CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 685 P24 
 
 Kansas & Nebraska hand-book. For 1857-8. 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 875 024 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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 <^r>. 
 
THE 
 
 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA 
 
 HANDBOOK. 
 
 I'OR 
 
 1857-8. 
 
 WITH A NEW AND ACCURATE MAP. 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN H. PARKER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "HANDBOOK OF IOWA," "MINNESOTA HANDBOOK," ETO 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. 
 
 CLEVELAND, OHIO : H. P. B. JEWETT. 
 18 5 7. 
 
F 
 
 At 2-03/31 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S57, by 
 
 NATHAN IT. PARKER, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Iowa. 
 
 > 
 
 LITBOTYPED BY COWLES AKD COMPANY, Al THE OFFICE OT 
 THE AMERICAN STEREOTYPE COMPANY, PHCENIX BUILDINO, BOSTON. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Seveeal bound volumes, giving a history of 
 Kansas and Nebraska, and containing much val- 
 uable information on those Territories, have been 
 published and are before the public, as well as 
 a vast number of newspaper articles on the same 
 subjects. 
 
 The design of this Handbook is not to take 
 the place of any work extant, but rather to 
 meet a want which has • been and is now gen- 
 erally felt, for practical information, arranged 
 in a concise and cheap form, which shall serve 
 as a Guide to the immigrant Sad traveller, giv- 
 ing full and reliable statements as to the past 
 history, present condition, and future prospects 
 of this " Garden of the West ; " relative to lands 
 occupied and vacant, the minutiae and cost of 
 opening a farm, pre-emption laws,, claim-club assof 
 ciations, etc. ; also, of the soil, climate, timber, 
 
 advice to immigrants, etc., etc. 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 Trusting in the success of former works, of a 
 similar kind, on Iowa and Minnesota, the author 
 submits this Handbook to the public, with a hope 
 that it may prove alike useful. 
 
 N. H. P. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 General Appearance. — Scenery. — Soil. — Timber. — 
 Climate. — Rivers, — Geology 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Productions. — Markets and Trade. — Health. . . 19 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Time of Emigration. — Routes and Fares. — Landing 
 Points. — Overland Route. — What to carry. . . 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Claims and Preemptions. ^- Land in Market ... 30 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cost of Opening Farms. — Building Materials. — Ce- 
 ment Houses 36 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 "What Business will pay best. — Prices Current. . .45 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Emigration. — Present Condition of Kansas. ... 49 
 
 (v) 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 History of Kansas and Nebraska Territories. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Border Ruffian Policy. — Proper course for the Emigrant 
 to pursue. — Better Days in anticipation for Kansas. . 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Opinions of an Old Resident of the Territories of Kansas 
 and Nebraska. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 (vii) 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The Territories of Kansas and Nebraska are included 
 within the parallels of 37° and 49° of north latitude, 
 being bounded on the east by the Missouri river, and 
 stretching westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains, 
 embracing an area of 389,193 square miles. 
 
 This district of country is a portion of the " Louisiana 
 Purchase," ceded by France to the United States in 1803, 
 and was considered as a part of the region called the 
 " Great American Desert," until its beau'tiful rivers and 
 rolling prairies were explored and represented to the civ- 
 ilized world, by the government of the United States, 
 through the daring energy of our countryman, Col. J. C. 
 Fremont, who established the overland route to California ; 
 and all who have journeyed to this Eldorado by land, 
 since the gold discovery of 1848, have traversed the beau- 
 tiful valleys and fertile prairies of this district, which, 
 until that time was almost unknown, save by the Indian 
 tribes who then held undisturbed sway. 
 
 So far from being " the American Desert," we find the 
 Territories of Kansas and Nebraska principally made up 
 of as fertile soil as any other portion of the Union can 
 boast, and amply adorned with sparkling rivulets, and 
 placid lakes, and rapidly-running streams, that afford an 
 
 (ix) 
 
X INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 amount of water power surpassing that of any settled 
 portion of the United States. 
 
 The bill organizing the Territories of Kansas and Ne- 
 braska was the leading and most absorbing topic of the 
 Thirty-third Congress. Its principal features are : 
 
 1. It repeals the Missouri restriction upon slavery, de- 
 claring it to be inconsistent with the acts of 1850, known 
 as the " Compromise measures." 
 
