Kurz's journals note and review the bustling…
1851 CE
He is unsuccessful in mining and and horse trading.
In 1850 he had married Witthae, daughter to Kirutshe, leader of an Iowa Indian group but the marriage did not last—Witthae ran away after two weeks, pining for her people.
Eventually, after four years of struggle to pay board and lodging, he meets Alexander Culbertson, formerly Superintendent of the defunct American Fur Company and now a special agent for the United States government, in Council Bluffs, in June 1851 and embarks the steamer St. Ange to Fort Berthold.
While Kurz works as a clerk for Culbertson, who is interpreter and special agent for government negotiations with the Plains tribes and plays a significant role negotiating the Treaty of Fort Laramie, also sketched scenes in the area, despite being told that the Mandan and Hidatsa people consider painting and drawing will bring ill luck.
Groups
Regions
Northern North America
View →Subregions
