A journey through Kansas, with sketches of Nebraska : describing the country, climate, soil, mineral, manufacturing, and other resources : the results of a tour made in the autumn of 1854

Front matter

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Chapter I. Preparations And Inquiries

Within the short space of a few weeks, a large amount of information has been collected and circulated in regard to Kansas. Every scrap concerning this last new land of promise, has been devoured with curiosity's keenest appetite, and most men will now talk as if Kansas were a familiar subject, studied and comprehended. Few, however, as yet, have formed any well-defined ideas of the position, * aspect and resources of this great Territory, or have measured aright the influences which its settlement is likely to exert upon the destiny of the whole country; and two months since, when it was first determined that an exploring party should go out from Cincinnati, it was far n ^re difficult to decide what was needed for such a journey man to provide an outfit for a voyage to Europe ; and while we modestly admit that we had ourselves no knowledge to boast of, we must add, that the general ignorance was highly amusing. Some seemed to have no more definite notion of 1

2 JOUEXEY THROUGH KANSAS.

the position of Kansas, than of the distance of the fixed stars. They thought of it as indefinitely remote — somewhere "out west," toward the Pacific Ocean. One individual placed it two thousand miles from Council Bluffs ; another brought it on within two thousand miles of Cincinnati, while an Irish friend inquired if it was indeed a newly-discovered continent. An outfit for Kansas is a matter to be very gravely considered, and attended to in the minutest manner, before starting, and a thing to be laughed over when once you are in the Territory. Eifles, shot-guns and revolvers, with all the necessary accoutermeuts and ammunition, hunters' knives, blankets, tents, camp equipage, fishing apparatus, water-proof boots and coats ; these, and innumerable smaller articles, were to be duly considered and decided uj^on.

Who could tell what weapons of offense or defense might be needed on the lonely prairie ? All the newspapers agreed in declaring that no man should dare venture without his rifle, at the very least.

Whether the rifle was to be used against panthers, grizzly bears, and wolves, or against the Pawnees, or Camanches, or to defend ourselves against those bloody-minded members of the Platte County Self-defensive Association, who had offered a reward for Eli Thayer, we could not tell ; or whether it mi ht not be necessary to carry by assault the famous Weston ferry, where it was said no Yankee could, on any terms, get over. A rifle was voted into the outfit ; also, a " double barrel," for none could tell us how else food was to be obtained, and for the same reason our fishing-tackle was added, as also a revolver for close combat, whether witli mnn or beast. Eubber overcoats and leggins were also obtained, for b'w could a shelter be reached on the naked prairie ? We were told in the Territory, that a very prudent gentleman from New York, one of great forecast, had carried his precautionary measures so far, as to take out with him a paper of sand for scouring his knives. Our providence was not so far-reaching or so minute as his, but when fairly under-way in Kansas, rolling easily in a two-horse carriage over the finest roads in the world, we discovered that our outfit, provided with so much anxious care, was, with a few exceptions, as little needed as it would be in the streets of our own city. Our rifle did indeed have a shot at a prairie wolf, and prairie chickens, quails and plover heard the voice of our " double barrel ;" to which fact, most of them being yet alive, are ready to bear witness ; while a few, impudent, and scornful, offering themselves at ''standing shot" vt ere added to our spoils, and we left their well-picked bones to bleach upon the prairies. The hunter's knife was quite useful, one morning, in preparing some dry toast for a breakfast on the prairie, but had no taste of the blood of buffaloes, or elk, or even grizzly bears.

In fact, the exploration of Kansas was a much more peaceful affair, with a more decidedly civilized aspect, than our friends had feared, or we had imagined. But, though bloodless, our journey was full of instruction upon points now intimately connected with American progress, interspersed with some exciting and many amusing incidents ; while after leaving St. Louis, the whole scene was attractive, from its novelty, which scene, as it was a few weeks since, I will now endeavor to nresent to the reader.

Chapter II

FROM CINCINNATI TO ST. LOUIS.