 2. The Governor and Judges of each Territory are to 
 be appointed by the President and Senate. 
 
 3. The bill is declared not to revive the old French 
 laws regarding slavery. 
 
 After a lengthened controversy, this bill passed ,the 
 Senate on the 4th of March, 1854, by a vote, of 37 to 
 14, and a similar bill passed the House on the 23d of 
 May, 1854, by a vote of 113 to 100. 
 
 From this time, this Territory was understood as be- 
 longing to " Uncle Sam," and a portion of it was subject' 
 to pre-emption, which right was eagerly improved by the 
 more adventurous class of pioneers. The Indian tribes 
 were removed to regions remote from the river, and civ- 
 ilization took their places while the smoke of their camp- 
 fires could still be seen. 
 
 The population of Kansas and Nebraska, in March, 
 1855, was stated to be less than 10,000. Now, in March, 
 1857, it will probably exceed 75,000 ; which number will 
 be more than quadrupled during this year. 
 
KANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL APPEARANCE. SCENERY. SOIL. ■ — TIM- 
 BER. CLIMATE. RIVERS. GEOLOOY. 
 
 Kansas Territory is situated between the par- 
 allels of 37° and 40° north latitude, embracing a 
 section of country extending in breadth over three 
 degrees of -latitude, and from east to west over 
 twelve degrees of longitude, having an area of 
 114,793 square miles. It lies in the same belt with 
 Northern Kentucky, Virginia, Southern Illinois, 
 and Indiana. 
 
 general appearance. 
 
 The surface of the country, along the banks of 
 the streams, consists of wide, alluvial bottom, 
 rising upward in a series of terraces, stretching 
 away in smooth slopes to the bluff heights ; then 
 sweeping beyond in gently undulating prairies or 
 uplands, which have an elevation above the level of 
 the sea of about nine hundred feet. Between these 
 
 ■(") 
 
12 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 terraces are smooth plateaus of land, often several 
 miles in breadth, and inclined towards the alluvial 
 bottoms, giving the entire plains a perfect drainage, 
 and rendering them most desirable for the agricul- 
 turist. In some portions, near the large streams, 
 the land is broken and jagged by the frequent cross- 
 ing of the smaller water-courses ; but the greater 
 portion of the land is fitted, in the highest degree, 
 from the hand of nature, for the practical use of 
 the agriculturist. 
 
 THE SCENERY. 
 
 Though less varied than in rugged and moun- 
 tainous districts, the scenery of Kansas is exceed- 
 ingly picturesque and beautiful. The swelling 
 surface of her prairies is dotted with island-like 
 groves ; lofty table-lands, overlooking great rivers 
 belted with luxuriant forests, green flowery plains 
 and vales of quiet beauty walled in by the eternal 
 battlements of nature, bluffs and hills lifting their 
 bold, graceful outlines against the sky, everywhere 
 delight the eye and redeem the landscape from mo- 
 notony. The bluffs are a formation peculiar to 
 the district bordering on the Upper Mississippi and 
 Missouri rivers. Many of them appear like the 
 cultivated grounds about the fine old residences of 
 the Eastern States, terrace rising above terrace 
 with great regularity, while others resemble old 
 forts in the distance. 
 
 In the eastern part of the Territory, most of the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 13 
 
 timber is upon the rivers and creeks, though some 
 of the high hills are crowned with a heavy growth 
 of trees, on either side of deep vales, where rip- 
 pling waters gush amid a dense shade of flowering 
 shrubbery. Higher than the bluffs are the natural 
 mounds, which have also about them the look of 
 art. They rise to such a height as to be seen by 
 the traveller at a great distance, and add peculiar 
 beauty to the whole appearance of the country. 
 From the summit of these mounds the prospect is 
 almost unlimited in area and unrivalled in beauty, 
 affording a panoramic view of the beautiful rolling 
 prairies, thirty miles in extent, in every direction. 
 
 Trees are scattered here and there, like old or- 
 chards, and it is- indeed difficult to realize that for 
 thousands of years this country has been a solitary 
 and uncultivated waste, and that but a few months 
 have elapsed since civilized population first sought 
 here a home. 
 
 THE SOIL. 
 
