Kansas, her resources and developments, or the Kansas Pilot, giving a direct road to homes for everybody, etc

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KANSAS HEIt Resources and Developments s OR THK KANSAS PILOT GIVING a direct road to BZOIMIIES FOR EVERYBODY ALSO THE EFFECT OF LATITUDES ON LIFE LOCATIONS, WITH IMPORT- ANT FACTS FOR ALL EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS BY WAYNE GRISWOLD. M. D. CINCINNATI BOBBBT CLABKE & GO \dyertif lay. j_b^ ents, C x'* appi C wyill be KANSAS HER Resources and Developments OR THE KANSAS PILOT giving a direct road to HOMES EOR, EVERYBODY ALSO THE EFFECT OF LATITUDES ON LIFE LOCATIONS, WITH IMPORT ANT FACTS FOR ALL EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS BY WAYNE GEISWOLD, M. D. CINCINNATI BOBEET CLAEKE & CO Entered according to Act of Congress, In the vear one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, By WAYNE GRISWOLD. In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CONTENTS. Preface v Introduction vii Kansas — Area, Position, and Resources 9 Rivers, Timber, and Coal 15 Soil, Culture, and Crops 17 Fruits 20 Stock 24 Cities and Towns 27 Atchison, 29; Lawrence, 29; Topeka, 30; Junction City, 32; Abilene, 33; Salina, 33; Emporia, 34; Burlington, 34; Baxter Springs, 35; Columbus, 36; Crawford, 36; Fort Scott, 36; Mound City, Paola, Olathe, 37; Ottawa, 37; Garnett, 37; Eureka, 37; Chetopa, 38; El Dorado, 38; Oswego, Can ville, Humboldt, Iola, 38; Burlingame, 38.

Railroads 39 Stage Companies and Staging 43 Immigration and Speculation 45 Schools, Colleges, and Churches 47 Health and Sanitary Prospects 49 General Character of the People and Future Prospects of Kansas... 51 Effect of Latitude 54 General Invitation 56 Roads to Kansas Contents. IV Counties of Kansas 62 Leavenworth, 62; Douglas, 63; Jefferson, 64; Shawnee, 64; Jackson, 65; Pottowatomie, 65; Wabaunsee, 66; Riley, 66; Davis, 66; Dickinson, 67; Clay, 67; Saline, 67; Ottawa, 69; Cloud, 69; Republic, 69; Rice, 69; McPherson, 69; Ellsworth, 70; Russell, Ellis, Trego, 70; Marion, 70; Morris, 70; Lyon, 70; Chase, 71; Osage, 71; Coffey, 71; Woodson, 72; Allen, 72; Greenwood, 72; Butler, 73; Neosho, 73; Wilson, 74; Labette, 74; Montgomery, 74; Howard, 75; Cowley, 75; Sumner, 76 ; Sedgwick, 77; Harper, 77; Johnson, 77; Miami, 77; Linn, 78; Bourbon, 78; Crawford, 79; Cherokee, 79; Franklin, 80; Anderson, 80; Wyandotte, 81; Atchison, 81; Brown, 82; Nemaha, 82; Marshall, 83; Washington, 83; Doniphan, 83. Kansas for European Emigrants 85 Population of Kansas ."..'. 90 Average Rain Fall 92 Pre-emption and Homestead Act

Preface

. In giving a general and local description of Kansas, some repetition will be found, especially in the articles on cities, towns, and county seats. Most of these sketches and notes were gathered in rambling over the State. Statistics are taken from cor rect sources. Some errors may occur. Many more in teresting items connected with Kansas might be given, and we may improve upon them at some future day. Numerous small towns, not described for want of room, are springing up all over the State.

Introduction

. Kansas! How often we have heard this name in the last few years! It has rung through all the land and over the" world ; it has been on millions of tongues. Many have attempted to tell her story, to draw her daguerreotype, to portray her present and future; but all descriptions fall below the standard. The plainest and most simple history you can write of Kansas would seem incredible to most people. We must look upon Kansas, with all that has been written and said about her, as a mere infant, only ten years old as a State, and sixteen from her territorial organization. Within a few years, the Indian and buffalo held undisputed sway over the entire State. Not many years have passed since the traveler to Sante Fe and California, when he left the banks of the Missouri, bid farewell to civiliza tion and all of its comforts for a far-reaching journey among wild men and beasts.

