Conclusion on Piankashaw Locations (1708- ca. 1763)(pages 62 - 63)
/pg. 62/
Piankashaws were living and hunting in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana in the early 1700's, moving to a village in the vicinity of Ouiatenon, near present-day Lafayette, Indiana by 1718. Most of them remained in this area for a few years, though some may have moved to a Kankakee River location for several years about 1720-1721.
By 1726 the majority of Piankashaws moved down stream from Ouiatenon and established a village near the mouth of the Vermilion River, a western tributary to the Wabash. This Vermilion village (probably in Royce Area 74), though its precise location may have changed from time to time (as when, for example, they burned it to get rid of a smallpox epidemic-in the winter of 1749-1750) was occupied by Piankashaws almost every year from 1726 to the end of the French period in the west (1763). There was one brief period (ca. 1749-1752) when in response to English-French trade rivalry the village may have been unoccupied by Piankashaws.
/pg. 63/
From 1730 through the time period covered in this section a second center of Piankashaw settlement was the Vincennes area (Royce Area 26). Piankashaws may have abandoned this area for a brief period also (ca. 1749-1750), but there are numerous references to their living in that area from 1730 through 1763.
The hunting grounds of the Piankashaws were probably along both sides of the Wabash River and up the Vermilion River; and, from Terre Haute down to the juncture of the Wabash with the Ohio river, they could have extended into central Indiana, and in Illinois they could have included al least the drainage areas of the Embarras, Fox, Little Wabash, and Salt rivers. (This distribution could include parts of Royce Areas 26, 49, 63, 71, 73, 74, 98, 99, 110, and 180, at least)
During the whole period of time covered by this section Piankashaws also frequently visited the White and Indian settlements in the Illinois country for trade, hunting, and other purposes.
During the period of French sovereignty covered in this section of the report the Piankashaws developed two main villages--one at the Vermilion River and one at Vincennes, with hunting probably-often in the vicinity of these towns, but also ranging into the-eastern half of the state of Illinois and the western and central area of the state of Indiana.
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