
coterie of lodges. If the cup had some semblance of
a pint nreasure a conference would ensue in which
pipes, and sometimes firewater, played a conspicuous,
part, and some sort of rough basis of barter would be
agreed upon.
Kraut, First Then Trade.
"Adjournment would be taken to the village,
where the squaws would hurriedly prepare a feast
Which, more likely than not, would have as its piece
do resistance stewed dog (Ho-taml. Before the dis
cussion of the flesh-pots and leeks and onions there
would be a passing of the calumet and the chief would
courteously remark, 'Nah-volsh-e-ve-yo-me' (I am glad
to see you). Then the gorging would be resumed.
The ensuing day the large tent of the trader would
have the goods displayed and the trading would begin
and continue until all the members of the - Indian
camp were supplied. It belng-a trading law that the
trader had to remain at the behest of the camp with
which agreement had been made to trade. -until every
Indian had been supplied to the extent of his wants,
or until his medium for Interchange was exhausted.
"So peaceful and pastoral this amity of the Indian
lion and the white lamb, or vice versa, save when the
former obtained too copious a supply of aguadiente.
that any belligerency would seem Incredible, and yet
many desperate battles were later fought' all along
the Platte and the Little Blue, these being favored
spots-for contests between the Indians and the con
stantly progressive settlers. Fort Kearney was the
special outpost where the wagons were accumulated.
Thirty armed men, under a captain, was the smallest
parly that was allowed to pass Into the debatable
ground extending thence westward. Usually the pay
of a teamster (ox. mule or horse) was M5 pnd boa'd
a month. After reaching O'Fallon's Bluffs it was JfiO
a month and primitive edibles, on account of the addi
tional har.ard from the predatory Indians. The
residents of that country todav would have diffi
culty In realizing the strenuou life of the vanguard
of civilization or the dangers that continuallv besot
them. Over the broad and fertile nrairies. bounded
on the north and suth by the bluffs skirting the
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Dam- at Keokuk that Will Cost Twenty Millions of Dollars
tivities at Keokuk. Of the 250,000 horse power
which will be developed 60,000 has already been con
tracted for by the Union Electric Light and Power,
the Laclede Oas and the United Railways companies
of St. Louis, (while plans are being laid to transmit
power to Omaha, St. Paul and Minneapolis, even to
Rockford, Galesburg and possibly on to Chicago, ll.
Keokuk Is in the hub of a big industrial wheel,
the rim being only 200 miles distant and touching
StvLouis, Chicago, Omaha and all the larger cities of
what is knewn as the grain belt of the central west.
It has already been conclusively proved that electric
power can be transmitted further than 200 miles
without any appreciable loss. Thus the day toemi
only a few years distant when every section of the
grain belt will be looking toward th power plant at
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with Ferocity in Old Indian Days
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Tlatte Talley, continuously meandered th freighting
and emigrant teams, their bells ringing the requiem
ofv many of their teamsters; yet at the same time
chmiing a carillon of hope for the dawning of the
mighty state of Nebraska."
Story of White Hoy Captive.
Mr. Hunt also tellsin an interesting way of the
life of a captive among the Indians, one, "Charley"
Jones, afterward a soldier In the civil war. .lones was
taken by his patents from Maine to Wisconsin during
his babyhood. As toon as the ice ran In the Sheboy
gan river about May 2. IS.'il. and when he was 5
months old he was stolen by the Chlppe'vac H
was informally christened Wau-au-Kah (Walk-up-tbe-Creek
I and taken by his forcible adopters up to Lake
Suprrlor. remaining with them until the fall of 1845.
nearly fifteen years, when he was recaptured by the
whites (of whose written language he knew little or
nothing), went to his old home (o find out his Ameri
can name, stayed there a few days, then ran away
and has only seen his folks once since.
The squaw who became his foster mother was
fully six feet tall, wild and fierce as a wolf in appear
ance, but gentle and kind toward her captive. Charley
was in two battles with the Sioux in the woods east
of th Mississippi and near Lake Superior, and after
the-fast contest wished to follow the retreating Sioux
with the pursuing party, but was ordered to remain
on the battlefield and scalp the wounded, then kill
them and plunder the bodies of tomahawks, tanned
deersUins and other desirable pos essions. In this battle-a
sub-chief of the Sioux was captured and it was
decreed that iTe should be burned at the stake, which
was done with much accompanying torture.
lones led Htrenuoas Life.
After Joneg ran away from the white people he
became a sailor on the great lakes. On May 10,
Keokuk, which Ib larger than any single plant at
. Niagara Falls, or other plants of similar character.
The dam across the Mississippi at that point is to be
the largest dam in the world, with the single'excep
tion of the immense Assouan dam across the Nile in'
Egypt, used to further a great irrigation project.
Under the terms of the franchise which congress
granted to the Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power
company work must be completed within five years.
The first year was spent in uncovering the Immense
beds of limestone, laying railroad tracks, building
sheds for the storing of materials and otherwise get
ting the preparations well under way., During the
last winter, with never a stop because of the weatber,
hundred of mfn have been at work both on the Illi
nois and the Iowa shores, and thev abutments of the
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1861, h enlisted la tha Fifth "Wisconsin infantry and
W. F. ("Baldy") Smith shortly engaged his services
as union spy, for which his Indian training and nat
ural aptitude peculiarly fitted him. On May 10, 1863,
at the battle of Chaucellorsville he had seven inches
smashed off one bone of his forearm And three inches
off the other. On December 12, 1862, at Fredericks
burg, he had his leg broken at the same place where
it had been previously crushed at Antietam. There
he also got a wound just above the right instep, and
at Williamsburg, Va., he received a bad scalp wound
that was trephined with a plate, despite which and
dam are already extending out into the river and the
power house, on the Iowa shore, is already taking
form. Coffer dams will be laid across the mile-wide
watery path and section by section the immense dam
will bebuilt. The dam is to be of solid rock, thirty
seven feet high, imbedded in the solid limestone bed
of the river seven teet, and thirty-five feet across. It
will hold back the mighty rushing waters until they
develop force equal to what is known in the indus
trial world as 260.000 horse power. Incidentally
these impounded waters will overflow the lowlands
along both the Iowa and the Illinois shores until the
mile-wide Mississippi of today becomes a five-mile-wide
lake and twenty miles long. It is proposed to
call this' either Cooper Pool (in honor of the engineer
Lu charge) or Keokuk lake.
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bis rarlous other wound! . and minor injuries
"Charley" Jones today carries his 70 years Jauntily,
his brain is as clear as that of many a young man and
his eye like a hawk's. ' After the war he was em
ployed as a spy by various commanders, including
John F. Sedgwick, Philip H. Sheridan and U. S. Grant.
During his tour of service be learned to read and
write English. Later ha was sheriff of Hyde county,
Dakota; chief of police of Tacoma, Wash., and chief
of police of Ashland, Ore., and has also filled various
positions in the government service. At present he is
luxuriating at San Diego, Cal.
This great lake will completely drown out the
present S, 000, 000 canal and dry dock, but they will
be replaced by a new lock and dry docks and river
navigation will be Improved. Also the tracks of the
Burlington line between St. Louis and Burlington
will be Inundated, but a new roadbed la already being
prepared and the promoters assert railway service
will be bettered instead of hampered.
The great engineering feat presents no new prob
lems to the expert engineeers in charge, and unless
-he unforeseen happens It will be only twenty-aoven
months more until Keokuk ran aspire to become one
of the leading industrial distributing centers of the
middle-west. The city is awakening to this possi
bility. The Keokuk Industrial association has been
formed and 1504000 was raised in three dayst
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