Chapter XVI: Preface (12)

[308] The foot of the Blackfoot forks is the mouth of Big Blackfoot River, which rises in the main range of the Rockies and flows west for about seventy-five miles into Hellgate River, about five miles above the gorge called by that name. Up this stream is the “road that leads to the buffalo,” going over Lewis and Clark Pass—the route which Captain Lewis took on his return journey in 1806.—ED.

[309] Leaving to the left the Big Blackfoot River, and its easy pass across the mountains, De Smet continued up Hellgate River and its upper waters, Deer Lodge River (called by him Cart River). See our volume xxvii, p. 253, note 130, which describes the journey made by De Smet in 1841.—ED.

[310] No stream named “Arrowstone” is now charted. De Smet passed from the waters of the Columbia to those of the Missouri, by one of the numerous low and easy gaps between Mullen’s on the north and Deer Lodge on the south. Probably the party went over Cottonwood (or Peterson) Pass, leading from Deer Lodge County into Jefferson, coming out upon Boulder River, which empties into the Jefferson at Jefferson Island; or else they followed the Silverbow route past the present Butte, and proceeded by Big Pipestone Creek to the Jefferson—a route now used by the Montana railways. All these were well-worn Indian trails.—ED.

[311] For a brief description of the Three Forks of the Missouri see our volume xxiii, p. 138, note 114.—ED.

[312] See De Smet’s description of this route on his previous journey (1841), in his _Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 177, note 50.—ED.

[313] For the Wind River Mountains see our volume xxi, p. 134, note 35.—ED.

[314] The route lay almost directly north from the Yellowstone, along the valley of what is now Shield’s River (named by Lewis and Clark for one of their party), toward the sources of the Musselshell, the largest—with the exception of the Yellowstone—southern tributary of the Missouri. See our volume xxiii, p. 58, note 33.—ED.

[315] Probably the Elk Mountains, lying between the two forks of the Musselshell in Meagher County, Montana.—ED.

[316] For the previous relations of De Smet with this chief see his _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, pp. 317, 352.—ED.

[317] For the Piegan, one division of the Blackfeet, see Maximilian’s _Travels_ in our volume xxiii, pp. 95-97.—ED.

[318] For this stream see our volume xxiii, p. 70, note 51. The camp was probably upon one of the western affluents of the Judith, on the eastern edge of the Little Belt Mountains.—ED.

[319] For the Blood Indians, a branch of the Blackfoot tribe, consult our volume xxiii, pp. 95-97, especially note 84. The Grosventres of the Prairie, likewise called Fall Indians, are noted in our volume vi, p. 371, note 183; also our volume xxiii, pp. 75, 76. By the Blackfeet—his final category—De Smet intends that branch of the tribe known as Siksekai, or Blackfeet proper. See Maximilian’s description in our volume xxiii, pp 95, 96.—ED.

[320] Probably the missionary here mentioned was J. B. Thibault from Red River, who travelled extensively in the Saskatchewan territory; see note 122, _ante_, p. 231.—ED.

[321] The trader was Charles Larpenteur, then in the employ of the American Fur Company. He left Fort Union July 8, with one keel-boat and later made a Mackinac boat en route. See his journal in Elliott Coues, _Forty Years a Fur-Trader on the Upper Missouri_, ii, pp. 237-242.—ED.

[322] These tribes formed the Blackfoot confederacy, but the Sarcee (Surcees) and Grosventres belonged to different stocks. For the former see our volume xxiii, p. 90, note 77.—ED.

[323] Sata was at Fort Benton in 1847, and acted as guide to Larpenteur in the latter’s effort to reach the Flathead country. Larpenteur calls him a half-breed Blackfoot and Flathead; evidently his mother was of the latter tribe. See _Forty Years a Fur-Trader_, pp. 272, 274.—ED.

[324] For the term “bourgeois” see our volume xxi, p. 183, note 33. Larpenteur’s journal in _Forty Years a Fur-Trader_, ii, pp. 236-243, explains why neither he nor Malcolm Clarke was at the fort when the missionary arrived.—ED.

[325] For Maria’s River see our volume xxiii, p. 84, note 73. Little Sandy Creek, twenty-three miles below Maria’s, rises on the western slope of Bearpaw Mountain, and flows west and then south into the Missouri. For Maximilian’s description of the natural stone walls see our volume xxiii, pp. 71-83; also the representations in our atlas, volume xxv, Plates 18, 61, 68, and 74.—ED.

