A History of Kansas

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Title: A History of Kansas
Author: Arnold, Anna E. (Anna Estelle)
Language: English
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[Illustration: MEMORIAL HALL]

A HISTORY OF KANSAS

ANNA E. ARNOLD

Author of Civics and Citizenship

[Illustration: Seal of the State of Kansas]

Published by
the State Of Kansas
Imri Zumwalt, State Printer
Topeka, 1919
7-6552

[Illustration: Printer’s Logo]

PREFACE

No State has a history better calculated to inspire patriotism in its
people than has Kansas. In this fact lies the greatest reason for
teaching Kansas History in the schools. A knowledge of the
difficulties that have been met and conquered in building the State
will create in the minds of the boys and girls a greater respect for
the sturdy qualities of the pioneers; it will give them a wholesome
sense of the great cost at which the ease and comfort of to-day have
been purchased; it will stimulate in them a desire to live up to the
past.

If the study of Kansas History is to accomplish these results, the
subject must be presented in such a way as to arouse the interest of
the pupils. They must feel its reality. They must catch its spirit.

With the hope of fulfilling in some measure these requirements, this
book has been prepared with the following aims constantly in mind: to
make it, as nearly as possible, a narrative; to select from the wealth
of material at hand such subject matter as is within the comprehension
of children, eliminating such matter as can be fully understood and
appreciated only by mature minds; to present the general movement of
the State’s progress rather than a mass of unrelated facts. Only so
much detail has been used as is necessary to a clear understanding of
events. The purpose has not been to chronicle a multitude of events,
but rather to show forth what manner of men and women were the
builders of our State, what motives actuated them, what conditions
surrounded them, how they lived, and what they accomplished.

An effort has been made to give the pupils a general view of the
State’s history as a whole, to give them a framework on which to build
their later knowledge, and to leave them with a desire to learn more
of Kansas history.

ANNA E. ARNOLD.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 9

II. KANSAS BECOMES A PART OF THE UNITED STATES 16

III. EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY BY THE UNITED STATES 20

IV. KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 29

V. KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 45

VI. KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY 55

VII. THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 62

VIII. THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 72

IX. RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS 78

X. THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 83

XI. THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 94

XII. PIONEER LIFE 102

XIII. KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR 109

XIV. THE PERIOD SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 115

XV. THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 142

XVI. TRANSPORTATION IN KANSAS 174

XVII. EDUCATION IN KANSAS 187

XVIII. KANSAS MEMORIALS 207

XIX. THE KANSAS SPIRIT 217

APPENDIX 223

QUIVERA――KANSAS

In that half-forgotten era,
With the avarice of old,
Seeking cities he was told
Had been paved with yellow gold,
In the kingdom of Quivera――

Came the restless Coronado
To the open Kansas plain,
With his knights from sunny Spain;
In an effort that, though vain,
Thrilled with boldness and bravado.

League by league, in aimless marching,
Knowing scarcely where or why,
Crossed they uplands drear and dry,
That an unprotected sky
Had for centuries been parching.

But their expectations, eager,
Found, instead of fruitful lands,
Shallow streams and shifting sands,
Where the buffalo in bands
Roamed o’er deserts dry and meager.

Back to scenes more trite, yet tragic,
Marched the knights with armor’d steeds
Not for them the quiet deeds;
Not for them to sow the seeds
From which empires grow like magic.

Thus Quivera was forsaken;
And the world forgot the place
Through the lapse of time and space.
Then the blue-eyed Saxon race
Came and bade the desert waken.

――EUGENE WARE.

A HISTORY OF KANSAS

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY

=Introduction.= More than four centuries have passed since Columbus
discovered America. During that time the hunting ground of three
hundred thousand Indians has become the United States with its more
than one hundred million civilized people. In the center of this great
nation, which occupies nearly half the area of the continent, lies
Kansas, a rectangle four hundred miles long and two hundred miles
wide.

Kansas is a part of the great plain that slopes gradually from the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Its
surface, cut by many eastward-flowing streams, lies level in the west
but in the east curves into countless hills and valleys.

On these broad prairies to-day are thousands of cattle, and great
fields of corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Towns and cities are scattered
over the State, and the country between is dotted with the homes of
farmers. There are mines, factories, churches, schools, and colleges.
Uniting all are miles and miles of railroad. Kansas is now the home of
more than a million seven hundred thousand of busy, prosperous people.
But it was not always so; these prairies were once used only by the
Indian and the buffalo. If we are to understand how this change has
come about we must begin with the coming of the first white men to
America.

=The First White Men in Kansas.= At that time Spain was the most
powerful nation of Europe, and since she had furnished the funds for
the voyage of Columbus she claimed the first right to America and
became the pioneer in the exploration of the New World. The Spaniards
first explored the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, discovered the Pacific
Ocean and the Mississippi River, and were the first to sail around the
world. In 1519 Cortez, a Spaniard, landed on the present site of Vera
Cruz and marched into the heart of Mexico, the home of the Aztec
Indians. He made himself master of that great region and called it New
Spain. All of these expeditions were too far south to reach what is
now Kansas, but only a few more years were to pass before this far-off
country was to be explored by the adventurous Spaniards, the first
white men to set foot on Kansas soil.

=Cabeza de Vaca.= In 1528 Narvaez, a Spaniard, led an exploring
expedition westward from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Through
various misfortunes and hardships nearly all of the party perished.
One of the commanders, Cabeza de Vaca, and three of his men were taken
prisoners by the Indians. After being held in captivity nearly six
years they succeeded in making their escape. They fled westward, and
after an adventurous journey of nearly two years reached a Spanish
settlement near the western coast of New Spain. The exact route
followed by Cabeza de Vaca and his companions can never be known, but
his accounts of their wanderings were largely the cause of the
expedition of Coronado, who was the first white man known with
certainty to have traveled across what is now Kansas.

=Purpose of the Spaniards.= The chief purpose of all the Spanish
explorers was to search for wealth. Cortez is said to have made this
remark to the Indians: “We Spaniards are troubled with a disease of
the heart for which we find gold, and gold only, a specific remedy.”
The hope of finding gold and precious stones lying about like pebbles
lured many Spaniards into enterprises filled with terrible hardships.
Reports of great cities of untold wealth to the northward, the “Seven
Cities of Cibola,” as they were called, had reached New Spain at
various times, and when Cabeza de Vaca told similar tales that he had
heard from the Indians it stirred the Spaniards to explore the region.

=Coronado.= Great preparation was made for an expedition. An army of
three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred friendly Indians was
gathered and placed under the command of Coronado. This was a large
army for those times and the burden of furnishing it with arms and
supplies fell heavily on New Spain. But so hopeful were the people of
the success of the expedition that no sacrifice seemed too great. In
the spring of 1540 the long march into unexplored country began.

=The Search for Quivira.= After months of travel in a northerly and
then in a northeasterly direction, Coronado and his army reached the
province of Cibola, which was probably in the western part of what is
now New Mexico, and the “Seven Cities” proved to be ordinary adobe
Indian villages. They took possession of the Indian supplies and spent
the winter in the villages. The Indians, anxious to get rid of their
unwelcome visitors, persuaded a Quivira Indian, whom they held as a
prisoner, to tell the Spaniards tales of the wonderful land of Quivira
in order to lead them off into the wilderness where they would die
from lack of food and water. Coronado and his men listened to this
Indian, whom they called “Turk,” and followed him as a guide for many
days. He led them steadily toward the east, and after a time they
became convinced that they were being deceived and made him confess
that Quivira was far to the northward. They had been only too willing
to listen to Turk’s stories, but when they learned that he had misled
them they put him to death. Supplies were now low and Coronado sent
back the main body of the army, which was composed of footmen, and
with thirty horsemen started northward.

[Illustration: THE JOURNEYS OF CABEZA DE VACA AND CORONADO.]

=Coronado in Kansas.= It must be remembered that the whole country was
a vast wilderness without names or boundary lines, and we can describe
the journey of the Spaniards only by using names and boundary lines
that have come into existence long since that time. As nearly as can
be learned, Coronado and his men entered Kansas about where Clark
County now is, and went on northward, crossing the Arkansas River at
or near the site of Dodge City. From this point they followed the
river to Great Bend, and then continued in a northeasterly direction
to the vicinity of Junction City. At the end of their journey they set
up a cross bearing the inscription: “Francisco Vasqueth de Coronado,
commander of an expedition, arrived at this place.”

[Illustration: “FRANCISCO VASQUETH DE CORONADO, COMMANDER OF
AN EXPEDITION, ARRIVED AT THIS PLACE.”]

=Quivira Found.= After all this weary journey they had reached Quivira
and found it to be merely the home of a tribe of Indians, the
Quiviras, later known as the Pawnees. Coronado wrote in a letter to
the King of Spain:

“The country itself is the best I have ever seen for
producing all of the fruits of Spain, for, besides the land
itself being very fat and black, and being very well watered
by rivulets, springs, and rivers, I found prunes like those
in Spain and nuts and very good sweet grapes and mulberries.
I remained twenty-five days in this province of Quivira,
both to see and explore the country, and to find out whether
there was anything beyond which could be of service to your
Majesty, because the guides who had brought me had given me
an account of other provinces beyond this. And what I am
sure of is that there is not any gold or any other metal in
all that country, and the other things of which they told me
are nothing but little villages, and in many of these they
do not plant anything, and do not have any houses, except of
skins and sticks, and they wander around with the cows. So
that the account they gave me was false, because they wanted
to get me to go there with the whole force, believing that
as the way was through such uninhabitable deserts, and from
lack of water they would get us where our horses and we
would die of thirst. And the guides confessed this, and they
said they did it by the advice of the natives of these
provinces.”[1]

=Coronado’s Return to New Spain.= Empty-handed, Coronado and his
little band of Spanish knights turned toward New Spain and carried to
their waiting countrymen the disappointing story of their two years’
expedition. With this event fifty years had passed since the discovery
of America, and for the next two and a half centuries little attention
was paid to the Kansas country.

SUMMARY

The history of Kansas begins with the first exploration of
this country by white men nearly four hundred years ago.
Spain was the first nation to explore the New World. The
chief purpose of the Spaniards was to find gold. They had
heard from the Indians of rich cities to the northward, and
when Cabeza de Vaca told them similar tales the people of
New Spain decided to explore the country. They sent Coronado
with a large army on a journey of exploration lasting two
years. He failed to find gold, but his expedition is of
interest because he was the first white man known to have
traversed what is now Kansas.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 1-23.
Foster, A History of the United States, p. 29.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 17-19.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 44-45.
Bourne, Spain in America (vol. III, of The American Nation, a
History).
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Historical Collections, vol. VII, pp. 20, 40, 268, 573; vol. VIII,
p. 152; vol. X, p. 68; vol. XII, p. 219.
Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

QUESTIONS

1. How long has it been since Columbus discovered America?

2. Compare the population at that time with the present
population of the United States.

3. In what part of the United States is Kansas?

4. Describe briefly the western part of the Mississippi valley.
Describe the surface of Kansas.

5. What relation has Spain to the history of Kansas? Why did
Spain claim the first right to America? Name some of the early
discoveries of the Spaniards.

6. Where was New Spain?

7. What influenced the Spaniards in their ventures in the New
World?

8. Who was Cabeza de Vaca? Of what importance is the account of
his adventures?

9. Tell the story of Coronado. What is his relation to Kansas
history?

CHAPTER II

KANSAS BECOMES A PART OF THE UNITED STATES

=The French.= While the Spaniards were searching for wealth in the
southern part of North America the French were trading with the
Indians in the northern part along the St. Lawrence River and around
the Great Lakes. Among the French were many Catholic priests, called
Jesuits, who came to carry their religious faith to the Indians. In
1673, one of these Jesuits, Father Marquette, accompanied a trader
named Joliet on an expedition to explore the Mississippi River. They
launched their canoes on the great river and floated downstream for
hundreds of miles, between shores that in some places were thickly
wooded, and in others were grassy plains. They went as far south as
the mouth of the Arkansas River, and then turned and began the long,
hard task of paddling back.

=La Salle and Louisiana, 1682.= Among those who heard of the journey
of Marquette and Joliet was a young Frenchman, La Salle. He planned to
explore the whole Mississippi basin and to take possession of it in
the name of the King of France. In 1682, with a few companions, he
floated down the Mississippi to its mouth. Here, with much ceremony,
they planted a cross, buried a leaden plate inscribed with the arms of
France, and declared that all the land drained by the Mississippi
River and its tributaries should belong to France, and should be named
Louisiana in honor of the French King, Louis XIV. Thus in 1682, nearly
two centuries after the discovery of America, Kansas came into the
possession of the French.

=The End of Spanish and French Explorations.= The French soon planted
a few colonies and forts along the Mississippi River and sent out
explorers, some of whom may have entered the present bounds of Kansas.
This roused the Spaniards in Mexico, who wished to hold the territory
for Spain, and they also sent expeditions. The armies of both nations
suffered severely at the hands of the Indians and the exploration of
the Kansas country was given up by both Spain and France, and for
nearly a century more it lay almost forgotten. The next exploration of
this territory was by people of another nation.

=The English.= While the Spaniards were busy in the South and the
French in the North, another people, the English, began to make
explorations in the new continent. They did not come to hunt for gold,
nor to trade with the Indians, but to found homes. They settled along
the Atlantic coast between the French in Canada and the Spaniards in
Florida, and claimed the country westward to the Pacific Ocean.

=Conflict of French and English Claims.= As time went on and the
settlements increased in number, the claims of the French and the
English conflicted and caused much strife between the colonies of the
two countries. The question of the ownership of the land was not
settled until the close of the French and Indian War in 1763. As a
result of this war France gave up all her claims in America,
practically everything east of the Mississippi to England, and that
west of it to Spain. In 1800 Spain ceded her portion of America back
to France.

=The Louisiana Purchase, 1803.= In the meantime the English colonies
had fought the Revolutionary War and become an independent nation. In
1803, when Thomas Jefferson was President, the United States bought
from France her tract of country lying west of the Mississippi River.
This was known as the Louisiana Purchase, and the date is one to be
remembered, for it marks the end of French claims in America, and it
marks the time when what is now Kansas became a part of the United
States.[2]

=One Century More.= More than three centuries of American history had
passed and the country west of the Mississippi River remained
unsettled and practically unknown. The Spaniard and the Frenchman had
come and gone, but the Indian still hunted the buffalo on the
prairies. The white man had not yet made his home in the Kansas
country.

SUMMARY

Spain explored in the South in search of wealth, France in
the North to trade in furs with the Indians, and England
along the coast between these two to establish homes. Spain
claimed the Kansas country because of the exploration by
Coronado, France through the claims of Marquette and La
Salle, and England through the ocean-to-ocean claim. None of
the nations succeeded in accomplishing anything here, and
the Kansas country was left alone for nearly a century after
it came into the possession of France. At the close of the
French and Indian War the country west of the Mississippi
was ceded to Spain. Later it came again into the hands of
France, and was purchased by the United States in 1803.

REFERENCES

Elson, History of the United States, pp. 161, 384.
Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. II, chap. XII.
Foster, A History of the United States.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 24-40.
Parkman, La Salle and the Great West.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 19-20.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, p. 250; vol. X, p. 336.
Wilder, Annals of Kansas, pp. 15-18.

QUESTIONS

1. Who were the Jesuits? What can you say of Marquette? Joliet?
La Salle?

2. Contrast the motives of the French and Spanish in coming to
America.

3. Why did the English come to the New World?

4. What territory was claimed by the French? By the Spanish? By
the English?

5. To what nations did what is now Kansas successively belong?
How and when did it first become a part of the United States?
How long was this after the discovery of America?

CHAPTER III

EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY BY THE UNITED STATES

=President Jefferson Sent Explorers.= When the United States bought
Louisiana the country from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean
was a vast unknown area. President Jefferson was eager to learn
something about the great West, and sent out several exploring
parties.

=Lewis and Clark.= The first expedition, sent in 1804, the year
following the purchase of Louisiana, was in charge of Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark. They were instructed to move up the Missouri River
and on to the Pacific Ocean. After a difficult journey lasting two and
a half years the party returned to St. Louis and brought to the people
of the United States much important information concerning the West.
It is the part of their journey along the border of what is now Kansas
in which we are most interested.

=The Journey.= With about forty-five men and three boats Lewis and
Clark started up the Missouri River in the spring of 1804. Two
horsemen rode along the bank to hunt and bring in game, which was to
go far toward supplying provisions for the expedition. After a five
weeks’ journey they reached the mouth of the Kansas River, and
encamped that night on the present site of Kansas City, Kansas. From
there they continued up the Missouri River where it forms the present
boundary line of Kansas, along the border of what has since become
Leavenworth, Atchison, and Doniphan counties. Their account of the
journey describes the country through which they passed and the
different Indian tribes and villages they saw. It speaks of an Indian
tribe as “hunting on the plains for buffalo which our hunters have
seen for the first time.” Again we read, “Pecan trees were this day
seen, and large quantities of deer and wild turkey.” By July 4 they
had reached a point not far from the present city of Atchison. They
did not have the means for much of a celebration, but their observance
of the day included the firing of “an evening gun” and the naming of
two streams, Fourth of July Creek, and Independence Creek.
Independence Creek still retains its name. A week later they passed
the fortieth parallel, which afterward became the northern boundary of
Kansas, and continued on their way to the Pacific.

=Pike’s Expedition.= In 1806 another exploring party was sent out in
command of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a young lieutenant in the army. He
was instructed to ascend the Missouri River, visit the various Indian
tribes in the Kansas country, go west until the frontier of New Mexico
was reached, then south toward the source of the Red River which he
was to descend to the Mississippi, and thence to St. Louis, the
starting point. The journey did not, however, follow just this route.

=Pike Visits the Osage Indians.= The Osage Indians lived in the
eastern part of Kansas, south of the Kansas River. At their villages
Pike purchased supplies for the overland journey. From there he went
west and then northwest toward the Pawnee village which is believed to
have been within the bounds of what is now Republic County.

=Pike Among the Pawnees.= About the time he crossed the Solomon River
he came upon the trail of Spanish troops. It seems that the
authorities in Mexico had in some way heard of the Pike expedition and
had sent an army of five hundred men to intercept him. These forces
missed each other, but when Pike reached the village of the Pawnee
Indians he found them in possession of many blankets, bridles,
saddles, and other things which they had received from the Spaniards.
After having been visited with much ceremony by the mounted and lordly
army from Mexico, the Indians were not inclined to be courteous to
Pike and his score of dusty, bedraggled footmen. After much
unpleasantness and delay a council attended by four hundred warriors
was held. In his opening address Pike spoke, among other things, of
the numerous Spanish flags in the village. Pointing to one which
floated above the tent of the head chief, he demanded that it be
lowered and that an American flag be put in its place. Several Indians
made speeches without mentioning the flag. Pike again told them they
must choose between the Spanish and the American governments. The
Americans awaited the answer in anxious suspense. Finally an old chief
arose. He slowly hauled down the Spanish flag, laid it at Pike’s feet,
and received the American flag in return. This he unfurled above the
chiefs tent, and for the first time, so far as is known, the Stars and
Stripes floated over Kansas.

=Pike in Colorado.= From this place Pike and his men moved southwest
to the Arkansas River, where the party divided, some of them going
down the river and on home. Pike and his remaining men, instead of
searching for the Red River according to instructions, followed the
Arkansas River into what is now Colorado. They pushed westward, and
after many days of travel sighted a mountain, which appeared at first
like a small blue cloud but which proved to be a great bald peak of
the Rocky Mountains. This peak has since been named Pike’s Peak in
honor of the explorer. By this time it was winter and their supplies
were low. Pike and his men suffered terribly from cold and hunger
while wandering among the mountains. Hoping to better their condition
they moved toward the southwest, only to find themselves taken
prisoners in Spanish territory. Later, however, they were escorted
across Texas to the American frontier in Louisiana and released.

[Illustration: THE EXPEDITION OF PIKE, AND THE LOCATION OF THE
ORIGINAL INDIAN TRIBES.
There were no clearly defined boundaries between the tribes.]

=The Return of Pike.= A whole year had passed before they found
themselves again in St. Louis, a year of hardship for them, but well
worth while, nevertheless, for Pike brought back a great deal of
valuable information. That he was a better soldier than farmer may be
seen from this passage taken from his journal:

“From these immense prairies may rise one great advantage to
the United States, viz., the restriction of our population
to certain limits, and thereby a continuation of the union.
Our citizens, being so prone to rambling and extending
themselves on the frontiers, will, through necessity, be
constrained to limit their extent on the west to the borders
of the Missouri and the Mississippi, while they leave the
prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the wandering
aborigines of the country.”[3]

=The Great American Desert.= Another explorer, Major Long, who came in
1819 and 1820, likewise expressed the idea that most of the country
was unfit for cultivation, and therefore uninhabitable by an
agricultural people. He even went so far as to say the country bore a
“resemblance to the deserts of Siberia.” Washington Irving, the great
writer, said of this region: “It could be well named, the Great
American Desert. It spreads forth into undulating and treeless plains
and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their extent and
monotony. It is a land where no man permanently abides, for at certain
seasons of the year there is no food for the hunter or his steed.”

[Illustration: AN INDIAN VILLAGE.
The tribes that lived in permanent homes built lodges
consisting of an embankment of earth topped with a row of
poles brought together at the center and thatched with bark
and grass.]

The views of these men largely molded public opinion concerning the
West. The country out of which has been carved such prosperous
agricultural states as Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska was, a hundred
years ago, known as the “Great American Desert,” and was so named on
the maps of that time.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF AN INDIAN LODGE.]

=Indian Tribes in Kansas.= The western prairies had for untold ages
been occupied by Indians. At the time of Pike’s expedition there were
four tribes living within the present bounds of Kansas. These were the
Kanza, the Osage, the Pawnee, and the Comanche tribes. The Kanza, or
Kaw, Indians lived in the northeastern part of the State and were the
ones seen by Lewis and Clark in their expedition up the Missouri
River. It is from this tribe that Kansas probably received its name.
The Osage Indians were located in the eastern part, south of the
Kansas River. The Pawnee tribe lived north and west of the Kanza
Indians. It was in the Osage village that Pike secured supplies for
his journey, and in the Pawnee village that he caused the Spanish flag
to be lowered. The Pawnees were once called the Quiviras. The first of
their tribe that we know anything about was “Turk,” who led Coronado
into the wilderness. These three tribes lived in permanent homes and
had their tribal villages, but the fourth tribe were wanderers. They
were the Comanches, sometimes called the Padoucas, and they roved over
the western part of Kansas and adjacent territory, hunting buffaloes
and following the herds as they grazed from place to place. They were
fine horsemen, and brave, but very fierce and warlike.

=The Kansas of a Century Ago.= This was the Kansas of a century ago.
At that time it had received neither name nor boundaries. For the
first fifty years that this region was a part of the United States,
that is, from the purchase of Louisiana until Kansas was organized as
a territory in 1854, the country was little used by the white people
except as a pathway to the West.

SUMMARY

President Jefferson, wishing to learn something of the unknown
western country, sent out two exploring expeditions. The first,
in 1804, was in charge of Lewis and Clark, who were to follow the
Missouri River and to go on across the mountains until they
reached the Pacific coast. They passed along the northeast border
of Kansas. The next exploring party was in command of Pike. His
route was somewhat in the form of a circle. Beginning at St.
Louis it was to pass through Kansas, then south, then east, and
up the Mississippi to St. Louis. He visited the Osage Indians in
eastern Kansas, the Pawnee Indians in northern Kansas where he
raised the American flag, and then marched into Colorado where he
discovered Pike’s Peak. From Colorado he went into what is now
New Mexico, where he was taken prisoner by the Spaniards. They
took him nearly to the Mississippi River and released him. On his
return he reported this country as unfit for settlement, and his
opinion was shared by later explorers. At the time of Pike’s
expedition there were four tribes of Indians in Kansas, the
Osages, the Kanzas, the Pawnees, and the Comanches.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 31-41.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 49-53.
Coues, Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike.
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, p. 574; vol. VII, pp. 261-317;
vol. VI, p. 325; vol. X, pp. 15-159.

QUESTIONS

1. What was known of the Louisiana Purchase at the time it was
acquired by the United States?

2. Who were Lewis and Clark? Give an account of their expedition
as it related to Kansas.

3. What route was Pike instructed to take?

4. Describe Pike’s visit to the Osages. His visit to the Pawnees.
By what other name do we know the Pawnees?

5. Give an account of the remainder of Pike’s journey.

6. What was Pike’s opinion of the Kansas country? Long’s opinion?
Washington Irving’s opinion?

7. How much of Kansas did the Louisiana Purchase include?

8. What Indian tribes lived within the present bounds of Kansas?
Locate and tell something of each.

9. When was Kansas Territory organized? How long was this after
the Louisiana purchase?

10. What use did the white people make of Kansas during this
period?

[Illustration: THE SANTA FE AND OREGON TRAILS, AND EARLY LINES OF
RAILROAD, THROUGH KANSAS.]

CHAPTER IV

KANSAS AS A PATHWAY

=Mexico a Century Ago.= Nearly three centuries passed from the time
Cortez led the Spaniards into Mexico until Kansas became a part of the
United States. During those years Spanish settlements had increased in
number until at the time of Pike’s expedition Mexico included most of
what is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and
Colorado.

=Old Santa Fe.= Santa Fe, said to be the second oldest city in the
United States, was the most important point on the northern frontier
of Mexico. In those days it was not like the busy American Santa Fe of
to-day. It had about two thousand inhabitants, practically all
Spaniards, and they lived in little adobe houses arranged around a
public square after the manner of Spanish cities.

=Origin of the Santa Fe Trail.= The “Great American Desert” lay
between Santa Fe and the settlements of the western border of the
United States. But Captain Pike’s interesting descriptions of the
wealth and resources of the Spanish country stirred up enthusiasm, and
Americans began to make their way across the plains to trade with the
Spaniards. Santa Fe soon became an important trading point for all of
northeastern Mexico. The traders, on their journeys to the Spanish
city, wore a pathway that crossed the length of Kansas. This pathway
came to be called the “Santa Fe Trail.”

=Captain Becknell the First Trader.= Although a few earlier trips were
made, the trade with Santa Fe really began in the year 1822 with the
journey of Captain Becknell, of Missouri. He had started out the year
before to trade with the Indians, and had gone on with a party of
Mexican rangers to Santa Fe where he sold his small supply of
merchandise so profitably that he decided to try again on a larger
scale. In 1822 he took about thirty men and five thousand dollars’
worth of merchandise. His success encouraged others, and a regular
trade with Santa Fe was soon established.

[Illustration: SCENES IN EARLY SANTA FE.
Left, a street scene. Upper right, an adobe house. Lower right,
the old “Palace,” used by the Spanish and Mexican authorities as
government headquarters for about two centuries. It was in this
building that Pike was held prisoner.]

=Merchandise Carried on Pack Mules=. For several years most of the
transportation along the Trail was done with pack mules. A caravan of
pack mules usually numbered from fifty to two hundred, each animal
carrying about three hundred pounds of merchandise. From the earliest
times the Mexicans had used pack mules as a means of transportation,
and were skilled in handling them. For this reason the American
traders usually employed Mexicans for the work of the pack train. The
average rate of travel of a mule train was from twelve to fifteen
miles a day. Since the Trail was nearly eight hundred miles long,
fifty to sixty days were required for the trip.

=Wagons Used on the Trail=. Probably the first time that wagons were
used was in 1824, when a company of traders left Missouri with
twenty-five wagons and a train of pack mules. This experiment was so
satisfactory that the use of wagons soon became general and mules were
used less and less as pack animals.

=The Traders and the Indians=. Travel over the Santa Fe Trail rapidly
increased, and the history of those days is filled with stories of
exciting adventure, of danger, of privation, and of deeds of courage.
The source of greatest danger and excitement was the Indians, for they
did not take kindly to the white men’s use of their hunting grounds.
For several years the traders crossed the plains in small parties,
each man taking only two or three hundred dollars’ worth of goods, and
they were seldom molested. But peace did not last long. The Indians
soon learned more about the journeys of the traders and how to
estimate the value of their stock. Also, many of the traders
considered every Indian a deadly enemy and killed all that fell into
their power simply because some wrong was known to have been committed
by Indians. This treatment tended to stir up the hatred of the red men
and to make them watch every opportunity for revenge.

An example of the enmity between the Indians and the traders may be
seen in an occurrence of 1828. Two young men went to sleep on the bank
of a stream a short distance from their caravan, and were fatally
shot, it was supposed, with their own guns. When their comrades found
them one was dead, and the other died by the time the caravan reached
the Cimarron River, about forty miles farther on. During the simple
burial ceremonies a party of six or seven Indians appeared on the
other side of the river. It is probable that these Indians knew
nothing of the crime committed or they would not have approached the
white men. Some of the men took this view, but, against their advice,
the others fired and killed all of the Indians but one, who escaped to
carry the news to his tribe. The Indians of the wronged tribe then
followed the caravan to the Arkansas River where they robbed the
traders of nearly a thousand head of horses and mules. Other robberies
and murders followed until it became necessary for the traders to
petition the National Government for troops. The next year soldiers
escorted the caravan nearly to the Cimarron River. Government
protection was furnished again in 1834, and in 1843. In the other
years the traders fought their own way, but the day of small parties
was over. For mutual protection, the traders banded together. A single
big caravan started out each spring as soon as the grass was
sufficient to pasture their animals, and returned in the fall.

=The Starting Point of the Traders.= For many years the city of
Franklin, on the Missouri River, was the starting point of the
traders, the place where they purchased their goods and their outfits.
Later, Independence, Missouri, and finally Westport which is now a
part of Kansas City, became the emporium of the Santa Fe trade. The
tourists and traders began to gather about the first of May for the
journey that would begin near the middle of that month.

=Supplies Taken.= The ordinary supplies to be taken for each man were
about fifty pounds of flour, fifty pounds of bacon, ten pounds of
coffee, twenty pounds each of sugar, rice, and beans, and a little
salt. Anything else was considered an unnecessary luxury and was
seldom taken. The buffalo furnished fresh meat for the travelers.

=Teams and Wagons.= After the first few years horses were little used
on the Trail except for riding. A wagon was usually drawn by eight
mules or oxen, though some of the larger ones required ten or twelve.
The large wagons often carried as much as five thousand pounds of
merchandise and supplies. The loading of the wagons for a journey of
nearly eight hundred miles was a very particular piece of work.

=Council Grove the Meeting Place.= Although the traders banded
together in one big caravan, they did not all start from the same
place nor at the same time. The Kanza and Osage Indians seldom
committed worse deeds than petty thievery, and the more warlike
Comanches and Pawnees did not often appear along the first two hundred
miles of the Trail. The place where all the wagons united to form a
caravan was Council Grove, a point about one hundred and fifty miles
west of Independence. In those days Council Grove consisted of a strip
of fine timber along the Neosho valley. It is said to have been named
in 1825 by the United States Commissioners who met on this spot some
Osage Indians, with whom they made a treaty for the right of way for
the Santa Fe Trail. About 1850 a blacksmith shop and two or three
traders’ stores were established at Council Grove and this place
became “the last chance for supplies” for westbound travelers.

[Illustration: COUNCIL OAK,
Under which the Commissioners and Indians met at Council Grove to
make their treaty. It is still standing. A Santa Fe marker has
been placed beneath its branches.]

=Journeys of Gregg.= We can not get an idea of those days in a better
way, perhaps, than by following an account of one of the caravans.
Josiah Gregg, who crossed the prairie eight times, has left a very
interesting record of his experiences. Many of the following facts are
taken from his account of the journey of 1831.

=Organization of the Caravan.= For this particular trip there were two
hundred men and nearly a hundred wagons, with a dozen smaller
vehicles, and two carriages carrying cannon. The total value of the
merchandise was about $200,000. For so large an undertaking it was, of
course, necessary to have some kind of organization. According to
custom, therefore, they elected officers and adopted a set of rules.
The head man was the “Captain of the Caravan,” who directed the order
of travel, selected the camping grounds, and performed many other
duties of a general nature. The wagons were divided into four groups,
each group under the charge of a lieutenant, who selected crossings
and superintended the “forming” of the camp. The men were well armed
with rifles, shotguns, and an abundant supply of pistols and knives.

=The Starting of the Caravan.= When the time came to start from
Council Grove the command “Catch up! Catch up!” sounded by the captain
and passed on to all the groups, started a scene of hurry and uproar
as the teamsters vied with each other to be first to shout “All’s
set!” After a period of shouting at animals, the clanking of chains,
and the rattling of harness and yokes, all were ready. The command
“Stretch out!” was given, and the line of march began.

[Illustration: CROSSING THE PLAINS.]

=The Country West of Council Grove.= Council Grove seemed to form the
western boundary of the very rich, fertile, and well timbered country.
From here westward the streams were lined with but little timber
growth, and much of that was cottonwood. The country was mostly
prairie, with the vegetation gradually becoming more scarce. The
traders usually lashed under their wagons a supply of logs for needed
repairs, for Council Grove furnished the last good wood they would
pass. Westward from Council Grove not a single human habitation, not
even an Indian settlement, was to be seen along the whole route. It is
difficult to imagine such a condition in Kansas only eighty years ago.

[Illustration: NORTH AMERICAN BISON, COMMONLY CALLED BUFFALOES.
They were described by Cabeza de Vaca as “crooked-backed oxen.”]

=Buffaloes Sighted.= Soon after leaving Council Grove the traders
began watching for buffaloes, and when a small herd was sighted it
created much excitement. About half the men had never seen these
animals before. All the horsemen rushed toward the herd, and some of
the drivers even left their teams and followed on foot.

=Pawnee Rock.= After a few more days of travel, during which nothing
more serious happened than a few false alarms of Indians, they reached
the Arkansas River. Another day’s travel over a level plain brought
them in sight of Pawnee Rock, a great rock standing on the plains near
the Big Bend of the Arkansas, and a landmark known from one end of the
Trail to the other. The surrounding country was not occupied by any
tribe of Indians, but was claimed by all of them as a hunting ground,
for it was a fine pasture for buffaloes. For many years it had been
the scene of bloody battles between different tribes. The Rock
afforded an excellent hiding place and retreat. Since the old Trail
passed within a few yards of it, this became a dreaded spot for the
traders, for at this point they seldom escaped a skirmish with the
Indians. The Rock probably received its name from some of the bloody
deeds of the Pawnees, who were especially connected with these scenes.

[Illustration: PAWNEE ROCK.]

=Forming Camp.= When the caravan camped at Ash Creek the traders found
a few old moccasins scattered around and some camp fires still
burning, which seemed to indicate the near presence of Indians. They
had, up to this point, marched in two columns, but after crossing
Pawnee Fork they formed four lines for better protection in case of
attack. In camp the wagons were arranged in the form of a hollow
square, each line forming a side. This provided an enclosure for the
animals when needed, and a fortification against the Indians.
Ordinarily the camp fires were lighted outside the square, the men
slept on the ground there, and the animals were picketed near.

=The Caches.= The next important stopping place was The Caches, near
the present site of Fort Dodge. All that marked this spot from the
surrounding country was a group of pits in the ground. A number of
years before, a small party of traders had attempted to go to Santa Fe
in the fall. By the time they reached the Arkansas River a heavy
snowstorm forced them to take shelter on a large island, where they
were kept for three months by the severe winter. During this time most
of their animals perished. When spring came, having no way to carry
their goods, they made some caches,[4] where they stored their
merchandise until they could bring mules to haul it to Santa Fe.

=The Trail Divided into Two Routes.= At Cimarron Crossing the Trail
divided, and did not reunite until within a few miles of Santa Fe. The
southern route was shorter, but it meant crossing fifty miles of
desert before reaching the Cimarron River. In all that stretch of
level plain there was no trail, nor landmark, nor stream of water.
Travelers sometimes lost their way in this desert, and unless they had
prepared for this part of the journey by taking along a sufficient
supply of water, they perished of thirst.

