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Historical Encounter and Accounts of the Plains Prairie Dog

by Theodore H. Scheffer

November 1945 (Vol. 13 No. 8), pages 527 to 537.
Transcribed by lhn;
digitized with permission of the Kansas Historical Society.

Kansas Historical Quarterly, November 1945THE student of history, as well as the dilettante who pursues the subject in his leisure hours, is ever inclined to paint a background of his own fancy for the drama of the prairies. It may help, however, in selecting truer colors to know more of the lives of the lesser actors, the creatures of the plains, and one of these, the prairie dog, is the subject of this sketch.

The first of the American explorers to take notice of the prairie dog were Lewis and Clark. This was at a dome near the later. site of Fort Randall, S. Dak., in September, 1804. Quoting from their journals:

As we descended from this dome we arrived at a spot, on the gradual descent of the hill, nearly four acres in extent, and covered with small holes. These are the residence of a little animal called by the French petit chien (little dog), which sit erect near the mouth and make a whistling noise, but when alarmed take refuge in their holes. In order to bring them out we poured into one of the holes five barrels of water without filling it, but we dislodged and caught the owner. After digging down another of the holes for six feet, we found on running a pole into it that we had not yet dug halfway to the bottom. We discovered, however, two frogs in the hole, and near it we killed a dark rattlesnake, which had swallowed a small prairie dog; we were also informed, though we never witnessed the fact, that a sort of lizard and a snake live habitually with these animals. [1]

Patrick Gass of the party, who also kept a journal of sorts, says the investigators took with them all the kettles and other vessels of the camp for holding water, and "though they worked at the business till night they only caught one of them." [2] It is worthy of note here that in this first account of the prairie dog there was mention of some of the associated town dwellers, rattlesnake and horned toad (a lizzard); also that the co-dwelling was not always one of harmonious relations, as some other writers would have us believe. We cannot dismiss the Oregon-bound party without quoting a bit from Lewis' description of the jackrabbit:

The years are very flexable, the anamall moves them with great ease and quickness and can contra[clt and foald them on his back or delate them at

(527)

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pleasure. . . . I measured the leaps of one which I surprised in the plains on the 17th Inst. and found them 21 feet. . . . they apear to run with more ease and to bound with greater agility than any anamall I ever saw. [3]

Another early account of the prairie dog was in the diary entries of Zebulon Pike, on his trip across present Kansas to the famous peak that bears his name, and south from there to contact with Spanish authority. This was in the Summer and autumn of 1806.

Pike's expedition was in the vicinity of old Fort Larned on October 24, and while there he wrote one of the first comprehensive accounts of a prairie dog communal village of which we have knowledge. We quote from it, in part:

We assended the right branch about five miles, but could not see any sign of the Spanish trace. . . . We returned and on our way, killed some' prairie squirrels, or wishtonwishes, and nine large rattlesnakes, which frequent their villages. . . . The Wishtonwish of the Indians, prairie dogs of some travellers; or squirrels as I should be inclined to denominate them; reside on the prairies of Louisiana in towns or villages, having an evident police established in their communities. The sites of their towns are generally on the brow of a hill, near some creek or pond, in order to be convenient to water. . . . Their residence, being under ground, is burrowed out, and the earth which answers the double purpose of keeping out the water, and affording an elevated place in wet seasons to repose on, and to give them a further and more distinct view of the country. Their holes descend in a spiral form, therefore I could never ascertain their depth; but I once had 140 kettles of water pored into one of them in order to drive out the occupant, but without effect. . . . Their villages sometimes extend over two and three miles square, in which there must be innumerable hosts of them, as there is generally a burrow every ten steps in which there are two or more. . . . We killed great numbers of them with our rifles and found them excellent meat, after they were exposed a night or two to the frost, by which means the rankness acquired by their subterraneous dwelling is corrected. As you approach their towns, you are saluted on all sides by the cry of Wishtonwish, from which they derive their name with the Indians, uttered in a shrill and piercing manner. . . . It requires a very nice shot with a rifle to kill them, as they must be killed dead, for as long as life exists, they continue to work into their cells. It is extremely dangerous to pass through their towns, as they abound with rattlesnakes, both of the yellow and black species; and strange as it may appear, I have seen the Wishtonwish, the rattlesnake, the horn frog, of which the prairie abounds, . . . and a land tortoise all take refuge in the same hole. I do not pretend to assert that it was their common place of resort, but I have witnessed the above facts more than in one instance. [4]

