An Old Kansas Indian Town On The Missouri BY GEORGE J. REMSBURG Member of International Society of Archaeologists National Geographic Society, Ktc. Gift of C. A. Kofoid I H An Old Kansas Indian Town On The Missouri BY GEORGE J. REMSBURG G. A. CHANDLER Printer Plymouth, Iowa nil EN FURIES ago mention was made by the French explorers of the large or main village of the "Quans" on the southwest bank of the Missouri river, about thirty leagues above the mouth of the "Quans" river. The Quans were the Kansa or Konza Indians from whom the state of Kansas derived its name. They were visit ed by De Bourgmont, in 1724, while on his famous expedition to the Fadoucas. The exact location of this noted old village of Bourg- mont s time, heretofore, has never been defin itely determined, al though the ruins of the old town on the Missouri were observed and mentioned by explorers and travelers for many years subsequent ta the early French explorations. Professor Dunbar apparently, authentically, has designated At- chison, Kansas as the site of the old village, while Kansas historians generally evade the question by vaguely referring to the old Kaw village "at" or "near the present site of Atchison, which is based merely on an approximation of the distance above the Kansas and Little Platte rivers, without taking into consideration the topograph ical and other features so essential in determining such matters. After carefully studying all available data bearing on the subject, including the chronicles of most of the early explorers who mention the old village, and inoroughly examining the whole region along the Missouri river north 01 the Kansas, 1 have concluded that the nistoric old town of Doniphari, five miles north of the city of Atchi son, was the prehistoric capital of tne Kaws. The historical, topo graphical and archaeological evidence adequately sustains such an opinion. Before going into details I will succinctly give a few of til? more important reasons for my belief that the old Kansas vil lage was so located. First Doniphan corresponds approximately with the distances i hat the early explorers place the old village above the Kansas and Little Platte rivers, and other defin Ite points on the Missouri. Second -Lewis and Clark, and other explorers, who saw there- laains of the old town explicitly state that it was a mile, or a little above Independence creek. Third Doniphan is the most ideal situation for an Indian vil lage in that region, and the only desirable site for such a stewithin a mile of Independence creek to the north. Fourth The fine prairies, which may be seen from points sev eral miles below; the bend in the river, and other natural features at or near the old village site as recorded by the early explorers are identifiable with the present townsite of Doniphan and vicinity. Fifth The large amount of archaeological material, the prehis toric relics, the graves and other such remains found at Doniphan and vicinity indicate unmistakably that it was an important seat of aboriginal occupancy. Sixth Old settlers of undoubted reliability have seen on the Doniphan townsite numerous hut rings or lodge circles of an anci ent Indian village, and from their descriptions of the same they were exactly similar to those of the later day villages of the Kansas Indians at Manhattan, Valencia, Council Grove and other places, de noting tha hemispheric earthen huts that these Indians are known to have always constructed as their dwelling places. In the summer of 1724 Captain Ecienne Veagard deBourgmont, military com mander of the colony of Louisiana, set out on an over land expedition from Fort Orleans to the village of the Kansas Ind ians, on the Missouri river, and from there to the province of Pad- oucas, or what is now known as the Comanche tribe of Indians, in what is now Western Kansas. Bourgmont was accompanied by Ensign Bellerive, Sieur Philip Renaudiere, mining engineer and dir ector general of mines for the colony of Louisiana, five soldiers, three Canadians, servants and 176 Missouri and Osage Indians command ed by the grand chief of the former tribe. Bourgmont had previous ly dispatched to the Kansas village several boatloads of merchandise under command of Lieutenant Saint-Ange and guarded by eleven soldiers. On tli2 afternoon of July 7, 1724, B our gn on t s party ar rived on the east bank of the Missouri river, opposite the village of the Kansas. The next morning they crossed in a pirogue, the horses being swam over and the Indians transported on rafts. "We debarked/ says Bourgmont, "within gunshot distance of of the vil lage where we camped." Bourgmont s arrival was made an ocasion of much demonstration. From July 8 to 24 the time was spent in feasting, powwows, trading horses and peltries, making