Note I-42 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: UP THE MISSOURI AND OSAGE RIVERS, AND THROUGH KANSAS TO THE PAWNEE VILLAGE ON THE REPUBLICAN RIVER, JULY 15TH-SEPT. 30TH, 1806.

A most important point in this itinerary, for here is the junction of the Little Osage with the main stream, which latter Pike now leaves to proceed up the former to the villages, and so on into Kansas, etc. He elsewhere says: "The three branches of the [Osage] river, viz.: the large east fork [i. e., Sac r., lying E. of where he now is], the middle one up which we ascended [i. e., Little Osage], and the northern one [i. e., main Osage]." The present confluence is at the point where Bates and Vernon cos. begin or cease to be separated by the meanders of the Osage; for the Little Osage runs in Vernon Co., and the main Osage, above the confluence, runs in Bates. There is a conspicuous mound in the prairie, a short distance S. of this "second fork," giving name to Blue Mound township. Both forks head beyond (W. of) the Missouri State line, in Kansas, in which State the main Osage r. bears the name of Marais des Cygnes. The "large drift" in the Little Osage which stopped the boats is marked and so legended on the map, a short distance above the forks. It seems to have been above the mouth of Muddy cr., which falls in from the N. within 2 m. of the forks, and was probably about the place where there is now some marshy ground on the W. side, opposite Horseshoe l. The latter is a mile long around the curve, and discharges by a short stream into the Little Osage, from the S., between the forks and the mouth of Muddy cr. Doubtless it was once the bed of the river. Close by this lake, an eastward bend of the Little Osage receives a creek from the S.; and beyond this was the Grand Osage village, close to which Pike established what he calls Camp Independence, on the E. side of the river, near the confluence of Marmiton or Marmaton r. This stream falls in from the S., and is rather larger than the Little Osage; in fact, it forms with the latter the main forks. The Marmiton receives Drywood cr. a few miles above its confluence with the little Osage. The name of this river is apparently the F. word marmiton, scullion, from marmite, pot or kettle; the settlers pronounce it "Mommytaw." For other features of the locality we may note that the river bottoms are here below the 750-foot contour line, which represents the general level of the surrounding prairie; and that there is an isolated mound or butte of 850 feet or more on the E. side of the Marmiton and close to this river, at the first bend it makes eastward. The Marmiton is otherwise notable in the present connection, as Pike's further route goes between it and the Little Osage.