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About five years later an English traveler and naturalist took the field, one John Bradbury. He came, as he said to explore "the interior of Upper Louisiana and the Illinois Territory, for the purpose of discovering and collecting subjects in natural history, either new or valuable." 5 After some preliminary collecting on the lower Missouri, he joined up with the Astoria expedition of the Pacific Fur Company, under W. P. Hunt, which was ascending the Missouri river. On May 23, 1811, he first writes in his Travels of seeing the prairie dog, near the location of present Springfield, S. Dak. To quote, in part:

[sketch of prairie-dog town]

A Prairie-Dog Town As Sketched in Josiah Gregg's
Commerce of the Prairies (1855).

At a small distance from my route I noticed a space, of several acres in extent, of a more vivid green than the surrounding prairie, and on my nearer approach it had the appearance of a rabbit burrow. From the previous descriptions given by the hunters, I immediately conceived it to be what it proved, a colony of the prairie dog. The little animals had taken the alarm before I reached their settlement, and were sitting singly on the small hillocks of earth at the mouth their holes. They were very clamorous, uttering a cry which has some resemblance to a shrill barking. I shot at several, but at the instant of the flash, they darted with surprising quickness into their holes, before the shot could reach them. . . . [June 3.1 On my route this day I saw numerous colonies of the prairie dog; and from the frequency of the occurrence, I noticed that my approach to their burrows was announced by the screams of a species of corlieu. I shot one, and ascertained

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it to be a variety of Scolopax arquata [European woodcock] ; and perceived, after I noticed the fact, that the alarm was invariably given. [6]

In this third account of a prairie-dog community there is still no mention of the little owl that should be a co-dweller in any well appointed colony. The "species of corlieu" referred to by Bradbury was probably the common killdeer that is under your feet and in your ears wherever you may roam at the time of year indicated.

Another traveler of the same year, 1811, was H. M. Brackenridge, whose Journal of a voyage up the Missouri mentions the prairie dog. He had set out, as he says, "in a spirit of adventure," with twenty-five men of the Missouri Fur Company. He says, "I had heard that the magpie, the Missouri rattlesnake, and the horn frog, were observed to frequent these places; but I did not see any of them, except the magpie." [7] This was way up the Missouri and not on the plains proper, however, and the magpie may have been on the prairie-dog townsite merely looking for a scavenger's breakfast.

Early in 1819 Maj. Stephen H. Long was commissioned by John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, to head a military expedition to the Rocky Mountains. With the expedition were two young scientists whose youth was crowned with the glorious privilege of being first in a field of unexplored life. They were Dr. Edwin James, itinerary historian of the party, and Thomas Say, zoologist. With them was an assistant naturalist, T. R. Peale. For our purposes here we will quote parts of their itinerary reports and add a few personal comments. First, Dr. James:

[June 14, 1820; near Grand Island, in the Platte.] The high and barren parts of this tract are occupied by numerous communities of the Prairie dog or Louisiana marmot. . . . As particular districts, of limited extent, are, in general, occupied by the burrows of these animals, such assemblages of dwellings are denominated Prairie dog villages by hunters and others who wander in these remote regions. . . . The hole descends vertically to the depth of one or two feet, whence it continues in an oblique direction downward. A single burrow may have many occupants. We have seen as many as seven or eight individuals sitting upon one mound. . . . When fired upon [at the edge of their holes], they never fail to escape, or if killed instantly to fall into their burrows. . . . As they pass the winter in a lethargic sleep, . . . [they] defend themselves from its rigors by accurately closing up the entrance of the burrow.
[June 16.] We passed a number of prairie dog villages, some of them extending from two to three miles along the river. Though much in want of

