Concerning the exact location of Pike's post on the Conejos, I am favored with the following letter (cited in substance) from Mr. Maguire, an old resident of the San Luis valley:

"Denver, Colo., April 18th, 1894.

"My Dear Sir:

"... As to the disputed stockade on the Conejos: I am entirely familiar with that country, and had fixed it as having been situated in the prairie on the N. bank of the stream due across from what is known as the Ojo Caliente. Before writing the preface to the Denver reprint of Pike, I had made up my mind to that, although it was contended in the neighborhood that the stockade had been situated some 14 or 15 m. from the mouth of the stream. This supposition was due to the fact that Lafayette Head, the oldest American settler on the Conejos, who came there early in the fifties, was lieutenant-governor of this state, and a man of high standing and much authority, had asserted that the fort had been built much further up the stream than the site I had accepted. In 1890 I saw Mr. Head upon the subject, and he told me that when he first came to the country there still existed on the Conejos the remains of a structure of cottonwood logs laid horizontally, which he had seen, and which was so old that the logs would scarcely bear the weight of one's foot. Upon this evidence, with or without suggestion from some source, he concluded it was Pike's fort, and so gave out; whence the prevalent impression. That Mr. Head saw this structure there is no question. I have no idea what it was, or when or by whom built; but it would be useless to pursue this matter, because Mr. Head is positive that the location was on the south side, and therefore the structure cannot have been Pike's. The Ojo Caliente above mentioned is on the property of Mr. A. W. McIntire, as is also the prairie opposite, on the north bank of the river. Mr. McIntire is a Pike enthusiast, very much interested in the case. When in Denver recently he startled me by stating that we had been in error as to the exact location, as he had become convinced it was about half a mile below the Ojo Caliente. This half-mile bears a remarkable relation to the statement in your letter to me: 'I have it probably within half a mile.' Mr. McIntire says that the depression caused by digging the moat is still visible. The place is on the north bank of the Conejos, opposite some warm or mineral springs flowing out of the hill on the south side; and Mr. McIntire informs me that the spot is a little north of the center of Sect. 7, T. 35, R. 11.

"Very truly yours,
"W. M. Maguire."

Later correspondence on this subject with Mr. Maguire includes a letter and sketches from Gov. McIntire, who is satisfied that he has the exact site. He marks it on a township map which he transmits, as on the middle of the W. line of the N. W. ¼ of the N. E. ¼ of Sect. 7, T. 35, R. 11, just across the Conejos, under a hill from out of which flows a mineral or thermal spring which never freezes, at a point so chosen that the current in the river would not cut the ditch around the work. Gov. McIntire's sketch represents the ditch as 2½—3 feet deep, 68 steps long (including an unbroken place of 13 steps), and of semi-circular figure; the two ends of this figure against the river, in a small deep bend, so that the river and the ditch inclose an oval space 37 steps in the longest diameter. This seems large for such a temporary work as Pike started, but he tells us that it was never finished, and Gov. McIntire is persuaded that the ditch is not a natural formation. I am therefore led to believe that he has found the right spot.

[III-44] That our friend Robinson was, in plain English, a spy, is incontestible. If he had any other object in joining the Expedition, it is certain that he had no other in leaving it than to find out what he could about New Spain for the benefit of his own country. Had it been in actual war times he could have been hanged or shot by the Spaniards without violation of the customs of nations. As it was, Pike felt so apprehensive for Robinson's personal safety that when the two met in New Mexico Pike at first affected not to know Robinson, for fear of putting him in jeopardy, and he denied point-blank to the Spanish authorities that Robinson was one of the party. They had parted on the Conejos with a perfect understanding on such points; indeed, General Whiting calls it "in pursuance of a previous scheme" that Robinson set out alone for Santa Fé; meanwhile, Pike sat down on the Conejos to wait for the Spaniards to come and catch him. The ostensible object of Robinson's visit to Mexico was fictitious; Pike says himself that the commercial claim Robinson pretended to have was worthless "in his hands." Whiting observes that "it was transferred to Dr. Robinson, who was to make it a pretext for a visit to the place, and a cover for observing its trade and resources, for the benefit of his countrymen. He regarded the excursion as a romantic adventure, and in that mood detached himself from the protection of his friend and commanding officer." (Life of Pike, p. 272.)

The ultima ratio of Pike's presence on the Rio Grande in Spanish territory will probably always remain in question, unless some documentary evidence, not yet forthcoming, should turn up to show whether he came there by accident or design. Perhaps the safest ground to take would be to suppose it the particular accident of a general design. His open and official instructions required him to "approximate" to the Spanish possessions; he was to spy out all the land and see how it lay, politically as well as geographically; hunt up the Comanches; and make a counter-demonstration to Malgares' spirited raid, involving a reconnoissance in force as a military operation. This may all be true of the general design of his expedition, but it may as easily be true that he lost his way in searching for the Red river, and only found his way to the Rio Grande by accident. This seems to be the view of his biographer, General Whiting, who was a very competent critic of Pike's military career, and who wrote in comparatively short historical perspective, though he does not seem to have possessed, or at any rate to have utilized, any private sources of information. Whiting fully acquits Pike of intentional errancy, and gives no hint that he is keeping anything back that would support any other view of the case than that which he presents, without apparent reserve or arrière-pensée. Some of his expressions may be here cited. Speaking of Pike's seeing a Mexican newspaper with an account of Burr's conspiracy, he remarks, p. 277: "This afforded a clew to the suspicions with which his movements on the Mexican frontier had most naturally been regarded. It was not surprising that he should have been looked upon as forming one of the ramifications of the revolutionary scheme which that distinguished individual had projected.... It was true, that he had been found, with a belligerent aspect, in the Mexican country; but his apology was ready, and, no doubt, acceptable; while he knew that the Mexican authorities had lately violated, in a similar way, the soil of the United States, for which no apology could be rendered.... His misapprehensions of the geography of the country, which led him to establish himself in such a suspicious manner, on a foreign river, were excusable, bewildered as he was among mountains and streams that were likely to confuse all calculations. Still, it was natural for the Mexican authorities to regard his conduct, at first, as the result of a design, rather than a mistake, particularly when taken in connection with Colonel Burr's contemporaneous movements; and their treatment of him must be considered under the circumstances, as having been marked by much consideration." General Wilkinson also alludes to the assertion that had been made, that the expedition which resulted in the orders he had given Pike "was a premeditated coöperation with Burr." The Mexicans, it seems, were not alone in their suspicions and expressions to that effect.

