A History of Kansas

by Anna E. Arnold

Pike’s Expedition. In 1806 another exploring party was sent out in command of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a young lieutenant in the army. He was instructed to ascend the Missouri River, visit the various Indian tribes in the Kansas country, go west until the frontier of New Mexico was reached, then south toward the source of the Red River which he was to descend to the Mississippi, and thence to St. Louis, the starting point. The journey did not, however, follow just this route.

Pike Visits the Osage Indians. The Osage Indians lived in the eastern part of Kansas, south of the Kansas River. At their villages Pike purchased supplies for the overland journey. From there he went west and then northwest toward the Pawnee village which is believed to have been within the bounds of what is now Republic County.

Pike Among the Pawnees. About the time he crossed the Solomon River he came upon the trail of Spanish troops. It seems that the authorities in Mexico had in some way heard of the Pike expedition and had sent an army of five hundred men to intercept him. These forces missed each other, but when Pike reached the village of the Pawnee Indians he found them in possession of many blankets, bridles, saddles, and other things which they had received from the Spaniards. After having been visited with much ceremony by the mounted and lordly army from Mexico, the Indians were not inclined to be courteous to Pike and his score of dusty, bedraggled footmen. After much unpleasantness and delay a council attended by four hundred warriors was held. In his opening address Pike spoke, among other things, of the numerous Spanish flags in the village. Pointing to one which floated above the tent of the head chief, he demanded that it be lowered and that an American flag be put in its place. Several Indians made speeches without mentioning the flag. Pike again told them they must choose between the Spanish and the American governments. The Americans awaited the answer in anxious suspense. Finally an old chief arose. He slowly hauled down the Spanish flag, laid it at Pike’s feet, and received the American flag in return. This he unfurled above the chiefs tent, and for the first time, so far as is known, the Stars and Stripes floated over Kansas.

Pike in Colorado. From this place Pike and his men moved southwest to the Arkansas River, where the party divided, some of them going down the river and on home. Pike and his remaining men, instead of searching for the Red River according to instructions, followed the Arkansas River into what is now Colorado. They pushed westward, and after many days of travel sighted a mountain, which appeared at first like a small blue cloud but which proved to be a great bald peak of the Rocky Mountains. This peak has since been named Pike’s Peak in honor of the explorer. By this time it was winter and their supplies were low. Pike and his men suffered terribly from cold and hunger while wandering among the mountains. Hoping to better their condition they moved toward the southwest, only to find themselves taken prisoners in Spanish territory. Later, however, they were escorted across Texas to the American frontier in Louisiana and released.

The Expedition of Pike, and the Location of the Original Indian Tribes.

There were no clearly defined boundaries between the tribes.

The Return of Pike. A whole year had passed before they found themselves again in St. Louis, a year of hardship for them, but well worth while, nevertheless, for Pike brought back a great deal of valuable information. That he was a better soldier than farmer may be seen from this passage taken from his journal:

“From these immense prairies may rise one great advantage to the United States, viz., the restriction of our population to certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the union. Our citizens, being so prone to rambling and extending themselves on the frontiers, will, through necessity, be constrained to limit their extent on the west to the borders of the Missouri and the Mississippi, while they leave the prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the wandering aborigines of the country.”[3]

The Great American Desert. Another explorer, Major Long, who came in 1819 and 1820, likewise expressed the idea that most of the country was unfit for cultivation, and therefore uninhabitable by an agricultural people. He even went so far as to say the country bore a “resemblance to the deserts of Siberia.” Washington Irving, the great writer, said of this region: “It could be well named, the Great American Desert. It spreads forth into undulating and treeless plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their extent and monotony. It is a land where no man permanently abides, for at certain seasons of the year there is no food for the hunter or his steed.”