The Ohio bad shrunk, during the drouth, to a shallow that put to shame its boasting spring flood, and our Ohio and Mississippi Eailroad being as jet only in "rapid progress," our party was compelled to set its face toward Chicago. But, by which route ? This question suggests many important thoughts concerning the trade of Cincinnati. The traveler may pass by steamboat or railway to Madison, and thence northward by railroad to Indianapolis and Chicago; or, to Lawrenceburgh, cither by the boat or cars, and thence to Chicago; or, by Hamilton, Richmond, and Indianapolis ; or, lastly, by Dayton, Eichmond, and Indianapolis. This assemblage of railways, stretching from Cincinnati toward the northwest, shows how earnestly she is now preparing herself to attract the trade of that immense and fertile region — while the long lines which traverse the country from the Mississippi eastward, some of them already crowded with freights and travel, and that leave the Queen City to the south on one side, cause one to feel that the air-line connection with St. Louis has been delayed too long already, and that it behooves Cincinnati not only to finish this railroad with all haste, but to be dilisent and greatly in earnest to ally herself to the free west and northwest, by all those ties and living sympathies, which are mightier even than railways, to give direction to the currents of trade.

On one of the sunniest mornings of early autumn, we were seated in the cars of the Ohio and Mississippi Eailroad. I felt the first motion of the train on this link of the great central " broad gauge " with strong emotion. Soon this broad gauge will stretch in almost an air-line, from St. Louis to New York ; and already its westward continuation to the mouth of the Kansas is under-way, and then for the Pacific and the trade of the ''exhaustless East." How sooD, along this iron artery, the tide of commerce will throb from ocean to ocean ! This spanning a continent with such a railway is a thought worthy the nineteenth century — one which no other century could have conceived or executed. It is an exponent of the spirit of our age, and marks the change in the direction of human thought and industry, since the time when the genius and labor of an empire were employed in piling up the good-for-nothing pyramids. Europe and Asia will yet rush to meet each other in this^ Western valley, at the rate of fifty miles an hour ! At some eating station out in Kansas, or at Salt Lake, London and Canton will exchange congratulations and newspapers.

The sooner all idea of obtaining aid from the Government for building a Pacific Eailroad is abandoned, the better, probably, and the sooner the work will be done. Not that it would not be a noble achievement for the Government, to link thus oceans and continents together, and make the commerce of the earth tributary to our own advancement, but the south, and the north, and the center, can never agree, as we have reason to fear, upon any route, and so let each section push its own lines westward as rapidly as possible. Each great division of the country needs a connection with the Pacific ; and it is to be hoped that each will succeed in its efforts. In the meantime, the first and highest prize awaits the most energetic. A broad gauge air-line from New York, by Cincinnati, St. Louis, the Valley of the Kansas, and Fremont's newly-discovered Pass, need not despair of business. So at least I thought, as we swept down the bank of the Ohio.

The river seemed actually ashamed of itself, and tried to hide its shriveled dimensions, by creeping close up under the shadow of the steep banks, and winding, with its feeble channel, as much as possible, out of sight. I felt a pity for the old river that had held au exclusive monopoly of carriage here so long, and now, when old and feeble, was thrust aside, and made the theme of idle ridicule, by those who were once thankful to be borne on its full-flowing stream, kissing the high rim of either bank. The steamhorse snorted and neighed in derision as he rushed past, and the puny river had now no consolation, unless he thought of his fall-rise, and his spring-flood.

Chicago may be regarded as the most aspiring city in the Union, and certainly the marvelous progress of her youth, may well justify her in anticipating greatness in her maturity. It remains to be seen whether she is not stretching herself beyond her measure, and preparing for a calamitous reaction. She shows, as yet, however, no signs of weakness or pause, and though in every natural advantage

JOUKNEY THROUGH KAN,<AS. 7

she is far inferior to Cincinnati, yet there are powerful influences operating in her favor, which the Queen City does not enjoy.