=An Experience with Indians.= This caravan decided to take the
southern route. A band of Indians soon appeared, carrying an American
flag as a token of peace. They talked with the traders by means of
signs and told them there were immense numbers of Indians ahead. A
little later a band of warriors appeared and threatened to fight.
There was great excitement as the caravan prepared for battle and the
Indians continued to pour over the hills. But there was no fighting,
for the chief came forward with his “peace pipe,” from which the
captain took a whiff. The warriors were ordered back to rejoin the
long train of squaws and papooses who were following with the baggage.
There were probably three thousand Indians in this party, and they
moved down into the valley and pitched their wigwams. The traders felt
sure that since the women and children were along the Indians would
not be hostile, and they, therefore, formed their camp a few hundred
yards away. The Indians gathered around to gaze at the wagons, for it
was probably the first time most of them had ever seen such vehicles.
Some of them followed to the next camp, and the next day a large
number of them gathered around the caravan. This sort of thing
continued until the traders made up a present of fifty or sixty
dollars’ worth of goods to “seal the treaty of peace.”

=Their First News.= Some days later the caravan met a Mexican buffalo
hunter. He told the traders the news from Santa Fe, the first they had
heard since the return of the caravan of the year before. To-day
Kansas City and Santa Fe are little more than twenty-four hours apart
by rail, and we read the latest news from both places in the morning
and evening papers.

=Round Mound.= Round Mound, standing nearly a thousand feet above the
level of the surrounding plain, in what is now New Mexico, was one of
the landmarks along the Trail. At that point the caravan had completed
about three-fourths of the journey to Santa Fe. As they approached the
Mound some of the party decided to ascend it. They felt certain that
it could not be more than half a mile away, but they had to go fully
three miles before reaching it. This remarkable deception in distance
is characteristic of the West.[5] Nothing of particular note occurred
from Round Mound to the end of the journey.

=Arrival at Santa Fe.= The arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe was a
source of excitement for both the traders and the city and was
celebrated with much festivity. The traders had entered what was in
those days a foreign country and had to pay duties on their goods at
the custom house. Then came the business of selling these goods to
those who had come in from the surrounding country to buy, after which
the traders, or freighters as they were often called, prepared for the
long return journey, planning to finish the round trip before the
winter began. This was but one of many trips made over the Santa Fe
Trail.

=Travel Across Kansas During the ’40’s.= There was a war between the
United States and Mexico in 1846-’48. The trouble between the two
countries checked the Santa Fe trade between the years 1843 and 1850,
but even under those circumstances there was much travel across Kansas
during the ’40’s.[6] There were four principal classes of travelers:
soldiers, emigrants to Oregon, Mormons, and California gold seekers.

=The Soldiers.= The war with Mexico broke out in 1846, and many of the
United States soldiers were sent to that country by way of the Santa
Fe Trail. This increased the travel across the prairies.

=The Oregon Settlers.= The remote unsettled region in the Northwest,
known as Oregon, was soon to become the home of civilized people. In
1842 wagon trains of emigrants began to undertake the long and weary
journey to that far-off country. Others soon followed, and during the
next few years many thousands of people settled in the Oregon country.

=The Mormons.= In those days the Mormon Church had not been long
established, but their beliefs had brought the Mormons into trouble
with the people around them and with the Government, and they had been
forced to move several times. The last time was in 1845, when they
left Nauvoo, Illinois, and began the long and perilous journey to the
valley of Great Salt Lake, in which region the main body of them
remains to-day.

=The “Forty-niners.”= In 1848 a man named James Marshall, who was
running a sawmill near the present site of Sacramento, California,
discovered shining particles of gold in the mill race, and it was soon
found that there were rich gold fields in that part of the country.
The news spread, not rapidly as it would to-day, for there were no
railroad or telegraph lines west of the Mississippi River and only a
few east of it, but within a short time the whole country and even
Europe had heard of the California gold fields, and people from all
parts of the world began to make their way to the Pacific coast. Some
went by water but more of them made the journey overland. Long lines
of wagons, or prairie schooners as they were called, wound their way
across the plains and over the mountains to California. It is
estimated that ninety thousand people passed through Kansas on their
way to California during the two years 1848 and 1849, a few of them to
gain wealth, but thousands to be disappointed, and many to perish on
the way.

=The Oregon Trail.= The Oregon settlers, the Mormons, and the gold
seekers entered Kansas at or near Atchison, Leavenworth, St. Joseph,
or Westport, and moved toward the northwest, crossed the border into
Nebraska, and went on across the mountains. The road worn by this
westward-moving stream of emigrants was known as the Oregon Trail,
though it was sometimes called the Mormon Trail, and more often the
California Road. For two thousand miles the Oregon Trail stretched
away through an utter wilderness, and every mile of it came to be the
scene of hardship and suffering, of battle, or of death. It was one of
the most remarkable highways in history. It had several branches, and
in many places it followed different routes at different times. The
largest number of travelers over this Trail entered Kansas at Westport
and followed for a short distance the Santa Fe Trail. Near the present
town of Gardner stood a signboard on which were the words, “Road to
Oregon.” At this point the two historic highways divided. It has been
said that, “never before nor since has so simple an announcement
pointed the way to so long and hard a journey.”

SUMMARY

The Santa Fe Trail was a great road about 775 miles long,
beginning successively at the Missouri towns, Franklin,
Independence, and Westport, and extending westward to Santa
Fe. Four hundred miles of its length were in Kansas. Travel
began in 1822 for the purpose of trading with Mexico. The
first merchandise was carried on pack mules, but wagons
began to be used in 1824. The traders experienced much
trouble with the Indians, and in 1829 they began going
together in big caravans for protection. The gathering place
was Council Grove, where they organized and started. A few
of the well-known sites along the Trail were Pawnee Rock,
Ash Creek, Pawnee Fork, and The Caches. At Cimarron Crossing
the Trail divided. The northern branch followed the Arkansas
and crossed the mountains over practically the same route as
that followed by the Santa Fe Railway to-day. The southern
branch was the cut-off across the desert. Another historic
highway was the Oregon Trail, sometimes called the Mormon
Trail and sometimes the California Road. This Trail crossed
the northeast corner of Kansas.

REFERENCES

Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail.
Parrish, The Great Plains.
Pamphlet by Historical Society, Santa Fe Trail.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 42-49.
Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies.
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II, p. 645.
Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 54.
Historical Collections, vol. VIII, p. 137; vol. IX, p. 552; vol.
XII, p. 253-269.
Hunt, California the Golden.
Aplington, Pilgrims of the Plains. (A novel.)

QUESTIONS

1. What part of the United States did Mexico own a hundred years
ago?

2. Describe the city of Santa Fe. How did trade first begin with
Santa Fe?

3. Tell about the journey of Captain Becknell.

4. Discuss the use of pack mules on the Trail. When were wagons
first used?

5. What was the attitude of the Indians and the traders toward
each other?

6. What places were in turn the starting point of the traders?

7. What supplies were usually taken?

8. How did Council Grove get its name? Of what importance was the
place?

9. Who was Josiah Gregg?

10. Describe the organization of the caravan. The starting.

11. What occurred when buffaloes were sighted?

12. What is told of Pawnee Rock?

13. How was camp formed at Ash Creek?

14. Describe The Caches. How did this place receive its name?

15. Where did the Trail divide? Describe each route.

16. What experience did the travelers have with the Indians?

17. Explain the occurrence at Round Mound.

18. Describe the arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe.

19. Discuss the Santa Fe trade during the ’40’s.

20. Name the classes of travelers who crossed Kansas in the
’40’s, and give an account of each.

21. Name and describe the trail made by these travelers.

CHAPTER V

KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY

=Kansas Belonged to the Indians.= During the years when the white men
were traveling back and forth across Kansas they were not making
settlements here. The country remained in the undisputed possession of
the Indians. The white men did not want it as yet. They looked upon
these vast prairies, not as a resource, but as so much land to be
crossed in reaching places farther west. But changing conditions in
the states east of the Mississippi River made people begin to look
upon Kansas in a different light. The country there was becoming
thickly settled and the people wanted the lands of the eastern
Indians.

=Removal of Eastern Indians to Kansas.= Soon after the Louisiana
purchase was made people began to talk of an Indian reserve, of a
state set aside for the Indians, and it was believed that these
western prairies would be useful for such a purpose. Nothing definite
was done, however, until 1825, when the National Government began the
“removal policy.” The eastern part of Kansas was occupied by two
tribes of Indians, the Kanzas, or Kaws as they are often called, north
of the Kansas River, and the Osages south of it. In 1825 the National
Government made treaties with these two tribes. Under the provisions
of these treaties each tribe retained only a small part of its
territory, the rest being ceded to the Government. In return, the
Indians were to receive certain annual payments and were to be
supplied with cattle, hogs, and farming implements. The Government was
also to provide them with blacksmiths and with teachers of
agriculture. With these two tribes restricted to their reservations, a
large part of eastern Kansas was left to be apportioned into
reservations for Indians from the East. In 1830 Congress passed an act
setting aside an Indian country, which included eastern Kansas. Then
the removal policy was carried out. Under this arrangement the
Government made treaties with the various eastern tribes by which they
gave up their lands in exchange for certain tracts in the Indian
country. The Shawnees had come in 1825, and during the ten or twelve
years following 1830 about seventeen tribes were located on
reservations in Kansas. Among these were the Iowas, Sacs and Foxes,
Kickapoos, Delawares, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Wyandottes, and
Miamis. By 1850 there was not a tribe left east of the Mississippi
River. The Indians had all been moved to these western plains, and no
white man could settle on any of the reservations without the consent
of the Indians.

[Illustration: AN INDIAN IN WAR DRESS.]

=Indians Removed from Kansas.= According to the treaties the Indians
were promised their land “so long as grass should grow or water run.”
But it soon developed that the white men wanted Kansas also. In 1854
we find the tribes being again transferred, this time to the Indian
Territory, now Oklahoma, where the remnants of the various tribes
still remain.[7]

Although Kansas was not used during those early years to make homes
for white settlers, a few hundred people came here. They were of three
different classes; fur traders, missionaries, and soldiers.

[Illustration: INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN KANSAS.]

=The Fur Traders.= It is impossible to say when the first hunters and
trappers came to these western plains, for they were generally obscure
men and little was known of their comings and goings, but they were
the real pathfinders of the West. There are records of fur traders
here in the very early years of the nineteenth century, and they
gradually went farther and farther into the vast wilderness. The
streams of travel across Kansas in the ’40’s followed paths that had
been pointed out by the fur traders.

The fur companies established many trading posts, which served as
forts for protection against the Indians and as places to which
hunters and trappers could bring their furs. Some of the hunters and
trappers were employed by the fur companies, and others worked
independently.

Many Indians also engaged in this trade, and often they were given
tobacco, whisky, and weapons in exchange for their furs. In this way
much of the work of the missionaries was undone. In the earlier years
the hunters and trappers found many kinds of wild animals in Kansas:
the buffalo, the wolf, the fox, the deer, the elk, and the antelope,
and along the streams the beaver, the otter, the mink, and the
muskrat. Later the main supply of furs came from the mountains, and
the whole fur trade gradually moved west of what is now Kansas.

[Illustration: THE INDIAN TEPEE,
Made of poles and buffalo hides, was the only home of the
wandering tribes, and was used by the other tribes when on
hunting trips.]

=Father Padilla, the First Missionary in Kansas.= The attempt to
civilize the Indian began in the days of the early explorers, and it
was on Kansas soil that the first missionary’s life was lost in the
cause. This man was Father Padilla, a Jesuit, who came with Coronado
on his journey to Quivira. Father Padilla became much interested in
the Quivira Indians and remained to do missionary work among them. His
preaching was of short duration, however, for he was soon killed,
whether by the Quiviras or some other tribe is not known.

=Kansas Missionaries of the Nineteenth Century.= Centuries later, when
Kansas became a part of the United States and was explored and
traversed by white men, missionaries were among the first to arrive.
They came to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion and to
persuade them to adopt the customs of civilization.

Of the many who came, Rev. Isaac McCoy probably deserves first
mention. He had spent many years in work among the Indians and
strongly urged the removal policy. He believed that if they could live
in a separate state, free from contact with the white race, the
Indians could be civilized, and he gave his life to this work.

Jotham Meeker and his wife were among the most devoted of the
missionaries, but there were many others, both men and women, who
placed the welfare of human beings above mere gain and who endured the
hardships of life among the savages for the sake of the good they
might do.

=Missions Established.= As soon as the eastern Indians were removed to
Kansas a number of missions were established by Baptist, Methodist,
Presbyterian, Friends, and Catholic churches. The work of the
missionaries was not confined to religious instruction. Schools were
established,[8] books were printed, the Indian girls were taught
cooking and sewing, and the boys were taught farming and such trades
as blacksmithing and carpentry.

[Illustration: SHAWNEE MISSION AS FIRST BUILT IN 1830.
In 1839 a new location was selected and fine new buildings
constructed.]

The most noted mission in Kansas was the one established by the
Methodist Church for the Shawnee Indians near the present site of
Kansas City. This mission was opened in 1830 and continued its work
for more than a quarter of a century. It had a large tract of land and
good buildings, and maintained a successful school. Rev. Thomas
Johnson, who took a prominent part in early Kansas affairs, was in
charge of the mission.

[Illustration: PAWNEE FLATS AT FORT RILEY.
Near the center of the view is the old Pawnee Capitol.]

[Illustration: PONTOON BRIDGE AT FORT RILEY.]

=The Soldiers.= The third class of people who came to early Kansas was
the soldiers. Their presence was necessary for the protection of the
few white people against the Indians. Fort Leavenworth was established
by the National Government in 1827, as headquarters for the troops.
This was shortly after the beginning of the Santa Fe trade. During the
’40’s this fort was used as a base of supplies for the soldiers of the
Mexican War, and as an outfitting point for many of the California
gold seekers and Mormon emigrants. Fort Leavenworth is to-day one of
the most important of the national forts. A number of other forts were
established, among them Fort Riley, Fort Dodge, Fort Scott, and Fort
Hays, but all of these have been abandoned except Fort Riley.

[Illustration:
Above is the Old Wall at Fort Leavenworth. This wall is all that
remains of the original Fort. The lower picture is of the Main
Parade at Fort Leavenworth at the present time.]

=Population of Pre-territorial Kansas.= Kansas remained in possession
of the Indians until 1854, when it was organized into a territory.
With this date a new era began. At this time the white population
consisted of about twelve hundred people, one half of them soldiers
and the other half connected with the trading posts and the missions.

SUMMARY

When the country that is now Kansas became a part of the
United States it was occupied by four tribes of Indians. In
1825 the Kanza and Osage tribes ceded a large part of their
lands to the Government and the eastern quarter of the State
was made a part of the Indian country by the Act of 1830.
Following this a number of eastern tribes were removed to
reservations in Kansas, where they remained until Kansas was
organized as a territory, in 1854, when they were moved to
Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. During these years there was
much travel through the State, but up to 1854 the white
population numbered only about twelve hundred. These people
were of three classes; traders, missionaries, and soldiers.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 50-64.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 58-74.
Gihon, Geary and Kansas, chap. II.
Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail.
Elson, History of the United States, chap. II.
Kansas Historical Collections, vol. VIII, pp. 72, 171, 206, 250;
vol. IX, p. 565; vol. X, p. 327; vol. XI, p. 333; vol. XII, pp.
65, 183.
Holloway, History of Kansas, chap. VIII.
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. I, pp. 655-703; vol. II, p. 291.

QUESTIONS

1. What use did the white people make of Kansas during the first
half of the nineteenth century?

2. How did the condition of the Indians here differ from that of
the Indians in the East?

3. What was the removal policy? Name some of the Indian tribes
brought here. What promise was made them?

4. Name the three classes of white people who came to Kansas
during this period.

5. Who was Father Padilla? Name some of the missionaries. What
work did they do?

6. Tell of the fur traders and their relations with the Indians.

7. Why were the soldiers here?

8. When did Kansas cease to be an Indian country?

CHAPTER VI

KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY

=The Year 1854 an Important Date.= The year 1854 is an important one
in the history of Kansas, for it brings to a close the period during
which this region was used as a hunting ground by the Indians and
marks the beginning of its use as a home for white people. The white
settlers did not come in peace and quiet; the first dozen years
following 1854 were filled with hatred, struggle, and bloodshed. This
was brought about by conditions outside of Kansas. As we have seen,
twenty-five years earlier Kansas was made an Indian territory because
people in the states wanted the lands of the eastern Indians. In 1854
a terrible conflict began here because there was a division between
the North and the South on the question of slavery.

[Illustration: TERRITORIAL KANSAS.]

=Attitude of the North and the South Toward Slavery.= Slavery had
existed in the United States since very early colonial days. It had
not been profitable in the northern states, but in the cotton fields
of the southern plantations slave labor was in demand, and its use
after the invention of the cotton gin had increased steadily with the
passing years. The Northerners had long been opposed to slavery and
made every effort to keep it from spreading into northern and western
territory, while the Southerners were just as determined that it
should flourish and that it should be extended into new territory.
This difference between the North and the South developed great
bitterness. Neither side lost any opportunity to take advantage of the
other, and each was anxious to secure a majority in the Senate in
order to obtain favorable legislation. This matter was so carefully
watched that it had long been the custom to keep the “balance of
power” between the states; that is, to admit free and slave states
alternately so as to keep the number of proslavery and free-state
senators balanced. The North, because of its more rapid growth in
population, had long had a majority in the House.

=The Missouri Compromise, 1820.= Missouri was along the dividing line
between the North and the South, and when it asked to be admitted to
the Union there followed a long debate in Congress as to whether it
should come in slave or free. The question was finally settled by the
Missouri Compromise, which provided that Missouri might come in as a
slave state but that all the rest of the territory included in the
Louisiana Purchase and lying north of 36° 30′, the line forming the
southern boundary of Missouri, should be forever free. In other words,
slavery was to be forever excluded from Kansas and the territory lying
north of it.

=Slavery Trouble Brings on the Civil War.= This was in 1820, about the
time of the beginning of the Santa Fe trade. During the years when
Kansas was an Indian country and was traversed by countless caravans
the country remained bound by the terms of this compromise. But all
this time the feeling of animosity between the North and the South was
growing more intense; northern churches and newspapers denounced the
evils of slavery, free-state and abolition parties developed,
thousands of slaves were assisted in making their escape through the
North to Canada in spite of the strict fugitive slave law, and there
was bitter strife in Congress between the free-state and the
slave-state members. The relations between the North and the South
were becoming more and more strained. The time was rapidly approaching
when the differences between the two sections were to be settled by a
great war.

=The Conflict Brought into Kansas in 1854.= The Civil War began in
1861, the same year in which Kansas became a state; but seven years
earlier, in 1854, Congress had passed a measure that brought the
slavery trouble into Kansas and made this state the battle ground in
the great national struggle over the slavery question.

=The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 1854.= The measure passed by Congress that
played such an important part in the history of Kansas and of the
Nation was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and was the work of
Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. It provided that the two
territories, Kansas and Nebraska, should be organized, and that the
question of slavery should be left for the people of each territory to
decide for themselves. This method of settling the question was known
as “popular sovereignty.” Because the settlers were often called
squatters it was frequently called “squatter sovereignty.”

=Reception of the Bill.= Kansas and Nebraska were part of the
territory which, according to the terms of the Missouri Compromise,
was to be forever free, but under the Douglas bill they were to become
either slave or free as the people who settled the territories might
decide. When this bill was introduced into Congress it raised a storm
of indignation among those opposed to slavery, and the debate which
ensued lasted for months. The whole North was aroused and poured forth
objection and protest, but to no avail. The bill was passed May 30,
1854.

=Result of the Bill.= The Kansas-Nebraska Bill meant that the Missouri
Compromise had been repealed and that there was no longer any boundary
line against slavery. It meant that Kansas and Nebraska were offered
as prizes to be contended for by the free and the slave states. The
South said, “You may have Nebraska; Kansas is ours.” The North refused
to recognize such a division of spoils, and insisted that both
territories had been carved from free soil and should both come into
the Union free. Both North and South desired to secure Kansas, and
each side urged that as many as possible of its own people should
emigrate to the new Territory. It could scarcely be expected that,
under such circumstances, Kansas would be left for gradual and
peaceful settlement. The result was that the scene of strife was
transferred from Congress to these western prairies, and from that
time until the admission of the Territory as a state the conflict
between the forces of freedom and slavery was waged here.

=Indians Removed from Kansas Lands.= It must be remembered that at
this time Kansas was an Indian country; that many of the eastern
tribes had given up their lands in exchange for lands here which had
been promised to them forever. Nevertheless, the Indians were removed
from Kansas, many of them at once and others more leisurely. They were
taken to what has since become Oklahoma, where many of them still
live. In this way room was made for the white settlers to enter
Kansas.

SUMMARY

For many years there had been bitter feeling between the
North and the South on the slavery question. In 1820 the
Missouri Compromise was passed. This measure provided that
all the Louisiana Purchase lying north of the southern
boundary of Missouri, except Missouri itself, should be
forever free. This agreement was observed until the passage
of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854. This bill provided that
the settlers of each of these territories should decide
whether it was to be made slave or free. Each side was
determined to win Kansas, and as a result the slavery
struggle was brought here. In order to make room for
settlers the Indians were moved to Indian Territory, now
known as Oklahoma.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 63-73.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 2-16.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 81-82.
Holloway, History of Kansas, chap. VI.
Tuttle, History of Kansas.
Larned, History for Ready Reference.
Gihon, Geary and Kansas, chap. III.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, p. 115; vol. VIII, p. 86.
Foster, A History of the United States, pp. 325-329.
Muzzey, American History, 379-412.
Hodder, Genesis of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in Proceedings
of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1912, pp. 69-86.

QUESTIONS

1. Why is 1854 an important date in Kansas history?

2. What great national question affected Kansas at that time?
Explain.

3. Explain the attitude of the North and the South toward
slavery.

4. What was meant by the “balance of power”?

5. Give the provisions and the date of the Missouri Compromise.
How did this Compromise affect Kansas?

6. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Bill provide? Give the attitude
of the North and the South toward it.

7. How did this Bill affect the Missouri Compromise? What was the
result in Kansas?

8. What was done with the Indians in Kansas?

THE SONG OF THE KANSAS EMIGRANT

We cross the prairies as of old
The Pilgrims crossed the sea,
To make the West as they the East
The homestead of the free.

CHORUS:
The homestead of the free, my boys,
The homestead of the free,
To make the West as they the East
The homestead of the free.

We go to rear a wall of men
On Freedom’s southern line
And plant beside the cotton tree
The rugged northern pine.

We’re flowing from our native hills,
As our free rivers flow;
The blessings of our mother-land
Is on us as we go.

We go to plant her common schools
On distant prairie swells,
And give the Sabbaths of the wild
The music of her bells.

Upbearing like the ark of old,
The Bible in her van,
We go to test the truth of God
Against the fraud of man.

No pause, nor rest, save where the streams
That feed the Kansas run,
Save where our pilgrim gonfalon
Shall flout the setting sun.

We’ll tread the prairies as of old
Our fathers sailed the sea;
And make the West as they the East
The homestead of the free.

――JOHN G. WHITTIER.

CHAPTER VII

THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS

=Little Known of Kansas in 1854.= Kansas in 1854 was, to most people,
only a name, a part of the great desert in the Far West, an Indian
country. Many of those who had crossed it in emigrating to California
had been impressed with the beauty and richness of the country and had
written back glowing accounts of it. Some of them had returned from
the coast, and were now numbered among our early settlers. When its
organization as a territory brought it into such prominence, knowledge
of Kansas soon became more general.

=Advantages of the South.= The people of the South felt confident that
they could make it a slave state, for they had gained many victories
in Congress, and the President, Franklin Pierce, was in sympathy with
them. Moreover, they were closer to Kansas than were the northern
people, and the only state touching Kansas was the slave state
Missouri.

=Advantages of the North.= The people of the North, however, possessed
one very important advantage. The population of the South consisted
largely of plantation owners and their slaves, and it was not an easy
matter for these men to leave their property or to take it into a new
and untried country. On the other hand, the North was a land of small
farms and shops and many laborers. Moreover, there was much foreign
immigration into the United States in those years, and since the
employment of slaves left no place in the South for white laborers,
most of the immigrants entered the northern states, and added to the
number of those who were ready and anxious to go farther west.
Consequently many more settlers came into Kansas from the North than
from the South, but the Southerners tried to overcome this handicap in
other ways.

=The Coming of the Missourians.= The plan of the South was to use
Missouri as the stepping-stone to Kansas. Immediately following the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill a number of Missourians came over
into Kansas and took as claims large tracts of the best lands, in some
cases not even waiting for the removal of the Indians. Settlers who
asked for claims were required to build houses and to use the land for
homes for a certain length of time. While some of the Missourians met
these requirements, many of them did not come here to live. They
notched trees, or posted notices, or laid rails on the ground in the
shape of a house, or in some other way indicated their claims, and
returned to their homes in Missouri, coming back only to vote or to
fight when it seemed to them necessary. While in Kansas, however, they
held a meeting at which it was resolved that: “We recognize slavery as
always existing in this Territory,” and, “We will afford protection to
no abolitionists as settlers of Kansas Territory.”

=Handicap to Northern Emigration.= The free-state people could not
step over a boundary line and be in Kansas. They lived a long way off,
the trip out here was expensive, and little was known of the new
Territory. It was a land without homes or towns, churches, schools, or
newspapers, and the Northerners knew that people would hesitate to
start to Kansas under all these difficulties.

=The New England Emigrant Aid Company.= So it came about that even
while the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was pending in Congress a Massachusetts
man named Eli Thayer had thought out a plan for assisting and
encouraging the people to undertake the long journey. His plan was to
form a company for the purpose of inducing and organizing emigration
to Kansas and reducing the expense and hardship involved. This was not
to be done as charity, but was to be put on a business basis. Thayer
aroused public interest in his plan by constant writing and speaking,
and since the people were ready to listen to whatever promised to aid
in making Kansas a free state, money enough was soon raised to
organize a company, called the New England Emigrant Aid Company. It
gathered and published information concerning the new country and
organized emigrants into large parties in order to make the journey
more pleasant, to reduce expense, and to lessen danger. Competent
guides were sent with the parties. The company established schools,
newspapers, mills, hotels, and other improvements that tended to
lessen the hardships of the pioneers and to further the development of
the new Territory. Several similar organizations were formed, but none
of them was so well known nor so efficient as the New England Emigrant
Aid Company.

=Work of the Emigrant Aid Companies.= Hundreds of people came here
under the management of these companies, but probably the greatest
service the companies performed was that of giving an immense amount
of publicity and advertising to Kansas. Newspapers were filled with
descriptions of the loveliness, the fertility, and the future
greatness of the new Territory, and people were urged to go to Kansas
at once, both to secure the advantages of the country and to help in
saving it from slavery. In this way interest and enthusiasm were
aroused over the whole North, but for every one who came in one of the
emigrant aid parties there were many who came independently,
especially from the states farther west than New England――Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.

=Southern Organizations.= The organizations in the North aroused much
bitter feeling in the South, and a reward was offered for the capture
of Eli Thayer. The South soon formed organizations too, some of them
being known as Blue Lodges, Social Bands, and Sons of the South.

=The Coming of the Free-state Settlers.= As has been stated, the
Missourians came into Kansas immediately after the passage of the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill on May 30, but the free-state people were not far
behind, for on the first day of August, just two months later, the
first party of emigrants sent out by the New England Emigrant Aid
Company reached the Territory. Even these were not the first
free-state men to arrive; a few who had come independently were
already here.

=The First Party of Settlers.= This first party consisted of only
twenty-nine men. It had been organized with some difficulty, for
coming to Kansas was looked upon as a dangerous undertaking. Hundreds
of people gathered to bid these men farewell as they started on their
long journey to take part in the great conflict between freedom and
slavery. There were many who would not have been surprised had the
whole party been murdered on their arrival in Kansas, but when nothing
of the kind happened others took courage and more parties soon
followed.

[Illustration: EARLY KANSAS CITY.]

=They Reach the Present Site of Lawrence.= The pioneer party reached
St. Louis by railroad, where they boarded a steamboat and came up the
Missouri River to Kansas City, then a town of only three or four
hundred people. There they purchased an ox team to transport their
baggage, and on Saturday evening set out on foot into Kansas. By
Tuesday noon they reached the present site of Lawrence, where they
pitched their tents on a big flat-topped hill. To-day the great
buildings of the University of Kansas stand on this hill, which is
still called Mount Oread,[9] the name given it by this first party of
pioneers. The weather was extremely hot; a drouth had parched the
earth and prairie fires had destroyed the grass, but the pioneers were
not discouraged. They staked out claims in the surrounding country and
began preparations for the future.

=The Second Party Arrives.= In a short time the second party arrived.
It was under the direction of Dr. Charles Robinson and Samuel C.
Pomeroy, who were leaders in the free-state cause during the whole
Territorial struggle. This party was much larger, and part of its
members were women and children. The town was now laid out, organized,
and named Lawrence.[10] On the arrival of this party a boarding house
was established by two of the women. It was thus described by a writer
of that time: “In the open air, on some logs of wood, two rough boards
were laid across for a table, and on washtubs, kegs, and blocks the
boarders were seated around it.” A short time later a hotel was
opened. It was constructed by driving into the ground two long rows of
poles, which were brought together at the top and the sides thatched
with prairie grass. The ends were made of cotton cloth, and the
building resembled the “stray roof of a huge warehouse.”

=Getting Ready for the First Winter.= The people lived in tents and
houses of thatch through the summer and fall, but in the meantime all
were busy getting log cabins ready for the winter. By the time winter
had come a number of things had been accomplished: a sawmill was
running, churches had been organized, two newspapers had been
established, and Lawrence had been granted a post office with mail
from Kansas City three times a week. The population was about four
hundred. Many of the cabins still had cloth doors and were without
floors, and altogether the people had all they could do to take care
of themselves through the winter. When two more parties of emigrants
arrived at the beginning of winter the task became much more
difficult.

=The Actual Settlers’ Association.= Besides the work of building homes
and developing the town, there was much to occupy the minds of the
pioneers. Missourians had taken claims over much of the eastern part
of the Territory. While some proslavery settlers had come to make
homes, just as the free-state settlers had, most of those who had
taken claims were really living in Missouri. When the first party came
to Lawrence, the members bought out the claims where they located
their town; later other claimants appeared, and there was much trouble
over the title to the land. The same kind of trouble arose in regard
to the land taken by many free-state settlers outside of Lawrence. It
became a common occurrence for a Missourian to come over and lay claim
to some free-state man’s land and warn him to leave the Territory.
This caused the formation of the Actual Settlers’ Association, which
helped to adjust such difficulties.

[Illustration: THE FIRST HOUSE IN TOPEKA.]

=Other Towns.= Lawrence was not the only place in the Territory that
was settled before the close of the first winter. People were coming
in from north, east, and south, settling on claims and starting other
towns. The principal proslavery towns were Leavenworth, Atchison, and
Lecompton. Free-state towns were Lawrence, Topeka, Osawatomie, and
Manhattan. Leavenworth and Atchison were both founded by people from
Missouri, and, since they were on the Missouri River, came to be
outfitting points for travelers over the California and Salt Lake
Trails. Lecompton, on the Kansas River, not far from Lawrence, soon
became the headquarters of the proslavery people, and for several
years was the Territorial capital. Topeka was founded with the hope of
its becoming the capital of Kansas. Osawatomie soon became an
important free-state center. Manhattan, on the Kansas River at the
mouth of the Big Blue, was for the first few months called Boston. On
the arrival of a party of seventy-five people from Cincinnati, Ohio,
the name was changed to Manhattan. This party made the entire trip
from Cincinnati to Manhattan by boat.

SUMMARY

When Kansas Territory was organized little was known of it,
but, because it was wanted by both the North and the South,
knowledge of Kansas spread rapidly. The South had the
support of every branch of the National Government and the
added advantage that the only State touching Kansas was
proslavery. The advantage of the North lay in the fact that
it had a much larger number of people who were free to move
to a new country. The proslavery Missourians came in at once
and took claims. A few free-state people came within a
month, and in two months the emigrant aid parties began to
arrive. The fact that many Missourians had staked out claims
and gone back home led to numerous claim disputes and caused
the organization of the Actual Settlers’ Association. By the
time winter had come four emigrant aid parties had arrived
at Lawrence, many settlers were living on their claims, and
several towns had been started by each side.

REFERENCES

Spring, Kansas, pp. 29-40.
Brooks, The Boy Settlers.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 71-78.
Thayer, The Kansas Crusade.
Robinson, The Kansas Conflict, chaps. II-IV.
Mrs. Robinson, Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Gihon, Geary and Kansas, chap. IV.
Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 90; vol. IX, p. 144.

QUESTIONS

1. When was Kansas organized as a territory? In what ways had
the people gained any knowledge of Kansas up to this time?
Why did Kansas soon become well known?

2. What advantages did the South have in the effort to win
Kansas? The North?

3. Contrast the manner of life in the North and the South in
those days. What do you know of the conditions to-day?

4. Why did Missouri play an important part in early Kansas
affairs? Explain how Missourians took claims.

5. Why did the North organize emigrant aid companies? What was
the chief company? What did it do? Did all the Kansas settlers
come under the management of these companies?

6. What was the attitude of the South toward these
organizations?

7. When did the first emigrant aid party arrive? Tell of their
journey; their settlement. Were they the first free-state
settlers to arrive?

8. Give an account of the second party. Tell something of the
way they lived. What had been accomplished by the time winter
set in?

9. What was the Actual Settlers’ Association? Why was it formed?

10. Name several persons connected with this period of Kansas
history, and tell something of each.

11. Name and locate some of the towns settled during this period.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT

=The Government of a Territory.= When a territory is organized it must
be provided with a government. The people in a territory may not elect
their officers as in a state; they may elect a legislature and a
delegate to Congress, but the governor, secretary, judges, and certain
other officers are appointed by the President.

=The First Territorial Governor.= In October, 1854, there arrived in
Kansas the first Territorial Governor, Andrew H. Reeder, who, although
he was known to favor slavery, was heartily welcomed by all the
people. That he might become familiar with conditions in the
Territory, Governor Reeder made a tour of inspection shortly after his
arrival. Although this was but little more than four months after the
opening of the Territory, he found a number of settlements scattered
over eastern Kansas. Towns were springing up, and the prairies were
dotted with the tents and cabins of the pioneers. Several thousand
people had arrived by this time, some of them free-state and some
proslavery. The proslavery settlers had brought a few slaves. There
were also many Indians here, for only a part of the tribes had as yet
been removed.

=The First Election Called.= On his return from his tour of
observation, which had included the most remote settlements, as far
west as Council Grove and Fort Riley, Governor Reeder issued a
proclamation for the first election to be held in Kansas. The date was
set for November 29, at which time a delegate to Congress was to be
chosen.

=Interest in the Election.= The settlers were all busily engaged in
building cabins and otherwise providing for the coming of winter, and
since this election was not deemed of much importance they took little
interest in it. This was not the case, however, with the Missourians,
and at this first election, under the leadership of their Senator, D.
R. Atchison, they gave an exhibition of the methods by which they
expected to control Kansas.

