Magazine Article Review: Where Bellevue Began

 Where Bellevue Began: A Bluff-top trading post on the Missouri became Nebraska's oldest permanent community by Ron Soodalter with Chris Amundson, Nebraska Life Magazine, Flagship Publishing Inc., Timnath CO, March/April 2026, pp 24-29.

Lewis and Clark came through the Bellevue area in 1804.  In 1822 Joshua Pilcher built a trading post above the Missouri River in what would become Bellevue.  From this location it commanded a way to send goods up the Missouri, and also the Platte River which was a few miles to the south.  It was a trading post and a place where furs could be dried and prepared for market.  It became the hub for traders, company men and hunters.  Pawnee, Otoe and Omaha traded there.  Beaver built the Missouri Fur Company.  Beaver skin was durable, water proof, and well suited for hats.  The trading post supported the annual rendezvous which was to the west.  Goods would leave from Bellevue and then at the rendezvous they would be sold and traded, and beaver skin would come back to the trading post.  Bellevue would keep the trade moving as a hub for the business in St. Louis.  The trade business could be dangerous.  In 1823 fourteen men were killed and eleven wounded in South Dakota n the Missouri.  Pilcher also learned the same lesson in 1823.  Blackfeet attacked a caravan along the Yellowstone River and killed seven men.  This resulted in a loss of roerty of $15,000, valued today at $467,000.

The Pilcher site faltered, but Lucien Fontenelle purchased it in 1828.   By this time it had grown beyond a trading post.  It included separate lodgings for Otoe and Omaha.  It had smith shops, and a counsel meeting area and lodging for interpreters.  Karl Bodmer made a rendering of the trading post and surrounding buildings. Lucien Fontenele would sell the buildings to the federal government and it became the Indian agency.  The area continued to grow.  1855 Bellevue incorporated as a city.  1856 the first church still standing in Nebraska was built.  The major settlements located south of the old trading post.  This encroachment of people lead to the removal of Native American people to reservation.  The Omaha reservation is further north on the Missouri, the Pawnee in Oklahoma and the Otoe to the Nebraska/Kansas border but then again moved to Oklahoma.  Peter Sarpy also arrived and established a ferry at Bellevue as well as trading posts on both sides of the river.  

Magazine Article Review: The Doctor's Work Endures,

 The Doctor's Work Endures by Ron Soodalter, Nebraska Life, July/August 2025, p 53.

Susan Laflesche was passionate about caring for her people, the Omaha Indians on the Omaha reservation in Nebraska.  She had seen disregard for Omaha life and decided to take upon herself the task of making a difference.  Susan was eleven years younger than her famous sister, Susette La Flesche.  An elder had been denied treament, with the doctor saying it didn't matter, she is only an Indian.  Susan decided it did matter and did something about it.  1889 she graduated valedictorian from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.  She became the first Native American physician.  She returned to Nebraska determined to care for all.   She would do house calls.  She opened a hospital in Walthill in 1919.  This hospital has recently been restored and is a medical and community center.  In addition a couple women recently reenacted her life, keeping the story alive. They were able to present at the Smithsonian.