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game, most of our exertions to take these animals were without success. A number were killed, but we were able to possess ourselves of no more than two of them. These we found to be in good condition and well flavoured. Their flesh nearly resembles that of the ground hog, or woodchuck.
[June 24.] We found a constant source of amusement in observing the unsightly figure, the cumbrous gait, and impolitic movements of the bison; we were often delighted by the beauty and fleetness of the antelope, and the social comfort and neatness of the prairie dog.
[July 4.] Rattlesnakes of a particular species are sometimes seen in these villages. . . . This is the species of serpent which travellers have observed to frequent the villages of the prairie dogs, and to which they have attributed the unnatural habit of voluntary domiciliation With that interesting animal. It is true that the tergeminus, like many other serpents, will secure a refuge from danger in any hole of the earth, rock, or fallen tree, . . . regardless of the rightful occupant; but we witnessed no facts which could be received as proof that it is an acceptable inmate of the dwelling of the Arctomys.
[July 14.] In all the prairie-dog villages we had passed, small owls had been observed moving briskly about. . . . One was here caught, and on examination found to be the species denominated Coquimbo, or burrowing owl. . . . This fellow citizen of the prairie dog, unlike its grave and recluse congeners, is of a social disposition, and does not retire from the light of the sun, but endures the strongest midday glare of that luminary, and is in all respects a diurnal bird. . . . With us the owl never occurred but in the prairie-dog villages, sometimes in a small flock, much scattered and often perched on different hillocks, at a distance, deceiving the eye with the appearance of the prairie dog itself, in an erect posture. . . . [They] rise upon the wing, uttering a note very like that of the prairie dog. . . . The burrows, into which we have seen the owl descend, resembled in all respects those of the prairie dog, leading us to suppose either that they were common, though, perhaps, not friendly occupants of the same burrow, or that the owl was the exclusive tenant of a burrow gained by the right of conquest. [8]

Speaking later of a scene near sunset on the Canadian river, James expresses his delight at viewing a large prairie-dog village on which were grazing also many bison, a number of wild horses, and a small herd of antelope. He says, "A scene of this kind comprises most of what is beautiful and interesting to the passing traveller in the wide unvaried plains of the Missouri and Arkansa." [9]

Commenting on James' notes, we may add: (1) The prairie dog does not hibernate, like some of the burrowing squirrels, but may be seen out of his burrow on almost any bright day in Winter. James had only reports; he was there in the Summer. (2) Neither do these animals close up their burrows in the cold season; burrows

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choked With trash or drift are unused. (3) The co-residence of the rattlesnake is partially explained, above; the snake is there also for predaceous reasons and is not welcome. (4) The owl does not gain a burrow tenancy by conquest, but makes use of abandoned holes for shelter and nesting.

The naturalist Thomas Say, of the Long expedition, investigated more carefully the owl tenancy of prairie-dog towns. He reports, August 3, on the Arkansas river:

A considerable number of the coquimbo or burrowing-owl occurred in a prairie-dog village of moderate extent. . . . On examining the several burrows, at which the owls had been observed to be perched, we remarked in them a different aspect from those at which the prairie dog had appeared; they were often in a ruined condition, the sides, in some instances, fallen in, sometimes seamed and grooved by the action of the water, in its course from the surface to the interior, and, in other respects, presenting a deserted aspect, and, like dilapidated monuments of human art, were the fit abode of serpents, lizards, and owls. The burrows, at which we saw the prairie dog, were, on the contrary, neat, always in repair, and evinced the operations of industrious tenants. [10]

Instructions to the Long party were to ascend the Platte to its source and return to the Mississippi by way of the Arkansas and the Red. The expedition had reached the mountains before mid-July and on July 13 and 14 James and two companions made the first recorded ascent of the peak bearing Pike's name. Previous to this the party had kept as a landmark on their way up from the plains another peak Which they supposed to be Pike's. This, later, was named Long's Peak, and James was also commemorated by another elevated mountain spur. Near present La Junta the party divided, one of our naturalists, James, going With Long down the Cimarron and the Canadian rivers, and Say following the Arkansas. Unhappily for science, three renegade soldiers deserted from the Say division en route, taking with them some of the naturalist's priceless manuscripts."

It may be of interest to note here, before leaving the expedition, that in the previous August, 1819, Thomas Say had made a side trip from Fort Osage to the Kansas Indian village, across the Blue from present Manhattan, and had written very interestingly of this tribe, by Which he was well received. On this occasion, also, he had been unfortunate in being robbed by the Pawnees on his return journey. He missed the boat toiling its way up to Council Bluffs,

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but later caught up with the party, after wintering at Isle au Vache.12 Continuing in order of historical chronology, we find next on the plains one James O. Pattie, the son of a Kentucky Indian fighter who was, in turn, the son of an Indian fighter of the same territory. This Pattie III went with his father and a party of traders and trappers up the Platte and branches of the Republican. He did not contribute much to the lore of the prairie dog, except to jot down on August 27, 1824, somewhere in southwestern Nebraska:

