USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 3
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"Now, we, the chiefs, warriors and counsellors of the loways and Mis- souri bands of Sacs and Foxes, fully understanding the subject, and well satisfied from the local position of the lands in question, that they can never be made available for Indian purposes, and that an attempt to place the Indian population on them must inevitably lead to collision with the citizens of the United States; and further, believing that the extension of the state line in the direction indicated, would have a happy effect. by presenting a natural boundary between the whites and the Indians ; and willing. moreover, to give the United States a renewed evidence of our attachment and friend- ship, do hereby. for ourselves and on behalf of our respective tribes (having full power and authority to this effect), forever cede, relinquish and quit claim to the United States all our right. title and interest of whatever nature in and to the land lying between the state of Missouri and the Missouri river. and do freely and fully exonerate the United States from any guarantee. condition or limitation, expressed or implied. under the treaty of Prairie du Chien, aforesaid or otherwise, as to the entire and absolute disposition of the
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
said lands; fully authorizing the United States to do with the same what- ever shall seem expedient or necessary.
"As a proof of the continued friendship and liberality of the United States towards the Ioways and band of Sacs and Foxes of the Missourias. and, as an evidence of the same entertained for the good will manifested by said tribes to the citizens and government of the United States, as evinced in the preceding cession or relinquishment. the undersigned. William Clark. agrees, on behalf of the United States, to pay as a present to the said loways and bands of Sacs and Foxes, seven thousand, five hundred dollars in money. the receipt of which they hereby acknowledge.
"Article 2. As the said tribes of Ioways and Sacs and Foxes have applied for a small piece of land south of the Missouri river for a permanent home, on which they can settle, and request the assistance of the government of the United States to place them on the land, in a situation at least equal to that they now enjoy on the lands ceded by them. Therefore. I. William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, do further agree on behalf of the United States, to assign to the Ioway tribes and Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes the small strip of land on the south side of the Missouri river. lying between the Kickapoo northern boundary line and the Grand Nemaha river, and extending from the Missouri back and westwardly with the said Kicka- poo line and the Grand Nemaha, making four hundred sections, to be divided between the said Ioways and the Missouri band of Sacs and Foxes, the lower half to the Sacs and Foxes and the upper half to the Ioways.
"Article 3. The Ioways and Missouri bands of the Sacs and Foxes further agree that they will move and settle on the lands assigned them in the above article as soon as arrangements can be made, and the undersigned. William Clark, in behalf of the United States, agrees that, as soon as the above tribes have selected a site for a village, and places for their fields, and moved to them, to erect for the Ioways, five comfortable houses ; to enclose and break up for them two hundred acres of ground; to furnish them with a farmer, blacksmith, schoolmaster and an interpreter as long as the Pres- ident of the United States deems proper; to furnish them with agricultural implements as may be necessary, for five years ; to furnish them with rations for one year, commencing at the time of their arrival at their new home: to furnish them with one new ferry-boat; to furnish them with one hundred cows and calves, and five bulls, and one hundred stock hogs, when they re- quire them: to furnish them with a mill, and assist in removing them, to the extent of five hundred dollars.
"And to erect for the Sacs and Foxes, three comfortable houses; to en- close and break up for them two hundred acres of land: to furnish them with
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a farmer, blacksmith, schoolmaster and interpreter, as long as the President of the United States shall deem proper; to furnish them with such agricul- tural implements as may be necessary, for five years; to furnish them with rations for one year, commencing at the time of their arrival at their new home ; to furnish them with one ferry-boat ; to furnish them with one hundred cows and five bulls ; one hundred stock hogs, when they shall require them ; to furnish them with a mill, and to assist them in moving to the extent of four hundred dollars.
"Article 4. This treaty shall be obligatory on the tribes, parties hereto, from and after the date hereof, and on the United States, from and after its ratification by the government thereof.
"Done, and signed and sealed at Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri. this seventeenth day of September. eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and of the independence of the United States, the sixty-first.
"WILLIAM CLARK, "Superintendent of Indian Affairs."
The Indians who signed for the various tribes to this treaty were as follows, and their Indian names as well as their English meaning are here given :
THE IOWAYS.
Mohoska. ( White Cloud).
