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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	PIKE-PAWNEE VILLAGE SITE (HILL SITE) Nebraska
Location: Webster County, on a secondary road, along the south bank of the Republican River, about 7 miles east-southeast of Red Cloud.

Ownership and Administration. Privately owned.

Significance. When Capt. Zebulon M. Pike, U.S. Army, visited this Pawnee village on the Great Plains in 1806, during his famous expedition, he found that the Spanish had been there before him. Thus, the site indicates both the extent of Spanish penetration beyond New Mexico and the initial probing of the United States into the then unknown Southwest. Pike persuaded the Indians to fly the U.S. flag rather than the Spanish.

Among the articles recovered from this site are a Spanish peace medal that dates from 1797; an American peace medal of the type issued by the Government after 1801; a military button bearing the raised figure "1," the regimental number of Pike's infantry; European items such as tools, bridles and stirrups, wooden-backed mirrors, glass beads, and gun parts; and typical Pawnee bone and stone implements. The site coincides with the description in Pike's journal and the official map of his expedition.

Present Appearance. The site is cultivated farmland. All surface indications of the village have been obliterated, but discolored plowed-over areas indicate the location of earth lodges and cache pits. [40]

NHL Designation: 07/19/64