=Election Day, November 29, 1854.= On the day before election the Blue
Lodge voters began to cross the border into Kansas. They came well
armed, and organized into companies, each of which went to a polling
place. They came to vote, and they voted. There were so many of them
that they were able to outnumber the legal voters in many of the
precincts where they took possession of the polls. Election judges who
refused to accept their votes were removed and judges of their own
installed.[11]

=The Result.= Of course the proslavery delegate was overwhelmingly
elected. He would probably have been elected had the Missourians
stayed at home, for up to this time a majority of the settlers outside
of Lawrence favored slavery. The result of this unfair election was to
renew the excitement in the North at such a working out of the
principle of “popular sovereignty.” But the free-state pioneers were
not to be discouraged. They continued, during the winter, their home
building, their preparations for the spring cultivation, and the
securing of titles to their land.

=The Second Election, March 30, 1855.= The first event of importance
in the new year was the taking of the census of the Territory in the
spring. It showed a total population of 8601, about 3000 of whom were
voters. A little later a date was set for the election of a
Territorial Legislature. Since this body of men would make the laws
for the Territory, there was no lack of interest among the settlers in
this election. It was well understood that the Missourians were
expecting to vote again. Money was being raised and men hired to march
into Kansas on election day. They came, fully five thousand of them,
armed with pistols, guns, and bowie-knives, and marched to the
different polling places. They did not pretend to be residents of
Kansas, but boasted that they were from Missouri. They were disorderly
and dangerous, and in many cases drove the legal voters from the
polls. Not more than half of the 3000 rightful voters cast ballots in
this election, but the count showed that more than 6000 ballots were
cast.

=The “Bogus Legislature.”= The whole thing had been so openly
fraudulent that the free-state people demanded that the Governor set
aside this election and call a new one. The Missourians threatened his
life if this were done. When the day came for deciding the question,
the men who had been fraudulently elected gathered in the Governor’s
office, armed and defiant. The Governor and a number of his friends
who were there to protect him were also armed. Bitter discussion
ensued, but there was no fighting. Contests had not been filed against
all of the men elected. Governor Reeder decided to recognize the
election except where sufficient proof of fraud was shown. In these
cases he threw out the returns and ordered another election. The
proslavery men took no part in the new election, and a number of
free-state men were chosen to the Legislature. When the Legislature
met, the proslavery majority promptly unseated these free-state
members and recognized the men first elected. This gave the Territory
an entirely proslavery legislature. It was called by the free-state
people the “Bogus Legislature.” The proslavery leaders were B. F.
Stringfellow and D. R. Atchison, both of whom lived in Missouri but
took an active part in Kansas affairs. Senator Atchison said, “We wish
to make Kansas in all respects like Missouri.” So they adopted the
whole body of Missouri laws, and added a series of slave laws that
were probably the most severe of any ever enacted in the United
States.

=The First Legislature, at Pawnee, July, 1855.= The Governor chose
Pawnee as the place where the Legislature should meet. Pawnee was a
new town on the Kansas River, within the present bounds of the Fort
Riley military reservation. Since it was west of nearly all the
settlements, the members had to make long journeys to reach it. Both
because of the inconvenience of location and because the proslavery
members desired to be nearer the Missouri border, the Legislature
remained in session at Pawnee only five days, just long enough to
unseat the free-state members and to pass an act removing the seat of
government temporarily to Shawnee Mission. All that remains of Pawnee
to-day is the old stone building that was erected for a capitol.

=The Removal of Governor Reeder.= Governor Reeder had refused to
accede to all the demands of the proslavery people, and had fallen
into disfavor with them. When he refused to sign some of their
measures they petitioned the President for his removal, which soon
followed. Governor Reeder’s administration had lasted through less
than a year of these troublous times. In the summer of 1855, with the
Territory little more than a year old, the people were divided into
two bitter factions, proslavery and free-state, with the proslavery
people congratulating themselves upon being rid of a Governor they
could not control, upon having the support of the President, and upon
having a Legislature unanimously proslavery. Daniel Woodson, the
Territorial Secretary, who now became Acting Governor, approved the
acts of the proslavery Legislature.

=Gloomy Outlook for the Free-state People.= These were dark days for
the free-state people; they had no hand in the Government and no
recognition in the laws of the Territory. They were denounced,
misrepresented, and ridiculed. To add to the gloom of the situation,
the new Territorial Governor, Wilson Shannon, at first entirely
ignored the existence of free-state citizens. No community could obey
the slave laws passed by the “Bogus Legislature” without becoming
proslavery. But the free-state people had no intention of becoming
proslavery; they had no intention of giving up the struggle. They
found themselves confronted with the question of what was to be done.
It was a very grave situation.

SUMMARY

The first Territorial Governor, Andrew H. Reeder, arrived in
October, 1854. After a tour of inspection, he called an
election to choose a Territorial delegate to Congress.
Although there were probably enough proslavery settlers to
carry the election, the Missourians, to make sure, came over
in force, and elected their candidate with an overwhelming
majority. Another election was called in March to choose
members of a Territorial Legislature. The Missourians came
again, and although the census had shown but 3000 voters in
Kansas there were twice that number of ballots cast. On
proof of fraud Governor Reeder threw out the contested
returns and free-state men were elected, but when the
Legislature met the proslavery majority unseated them and
recognized those first elected. Pawnee was chosen by the
Governor as the Territorial capital, but after five days the
Legislature adjourned to Shawnee Mission. The measures
passed were entirely in the interest of slavery. Although
Governor Reeder came to Kansas favoring slavery, he did not
approve of the methods of the proslavery people. He was
removed in July, 1855. He was replaced by Wilson Shannon,
who was in full sympathy with slavery interests. Every
condition was unfavorable to the free-state people at this
time.

REFERENCES

Spring, Kansas, chap. IV.
Robinson, The Kansas Conflict, chaps, VI, VII.
Holloway, History of Kansas, chaps, XII, XIII, XVII.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 87-101.
Connelley, Kansas Territorial Governors.
Historical Collections, vol. V, p. 163; vol. VII, p. 361;
vol. VIII, p. 227.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 79-87.
Hodder, Government of Kansas, pp. 5-13.

QUESTIONS

1. How is a Territory governed?

2. Who was the first Territorial Governor of Kansas? How long
did he serve? What was his attitude toward slavery?

3. What were the conditions in Kansas when the first Governor
arrived? How far west did settlements reach at that time?

4. When was the first election held? What was its purpose? Give
an account of it.

5. When was the first census taken and what did it show?

6. What was the purpose of the second election? Give an account
of it.

7. Why was the “Bogus Legislature” so called? Where did it meet?
What did it do?

8. Who were some of the proslavery leaders?

9. Why were these “dark days” for the free-state people?

10. Who was the new Territorial Governor? With which side did he
sympathize?

CHAPTER IX

RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS

=The Free-state Plan.= The free-state people decided to ignore the
proslavery government, and since they were really made outlaws by the
“Bogus Legislature” they organized another government and sought the
admission of Kansas as a state. To accomplish this it was necessary to
draw up a state constitution, which must be approved by the people of
the Territory and by Congress.

=Free-state Leaders.= A number of meetings were held for the purpose
of getting the free-state people interested and willing to work
together. The leaders in these efforts were Dr. Charles Robinson, of
Lawrence, ex-Governor Reeder, who had come back to Kansas as a
tireless worker in the free-state cause, and James H. Lane, a man of
much experience, who had recently come to Kansas. Lane became one of
the most radical of free-state men and played an important part in
Kansas affairs for many years.

[Illustration: JAMES H. LANE.]

=The Topeka Constitution, 1855.= In the fall of 1855 a convention was
held at Topeka, and a state constitution which said, “There shall be
no slavery in this State,” was drawn up. When a little later the
Topeka Constitution was submitted to a vote of the people it carried
by an immense majority. Only free-state people voted, of course, for
the proslavery people did not recognize any of these acts as having
any force. Later in the winter state officers were elected under the
Constitution, Dr. Charles Robinson being made Governor and James H.
Lane a United States Senator. In the spring of 1856 the Constitution
was sent to Congress with a request that Kansas be admitted to the
Union, but the bill making Kansas a state failed to pass.

=The Wakarusa War, 1855.= These were not the only events occurring in
the Territory. It had become evident early in the fall of 1855 that
with the people divided into these two groups, each governing itself
and denying the authority of the other, there would be a conflict. The
proslavery people had committed several outrages that added to the
irritation of the free-state people, but the real trouble came with
the murder of a free-state man. This brought on what was called the
Wakarusa War.

=The Beginning of the Trouble.= A proslavery man named Coleman shot
and killed a young free-state man named Dow. This occurred about ten
miles south of Lawrence. Coleman then fled to Westport, Missouri,
where he appealed for protection to a man named Jones, who, although
he lived in Missouri and was the postmaster at Westport, had been
appointed by the “Bogus Legislature” as sheriff of Douglas County.
Jones was a border ruffian of the lowest and most dangerous type, and
had made himself obnoxious to the free-state people by his leadership
in the fraudulent elections.

=The Arrest of Branson.= In the meantime a friend of Coleman declared
that his life was threatened by Jacob Branson, an old man with whom
young Dow had made his home. Thereupon Sheriff Jones arrested Branson,
but a party of free-state men, indignant because of such high-handed
proceedings, rescued him and took him to Lawrence.

=Proslavery Hatred of Lawrence.= Of all the settlements in Kansas,
Lawrence was the most hated by the proslavery people, for it was the
hotbed of free-state principles and the gathering place of those who
scorned the Territorial Legislature. There had come to be a general
proslavery conviction that nothing less than the destruction of this
town could bring them peace and safety.

=Sheriff Jones Gathers an Army.= Lawrence had nothing to do with any
of this trouble with the sheriff, but when the rescued Branson was
taken there it gave the enemy an excuse to threaten the destruction of
the town. When his prisoner was taken from him, Jones sent a call to
Missouri for help and asked Governor Shannon for three thousand men to
“carry out the laws.” The result was that fifteen hundred Missourians
assembled for the destruction of Lawrence, and camped on the banks of
the Wakarusa River about three miles south of the town.

=Lawrence Prepares for Defense.= Meanwhile, although Branson and his
rescuers had left Lawrence and there was not a man in the town for
whom Jones had a warrant, his army continued to gather, and Lawrence
prepared for defense. The surrounding settlers came in and the six
hundred men built fortifications and drilled.

=End of the Wakarusa War.= The army of Jones, “an unwashed, braggart,
volcanic multitude,” was living off the surrounding country, rifling
cabins and stealing horses and cattle. The people of Lawrence were
feeling the burden of the siege also, for with the large number of
those who had come in from the outside their supplies were being
rapidly exhausted. Finally two men succeeded in getting through the
lines of the enemy and reaching the Governor, who was being deceived
about conditions. Governor Shannon then came to Lawrence, and,
learning how things really were, took an active part in arranging a
treaty between the opposing forces, and, to the disgust and
disappointment of Sheriff Jones, dispersed the proslavery army.
Without battle or bloodshed, what has since been known as the Wakarusa
War was over.

SUMMARY

Instead of submitting to the proslavery Territorial
Government, the free-state people decided to set up another
government. They held a convention at Topeka and drew up a
constitution prohibiting slavery. This constitution was
adopted by the free-state people of the Territory, and then
sent to Congress with a request that Kansas be admitted to
the Union. The bill failed to pass. These rival governments
within the Territory brought on the Wakarusa War, the
principal events of which were as follows: Coleman shot Dow
and fled to Jones, sheriff of Douglas County, for
protection. Jones arrested Dow’s friend Branson, who was
rescued by free-state men and taken to Lawrence, the town
most hated by the proslavery people. Jones then gathered an
army of Missourians for the purpose of destroying Lawrence.
While both sides were preparing for the struggle, two
free-state men succeeded in reaching Governor Shannon, who
came to Lawrence, and, on learning the real condition,
succeeded in arranging a treaty of peace, and dispersed the
proslavery army.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 88-92.
Spring, Kansas.
Holloway, History of Kansas.
Tuttle, History of Kansas.
Gihon, Geary and Kansas.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 101-120.
Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 291; vol. VII, p. 521; vol.
IX, p. 540; vol. X, p. 457.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain what is meant by “rival governments in Kansas.”

2. What was the purpose of the Topeka Constitution?

3. Was Kansas admitted under this Constitution?

4. Who was Charles Robinson? James H. Lane?

5. What event brought on the Wakarusa War? Why was it so named?

6. Name five persons connected with this war, and tell something
of each.

7. What did Lawrence have to do with the trouble?

8. Give the events of the Wakarusa War. How was it ended?

CHAPTER X

THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE

=The Severe Winter of 1855-’56.= The Wakarusa War closed in December,
1855. This second winter proved to be an exceedingly severe one, and
many of the settlers were not sufficiently protected against the
sudden and intense cold. Most of the houses were hastily constructed,
one-room log buildings, many of them with dirt floors, and windows and
doors of cotton cloth. The storms drifted into these cabins through
numberless chinks and cracks in roof and walls. One of the pioneers,
writing of that winter, says: “At times, when the winds were bleakest,
we went to bed as the only escape from freezing. More than once we
awoke in the morning to find six inches of snow in the cabin. To get
up, to make one’s toilet under such circumstances, was not a very
comfortable performance. Often we had little to eat; the wolf was
never far from our door during that hard winter of 1855-’56.”

=Preparations for Hostilities.= The struggle of the pioneers with the
hardships of winter closed hostilities for a while, but it soon became
evident that the Missourians were preparing more extensively than ever
to invade Kansas, destroy Lawrence, and drive the free-state people
from the Territory, or force them to recognize the proslavery
Territorial Government. The free-state people began to gather stores
and ammunition and to send calls to the northern states for men and
money to meet the situation.

[Illustration: TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS.
WILSON SHANNON
ANDREW H. REEDER JOHN W. GEARY
JAMES W. DENVER
ROBT. J. WALKER SAMUEL MEDARY]

=The Sacking of Lawrence, May 21, 1856.= A number of minor conflicts
occurred. Sheriff Jones was wounded, a young free-state man named
Barber was killed, and then came the long feared attack upon Lawrence.
From the beginning the policy of the free-state people had been to
avoid conflict wherever possible. On this occasion they made every
attempt to conciliate and to pacify the attacking force, but in vain.
As the proslavery leaders rode through the town they were invited to
dinner by Mr. Eldridge, the proprietor of the new $20,000 hotel built
by the Emigrant Aid Company. They accepted the invitation, and in the
afternoon the mob completely demolished the hotel. They threw the two
printing presses of the town into the river, ransacked stores and
houses, taking whatever they wanted, and before leaving town burned
Governor Robinson’s home. The financial loss to Lawrence and the
surrounding country was heavy. Though the people had been oppressed
and outraged they had not been conquered. By offering no resistance
they had robbed the affair of any possible justification in the eyes
of the world.

[Illustration: JOHN BROWN.]

=John Brown.= There was one who bitterly opposed this policy of
nonresistance, who believed that the way to meet the situation was to
fight. This was John Brown, a tall, gaunt, grizzled old man who had
come to Kansas a few weeks before the sacking of Lawrence. Five sons
had preceded him and had settled near Osawatomie. John Brown came, not
to aid his sons in their pioneer struggles, nor to make a home for
himself, but because it seemed to him an opportunity to strike a blow
at slavery. He hated slavery with an intensity that knew no bounds,
and he gave all of his mind and energy to warfare against it.

=The Pottawatomie Massacre, May 24, 1856.= The sacking of Lawrence
roused him to a high pitch of excitement. He believed that this
outrage should be avenged, and determined to strike a blow, to return
violence for violence. With a party of seven or eight men, including
four of his sons, he made a night trip down Pottawatomie Creek where a
number of proslavery settlers lived. Five of these settlers were
called out of their houses and killed.

=Beginning of Four Months of Violence.= This kind of warfare was not
in accordance with the plans or purposes of the leaders of the
free-state movement, and was not approved by them. News of the awful
affair spread rapidly through the Territory and created wild
excitement. The Pottawatomie massacre was followed by a period of
nearly four months of violence on both sides.

=Both Sides Arm for War.= A band of border ruffians gathered to wreak
vengeance on those who had taken the lives of the proslavery settlers
of Pottawatomie Creek. The battle of Black Jack resulted, in which the
border ruffians were defeated by John Brown and his men. The Missouri
border hurriedly gathered more forces and marched a well-armed body of
men into Kansas. The free-state men had been busy, too, and on June 5
the Missourians were met by a band of armed free-state Kansas
settlers.

=Armies Dispersed by the Governor.= This alarming state of affairs
aroused Governor Shannon and he at once ordered both sides to
disperse. The free-state army disbanded, but the Missourians obeyed
sullenly, and on their way back to Missouri they committed a number of
depredations, and pillaged Osawatomie, which they hated because it was
the home of John Brown.

=Free-state Help from Northern States.= The North was deeply stirred
by the calamities endured by the free-state people in Kansas. Although
practically all of the free-state newspapers here had been closed or
destroyed, the papers in the northern and eastern states were filled
with narrations of the hardships, robberies, and murders that had
befallen antislavery settlers in the Territory. The Kansas troubles
were discussed from the pulpit, and the great preacher, Henry Ward
Beecher, advised sending rifles to Kansas and pledged his church for a
definite number. The men thus sent out armed with Bibles and rifles
were sometimes called “The Rifle Christians.” Public meetings were
addressed by men fresh from Kansas, among them ex-Governor Reeder, S.
N. Wood, and James H. Lane. Much sympathy was aroused for the
suffering free-state settlers. Large sums of money were raised, and
companies of men were organized to take part in the Territorial
contest. The movement swept over the states from Boston to the
Northwest.[12] “Societies of semi-military cast, no less willing to
furnish guns than groceries, sprang up as if by magic, and
overshadowed the earlier, more pacific organizations.” As a result of
these agitations a stream of migration moved toward Kansas during the
spring and summer of 1856. Every party came prepared for defense, and
many brought with them a goodly stock of provisions. One writer says
of the immigrants, “There were fewer women and children, less
house-luggage, fewer agricultural implements; more men, more arms,
more ammunition.”

=Missouri River Closed to Free-state Immigration.= These activities of
the North were viewed with alarm by the proslavery leaders. They
believed that this inflow of free-state settlers must be checked or it
would end all hope of making Kansas a slave state. One of the most
important of the measures they adopted for this purpose was the
closing of the Missouri River to free-state immigration. They
overhauled the steamboats and seized merchandise and arms that were
being sent to free-state people, and they arrested and turned back all
travelers whom they believed to be unfriendly to the South. All
overland immigrants received similar treatment as soon as they touched
Missouri soil.

=New Route to Kansas.= Although this policy occasioned the northern
people considerable loss and much inconvenience, it did not check the
movement toward Kansas. It simply meant that the immigrants came
through Iowa and Nebraska, entering Kansas from the north.

The Southerners also appealed to their people and money was raised and
men were sent to Kansas, but the response was not to be compared with
that of the North.

=A Condition of Lawlessness.= While these things were going on, Kansas
was becoming more and more lawless. It would be hard to say which side
surpassed the other in misdeeds. A number of free-state leaders,
including Dr. Robinson, were held at Lecompton during the summer as
prisoners on a charge of treason. The free-state people were irritated
by the loss of money, supplies, and mail, through the Missouri
blockade. Bands of armed proslavery men guarded the roads out of
Topeka and Lawrence, so that these towns were really in a state of
siege. These guards lived on supplies taken from the surrounding
settlers, and cut off supplies sent to the towns so that food became
very scarce, especially at Lawrence, where the chief article of diet
for some time was ground oats. Meanwhile, supplies were reaching the
proslavery towns, Tecumseh, Lecompton, and Franklin, without
hindrance. It was evident to the free-state people that their enemies
expected to starve them out of the Territory, and they were stirred to
retaliate. The free-state guerrillas again began their work of seizing
the supplies of proslavery settlers and merchants. This was kept up
until many of the proslavery people were completely impoverished.

=The “Army of the North.”= About the first of August a report that
Lane was coming with the “Army of the North” spread over the
Territory. James H. Lane was one of the free-state men who had been in
the northern states, addressing meetings and raising men and money. He
was a very eloquent speaker and had influenced many to come to Kansas.
The “Army of the North” consisted of several hundred men, women, and
children, most of whom had come to make homes for themselves. This
army was a combination of several parties that had united to come into
Kansas over the new route through Iowa and Nebraska. Lane was with the
party, but only a small number were armed or had been gathered by him.

=A Proslavery Army Gathers.= The proslavery leaders began to rally
their men along the border. The following sentences are taken from one
of the calls they published: “Lane’s men have arrived! Civil war is
begun! And we call on all who are not prepared to see their friends
butchered, to be themselves driven from their homes, to rally to the
rescue.” A large number of men soon gathered on the border, anxiously
awaiting permission to move into Kansas; but as Governor Shannon had
dispersed the Missouri army a few weeks earlier, he now refused to
issue orders for the new army to move into the Territory.

=Governor Shannon Resigns.= About this time Governor Shannon resigned.
He had so displeased the proslavery people that he was compelled to
flee for his life under cover of night. Daniel Woodson, Secretary of
the Territory, now became Acting Governor until the new Governor
should arrive. As he was in full sympathy with proslavery interests he
opened the Territory to the Missouri invasion. Woodson’s power lasted
only three weeks, but they were the darkest days that Kansas had
experienced.

=The Burning of Osawatomie.= The proslavery army moved into Kansas.
The Pottawatomie massacre had not been forgotten, and when this army
reached Osawatomie, “the headquarters of old Brown,” they attacked the
town. John Brown had only forty-one men, and so thoroughly did the
enemy do their work this time that only four cabins escaped burning.

=Arrival of Governor Geary, September, 1856.= At this time the new
Territorial Governor, John W. Geary, arrived. Governor Geary described
the situation that he found on his arrival in the following words: “I
reached Kansas and entered upon the discharge of my official duties in
the most gloomy hour of her history. Desolation and ruin reigned on
every hand; homes and firesides were deserted; the smoke of burning
dwellings darkened the atmosphere; women and children, driven from
their habitations, wandered over the prairies and among the woodlands,
or sought refuge even among the Indian tribes. The highways were
infested with numerous predatory bands, and the towns were fortified
and garrisoned by armies of conflicting partisans, each excited almost
to frenzy, and determined upon mutual extermination. Such was, without
exaggeration, the condition of the Territory at the period of my
arrival.”

=Conditions in the Territory.= In the meantime the big body of armed
Missourians was moving forward and the proslavery settlers were
gathering in answer to a call that closed with these words: “Then let
every man who can bear arms be off to the war again. Let it be the
third and last time. Let the watchword be, ‘Extermination, total and
complete,’” The free-state people were scattered, unorganized, and but
scantily supplied with arms and provisions, and were therefore in no
condition to meet such a force. Fortunately, the new Governor, whose
policy was that of fair play, at once ordered all bodies of armed men
to disband.

=Preparations for the Defense of Lawrence.= The Missourians, however,
continued to move toward Lawrence. The Governor then took some United
States troops and went to Lawrence, which he found in an almost
defenseless condition. The town was poorly fortified, with few
provisions and not more than ten rounds of ammunition. Even the women
and children were armed. There were not more than three hundred
people, but there seemed to be no thought of surrender. They would
either repulse the enemy or perish in the attempt. The arrival of the
Governor with United States soldiers brought unexpected relief.

=End of the Reign of Violence, September, 1856.= On the morning of
September 15, Governor Geary marched out to the Missouri army encamped
about three miles from Lawrence, held a conference with the leaders,
and insisted that his orders for disbanding be obeyed. The Missourians
consented, and the force of twenty-seven hundred well-equipped men
went home. Thus ended the four months’ reign of violence[13] that had
begun with the sacking of Lawrence in May. The threatened attack on
Lawrence was the last organized effort of the Missourians to take
Kansas by force. Both sides soon gave up their plundering expeditions,
travel became safer and property more secure. For a time peace settled
down over the Territory, and Governor Geary, believing that order was
entirely restored to Kansas, appointed November 20 “as a day of
general praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God.” With the close of
the period of violence a little less than two and a half years had
passed since the organization of Kansas as a territory in the spring
of 1854.

SUMMARY

Hostilities were renewed in the spring of 1856. The
Missourians prepared for invasion, and the free-state people
for defense. Several minor conflicts were followed by the
sacking of Lawrence, to which the free-state people offered
no resistance. This policy was not approved by John Brown.
He counseled revenge and the Pottawatomie massacre followed.
Then began a four months’ “reign of terror.” Several
conflicts followed, among them the battle of Black Jack. An
army was hurriedly gathered by each side, but Governor
Shannon ordered them to disperse. The sympathy of the whole
North was aroused, and men and money poured into Kansas.
This led to the closing of Missouri to free-state travel,
and the newcomers entered Kansas through Nebraska. During
this time both sides were committing many outrages and there
was a constant condition of lawlessness. The coming of the
“Army of the North” resulted in the gathering of a large
army from Missouri called “the 2700.” Governor Shannon
resigned, and Acting Governor Woodson permitted this army to
enter Kansas, and it marched toward Lawrence, pillaging
Osawatomie as it passed. While Lawrence was awaiting attack,
Geary, the new Governor, arrived and ordered the army
disbanded. This ended the period of violence.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 93-108.
Spring, Kansas.
Robinson, The Kansas Conflict.
Mrs. Robinson, Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Blackmar, The Life of Charles Robinson.
Connelley, James Henry Lane, the Grim Chieftain of Kansas.
Connelley, John Brown.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 120-125.
Ingalls, Writings, pp. 76-92, 228-262.
McCarter, A Wall of Men. (A novel.)

QUESTIONS

1. When did the Wakarusa War close?

2. Describe the winter of 1855-’56.

3. What conditions came with the spring?

4. Give an account of the sacking of Lawrence.

5. Who was John Brown? Why did he come to Kansas? What was the
Pottawatomie massacre? What do you know of John Brown other
than what is given in this book?

6. Give an account of the battle of Black Jack, the gathering of
armies, and the pillaging of Osawatomie.

7. What free-state assistance was given by the North?

8. What measure did this lead Missouri to take?

9. What was the “Army of the North”?

10. What was “the 2700”? Who permitted this force to enter
Kansas?

11. Give an account of the second attack on Osawatomie.

12. Name the Territorial Governors up to this time.

13. Who was the new Governor? How did he describe the conditions
that he found in Kansas?

14. How was Lawrence threatened? What became of the army?

15. When did the period of violence close?

16. What condition followed?

17. How long was this after the organization of the Territory?

CHAPTER XI

THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS

=Beginning of the Political Period, 1857.= The Missourians had given
up hope of conquering Kansas by force. After the close of the period
of violence the contest became almost entirely a political struggle
between the proslavery and the free-state settlers, each side trying
to win Kansas by securing control of its government. The next few
years were filled with conventions, elections, and political schemes.

=Governor Geary Leaves the Territory.= The second Territorial
Legislature met at Lecompton in the opening days of 1857. Because of
Governor Geary’s efforts to be just to both sides, the Legislature did
everything possible to annoy and harass him. The free-state men
rallied to his support, but conditions soon became so intolerable that
one night in March, after having been in office about six months, he
made a hasty escape from Kansas. Governor Geary had found Kansas in a
deplorable condition and left it not greatly improved, but he had
attempted to do justice to all. His place was taken by Governor
Walker, who arrived in May.

=A Proslavery Constitution Prepared, 1857.= Up to this time the only
attempt to get Kansas admitted as a state was the effort of the
free-state men under the Topeka Constitution, but the proslavery
people had long been planning to draw up a constitution under which
they might secure the admission of Kansas as a slave state. The
Territorial Legislature provided for a constitutional convention,
which met at Lecompton in September, 1857, and prepared what was
called the Lecompton Constitution.

=The First Free-state Territorial Legislature.= Two important events
were to take place in the fall of 1857: the election of a new
Territorial Legislature, and the vote on the Lecompton Constitution.
When election day came, United States troops were stationed in the
different precincts to prevent illegal voting and invasions from
Missouri. Under Governor Walker’s promise of a fair election, both
parties voted for the first time since the fraudulent election in the
spring of 1855. The result was a free-state victory, and the first
time Kansas was to have a free-state Legislature. This result was not
achieved without many protests and threats from the proslavery people,
who now became afraid to submit their Lecompton Constitution to a
vote, for it was clear that the free-state people were largely in the
majority and would defeat it.

=Fear to Submit the Lecompton Constitution.= After a number of
meetings and debates among themselves, the proslavery people decided
to get around this difficulty by not submitting the Constitution at
all, but by offering instead these two statements to choose between:
“The Constitution with slavery,” or “The Constitution without
slavery.”

=Each Side Holds an Election.= This gave the free-state people no
chance to vote against the Constitution as a whole, and of course
their indignation was aroused. The election was held in December,
1857. The free-state men refused to vote, and after several meetings
and a special session of their new free-state Legislature the
free-state people appointed a day in January, 1858, for an election to
decide for or against the Constitution. This time the proslavery party
refused to vote. Thus each side held an election and carried its point
by a big majority.

=End of the Lecompton Constitution.= No attention was paid to the
defeat of the Constitution at the hands of the free-state people, and
it was sent to Congress. After a long discussion Congress attached a
number of conditions to the Constitution and sent it back to Kansas to
be voted on by all the people. Of the 13,000 votes cast at this
election, which was held August 2, 1858, more than 11,000 were against
it. This ended the second attempt to get Kansas admitted as a state.

=The Leavenworth Constitution, 1858.= While the Lecompton Constitution
was pending in Congress, the free-state people concluded that it was
time for them to try their hands at constitution making again. During
the winter and spring of 1858 they produced the Leavenworth
Constitution, but it was not favorably received by the people of
Kansas and was never voted on by either house of Congress.

=Trouble in Southeastern Kansas.= These events of Territorial history
occurred within a small area. With Lawrence as a center, a circle with
a radius of thirty miles would include virtually all of them. Another
part of Kansas, the southeastern, including what is now Miami, Linn
and Bourbon counties, came into prominence at this time and showed
that the period of bloodshed was not yet past. The southeastern part
of the Territory had been settled largely by proslavery people, but
gradually the Northerners began to come in. The proslavery people
frequently made raids on them, the free-state settlers retaliated, and
southern Kansas was soon in the midst of a guerrilla warfare. The
free-state people engaged in this warfare came to be known as
Jayhawkers.[14] Their leader was a man named James Montgomery.

=The Marais des Cygnes Massacre.= These conditions continued until in
the spring of 1858. While the Lecompton and Leavenworth constitutions
were being considered in the Territory, there occurred in Linn County
the Marais des Cygnes massacre, the most shocking and bloody event of
the whole Territorial period. A Southerner named Hamelton made up a
list of free-state men whom he planned to seize and execute. On May
19, almost two years to the day after the Pottawatomie massacre by
John Brown, Hamelton with a gang of Missourians captured eleven of the
free-state men, marched them to a near-by gulch, lined them up and
fired a volley. Five men were killed, five were wounded, and one
remained unharmed. This terrible deed created great excitement, and an
unsuccessful attempt was made to capture Hamelton and his men.[15]

=Order Restored.= Steps were taken to bring about a more settled
condition in southeastern Kansas. Though several other outrages took
place, none of them was so barbarous as the Marais des Cygnes
massacre, and order was gradually restored.

=Proslavery and Free-state Names Dropped.= During the trouble over the
Lecompton Constitution in the closing days of 1857 Governor Walker was
compelled to resign, and in the autumn of 1858 Governor Denver, who
succeeded him, voluntarily resigned. Although Denver was the fifth
Territorial Governor, he was the first one who had not been compelled
to give up his office. This was one of the indications that better
days were beginning in Kansas. Lawlessness was practically over. The
South was no longer hopeful of making Kansas a slave state. The
settlers dropped the terms proslavery and free-state, and identified
themselves with the National political parties.

=The Wyandotte Constitution, 1859.= In the summer of the next year,
1859, a fourth constitutional convention was held at Wyandotte. There
was less hard feeling now between the two factions, and the members of
this convention were from both political parties, Democrat and
Republican. It was generally conceded by this time that Kansas was to
be a free state, and the new Constitution contained the words, “There
shall be no slavery in this State; and no involuntary servitude,
except for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
This was called the Wyandotte Constitution, and when it was submitted
to the people in the fall a large majority of the votes were cast in
favor of it.

=Kansas Admitted to the Union, January 29, 1861.= But the question was
not yet settled, for Congress had to vote on the admission of Kansas
under the Wyandotte Constitution. These events took place in the
closing days of 1859, only a little more than a year before the
beginning of the Civil War. Relations between the North and the South
had become strained almost to the breaking point. The Congressmen from
the South had given up hope of making Kansas a slave state, but they
were certainly not anxious to admit it as a free state, and
consequently a year passed before the Wyandotte Constitution of Kansas
was acted upon. Finally, in January, 1861, some of the southern states
seceded from the Union and their representatives and senators withdrew
from Congress, leaving a free-state majority. The bill for the
admission of Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution was at once
called up and passed. The next day it was signed by President
Buchanan, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas became a state.

=First State Officers.= In December, 1859, shortly after the people
had voted to adopt the Wyandotte Constitution, they held an election
to choose state officers to act whenever Kansas should be admitted to
the Union. For Governor they chose Dr. Charles Robinson, who had so
faithfully served the free-state cause throughout the long but
successful struggle. The first United States senators from Kansas were
two other well-known free-state men, James H. Lane and Samuel C.
Pomeroy. The Wyandotte Constitution designated Topeka as the temporary
capital. An election was held in November, 1861, for the purpose of
selecting a permanent capital. Topeka received 7996 votes, Lawrence
5291, and all other places 1184. Thus Topeka became the capital of
Kansas.

SUMMARY

The first two and a half years of the Territorial period
were spent in the warfare which was practically closed when
Governor Geary sent “the 2700” home. The last four months of
the two and a half years formed the “period of violence.”
The next three years were given to the political struggle
which ended with the adoption of the Wyandotte Constitution.
During the remaining year the people went about their work,
while this Constitution was pending in Congress. In 1857,
early in the political period, the free-state people
succeeded, for the first time, in electing the Legislature.
The proslavery people prepared the Lecompton Constitution,
but submitted to the people only two statements concerning
it. The free-state people refused to vote, but held another
election, at which the proslavery people refused to vote.
After the Lecompton Constitution was returned from Congress
it was voted on by both factions and defeated. In the
meantime the free-state people submitted the Leavenworth
Constitution, which was defeated. During the last six months
of the political period the Wyandotte Constitution was
prepared, adopted, and sent to Congress. This was in 1859.
More than a year passed before Congress acted on the matter;
then, January 29, 1861, Kansas became a state.

REFERENCES

Spring, Kansas.
Robinson, The Kansas Conflict.
Mrs. Robinson, Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Holloway, History of Kansas.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 107-143.
Muzzey, American History, pp. 379-412.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 155-179.
Ingalls, Writings, pp. 443-465.
Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 365; vol. VIII, pp. 331, 443;
vol. X, pp. 169, 216; vol. XI, p. 47; vol. XII, p. 331.

QUESTIONS

1. How long was Kansas a territory? Into what periods may this
time be divided?

2. Was Lecompton a proslavery or a free-state town? Of which
faction was the second Legislature? How did the Legislature
treat Governor Geary? Who succeeded him?

3. What was the result of the election for a third Territorial
Legislature?

4. When and by whom was the Lecompton Constitution made? Why was
it not submitted as a whole? What became of it?

5. Give an account of the Leavenworth Constitution.

6. Within about what area did all these events occur? Show this
on a map of Kansas.

7. Give an account of the troubles in southeastern Kansas. Who
were the Jayhawkers?

8. Give an account of the Marais des Cygnes massacre.

9. What were the conditions in Kansas by the opening of 1859?

10. What was the last constitution made in Kansas? When and by
whom was it made?

11. When was Kansas admitted to the Union?

12. Who was the first State Governor?

13. How was the State capital selected?

THE HOMES OF KANSAS

The cabin homes of Kansas!
How modestly they stood,
Along the sunny hillsides,
Or nestled in the wood.
They sheltered men and women,
Brave-hearted pioneers;
Each one became a landmark
Of Freedom’s trial years.

