In 1899, Mrs. Eliza Towle reported to the president general and the national board of management that the Omaha chapter had decided to place a monument at Fort Calhoun—undoubtedly at the suggestion of Mrs. Harriet S. MacMurphy, who was much interested in the early history of that place.
As the hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of the Louisiana territory approached, and interest began to center around the expedition of Lewis and Clark, it was found that the only point touched in Nebraska by these explorers which could be positively identified was old Council Bluff, near Fort Calhoun; and here the Omaha chapter had decided to erect a monument. At a meeting of the Omaha chapter in 1901, the state regent directed the attention of the members to this fact, and it was voted to enlarge the scope of the undertaking, to make the marking of the site a state affair, and to ask the coöperation of the Sons of the American Revolution and of the State Historical Society. This action was ratified at the first conference of the Daughters of the American Revolution held in Nebraska, the meeting having been called especially for that purpose, in October, 1902. A committee in conjunction with the Sons of the American Revolution asked the state legislature of 1903 for a sum of five thousand dollars to buy the site of Fort Atkinson and to erect a suitable monument, under the auspices of the Sons and the Daughters of the American Revolution, the monument to be erected according to plans and specifications furnished by the two societies.
Disappointed by the failure of the legislature to make the desired appropriation but in no way discouraged, the Daughters of the American Revolution at the second state conference, held in October, 1903, voted to observe the anniversary of the first official council held by Lewis and Clark with the Indians in the Louisiana territory, and to commemorate the event by placing a Nebraska boulder upon the site. As chairman of the committee, it fell to my lot to raise the money and to find the boulder; and it is with pleasure that I record the ease with which the first part of my duty was accomplished. The Deborah Avery chapter gave seventy-five dollars, the Omaha chapter one hundred, and the two new chapters organized in 1902, Quivira of Fairbury and Lewis-Clark of Fremont, raised the sum to two hundred, each promising more if it was needed.
To find a Nebraska boulder was more difficult; and it was still more difficult to find a firm in Nebraska willing to undertake to raise it from its native bed and to carve upon it the insignia of the D. A. R., with a suitable inscription. Finally a boulder of Sioux Falls granite was found in the Marsden farm, north of Lincoln, and it was given to the society by the owner, who remarked that he was "glad to be rid of it." Its dimensions were 7-1/2x8-1/3x3-1/2 feet. Its weight was between seven and eight tons. The firm of Kimball Brothers of Lincoln took the contract for its removal and inscription. Through the assistance of Mr. A. E. Sheldon of the State Historical Society, the Burlington and Missouri railroad generously transported it to Fort Calhoun, where its placing was looked after by Mr. J. H. Daniels of the Sons of the American Revolution. As the project had drifted away from the original intention, and had become a memorial to commemorate an event rather than to mark a spot, the boulder was placed on the public school grounds at Fort Calhoun. At last, almost five years from the time of the broaching of the project, the wish of the society was accomplished.
The following condenses an account of the unveiling of the boulder, and the program, from the report of Miss Anna Tribell Adams of the Omaha chapter for the American Monthly of January, 1905:
"On August 3, 1904, the village of Fort Calhoun, fifteen miles above Omaha on the Missouri river, was the scene of the unveiling of a boulder commemorating the first peace council between the United States government and the chiefs of the Otoe and Missouri Indian tribes. The town as well as the school grounds were brave with bunting and flags. Everyone wore with a small flag the souvenir button on which was a picture of the boulder with a suitable inscription. As a matter of history it is a pleasure to record that the button was designed by Mrs. Elsie De Cou Troup of the Omaha chapter. One worn by one of the speakers is in the collection of the Deborah Avery chapter in the rooms of the State Historical Society at Lincoln.
"Among those present were Brigadier General Theodore Wint, representing the United States government, Governor J. H. Mickey, Adjutant General and Mrs. J. H. Culver, Mr. J. A. Barrett and Mr. A. E. Sheldon of the State Historical Society, Senator J. H. Millard, ex-Governor J. E. Boyd, and others.
"The Thirtieth Infantry band from Fort Calhoun opened the program. Then came a brief reproduction, in pageant-manner, by the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben of Omaha, of the Council of 1804, enacting the Lewis and Clark treaty. Mr. Edward Rosewater of the Omaha Bee extended the welcome of the day, and brought to the attention of the audience the presence of Mr. Antoine Cabney, the first white child born in Nebraska, whose birthplace, in 1827, was near the site of Fort Calhoun. The state regent, Mrs. Abraham Allee, introduced Governor Mickey, who spoke briefly. He was followed by J. A. Barrett of the State Historical Society, who gave an account of the Lewis and Clark Council. Honorable W. F. Gurley of Omaha then delivered the address of the day. At the conclusion of the formal program the boulder was unveiled. In the presentation speech by Mrs. S. B. Pound of Lincoln, the boulder was committed formally, in the name of the Sons and the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the State Historical Society, to the care of the citizens of Fort Calhoun."