A Kanza Indian bark house.
Fort Kanses in Atchison County, Kansas, was not a military post. It was a French trading post built at a Kanza Indian village, just below Isle au Vache, or Cow Island. These French fur traders passed up the Missouri River during the first quarter of the 18th Century.
It was probably the first place in Kansas where white men lived as permanent settlers. In 1757, it was described as storing more than 100 bundles of furs. By 1764, the French trade was well established on the Missouri River, and they knew the eastern part of present-day Atchison County well.
When Lewis and Clark visited at the beginning of the 19th Century, the trading post’s ruins were still visible.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
See Sources.