[I-50] Which the party had made on the 3d before Pike joined them. Their camp of the 2d is the first one marked on the map, and this of the 3d is the second one so marked. This we know from the position marked for the 6th, just over the divide, and three camps ahead of this of the 3d. Pike is now first fairly en route. The faulty projection of his map makes him seem to go E. of S. till the 6th, and then turn W. abruptly. The course of the Little Osage is practically from W. to E., and Pike ascends it the whole way, having it at a considerable distance to his right. His trail is over the prairie between the Little Osage and Marmiton rivers. This is to be particularly noted, as some have vaguely supposed Pike "followed up the Osage river," i. e., the main Osage (Pike's "North fork"), and then wondered how he came where we presently find him. In fact, he goes almost due W. from Missouri over into Kansas. Camp of the 3d was in the vicinity of the present town of Little Osage. Gregg's map, on which Pike's trail is traced for the most part with all the accuracy that the small scale allows, starts him into Kansas too far S.—a good way S. of Fort Scott, which is correctly located on the Marmiton.
[I-51] Misleading, at first sight; but "Grand river" here means that stream on which was the Grand Osage village. Pike and Robinson simply took an excursion of 6 m. to the Little Osage and back to camp, supposed to be 13 m. from that of the 3d. It was considerably past Rinehart, and probably in the vicinity of Hoover, a place 2 m. E. of the inter-State line; or perhaps just over this boundary, which here runs on a meridian of longitude (about 94° 37´). This vicinity is notable as the scene of the raid of old John Brown in Dec., 1859, when this extraordinary compound of saint and sinner, whose prophetic visions of the coming struggle had startling distinctness, killed a man and stole some negroes and horses. Pike has entered or will immediately enter the N. E. portion of Bourbon Co., Kas., in the vicinity of places called Hammond, Fulton, and Barnesville. The two former of these are on the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf R. R. I suppose Pike to be about 10 m. N. N. E. of Fort Scott, the county seat of Bourbon. This is a well-known city, on Marmiton r., at the point where Mill cr. falls in. Its military name is a legacy from former days, the fort having been built in 1842; pop. now about 12,000.
From the present station we have to trail Pike clear across Kansas to a point on the Republican Fork of the Kansas r., just over the middle of the northern boundary of the State. This is not easy. It would be impossible to do so with precision, had we only the slender thread of text to guide us. His Indians took him a roundabout way by the Smoky Hill r. The whole country is flat, with a complicated river-system; Pike cuts through it, incessantly crossing creeks and rivers, not one of which does he follow for any considerable distance after he leaves the Osage basin. The names of the many small towns and stations, as well as of the small streams, will be recognized by few non-residents. Fortunately we have the trace dotted on his map, and though this is far out of drawing for absolute geography, its relative positions are recognizable for the most part. I am satisfied that the course I lay down for Pike is true to his route in all its main features. The whole of this Kansan route would be in the Missourian watershed, were it not for the northward extension of the Arkansan basin in the drainage of the Neosho and Vermilion rivers. This Pike enters as soon as he leaves the Osage basin, crosses, and quits before reaching the Smoky Hill: see the two places legended "Dividing Ridge," etc., on his map. If we suppose, what I see no reason to question, that his camp-marks are all right, his marches of Sept. 5th to 17th may be summarized as follows: Sept. 5th, further up Little Osage r.; 6th, over divide to Arkansan waters of the Neosho r.; 7th, approaching the Neosho; 8th, across this river; 9th, further along S. of it; 10th, across subdivide of Vermilion river basin; 11th, heading this river, and across subdivide into Neosho basin again; 12th, across Cottonwood fork of the Neosho; 14th, further along this fork; 15th, across divide from these Arkansan to Missourian waters again; 16th, nearing Smoky Hill r.; 17th, across this river. (Total distance from the Osage villages about 210 m., by Pike's mileages of Sept. 1st-17th about 250 m.) The counties crossed are Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Coffey, Lyon, Chase, Marion, Dickinson, and Saline. Further details in following notes.
[I-52] The whole of this way is W. up along the S. side of the Little Osage, for the most part at a considerable distance from the river, which here has a northward convexity. But for some miles after leaving Camp Independence, Pike must have kept pretty close to the south side of the Little Osage, to avoid the unnumbered mounds into which the country further to his left is broken. The hill to which Pike came in the forenoon represents a rise from the general 750-foot level hitherto traveled to about 1,100 feet. From its southern slopes, Mill and Wolverine creeks gather to flow into the Marmiton at and near Fort Scott; while from the other side some small runs seek the Little Osage. Camp is in Bourbon Co., somewhere in the vicinity of Xenia, Zenia, or Hay, a small place near a branch of the Little Osage.
