CHAPTER II

LIMITATIONS OF STORY -- LEGAL AGE OF COUNTY -- AREA -- CLASSIFICATION -- BEGINNING -- OCCUPATION BY OSAGES -- THEIR CHARACTERISTICS -- MARQUETTE'S MAP -- EARLY MAPS AND WRITERS -- PREHISTORIC RACE -- VOYAGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS -- JOLIET AND MARQUETTE -- DE SOTO AND DECORONADO -- PENALOZA'S EXPEDITION -- ADVENTURERS -- FRENCH CLAIMS TO TERRITORY -- FIRST FRENCH EXPLORATIONS -- GRANT TO FRENCH KING -- M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT -- NAMING OF OSAGE, LITTLE OSAGE, AND MARMITON -- LOCATION OF THE OSAGES -- THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY -- RENAULT -- INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY -- "GET RICH QUICK" SCHEME -- RENAULT'S MEN

In telling the story of Bates county we refer to the county as it was finally organized by act of the General Assembly in 1855, and as it is now; for there has been no change in boundary since. Where reference to Cass, Van Buren, Vernon or other counties are made, care will be taken to explain the relation sustained by Bates to any other county. Roughly speaking Bates county is now sixty-three years old. That is a short period in history but there have been many changes in the world, in our nation and state, since Bates county was legally created and became one of the great counties of this great commonwealth. It might be a pleasant privilege to write down the solemn and momentous events which have occurred within the life of Bates county of national and world importance -- the progress and decline of people, crumbling dynasties, wars, victories and defeats; the marvelous achievements of science in every field of human speculation; the literary, philosophical and moral accomplishments of our own people as well as of the other civilized people of the world. But an excursion into such wide and limitless fields is beyond the scope of this work whose boundaries are fixed, by law and the Gunter's chain. Bates contains within its boundaries a little more than half a million acres -- a little more than 900 square miles. It is the fourth in area in the state. It belongs in the class described as rolling, prairie country. It has a history as important and interesting as any in the western part of the state. Its present development as we know it, did not begin until after the din of battle, the smoke and shouting had passed away at the conclusion of our Civil War in 1865.

It is not our purpose to overstep the county lines except where the events transpired on both sides of the boundary in such a manner as to render the story incomplete without crossing into other counties or into the state of Kansas.

Harking back to the beginning of any knowledge of this territory by white men, we find that Bates county was occupied by the Osage (or Ouachage) Indian tribes, the Grand, or as sometimes written, Great Osage, and the Little Osage. Ethologically, they were one tribe; but there seems to have been quite a difference between them physically and as to mental attributes. The Great Osages, by all authorities, were the largest and finest specimens of manhood and womanhood among all the wild tribes of the hills or prairies. The men, or "bucks" were tall, straight, athletic; the squaws, well formed, straight, with regular Greek-line faces, and of a uniform lighter color than other Indian tribes. Indeed, history leads to the conviction that the Grand Osages were pure in blood, more definite in type, and superior in mentality, contrasted with or measured by any of the numerous tribes who inherited the prairies and dwelt thereon.

As far back as we have any history Bates county was a part of the lands of the Osages, as far back as 1673, when the renowned Father Marquette descended the Mississippi and viewed its tributaries. He made a map on his return and this country was shown on it as the Osage country. Of course he did not explore the Missouri nor the Osage, but he understood that all the country west of the Mississippi was inhabited by Indians and he learned in some way that this part of the then unexplored West belonged to the Osage tribes, and so put it on his map. Every later map up to the second treaty made with the Osages in 1825 had this territory marked as Osage country. So it was treated by Shea, Charlevoix, Du Pratz, and other early writers. As we shall see later, this treaty between the Osages and the United States in 1825, removed the Osages out of Bates county and out of Missouri.

There is no authentic evidence that any other race of people ever occupied this particular territory other than the American Indian prior to the coming of the white men. The story of a prehistoric race called the "Mound Builders" is so dreamy and imaginative that, at least, so far as Bates county is concerned, it is disregarded. In passing, it should be stated that the numerous beautiful mounds in this county are held by competent authority to be results of geological formations and the erosion of the ages. Certain it is, nothing has ever been discovered in or about these mounds to justify the belief that any of them are the work of human hands.

