Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi Part 8

Seven years after Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri the traveler Bradbury visited the Omaha village standing on or near the site of the one mentioned in the earlier narrative. May 12, 1811, while away from the boat and traversing the country in search of botanical specimens, he arrived on the summit of the bluffs, and, to quote from his journal: "I had a fine view of the town below. It had a singular appearance; the framework of the lodges consists of ten or twelve long poles, placed in the periphery of a circle of about sixteen feet in diameter, and are inclined towards each other, so as to cross at a little more than half their length from the bottom; and the tops diverging with the same angle, exhibit the appearance of one cone inverted on the apex of another. The lower cone is covered with dressed buffalo skins, sewed together, and fancifully painted; some with an undulating red or yellow band of ten or twelve inches in breadth, surrounding the lodge at half its height; on others, rude figures of horses, buffaloes, or deer were painted; others again with attempts at the human face, in a circle, as the moon is sometimes painted; these were not less than four feet in diameter. I judged there were not fewer than eighty lodges. I did not remain long on the summit of the bluffs, as I perceived, from the heaps of earth, some of these recent, that it was a burial ground, and I knew the veneration they have for the graves of their ancestors." (Bradbury, (1), pp. 65-67.)

It is interesting to read of the number of decorated lodges then standing in an Omaha village, but in later years fewer structures were so ornamented. A typical example of a tipi of half a century ago is shown in plate 26, _a_, from a photograph made by Jackson in 1871.

According to the best authorities on the Omaha, from whose monographs much of the following information has been gleaned, the earth lodge and the skin tipi are the only forms of habitations made use of by the Omaha in recent generations. The earth lodge resembled those of other tribes of the upper Missouri, and among the Omaha the work of erecting such a structure was shared in by both man and woman.

"The marking out of the site and the cutting of the heavy logs were done by the men. When the location was chosen, a stick was thrust in the spot where the fireplace was to be, one end of a rawhide rope was fastened to the stick and a circle 20 to 60 feet in diameter was drawn on the earth to mark where the wall was to be erected. The sod within the circle was removed, the ground excavated about a foot in depth, and the earth thrown around the circle like an embankment. Small crotched posts about 10 feet high were set 8 or 10 feet apart and 1-1/2 feet within the circle, and on these were laid beams. Outside this frame split posts were set close together, having one end braced against the bottom of the bank and the other end leaning against the beams, thus forming a wall of timber. The opening generally, though not always, faced the east. Midway between the central fireplace and the wall were planted 4 to 8 large crotched posts about 10 feet in height, on which heavy beams rested, these serving to support the roof. This was made of long, slender, tapering trees stripped of their bark. These were tied at their large ends with cords (made from the inner bark of the linden) to the beams at the top of the stockade and at the middle to those resting in the crotches of the large posts forming the inner circle about the fireplace. The slender ends were cut so as to form the circular opening for the smoke, the edges being woven together with elm twine, so as to be firm. Outside the woodwork of the walls and roof, branches of willow were laid crosswise and bound tight to each slab and pole. Over the willows a heavy thatch of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s was arranged so as to shed water.

On the gra.s.s was placed a thick coating of sod. The sods were cut to lap and be laid like s.h.i.+ngles. Finally they were tamped with earth and made impervious to rain. The entrance way, 6 to 10 feet long, projected from the door and was built in the same manner as the lodge and formed a part of it. A curtain of skin hung at the inner and one at the outer door of this entrance way. Much labor was expended on the floor of the lodge.

The loose earth was carefully removed and the ground then tamped. It was next flooded with water, after which dried gra.s.s was spread over it and set on fire. Then the ground was tamped once again. This wetting and heating was repeated two or three times, until the floor became hard and level and could be easily swept and kept clean. Brooms were made of brush or twigs tied together. Couches were arranged around the wall in the s.p.a.ces between the posts of the framework. These were provided with skins and pillows, and served as seats by day and as beds by night. In the building of an earth lodge the cutting and putting on of the sods was always done by women, and as this part of the task had to be accomplished rapidly to prevent the drying out of the sods, which must hold well together, kindred helped one another. The erection of this cla.s.s of dwelling required considerable labor, hence only the industrious and thrifty possessed these lodges." (Fletcher and La Flesche, (1), pp. 97-98.)