The sod-built homes of Kansas!
Though built of mother earth,
Within their walls so humble
Are souls of sterling worth.
Though poverty and struggle
May be the builder’s lot,
The sod house is a castle,
Where failure enters not.

The dugout homes of Kansas!
The lowliest of all,
They hold the homestead title
As firm as marble hall.
Those dwellers in the cavern,
Beneath the storms and snows,
Shall make the desert places
To blossom as the rose.

The splendid homes of Kansas!
How proudly now they stand
Amid the fields and orchards,
All o’er the smiling land.
They rose up where the cabins
Once marked the virgin soil,
And are the fitting emblems
Of patient years of toil.

God bless the homes of Kansas!
From poorest to the best;
The cabin of the border,
The sod house of the west;
The dugout, low and lonely,
The mansion, grand and great;
The hands that laid their hearthstones
Have built a mighty State.
――SOL MILLER.

CHAPTER XII

PIONEER LIFE

[Illustration: A DUGOUT.]

=Comforts of Life Receive Little Attention.= The seven Territorial
years had brought freedom to Kansas, but the struggle had left the
pioneers little time or strength for building better homes, improving
their farms, or establishing public institutions. The energy that
might have accomplished these things had been given to fighting and to
politics. When Kansas became a State, the people had almost as few of
the comforts of life as when they first came to the Territory. A few
of them had come with little idea of the hardships and privations of
frontier life, and others had believed that such conditions would last
but a short time. Many of these, of course, grew discouraged and
returned to their eastern homes. But the great body of Kansas pioneers
had come with the twofold purpose of securing homes and making a free
state, and were not to be discouraged. They had come to stay.

[Illustration: IN PIONEER DAYS.]

=Conditions of Living During the ’50’s.= Frontier life is always hard,
but it was made many times harder in Kansas by the years of strife and
warfare. The inconveniences and hardships were especially severe
outside the towns. In these days of railways and good roads, of the
telegraph and the telephone, it is difficult to realize what life on
the prairies meant in the ’50’s. Post offices and mail routes came
slowly, and for many of the settlers a trip for mail and provisions
meant a journey of two or three days, or even longer, with an ox team.
Neighbors were often many miles apart. Nearly every one’s supply of
farming implements was scanty, and to replace a broken ax might
require a trip of from twenty-five to fifty miles. In the winter these
journeys were often accompanied with danger and suffering. Streams
were without bridges and many of the fords were deep and treacherous.
Fences were few and roads were mere trails over the prairies, so when
the blizzard swept across the country, piling its drifts of snow and
obliterating every landmark, the unfortunate traveler was in great
danger of losing his way. Getting a farm under cultivation was slow
work at best. Since most of the settlers brought but little money with
them they had to trust to raising a crop, and if sickness or drouth or
raids made it impossible to raise the crop, want and suffering
followed.

The privations, the sacrifices, and the loneliness of pioneer life
fell most heavily on the women. Business and necessity brought the men
together occasionally, but the pioneer woman in the isolation of her
prairie home often saw no friendly face for months at a time. There
was much sickness and death, especially among women and children,
resulting from the combination of poor food, uncomfortable houses,
homesickness, and excitement arising from the many dangers. The cost
of transportation was so great that only the most necessary articles
were brought from the East. Most furniture was home-made and cooking
was done over an open fireplace. Corn bread and bacon with occasional
game and wild fruits were the usual foods. In wet seasons there was
much fever and ague. Sometimes a whole family would be sick at the
same time, with no neighbors near enough to help and no physician
within many miles.

=The Drouth of 1859-’60.= Each year during the Territorial period the
crops raised were barely sufficient to keep the people through the
winter. There was no surplus at any time, and when the summer of 1859
brought a drouth, a famine resulted. Through all the hard struggle the
people had believed that as soon as the strife and political
difficulties were over, prosperity would come. However, with the
dawning of peace in the Territory there came the most severe drouth
that has ever been known in the West. It began in June, 1859, and from
that time until November, 1860, a period of more than sixteen months,
not enough rain fell at any one time to wet the earth to a depth of
more than two inches. Two light snows fell during the winter, but
neither was heavy enough to cover the ground. The ground became so dry
that it broke open in great cracks, wells and springs went dry, and
the crops were a total failure.

[Illustration: A SOD HOUSE.]

=Effect of the Drouth on Kansas Settlers.= There were at this time
nearly 100,000 people in Kansas, and to fully 60,000 of them the
drouth finally meant that they must receive help or starve. They had
been able to fight border ruffians, but they could not fight
starvation. After a year of the drouth they began to give up and go
back East. During the fall of 1860 no fewer than 30,000 settlers
abandoned their claims and the improvements that had been made at the
expense of so much labor, and left Kansas. There were still 30,000
people here for whom charity was necessary. All this brought bitter
disappointment to the people who had come to Kansas with high hopes
and willing hands.

=Aid Sent from the East.= As soon as the true condition of affairs was
known in the East a movement was begun for the relief of the
sufferers. Many states responded liberally, and immense quantities of
provisions and clothes were sent here to be distributed. Hundreds of
bushels of seed wheat were furnished. Besides all of the public help,
many relatives and friends sent supplies to the pioneers.
Nevertheless, there were many that winter who barely escaped
starvation.

=Drouth Retards Development of Kansas.= Great as was the suffering
from disappointment and want, the drouth brought another evil; it
threw Kansas back in its development. Not only had a third of the
population left the Territory, but the accounts given by those who
returned tended to discourage others from coming. The old stories
about the “Great American Desert” were revived. Kansas was looked upon
as a place of drouth and famine, and for several years the number of
immigrants was much decreased.

=Statehood Begins.= All this was taking place while the Wyandotte
Constitution was being considered. Kansas was admitted as a State on
January 29, 1861, at the close of the terrible drouth. Through the
winter and spring of 1861 supplies continued to come in from other
states, and included seeds for the spring planting. An excellent
season followed. It might be thought that at last the Kansas settlers
were to have an opportunity to cultivate their farms, build homes, and
make their new State a place of peace and prosperity. But not so;
Kansas was again to suffer from the troubles of the Nation. The
opening of the Civil War was near.

SUMMARY

The fighting and political strife of the Territorial period
left the people little opportunity for building up the
country. Statehood found frontier life but little improved.
The early settlers came to secure homes and to make Kansas a
free state, and were not easily discouraged. The drouth of
1859-’60 caused nearly a third of the 100,000 Kansas
settlers to leave the Territory, and another third had to be
given aid from the East. Immigration to Kansas was greatly
decreased for a time. A good crop year followed, but Kansas
had yet to pass through the Civil War before it could enjoy
peace.

REFERENCES

Andreas, History of Kansas, County Histories.
Cordley, Pioneering in Kansas.
Hunt, Kansas History for Children.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, pp. 33, 126; vol. XII, p. 353.
Mrs. Robinson, Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Ropes, Six Months in Kansas.

QUESTIONS

1. What had been the chief interest of the Kansas people during
the Territorial period?

2. What were the chief reasons for people coming to Kansas?

3. Discuss the conditions under which the pioneers lived,
including travel, roads, bridges, fences, money, social life,
houses, furniture, food, and health.

4. Give an account of the drouth of 1859-’60. How long did it
last?

5. What was the population of Kansas in 1860?

6. What was the effect of the drouth on Kansas?

7. What have you read of pioneer conditions other than in this
book?

8. What have you learned about early Kansas conditions from
talking with people?

9. What new burden came with the beginning of statehood?

CHAPTER XIII

KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR

=Beginning of the Civil War.= Just before Kansas was admitted several
of the southern states seceded from the Union. The trouble between the
North and the South had reached the point where it could no longer be
compromised. Other states seceded, and when, on April 12, 1861, Fort
Sumter was fired upon, the Civil War had begun.

=Part Taken by Kansas in the Civil War.= A state that had just passed
through nearly seven years of Territorial struggle closing with a
famine would hardly be expected to take an active part in a great war,
but the Kansas people had been battling over the slavery question,
and, being deeply interested in the outcome, were ready to take up
arms in defense of the principle of freedom. Every call for soldiers
to defend the Union was liberally responded to in Kansas. This State
furnished more soldiers in proportion to its population than did any
other State. During the four years of the war Kansas furnished a few
more than twenty thousand men, nearly four thousand more than were
asked for, and all of them were volunteers. The poverty in the Kansas
homes made it especially hard for families to be left unprovided for,
and as much honor is due the women who stayed at home to work as is
due the men who marched away to fight. The Kansas soldiers did duty on
many battle-fields, and so conducted themselves as to bring much
credit to their State. During the war Kansas was exposed to three
lines of danger; invasions by the regular Confederate army, attacks by
the unorganized border troops, and Indian raids on the frontier.

[Illustration: Bust of Abraham Lincoln
Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

“‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe
this government cannot endure permanently half slave and
half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do
not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease
to be divided.”
――_Abraham Lincoln._]

=The Quantrill Raid, August 21, 1863.= For Kansas people the Civil War
meant a continuation of the border troubles. Gangs of ruffians
plundered and destroyed property, and frequently committed worse
crimes. These acts reached a climax in the destruction of Lawrence on
August 21, 1863. The raid on Lawrence was led by Quantrill, a border
ruffian who had taken an active part in the guerrilla warfare, and who
with his men had sacked several smaller towns along the border. With
about four hundred and fifty mounted men Quantrill crossed the border
in the late afternoon of August 20, and proceeded toward Lawrence.
Just before sunrise the raiders reached a hill only a mile from the
town. It is strange that they could have made the ride of forty miles
through Kansas settlements without a word of warning reaching
Lawrence, but such was the case. When Quantrill and his men halted
within pistol shot of the houses of Lawrence to plan their attack, the
people suspected no danger. There was no armed organization within the
city, and all firearms were locked in the arsenal.

The attack began with a wild charge on the town. Horsemen rode through
the streets at top speed, shooting in every direction. Then they
divided into small gangs and scattered over the town under orders to
“burn every house and kill every man.” The horror of what followed has
seldom been equaled in the warfare of civilized people. When the
people of Lawrence realized that their town was in the possession of
Quantrill’s band they expected that it would be burned and a few
prominent citizens killed, but wholesale murder was not looked for,
and many who might have escaped remained and were killed. For four
hours the ruffians robbed buildings, shot the occupants, and applied
the torch. Every house was a scene of brutality or of remarkable
escape. When the work of butchery and destruction was finished,
Quantrill and his men retreated toward Missouri, mounted on stolen
horses and heavily laden with plunder. They kept up their work of
destruction by burning farmhouses as they passed. A few troops
followed them, but the raiders escaped across the border.

=Loss from the Raid.= The number of lives lost can never be known with
certainty, but it was about one hundred and fifty. Many were seriously
wounded. The loss of property was variously estimated from one to two
million dollars. The work of rebuilding the town was immediately
begun, and with all their poverty the people of the State gave
generously to the stricken citizens of Lawrence.

=General Price Threatens Kansas.= Kansas was too far away from the
center of conflict of the Civil War to become the scene of great
battles, but it was from time to time threatened with invasion by the
regular Confederate army. During the last year of the war, General
Price, with a large Confederate force, marched northward through
Arkansas into Missouri. When it was reported that he was moving
westward, Kansas issued a call for more soldiers. The response was
immediate. More than 16,000 men appeared for service. A force of
Kansas troops marched into Missouri and met Price’s army in battle at
Lexington. As the armies moved westward other battles were fought at
the Little Blue and at the Big Blue, and again at Kansas City and
Westport, after which Price was forced to retreat southward. He was
followed by the Union army. He crossed into Kansas in Linn County, and
skirmishes took place at Trading Post Ford, at the Mounds, and at Mine
Creek. Price was then forced into Missouri again, where he was soon
defeated.

[Illustration: THE COUNTIES OF KANSAS AT THE CLOSE OF THE CIVIL
WAR.]

=End of the Civil War, 1865.= In April, 1865, the great war came to a
close, after lasting almost exactly four years. The questions of
slavery and disunion were finally settled. The whole nation was
thankful to lay down its arms and go back home, “to drop the sword and
grasp the plow,” but this was especially true of Kansas, where the
people had been doing battle over the slavery question for eleven
years. The Territorial period and the Civil War period made one
continuous conflict. With the heavy drain on resources and population,
it was not to be expected that Kansas would make much growth or
progress during the Civil War. Development could little more than
equal waste and loss. The population of Kansas numbered about 100,000
at the beginning of the war, and about 136,000 at the close. There had
been little improvement in the manner of living during the four years.

SUMMARY

The Civil War began within three months after Kansas became
a state. Although Kansas had had no opportunity to recover
from the Territorial struggle, it took an active part in the
war. General Price threatened to invade Kansas with a large
Confederate force, but did not succeed. The Indians
committed depredations on the western frontier. The worst
feature of the war was the border trouble, of which the
Quantrill raid was the climax. During the four years of the
Civil War Kansas did not make a large gain in population or
in progress.

REFERENCES

Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 179-215.
Blackmar, Life of Robinson.
Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties.
Cordley, History of Lawrence.
Connelley, Quantrill and the Border Wars.
Historical Collections, vol. VIII, pp. 271, 352; vol. IX, pp.
430, 455; vol. XI, p. 217; vol. V, p. 116; vol. VI, pp. 305,
317.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 143-168.
Spring, Kansas, chap. XIII.

QUESTIONS

1. When did the Civil War begin? How long was this after Kansas
had become a state?

2. What part did Kansas take in the war? Explain.

3. What were the three classes of danger to which Kansas was
exposed? Discuss each.

4. To which of these does the Price campaign belong?

5. Who was General Price? Give an account of his threatened
invasion of Kansas.

6. Who was Quantrill? Give an account of his raid on Lawrence.

7. How long did the Civil War last?

8. How long had it been since Kansas was opened for settlement?
What progress had been made?

9. What was the population of Kansas in 1865?

CHAPTER XIV

KANSAS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR

=Beginning of this Period.= Nearly three score years have passed since
the close of the Civil War; a period of work, growth, and progress.
The earlier years in Kansas were but a time of preparation, and with
the end of the war the people were at last free to turn their
attention to farming or to other occupations. Hundreds of new settlers
poured into the State each year. Little pioneer homes dotted the
eastern part of the State more and more thickly and the line of
settlement moved rapidly westward.

=Indian Troubles on the Frontier.= As the white-topped wagons of the
immigrants became more numerous the Indian and the buffalo were pushed
farther on. But the red man did not give up his hunting ground without
a struggle. The encroachments of the settlers had long been resented.
Even before the close of the Civil War, while the soldiers were needed
elsewhere, the Indians had begun their depredations on the frontier.
In 1865 and 1866 settlements were attacked in Republic and Cloud
counties, stock was driven away, much property was destroyed, and a
number of people were killed. The few settlers on their scattered
claims were poorly armed, and, with no soldiers near to protect them,
they were in constant fear of wandering tribes of hostile Indians.

[Illustration: Great Seal of the State of Kansas
It has long been customary for each nation to have a great seal.
The United States has one, as has also each of the states. A seal
is used to make an impression on a document as a sign of its
genuineness. The design for the Great Seal of Kansas was adopted
by the first State Legislature. The thirty-four stars represent
the thirty-four states comprising the Union at that time. The
scene is supposed to typify the settlement and growth of the
State. The motto “_Ad astra per aspera_,” meaning “To the stars
through difficulties,” is peculiarly descriptive of the state’s
history.]

=Open War with the Indians.= The next year United States troops were
sent to protect the frontier. They drove the Indians back and
destroyed one of their villages. This only made the red men eager for
revenge, and they began an open war on all settlers, immigrant trains,
traders, and travelers. Robberies and murders were committed along the
whole frontier, particularly in the Republican, Solomon, and Smoky
Hill valleys, and in Marion, Butler and Greenwood counties. Travel
over the Santa Fe and other westward trails almost ceased and the line
of settlement was pushed eastward many miles. Many tribes engaged in
these attacks. They dashed into the State from north or south or west,
committed their cruelties, and were gone.

=The Broken Treaty.= At one time the Government made a treaty with
several tribes by which they were removed to a reservation in the
Indian Territory, but were to have the privilege of hunting in Kansas
as far north as the Arkansas River, and were also to be provided with
arms. They kept their promise of peace only until they could get ready
for another attack, and while part of them were being supplied with
arms at one of the forts the rest were engaged in a most heartless and
bloody raid on the northwestern settlements.

=The Indians Subdued.= This led Governor Crawford to organize several
companies of Kansas volunteers and to ask for more United States
soldiers. Later a regiment of Kansas volunteer cavalry was called for,
and on November 4, 1868, Governor Crawford resigned his office to take
command of this, the Nineteenth Regiment. After considerable fighting
the Indians were finally subdued, and by 1870 the trouble was
practically ended. There were a few outbreaks from time to time, but
none of them was very serious. During this contest, which had lasted
from 1864 to 1869, the lives of more than a thousand Kansas settlers
had been lost, a great deal of property had been destroyed, and the
westward movement of settlement had been greatly retarded.

[Illustration: A PRAIRIE STREAM, COMMON IN THE WESTERN PART OF
THE STATE.]

=The Homestead Law, 1862.= Shortly after the admission of Kansas to
the Union, Congress passed a measure that had a wonderful effect on
the growth of the State. This measure was the Homestead Law, passed in
1862. This law provides that any person who is the head of a family,
or who is twenty-one years of age, and who is a citizen of the United
States or has declared his intention to become such, may acquire a
tract of one hundred and sixty acres of public land on condition of
settlement, cultivation, and occupancy as a home for a period of five
years, and on payment of certain moderate fees. It also provides that
the time that any settler has served in the army or navy may be
deducted from the five years. Previous to 1862 settlers bought their
claims of the Government. The liberal provisions of the Homestead Law
attracted thousands of settlers to Kansas. Many of the newcomers were
young men who had been in the army.[16] Many of them were foreigners
newly arrived in America, while thousands of others came from the
eastern or central states. Nearly all of them were poor. Many had
scarcely enough to provide for themselves until the harvesting of
their first crop. But they were full of hope and ambition, and were
willing to undertake the toil and privations of pioneer life for the
chance to make real their dreams of a home on the Kansas prairies.

[Illustration: A TIMBERED STREAM, COMMON IN THE EASTERN AND
CENTRAL PARTS OF THE STATE.]

=Many Drouths in the Early Years.= The task of turning the bare plains
into fertile fields was a heavy one, and the brave people who began it
endured many hardships and met many discouragements and disappointments.
Severe drouths were of frequent occurrence in the early days, and hot
winds often swept across the country. The year 1869 was dry, with a
partial failure of crops, and in 1874 came a long dry spell, followed
in the late summer by a scourge of grasshoppers.

[Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS. 1861-1877.
THOMAS CARNEY
CHARLES ROBINSON SAMUEL J. CRAWFORD
JAMES M. HARVEY
NEHEMIAH GREEN THOMAS A. OSBORN]

=The Grasshopper Invasion, 1874.= At different times there had been
invasions of grasshoppers in the country west of the Mississippi
River, but none of them was so disastrous as the one of 1874. The
grasshoppers, which were a kind of locust, came into the State from
the northwest and moved toward the southeast. The air was filled with
them. They covered the fields and trees and destroyed everything green
as they went. They left ruin and desolation in their pathway. In the
western counties, where the settlements were new and the people had no
crops laid by to depend upon, the result was much like that of the
terrible years of 1859 and 1860. By the time of the invasion there
were more people, more provisions, and more money, and the State was
able to do much to help the thousands of its citizens who were left
destitute. It became necessary, however, to accept aid from the East
again, and thousands of dollars and many carloads of supplies were
distributed to the needy. Never since has Kansas had to ask for help.
In more recent years our State has given generously to sufferers in
other states and in other lands.

This visit of the grasshoppers was prolonged into the next year, for
they had deposited their eggs in the ground and the next spring large
numbers of young grasshoppers hatched. These destroyed the early
crops, but for some unaccountable reason they soon rose into the air
and flew back toward the northwest whence the swarms of the year
before had come. There was still time for late planting, and the crops
of 1875 were abundant.

=Prosperous Years Follow the Grasshopper Invasion.= The coming of the
grasshoppers had temporarily discouraged immigration, but prosperous
years followed and people were again attracted to Kansas. More of the
prairie was turned into farms; new towns sprang up; the country came
to be more thickly settled; railroads, schools, and churches were
built; new counties were organized; and the old stories of “The Great
American Desert” were gradually forgotten. Kansas was taking her place
among the states.

=Life of the Early Settlers.= In order that this great result might be
accomplished, that the Kansas of to-day might be, a generation of men
and women had to conquer these vast prairies that were swept by
blizzards, parched by drouths, scorched by hot winds, and scourged by
grasshoppers. A few of the pioneers gave up and returned to their old
homes, but most of them were of the sturdy type and remained, always
believing that the day of better things was to come. Though they had
little money and few of the comforts and conveniences of life, and
though they were often filled with homesickness for the friends and
scenes they had left behind, they stayed and worked and hoped. Volumes
could be filled with stories of the hardships and sorrows of those
brave people; stories of mothers who died from overwork or exposure or
lack of care, of children who sickened from want of proper food, of
homes swept away by prairie fires, and of homesteads mortgaged and
lost.

=The Pleasures of Pioneer Life.= But this is only one side. Pioneer
life was not all dark. Most of the people were strong and healthy, and
the out-door life with plenty of exercise and simple food kept them
so. Although there was privation and hard work there was also much
pleasure. Ask any old settler whether the people had good times in
those days, and you will hear tales of spelling schools and of singing
schools, of literary societies at which debating was an important
feature, and of the country dance with its old-time music on the
fiddle. These affairs were attended by young and old from miles
around; a trip of from ten to fifteen or even twenty miles was not
unusual. Buggies were scarce, and most of the settlers went on
horseback, or in farm wagons that did not always have spring seats.

Quilting and husking bees, house-warmings, and camp meetings were
other events of the early days. Since there were no telephones and
since it was often days from one mail to another, pioneer families
counted it a pleasure to “visit around” and exchange the news. Those
were the days of real hospitality; the “latch-string hung out at every
door,” and all were welcome to enter. No house was too small nor no
food supply too scanty for the entertainment of friends or wayfarers.
Those were the days, too, when the children often waited for “second
table” or stood up to eat because there were not enough chairs for
all; when the boys wore high-topped boots, the girls wore sunbonnets,
and a calico dress was good enough for almost any occasion.

=Buffalo Hunting.= In the earlier years the buffalo hunt was one of
the pleasures of the pioneers. In the fall parties of men with their
teams and hunting outfits would set out for the buffalo range to
secure a supply of meat for the winter. They were usually successful
in finding not only buffaloes, but antelopes, wild turkeys, and
occasionally elk or deer.

=Extermination of the Buffalo.= Remarkable stories are told of the
great numbers of buffaloes still roaming our western prairies fifty
years ago; stories of herds miles in width moving across the country.
With the inrushing tide of immigration the buffaloes rapidly
disappeared. Within little more than a dozen years after the close of
the Civil War there were practically none left. This was not because
they were used as food, but because they were killed for their hides.
Large numbers were slaughtered and skinned and the bodies left on the
plains. The hides were shipped east by carloads, where they were sold
to make robes.

[Illustration: PILE OF BUFFALO HIDES READY FOR SHIPMENT.]

=Selling Buffalo Bones.= In a few years the prairies were thickly
strewn with bleaching bones, and these, too, were gathered up and
shipped east, where they were ground into fertilizer to be used on
worn-out farms. These bones brought from six to ten dollars a ton, and
money earned in this way served to tide many a homesteader through the
winter. It has often been regretted that the Government did not take
measures to restrict the killing of the buffalo, but the danger of
extermination was not realized until too late.

=The Trappers.= A great deal of trapping was done, especially by the
younger men. Often several of them would make up a party, and with
guns, traps, and a winter’s supply of provisions start for a favorite
trapping ground, where they would make a camp along some stream.
Sometimes the camp was a tent, but more often it was a dugout in the
bank with the front part made of logs. Along the streams they caught
chiefly the beaver, the otter, the raccoon, and the wildcat, and on
the prairies the big gray wolf and the coyote. The busy days were
filled with the work of visiting the traps, caring for the pelts,
chasing wild game, and keeping an alert watch for Indians. When spring
came and they turned homeward to take up the work on the farms they
often carried with them several hundred dollars’ worth of furs.

[Illustration: COYOTE.]

=The Exodus, 1878-1880.= The population of Kansas was gradually built
up from many sources, but until 1878 there were not many negroes in
the State. In that year there began in some of the southern states a
movement among the colored people to migrate to western and northern
states. So many thousands of them left the Southland that the movement
came to be called “The Exodus.” It is not strange that the State famed
for its fight for freedom should attract many of the ex-slaves, or the
“Exodusters,” as they were called. During the years 1878-’80 several
thousands of negroes arrived in Kansas. A few had teams and some farm
implements, some had a scanty supply of household goods, but many had
nothing at all and had to be given aid. A very few of them homesteaded
land, others found employment as farm hands, and the rest settled in
different towns of the State.

[Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS, 1877-1893.
JOHN P. ST. JOHN
GEORGE T. ANTHONY GEORGE W. GLICK
LYMAN U. HUMPHREY
JOHN A. MARTIN LORENZO D. LLEWELLING]

=The Kansas Boom in the ’80’s.= The ten years following the
grasshopper invasion of 1874 were all good years. The rains fell and
crops flourished. It was a period of remarkable growth and prosperity.
During these years the railroads were making special efforts to bring
settlers into the State, and Kansas was widely advertised. Reports of
the opportunities here stimulated immigration, and settlements
overspread the western prairies. Great confidence was felt in the
future of the State, and people in the East eagerly invested in
western land and property. Money was easy to borrow, and the Kansas
people borrowed liberally and began speculating in real estate. Kansas
was soon “on the boom.” Property was bought, not to use, but to sell
again at a higher price. Cities and towns laid out additions which
were divided into lots and sold for large sums. Expensive improvements
were made, and public and business buildings were constructed that
were far larger and more costly than the needs of the time demanded.
Railway and street-car lines were built where there was not business
enough to support them. Hundreds of new towns were mapped out and the
lots sold. Many of these towns never existed except on paper, and most
of the others were later turned into pastures or cornfields.

=Collapse of the Boom, 1887.= Since the new settlers were not familiar
with soil and climate conditions in Kansas many of them selected land
that was not adapted to agriculture, therefore much of the farming was
not profitable. In 1887 came one of the most severe drouths that was
ever known in the country. The people lost confidence in Kansas and
the boom collapsed. Eastern people wanted their money back, but there
was nothing with which to pay them. Money could not be borrowed and
mortgages were foreclosed. People who had bought property at high
prices, expecting to sell at a profit, found themselves unable to sell
at any price. Many who had counted themselves wealthy found their
property almost valueless. Banks and business houses failed and
hundreds of people were ruined. Thousands left Kansas, some of the
western counties being almost abandoned. The year 1887 was followed,
however, by several good crop seasons. A great deal of attention was
given to the study of farm conditions, and Kansas began to make
progress again.

=The Opening of Oklahoma.= In 1889 Kansas lost about 50,000 of her
population. This came about through the opening of Oklahoma to
settlement. The President issued a proclamation setting high noon of
April 22 as the time at which the settlers could enter the new country
to take claims. The opening of Oklahoma had been anxiously awaited for
years, and, as the appointed time drew near, people from all parts of
the United States began to assemble along the southern line of Kansas.
Arkansas City was the chief gathering place, for it was at this point
that the one line of railroad entered Oklahoma. When, at noon, April
22, the cavalrymen who patroled the borders fired their carbines as a
signal that the settlers could move across the line, a great shout
went up, and the race for claims began. Hundreds crowded the trains,
thousands rode on fleet horses, many rode in buggies and buckboards,
others in heavy farm wagons, and some even made the race on foot. In
the morning Oklahoma was an uninhabited prairie, at midday it was a
surging mass of earnest, excited humanity, in the evening it was a
land of many people. Within a few days the breaking plow was turning
the sod on many homesteads, while merchants, bankers, and professional
men were carrying on their business in tents or in rough board
shanties. The rush of settlement to Kansas was remarkable, but the
settlement of Oklahoma is the climax in the story of American
pioneering. Although Kansas furnished such a large number of the
Oklahoma settlers, immigration to our State from the East soon made up
the loss.

=The Panic of 1893.= In 1893 a financial panic extended over the whole
country, accompanied in Kansas by a partial failure of crops. Those
were dark days in Kansas, for many of the people were still burdened
with heavy mortgages. But this period should be remembered as our last
“hard times.” Within two or three years conditions had greatly
improved. The twenty-five years following that time brought almost
uninterrupted prosperity.

=Kansas in the Spanish-American War.= In 1898 the long period of peace
that the country had enjoyed since the Civil War was broken by the
Spanish-American War. The call for soldiers was eagerly responded to
in Kansas, and four regiments were raised. Our State had furnished
seventeen regiments during the Civil War and two for fighting the
Indians, therefore the four for the Spanish-American War were numbered
the Twentieth, the Twenty-first, the Twenty-second, and the
Twenty-third. The Twenty-third was composed of colored soldiers. The
only one of these regiments called upon to do any fighting was the
Twentieth, which was ordered to the Philippines. There, under a
Kansan, Colonel Fred Funston, the men of this regiment took part in
the campaigns that followed, and by their bravery and efficiency
brought much credit to themselves and to their State. The Twenty-third
was sent to Cuba. The other regiments were trained and kept in
readiness, but the early end of the war prevented their active
service.

[Illustration: STATE CAPITOL, TOPEKA.]

[Illustration: SENATE CHAMBER IN THE STATE CAPITOL.]

=The State Capitol.= The year 1903 is an interesting one, for it
marked the completion of our State Capitol. Shortly after the
admission of Kansas to the Union the people selected Topeka as the
seat of government. As soon as the Civil War was over and they had
time to think about public improvements they began to lay plans for
building a capitol. Every state has a capitol, or state house as it is
often called, in which there are offices for the Governor and other
state officers as well as large rooms for the meetings of the
Legislature. It is for the state what a courthouse is for a county. It
should, of course, be a fine building, of which the people can be
proud. But back in the ’60’s Kansas people were few in number and had
little money. They could not afford to build a capitol that would be
large and handsome enough for the future, nor did they wish to
construct a small, cheap building that would have to be set aside
later. Instead they planned a fine structure to be built a little at a
time as they could afford it.

[Illustration: A KANSAS CATTLE RANCH.]

In 1866 the Legislature provided for the erection of what is now the
east wing of our state house. As the State grew in wealth and
population, more money was appropriated from time to time for the
construction of other wings, the great central portion, and lastly the
high dome that reaches nearly three hundred feet into the air. The
building was completed in 1903, having been thirty-seven years in the
making. It grew as the State grew, costing altogether between three
and four millions of dollars. It is fitting that the great State of
Kansas should now have one of the finest capitols in the United
States.

=The Floods.= The people of Kansas had withstood a number of drouths,
but beginning in 1903 they were, for the first time, visited by a
series of floods. The first one was probably the most destructive.
Most of the water came down the Kansas River from the tributaries
draining central and western Kansas, where there had been heavy
rainfall. Farms and towns along these streams were flooded, property
was swept away, and a number of lives were lost. Topeka, Lawrence, and
Kansas City, where portions of the cities were inundated for days,
suffered heavy losses. The following year nearly every stream in the
State poured a flood of water down its valley, and many people had to
flee to the hills for safety. In 1908, for the third time in five
years, Kansas was again visited by high water. The loss occasioned by
these floods amounted to many millions of dollars, but help poured in
to the sufferers from many sources and they straightway began the work
of repairing and rebuilding. In a short time all traces of the
calamity had disappeared.

[Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS, 1893-1914.
JOHN W. LEEDY
EDMUND N. MORRILL WILLIAM E. STANLEY
WILLIS J. BAILEY
EDWARD W. HOCH GEORGE H. HODGES
WALTER R. STUBBS]

Stories of floods in Kansas have been handed down from far-off Indian
days, but the earliest flood of which there is any account was in
1844. The Indians told the white men about it and advised against
building close to the rivers, but no attention was paid to the
warning. Since the recent floods, however, a number of people have
moved back from the streams. A few of the cities, including Topeka,
Lawrence, and Kansas City, have built dikes, bridges have been
lengthened to give streams more room, and several railroad grades have
been raised above the danger line.

=Kansas To-day.= While the floods caused much loss and suffering, the
State’s resources had become so great that the condition of general
prosperity was not seriously affected. Each year has added to the
prosperity and progress of the State until now Kansas is one of the
great states of the Union. We have only to look about us to see how
marvelously conditions have changed since pioneer days. Great fields
and orchards are spread over what was once the Indians’ hunting
ground, and cattle have taken the place of the roving herds of
buffaloes. Tractor plows now turn the soil where once there was only
buffalo grass, thriving towns and cities stand where once the tepee
stood and shining rails of steel mark the paths of Indian ponies and
emigrant trains.

All these things have been done within a single generation. Thousands
of the men and women who came into Kansas in their wagons and drove
across the unfenced plains are still among us, but now when they
journey over the same country they go in swiftly moving trains or
automobiles. Where once they saw only the prairie and a few settlers’
cabins they now see roads and bridges, farms and ranches, stores,
banks, mills, mines, and factories. They see what they have helped to
build, a great state, and they may well be proud of it. By their
unconquerable faith and courage and their unremitting toil they have
made Kansas what it is to-day.

=Government of Kansas.= As the pioneers look at their State they may
feel a pride not only in the acres that have been brought under
cultivation and the wealth that has been produced, but also in a
government that is one of the most advanced in the Union. Many
measures have been passed to promote the welfare of the people. Among
the important ones are: the child-labor law, the truancy law, the
anti-cigarette law, the law providing for juvenile courts, laws
pertaining to public health, the fire-escape law, the “blue sky” law,
the primary-election law, and the law governing public utilities.
These are only a few, but among the hundreds of measures that have
been passed, affecting the character of our government, none stand out
more prominently than the two amendments to our Constitution providing
for prohibition and for woman suffrage.

=Prohibition in Kansas.= Temperance was a live topic in Kansas from
the beginning; even in Territorial days laws were passed that tended
to regulate, in some degree, the liquor traffic. During the first
eighteen years of statehood there was a constant increase in sentiment
favorable to prohibition, and, in 1880, during the administration of
Governor John P. St. John, the people voted to adopt the following
amendment to the Constitution: “The manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors shall be forever prohibited in this State, except
for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes.” The law has been
strengthened from time to time, and more attention has been given to
its enforcement, until to-day Kansas is one of the strictest
prohibition states, and the popular sentiment against the use of
liquor is stronger here, perhaps, than anywhere else in the United
States. For many years Kansas stood almost alone as a prohibition
state, but in recent years the number of prohibition states has
increased rapidly, and in 1918 a prohibition amendment to the National
Constitution was offered by Congress, and in 1919 it had been ratified
by the necessary two-thirds of the states. Kansas was among the
number. It is a matter of pride in Kansas that ours was a pioneer
state in this great movement.

=Woman Suffrage.= Kansas has been one of the most liberal of the
states in its laws concerning the rights of women, but it is only in
recent years that Kansas women have had full political rights. In 1861
women were given the right to vote in district school elections, and
in 1887 in city elections. The question of complete woman suffrage was
voted upon and defeated in 1867, and again in 1894, but in 1912 it
carried by a large majority. Only six states, Colorado, Idaho, Utah,
Wyoming, Washington, and California, preceded Kansas in granting to
women the right of suffrage. A number of other states have followed
Kansas, and now (1919) Congress has offered to the states for
ratification a woman suffrage amendment to the National Constitution.

