History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 3

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 3

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By the " map of the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi River, pre- pared by the authority of the Honorable the Secretary of War, in the office of the Chief of Engineers" in the year 1879, the distance in an air line from Santa Fe to Columbus, Nebraska, is nearly six hundred miles. By rail, the distance from Santa Fe to the river Platte is nine hundred and eighty-six miles, and inasmuch as the Atchison and Santa Fe Railroad follows very closely the old and natural route so well known to travelers as

the Santa Fe trail, it is probable that so easy and obvious a pathway would be the one pursued by the early adventurers. It would seem, then, that the distance to the city of Quivira, as reported, would, after making the most liberal allowances for guesses. ini- perfect measurements and exaggerations. require its location to he as far from New Mexico as Nebraska.

It has been objected to this hypothesis, that those early chroniclers described the land of Quivira as nearly surrounded by the sea. But when we reflect that the name given by the Pawnees to the Missouri was the "medicine," or " miraculous" water. and that this term translated to visitors might readily be understood as referring to the ocean, the circumstance is an argument in favor of, rather than against, the present theory. Freytas declares that the sea encir- cles and surrounds all that land to the east. northeast, north and northwest. This can only mean that the early explorers of the region were assured that the " wonderful water" so bounded it; and as from the entire eastern half of Nebraska the majestie current of the Missouri can be reached by a short journey towards either of the above men- tioned points of the compass, there is some reason for believing that the region known as Quivira comprehended that portion of the State.

It is at least a curious diversion, with these considerations in mind, to follow the route which the chronicler declares was taken by Penalosa and his men, to see how far the features of the journey correspond with geographical and topographical facts. If the narrator's story is entitled to any credit whatever, the expedition struck the Platte River not far west of its junction with the Missouri. Thence, they marched for a day westward, to an abrupt hend in the river; thence northward for another day, and thence followed up the current of the river towards the west. These courses and distances are identical with those to he found by a party

SUPPOSED LOCATION OF THE CITY OF QUIVIRA.

marching up the right bank of the Platte at the present day. Proceeding up the river they found, on the opposite side, the city of which they were in search, situated on both sides of another beautiful stream, which, coming from the north, emptied into that which they had been following. If our premises thus far are correct, this picturesque river was the Loup. They forded the river, np which they had been marching, this fact showing that it could not have been the Mis- souri, which. unlike the Platte, is nowhere in this vicinity and for hundreds of miles at any season of the year, fordable.

It is worthy of remark that the valley of the Loup, near its entrance into the Platte, is between fifteen and twenty miles wide, and evidences of ancient habitation along its banks for many miles exist in great abund- ance. Fragments of pottery, even at this day, are turned up by the plow of the farmer or the spade of the railway grader; mounds, evidently artificial, are to be found; the soil is fertile and so black as to excite

the notice of the traveler now, as it did the Spaniards three centuries ago.

Speculations such as these can hardly be considered as entirely fanciful. After deducting from the tales of these early explorers much that is marvelous and incom- prehensible, and making all due allowance for their vain glory, pride, ambition, self- conceit and boastfulness, the conscientious student is still forced to admit that there exists in their narrations and reports a sub- stratum of truth. From these we have a right at least, to consider it proved, that at the time of the Spanish conquests in Amer- ica there was in the eastern half of the terri- tory, which now forms the State of Ne- braska, populous communities, having many traits in common with the Aztecs, living together in towns and cities, not unac- quainted with the ruder arts of agriculture, dwelling in houses, and able to fashion the necessary weapons for the chase, and, by the art of the potter, the common utensils of domestic use.

CHAPTER II.

FATHER MARQUETTE'S MAP-THE RIVALRY OF FRANCE AND SPAIN-EXPLORATION IN 1739 BY THE MALLET BROTHERS-NAMING OF THE PLATTE- THE FRENCH PURCHASE.