Although the earth-covered lodge, as just described, was used in the permanent villages, nevertheless in the same villages were to have been seen many of the conical skin tipis. Both types of habitation were standing at the Omaha village in 1871 when the photograph, now reproduced in plate 27, was made by W. H. Jackson.

Near each earth lodge, "generally to the left of the entrance, the cache was built. This consisted of a hole in the ground about 8 feet deep, rounded at the bottom and sides, provided with a neck just large enough to admit the body of a person. The whole was lined with split posts, to which was tied an inner lining of bunches of dried gra.s.s. The opening was protected by gra.s.s, over which sod was placed. In these caches the winter supply of food was stored; the sh.e.l.led corn was put into skin bags, long strings of corn on the cob were made by braiding the outer husks, while the jerked meat was packed in parfleche cases. Pelts, regalia, and extra clothing were generally kept in the cache; but these were laid in ornamented parfleche cases, never used but for this purpose." (Op. cit., p. 98.)

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 28

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ Page of Kurz's Sketchbook showing Omaha village, May 20, 1851]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _b._ Page of Kurz's Sketchbook showing interior of an Omaha lodge, May 16, 1851]

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 29

[Ill.u.s.tration: "PUNKA INDIANS ENCAMPED ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSOURI"

Karl Bodmer, 1833]

On pages 95 and 96 of the work just cited appears a very interesting description of the making and raising of a skin tipi. "Formerly the cover was made of 9 to 12 buffalo skins tanned on both sides. To cut and sew this cover so that it would fit well and be shapely when stretched over the circular framework of poles required skilful workmans.h.i.+p, the result of training and of accurate measurements.... The tent poles were 14 to 16 feet long. Straight young cedar poles were preferred. The bark was removed and the poles were rubbed smooth. The setting up of a tent was always a woman's task. She first took four poles, laid them together on the ground, and then tied them firmly with a thong about 3 feet from one end. She then raised the poles and spread their free ends apart and thrust them firmly into the ground. These four tied poles formed the true framework of the tent. Other poles--10 to 20 in number, according to the size of the tent--were arranged in a circle, one end pressed well into the ground, the other end laid in the forks made by the tied ends of the four poles. There was a definite order in setting up the poles so that they would lock one another, and when they were all in place they const.i.tuted an elastic but firm frame, which could resist a fairly heavy wind." There was probably very little variation in the ways and customs of the different members of the tribe, and the tents of an entire village would have been raised after the same, long-established manner. But the structures in an Omaha village did not surround an open s.p.a.ce, "nor were they set so the people could live in the order of their gentes, an order observed when they were on the hunt and during their tribal ceremonies. Yet each family knew to what gens it belonged, observed its rites, and obeyed strictly the rule of exogamy. To the outward appearance a village presented a motley group of tribesmen. The dwellings and their different corrals were huddled together; the pa.s.sageways between the lodges were narrow and tortuous. There was little of the picturesque. The gra.s.s and weeds that grew over the earth lodges while the people were off on their summer buffalo hunt were all cut away when the tribe returned. So, except for the decorations on the skin tents, there was nothing to relieve the dun-colored aspect." (Op.

cit., p. 99.) Such was the appearance of an Omaha village in the valley of the Missouri.

In 1847 the Omaha erected a village on the banks of Papillon Creek, near the line between Sarpy and Douglas Counties, Nebraska. Four years later it was visited by Kurz during his journey up the Missouri. Kurz was camped near Council Bluffs, on the left bank of the Missouri. Opposite was Bellevue, the trading post of Peter A. Sarpy, and while at the latter place, May 16, 1851, Kurz entered in his journal: "In Bellevue I have drawn an Indian winter house made of earth, and also a p.a.w.nee girl." And on May 20 he wrote: "Again crossed the river to Bellevue in order to visit the Omaha village some six miles distant; went over the bluffs, as being the shortest way, then crossed the high prairie ... to the _Papillon_ creek which partly surrounds the village of the Omahas.

The village itself is built on a hill.... The camp or village is composed of leather tents and earth-covered lodges. Between the tents and lodges are scaffolds for drying meat and also an enclosure for the horses.... I walked into the village and watched a group of young men endeavoring to throw lances through rolling rings, the others being gathered on top the earth lodges, [pl. 26, _b_] as spectators."

