During the latter part of August, 1806, Pike arrived at the two villages of the Osage, having departed from Fort Bellefontain a short time before on his journey to the far west. But, unfortunately, his accounts of the native tribes and their villages which he encountered during his travels are neither full nor clear, and so it is with the description of the habitations of the Osage. To quote from the narrative: "The Osage lodges are generally constructed with upright posts, put firmly in the ground, of about 20 feet in height, with a crotch at the top; they are generally about 12 feet distant from each other; in the crotch of those posts, are put the ridge poles, over which are bent small poles, the ends of which are brought down and fastened to a row of stakes of about 5 feet in height; these stakes are fastened together with three horizontal bars, and form the flank walls of the lodge. The gable ends are generally broad slabs and rounded off to the ridge pole. The whole of the building and sides are covered with matting made of rushes, of two or three feet in length, and four feet in width, which are joined together, and entirely exclude the rain. The doors are in the side of the building, and generally are one on each side. The fires are made in holes in the centre of the lodge; the smoke ascending through apertures left in the roof for the purpose; at one end of the dwelling is a raised platform, about three feet from the ground, which is covered with bear skins, and generally holds all the little choice furniture of the master, and on which repose his honorable guests.... They vary in length from 36 to 100 feet." (Pike, (1), App., pp. 11-12.)
Fort Osage, soon to be named Fort Clark, stood on the right bank of the Missouri, a short distance northeast of Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri. During the early years of the last century it was a gathering place for the Osage and neighboring tribes, and several interesting accounts are preserved of the appearance of the Indian lodges clustered about the post. Both Bradbury and Brackenridge made mention of the fort in their journals. The former wrote on April 8, 1811, and told of his arrival: "About ten o'clock we came in sight of the fort, about six miles distant. We had not been long in sight before we saw the flag was hoisted, and at noon we arrived, saluting with a volley as we passed on to the landing place, where we met Mr. Crooks, who had come down from the wintering station at the mouth of the river Naduet to meet us. There were also collected at the landing place about 200 Indians, men, women, and children, of the Petit Osage nation, whose village was then about 300 yards from the fort." And continuing: "At evening Dr. Murray proposed that we should walk into the village, and I found it to consist of about one hundred lodges of an oblong form, the frame of timber, and the covering mats, made of the leaves of flag, or _Typha palustris_. On our return through the town, we called at the lodge belonging to a chief named Waubuschon, with whom Dr. Murray was particularly acquainted. The floor was covered with mats, on which they sat; but as I was a stranger, I was offered a cushion. A wooden bowl was now handed round, containing square pieces of cake, in taste resembling ginger-bread. On enquiry I found it was made of the pulp of the persimon, mixed with pounded corn. This bread they called staninca." (Bradbury, (1), pp. 35-37.)