IN the latter part of the sixteenth century we begin to emerge from the region of myth and marvel, and to gain a reasonably accu- rate knowledge of the denizens of the coun- try which afterwards became the State of Nebraska. As early as the year 1673, Father Joseph Marquette, the pious French Jesuit and missionary, descended the Mississippi on an expedition to determine its situation and course. A map prepared by his own hand of his voyage, of undoubted authentic- ity, after lying concealed and forgotten for two centuries in the archives of St. Mary's College, in Montreal, was, a few years since, recovered from its hiding place. The Mis- souri river is depicted upon this map with remarkable accuracy, considering the fact that his information concerning it must have been derived from such wandering Indians as he chanced to meet along the banks of the Mississippi. His description of this passage of the mouth of the Missouri, which he calls the Pekatanoni, is as follows: " We descend, following the course of the river, towards the other called Pekatanoni, which empties into the Mississippi, coming from the north- west, of which I shall have something to say after what I have remarked of this river. * * * **

* * *

" As we were discoursing, sailing gently down a still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were about to plunge. I have never seen anything more frightful! A mass of large trees, with roots and branches entire, real floating islands, came rushing from the mouth of the river Pekatanoni with such impetuosity that we could not

venture across without serious risk. The agitation was so great that the water was all muddy and could not get clear.

"Pekatanoni is a considerable river, which. coming from very far in the northwest, empties into the Mississippi. Many Indian towns are situated on this stream, and I hope by its means to make the discovery of the Red, or California Sea.

" We judged, by the direction the Missis- sippi takes, that if it keeps on the same course it has its mouth in the Gulf of Mex- ico; it would be of great advantage to find that which leads to the South Sea towards California; and this, as I said, I hope to find by Pekatanoni, following the account which the Indians had given me; for from them I learn that ascending this river for five or six days, you come to a beautiful prairie twenty or thirty leagues in extent, which you must cross to the northwest. It terminates at another little river on which you can embark, it not being difficult to transport canoes over so beautiful a country as that prairie. This second river runs southwest for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a small lake, which is the source of another deep river running to the west. where it empties into the sea. I have hardly any doubt that this is the Red Sea, and I do not despair of one day making the discovery, if God does me this favor and grants me health, in order to be able to publish the gospel to all the nations of this New World, who have so long been plunged in heathen darkness,"

Upon the map above referred to, the gen-

THE RIVALRY OF FRANCE AND SPAIN.

eral course of the Missouri is given to a point far above the site of the City of Omaha; the Platte River is laid down in almost its exact position, corresponding remarkably with its actual relative situation to the Missouri and other streams, and the mountains to the westward; among the Indian tribes which he enumerates as dis- tributed throughont this region, we find such names as Panas, Mahas and Otontantes. This map, it is probable, contains for the first time, written in a Christian tongue, the designation of the wild tribe for which the ('ity of Omaha is named. The charitable wish of the good Father Marquette to visit this region and instruct its dusky natives in the doctrines of his faith, was, unfortu- nately for history, never gratified. The exposure and hardships of his travels were too much for his frail constitution, and he died on the shores of Lake Michigan before his devont dream of spiritual conquest could be realized,

The rivalry between France and Spain for the possession of the territory lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Mis- sissippi was more effective in giving the world information concerning the prairies of the west than even the indefatigable labors of Catholic priests. Spain, secure in her possession of Mexico, looked with an eye of envy and desire over the beautiful plains traversed by countless herds of buf- falo, antelope and deer; while France, from her strongholds at the mouth of the Missis- sippi, watched with cautious jealousy any movements of the successors of Cortez towards that coveted region. Suspicions, rivalries. and antagonisms, were rife on both sides. If the French made a move in one quarter, the Spaniards endeavored to meet it by a counter stroke in another. If one nation established a trading post in the wilderness, the other sought to seduce its servants and to render the enterprise abort- ive. Spies and other emissaries everywhere abounded. With an ostentatious display

of peace on both sides, there was constant suspicion and constant watchfulness. Con- temporary documents show that the rich- ness and the beauty of the country, the fer- tility of the soil, and the salubrity of the climate, made the possession of the region a matter of deep interest to both sides.