(Bushnell, (3), p. 11.) Sketches made by Kurz at that time are reproduced in plate 28. The interior of an earth lodge, drawn at Bellevue May 16, 1851, is shown in _b_; the couches extending along the wall are clearly indicated, also the fireplace in the center of the lodge, over which is hanging a hook for the suspension of a kettle. The village, which stood on the banks of Papillion Creek, is shown in the lower part of _a_, of the same plate. Both forms of dwellings are represented in the sketch; also the scaffolds for drying meat and other purposes, and several inclosures in which their horses were confined.

On June 12 Kurz attended a sacred dance performed for the benefit of a wounded man. He referred to it in his journal as being given by the Buffalo Society, where all wore buffalo masks. It was held in a large earth lodge, and he was accompanied by the chief, Joseph La Flesche.

The site of the small village mentioned by Kurz was identified a few years ago by Gilder, and some of the ruins were examined. It stood in the forks of the Papillion, about 4 miles in a direct line west of the Missouri. To quote from the brief narrative: "It was here the Omaha lived last before going on a reservation, and where they were visited by the Swiss artist, Kurz.... It was found that the ruins were quite shallow and had left but slight depressions, while others left small circular mounds above the surrounding level. The Rock Island Railroad has cut through the village, and at least one cache was exposed from top to bottom--about fifteen feet. In all instances the caches were outside the lodge sites.

"The surface yielded fractured iron pots, delft or figured china of white man's manufacture, and rusty iron objects, besides flint sc.r.a.pers and chips, potsherds, and the usual acc.u.mulations of a village prior to contact with white people. The writer cannot attribute the flint implements to the Omaha, but considers the favorable site on a plateau at the junction of two streams to have been used by another people long before the Omaha erected their lodges there." (Gilder, (1), p. 75.)

Innumerable ruins of earth lodges were to have been found in the vicinity of the present city of Omaha, the great majority of which stood in early days before the arrival of Europeans in the valley of the Missouri, and it is not possible to say by which tribe the villages were erected. Many large ruins were discovered on Childs Point, in the extreme northeastern corner of Sarpy County, just south of Omaha, and some 4 miles northeast of the small village visited by Kurz. Some of the ruins were carefully examined by Gilder. One, which appears to have been considered as possessing the typical characteristics of the group, was described by Gilder, who wrote: "In all house ruins similar to the one here described, the main fireplace, four or five feet in diameter, is situated near the exact center. From this fireplace the floor extends, nearly flat, to within ten feet of the extreme outer edge or periphery of the ruin. Here a platform, or step, twelve to fourteen inches high and almost vertical, rose from the floor and sloped rather sharply to the outer rim.... Around the line of the inner circ.u.mference of the platform, at distances of approximately five feet, the remains of posts six or seven inches in diameter were discovered. These were either in the form of charcoal or of wood dust. Sometimes bowlders lay about the remains of the posts, as if designed to aid in holding them in position.

The grain of the charcoal posts indicated the wood to have been oak.

About the posts, under the floor, and also under the platform, objects were more numerous than at other points in the ruin. The charred remains of four posts about eight feet apart surrounded the central fireplace.

There were two features of house construction that stand out conspicuously: (1) the floor was approximately six to eight feet lower than the level of the surrounding ridge; (2) the angle at which the slabs, logs, or paling probably leaned inward from the periphery seems to indicate the highest part of the roof at about the same distance above the surrounding level as the floor was below, making the highest part of the roof about fifteen feet above the fireplace in the center of the dwelling.... Little besides broken flint instruments, flint chips, sh.e.l.ls, potsherds, and fractured drift bowlders were found upon the floor itself; the major number of objects was beneath the floor surface, very often covered with bowlders, as if the latter had been placed to mark the spot. Small fireplaces were of frequent occurrence on all parts of the floor.

"Three caches were found in the first ruin.... In one, fifteen feet west of the center of the dwelling were found flint blades, a score of Unio sh.e.l.ls, a mano or muller made from a rounded drift bowlder ... and a pottery pipe in form of a soaring bird.... The bottom of this cache was six feet from the surface. The second cache lay at the southeastern side of the ruin. Its bottom was eight feet from the surface of the ground.

It contained thirty sh.e.l.ls, several large flint blades, other large flint implements of unknown use ... animal bones, projectile points, and a small piece of galena. The third cache, in the northeastern part of the ruin, was the largest and deepest of the three, its bottom being nine feet and a half from the surface. On a small shelf, or niche, at its eastern side, two feet from the bottom, lay, a small image of a human face carved from pink soapstone, a number of animal bones and skulls, fish bones and scales, and Unio sh.e.l.ls.

