ARCHEOLOCICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 9 



Creek, Kansas?) with the Missouri. DuPratz in 1757 designated all 

 the region between the Mississippi and the great bend of the Missouri, 

 and for a distance beyond to the southwest, "Pays des Missouris." 

 The "Cansez G''. Village" is indicated on the Missouri above Kansas 

 Eiver, with the Osages far to the south and southwest — partly on the 

 river bearing their name, partly on a southerly tributary of the lower 

 Kansas. These maps and scattering bits of information from other 

 sources would suggest that the Missouri formerly laid claim to much 

 of the lower valley where their villages stood. The Osage country 

 lay mainly to the south and southwest, apparently centering on the 

 Osage River. Kansa territory began at the Missouri above the mouth 

 of Kansas River, whence it extended indefinitely westward into the 

 bison plains. The area with which the present archeologicai 

 researches are concerned thus lies in what was essentially Siouan 

 territory since early historic times. 



There is no direct evidence from which the time of arrival of 

 these three tribes in the region may be accurately fixed, but the 

 Marquette map of 1673 indicates that, as distinct groups, they were 

 then already in their approximate historic locations. According to 

 tribal traditions (Dorsey, 188G; McGee, 1897, pp. 191-196; Swanton 

 and Dixon, 1914, pp. 385-3S9), the Osage, Kansa, Omaha, Ponca, 

 and Quapaw migrated westward to the mouth of the Ohio, whence 

 the Quapaw turned south while the others moved up the Mississippi 

 and on to the Missouri. Near the mouth of the Osage another sep- 

 aration took place : The Omaha and Ponca traveled toward the 

 northwest, the Osage to the southwest up the Osage River, and the 

 Kansa continued westward up the Missouri to the Kansas River 

 and beyond. The Missouris, along with the Iowa and Oto, separated 

 from their parent Winnebago on Green Bay, Wis., and traveled 

 southward down the Mississippi to the Iowa River. Here the Iowa 

 remained for a time, while the remainder of the group went on 

 to reach eventually the mouth of Grand River on the Missouri. From 

 this point the Oto, after a quarrel, proceeded farther up the Mis- 

 souri ; the Missouris remained and were visited by French traders 

 early in the eighteenth century. The Missouris are also supposed to 

 have dwelt for a time on the Mississippi near the present site of St. 

 Louis. Whether they preceded or followed the Osage and Kansa 

 into this region is not known. As to the time involved, it may be 

 noted that Oiiate's encounter with the Escansaques in 1601 has been 

 suggested as the earliest historical allusion to the Kansa, which, if 

 correct, would mean that at least the Dhegihan groups were prob- 

 ably on hand by that date. This identification of the nomadic Escan- 

 saques with the semihorticultural Kansa, however, seems highly 

 dubious if not wholly untenable. 



4D72G1 — 43 2 



