110 
IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
different at this point from that shown by the Wattles survey 
of 1898, the shift eastward amounted to nearly five milesd^ 
The foregoing facts make it clear that the name Council Bluff 
was applied to the same locality by Lewis and Clark, Long and 
Nicollet, and that this locality is situated on the Nebraska side 
of the Missouri river more than 20 miles above the city of Coun- 
cil Bluffs, Iowa. The evidence is especially clear so far as it 
concerns the location of the Council Bluff of Say and Nicollet, 
and this is of greatest interest to students of distribution, for 
the reports of Say and Nicollet contain many references to this 
locality. 
The term Council Bluffs was probably first publicly applied, 
at least in scientific literature, to hills on the Iowa side by D. 
D. Owen/^ who refers to ‘‘Council Bluffs” on p. 132 of the Ke- 
pcrt, and marks the hills on the Iowa side, which extend from 
opposite the mouth of the Platte to northwestern Missouri, as 
“Council Bluffs.” 
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that the Council 
Bluff of Say’s and Nicolet’s reports, and all others based upon 
them, is a Nebraska locality, and this is also true of the “En- 
gineer Cantonment,” or “Cantonment.” Where reference is 
made to “Bowyer’s Creek,” “Boyers Biver,” or Boyer river, 
the locality is on the Iowa side. It is not probable that Say 
made many excursions to the Iowa side of the Missouri river, 
the broad prairie bottom-lands of that side being less inviting 
than the wooded bluffs of the Nebraska side, and the difficulty 
of crossing the Missouri probably adding an obstacle. His jour-- 
nal, copied by James, shows that he did occasionally cross to the 
Iowa side, and a longer trip, was taken along the Boyer to the 
present site of Logan, lowa.^^ 
It may seem that the exact location of Council Bluff is not a 
matter of serious moment, but this locality is cited in many 
scientific papers and is therefore of interest to students of plant 
and animal distribution. In addition to the general desirability 
of accuracy there are two reasonsi for correcting the impression 
i^The old channel of the Missouri, indicated by dotted lines on the map 
of Pottawattamie county opposite p. 266 in Vol XI, Iowa Geological Survey, 
1-901, was probably deterrhined by the U. S. survey of 1853, though the report 
does not state this. Pottawattamie county lies just south of Harrison county. 
imeport of a geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, etc., 
1852. Also map in “Illustrations” in same — the one marked “Sections on 
the Missouri River from no. 20 M., to no. 40 M.” 
i5Thwaites’ edition of Long, Vol. II, pp. 136-138; the London edition, Vol. 
II, pp. 67-69. See also the writer’s brief discussion in Iowa Geological 
Survey, Vol. XX., p. 278. 
