White Cloud, Kansas Located on the bluffs of the
Missouri River,
White Cloud was one of the earliest and grandest towns in a new and fledgling
Kansas Territory. The port town was a popular stop for the big steamboats carrying supplies bound for the
west. Often the docks were crowded with wagons in the port community, which boasted a population of over 2,000 in its heyday. The town continued to thrive until after the Civil War, when in 1860, the first "iron horse” touched
Kansas soil and supplies began to travel via the rails.
In 1804, the area where White Cloud would one day lie served as a vantage point and resting place for
Lewis and Clark. According to legend, their names are said to be carved in a stone somewhere close to today's White Cloud.
