5th.—A considerable part of the forenoon having been spent before the mules were caught on the prairie and brought in, and Mr. Sharpee promising, if we would wait till the following day, he would accompany us to the Pawnees, in order to inquire of them whether any of their young men had stolen a horse he had lost a few nights ago, Mr. Allis and ourselves determined to wait for him, as he had an extensive knowledge of the Indians, and of travelling on the “plains,” as the large prairies are here called, and might on that account be of great service to us. An under-chief of the Loup Pawnees, by the name of Gatarritatkutz (Big Axe) was also waiting, in order to accompany us.
6th.—At length we were ready to commence our journey from here to the Pawnees, about 9 o’clock, accompanied by the best wishes of our kind friends at the mission, and with the encouraging Daily Word: “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David,” (Is. 55:3) with the Doctrinal text: “There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all.” (Eph. 4:4-6.) “In doctrine and in practice one,—We’ll love and serve the Lord alone;—With one accord sound forth His praise,—Till we shall see His face.”
The ideas of leaving the abodes of civilization, and travelling, unarmed and unguarded by a competent force of men, in the land of numerous savages, had a tendency to cause every dependence upon an arm of flesh to vanish, while we could put our confidence upon the all-powerful arm of our Savior, in whose cause we had undertaken this journey among wild untutored barbarians, and who watches over his people everywhere. (Ps. 139.)
Our course to-day was N. W. and W., taking the great road travelled by the emigrants, on leaving the Bluffs for Oregon, the Salt Lake, or California.
The road was very dry and dusty, and the wind coming from the West blew the dust in our faces, by which we were very much incommoded. After leaving Bellevue, and ascending the bluff, which brought us on the level of the high prairie, a beautiful prospect presented itself. Before us, as far as the eye could reach, was the wide prairie extending to the horizon; on our right were clumps of timber skirting both banks of the Missouri, bounded by the bluffs on the other side of the river, with the Mormon settlement of Kanesville, beautifully spread out before us, situated in one of the valleys between the bluffs about six or eight miles distant, beyond the river; on our left, in the middle ground, lay the valleys of the Great and Little Papilion, with the Omahaw village, like a cluster of potatoe hills, situated on the opposite bank, near their confluence, with here and there a clump of timber along both streams, while far away in the distance could plainly be distinguished the valley of the Platte, with the timber, growing on its numerous islands.
After proceeding some five miles in the prairie, we met a large train of Oregon emigrants, who, by some interested person, had been induced to turn about, in order to take a road, which would lead them to another ferry on the Elkhorn river, (a branch of the Platte,) and although Mr. Sharpee represented to them that the road they had been travelling was the better, still his representations were of no avail, and they preferred to travel a route 15 or 20 miles further than ours, and much worse bridged across the mudholes. A large company of wild Indians (Omahaws) was hovering on horseback around the train, watching a favorable opportunity to steal something, or perchance, should a beef stray some distance from the rest, (a good opportunity for which was given by their turning back again,) to drive it behind a bluff and slay it.
The sight of a large train of 20 or 30 wagons, travelling in long single file, with four or more yoke of oxen or cows attached to each, is really picturesque; and we had frequently the opportunity on our journey of beholding such a long line of white-covered wagons, presenting, at a distance of several miles, a beautiful appearance. During the day we passed several trains, destined for Oregon, Salt Lake, or California. In the Oregon trains we observed many cows yoked in teams, besides numbers of them driven along loose; milchcows commanding a high price in Oregon.
When the sun had nearly reached the western horizon, we arrived at our camping ground,—a small clump of trees on the Great Papilion,—a spot generally selected by the emigrants, at the end of the first day’s travel, west of the Bluffs. The animals in our train, consisting of a horse, a pony, belonging to our Pawnee friend, and two mules, were first driven to the water, of which they stood in great need. The horse was then hobbled, i.e., a rope tied around both forelegs, so short, as merely to enable it to get along slowly to graze, and to hinder it from straying too far away. The pony and the two mules were secured by means of a rope about 30 feet long, tied around the neck of each, and dragging behind them, so as to facilitate the catching of them again on the following morning. We then pitched our tent for the night, and having built a fire, proceeded to prepare some coffee, which was peculiarly acceptable after a fatiguing day’s travel. Our store of provisions consisted of about a bushel of ship crackers, a boilt ham, and some molasses in an India rubber flask, all of which were provided by our kind friend, Mr. McKinney. We had hardly camped before the trains commenced pouring in for the night, and even late in the night they continued to arrive, so that by morning the place was covered with tents and wagons, and swarming with people, horses, mules and cattle.
7th.—At an early hour we were again moving, in order to reach the Elkhorn Ferry before any of the trains should take the precedence, whereby we would have been detained. We had first to cross the Papilion on a bridge, and as it was very narrow, and the road leading to it very steep, we were obliged to unharness the mules from the wagon, lest they might, by pushing one another, precipitate the wagon and themselves into the stream and mud below. The wagon was then pulled across the bridge by hand. Ascending the opposite hill, we were again on the high prairie. Before us, twelve or fifteen miles distant, could be discovered the timber of the Elkhorn, which we expected to cross before noon;—to our right we could yet perceive the timber of the Missouri, and the Old Council Bluffs, where formerly there was a fort for the protection of the traders;—and to our left the timber of the Platte.—
Arrived at the Elkhorn, we saw a considerable number of Pawnees, who all appeared glad at our coming to visit them. Here we learnt that a slight affray had taken place the day before, between some Pawnees and a train of emigrants. The readers of the Miscellany have perhaps read of such cases in the newspapers, headed: “Depredation of the Pawnees (or some other Indians) upon a train of emigrants,” and the like, where the blame is generally attached to the Indians. I think it is due to the Indians to state here that the fault does not always lie with them, but very often with the whites. The road of the emigrants lies through the country belonging to the Indians;—their hunting-grounds are traversed by the long lines of white-covered wagons, and the buffaloes, the principal subsistence of the Indians, are thereby chased away to more distant and more secluded pastures, perhaps to regions where it would be unsafe for them to hunt, on account of other tribes inimical to them; and they have thereby been reduced to poverty and want. For all these privations they have been promised presents, as a compensation, from our Government, but thus far they have received nothing. So when the emigrants are passing through their country, they frequently apply to them for tobacco, or some other small presents. It seems that in the above instance, while the Pawnees were hovering around the train, they were refused a present, and one of the men, with the ox-whip, struck an Indian, who came near, which, of course, roused the feelings of the Indians. These accordingly drove off a beef or two, which were then despatched.—