However the bottom facts of Pike's coming on the Rio Grande may turn out to be, it is certain that after he had been captured and taken to Mexico under the diplomatic disguise of a polite invitation to visit the governor, who had heard of his having lost his way, hastened to send to his rescue, etc., Pike turned spy and informer with great agility and signal success. He kept his temper well in hand, except on one or two occasions; and in several instances showed that art which diplomacy has been defined to be. He bore himself with courage, dignity, and much fertility of resources; while that duplicity and prevarication which he confesses his conscience condoned, if it did not justify, were never indulged from personal considerations, but from his intense patriotism. His love of his country was the crucible in which he assayed his own motives; that was fervid enough to relax the rigidity of morals he professed and practiced on all ordinary occasions, and induce a certain ethical elasticity, so to speak, if not actually to melt all scruples. Patriotism must sometimes shake hands with Jesuitism in this wicked world; and the majesty of the flag, like the glory of God, must be maintained by human means. Abstract questions of the adaptation of means to ends are best left with casuistry. Pike's methods, while he was the distinguished guest of a half-hostile foreign power, may be questioned by some, but his motives by none; and as for his ends, we know that nothing succeeds like success. The results are well summed by his biographer, p. 282, in words which I will cite:

"At the time Captain Pike explored those regions of our wide-spread interior, almost nothing authentic was known of them. More satisfactory information of the headwaters of the Mississippi than was in the possession of the public was highly desirable, and his narratives relating to them were read with interest. But his accounts of the Mexican territories were looked for with much more interest, and when they came out were received with avidity. The jealous policy of Spain had surrounded her provinces with guards and restraints, that rendered them almost inaccessible. Their condition and prospects were veiled from all foreign observation; and at the time Captain Pike obtained, through an unintentional aberration from his prescribed route, access to them, unusual attention was turned upon the Mexican country by the events of Burr's conspiracy. This extraordinary transaction had awakened an intense curiosity respecting a region which was known to abound with gold, and which precious metal was supposed to have been its ultimate object. The trial of Colonel Burr was beginning, or in progress, when Captain Pike returned, and was known to have visited the El Dorado, on which this individual was said to have fixed an eye of cupidity and ambition. Scarcely anything had been heard of Mexico since the conquest of Cortes, excepting vague reports of the unbounded wealth that flowed from its mines into the public and private coffers of Spain. It is not strange, then, that Captain Pike's tour through some of its provinces should have been regarded as a rare and most opportune work. His statements were of course founded on hasty and imperfect observations, it being obvious from his journal, that, from the time he left Santa Fe, until he reached the United States, he was under a surveillance, and could only take notes by stealth. He could neither survey attentively what passed beneath his eye, nor inquire about that which he did not see, without exciting suspicion and provoking a rebuke. Still, with an acute eye, and a retentive memory, he appears to have gathered up many new and interesting facts, that were well received at the time."

[III-45] It is uncertain to what work we are here referred. There may be some old military treatise, well known in Pike's time, to which he thus alludes; but I think it most likely that he means his own Observations on New Spain, which formed a part of the App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed. of this work, and which included a considerable account of the military establishment of that country. If so, the "Essai Militaire" in question will be found beyond.

[III-46] My editorial function becomes extremely distasteful, with Pike's reiterated insistence upon affecting to believe himself upon the Red r., and expecting us to believe him. See note⁴⁴, and imagine Dr. Robinson starting off alone to walk from the Red r. into Santa Fé! I have blinked the business thus far, but I cannot keep my eyes shut to the end of this chapter, as there is worse to come in the miserable straits to which Captain Pike reduces himself through his awkwardness and inexperience in telling lies. He bluffs the thing through, to be sure; but at the present juncture he catches himself in the meshes of his own falsification. For, supposing he had really been on the Red r., as he declared he believed; he had crossed that river, and gone 5 m. up a stream on the other side of it; so he was absolutely in Spanish territory, and this he must have known perfectly well. On the 22d he says, p. 507, that he "began to think it was time we received a visit from the Spaniards or their emissaries," which shows that he was expecting to be caught. When they come, he makes a show of resistance by blustering a little, then hauls down his flag and goes with them peaceably enough—probably not only a willing captive, but one who had all along intended and desired to be taken into the enemy's country for purposes of his own. And back of this sorry scene there looms the sinister shadow of General James Wilkinson, the traitor and conspirator with Aaron Burr—let the curtain fall.

[III-47] Doubtless the more eligible Mosca Pass instead of the Sand Hill Pass: see note³⁹, p. 492. A clause in Pike's next sentence is so singularly constructed as to leave the sense obscure; he simply means to call attention to the fact that Meek and Miller had asked him to order them on that trip.

[III-48] Rio Culebra of present maps—next below Trinchera cr.

[III-49] Escopets or escopettes: the carbine or short rifle used by Spanish-Americans.

[III-50] The roll-call now is:

1. Interpreter Vasquez and Private Smith on the Arkansaw. (2.)

2. Privates Dougherty and Sparks in the mountains, with frozen feet. (2.)

3. Sergeant Meek and Private Miller gone to the relief of the foregoing. (2.)

4. Corporal Jackson and one man (Private Carter) left on the Rio Conejos to await the coming of the foregoing six. (2.)

5. Dr. Robinson gone ahead to Santa Fé. (1.)

6. Pike therefore sallies forth under escort of the Spanish dragoons with the following: Privates Brown, Gorden, Menaugh, Mountjoy, Roy, Stoute. (7.)

Total 16, present or accounted for.

[IV-1] Chapter IV consists of an article which came first in the App. to Pt. 2 of the orig. ed., pp. 1-18. This had no number among the various pieces of which that Appendix was made up; but as it came first, and the next piece was No. 2, the lack of numeration was a mere inadvertence, and it is to be taken pro formâ as No. 1. It was lengthily entitled: "A Dissertation On the Soil, Rivers, Productions, Animal and Vegetable, with General Notes on the Internal Parts of Louisiana, compiled from observations made by Capt. Z. M. Pike, in a late tour from the mouth of the Missouri, to the Head Waters of the Arkansaw and Rio del Norte, in the years 1806 and 1807; including Observations on the Aborigines of the Country." Such notes as I should otherwise have to offer on the substance of this Dissertation are for the most part already made in the foregoing three chapters of the Itinerary. The present chapter may therefore be passed without remark, excepting in so far as concerns some new points that come up for notice.

[IV-2] Read Missouri—"Mississippi" being the slip of a pen which had so often written the latter word. The clause means that muddy backwater from the Missouri ran some way into the Gasconade.

[IV-3] The river which the Expedition crossed was of course the Neosho, which Wilkinson was correct in stating to fall into the Arkansaw a short distance below the Vermilion or Verdigris—"a quarter of a mile," his Report says. Pike's wrong conclusion is not here animadverted upon, as it has been set right before; but I wish to note that the "White river of the Mississippi" has given rise to much confusion, from the very simple circumstance that it is a branch both of the Mississippi and of the Arkansaw. It runs into the very crotch between these two, and has a sort of a delta of its own, as well as a double debouchment. Various maps consulted on this point, as I have never been on the spot, differ in that some run White r. into the Arkansaw, some into the Mississippi, and some into both these rivers. The latter seems to be the present arrangement; but this may have repeatedly altered in former times.