=Kansas in the World War.= The period from the opening of the
twentieth century to the beginning of the World War was, on the whole,
one of peace and prosperity in Kansas. No great destructive force,
such as famine or panic, left the people struggling for existence, nor
did anything occur to stir their deeper emotions. Their chief
interests were in building up their homes and their businesses and in
developing their State. But suddenly, in 1914, like the people of the
rest of the United States, they began to give more thought to the
affairs of other countries, and when on April 6, 1917, the United
States entered the war, the people of Kansas were ready to carry their
share of the burdens.

[Illustration: CAMP FUNSTON.
The largest inland training camp in the United States. The 89th
National Army Division and the 10th Regular Army Division were
trained at Camp Funston.]

The young men of the State began at once to offer their services in
the national guard, in the regular army and in the navy. There were
more than 18,000 of these volunteers. Within a few weeks Congress
passed the Compulsory Service Act, under the provisions of which
approximately 42,000 Kansas men were called into service during the
war. The National Guard, numbering about 10,000 men, was soon called.
Altogether there were fully 70,000 Kansans in the forces of the United
States. These men were sent to practically every organization in the
army, though the greater portion of them were in the 89th National
Army Division, the 10th Regular Army Division, the 35th National Guard
Division, and the 117th Ammunition Train of the 42d Division. All of
these except the 10th Division, which had not yet completed its
training when the armistice was signed, were sent to France, where
they took part in important engagements and bore themselves bravely,
notably the Rainbow Division in the last battle of the Marne, the 89th
at St. Mihiel and the Argonne, and the 35th Division in the Argonne
drive. Many of our young men went into special branches of service,
such as the Air Service, Railway Engineering, Signal Corps,
Quartermasters Corps and Ordnance Corps. The Federal Government
established two Officers’ Training Camps in Kansas, one at Fort Riley
and one at Fort Leavenworth. Many Kansas men attended these camps and
received commissions.

Hundreds of Kansas young women rendered skilled and devoted service as
nurses, both in the training camps and overseas.

The people of the State took an active part in various kinds of war
work and subscribed more than their quota to all appeals for funds and
to all bond issues.

Altogether, Kansas played its part in the war with its accustomed
loyalty and spirit.

=The Period Since the Civil War.= In the present chapter we have
touched only in a general way upon the State’s progress, but growth
has been in many directions and each activity has a history of its
own. In order that we may better understand the advancement that has
been made we will study more fully three of the most important phases
of the State’s progress and development――industry, transportation, and
education.

SUMMARY

The years since the Civil War have been eventful ones. The
Indian troubles on the frontier lasted from 1864 until 1869.
Much property and more than 1000 lives were lost. National
troops and a regiment of Kansas soldiers were required to
quell the trouble. Governor Crawford resigned his position
and took command of the Kansas troops. In 1878-’80 thousands
of negroes arrived in Kansas. This movement from the South
was called the “Exodus.” The grasshopper invasion in 1874
was followed by ten years of prosperity. Then came the boom,
which was ended by the drouth in 1887. Eastern moneylenders
held thousands of Kansas mortgages, and though several good
crop years followed, the State had not yet recovered when
the panic in 1893 brought renewed trouble. Good crops
followed, and Kansas soon entered upon a period of
prosperity which has continued to the present time. Kansas
furnished four regiments for the Spanish-American War in
1898, and made the most of every opportunity to serve in the
World War in 1917-’18. The State Capitol, which was begun in
1866, was completed in 1903. The years 1903, 1904, and 1908
were the flood years. Among the many important governmental
measures are the prohibition and woman suffrage amendments.
During the period since the Civil War Kansas has become a
great and prosperous state.

REFERENCES

Andreas, History of Kansas, Selected Topics.
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Parrish, The Great Plains.
Wright, Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital.
Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties.
Spring, Kansas, chap. IV.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 168, 172-173, 184, 194, 204, 211,
218-222.
Historical Collections, Selected Topics.
McCarter, Price of the Prairie. (A novel.)

QUESTIONS

1. What were the conditions in Kansas at the close of the Civil
War?

2. Give an account of the Indian troubles in Kansas.

3. How did the Homestead Law affect immigration?

4. Give an account of the grasshopper invasion and its effect on
Kansas.

5. What progress was made during the next ten years?

6. What effect did the railroads have on immigration?

7. When was the “boom”? Describe conditions during the boom.
What were some of its causes? What ended it?

8. What was the effect of this boom on Kansas? What have you
learned from talking with persons who lived here in the “boom
days”?

9. Tell something of the “hard times” of the early ’90’s.

10. What part did Kansas take in the Spanish-American War?

11. Give an account of the building of the State Capitol.

12. Give an account of the floods in Kansas.

13. Give an account of the opening of Oklahoma. How did it affect
Kansas?

14. Compare Kansas to-day with Kansas as it was fifty years ago.

15. What part did Kansas take in the World War?

16. What is the prohibition amendment? The woman suffrage
amendment?

CHAPTER XV

THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS

=The Earliest Kansas Farmers.= Agriculture, the leading industry of
our State, was for many years almost the only occupation of our
people. The Indians were the first farmers in Kansas. The Comanches,
in the western part of the State, were roving hunters, but the eastern
Indians had permanent homes and tilled the soil. They were both
hunters and farmers. A government agent in describing their mode of
living says: “They raise annually small crops of corn, beans, and
pumpkins. These they cultivate entirely with the hoe, in the simplest
manner. Their crops are usually planted in April, and receive one
dressing before they leave their villages for the summer hunt in May.”

=Agriculture Taught to the Indians.= When Kansas was made an Indian
country the National Government agreed in the treaties to supply the
Indians with cattle, hogs, and farming implements, and to employ
persons to teach them agriculture. In accordance with this agreement
several government farms were established, and both the government
farmers and the missionaries taught agriculture to the Indians. By the
time Kansas was organized as a Territory, in 1854, there were a number
of farms in the different reservations and at the missions, and the
produce was such as to show that the soil of Kansas is remarkably
fertile.

=Agriculture During Territorial Days.= Most of the early settlers of
Kansas were farmers, but during Territorial days the political and
governmental troubles made much progress in farming impossible. The
terrible season of 1860 made a dreary closing for this period, and
confirmed in the minds of many eastern people the old idea that Kansas
was fit only for Indians, buffaloes, and prairie dogs.

[Illustration: HAND PLANTER.]

=Agriculture During the Civil War.= The year following the drouth
brought a good crop, but it also brought the beginning of the Civil
War which absorbed the energies of the settlers for four years more.
It was not until the close of the war, in 1865, that agriculture can
be said to have had a real beginning in Kansas. But, in spite of the
poverty and hardships of the war years, two things of especial
significance were done that showed the interest of the pioneers in
agriculture. During this period the Agricultural College at Manhattan
was established, and the State Agricultural Society was formed. The
object of the Society was “to promote the improvement of agriculture
and its kindred arts throughout the State of Kansas.” Under its
management a state fair was held at Leavenworth in 1863, and in that
year the Legislature appropriated $1000 for the benefit of the
Society. These events are worthy of note because they showed the
enterprise of the people when their resources were small.

[Illustration: THE “OLD MILL” AT LAWRENCE,
Erected in 1863. This was a gristmill, an octagon shaped,
four-story structure, having a genuine Holland windmill for
motive power. Additional buildings were erected for the
manufacture of wagons and farming implements. The mill was
abandoned many years ago, and in 1905 it burned.]

=Early Farming Implements.= The farming implements of the pioneers
were few and simple. Much of the machinery of to-day had not then been
invented. Because of the cost of transportation, and the lack of money
among the settlers, even the machinery of that day was scarce in
Kansas. The all-important implement was the plow. The pioneer’s first
crop was usually “sod corn.” The field was prepared with a breaking
plow, which threw up the sod in parallel strips from two to five
inches in thickness. Then the farmer, with an ax or a spade and a bag
of seed corn, walked back and forth across the field, prying apart or
gashing the sod at regular intervals and dropping into each opening
three or four grains of corn. Then he waited for the crop. Once the
land was broken, it was, in after years, prepared for the seed with
the stirring plow and the harrow, and planting was done with a hand
planter. Later the corn planter drawn by a team came into use. This
machine required a driver, and another person to work the lever that
dropped the corn. Then came the planter with the checkrower which,
when attached to the planter, made only a driver necessary. During the
last few years the lister has come into very general use.

[Illustration: CORN BINDER.]

The early settlers cultivated their corn with a single-shovel
cultivator drawn by one horse. With this cultivator it was necessary
to make a trip along each side of every row of corn. The double-shovel
cultivator soon came into use, but it, also, was drawn by one horse
and cultivated but one side of the row at a time. This labor was
greatly reduced by the invention of the cultivator drawn by a team and
having shovels for both sides of the corn row. Now cultivators may be
had that till two rows at a time. Formerly the farmer cut all of his
corn by hand with a knife. Now he uses the riding corn binder.

Great as has been the improvement in corn machinery, even greater
changes have come about in the machinery used for the wheat crop. The
earliest harvesting implement used in Kansas was the cradle, a scythe
with long fingers parallel with the blade to catch the grain as it was
cut. The cradler laid the grain in rows. A second man followed with a
rake and gathered the wheat into small piles, which he tied into
bundles, using some of the straw for bands. The next machine was the
reaper, which carried two men, one to drive the team and one to push
off the wheat whenever enough had been cut to make a bundle. The
reaper required four or five binders to follow it. It was soon
improved by being made self-dumping, and later, self-binding.
Inventions and improvements have followed in rapid succession, and
to-day the planting and harvesting of wheat can be done with
remarkable speed and efficiency.

[Illustration: HEADING WHEAT.]

The many wonderful inventions in farm machinery have made possible in
the farming of to-day a great saving of time and labor as compared
with the farming of forty years ago. There are few lines in which
greater progress has been made.

[Illustration: GASOLINE TRACTOR.]

=Agriculture Between 1860 and 1880.= For several years after the Civil
War the population of Kansas increased more rapidly than did the
crops, and the country was kept poor. The destruction of crops by the
grasshoppers in 1874 retarded immigration and left the people
discouraged. Several good crop years followed, however, and confidence
in the agricultural future of Kansas soon returned. By 1880 nearly
9,000,000 acres of land were in cultivation, a third of which was
planted to corn and a fourth to wheat. The next largest acreage was in
oats. A number of other crops were reported, including rye, barley,
buckwheat, sorghum, cotton, hemp, tobacco, broom corn, millet, clover,
and blue grass. At that time not a great deal was known of the soil or
climate of the State, and we find in this list of crops several that
have since been found unprofitable and are no longer raised in any
considerable quantities.

[Illustration: ALFALFA.]

=Agriculture from 1880 to 1887.= The year 1880 found the people of
Kansas full of hope and courage, and from that time until the drouth
of 1887 agriculture developed rapidly. It was a period of new ideas
and new methods. Millions of additional acres were brought into
cultivation. The principal crops, corn, wheat, and oats, were each
greatly increased. Fields of timothy, clover, orchard grass, and blue
grass were planted in the central counties, and even farther west.
Soil that a few years before had been considered unfit for farming was
now producing crops. The State was being rapidly settled, many miles
of railroad were in operation, and the excellent crops did much to
encourage the “boom” of 1885 to 1887.

=Agriculture from 1887 to 1893.= The period of good crops following
the dry season of 1887 lasted for five years, and it was a time of
great activity along many lines of agricultural advancement. By 1890
nearly 16,000,000 acres had been brought under cultivation. This area
was almost double the areas under cultivation ten years earlier.

=Western Kansas.= Before 1890 most of the farming was done in the
eastern and central parts of the State, the western part being
considered poorly adapted to agricultural purposes. During the next
few years, however, it was shown that wheat can be successfully raised
clear to the Colorado line. The sorghum crops also proved to be well
adapted to this section. The soil of western Kansas was found to be
wonderfully fertile, needing only moisture to make it produce
abundantly. A more thorough understanding of soil and climate has
brought better methods of tillage, and this, together with a careful
selection of crops, is making the yield much larger and more certain.

[Illustration: IRRIGATION FROM THE UNDERFLOW.
Upper, water pumped into the reservoir by windmills.
Lower, water pumped into the reservoir by an engine.]

=Irrigation in Western Kansas.= The possibilities of irrigation for
this section of the country have long been given much consideration.
For several years water from the Arkansas River was successfully used.
Colorado, however, in developing irrigation, used so much of the water
from the upper Arkansas that there was not a sufficient amount left
for our State. Investigation resulted in the discovery of an
underground water supply. This water, which is called the underflow,
moves eastward from the Rocky Mountains through strata of gravel and
sand. It offers to a large part of western Kansas a practically
inexhaustible supply of water for irrigation. Wells are bored into
this underflow and the water is pumped for irrigating purposes. Only a
small part of western Kansas is under irrigation as yet, but
experiments for the purpose of finding the best methods of utilizing
the underflow are being carried on by individuals, by experiment
stations, and by the State. Irrigation by pumping is bringing about a
remarkable agricultural advancement in western Kansas.

[Illustration: STACKING ALFALFA.]

=Alfalfa.= About 1890 several new crops came into prominence in
Kansas, the most important of which was alfalfa. Alfalfa is now grown
in every county of Kansas and has become one of our foremost crops.
Because of its long, penetrating roots it can be grown successfully
without irrigation even in most of the drier parts of Kansas. As its
many points of excellence become better known its acreage is
constantly increasing. Kansas produces more alfalfa than any other
state in the Union.

Sweet clover and Soudan grass have increased so much in acreage in
very recent years that they are rapidly becoming important crops in
this state.

[Illustration: Upper, threshing scene in a Kansas wheat field.
Lower, train of fifty cars of threshing machines on the way to
the Kansas wheat fields.]

=The Sorghum Crops.= Another of the new crops was Kafir corn, which
has also proved very valuable. This plant is a variety of sorghum.
Other varieties had been raised in Kansas for many years, especially
the sweet sorghum that could be used for making sugar and molasses.
Broom corn is another sorghum crop that has been grown in Kansas for a
long while and is raised in large quantities in the southwestern part
of the State. In more recent years two more sorghums, milo and
feterita, give promise of becoming valuable forage crops.

[Illustration: THE BEET SUGAR FACTORY AT GARDEN CITY.]

=Sugar Beets.= During the early ’80’s considerable sugar had been made
from sorghum cane, but in 1889 it was, for the first time, made from
beets. For a number of years experiments were made with sugar beets in
different parts of western Kansas. To encourage sugar-beet raising a
bounty was offered by the State, and a good many tons were raised and
shipped to sugar factories in Colorado and Nebraska. In 1906 a large
factory was completed at Garden City, and the raising of sugar beets
has become an important industry in that part of Kansas. Efforts are
now being made to introduce this crop into other parts of the State.

[Illustration: STOCKYARDS AT KANSAS CITY.]

=The Twenty-five Years Following 1893.= Progress was checked in 1893
by the financial panic that extended throughout the country. Values
dropped, and prices were low on everything the farmers had to sell. In
addition to the panic, Kansas suffered a crop failure in most parts of
the State. That was a discouraging period, but within a few years
Kansas had recovered. From that time until the present there has been
a steady rise in all values. Owing largely to the fact that there is
no longer any free land to be taken as homesteads, land prices have
steadily risen. The price of land products has also greatly increased.
In 1893 corn was worth but ten to fifteen cents a bushel and wheat
from thirty to forty cents. A comparison of these with present prices
serves to show how great has been the change.

[Illustration: A KANSAS WHEAT FIELD.]

=Kansas Wheat.= Kansas is now one of the leading agricultural states
of the Union. It produces a greater variety of crops than does almost
any other state, but the principal ones are now, as they have been
from the earliest days, corn and wheat. In recent years alfalfa has
come to be a close third. Wheat is our most noted crop. Kansas is
unsurpassed in the production of this grain. Wheat is grown in every
county in the State, but by far the greatest quantity comes from the
“wheat belt,” which extends across the middle of the State, from north
to south. Most of the Kansas wheat is of the winter varieties commonly
called “Turkey wheats,” first brought here from southern Russia by the
Mennonites in 1873.

[Illustration: KANSAS CORN.]

=The Corn Crop.= Corn was raised here by the Indians, and from the
time of the settlement of the Territory until very recent years it was
the leading crop and the greatest source of Kansas wealth. Since 1913,
however, wheat has been the most valuable crop of the State and corn
has had to take second place. Corn is raised in all parts of the
State, but much the largest portion is produced in the eastern half.
It is on this crop that the great live-stock industries of Kansas most
depend.

=The Live-stock Industry.= The live-stock industry is one of the
important interests of the State. The grain and forage crops, the
large areas of good pasture, the plentiful supply of water, and the
nearness to market, all combine to make Kansas an excellent live-stock
region. The raising and fattening of cattle and hogs constitute the
chief features of this industry, although there are a number of
others, prominent among which is dairying.

[Illustration: EARLY DAY STOCK FARM.]

The early farmers had their herds and flocks, but paid little
attention to quality or breeds. In time it was found that better
grades were more profitable, and the early range cattle and the scrub
stock of the pioneers have disappeared.

[Illustration: PRESENT DAY STOCK FARM.]

[Illustration: THE COWBOY WAS A FAMILIAR FIGURE IN KANSAS FORTY
YEARS AGO.]

When the Union Pacific Railroad was built the cattlemen of Texas began
driving their cattle into Kansas in order to ship them to market. For
many years Abilene was the shipping center. When the Santa Fe Railway
was built, Wichita, being farther south, became the chief shipping
point. As the country became more thickly settled the cattle trade was
pushed farther west. Finally it reached Dodge City which remained the
shipping center for many years. The building of railroads into the
Southwest made it unnecessary for the Texas cattlemen to drive their
stock to a Kansas shipping point, and about 1885 the practice was
abandoned. While the trade flourished, the cowboy, with his boots and
spurs and broad-brimmed hat, was a familiar figure on the plains of
western Kansas; but as the settlers turned the grazing land into farms
the cowboy moved farther west.

[Illustration: IN FULL BLOOM.]

=Horticulture.= Another Kansas industry is horticulture, the
cultivation of fruits. The first orchard in Kansas was planted at
Shawnee Mission in 1837. Very little tree planting was done, however,
until after the Civil War, and even then the Kansas plains were for
many years regarded as unfit for fruit growing. The early crops were
small but of a very fine quality, and Kansas apples won the gold medal
at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. This aroused
much enthusiasm, and during the next few years many thousands of fruit
trees were planted, but most of them proved worthless because the
varieties were not adapted to conditions in this State. Long years of
hard work and patient effort were required to secure the knowledge
necessary to make a successful fruit state of Kansas. To-day there are
many fruits grown here, but it is the Kansas apple that is famous.
Scarcely a farm in the eastern and central parts of the State is
without its orchard, and there are a number of commercial orchards
that are making horticulture an important industry in Kansas.

[Illustration: KANSAS APPLES.]

=Farmers’ Organizations.= The farmers of the State have at different
times, especially in the earlier years, formed a number of
organizations. An early organization was the Order of Patrons of
Husbandry, or the “Grange,” a national movement, introduced into
Kansas in 1872. Its general purpose was the improvement of farm life.
Many granges were organized during the ’70’s. The Farmers’ Cooperative
Association, begun in 1873, and the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit
Association in 1883, had for their general purposes the cooperation of
the farmers in buying and selling and in securing lower freight rates.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE CROPS IN CENTRAL AND WESTERN KANSAS.]

About 1888 the Farmers’ Alliance, already a national organization,
formed many local organizations in Kansas. The Alliance demanded a
number of measures for the betterment of the farmers, including lower
freight and passenger rates, and better mortgage, debtor, and tax
laws. The Farmers’ Alliance was a widespread movement and, for a time,
overshadowed all other farmers’ organizations. In 1890 the People’s
party, or the Populist party,[17] as it came to be called, took over
the political work of the Farmers’ Alliance, and that organization
gradually disappeared. The Farmers’ Educational and Cooperative Union
of Kansas is a more recent organization.

[Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS, 1915――――
ARTHUR CAPPER
HENRY J. ALLEN]

=The State Board of Agriculture.= In 1872 the Agricultural Society,
organized during the Civil War, was changed into the State Board of
Agriculture. For a number of years this Board gave especial attention
to gathering and distributing information concerning the resources of
the State for the purpose of stimulating immigration. Later it began
the work of furnishing to the farmers information concerning methods
of farming best adapted to Kansas conditions. These activities have
been continued, and the Board of Agriculture has been of great
practical value to the State.

[Illustration: UPPER, DEEP SHAFT COAL MINING.
LOWER, SURFACE COAL MINING.]

=Work of the Agricultural College.= The Agricultural College in its
early years laid but little stress on agricultural and industrial
work, but in 1873 its plan of work was changed and it soon began to
fulfill its real mission. A few years later the usefulness of the
College was greatly increased by the establishment of an experiment
station where investigations are carried on in such matters as the
testing of seeds, the introduction of new crops, the rotation of
crops, dairy and animal husbandry, butter and cheese making, orchard
and crop pests, stock foods, and diseases of live stock. Branch
experiment stations have, in later years, been established at Hays,
Garden City, Dodge City, Tribune, and Colby, where problems peculiar
to the western part of the State are studied. The Agricultural College
is doing a great work in gathering information and bringing it to the
people by means of bulletins, lectures, correspondence courses,
demonstration trains, demonstration agents, and farmers’ institutes.
Kansas was one of the first states to hold a Farmers’ Institute in
connection with its Agricultural College. This work was begun in 1869,
and the purpose was then, as it is to-day, to promote the knowledge of
scientific agriculture.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE EARLY FLOURING MILLS.]

=Manufactures Based on Agriculture.= The agricultural resources of
Kansas have led to the development of a number of manufacturing
industries. One of the oldest of these is milling. Among the first
needs of the settlers of the new country was a means of grinding their
corn and wheat into meal and flour for family use. This caused the
building of small gristmills in every community. Most of them were
built along streams and were run by water power, though a few of the
early ones used wind power. In later years steam has come to be
generally used. After the introduction of the hard wheats, the wheat
crop came to be much more certain, the acreage increased, and the
milling industry grew. Kansas flour is now sold in all the important
markets of the world, and Kansas is one of the leading states in the
milling industry.

Meat packing has held first place among the manufacturing industries
of Kansas for a number of years. Kansas City, the second greatest
packing center in the United States, is the chief market for Kansas
live stock, but there are several packing houses in different parts of
the State. Creameries, canning factories, and pickling works represent
other industries that have been developed to make use of our
agricultural products.

=The Mineral Industries.= Although Kansas is not one of the great
mining states, it has a number of valuable mineral resources, the
chief of which are coal, lead, zinc, oil, gas, salt, building stone,
and gypsum. These resources form the basis of an important part of the
industrial life of the State. The coal and gas have made possible a
number of manufacturing industries.

=Coal.= As early as the Territorial period it was known that there
were coal fields in Kansas, and small amounts of coal were mined in
Crawford and Cherokee counties. Immediately after the Civil War the
settlers in the southeastern part of the State gave much attention to
the digging of coal, some of which lay so near the surface that it
could be uncovered with a plow. Within the next few years coal was
found in Osage and Leavenworth counties and in the vicinity of Fort
Scott. These places produced large amounts, but Crawford and Cherokee
counties soon came to be the leading coal districts of the State. At
the present time about nine-tenths of the Kansas output is mined in
these two counties. The importance of the coal fields of Kansas lies
not only in the value of the coal, but in the stimulation of the
growth of manufactures. Many industries can be carried on only by
means of large amounts of fuel to supply power. The development of a
number of such industries in Kansas has been made possible chiefly by
the cheap and abundant supply of coal.

=Lead and Zinc.= Before Kansas was organized as a Territory lead
mining was an important industry in southwest Missouri, but not until
1876 was it discovered that the lead and zinc field extends into the
southeast corner of Kansas. Prospecting began at once and thousands of
people were soon on the ground. Although zinc was found in abundance
with the lead, but little attention was paid to it. Within a few
years, however, it was found that the abundance of coal made the
smelting of zinc profitable, and zinc soon assumed the leading place.
For a number of years much more zinc than lead has been produced. A
large amount of ore from the Missouri mines is shipped to the Kansas
smelters, and the smelting of lead and zinc, but particularly of zinc,
has come to be one of the most important of our mineral industries.
The development of the gas field furnished a cheaper and more abundant
fuel than coal, and much of the smelting was soon being done where gas
could be used. In later years gas is less abundant and there is a
tendency to return to the use of coal.

=Oil and Gas.= Although prospecting had been done in earlier years,
the real development of oil and gas in Kansas began about 1892, with
the discovery of the big Kansas-Oklahoma field. The oil and gas area
is included within an irregular strip, forty to fifty miles wide,
extending from Kansas City southwesterly into Oklahoma. It is
frequently spoken of as the “oil and gas belt.”

By 1900 nearly every town in the gas belt had more gas than it knew
what to do with, and various manufacturing enterprises, such as brick
plants, zinc smelters, glass factories, and Portland cement mills,
were soon attracted to these towns. A little later gas was being
supplied to cities outside of the gas belt. Pipe lines were laid to
Wellington, Wichita, Hutchinson, Topeka, Lawrence, Kansas City,
Leavenworth, Atchison, and many of the towns between. After ten years
of this greatly increased use of gas the supply became less abundant,
and now it is feared that the supply from this field may fail at no
distant date.

[Illustration: OIL WELL, OR “GUSHER.”]

In the earlier years the oil was all carried in tank cars, but a
system of pipe lines for carrying it was soon laid. Many refineries
were soon established. The crude oil is used chiefly for fuel and for
machine oil. In the refineries it is made into benzine, gasoline, and
kerosene. Vaseline and paraffin are among the by-products.

In 1914 oil and gas were discovered in Butler County. Within two years
this field was yielding such large quantities of oil that the total
production of the State was more than doubled. During the next year,
1917, more than three times as much oil was produced as in 1916, and
Kansas had become the greatest oil-producing state in the Union. The
output of the Butler County field is still increasing, and its
remarkable yield will probably continue for several years.

[Illustration: SALT PLANT AT HUTCHINSON.]

=Salt.= Salt is found in Kansas as a brine in the salt marshes, and as
beds of rock salt lying beneath the surface. The marshes were known to
the early hunters and settlers, and through the early years of
statehood a little salt was manufactured from this brine. In the late
’80’s the rock salt beds were discovered and the salt-making industry
was rapidly developed. The center of the salt industry is now, as it
has been from the beginning, at Hutchinson. Salt is found in a large
part of Kansas, but the most valuable area extends across the middle
of the State from north to south. This great bed of salt is in most
places from two hundred and fifty to four hundred feet thick. Some
salt is made by crushing the rock salt, but the greater portion is
made by the evaporation of brines. The brines are obtained by forcing
a stream of water through rock salt.

=Brick.= Brickmaking in Kansas dates from the early years. Brick clays
are found in many parts of the State, but the industry is carried on
chiefly in the eastern part of the State, especially in the gas belt,
because of the fuel supply.

=Gypsum.= Gypsum beds are found in the central part of Kansas,
especially around Blue Rapids and in Saline, Dickinson, and Barber
counties. Plaster of Paris, used chiefly for making plaster for
covering wall surfaces, is made from gypsum.

[Illustration: STONE QUARRY.]

=Portland Cement.= Portland cement is a comparatively new product in
the United States. The development of this industry in Kansas
commenced about 1900. Portland cement is made from certain mixtures of
rock substances, put through processes of grinding and heating. Its
chief use is in making concrete, which is widely used for construction
work. There are a number of Portland cement mills in the gas belt.

=Glass.= Gas is the most satisfactory fuel for glassmaking, and since
the gas field in Kansas was opened a number of glass factories have
been established in the State. Sand of a good quality for making glass
has also been found in southeastern Kansas.

=Agriculture the Basis of Material Progress.= At present there are
numbers of factories in Kansas, engaged in many different lines of
work. Our industries are constantly growing in number and importance,
and it takes all of them to make a well-rounded state, but it is the
agricultural industries that form the basis of our prosperity. On
these we must depend, and the history of agriculture in Kansas is,
largely, the history of our material progress.

SUMMARY

The principal agricultural industries of the State are
farming, stock raising and horticulture. The principal
mineral industries are concerned with coal, lead, zinc, oil,
gas, salt, building stone, and gypsum. The leading
manufacturing industries are concerned largely with
agricultural and mineral products, and are carried on most
extensively in the coal and gas regions.

Drouths, which occur in all agricultural regions, have been
most severe in Kansas in the following years: 1860, 1869,
1874, 1887, 1893, 1913. These years have marked into periods
what has otherwise been a steady progress in agriculture.

The Agricultural Society, organized during the Civil War,
was, in 1872, changed into the State Board of Agriculture.
The Agricultural College, established during the Civil War,
began active work along agricultural lines in 1873. There
have been a number of organizations of farmers, most of them
between 1870 and 1890.

Advancement in agriculture has been made in area under
cultivation, selection of crops, improvements in machinery,
better methods of tillage, and irrigation. The leading crops
are now corn, wheat, and alfalfa.

REFERENCES

Bulletins and Reports of the State Board of Agriculture.
Bulletins and Reports of the Agricultural College.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 252-265.
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Old Newspaper Files.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, pp. 33, 94, 480; vol. XI,
pp. 81-211; vol. XII, p. 60.
Walters, History of the Agricultural College.
Tuttle, History of Kansas.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 232-234, 292-295.
Publications of the University Geological Survey of Kansas.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the leading industry of Kansas?

2. Discuss the Indians as farmers.

3. What agricultural progress was made during the Territorial
period? During the Civil War?

4. When and why was the Agricultural Society formed? What has
taken its place? Tell something of the work of the new
organization.

5. Describe the early farm implements and methods of farming.
What have you learned of these things from old settlers?

6. What were the agricultural conditions in Kansas in 1880?
Between 1880 and 1887?

7. What connection does the date 1887 have with the agricultural
history of the State? What conditions followed this date?

8. What are the soil and climate conditions of western Kansas?
Give an account of irrigation in that section.

9. Name new crops that came into prominence about 1890, and tell
something of each.

10. What conditions prevailed in Kansas in the early ’90’s?
During the period that followed?

11. Discuss Kansas wheat; Kansas corn.

12. Discuss the live-stock industry in Kansas.

13. Give an account of the cattle trade of earlier days.

14. What progress has horticulture made in Kansas?

15. What farmers’ organizations have been formed? For what
purpose?

16. Discuss the relation of the Agricultural College to the
farmers.

17. Discuss the milling industry of our State. The meat-packing
industry.

18. Name the mineral resources of Kansas. Discuss each.

19. What manufacturing industries have grown from the mineral
resources?

20. What industries are carried on in your community? Are any
others being considered?

CHAPTER XVI

TRANSPORTATION IN KANSAS

=The Beginning of Railroads in the United States.= About the time
Kansas was becoming the highway for the Santa Fe trade, experiments
were being made in England with a new invention, the steam locomotive.
By 1825 a fair degree of success had been attained. During the next
half dozen years experiments were carried on in the United States, and
by 1831 several short railroad lines were in use. By 1850 one could
travel by rail between the chief cities of the East and as far west as
St. Louis, but a decade more passed before any railroads were built in
Kansas.

=Kansas Settlers Desire Railroads.= The agitation for railroads in
this part of the country began even before the organization of the
Kansas Territory. The settlers knew the difficulty of building up the
State without the aid of the railway. They had crept across the
prairies in their canvas-covered wagons, or had toiled up the shallow,
sluggish waterways, and they foresaw that they would be unable to
market their crops or their stock because of the lack of adequate
means of transportation. Their great desire for railroads is made
evident by the large number of railway charters granted to different
companies by the Territorial Legislatures. On account of the immense
cost of railroad construction, however, work was slow to begin.

=Early Stage Lines.= While the West was waiting for its railroads a
number of stage routes for carrying mail and passengers were
established. The first one was over the Santa Fe Trail. Stages made
the trip from Kansas City to Santa Fe in about fifteen days. For many
years stage lines were operated between the different towns of the
Territory. Later, lines were established to Denver, to Salt Lake, and
even to San Francisco.

[Illustration: STAGE COACH.]

=The Pony Express, 1859-’61.= The trip to San Francisco, a distance of
about 2000 miles, occupied nearly a month, and the people of
California were very anxious that a quicker way of getting their mails
be devised. To meet this demand the Pony Express was established in
1859. The line extended from St. Joseph to San Francisco, a long,
lonely way across plains and deserts and over mountains, sometimes in
a straight line but often winding through dark cañons or along the
edge of mountain precipices. The Pony Express required one hundred and
ninety stations, nearly five hundred horses, and eighty riders. The
stations averaged about ten miles apart. The horses were selected for
their speed and endurance, and the distance from one station to
another was covered in the shortest possible time. At each station a
fresh horse was waiting, and the only delay was in changing the mail
pouch from one horse to another. The pouch contained only letters, and
they were written on the thinnest of paper to avoid surplus weight.
Five dollars was charged for the carrying of each letter. The first
trip was made in ten days, the shortest one in seven days and
seventeen hours. Many stories of adventure are related of the two
years in which the Pony Express was in operation. In 1861 a telegraph
line was constructed across the continent, which made it possible to
flash news from ocean to ocean in a few seconds, and the Pony Express
went out of existence.

=The First Railroad in Kansas, 1860.= By this time railroad building
had begun in Kansas. The first road was laid in the spring of 1860,
while Kansas was still a Territory, between Elwood, opposite St.
Joseph, Missouri, and Marysville. When the first five miles of rail
had been laid, a little old locomotive that had done service on many
eastern roads was brought into the State and a celebration was held in
honor of the first trip. Though the engine was old and drew only a few
flat cars over the rough and crooked track, it was an important event,
for it marked the beginning of railroad building in Kansas.

=The Union Pacific Railroad, 1862-’69.= There had long been talk of a
railroad to the Pacific coast, and in 1862, while the Civil War was
still in progress, Congress granted a charter for such a line. This
was the beginning of the Union Pacific Railroad. It was to be built as
soon as possible by working from both ends. From the east the road was
to pass through Nebraska and on toward Salt Lake, and from the west it
was to be built from San Francisco eastward until the two lines met.
This road did not pass through Kansas, but while it was being
constructed a line that later became a part of the Union Pacific[18]
system was built from Kansas City westward, along the Kansas River,
through Manhattan, Junction City, and Salina, and on west through
Denver to join the main line at Cheyenne.[19]

[Illustration: THE INDIAN, THE SOLDIER, AND THE BUILDER.]

During the seven years spent in building this railroad many
difficulties were met and conquered. Most of the country along the
line was without timber, fuel, or any of the necessary supplies. The
materials for construction were brought up the Missouri River by
steamboat to Kansas City. From this point they were hauled by train
over the new railroad as far as it was completed. The Indians opposed
the work because it meant the westward movement of civilization and
the settling of their hunting grounds. They were a constant source of
danger to the whole frontier, but especially to the railroad builders.
The men usually went to their work armed, and stacked their guns ready
for instant use. Sometimes it was even necessary to guard the men with
troops while they worked. History gives many accounts of Indian
massacres committed along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. The
entire line was finished in 1869.

[Illustration: EARLY DAYS ON THE UNION PACIFIC.]

=The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, Completed in 1872.= In the meantime
other lines had been chartered through Kansas, the principal one being
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. This railroad was begun at Topeka in
1868 and completed to the western boundary of the State in a little
more than four years. The line between Topeka and Atchison was also
completed within this period. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe has
since been extended westward to the coast and eastward to Chicago, and
many branches have been added. This railroad follows the general
direction of the Santa Fe Trail across the eastern half of the State.
Near Great Bend the track runs on the exact course of the old highway,
and from this point on through the rest of the State they are never
far apart and often coincide. When, in 1872, the “Santa Fe,” as it is
generally called, was completed through Kansas, the last caravan of
wagons had wound its way over the old Trail. The trains of cars
rushing over the new iron trail marked another advance in the westward
march of civilization.

[Illustration: THE “IRON TRAIL” ACROSS THE PRAIRIES.]