The east has poured into Chicago and the adjacent country her sons and daughters, and capital in no stinted measure. She has followed these, of course, with her eyes and heart, her sympathies and prayers. Chicago has enjoyed, of late, whatever aid the influence of the east could give her. Toward her, the public attention has been turned; to her, capital has been directed for investment. The east has reproduced itself in that northern region, and the promising child is beloved, praised and recommended. In all this movement for the settlement and upbuilding of the northwest, Cincinnati is scarcely more thought of than Xew Orleans. The thought and sympathy of the east rolls along the lakes, and across to Iowa and Minesota, even to Oregon, and the memories and affections of these in turn, flow back eastward along the same lines, to New York and Boston, carrying their commerce with them. Chicago is the true heart of the country, of which she is the commercial center.

The rural population, the people, and the city, are in sympathy with each other. Their interests have thus become mutual, and they are rapidly concentrating upon Chicago an array of institutions and influences that will form a broad foundation of metropolitan power.

Chicago is an exponent of western sentiment as Cincinnati is not, and she is in closer sympathy with the general movement of the country. With these advantages, united with the unwearied energy which she displays, it perhaps were unwise to say, that she will not accomplish her large desires.

inferior thougli she is to her southern neighbor, in position, size, architectural beauty, wealth and manufactures. Moral causes are entering largely into the control of commerce, and cities even, must beware how they violate the great principles of right.

St. Louis. — In studying the map of the United States, one involuntarily puts his finger upon the site of St. Louis, as the spot where the great internal city of the country should be, and feels compelled to prophesy, that there it must and will be. But here, again, moral causes interpose, and produce results, which, at first glance, would scarcely be anticipated. /Slavery has repelled from St. Louis the element of freedom, and turned the tide of free emigration northward, leaving her own beautiful regions a waste, and herself languishing in an atmosphere lacking the vitality of freedom. ;

It is evident, however, to the most casual observer, that there is in St. Louis a new life contending with the old death-power of slavery. The young city, born of the influences of the surrounding free territory and its commerce, bears yet with her the body of that death ; but the bands which lash the living to the dead, are loosening, and unless the Nebraska iniquity shall finally triumph, St. Louis will enter upon a new career, and the enjoyment of a better life.

Should Kansas and the States yet to be erected on the adjoining Territories, become slave States, St. Louis will command their commerce, as she will, also, the trade of the south, in far larger measure than she now does, excluding Cincinnati in large degree from both, notwithstanding all past and present efi'orts to secure the southern favor.

On the other hand, should those vast and fertile western regions teem with a free population, St. Louis, as a free city, will, in the end, interpose herself between them and Cincinnati; and then, if the latter is not allied to those frontier States, by any common sympathies or affinities — by any ties of kindred or the power of common memories and associations — if ^the recollections of their early struggles are connected only with other friends, will it not be difficult for her, in the absence of these things, to obtain the commerce of these rising States ? Such are some of the moral influences which seem to connect themselves with the fortunes of western cities — and thus largely is the slavery question likely to influence their commerce and their growth.

Chapter III. Voyage Up The Missouri — Cholera On The Boat

It bad been our intention to join tbe second party tbat -went out under tbe auspices of tbe Emigrant Aid Society. Tbis party, numbering abotit one bundred and tbirty, reacbed St. Louis on Saturday, and instead of resting in St. Louis over tbe Sabbatb, as we bave since understood it was tbe intention of tbe officers of tbe Society tbat tbey sbould do, proceeded immediately up tbe river — tbus trampling down one law of God, in a mission professedly under taken to vindicate anotber.