"So many and varied were the objects found in the ruin, so abundant the charred sticks and gra.s.ses, that the impression is conveyed that the dwelling had been abandoned in haste and that it had burned to the ground." (Gilder, (1), pp. 58-61.) The objects discovered in this ancient ruin were truly varied, as the discoverer remarked, and likewise of the greatest interest, including specimens of stone, bone, and pottery, with bones of animals which had probably served as food. But how interesting it would be to know the date of the construction of this large lodge, and the tribe to which its occupants belonged--questions which may never be determined. However, it unquestionably belonged to people of a tribe who reared and occupied similar structures in the valley of the Missouri as late as the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Other quite similar ruins a short distance north of the city of Omaha were examined by Gilder. Many objects of bone, stone, and pottery were discovered. Caches were encountered, and to quote from his account of the work: "The caches within the house sites are smaller in diameter near the top than at the bottom, the latter part flaring out somewhat in the manner of a large earthen pot. The bottom of the caches are rounded, and the walls are almost as hard as fired clay. In the very bottom of each cache was a quant.i.ty of dust, or earth as fine as dust (not compact as at other points), in which were found small arrowpoints, flint blades, sh.e.l.l beads, and flint flakes. In each case where the cache was found within the house circle it occurred close under the western wall, back of the fireplace and exactly opposite the entrance to the lodge, the latter in every instance facing the east." (Gilder, (2), p. 716.)

Before closing this brief sketch of the Omaha villages and forms of structures, it will be of interest to quote from the writings of one who was intimately acquainted with the people of whom he wrote. Referring to their various types of habitations, he says:

"The primitive domiciles of the Omaha were chiefly (1) lodges of earth or, more rarely, of bark or mats, and (2) skin lodges or tents. It may be observed that there were no sacred rites connected with the earth lodge-building or tent-making among the Omaha and Ponka. When earth lodges were built, the people did not make them in a tribal circle, each man erecting his lodge where he wished; yet kindred commonly built near one another. The earth lodges were made by the women, and were intended princ.i.p.ally for summer use, when the people were not migrating or going on the hunt.... Earth lodges were generally used for large gatherings, such as feasts, councils, or dances.... On a bluff near the Omaha agency I found the remains of several ancient earth lodges, with entrances on the southern sides. Two of these were 75 feet and one was 100 feet in diameter. In the center of the largest there was a hollow about 3 feet deep and nearly 4 feet below the surface outside the lodge.

"The Omaha sometimes make bark lodges for summer occupancy, as did the Iowa and Sak." (Dorsey, (1), pp. 269-271.)

Referring to the more temporary structure, the skin tipi: "The tent was used when the people were migrating, and also when they were traveling in search of the buffalo. It was also the favorite abode of a household during the winter season, as the earth lodge was generally erected in an exposed situation, selected on account of comfort in the summer. The tent could be pitched in the timber or brush, or down in wooded ravines, where the cold winds never had full sweep. Hence, many Indians abandoned their houses in winter and went into their tents, even when they were of canvas.

"The tent was commonly made of ten or a dozen dressed or tanned buffalo skins. It was in the shape of a sugar loaf, and was from 10 to 12 feet high, 10 or 15 feet in diameter at the bottom, and about a foot and a half in diameter at the top, which served as a smoke-hole.... No totem posts were in use among the Omaha. The tent of the princ.i.p.al man of each gens was decorated on the outside with his gentile badge, which was painted on each side of the entrance as well as on the back of the tent." (Op. cit., pp. 271-274.)

In an earlier work, "A Study of Siouan Cults," Dr. Dorsey showed the varied designs on ceremonial tipis of the different Siouan tribes. Among other interesting ill.u.s.trations are pictures of lodges erected at the time of the Sun dance, with the great camp circle as formed at that time. (Dorsey, (2).)

A clear insight into the ways of life of the primitive Omaha of a century ago, before their native manners and customs had been changed through influence with the whites, may be obtained from the narrative of the Long expedition. A great part of the recorded information was imparted by John Dougherty, at that time deputy Indian agent for the tribes of the Missouri.