=Railroad Companies Receive Land Grants.= The immense cost of railroad
construction, the sparsely settled country, and the limited amount of
traffic, made the early building of railroads a risky undertaking. But
railroads were needed in order to unite the West to the East as well
as for the development of the new country, and in order to encourage
their building Congress adopted the policy of making liberal land
grants to railroad companies. The Union Pacific through Kansas was
given land amounting to a strip ten miles wide on each side of its
line. Several other companies, including the Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe, received grants amounting to five miles on each side. This policy
brought about the rapid building of railroads, but when the State
became fairly well supplied the land grants were discontinued. Much of
the land was later forfeited by the companies through failure to meet
the conditions of their grants.

=Railroad Companies Interested in Settlement.= When the early
railroads were first built across Kansas there were but few people
living in the western part of the State. Since population was
necessary to the prosperity of the railroad companies, these companies
gave much attention to the matter of increasing the settlements along
their lines. They sent land agents throughout the United States and
Europe, they invited people of prominence to join excursions through
Kansas, and they filled the newspapers with descriptions of the great
West. Kansas was widely and favorably advertised. Interest was
everywhere aroused and many people were attracted to the State.

=Mennonite Settlements.= The railroad companies succeeded in planting
a number of colonies of foreigners on their lands. Among them were the
settlements of Mennonites in Reno, Harvey, Marion, and McPherson
counties. These people came from Russia for religious freedom. “They
came simultaneously with the grasshoppers but outstayed them.” The
first party, in 1874, numbered 1900 people, and many more followed
rapidly until there are now many thousands of these people in Kansas.
They brought a considerable amount of money with them and were able to
purchase their land. The Mennonites were farmers, a thrifty,
industrious people who have contributed much toward making Kansas a
great agricultural State.

=Swedish Settlements.= Swedes had been coming to Kansas since
Territorial days. In 1871 the Union Pacific sold a large tract of land
in Saline County for a Swedish settlement. This settlement has
increased and others have been formed until there are now many people
of this nationality in Kansas. Lindsborg, almost entirely Swedish, is
their religious and social center. It is noted for its school of
music. Most of these people came in poverty, but they have converted
the bare prairies into fine agricultural districts and have become
prosperous citizens. They are an industrious, intelligent,
progressive, and law-abiding people.

Other colonies have settled in various parts of the State; among
these, German-Russians in Russell, Rush, and Ellis counties, Scotch in
Republic County, English in Clay County, and Bohemians in Ellsworth
County. There are, at present, people of many nationalities in Kansas.

=Relation of Railroads to State’s Industries.= Not only did the early
building of railroads do much to bring about the rapid settlement of
Kansas, but it hastened the development of practically all of the
State’s industries. For instance, the railroads have made it possible
for the farmer to market his live stock and his crops. Out of these
better market facilities have grown the great meat-packing centers and
the flouring mills. On the other hand, the growth of settlements and
industries has brought prosperity to the railroads and they have
increased in wealth, equipment, and mileage. Thus the relation between
the railroads and the State’s progress is very close.

There are at present nearly 10,000 miles of railroad in Kansas, most
of it belonging to the four great companies, the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific.

[Illustration: A MODERN LOCOMOTIVE AND ONE OF 1880.]

=Railroad Regulation.= There has been but little railroad building in
Kansas for a number of years for the State is now fairly well
supplied. Almost every county now has one or more railroads. In the
earlier years the important thing was to get the railroads. Having
secured them, the matter of chief concern has been to regulate them.
During the late ’70’s much dissatisfaction arose because railroad
rates were high, and several attempts were made to place the matter of
rate regulation under the control of the State. In 1883 a law was
passed creating a Railroad Commission of three members. This
Commission was given a great deal of power, especially in regard to
revising and establishing rates, and in adjusting disputes between the
railroads and their patrons. Within a few years, through the efforts
of the Commission together with the increase in business resulting
from a growing population, rates were reduced almost half. Since its
work proved to be of great service to the people the Commission was
continued. In 1911 the Railroad Commission became the Public Utilities
Commission, which was given control over all such corporations as
railroads, electric lines, and telegraph and telephone systems, in
matters that are of interest only to this particular State. In matters
that concern more than one state the Interstate Commerce Commission
may act.

When the United States entered the World War it became evident that
one of the big problems to be met was that of transportation, within
our own country, of men and supplies. The solution decided upon was
that of government control of the railroads, which was secured by
placing a director-general in charge of all the railroads of the
United States. It was provided that this control might be continued
for a period of twenty-one months after the close of the war.

=Interurban Lines.= Within recent years our means of transportation
have been increased by the building of electric railway lines. They
usually extend from one city to another, and are therefore called
interurban lines. Most of those already built are in the southeastern
part of the State. Plans were under way for a number of additional
lines, but the coming of the War checked practically all of this work.
The return of normal conditions will doubtless see a large increase in
interurban mileage.

=Road Improvement.= The building of railroads did not make wagon roads
less important, but more so, for there must be plenty of good roads if
the people are to make full use of the railroads. The development of
roads in this State has been going forward since the earliest days.
Time, money, and effort are required to build roads in a new country,
and during the years that Kansas has been engaged in this great task
many different plans have been tried out and many road laws have been
passed from time to time, but it was not until after Congress passed
an act providing federal aid in road making that a unified plan for
the whole State became a fact. This act was passed in 1916, and Kansas
accepted its provisions in 1917. Since that time remarkable progress
has been made. A system of State highways forming a network over the
entire State has been selected, thousands of miles of which are
“federal-aid roads”; a complete system of connecting county roads has
been designated; information has been compiled and distributed
concerning the making of different kinds of roads, as earth, oiled
earth, gravel, water-bound macadam, bituminous macadam, asphaltic
concrete, concrete, and brick; bridge and culvert building have been
standardized; and many miles of hard-surfaced roads have already been
built or are in process of construction. Road building in Kansas is
now progressing at a rate far beyond that of any time in the past.

=Motor Truck Service.= Much of the attention now being given to road
improvement has been brought about by the rapidly increasing use of
the automobile. During the earlier years of the automobile it was used
chiefly for the transportation of passengers, but the development of
the motor truck is making it an important factor in freight
transportation. Many lines of motor truck service already have been
established in the State, but on account of the uncertain condition of
most of the roads the service is necessarily irregular. With the
building of hard-surfaced roads the motor truck will no doubt soon
become a fully established part of our transportation system.

SUMMARY

Railroad construction was begun in the United States about
1830. By 1850 railroads reached as far west as St. Louis.
Many stage lines were established in early Kansas. The first
railroad was built in Kansas in 1860; the line extended from
Elwood to Marysville. The Union Pacific was built through
Kansas between 1862 and 1869. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa
Fe Railway was completed in 1872. In the meantime a number
of other roads were built. The railroads received large
grants of land, which they sold to settlers, thereby raising
money and increasing business. They advertised Kansas
widely. The people soon found it necessary to regulate the
railroads, and created for this purpose the Railroad
Commission, now the Public Utilities Commission. Besides the
various railroad systems of the State, there are many
interurban lines and a rapidly growing motor truck service.
Great progress in road improvement is being made.

REFERENCES

Arnold, Civics and Citizenship, pp. 97-108.
Maps and Folders, published by the railroad companies.
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II, pp. 533-548.
Elson, History of the United States, pp. 475, 618, 818.
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 168-170, 184-186, 191-194.
Historical Collections, vol. VIII, p. 384; vol. XI, p. 529; vol.
XII, pp. 37, 47, 383; vol. IX, p. 467; vol. VI, p. 357.
Reports of Interstate Commerce Commission and Public Utilities
Commission.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 241-252.
Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail.
Root and Connelley, The Overland Stage Route to California.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 306-313.

QUESTIONS

1. Give an account of the beginning of railway transportation in
the United States. What were the conditions by 1850?

2. What were the early methods of travel in Kansas?

3. Why were the early settlers anxious for railroads? What did
they do to secure railroads?

4. Discuss the stage lines; the Pony Express.

5. When and where was the first railroad built in Kansas?

6. Tell something of the building of the main line of the Union
Pacific.

7. Give an account of the building of the Union Pacific through
Kansas. What were some of the difficulties that had to be
overcome?

8. When was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe built? Give its
route.

9. Name other railroads in Kansas.

10. Why were land grants made to the railroad companies? How did
the railroad companies use this land?

11. Why did the railroad companies advertise Kansas? What was the
effect on the State?

12. Locate settlements of foreigners in Kansas.

13. Show why there is a close relation between the people and the
railroads.

14. Why has regulation of the railroads been found necessary? How
has it been accomplished?

15. What is, approximately, the railroad mileage of the State?

16. What lines of railroad in your community?

17. Are there any interurban lines near you? Are any such lines
being discussed?

18. What motor truck service is being carried on in your
community?

19. Locate the state highways and the county roads of your
county.

20. Describe recent improvement of roads in your community.

CHAPTER XVII

EDUCATION IN KANSAS

=The First Schools in Kansas.= The first schools in Kansas were the
mission schools for the Indians. When Kansas was organized as a
Territory and the white settlers began to make their homes here, the
education of their children became one of their first interests. In
the summer of 1855 the first Territorial Legislature passed a law
providing for the establishment of common schools, and thus laid the
foundation for our public school system.

=Early Territorial Schools.= In January of 1855, when the town of
Lawrence was only six months old, a school was opened in the back of
Dr. Charles Robinson’s office. A term of school was held in Lawrence
every winter thereafter. Other towns also maintained schools, as did a
few of the country communities, but the settlers’ claims were so
widely scattered and the dangers during the days of raids and warfare
were so great that country schools were almost an impossibility during
the first few years.

=Subscription Schools.= Many of the earlier schools were “subscription
schools,” which means that they were not public schools supported by a
tax levy, but that the teacher’s pay came from a tuition charged each
pupil who attended.

=Beginning of Our School System.= By 1859, when Territorial conditions
had become more settled, the Legislature turned its attention to the
matter of education and passed a set of school laws that has served
ever since as the basis of our system of education. While Kansas was
still a Territory, a few districts were organized and schoolhouses
built, and the minimum school term was made three months.

[Illustration: SOD SCHOOLHOUSE.]

=Schools After the Civil War.= Little educational progress was made
during the Civil War, but when peace had come to Kansas and the people
could turn their minds to the needs of their homes and communities,
schoolhouses built of logs or sod sprang up everywhere, for the
pioneers had brought with them a desire to educate their children.
Sometimes the settlers did not even wait to organize their district,
but gathered together and began work on their schoolhouse. Where there
was a timber supply they made their buildings of logs. On the prairie
they built of sod. With the breaking plow they sliced out long pieces
of sod from two to four inches thick and twelve to fourteen inches
wide, and these, mortared with soft mud, were used like brick to build
the walls. The roof was sometimes of lumber, but often the sod was
laid over a framework of brush and poles. Whether the building was of
logs or of sod, the floor was usually of dirt sprinkled and packed
until it was hard and smooth. As the country grew in population and
resources these buildings were replaced by others made of lumber,
brick, or stone, but the little log and sod schoolhouses served the
pioneers well. They were used not only for school purposes, but for
religious services and for social gatherings, spelling schools,
singing schools, and literary societies. The schoolhouses were the
social centers in early Kansas.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF SOD SCHOOLHOUSE.]

=The Work of the Pioneer Schools.= Although the minimum term was three
months, it was usually made a little longer for the benefit of the
smaller children. As a rule the older boys and girls went to school
only during the winter months when they could be spared from the
farms. The work in the schools in those days consisted chiefly of the
three R’s, “readin’, ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic.” In most cases, the
pupils started each year at the beginning of their books and worked as
far as they could. This was continued winter after winter until the
girls and boys were eighteen to twenty-one years of age, or even
older. There was no such thing as graduating from the country schools;
the pupils attended until they were ready to quit. Since there were
almost no high schools in the State, few of the children received more
than a common school education, and most of the teachers had no more
than that.

[Illustration: A PRESENT DAY RURAL SCHOOL.]

=Changes in the District Schools.= Conditions are quite different in
the country schools to-day. Many of them have terms of eight months, a
few have nine months, while seven months is the shortest term
permitted by the State. The truancy law requires attendance during the
full term, whatever its length. The sod and log schoolhouses of
pioneer days were, in time, replaced by neat little box-like buildings
usually constructed of wood, though occasionally of brick or stone,
and these in turn are now rapidly disappearing and their places are
being taken by buildings that are larger, more beautiful, more
comfortable, and far better adapted to educational needs. The
qualifications of teachers have been raised. In earlier days, when
there were but few high schools, many teachers had no education beyond
what they had obtained in the country schools, but to-day ninety per
cent of the rural teachers of the State are high-school graduates, and
this per cent is steadily increasing. The work of the rural schools
has expanded far beyond the “three R’s.” In addition to the regular
work it now includes as much as time will permit of such subjects as
music, manual training, agriculture, and household arts. The rural
schools have been receiving a great deal of attention in recent years
and are very rapidly being improved. Several hundred of them have
already met the requirements laid down by the State for a “standard”
school, and a few for a “superior” school, and these lists are
constantly growing.

[Illustration: A CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL.]

[Illustration: A HIGH-SCHOOL CLASS IN DOMESTIC SCIENCE.]

[Illustration: A HIGH-SCHOOL CLASS IN MANUAL TRAINING.]

=Consolidated Schools.= Consolidation is generally looked upon as a
method of bettering conditions in the rural schools. A consolidated
district is one formed by the union of several districts. The little
district schoolhouses are replaced by a larger building, usually
centrally located, to which the children are conveyed in wagons
provided for that purpose. With its larger valuation the consolidated
district can have plenty of teachers and equipment and can offer a
greater variety of subjects. There are a number of consolidated
schools in the State now, and the plan is being considered in many
communities. The good roads movement will no doubt do much to
encourage consolidation.

[Illustration: A COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL.]

=Growth of the High School.= A number of years passed before there
were many high schools in Kansas. Four schools constituted the list of
accredited high schools of the State as published in 1876. By 1886 the
number had grown to thirty-six, and by 1896 it had reached
seventy-seven. From that time on the number increased very rapidly
until in 1918 there were six hundred thirty accredited high schools in
the State, one hundred twenty-one of which were rural high schools.
Until about 1905 the standard for an accredited high school was a
course of only three years. Since that time it has been four years. In
the early years the real purpose of the high school was considered to
be that of preparing the pupils for college, and the courses of study
included only such subjects as were suited to that purpose. The
present idea is that this is only one of the purposes of the high
school, the other being that of supplying to the great mass of pupils,
who will never go to college, the best possible preparation for
living. To accomplish this latter purpose courses of study have been
broadened to include such work as music, manual training, agriculture,
commercial work, household arts, teacher training, and industrial
training. Until very recent years high schools were established only
in towns and cities, but now they are to be found in consolidated
districts, and in rural districts, sometimes in small towns in those
districts and sometimes in communities that are entirely rural. There
is not now a county in the State that is without a four-year
accredited high school.

[Illustration: FORT HAYS KANSAS NORMAL SCHOOL.]

[Illustration: TWO-TEACHER RURAL SCHOOL.]

[Illustration: KANSAS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, EMPORIA.]

=Institutions of Higher Learning.= The deep interest of the Kansas
settlers in matters of education is nowhere more apparent than in
their early establishment of institutions of higher learning. In the
first Constitution, made in 1855, one reads, “The General Assembly may
take measures for the establishment of a university”; and again,
“Provisions may be made by law for the support of normal schools.”
These matters were not lost sight of, and almost immediately after the
admission of Kansas as a state this ambition found expression in the
establishment of the Normal School, the Agricultural College, and the
University.

[Illustration: RURAL HIGH SCHOOL.]

=The Normal Schools.= The State Normal School at Emporia opened in
1865 with eighteen students enrolled. It used the upper floor of the
new schoolhouse that had just been built for Emporia which was then
but a small town. There was no furniture, and the equipment consisted
of a Bible and a dictionary. Seats were borrowed from a neighboring
church. But the Normal soon had a building of its own. In later years
this has been three times replaced by a larger and better one and many
new buildings have been added.

[Illustration: MANUAL TRAINING NORMAL SCHOOL, PITTSBURG.]

The Normal School is based on the principle that it is not only
necessary to know what to teach but how to teach; that there are new
discoveries and advances in methods of teaching as there are in other
lines, such as medicine or farming. The purpose of the Normal School
is to train teachers.

[Illustration: SCHOOLHOUSE USED AS A SOCIAL CENTER.]

When our State Normal School was established there were not more than
a dozen other such schools in the United States and none that prepared
teachers for high-school positions. To-day there are many normal
schools, but none larger than ours or more amply equipped to prepare
teachers for all lines of teaching. The course of study, reaching from
the kindergarten to the completion of a college course, places our
State Normal School in the front rank of institutions of its kind.

[Illustration: KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MANHATTAN.]

In 1901 the Western Branch State Normal School was established at
Hays, and in 1903 another branch, the Manual Training Normal School,
was opened at Pittsburg. Each of these has since been made an
independent school. The one at Hays is now known as the Fort Hays
Kansas Normal School.

=The Agricultural College.= In 1862 Congress passed an act providing
for land grants to states for the purpose of establishing colleges of
agriculture and mechanic arts. Kansas was among the first states to
accept the endowment, and the next year Bluemont Central College, a
Methodist school at Manhattan, was given to the State and made the
State Agricultural College. During the first ten years the growth of
the Agricultural College was very slow. This was chiefly due to the
fact that industrial education was something new and did not receive
much attention. The College gave only a little work in agriculture or
manual training, and what was given was merely supplementary. It was
doing little to educate toward the farm or the workshop. In 1873 the
school was reorganized. Farmers began to be interested in it and to
discuss its possibilities. Such subjects as Latin and Greek were
dropped and agriculture, home economics, and mechanic arts were
emphasized. Workshops, print shops, kitchen and sewing rooms,
agricultural implements, and live stock, were provided. This was a
very advanced step at that time and it aroused some opposition. It was
called the “new-fangled” education, and farmers who read and studied
methods of farming were often sneered at as “book farmers.” But in
time people began to view these things in a different light. It has
now come to be generally recognized that successful farming requires a
broader and more varied knowledge than almost any other business, and
that in an agricultural state like ours nothing is more important than
the training of its citizens for home and farm life. The Agricultural
College now occupies the position of leadership in the agricultural
and industrial interests of the State, and is one of the largest
agricultural colleges in the United States.

[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE.]

=The University.= The University of Kansas was established by an act
of the Legislature of 1864, and its object, as given by this act, is
to “provide the inhabitants of the State with means of acquiring a
thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science, and
the arts.” The university idea is hundreds of years old, and so there
was nothing new in the thought of a university in Kansas. The
University of Kansas was built on the flat-topped hill in Lawrence
where the first party of free-state settlers pitched their tents. It
was opened in 1866 with forty students and three professors. To-day
there are twenty great buildings on Mount Oread. The central
department of the University is the college, which provides a liberal
education in languages, sciences, mathematics, history, and kindred
subjects. Besides the college there are schools of engineering, of
fine arts, of law, of pharmacy, of medicine, and of education. Ours
now ranks high among the universities of the United States.

=Control of State Schools.= Altogether, the University, the
Agricultural College, and the Normal Schools employ about seven
hundred instructors and enroll between eight and nine thousand
students each year. The total annual cost to the people of Kansas is
nearly two million dollars. These schools, together with the School
for the Blind at Kansas City, and the School for the Deaf at Olathe,
were, in 1913, placed under the management of a board of three members
called the Board of Administration. In 1917 the Board of
Administration was reorganized and the penal and the charitable
institutions of the State were placed under its control.

=Denominational Colleges.= In addition to the State institutions
Kansas has more than thirty denominational colleges. A few of the
largest of these are Baker University at Baldwin, Washburn College at
Topeka, Ottawa University at Ottawa, Friends University at Wichita,
the Southwestern University at Winfield, and the College of Emporia.
There are also a number of business colleges and a few independent
schools.

=Other Provisions for Education.= Besides all the schools where the
people of Kansas may obtain an education, every effort is being made
to provide other educational opportunities by means of extension work,
public and traveling libraries, and night schools. The State Normal
School, the Agricultural College, and the University all do extension
work, which means that they offer correspondence courses, send out
lecturers, and in various other ways carry their work to those who can
not attend the schools. Many communities maintain free public
libraries and the State maintains a traveling library.[20] Night
schools are now provided in several of our larger cities. An education
is now possible to any one who really wants it.

All of this has been brought about within little more than a half
century, and though there is much yet to be done the people of Kansas
have every reason to be proud of what they have accomplished in the
interests of education.

SUMMARY

Education in Kansas began with the mission schools and was
one of the first interests in Territorial days. There were
many subscription schools before district schools were
organized. The organization of districts began in the
Territorial period and kept pace with settlement. The
University, the Normal School and the Agricultural College
were established during the Civil War. Since that time many
denominational colleges have been established, the high
school has been developed, and many other means of education
have been provided. Great educational progress has been
made.

REFERENCES

Prentis, History of Kansas, chap. XXXV.
Historical Collections, vol. VI, pp. 70, 114; vol. VII, pp. 167,
502; vol. XI, p. 424; vol. XII, pp. 69, 77, 195.
Catalogues of the State Schools.
Reports of State Department of Education.
Statutes of Kansas.
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Andreas, History of Kansas, General and County Histories.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 319-325.

QUESTIONS

1. What were the mission schools?

2. When did the settlers become interested in education?

3. What was done in education during the Territorial period?

4. What were subscription schools?

5. Describe the early schoolhouses. Compare them with the
buildings of to-day.

6. How did work in the early schools differ from work in the
schools of to-day?

7. Give the history of the growth of the high school.

8. Give an account of the establishment of the State Normal
School; its growth; its purpose. What other normal schools do
we now have?

9. When and where was the Agricultural College established? Give
an account of its growth; its work to-day.

10. What is the purpose of a university? When and where was the
University of Kansas established?

11. What is the present enrollment and cost of the State schools?

12. What is a denominational college? Name some of the most
important of the denominational colleges in Kansas.

13. What other opportunities for education have been provided?

CHAPTER XVIII

KANSAS MEMORIALS

=Significance of Kansas History.= Kansas is a comparatively new State.
Nearly all of its history has been made within little more than a
century, and most of it within the sixty years of its period of
settlement. Few states, however, have had a more eventful history.
From its beginning Kansas has been a place of action. The pages of its
history are filled with wars and battles, with stirring adventure, and
with deeds of courage and daring. Nearly every part of the State has
its places of historic interest, and the names of men and women who
should be honored for good and brave deeds would make a long list.

The people of Kansas are proud of the history of their State and
desire to preserve it. To that end they have taken steps to save a
number of the old landmarks, they have built many monuments, and have
gathered and kept many records of the past.

[Illustration: Bust of Eugene Ware

“Of all the states, but three will live in story;
Old Massachusetts with her Plymouth Rock,
And Old Virginia with her noble stock,
And Sunny Kansas with her woes and glory.”
――EUGENE F. WARE.]

=Pawnee Rock.= One of the early landmarks was Pawnee Rock on the old
Santa Fe Trail, in what is now Barton County. This giant rock standing
on the level plain was a noted spot, for the Trail ran near its base,
and while it provided a place of rest and safety for many a weary
traveler, it also afforded a retreat from which the Indians could dash
down upon the traders. In later years much of the rock was torn away
for building purposes and this historic old landmark was rapidly
disappearing. The Woman’s Kansas Day Club resolved to save this
historic spot, and secured a deed for the Rock and five acres of
ground surrounding it. On Kansas Day, 1909, the women presented this
deed to the State. The transfer was made with the condition that the
State spend $3000 for improvements. This was done and the preservation
of Pawnee Rock is now assured.

[Illustration: PRESENT VIEW OF PAWNEE ROCK.]

=The Pike Memorial.= The exact site of the Pawnee Indian village
visited by Lieutenant Pike in 1806 was not known with certainty for
many years, but was finally found to be in Republic County. It was
located through the discovery of rows of circular ridges supposed to
have been the embankments of the Indian lodges.[21] An iron fence now
incloses about six acres of the ground, on which the rings are still
plainly visible, and a granite shaft stands where the Stars and
Stripes first floated over Kansas. The monument bears the inscription:
“Erected by the State of Kansas, 1901, to mark the site of the Pawnee
Republic where Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike caused the Spanish flag to
be lowered and the flag of the United States to be raised, September
29, 1806.”

[Illustration: WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES FIRST FLOATED OVER
KANSAS.]

=Marking of the Santa Fe Trail.= The Santa Fe Trail, which was
associated with most of the early history of Kansas, was known
throughout the country, but with the settlement of the State the old
highway was growing dim; the ruts were filling in, grass was covering
the broad track, and with the passing of those who knew it in the old
days the true route was in danger of being forgotten. To prevent this,
the Daughters of the American Revolution began, in the opening years
of the present century, to agitate the question of marking the line of
the Trail through the State. In 1905 the Legislature appropriated
$1000 “for procuring suitable monuments for this purpose.” Kansas Day
of 1906 was designated “Trail Day” in the public schools, and the
children were invited to contribute a penny each toward the fund. They
gave $584.40. Eighty-nine markers were purchased. Various local
organizations added nine more, making a total of ninety-eight markers.
They were placed along the Trail from the eastern to the western end
of the State. They bear the inscription, “Santa Fe Trail 1822-1872.
Marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the State of
Kansas, 1906.” A few of the markers bear special inscriptions in
addition to this. The one at Council Grove has on the other side, “On
this spot, August 10, 1825, the treaty was made with the Osage Indians
for the right of way of the Santa Fe Trail.”

[Illustration: SANTA FE TRAIL MARKER, WITH LOCAL INSCRIPTION.]

[Illustration: SANTA FE TRAIL MARKER.]

=Pawnee Capitol.= The old stone building erected at Pawnee for the
capitol of Kansas still stands on the Fort Riley Reservation. In 1907
a subscription fund was raised and the money used to repair and
restore the old building so that it will stand for many years as a
relic of our early history.

[Illustration: OLD PAWNEE CAPITOL ON THE FORT RILEY MILITARY
RESERVATION.]

=John Brown’s Battle Field.= The site of John Brown’s battle field at
Osawatomie was purchased by the Woman’s Relief Corps of Kansas and
presented to the State in 1909.

=Statues in the Hall of Fame.= Each State is permitted to place two
statues in the Hall of Fame in the National Capitol at Washington. In
1905 one of the Kansas places was filled with a statue of John J.
Ingalls, who was a Senator from this State from 1873 to 1891. In 1913
the other place was filled with a statue of George W. Glick, who was
Governor of Kansas from 1883 to 1885.

[Illustration: THE JOHN BROWN MONUMENT.]

=Other Monuments.= A number of monuments have been erected in various
parts of the State in commemoration of noted persons or events. The
John Brown monument at Osawatomie was dedicated on August 30, 1877. It
bears two inscriptions: “In commemoration of those who, on the 30th of
August, 1856, gave up their lives at the battle of Osawatomie in
defense of freedom,” and, “This inscription is also in commemoration
of the heroism of Captain John Brown, who commanded at the battle of
Osawatomie, August 30, 1856; who died and conquered American slavery
on the scaffold at Charlestown, Virginia, December 2, 1859.”

[Illustration: MARAIS DES CYGNES MONUMENT.]

A splendid monument has been erected in Linn County to mark the graves
of the victims of the Marais des Cygnes massacre.

[Illustration: QUANTRILL RAID MONUMENT.]

At Lawrence there is a monument bearing this inscription: “Dedicated
to the memory of the one hundred and fifty citizens who, defenseless,
fell victims to the inhuman ferocity of border guerrillas, led by the
infamous Quantrill in his raid upon Lawrence, August 21, 1863. Erected
May 30, 1895.”

A monument has been raised near Junction City in honor of the
expedition of Coronado. There are several other monuments in the State
commemorating the Spanish explorations of 1541-1542.

Monuments have been dedicated to the memory of settlers killed in the
Indian raids on the frontier, and to men who were killed by Indians
while engaged in construction work on the Union Pacific Railroad.

=Memorial Hall.= These are only a few; many tablets, monuments, and
markers have been erected in Kansas, but by far the greatest number of
them are monuments in honor of the soldiers of the Civil War. Many of
these are very handsome, and they have cost, in the aggregate,
thousands of dollars; but this recognition seemed insufficient, and it
had long been hoped that a handsome and serviceable building might be
erected as a fitting and worthy recognition by the whole State of the
honor due the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. The fulfillment
of this ambition finally became possible when the United States paid
to Kansas an old Civil War debt amounting to nearly a half-million
dollars. The money was used for the construction of Memorial Hall.
This beautiful structure, built of white marble, stands near the
grounds of the State Capitol at Topeka. Part of Memorial Hall is used
as headquarters for the Kansas Department of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and the rest by the State Historical Society.

[Illustration: AN OLD, DOUBLE-EDGED, SPANISH SWORD,
Found in Finney county some years ago and presented to the State
Historical Society. The sword bears the name of one of
Coronado’s officers, Juan Gallego. On the blade, in Spanish, are
the words: “Draw me not without reason; sheathe me not without
honor.”]

=The State Historical Society.= The State Historical Society was
organized in 1875. From that time until the present the Society has
gathered and kept books, writings, narratives, maps, relics and other
matter relating to the history of Kansas. In these collections may be
found information concerning the explorations, the Indians, the
overland travel, the settlements, and the condition and progress of
the State in its various departments. Volumes of clippings, files of
newspapers, and thousands of books, provide a very complete record of
all phases of the State’s history. One of the interesting features is
the collection of relics, among which are: an old Spanish sword
supposed to have belonged to one of Coronado’s soldiers; the pistol of
the Jayhawker, James Montgomery; two cannon used in the border
troubles; and the cap, saddle, and sword of John Brown. There are many
Indian pipes, ornaments, implements, arrowheads, and a war bonnet. The
historical collections, which have increased from year to year, are
very interesting and should be seen by every citizen of Kansas. The
Historical Society had rooms in the State Capitol until the completion
of Memorial Hall, when it was moved into the new building. Thus
Memorial Hall stands as a tribute not only to the soldiers but to the
entire history of Kansas.

SUMMARY

In late years Kansas has taken many steps to preserve its
history. Some of its most prominent memorials are: Pawnee
Rock; Pike Memorial; Santa Fe Trail markers; Pawnee Capitol;
John Brown’s battle-field; monuments to commemorate the
battle of Osawatomie, the Marais des Cygnes massacre, and
the Quantrill raid. Many other monuments and tablets have
been erected in different parts of the State to commemorate
important events. Memorial Hall, completed in 1914, was
built in honor of the soldiers and sailors who served in the
Civil War. This building provided fitting quarters for the
Kansas Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, and for
the State Historical Society which has a large and valuable
collection of original historical material.

REFERENCES

Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail.
Historical Collections, vol. XI, p. 253; vol. X, pp. 15, 50, 472.

QUESTIONS

1. How long since Kansas became a state?

2. What places of historic interest are there in the State?

3. What places of historic interest are there in your locality?
Have they been marked in any way?

4. What have you learned from the old settlers about the history
of your locality?

5. Locate Pawnee Rock. Give its early history. Its recent
history.

6. Give an account of Pike’s visit to the Pawnee Indians. Where
was the Indian village? How has this event been commemorated?

7. Give an account of the marking of the Santa Fe Trail.

8. Locate the old Pawnee Capitol and give its history.

9. Name as many other memorials as you can and give the event
which each commemorates.

10. What is Memorial Hall? Why was it erected? For what is it to
be used?

11. Explain the work and purpose of the State Historical Society.

CHAPTER XIX

THE KANSAS SPIRIT

=Introduction.= Kansas is a great State; great in size and wealth,
great in industries and resources, and great in what it has
accomplished. But there are states that are larger, others that are
wealthier, and many that have larger cities, greater population, a
longer history, and more splendid memorials, so it is not for these
things that Kansas is especially noted among the states. The quality
that is the mark of its distinction is the character of its history
and of its people.

=The Meaning of the Kansas Spirit.= Any people is, in large part, the
product of its thinking, its beliefs, and its hopes and desires. This
is the lesson of Hawthorne’s story, “The Great Stone Face.” Through
all the years Ernest studied the face on the mountain and pondered the
thoughts that he read there. In time he came to resemble the great
face, both in its features and in the character it expressed. In the
same way the people of Kansas have become what they are to-day because
of their thoughts, their experiences and their ideals. We often hear
it said concerning some act or some effort toward progress, “That is
the Kansas spirit,” which means that the thing done shows what kind of
people the Kansans are; it is characteristic of them. If, then, we
would understand what this Kansas spirit is, we must know what
thoughts and experiences and ideals have had a part in producing it.

[Illustration: Bust of John J. Ingalls

“This is but the dawn. We stand in the vestibule of the temple.
The achievements of the past will pale into insignificance
before the completed glory of the century to come.”
――JOHN J. INGALLS.]

=Pioneer Qualities.= Certain characteristics of the people of Kansas
are largely due to the fact that this was so recently a frontier
state. Pioneer life, wherever it exists, develops the qualities of
independence, courage, resourcefulness, endurance, and democracy. The
pioneer has only himself to lean on; he learns to take chances, he
laughs at adversity, he adapts himself to circumstances, and he lives
in the future.

[Illustration: THE FORUM, WICHITA, KANSAS.]

=Qualities that Make the Kansas Spirit.= These characteristics are
not, however, peculiar to the Kansas people, for the early settlers of
other states lived on the frontier and developed these same qualities.
But Kansas had a Territorial history which was very different from
that of any other state and which has left its impress upon the
people. Other pioneers have had the great task of making a state out
of a wilderness, but Kansas pioneers had a second great task, that of
making a free state in the face of the most determined opposition.
They came to Kansas as the Puritans came to America, in the name of
liberty. They were stern, unyielding, purposeful men and women, sure
of the presence of divine leadership, and their character has deeply
influenced the Kansas people. This influence has made them hate
oppression; it has made them demand justice and fair play; it has made
them value people for their personal worth; it has made them believe
in the equality of human rights, and in the ability of the people to
govern themselves. These are characteristics of every true Kansan and
the qualities that make the Kansas spirit.

=Manifestations of the Kansas Spirit.= This spirit is evident in many
phases of the life and progress of our people, but it is nowhere more
apparent than in their political affairs and in their laws. The spirit
that made the pioneers refuse to submit to the “Bogus Legislature”
also impelled them to send more than their share of soldiers to the
Civil War. Later, the same spirit led the Kansas people to adopt the
prohibition amendment and to grant to women the full right of
suffrage. It caused the farmers and other laboring people to form
organizations for the better protection of their rights. It made the
State do its part in the World War cheerfully and generously. In
short, the Kansas spirit has manifested itself whenever the people
have made an effort to overcome difficulties, whenever they have tried
to secure more justice or liberty for themselves. These efforts have
sometimes been so radical, and the plans offered for the betterment of
conditions so new and startling as to attract much attention in the
rest of the country. But Kansas has continued to believe in the worth
and possibilities of her people and to make every effort to bring
about conditions that will give them the opportunity to rise to the
full measure of their nature.

=The Task Confronting the Kansas of To-day.= All over the United
States there is a growing tendency on the part of the people to
exercise a more direct control of their government; to take more and
more authority into their own hands. This means that the people must
be interested, active and well-informed. For us, it means that the
quality of Kansas government depends upon the quality of Kansas
citizenship. While the task of the pioneers was a heavy one, ours
to-day is no less great, though it is different. Their struggle was to
get the soil under cultivation, ours to see that it does not become
worn out; theirs to get public utilities, ours to use and regulate
them; theirs to develop new industries, ours to see that they are
carried on with justice to all; theirs to establish schools, ours to
make them more efficient; in general, theirs to build up, ours to use
wisely.