[I-53] Pike does not mean that the Arkansaw r. itself is otherwise called White r., but the waters of the Arkansaw River basin he has reached are those of a river called the White, which is perfectly true. He elsewhere calls this Grand r. He also discusses whether this White r. be a tributary of the Arkansaw or of the Mississippi, and comes to the latter erroneous conclusion. This White or Grand r. of Pike is the Neosho; a large stream which waters much of southeastern Kansas, leaves the State in Cherokee Co., enters Indian Territory, and falls into the Arkansaw on the boundary between the Cherokees' and the Creeks' country. Its general course is S. E., then S. Pike lays it down pretty well on his map, by the name of Grand r., and I find it so charted on various modern maps. Pike runs it into the Arkansaw all right, and makes its Cottonwood fork the main stream, out of all proportion to the little creek he traces for the other fork; but there is not much difference in the two streams, which unite in Lyon Co. some 8 m. below Emporia. From the vicinity of Xenia, in Bourbon Co., Pike has to-day continued about W., by or near the station Bayard of the Mo., Kas., and Tex. R. R., in Allen Co. Having thus headed all Osage (Missourian) waters, he strikes and crosses the divide, and camps on the head of a small tributary of Elm cr., a branch of the Neosho (Arkansan waters). I suppose his camp to be at a point about equidistant from Bayard and two other places called respectively La Harpe and Wise—perhaps rather Bayard, La Harpe, and Morantown.
[I-54] The two streams concerned in Pike's approach to the Neosho are Elm and Deer creeks. Elm is the large forked one which falls in close below Iola, county seat of Allen. Deer cr. is the next above, falling in about 4 m. above Elm cr. Pike's map indicates that, after passing some insignificant heads of Elm cr., he got into its forks, then crossed its north branch near Iola, and camped on Deer cr., very near the junction of this with the Neosho. I do not know whether horses can swim in Deer cr.; if not, the only alternative stream would be the Neosho itself. But the map sets Pike on the east branch of Deer cr., and there I leave him.
[I-55] The Neosho, Neozho, or Neocho r. "A grand fork of the White river" is ambiguous; but becomes intelligible if we remember that he has just spoken of the "Arkansaw, alias White river." Pike's ideas of what he calls "White" and "Grand" r. were not clear. There is no stream in his present vicinity large enough to be dignified as the "grand fork" of the Neosho itself; we must understand him to mean the Neosho, as being itself a grand fork of whatever he meant by "White" r. The Neosho was long and often called Grand r.; "Neosho or Grand R." is lettered on Gregg's map. Pike never says where he crossed the Neosho, nor in fact does he inform us that he ever crossed it—unless it was when he swam his horses. But that was on the 7th. However these uncertainties be regarded, two facts are certain: Pike was across the Neosho on the 8th, and he crossed it between Iola and the town of Neosho Falls, Woodson Co. I think the crossing was a little above the mouth of Deer cr.
[I-56] West for a few miles, then about northwest, up along the Neosho, but at several miles' distance from that river, on the dry prairie, and passing from Woodson into Coffey Co. As to the "second branch" on which is camp: Pike charts three streams passed to-day, running to his right into the Neosho, and marks his camp on the third one of these. I take these to be Turkey, South Big, and North Big creeks; and suppose that Pike camped on the last of these. It is true that these all three unite in one before falling into the Neosho; but Pike passed them too high up to observe their connections. Turkey cr. is practically a separate one, as it falls into Big cr. only about one-quarter of a mile above the mouth of it; and the connection of North and South creeks, much higher up, may be implied in his speaking of the "second branch" on which was camp (Turkey cr. then answering to a first branch). The single mouth of the three streams here in mention falls into the Neosho about 2 m. west of Leroy. If it seems rather a stretch to get Pike some distance up North Big cr. to-day, it may be remembered that the place he crossed the Neosho was not determined with precision; and that we have to find him to-morrow, at 11 miles' distance, on a large creek up which he can go over the divide to the heads of Verdigris r. There seems to be no alternative.
[I-57] The total of 12 m. does not agree with the text, which calls for 11 + 4½ = 15½. Eagle cr. seems to have been struck about on the boundary between Coffey and Lyon cos., where Four Mile cr. falls into it. It is a considerable stream, which heads in the divide about Olpe (a place on the A. T. and S. Fé R. R.), is increased by Harper, Hoosier, and other tributaries, and runs E. into the Neosho a mile and a half above Strawn (a place on the Mo. Pac. R. R.). To reach Eagle cr. from North Big cr. Pike passed opposite Burlington, seat of Coffey Co., several miles to his right, and headed the small Otter cr., on or near which is a place called Patmos.
[I-58] It may not be possible to decide which of the several branches of Eagle cr. Pike went up to the divide. To send him up the main branch, past Olpe, agrees best with his 21 m. to-day; but in that case he must have breakfasted late. There is a sharp elbow in his dotted trail, which would seem to indicate that he made a turn from his former course over the divide. Aside from any questions of detail, which perhaps could not be decided even by a resident of the region traversed, we have Pike safe on the headwaters of Vermilion or Verdigris r. (it has these alternative names on recent maps). It heads in the divide which Pike has crossed, by numerous small tributaries, several of which Pike charts. Among them are Haldemand and Tate, heading opposite branches of Eagle cr., and further on Moon, Rock, Fawn, and Camp creeks. The Verdigris is of a size smaller than the Neosho, W. of which it runs in an approximately parallel course; it leaves Kansas through Montgomery Co., enters Indian Territory, and in the country of the Creek Indians falls into the Arkansaw 8 m. above the mouth of the Neosho. Pike lays it down well, especially the fan-shaped leash of branches in which it heads, but runs it into the Arkansaw in common with the Neosho. The Verdigris has of course its proper basin or drainage within the more general watershed of the Neosho and other Arkansan as distinguished from Missourian waters. The rim of this basin is the divide Pike crosses over to-day. He camps on one of the small headwaters, probably Fawn or Camp cr., in the close vicinity of the places called Elco and Verdigris.