 The soil of Kansas is equal and similar to the 
 best soils of Iowa and Illinois, — is much more 
 uniform and better drained than Illinois, — every- 
 where preserving the character of a rich, heavy 
 loam, which is from two to four feet in depth upon 
 the bluffs and highlands, while the alluvial bottoms 
 of the rivers have, in some instances, from ten to 
 forty feet of a rich loam, slightly sandy. The 
 higher terraces of the uplands have the common 
 2 
 
14 KANSAS AND 1 NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 prairie soil of the west, a rich black loam, com- 
 posed of all the elements required for the pro- 
 duction of the staple agricultural products. The 
 subsoil is usually of clay, with a limestone basis. 
 This strata of limestone is seen cropping out at 
 the same height, or on the same level, in most parts 
 of the Territory. 
 
 TIMBER. 
 
 The timber of Kansas, as in other prairie sec- 
 tions, is confined to the valleys and banks of the 
 streams, being sometimes found in belts of several 
 miles in width, and again extending back but a 
 few rods. The uplands are dotted here and there 
 with beautiful groves of young timber ; but prai- 
 rie groves are small, and not numerous. Studding 
 the banks of rivulets, and in clumps at the heads 
 of streams, are several varieties of plums : wild 
 cherry, pawpaw, persimmon, hazel-nut, hickory, 
 white and black walnut, coffee-bean, butternut, 
 gooseberry, haw, and the "unapproachable pecan," 
 and the different varieties of wild grapes. The 
 meadows abound in wild peas, strawberries, rasp- 
 berries, etc. 
 
 Though by many considered too scarce, the tim- 
 ber of Kansas, if properly husbanded and allowed 
 to increase in growth, will be sufficient for all the 
 purposes desired. It is estimated that there is 
 about the same proportion of timber-land in Kansas 
 as in Iowa, which is, one-tenth of all the surface of 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 15 
 
 the country ; and, with the coal, which is very gen- 
 erally distributed, the settlers of Kansas need 
 not suffer this to be a drawback or obstacle to 
 prevent their progress in converting this beauti- 
 ful country to the purposes of civilization. The 
 principal varieties of timber in Kansas are the 
 oak, hickory, black walnut, cottonwood, ash, bass- 
 wood, elm, 'locust, hackberry, sycamore, coffee- 
 tree, chestnut, maple, cedar, buckeye, persimmon, 
 pawpaw, and pecan-nut. 
 
 THE CLIMATE 
 
 Is somewhat different from that of the States in 
 the same latitude eastward. Its distance from 
 either ocean, and location between lofty ranges of 
 mountains, gives this Territory a climate purely 
 continental. Its atmosphere is peculiarly dry and 
 pure. The absence of swamps, and its lying west- 
 ward of the great rivers of the continent, may in 
 a measure account for this ; and the amount of 
 rain and snow which falls is less than in any of 
 the Atlantic States. The temperature is compara- 
 tively mild in winter, but there are some weeks 
 of cold weather, generally attended with a fall of 
 snow. The winter is, however, confined to its 
 proper season, and is never accused of " lingering 
 in the lap of May ; " but begins in December and 
 ends in February, gradually giving place to agree- 
 able spring weather. In the western and central 
 
16 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 portions of this Territory, the summer's heat is 
 tempered by an almost daily breeze from the 
 Eocky Mountains, so cool and refreshing as to 
 render it genial and pleasant. The wet season is 
 from the last of April to the middle of June. 
 Autumn is the dryest season of the year, and with 
 her golden rays lingers long, as if loth to yield the 
 palm to one so unwelcome, but finally gives way 
 to winter ; not, however, until all the fall months 
 are numbered and past. 
 
 RIVERS OF KANSAS. 
 
 The principal streams in the north are the Mis- 
 souri and the Kansas, with their tributaries. Those 
 of the south are the Arkansas, Neosho, and Osage. 
 The Missouri, which is navigable eight months in 
 the year for a large class of boats, borders on the 
 eastern boundary for one hundred miles, receiving 
 the waters of "the Kansas at the point where the 
 river strikes the Missouri line. The Kansas river 
 is larger than the Ohio ; and is navigable a greater 
 number of months in the year, and has fewer bars 
 and snags, than the Missouri. At its delta it is 
 six hundred yards wide ; and for the first hundred 
 miles above, its average width is nearly the same ; 
 from Pottawattamie to Big Blue it is four hundred 
 yards; and from thence to Fort Riley about two 
 hundred yards in width. For one hundred and 
 twenty-five miles from the mouth it is quite 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 17 
 