Kansas history is not made; it is in the making. We study the past
that we may learn how to make the present better. Great things have
been accomplished but there is much yet to be done. The pioneers
solved their problems, and if we are worthy of the Kansas they have
given us we will strive to solve ours. We will keep alive the Kansas
spirit.

SUMMARY

The Kansas people have developed the same pioneer qualities
as have the people of other states; but, in addition, their
peculiar Territorial history has made them believe in a
marked degree in liberty, justice, equality, and democracy.
These characteristics have given rise to what is called “the
Kansas spirit.” This spirit is especially evident in the
political movements through which the people have taken more
and more of the control of government into their own hands.

REFERENCES

Kansas, Carl Becker.
Historical Collections. Selected Topics.
Connelley, History as an Asset of the State.

QUESTIONS

1. In what things is Kansas great? Name other states that are
greater in any of these things. What quality distinguishes
Kansas?

2. How can the lesson in the story of “The Great Stone Face” be
applied to Kansas?

3. Why does pioneer life develop courage? Independence?
Resourcefulness?

4. What effect has the Territorial history of Kansas had on the
people?

5. What is meant by the Kansas spirit? What are some of the ways
in which it has been shown? Discuss each.

6. Discuss the responsibilities of the Kansas people of to-day.

THE APPENDIX

TERRITORIAL PERIOD

Legislatures

There were six Territorial legislatures. The first two were
proslavery. Beginning in 1858 the four that followed were free-state.

Constitutions

Four constitutions were prepared: the Topeka Constitution in 1855, the
Lecompton in 1857, the Leavenworth in 1858, and the Wyandotte in 1859.
The Lecompton was the only one that provided for slavery. The State
was admitted under the Wyandotte, our present Constitution. It was
based on the constitution of Ohio and was drafted by men from both
parties.

Capitals

Several different places served as Territorial capitals. When Governor
Reeder came to Kansas he kept his office at Leavenworth for about two
months, then removed it to Shawnee Mission, which was used as the
Territorial capital until the following spring when Governor Reeder
named Pawnee as the capital. The Legislature remained at Pawnee only
five days and then adjourned to Shawnee Mission, where the Governor’s
office was kept another year. In August, 1855, the Territorial
Legislature selected Lecompton, which continued as the capital during
the remainder of the Territorial period. However, when the free-state
people gained control of the Legislature in 1858 they made an effort
to change the capital to Minneola. Failing in this, they met at
Lecompton for each session and then at once adjourned to Lawrence. At
an election in November, 1861, the people selected Topeka as the
permanent capital of Kansas.

The Topeka Movement

The free-state Government under the Topeka Constitution was organized
in the days of the “Bogus Legislature” for the purpose of uniting the
free-state people and enabling them to oppose proslavery methods. It
was continued until the free-state people gained control of the
Territorial Legislature, when it became no longer necessary and was
dropped. The principal events were as follows: The convention met in
October of 1855, completed the Topeka Constitution in November, and
the free-state people voted favorably on it in December. In January of
1856 they elected Charles Robinson governor. Their Legislature met in
March, and in the same month they applied for admission to the Union
but the bill failed to pass. The Legislature met again in July, but
was disbanded by United States troops under Sumner. They met in
January of 1857, but the officers were arrested. Two additional
meetings were held; one in January and one in March of 1858. Then,
having served its purpose, the Topeka movement was at an end.

INDIAN MISSIONS IN EARLY KANSAS

Presbyterian Missions

Two Presbyterian missions were established among the Osages in what is
now Neosho County in 1824. One was the Boudinot mission. The work was
in charge of Rev. Benton Pixley.

Rev. S. M. Irwin established a mission among the Iowas, Sacs and Foxes
in Doniphan County, near the present town of Highland, in 1837.
Highland College, one of the oldest colleges in the State, still
remains as a school of this church.

Methodist Missions

In 1830 the Shawnee Methodist mission was established a few miles
southwest of where Kansas City now stands. This mission was in charge
of Rev. Thomas Johnson. A few years later it had a manual-labor school
and a farm and was one of the largest and best known of the missions
in Kansas.

In 1832 a mission was established among the Delawares in Wyandotte
County, on the site of the town of White Church, by William Johnson
and Thomas B. Markham. Rev. E. T. Peery was in charge.

A mission for the Kickapoos was founded in 1833. It was just north of
the site of Leavenworth and was in charge of Rev. J. C. Berryman.

In 1833 a mission was established for the Kanzas at Mission Creek,
Shawnee County, by Rev. William Johnson, who continued the work for
seven years. When the Kanzas were moved, the mission was located at
Council Grove. It existed from 1850 to 1854.

Baptist Missions

The Baptist Church established a mission among the Shawnees in 1831.
It was about two miles northwest of the Shawnee Methodist mission. The
leader was Isaac McCoy, and he was joined later by Dr. Johnson Lykins
and Rev. Jotham Meeker. Mr. Meeker was a printer, and in 1834 issued
the first book printed in Kansas, a primer in the Indian language.

A mission was established among the Ottawas in 1837, on the present
site of Ottawa, under the charge of Rev. Jotham Meeker. This mission
survives in Ottawa University.

A mission was opened among the Pottawatomies in 1837, by Rev. Robert
Simmerwell, near the site of Osawatomie. When this tribe moved to the
new reservation the mission was relocated at Mission Creek in Shawnee
County. It was abandoned in 1854.

In 1840 Dr. David Lykins established a mission among the Miamis, about
ten miles southeast of the present city of Paola.

Dr. Johnson Lykins opened a mission among the Delawares in 1832.

Friends Mission

The Society of Friends established a mission among the Shawnees in
1834, about three miles west of the Methodist mission. Henry Harvey,
M. Mendenhall, and the Hadleys were teachers in this mission.

Catholic Missions

In 1822 Father La Croix visited the Osages, just across the line in
Missouri, and baptized several Indian children. At different times
Father Van Quickenborn visited the Osages and preached. In 1847 Rev.
Schoenmaker established the Osage Mission, now St. Paul, in Neosho
County.

The Catholic mission was founded in 1836 by Fathers Van Quickenborn
and Hœken for the Kickapoos, near the Junction of Salt Creek with the
Missouri, in Leavenworth County.

St. Mary’s mission among the Pottawatomies was established in Miami
County in 1838, and moved to Linn County in 1839, where it remained
until the removal of the tribe to Pottawatomie County in 1849. The
mission was then established at St. Mary’s, where it survives to-day
in St. Mary’s school for boys.

FORTS IN EARLY KANSAS

Many forts were established in early Kansas; a few by the fur
companies, some by the War Department, some by state troops, a number
by settlers as a place of refuge from the Indians, and a few by
free-state and proslavery forces during the Territorial struggle. Some
of them consisted merely of a wall of earth thrown up, others of a
strongly built log cabin within a line of earthworks or line of
palisades. Many of them were more pretentious, and were built of logs,
adobe, or stone. Some of the forts established by the National
Government cost many thousands of dollars and most of them had large
land reserves. As the settlements moved westward the necessity for the
forts no longer existed, and with the exception of Fort Leavenworth
and Fort Riley, which are still maintained by the National Government
as army posts, they fell into disuse. The principal early forts were:

Fort Kanzas, established by the French fur traders in the early part
of the eighteenth century, was located in what is now Atchison County.
It is mentioned in the journal of Lewis and Clark as an abandoned
fort.

Fort Lyon, earlier called Bent’s Fort, was built in 1826 for a
fur-trading post. It occupied several different sites on the Arkansas
River, all of them within the present bounds of Colorado, the last one
being within Territorial Kansas. It was opened to settlement in 1890.

Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 by Col. Henry Leavenworth of
the United States army. It has from its beginning been an important
military post. More than $2,000,000 has been expended on it, and it
now ranks among the first of the military posts of the United States.

Fort Riley was established in 1852 by the United States. It has been
enlarged and improved from time to time until it is now an important
military center. Fort Riley is near the junction of the Republican and
Smoky Hill rivers, and is very near the geographical center of the
United States.

Fort Atkinson, one of the early forts erected along the Santa Fe
Trail, was located on the Arkansas River about six miles above the
present site of Dodge City. This fort was built in 1850 and abandoned
in 1854. It was known for a few months as Fort Mackey, when the name
was changed to Fort Atkinson.

Fort Mann was probably erected about 1845 on or near the site on which
Fort Atkinson was later built.

Fort Scott was built in 1842 on the site of the present city of Fort
Scott. In 1853 it ceased to be used as a military post, and in 1855
the buildings were sold. This fort had no reservation.

Fort Larned was located in 1859 on Pawnee Fork, about eight miles
above the mouth of that stream. It was for a number of years an
important post, but was later abandoned as a fort, and in 1882 the
reservation was opened for sale to settlers.

Fort Saunders was a proslavery stronghold about twelve miles southwest
of Lawrence in 1856. It was destroyed by a body of free-state settlers
the same year.

Fort Titus, located about two miles south of Lecompton, was a log
house used as a proslavery fortification. It was captured and
destroyed by free-state forces shortly after the destruction of Fort
Saunders.

Fort Wakarusa was a free-state fortification on the Wakarusa River,
about five miles from Lawrence.

Fort Bain was a log cabin in the northern part of Bourbon County which
served as a retreat for John Brown and James Montgomery in 1857 and
1858.

Fort Baxter, a military post, was established by General Blunt in
1863. It was the scene of an attack by Quantrill, known as the Baxter
Springs massacre. After the war the town of Baxter Springs grew up on
the site.

Fort Dodge was one of the most important forts on the western
frontier. It was located to the east of The Caches, near Dodge City,
in 1864. The first buildings were of adobe, but in 1867 good buildings
were erected. Fort Dodge was not abandoned until 1882. The Soldiers’
Home at Fort Dodge was later established on a part of this military
reservation.

Fort Downer was located on Downer’s Creek, about fifty miles west of
Fort Hays. It was in existence between 1863 and 1868.

Fort Harker was established in 1864, near the present site of
Ellsworth, with the name Fort Ellsworth. Two years later the name was
changed to Fort Harker and the site moved about a mile northeast. This
fort was for a long time the shipping point for freight bound for New
Mexico. Fort Harker was abandoned in 1872 and the reservation opened
to settlement in 1880.

Fort Wallace was established near the present town of Wallace in 1865.
This was an important post during the building of the Union Pacific
railroad. It was abandoned as a fort in 1882, and in 1888 the land was
ordered sold.

Fort Zarah was established in 1864, about four miles east of the
present city of Great Bend. It was dismantled in 1869, and the
reservation was later sold.

Fort Hays was established by the National Government, in 1865, about
fourteen miles southeast of the present Hays City, and was for a year
known as Fort Fletcher. In 1867 a new site, about three-fourths mile
from Hays City, was selected. The reservation consisted of 7500 acres.
General Sheridan used Fort Hays for headquarters during the Black
Kettle raid in 1868. It continued to be used as a military post until
1889. In 1900 Kansas secured the land and buildings for educational
purposes. The Fort Hays Kansas Normal School and an experiment station
for the Agricultural College are now located there.

Fort Henning, Fort Blair, and Fort Insley were three blockhouses
erected at Fort Scott in 1861 for the purpose of guarding military
stores from the Confederate forces.

Fort Lincoln was built by Lane in 1861, about twelve miles northwest
of Fort Scott, for protection from the Confederate forces. It was
abandoned in 1864.

Fort Aubrey was one of the forts established in 1865 by the soldiers
sent to quell the Indian uprisings. It was located near the present
village of Mayline in Hamilton County. It was abandoned the following
year.

Fort Jewell was erected in 1870 on the site of Jewell City for the
protection of the settlers against the Cheyennes who were then on the
warpath. It consisted of a wall of earth around a fifty-yard square.
After the Indian troubles were over Fort Jewell was abandoned.

SOME PROMINENT KANSANS

Hundreds of Kansas men and women have served their State in a way
worthy of note. To tell the story of the services rendered by all of
them would require many volumes. In a book like the present one,
mention can be made of only a few of those most widely known. In
addition to names mentioned in the body of the text, the following are
a few of the names of Kansans, no longer living, who had much to do
with making the history of the State:

PRESTON B. PLUMB came to Kansas to make his home in 1857. He started a
newspaper, _Kansas News_, at Emporia. In 1861 he was elected to the
State House of Representatives. The same year he entered the Union
army and served until the close of the war. He then engaged in the
practice of law. In 1876 he was elected to the United States Senate,
which position he filled until his death in 1891, a period of fourteen
years of continuous service.

WILLIAM A. HARRIS came to Kansas in 1865, at the close of four years
of service in the Confederate army, and entered the employ of the
Union Pacific Railroad Company as a civil engineer. Later he became a
well-known farmer and stock raiser. In 1896 he was elected to the
State Senate, and in 1897 to the United States Senate. His later years
were given to various lines of agricultural advancement. He served as
a regent of the State Agricultural College. His death occurred in
1909.

SAMUEL A. KINGMAN came to Kansas in 1857. He was a lawyer. He served
as a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention. He was
associate justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas, 1861 to 1865, and
chief justice, 1867 to 1876, when he resigned because of ill health.
He died in 1904.

DAVID J. BREWER came to Leavenworth in 1859, where he engaged in the
practice of law. He served continuously in various offices. He was
associate justice of the State Supreme Court from 1871 to 1884, a
judge of the United States Circuit Court from 1884 to 1889, and in
1889 he was commissioned Associate Justice of the United States
Supreme Court, which position he filled until his death in 1910.

JOHN A. ANDERSON came to Junction City in 1858 as pastor of the
Presbyterian church. In 1873 he was made president of the State
Agricultural College. He reorganized that institution and remained at
its head until 1878, when he was elected to Congress where he served
until 1891. He was appointed consul-general to Cairo, Egypt, in 1891.
He died on his way back home in the following year.

FRANCIS HUNTINGTON SNOW was elected to the first faculty of the
University of Kansas as professor of mathematics and natural sciences,
in 1866. In 1870 he became professor of natural history in the
University. He organized the collecting expeditions which have
resulted in the extensive natural history museums of the University.
He was made Chancellor of the University in 1890, from which position
he retired in 1901. He died in 1908.

EDMUND G. ROSS came to Kansas in 1856. He was a member of the
Wyandotte Constitutional Convention and served in the Union army. In
1866 he was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate
caused by the death of James H. Lane. He cast the deciding vote in the
Senate against the impeachment of President Johnson, which act aroused
great indignation. He engaged in newspaper work until 1882, when he
went to New Mexico where he served as Territorial Governor from 1885
to 1889. He died in 1907.

MRS. C. I. H. NICHOLS, a writer and lecturer, came with her family to
Kansas in 1854. She lived first at Lawrence and then at Wyandotte. She
was a strong advocate of a more just understanding of the rights of
women. She attended the meetings of the Wyandotte Constitutional
Convention, and counseled with the members on all matters relating to
women, with the result that the Kansas Constitution was one of the
most liberal in the United States at that time. Her death occurred in
1885.

MRS. MARY A. BICKERDYKE, generally known as “Mother Bickerdyke,”
served as a nurse during the Civil War. At its close she came to
Kansas and was instrumental in assisting soldiers who were left
without employment to come to Kansas and take homesteads. Through her
efforts aid was given settlers after Indian raids, and she assisted in
securing aid for Kansas settlers after the grasshopper invasion. The
Mother Bickerdyke Home for soldiers’ widows, at Ellsworth, was named
in her honor. After a life of great activity she died in 1901.

ALFRED GRAY came to Kansas in 1857. With the exception of his period
of service in the Union army he was engaged in farming until 1873.
From 1866 until 1870 he was a director of the State Agricultural
Society. When the State Board of Agriculture was organized, in 1872,
he became its first secretary, and filled the position until his death
in 1880.

FREDERICK WELLHOUSE came to Leavenworth County, Kansas, in 1859. He
was engaged in the growing and sale of fruit trees until 1876, when he
began planting commercial apple orchards. During the next eighteen
years he planted 1637 acres of apple trees. Many years were given to
experiments to determine the varieties best adapted to Kansas. He
became known throughout the country, and was called “The Apple King.”
For ten years he was president of the State Horticultural Society, and
was at different times engaged in many public activities. He died in
1911.

FRANKLIN G. ADAMS settled on a farm in Leavenworth County in 1856. He
held various positions of public service, and on the organization of
the State Historical Society in 1875 he was made its secretary, which
position he held until his death in 1899. He organized and developed
the work of the Society, in which work he was materially assisted by
his daughter, Miss Zu Adams, who continued her work from 1880 until
her death in 1911.

MRS. SARA T. D. ROBINSON came to the Territory in 1854 with her
husband, Dr. Charles Robinson, and took an active part in early Kansas
affairs. She wrote Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life, the most
notable book produced by a Kansan of that time. It had a wide
circulation and a great influence. Mrs. Robinson died at her home near
Lawrence in 1911.

NOBLE L. PRENTIS came to Kansas in 1869 as editor of the _Topeka
Record_. From that time until his death in 1900 he was connected with
various Kansas newspapers: the _Topeka Commonwealth_, the _Lawrence
Journal_, the _Junction City Union_, the _Atchison Champion_, and the
_Kansas City Star_. He wrote five books: A Kansan Abroad, Southern
Letters, Southwestern Letters, Kansas Miscellanies, and History of
Kansas.

DANIEL W. WILDER, who first came to Kansas in 1857, was at different
times the editor of a number of newspapers. He was one of the founders
of the State Historical Society, served one term as state auditor and
two terms as superintendent of insurance. It was as a newspaper man
that Mr. Wilder’s influence was especially felt. He was the author of
the Annals of Kansas, Life of Shakespeare, and was one of the
compilers of all editions of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.

EUGENE F. WARE came to Kansas in 1867. He practiced law, and was for
many years the editor of the _Fort Scott Monitor_. He served in the
state legislature, and from 1902 to 1905 was United States Pension
Commissioner. He died in 1911. It is as a writer that Mr. Ware is best
known. His Rhymes of Ironquill is his most widely read work.

KANSAS WRITERS

The Kansas struggle was the source of a great deal of writing. Eastern
newspapers were full of the Kansas question. During the Territorial
period many of the eastern papers kept correspondents in the
Territory, and these men wrote much of the conflict here and of
pioneer life and conditions. The Kansas people themselves were too
busy to give much attention to literature and produced but few
writings of permanent value. Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life,
by Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, was written during this period. Other
early writers were: William A. Phillips, Richard Realf, James Redpath,
Albert D. Richardson, W. P. Tomlinson, and Henry Harvey.

During the Civil War practically all of the writing produced in Kansas
was concerned with the struggle that the people were going through.
The period from the close of the Civil War until the “grasshopper
year” of 1874 was one of remarkable growth and expansion and the
people were full of confidence and enthusiasm. It was in this period
that _The Kansas Magazine_ was published. Though it lasted less than
two years, it was a magazine of real literature. Among the
contributors were: Henry King, James W. Steele, John J. Ingalls, D. W.
Wilder, R. J. Hinton, Charles Robinson, and Noble L. Prentis.

The depression caused by the grasshopper raid affected Kansas in
literature as well as in other activities. For several years but few
books were published. Two of the books produced during this period
were, however, very valuable ones: Andreas’ History of Kansas, a
compilation by many writers, and Wilder’s Annals of Kansas. George R.
Peck and John J. Ingalls came into prominence about this time as
orators. Many of their speeches have become a part of our literature.
Joseph G. McCoy and Joel Moody were writers of this period.

A number of good books were published in the ’80’s, among them: The
Story of a Country Town, E. W. Howe; A Kansan Abroad, Noble L.
Prentis; Rhymes of Ironquill, Eugene F. Ware; History of Kansas, L. W.
Spring; Anabel and Other Poems, Ellen P. Allerton. Other writers of
this time were: F. W. Giles, Charles Gleed, and Hattie Horner.

The period following the collapse of the boom, 1888 to 1892, produced
many books. Some of the most prominent were: Kansas Miscellanies,
Prentis; The Farmers’ Side, William A. Peffer; Letters, Charles F.
Scott; In the Van of Empire, Henry Inman; Richard Bruce, Charles M.
Sheldon; Old Wine in New Bottles, Brinton W. Woodward. During this
period _The Agora_, a Kansas magazine, was published. All the best
Kansas writers of the period were among its contributors, but it lived
only a short time. Among other writers were: Nathaniel S. Goss, Mrs.
Mary W. Hudson, Gov. Charles Robinson, Albert Bigelow Paine, and John
Speer.

The last twenty years have brought peace and prosperity to Kansas and
the people have been able to give more time and thought to literature.
Many writings have been produced――poetry, essays, speeches, newspaper
and magazine articles, and many books. The following are among the
writers who have come into prominence in the last two decades:

Henry Inman, author of: The Old Santa Fe Trail, The Great Salt Lake
Trail, The Ranch on the Oxhide, and The Delahoyd Boys.

Charles M. Sheldon, author of: Richard Bruce, Robert Hardy’s Seven
Days, The Crucifixion of Philip Strong, His Brother’s Keeper, In His
Steps, Malcolm Kirk, Lend a Hand, The Redemption of Freetown, The
Miracle at Markham, One of the Two, For Christ and the Church, Born to
Serve, Who Killed Joe’s Baby, The Reformer, The Narrow Gate, The Heart
of the World, Paul Douglas, The Good Fight, The High Calling, The
Twentieth Door.

William Allen White, author of: The Real Issue, Stratagems and Spoils,
Court of Boyville, God’s Puppets, In Our Town, A Certain Rich Man, The
Martial Adventures of Henry and Me, In the Heart of a Fool, Rhymes by
Two Friends (poems by Mr. White and Albert Bigelow Paine).

Eugene Ware, author of: The Rise and Fall of the Saloon, The Lyon
Campaign and History of the First Iowa Infantry, The Indian Campaign
of 1864, Rhymes of Ironquill, Ithuriel, From Court to Court, Several
translations from Spanish, French and Latin, contributions to many
publications.

William Y. Morgan, author of: A Jayhawker in Europe, The Journey of a
Jayhawker, The Near East, and numerous newspaper articles.

Margaret Hill McCarter, author of: The Cottonwood’s Story, Cuddy’s
Baby, In Old Quivira, A Master’s Degree, The Peace of the Solomon
Valley, Price of the Prairie, The Reclaimers, A Wall of Men, Winning
the Wilderness, Vanguard of the Plains, and a series of classics.

Walt Mason, author of: Horse Sense, Rippling Rhymes, Terse Verse, Walt
Mason: His Book, and Business Prose Poems.

William Elsey Connelley, author of: John Brown, James H. Lane, Wyandot
Folk-Lore, An Appeal to the Record, Kansas Territorial Governors,
Memoirs of John James Ingalls, Ingalls of Kansas, Quantrill and the
Border Wars, Life of Preston B. Plumb, and Kansas and Kansans.

Samuel J. Crawford, author of Kansas in the Sixties.

William Herbert Carruth, author of Each in His Own Tongue and Other
Poems.

Among other present-day Kansas writers are: E. W. Howe, F. W.
Blackmar, Mrs. Louisa Cooke, Don Carlos, Effie Graham, W. A. McKeever,
Mrs. Dell H. Munger, Mrs. Kate A. Aplington, Esther M. Clark, F.
Dumont Smith, Charles M. Harger, Willard Wattles, and Dr. C. H.
Lerrigo.

TERRITORIAL OFFICERS OF KANSAS

The Governors were appointed for terms of four years, but none of them
served a full term. Ten different men filled the office during the
Territorial period of six years and eight months. There were six
Governors and five Acting Governors, James W. Denver serving in both
capacities. During the absence of a Governor or when there was a
vacancy in the office the duties of the Governor fell upon the
Secretary of the Territory and he was called the Acting Governor.

Governors Acting Governors Terms Served

Andrew H. Reeder July 7, 1854, to August 16,
1855.
Daniel Woodson August 16, 1855, to
September 7, 1855.
Wilson Shannon September 7, 1855, to
August 18, 1856.
Daniel Woodson August 18, 1856, to September
9, 1856.
John W. Geary September 9, 1856, to March
12, 1857.
Daniel Woodson March 12, 1857, to April 16,
1857.
Frederick P. Stanton April 16, 1857, to May 27,
1857.
Robert J. Walker May 27, 1857, to November
16, 1857.
Frederick P. Stanton November 16, 1857, to
December 21, 1857.
James W. Denver December 21, 1857, to May
12, 1858.
James W. Denver May 12, 1858, to October 10,
1858.
Hugh S. Walsh October 10, 1858, to
December 18, 1858.
Samuel Medary December 18, 1858, to
December 17, 1860.
Hugh S. Walsh August 1, 1859, to September
15, 1859.
Hugh S. Walsh April 15, 1860, to June 16,
1860.
George M. Beebe September 11, 1860, to
November 25, 1860.

Auditors

John Donaldson 1855-1857
Hiram Jackson Strickler 1857-1861

Treasurers

Thomas J. B. Cramer 1855-1859
Robert B. Mitchell 1859-1861

Attorneys-General

Andrew Jackson Isacks 1854-1857
William Weer 1857-1858
Alson C. Davis 1858-1861

Superintendents of Schools

James H. Noteware 1858
Samuel Wiley Greer 1858-1861
John C. Douglass 1861

Territorial Chief Justices

Samuel Dexter Lecompte 1854-1859
John Pettit 1859-1861

Associate Justices

Saunders W. Johnston 1854-1855
J. M. Burrell 1855-1856
Thomas Cunningham 1856-1857
Joseph Williams 1857-1861
Rush Elmore 1854-1855
Sterling G. Cato 1855-1858
Rush Elmore 1858-1861

STATE OFFICERS OF KANSAS

Governors

Charles Robinson 1861-1863
Thomas Carney 1863-1865
Samuel J. Crawford 1865-1868
Resigned November 4, 1868
Nehemiah Green, Acting Governor 1868-1869
James M. Harvey 1869-1873
Thomas A. Osborn 1873-1877
George T. Anthony 1877-1879
John P. St. John 1879-1883
George W. Glick 1883-1885
John A. Martin 1885-1889
Lyman U. Humphrey 1889-1893
Lorenzo D. Lewelling 1893-1895
Edmund N. Morrill 1895-1897
John W. Leedy 1897-1899
William E. Stanley 1899-1903
Willis Joshua Bailey 1903-1905
Edward W. Hoch 1905-1909
Walter Roscoe Stubbs 1909-1913
George H. Hodges 1913-1915
Arthur Capper 1915-1919
Henry J. Allen 1919 ――――

Lieutenant-Governors

Joseph P. Root 1861-1863
Thomas A. Osborn 1863-1865
James McGrew 1865-1867
Nehemiah Green 1867-1868
Charles V. Eskridge 1869-1871
Peter P. Elder 1871-1873
Elias S. Stover 1873-1875
Melville J. Salter 1875-1877
Resigned July 19, 1877.
Lyman U. Humphrey, elected November 6 1877
Lyman U. Humphrey 1879-1881
D. W. Finney 1881-1885
Alex. P. Riddle 1885-1889
Andrew J. Felt 1889-1893
Percy Daniels 1893-1895
James A. Troutman 1895-1897
A. M. Harvey 1897-1899
H. E. Richter 1899-1903
David J. Hanna 1903-1907
W. J. Fitzgerald 1907-1911
Richard J. Hopkins 1911-1913
Sheffield Ingalls 1913-1915
William Yost Morgan 1915-1919
Chas. E. Huffman 1919 ――――

Secretaries of State

John Winter Robinson 1861-1862
Removed July 28, 1862.
Sanders Rufus Shepherd, appointed 1862-1863
William Wirt Henry Lawrence 1863-1865
Rinaldo Allen Barker 1865-1869
Thomas Moonlight 1869-1871
William Hillary Smallwood 1871-1875
Thomas H. Cavanaugh 1875-1879
James Smith 1879-1885
Edwin Bird Allen 1885-1889
William Higgins 1889-1893
Russel Scott Osborn 1893-1895
William Congdon Edwards 1895-1897
William Eben Bush 1897-1899
George Alfred Clark 1899-1903
Joel Randall Burrow 1903-1907
C. E. Denton 1907-1911
Charles H. Sessions 1911-1915
John Thomas Botkin 1915-1919
L. J. Pettijohn 1919 ――――

Auditors

George Shaler Hillyer 1861-1862
Removed July 28, 1862.
David Long Lakin, appointed 1862-1863
Asa Hairgrove 1863-1865
John R. Swallow 1865-1869
Alois Thoman 1869-1873
Daniel Webster Wilder 1873-1876
Resigned September 20, 1876.
Parkinson Isaiah Bonebrake, appointed 1876
Parkinson Isaiah Bonebrake 1877-1883
Edward P. McCabe 1883-1887
Timothy McCarthy 1887-1891
Charles Merrill Hovey 1891-1893
Van B. Prather 1893-1895
George Ezekiel Cole 1895-1897
William H. Morris 1897-1899
George Ezekiel Cole 1899-1903
Seth Grant Wells 1903-1907
J. M. Nation 1907-1911
W. E. Davis 1911-1917
F. W. Knapp 1917 ――――

Treasurers

William Tholen, elected in 1859.
Entered the army and did not qualify.
Hartwin R. Dutton, appointed March 26 1861
Hartwin R. Dutton, elected 1861-1863
William Spriggs 1863-1867
Martin Anderson 1867-1869
George Graham 1869-1871
Josiah Emery Hayes 1871-1874
Resigned April 30, 1874
John Francis, appointed 1874-1875
Samuel Lappin 1875
Resigned December 20, 1875.
John Francis, appointed 1875
John Francis 1877-1883
Samuel T. Howe 1883-1887
James William Hamilton 1887-1890
Resigned March 1, 1890.
William Sims, appointed 1890-1891
Solomon G. Stover 1891-1893
William Henry Biddle 1893-1895
Otis L. Atherton 1895-1897
David H. Heflebower 1897-1899
Frank E. Grimes 1899-1903
Thomas T. Kelly 1903-1907
Mark Tully 1907-1913
Earl Akers 1913-1917
Walter L. Payne 1917 ――――

Attorneys-General

Benjamin Franklin Simpson 1861
Resigned July, 1861.
Charles Chadwick, appointed 1861
Samuel A. Stinson 1861-1863
Warren W. Guthrie 1863-1865
Jerome D. Brumbaugh 1865-1867
George Henry Hoyt 1867-1869
Addison Danford 1869-1871
Archibald L. Williams 1871-1875
Asa M. F. Randolph 1875-1877
Willard Davis 1877-1881
William A. Johnston 1881-1884
Resigned December 1, 1884.
George P. Smith, appointed 1884-1885
Simeon Briggs Bradford 1885-1889
Lyman Beecher Kellogg 1889-1891
John Nutt Ives 1891-1893
John Thomas Little 1893-1895
Fernando B. Dawes 1895-1897
Louis C. Boyle 1897-1899
Aretas A. Godard 1899-1903
Charles Crittenden Coleman 1903-1907
F. S. Jackson 1907-1911
John S. Dawson 1911-1915
Sardies Mason Brewster 1915-1919
Richard J. Hopkins 1919 ――――

Superintendents of Public Instruction

William Riley Griffith 1861-1862
Died February 12, 1862.
Simeon Montgomery Thorp, appointed 1862-1863
Isaac T. Goodnow 1863-1867
Peter McVicar 1867-1871
Hugh De France McCarty 1871-1875
John Fraser 1875-1877
Allen Borsley Lemmon 1877-1881
Henry Clay Speer 1881-1885
Joseph Hadden Lawhead 1885-1889
George Wesley Winans 1889-1893
Henry Newton Gaines 1893-1895
Edmund Stanley 1895-1897
William Stryker 1897-1899
Frank Nelson 1899-1903
Insley L. Dayhoff 1903-1907
E. T. Fairchild 1907-1912
Resigned November 19, 1912.
W. D. Ross, appointed 1912
W. D. Ross 1913-1919
Lorraine E. Wooster 1919 ――――

Chief Justices

Thomas Ewing, Jr. 1861-1862
Resigned November 28, 1862.
Nelson Cobb, appointed 1862-1864
Robert Crozier 1864-1867
Samuel Austin Kingman 1867-1876
Resigned December 30, 1876.
Albert Howell Horton, appointed 1876
Albert Howell Horton 1877-1895
Resigned April 30, 1895.
David Martin, appointed 1895
David Martin 1895-1897
Frank Doster 1897-1903
William Agnew Johnston 1903 ――――

State Printers

S. S. Prouty 1869-1873
George W. Martin 1873-1881
T. Dwight Thatcher 1881-1887
Clifford C. Baker 1887-1891
E. H. Snow 1891-1895
J. K. Hudson 1895-1897
J. S. Parks 1897-1899
W. Y. Morgan 1899-1903
George A. Clark 1903-1905
T. A. McNeal 1905-1911
W. C. Austin 1911-1915
William R. Smith 1915-1919
Resigned February 1, 1919.
Imri Zumwalt, appointed 1919 ――――

Superintendents of Insurance

Webb McNall 1897-1901
W. V. Church 1901-1903
Charles H. Luling 1903-1907
Charles W. Barnes 1907-1911
Ike S. Lewis 1911-1915
Carey J. Wilson 1915-1919
Frank L. Travis 1919 ――――

United States Senators

LANE SUCCESSION

James H. Lane 1861-1866
Died July 11, 1866.
Edmund G. Ross, appointed 1866
Edmund G. Ross 1867-1871
Alexander Caldwell 1871-1873
Resigned March 24, 1873.
Robert Crozier, appointed 1873-1874
James M. Harvey, elected 1874-1877
Preston B. Plumb 1877-1891
Died December 20, 1891.
Bishop W. Perkins, appointed 1892-1893
John Martin, elected January 25 1893-1895
Lucien Baker 1895-1901
Joseph Ralph Burton 1901-1906
Resigned, 1906.
A. W. Benson, appointed 1906-1907
Charles Curtis 1907-1913
William H. Thompson 1913-1919
Arthur Capper 1919 ――――

POMEROY SUCCESSION

Samuel C. Pomeroy 1861-1873
John James Ingalls 1873-1891
William Alfred Peffer 1891-1897
William A. Harris 1897-1903
Chester I. Long 1903-1909
J. L. Bristow 1909-1915
Charles Curtis 1915 ――――

Congressmen

Martin F. Conway 1861-1863
Abel Carter Wilder 1863-1865
Sidney Clarke 1865-1871
David P. Lowe 1871-1875
Stephen Alonzo Cobb 1873-1875
William Addison Phillips 1873-1879
William R. Brown 1875-1877
John R. Goodin 1875-1877
Dudley C. Haskell 1877-1883
Thomas Ryan 1877-1889
John Alexander Anderson 1879-1891
Edmund N. Morrill 1883-1891
Samuel Ritter Peters 1883-1891
Lewis Hanback 1883-1887
Bishop W. Perkins 1883-1891
Edward Hogue Funston 1883-1893
Erastus J. Turner 1887-1891
Harrison Kelley 1889-1891
Case Broderick 1891-1899
B. H. Clover 1891-1893
John Davis 1891-1895
Jerry Simpson { 1891-1895
{ 1897-1899
John Grant Otis 1891-1893
William Baker 1891-1897
William Alexander Harris 1893-1895
Horace L. Moore 1893-1895
Charles Curtis 1893-1907
Thomas J. Hudson 1893-1895
Richard W. Blue 1895-1897
Orrin L. Miller 1895-1897
Snyder S. Kirkpatrick 1895-1897
Chester I. Long { 1895-1897
{ 1899-1903
William A. Calderhead { 1895-1897
{ 1899-1911
Jeremiah Dunham Botkin 1897-1899
Mason Summers Peters 1897-1899
N. B. McCormick 1897-1899
Edwin Reed Ridgely 1897-1901
William D. Vincent 1897-1899
Willis Joshua Bailey 1899-1901
Justin DeWitt Bowersock 1899-1907
James Monroe Miller 1899-1911
William Augustus Reeder 1899-1911
Charles Frederick Scott 1901-1911
Alfred Metcalf Jackson 1901-1903
Philip Pitt Campbell 1903 ――――
Victor Murdock 1903-1915
D. R. Anthony 1907 ――――
E. H. Madison[22] 1907-1911
A. C. Mitchell[23] 1911-1911
Fred S. Jackson 1911-1913
R. R. Rees 1911-1913
I. D. Young 1911-1913
Joseph Taggart 1911-1915
Dudley Doolittle 1913-1919
Guy T. Helvering 1913-1919
John R. Connelly 1913-1919
George A. Neeley 1912-1915
Jouett Shouse 1915-1919
William A. Ayers 1915 ――――
Edward Little 1915 ――――
Hayes B. White 1919 ――――
Homer Hoch 1919 ――――
James Strong 1919 ――――
James N. Tincher 1919 ――――

INSTITUTIONS IN KANSAS

State Schools

University of Kansas Lawrence.
State Agricultural College Manhattan.
State Normal School Emporia.
Fort Hays Kansas Normal School Hays.
State Manual Training Normal School Pittsburg.
Kansas School for the Blind Kansas City.
Kansas School for the Deaf Olathe.

