Desert Springs
"While all is green and fresh on the summits of the mountains, in the surrounding deserts all is salt, alkali, sterility, and desolation. In the early days, when thousands on…
Arrow Poison
"Mose Wright described the Indian arrow-poison. The rattlesnake the copperhead and the moccasin he ignored is caught with a forked stick planted over its neck, and is allowed to fix its fangs in…
Mile 1165: Ham’s Fork
"At midday we reached Ham's Fork, the northwestern influent of Green River, and there we found a station. The pleasant little stream is called by the Indians Turugempa, the "Blackfoot Water."
Black’s Fork
"Emerging from the river plain we entered upon another mauvaise terre, with knobs and elevations of clay and green gault, striped and banded with lines of stone and pebbles: it was a barren,…
Mile 1140: Green River
"The Green River is the Rio Verde of the Spaniards, who named it from its timbered shores and grassy islets: it is called by the Yuta Indians Piya Ogwe, or the Great…
Scalping
"Scalping is generally, but falsely, supposed to be a peculiarly American practice. The Abbe Em. Domenech ('Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America,' chap, xxxix.) quotes the decalvare of the…
Tracking the Sign of an Indian
" The feet, being more used than the other extremities, and unconfined by boot or shoe, are somewhat splay, spreading out immediately behind the toes, while the heel is remarkably narrow. In consequence of being carried…
Minahaska–Long Knife
"As has been said, in 1855, General W. S. Harney, who, whatever may be his faults as a diplomatist, is the most dreaded 'Minahaska' in the Indian country, punished the Brulés severely at…
Burton’s Racism
Sir Richard Burton's City of Saints is often quoted as a primary source for conditions along the emigrant/stagecoach trail in 1860. No one I've read, however, remarks on his casual racism,…
Forks of the Platte
"The Platte River divides at N. lat. 40 05' 05", and W. long. (G.) 101 21' 24". The northern, by virtue of dimensions, claims to be the main stream. The southern, which…
Theft
"The politeness of the savages did not throw us off our guard; the Dakotah of these regions are expert and daring kleptomaniacs; they only laughed, however, a little knowingly as we raised the…
Description of Native Americans
"The braves were armed with small tomahawks or iron hatchets, which they carried with the powder-horn, in the belt, on the right side, while the long tobacco-pouch of antelope skin hung by…
Denigrating Indians
"Besides the injustice to the manes and memories of the dead, this depreciation of the Indians tends to serious practical evils. Those who see the savage lying drunk about stations, or eaten up…
Spotted Tail and Coups
"An Indian who made two or three 'coos' was a hero. When he could claim half a dozen he was a war chief. He was generally killed before he got any more.…
Bad Medicine
" The name of the stream [White Man] is from the Sioux language. In that language Wah-seecha means 'white man.' 'Seecha' means 'bad' and 'Wah' means medicine; therefore a white man was, in…