The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-11-25
LETTER FRoa THOMAS H. STANLEY.
i Trip in Hunt Of Home for the Kaw
Indians.
AsrEn1cUs, IL mo-. 18th, 1870.

of their agent and farmer, six of the
prominent Indians, (four of them that
are part French) one Frenchman who
had married a half-breed, and Carlos
BRIGGS, our cook. Two of the party
acted as interpreters when occasion re-
| quired it. The first night most of the
party camped near Soden's mill. The
night was dNite wet. The next day, be-
ing still wet, we got late start, and
when we reached Eagle creek, near FL
mendaro, it had risen so that we could
not cross with safety for near two days.
Then by going up the creek near two
miles, we crossed it and went over to
the Verdigris, and followed it on the
east side to near the Falls, where we
camped for the night. The day follow
ing we. pursued our journey down the
Verdigris, passing near Virgil and Sher-
idan, which are very small towns. AT
the latter there is steam saw mill and
little grocery. The next town we
came 10 was Toronto, which had about
fifteen or twenty new houses in it. tits
situated on a nice elevated prairie, about
seventy feet above the bottom land, and
near one mile and q half from the river,
and ten miles northwest from Coyville.
Several of the settlers are from Canada,
and our Indians appeared to be rather
curiosity to some of them. Some of
the party were not pleased with being
looked at so much. A little beyond this
town we camped for the night in little
grove Of timber. Early in the next day
our company divided, as the river was
too high to be forded. We left the
wagons and all of the party but Mahlon
Stubs and myself, to wait until they
could cross the river, aud then go nearly
south TO the south line of the State,
where we would meet. And Mahlon
and followed the road down the river,
passing Guilford, near the center of
Wilson county. Our friend Akin, for
merly of Council Grove, has u mill at
this place. About six miles further
down the river, near the mouth of Cedar
creek, is the new town of Altoona, with
about thirty houses in it. 1t is hand
somely located nea~ the river. Our son,
miles nearly east of this place. We
W ere much pleased with the appearance
of this county. 1t appeared to be set
tied with an enterprising class of people.
After short visit with my son and fam
lily, we went ON south near twenty
miles, to Morgan City, and then four
miles east, and called on our friend
Isaac 7. Gibson, the agent for the
Osages, whom l was well acquainted
with in Iowa. We called on him in
order to ascertain where he had located
the Osages, so that we might know how
to proceed with our business. We had
an interesting conversation on Indian
matters, in comparing views, etc. Our
dear friend has formerly been devot-
ed labOrer among the freedmen, and we
heard some speak of him in our travels
in high terms. felt a sympathy with
him in his arduous field of labor. He
appears to be doing all he can to i'm
prove the condition of the Osages, and
has general interest in the welfare of
mankind, particularly those that need
encouragement to improve their condi-
ton. After this interesting visit with
this devoted Friend, we proceeded on
our journey through independence, the
county seat of Montgomery county. 1t
is handsomely situated on the west side
of the Verdigris, and contains nearly
200 houses. There is said to be twelve
towns and about 1900 inhabitants in
this county. The land is handsomely
rolling, and mostly good soil. From
Independence we went nearly west
about ten miles, to a small settlement
of Friends, and from there struck across
to Little Cana, near the west side of
Montgomery county. Here we came
up to the rest of our party, and proceed
ed on down the Cana to st. Paul, a
town of about six houses, near the
southeast corner of Howard county
and about three miles further on is Eu-
melville, very near the south line of
the State, on the east bank of Little Ca
ma. Nearly one mile west of this little
town the 96 W. |. and 81 II. !. cross each
other. The agent had been instructed
TO look out home for the Kaws west
of 90 W. l., and south of Kansas, which
is said to be 81 n. |. We then proceed
ed at once to examine the country, by
taking a western course, as near the
south line of Kansas as we could come
at from all the information we could
obtain. After travelling about five miles
over a handsome, rolling prairie, we as
cended stony hill about 100 feet high,
timbered with scrubby oaks. We then
had hilly and rocky country, with but
little valley land for about ten miles
when we came to the Big Cana, which
is nearly as large as Cottonwood. Wei
then followed this creek, examin-
decrs seen by our party, but none of US
succeeded in killing any, though there
was considerable anxiety manifested to
have some deer meat to eat. We met
several Osages ont hunting, aud some
of them had been more successful than
we had, as we saw the venison dangling
by the side OF the ponies. They had set
fire to the prairie in many places, which
swept over the hills in terrific manner,
roaring very much like distant thunder.
At times our Indians were kindly treat
ed by the 0sages, and some of them eat
with our party. They had no difficulty
in talking with each other, as their Ian
guage is very near alike. We followed
the Big Cana bottom around TO the Lit
tie Cana, which brought US back to about
eight miles south of the place where we |
struck west. The Kaws liked the coun-
try as well as we could, except the
rocky hills. We then struck south, on
a plain road, to Shotoe's store, nearly
twenty-three miles south of Kansas.
and one mile west of So W. !. The
Usage agent met us at this place to
counsel with his Indians about their
choice of home. We also met with
two of our Eastern friends, VIM. Mich
olson, from North Carolina, and Ed
ward Earl, from New England, who are
on visit TO the Indians, agents, ETC., in
the Central SUPPLEMENTARY. We saw
some Delawares and Cherokees while
here, and a part of them appear TO be