 straight, and above that point as crooked as the 
 Missouri. Here and there, along its banks, beau- 
 tiful arable bluffs project boldly into or swell out 
 gently from the rippling waters, sometimes crowned 
 with the half-grown oak, resembling the trans- 
 planted trees or ornamented grounds of Eastern 
 States ; again presenting a bold, rocky front, with a 
 bald headland, which, with the gradually rising 
 grass-plats, and bold, broad prairies densely cov- 
 ered with grand and stately old trees, render the 
 scenery along the Kansas beautiful and imposing. 
 Small streams are crossed, every few miles, which 
 carry off and distribute the surplus waters ; they 
 are clear, except at the flood season, and furnish 
 everywhere abundant and excellent water for 
 stock. Many of them dry up partially in summer, 
 but still furnish pools of clear water in the deeper 
 portions of their channels. "Wells can be obtained 
 by digging from twelve to forty feet, even upon the 
 highest lands. The water is always hard, but 
 sweet and excellent. 
 
 Water powers are found upon many of the 
 streams, but are not frequent. The coal, however, 
 will furnish a cheap motive power. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 But little is known, as yet, of the geology of 
 this section. The rocks consist of limestone, sand- 
 stone, clay, etc., belonging to the coal formation ; 
 
 2* 
 
18 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 they are usually horizontal or but slightly inclined, 
 and can be cheaply quarried on nearly every hill- 
 side, furnishing excellent stone for building or lime- 
 burning. 
 
 Scarcely a square mile can be found where they 
 do not come to the surface; the beds alternate 
 with each other, "so that sand, lime, and good clay 
 for brick can be procured almost everywhere. 
 
CHAPTBE II. 
 
 PRODUCTIONS. MARKETS AND TRADE. HEALTH. 
 
 The. soil and climate of Kansas are adapted to 
 most of the grains, grasses, and fruits raised in the 
 North. Winter wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, buck- 
 wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and all common 
 garden products, pumpkins, squashes, melons and 
 have been tried and succeed admirably. Hemp and 
 tobacco may be profitably cultivated, and the new 
 Chinese sugar cane can be as successfully grown 
 here as in any part of the United States. 
 
 Among the fruits, may be mentioned apples, 
 pears, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, grapes, 
 currants, and strawberries. The choice and tender 
 varieties of these fruits may be grown successfully. 
 The grape culture promises to be a profitable branch 
 of business. The dryness of the atmosphere ripens 
 the fruit and concentrates its juices to the finest 
 flavor. 
 
 A fine nutritious grass grows everywhere, yield- 
 ing, even on the dry prairies, two tons of hay per 
 acre. Clover, timothy, and red-top grass do well 
 where tried. The winters are short, and attended 
 with so little snow that cattle are kept without 
 
 (19) 
 
20 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 fodder in many parts of Kansas. To those who 
 wish to raise cattle, horses, and sheep for market, 
 the best inducements are here offered. 
 
 MARKETS AND TRADE. 
 
 Those who do not understand the wants and 
 demands of incoming emigration, seem much 
 concerned lest there be not a good and qonstant 
 market for the products of this " Garden of the 
 "West." For the information of such, let us say- 
 that the California and Santa Fe routes pass 
 through Kansas, and the mighty trade that flows 
 along them will be mainly sustained by her people. 
 This trade requires 40,000 teams of mules, horses, 
 and oxen; at least one-third of these must be 
 replaced annually. The Government purchases 
 extensive supplies for the western posts, which 
 would naturally be procured in Kansas. The rapid 
 influx of population will take every thing that 
 remains. The experience of farmers in other West- 
 ern States which have been settled rapidly, warrants 
 the expectation of a ready home market, at high 
 prices, for every thing that the Kansas farmer can 
 raise for years to come. 
 