If called upon to say when the first white man of European stock first set foot on Bates county soil we would be compelled by candor to say no one knows; but if the French-Canadian voyageurs, or couriers du bois, generally spoken of as French and Indian half-breeds, are to be taken into account, it may fairly be claimed that they came into this territory as far back as 1700, or more than an hundred years before any white American ever set foot on our virgin soil. After the return of Joliet and Father Marquette, and Joliet had reported to Governor Frontenac at Montreal and the news of the great discovery got noised abroad, a horde of adventurers, hunters, and trappers streamed out of Canada and the North Country, found their way up the Fox river and by portage to the headwaters of the Wisconsin, down that river to its confluence with the Mississippi, the Father of Waters, and thence down it and up its tributaries, especially up those coming into it from the west. They followed up the great Missouri and up its tributaries, hunting, trapping and trafficking with the friendly Indians until they literally over-ran all this country between 1664 and 1800. It is a fair historical conclusion that these French-Canadians came up the Osage river and dealt with the Osage Indians right here in Bates county fifty or a hundred years before any Englishman or American set foot on our soil.

Digressing here a moment, it may be stated that the first Europeans who came west of the Mississippi were the men in the expeditions of Ferdinand De Soto and Francisco de Coronado. The former came from the southeast and the latter from the southwest, both being Spaniards, but neither of them quite reached Bates county. De Soto approached somewhere near Springfield and then turned south onto the White river, and thence to the Arkansas, thence northwest into what is now Oklahoma; turning about he again reached the Arkansas river, traveled a three days' journey up that river to the "town of Tanico" where he found a lake of "hot water" and "salt marshes"; thence southeast to the village of "Viscanque" which was probably on the Washita river somewhere in the state of Arkansas. There the expedition spent the winter of 1541-2. Then he went southeast until they reached the Mississippi river, where De Soto sickened and died May 21, 1542, and was buried in the waters of the Mississippi near Helena, to keep the Indians from knowing that he was dead. His wife died in Havana three days after hearing of his fate.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was the Spanish governor of the northern portion of Mexico, called at that time New Gallicia or New Gallia. He was sent out on his expedition by Don Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico.

Both these expeditions were bottomed upon marvelous stories of large cities and untold wealth and riches, situate somewhere far in the interior north of the Gulf of Mexico, and the object was to discover and conquer them, and of course, to despoil them as Pizarro had done the people of Peru, after murdering their king in cold blood for gold. They were led to believe that they would find a "country abounding in populous cities, containing temples and palaces with roofs of silver and whose inner walls were adorned with ornaments of burnished gold," and where precious metals and precious stones were to be found everywhere and the entire country was pictured as a succession of lovely landscapes, fertile fields, beautiful streams, fountains and flowers, and whose occupants were an intelligent, handsome, hospitable people dwelling in great wealth and luxury. History does not record how these wonderful stories originated or by whom, except to say that the Spaniards had heard these stories from the aborigines. Evidently they had wide circulation and were believed. Both treated the Indians, who were harmless and hospitable, with barbarous cruelty, and the Indians finally revenged themselves to some degree as best they could. De Soto discovered nothing in the nature of his quest, except the lead fields of southeast Missouri. Francisco de Coronado, whose search was for the fabled "seven cities of Cibola," found them to be miserable mud-built towns of the Zunis and Pueblos in New Mexico. But he treated the inoffensive Indians with cruelty, beating the men and ravishing their wives and daughters. One historian says: "Lusting as much for gold as for female virtue and consumed with a passion for both, they failed to find the former and only obtained the latter by the grossest violence." He tortured the poor Indians in a vain effort to make them tell where gold existed, until the Indians finally revolted, but were soon subdued by the Spaniards: and for their presumption "scores of them were burned at the stake and hundreds put to the sword." Thus did these brutal Spaniards teach these children of the plains who had received them with the soft music of the flute and an offering of fragrant flowers that "there is a God in heaven and an Emperor on earth."

At the climax of this devilish cruelty, the story goes, a heroic young Zuni, a brave, patriotic soul, came forward and represented to the Spaniards that he was not a Zuni but an enemy of that tribe; he told them that he belonged to the country of "Quivera," far to the northeast, where there was a river seven miles wide, and in whose depths there were fishes as "large as horses," upon whose broad waters floated huge boats with colored sails and golden prows, and on board he would find the lords of the country resting on downy couches under canopies weighted with gold; and along whose course were cities of immense wealth and grandeur. The king of his country was Tartarrax, a gray-haired, long-bearded sovereign who took his siesta in summer in a garden of roses, under a spreading tree on whose branches hung innumerable golden bells that tinkled as they were shaken by the soft breezes that lulled his Majesty to sleep.