Denominational Schools

Baker University, Methodist Episcopal Baldwin.
Bethany College, Swedish Lutheran Lindsborg.
Bethany College, Episcopalian Topeka.
Bethel College, Mennonite Newton.
Campbell University Holton.
College of Emporia, Presbyterian Emporia.
College Preparatory School (Private) Atchison.
Cooper College, United Presbyterian Sterling.
Enterprise Normal Academy, German M. E. Enterprise.
Fairmount College, Congregational Wichita.
Fowler Friends Academy, Friends Fowler.
Friends University, Friends Wichita.
Highland University, Presbyterian Highland.
Haviland Academy, Friends Haviland.
Kansas City University, United Brethren Kansas City.
Kansas Wesleyan University, Methodist Episcopal Salina.
McPherson College, Church of the Brethren McPherson.
Midland College, Lutheran Atchison.
Mt. St. Scholastica’s Academy, Catholic Atchison.
Nazareth Academy, Catholic Concordia.
Northbranch Academy, Friends Northbranch.
Ottawa University, Baptist Ottawa.
Southwestern College, Methodist Episcopal Winfield.
St. Benedict’s College, Catholic Atchison.
St. John’s Lutheran College, Lutheran Winfield.
St. Martin’s School, Episcopalian Salina.
St. Mary’s Academy, Catholic Leavenworth.
St. Mary’s Academy, Catholic Great Bend.
St. Mary’s College, Catholic St. Marys.
Walden College, Evangelical McPherson.
Washburn College, Congregational Topeka.

State Penal or Corrective Institutions

State Industrial Reformatory Hutchinson.
State Industrial School for Girls Beloit.
State Industrial School for Boys Topeka.
State Penitentiary Lansing.

State Benevolent Institutions

State Training School Winfield.
State Hospital for the Insane Topeka.
State Hospital for the Insane Osawatomie.
State Hospital for the Insane Larned.
State Hospital for Epileptics Parsons.
State Hospital for Tuberculosis Norton.

Special Institutions

State Soldiers’ Home Fort Dodge.
Mother Bickerdyke Home Ellsworth.
Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Atchison.

State Colored Schools

Topeka Industrial and Educational Institute Topeka.
Western University Quindaro.

Federal Institutions

Haskell Institute, Indian Lawrence.
Pottawatomie Boarding School for Indians Nadeau.
Federal Prison Leavenworth.
National Soldiers’ Home Leavenworth.
United States Disciplinary Barracks Fort Leavenworth.
(Military Prison.)

BALANCE OF POWER IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE BETWEEN THE FREE AND THE
SLAVE STATES

FREE. SLAVE.
Pennsylvania. Delaware. The original thirteen states.
New Jersey. Georgia.
Connecticut. Maryland.
Massachusetts. South Carolina.
New Hampshire. Virginia.
New York. North Carolina.
Rhode Island.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
7 6

Vermont, 1791. Kentucky, 1792.
Ohio, 1802. Tennessee, 1796.
Indiana, 1816. Louisiana, 1812.
Illinois, 1818. Mississippi, 1817
Alabama, 1819.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
11 11 The Missouri Compromise,
1820.
Maine, 1820. Missouri, 1821.
Arkansas, 1836.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
12 13 First slave state majority.

Michigan, 1837. Florida, 1845.
Iowa, 1846. Texas, 1845. Last slave state.
Wisconsin, 1848.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
15 15

California, 1850. Compromise of 1850.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
16 15 Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 1854.
The last chance for the
Minnesota, 1858. South to win.
Oregon, 1859.
Kansas, 1861.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
19 15 Secession and the Civil War.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTIES OF KANSAS

Counties Organized Before 1860

_County._ _Date of Organization._ _County Seat._
Allen 1855 Iola.
Anderson 1855 Garnett.
Atchison 1855 Atchison.
Bourbon 1855 Fort Scott.
Brown 1855 Hiawatha.
Butler 1855 El Dorado.
Chase 1859 Cottonwood Falls.
Coffey 1859 Burlington.
Dickinson 1857 Abilene.
Doniphan 1855 Troy.
Douglas 1855 Lawrence.
Franklin 1855 Ottawa.
Geary[24] 1855 Junction City.
Jackson[25] 1857 Holton.
Jefferson 1855 Oskaloosa.
Johnson 1855 Olathe.
Leavenworth 1855 Leavenworth.
Linn 1855 Mound City.
Marshall 1855 Marysville.
Miami[26] 1855 Paola.
Morris[27] 1855 Council Grove.
Nemaha 1855 Seneca.
Osage[28] 1855 Lyndon.
Pottawatomie 1856 Westmoreland.
Riley 1855 Manhattan.
Saline 1859 Salina.
Shawnee 1855 Topeka.
Wabaunsee[29] 1859 Alma.
Woodson 1855 Yates Center.
Wyandotte 1855 Kansas City.

Counties Organized 1860-1870

_County._ _Date of Organization._ _County Seat._
Cherokee 1866 Columbus.
Clay 1866 Clay Center.
Cloud[30] 1860 Concordia.
Crawford 1867 Girard.
Ellis 1867 Hays.
Ellsworth 1867 Ellsworth.
Greenwood 1862 Eureka.
Labette[31] 1867 Oswego.
Lyon[32] 1860 Emporia.
Marion 1860 Marion.
Montgomery 1869 Independence.
Neosho[33] 1864 Erie.
Ottawa 1866 Minneapolis.
Republic 1868 Belleville.
Washington 1860 Washington.
Wilson 1865 Fredonia.

Counties Organized 1870-1880

_County._ _Date of Organization._ _County Seat._
Barber 1873 Medicine Lodge.
Barton 1872 Great Bend.
Chautauqua 1875 Sedan.
Cowley[34] 1870 Winfield.
Decatur 1879 Oberlin.
Edwards 1874 Kinsley.
Elk[35] 1875 Howard.
Ford 1873 Dodge City.
Harper[36] 1878 Anthony.
Harvey 1872 Newton.
Hodgeman 1879 Jetmore.
Jewell 1870 Mankato.
Kingman 1874 Kingman.
Lincoln 1870 Lincoln.
McPherson 1870 McPherson.
Mitchell 1870 Beloit.
Norton 1872 Norton.
Osborne 1871 Osborne.
Pawnee 1872 Larned.
Phillips 1872 Phillipsburg.
Pratt[36] 1879 Pratt.
Reno 1872 Hutchinson.
Rice 1871 Lyons.
Rooks 1872 Stockton.
Rush 1874 La Crosse.
Russell 1872 Russell.
Sedgwick 1870 Wichita.
Smith 1872 Smith Center.
Stafford 1879 St. John.
Sumner 1871 Wellington.
Trego 1879 WaKeeney.

Counties Organized 1880-1890

_County._ _Date of Organization._ _County Seat._
Cheyenne 1886 St. Francis.
Clark 1885 Ashland.
Comanche[37] 1885 Coldwater.
Finney[38] 1884 Garden City.
Gove 1886 Gove.
Graham 1880 Hill City.
Gran 1888 Ulysses.
Gray 1887 Cimarron.
Greeley 1887 Tribune.
Hamilton 1886 Syracuse.
Haskell 1887 Santa Fe.
Kearny 1888 Lakin.
Kiowa 1886 Greensburg.
Lane 1886 Dighton.
Logan 1887 Russell Springs.
Meade 1885 Meade.
Morton 1886 Richfield.
Ness[37] 1880 Ness City.
Rawlins 1881 Atwood.
Scott 1886 Scott.
Seward 1886 Liberal.
Sheridan 1880 Hoxie.
Sherman 1886 Goodland.
Stanton 1887 Johnson.
Stevens 1886 Hugoton.
Thomas 1885 Colby.
Wichita 1886 Leoti.
Wallace 1888 Sharon Springs.

[1] Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

[2] In 1819 the United States gave to Spain that part of
Kansas lying south of the Arkansas River and west of the
100th meridian. This territory again became a part of the
United States by the annexation of Texas in 1845.

[3] Coues, Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

[4] A cache was made by digging a jug-shaped hole in the
ground and lining it with dry grass, or sticks, or anything
to keep out moisture. Then the goods were packed in and the
opening closed very carefully by replacing the sod and
carrying away the earth that was removed, so that no sign
was left by which the cache might be discovered. Sometimes a
camp fire was built over it to destroy all traces of the
cache.

[5] Another phenomenon that makes the traveler in a dry or
desert country afraid to trust his eyes is the mirage. He
often sees what seem to be lakes, trees, buildings, cities,
only to find on nearer approach that they all disappear. As
Kansas has come under cultivation the mirage has become less
frequent, but it is still seen in the western part of the
State. Here is a description of one seen in early Kansas:

“On approaching the town of Lerny, about a mile and a
quarter this side, we found the whole intermediate space
between us and the grove of trees beyond the town apparently
occupied by a beautiful lake. On the apparent shore next to
ourselves the road ran down and disappeared in the lake, as
did the fence upon one side of the road, while the placid
and beautiful water extended upon the right and left, until
lost in the distance. The trees in the distance appeared to
be immersed for half their length in the lake, as if growing
in the water. Even the reflection of the trees, and of the
clouds above, was distinctly visible. We approached the
vision and it vanished.”

[6] Because of the increasing migration westward, the
National Government decided to send out expeditions for the
purpose of discovering the best routes across the mountains
to the Pacific. John C. Fremont was selected for this task,
and between 1842 and 1850 he made four journeys across the
plains. Among the scouts who acted as guides was the famous
hunter and trapper, and Indian fighter, Kit Carson.

[7] The fact that Kansas was once an Indian country is shown
by the many Indian names of counties, towns, and streams;
as, Topeka, Pottawatomie, Hiawatha, Wyandotte, Shawnee,
Cheyenne, Cherokee, and Kiowa.

[8] Among the schools established by the missions three have
continued in existence and have developed into important
schools of to-day: Highland College, established by the
Presbyterians; St. Mary’s College, by the Catholics; and
Ottawa University, by the Baptists.

[9] Named after Mount Oread Seminary at Worcester, Mass., of
which Eli Thayer was the founder and proprietor.

[10] Named in honor of Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, an
active member of the Emigrant Aid Company.

[11] It should be borne in mind that many of the Missourians
who took such an active part in Kansas affairs were not
representative citizens of that state, but were of the
unprincipled and outlaw classes. Many of them were hired for
this work.

[12] Ingalls said of this period: “No time was ever so
minutely and so indelibly photographed upon the public
retina. The name of no State was ever on so many friendly
and so many hostile tongues. It was pronounced in every
political speech, and inserted in every political platform.
No region was ever so advertised, and the impression then
produced has never passed away.”

[13] This period has given rise to the expression “bleeding
Kansas.”

[14] The origin of the word “Jayhawker” is uncertain, though
a number of different accounts have been given of it. In
recent years the term has come to be applied to our State
and our people, and it is not unusual for a Kansan to be
spoken of as a “Jayhawker.”

[15] One of Hamelton’s men was brought to justice five years
later.

[16] A census taken in 1885 disclosed the fact that nearly
100,000 Kansans had served in the Union army.

[17] The Populist party was formed as a result of the
political unrest following the collapse of the boom. The
Populist measures attracted widespread attention, and the
party, in fusion with the Democrats, succeeded in electing
Governor Lewelling in 1892 and Governor Leedy in 1896. By
that time conditions in the State had become more settled;
with returning prosperity the political agitation died down
and the Populists were soon absorbed into the other parties.
Since that time many of the measures advocated by the
Populists have been enacted into law or are being considered
by the people of to-day.

[18] This line was at first called the Kansas Pacific.

[19] See map, page 28.

[20] The traveling library system in Kansas was adopted in
1900 and is now under state control through a Commission
which maintains an office in the capitol at Topeka. These
traveling libraries are made up of collections of fifty
books each, selected in accordance with the wishes of the
applicant. They are sent to schools, clubs, granges, and
similar organizations without charge other than a fee of two
dollars to cover the cost of transportation. The libraries
may be retained six months, or exchanged at any time for
others.

[21] The place was discovered in 1875 by Mrs. Elizabeth A.
Johnson, who later purchased the land and presented it to
the State.

[22] Died, Sept. 18, 1911.

[23] Died, July 7, 1911.

[24] Named Davis until 1889.

[25] Named Calhoun until 1859.

[26] Named Lykins until 1861.

[27] Named Wise until 1859.

[28] Named Weller until 1859.

[29] Named Richardson before 1859.

[30] The original name, Shirley, changed to Cloud in 1867.

[31] Part of Dorn County until 1861. Named Neosho until
1867.

[32] Named Breckinridge until 1862.

[33] Named Dorn until 1861.

[34] Originally named Hunter.

[35] Originally the northern portion of Howard County.

[36] First organization in 1873, later set aside as
fraudulent.

[37] First organization in 1873, later set aside as
fraudulent.

[38] Named Sequoyah until 1883.

INDEX

Abilene, 157.
Actual Settlers’ Association, 68.
Adams, Franklin G., 231.
Adams, Zu, 231.
Admission of Kansas, 98, 106.
Agricultural College, 143, 163, 197, 201.
Agricultural Society, 143, 163.
Agriculture, Board of, 163.
Agriculture, taught to the Indians, 45, 142;
Territorial days, 142;
during Civil War, 143;
1860 to 1880, 147;
1880 to 1887, 148;
1887 to 1893, 148;
1893 to 1918, 153;
basis of prosperity, 171;
in schools, 191, 195.
Aid from the East, 106, 121.
Air Service, 139.
Alfalfa, 150, 151.
Allerton, Ellen P., 233.
Alliance, Farmers’, 161.
Amendments to the Constitution, 136;
to National Constitution, 137.
Ammunition Train, 139.
Anderson, John A., 230.
Andreas’ History of Kansas, 233.
Anti-cigarette Law, 136.
Appendix, 223-250.
Apple Crop, 160.
Aplington, Kate A., 234.
Argonne, 139.
Arizona, 29.
Arkansas City, 128.
“Army of the North,” 89.
Ash Creek, 37.
Atchison, D. R., 73, 74.
Atchison, 21, 42, 68, 168;
county, 20.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, building of, 178, 180.
Attorneys-General, Territorial, 236;
State, 239.
Auditors, Territorial, 235;
State, 238.
Automobile, 184.

Baker University, 204, 244.
Balance of Power, 57;
table of, 246.
Baptist Missions, 225.
Barber, murder of, 83.
Barton County, 207.
Becknell, journey of, 29.
Beecher, Henry Ward, 87.
Beet Sugar Factory, 153.
Berryman, Rev. J. C., 225.
Bickerdyke, Mary A., 231.
Black Jack, battle of, 86.
Blackmar, F. W., 234.
“Bleeding Kansas,” 91.
Blue Lodges, 65.
Bluemont College, 201.
“Blue Sky” Law, 136.
Board of Administration, 204.
Board of Agriculture, 163.
Bogus Legislature, 74, 76, 78, 80, 220, 223.
Boom, 127, 148.
Boston, 69.
Branson, Jacob, 79, 80.
Brewer, David J., 230.
Brick, 167, 170.
Broom Corn, 151.
Brown, John, 85;
at Pottawatomie, 86, 97;
at Osawatomie, 86, 90;
site of battle field, 211;
monument, 212, 213.
Buchanan, President, 98.
Buffalo, 9, 18, 21, 25, 33, 36, 37, 48, 115, 123, 124, 143.
Building Stone, 166.
Butler County, 117, 168, 169.

Cabeza de Vaca, 10, 11, 36.
Cache, how made, 38.
California, 29, 175;
gold seekers, 41;
gold fields, 41;
Road, 42, 69;
emigration to, 62.
Camp Funston, 138.
Capital, State, 99.
Capitals, Territorial, 223.
Capitol, State, 130.
Carruth, William Herbert, 234.
Carson, Kit, 41.
Catholic priests, 16;
missions, 49, 226.
Cattle Trade, 157-159.
Census, first Territorial, 78.
Cherokee County, 166.
Chief Justices, Territorial, 236;
State, 240.
Child-labor Law, 136.
Cibola, 11.
Cimarron Crossing, 38.
Cimarron River, 32, 38.
Civil War, 109-113, 115-129, 131, 143, 166.
Clark, Esther M., 234.
Clark, William, 20.
Cloud County, 115.
Coal, 166.
Colby, 163.
Coleman, 79.
Colleges, list of, 244.
College of Emporia, 204.
Columbus, 9, 10.
Colorado, 22, 29, 151, 153.
Comanche Indians, 25, 33.
Commercial Work, 195.
Commission, Railroad, 182.
Congressmen, 242, 243.
Connelley, William Elsey, 234.
Consolidated Schools, 191;
Districts, 195.
Constitution, Topeka, 78, 94, 223;
Lecompton, 94, 95, 96, 223;
Leavenworth, 96, 223;
Wyandotte, 98, 99, 106, 223.
Constitutions, summary of, 223.
Corn, 156.
Coronado, 10-14, 49;
monument for, 213;
sword of, 215.
Cortez, 10, 29.
Cotton Gin, 55.
Council Grove, 33, 34, 72, 210.
Counties Organized, 113, 122;
lists of, 248-250.
County High School, 193.
Cowboy, 158, 159.
Crawford County, 166.
Crawford, Samuel J., 117, 234.
Crops of Kansas, 147, 148.

Dairying, 157.
Daughters of American Revolution, 210.
Democratic Party, 98.
Denominational Schools, 204, 244.
Denver, Governor, 97.
Dodge City, 12, 163;
cattle trade center, 158.
Domestic Science, 192.
Don Carlos, Mrs. Louise Cooke, 234.
Doniphan County, 20.
Douglas County, 79.
Douglas, Stephen A., 58.
Dow, 79.
Drouth, 67, 104, 105, 106, 119, 127, 142, 148.
Dugout, 102.

Education, 187-206;
see Schools.
Eldridge, 85.
Election, first Territorial, 72;
second Territorial, 73.
Electric Railways, 182, 183.
Elwood, 176.
Emigrant Aid Company, 63, 64, 65, 85.
Emporia, 197.
English, 17.
Exodus, 125.
Experiment Station, 163.
Extension Work, 204.

Farmers’ Alliance, 161.
Farmers’ Educational and Cooperative Union, 163.
Farmers’ Institutes, 162.
Farmers’ Organizations, 160.
Farming Implements, 143-146.
Father Padilla, 48.
Feterita, 153.
Fire-escape Law, 136.
Floods, 133.
Foreign Settlements, 180, 181.
Fort Dodge, 38, 52, 228.
Fort Hays, 52, 228.
Fort Hays Kansas Normal School, 194.
Fort Leavenworth, 50, 52, 139, 227.
Fort Riley, 51, 52, 72, 75, 139, 211, 212, 227.
Fort Scott, 52, 166, 227.
Forts, list of, 227-229.
“Forty-niners,” 41.
Fourth of July Creek, 21.
France, 16, 139;
end of claims in America, 17-18.
Franklin, 33, 89.
Fremont, John C., 41.
Friends Missions, 49, 225.
Friends University, 204.
Funston, Fred, 129.
Fur Traders, 47.

Garden City, 153, 163.
Gardner, 42.
Gas, 167, 168, 171.
Gasoline Tractor, 147.
Geary, John W., 90, 91, 92, 94.
Giles, F. W., 233.
Glass, 171;
factories, 167, 171.
Gleed, Charles, 233.
Glick, Geo. W., 211.
Gold Seekers, 41, 42.
Good Roads, 183, 193;
federal aid, 183.
Goss, Nathaniel S., 233.
Governors, Territorial, 235;
State, 237.
Graham, Effie, 234.
Grange, 160.
Grasshopper Invasion, 121, 122, 127.
Gray, Alfred, 231.
Great American Desert, 24, 25, 29, 106, 122.
Great Bend, 12-13.
Great Salt Lake, 41.
Great Seal of Kansas, 116.
Greenwood County, 117.
Gregg, Josiah, 34.
Gypsum, 168, 170.

Hall of Fame, 211.
Hamelton, 97.
Hand Planter, 143, 144.
Hard-surfaced Roads, 184.
Harger, Charles M., 234.
Harris, William A., 230.
Harvey, Henry, 225-226, 233.
Hays, 163.
Highland College, 49, 225.
High Schools, accredited, 193, 195, 197;
purpose of, 195;
courses, 195.
Hinton, R. J., 233.
Historical Society, 214, 215.
History of Kansas, 207, 221.
Homes of Kansas, poem, 101.
Homestead Law, 117, 118.
Horner, Hattie, 233.
Horses, used on Santa Fe Trail, 33.
Horticulture, 159.
Household Arts, 191, 195.
Howe, E. W., 233, 234.
Hudson, Mary W., 233.
Hutchinson, 167, 169.

Illinois, 64.
Immigration, 64, 65, 67, 88, 105-106, 115, 117-118, 122, 129, 180,
181.
Independence, 33.
Independence Creek, 21.
Indiana, 64.
Indian Territory, 46.
Indians, 9, 20, 21, 22, 55, 72, 135;
tribes of, 25;
and traders, 31;
experience with, 38;
possessed Kansas, 45-53;
reservations, 46;
taught in missions, 49;
removal of, 45-46;
raids, 109, 115, 117;
as farmers, 142;
raised corn, 156.
Industrial Training, 195.
Industries of Kansas, 142-171.
Ingalls, John J., 87, 211, 218, 233.
Inman, Henry, 233, 234.
Institutions, State, 244, 245.
Insurance, Superintendents of, 241.
Interstate Commerce Commission, 182.
Interurban Lines, 183.
Iowa, 64, 88, 89.
“Iron Trail,” 179.
Irrigation, 149.
Irving, Washington, 24.
Irwin, Rev. S. M., 225.

Jayhawkers, 96.
Jefferson, President, 17, 20.
Jesuits, 16, 48.
Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth A., 209.
Johnson, Rev. Thomas, 50, 225.
Johnson, William, 225.
Joliet, 16.
Jones, Sheriff, 79, 81, 83.
Junction City, 13.
Juvenile Courts, 136.

Kafir Corn, 151.
Kansas, admission of, 98, 106.
Kansas City, 39, 50, 65, 66, 68, 112, 133, 166, 167, 174, 177.
Kansas History, in the making, 221.
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 58, 63.
Kansas Pacific Railroad, 177.
Kansas Spirit, 217-221.
Kansas Territory, map, 56;
organization, 58.
Kansas To-day, 135, 136.
Kanza Indians, 25, 33, 45.
Kaw Indians, same as Kanza Indians.
King, Henry, 233.
Kingman, Samuel A., 230.

La Croix, Father, 226.
Land Grants, 180.
Lane, James H., 78, 79, 87, 89, 99.
La Salle, 16.
Lawrence, 65, 68, 79, 80, 83, 88, 99, 167;
sacking of, 83;
defense of, 91;
Quantrill raid, 111;
floods, 133, 135.
Lawrence, Amos A., 67.
Lead and Zinc, 167.
Leavenworth, 42, 68, 168.
Leavenworth Constitution, 96, 166, 223.
Lecompton, 68, 69, 88, 95.
Lecompton Constitution, 94, 95, 223.
Leedy, Governor, 161.
Legislature, Bogus, 74, 76, 79, 80;
second Territorial, 94.
Legislature, first Free-state, 95.
Legislatures, summary of, 223.
Length of school term, 187, 190.
Lerrigo, Dr. C. H., 234.
Lewelling, Governor, 161.
Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 20-21, 25.
Lieutenant-Governors, 237.
Lincoln, 110.
Lindsborg, 181.
Linn County, 97, 112.
Live Stock, 156-159.
Locomotive, invention of, 174;
old and modern, 182.
Long, Major, 24.
Louisiana, naming of, 16;
purchase of, 17, 20, 45, 57;
exploration of, 20.
Lykins, Dr. David, 225.
Lykins, Dr. Johnson, 225.

Manhattan, 68, 69, 177, 200, 201.
Manual Training, 191, 192.
Manual Training Normal School, 198, 201.
Manufactures, 165.
Marais des Cygnes Massacre, 97, 212.
Marion County, 117.
Markham, Thomas B., 225.
Marne, Battle of the, 139.
Marquette, 16.
Marysville, 176.
Mason, Walt, 234.
McCarter, Margaret Hill, 234.
McCoy, Rev. Isaac, 49, 225.
McCoy, Joseph G., 233.
McKeever, W. A., 234.
Meat Packing, 166, 181.
Meeker, Jotham, 49, 225.
Memorial Hall, 2, 213, 214.
Memorials of Kansas, 207-215.
Mendenhall, Rev. M., 226.
Mennonites, 156, 180.
Methodist Missions, 49, 50, 225.
Mexico, 17, 21, 29;
war with, 40, 50.
Miller, Sol, 101.
Milling, 165, 181.
Milo, 153.
Mine Creek, 112.
Mineral Resources, 166.
Minneola, 223.
Mirage, 40.
Missionaries, 47, 48, 49, 142.
Missions, 53, 142;
established, 49, 50;
list of, 225, 226.
Missouri Compromise, 57, 58, 246.
Missouri River closed to free-state immigration, 88.
Montgomery, James, 96.
Monuments, 210-214.
Moody, Joel, 233.
Morgan, Wm. Y., 234.
Mormons, 41, 52.
Mormon Trail, 42.
Mortgages, 128.
Motor Trucks, 184.
Mounds, 112.
Mount Oread, 67, 203.
Munger, Mrs. Dell H., 234.
Music, 191, 195.
Mutual Benefit Association, 160.

Narvaez, 10.
National Army, 138, 139.
National Government, protected traders, 32;
sent out Fremont, 41;
removal policy of, 45;
established Fort Leavenworth, 50, 52.
National Guard, 139.
Nebraska, 25, 42, 88, 89, 153.
Neosho Valley, 33.
Nevada, 29.
New England Emigrant Aid Company, first party, 65;
second party, 67;
third and fourth parties, 68.
New Mexico, 11, 21, 29, 39.
New Spain, 10, 11, 14.
Nichols, Mrs. C. I. H., 231.
Nineteenth Kansas, 117.
Normal Schools, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 203, 204, 244.
Northern Route to Kansas, 88.
Nurses in World War, 139.

Officers, Territorial, 235, 236;
State, 237-243.
Officers’ Training Camps, 139.
Ohio, 64.
Oil, 167, 168, 169.
Oklahoma, 24, 46, 59, 167;
opening of, 128.
“Old Mill,” 144.
Oregon, Emigrants to, 41.
Oregon Trail, 42.
Organization of Kansas Territory, 55-59.
Osage County, 166.
Osage Indians, 21, 25, 33, 34, 45, 225.
Osawatomie, 85;
pillaged, 86;
burned, 90.
Ottawa University, 49, 204.
Oxen, 33.

Pack Mules, 31.
Padilla, Father, 48.
Padoucas, 25.
Paine, Albert Bigelow, 233, 234.
Panic of 1893, 129, 153.
Patrons of Husbandry, 160.
Pawnee Capitol, 51, 75, 212.
Pawnee Fork, 37.
Pawnee Indians, 13, 22, 25, 33, 37;
village, 21, 209.
Pawnee Rock, 36, 37, 207, 209.
Pawnee, town of, 75.
Peck, George R., 233.
Peffer, William A., 233.
Peery, Rev. E. T., 225.
Pennsylvania, 64.
People’s Party, 161.
Phillips, William A., 233.
Pierce, President, 62.
Pike’s Peak, 22.
Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, 21-23, 25, 29, 30, 209.
Pioneer life, 102-107, 122, 123, 124.
Pioneer Schools, 189, 190.
Pipe Lines, 167, 168.
Plumb, Preston B., 230.
Pomeroy, Samuel C., 67;
made Senator, 99.
Pony Express, 175.
Popular Sovereignty, 58, 73.
Population of Kansas, 1854, 53;
1855, 73;
1859, 105;
1865, 113.
Populist Party, 161.
Portland Cement, 167, 170.
Pottawatomie Massacre, 86, 97.
Prentis, Noble L., 232, 233.
Presbyterian Missions, 49, 225.
Price Raid, 112.
Printers, State, 240, 241.
Prohibition Amendment, 136, 220;
National, 137.
Public Instruction, Superintendents of, 240.
Public Utilities Commission, 182;
law, 136.

Quantrill Raid, 111;
loss from, 112;
monument, 214.
Quivera, poem, 8.
Quivira, land of, 11, 13;
Indians, 25, 48.

Railroad Commission, 182.
Railroads, 127, 148, 174-183;
first one in Kansas, 176;
Kansas advertised by, 180;
relation to industries, 181;
regulation of, 182;
mileage, 181.
Rainbow Division, 139.
Realf, Richard, 233.
Redpath, James, 233.
Reeder, Andrew H., 72, 75, 78, 87.
Regiments of Kansas soldiers, 117, 129.
Regulation of Railroads, 182.
Reign of Violence, 83-92.
Removal Policy, 49.
Republican Party, 98.
Republic County, 21, 115, 209.
Richardson, Albert D., 233.
“Rifle Christians,” 87.
Road Materials, 184.
Robinson, Dr. Charles, 67, 78, 79, 187, 233;
home burned, 85;
held prisoner, 88;
first Governor, 99.
Robinson, Mrs. Sara T. D., 231, 233.
Ross, Edmund G., 231.
Round Mound, 39.
Rural Schools, pioneer, 189;
modern, 190, 191.

Sacramento, 41.
Salt, 169.
Salt Lake, 175, 176.
Salt Lake Trail, 69.
San Francisco, 175, 176.
Santa Fe, city, 29, 30, 40, 175.
Santa Fe Trail, 29-41, 174, 179;
map of, 28;
length of, 33, 42;
marking of, 210.
Schoenmaker, Rev., 226.
Schools, established by missions, 49;
Territorial, 187;
first in Lawrence, 187;
subscription, 187;
length of term, 187;
during Civil War, 188;
pioneer schools, 190;
rural, 191, 193;
consolidated, 191;
high schools, 193;
State, 196-205, 244;
“Standard,” “Superior,” 191;
for blind, 203;
for deaf, 203;
denominational, 204, 244.
School Teachers, qualifications, 191.
Scott, Charles F., 233.
Seal of State, 116.
Secretaries, Territorial, 235;
State, 238.
Senate, 55.
Senators, United States, 241.
Seven Cities of Cibola, 11.
Shannon, Wilson, 76, 80, 86, 89.
Shawnee Indians, 50.
Shawnee Mission, 50;
as capital, 75.
Sheldon, Charles M., 233, 234.
Simmerwell, Rev. Robert, 225.
Slavery in United States, 57, 63.
Slaves, 62, 63, 73, 74.
Smith, F. Dumont, 234.
Snow, Francis Huntington, 230.
Sod Corn, 144.
Sod House, 105.
Sod Schoolhouse, 189.
Soldiers, 41, 47, 213;
furnished by Kansas, 109.
Song of the Kansas Emigrant, 61.
Sorghum Crops, 148, 151.
Soudan Grass, 151.
Southeastern Kansas, 96.
Southern Aid, 88.
Southwestern University, 204.
Spain, 9, 13, 17.
Spanish-American War, 129.
Speer, John, 233.
Spring, L. W., 233.
Squatter Sovereignty, 58.
Stage Lines, 174, 175.
State Capitol, 130.
State Fair, Leavenworth, 143.
Steele, James W., 233.
St. John, Governor, 136.
St. Joseph, 42, 175, 176.
St. Mary’s College, 49.
St. Mihiel, 139.
Stockyards, 154.
Stone, building, 166;
quarry, 170.
Stringfellow, B. F., 74.
Sugar Beets, 153.
Superintendents of Public Instruction, Territorial, 236;
State, 240.
Supplies Taken by Traders, 33.
Swedish Settlements, 181.
Sweet Clover, 151.
Sword, old Spanish, 215.

Tank Cars, 168.
Teacher Training, 195.
Tecumseh, 89.
Telegraph, 176, 182.
Telephone, 123, 182.
Territorial Officers, 235, 236.
Territory, government of, 72.
Texas, 18, 23, 159.
Thayer, Eli, 63, 65.
The Caches, 38.
The Three R’s, 189, 191.
The “2700,” 91, 92.
Tomlinson, W. P., 233.
Topeka, 68, 69, 88, 99, 133, 135, 167.
Topeka Constitution, 78, 94, 223.
Topeka Movement, 223.
Trading Post Ford, 112.
Trading Posts, 47, 53.
Trail Markers, 210.
Trails, Santa Fe, 29-41;
Oregon, 42;
California, 42, 69;
Mormon, 42;
Salt Lake, 69.
Trappers, 125.
Traveling Libraries, 204.
Treasurers, Territorial, 236;
State, 238-239.
Truancy Law, 136, 190.
Turk, 11.
Twentieth to Twenty-third Kansas Regiments, 129.

Underflow, 151.
Union Pacific Railroad, 157, 176, 177, 178, 213.
University of Kansas, 65, 197, 202, 203, 204.
Utah, 29.

Van Quickenborn, Father, 226.

Wagons, used on Trail, 31, 39.
Wakarusa War, 79-81.
Walker, Governor, arrival of, 94;
resigned, 97.
War, Civil, 107, 109-113, 129, 131;
French and Indian, 17;
Revolutionary, 17;
Spanish-American, 129;
World, 137, 183.
Ware, Eugene F., 208, 232, 234.
Washburn College, 204, 244.
Wattles, Willard, 234.
Wellhouse, Frederick, 231.
Wellington, 167.
Western Kansas, 148, 149, 180.
Westport, 33, 42, 79, 112.
Wheat, 152, 155, 156.
White, William Allen, 234.
Wichita, 167.
Wilder, Daniel W., 232, 233.
Windmill, at Lawrence, 144;
irrigation, 149.
Winter of 1855-’56, 83.
Woman’s Kansas Day Club, 207.
Woman’s Relief Corps, 211.
Woman Suffrage, 137.
Wood, S. N., 87.
Woodson, Daniel, 75;
opened Kansas to invaders, 90.
Woodward, Brinton W., 233.
World War, 137, 183.
Writers, Kansas, 233, 234.
Wyandotte Constitution, 98, 106, 223.

Zinc Smelters, 167.

* * * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

Inconsistent hyphenation, dialect, obsolete and alternative
spellings were left unchanged.

Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and moved to the end of the
book, preceding the Index. There are two anchors to Footnotes 36 and
37.

The following were changed:

Changed comma to stop at end of index entry: Democratic Party, 98.

Added stop to end of caption: Illustration: STAGE COACH.

Added descriptor to illustrations:
Bust of Abraham Lincoln
Great Seal of the State of Kansas
Bust of Eugene Ware
Bust of John J. Ingalls

Added names of Governors to captions.

Corrected spelling: ecomomics to economics.

Removed space from Wa Keeney in appendix.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A History of Kansas" ***

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