Nau-che-ning ( No Heart).
WVa-che-mo-ne (The Orator). Congu (Plumb)
Man-omone ( Pumpkin).
Cha-ta-thaw (Buffalo Bull).
Man-haw-ka ( Bunch of Arrows).
SACS AND FOXES.
Ca-ha-qua ( Red Fox).
Ne-bosh-ca-na ( Wolf).
Pe-caw-ma (Deer).
Ne-saw-an-qua (Bear).
Ke-squi-in-a (Deer) Se-quil-i-a (Deer).
Qua-co-ousi-si (Wolf). Wa-pa-se ( Swan).
As-ke-pa-ke-ka-as-a ( Greenlake). No-cha-taw-wa-ta-sa (Star).
Can-ca-car-mack ( Baldheaded Fagle).Ce-a-sa-ho (Sturgeon).
Pe-shaw-ca ( Bear)
Pe-a-chim-a-car-mack. Jr. (Eagle).
The treaty was also witnessed by twelve citizens of the United States.
Neo-mo-ne (Raining Cloud).
Wau-thaw-ca-be-chu ( Rat Eater).
Ne-wan-thaw-chu ( Hair Shredder).
Chat-au-the-ne (Big Bull).
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
A HUNTER'S PARADISE.
When Nodaway county was first settled, the Indian title had been ex- tinguished only about three years, and many families still roamed at will over their once happy hunting grounds. By all accounts at hand, no section of the United States was more rich in game of almost all kinds than was north- western Missouri. Droves of deer bounded over hill and dale and on the prairies and sought shelter and shade beneath the forest trees making up the skirtings of timber along every running stream. Immense flocks of wild turkey roamed through the deep tangled underbrush, and the whirr of the grouse and pigeon was heard on every side. In the winter of 1810-II the first expedition was sent out by John Jacob Astor, that enterprising New Yorker, to found the Northwest Fur Company. and they encamped near the mouth of the Naduet river, or, as now known, the Nodaway river, for four months, on account of the excellent hunting found here and to the north into what is now Page county, Iowa. This attracted, too, the famous old hunter of Kentucky, Daniel Boone, who also made an exploring and hunting trip to this part of the state. He was then eighty-two years of age, but greatly enjoyed the chase for game in this section.
THE INDIAN TRIBES.
What is known now as the Platte Purchase was then occupied by several Indian tribes and up to 1836, when it was, by treated, ceded to Missouri. The principal tribes found here were the Crees, Gros Ventres, Iowas, Ottoes. Pawnees, Pottawatomies, Sauks and Shawnees. Parts of tribes of these In- dians continued here as late as 1856. The last of the red men to remain here were the lazy, shiftless, drunken Pottawatomies. Although the law of the land made it a grave crime to sell liquor to these Indians, yet they got it and used it to their downfall.
INTERESTING INDIAN INCIDENTS.
From a biographical sketch of Napoleon B. Lamar. a son of one of the first settlers in Lincoln township, the following is learned concerning the habits and customs of the Indians who were here when white men first came to Nodaway county.
Mr. Lamar. then but a youth of about thirteen years, accompanied his father to the county in 1842 and he in manhood's days used to relate many
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PAST AND PRESENT
amusing, interesting incidents, including how he used to visit the Indian camps and witness their fun and frolics. He got well acquainted with some of the chiefs, including old Powsheik, of the Mosquacha tribe, and Black Turkey, of the Pottawatomie tribe. He says that whenever the Indians were going on a spree some of their number were detailed to keep sober and watch the balance. Before the spree began, all tomahawks and knives and arrows were hid away. This was done that the Indians who drank whisky might not kill or wound one another. At one of these sprees one of the Indians was killed. It appears he was choked to death, as finger prints could be seen about his throat and neck. When he was buried he was set up against a tree, and then a little pen was built around him which they daubed over with clay until it was hidden from sight. They buried pipe and tobacco with him, that he might smoke on his way to the happy hunting ground (the Indians' heaven). A certain Indian, whom they called Malisha, was suspected as being the one who choked the Indian to death. Mr. Lamar said he heard that Malisha was tried for the crime after the Indians had removed the camp to another place, but he never learned the result. He was tried in this way: Some herbs were given him, and if they should have a certain effect he was guilty, and would be put to death ; if the herbs did not produce that effect he was innocent, and his life was to be spared.