Thus, a letter from M. de Bienville, then in command of Lonisiana, to the French Minister of Marine, dated April 22, 1734, has the following report: "A Frenchman, who for some years has lived among the Panimahas established on the Missouri, has, with these savages, visited the Ricaras, who inhabit about the headwaters of that stream. They had not before seen any Frenchmen. lle found in the vicinity several silver mines which appeared to him very rich; among others one which he thinks virgin. Two travelers will go with him to verify his report."* The same officer had written in 1706: "Among the Canadians who have arrived, there are two who have for two years been roaming from village to village on the Missouri. They report that, having been near to the mines of the Spaniards, they were arrested at a savage village sometimes visited by the Spaniards who came there for hides with which to make harness for their mules; that the Spaniards are at war with three or four large tribes, and march only with cuirass and helmet, proof against arrows, which causes the Indians to look upon them as devils. These men have assured Bienville that this country is the most beautiful of the world, with navigable streams communicating with nations who use horses. They have brought specimens of copper from these mincs, and a metal with which they are unacquainted."

LaSalle wrote, in 1708: "The Missouri River empties into the Mississippi about five hundred leagues from the Gulf of Mexico. There are Canadian voyagers who have ascended it for three or four hundred leagnes

*Exploration des affluents du Mississippi et decouverte des Montagnes Rocheuses. Par Pierre Margry.

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAIL.A.

to the northwest and west through the most beautiful country in the world, without being able to ascertain whence it has its source If His Majesty desires that this discovery. should be made, the expense will not be great; not over forty thousand livres worth of merchandise, munitions and rations. This would be sufficient to cover all expenses, including the pay of one hundred men selected for the enterprise, and who would be able to accomplish it in canoes. The journey would not consume more than twelve or fifteen monthis from the time of setting out from the fort in Louisiana. It would be necessary to send along a young engineer to draw a chart of the river to give you a clear idea of it, and to designate the officers intended for the expedition."

The Sieur Mandeville, an ensign in the company of Vanlezard, in Louisiana, writes in 1709: "In ascending we reach the river Missouri where the great abundance of oxen and cows passes the imagination. These beasts grow upon their backs both hair and wool according to the season of the year. The river is beautiful and large. There is every reason to believe that here is a place for discoveries of great magnitude.

The following is extracted from a memo- rial by Sieur Hubert to the naval council in 1717: "I am assured by those who have ascended the Missouri that it is the veritable source of the Mississippi, which latter stream should indeed more properly be called the Missouri. The region explored by them in the vicinity of this river is, in beauty and healthfulness, far superior to any other portion of this colony; it is one of those happy climates which produce everything in great abundance and without difficulty. The air is quite salubrious, the seasons reg- ular and temperate. The country is studded with trees of all varieties; the immense prairies covered with wild cattle, antelope, deer, and all other kinds of wild animals; and salt abounds, although the country is

far from the sea, which is a sensible and certain proof of abundance, and of the neighborhood of mines."

Writing from Fort Louis, of Louisiana. on the 25th of April, 1722, Bienville says that he learns from the savages of the Missouri that the Spaniards are meditating an establishment on the Kansas River, and that he had ordered Sieur de Boisbriant to prevent this by sending a detachment of twenty soldiers to build a little fort and to remain in garrison on that river. The ruins of a stone edifice, still visible in northeastern Kansas, which have excited a good deal of local interest and curiosity, may possibly be the remains of the post established in pursu- ance of those instructions.

The foregoing extracts are sufficient to show the interest taken by the French gov- ernment in their possessions near the Mis- souri and Platte Rivers, its belief in their valne and the desire felt for a more thorough! and systematic exploration of them. As early as the year 1700, complaints were made that unhappily those who had been sent upon tours of discovery had not been scientific men, competent to make the necessary observations and calculations, to prepare plans and itineraries, and to draw charts. "It is certain," said these fault-finders, "that the region west of the Mississippi. with the exception of three or four leagues from its banks, is absolutely unknown to us; and that to derive some benefit from the immense expense incurred during the last twenty years for this discovery, it is neces- sary to send coureurs des bois to the strait which separates California from the main land; and to detail people to accompany them who know enough to draw plans and make astronomical observations."