Here we saw multitudes of prairie dogs. They have large village establishments of burrows, where they live in society. They are sprightly, bold and self important animals, of the size of a Norwegian rat. [13]

We may consider this last an odious comparison, besides being inaccurate. Following these men of lesser rank but of more glory in our estimate, came a prince of the realm to the plains in 1833, Alexander Philip Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied. He had been an officer in the Napoleonic wars but had a saving penchant for exploration and natural history. Accompanying him was a hunter and a talented Swiss artist, Charles Bodmer. He arrived at Fort Leavenworth on April 22, 1833, for a voyage up the Missouri in a steamboat of the American Fur Company on its annual trip to its trading posts. After a year and a month he was back again at Fort Leavenworth with a wealth of manuscript notes and observations, in German, and treasures of Bodmer's art. But, being primarily an ethnologist, he gave only a modicum of attention to the prairie dog. Here we record it, in translation: [May 13, 1833, near Ponca creek, South Dakota.] In this neighborhood are many villages of the prairie dogs, in the abandoned burrows of which, rattlesnakes abound. It has been affirmed that these two species of animals live peaceably together in these burrows; but observers of nature have proved that the snakes take possession of abandoned burrows only, which is in the usual course of things.
[May 18.] The buffalo hunters returned to the vessel at the same time with us; they had, indeed, missed their object, but had killed a large buck antelope, as well as a great many prairie dogs, the heads of which were all mutilated by the rifle balls. As these little animals retreat to their burrows, on the approach of any strange object, and only put out their heads, the Americans, with their long rifles, generally hit them in this part; they are a favorite food among them. [14]

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If by "Americans" the Prince meant plainsmen, mountaineers and Indians, among them the prairie dog no doubt was a favorite food. The name "dog," however, probably palled on the appetites of later Americans. We have never known fricassee of prairie dog to become popular in this country, except, when associated with corndodgers, it by necessity graced the menus of pioneer homesteaders.

Another traveler and writer who contributed to our ken of the prairie dog in the 1830's was Josiah Gregg, Whose journals were published under the title Commerce of the Prairies. He had been ordered by his physician to take the field for his health; which he did with such beneficial results to himself, and to us, that he followed the Santa Fe trail for eight years as trader and self-appointed journalist. We quote from his journals:

[June 1, 1839, near the Canadian river.] But what attracted our attention most were the little dog settlements, or, as they are more technically called, `dog towns,' so often alluded to by prairie travellers. As we were passing through their `streets,' multitudes of the diminutive inhabitants were to be seen among the numerous little hillocks which marked their dwellings, where they frisked about, or sat perched at their doors, yelping defiance, to our great amusement-heedless of the danger that often awaited them from the rifles of our party; for they had perhaps never seen such deadly weapons before.
[June 6.] We had not progressed far before we found ourselves in the very midst of another large `dog town.' . . . As we sat on our horses, looking at these `village transactions,' our Comanche guide drew an arrow for the purpose of cutting short the career of a little citizen that sat yelping most doggedly in the mouth of his hole, forty or fifty paces distant. The animal was almost entirely concealed behind the hillock which encompassed the entrance of his apartment, so that the dart could not reach it in a direct line; but the Indian had resort to a manoeuvre which caused the arrow to descend with a curve, and in an instant it quivered in the body of the poor little quadruped. The slayer only smiled at his feat, while we were perfectly astonished.
[From Gregg's chapter on "Animals of the Prairies."] But of all the prairie animals, by far the most curious, and by no means the least celebrated, is the little prairie dog. . . . The color ranges from brown to a dirty yellow. The flesh, though often eaten by travellers, is not esteemed savory.
Its yelp, which resembles that of the little toy-dog, seems its only canine attribute. . . . Some have supposed, it is true, that like the marmot, they lie torpid during the cold season; . . . but this is no doubt erroneous; for I have the concurrent testimony of several persons, who have been upon the prairies in winter, that, like rabbits and squirrels, they issue from their holes every soft day; and therefore lay up no doubt a hoard of `hay' (as there is rarely anything else to be found in the vicinity of their towns) for winter's use. . .