Tbis desecration of tbe Sabbatb by a band of emigrants from Massacbusetts, as most of tbem were, and connected as tbey were witb a society organized for tbe very purpose of opposing an immorality, was a cause of grief to tbe best friends of tbe movement in tbe West. It served to divest tbe wbole enterprise of a moral cbaracter ; and to tbis extent diminisbed its power. Tbose wbo bad denounced it, were encouraged in tbeir opposition. Tbe friends of tbe slave power bad feared more tban all else, tbat tbe spirit and principles of tbe Pilgrims would, by systematic effort, be planted in Kansas. But wben tbey knew tbat tbis large company, tbe representatives, as tbey bad reason to suppose, of those who were to follow, did not hesitate to prosecute their journey on the Sabbath, it served to modify, somewhat, in their minds, the effect of the religious speeches, and Bible presentation, and Pilgrim songs, that had heralded their approach. Their Pilgrim character was stripped away by their own hands, and they sank in public estimation to the level of a common band of adventurers. In a mere worldly point of view, it was a serious mistake, and it occasioned a loss of moral power not easily regained. It showed the necessity of a movement originating in deep and steady religious feeling, by which alone Kansas can be permanently secured for God and freedom.

To one unaccustomed to the navigation of western rivers, a voyage up the Missouri presents many novel, and some interesting, features. The union of the Mississippi and jMissouri is conducted very much according to some of the modern ideas of marriage. The two do not become one, but remain two distinct and separate individuals, with equal rights and privileges, long after their destinies flow on together, between two common banks. Far below, however, it is perceived, that even the rivers find out that this is not the true philosophy of marriage, and they therefore melt into one. There are few such scenes on earth as the meeting of those giant floods, after each has swept over half the breadth of a continent, and almost half a continent still between them and the sea. "We speak of them often, and of the great system of rivers, of which they form the central lines, as evincing the foresight of God, in regard to the commerce of the Western valley — as if they had been shaped exclusively for the trade of this nineteenth century. But what

12 JOURNEY THROUGH KANcAS.

purpose were they subserving, in the economy of creation, through the ages during which they were all rolling on their floods before the Anglo-Saxons began to be ? Even then they had some mission worthy of Him who unsealed their springs in the mountains, and scooped out their beds in the valleys. We are apt in our pride to imagine, that all the past has been shaped for our accommodation, and that by us all the future will be controlled. The veriest puddle of the streets need not blush beside the muddy Missouri ; but one is deeply impressed with the power of the broad flood, that rushes down so unweariedly, with a velocity, as is said, of six miles an hour, nor slacking its speed in the race of two thousand miles, from the Kocky mountains to the Mississippi. It is a much more rapid stream than the Mississippi, and on the fortieth parallel of latitude, is said to be five hundred feet higher than that river.

Sand-bars are the vexations, and snags and sawyers the terrors of the navigation of the Missouri. Familiarity with difl&culties and dangers, however, has begotten a coolness and skill, whereby they are avoided or overcome, and after watching for a day the maneuvers of a well-managed boat, among the snags, it is difficult to feel any anxiety about them, though reason gravely tells us there is continual danger, and she also tells the truth. Yet, compared with the whole amount of business, accidents have become somewhat rare, even on the Missouri.

These river steamboats may be said to be partly amphibious, from the manner in which they get out their legs and walk over the sand-bars and shallows. I once thought that when there is not water enough to float a boat, there is no remedy; but the western navigator halts not for lack of water. The boat is provided with heavy spars, some fifty feet long, which are set out over the sides, like the legs of giants, and by means of the proper machinery, worked by the capstan, the weight of the boat is partly suspended upon her legs, and she literally ''walks the water like a thing of life."

The days occupied in our passage up the river, were among the hottest of the season, and the heat of the fires and steam converted the whole boat into one huge furnace, especially when not under-way. We knew that the cholera was doing a fatal, though quiet work, along our western rivers, as well as in the cities of the country, and even one whose courage is based upon Christian faith, could scarce avoid some unpleasant apprehensions, at the thought of the brutal neglect by which so many attacked with cholera upon steamboats, have been really murdered ; nor should a man be called a coward, if his soul shrinks from a midnight burial at a woodyard, or from being hurriedly thrust into a hole in a sand-bar, from which the current may wash his body out before a day has passed.

