Osage River

“ The Illinois, and the great eastern tributary of the Osage, {144} receive numerous streams from the western slope of the Ozark mountains, but they traverse a region hitherto very imperfectly known. It appears, however, that these two rivers drain all the north-western side of the mountainous range in question. Black river runs nearly parallel, that is, from north-east to south-west, along the south-eastern side of the range. Its sources are in the district of the lead mines, and at no great distance from those of the Merameg and the St. Francis. ”

“ Beyond the Osage river, the southern bank of the Missouri was low, and covered with rushes; and occasionally with oak, ash, and walnut-trees. On the north, the land was, in some places, rich, and well adapted to agriculture. Near the mouth of Big Manitou Creek, the voyagers met a raft, formed of two canoes joined together. On this, two French traders were descending, from the river Kanzes: it was laden with beaver-skins, which they had collected during the winter. ”

“ When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. ”

“ These hunters are chiefly located on the White, Arkansas, and Red rivers. Their numbers may be computed at a thousand or fifteen hundred. The late division of the Territory will throw nearly all of them into Arkansas.
The principal tribe of Indians in this Territory are the Osages, a powerful nation residing on the Osage river. They are remarkable for their tall stature, and their fine proportions. It is very rare to see any of them under six feet. They inhabit a delightful country, and are in amity with the United States. ”

“ The party was occupied in hunting, in the course of which, they caught in [8] the woods several very large rats. We set sail early the next morning, June 1st, and at six miles distant passed Bear creek, a stream of about twenty-five yards width; but the wind being ahead and the current rapid, we were unable to make more than thirteen miles to the mouth of the Osage river ”

“ As soon as their silent invocation was ended, the Osage braves stalked gravely towards their richly-caparisoned steeds, and mounting them, rode slowly from the camp. For some miles, their course was along a wide-spread rolling prairie; but soon the presence of trees gave sign of their approaching a river. It was not, however, until nightfall that they gained the banks of the Arkansas. Hitherto, their progress had been open and bold, being within the hunting-grounds of their own people ”

“ Birds and animals seen. Saltpetre earth; stalactites. Cross the alpine summit of the western Ozarks. Source of the Gasconde river Accident in fording the Little Osage river.—Encamp on one of its tributaries.
It was found, as we began to bestir ourselves for wood to light our fire that we had reposed not far from a bevy of wild ducks, who had sought the grassy edge of the lake during the night, and with the first alarm betook themselves to flight. With not so ready a mode of locomotion, we followed their example, in due time, and also their course, which was south. ”

“ At five o'clock arrived at the dividing ridge, between the waters of the Osage and the Arkansaw, alias White river, [I-53] the dry branches of which interlock within 20 yards of each other. The prospect from the dividing ridge to the east and southeast is sublime. The prairie rising and falling in regular swells, as far as the sight can extend, produces a very beautiful appearance. We left our course, and struck down to the southwest on a small [tributary of Elm] creek, or rather a puddle of water. ”

“ The Osage, or (as they call themselves) Wa-saw-see, are a tribe of about 5200 in numbers, inhabiting and hunting over the head-waters of the Arkansas, and Neosho or Grand Rivers. Their present residence is about 700 miles West of the Mississippi river: in three villages, constituted of wigwams, built of barks and flags or reeds. ”

“ Here is the bow of an Osage boy—bend it. Are our women beautiful? Look at them and be convinced."
Despite the fact that civilization has penetrated even remote portions of the United States, and its effects are felt in a greater [Pg 99] or less degree by every savage nation, the Osages in the Indian Territory have returned to many of the old barbarous customs. They had a unique creation story. Old people used to talk of a man, the first of the race, who came out of a shell. They said:
"The father of our nation was a snail, who passed a quiet, happy existence on the banks of our own river. ”

“ The Indian trail which we were pursuing led across the valley. We forded the river on foot. No encampments of Indians were found, nor any very recent traces of them; and we began to think that the accounts of Osage depredations and plundering, must be rather exaggerated. The river pours its transparent mountain waters over a wide bed of pebbles and small boulders, and, at this season, offered but little impediment to the horses or ourselves in crossing it. The sun was getting low, by the time we reached the opposite side of the valley, and we encamped on its borders, a mile or two above. ”

“ Their villages are the first, in ascending the river, and at a small distance beyond them, commences the villages of the Great Osage.
The Osage nation is one of the largest and most formidable, which has yet been discovered in these western regions. Their warriors, including the Little and Great Osage, are computed to amount to two thousand, and about eight thousand souls. They are remarkably tall, large, and ferocious. They are erect, well proportioned, and many of them measure six feet and two or three inches. They are expert hunters, and considered the best warriors in the western country. ”

“ Chouteau formerly had his trading-establishment, the east bank of the river is an entire bed of stone-coal; whence by land by the villages is but nine miles, but by water at least 50. The country round the Osage villages is one of the most beautiful the eye ever beheld. ”

“ The Osage raise large quantities of corn, beans, and pumpkins, which they manage with the greatest economy, in order to make them last from year to year. All the agricultural labor is done by women.
If the government think it expedient to establish factories for the Grand and Little villages, equidistant from both, which would answer for the Grand and Little villages, the other establishment should be on the Arkansaw, near the entrance of the Verdigrise river, for the Arkansaw Osage, as stated by Lieutenant Wilkinson. ”

