Cold Springs As a Place Mormons Stayed in Nebraska 1846

 When my wife visited with a member of the stake presidency, Papillion Stake, we got on the name of our ward, Cold Springs.  He indicated the name came by inspiration as they weren't sure what it meant.  Only later did they discover the significance in LDS history.  He indicated that Cold Spring is off of 36th in Bellevue.  The book "Mormons on the Missouri" by Richard E. Bennett mentions Cold Spring as a place the Mormons stayed before arriving at Cutler's Park or Winter Quarters.  The book I read about Omaha Chief Big Elk mentioned Mormon Hollow as a place the Mormons had stayed.  Mormon Hollow extended from the Missouri River up the Hollow for a mile or so.  (The river has shifted so the hollow no longer starts at the river.  If these are the same place I do not think so.  I am not familiar with a spring in Mormon Hollow.

The actual location of Cold Spring is uncertain but it was on Petit Papio Creek.  It is also called Butterfly Bluff.  

What is certain is both these areas were considered to be too confining to accommodate all the Saints who were on the west bank of the Missouri.  A better situation had to be found.  A place was found, Cutler's Park, named for the person who found it.  there as more room, good grass and plentiful water so the Saints moved to this location, and then to Winter Quarters when the Otoe said the land was theirs and approved suitable for the Mormons to stay.  It was too far from the river.  They subsequently moved the entire group of Saints on the West side of the river to Winter Quarters before winter set in.  This was on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River.

With regards to Cold Springs this is what the Bennett book says in the notes. "The precise location of the Cold Springs encampment is uncertain.  Some contemporary writers said is was 13 miles from Mosquito Creek while others claimed it was only four miles from Council Point. See Heber C. Kimball journal, 13 July 1846 and journal of Horace K. Whitney 21 October 1846.  A consensus estimate would place it four miles from the west bank landing in present Omaha, Nebraska.  Gail Holmes contends in was on the Little Pappio Creek just north of Interstate 80 and near the corner of 61st and Patterson street in Omaha.  (61st and Patterson are south of the freeway.)  See Gail George Holmes, "Winter Quarters Revisited--Untold Stories of the Seven-Year Stay of Mormons in the Missouri Valley 1846-1853," 19-20 and Holmes's leaflet "Historic Mormon Sites to Visit in Greater Omaha--Council Bluffs."

My feeling is there may be some confusion because Bellevue carried the name Council Bluffs, at least the Council Bluffs Indian Agency until 1853 when Council Bluffs, Iowa took the name.  If this is the case, then the 35th street location is very probable.  It is about five miles east of downtown Bellevue.  Papillion Creek aka Little Papio Creek crosses 36th about where Marcus Theater is located.  There are also several springs in the area.  Two Springs park is about three miles south.

Mormon Hollow

This is the Two Springs Area in Bellevue

Magazine Article Review: Burning of the Grand Central Hotel

 Burning of the Grand Central Hotel by David L. Bristow, Nebraska State Historical Society, Nebraskaland Magazine, Nebraska Game, Forestation, and Parks Commission, Lincoln, NE, Nov 2025 pp 38-43.

The Grand Hotel was a grand project in Omaha.  It was on the corner of 14th and Farnam.  It was concluded Omaha needed a hotel worth of being the gateway to the West.  The hotel was planned in 1870, and slowed because of financial issues.  It opened in 1873.  It was five stories and billed itself as the "largest and best hotel between Chicago and San Francisco."  

However in addition to financial issues before opening, the hotel had other problems.  It was so lavish it struggled financially even after opening.  It was sold at auction in 1878.  Renovations were underway when a workman kicked over a candle on the fifth floor.  The fire department was a volunteer department in 1878.  The city did not have a central water system.  They fire crew attempted to pump water up by hand, but only created enough water pressure to reach the third floor.  At one point they ran out of water. They were poorly trained and lacked organization and order.  A group was manning a hose on the second floor, after the fire had spread to the ground floor.  The walls caved in on them, and they were pushed through the floor to the billiard hall below.   Four firemen's bodies were recovered.  The next day another fireman succumbed to burns and injuries.

This fire brought change to Omaha.  The fire department went fro volunteer to paid, and the city had more success in pushing through a city wide water system.  

Book Review: Crazy Horse: Sioux Warrior

 Crazy Horse: Sioux Warrior, by Brenda Haugen, Signature Lives, Compass Point Books, Minneapolis, Minn., 2006.

This book is a very good representation of Crazy Horse's life and his death.  I was confused for the initial part of the book, as Crazy Horse's father was also Crazy Horse, until he changed his name and gave the name to Crazy Horse when he told him the dream he had had.  Crazy Horse's name before had been Curly, based on his complexion and hair.  

Crazy Horse was a great warrior.  For a time he wore a special shirt and was marked as a leader.  However his love married someone else, and when he ran off with his love, he lost the honor of wearing the shirt.  The woman's husband shot Crazy Horse in the face.  But he did not die.  His dream told him he would not die from a gunshot.  He did marry another woman and had a daughter, but she died young.

Crazy Horse was involved in the Fetterman massacre.  He was also at the Wagon Box battle.  He is most notd for his participation at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  Crazy Horse was a war chief and he was able to launch a counter attack against George Custer and his men where they overwhelmed the federals who were all killed.

Shorly after Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson.  He left for a brief time but was arrested and. brought back.  When he saw that he was being shipped to Florida he became upset.  He was stabbed by a bayonet and killed.

