Indians, a race differing but little, if at all, from the Osages. After an arduous march through a mountainous country, the dividing range between the Kansas and Arkansas Rivers was crossed on the 14th October, and late on the same day a branch of the latter river was reached.
On Sunday, the 19th October, the Arkansas itself was first sighted, and, crossing it in canoes, constructed on the spot under his own superintendence, the gallant young leader proceeded to carry out the instructions he had received, by tracing its course through all its devious windings, in what was then an untrodden wilderness, tenanted chiefly by buffalo, elk, deer, and wild horses.
Being totally unprepared for the great length of the river between its junction with the Mississippi in north latitude 34° 54´ and west longitude 91° 10´, or for the severity of the climate, as its birthplace in the Rocky Mountains on the borders of Utah was approached in mid-winter, the explorers endured very great hardships. The head of the Arkansas River was reached late in December, and was found to be no less than 192 miles west of its outlet from the mighty ridge dividing the rivers flowing into the Pacific from those which find their final home in the Arctic Ocean, Hudson's Bay, or the Gulf of Mexico.
Footsore, weary, and half-starved though he and his followers were, Pike paused but long enough to ascertain the exact position of the source of the Arkansas, before he struck across country to work out the second portion of the problem given to him to solve, namely, how and where did the most southerly of the western branches of the Mississippi rise, and what was its course before entering the now well-known lowlands of Louisiana?
Under the impression that the Red River must spring into being almost simultaneously with, and certainly at no very great distance from, its sister tributary the Arkansas, the young commander led his exhausted men in a southerly direction, and presently came upon a broad stream flowing in a south-easterly direction. Surely this must be what he was seeking; and, elated at the rapidity of his imaginary success, Pike erected a fort on the banks of the newly-found river, in token that it henceforth belonged to the United States. The next step was to embark on the stream, which, as the explorers hoped, would soon bring them down to the outpost of Natchitoches, near its junction with the Father of Waters.
All went well for several days. Visits from Spaniards from the South only served to strengthen the impression that the Red River was found, but
