654 



KANSA 



[b. a. e. 



times as far as Big Blue r., and thence 

 went to Council Grove in 1847. The 

 move to the Bij? Blue must have taken 

 place after 1723, for at that date Bourg- 

 mont speaks of the large village of the 

 Quans (Kansa) as on a small river flow- 

 ing from the n. 30 leagues above Kansas 

 r. and near the Missouri. The village of 

 the Missouri tribe was then 30 leagues 

 below Kansas r. and 60 leagues from the 

 Quans village. Iberville estimated them 

 at 1,500 families in 1702. A treaty of 

 peace and friendship was made with 

 them by the United States, Oct. 28, 1815. 

 They were then on Kansas r. at the 

 mouth of Saline r., having been forced 

 back from the Missouri by the Dakota. 

 They occupied 130 earth lodges, and their 

 number was estimated at 1,500. Accord- 

 ing to Lewis and Clark, they resided in 

 1804 on Kansas r., in two villages, one 

 about 20 and the other 40 leagues from its 

 mouth, with a population of 300 men. 

 These explorers say that they formerly 

 lived on the s. bank of Missouri r. about 

 24 leagues above the mouth of the Kan- 

 sas, and were more numerous, but were 

 reduced bj'^ the attacks of the Sauk and 

 the Iowa. O' Fallon estimated their num- 

 ber in 1822 at 1,850. By the treaty of St 

 Louis, June 3, 1825, they ceded to the 

 United States their lands in n. Kansas 

 and s. E. Nebraska, and relinquished all 

 claims they might have to lands in Mis- 

 souri, but reserving for their use a tract 

 on Kansas r. Here they were subject to 

 attacks by the Pawnee, and on their hunts 

 by other tribes, whereby their number 

 was considerably reduced. Porter esti- 

 mated their number in 1829 at 1,200; ac- 

 cording to the Keport of the Indian Office 

 for 1843 the population was 1,588. By 

 treaty at Methodist Mission, Kans., Jan. 

 14, 1846, they ceded to the United States 

 2,000,000 acres of the e. portion of their 

 reservation, and a new reservation was 

 assigned them at Council Grove, on Neo- 

 sho r., Morris co., Kans., where they 

 remained until 1873. As tliis tract was 

 overrun by settlers, it was sold, and with 

 the funds another reservation was bought 

 for them in Indian Ter. next to the 

 Osage; with the exception of 160 acres, 

 reserved for school purposes, all their 

 lands have now been allotted in severalty. 

 The population diminished from about 

 1,700 in 1850 to 209 in 1905, of whom 

 only about 90 were full-bloods. Much of 

 this decrease has been due to epidemics. 

 In the winter of 1852-53 smallpox alone 

 carried off more than 400 of the tribe at 

 Council Grove. 



The Kansa figured but slightly in the 

 history of the country until after the 

 beginning of the 19th century, and 

 they never played an important part in 

 frontier affairs. During the 26 years 



which the Kansa spent at Council Grove, 

 efforts were made to civilize them, but 

 with little success. Mission schools were 

 conducted by the Methodists in 1850-54, 

 and by the Quakers in 1869-73, but 

 the conservatism of the tribesmen pre- 

 vented the attendance of the children, 

 believing it to be degrading and ruinous 

 to Indian character to adopt the white 

 man's ways. According to T. S. HufiE- 

 aker, who lived among them, chiefly as 

 teacher, from 1850 to 1873, only one In- 

 dian of the tribe was converted to Chris- 

 tianity during that period, while the 

 influence of frontier settlers and traders, 

 with the introduction of li(iUf)r, stood in 

 the way of the good that the schools 

 might otherwise have accomplished. 

 While at Council Grove they subsisted 

 largely by hunting the buffalo, until the 

 extinction of the herds, when they took 

 up desultory farming under the instruc- 

 tion of Government teachers, because 

 driven to it by necessity; but the houses 

 erected by the Government for their use 

 they refused to occupy, regarding their 

 own lodges as more healthful and com- 

 fortable (G. P. Morehouse, inf'n, 1906). 

 Say's account, perhaps the most accu- 

 rate of the earlier notices (Long, Exped. 

 Eocky Mts., 1823), describes the ordi- 

 nary dress of the men as consisting of a 

 breech-clout of blue or red cloth secured 

 in its place by a girdle, leggings and 

 moccasins without ornamentation, and a 

 blanket thrown over the shoulders. The 

 hair of the chiefs and warriors, except a 

 small lock at the back, was scrupulously 

 removed. The dress of the females con- 

 sisted of a piece of cloth secured at the 

 waist by a girdle, the sides meeting on 

 the outside of the right thigh, the whole 

 extending downward to the knee. In 

 cold weather or for full dress a similar 

 piece of cloth was thrown over the left 

 shoulder, and leggings of cloth, with a 

 broad protecting border on the outside, 

 and moccasins were worn. They were 

 cultivators of the soil. Tattooing was 

 formerly practised to a limited extent. 

 The chastity of the females w'as guard- 

 ed to a greater extent than was usual 

 among the western tribes. The mode of 

 constructing their principal permanent 

 dwellings is described by Say as follows: 

 "The roof is supported by two series of 

 pillars, or rough vertical posts, forked at 

 top for the reception of the transverse 

 connecting pieces of each series; 12 of 

 these posts form the outer series, placed 

 in a circle; and 8 longer ones, the inner 

 series, also describing a circle; the outer 

 wall, of rude frame-work, placed a proper 

 distance from the exterior series of pil- 

 lars, is 5 or 6 ft high. Poles as thick 

 as the leg at base rest with their butts 

 upon the wall, extending on the cross- 