Some symptoms of disease appeared among the passengers, though all was quiet. On the second day it was known to a few, that a young man who had left his wife and child in Illinois, to seek for them a new home in Kansas, was seized with cholera, and in a few hours more he was dead. The body was laid down on the guards of the boat below, away from the observation and knowledge of most of the passengers. The few who knew of it however, felt that they had received one of death's most solemn lessons, in this sudden vanishing of early manhood's dream — this swift fading of the temporal into the eternal, with one in our very midst, one of us — for among a company of passengers, traveling on for days together, there springs up a feeling akin to that produced by kindred, and a death on board resembles, though faintly, a death in a household.

What tidings, too, for the young wife, counting up the days of his absence, and consoling herself with thoughts of the new home on the prairie, that her husband was dead and buried, perchance where she could never find even his grave ! In the night, at some woodyard, and unknown to all but the few who would bear the body ashore, he was to be buried ; and perhaps it may interest the reader to know what reason one of the living has, to remember that night on a Missouri river steamboat.

Disease, which I well knew might be, and which I had much reason to believe really was, incipient cholera, had been upon me many hours previous to the sickness and death of him whom I have mentioned. My nervous system, from physical and mental exhaustion, was, before I left home, in a state to be impressed by every object, and by every occurrence; and doubtless the predisposition to disease, was strengthened by this solemn death, and the prospect of such a midnight burial ; and, erelong, I knew that the disease was assuming its distinctive features, and that life's current had begun to ebb. A few moments' reflection brought me to two conclusions; first, that I had at my own disposal, as efficacious medicines as any one on board the boat could supply me wdth, and that I would depend upon them, my own judgment, and the overwatching care of God, and thus escape whatever danger tliere might be in making known a second case of cholera on board — for sometimes one's life is little cared for, in comparison with the reputation of the boat. Second, I knew that np to a certain point, even the aid of friends would be useless, and therefore determined not to disturb my traveling companions, unless it should be absolutely necessary. I sought my berth, with my medicines within reach, and committed myself into the hands of Him who I knew was able to save. The ''practice" was necessarily a very simple one, confined entirely to the use of large quantities of powerful stimulants, frequently repeated. The boat was oppressively hot, but I knew that the perspiration that would gush from every pore, and then leave me all cold, was not caused merely by the heat of the cabin, and I was sensible also, that the system was gradually sinking ; and, notwithstanding what I had swallowed already was quite sufficient to destroy a man in health, it was repeated, dose after dose, as the only hope, knowing that the fatal collapse was near. For what seemed a long time, I was not conscious of the slightest influence produced by these powerful remedies so lavishly applied ; but as I now recall the visions and thoughts that hurried through my mind, it seems evident that the whole system must have been at last strongly excited, and there was, probably, a mingling of dreams with waking thoughts, a state of mind which, for a brief period, bordered upon, but yet was not, delirium. There was no fear of death, nor was there any higher exercise of Christian feeling than resignation to whatever the will of God might be. The mind seemed turned outward from itself, directed, probably, by surrounding circumstances.

About midnight, as it seemed, the boat was stopped, and I knew that the corpse of our fellow-passenger was borne ashore in the darkness, silently, with no kindred to mourn — with no funeral hymn or prayer ; it was just at the time when I knew that my own fate would soon be decided, and that perhaps I, too, in a few hours more, would in like manner be taken away.

I followed the group with the body, in imagination, as I heard it leave the deck. I seemed to see the shallow grave hastily dug, the glimmer of the single light, the overhanging trees, and the surrounding darkness. Then the grave seemed to be only a hole scooped in the sand-bar, partly filled with water, into which the rude box, with the body, was thrust, and the wet sand scraped in, and I saw the current lay it bare, and then sweep it away. I thought of my own grave, under the cottonwoods of the Missouri bottoms, with nothing to distinguish the place, and I saw friends from home sadly wandering along the shore, and searching vainly for the spot. Then I seemed to feel that I was dead, and inclosed in a rough coffin, and buried in the sand, where I could hear the rush of the river washing my grave away.