[IV-4] The route from the Missouri, at or near the mouth of the Kansas—that is, from old Westport (now Kansas City), Mo., and Independence, Mo.—to the great bend of the Arkansaw, near the mouth of Walnut cr., was established as an overland highway during the '20's, when it began to be regularly taken by the traders' caravans en route to Santa Fé. The trade attained such proportions that some years merchandise of the value of $250,000 and $450,000 was hauled over this road: see Gregg's statistics for 1822-43, Comm. Pra., II. 1844, p. 160. Pack-animals or wagons were used, 1822-25, but after that wagons only; and these soon wore a road as plain as a turnpike. It will be interesting to go over this road, and identify the camping-grounds of those hardy pioneers by the modern names of the places on and near their route; especially as no railroad now follows this primitive trace exactly. It held a pretty straight westward course, bearing all the while southward; the distance from the usual starting place (Independence, Mo.) was called 300 m. roundly, but is somewhat less than this. The most noted point on the route was Council Grove, so called since 1825, when the U. S. Commissioners Reeves, Sibley, and Mathers, who there treated with the Osages, gave the place its present name. In the most general terms, the road followed the divide between Kansan waters on the N., or right hand going W., and on the other, first those of the Osage (a branch of the Missouri), then those of the Neosho (a branch of the Arkansaw), and finally those of the Arkansaw itself. But the route was nearly everywhere in the latter water-shed; after the first few miles, every stream crossed ran to the left. In some places, the divide between the two sets of streams had little breadth; one place was called The Narrows, the approximation was so close. The wagon-train that started from Independence usually left "the States" the first day out, and entered "the Indian territory"—that is, it went from the present State of Missouri into the present State of Kansas; and all the rest of the way to Great Bend was through the latter. Let us look up some maps and itineraries of half a century ago—say Gregg's, pub. 1844; Wislizenus', of 1846; and Beckwith's, 1853—to see what sign-posts they set up. These point to such places as the following, in regular order from E. to W.: Independence and Westport, Mo.—Big Blue camp—Round Grove, Lone Elm, The Glen—Bull cr., Black Jack cr. and pt., Willow springs, and The Narrows—two Rock creeks in succession—One Hundred and Ten Mile cr.—Bridge cr.—Dwissler's or Switzler's cr.—five creeks to which the names First Dragoon, Second Dragoon, Soldier, Prairie Chicken, Elm, and One Hundred and Forty-two Mile attach in some itineraries and are to be collated with Fish and Pool, or Fish and Pleasant Valley, of others—Bluff cr.—Big Rock cr.—Big John spring and cr.—Council Grove, on its own cr.—another Elm cr.—Diamond spring and cr.—Lost spring and Lost or Willow cr.—Cottonwood cr.—two or three Turkey creeks in succession—Little Arkansaw r.—several Little Cow creeks, among them one called Chavez or Charez and Owl—Big Cow cr.—approach to the Arkansaw r. at Camp Osage—up the Arkansaw to Walnut cr. and thus to Great Bend. From such indicia as these it may not be difficult to reopen the road in terms of modern geography. 1. Independence maintains its independence as the seat of Jackson Co., Mo., 2 or 3 m. S. of the Missouri r., and about the same E. of Big Blue cr.; but Westport is practically absorbed in the suburbs of Kansas City, Mo. Starting from Independence, the first halt on the prairie, after crossing Big Blue r., was likely to be "Big Blue camp." This was about the heads of Brush cr., a small tributary of the Big Blue from the W., and in the vicinity of present Glenn. Being nearly on the present inter-State boundary, it was the "jumping-off place" from "the States," where the traveler entered "the Indian territory." The military road between Forts Towson (on Red r.) and Leavenworth passed by. A little to the N. W. was the Shawnee agency and mission, on a branch of Turkey cr., the first tributary of the Kansas from the S.; Shawnee is there now, and other places on Turkey cr. are called Merriam, South Park, and Rosedale; the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf R. R. meanders Turkey cr. into Kansas City. The position is about lat. 38° 59´ N. and long. 94° 35´ W. 2. About 5 m. further S. W. the road passed by Lenexa, Johnson Co., and a camp could be made on a head of Indian cr., which is a small stream joined by Tomahawk cr. before it reaches the Big Blue. The road continued S. W., approximately by the present S. Kan. R. R., and thus past Olathe, now seat of Johnson Co., where six tracks diverge in various directions. This is in the center of the county, near the head of Indian cr., on the head of Mill cr., a tributary of the Kansas, and near the head of a branch of Cedar cr., another Kansan affluent. 3. "Round Grove," "Lone Elm," or "The Glen" was a camping-place on one of the heads of Cedar cr., between Olathe and the village of Gardner; it was reckoned 15 m. from Big Blue camp, and 22 m. from Westport. Thus far the Santa Fé route coincided with the even more celebrated "Oregon trail." But at a point beyond Gardner, in the direction of Edgerton, and 6 or 8 m. from Round Grove, the road forked—that is, the Oregon trail struck off to the right in the N. W. direction of the Kansas, while the Santa Fé trail kept on the left-hand fork westward. 4. Bull cr. is still so called, or specified as Big Bull cr. to distinguish it from Little Bull cr. which, with other tributaries, such as Rock, Ten Mile, and Wea, it receives before it falls into Marais des Cygnes (main Osage) r. This is the creek on which is Paola, seat of Miami Co., near the junction of Wea cr., and it was the first of the Osage waters which the road crossed. The crossing was high up on its main course, between Gardner and Edgerton, whence the road continued W. from Johnson into Douglas Co. 5. From the crossing of Bull cr. it is 9 m. to Black Jack cr. and pt., so called from the kind of oak (Quercus nigra) which grows there. Black Jack is still the name of a place between the heads of Captain cr. (tributary of the Kansas) and Rock cr. (a branch of Bull cr.); it is 3 m. due E. of Baldwin City. 6. "Willow springs" was a noted camping place W. of Baldwin City, on one of the heads of Ottawa cr., which flows southward into the Marais des Cygnes r., a little below Ottawa, county seat of Franklin. The distance of Willow springs from the crossing of Black Jack cr. is 10½ m. Willow springs seems to be the same place that was called Wakarusa pt., or was at any rate very near it. Here the approximation of Kansan and Osage waters is very close, and this is the place which consequently became known as "The Narrows." The interlocking is between several heads of the Ottawa cr. just said and some tributaries of Cole cr., a branch of the Wakarusa. Camp could also be made at a place called Hickory pt., short of Willow springs by 3 or 4 m. 7. Two "Rock" creeks were passed at distances given as 9 and 12 m. from Willow springs by some writers, and quite differently by others; some also mention but one "Rock" cr. Eight Mile cr. was headed if not crossed by the road; and beyond this the road crossed one or both heads of Appanoose cr. These creeks are tributaries of the Marais des Cygnes, falling in a mile apart at Ottawa and just beyond. Part of the uncertainty about these "Rock" creeks arose from the fact that they often ran dry, were woodless, and thus ineligible for camping-grounds; hence they would often be passed without remark. The names seem to me to apply rather to the two forks of the Appanoose than to the main fork of the latter and to Eight Mile cr. 8. One Hundred and Ten Mile cr., which still floats its long name, was so called because it was taken to be 110 m. from Fort Osage, our earliest establishment of the kind on the Missouri. This was built in Sept., 1808, at Fort Point (present Sibley: see L. and C., ed. 1893, p. 30), and was sometimes called Fort Clark. The creek in mention was crossed at a point taken to be 24 m. from Willow springs, and thus in the vicinity of present Scranton, Osage Co. It is a branch of the Dragoon cr. we have next to consider. 9. Continuing nearly due W., the road crossed several heads of present Dragoon cr., in the vicinity of Burlingame, Osage Co. This is a comparatively large creek, which runs southeastward to fall into the Marais des Cygnes near Quenemo. That one of the several heads of Dragoon cr. on which Burlingame is situated is now called Switzler's cr.; the next beyond is the main source of Dragoon cr., into which a branch called Soldier's cr. falls, about 2 m. W. of Burlingame. But none of the older itineraries I have consulted speak of either "Dragoon" or "Soldier's" cr.; instead of which, they give a certain Bridge cr., as crossed 8 m. W. of One Hundred and Ten Mile cr. This is precisely the distance given by Beckwith for his "Dwissler's" cr. No doubt "Switzler" and "Dwissler" are the same person's names; but whether this has always been applied to the same creek may well be doubted. The "First Dragoon" cr. is now Dragoon cr.; the "Second Dragoon" cr. is now Soldier's cr.; these were passed near their confluence. 10. In the next few miles the road crossed in rapid succession several heads of the Marais des Cygnes itself, thus finishing with the Osage water-shed. Three of these are now known as Onion, Chicken or Prairie Chicken, and Elm; the latter is the main head, and seems to be the one which appears as "Fish" cr. in the early narratives—the name by which it is mapped both by Gregg and by Wislizenus. A fourth head of the Marais des Cygnes which the road crossed is that now known as One Hundred and Forty-two Mile cr., which joins the main stream much lower down than the other three. This is mapped by Gregg as Pool cr. and by Wislizenus as Pleasant Valley cr. All four of these streams are crossed in Lyon Co., the boundary between this and Osage Co. having been passed at long. 95° 50´ 57´´ W. nearly. 11. The road continued across Big Rock cr., having first passed its branch, Bluff cr. This is a tributary of the Neosho. It is probable that the Bluff cr. of early writers refers to the main Big Rock rather than to the branch now called Bluff, as it is the last one they give before coming to—12. Big John cr., another tributary of the Neosho, which was crossed immediately before Council Grove was reached; on which account, as well as for its beautiful spring and eligible camping-ground, it early became noted under the name it still bears. 13. Council Grove, now the seat of Morris Co. This was always the most marked place on the route—a sort of halfway station between the Missouri settlements and the great bend of the Arkansaw. Its area was indefinitely extensive along the wooded bottom-land of the Neosho, or, as it was called here, Council Grove cr.; but as the situation became peopled, settlement was made chiefly on the W. or right bank of the stream, at the mouth of Elm cr., a tributary from the W. This is not far from the center of a tract about 45 m. square known as the Kansas Trust Lands, of which the Kansas Diminished Reserve is a southwestern portion. Council Grove is only some 8 m. from the boundary between Lyon and Morris Co., which runs on a meridian close by the course of Big Rock cr. 14. The road continued W. up the left or N. bank of Elm cr. for about 8 m., crossed it at or near present station Milton of the Topeka, Salina, and Western R. R., and went on S. W. to Diamond spring, about 8 m. further. This was a camping place high up on the waters of Diamond or, as it is also called, Six Mile cr., a branch of the Cottonwood. 15. Hence W. about 16 m. to Lost spring, on Lost or Clear cr.—that branch of the Cottonwood which falls in at Marion. This place is a little over the border of Marion Co., and a town or station Lost Spring perpetuates the name, at the point where the Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska R. R. crosses a branch of the A., T., and S. F. R. R. 16. From Lost spring the route turned S. W. 17 m. to the Cottonwood, approximately by the present railroad line, and struck that river at or near Durham, Marion Co. 17. Continuing S. W. and then bearing more nearly W., the road passed by or near Canton and thence to McPherson, both in the county of the latter name. Both are situated among the heads of Turkey cr., a branch of the Little Arkansaw; two or three of these were crossed. When two were noted, it used to be by the names of Little and Big Turkey creeks; map names are now Running Turkey, Turkey, and West Turkey; McPherson is on the last of these, some 25 m. from the crossing of the Cottonwood. The Turkey creeks vary very much in character with season and the weather. 18. The road continued about 20 m. to the crossing of the Little Arkansaw, in the vicinity of the place now called Little River. 19. In 10 m. the road reached one of the tributaries of Cow cr., and it was 10 more before all of these were passed; there are five or six of them, and some hardly ever run water. One of them is now called "Jarvis" cr.: see note¹⁰, p. 424. Another is known as Long Branch; between this and Little Cow cr. is Lyons, seat of Rice Co., and beyond this Big Cow cr. is crossed. 20. The road now makes for the Arkansaw on a due W. course, and comes on to that river at a place which was known as Camp Osage, in the vicinity of present Ellinwood, Barton Co. This town is only 3 m. from the mouth of Walnut cr., and the city of Great Bend is a mile or two beyond that.