In 1819 and 1820, the period of the narrative, the permanent village of the tribe stood on the banks of Omaha Creek, about 2-1/2 miles from the right bank of the Missouri, in the present Dakota County, Nebraska. As told on preceding pages, this was the large, permanent village of the tribe, but nevertheless it was occupied for less than half the year, and as related by Dougherty: "The inhabitants occupy their village not longer than five months in the year. In April they arrive from their hunting excursions, and in the month of May they attend to their horticultural interests, and plant maize, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons, besides which they cultivate no other vegetable. They also, at this season, dress the bison skins, which have been procured during the winter hunt, for the traders, who generally appear for the purpose of obtaining them. The young men, in the mean time, are employed in hunting within the distance of seventy or eighty miles around, for beaver, otter, deer, muskrat, elk, &c.

"When the trading and planting occupations of the people are terminated, and provisions begin to fail them, which occurs generally in June, the chiefs a.s.semble a council for the purpose of deliberating upon the further arrangements necessary to be made...." A feast is prepared, and all gather to determine where and when the next hunt shall take place.

These important questions being settled, all are in readiness, and "The day a.s.signed for their departure having arrived, the squaws load their horses and dogs, and take as great a weight upon their own backs, as they can conveniently transport, and, after having closed the entrances to their several habitations, by placing a considerable quant.i.ty of brushwood before them, the whole nation departs from the village." And thus they continue to move until word is brought that herds of buffalo are near, then they encamp at the nearest watercourse. The skin lodges, having been conveyed by means of the travois, are soon set up, to be occupied during the period of the hunt. These "are often fancifully ornamented on the exterior, with figures, in blue and red paint, rudely executed, though sometimes depicted with no small degree of taste." The buffalo skins obtained during the summer hunt were known as _summer skins_, and were used especially for the covering of their lodges and also for their garments. After a successful hunt all parts of the buffalo were carried to the camp and the vertebrae were crushed "by means of stone axes, similar to those which are not unfrequently ploughed up out of the earth in the Atlantic states."

After the summer hunt "The nation return towards their village in the month of August, having visited for a short time the p.a.w.nee villages for the purpose of trading their guns for horses. They are sometimes so successful, in their expedition, in the acc.u.mulation of meat, as to be obliged to make double trips, returning about mid-day for half the whole quant.i.ty, which was left in the morning. When within two or three days journey of their own village, runners are dispatched to it, charged with the duty of ascertaining the safety of it, and the state of the maize.

"On the return of the nation, which is generally early in September, a different kind of employment awaits the ever industrious squaws. The property buried in the earth is to be taken up and arranged in the lodges, which are cleaned out, and put in order. The weeds which during their absence had grown up, in every direction through the village, are cut down and removed. A sufficient quant.i.ty of _sweet corn_ is next to be prepared, for present and future use."

Being now plentifully supplied with food, unless for some unforeseen cause having an ample quant.i.ty of buffalo meat and corn, together with the other products of the gardens, they would "content themselves in their village until the latter part of October, when, without the formality of a council, or other ceremony, they again depart from the village, and move in separate parties to various situations on both sides of the Missouri, and its tributaries, as far down as the Platte.

Their primary object at this time, is to obtain, on credit from the traders, various articles, indispensably necessary to their fall, winter, and spring hunts; such as guns, particularly those of _Mackinaw_, powder, ball, and flints, beaver traps, bra.s.s, tin, and camp-kettles, knives, hoes, squaw-axes and tomahawks.

"Having obtained these implements, they go in pursuit of deer, or apply themselves to trapping for beaver and otter. Elk was some time since an object of pursuit, but these animals are now rather rare, in the Omawhaw territories.

"This hunt continues until towards the close of December, and during the rigours of the season they experience an alternation of abundance and scarcity of food."

The skins secured during the late autumn hunt would be carried to the traders and left as payment for the goods previously obtained on credit, and also given in exchange for blankets, wampum, and various other articles. Thence they would return to their permanent village "in order to procure a supply of maize from their places of concealment, after which they continue their journey, in pursuit of bisons.... This expedition continues until the month of April, when they return to their village as before stated, loaded with provisions. It is during this expedition that they procure all the skins, of which the bison robes of commerce are made; the animals at this season having their perfect winter dress, the hair and wool of which are long and dense." (James, (1), I, pp. 200-221.)

Such was the life of the Omaha a hundred years ago, and it may have been quite the same for many generations, omitting, of course, the visits made to the traders. But their systematic hunts had probably been performed ever since the Omaha reached the valley of the Missouri, and possibly long before.

