l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



detail by Wedel, and the material there set forth is basic to a con- 

 siderable part of the present discussion. Certain Pawnee sites not 

 mentioned by Wedel may be briefly referred to here. On the basis of 

 Oto legends, Maj. A. L. Green tells of an early Pawnee village said 

 to be located near Blue Springs, Gage County, Nebr. (Con- 

 nelley, 1918, p. 444.) Likewise an abandoned village, said to have been 

 claimed by the Kitkehahki or Republican tribe, is reported on the site 

 of the present town of Savannah in Butler County. (Brown, 1892, p. 

 283.) Reference is made by Du Tisne, in 1719, to two Pawnee vil- 

 lages on the Grand or Neosho River in the vicinity of the Grand Saline, 

 near the present town of Vinita, Okla.,* as well as numerous Pawnee 

 sites to the north and west. Like the " Pawnee " village on Long's 

 map in 1818, located on the Red River, certain of these " Pawnee " 

 sites may actually refer to their southern relatives, the Wichita. The 

 entire matter of historic Pawnee villages in Kansas and Oklahoma 

 should be carefully investigated, but may only be referred to here in 

 passing. Another disputed matter is the possibility of the Skidi 

 Pawnee ranging east of the Missouri in early historic or late pre- 

 historic times.' The De ITsle maps of 1702 (and 1703) show a group 

 of Pawnee east of the Missouri opposite the mouth of the Platte, 

 but aside from this T know of little verification for their traditional 

 location in this region. Until something more tangible is at hand it 

 seems reasonable to regard the Pawnee as centered in the Platte and 

 Republican River regions of Nebraska, west of the Missouri, where 

 all historic maps and accounts place them. The general range of the 

 Pawnee within Nebraska during historic times is indicated on the 

 map (fig. 2). Of all the tribes discussed, the Pawnee hold the best 

 claim to being the original Nebraskans, at least so far as the historic 

 period is concerned. 



Next in importance to the Pawnee in Nebraska were the sedentary 

 Siouan tribes along the Missouri River. These belong to two linguistic 

 groups or divisions of the great Siouan speech family. Of these, the 

 larger is the Dhegiha division, to which belong the Omaha, Ponca, Qua- 



* Connelley, 1918, p. 443. According to Connelley there were also Tappage 

 Pawnee villages on the Smoky Hill River in 1836. A " Panis old village " is like- 

 wise shown near the Neosho River between Saline and Spavinaw Creeks on a 

 map of the U. S. exploring party in 1803-04, map on file, U. S. Army, Corps of 

 Engineers, File Mark I R 20 Roll. This reference is important since the map 

 distinguishes the Wichita or " Panis Piques " on the headwaters of the Red 

 (or Washita?) River. This record was called to Dr. John R. Swanton's atten- 

 tion by Grant Foreman, the Oklahoma historian. 



'^ Dorsey, 1886, p. 215, and Connelley, 1918, p. 443, on the basis of Dhegiha 

 Siouan traditions believe that at one time the Skidi lived east of the Mississippi. 



