1837
During De Smet's four-year absence St. Louis has grown considerably. The number of inhabitants has doubled (15,000) and the French and Spanish colonists are no longer in the majority. 6,000 German immigrants, for example, made themselves a new home in an around the ever expanding city.
The university of St. Louis has become is a great success. This must be attributed to the expert direction of Father Elet and the relentless efforts of the many capable teachers, such as Father Vandevelde. The library of the university offers thousands of books. The Belgian financial aid gave the parishes of Florissant and St. Charles the much-needed relief. On the walls of the noviciate several Flemish masters remind the students of the bond between the Netherlands and the Missouri province with its 61 Jesuits.
The American Congress voted a plan to relocate the remaining 200,000 eastern Indians. They will receive new "homelands" west of the Mississippi. At the same time Rome authorized the missions to stay with the deported Indians. Father Van Quickenborne was the first to move to the Iowas and Osages. Last year Father Christian Hoecken with three brothers settled near the Kickapoos in the north of Kansas. It's a life of hardship and privation. When the health of Father Van Quickenborne fails, and he is brought to Portage-des-Sioux near Florissant, where he expires on August the 17th. Father Verreydt joins Christian Hoecken to help out at the Kickapoo mission. The opinion of most Jesuits on the Indian character remains negative. They can't be trusted and are rebellious, they beg and rob whenever the can, they are lazy and addicted to alcohol. The grim feeling is reciprocal. The Indians distrust the missionaries. One year later the Kickapoos turn their backs on the mission and follow the example of the Prairie Indians. From now on they will hunt buffalo and roam freely on the seemingly endless prairie.
Despite this setback, the Jesuits of Missouri don't want to give up. They soon decide to install a second mission near the mouth of the Nebraska. A great number of Potawatomi Indians were relocated in this area after being forced to give up their homelands near Chicago, Michigan. They were allocated a new homeland on the banks of the Missouri, not far from the mouth from the Nebraska or Platte River. Their principal settlement is near Council Bluffs (opposite modern Omaha City). For some time now these Potawatomis ask for the assistance of a catholic priest. During the summer months Father Verreydt and Brother Mazelli visit them to examine the possibility to start a mission on their premises.
1838
On January 26th De Smet writes a letter showing his eagerness to be selected for this adventurous mission. Father Verhaegen gives in to his arguments and on May the 2nd De Smet travels up the Missouri on board the Howard. On the 10th of May 10 he joins with Father Felix Verreydt and the Brother John Mazelli at Fort Leavenworth. The Howard has all kinds of technical problems and the passengers change over to the Wilmington. The Missouri is a difficult river to navigate. It is full of obstacles, small islands or sandbanks, and its waters can be very shallow. The riverbanks are mostly deserted. The river runs at the foot of high cliffs, dotted with dark caves, through thick forests and endless grasslands, called "la prairie" by the French. The current is strong. To make way a boat must have sufficient draught and push its power to the limit. This form of transport is not without danger. The ship could sink in no time when it impaled on an invisible obstacle in the shallow and murky waters of the Missouri and the risk of an exploding boiler is real. Father De Smet visits the local tribes, such as Iowas, Sauks and Otos, whenever the boat stops to refuel (load logs).
The whole trip takes 29 days. They disembark on the banks of lake Manawa, a secondary channel of the Missouri River, where they are met by 2000 Indians with much indifference. Their chief William (Billy) Caldwell, a half-bred of Irish ascent, welcomes the missionaries and offers to them three huts in the vicinity of his camp, four miles further north. De Smet and his companions accept the invitation. The previous year one of these huts was occupied by colonel Stephen Watts Kearny. His task was to protect these relocated tribes originating from Indiana and Illinois, from the their neighbours : the fierce Sioux Indians. The territory where these Potawatomis are forced to re-establish themselves is situated in the west of Iowa. It is the hunting ground of the Sioux, and they dislike all intruders.
A log hut is built to be used as the mission church. More huts are built next to the "St. Joseph church". Very soon De Smet notices that Potawatomis have some serious weaknesses. They are rather lazy, live with several women, love to gamble and are addicted to alcohol. De Smet puts his criticism on paper and addresses his complaints to the American government, but his Jesuit superiors tone down plea against the trade of alcohol. Hundreds of Indians become sick. They do not have any defence against the most common Europeans diseases. When there is an epidemic the number of victims is enormous. Each year the Indian population is decimated. De Smet believes that their hygienic condition is the principal cause of this sad state of affairs. He starts a small school and soon about thirty children attend the lessons regularly. Other tribes, such as the Pawnees-Loups and Omahas visit the mission. They are surrounded by the "American desert". During the winter months the missionaries must use their weapons to protect themselves from aggressive and famished animals, such as bears and wolves.
(the mission stood approx. on the corner of today's Pierce and Union streets in Council Bluffs.)
1839
After the harsh winter months, when the ice on the river has broken, steamships can once more use the Missouri. On April the 20th a supply ship reaches the mission. But the vessel hits an obstacle and sinks before the eyes of De Smet. In the event 1000 dollars of cargo is lost. A saw, a plough, a pair of boots and a little wine, it is all that De Smet can recover.
The Potawatomis are regularly threatened by other Indians. Apparently Otos, Pawnees and Sioux collect their scalps. The dreaded Sioux make the most victims among Potawatomis. Bill Caldwell supports De Smet's initiative to pay their worst enemy, the Yankton Sioux, a visit. He leaves on the St-Peter, a packet ship of the American Fur Company bound for the mouth of the Vermillon River. On board he becomes acquainted with the explorers Joseph Nicollet and John Frémont, and also with the German botanist, Charles Geyer. Because of shallow water, strong head winds, sand banks and other obstacles, the trip to the mouth of Vermilion takes 12 days.
The Yankton Sioux politely listen to De Smet's message. It pleads for the safety of his Potawatomis and in the end the Yanktons accept his peace proposals. As a token of their friendship, the Yanktons safely return De Smet to Council Bluffs on a canoe with two of their braves. But upon arrival De Smet is confronted with a depressing situation. During his absence more than one hundred murders have been committed in the Potawatomi community! The cause of this disaster is the cursed "firewater", sold to them by unscrupulous white traders. In August De Smet looses heart and considers closing the mission.
On September 18 arrives the fourth and last delegation of the Flathead Indians near the Potawatomi mission. Ignace La Mousse and Pierre Gaucher, two catholic Flatheads, canoed all the way down the Missouri on their way from the Rocky Mountains towards St. Louis to ask for a permanent Black Robe. De Smet entrusts to them a letter for the Father Verhaegen.
This time Rosati and Verhaegen promise to send a missionary to the Flatheads. Pierre Gaucher will immediately return to the Rockies to carry the good news to the Flatheads and Ignace La Mousse will spend the rest of the winter at the Kickapoo mission in Kansas. Next spring Ignace will guide the promised missionary to his tribe in West. Gaucher proposes to meet the promised Jesuit missionary and Ignace by the end of June at the rendezvous area on the Green River. The rendezvous is an annual event organised and attended by trappers, tradesmen and Indians.