Skip to main content

click zoom to display a high-res image
Drawings

Wilkins 11: The Deserted Pawnee Village

Image

Deserted Pawnee village in Nebraska. Sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail). Wilkins writes about an encounter with a poor Pawnee family in his diary: "They were the most miserable family of Indians I ever saw. Sunk to the very lowest ebb of misery starvation and poverty. They had no arms except a bow and arrows, no horses and almost naked. The woman had on a buffalo robe, the man nothing but an old coffee sack, and the children a bit of buckskin round their middle. Their knives being all the property they had, this was the nearest link to the brute creation I had ever seen. I was informed by a man from Fort Childs that 55 perished from want last winter."

Date Created:
May 1849
Creator:
Wilkins, James F., d. 1888

Publication Information

Creator
Wilkins, James F., d. 1888
Date Created
May 1849

Physical Description

Format
Image
Dimensions
54 x 22 cm

Collection Information

Call Number
PH 374.11 (5)

Copyright Information

Copyright Status
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES
Rights Holder
Wisconsin Historical Society
Unique ID
W0131LF
Legacy ID
WHi 1842

Image

Digital Collections

Explore more than 100,000 collection items online through the Society’s digital collections. For over two decades, we’ve been scanning, photographing, and digitizing materials from our collections, creating a rich and growing digital archive that brings history closer to you.
 
The Wisconsin Historical Society offers an ever-growing digital collection. Digitized materials reflect the full range of items in the collections including photographs, letters, newsletters, films, posters, architectural drawings, menus, and ephemera.

View Our Curated Collections

Attribution

For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier. 

The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.

For bibliographic citations please consult the UW-Madison Libraries Citation Research Guide to ensure compliance with appropriate style guidelines.

 

 

Accessing Collections

The vast majority of the items in our collections are not online. The Society owns thousands of archival collections viewable in our Archives reading room. To view and conduct research in our collections, visit us in person.

Plan Your Visit

Drawings
Wilkins 15: Jail and Courthouse Rocks

Wilkins 15: Jail and Courthouse Rocks

June 20, 1849

Jail and Courthouse Rocks in Nebraska; Sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Drawings
Wilkins 10: Old Fort Kearney

Wilkins 10: Old Fort Kearney

May 1849

Old Fort Kearney (Nebraska City). Sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Drawings
Wilkins 21: Black Hills

Wilkins 21: Black Hills

June 20, 1849

The Black Hills sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Drawings
Wilkins 25: The Black Hills

Wilkins 25: The Black Hills

July 3, 1849

The Black Hills sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Drawings
Wilkins 24: Through the Black Hills

Wilkins 24: Through the Black Hills

June 30, 1849

The Black Hills sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Drawings
Wilkins 23: In the Black Hills

Wilkins 23: In the Black Hills

June 30, 1849

The Black Hills sketched by Wilkins on his 151-day journey from Missouri to California on the Overland Trail (also known as the Oregon Trail).

View
Go to top
Wisconsin Historical Society
Search Dropdown