He is now being honored by a large memorial statue in the Black Hills.  When completed it will be the largest such memorial in the world, larger than Mount Rushmore.  

Native American Biography: Billy Bowlegs, Seminole.

Billie Bowlegs fought in the second Seminole War and he was the most prominent figure and leader in the third Seminole War.  His Muskogee name is Holata Micco meaning Alligator Chief.  After the second Seminole War he was taken to Washington to impress on him the power and might of the U.S. government.  He and his people lived in relative peace until his territory was encroached upon by civil engineers who cut downs trees to make buildings, including banana trees.  Thus provoked him into action.  The government had difficulty suppressing his guerrilla like warfare.  They offered him and his people money to relocate to Indian Territory, which they did 1858.  

 

Magazine Article Review: The Final Hunt: Massacre Canyon: The Pawnee Faced the Sioux in the Final Plains Battle

 The Final Hunt: At Massacre Canyon on August 5, 1873, The Pawnee Nation Faced Their Last Stand.  Today Their Story of Loss and Survival Endures Through Remembrance, by Ron Soodalter, Nebraska Life, May/June 2025.

This is a fascinating story.  The Pawnee were hoping for a successful buffalo hunt.  They had received permission from the government to pursue the buffalo.  Initially the hunt was going very well.  The harvested 650 buffalo at 1000 pounds of meet each.  Their people was experiencing hunger and needed the food.  However the leader, Chief Red Cloud, ignored signs that their enemy, the Sioux, were close, until it was too late.  On the morning of August 5 they found themselves surrounded by the Sioux.  The Sioux sent bullets and arrows into their ranks.  Many tried to flee, but this wan't a battle, but a massacre.  

The Pawnee had endured hardship for over 100 years, but this date all that suffering came to a head.  The federal government failed to protect the Pawnee from the Sioux.  They were often forced to serve as scouts for the federals, which put them in the crosshairs of the Sioux.  

Conservative estimates say 20 men, 39 women and 10 children were killed.   10 more were wounded and eleven were taken prisoner.  Sky Chief and his son were among the dead.  His daughter escaped with historical papers. 

All their goods were lost, including the buffalo meet.  Local settlers helped themselves to what the Sioux did not take.  They were left destitute on the plains, 200 miles from their reservation.  The Indian agent with them was able to but a limited amount of food, to get them back.  The governement paid them $9000 for the loss of 100 horses.  

As a result of this action the Pawnee were discouraged.  They left Nebraska and went to live in Oklahoma, Indian territory with their friends the Wichitas.  By 1875 all 3700 Pawnee were living in Indian territory.

The site of the massacre is now marked by a memorial and has been designated an historical site.

Native American Biography: Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole, Nurse, Journalist, Writer

 I come across the story of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper in the book about the Seminole Indians.  She is also known as Potackee.   She spoke Mikasuki and Creek.  Her father was white and their were threats that she and her brother would be killed as they were not full blooded Seminole.  Her family went to a different reservation.  

She attended a federal boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina.  She graduated in 1945.  She was the first Seminole to graduate from high school.  She then enrolled in Kiowa Indian School in Oklahoma and studied nursing.  Seminole were very traditional and most preferred Indian doctors.  Her mother practiced Indian medicine but accepted whatever would help the sick.  Jumper played a big part in transitioning the Seminole people to modern medicine.  She traveled to the reservation and provided inoculations.

She married Moses Jumper.  Together they had three children who all died young.  They then adopted two Seminole children.

Tiger Jumper worked in nursing for 40years, helping to bring health care to the Seminole in Florida.  She also started a tribal newspaper, Seminole News.  In 1967 she was elected chairwoman of the Seminole Tribes.  She was the first woman to hold this role.  She has written three books.  She wrote a book about Seminole legends and stories, Legends of the Seminole (1994).  Her personal memoir is titled A Shoshone Legend.  She also narrated a movie about Seminole legends, The Corn Lady: Seminole Indian Legends (1991). 

She received several honors: Florida WOmen's Hall of Fame; Woman of the Year in Florida; Lifetime Achievement, and Native American Journalists among others.

  

Book Review:The Seminole: The First People of Florida

 The Seminole: The First People of Florida: American Indian Nations by Mary Englar, Bridgestone Books, Mankato, Minnesota, 2003.

The Seminole are originally Muskogee Indians from the Georgia and Alabama area who kept moving south to avoid the encroachment of white populations.  They lived in wallless homes with a thatched roof of palms called a chickee.  They were joined by Freedmen, African Americans who traveled into the region to escape slavery.  In addition to English, they speak two native languages, Muskogee and Miccosukee.  

Historically the Seminole conducted three wars against the Americans.  Each war would end in truce and then thy would lose more land, but by retreating into the swamp they would buy some peace, until that land was wanted.  Osceola played a big part in the second war.  He was captured and in-prisoned at Fort Moultrie.  In 1838 he died there of malaria.  In the third war, Billy Bowlegs was the primary chief of the Seminole.  He and his people were forced to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.  There were a few who went even deeper into the swamp and stayed in Florida.  

So today there are two nations of Seminole, in Florida and in Oklahoma.  They share a same language and culture, but some traditions are different between the groups.  The corn festival is still held in ech group, which coincides with the first harvesting of corn.  In Florida patchwork clothing is very popular.  The Seminole make this to sell to tourists.  The federal government has recognized the tribe in Florida in 1957.  There are museums in both Florida and Oklahoma.