"Come with me to my sovereign and my country, O, Mighty Chieftain," said the young Zuni to Coronado, "and you will see all this for yourself. I will guide you thither, and you may slay me if I lie." Coronado believed the story and started on the fifth day of May 1541, a few days after DeSoto had discovered the Mississippi, with 300 Spaniards to subdue the land of "Quivera." Starting from the Rio Grande river they pursued a northeasterly course and in due time reached the Arkansas river, which they called the "River of Saints Peter and Paul." The commander became suspicious of his guide: he sent the body of his men back to the Rio Grande, and with thirty picked men they continued their journey. Forty-eight days later somewhere near the Missouri river in northeast Kansas or southeast Nebraska they halted. When the young Zuni was accused of duplicity he boldly admitted it and said: "I have lied to you! I have lied to you! I am a Zuni. I saw your cruelties to my people and to relieve them and punish you I have led you here. I hope you will perish before you reach your homes. There is no such land as I have described to you. I hope you will lose your way and die of hunger and thirst. I am satisfied. I said you might kill me if I deceived you, and now I am ready to die!"

It did not take these base Spaniards many minutes to send this brave, heroic soul into eternity. Coronado and his butchers remained at this point about twenty-five days exploring the adjacent territory, and after they had erected "on the bank of a great river" (presumably the Missouri) a cross and inscribed on it: "Thus far came Francisco de Coronado, general of an expedition," they started on their return to New Mexico, where they finally arrived notwithstanding the prayer of the young Zuni, whose heroic self-sacrifice deserves to be commemorated by granite or marble shaft.

It has been claimed that Coronado passed through the counties of western Missouri. But the burden of authority is against this. The best authority is to the effect that he crossed the Arkansas river near Wichita and reached some point in Brown county, Kansas, near the Missouri river. In the story of these two expeditions, both of which have been well authenticated, it is a notable fact that at one time these expeditions were not more than 125 miles apart, and that both had been notified of the proximity of the other, but neither gave credence to the information. If they had united, as they probably would have done, the whole course of subsequent events might have been greatly changed for the better.

Later, when the Spaniards became established in New Mexico other expeditions were sent out into the land of the "Quivera," as Coronado had named the remote country visited by him. The best authorities fix "Quivera" in northeastern Kansas, anywhere from Brown to Republic county, or in what is known as the Pawnee Republic. One Penaloza, a governor of New Mexico, led one of these expeditions in 1662. It was composed of eighty Spanish soldiers and officers and 1,000 Indians, thirty-six carts, a large coach, litters, six three-pound swivels, etc. Father de Freytas, a monk who accompanied the expedition and wrote its report, says it reached the "Mischipi" river. But the best informed writers claim that it only reached the Missouri near the mouth of the Platte river. Others claim that it only reached the Arkansas near the mouth of the Verdigris in Kansas.

The story of other expeditions into the Mississippi valley from Santa Fe are interesting; but it is safe to say from an examination of the best authorities that no Spaniard from the West ever reached Bates county. The records of most of these excursions into the then unknown plains east of the Rocky Mountains, have been preserved, and there is no reason to believe many of the wild, speculative tales written by men reckless of truth and historic facts.

The first white man who came to Bates county may never be known, but it is reasonably certain that he did not come from the West over the arid plains; and it is reasonably certain that he came from the East up the Osage river, through a country of great pristine attractiveness and replete with provision to sustain human life far from any base of supplies. All the adventurer had to do was to put forth his hand to gather the bounties of nature in season, to trust his ancient field piece, or dexterously use his unfailing bow. By right of discovery France claimed practically all the vast territory west of the Mississippi river and east of the Spanish possessions to the southwest, and a large territory east of the Mississippi, north to Canada and northeast as far as Pittsburgh. This claim was based upon the discoveries of Joliet and Marquette and Chevalier La Salle; but prior to 1705, only a few settlements had been made and they were east of the Mississippi. None at all were west of the river. But in 1705 the first French exploration of the Missouri river was made. The prospecting party ascended it as far up as the mouth of the Kaw, or Kansas City, but no settlements were attempted or made by this party of explorers. In 1712 the King of France granted the vast territory of Louisiana to M. Crozat, and not long afterward preparations were made for the settlement and occupancy of what is now the state of Missouri.

