Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1904-08-04


One hundred years ago,-the morn
ing of August 8, 1904 party of forty
three white men might have been seen
spreading the mainsail Of clumsy
Missouri river bateau as an awning
on little plain above the high water
level of the Missouri river, at the end
of q woody ridge about seventy feet
high, in Nebraska, sixteen miles above
where now stands the city OF Omaha.
A little later procession OF fourteen
Indians,-member Of the Otoe and
Missouri tribes,-wound its way to the
shelter of the awning. They were &C
companied by that omnipresent being
in the region hundred years ago-a
Frenchman living with squaw-Who
acted as interpreter. When all were
seated. began the first council OF the
United States government with the
Indian inhabitants of the Louisiana
purchase,-first act in the drama OF
century of struggle between white
Americans and red Americans for pos
session of an empire. The representa-
tives of the United States government
told the Indians that they were no
longer Spanish or French, but Amer
icans-a piece of news which we are
told gave them great Joy They were
promised the protection Of the govern
ment at Washington. and its advice In
the future. In reply the six chiefs or
the Indian delegation declared lney
were pleased with the change Of gov
eminent, that they wanted to trade
with the new great father, and espe-
cially they wanted arms to defend
themselves from their enemies. (What
little cause for pleasure If they had
known that the change meant to be
dispossessed, of their homes. and hunt
ing grounds)
At the end of the council came The
presents,-a medal hung by a cord
placed round the neck OF each OF the
six chiefs, paint, garters and cloth, a
canister of gunpowder, and the most
significant of all, bottle of whiskey!
Thus began the official relations of the
United States government with the
Otoe and Missouri Indians. How
prophetic it was of the future let him
who cares to know read from the last
official report of the Indian agent at
the Otoe and Missouri Indian agency
in Oklahoma. Diminished in numbers
from 1000 to &c. the agent says.
many Of these people are addicted to
drink and are, both men and women,
inveterate gamblers, the Otoe being
especially bad about the gambling. No
punishment seems at all to mitigate
these evils. Their days are spent in
almost utter idleness, and worse, for
vice ans debauchery are rampant"
The names Of three of these chiefs
have been preserved for us in the rec
ord. The principal chiefs present were
Shongotongo, or Big Horse, an Otoe;
Wethea. or Hospitality, a Missouri
and Shosguscan, or White Horse, an
Otoe. The spot was named byLewis and
Clark Council Bluff, from the circum-
stances which there took place, and
their report of the council concludes
with a recommendation of the location
for fort and trading factory"
Fifteen years after the historic coun-
ell here described, the first steamboat
(the Western Engineer) to navigate
Missouri waters arrived five miles be-
low the Council Bluff. 1t carried Ma.
jor Long with party of engineers and
scientists who were to make the frs
scientific survey of the region. This
expedition found already at Council
Bluff force of United States soldiers
engaged in building fort, afterwart
called Fort AIklHSOn. his lOIL lOl
the next eight years was the most ad
vanced frontier post of the United
States army, always having severa
companies of troops and sometimes
more than a regiment. In 1927 thu
post was abandoned and the troops
moved to Fort Leavenworth. Some o
the buildings were dismantled by thu
troops. Some were burned by indians
or hunters. There still remained OF
the plateau of Council Bluff in 1854
when the territory was organized ant
white settlers came in to take W
claims. a vast amount of debris
brick and limestone walls, beams anC
timbers. The early settlers hauleC
this away by the wagon-load to builC
chimneys, make foundations and t.
curb wells, yet so great was the guam
tity that thirty years later farmers
were still hauling bricks away.
Both these historic sites, that of thu
council of 1904 and that of Fort At
kinson, are within few hundred yard
of the present railway station of For
Calhoun. There yet remain piles o
brickbats and debris, long rows Of ex
Otoe County Has 1900 Children.