[IV-5] This wild notion was a pet of Pike's, which he indulged to the extent of embodying it in the title of his book, and making his map fit it. No man can go, afoot or on horseback, in anything like one day, from any possible position, to the sources of all those rivers. It can be taken as an indication of the really close approximation of certain pairs of rivers, which drain from opposite sides of the same range, or made elastic enough to suit the situation about Mt. Lincoln, where some heads of the Grand, the Arkansaw, and the South Platte approximate; but the other rivers are entirely out of the question. Owing to Pike's ignorance of the existence of the North Platte, all that he says in various places of his hypothetical Yellowstone comes nearer the facts in the case of the Platte. "La Platte" he only knew from the sources of the South Platte.

[IV-6] This "Mr. M'Cartie" was Le Chevalier Macarty, Makarty, etc., who in 1751 succeeded Le Sieur de St. Clair as major-commandant of the Illinois. He was by birth an Irishman, became a major of engineers, and served about nine years in the position indicated. The far-famed Fort Chartres is called by Wallace "the only great architectural work of the French in the entire basin of the Mississippi, over which, in succession, had proudly floated the flags of two powerful nations." Old Fort Chartres, or De Chartres, supposed to have been so named for the Duc de Chartres, son of the then Regent of France, was built in 1719 and 1720, under the direction of Pierre Duqué de Boisbriant, the king's lieutenant for France, at the expense of the Company of the West; it at once became military headquarters and the center of authority, and was long prominent in the French history of Illinois. It was rebuilt in 1753-56 during Major Macarty's incumbency, upon the plans of the French engineer Saucier, at an estimated cost of 5,000,000 livres; and this "new Chartres" is described as a "huge structure of masonry, an object of wonder and curiosity to all who ever beheld it"—some of these being antiquarians of the present day. The historic fortress suffered encroachments of the Mississippi for several years; it was finally dilapidated during a freshet in 1772, then evacuated by the British garrison, which removed to Fort Gage, and never reoccupied. We have many memorials of the progress of its decay, as well as of the period of its greatness: see Wallace's Illinois and Louisiana under French rule, 1893, pp. 270, 271, 313-318, which include various important references, notably to Pittman, whose description of the fort as it was in 1766 is transcribed, and to Beck's Gazetteer, giving a plan of the fort from observations made in 1820. The name stands for a steamboat landing near Prairie du Rocher, Randolph Co., Ill.

[V-1] The following Report was written by Lieutenant Wilkinson at a time when it was expected I had been cut off by the savages. It consequently alluded to transactions relative to the Expedition previous to our separation, which I have since corrected. But the adventures of his party, after our separation, are given in his own words.—Z. M. P.

The above explanatory note by Pike stood alone on p. 19 of the App. to Pt. 2 of the orig. ed. Wilkinson's Report, of which Chapter V. now consists, formed Doc. No. 2 of that Appendix, running pp. 20-32. It rehearses the movements of Pike's party to Oct. 28th, 1806, when the two officers separated at Great Bend, and Wilkinson started down the Arkansaw. It thus serves to some extent to check Pike's narrative, but is chiefly notable in this respect for some discrepancies which I have been unable to adjust. Lieutenant Wilkinson's health was not good during his descent of the Arkansaw, and he endured much hardship; to which causes is doubtless due in part the lack of anything very notable in his Report. James Biddle Wilkinson was the son of General James Wilkinson of Maryland. He entered the army as a second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, Feb. 16th, 1801; was transferred to the 2d Infantry, Apr. 1st, 1802; became first lieutenant Sept. 30th, 1803, and captain Oct. 8th, 1808, and died Sept. 7th, 1813.

[V-2] The toise is an old French measure of length equal to six French feet or 1.949 meter, and therefore to about 6.4 English feet.

[V-3] The party reached and crossed the Neosho Sept. 9th, and struck the Smoky Hill fork of the Kansas r. on the morning of the 16th: see those dates in Pike's itinerary, and notes there.

