He quickly wrapped it in a blanket and carried it to Washington where it was placed in the Smithsonian Museum. These are some of the stories told about Blackbird by the old Indians and early white men told around the campfires in the long cold winter nights or in the circle of story tellers which sits on hot July days beneath the shade of a great tree in the Omaha country. Stories told in this way are often changed in the telling. We cannot say how far they are changed, but whether much or little, they are all we are ever likely to know of the life of the first noted Nebraska Indian. Pictured Rocks near Blackbird Hill.
Blackbird Hill stands close by the side of the great river to-day as it did a hundred years ago.
Great springs gush from the sandstone cliffs at its base. Upon the walls of these cliffs are deeply cut pictures of wild animals and strange Indian signs mingled with the names of early explorers. The mound seen by Lewis and Clark has long since gone. The spirit of Blackbird looks in vain to-day for the boats of the fur traders beating up the river.