In another instance, where a squaw died, she was buried with a kettle of soup, and a ladle was placed in it that she might use the soup on her dark journey to the happy hunting grounds.
Again, the Indians would not kill a wolf. They carried a tradition with them that the wolf was the dog of their ancestors, and they protected him as if he was sacred to them.
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL FEATURES-GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Nodaway county is in the northwest corner of the state of Missouri and there is but one county west of it within the state, while Iowa bounds it on the north, Worth and Gentry counties on the east, Andrew county on the south. Holt and Atchison counties on the west. There are about seven hundred and ninety-one square miles within the county.
THE SURFACE.
Back from the streams, the land in Nodaway county is a beautiful, undulating prairie land. with a greater diversity than is usually found in any one given county in almost any state in the Union. The higher altitudes present a picture at once pleasing and full of romantic beauty-one ever a feast to the eye of the beholder, especially in mid-summer. The silver-threaded valleys, displaying the meanderings of the many streams, the waving foliage of trees, both forest and planted. the once flower-decked prairies, with the present highly improved farms and ranches.
Along the streams, big and little, may be seen hills interspersed with valleys coming in here and there adown the gentle slopes. On the Platte river the table lands are lifted to from thirty to sixty feet above the beds of the stream. On the One Hundred and Two river, near Howard's old mills, the bluffs are more than ninety feet in elevation, while the country is steep and hilly. as is also the case at places on the White Cloud. On the west side of the Nodaway river, in township 36, the hills are high and rounded and the country generally rolls toward the west. East of the Platte the country is rolling. with gentle slopes.
Maryville, the seat of justice, is located on the top of the divide, west of One Hundred and Two river, whose bed is fully two hundred feet lower than the base of the court house.
There are less acres unfitted for cultivation, and less swamps and worth- less land in this than can be said of almost any other of the north Missouri stib-divisions. It was said as long ago as 1870. by one thoroughly posted as
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PAST AND PRESENT
to the subject, that there is not a section of country of equal extent in Missouri that possesses better drainage, equally distributed, than Nodaway county. In short, practically speaking, there is no waste and valueless land within her borders. Even the highest hill tops, when broken by the plow-share, yield a paying return to the fortunate owner, who once thought it valueless, save as grazing land.
When the pioneer first set his stakes here he had no great difficulty in opening up his farming operations, for the soil was easily subdued, and the black, rich land seemed ready for the husbandman's implements. In 1880 it was written of the county, by a state writer: "The farms of Nodaway county are generally large, level or undulating, unbroken by impassable sloughs, without stumps or other obstructions, and furnish the best condi- tions favorable to the use of reaping machines, mowers, corn planters and other kinds of labor-saving machinery."
THE STREAMS OF THE COUNTY.
This county is so well supplied with living streams of pure water, and so well are they distributed through the domain of the county, that the intelli- gence of man, even in this gifted first decade of the twentieth century, could not make an improvement on its general plan if they were allowed an endow- ment of power with which to attempt a new system of drainage. The early settler found numerous natural mill-sites. and the abundant water power spared him many a hardship known to those of other counties within Mis- souri.
The chief water courses of this county are the Platte. Nodaway and One Hundred and Two rivers. There are a number of lesser streams hardly entitled to the name river, but whose waters have made glad the heart of man and quenched the thirst of thousands of domestic animals for more than three score years. Among the smaller streams may be cited the White Cloud, Florida, Mill, Kiogha. Clear. Honey, Sand Creek, and Long and Mowery Branches.
Excellent springs are seen gushing out of the earth at numerous places within the confines of the county. From the Nodaway Bluffs, at Guilford ; at Prathers, in section 29, township 63. range 35; at Martin's, in section 26, township 64, range 37; at Shaller's, in section 18. township 66, range 37, and at many other points these springs are remarkably strong.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
THE NATURAL TIMBER.
