Smoky Hill River.—The Indians supposed this stream to be the Kansas river, and by some of the early historians it was so considered. Probably the first mention of it was by the explorer Pike, who encountered it on Sept. 4, 1806, while on his way to the Pawnee village, and called it the main south branch of the Kansas river. The name probably attaches from the hills near Lindsborg known as the Smoky Hills. A map in Schoolcraft's Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge names the stream Smoky Hill fork or Topeka river. The Smoky Hill river has two main branches, both of which rise in Colorado. The north fork enters Kansas near the southwest corner of Sherman county, flows about 25 miles to the east, thence makes a turn to the southeast, cutting across the extreme northeast corner of Wallace into Logan county. The south fork is formed by two branches which rise in Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties, Col., about 40 and 35 miles respectively from the Kansas line. This branch flows in a general easterly direction, enters Kansas about the center of the west line of Wallace county and flows almost due east through that county to unite with the north branch at a point about 6 miles west of Russell Spring. The course of the main stream from this point is almost due east through the counties of Logan, Gove, Trego, Ellis, Russell and into Ellsworth, where it bears to the southeast, making a turn and entering the northern township of McPherson county. The river here makes a sharp curve to the north and enters Saline county, flowing as far north as the town of Salina and deviating slightly to the north of east, passes through Dickinson and Geary counties, uniting with the Republican to form the Kansas river.

Pike mentioned that the river was navigable in times of flood, but there is no record of its having been navigated other than by the steamboat Excel for one trip in 1854, and by the Gus Linn in 1859, the latter taking a whole day for a round trip between Fort Riley and Junction City. The estimated length of the river is about 400 miles and the territory drained is approximately 20,000 square miles. In 1904 the U. S. weather bureau established river gauge stations on the stream at Abilene and Lindsborg.