PAP.Nalsf* FORT PIERRE II — SMITH 99 



Wimar's primary purpose on the occasion of liis visits to the upper 

 river was, of course, particularly to sketch and paint the Indians and 

 the scenery, and his field books (still in large part unpublished, but 

 carefully preserved at the City Art Museum of St. Louis) furnish 

 a valuable record of the upper river including the Fort Pierre region 

 at this period, some 25 years after the visits of Catlin and Bodmer 

 (Kathbone, 1946, pp. 18-20; 48; 74), Leaving St. Louis in May, 



1858, on the first trip upriver, he first encountered Yankton Indians 

 above Sioux City, who had been invited aboard the boat by an Indian 

 agent also en route upriver. Above Fort Randall, Wimar was also to 

 see Ponca and Brule, and more Yankton Indians. At Fort Pierre 

 (i.e., Fort Pierre II) there were gathered several hundred Dakota, 

 with their women and children; portraits of as many as possible of 

 them Wimar endeavored to obtain during the very brief stay, the 

 steamboat {Twilight) carrying the party farther upstream the same 

 afternoon (July 12). It is known that Wimar had with him on this 

 journey an ambrotype camera, but no specimens of his photographic 

 work are now known, and his efforts may not have been successful. 



In Wimar's sketchbooks are numerous excellent drawings and por- 

 trait sketches of various Indian men and women, doubtless obtained 

 on this trip ; among these is a likeness of Bear's Rib, a Dakota chief, 

 of whom more is said hereafter, and of whom Wimar subsequently 

 painted an oil portrait also extant. Another hasty sketch, intended 

 to show particularly the arrangement of groups of Indians gathered 

 near the steamboat, seems to show Fort Pierre II as well, though with 

 little attention to detail. In 1859 Wimar returned by boat to the 

 upper river, adding to his drawings as before. 



One other visitor to the region during these years was Capt. Wil- 

 liam F. Raynolds of the Corps of Engineers, who in the summer of 



1859, accompanied by the eminent geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, 

 Lt. Henry E. Maynadier, and others, explored the upper Missouri 

 and Yellowstone valleys. On June 18 of that year Raynolds held 

 a council with the Indians at Fort Pierre, at the same tune issuing 

 the annuities (annual payments of goods and money) due the Teton; 

 returning downriver, the party was once more at the post from 

 September 8 to 10, 1860 (Raynolds, 1868, pp. 120-121.) . 



By the admission to the Union of the State of Minnesota in 1858 

 the remainder of the former Territory of the same name (which had 

 extended to the Missouri River itself, touching the Territory of Ne- 

 braska, established in 1854) was left without territorial government. 

 Various delays postponed the creation of Dakota Territory until 

 1861, when it was formed of this unorganized remnant east of the 

 Missouri, and a portion withdrawn from the Territory of Nebraska, 

 lying west of the Missouri. Few settlements had, however, been 



502329—60 8 