So far as our knowledge goes, the first formal exploration of this part of the coun- try took place in the year 1739. A docu- ment recently unearthed by M. Margry gives many details of this expedition. not always

EXPLORATION BY THE MALLET BROTHERS.

accurate and sometimes uninteresting. The abridgment of the journal kept by the explorers, after slumbering for nearly a century and a half in the archives of the French government, cannot fail to be of use to the student of the early history of this region. The leaders of the party were two brothers, Canadians, named Peter and Paul Mallet, who, with six companions, successfully accomplished a task which, con- sidering their numbers, the length of their journey, the barren regions traversed and the Spanish jealousy which their trip must have excited, may well be reckoned as among the most daring and successful of modern times. Their ostensible object was to visit Santa Fe, and endeavor to bring about a regular commerce with the people of New Mexico. That they were expected to keep their eyes open and make report of all matters which might prove advantageous to the French government, can hardly be doubted :

"To understand," they say in extracts from their journal prepared for the Gover- nor and Intendant of Louisiana, "the course which these Canadians took to discover New Mexico, it is well to know that it is one hundred leagues from the Illinois to the Mis- souri villages, on the river of that name; eighty leagues from there to the Cauzes; one hundred leagues from the Cauzes to the Otoctlatas, and sixty from there to the mouth of the river of the Panimahas in the Missouri country. This nation is established near the mouth of the Panimaha River, and it is at this that the discoverers made their point of departure on the 29th of May, 1739." There can be from the context, but little doubt that this river of the Panimahas was the stream now called the Loup.

" Those who had previously endeavored," they say, " to penetrate to New Mexico have expected to find that country at the head waters of the Missouri River. They have, therefore, ascended that stream as far as the Ricaras, who are more than one hundred

and fifty leagues from the Pawnees." Fol- lowing the advice of certain savages whom they met, these explorers determined upon an entirely different route, and upon leaving their savage allies, the l'awnees, they crossed the prairies, returning upon their steps in a course almost parallel with the course of the Missouri.

On the 2d of June they came upon a river to which they gave the name of the Platte, and observing that it did not deviate materially from the route which they had determined upon, they followed up its course to the right for a distance of twenty-eight leagues, where they ascertained that a fork was made by the river of the Padoncas, which there emptied into the Platte. That this river of the Padoncas was the stream now known as the south fork of the Platte, there can be no reasonable doubt. They continued to ascend the river which they lad called the Platte, and on the 13th of June they turned to the left, probably find- ing that the further ascent of that river would take them too far to the northwest. and crossing the stream and a tongue of land, they bivouacked on the 14th on the further bank of the river des Costes, which they supposed also emptied into the Platte.

On the 15th and 16th they continued across the country, and on the 17th came upon another stream which they called des Costes Blanches. Still pressing forward. they traversed a level country, which barely sufficed to furnish wood for their camp fires. They note in their journal that these plains extend as far as the mountains bordering on Santa Fe. On the 18th they encamped on the bank of another stream which they crossed, and which they named the River Aimable. On the 19th they crossed still another watercourse, to which they gave the name of the River des Soucis. The following day they encountered a deep and rapid river, which they ascertained was the Cauces, seeing which they were encouraged to believe that they were upon the route which

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAILA.

had been recommended to them at the time of their departure from the Pawnee nation. In attempting to make a crossing, however, they met with their first serious misfortune, losing in its turbulent current seven horses laden with valuable merchandise. Another stream which they crossed two days later, they named the River a la Fleche. On the fol- lowing day the passage of still another river brought them out upon even more barren plains, where they were obliged to depend solely upon the bois de vache, or buffalo chips, for their necessary fuel. From that time to the 30th of June, they daily encountered streams of greater or less magnitude, until, on the last mentioned day, they discovered upon the banks of one of them traces of the Spaniards of whom they were in search. The water which they had then reached they conjectured to be a branch of the Arkansas, and at this point they estimated their dis- tance from their starting place in the Pawnee country to be about one hundred and fifty- five leagues.

