In 1823, the Indian agency which had previously been established at
Fort Calhoun, where Lewis and Clark held
a council with the Indians, was
removed to Bellevue, and was known in Government reports as the "Council
Bluffs
Indian Agency at Bellevue."
Traders for hundreds of miles north and
west brought their furs to this post, where the Indians came to make their
purchases and sit in council with the "pale face."
An attempt was made to
foster civilization among native tribes, especially with the Omahas, Otoes
and Pawnees.
For this purpose, three blacksmith shops were established, as
also other auxiliaries of civilized life, but with the
usual result--
failure.
In 1846, the Presbyterian Board of Missions resolved to establish a
post in the West, and the Rev. Edward
McKinney was selected to choose a
suitable point. He arrived in the fall of the same year, and, after
careful
observation, finally settled at Bellevue, where he erected a log
house as his residence and headquarters.
In the following spring, Walter
Lowrie, Secretary of the Board visited Bellevue, and formally located the
mission.
The building was begun at once and completed in 1848. A school
was also established, and children of Omahas,
Otoes, half-breeds and
Poncas were taught the rudiments of elementary science by D. E. Reed, who
arrived the
same fall, and with the missionary and his family constituted
the mission force.
Previous to this date, a school had been established some distance up
the Platte, on Council Creek, by Messrs.
Dunbar and Ellis, but, owing to
the Indian hostility, was abandoned, and the agents returned to Bellevue,
which
place is also noted as being the Council Bluffs of 1848, a name
afterward appropriated to a city opposite Omaha.
During the same year (1847), the Mormons made Sarpy's a rallying point
for their final departure to the "promised
land," and a company under the
leadership of Brigham Young crossed the river between St. Mary's and
Bellevue
on a ferry-boat owned by Gen. Sarpy.
In 1849, the gold excitement
attracted thousands on their way to the far Pacific, bringing much
trade and giving
an impetus to the growth of Bellevue.
In the fall of the
same year, the "Nebraska Post Office: was established, but two years later
the name was changed
to Council Bluffs, to correspond with the name of the
agency.
In 1852, Maj. Barrown, Col. Stephen Decatur and others conceived the
idea of laying out a town, but it was
not
until February 9, 1854, that a
company was organized for that purpose, and the agreement signed by the
following named persons:
Peter Sarpy
Stephen Decatur
Hiram Bennett
Isaiah N. Bennett
George Nepner
William R. English
James M. Galeswood
George T. Turner
P. J. McMahon
A. W. Hollister
A. C. Ford
These were
the original proprietors of the town, and were known as the "Old Town
Company." But there were no settlements in the West at that date to
support a town, and the city proved to be an elephant on the hands of the
incorporators. Most of the land owned by the company passed into other
hands, and the company itself dissolved
by the process of natural
decay.
In July, 1854, the Indian title expiring by treaty, the town and
surrounding country were opened to pioneers, and, in October following the
Government officers appointed by President Pierce arrived.
These included
Francis Burt, Governor, and T. B. Cuming, Secretary, the former surviving
but ten days after his
arrival, leaving the Territorial Government to be
conducted by Mr. Cuming, who offered to locate the capital at
Bellevue on
the donation of one hundred acres of land, but the Rev. Mr. Hamilton, who
had taken charge of the Presbyterian mission, refused, and the first
Territorial Legislature, which convened at Omaha January 16, 1855,
sealed
the destiny of Bellevue in that connection.
Many new-comers were added daily to the town, prominent among whom were:
S. A. Strickland, who began the erection of the Benton House
F. Calkins
W. W. Wiley
C. D. Keller
S. D. Bangs
Col. R. Lovejoy
James Gow
H. T.
Clarke
M. S. Martyn
C. E. Smith
J. A. Thompson
J. S. Allen
Watson
brothers
John Finney
Dr. Upjohn
L. B. Kinney and others,
not
forgetting Esquire Griffin, who was the first Justice of the Peace in
Bellevue.
In 1855, there was an Indian scare. It having been reported that the
savages had stolen thirty head of horses,
everybody turned out to hunt the
thieves, armed with such weapons as they could obtain. The Bellevue and
Omaha delegations met at Saling's Grove, and while they were deliberating
upon the best plan of pursuit, the Indians actually stole seventy head of
cattle near the mouth of the Platte, and escaped by the camp of the
whites. Further
pursuit was at once abandoned.
Until 1857, there was little to attract attention or emigration. In
that year, Col. Benton established a steam ferry,
and the county of Sarpy
was created.
The county originally formed the south part of Douglas; but,
by some "political necessity," it is said, was erected into
a separate
county by the Territorial Legislature of this year.