Mouth of Kansas River — John Ordway: June 28, 1804

I went out hunting. 1 miles & passed a fine Spring Running
from under the hills I drank hearty of the water & found it the
best & coolest I have seen in the country. Several of the party
went hunting & [killed] 4 Deer R. & J. Fields killed a young woolf
& brought one home to camp for to Tame, one man saw Several
buffelow up the Kansas River, this is 3665 Miles from mouth of
Missouris. The Latitude 38° 31m 13s North the width of the M.
here is 500 yds wide
1 Now Big Blue Biver. It runs north through Jackson County to the Mis-
souri about thirty miles east of Kansas City. On the M. B. C. map this is
called Little Blue Biver, while Big Blue Biver is farther west, flowing through
the outskirts of Kansas City.
2 The Kansas Biver drains the greater part of the state of Kansas. White-
house writes “Biver de-Caugh,” the similarity of which to the modern Kaw,
sometimes used as an alternative name for Kansas, is evident.
3 On the site of Kansas City, Mo.
4 “we determine to delay at this Place three or four Days to make observa-
tions & recruit the party.” Clark.
6 According to the distances shown on the M. B. C. map the mouth of the
Kansas is 392 miles above the mouth of the Missouri.
90 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS [June 29