presents to the Indians and getting ready for the journey to the Padoucas. The river detachment arrived July 19. On the 24th the "grand departure was made, or to use the words of Bourgmont, "we put ourselves in battle array on the hight of th? village, the drum began to beat the march and we marched away." The strange procession consisted of Bourgmont s force, 300 Indian warriors with two grand chiefs and fourteen war chiefs, 300 Indian women, 500 Indian children and 500 dogs carrying and draging provisions, etc. The object of the ex pedition was to induce the Padoucas, who were friendly to the Span ish, to enter into a treaty of peace and an alliance with the Missouri. Kansas, Osage, Otoe and Iowa tribes, allies of the French, with whom they (the Paducas) were at war. Bourgmont reached the main village of the Padoucas October 18, 1724. A peace treaty and alliance was effected and the party returned to Fort Orleans, arriv ing November 5, 1724. Bourgmont is very indefinite as to the location of the Kaws, but Renoudiere, in his memorandum of the expedition, says that thirty leagues above the "Quans" river "a small river flowing from the north is found; here is the great village of the Quans, consisting of 150 lodges adjoining the Missouri. There are fine prairies to the south and many m:>j itains to the west." It is evident that this chronicler of the Bourgmont expedition mistook Rock creek for the main continuation of Independence creek. The general course of the Independence is from a westerly direction, but about a mile and a half above its mouth it takes a sharp turn to the south, flowing straight in this direction lor nearly a mile when it makes another acute turn to the east for about one-half of a mile to its mouth. That part of the channel extending north and south is almost on a straight line with that of Rock creek, the merging of the Independ ence basin with that of Rock creek making a clearly defined valley much more prominent than the main valley of Independence from Rock creek westward. Corning as it does from the prairie the Inde pendence valley at this point is not so noticeable as that of Rock creek which is bordered by high hills, or many mountains," as Re- rioudiere saw fit to term the prominent elevations lying west of the Kansas village. Any person not acquainted with the country, look ing north from near the mouth of the Independence would readily cake the valley of Rock creek for the main trend or continuation of Independence valley. The "fine prairies," mentioned by Renoudiere are readily noticeable off south and southwest of Doniphan. In fact the country south and west of Doniphan tallies almost exactly with the descriptions given in the journals of the expedition; for instance Bourgmont mentions that a half league southwest of the Kansas vil lage a small river was passed. Independence creek is just about that distance southeast of Doniphan. In another account we find that shortly after leaving the village they "marched about a league and a half along a river coming from the southwest." Deer creek comes into the Independence near its mouth from a southwesterly direction. Those who passed up the Missouri river after the old Indian town was deserted, noticed its ruins on the river bank and mention it in their journals. Although Bourgmont mentions only one vil lage of the Kansas, it will be noticed that the later explorers refer to two old village sites of this tribe. The Kansas no doubt had sev- " eral villages on the Missouri at different periods, though the "sec ond" village site mentioned by Lewis and Clark and others was the main, and perhaps the only, village of the tribe at the time of Bourg- mont s visit. It is hardly likely that the "first" or lower village was contemporaneous with the upper, lor in sue a wise Bourgmont would have mentioned it. On the contrary, it is more pro uable that the lower v^iage Cither belonged to an earlier period or occu pancy, or had not been such an extensive and long existent popu lace as the upper, for Lewis and Clark state that ih.-re were no traces of the former left, while the remains of the L^er were still visible to the extent that it appeared to have once been a large town. Traces of an Indian viLage may still be seen at the lower sue (Sajt creek valley), but it requires the scrutiny of an antiquarian to iden- "tify its location, the indica being scarcely visible to the casual eye. Perrin da Lac, in 1802, says that thirty-five miles above the mouth of the Kansas, on the Missouri river, his party found one of the old villages of the Kansas, and twenty-two. miles beyond this the other. Hon. J. V. Brower, in his "Missouri River" published in 1897 gives the distance by river channel from the Kansas river to the Fort Leavenworth bridge as thirty-two