 Eastern and Central Kansas will have a regular 
 and full demand for all the products of home 
 industry. When we consider that Kansas is the 
 geographical centre of the United States posses- 
 sions, it might by some be thought too far from a 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 21 
 
 good, reliable market ; but let us remember that 
 the immense and constantly increasing overland 
 Santa Fe trade, California overland outfitting trade, 
 military supply trade for the forts among the wild 
 tribes in the Rocky Mountains and Plains, outfit- 
 ting Oregon, Washington, Utah, Gadsden Pur- 
 chase, and New Mexico trade, — all this trade, upon 
 which the towns of Lexington, Independence, Lib- 
 erty, Westport, "Weston, and Kansas City, Mo., 
 have grown wealthy, — must and will shortly be 
 transferred to a permanent position, at some point 
 in the great basin of Central Kansas. 
 
 This trade must and will be transferred from 
 Missouri to Central Kansas ; because it has always 
 been carried on at the most western civilized fertile 
 point on the line from St. Louis to San Francisco, 
 Santa Fe, etc. Formerly all the business of that 
 trade was done at St. Louis. When Lexington 
 was settled west, that became the favorite outfitting 
 mart. In a few years, Westport, Weston, Kansas 
 City, and Leavenworth City, became the extreme 
 western outposts of civilization ; and, of course, are 
 now the more favored rivals in this trade, — which, 
 by the way, is larger than many have any idea of. 
 We have not now at hand many statistics show- 
 ing the amount of the entire trade for any 
 year, but will supply one example. The firm of 
 Majors & Russell, of Westport, Mo., are engaged 
 in the Santa Fe and Military Stores carrying- 
 
22 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 trade. This firm alone employ over one thousand 
 teamsters and some seven thousand oxen and 
 mules. 
 
 Now, when this trade is transferred to Central 
 Kansas, it must remain there permanently. It can- 
 not move further west with the tide of civilization," 
 simply because the great basin, Central Kansas, is 
 the extreme western fertile district this side of the 
 American Desert and Rocky Mountains. Towns 
 and cities will be built up in Central Kansas, and 
 there can no rival town spring up west of this 
 in the great desert. No industrial pursuit in this 
 fertile region will ever have to seek an eastern 
 market. There always has been and ever will be 
 a market, for all that man can produce, at his own 
 door. 
 
 HEALTH. 
 
 The dryness, purity, and free circulation of the 
 air, the absence of swamps and stagnant waters, 
 which we find in Kansas, are conditions favorable 
 to health. The experience of early settlers also 
 indicate a healthy climate. Cases of bilious fever 
 and ague occur more frequently than in older set- 
 tled countries; but, in most cases, they are the 
 result of gross ignorance or carelessness. Let the 
 settler take only a reasonable care of himself and 
 family, and he will rarely suffer in acclimation. 
 On the contrary, as has been the experience of 
 many, he will find himself rejuvenated, old com- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 23 
 
 plaints gone, and endowed with a fresh fund of 
 constitutional vigor. Let him build his house on 
 the uplands, dig his well if he cannot get spring 
 water, eat, sleep, and bathe regularly, avoid the 
 poisoned alcoholic drinks of the West, and he will 
 come out right. Persons afflicted with pulmonary 
 and rheumatic complaints generally experience 
 relief in Kansas. No more ague occurs than in 
 Wisconsin, the healthiest of the Western States. 
 
 Most of the sickness experienced in all parts of 
 the West is owing to some gross outrage of the 
 physical laws of our being, — some unwarranted 
 over-exertion of our energies. Did the new-comer 
 use the same caution, in regard to his diet and 
 hours of rest and unnecessary exposure, here as in 
 his native State, he would probably be quite as 
 healthy as there or elsewhere. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TIME OF EMIGRATION. ROUTES AND FARES. 
 
 LANDING POINTS. OVERLAND ROUTE. WHAT 
 
 TO CARRY. 
 
 For very many reasons, Spring is the best sea- 
 son of the year to come west. You can secure a 
 claim, break some portion of it, get in a few acres 
 of corn, beans, and potatoes, and save sufficient 
 hay for cattle and horses. Planting commences 
 about the 15th of April, and may be continued 
 until the 1st of June. Corn planted on the sod 
 yields from thirty to forty bushels to the acre, or 
 about half its yield on old land. Any farmer 
 of Ordinary capacity, having his teams and tools, 
 and being oh the ground by the first of April, 
 will be able to raise enough food to keep his 
 family through the winter till another harvest.' 
 The land is ready for the plough in March, and con- 
 tinues so till the 1st of December. The ground 
 may be worked for all agricultural purposes during 
 nine months of the year. 
 
