Kaw Point is the point where the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

(Kaw River) terminates at the Missouri River in the

West Bottoms The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas it sits at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one ...

area of

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. It is also where the Missouri River ceases its southerly course and turns to flow generally east through the state of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Kawsmouth is the confluence of the

and the Missouri River, south of Kaw Point.

History

Kaw Point is within the land originally claimed by Spain, then by France, until ultimately the United States bought it as part of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

in 1803. The

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

party camped at Kaw Point from June 26–28, 1804, on their way from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. Captain William Clark wrote on June 27, 1804, that "the about the mouth of this river is fine." The expedition's journals noted that the location would be appropriate for a fort, and teemed with deer, elk, bison, bear, and many "Parrot queets", the now extinct

Carolina parakeet The Carolina parakeet (''Conuropsis carolinensis''), or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face and pale beak that was native to the eastern, Midwest and plains sta ...

. It is the original reason for the location of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Lewis observed that the water in the Missouri was muddier than the water from the Kaw. At 94 degrees 36 minutes west

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...

, Kaw Point defined Missouri's western border from

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

when it became a state in 1821. South of the Missouri River, that longitude still forms the border between Kansas and Missouri. North of the Missouri River, the state of Missouri extended its boundary farther to the west in 1836 with the

Platte Purchase The Platte Purchase was a land acquisition in 1836 by the United States government from American Indian tribes of the region. It comprised lands along the east bank of the Missouri River and added to the northwest corner of the state of Miss ...

. Kaw Point became part of Kansas Territory in 1854 when the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened the area for white settlement. In 1859, the city of Wyandotte, which included Kaw Point, was incorporated. Kaw Point became part of Kansas City, Kansas as part of the consolidation of 1886. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

established Kaw Point Park, including Kaw Point and designating a Lewis and Clark Destination Site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Lewis and Clark at Kaw Point Wood Sign

References

External links

* * {{URL, 1=https://nps.gov/articles/kaw-point-park.htm , 2=Kaw Point Park at

Geography of Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City metropolitan area Parks in Kansas Protected areas of Wyandotte County, Kansas