miles, vvhich would make it just about thirtyfive miles to Salt creek where there are evidences of an Indian village site on the farm ot Mr. Thomas Daniels. From Salt creek to Doniphan, the distance by river channel is, approxi mately, somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-two miles. "Three miles before we arrived at the last village," says Du Lac, "we percieved some iron ore." Along the bluffs, three miles below Doniphan, the rocks are impregnated to a considerable ex tent with iron. Lewis and Clark, in 1804, mention the remains of both of the old villages, the first t vventy-eight miles above Little River Platte, the second twenty-eight miles above the first. It might be incidentally stated that the slight variations in distances as given by the different explorers is accounted for by the fact that the chan nel mileage of the Missouri river does not remain the same for any long period, the stream shifting its course at frequent intervals. On July 4, 1804, Lewis and Clark discovered a stream about thirty yards wide, which they named Independence, in honor of the 4 Typical Kansas Artifacts 1. Discoidal Stone. 2. Flint Hoe. 3. Stone Pipe. 4. Flint Drill. 5. Flint Knife. 6. Flint Tomahawk. day. To quote their journal, they "came along the bank of an ex tensive and beautiiul prairie, interspersed with copses of timber and watered by Independence creek. On this bank formerly stood the second village of the Kansas. From the remains it must have been a large town." "On this bank stood the village" signifies on the bank of the prairie, and not on the bank of Independence creek, for in an other place in their journal (p. 1253 Cone s Lewis and Clark) they debi^ncue a mile abuve Inuepeiiut^ice creek" as the situation of the old village If the village was anywhere within a mile of the Independence to the north, it must have been where Doniphan now stands, for that is the only desirable suuation f >r a i Indian villain, within that distance from the ceeek. Shortly after leaving the old village site Lewis and Clark passed a small stream which they call ed Yellow Ochre cree.v, from a bank of that mineral a little above it. About three miles above Doniphan, at Geary, there empties in to the Missouri a small stream called Brush Creek, which was doubt less the "Yellow Ochre" of Lewis and Clark s day, i jr me "bank" of that mineral from which they so named the stream is vis ible "a little above" the creek, as they stated. C. B. Roundy, of Geary, once sent some of that mineral subscance to be e id.nmed by experts and they pronounced it "ochre of poor quality." Sergent Floyd, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, in an indiv idual diary, speaks of Independence creek coming out of an "exten sive prairie, open and high, which may be seen six or seven miles below." Brackenridge, in 1811, also mentions the fine view of the prairies and the old village sire, which could be obtained below. The country about Doniphan may be seen very plainly from the Aiciiison biic!ge, and even as fai down as the bend of the river be low Atchison. John Bradbury, in his "Travels in the Interior of America," 1333-10-11, mentions goin^ ashore at the old Kansas vil lage and noting the ^reat fertility of tne soil and the abundance of hops, but is indefin ite as to its location. However taking into consideration the natural features of the country as depicted in that portion of his journal leading up to the old village site, they corre spond pretty closely to existing topographical conditions, and point consentaneously with the narratives of Lewis and Clark and others to Doniphan, as the seat of Kaw occupancy in Bourgmont s time. H. M. Brackenridge, in the journal of his voyage up the Missouri in 1811, mentions the old village as follows; "High prairies south west side continued under sail through another long stretch ( of prairie) and had a fine view of the old Kansas village at the upper end of it. It is high prairie, srmoth waving hills, perfectly green, with a few clumps of trees in the hollows. It was formerly a vil- lage of the old Kansas nation. But for the scarcity of wood this would be a delightful situation for a town. At this place the bend of the river rendered the wind unfavorable." He also mentions the old Indian pathways along the sides of the hills and down to the river. Luther Dickerson and other early settlers recall that these old Indian paths or trails were plainly visible, leading out in almost every direction from Doniphan in the early days, and some of them where not too much disturbed by cultivation, may yet be observed. Major Stephen H. Long, while on his celebrated expedition to the Rocky mountains in 1819-20, says that after leaving Isle au Vache, "we proceeded in the course of the day about