“ J. Owen Dorsey:
Fig. 167.—Osage chart.
The chart accompanies a tradition chanted by members of a secret society of the Osage tribe. It was drawn by an Osage, Red Corn.
The tree at the top represents the tree of life. By this flows a river. The tree and the river are described later in the degrees. When a woman is initiated she is required by the head of her gens to take four sips of water (symbolizing the river) , then he rubs cedar on the palms of his hands, with which he rubs her from head to foot. ”

“ A head wind forced us to remain there all the next day, during which we dried the meat we had killed, and examined the surrounding country, which consists of good land, well watered, and supplied with timber: the prairies also differ from those eastward of the Mississippi, inasmuch as the latter are generally without any covering except grass, whilst the former abound with hazel, grapes and other fruits, among which is the Osage plum of a superior size and quality. On the morning of the 12th, we passed through difficult places in the river, and reached Plum creek on the south side. ”

“ Captain Lewis was particularly anxious to please the Osages, for they were the first of the powerful tribes whom he might encounter, up the Missouri. He tried to talk with the chiefs in St. Louis; by a trader sent a letter on to the Osage village, asking the head chiefs to meet him at the river and exchange peace presents.
Beyond the Osages dwelt the Otoes, the Missouris, [34] the ’Mahas (Omahas) , the Sioux, the Arikaras, the Mandans, the Minnetarees; and then, who could say? Few white men, even the French traders, had been farther. ”

“ Above the mouth of the Osage, the immediate valley of the Missouri gradually [pg146] expands, embracing some wide bottoms, in which are many settlements increasing rapidly in the number of inhabitants. The Manito rocks, and some other precipitous cliffs, are the terminations of low ranges of hills running in quite to the river. These hills sometimes occasion rapids in the river, as in the instance of the Manito rocks; opposite which commences a group of small islands stretching obliquely across the Missouri, and separated by narrow channels, in which the current is stronger than below. ”

“ In the lower part of its course it traverses broad and fertile bottom lands, bearing heavy forests of sycamore and cotton [pg145] trees. We may expect the country along the banks of this river will soon become the seat of a numerous population, as it possesses in a fertile soil and a mild climate, advantages more than sufficient to compensate for the difficulty of access, and other inconveniences of situation.
The northern bank of the Missouri, for some distance above the confluence of the Osage, is hilly. Moreau's Creek enters three miles above ”

“ Dec.5th. Abraham Schoolcraft, Special Emigrating Agent, reports the safe arrival of the Swan Creeks at their destination on the river Osage. The lands are fertile, the waters good, forest trees in abundance for fire-wood and fences. Everything promises well for their future prosperity. ”

“ Coffin talks with, on subject of Indian Expedition, 102-103, footnote; wants "wagons that shoot," 117; Creeks under, offered home by Osages, 207 and footnote, 229; Ellithorpe complains of, 219, footnote; death, 234
Osage County (Kans.) : 80
Osage Nation: 47, footnote
Osage Reservation (Kans.) : exposed condition of, 55; refugees cross, 79; intruders upon, 222 and footnote; owners unwilling to cede part of, 229-230
Osage River: 27
Osages: 252; bad white men interfering with, 46; disturbances
[pg 393]
among, 46, footnote, 47, footnote; Mitchell schemes to negotiate treaty with, 47, footnote ”

“ 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.) ”

“ Its banks afford exhaustless beds of stone-coal, and some iron and lead is found, while its upper forks reach into the country of the Pawnees—a country rich in salt. The Osage Indians inhabit its banks; but a part of their lands have been purchased by the United States. It is a very beautiful stream, and [Pg 226] situated in a delightful climate; and when its borders are opened for emigration, and its resources properly drawn forth, will support a large population, and a profitable trade. ”

“ There are plenty of places can put it all over that Osage country for straight scenery, but I never saw such a contented-looking place as that big prairie-land was that morning. I've seen it with the tears running down its face, and pretty well draggled and seedy; but when we started out with the sun shining against our cheeks and the hills looking so warm and lazy and the hollows kind of smiling to themselves over something, and the prairie-dogs gossiping worse than a ladies' self-culture meeting, I tell you, it all looked good to me, and I told Frosty so. ”

“ Nothing would suit but he must have the young Osage as a companion and squire in his expedition into the wilderness. The youth was easily tempted, and, with the prospect of a safe range over the buffalo prairies and the promise of a new blanket, he turned his bridle, left the swamp and the encampment of his friends behind him, and set off to follow the Count in his wanderings in quest of the Osage hunters.
Such is the glorious independence of man in a savage state. This youth, with his rifle, his blanket, and his horse, was ready at a moment's warning to rove the world ”

“ The Ottoes, Omahas, and Kansas had permanent villages near the Missouri and its two tributaries, the Platte and the Kansas. The Osages, formerly a large nation in Arkansas, after ceding 10,000,000 of acres for a stipend of $52,000 for thirty years, were settled in a district on the west bank of the Neosho or Whitewater—the Grand River. They are described as the finest and largest men of the semi-nomad races, with well-formed heads and symmetrical figures, brave, warlike, and well disposed to the whites. ”

“ The anticipations of a young man are prone to meet with disappointment. Unfortunately for the Count's scheme of wild campaigning, before we reached the end of our journey, we heard that the Osage hunters had set forth upon their expedition to the buffalo grounds. The Count still determined, if possible, to follow on their track and overtake them, and for this purpose stopped short at the Osage Agency, a few miles distant from Fort Gibson, to make inquiries and preparations. ”