May 12, 1834
In the morning, cool. Early [we saw] flocks of pelicans, a swan, [and] many wood ducks. At seven thirty, 50°F [10°C]. Wind northwest hora 11. We saw a pair of cormorants; the female settled in the forest. Dreidoppel got out, crept up with his rifle, and shot this bird (new to us) down from its high seat.
Around ten o’clock we passed by Council Bluff and the ruins of the cantonment formerly located there. We reached [a] beautifully wooded, picturesque chain of hills. The wind rose. A flock of Sterna hirundo winged upriver, and Dreidoppel shot down a nice specimen. At twelve o’clock the thermometer showed 60°F [15.6°C]; the wind northwest hora 11. In the afternoon we reached Boyer’s Creek [Boyer River], from which it is three miles to Pilcher’s trading post, where we found Mr. Cabanné on our journey upriver [last year]. Before we reached Boyer’s Creek [Boyer River], we observed the first Platanus—a very big tree. The river took many turns. About one o’clock we sighted Major Pilcher’s trading house, and half an hour later, we landed there, having just seen a horse on the right sandbar.
Mr. Pilcher received us in a very friendly manner, and we stayed all day at this place. There was a lawyer, Mr. Randolf [Randolph?], [who] was there to investigate a criminal case. A short time ago, an engagé had coldly and intentionally shot his comrade, so we were told. At this moment few Indians were [at the post], but there were some Otoes, Omahas, Missourias, and a few Iowas, [and] the great Omaha chief Óngpa-Tánga (Big Elk) was expected any day. [Big Elk] is depicted very accurately in Godman’s Natural History, so they say. Mr. Bodmer drew an Omaha and an Otoe Indian. The two nations do not differ in customs and traditions, [and] their appearance is fairly significantly similar. They wear their hair short; sometimes their heads are shorn, except for a few tufts of hair. Their upper bodies are bare. In their ears [they wear] wampum or other pendants. Mr. Pilcher’s house seemed more orderly than before. The store had been moved. It was now on the upper floor, where we found a significant supply of pelts and skins, among them 24,000 muskrats,
the packs [neatly] tied together in squares. Many beaver pelts and buffalo robes were also stacked there. Mr. Pilcher gave me a nice skin of a large, black wolf that was shot on the upper [reaches of] Boyer’s Creek [Boyer River]. The wolf was not a [separate] species, just a variety.
I made an excursion after lunch. The surrounding hills and forests displayed lush foliage. Blackbirds, the fire- and black-colored Baltimore bird, Muscicapa ruticilla, Sylvia aestiva, [and] sialis were extremely common; Turdus migratorius, Columba carolinensis, Picus pubescens, and many other birds, among them Fringilla erythrophthalma and several other finches, enlivened a beautiful, gently rising lateral valley [where there was] a path to the Omaha villages. In this green, overgrown, and sparsely wooded valley, many kinds of fine trees and bushes grew, among them twenty-foot-high Crataegus or Pyrus [and] Prunus padus (all covered with white blossoms), oak, elm, ash, Celtis (its trunk one and a half feet in diameter), several kinds of Juglans, and other beautiful trees, [including] maples. I shot several interesting birds. In the vicinity of a forest marsh I found a small heron (crabier) sitting at the top of the highest tree. Close to the dwellings [I saw] good cattle, many hogs (some also roam in the forest), and chickens. Not far from the buildings there were extensive corn and potato fields. Mr. Pilcher gave us some provisions. There was cholera here late last summer, but not as many people died of it as at Dougherty’s agency, because Mr. Pilcher was provided with medicine. We took leave from our gracious host in the evening and slept on our boat.