By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley Knickrehm fourth-graders Treyten Ruhl (center) and Vianca Hipolito (right) laugh during darrel Draper's portrayl of Peter Sarpy during a Nebraska history presentation at the school. Independent/Scott Kingsley Darrel Draper portrays Peter Sarpy in a presentation on the history of Nebraska and of Sarpy himself. Sarpy was a overall entrepreneur who even dabbled in politics in his attempt to have Bellevue named as the state capital. Click Thumbnails to View

Knickrehm fourth-graders heard "Peter Sarpy" give that greeting again and again Monday afternoon as they participated in Darrel Draper's historical monologue about Nebraska.

Draper, a historical re-enactor from Omaha, portrayed Sarpy, who was a fur trader, ferry operator, newspaper publisher and general entrepreneur.

Draper played Sarpy with a French accent, noting that Sarpy's first name was actually Pierre, before he went with the Americanized version of Peter.

He also used 27 students as historical props during his monologue, which covered not only Nebraska history, but American history.

"Sarpy" started off with three students: A girl who stood with a hand on her hip, a boy in the middle, and a boy who raised his hand above his head and to the side.

"Voila! A map of the United States!" exclaimed Sarpy, who explained the United States was not really united 250 years ago.

The eastern third of the country consisted of English colonies, the middle section between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was controlled by France and the western third was controlled by Spain.

When France and England fought a war in 1754, France lost and had to concede control of the Louisiana Territory to Spain. But France regained control of the territory under Napolean Bonaparte.

Sarpy noted America had been paying Spain for the right to navigate up and down the Mississippi River. When France regained control of the territory and the Mississippi, the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, sent James Monroe to France to negotiate a new payment for the right to use the river.

Instead, Monroe bought the entire Louisiana Territory for $15 million. Sarpy said Jefferson approved when he realized that the territory cost 3 cents per acre.

Even today, France's ownership of the Louisiana Territory influences our language, with names such as Des Moines, Baton Rouge for red stick and Platte River, which means flat river.

Sarpy talked about the Lewis and Clark expedition, about the valuable beaver pelts that trappers sought because they were used to make hats, the millions of buffalo that roamed the Great Plains and the male deer skins or "buck skins," each of which was worth a dollar. So today, we have the expressions "a buck," "five bucks" and so on.

Sarpy came to the Omaha-Bellevue area, where he set up a ferry crossing, charging pioneers who wanted to go to Oregon and who wanted to go to California for the gold rush for the right to ride his boat across the deep and wide Missouri.

Each time a new group came, Sarpy (as Draper) would welcome the people with, "Ah, bonjour. Welcome to a new and beautiful land."

When Brigham Young and the Mormons came to the banks of the Missouri as refugees, Sarpy decided not to charge them because of the deprivations and persecution they had already suffered in New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.

Sarpy introduced Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, who worked on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 to get them admitted as territories, under the understanding that people would have "popular sovereignty" to decide whether the territories and eventual states would be either free states or slave states.

He also talked about the battle between Omaha City, Bellevue and Lancaster (later Lincoln) to become the state capital.

As Sarpy, Draper introduced the Omaha, Otoe, Lakota Sioux and other Native American tribes of Nebraska to the fourth-graders.

Sarpy married Iowa Princess Nicomi, after her first husband died. Sarpy said of Nicomi's granddaughters, Susan became the first Native American doctor. Susan's sister, Susette, is in the Nebraska Hall of Fame in the State Capitol.

Tuesday, Draper becomes George Drouillard for Knickrehm's fifth-graders. Draper came to Knickrehm through the Nebraska Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.