Who can comprehend the fact, that a State should have grown up in so short a time which contains already five hundred thousand Introduction. VI inhabitants, with improvements so vast and rapid that the nation and the world look on with utter amaze ment? That all may have a fair and impartial history of this growing State, its present condition and future pros pects, especially the eastern half, I have prepared, and present to the public, the Kansas Pilot, or the direct road to a good home for all who wish to get one. It comprises a concise history of the State, and a particu lar description of two hundred miles square of Eastern Kansas, by counties, with various routes to reach them, and the chances for land, lots, and homes, with some pictorial scenes of improvements and business. The object of this history is to post every one about Kan sas — where to go, what to do, where to buy, where to get homes, or make money, invest in land, town prop erty, timber, minerals, or water powers.

This little work will give any one more information about Kansas, for fifty cents, than they would learn for one hundred dollars in traveling over the State. KANSAS. Area, Position, and Resources. This State is over four hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide, containing eighty-one thousand square miles, and over fifty-two million acres of land. It lie3 between latitude thirty-seven and forty north, aud between longitude ninety-four and one hundred and two west. It is bounded on the east by Missouri, on the north by Nebraska, on the west by Colorado, and on the south by the Indian Territory. The latitude of this State — lying between thirty-seven and forty — gives it the finest climate in the world. It is neither too far south or north. Kansas is the great central State of the American Union — about equal distance from ocean to ocean, and from lakes to gulf, or from British possessions to Mexico.

Not less than three continental railroads will cross Kansas from east to west, and as many more from north to south. Its central position is such that most of the great continental improvements must cross the State, and in the future pay tribute to her. The area of Kansas comprises a vast elevated plain, interspersed with numerous streams lined with timber, and rich valley land with vast undulating or rolling prairies between, with some rocky bluffs. But little more than one half of this State is yet surveyed. About ten million acres have been given by the General Government to railroads, schools, colleges, and to the State. Already thi3 infant State numbers nearly five hundred thousand inhabitants, and will soon reach one million. Minerals are abundant, especially stone, coal, salt, and gypsum.

The soil is almost universally rich, especially in all the eastern part of the State for two hundred miles up. It produces immense native crops of prairie grass, and, as far as it has been cultivated, it equals any State in the Union for the production of fruit, vegetables, and grain of all kinds. On her various streams are numerous water powers which, at some future day, will move a vast amount of machinery. If we take two hundred miles square of the eastern part of Kansas, comprising forty thousand square miles, or over twenty-five million acres of land, it will sur pass any equal amount of continuous territory on the globe. In all this vast body of land there is little but what is good. All the choicest gifts which nature bestows, in land, to make a country desirable for homes, for the production of wealth, and all the comforts of life, are found here.

Beyond, in Western Kansas, vast prairies, clothed with buffalo grass, stretch out for hundreds of miles, where vast herds of buffalo and wild horses roam undisturbed except by the crack of the rifle or the shrill whistle of the locomotive. All of these far-stretching prairies are interspersed with streams of various sizes, some extending for hundreds of miles lined with timber and rich valley land. Various minerals of great value sleep undisturbed under this vast territory. Some future day this vast region, like the plains of Texas, will become the center of immense stock production. Two hundred miles square of Eastern Kansas is as much as we need to deal with at present. Here, the emigrant, the speculator, the resident, and all interested for homes or fortunes in Kansas, will find everything that nature could combine, or human genius develop, to lay the foundation for an empire, that will in the future attract the wonder and admiration of the whole civilized world.

Great States have grown up in the American Union, millions of splendid homes and vast fortunes have been made, but no previous State has ever presented the chance for homes and fortunes with Eastern Kansas. Here are twenty-five million acres of the richest land in the world ; no similar tract can be found on the face of the globe. The fertility of soil, the capacity for production, the water, minerals, timber, latitude, and climate, with every gift which nature could provide to promote the happiness and prosperity of human population, are unparalleled. This great prize is open to the world. Not one-tenth of it is yet taken up. Millions of homes yet remain so cheap that anybody can get one. Towns and cities are springing up in every direction, and there is still room for plenty more. Railroads are developed rapidly.