[V-4] There are material discrepancies between Wilkinson's and Pike's accounts of the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, not easy to reconcile, even supposing the two officers were separated a part of the time. Pike comes first to what he calls "Little Saline" r., and then to Great Saline on the 11th; Smoky Hill r., 12th; 7 m. beyond it to head of a branch of it, 13th; over the divide, 14th, to Cow cr.; and is lost on Walnut cr., 15th. His map puts a camp-mark on Little Saline, date uncertain; one on Great Saline, 11th; one on Smoky Hill r., 12th; and none for 13th, 14th, or 15th. Wilkinson comes first to Grand Saline, 11th; "Second or Small Saline," 12th; Smoky Hill, 13th; over divide and on to a branch of the Arkansaw, also on the 13th; reaches Arkansaw 14th, about midnight. We have here a day miscounted; reverse sequence of the two Saline rivers; and several camp-marks misplaced or missing. All this adds to the trouble we found in trying to follow Pike's itinerary, and I do not see how the difficulty can be adjusted. What seems certain is: 1. Great Saline r. reached or crossed on the 11th; Smoky Hill r. reached or crossed on the 12th; divide crossed and camp on Cow cr., 13th, 14th; Wilkinson on the Arkansaw at midnight of the 15th, when Pike and Robinson were lost on Walnut cr.

[V-5] Again a discrepancy from Pike. According to his diary he left the party at 5 p. m., 15th, with Dr. Robinson; was lost, 16th and 17th; found and brought to Wilkinson's camp on the Arkansaw, 18th; so Wilkinson could have remained but two days in suspense, which was relieved on the third day. As Pike himself informs us that he "corrected" Wilkinson's Report for the time they were together, yet evidently failed to make it fit his own, we may be excused if we do not succeed in the attempt. On some points I suspect Wilkinson came nearest the facts. He did not lose his notes and supplement from memory, as Pike was forced to do; he was not hunting for the Spanish trail, nor for buffalo; and he did not get bewildered on Walnut cr.

[V-6] Both accounts fortunately agree on this notable date—the day on which Pike started up the Arkansaw and Wilkinson down the same river. The distance made by the latter on the 28th sets him about the mouth of Antelope cr., a small run that makes in on the right or south a mile above the mouth of Walnut cr. Here he remained on the 29th and 30th. There is obviously no possibility of following him closely through his benumbed voyage; we can only check his course at the most notable points.

[V-7]
[V-8] Wilkinson's, "bold running stream" and his "large creek" are probably identifiable by the above data; but in my ignorance of these details I can only presume, without knowing, that he means Cow cr. and the Little Arkansaw, these being the two principal tributaries of the Arkansaw in Kansas below Great Bend. Cow cr. is the same stream whose headwaters Pike and Wilkinson came upon before they reached Great Bend: see note¹⁰, p. 424; but it falls in much lower, at Hutchinson, Reno Co., Kas. The Little Arkansaw is that river at whose mouth is Wichita, seat of Sedgwick Co., Kas. Both these streams course very obliquely to the Arkansaw, from the N. W., and fall in on the left bank.

[V-9] "Negracka" is here an error; Wilkinson means the Ninnescah, Nenescah, or Nenesquaw r., which falls in from the W. on the right hand; town of Whitman, Sumner Co., Kas., at its mouth. This is the only instance I have ever known of the misapplication of the name Negracka, which belongs absolutely to, and was long the current name of, the Salt fork of the Arkansaw: see next note. Thus, we read in Morse's Gazetteer, 1821, p. 499: "Negracka River ... falls into the Arkansaw from the N. W. It is 100 yards wide." The Nenescah is a smaller stream than this. It is lettered "Ne-ne-sesh, or Good Riv." on a map of the Indian Terr., etc., Engineer Bureau, War Dept., Oct., 1866. Between his Negracka or the Nenescah r., and his Neskalonska or the Salt fork of the Arkansaw, Wilkinson passes the following streams: 1. Slate cr., from the N. W., traversing Sumner Co. obliquely; 2. Walnut cr. (formerly Whitewater r.), from the N., with an average course nearly due S., through Butler and Cowley cos., Kas., to fall in at Arkansaw City; 3. Grouse cr., from the N. E., in Cowley Co., its mouth nearly on the boundary between Kansas and Oklahoma; 4. Chilockey or Chilocco cr., over the Oklahoma line, school reservation there; 5. Deer cr., from the W., very small; 6. Beaver cr., from the N. E., whose mouth is at the Kaw or Kansas Agency; 7. South Coon cr., from the N., but falling in on the right, very small; 8. Turkey cr., from the N., but mouth on the right, between Cross and Ponca stations of the Arkansaw branch of the A., T., and S. F. R. R.

[V-10] "Neskalonska" is a name I have failed to find elsewhere, but fortunately there is no question of the river to which Wilkinson applies it. This is Salt fork, the third largest branch of the Arkansaw from the W.—the Cimarron being second, and the Canadian first in size. Wilkinson's "Neskalonska" and his "Grand Saline or Newsewtonga" are respectively Salt fork and Cimarron r. of present nomenclature. Notwithstanding their great size and importance, and the fact that they fall into the Arkansaw about a degree of latitude and of longitude apart, they have been completely confused by geographers, on whose maps almost every name of each has been misapplied to the other. Salt fork is the upper and smaller one of the two, which falls in through the Ponca Reservation, at or near Ponca P. O. and Ponca Agency, in Oklahoma. Cimarron r. is the lower and larger one of the two, which falls in through the Indian Territory at a point on the boundary of Oklahoma. Salt fork has been called: Salt fork; Salt r.; Salt cr.; Saline fork; Saline r.; Saline cr.; Red fork; Red r.; Little Arkansaw r. (duplicating a name: see note⁸, p. 548); Nescutango r.; Negracka r. (its usual name for many years); Semerone, Cimarone, Cimmaron, Cimarron r.—the last four variants of the same word, and like Nescutango, properly belonging only to the next, viz.: Cimarron r. This has been called: Red fork; Saline r.; Grand Saline r.; Jefferson r.; Nesuketong, Nesuketonga, Nesuhetonga, Nescutanga, Newsewketonga r.; Cimmaron, Cimarron r. On analyzing the comparative applicability of these names, I find that "Salt" or "Saline" belongs most properly to the upper and smaller stream, for which we now use it, and when applied to the lower is usually qualified as Grand Saline; that "Red" is misapplied to both indifferently; that "Little Arkansas" is only applied to the upper, and "Jefferson" only to the lower stream; that "Negracka" is absolutely the name of the upper one alone; that "Nesuketonga" and its variants are almost entirely confined to the lower one; and finally that "Cimarron" in its variations is equally common to both, though in present usage it is absolutely restricted to the lower one.