This review of preceding events seems proper in order that the reader may realize the situation about the time of the coming of the first white man to Bates county. The reader will remember that in the early years of the eighteenth century this was a wild, unknown, undiscovered country as far as Europeans were concerned. The wild Indians had been undisturbed by the Caucasian race in all this vast region. How long the Indians had roamed over these beautiful prairies was not then, is not now, and never will be known. They were here when history first took note of them. Back of that it may be said to be prehistoric and the whole question of their occupancy here falls within the fields of ethnology and archeology; and while conclusions have been reached in those fields of profound interest and with great certainty as to some prehistoric facts, it is too remote for speculation here.

In Brown & Company's "History of Vernon County," 1887, written by Mr. Holcomb and regarded by competent judges of historical works as one of the very best county histories ever written, we find the following which doubtless is applicable to Bates county as well:

"We are coming now to the account of the first visit made by a white man to what is now Vernon county. This white man, too, was a native American, born of French parents, however, and an acknowledged supporter of the French king. This fact deserves to be noted in connection with the incident. His visit was made in connection with the first efforts at colonization of the country, and he spent many days here noting the lands and cultivating the acquaintances and friendship of the occupants.

"About the close of the year 1714; M. De Tissenet (the name is frequently written Detisne), a young Canadian-Frenchman, arrived at the post of Mobile to enter the service of M. Antoine Crozat, then the lessee of the vast expanse of country called the Territory of Louisiana. Of good family and considerable education and accomplishments, young De Tissenet was ambitious to distinguish himself in the service of his sovereign and his governor. He had come from Canada to Kaskaskia (Illinois) and from the latter point went directly to Mobile. He carried with him to Mobile specimens of lead from the mines in the neighborhood of Kaskaskia, or (Ste. Genevieve) and presented them to M. De la Monte. On being assayed these specimens were found to contain some silver. He afterward took charge of a grant of land in Lower Louisiana, where he remained until Crozat was succeeded by John Law's 'Company of the West' and M. De Boisbriant was appointed governor of the Illinois district of Louisiana. In October 1718, Boisbriant set out for his post at Kaskaskia, and De Tissenet joined him at 'the Illinois' the same season.

"In the year 1719, M. De Bienville, the then governor of Louisiana, sent De Tissenet on an expedition from Kaskaskia far into the country westward from the Mississippi to examine the country and its resources and to cultivate friendly relations with its inhabitants. Perhaps the real purpose of the journey was to discover whether or not the precious metals existed in this country, although no hint of this design has come down to us in the well-verified and perfectly preserved historical accounts.

"If only one man had to be selected to make this expedition, full of responsibility, peril and privation, as it must have been known it would be, no fitter choice could have been made than of the young Canadian, De Tissenet. He possessed all the essential qualifications for the work -- youth, courage, vigor, zeal and intelligence -- and set out on his journey, on foot and alone, full of desire and confidence. He left Kaskaskia in the spring of 1719, and reached the western limit of his journey, in the country of the Padoucas -- in what is probably now Lincoln county, in north-central Kansas -- the following September. On the 27th of September, somewhere near the headwaters of the Smoky Hill river, he erected a cross with the arms of the French king engraved thereon, thus claiming the country for France. On his return to the Illinois district, in a letter to Governor Bienville, dated 'Kaskaskia, 22nd of November 1719,' he gave a lengthy and interesting account of his expedition.

"M. De Tissenet was the first Caucasian that we know visited the soil of what is now Vernon county, and certainly the first to give any definite information in regard to the country and its inhabitants, the Osage Indians. On the expedition referred to he visited the Osages at their 'great village' on the river to which he was the first to give their name."

So here we have the date of the naming of the Osage river, and why and by whom; and this doubtless accounts for the name, Little Osage, as it is claimed by Mr. Holcomb that De Tissenet visited the Indian village near the mouth of the Marmiton, and having passed up the smaller stream west of the juncture of what was afterward called the Marais des Cygnes, he would very naturally call it the Little Osage. And this also strengthens our contention that it is the confluence of the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes which makes up the Osage river proper. It is barely possible that De Tissenet regarded the larger stream which seemed to come down from the north as the continuance of the river he named Osage, and on that assumption it was perfectly natural that he should call the other the Little Osage; but where the name Marmiton came from is not clear, though it is said to be from the French.

After discussing the reasons for his belief Mr. Holcomb further says: "There cannot be much doubt that the 'village' of the Osages visited by De Tissenet was located in the northern part of this county, in the angle formed by the union of the Marmiton with the Osage. (He does not say 'Little Osage.') It probably stood on the east side of the 'small stream' (the Marmiton) and could not have been very far from the Blue Mounds. The distance from the mouth of the Osage ('eighty leagues') is approximately correct, and other circumstances fix the location with reasonable certainty."

