Editing Republican River (section)

==History==
The river was named after a branch of [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] Indians known as "the Republicans".<ref>[[George R. Stewart|Stewart, George R.]] (1967) ''Names on the Land''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 223.</ref>

As early as 1785, the Spanish and French had identified one of the villages of the Pawnee people as ''aldea de la Republica'' (''little village of the Republic''). A French traders' custom was to name rivers for the tribal villages located on their banks.<ref name=hyde /> In this way, the north fork of the Kansas River was named ''Fourche des Republiques'' or ''Fork of the Republics''.<ref name="Perrin">{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2003627086/ |title=Carte du Missouri : levee ou rectifiée dans toute son etendue |author=François-Marie Perrin du Lac |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |date=1802 |access-date=2017-01-01}}</ref>

The Kitkehahkis Pawnee villages farmed corn, beans, and pumpkin in the fertile Republican valley floor but seasonally left to hunt buffalo in the plains to the west and south.<ref name=hyde>{{cite book|author= Hyde, George E. |title= The Pawnee Indians |publisher=  University of Oklahoma Press  |year= 1951 |pages= 104, 126, 174–175}}</ref>

The Kitkehahkis, or Republican Pawnee, occasionally abandoned and relocated various villages along the Republican River.  In 1806, first the Spanish and then the Americans journeyed to the large Kitkehahkis village on Republican River, the [[Pike-Pawnee Village Site]] then near the present [[Guide Rock, Nebraska]]. Both parties were seeking the tribe's assistance in enforcing competing claims to the [[Louisiana Territory]].  Leading the much smaller American expedition, Lieutenant [[Zebulon Pike]] convinced the Kitkehahkis to accept the American Flag in place of the Spanish.

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|Description=Perrin du Lac’s "Map of the Banks of the Missouri River" (1802), locates the Pawnee Republic (''Village des Republic'') on the Republican Fork of the Kansas River<ref name="Perrin"/>}}In 1853, [[Fort Riley]] was established at the junction of the Republican with the Smoky Hill and Kansas Rivers. American settlement of the lower Republican River in began in the 1860s.<ref>{{cite book|author= Isaac O. Savage |title= A History of Republic County, Kansas |publisher= Jones & Chubbic |url= https://archive.org/details/historyofrepubli02sava |year= 1901 |page= [https://archive.org/details/historyofrepubli02sava/page/35 35] |access-date= 2017-01-08 }}</ref>

Prior to 1864, the Kansas River was publicly navigable under Kansas law. A [[Paddle steamer|side-wheel steamboat]] of 125 tons burden, ''Financier No. 2'', reached the Republican River in 1855 and ascended it some 40 miles.<ref>{{cite journal |author= George A. Root |title= Ferries in Kansas, Part IV, Republican River |journal= Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains |volume= 3 |number= 3 |date= August 1934 |pages= 246–288|url= https://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-ferries-in-kansas-part-iv-republican-river/17901 |access-date= 2017-01-20 }}</ref> However, in 1864, railroad interests passed a bill through the [[Kansas Legislature]] entitled, "An act declaring the Kansas, Republican, Smoky Hill, Solomon, and Big Blue rivers not navigable, and authorizing the bridging of the same." Railroads were thus permitted to bridge or dam the Republican as if it were never declared navigable.<ref>{{cite book|author= Perl W. Morgan |publisher= The Lewis Publishing Company |title= History of Wyandotte County Kansas and its people |volume= 1 |chapter= Chapter XII. In the Old Steamboat Days. |chapter-url= http://www.ksgenweb.com/archives/wyandott/history/1911/volume1/ |year= 1911 |access-date= 2017-01-08 }}</ref>

The [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] reached the fork of the Republican in 1866, crossing into the Junction City town site.  The Junction City and Fort Kearney Railroad was constructed up the valley of the Republican to [[Clay Center, Kansas|Clay Center]] in 1873.<ref>{{cite web|title= The Junction City and Fort Kearney Railroad |url = http://www.abandonedrails.com/Junction_City_and_Fort_Kearney_Railroad |access-date= 2017-01-08}}</ref>

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|Description= The Kansas Pacific Railway bridge across the Republican River and behind that, a pontoon bridge. [ [[Alexander Gardner (photographer)]], 1867]<ref>{{cite AV media |author=Alex. Gardner, photographer |title=[[:File:Crossing of the Republican, in Kansas, 136 miles west of Missouri River. (Boston Public Library).jpg|Crossing of the Republican, in Kansas, 136 miles west of Missouri River]] |work= Across the continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad: route of the 35th parallel |publisher= 1869 (approximate) <!--|access-date=2017-01-08-->}}</ref> The present [[Union Pacific Railroad]] and Custer Road/Grant Road (previously [[U.S. Route 40]]) still bridge the Republican River at the same locations. Public access to the Kansas River National Water Trail is between the two bridges.}} {{clear}}

The 1864 law was repealed in 1913;<ref>{{cite journal |author=Edgar Langsdorf |title=A Review of Early Navigation on the Kansas River |journal= Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains |volume= 18 |number= 2 |date= May 1950 |pages= 140–145 |url= https://www.kshs.org/p/a-review-of-early-navigation-on-the-kansas-river/13091 |access-date= 2017-01-20 }}</ref> however, under Kansas Law, public access, whether for transport or recreation, is permitted only on publicly owned rivers. The State of Kansas owns only the Kansas and [[Arkansas River]]s as well as the portion of the [[Missouri River]] adjoining the northeastern corner of the state.<ref>{{cite web |title= Rivers and Streams Access |website= Kansas Outdoors |publisher= Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism |url=http://ksoutdoors.com/KDWPT-Info/Locations/Rivers-and-Streams-Access |access-date= 2017-01-20 }}</ref> As such, the limit of public river access is at the mouth of the Republican River. A public boat access ramp was opened on the mouth of the Republican River in 2009 just upstream of the railroad bridge,<ref>{{cite web |title= The Recreational Kaw |website= Friends of the Kaw |url= http://kansasriver.org/learn/life-on-the-kaw/the-recreational-kaw/ |access-date= 2017-01-20 }}</ref> providing access to the upper end of the Kansas River National Water Trail, a part of the National Water Trail program.<ref>{{citation |title= Kansas River Trail |publisher= Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism |url= http://www.recpro.org/assets/Conference_Proceedings/2016/2016_development_kansas_river_water_trail-wolfe.pdf |access-date= 2017-01-20 }}</ref>

[[Milford Lake]], the largest man-made lake in Kansas, was completed on the Republican in 1967.