Perhaps the greatest advantage enjoyed by the hardy pioneer who cast his lot in this goodly section of Missouri was the presence of sufficient timber to enable him to construct his log cabin and enclose his farming plot with rail fences, as had been done ever since America was first settled by white men. Then again, the class of men who first dared to inhabit this "western wild" for the most part came from timbered states-Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, where timber abounded everywhere ; hence farms had to be literally hewed from out the forests. So upon coming to Nodaway county these pioneers very naturally wanted timber and thought it too scarce, believing, as they universally did, that the soil on the upland prairies was of a poor, non-productive character. Hence the timbered por- tions of the county were seized upon first and utilized as the proper lands from which to make home farms. Then again, with good reasoning, the early settler argued in his mind that he must needs have a liberal supply of timber. both for his firewood-the back-logs for his great fire-place-and for the rail fencing of his land, as this county was settled at least a third of a century before the invention and introduction of barbed wire, which material literally revolutionized fencing throughout the world. Then it should not be won- dered at that many men came west on a land-hunting trip and returned to Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky in disgust when they saw far more prairie than they did timber, which they had been reared to believe was a real necessity, and. with the poet who had the same ideas of prairies, could enter into the spirit of chanting the poem commencing thus :
"Oh, lonesome, windy, grassy place, Where buffalo and snakes prevail : The first with dreadful looking face. The last with dreadful sounding tail !"
Hence it was that. not understanding the fertility of the prairies and the ease with which they might be cultivated, the timbered sections of Nodaway county were the first to be populated, and that by backwoodsmen from some one of the eastern or southern states where at that date the forest abounded everywhere.'
But all has long since changed. The advent of railways, the better knowledge of the prairie soil, the improved fencing materials, easy access to
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PAST AND PRESENT
coal, pine lumber for building purposes, has wrought out a different condition of things. But nature planned wisely and well. In order to settle up the vast prairie regions of this and other states, it was necessary to first have rail- roads constructed, and on the other hand, it was necessary to have a consider- able settlement in order to induce capital to build railways. Hence the most important part of the settlements in the West came about by reason of a certain amount of timber along with the vast prairies. It has been stated that had the Pilgrim fathers settled in the South and Mississippi valley portion of America. that the granite, rock-ribbed hills of New England might not have been set- tled upon even to this day ; but by commencing to build an empire on the rock- bound coasts of the Atlantic, on the poorest soil in the entire country, and then generation after generation working farther on to the west, the conquest has been supreme and complete. Had the matter been reversed, our hardy young men of today would have been shoved off, as it were, to build homes for themselves on "homesteads" located in New England, instead of the Dakotas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Much of the original forest of Nodaway county has been removed and the timber manufactured into lumber and fencing. While the forest kings have largely been felled by the pioneer axman. the fact that artificial grove planting early obtained in the minds of the settlers, as they saw the native forests yielding year by year, there still remains almost as many acres of tim- ber, as when the county was first settled, at least sufficient in quantity to in- sure, with frugal use, an abundance for the oncoming generations.
Among the most abundant of all trees originally found growing in Nod- away county was the walnut, so highly prized in all countries for manufac- turing purposes. This was very plentiful at an early day, but the high prices paid for such timber in the great manufacturing marts of the world, espe- cially for furniture making, presented itself as a temptation to destroy it, which the poorer class of land owners could not resist. Red, white and black oak are still very plentiful, although they have for many years been extensively used for fuel. Crab apple. elm. walnut, maple. ash. cottonwood and wild cherry are also found in limited quantities.
A line of timber originally-and in places now-skirts the streams that course through the county. Detached groves, natural and planted, are to be seen here and there. throughout the county, which are not only ornamental. but serve to break the winds and molify the condition of the climate, which has come to be an acknowledged fact as well as theory by the best scientists.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
THE SOIL OF THE COUNTY.
A little more than one-fifth of the county is true prairie and of a most excellent quality. Nearly all of the divides between the streams in Nodaway county are beautiful, rolling prairie lands, well drained, easily cultivated and highly productive and in easy access to railway shipping points. Even dur- ing extreme wet and dry seasons, these prairie lands yield forth abundant harvests. The soil is light and semi-porous, so that but twelve to twenty hours is required to elapse after a drenching rain-fall before farmers can go to tilling the lands. The highways also quickly dry, so that long protracted seasons of bad roads, so much to be dreaded in most countries, do not here obtain. The soil stands drouth remarkably well, too. It absorbs a large amount of water during the rainy season, and the forces of nature readily bring back to the surface a surplus of moisture. This is not the case where, as in some countries, hard-pan exists, and where, for lack of moisture at the surface, plants wither and die.