[326] For Porcupine River see our volume xxiii, p. 33, note 19. The pyramid of elks’ horns is described in _ibid._, pp. 34, 35; and pictured in our atlas, volume xxv, Plate 21. De Smet describes its later destruction by a modern vandal, in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iv, p. 1372.—ED.

[327] For Fort Union see our volume xxii, pp. 373-383. James Kipp, who had been at Fort Clark during Maximilian’s visit, was at this time in charge of Fort Union. See biographical sketch in our volume xxii, p. 345, note 319.—ED.

[328] Not the Grosventres of note 206, _ante_, but the Minitaree, also called Grosventres (Big Bellies), for whom see our volume v, p. 113, note 76; also our volumes xxii, pp. 350, 359-363; xxiii, pp. 367-385. The Minitaree removed to Fort Berthold in 1845.—ED.

[329] For Fort Berthold see _ante_, p. 233, note 125. The clerk in charge was probably Jacques Brugière, a nephew of James Kipp, who for many years was at Fort Union. In 1847-48 he entered into partnership with Charles Larpenteur for a trading venture to the Flatheads, which did not prove successful. Theophile Brugière was also an American Fur Company employe, who lived and married among the Yankton Sioux, becoming later the first settler on the site of Sioux City, Iowa.—ED.

[330] For Knife River see our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333.—ED.

[331] This post was evidently Fort Mandan (or Clark); see our volume xxii, p. 344, note 317, also xxiii, pp. 228-236. Des Autel (D’Isotille) was clerk at Fort Mackenzie in the early forties, and aided Chardon and Harvey in the massacre at this post, which led to its abandonment, whereupon all the principals concerned were sent to lower posts. Larpenteur reports Des Autel (Des Hôtel) as being in charge of Fort Clark in 1847.—ED.

[332] For the Arikara at the old Mandan village see our volume xxvii, p. 150, note 19 (De Smet).—ED.

[333] According to the translation from the French given in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, ii, p. 607, the voyagers were delayed five days by adverse winds, reaching the camp, October 26, in the neighborhood of Butes au Grés (or Sandstone Buttes), not far from Bismarck, North Dakota. Henry Goulet (Goulé) afterwards resided at Sioux City, and during the Harney campaign (1856) obtained permission to construct ferries in that neighborhood. See South Dakota Department of History _Collections_, i, p. 417.—ED.

[334] For Fort Pierre see our volume xxii, p. 315, note 277, also pp. 317-321. For Honoré Picotte see our volume xxiv, p. 16, note 10.—ED.

[335] Fleury’s Island is now called Farm Island, about two and a half miles long, and the same distance below Fort Pierre. The post where De Smet tarried, known as Fort Bouis or Fort Defiance, was erected by Harvey, Primeau and Company who were acting in opposition to the American Fur Company. The trade was with the Brulé Sioux, and the post was located on the west bank of the Missouri at the mouth of Medicine Creek. It had been founded but a short time before De Smet’s visit, but was soon bought out by the American Fur Company, being then abandoned.

For the Grande Detour (Big Bend) of the Missouri see our volume xxii, pp. 312, 313.—ED.

[336] For Fort Lookout see our volume xxii, p. 304, note 261. The bourgeois in charge was Colin Campbell, one of the best interpreters of the region, who had accompanied Joshua Pilcher on the Arikara expedition of 1823, and long served in the American Fur Company’s employ. Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, ii, pp. 609, 610, give the report of a council held with the Sioux at this post, concerning their conversion.—ED.

[337] For Running Water (Eau qui Court) River see our volume xxii, p. 291, note 252.—ED.

[338] Apparently Bon Homme Island, the largest in that vicinity, for which see our volume vi, p. 91, note 34.—ED.

[339] For Fort Vermillion see our volume xxvii, p. 153, note 22 (De Smet).

Major Joseph V. Hamilton was Indian agent at Council Bluffs, 1839-41; in 1843 Audubon found him at Fort George, in temporary charge of the agency at that place.—ED.

[340] For old Council Bluffs see our volume xxii, p. 275, note 231. See also De Smet’s letters on this locality in Nebraska Historical Society _Transactions_, i, pp. 42-44.—ED.

[341] For Cabanné and the location of his post see our volume xxii, p. 271, note 226.