A vast number of new homes and fine farms are constantly taken up, and soon sur rounded with all the comforts of older States. Population, trade, travel, speculation, and business of all kinds is increasing rapidly. School houses, seminaries, colleges, and churches keep time to the music of the ad vancing population. When we reflect upon the capacit}7 of this vast area for production, when brought under the high cultivation of some of the older States — the fruit, vegetables, grain, grass, and stock that will be annually produced •the commerce and manufacturing that will be developed — the vast growth of towns and cities — the wonderful im provements in the physical, moral, and intellectual condition of the people — the growth of population, wealth, and all the luxuries of life, as they will surely come in the future development of Kansas — we are lost in utter amazement as the great prize looms up before us!

Hundreds of thousands of happy homes, vast treasures, unlimited amount of commerce, manufactories and trade, great cities and elegant towns, railroads reaching to every part, all improvements in the mechanical arts that science and ingenuity can invent, all the means of cultivating the intellectual and moral powers, all the fortunes, and comforts, and luxuries of a vast popu lation are contained in this grand prize ! No such mag nificent chance was ever presented to the world before, and never will be again, as this is the last great State, containing such vast quantities of good land, to fill up, especially in a favorable latitude like Kansas, to promote the highest development and prosperity of the human family. Who will take a chance for his share? It is no doubtful matter; every one can draw a prize.

It is just as certain as that two and two make four to all who exercise ordinary judgment. Any person can get a splendid, but cheap home, in Kansas. Whoever makes a fair investment in Kansas, at the present low rates, and bides his time or improves his home, is cer tain to make money. The world never presented a more favorable field for homes and money, and I doubt whether it ever will again. For emigrants and all who wish for homes where honest industry will make them independent, and those who wish to build up a great State, here is the place. For all who wish to engage in business, to invest, to buy and sell, and get gain, a wide field opens. The speculators or capitalists never had a better chance; great opportunities present themselves in land, town or city property,, or stock. Everything is cheap at present.

Her tax list is yet small, but in less than twenty years it will contain more than twelve hundred million dollars, and the State more than two million inhabitants. What untold millions are to be made? Who is to get the vast amount of money that the development of values in Kansas will make in the next fifteen years ? The amount is immense ; the fortunes to be made innumerable; countless homes for every emigrant and all persons who wish to get one. If thousands of the hardy sons of toil, who are working their lives out for a mere pittance on the sterile lands of Europe, New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada, could be transported to the pro ductive lands of Kansas, they would all get rich on one half of the labor they perform where they are. The fertile soil, the genial climate, the favorable latitude, all combine to give twice the amount of production to the same amount of labor in Kansas over many of the old States and nations.

The true statesmanship of the age in which we live, is to prepare the way, and transfer populations from the sterile, exhausted, over-populous countries to the rich productive lands of our great West. It is one of the potent engines of the age to stimulate production and all moral and material improvement. It is the great equalizer and elevator of human conditions, carrying in its track untold blessings to a vast number of the human family. The heart aches, as you tramp from county to county over the vast regions of Kansas, and behold millions of acres of the richest land in the world lying idle and uncul tivated, that requires only to be tickled by the hand of the husbandman to produce immense crops. Millions, in other parts of the country and the world, are wearing out their lives in perpetual toil for a most scanty living, many of them even fearing starvation, when, if they could only be planted in Kansas, peace, happiness, and abundance would soon crown their labors, and the State and the nation would receive the advantage of thousands of new and happy homes. [Bids Fariweu. to Kansas.]