Up this stream they marched, keeping it on their left until the 5th of July, when they came upon an Indian village, of a tribe which they understood to be called Lalitanes .* To the inhabitants of this village they made a small present from their diminished stock of merchandise, and received in return a gift of antelope. Distrusting, however, the intentions of their new acquaintances and suspecting that they had evil designs, they were cautious enough to make their encamp- ment some two or three miles away from their village. But the night passed without any hostile demonstrations, and on the next day they pursued their course.

But as they were leaving the river. which for several days they had been aseending, their apprehensions were again excited by a visitor, who proved to be a Ricara slave, held in bondage among the Lalitanes. Ile declared that the inhabitants of the village

were determined to attack and destroy them The adventurers put a bold face upon the matter and sent the slave back with a mes- sage, which apparently prevented the attack, as the Lalitanes made no hostile movement. The Ricara having returned to the French- men, they inquired if he knew the road to the Spanish settlements. IIe replied that he was well acquainted with it, having been a slave among the Spaniards, by whom, as he alleged, he had been baptised into the Christian religion. This Indian the French- men endeavored to engage as a guide for them to the City of Santa Fe, and in the hope of thereby procuring his liberty, he consented so to act. Setting forth therefore, again, with their new found ally, they found them- selves when night fell some ten leagues away from the nation whose hostility they had shunned to encounter.

On the 10th of July they perceived for the first time a range of mountains which they called the Spanish Mountains. At this time their distance from them was about ten leagues; two days later they reached and encamped at the foot of one of them. On the following day, that is on the 13th of July, they encamped at a miserable little village containing three Lalitane cabins; ensuring the good will, or at least the tran- quility of the inhabitants by a trifling pres- ent. On the next day they came upon another river to which they gave the name of Red River, but suspected it to be a branch of the Arkansas. Doubtless this was the stream now ealled the Gallinas, for we find that at twenty-one leagues from it they encountered the first Spanish post at a mis- sion called Piquoris. This mission must have been at the deserted and dismantled rock now known as Pecos, whose striking situation and crumbling but massive walls show that before heavy artillery could have been brought to bear upon it, it was a place of no small strength and importance. We have seen before, when speaking of the expedition of Coronado, that it was in all

"Called also Laitanes, Litanes, Tetes Pelees, and Halitanes, by other travelers.

EXPLORATION BY THE MALLET BROTHERS.

probability the spot from which that chival- rous commander launched forth on his vague and perilous journey. When they arrived within three or four miles of this settle- ment they were met by the governor and the priest of the station, who were attended by a vast crowd of natives. These received the wayworn travelers with great hospitality, and even, as they state in their journal, with the clamor of bells.

Prior to this time they had been enabled to avail themselves of the services of three wandering Indians whom they met, and to whom they entrusted a letter to the com- mandant at Taos. This officer seemed inclined to treat them in a friendly spirit, and sent them as a token of his good will on the next day, a supply of mutton and excellent bread, to which their appetites, sharpened by some six weeks' travel over the inhospitable and parched prairies, were ready to furnish that sauce, which the prov- erb establishes as the best. Leaving Pecos on the 15th, they arrived at noon at another mission, called Santa Crux, where they dined; and passing another in the afternoon named Cagnada, they encamped at nightfall at the village of Santa Marie. At all these halt- ing places they seem to have been cordially received by the cautious but hospitable Spaniard, perhaps from the paucity of their numbers, which prevented any inquietude as to their intentions, perhaps from a wish to clicit from them by kindness of treatment the real object of their long and dangerous journey. It is, of course, impossible that suspicious and jealous officers on the very frontier of Spanish occupation, surrounded by savage tribes, acquainted with the covet- ous disposition of their French neighbors, should have viewed such an incursion, even of six men, into their privacy with absolute indifference.

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History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 3

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020