The commander of this second expedition was General William S. Harney. He asked to have Father De Smet accompany the expedition as chaplain and the Government approved his request. The Church authorities at St. Louis thought well of the project and so Father De Smet accepted the place at $1,200 per year and his expenses.(1) His letters inform us that he was contemplating a trip among the Missouri and Fathead Indians this year, and thought he could combine it with his official duties.
Father De Smet left St. Louis May 20, 1858, to join the command at Fort Leavenworth. It was seven years since he had crossed the plains and the progress which settlement had made in the meantime impressed him deeply. " No further back," he writes, " than 1851, at the time of my return from the great council held on the borders of the Platte, the plains of Kansas were almost entirely without inhabitants, containing only a few scattered villages of Indians, living for the most part by the chase, by fishing and on wild fruits and roots. But eight years have made an entire change: many towns and villages have sprung up, as it were, by enchantment; forges and mills of every kind are already numerous; extensive and beautiful farms have been established in all directions with extraordinary rapidity and industry."
Father De Smet records some interesting facts regarding the expedition. The magnitude of the supply trains excited his astonishment, as some of their idiosyncrasies provoked his laughter." The most remarkable thing that I met * * *," he says, "were the long wagon trains engaged in transporting to Utah provisions and stores of war. If the journals of the day may be believed, these cost the Government fifteen millions. Each train consisted of twenty-six wagons, each wagon drawn by six yoke of oxen, and containing near five thousand pounds.
(1) For a full statement of his account, see page 775.