This was in 1719, and in 1806, Z. B. Pike, on his map, locates the "village" of the Grand Osages practically in the same place. This apparent permanency of fixedness of residence, if true, rather runs counter to the nomadic habits of the Indians in general. If they lived in one place for about one hundred years, it would seem that certain evidence of their long abode would be findable. And while we must indulge reasonable historical conclusions where proof is now impossible, we also must consider in this connection that all back of Pike's expedition in 1806 there is little dependable history and even Pike's data is unsatisfactory and in some particulars will not stand a test of accuracy, for instance his distance traveled when approaching the Osage village. Either his distances were inaccurate or he never found the Grand Osage Village where he put it on his map.

It is reasonable to conclude that even if De Tissenet came afoot up the Osage, on the south side all the way, and visited the village only four or five miles from the Bates county line, for a number of days, it is altogether likely that he got his Canadian feet on Bates county soil, and thus achieved the great distinction of being the first white man to visit Bates county.

In 1717, two years before De Tissenet's visit to this section, this vast territory known as Louisiana passed from M. Crozat to the Scotch plunger, John Law, and his "Mississippi Company" or "Company of the West." This company made great preparations for the development of the resources of their grant; especially its mineral resources, and the precious metals supposed to be discoverable in vast quantities somewhere within the territory. The people of France and England went wild and the stock of the company was eagerly sought and bought. But we cannot go into that wonderful story. Soon after obtaining their patent from the king they established Ft. Chartres east of the river and a little above Ste. Genevieve. The "Company" offered marvelous inducements to immigrants and the result was that settlements in the vicinity of Ft. Chartres were largely increased in a very short time. With skilled workmen, assayists, chemists, scientists, with all the methods known to the scientists of that day in hand, they started their search for gold and silver with a sublime faith. They had miners and metallurgists, and all the tools and apparatus necessary to test out their findings on the ground wherever anything worth while might be found.

Renault came from France in 1719, and with a company of experienced scientists, stopped at the St. Domingo Island and purchased five hundred native negroes to do the drudgery work of the expedition. He arrived at Ft. Chartres with this considerable outfit in the forepart of 1720, and established a new settlement near by called St. Phillip in honor of the sub-company known as the "St. Phillip Company." From this base Renault sent out expeditions in all directions to prospect for precious metals. For twenty-two years he and his efficient lieutenant, M. La Motte, were engaged in this enterprise during which time they sent many expeditions into the interior of Missouri to examine the country and dig it up wherever "prospects" were found either on or under the soil. They sometimes built rude smelters when far from their base, but usually carried portable furnaces, crucibles and other necessary things with them. We may well pause here to call attention to the fact that to Phillip Francis Renault belongs the distinction of the first introduction of human slavery into Missouri. Chronicles of the time tell us their lot was pitiable and their fate a sad one. It does not appear that their work was hard; but they could not stand the climate and exposure. "They were homesick and despondent. Numbers of them committed suicide, and nearly all died during their twenty years of servitude in the Upper Louisiana Country."

Disappointed in his search for the precious metals Renault turned to the mining of lead, vast quantities of which had been found in south- east Missouri. He built in the vicinity of Potosi, at Mine a Renault, and at Mine La Motte, on the St. Francis river, and smelted immense quantities which he delivered from the interior to Ft. Chartres on the backs of his slaves and thence to the gulf and into the markets of the world, principally to France. Large quantities were taken to supply the chasseurs du bois, or French hunters who hunted over the vast region between Canada, Wisconsin and New Orleans, as well as the French settlements.

In 1742, after the loss of nearly all his slaves, Renault abandoned mining, sold the surviving slaves, and with his workmen went back to France. But before this, in 1731, the "Company of the West" had been united with the "Royal Company of the Indies," and the whole territory of the Mississippi valley with the exclusive privilege of the commercial and mining interests of Louisiana was retroceded to the crown of France; and thus came to an inglorious end one of the most gigantic "get-rich-quick" schemes in all history. Its failure appreciably affected the business and life of nearly every country in Europe.

We mention the exploits of Renault and his men in passing, not because it is at all certain that they ever visited Bates county; yet it is claimed by some writers that the wells, or holes, digged in the hard stone high up under the overhanging ledge on Halley's Bluffs, in southeast one-quarter of section 27, township 38, range 30, was the work of Renault and his men. If we are to believe this it is reasonable to believe that Renault and his scientists explored at least a part of Bates county as early as 1730-35.