PONCA.

That the Ponca and Omaha were formerly a single tribe is accepted without question, and that the separation took place long after they crossed the Mississippi from their ancient habitat is established by the traditions of the two tribes. Probably the two tribes in later years, after the separation, continued to resemble one another to such a degree that the villages of one could not have been distinguished from those of the other.

A deserted village of the Ponca was discovered by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, and according to the narrative of the expedition on September 5 they arrived at the "river Poncara," which entered the Missouri from the south, and at its mouth was 30 yards in width. "Two men whom we despatched to the village of the same name, returned with information that they had found it on the lower side of the creek; but as this is the hunting season, the town was so completely deserted that they had killed a buffaloe in the village itself." (Lewis and Clark, (1), I, pp. 66-67.) The "river Poncara," later to be known as Ponca Creek, enters the right bank of the Missouri in the western part of the present Knox County, Nebraska. Here they continued to live for some years, and during the spring of 1833 Maximilian said they "dwell on both sides of Running-water River, and on Ponca Creek, which Lewis and Clark call Poncara." Running-water River was the earlier name of the Niobrara. "The band of them, which we met with here, has set up eight or nine leather tents, at the mouth of Basil Creek, on a fine forest." On May 12, 1833, appears this note in the narrative: Arrived "opposite the huts of the Punca Indians. They lay in the shade of a forest, like white cones, and, in front of them, a sand bank extended into the river, which was separated from the land by a narrow channel. The whole troop was a.s.sembled on the edge of the bank, and it was amusing to see how the motley group crowded together, wrapped in brown buffalo skins, white and red blankets--some naked, of a deep brown colour." (Maximilian, (1), pp.

137-139.) A sketch made at that time by Bodmer and reproduced by Maximilian is here shown in plate 29. It bears the legend "Punka Indians Encamped on the Banks of the Missouri."

Although at that time living in the typical skin tipi, Maximilian stated (p. 137), "They formerly lived, like the Omahas, in clay huts at the mouth of the river, but their powerful enemies, the Sioux and the p.a.w.nees, destroyed their villages, and they have since adopted the mode of life of the former, living more generally in tents made of skins, and changing their place from time to time." The village visited by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, September 5, 1804, when they "killed a buffaloe in the village itself," was probably composed of earth-covered lodges.

When discovering a trail, or rather tracks made by a number of Indians crossing the prairie, it was often possible to determine the nature of the party. The Ponca, who often moved from place to place, setting up their tipis in various localities during the course of the year, could have been held in mind by Gregg when he wrote: "These lodges are always pitched or set up by the squaws, and with such expedition, that, upon the stopping of an itinerant band, a town springs up in a desert valley in a few minutes, as if by enchantment. The lodge-poles are often neatly prepared, and carried along from camp to camp. In conveying them one end frequently drags on the ground, whereby the trail is known to be that of a band with families, as war parties never carry lodge-poles." (Gregg, (1), II, pp. 286-288.) The rapidity and skill with which the squaws set up and arranged the tipis, when the site of the camp had been selected, was commented on by many writers, and what an interesting and animated scene it must have been.

KANSA.

To quote from the Handbook: "Their linguistic relations are closest with the Osage, and are close with the Quapaw. In the traditional migration of the group, after the Quapaw had first separated therefrom, the main body divided at the mouth of Osage River, the Osage moving up that stream and the Omaha and Ponca crossing Missouri River and proceeding northward, while the Kansa ascended the Missouri on the south side to the mouth of Kansa River. Here a brief halt was made, after which they ascended the Missouri on the south side until they reached the present north boundary of Kansas, where they were attacked by the Cheyenne and compelled to retrace their steps. They settled again at the mouth of Kansas River, where the Big Knives, as they called the whites, came with gifts and induced them to go farther west. The native narrators of this tradition give an account of about 20 villages occupied successively along Kansas River before the settlement at Council Grove, Kansas, whence they were finally removed to their reservation in Indian Ter.

Marquette's autograph map, drawn probably as early as 1674, places the Kansas a considerable distance directly west of the Osage and some distance south of the Omaha, indicating that they were then on Kansas River.... It is known that the Kansa moved up Kansas River in historic times as far as Big Blue River, and thence went to Council Grove in 1847. The move to the Big Blue must have taken place after 1723."