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Great Osage of the Osage River
In 1820 the Great Osages had one village on the Neosho, and the Little
Osages had three on the same stream. Of these Colonel Sibley reported in
that year:
The Great Osages of the
Osage River.—They live in one village on the Osage river 78 miles
(measured) due south of Fort Osage. They hunt over a very great extent of
country, comprising the Osage, Gasconade, and Neeozho rivers and their
numerous branches. They also hunt on the heads of the St. Francois and
White rivers, and on the Arkansas. I rate them at about 1,200 souls, 350
of whom are warriors or hunters, 50 or 60 are superannuated, and the rest
are women and children.
The Great Osages of the
Neeozho.—They have one village on the Neeozho river, about 130 or
140 miles southwest of Ft. Osage. They hunt pretty much in common with the
tribe of the Osage river, from whom they separated six or eight year ago.
This village contains about four hundred souls, of whom about 100 are
warriors, and hunters, some 10 or 15 are aged persons, and the
rest are women and children. Papuisea, or White Hair, is principal chief.
The Little Osage.—Three
villages on the Necozho river, about 130 or 140 miles southeast of this
place (Ft. Osage). This tribe, comprising all three villages and
comprehending about twenty families of Missouries that are intermarried
with them, I rate about 1,000 souls, about 300 of whom are hunters and
warriors, twenty or thirty superannuated and the rest are women and
children. They hunt pretty much in common with the other tribes of Osages
mentioned, and frequently on the headwaters of the Kansas, some of the
branches of which interlock with those of the Neeozho. Nechoumani, or
Walking Rain, principal chief. [Called “Nezuma, or Rain that Walks” by
Pike and Wilkinson.]
Of the Chaneers, or Arkansas tribes of Osages, I say
nothing, because they do not resort here to trade. I have always rated
that tribe at about an equal half of all
the Osages. They hunt chiefly on the Arkansas and White rivers, and their
waters.
From this time until after the Civil War the Osages
lived principally in Kansas. One post in Kansas resulted from trade with
the Osages while they lived yet in Missouri. The Missouri Fur Company had
a trading post near their towns before 1812. It was abandoned that year.
When other posts were established is not now known, but the founders of
Harmony Mission, who came out in 1821, found several traders seated in the
country along the Osage River. One was where Papinville, Vernon County,
Mo., was afterwards laid out. Another was at the Collen Ford, on the
Osage. The founders of these posts are not now known. About 1831 Michael
Gireau and Melicourt Papin had stores at Collin Ford. Papin had another at
the site of Papinville. There were half a dozen French families at
Gireau's store, as well as some half-breed families. They were probably
hunters and petty traders. In 1839 Gireau moved his store and established
himself further up the Marais des Cygnes, in what is now Linn County,
Kansas. The place was later known as Trading Post, a name it still bears.
About 1842 this post was sold to one of the Chouteaus, probably Gabriel
Chouteau, and it was then called Chouteau's Trading Post. It bore a part
in the Territorial history of Kansas.
The one village of the Great Osages on
the Neosho mentioned by Colonel Sibley was that of White Hair. It was
established about the year 1815, as noted before. In 1796 when the
Arkansas band was induced to settle on the Lower Verdigris by Chouteau a
trail from these Lower Towns to the old home on the Little Osages, in
Vernon County, Mo., where Pike had found the Osage Nation, was marked, and
thenceforth used by traders and Indians alike. This trail followed up the
Marmaton, in what is now Bourbon County, Kansas. It crossed over to the
waters of the Neosho near the southeast corner of the present Allen
County, bearing all the time to the southwest. The Neosho River was
reached and crossed just above the present town of Shaw, in Neosho County,
Kansas. In migrating to the Neosho River, White Hair and his band followed
this old trail. The Great Osage town was fixed at the crossing of the
Neosho, and on the west side of the river. When the Government survey of
Kansas was made the site of White Hair's village fell within the bounds of
section sixteen (16), township twenty-eight (28) range nineteen (19).7
Footnote
7 The site of White Hair's village has long been a matter
of both doubt and controversy. In later years it has been supposed to have
been near Oswego, Labette County. The correct location was determined by
this author from measurements made on an old manuscript map (and other
maps) in the Library of the Kansas State Historical Society, and the
consultation of various authorities and treaties. The White Hair who
founded this first town of the Great Osages on the Neosho was a descendant
of Old White Hair, the great chief of the Big Osages, about the time of
Pike's visit. This first White Hair died in what is now Vernon County, Mo.
It seems that all the chiefs named White Hair had the Osage name Pahusca,
pronounced Pawhoos-ka. They had a council name—Papuisea. Also a war name,
Cahagatongo. The Neosho River was named by the Osages. The name is
composed of two words—ne, water; and osho, bowl or basin. It was so named
from the fact that it has innumerable deep places—bowls or basins of
water. It means a river having many deep places.
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