- Platte Purchase
The Platte Purchase in 1836 added convert|3149|sqmi|km2|0 to the state of
Missouri , making up its northwest corner. It includes the following counties: Andrew (435 square miles, 1127 km²), Atchison (545 square miles, 1412 km²), Buchanan (410 square miles, 1062 km²), Holt (462 square miles, 1197 km²), Nodaway (877 square miles, 2271 km²), and Platte (420 square miles, 1088 km²).These areas now include
Kansas City International Airport (and the northwest Kansas City suburbs), St. Joseph, Mound City and Maryville. Almost all of Missouri's portion ofInterstate 29 is within its bounds. It is an area almost as big as the combined size ofDelaware andRhode Island .The purchase was presided over by William Clark (of
Lewis & Clark fame) atFort Leavenworth, Kansas .At the time, the western border of Missouri was the equivalent of the mouth of the
Kaw River in Kansas City (94 degrees 36 minutes West longitude) [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&om=1&ll=39.115411,-94.60722&spn=0.089635,0.156898] (which is also the border between Missouri and Kansas). The purchase extended the Missouri border in the northwest to 95 degrees 46 minutes West longitude). [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&om=1&ll=40.585474,-95.765676&spn=0.043868,0.10643]Current maps show Platte County's, and all counties north, as having an eastern border further east than the border between Missouri and Kansas south of the river, which no longer conforms to the mouth of the Kaw River.
The tribes involved were the
Ioway tribe (with Chiefs Mahaska and No Heart) and the combined entity of theSac and Fox tribes.The tribes were paid $7,500 for their land. The government was to "build five comfortable houses for each tribe, break up convert|200|acre|km2|1 of land, fence convert|200|acre|km2|1 of land, furnish a farmer, blacksmith, teacher, interpreter, provide agricultural implements, furnish livestock" and a host of other small items. The tribes agreed to move to reservations west of the Missouri River in what was to become
Kansas andNebraska . At this time there were approximately 1,000 Ioways, 500 Sacs, and 1,200 Foxes.The tribes had earlier been promised to keep the land permanently. However white settlers (including most spectacularly
Joseph Robidoux ) quickly broke the agreement.Martin Van Buren proclaimed the area part of Missouri on28 March 1837 .It is a
historic region of the United States .External links
* [http://www.kshs.org/places/nativeamerican/history.htm Kansas Historical Society history]
* [http://ioway.nativeweb.org/history/treaties.htm Nativeweb history including the treaty]
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