twenty-three miles and encamped at night near the entrance of a small scream called Independence creek. A little above, (Independence creek), and on the south side of the river, is the site of an old Konza town, called formerly the village of the twenty-four." Major Lon^, in his jour nal and on his map, places the old village "a little above Independ ence creek," or at about the present townsite of Doniphan. Major Long is the only one of the early explorors who alludes to the old In dian town as the Village of the twenty-four." I have somewhere seen it alluded to as the "village of the Big Four." The reasons for these appelations seem to be obscure, or at least I can find no ex planation of them. Isle au Vache, or Cow island, is in the Missouri river, near the southern line of Atchison county. Councils were held with the Kaw Indians on this island in 1819, and later when th? tribe lived on the Kansas river. The late Hon. Luther Dickerson, who was generally known as the oldest inhabitant" of this region, says there can be no doubt about the site of Doniphan having been occupied by an Indian vil lage in prehistoric times. Mr. Dickerson came here in June, 1854, and often visited the present site of Doniphan before the pioneer settlers selected it as a townsite. He says that the old Indian lodge circles, with fire pits in the center, were plainly visible in many places in Doniphan in the early days. These, were especially notice able where the public school building now stands. The earth in many places was intermingled with charcoal, ashes, and other de bris of the Indian village. Mr. Dickerson says that as near as he can remember the rings or circles where the Indian wigwams stood and which were quite numerous, were about twenty feet in diameter and in the center of each was a cavity filled with ashes and char coal. Professor Say, who visited the Kansas Indians in their village near the present town of Manhatten in 1819, says that the ground area of each lodge was circular, and that the fireplace was a simple cavity in the center of the apartment. On the Kansas river, wher- ever the Kaws had their later day villages, these circles in the earth are still to be seen. Judge W. H. H. Curtis, of Troy, who was one of the early set tlers of Doniphan, in response to inquires, writes that from his own observations, as well as from the statements of the late James F. and John W. Forman, the Doniphan pioneers, he is convinced that Doni phan was the site of an important Indian village. "I have heard James F. Fonnan and ins Biuuici, Julm Vv r . Foniian, talk about the ancient village," says Mr. Curtis, and further adds that they were firm in the belief that the ancient Indian village existed there. The Forman brothers came to that vicinity as Indian trader? long before Kansas was open for settlement. They surveyed and platted the townsite of Doniphan. Mr. Curtis own observations lead him to believe that the ancient village "circled around the spot where Don iphan now stands; or more correctly speaking, the village must have been in the form of a crescent, extending from east to west, at the north outskirts of what is now the townsite proper . . . When a boy I saw many Indian relics near Doniphan," continues Mr. Cur tis, "and I know of many others who have found axes, arrow and spear heads, human bones, and what appear to have been old bury ing grounds both east and west of Doniphan." Isaac F. Weyer, the "village blacksmith" of Doniphan, who liv ed there nearly fifty years, also recalls having heard the Forman brothers speak about the remains of an ancient village at Doniphan and says he has always heard a tradition that there was once a large Indian town at or near that place. W. H. Nesbit, one of the founders of Doniphan, says that at an early day large masses of charcoal, pottery and other burnt substances were exposed by the caving or washing away of the banks of the small creek which flows through Doniphan. He also says that the rock shelters or small caverns in the sides of the high bluffs about Doniphan con tained the bones of Indians; with pottery vessels, arrowheads, etc. The late T. J. Ingals, of Atchison, who was as well acquainted around Doniphan as any other man, and who was a close observer along natural history and archaeolo iical lines, wrote me May 27, 1904; "I should think from the number of graves and stone relics found in and about Doniphan that it was vastly populated at some time in the past. Not only on the George Brenner land, but through out the old townsite the loose stones scattered about over the sur face and even under the surface, show marks of fire." Mr. Ingels has done much prospecting for water and drilled many wells in that vicinity and had excellent opportunity for observation. The writer