HEALTH AND CLIMATE.
More than a quarter of a century ago Dr. J. B. Morrison, for many years a practicing physician of this county, and still an honored resident of Maryville, wrote the following concerning the local climate and health condi- tions, and it so nearly covers these subjects that it is here reproduced :
"The question is very frequently asked, how does Nodaway county com- pare with other sections of the country in regard to health? To answer, now 'very favorably indeed,' would be strictly true, for there are no epidemics peculiar to this section and epidemics are no more frequent and no more severe than in other sections of country of like extent ; and, indeed, it can be said that they are much less frequent and severe than in many other localities.
"The land, except the valleys along the larger streams, is rolling, almost hilly indeed, and this circumstance renders drainage almost perfect, and with a little effort on the part of the citizen it could be made entirely perfect. There are no extensive bogs or marshes and those of limited extent are, for the most part, drained.
"There are three streams, called rivers, traversing the county from north to south, viz : the Nodaway, on the west side, the One Hundred and Two, in the middle section. and the Platte. on the east side. These have many tribu- taries. so that the country is admirably watered. as well as drained.
(3)
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PAST AND PRESENT
"Water for house use is easily obtained from natural springs and from wells that are usually from twenty to thirty feet in depth, and the water for the most part is of an excellent quality. The soil is a deep, rich, black loam with here and there spots more or less gravelly.
"The climate is somewhat changeable, though it compares favorably with southern Pennsylvania, central Ohio, central Indiana and central Illinois. Very severe drouths are not common, nor are very severe winters usual. The spring season will compare very favorably with that of other localities of the same latitude, and the autumns are generally charming.
"There is more or less malaria (so called) along the river bottoms, and indeed on the upland, but much less than along large rivers and it is very sel- dom that a case of severe old-fashioned ague is seen, such as will cause the stoves and windows to shake. Indeed, this so called malaria is so attenuated in Nodaway county that its meagre density or concentration cannot be relied upon by theorists to prove that it ought to be considered an entity.
"Typical typhoid fever is seldom seen here, as it is usually of the typho- malarial form; though a case, of course, occurs as pure as those in crowded cities, or in ill-ventilated hospitals : but such cases can mostly, or always, be traced to crowded prisons or conditions very similar and liable to occur in every section of country-not one more than another-where people breathe for a considerable time air that is surcharged with the exhalations from the lungs, or where they eat much pork or drink water sur-charged with the poison germs.
"Remittent and intermittent fevers prevail to some extent. but they can- not be said to prevail more than in other localities on the same parallel of lati- tude.
"Malaria, so called, is quite often associated with other diseases, not gen- erally regarded as of a malarial nature; but this is not at all a peculiar cir- cumstance, for this association is found in all localities.
"Malignant or pernicious diseases are not common, though occasionally cases of malignant diphtheria appear.
"Phthisis pulmonalis (old fashioned consumption) is hardly known here, except cases established before locating in this county. and it is commonly be- lieved that the climate is antagonistic to that disease.
"Catarrh (nasal catarrh) is somewhat prevalent, but in all probability it is due to the kind of houses that have been and are still to some extent used. rather than to any peculiarity of climate ; for it is a lamentable fact that many of the houses or huts so common in all new countries are still quite numerous here, and many of the better class of houses are only one and a half story
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
high, thus putting those who sleep up stairs too near a cold roof, where they are constantly exposed to a cold current of air. And those who sleep on the lower floor, or first floor, are in very many houses exposed to currents entering the room through crevices in the wall, or rather through the siding on the house. It is a cheering fact, however, that this state of affairs is rap- idly changing. for good houses are rapidly taking the place of the bad ones, and the inhabitants are not at all lacking in thrift. It is certainly within the bounds of truth to say that Nodaway county is a desirable place to live, con- sidered from a standpoint of health as well as from many other standpoints."
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