Rivers, Timber, and Coal. Whoever looks over the map of Kansas, or travels to any great extent within her borders, will see at once that few States have more numerous streams. She has a variety of rivers and creeks, of various sizes and lengths; some slow, sluggish, muddy — some rapid and clear. Along some of her streams are fine water powers. Most of her rivers aud creeks run in deep channels, and they seldom overflow their banks so as to injure crops, unless in very high floods. This great multiplication of streams in Kansas gives a vast pro portion of rich valley land. Along all her streams of any size is a fine growth of timber, of greater or lesser extent. Oak, black walnut, cottonwood, and various other kinds grow very large and thrifty on all the large streams. In addition to natural timber, many farmers commenced the cultivation of timber, which grows with great rapidity.

The natural and cultivated timber, together with the vast quantity that will spring up spontaneously, just as soon as the prairies are cultivated so as to check the extensive fires in burning grass, will supply the State in future with plenty of wood, fencing, and timber. In a great part of Kansas they need no wood, as coal is found in abundance. In many counties it is so universal and plenty that all the farmers will have ther fuel directly under their farms, and yet the land over most of these vast coal banks is as fine as any in the State. Missouri river, on the east, has a vast amount of steam travel, navigation, and commerce. The Kansas river, one of the largest in the State, runs through the center, and a splendid, rich valley lines the whole distance. The Republic, Saline, Solomon, and Smoky Hill Fork, extensive rivers, lined by fertile valleys and tim ber, with a variety of creeks, such as Gypsum, Mulberry, and Saline, all unite to form the Kansas.

There are numer ous valuable water powers on these 8treams. The Neosho, extending from near Junction City, through a rich and well-timbered valley, down into the Indian country, has numerous branches, and a great variety of valuable water power, which will move a vast amount of machinery in a few years. Spring river, in the southeast part of the State, is one of the finest streams in Kansas. The water is as clear as crystal. This stream, with Shoal creek, has numerous fine water powers. There are many fine sites for mills and factories. The Arkansas, in its long, circuitous race of waters, travels for a great distance in Kansas, drinking up a great number of smaller streams. Big Blue, Grasshopper, Verdigris, Cottonwood, Osage, and many other smaller rivers, are fine streams, lined by rich valleys, timber, and good water powers.

No one who examines the great va riety of rivers and creeks in Kansas, can doubt that the State has the full average fall of water. Soil, Culture, and Crops. Kansas has undoubtedly a vastly greater proportion of rich soil to the bad, good land to the poor or waste, than any State in the Union, unless you consider the vast plains of Western Kansas useless ; but they will no doubt, at no distant day, exchange the vast herds of buffalo that roam over them now for immense flocks of cattle and sheep, which will become a valuable production to the State. The immense growth of prairie grass, in all parts of the State, not only proves a rich soil, but its wonderful power of production ; so no one need wonder that the In dian and the buffalo dislike to surrender the broad prairies of Kansas to the dominion of civilization and Christianity.

The broad bottom lands, along all the streams of the State, will compare favorably with those of any other State, and the prairie lands, so vast in extent, are thought superior to those of Iowa and Illinois. As far as the soil of Kansas has been cultivated, its capacity for production stands un rivaled. Statistics show it equal to any State. That there may have been drawbacks, incident to all new countries, we have no doubt. It was so with the Puritans around Plymouth Rock; it was so with the early settlement of Virginia and Ohio ; in Illinois and Iowa. There were com plaints of droughts and floods, of frosts and winds, of grasshoppers, bugs, squirrels, grubs, etc. So it has been with Kansas, and in the face of all the cry about droughts in Kansas, that they were so universal and constant that nothing could be raised, I have seen more rain, I am cer tain, in seven weeks' travel in the State, than I ever wit nessed in the same length of time in my life ; and in traveling thousands of miles in different parts of the State, visiting most of the cultivated portions, I have not witnessed bet ter crops in any part of the country.

Winter wheat and spring wheat are very promising, vegetables plenty and good, and the corn looks as well as it does in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. It is much larger and bids fair to make a greater crop. Everything in the State would indi cate to the traveler not only a rich, fertile soil, but capable, under proper cultivation, of producing crops equal to those of Ohio or Illinois. IMPORTANT FACTS ON THE AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF SOME OP THE PRINCIPAL STATES. The harvest of 1869 gave Kansas a yield of 20 per cent. in average excess in corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buck wheat, potatoes, and hay, over the following States : Iowa, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, and New York. During the six years, ending with 1867, the average in the above States was as follows : Corn. — Kansas, 37; the other States between that and 30, the lowest being New York.

