Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-12-18
From the Evansville, Qa) Journal.
SANTA FEE AND THE FAR WEST,

From the Evansville, (la.) Journal.
SANTA FEE AND THE FAR WEST.
We are permitted by gentleman resi-
ding in the neighboring county of Gibson
to take the following extract from private
letter from friend, dated
SANTA FE, July 30, lS4l.
/ left Vincennes on the 23d April for ST.
Louis, with a view of ascertaining the OBJ
iect of the visit by the company, raising
for the Pacific Ocean. When arrived at
st. Louis, | found had to proceed to In
dependence, the upper county on the Mis-
sissouri river, and adjoining the Indian
boundary, four hundred miles further
There found three different caravans bu-
siy recruiting. The Rev. Bishop Smidth
with caravan to establish a mission
among the Blackfeet Indians, in the valley
of the Columbia river, who left with the
caravan to California by the way of the
head waters of the Columbia river, COM
manded by Col. Battleson and Richma.
composed of about ninety persons, male
and female. The second to California,
composed of about one hundred men and
about thirty women and chldren--the
yearly caravan composed of merchants to
this city, Chewawa and Sonora, composed
of about eighty men and forty wagons,
loaded with merchandise, &c. The cara
vans all left between the 9Th and 10th of
May. After ascertaining the object of the
CALIFORNIA caravan, Gov. Boggs and my
self, having understood positively cara
van was to leave for Santa Fe to join the
one by the,way of Columbia, raised ten men
and agreed to leave in time to overtake the
Santa Fe company at or near the Arkan-
sas, but on the evening previous to our de-
parture the Governors wife was taken i'll,
and he was compelled to abandon the adj
venture. Accordingly, on the 10th May,
myself with eight others, with three little
wagons loaded with provisions and arms,
and three riding mules, left the line of the
Missouri for the Far West.
The Indian country as far as Council
Grove, two hundred miles from the line, is
perhaps as fine a tract of country as can
be found in the world; there is rather a
scarcity of timber, but in soil and water
none superior. The Council Grove, as it
is called, is the ancient site of once a proud
and mighty city. 1t is situated on the main
White river, which here forms a crescent
or curve of about nine miles in circumfer-
ence, and contains more than a hundred
mounds, half of which are more than ten
times as large as those near Vincennes-
those in the centre are in the form OF a
square, many containing surface of more
than two acres, some in the form of trl-
angle. and others perfectly round. Here
the Pawnee, Arapho, Cumanche, Loups,
and Eutaw Indians, all Of whom are at war
with each other, meet and smoke the pipe
once a year in peace. Every person and
their things are sacred for many miles
around this peaceful grove. This ceremony
has been handed down for many centuries
to the red men by their forefathers, and
here their chiefs and great men are brought
from hundreds cf miles around to be inter-
red; one of whom, but a few weeks before
we passed, had a proud mound of stones
erected to his memory, with a pole painted
red and scalp appended thereto, to show
that he had been brave. The numerous
camps every where to be seen around here
at once convince the traveller. that here is
the great rendezvous Of thousands annu-
ally. From thence onward for four hun
dred miles, there is nothing to be seen but
one eternal desert, without one, even one
solitary stick Of timber to cheer the eye
for thirty days. Nothing here is to be had
but Buffalo dung to cook the food that is
used, but of this the whole prairies are CO.
vered. and it is an excellent substitute.
We overlook the caravan in sight of the
. A e., ,,,,la,
the line of the United States and eight
hundred from st. Louis, without trouble
by the Indians, and attached ourselves
thereto for duty in crossing the river,
which is much larger than at the mouth,
and always muddy and rolling her quick
sands into bars almost every hour, so that
fords or crossings are dangerous and I'M
certain. From the Arkansas river, the
scarcity of water commences, and even
the little to be had is so deeply impregnated
with salt, sui pher, &c, that stern necessity
alone brings the traveller to the use of il.
On the Simerone river there are one or
two good springs, at one of which we met
a band of Arpalio Indians of five hundred
warriors, who treated us with a proper
friendship, eated with their success ten days
before, when in battle. they killed seventy
six Pawnees. We gratifed them with en-
camping on the battle ground, where the
unburied bodies were yet unbrokeH. The
next day we visited their lodge, six miles
from the battle-ground, where we had a
full view of savage life, in perfect state
of nature; among five hundred women
and children, there were but few that had
ever before seen the dress and equipage of