For the early history of the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois, see our volumes xx, pp. 94-99 with accompanying notes; xxiv, p. 119, note 99; and xxvi, pp. 334-338.

The charter of Nauvoo, their Illinois settlement, having been revoked early in 1846, the Mormon leaders organized an emigration, and moved west through Iowa to the Missouri River. Having held a council with the neighboring Indians, they established winter quarters at what is now Florence, Nebraska, where De Smet found them. Early in the spring of 1847 a delegation was dispatched to seek a permanent home. The valley of Salt Lake was chosen, and removals thither began in 1848. In a later letter Father de Smet intimates that his account to them of the Salt Lake basin had some influence in determining the site of their future home.—ED.

[342] Brigham Young was born in Vermont in 1801; at the age of sixteen he removed to New York, where he became a convert to Mormonism, entering that church in 1832. Three years later he was chosen one of the twelve apostles, and in 1837 led a band of followers to Missouri. After the persecutions in that state, he aided in founding Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1840 made a missionary trip to England. Upon the death of Joseph Smith, Young became the head of the church—a position maintained until his death in 1877. He guided the emigration to Salt Lake, and in 1850 was appointed governor of the territory of Utah.

De Smet’s early sympathy with the Mormons, as expressed at this time and in other letters, later suffered a considerable change. See his letter of 1858 in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iv, pp. 1407-1415.—ED.

[343] The post at Bellevue, for which see our volume xxii, p. 267, note 221.

Pierre Labbadie Sarpy, better known as Colonel Peter, was born in St. Louis in 1805 of a prominent French Creole family. About 1822 he went to the frontier as a trader, and thereafter preferred the free life of the West to a conventional career in St. Louis. Upon the retirement of Cabanné, Sarpy became the American Fur Company’s agent at Bellevue, where he autocratically ruled for many years. His Indian wife Nekomi was a woman of influence with the neighboring tribes. Colonel Sarpy aided the Mormons on their emigration and assisted in building up the new territory of Nebraska, establishing ferries, and maintaining several trading posts. He removed from Bellevue to St. Mary’s, Iowa, later (1861) to Plattsmouth, where he died in 1865.—ED.

[344] For Laforce Papin see our volume xv, p. 143, note 44.—ED.

[345] For these streams see our volumes v, p. 72, note 40; and xiv, pp. 219, 221, notes 170, 173. Table Creek is a small run in Otoe County, Nebraska, at whose mouth is situated Nebraska City.—ED.

[346] The site of St. Joseph was early known as Blacksnake Hills, where Joseph Robidoux had a trading post—see our volumes xxii, p. 257, note 210, and xxiv, p. 121, note 102. After the Platte purchase (1836) settlers began flocking in, and in 1843 the town was platted, being named St. Joseph for its founder. By the close of the year 1846, when De Smet passed, the place had a population of nearly a thousand.—ED.

[347] For the early history of Westport (Kansas City) see De Smet’s _Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 135, note 2.—ED.

[348] For the Pawnee and their four great divisions see our volume xiv, p. 233, note 179. See illustration of interior of a Kansa lodge, built in a manner similar to the Pawnee, in _ibid._, p. 208.—ED.

[349] See our volume xxvii, p. 208, note 82.—ED.

[350] See on this subject of human sacrifice note 83 in De Smet’s _Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 210.—ED.

[351] A name which they give to the Great Spirit.—DE SMET.

[352] This method of smoking is in great repute among all the savages of the West. It is of the same importance and equally as binding as an oath among civilized nations. If two savages, ready to kill each other, can be induced to accept the calumet, the dispute ceases, and the bond of their friendship becomes stronger than ever.—DE SMET.

[353] The ashki is a cord, made of horse-hair or of the bark of the elm, which they prepare by boiling it in cold water. It varies from twenty-five to sixty feet in length, and, although it is but about one inch in thickness, it is strong enough to bind the most powerful man. This they adorn with the quills of the porcupine, and with little bells. The bells, besides for the sake of ornament, are intended to give notice in case the victim makes any efforts to escape.—DE SMET.

[354] For the Sanpoil Indians see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 319, note 161.—ED.

[355] For different forms of the name of the Yellowstone see our volume xxii, p. 375, note 351.—ED.

[356] Fort Augustus, the present Edmonton, Alberta.—ED.

[357] For the former exploits of these two chiefs see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, pp. 285, 286.—ED.