Wheat. — Kansas, 17 ; the other States between that and 11, the lowest being Ohio. Rye. — Kansas, 22 ; the other States between that and 13, the lowest being Ohio. Oats. — Iowa, Wisconsin, and Kansas were ahead, and Indiana last. Barley. — Kansas, 28; the other States between that and 22, the lowest being Massachusetts. Buckwheat. — Kansas, 28; the other States between that and 17, four being at the latter figure. Potatoes. — Massachusetts and Wisconsin the highest, and Ohio the lowest. Hay. — Kansas the highest, and Massachusetts the lowest. Fruits of Kansas. No State in the Union, of equal age, surpasses Kansas for the production of fruit, or in soil and climate is better adapted to its growth. It will, at no distant day, surpass every State in the American Union. It has already taken the highest premium at a National Pomological Fair.

Con sidering the great effort that has been made, in many of the older States, to improve the varieties and quality of apples and other fruits, this premium, in a national strug gle, tells the future of this State for fruit. We give the opinions of reporters who attended the Po mological Congress at Philadelphia, and witnessed the general display of fruits from all the States represented. The Topeka Commonwealth says : " The State of Kansas carried off the gold medal of the Society as a special mention for the largest display of fine fruits — one hundred and twenty varieties of apples, twenty five of pears, and six of grapes. When we reflect that every section of the country was represented, and that the finest fruits, from orchards subjected to the culture and ex periments of many years, were on exhibition, we may well felicitate ourselves upon the signal triumph our young State has won."

One of the Washington city papers says: " The apples of Kansas surpass, in fair appearance and size, everything of the kind we have ever seen produced this side of California. One can hardly recognize the Rhode Island Greening, the Fall Pippin, Northern Spy, Russet, or Ribstone Pippin, from their extraordinary size and beauty. We miss the highly perfumed, delicious and favorite Baldwin, of Massachusetts; but their equally famous Roxbury Russet is shown of twice its usual size at the North. They will all be on exhibition at the Agricul tural Department for several days, and are well worth a visit from our citizens." The New York World reports from Philadelphia : " Kansas has done .herself honor in the exhibition of fruits. There are no finer apples or pears than those on the large table above which the name of this State is wrought in evergreen.

The delegates from Kansas, though they have been silent on the floor, worked enthusiastically about the fair. The Legislature made an appropriation specially for the purpose, which shows good sense that is creditable to a young government. The money is well (Resources aud (Developments 22 spent, and will bring in a worthy return, for these noble fruits are an enticing manifesto, and will send more than one horticulturist out there to live. The pears are richly colored as well as large; and the apples! — well, if you could see the Gloria Mundi specimens, you'd think of ordering a few dozen for winter supply. You wouldn't need more. 'They must buy apples by avoirdupois in Kansas.' The old apples have returned to something of their first quality on the new soil of the West. The golden Porter and juicy Smokehouse apples have taken a new lease of popularity.

The peaches are models of beauty — dusky red, evenly shaded, and the white ones are a standing temptation to people who know the delicate sweetness under those sunless complexions. Kansas can go in on the fruit question. The pears are exhausting to look at; they are so large that delicate women would hesi tate to eat them, just as they shrink from immense country biscuit." It is not merely the attention which the people of Kansas have devoted to fruit culture that has made this young State so famous, but also her remarkable soil and climate and their peculiar adaptation to the growth of fruits. Young as Kansas is in years, numerous thrifty orchards of apple, peach, and various other fruit trees are seen among her settlements in many counties. It requires but little care or labor to raise fruit in any part of the State.