once found a lot of burned stones, together with burned earth and pottery fragments, exposed by the caving of the creek bank just south of the public school building in Doniphan. On another occas ion I found a hammer stone projecting from the bank nearly two feet below the surface. While strolling along the main street of Doniphan on October 19, 1903, 1 picked up three flint arrow points, and Observed numerous chips or spalls of flint that had washed from a small gully at one side of the thoroughfare. The late Rich ard Dempsey, an old resident, and for many years road supervisor in that vicinity, informed the writer that in making grades on the roads he had occasionally turned up baked clay, charcoal, pstshards and fragments of stone implements. When th j roadbed of the old A. & N. railroad was made through Doniphan in 1869 the workmen unearthed similar material and at the present time there is frequent ly picked up, from the dirt which was thrown out alon this grade, arrow points, hatchets, etc. The late Frank Kitzmiller, of Highland, under date of April 20, 1894, wrote me: "I have been informed by several parties that many Indian relics have been found at Doniphan, and from what I can learn it must have been once occupied by an Indian village. I understand that the rubbish of the old tepees is occasionally met with in digging trenches and making other excavations. One man there has promised to bring me a lot of stone relics which he plow ed up in the town of Doniphan." Mr. Kitzmiller had an interesting collection oi Indian relics gathered in Doniphan county. Mrs. Jane Spencer says that in making excavations on her farm just north of town pottery has been unearthed. Mrs. Spencer came to Doniphan with her late husband in 1855. At that time there was evidence of an Indian graveyard on the land which they pre-empted and on which she still lives. Many wagonloads of loose limestones were hauled from a field on their farm. Sae has observed numerous Ind ian relics and has several in her possession now. Thomas Logan reports numerous evidences of Indian occupancy on his farm near Doniphan. James A. Dunning, of St. Joseph, Mo., formerly of Don iphan, writes that Indian relics were so very common there in the early days that but little attention was paid to them. "I have gath ered my hat full of arrowheads on the creek bank; also stone axes and war clubs by the dozens. Years after, in plowing over my fath er s farm, we have picked up beads and pottery, the latter being similar to that I have seen from the cliff dwellings/ Joseph Geis- endorf says he has found many stone relics on the same farm. Charles Kuch, the postmaster at Doniphan, says that the boys have gathered innumerable arrowpoints on the land occupied by the Brenner vinyards, and N. G. Brenner corroborates this statement 8 and says he has found hundreds of them himself on the same ground Indian burial mounds and graves are numerous on the hills sur rounding Doniphan. External evidences of many of these sepulch- ers have been obliterated, but here and there may still be seen lime stone slabs set in the ground in regular order, or piled up irregular ly, to mark, the last resting place of some aboriginal denizen of Doniphan. In some instances these graves may belong to the Sac and Foxes, or other modern ludiaus, uut u is oellev^d that the ma jority of them belonged to the ancient Kaws. Rev. Isaac McCoy, a missionary among the Western Indians at an early day, speaking of the Kaw methods of burial, says: "They frequently deposited the dead on or near the surface and raised over the corpse a heap of stones." Hon. George P. Moorehouse, of Council Grove, who has seen and studied the Kavvs, when they lived at that place, says that he has often noticed their graves, usually on top of some near bluff or high ground, and that they were often covered w r it h slabs of lime stone. Mrs. Mary J. Forman, widow of tfie Doniphan pioneer, John W. Forman, writes from Canton, Mo.: "On the hill west of the John Forman residence (since owned by George Brenner) there were indications of an Indian graveyard, piles of rock seeming to have been used as monuments or to mark some place of note." Mrs. Jane Spencer mentions similar graves on her farm at an early day. L. Clem, who has lived in that vicinity about thirty years and who has hunted throughout that region, observed many such piles of stone when he first located there. Luther Dickerson says there are several small mounds on land belonging to J.P. Brown, of Atchison on the river bluffs south of Independence creek. H. J. Adams, of Leroy, Kas., a son of the iate Secretary Adams, of the Kansas His torical Society, who formerly lived near Doniphan, while digging a cellar on the crest of a river bluff south of Independence creek, in 