BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI Jl bes’ 
accurately determined by comparing their own statements and tradi- 
tions with early historical records, and it is quite probable that many 
village sites now discovered within this region were once occupied 
by some members of these tribes. 
While living east of the Mississippi in a region of lakes and 
streams surrounded by vast forests, their habitations were undoubt- 
edly the bark or mat covered structures, but when some moved far 
west and came in contact with tribes beyond the Missouri they evi- 
dently learned the art of constructing the earth-covered lodge which 
they soon began to occupy. Likewise when and where the skin tipi 
first became known to them is not possible to determine, but probably 
not until they had reached the valley of the Missouri and were near- 
ing the banks of that stream north of the Kansas. 
Iowa. 
On September 15, 1819, the expedition under command of Maj. 
Stephen H. Long arrived at the mouth of Papillion Creek, on the 
right bank of the Missouri a few miles above the Platte, a site now 
covered by the city of Omaha, Nebraska. In the narrative of the 
expedition it is said that at the mouth of the Papillion “we found 
two boats belonging to the Indian traders at St Louis. They had 
passed us some days before, and were to remain for the winter at the 
mouth of the Papilion, to trade with the Otoes, Missouries, and other 
Indians. 
“The banks of the Missouri above the Platte, have long been fre- 
quented by the Indians, either as places of permanent or occasional 
residence. Deserted encampments are often seen. On the north- 
east side, near the mouth of Mosquito river, are the remains of an 
old Ioway village. Four miles above, on the opposite side, was for- 
merly a village of the Otoes.” (James, (1), I, pp. 144-145.) 
As mentioned elsewhere, the Iowa and their kindred tribes had 
migrated from their ancient habitat in the vicinity of the Great 
Lakes to the Missouri Valley, and in 1848 a map was prepared by 
an Iowa Indian showing the route of the tribe from the mouth of 
Rock River, Illinois, to the banks of the Missouri, across the State 
which perpetuates the tribal name. The map was reproduced by 
Schoolcraft. (Schoolcraft, (3), III, pp. 256-257.) 
Unfortunately very little is to be found in the early writings 
regarding the appearance of the Iowa villages, but they probably 
did not differ from those of the tribes with whom they were so closely 
associated, and the primitive village, composed of a group of mat or 
bark covered structures, must have resembled the towns of the 
Osage. But in addition to the usual habitation the Iowa evidently 
erected a larger, longer structure. Maximilian on April 25, 1833, 
