116 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 77 
within the village. But this large group of earth-covered lodges 
undoubtedly resembled the village of the Republican Pawnee, as 
shown in the photograph made by Jackson more than half a century 
later. 
In the narrative of the Long expedition, during the spring of 1820, 
more than a century ago, is a brief note on the Oto. It reads: “ The 
Oto nation of Indians is distinguished by the name of Wah-toh-ta-na. 
The permanent village of this nation is composed of large dirt lodges, 
similar to those of the Konzas and Omawhaws, and is situate on the 
left bank of the river Platte, or Nebreska, about forty miles above 
it confluence with the Missouri.” (James, (1), I, p. 338.) On the 
map which accompanies the narrative the village is indicated on the 
south or right bank of the Platte, in the eastern part of the present 
Saunders County, Nebraska. Continuing, the journal states (p. 342) : 
“The hunting grounds of the Oto nation, extend from the Little 
Platte up to the Boyer creek, on the north side of the Missouri, and 
from Independence creek to about forty miles above the Platte, on 
the south side of that river. They hunt the bison, between the Platte 
and the sources of the Konzas rivers.” Thus their hunting grounds 
included one of the richest and most fertile sections of the valley of 
the Missouri, now occupied by many towns and villages. 
Much of interest respecting the manners and ways of life of the 
Oto when they occupied their village near the mouth of the Platte 
is to be found in Irving’s narrative of the expedition of which he was 
a member. During the summer of 1833 the small party under the 
leadership of Commissioner H. L. Ellsworth left St. Louis and, with 
several teams, proceeded up the Valley of the Missouri. They trav- 
ersed the vast rolling prairie: “Hour after hour passed on; the 
prospect was still the same. At last a loud cry from our guide an- 
nounced that we had come in sight of the cantonment. There was 
a snowy speck resting upon the distant green; behind it rose a forest 
of lofty timber which shadowed the Missouri. This was Leaven- 
worth .. . It was mid day when we first caught sight of Leaven- 
worth, but it was near sunset before we arrived there. About a dozen 
white-washed cottage-looking houses, composed the barracks and the 
abodes of the officers. They are so arranged as to form the three sides 
of a hollow square; the fourth is open, and looks out into a wide but 
broken prairie. It is a rural looking spot—a speck of civilization 
dropped in the heart of a wilderness.” (Irving, J. T., (1), I, pp. 
46-47.) From Fort Leavenworth they continued up the valley, soon 
reaching the village of the Oto, near the banks of the Platte. After 
describing the reception accorded the party by the people of the 
town Irving wrote: “The village of the Otoe Indians is situated 
upon a ridge of swelling hills overlooking the darkly wooded banks 
of the Platte river, about a quarter of a mile distant. There is but 