Again, home, with every minute object of the familiar scene rose before me ; the family rooms and circle of loved ones gathered there, and I saw brought in the letter with the ominous seal. I followed and traced the sensation produced by the tidings, in the larger circle of friends, and I remember a sense of sadness and mortification, when I marked how soon it was all forgot. I could not divest myself of the impression, that when I was dead and placed

JOURNEY TIIIIOUGII KANSAS. 17

in my lonely grave, that there avouIcI be the agonizing sensation of being left behind, and alone in the darkness of the night and the tomb, that I should feel that the spot could never be found or known, and that I should hear the sound of departing footsteps, and of the receding boat.

When this partial dream or delirium passed, T was cont?cious at once that the progress of disease was arrested; the vital powers were beginning to rally ; visions faded away, and I knew that Grod had interposed in my behalf. There was no doubt on my mind that the danger was nearly, if not entirely passed, and that, by the mercy of God, 1 had escaped a grave in the sand-banks of the Missouri.

The reaction of the system, so low had it sunk, v^^as only to the point of health, notwithstanding the quantity and power of the stimulants, and my next night on the Missouri was one of comfort and peace. I had often read of the stopping of boats on these western rivers, at woodyards and sand-bars, to bury the dead; but now my own eye had seen, my own heart had been made to feel. One at least will not soon forget the dead emigrant, and that midnight burial. The banks of the Mississippi and Missouri are, in reality, one long graveyard, where the dead of all nations sleep, and their waters have swallowed up wealth enough for the purchase of an empire.

Chapter IV. Business And Boats Of The Missouri — Kansas City

Inasmuch as it has an important "bearing upon the cheapness and comfort of emigration, the fact may be mentioned here, that we were agreeably disappointed at the amount of business, and business facilities, upon the Missouri. The number of steamboats on the river is greater, and they are larger and better provided, in every respect, than we had supposed would be found at this season of the year, while the amount of freight and number of passengers also exceeded our expectations. It shows a large population and business upon the upper Missouri, which fact is well illustrated by another. "Weston, a place of some 4,000 inhabitants, is, by the river, 506 miles from St. Louis; and Platte county, of which this is the principal commercial town, has been settled only fifteen years, and now contains 40,000 inhabitants.

These facts show that Kansas borders upon a rich and populous country, upon which it can depend for supplies, during the process of settlement, whence it can derive abundance of stock, and where, also, it can find its markets, until it has commercial towns on the river of its own, and then it will have the power of choice. With such a country already settled, the Missouri river on its border, and markets within reach, Kansas will have advantages in its settlement which few new countries have ever possessed, and the settlers, consequently, will be exposed to fewer hardships and disadvantages. At this season of the year, (September,) and in this stage of water, (very low,) the voyage from St. Louis to the mouth of the Kansas river, is made in three and a half to four days, and the established price for cabin passage, on the best boats, is twelve dollars.

We were informed by the officers of our boat, that the Missouri was then at its lowest stage, yet this boat had very little difficulty in making her passage, though of 600 tons burden. The navigation can be depended upon until about the middle of November. It is then usually interrupted by ice, but is clear again early in March, and sometimes, in the latter part of February. The annual rise, from the melting of the snows in the Kocky mountains, occurs in May.

The price of freights, from St. Louis to the mouth of the Kansas, is, during the low water, from one dollar to one dollar andffty cents per cwt., according to the character of the article, while, when the river is at full stage, and many Ohio river boats run up the Missouri, competition often brings it down to twenty-jive cents per cwt. ; and as the merchants of the towns up the river are able to avail themselves of these low prices, for the transportation of their permanent stock, the settler will often, perhaps generally, find it to his advantage to purchase his outfit of them rather than to buy at St. Louis, and then subject himself to heavy charges for freight — especially in the latter part of the season.