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The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas

1844
2012

 

 

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The Story of Kansas City, Kansas

"The Spanish and the French"

It may be that the first white men to see the wooded hills of our city were the Spaniards.  If stories handed down to us are true, and we are uncertain that they are, stragglers from DeSoto's expedition may have paddled up the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers to the mouth of the Kansas.  People who have read Coronado's description of his travels through kansas believe that he may have marched as far north as Atchison.  He could have brought back his men along the north bank of the missouri.

Spanish swords have been found in the Missouri River bottoms.  A priest at Leavenworth was supposed a few years ago to have had one of these swords in his possession.

It could be that a Frenchman was the first white person to reach here.  The French were traveling up and down the Missouri in their canoes almost three hundred years ago.  One Frenchman, Charles LeSeuer, brought a mining expedition to the Kaw's mouth in 1703.  An explorer named Bourgmont led a group of adventurers up the Kansas River.  He, too, must have passed here.

River Settlements

Return to Index for "The Story of Kansas City, Kansas" by Nellie McGuinn

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Contact the History Webmaster - Patricia Adams

History Site created on December 02, 2002
Page last updated: 02-Jan-2012

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