Editing Kansas River (section)

==History==
[[Image:Kaw-point-aerial.jpg|thumb|The Kansas River in confluence with the Missouri in Kansas City, Kansas with Kansas City, Missouri in the background.]]
[[File:Kansas River at Lawrence KS.jpg|thumb|The Kansas River at Lawrence, Kansas, aerial view from the north with Lake View Lake (the [[oxbow lake]] in the right foreground) and I-70 crossing]]

The first map showing the Kansas River is French [[cartographer]] [[Guillaume de L'Isle]]'s "[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3700.ct000666 Carte de la Louisiane]," which was drawn about 1718.  On it, the "Grande Riviere des Cansez" flows into the [[Missouri River]] at about the 39th [[latitude|parallel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1950/50_2_langsdorf.htm|title=A Review of Early Navigation on the Kansas River - Kansas Historical Society|website=www.kshs.org|access-date=10 April 2018}}</ref>  This map, with virtually no changes except for the translation of French into English, was subsequently published by John Senex, a [[London]] cartographer and engraver, in 1721.

From June 26 through 29, 1804, the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] camped at [[Kaw Point]] at the Kansas River's mouth. They praised the scenery in their accounts and noted the area would be a good location for a fort.

In August 1819, Maj. Stephen H. Long steered the first [[steamboat|steamer]] into the Kansas River with his 30-ton boat ''[[Western Engineer]]''. He made it scarcely a mile up the river before turning back, citing mud bars from the recent floods.

The mouth of the Kansas River in the [[West Bottoms]] area of Kansas City (at a [[longitude]] of 94 degrees 36 minutes West) was the basis for Missouri's western boundary from [[Iowa]] to [[Arkansas]] when it became a state in 1821 (Kansas entered the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in 1861.) South of the Missouri River, that longitude still remains the boundary between Kansas and Missouri. North of the Missouri River, the state of Missouri extended its boundary further to the west in 1836 with the [[Platte Purchase]].  The river has moved slightly since this designation, but the state boundary has remained the same. This line is known as the Osage Boundary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/KAPPLER/Vol2/treaties/osa0167.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-date=26 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526055414/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/KAPPLER/Vol2/treaties/osa0167.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From the 1840s through the early 1870s, the southern [[ridge]]lines of the lower section of the Kansas River were the beginnings of the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]], [[California Trail|California]], and [[Santa Fe Trail|Santa Fe]] trails as they left Kansas City.

Beginning in 1854, steamboats operated regularly from Kansas City to Lawrence and Topeka, and sometimes as far as [[Manhattan, Kansas|Manhattan]], Junction City, and [[Fort Riley]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_8627113_002/pages/ldpd_8627113_002_00000993.html |author= Andreas, A. T. |title= Andreas, A. T. History of the state of Kansas (Supplementary History and Description of its Counties Cities Towns and Villages) |location= Chicago |date= 1883 |page=1301 |quote= ... the State. During the territorial days of Kansas steamboats came up the river to Manhattan and as far as Junction City and should the Mississippi, Missouri, and Kansas rivers, under the fostering care of the General Government, receive bountiful appropriations, the bulky products of the soil are likely lo be transported in floating barges down these improved navigable streams to the Gulf of Mexico, where they may be readily shipped to the Old World. |access-date= 2019-08-01 }}</ref> This traffic continued through the territorial period and the early years of statehood, falling off rapidly about 1860. The last steamer to travel the Kansas was the Alexander Majors, which was chartered in 1866 to run between Kansas City and Lawrence until the railroad bridge at the mouth of the river, which had been destroyed by floods, could be rebuilt. This traffic into statehood gave the Kansas legal status as a [[navigable]] stream in the eyes of the Federal government. In the 1860s, the country's goods were increasingly transported by the extensive and comparatively efficient [[railroad]] system.

On February 25, 1864, the state legislature declared the Kansas River nonnavigable, allowing railroad and bridge companies to build bridges and dams without restriction. The first train to operate in Kansas south of the Kansas River did so by crossing the river in Lawrence on November 1, 1867.<ref name="KSHS 1st rail">{{cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/p/the-building-of-the-first-kansas-railroad/13060|access-date=May 25, 2019|title=The Building of the First Kansas Railroad|publisher=Kansas Historical Society|date=August 1947|author=Harold J. Henderson|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216133627/https://www.kshs.org/p/the-building-of-the-first-kansas-railroad/13060|archive-date=December 16, 2018}} The Kansas Historical Quarterly, August 1947 (Vol. 15, No. 3), pages 225-239.</ref> This law remained in effect until 1913, when, after it had been characterized as "a crime against the public welfare of Kansas", it was finally repealed and the river's status was restored to a navigable stream. The status has not since changed, though modern commercial navigation on the river is largely confined to [[dredging]].