1868, exhumed the skeleton of an Indian. It was about two feet be low the surface and covered with stones. James Eylar reports sev eral graves just north of Doniphan, and in the same neighborhood "firepits on top of the river bluff, in which the charred bones resem bling those of human beings." He also mentions a grave on Inde pendence creek west of Doniphan in which was found a human skeleton, together. with a small headless image and some beads. There were also traces of fire in this grave. Further west, on the Auld farm, are other graves, near which have been found many stone axes. Several years ago the writer, accompanied by T. J. Ingels, of Atchison, and C. A. Bruner, of Oak Mills, opened a stone mound on the high hill west of Doniphan, but it had either been despoiled of its contents by relic hunters or else the descendents of the dead war* ior had removed his remains to another place, for not even a human bone remained in it. Early settlers recall having seen the Indians come to this place at an early day, and after weird ceremonies, ex hume the remains of dead Indians and carry them away. Where .they came from and whither they went was never learned. On another hill on the farm of John Myers, near the junction of Independence and Rock creeks, the writer, assisted by J. B. Loftin, an intelligent citizen of that vicinity, explored an Indian mound. This mound was originally covered with stones, but most of them had been removed by Mr. Meyers in cultivating th j land. The con tents of the mound consisted of human remains, badly charred by fire, pieces of burned wjod and charcoal, numerous ghss and por celain and bone beads, two silver (?) finger rings, a silver breast plate, fragments of silver ear bobs, fragments of a copper bracelet, fragments of an iron kettle, fragments of an old-fashion ?d decorated porcelain plate ; fragments of bone instruments, a piece of steel evi dently used as a fire striker, many flint spalls and some particles of vermillion, all in a confused mass. Everything indicated that this was the remains of a "scaffold" or "tree burial" which after tumbl ing down, had been swept by prairie fires and later gathered up and deposited, without regularity, in a stone sepulchre. Dr. R. S. Dinsmore, of Troy, Kansas, has gathered many fine Indian artifacts from the vicinity of Doniphan, and opened a small burial mound near the place that evidently had been opened before and despoiled of its contents. Dr. Dinsmore and M. E. Zimmerman and Edward Park, of White Cloud, have fine collections, mostly gathered in Doniphan County. The writer has examined many Indian village sites in Kansas, but there has never come under his observation a more ideal locat ion for a permanent seat of aboriginal habitation than at the old townsite of Doniphan. Situated about midway of the great west ern bend of the Missouri, or the grande detour of the Missouri, as the French voyageurs called it; encircled by a chain of high hills, with a gap on the east which afforded the villagers a splendid view of and easy access to the river, and through which they could read ily perceive the approach of an enemy on the water; while the over towering hills at almost every point of the compass provided natur al watch towers where they could guard against the enroachments of a foe from the broad prairie that stretches off in every direction; a small stream flowing through this natural basin, fed by several fine springs, afforded a constant supply of fresh water to the occu pants of the village, while just over the devide to the west and 10 southwest three larger streams, one of them navigable for canoes, unite before mingling their limpid waters with the murky Missouri. Surrounded by every natural advantage and resource, Doniphan is an ideal dwelling place for either savage or civilized man. The old Kansas Herd Book thus describes it: "Doniphan stands where the corkscrew Missouri makes a sharp turn to the west and is hurled back upon itself by a high wooded bluff. To north and south rise heavily timbered bluffs, dipping to form the level bottom upon which the town lies nestled from the prevailing storm currents of winter." Hon. Sol Miller s famous historical edition of the Kansas Chief says that Doniphan is one of the finest natural townsites on the Missouri river. Brackenridge, one of the old -explorers, speaks of it as "a delightful situation for a town." 11 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 902 Main Librar ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS y catting 642-3405 y bringing the books t made 4 days prior to STAMPED BELOW 1-month loans may be renewed by catting 642-3405 1-vear loans may be recharged by bringing the books to the Circula. 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