"the morning is clear and cold [ ] we resumed our journey at the usual hour [ ] crossed two brisk running streams during the day caled Looking Glass and Beaver Creek and arrived at night at the missionary station of the Pawnee which had been deserted near a year by the missionaries where we found plenty of corn fodder and hay for our teams which had been put up by some of the brethern last summer"
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Missionaries had been coming out west in spurts since the earlier years to convert the Indians to Christianity.
"Excerpt from Nebraska History website mentions: "Messrs Dunbar and Allis of the Presbyterian church established a mission among the Pawnee in 1834, which continued until 1847 when it was abolished owing to tribal wars. In 1883 the Woman's National Indian Association established a mission on the Pawnee reservation in Oklahoma, which in 1884 was transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church, under whose auspices it is still in operation."
When the Mormon pioneers found it in 1847, it was by then abandoned.
Norton Jacob journal:
"Thursday 22 [ ] moved on in a cool morning [ ] 2 miles crossed the Looking Glass Creek which showed plainly that wee had left the muddy Sloughs & creeks of Missourie for the bottom was hard white sand & the water clear as chrystal. Halted after going 10 miles for dinner at the ford of Beaver Creek [ ] This an excelent country of rich Land and heavy groves of Timber on the River. Latitude of this crossing of Beaver Creek a good mill Stream 41° 25' 13" [ ] total 128 m [ ] this is a most delightful country of undulating Prairie & gentle slopes crowned with the richest kind of grass that serves to feed those immense herds of Buffalo that graze upon these western plains though by the by wee have not seen anny yet [ ] this country is so beautifuly addapted to cultivation that there is driven from the mind all idea of its being a wild waste in the wilderness! "The fields in the wood" and one is continualy looking out for the Habitations of man [ ] weel towards evening wee surely found one[ ] a deserted Missionary Station that established about eight years ago for the benefit of the Pawnee Indians but the continued wars between that tribe & the Sioux finaly caused the Missionarys to flee down to Belview on the Missourie last Summer[ ] So wee quietly took possesion of the farm yard and found abundance of good hay & corn fodder [ ] no wonder that Indians have contended intended for this Spot for it is one of surpassing beauty [ ] They have had several battles in this neighbourhood when the Missionary women & children had to secrete themselves in their cellar [ ] From where we halted to this place is about 7 miles"