These data rest upon the examination of a large lot of old maps with special reference to the points involved, with the assistance of Mr. Robert F. Thompson of the Indian Bureau at Washington. These maps show a curious reversal in the size of the two rivers, the earlier and poorer ones making the upper stream the larger of the two, and conversely. Furthermore, the tendency has always been to call the larger one "Cimarron" and "Red," no matter which its position. Aside from this, the most sharply contrasted pairs of names are "Salt" and "Negracka" for the upper stream, and "Red" and "Nesuketonga" for the lower one. Thus, to be more specific: 1. John Melish's map of the U. S., engr. by J. Vallance and H. S. Tanner, pub. Philada., 1820, has Negracka, upper, larger; Jefferson, lower, smaller. 2. H. S. Tanner's map of N. Amer., in the New American Atlas, pub. Philada., 1823, map dated 1822, has Negracka or Red r., upper, larger; and Nesuhetonga or Gr. Saline, lower, smaller. 3. The American Atlas, pub. Philada., H. C. Carey and I. Lea, 1823, has a map of the U. S., with Negracka or Red Fork, upper, larger, and Grand Saline, lower, smaller; also, a map of the Arkansaw, etc., drawn by Major S. H. Long, with Negracka or Red Fork, upper, larger; and Nesuketonga or Grand Saline, lower, smaller; also, a map of Mexico, etc., based on Humboldt, etc., by J. Finlayson, with these very same names. 4. A. Finlay's map of North America, pub. Philada., 1826, has upper larger stream Negracka or Semerone R.; lower one, very small, Grand Saline. 5. A map of Mexico in Anthony Finlay's Atlas, pub. Philada., 1830, has Negracka, upper and larger; the lower smaller one unnamed. 6. A map of North America in Tanner's Atlas, pub. Philada., Carey and Hart, 1843, has Negracka, upper and larger; Gr. Saline, lower and smaller; the map of Mexico and Guatemala, in this atlas, represents the two as Red Br. and Saline. 7. On Josiah Gregg's map of the Indian Territory, etc., in Morse's N. A. Atlas, pub. N. Y., Harper and Brothers, 1844, also accompanying Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, the two rivers are represented of about the same size, the upper one being lettered Cimarron R. and Salt Fork; the lower, Red Fork of the Arkansas R. This is a notably good map for its date, and in the matter now under examination may be taken as the turning-point to a better understanding of the facts in the case. 8. On a map of Texas, etc., pub. Philada., S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846, the upper and still larger river appears as Cimarone or Salt Fork; the lower, as Red Fork. 9. On a map of Mexico issued by H. S. Tanner, 3d ed., 1846, the upper, larger stream is given as Semerone, Negracka, or Red River; the lower, as Saline. 10. On a map of the U. S. in Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World, by J. Calvin Smith, pub. N. Y., Harper and Brothers, 1855, the upper stream is called Cimarron or Salt Fork; the lower, Red Fork of Arkansas. 11. Emory's beautiful map of the Western U. S., pub. 1857-58, has Salt Fork for the upper and much smaller stream, and Red Fork of the Arkansas for the other. 12. A map of Kansas, etc., in Mitchell's Atlas of 1861, represents the upper stream as Cimarron River, the lower as Red Fork of the Arkansas. 13. The map of N. A. in Johnston's Family Atlas, pub. N. Y., Johnston and Ward, 1864, shows the two in a peculiar manner, and calls the upper one Semerone, the lower one Nesuketong. 14. The Office of Indian Affairs has on file a very fine map of the Indian Territory, drawn by Ado Hunnius from the reconnoissance of Lieutenant J. C. Woodruff in 1852, and from a War Dept. map of 1866, on which the upper and now smaller river appears as Salt Creek or Nescutanga, or Salt Fork of the Arkansas, and the much larger lower one as Cimarron River or Red Fork of the Arkansas. 15. The War Dept. map of the Indian Territory, Engineer Bureau, Oct., 1866, letters for the smaller upper stream Nescutango R. and Little Arkansas R.; for the other, Cimarron River and Red Fork of Arkansas River. 16. A manuscript map by John C. McCoy, on file in the Office of Indian Affairs, has Red Fork for the upper, and Ne se ke tonga for the lower one. 17. On a cabinet map of the U. S., pub. Chicago, Rufus Blanchard, 1868, the upper one is called Little Arkansas River, the lower one being styled Red Fork of Arkansas River. 18. A map of the U. S. in Mitchell's Atlas of 1874 shows the upper and larger stream as Cimmaron or Salt Fork, and the smaller lower one as Red Fork; the map of Texas in the same atlas shows only the latter, given as Red Fork of Arkansas. 19. The General Land Office map of the Indian Territory, 1879, letters for the upper river Salt Fork of Arkansas R., and for the other Red Fork of the Arkansas or Cimarron River; the same Office's map of Oklahoma, 1894, has Salt Fork of Arkansas River for the one, and Cimarron River for the other.

The consensus of the above, aside from the eccentricities and errors involved, is reducible to Salt fork or Negracka r. for the upper one, and Red fork, Nesuketonga, or Cimarron r. for the other one, of these two important streams. One of the curiosities in the matter is the constancy of the form of the word Negracka, as well as its restriction to a single river.

[V-11] The Verdigris, Vermilion, or Wasetihoge r. has been already noticed, when Pike's party reached its headwaters in Kansas: see note⁵⁸, p. 400. The present nomenclature of its principal branches is: 1. Hominy cr., in the Osage and Cherokee countries of the Indian Territory, with a main fork, Bird cr., site of the Osage Agency; 2. Caney r., or the Little Verdigris, falling in by the Blue Mounds in the Cherokee country, and formed of two main forks known as Big and Little Caney creeks, both of which head in Kansas; 3. Elk r., heading in the Kansan county of that name, and falling in above Independence, in Montgomery Co., Kas.; 4. Fall r., one of the terminal forks of the Verdigris, and on which is Fredonia, Wilson Co.

[V-12] See note¹⁰ for synonymy. The Cimarron is a very large river, which drains from the eastern slopes of the great mountains in New Mexico and runs thence through southwestern portions of Kansas, loops into Oklahoma Territory from Meade Co., Kas., loops back into Kansas in Clarke Co., and thence through the S. W. corner of Comanche Co. into Oklahoma again, traverses this Territory, and joins the Arkansaw between the Osage and Creek countries, at a certain point on the line between Oklahoma and the Indian Territory.

In passing from Salt fork to the Cimarron, we have first, Red or Red Rock cr., a sizable stream from the W. or right; places called Redrock and Otoe on it; second, Buck cr., left, from the N., once known as Suicide cr.; third, Gray Horse cr., small, left, from the N. E.; fourth, Black Bear cr., large, from the W., on the right. The Pawnee Agency is on this stream, which some maps wrongly run into the Cimarron instead of the Arkansaw.

[V-13] This is not easily determined, as there are several small streams of similar character between the Cimarron and the Verdigris, among them those called Polecat, Snake, Cane, and Caney (or Pocan) creeks.

[V-14] For these two rivers, see back, notes⁵³, ⁵⁵, pp. 397, 398, and following to p. 402; also, note¹¹, p. 555.

[V-15] This was the so-called "Arkansaw band" of Osages, the circumstances of whose secession from the Osage village on the Little Osage r. are mentioned by Pike elsewhere, as well as by Wilkinson in the present instance. The faction seems to have been fomented by Chouteau through jealousy of Lisa's exclusive right to trade on the Osage r. The affair must have been notorious at the time, as various authors speak of the settlement of this Osage band on the Verdigris or, as it was also called, Vermilion r. Among them are Lewis and Clark: see ed. 1893, p. 12.

[V-16] This Illinois r., still so called, heads in Washington and Benton cos., Ark., crosses the W. border of the State N. of 36°, and runs through the Cherokee country in the Indian Territory, to fall into the Arkansaw a short distance above the mouth of the Canadian. Between the Illinois and Canadian rivers, on the E. side of the Arkansaw, opposite the mouth of Elk cr., is a place called Webber's Falls, with reference to the falls of which Wilkinson speaks.

