Note 43 — MEMORANDOM OF THE VOIGE BY LAND FROM FORT SMITH TO THE ROCKEY MOUNTAINS.

Chouteau’s, whose name was long borne by a large island in this vicinity, not easy to locate exactly. If there has been but one of this name, Chouteau’s island has floated a good many miles up and down the river—at least, in books I have sought on the subject. Inman locates it near Cimarron, Kas., p. 42; at the mouth of Big Sandy creek, Col., p. 75; and his map agrees with the latter position. He says, pp. 40, 41: “As early as 1815, Auguste P. Chouteau and his partner, with a large number of trappers and hunters, went out to the valley of the upper Arkansas, ... The island on which Chouteau established his trading-post, and which bears his name even to this day, is in the Arkansas River on the boundary line of the United States and Mexico.... While occupying the island, Chouteau and his old hunters were attacked by about three hundred Pawnees, whom they repulsed with the loss of thirty killed and wounded.” (Auguste P. Chouteau, b. May 9, 1786, married Sophie A. Labadie Feb. 15, 1809; d. 1839. He was the eldest son of John Pierre Chouteau, and elder brother of Pierre Chouteau, jr., b. Jan. 19, 1789, d. Oct. 6, 1865.)