Riverfront Park - Leavenworth, KS
Posted by: 
gparkes
N 39° 19.776 W 094° 54.632
15S E 335327 N 4355094
Nice park with several signs detailing area significance.
Waymark Code: WM5FVA
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 01/01/2009
Views: 18
Several signs are located here, I have typed out the text for your reading pleasure.
Homeland of the Kanza Indians
As early as the 1600s, the Kanza (or Kaw) Indians migrated from their home east of the Mississippi River and up the Missouri River into what is now northeaster Kansas. In the 1700s, the Kanza occupied two villages on the west bank of the Missouri: one on Independence Creek in present-day Doniphan County and the other near present-day Fort Leavenworth.
In the early 1800s, the Kanza lived in the Kansas River valley. Two treaties, one in 1825 and another in 1846, forced them to give up their northeastern Kansas lands. The 1600 Kanza were relocated to a reservation near Council Grove.
In 1873, the Kanza, for whom the state is named, were removed from Kansas to Indian Teritory (now Oklahoma).
By 2003, the Kanza numbered 2,647. Headquartered in Kaw City, Oklahoma, the Kaw Nation provides its members with social, educational, cultural, and health care benefits under the governance of the Kaw Executive Council.
Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park, 3 ½ miles south of Council Grove, marks the tribe’s last home in Kansas.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
In 1804-06, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led about 40 soldiers and boatmen on an epic journey. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned this “Corps of Discovery” to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through the newly acquired Louisiana territory. Along the way, they mapped the land, recorded its resources and contacted its native inhabitants.
The landscape has changed since Lewis and Clark explored it: rivers have been dammed, forests cut over, prairies plowed under, and roads built to the horizon. Although remnants of wilderness still exist, imagine this land as Lewis and Clark first saw it two centuries ago.
”the water… contains a half… Glass of ooze"
The Missouri River of Lewis and Clark’s era was wild and unpredictable. It earned the nickname “Big Muddy” due to the abundance of sand, sediment, silt, and clay. In a constant state of change, the river cut side channels, chutes, eddies, boils, sandbars, backwaters, and oxbows – strong currents in some places, slow in others. The flowing water cut into riverbanks, undercutting shorelines and felling trees into the constantly moving water.
Over time, the river meandered back and forth across the flood plain, touching the base of each bluff in tight serpentine curves. Sometimes these tight “u” shapped curves would “pinch-off,” leaving an oxbow lake stranded from the river. Today the river is a bit different from the times of Lewis and Clark. Channels are maintained for navigation and flood control. Dams further up the river provide power generation, irrigation, recreation, and flood control.
”The water we drink or the Common water of the missourie at this time, contains a half a Comm Wine Glass of ooze or mud to every pint – “
William Clark
June 21, 1804
”Sung Songs until 11 oClock at night…”
The U.S. Army expedition led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark camped opposite here on the Isles des Parques (Park of Fields Islands) on July 1, 1804, while traveling up the Missouri River, and again when they returned downriver on September 14, 1806. The Isles des Parques received their name because cattle and horses were kept on them by French fur traders who maintained a nearby fort and trading establishment in the 1700s.
”Only 53 miles to day. Our party received a dram (of whiskey) and Sung Songs until 11 oClock at night in the greatest harmony.”
Captain William Clark
September 14, 1806
"Must Sees"at this location":
The Corp of Discovery stopped at this location twice.
Date Waymark Created: 01/01/2009
Do they allow dogs at this location?: Yes, but must be on a leash.
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Visit Instructions:
Visits only will be logged if there is a picture of the individual at the location, with their GPS in hand submitted as proof of the visit or not having a camera, the person making the find must submit a reasonable "proof" of having visited the site. Examples include: Two or three sentence quote from historical/interpretive signage at the location; adequate descriptive language about the location that provides evidence of a visit; verification by another party present at the find; e-mail sent from the location of the waymark.