[V-17] The main fork of the Arkansaw, and scarcely a lesser stream. This is one of the six or seven large rivers which have shared the name "Red" or its equivalent, though less frequently than some of the others. This is because the Mexicans called it Rio Colorado at its headwaters, which they knew very well; and because, down to 1820, these were supposed to be those of the true "Red river of Natchitoches," a branch of the Mississippi. The discovery that this Rio Colorado or Red r. was the source of the Canadian was made by Major Long, who followed it down, thinking he was on the Red r. of Natchitoches, and was not undeceived till he found its confluence with the Arkansaw. This is noted in 1844 by Gregg, and in 1855 by Warren; it was the third attempt made by the United States Government to discover the sources of the true Red r., Captain Sparks having been first, in 1806, and Pike second. "Canadian," as applied to the main fork of the Arkansaw, has no more to do with the Dominion of Canada in history or politics than it has in geography, and many have wondered how this river came to be called the Canadian. The word is from the Spanish Rio Cañada, or Rio Cañadiano, through such a form as Rio Cañadian, whence directly "Canadian" r., meaning "Cañon" r., and referring to the way in which the stream is boxed up or shut in by precipitous walls near its headwaters. These drain from E. slopes of the Raton and other great mountains in New Mexico E. of Taos and Santa Fé, by such streams as the Vermijo (Bermejo), Little Cimarron, Pouñel or Poñi, Rayado, and Ocaté, which join above the cañada, and the Moro, which falls in further down. Leaving New Mexico the great river courses eastward through Texas, enters Oklahoma at long. 100° W. (near lat. 36° N., vicinity of Antelope hills), traverses this territory to about long. 98° W., separates it from the Indian Territory to beyond long. 97° W., and runs in the latter to join the Arkansaw near long. 95° W., in the vicinity of Webber's falls, at a point on the boundary between the Cherokee and Chocktaw countries, about 40 m. E. of the Arkansaw State line. Its principal branch is the North fork, which as far as it goes is a parallel stream, skirting the Canadian for hundreds of miles at no great distance northward of the main stream.

[V-18] Poteau or Potteau r. marks a notable point in this barren itinerary, as it falls in on the boundary between the Indian Territory and Arkansas, immediately above the important and well-known Fort Smith. This is situated on the right bank of the Arkansaw, in Sebastian Co., which the river divides from Crawford Co. Poteau is F. for post, and the name may refer to some early landmark of that sort: see note³³, p. 378. Small tributaries of the Arkansaw between the Canadian and Poteau rivers are Vine cr., left; Sans Bois and Cache creeks, right; Sallison and Skin creeks, left—in the order here named.

[V-19] Wilkinson's "river au Millieu" is apparently that now called Lee or Lee's cr., which makes in between Fort Smith and Van Buren, seat of Crawford Co. It courses mostly in Arkansaw, but loops into and out of the Indian Territory. Four of its branches are called Cove, Brushy, Webber, and Garrison. The F. phrase Rivière au Milieu, equivalent to "Middle" or "Half-way" r., does not seem to have been much used anywhere in the U. S., though it is a still current voyageurs' designation of several different streams in British America.

[V-20] For the Quapaw or Kwapa Indians, see L. and C., ed. 1893, pp. 12 and 98, notes. Together with the Kansas, Osages, Omahas, and Poncas, they constitute a division of the Siouan stock called Dhegiha—a word equivalent to "autochthon." Dr. Sibley gives the names of the three Kwapa villages as Tawanima, Oufotu, and Ocapa: London ed. 1807, p. 53. Quapaw, Kwapa, Ocapa, Oguoppa, Quappa, Kappa, Ukaqpa, etc., are all forms of their name of themselves, meaning "those who went down river." Our knowledge of the village is traced back to Joliet and Marquette, July, 1673; the name Akansa, adopted in some form by the French, is what the Kwapas were called by the Illinois Indians, and the origin of our Arkansas or Arkansaw. The form Acanza is found on Vaugondy's map, 1783. About 230 Kwapas still live in Oklahoma and the Indian Territory.

[V-21] Arkansas Post perpetuates the name of the oldest establishment of whites in the lower Mississippi valley. The present village is on the N. bank of the Arkansaw r., in the county and State of Arkansas, 73 m. S. E. of Little Rock, the capital. Though never a locality of much importance, its place in history is secure and permanent. Early in the year 1685, Henri de Tonti, the famous trusty lieutenant of La Salle, was reinstated in command of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, with titles of captain and governor, by order of the French king Louis XIV. Tonti learned that La Salle was in trouble somewhere in New Spain (Texas), and organized an expedition for his relief. On Feb. 16th, 1686, he left Fort St. Louis, with 30 Frenchmen and 5 Indians, descended the Illinois and Miss. rivers to the Gulf, and scoured the coast for miles, but saw no sign of his great chief. He wrote a letter for La Salle, which he committed to the care of a chief of the Quinipissas for delivery, should opportunity offer, and retraced his way up the Miss. r. to the mouth of the Arkansaw, which latter river he ascended to the village of the Arkensa Indians. There, on lands which La Salle had already granted him, he stationed six of his men, who volunteered to remain in hopes of hearing from the distant commander. This was the origin of the Poste aux Arkansas. La Salle was murdered by the traitor Duhaut, one of several ruffians among his own men who conspired to his foul assassination, some say on one of the tributaries of the Brazos, at a spot which has been supposed to be perhaps 40-50 m. N. of present town of Washington, Tex.; the date is Mar. 19th or 20th, 1687. Seven of the survivors of La Salle's ill-starred colony at Fort St. Louis of Texas, reached Arkansas Post after a journey computed at the time to have been 250 leagues, in the summer of 1687, and found Couture and De Launay, two of the six whom Tonti had stationed there the year before. (See Wallace, Hist. Ill. and La., etc., 1893.) This Tonti (or Tonty), b. about 1650, died at Mobile, 1704, was the son of Lorenzo Tonti, who devised the Tontine scheme or policy of life insurance. Arkansas Post was the scene of Laclede's death, June 20th, 1778. The place was taken by the Unionists from the Confederates, Jan. 11th, 1863.

[VI-1] General Wilkinson's instructions to Lieutenant Pike were conveyed in the form of two letters, of June 24th and July 12th, respectively, made in the orig. ed. pp. 107-110 of main text of Pt. 2, though they were set in smaller type as a sort of preface or introduction. But as no such preliminary is observed in the other two parts of the book, and as these orders are in the form of letters from the general to his lieutenant, I think they are preferably brought in here. By this single transposition the whole of the correspondence relating to the Arkansaw expedition is brought together in chronological order to form the present Chapter VI.

[VI-2] On the subject of our then strained relations with New Spain I have examined much unpublished manuscript in the Archives of the Government at Washington, but most of it has become a matter of well-known history, needless to bring up here. It is well understood that Pike had secret instructions from the traitor, General Wilkinson, over and beyond those which were ostensible; and no doubt the main purpose of his Expedition was to open the way to Santa Fé, with reference to such military operations as then seemed probable. It is certain that General Wilkinson contemplated the possibility if not the probability of invading New Mexico. Take as evidence the following extract of a letter he wrote to the Secretary of War, dated St. Louis, Nov. 26th, 1805:

" ... Our situation at New Orleans is a defenceless one, & Colonel Freeman's removal of two Companies from Fort Adams to that city leaves us without the means of offence above Batton Rouge, which I do [not] like, but Freeman felt himself too feeble to stand alone without those Companies—I most ardently implore we may not be forced to War, because I seek repose & we are not indeed prepared for it, that is against European troops—yet if we must draw the sword, the whole of the troops destined to operate West of the Mississippi should be mounted, whether Gun-men or sword-men, because every Man of the Enemy will be found on Horse Back, and the composition should be such as I have described in a former Letter—If any thing should be done from this Quarter direct, and I might be indulged to recommend my officers, to plan & Lead the expedition. If I do not reduce New Mexico, at least, in one Campaign, I will forfeit my Head."