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They generally locate upon firm dry plains, coated with fine short grass, upon which they feed; for they are no doubt exclusively herbivorous. . They must need but little water, if any at all, as their `towns' are often, indeed generally, found in the midst of the most arid plains-unless we suppose they dig down to subterranean fountains. . . . Two other animals appear to live in communion with the prairie dogs-the rattlesnake and a small owl; but both are no doubt intruders, resorting to these burrows for shelter, and to feed, it is presumed, upon the `pups' of the inmates. [5]

To comment again: (1) The prairie dog stores no more than perhaps a lunch, at times. The animal feeds, as does the antelope and the bison upon the buffalo grass and the grama grasses of their habitat, nutritious at any season of the year. (2) They do not dig wells on their townsites; some of the latter are probably as far from water vertically as they are known to be horizontally. Many of the lesser animals can get their needed water supply from their food, even synthetically; and sip the dew when nature offers it. (3) The little owl does not feed upon the "pups" of the prairie dog, but upon grasshoppers and crickets, hunting mainly in the evening and at night.

Not always the layman, but sometimes the missionary of the Cross is attracted to the grass of the fields and the cony of the rocks, even the galaxies of the firmament; and so we have among them amateur naturalists and budding astronomers. Of the former was Father Pierre Jean De Smet, S. J., revered missionary to the Northwest Indians and sponsor of treaties and covenants that made for peace on the plains and mountains. His reports, in French, include observations on the prairie dog, which follow here, in part:

[St. Ignatius river, September 10, 1841.] The Prairie Dog, in shape, color and agility, more resembles the squirrel than the animal from which it has taken its name. They live together in separate lodges, to the number of several thousands. The earth which they throw up to construct their lodges, forms a kind of slope which prevents the rain from entering the holes. At the approach of man, this little animal runs into its lodge, uttering a piercing cry, which puts the whole tribe on their guard. After some minutes, the boldest show a part of their heads, as if to spy the enemy, and this is the moment which the hunter chooses to kill them. The Indians informed us that they sometimes issue in a body, apparently to hold a council, and that wisdom presides over their deliberations. They admit to their dwellings the bird of Minerva, the striped squirrel, and the rattlesnake, and it is impossible to determine what is the cause of this wonderful sympathy. It is said, too, that they live only on the dew of the grass root, a remark founded upon the position of their village, which is always found where the ground is waterless and barren. [16]

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We may say here, as well as anywhere, that the dwelling of the prairie dog is adapted to its observed habits. About two feet down, vertically from the "hillock," is a turning bay gouged out on one side, where the animal retreats and squares about to await developments. From here it can verify its suspicions of danger, or check up on the tocsin of mates or owl tribe that drove it down. The alarm note of the coquimbo is much like that of the prairie dog; but the twilight call of this little owl is questing, Weird, mournful. From the turning bay of the burrow the descent is first at a more or less steep angle and then nearly horizontal to the chambers of abode. The vertical depth of the latter may be as much as ten or twelve feet.

The Indians' idea of a council of prairie dogs is probably a conception of their lore and legends. We have observed only family groups at a burrow entrance. The little striped squirrel mentioned by Father De Smet is of practically the same stripe and pattern that We have in Kansas.

In the Spring of 1841 the ambitious little Republic of Texas organized an expedition to seek annexation of Santa Fe. The party was of only semi-military composition, being composed in part of business adventurers. At the Rio Grande, however, they met paternalistic and armed Spanish-Mexicans, and that was the end of their plans for conquest. George W. Kendall, a New Orleans editor Who was a guest of the expedition, left us this brief record of prairie dogs encountered somewhere along the route. He says:

A singular species of owl is invariably found residing in and about the dogtowns. . . . One . . . [prairie dog] had perched himself upon the pile of earth in front of his hole, sitting up and exposing a fair mark, while a companion's head was seen poking out of the entrance, too timid, perhaps, to trust himself farther. A well-directed ball from my rifle carried away the entire top of the former's head, and knocked him some two or three feet from his post perfectly dead. While reloading, the other boldly came out, seized his companion by one of his legs, and before we could reach the hole had drawn him completely out of sight. . . . Rattlesnakes, too, and of immense size, dwell in the same lodges with the dogs. . . . We killed one a short distance from a burrow, which had made a meal of a half-grown dog; and although I do not think they can master the larger animals, the latter are still compelled to let them pass in and out without molestation-a nuisance, like many in more elevated society, that cannot be got rid of.

