EXPLORATIONS OF ALBBET PIKE IN TEXAS
A little volume entitled "Prose Sketches and Poems" by Albert
Pike, published in Boston in the year 1834, contains two sketches,
"Narrative of a Journey on the Prairie" and "Narrative of a
Second Journey in the Prairie," which have not been listed among
the geographic and exploration items of Texas.
1
The first sketch describes the journey of Aaron B. Lewis dur-
ing the fall and winter of 1831 from Fort Towson to the Washita
River, up this river to its headwaters in Hemphill County, Texas,
and then along the Canadian River through the Texas Panhandle
into New Mexico. I draw the conclusion that Pike was not with
Lewis on this journey, for twice he plainly states, in the narra-
tion, that he was on the Cimmaron at the time Lewis was on the
Canadian; and he also says that he first met Lewis just as prep-
arations for the second journey were being made.
The second sketch is an account of Pike's adventures in cross-
ing that which we today know as the South Plains or Southern
Llano Estacado and the Permian Basin. Lewis accompanied
Pike on this second journey. Pike says that the narratives were
". . . written entirely from my own memory aided by that
of Mr. Lewis."
Pike's journey seems to have received little attention because it had
no commercial importance, and then again an explorer who would
publish his observations between poems of Shakespearean tempo
gives cause for the historian to wonder if the trip was not a
flight of fancy, and, therefore, discount its accuracy. In fact,
Thomas Maitland Marshall says that Pike "entered the Staked
Plains . . . retraced his steps to the Spanish settlements
and then proceeded to Arkansas, arriving at Fort Smith on De-
cember 10, 1832."
2 Marshall quoted Pike's daughter in this mat-
ter of the alleged return to the Spanish settlements in New Mex-
ico and perhaps his error may be overlooked.
3 A reading of the
narrative convinces one who is familiar with Texas geography and
geology that Pike actually made the trip across Texas, and that
his knowledge of West Texas and eastern New Mexico was re-
markable for the time. His most serious errors are in stating
that the Canadian River and the Arkansas head in the same gen-
eral locality; and that the Pecos enters the Rio Grande near San
Antonio. However, he knew that the North Canadian rose near
the Rabbit Ears Mountains just north of Clayton, New Mexico,
and he had a fair idea as to the location of the head of the Red
River, a problem which was not settled until Marcy's explora-
tions of 1852. Of greatest interest is that to Pike belongs the
honor of naming the Salt Fork of the Brazos.
George Wilkins Kendall credits Pike with making the journey
and Kendall's map shows in a general way Pike's route.
4
Pike left Picurís (in southern Taos County, New Mexico) on
September 6, 1832, and passed through Mora, Bernal and San
Miguel on his way to the Bosque Redondo on the Rio Pecos
(later the site of Fort Sumner, a few miles below the present
town of the same name in De Baca County, New Mexico).
On September 21, 1832, Pike started from Bosque Redondo
for the Llano Estacado and on September 28, after passing
through some sand hills, came to "a break in the prairie which
opened into a long hollow," the Cañon del Resgate. There are
several points that identify the Cañon del Resgate as that branch
of the Brazos known locally as Blackwater Draw, heading near
Muleshoe in Bailey County, and uniting with Yellow House
Creek at Lubbock. The general course and distance from Bosque
Redondo and the sand hills, which even today cover a large area
in northern Bailey County, Texas, are significant; but, the abso-
lute proof was found through the keen observation and kindness
of Mr. J. Evetts Haley of the Department of History of the Uni-
versity of Texas, who noted on a map
5 published by Captain E.
G. Carter, U. S. A. retired, the name of "Cañon Rescata" on
that branch of the Brazos located just south and west of Canon
Blanco (Running Water Creek), the head of the Salt Fork of
the Brazos.
There may be some argument as to Pike's "Resgate" and Car-
ter's "Rescata" being dissimilar spellings of the name of an iden-
tical geographic feature, but the similarity is close enough to be
accepted by people familiar with Spanish names and their Ameri-
can variations. "Rescate" means trade, barter, ransom. I have
been unable to find "Resgate" in Spanish dictionaries and believe
it to be Pike's phonetic spelling of a word in a language with
which he was not entirely familiar.
The journey continued down the "Resgate" through Lamb,
Hale, Lubbock, Crosby and Garza Counties. When east of Post,
in Garza County, Pike crossed over to the Double Mountain Pork
near Justiceberg, camped at the junction of the forks in western
Kent County, and proceeded down the Double Mountain Fork to
near the northwest corner of Fisher County, a total distance of
164 miles along the "Resgate." Here Pike left the Double Moun-
tain Fork and taking a general northeasterly direction crossed
the Salt Fork of the Brazos three times: in eastern Kent County,
in western Stonewall County where it has a northerly course,
and north of Aspermont in Stonewall County. The Salt Fork
makes a large bend to the north in Stonewall County and Pike,
being unaware of the presence of this bend and possibly not not-
ing the direction of the flow of the stream at the second cross-
ing, concluded that at the third crossing he was on Red River,
an error which he discovered a few days later on his arrival at
the Red River. After leaving the Salt Fork, the route pursued
by Pike took him through the southeastern part of King County,
into Knox County, across the South Fork of the Wichita and the
North Fork of the Wichita into southeastern Foard County and
to the Eed River in northeastern Wilbarger County. The dis-
tance from the "Resgate" (Double Mountain Pork) to the Red
River is given as 140 miles. The route in Oklahoma appears to
have been north and northeast to the Washita River through the
Cross Timbers, probably in Garvin County, thence down the
Washita through the Arbuckle Mountains, thence east to the
Blue and down to the Red River, across the Boggy to the Kia-
mishi and there, taking the wrong road, missed Fort Towson and
went northeast to Fort Smith, Arkansas, arriving there on De-
cember 10, 1832.
These general notes on Pike's trail are susceptible to much
refinement, and perhaps some improvement. There are many
land marks mentioned along the route that can undoubtedly be
identified by one familiar with the local topographic details. The
object of this paper is merely to call attention to the fact that
Albert Pike has a place in history as an explorer in western Texas.
FOOTNOTES:
Publications of the Arkansas Historical Commission, Volume 4, pages
66 to 139. A footnote (page 67) says: "In 1835 General Pike published
the 'Narrative of a Journey in the Prairie' as a serial in the columns oi
his paper, the Arkansas Advocate, whence it is resurrected and repro-
duced here."
I have not compared these various versions. Apparently they are
identical with the exception that the two narratives of "Prose Sketches
and Poems" have been placed under the one title in the reproduction.
tion." The Quarterly, XX, 244.
sas, 1928. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are devoted to an account of Pike's jour-
ney from Massachusetts to St. Louis, Santa Fe, and Taos, down the Rio
Pecos to Bosque Redondo, across the Llano Estacado and Western Texas
into Oklahoma and to Fort Smith, Arkansas. The statement is made that
"Pike was so greatly discouraged that he decided to retrace his steps,
after concluding that he was not on the best road to fame and fortune"
(page 34).
umes, New York, 1844. Volume 1, pages 218, 219.
der command of General R. S. MacKenzie in its operation against hostile
Indians in Texas, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), New Mexico and
Old Mexico during the period of 1871-2-3-4 and 5. Compiled from mili-
tary and other surveys. Prepared by E. D. Dorchester, Freeport, Texas,
1927.
MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF ALBERT PIKE
ACROSS WEST TEXAS
How to cite:
David Donoghue, "Explorations of Albert Pike in Texas", Volume 39, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v039/n2/contrib_DIVL1896.html
[Accessed Mon Nov 23 19:42:11 CST 2009]
