''Sent Out By Our Great Father'': Zebulon Montgomery Pike's Journal and Route Across Kansas, 1806

Article looks at Zebulon Pike and his time in Kansas and includes a reprint of Zebulon Pike's journal, September 3 - November 11, 1806 as well as Pike's instructions contained in two letters from General James Wilkinson. "Since Pike was the first U.S. Army explorer to cross Kansas, and his expedition visited more areas of Kansas than any other military exploring expedition, his journal provides a 'first view' of the region. It was the first time detailed information was published in the United States about present Kansas. Although sketchy much of the time, the journal provides information about the geography and residents of the land in 1806. Pike's report on the region, an appendeix to his journal and a portion of which is reproduced here, compared the area of western Kansas to a desert, and that view affected national policy toward the Indians and white settlement of the area for nearly half a century."