Finding a dry mesquit, we broke off some of the larger branches, kindled a fire, and cooked for each man a dog. The meat we found exceedingly sweet, tender, and juicy-resembling that of the squirrel, only that it was much fatter. . . [17]

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We are inclined to doubt the vicarious rescue of the headless prairie dog; sounds loco. We are safe in saying, however, that we have never witnessed anything of the sort.

Probably we should close this historical sketch with one more observer of prairie-dog residence and activity on the plains. There have been many others Who wrote interestingly of this little social animal and its attendants. But the year is 1845, which about closes an epoch of travel and exploration and brings us to horizons of the Mexican adventure, the Colorado gold fields, the Mormon migration and the Oregon trail. We present, then, some account of the prairie dog by Joel Palmer, in his Journal of Travels Over the Rocky Mountains, To the Mouth of the Columbia River `. . . , with a company of Oregon trailers:

[June 10, 1845, near forks of the Platte.] In getting to our encampment, we passed through a large dog town. These singular communities may be seen often, along the banks of the Platte, occupying various areas, from one to five hundred acres. The one in question covered some two hundred or three hundred acres. The prairie-dog is something larger than a common sized gray squirrel, of a dun color; the head resembles that of a bulldog.
Their food is prairie grass. Like rabbits, they burrow in the ground, throwing out heaps of earth. . . . Some kind of police seems to be observed among them; for at the approach of man, one of the dogs will run to the entrance of a burrow, and, squatting down, utter a shrill bark. At once, the smaller part of the community will retreat to their holes, while numbers of the larger dogs will squat, like the first, at their doors, and unite in the barking. . . . It is singular, but true, that the little screech-owl and the rattlesnake keep them company in their burrows. I have frequently seen the owls, but not the snake, with them. The mountaineers, however, inform me, that they often catch all three in the same hole. The dog is eaten by the Indians, with quite a relish; and often by the mountaineers. . . [18]

In Kansas, at least, the days of the prairie dog's ascendancy have passed and they are probably near extinction, along with the buffalo and the antelope with whom they were so long and intimately associated. But we will not sing their swan song here. We are hopeful, however, that Western ranchers of the Sunflower State will save a small colony here and there, that bonds of nature may still tie us to these social squirrels that shared the plains and the prairies with the pioneers.

Notes

1. Wheeler, Olin D., The Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1904 (New York and London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926), New ed., v. I, pp. 177, 178.
2. Gass, Patrick, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery, Under the Command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke of the Army of the United States (Pittsburgh, 1807), p. 37.
3. Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed., Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 180#-1806 (New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1905), v. VI, p. 130.
4. Pike, Maj. Z. M., An Account of Expeditions To the Sources of the Mississippi, And Through the Western Parts of Louisiana, To the Sources of the Arkansaw, Kansas, La Platte, And Pierre Jaun, Rivers; (Philadelphia, 1810), pp. 155, 156. See, also, Coues, Elliott, The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, . . . (New York, Francis P. Harper, 1895), v. II, pp. 429-431.
5. Bradbury, John, Travels in the Interior of America, in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811; . . . (Liverpool, 1817), p. 9.
6. Ibid., pp. 73, 74, 99.
7. Brackenridge, H. M., Views of Louisiana; Together With a Journal of a Voyage Up the Missouri River, in 1811 (Pittsburgh, 1814), p. 239.
8. James, Edwin, comp., Account of An Expedition From Pittsburgh To the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819 and '20, . Under the Command of Major Stephen H. Long (Philadelphia, 1823), v. I, pp. 451-453, 455, 474, 499, 500; v. II, pp. 36, 37. See, also, Thwaites, Reuben Gold, Early Western Travels, v. XV, pp. 221-223, 225, 226, 248, 278, 279; v. XVI, pp. 27, 28.
9. James, op. cit., v. 11, p. 148; Thwaites, Early Western Travels, v. XVI, pp. 158, 159.
10. James, op. cit., v. II, p. 200; Thwaites, Early Western Travels, v. XVI, p. 223.
11. Ibid., v. XIV, pp. 13-17.
12. Ibid., p. 12.
13. Ibid., v. XVIII, p. 53.
14. Ibid., v. XXII, pp. 9-17, 292, 299.
15. Ibid., v. XX, pp. 118-122, 277-281.
16. Ibid., v. XXVII, pp. 262, 263.
17. Kendall, G. W., Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, . . . (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1844), v. I, pp. 191, 193-195.
18. From Thwaites, Early Western Travels, v. XXX, pp. 50, 51.