“It gives me great pleasure to be able to pronounce the Landscape Views, Views of Hunting, and other scenes, taken on the Upper Missouri by Mr. Catlin, to be correct delineations of the scenery they profess to represent; and although I was not present when they were taken in the field, I was able to identify almost every one between St. Louis and the grand bend of the Missouri.
“J. L. BEAN, S. Agent of Indian Affairs.”
“I have examined a series of paintings by Mr. Catlin, representing Indian Buffalo Hunts, Landscapes, &c., and from an acquaintance of twenty-seven years with such scenes as are represented, I feel qualified to judge them, and do unhesitatingly pronounce them good and unexaggerated representations.
“JNO. DOUGHERTY, Indian Agent for Pawnees, Omahaws, and Otoes.”
LETTER—No. 2.
MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI, 1832.
I arrived at this place yesterday in the steamer “Yellow Stone,” after a voyage of nearly three months from St. Louis, a distance of two thousand miles, the greater part of which has never before been navigated by steam; and the almost insurmountable difficulties which continually oppose the voyageur on this turbid stream, have been by degrees overcome by the indefatigable zeal of Mr. Chouteau, a gentleman of great perseverance, and part proprietor of the boat. To the politeness of this gentleman I am indebted for my passage from St. Louis to this place, and I had also the pleasure of his company, with that of Major Sanford, the government agent for the Missouri Indians.