It matures rapidly when started, and pro duces abundantly. Grapes do finely, and in the future Kan sas will become a large wine-producing State. Apples, peaches, and many other fruits will be grown in great abundance for consumption and transportation. No fruit can be found more delicious than the vast quantities of native strawberries that fill the prairies of Kansas in June. Like most other kinds, they seem to grow larger and more delicious than in most States. There are few pro ductions that add more to the real pleasure and harmony of life, or even to health, than plenty of all the choice fruits. For this great blessing, no State can surpass the future prospects of Kansas. It is an important item to be considered by all in selecting locations for life, or in making land investments, for nothing adds more to substantial comfort, or value, in life locations, than soil and climate adapted to the growth of all kinds of fruits, as well as grain.

Such is the nature of Kansas, giving it a great preference over States less favorably situated. Few States have more delicious native fruit than Kansas, proving a fine soil and climate for fruit. Grapes, pawpaws, plums, gooseberries, as well as strawberries, are very fine. Stock. The means of feeding stock are so abundant in all parts of Kansas that it costs little to raise cattle, horses, or sheep, in comparison to what it does in some of the older States. The consequence is, it will become one of the finest stock countries in the world. They have all the natural resources to make it so. Already numerous stock farms are opened, where the improved breeds are cultivated with all the care for fine stock you see in Kentucky or Ohio, and it is only a question of time when Kansas becomes one of the greatest stock-raising States in the Union.

Sheep, cattle, and horses can be raised so cheap that it will be the most lucrative business any farmer can engage in. The native stock form only a part of the cattle trade in Kansas. The great stock trade of Kansas will be in Texas cattle. Already it is growing into an immense business. Texas pro duces more cattle now than the four great States — Ohio [Texas Oxin.] Indiana, Ulinois, and Iowa. A large proportion of these cattle will be driven up to Kansas for sale. Few people, who have not witnessed the vast droves of Texas cattle constantly driven up to this State to herd or sell, can re alize the magnitude of the trade. During the past year, more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand head have arrived for sale and shipment at Baxter Springs, where they reach the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad.

They can also reach the Neosho Valley road at Chetopah or be low. During the same time, nearly two hundred thousand have reached Saline, Dickinson, and Riley counties for shipment on the Kansas Pacific at Salina, Abilene, and Junction City, most of them from Abilene ; some drive up through the State to Nebraska, and sell or ship from there. Many cattle, of all ages, are bought by the stock men of Kansas, and kept for future growth and sale ; so many that it has become a vast and profitable business. Any man who understands how to trade and manage stock can go into Cherokee, Labette, or most any of the counties in Southern Kansas, or up into Saline, Ottawa, or Dickinson, get them a good farm for herding cattle, and can buy, herd, and sell Texas cattle, and make a fortune in a few years. The eastern part of the State will soon be all taken up for agricultural purposes, and the great trade in Texas cattle will concentrate on the southern line of the State, or in the western part.

Stock growers in Texas will prefer to drive up through the Indian Territory, even after railroads reach the State, as it will be much more healthy for the stock, and grazing will cost little from the Indians. Baxter Springs, from its favorable location, near the Indian Territory, and convenience for water, grazing, and railroads — the Gulf road being already finished there ; the Southwest Pacific, direct to St. Louis, will soon connect with Baxter, and the Straight Line Pacific, from St. Louis, west on the old Benton meridian, will, undoubtedly, run a branch to Baxter, as it would secure them more business than any part of their road, and give to a rich section of country railroad facilities that have none now — will, in the future, become the great cattle market of the country. Large slaughtering houses will, no doubt, be built at this place soon, and here dealers in Texas cattle, whether growers, grazers, buyers, sellers, purchasers, or speculators, will congregate.

Great numbers have been here during the past year, and they are increasing rapidly. Cities and Toivns. [Kansas Avenue, Topeka.] In traveling! through Kansas, and mingling with the people of her various cities and towns, one must form their own opinion of soil, values, and future prospects, from what he sees, or by comparing with towns in older States, for he will find in nearly every town in the State that they expect, if you believe what you hear, that they are to become great cities ; that they have just the place to become a great rail road and manufacturing center. Even in many county seats, where they have no city or county buildings, and where nine-tenths of the land of the county is yet in a state of nature, they will talk of future greatness and put up property to fabulous prices, even where they have no prospects of making any more than an ordinary county seat.