[219] On this return journey, Palmer took the St. Joseph Trail, which branched off from the usual Oregon Trail near the Little Blue, and followed the valley of the Great Nemaha through the Iowa, Sauk, and Fox reservation to the Missouri opposite St. Joseph. An excellent map of Nebraska and Kansas, presumably issued in 1854, but lacking name of place or publisher, plainly indicates this road. For the removal of these Indians to the reservation in northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska see our volume xxviii, pp. 141, 145, notes 87, 89. The agency was known as the Great Nemaha; it was situated near the mission begun (1837) by the Presbyterians under the direction of Rev. S. M. Irvin. He crossed from Missouri with the Indians, and established his mission twenty-six miles west of St. Joseph, not far from the site of the present Highland, Doniphan County, Kansas. At the time of Palmer's visit, Irvin was being assisted by William Hamilton, and a mission school was in course of establishment.—Ed.
[220] For St. Joseph see our volume xxii, p. 257, note 210. This was not a mission site, but a trading post. The first church built (1845) was the Presbyterian, under the care of Rev. T. S. Reeve.—Ed.
[221] For a contemporary notice of Palmer's arrival in St. Louis, see Niles' Register, lxx, pp. 341, 416.—Ed.
[222] Since this letter was written, the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude has been established by treaty as the boundary line between the governments of Great Britain and the United States—except that portion of Vancouver's island south of 49°, which continues under the jurisdiction of Great Britain.—Palmer.
[223] Flowers have been seen in the last winter, and winter before, from the 20th of January.—M. W.
[224] The first creek is that now called Alpowa, in Asotin and Garfield counties, Washington; it is a southwestern tributary of the Lewis. Tukanon River, in Columbia County, Washington, the largest southern affluent of the Lewis west of Lewiston, was known by Lewis and Clark as the Kimooenem.—Ed.
[225] At present it will require one man to a thousand in the winter to protect from wolves. But Strycknine is a sure poison with which to destroy them.—M. W.
[226] These rivers have all been noted in the text, ante. By "Rose" the author intends Rogue River.—Ed.
[227] Clover (native) is more abundant in June.—M. W.
[228] Probably what are called species here, are in many cases only a variety of the same species.—M. W.