Kaw Point Park

The Missouri River meets the Kansas (Kaw) River between today’s Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. It’s believed the confluence in 1804 was only about 0.25 miles north of where it is today.The Expedition camped at a wooded point where the Kansas enters the Missouri from June 26-28, 1804. The men hunted, repaired the pirogues, dressed deer skins, took calculations and built a six-foot-high fortification of logs and brush, called “bowers.” Here’s Patrick Gass’s entry for June 26: “It was agreed to remain here during the 27th and 28th where we pitched our tents and built bowers in front of them. Canzan or Kanzas, is 230 yards and a quarter wide, and navigable to a great distance.”

The Corps rested at Kaw Point Park for about three days in 1804 — just long enough for two of the men to get into trouble.  During the early morning hours of June 29 (just after midnight), Private John Collins was on guard duty. Being the only man awake, he helped himself to one of the whiskey barrels. One sip led to another and soon, Collins was drunk. When Private Hugh Hall came to relieve him, Collins offered a drink and Hall accepted. Soon they were drunk together.

At dawn, the sergeant-of-the-guard put them under arrest, and shortly thereafter Captain Clark drew up court-martial papers to be presented to a court composed of the men of the Corps. Collins was sentenced to 100 lashes on his bare back; Hall received 50. This was the first instance of a court proceeding during the Expedition. It didn’t keep Collins and Hall from their duty – the next day they left Kaw Point hard at work aboard the keelboat.

Today, you’ll find Kaw Point Park in Kansas City, Kansas, a 10-acre wooded park along the shores of the confluence. You’ll enjoy a memorial to all Native tribes of the area, a small amphitheater with limestone seating blocks carved with the names of the member of the Corps, and dramatic views of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.