EXPLORERS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 409 
good understanding with the Yankton and Comanches, (Panis, Kans, Arkansaw). 
On July 15th, Lieut. Pike left Belle Fontaine (a fort just above St. Louis). July 
28th he arrived at the Osage River and passed up that stream. August 19th he 
arrived at the village of the Grand Osages (not far from junction of Marmaton 
and Little Osage River, and probably at or near present town of Papinsville, Bates 
County. The village of the Little Osages was probably where Balltown now is). 
September ist he left the Osage Village and went west. About the last of Sep- 
tember he held a council between Osages, Kans, and Pawnees, and was detained 
nearly a week. He then marched on westwardly up the Arkansaw River. On 
November 15th he came in sight of the peak of the Rocky Mountains since 
named in his honor, " Pike's Peak." November 25th he was still among the 
mountains and in sight of the Peak, and on December 3d he reached the foot of 
the peak. Pike's Peak he found to be 10,581 feet above the prairie below and 
he supposed the prairies to be 8,000 feet above the sea. In this he erred, for 
the Peak is now found to be between 14,000 and 15,000 feet above the sea. 
Pike's men suffered much from the winter weather, as they were thinly clad 
and not prepared for winter; consequently they suffered from extreme cold and 
hunger, and some men were frost-bitten. The first part of December was stormy 
but game abounded. They struck a Spanish trail and reached the Rio Grande 
on December 13th, and passed up it for ten days, supposing it to be the Red 
River. It was then they suffered most from cold and hunger. They wandered 
around among the mountains for a month. On January 31st they built a stock- 
ade and prepared to winter on the banks of the Rio Grande. February t6th 
Mexican spies were seen, and on the 26th a troop of Spaniards visited them, and 
only then did they find out that they were on the Rio Grande and not on Red 
River. The Spanish troops took them to Santa Fe (as prisoners), reaching there 
March 3d. From thence they were sent off to Chihuahua, which they reached 
April 2d. All their property was taken from them. At Chihuahua they were 
detained until the 28th of April and then escorted east, reaching San Antonio the 
7th of June and Natchitoches July i, 1807. Captain Pike preserved some of his 
notes by placing them within a gun-barrel. Before reaching the Mountains Pike 
had sent Lieut. Wilkinson and some men in a boat down the Arkansaw. On 
May 3, 1806, a party under Captain Sparks passed up Red River to Natchitoches, 
and thence for 635 miles, but were ordered back by the Spanish authorities, 
Washington Irving, in that charming book of his entitled "Astoria," has 
unfolded to us the many hardships and trials of the hunters and trappers in the 
(then) wilds of the Rocky Mountains. This book contains a full account of the 
travels and hardships endured by Wilson P. Hunt, agent of John Jacob Astor.. 
Hunt was a native of New Jersey. In 1 810 he prepared for his trip, but it was 
not until 181 1 that he was fully upon his route. During December, 181 1, and 
January, 1812, the company suffered the most extreme hardships while attempting 
to pass down Snake River and westwardly across the Blue Mountains. He 
reached Astoria in February, having traveled in all about 3,500 miles from St. 
Louis, although the direct route was much less. Mrs. Ann L. Hunt who died 