[VI-3] Art. 3 bears the same number that this piece had in the orig. ed., and the same is the case with all the following articles of the present chapter, with one exception, where transposition of Orig. Nos. 8 and 9 to make Arts. 9 and 8 is required to preserve the chronological order. All these letters are from Pike to Wilkinson, excepting my Art. 8, Orig. No. 9, which is from Wilkinson to Pike, and one to General Dearborn. Pike's letters are in the nature of reports of progress to his commanding general and the Secretary of War. They ceased, of course, upon his separation from Lieutenant Wilkinson, and nothing further was heard of or from him till his return from Mexico, in July, 1807.

[VI-4] There is no allusion to this matter in the letter as originally printed, where a long row of asterisks indicates the elision of what it was not thought prudent to publish at that time.

[VI-5] There were two Bissells, both of Connecticut, and of the same or similar rank in the army, often confused in records of the time, unless their first names are given, as in this instance; 1. Daniel Bissell became an ensign in the 1st Infantry, Apr. 11th, 1792; was arranged to the 1st sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792; promoted to a lieutenancy Jan. 3d, 1794; assigned to the 1st Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; made a captain Jan. 1st, 1799; lieutenant-colonel, 1st Infantry, Aug. 18th, 1808; colonel, 5th Infantry, Aug. 15th, 1812; brigadier-general, Mar. 9th, 1814; honorably discharged June 1st, 1821, and died Dec. 14th, 1833. 2. Russell Bissell became a lieutenant of the 2d Infantry Mar. 4th, 1791; was arranged to the 2d sub-Legion Sept. 4th, 1792; made captain Feb. 19th, 1793; assigned to the 2d Infantry Nov. 1st, 1796; transferred to the 1st Infantry Apr. 1st, 1802; promoted to be major of the 2d Infantry Dec. 9th, 1807, and died Dec. 18th, 1807. Two other Connecticut Bissells who became army officers a little later were Lieutenant Hezekiah W., who entered in 1801 and died in 1802; and Captain Lewis, who entered as an ensign in 1808 and resigned in 1817. One Daniel Bissell of Vermont served as a first lieutenant for about a year, 1799-1800, and in still later years there have been several other army officers of the same surname.

[VI-6] The above is such an important paragraph that I reproduce it verbatim from the original, though it is so badly constructed as to be very obscure. The obscurity, however, is simply bad grammar, not intentional veiling of anything; and as the sentences cannot be conveniently reconstructed in the text, I would read as follows:

"With respect to the Ietans, the general may rest assured that I shall be very cautious about trusting them. I feel more at a loss how to conduct myself with the Spaniards, for my instructions send me to the Comanche country, part of which is no doubt claimed by Spain, though the boundaries between Louisiana and New Spain have never been settled. Consequently, should I meet a Spanish party from the villages near Santa Fé, I think it would be good policy to give them to understand (1) that my party was going to join our troops near Natchitoches, but had mistaken the Rio Grande for Red river; (2) that if it would be agreeable to the Spanish commandant, some or all of us would pay him a polite visit; and (3) that if he did not wish us to do this, we would go direct to Natchitoches. In any event, I flatter myself that I shall get out of the scrape somehow. But if Spanish jealousy of Americans, and the Aaron Burr conspiracy, cause us to be made prisoners of war (in time of peace), I trust that you will see that we are released, and they are punished for the insult. Moreover, if I do not feel assured they will treat us well in Mexico, I will fight them, no matter how many there are, before I will let them take us there."

This sort of talk is not that mixture of youthful enthusiasm with prudence for which Pike begs Wilkinson's pardon in the next paragraph; but the determination of a resolute young fellow to obey orders to the best of his ability, and accomplish if possible the purpose of the secret instructions given him by General Wilkinson. It is also what boys call a "dead give away"; for here, at the outset of his Expedition, Pike is talking about going to New Mexico, intending to deceive the Spaniards he expected to meet there, and weighing the chances of their good or bad treatment of himself and party. I forbear to characterize the ethics of the situation; the discerning reader will be able to look through this hole in a grindstone, and form his own conclusions: see also note⁴⁶ p. 504.

[VI-7] A sort of ornamental neck-band, such as used to be worn by some officers with insignia of rank, and somewhat like those still affected by Free Masons and other ecclesiastical or civic orders on occasions of ceremony.

[VI-8] To this Art. 15 belongs the following table headed Statistical Abstract of the Indians, etc., which in the orig. ed. was directed to be bound facing p. 53. This page was followed by blank p. 54, the leaf of the book thus represented being simply an overrunning of the matter of the original folder. All that Recapitulation which was on p. 53 is embodied in the table which now forms pp. 590, 591.

[VI-9] An itemized account of the Congressional appropriation for, and estimated expenses of, Lewis and Clark's Expedition, is given on p. xxi of the 1893 ed. of L. and C. So far as I have been able to inform myself, we lack the data which would enable us to make the comparison which Pike modestly conceives might be favorable to his own expeditions. To whatever sum may have been expended on the part of the United States for the Mississippian voyage and the Arkansaw journey, as performed under the orders of General Wilkinson, is to be added the cost of the enforced Mexican tour, in so far as this was paid by the United States on the strength of claims for reimbursement presented by the Spanish authorities. On this latter score I have found some curious unpublished documents in the archives of the War Department at Washington. Certain of these items will be found beyond in proper connection with the official correspondence on the subject.

[VI-10] Pike's expected promotion to a captaincy occurred Aug. 12th, 1806.

[I'-1] The Mexican Tour trips at the start with misstatements which must have puzzled many a reader, as they did the present editor. Reference to p. 510 will show that yesterday, Feb. 26th, Pike "went up the river about 12 miles." He does not say what river; but as he was on the Conejos, we naturally take that to be the one he ascended that day—and we are right. But to-day he speaks of "ascending the Rio del Norte five miles more," implying that yesterday's march was up this river, as to-day's is said to be. Then we are confronted by the statement that to-day's course is "S. 60° W."—a direction in which it is impossible to ascend the Rio del Norte to any distance. The difficulty vanishes at once, if for "Rio del Norte" we read Rio Conejos. This emendation is confirmed by Pike's map, which contradicts the above text, showing no détour up the Rio Grande; the dotted trail goes from the stockade directly up Rio Conejos, to a point on its N. or left bank marked "1st. Camp"—i. e., the "place of deposit" to which the Spaniards took him on the 26th. This place, where the Spaniards had established themselves when they sent for Pike, was on the direct road by which they had come from Santa Fé, and not far from the present town of Conejos, though probably somewhat further down the river of that name. The road which now crosses the river at the town holds the course of a trail which ran N. to the Saguache mts. and through Cochetope Pass to the Gunnison and Grand rivers, and so on. This was formerly much used by the Utes en route to Santa Fé, and was no doubt in existence in 1807. Conejos, seat of the county so named, is a very well-known place on the river, in the plain between the San Luis hills on the E. and the foothills of the San Juan range on the W.; it is directly under Prospect Peak (9,900 feet; air-line 8 m.). Roads concenter here from various directions; that hence to Fort Garland, 35¼ m. N. E., crosses the place where Pike had his stockade; that S. W. to old Fort Lowell is 49½ m. Some small places in the vicinity of Conejos are called Guadalupe, Servilleta, San Rafael, San José, and Brazos. The route pursued hence is the old main road S. down the Rio Grande, but at a considerable distance W. of that river for the present (along long. 106° W. nearly).