Early Day Explorers
Historical Information Associated to Mitchell County, Kansas
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  • Pierre Antoine and Paul Mallet  |  Isaac McCoy, Baptist Missionary  |  Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike  |  Robert McBratney
Pierre Antoine and Paul Mallet c.1739
Pierre Antoine and Paul Mallet were French Canadian explorers, and the first Europeans known to have travelled east to west crossing the Great Plains. In 1739, their journey took them from Kaskaskia, Illinois to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
 
Taking trade goods to Santa Fe, New Mexico was their goal in 1739, when they packed nine horses and secured six companions to travel with them from Illinois. At that time, it was still thought that the Missouri River flowed all the way to the Spanish Colonies in New Mexico.  By following the Missouri River north to South Dakota, they arrived at villages of the Arikara.  There they were informed by the Indians that New Mexico was to the southwest.
Backtracking into Nebraska, they arrived at the Pawnee villages on the Loup River.  They left the Pawnee villages on May 29, 1739, and in their travels to the south, it is believed they saw the Waconda Mineral Springs.  However, their route can only be guessed at, as the written account was lost.
 
They followed the Platte and then South Platte River upstream to approximately the Colorado-Nebraska border and then turned south.  Later, they lost seven horses loaded with goods in what was probably the Republican River.  They reached the Arkansas River near the Kansas-Colorado border and followed it upstream.  Probably near what is now La Junta, Colorado, they met with “Laitane” Indians. An Arikara Indian slave became their guide to Picuris Pueblo, where they met their first Spaniards, and were well received.  They continued to Santa Fe and made their proposal for trade relations.  Waiting nine months for a reply from the government in Mexico City, they were disappointed to be refused, and told to leave.  The New Mexico officials, however, gave them letters encouraging trade.
 
The traders split up going home different ways, after leaving Santa Fe on May, 1740.   The Mallet brothers and two others followed the Canadian River east through the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma.  When the Canadian River became navigable, they left their horses and made canoes.  On June 24, they found a hunting part of French Canadians at the junction of the Canadian and Arkansas Rivers.  They were then able to travel by boat down the Arkansas River and eventually to New Orleans, Louisiana, ending their journey in March 1741.

Reference: en.wikipedia.org (Pierre Antoine and Paul Mallet) 
Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike c.1806
One of the first white men to record visiting the Waconda Springs, referred to as the Great Spirit Spring, was Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike as part of an exploring and scientific expedition by the US Government, leaving St. Louis July 15, 1806.

Lieutenant Pike met a tribe of Pawnees near what is now Minneapolis and they traveled with him to the Republic Pawnee village. There he raised the U.S. flag over the territory of Kansas for the first time on the south side of the Republican River at the Republic Pawnee village, On September 29, 1806.  The Louisiana Territory was newly acquired at this time, purchased by President Jefferson from France.

Pike on the advice of the Pawnees took their route to the Arkansas River, and this trail led him to the Great Spirit Spring, where the Pawnees held regular religious ceremonies.
The Pawnees laid claim to all the land between the Kansas and Platte Rivers until 1833, and therefore also possessed the Great Spirit Spring.  By October 9, 1833, the confederated Pawnee tribes ceded all of their rights and titles to the land south of the Platte River.  With that, the Great Spirit Spring no longer belonged to the Pawnee.
 
Reference: The Waconda Story—The First History of Waconda Springs by Ava B. Gentleman, 1954  Printed by the Waconda Trader, Beloit, KS
Isaac McCoy, Baptist Missionary  c.1830
Isaac McCoy began his work in 1817 in Indiana and Michigan as a Baptist missionary to the Indians.

He became an advocate for the Native Americans as he felt, in time, they would be exterminated. They were continually being removed from the Eastern sections of the United States to lands further west as new states were recognized. Eventually a large section of land was designated in the Midwest for the Indians and the “removal policy” began.

The President had declared that exploring expeditions could be made by members of the tribes to examine lands where they would be located. In 1830, McCoy was appointed surveyor and agent and could accompany Indians to the new territory. On one of these trips, he came to the Great Spirit Spring.
McCoy came back to the Great Spirit Spring ten years later.  He preached to the Indians about Jesus Christ, but was unable to convert anyone.

Reference: The Waconda Story—The First History of Waconda Springs by Ava B. Gentleman, 1954  Printed by the Waconda Trader, Beloit, KS
Robert McBratney  c.1869
Diary excerpts of the expedition by Robert McBratney ... Exploring The Solomon River Valley In 1869  *This reprint is from an article in the Kansas Historical Quarterly, February 1937, pp. 60-76...was edited and includes an introduction by Martha B. Caldwell.

Mr. McBratney was deeply interested in the development of Kansas and was closely identified with the organization of railroads, including the Kansas Pacific; Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe; Missouri, Kansas & Texas; the Central Branch of the Union Pacific; and the Junction City & Fort Kearney. His later years were devoted to the development of minerals in southeastern Kansas. Mr. McBratney was married at Springfield, Ohio, in 1848, to Miss Mary Palmer. They had three daughters. After the death of Mrs. McBratney in 1859 he married Miss Mary E. Harbison of Xenia, Ohio. He died in 1881.
Exploring The Solomon River Valley In 1869

Among the many railway lines projected during the enthusiasm of the 1860s was the Junction City, Solomon Valley and Denver Railroad. Early in September, 1869, a company composed largely of Junction City men was organized, and at the first meeting in October the board of directors elected Robert McBratney  president and empowered him “to make such exploration on the proposed route of railway as in his judgment would be necessary and proper.”

In compliance with this order McBratney set out on an exploring trip up the Solomon valley to the western boundary of the state. He was accompanied by U. S. Sen. Edmund G. Ross; B. F. Mudge, professor at the Agricultural College and former state geologist; and Richard Mobley, state agent for the sale of railroad lands. These, with the driver of the ambulance, one cook, and one servant made a party of seven. The outfit consisted of a government ambulance and four mules provided by Gen. J. M. Schofield, one company wagon, one wall tent, and one saddle horse. In addition, Gov. J. M. Harvey ordered 100 state troops to accompany them from the Forks of the Solomon as a protection from the plains Indians.

On October 14 they assembled at Solomon City and proceeded up the valley to the Forks, where Senator Ross and Mr. Mobley left the party and returned home. From their start at Solomon City they traveled up the Solomon and its North Fork for almost 140 miles, when a shortage of provisions, forage and ammunition for the troops compelled them to turn back. Mr. McBratney and Professor Mudge both wrote letters to eastern Kansas newspapers giving most favorable accounts of the resources of the region.

These letters were widely read, and while they failed to attract capitalists and railroad builders, as was their object, they did perhaps cause many home seekers to settle there in the following years, and these in turn induced the Union Pacific to extend a branch line through the valley. Mr. McBratney also kept a diary on the trip in which he gave a detailed account of the movements of the party together with a description of the geological formations, the water resources and the wild life of the country.

This journal, which was recorded in a “Receipts” book 5”x7” bound in red leather, was written in the confusion and bustle of camp and by the fire light. 

Continue reading excerpts of this diary on the Solomon Valley Highway 24 Heritage Association Website