 The Missouri river is always open as early as the 
 1st of March, and affords a cheap, comfortable 
 transit to Kansas. 
 
 (24) 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 25 
 
 ROUTES AND FAKES. • 
 
 Boston to Leavenworth, Kansas, ,\ $34.00 
 
 New York or Albany do ; .27.52 
 
 Buffalo or Dunkirk. . . .do '. 24.12 
 
 Cleveland , do 21.62 
 
 Toledo , do .- 20.00 
 
 Detroit . .' ' do 19.62 
 
 Chicago do 16.00 
 
 St. Louis do .10.00 
 
 I find the following in the circular of the Kansas 
 Emigration Committee . 
 
 Through tickets carry the holder to Leavenworth 
 City. Those who choose, stop below at the same 
 fare. 
 
 Arrangements. have been made with the follow- 
 ing .lines of transportation, for the issuing of 
 through tickets to Kansas emigrants at a reduc- 
 tion of 25 per cent from the regular prices, viz : 
 
 Fall River route from Boston to New York. 
 
 New York and Erie Railroad, from New York 
 to Dunkirk or Buffalo. 
 
 Lake Shore Railroad from Buffalo and Dun- 
 kirk to Cleveland or Toledo. 
 
 From Cleveland to St. Louis by the Cleveland, 
 Columbus and Cincinnati, Bellefontaine and Indi- 
 ana, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Terre 
 Haute and Richmond, and Terre Haute, Alton, 
 and St. Louis Railroads. Persons wishing to do 
 so, can go through Columbus by the Columbus and 
 
26 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Xenift ^Railroad, and proceed from Terre Haute by 
 the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, to St. Louis. 
 
 From Toledo to St. Louis by the Toledo, Wa- 
 bash and Western, and Terre Haute and Alton 
 Railroads, or via Michigan Southern and Chicago, 
 Alton and St. Louis Railroads. 
 
 From Detroit by the Michigan Central to Chi- 
 cago. The Great Western route from Buffalo 
 will probably arrange soon for through tickets. 
 
 From St. Louis by steamers or by the Pacific 
 Railroad to Jefferson City, and thence by steamers 
 to Kansas. 
 
 Through tickets will be sold at the principal 
 ticket offices on these routes, either to single indi- 
 viduals or companies. These tickets entitle the 
 holder to first-class fare with meals and berths on 
 the Missouri river boats, and 100 pounds of bag- 
 gage to each person. 
 
 Arrangements are being made for a similar re- 
 duction over other routes, which will be announced 
 when completed. All baggage should be carefully 
 marked and checked through. The passage from 
 Boston or New York occupies about a week, four 
 or # five days of it being spent on the Missouri 
 steamers, which are among the best boats on our 
 waters. 
 
 Freight maybe consigned, with proper directions, 
 to " Care Simmons & Leadbetter, St. Louis, Mo." 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 27 
 
 LANDING POINTS IN KANSAS. 
 
 Persons wishing to go up the Kansas valley, or 
 to the southern portion of the Territory, should 
 stop at Wyandotte City or Quindaro, two new 
 towns in close proximity to each other, and located 
 on the Missouri river, just above the mouth of the 
 Kansas. Col. Eldridge, late proprietor of the Free 
 State Hotel, will run a line of hacks daily from 
 Wyandotte to Lawrence; fare three dollars. A 
 steamer, recently purchased by Thaddeus Hyatt, 
 Esq., of New York, will make regular trips from 
 Quindaro to Lawrence three times a week, carry- 
 ing passengers at three dollars each. Leavenworth 
 City, twenty-five miles farther up, is the largest 
 town in Kansas. Here S. Sutherland, Esq., well 
 and favorably knOwn, will carry passengers on a 
 fine line of new hacks to Lawrence, for three dol- 
 lars each. Atchison, ten miles beyond, Doniphan, 
 and Iowa Point, connect with the northern portion 
 of the Territory, and communicate by stage with 
 the interior. 
 
 At these points teams can be obtained for any 
 part of the Territory, and purchases of stores can 
 be made. 
 
 OVERLAND ROUTE. 
 
 Persons wishing to go with their own teams can 
 make a safe and easy transit across Iowa or Mis- 
 souri. The principal routes cross the Mississippi 
 
28 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 at Dubuque, Davenport, Muscatine, Turlington, 
 Hannibal, Mo-.j and St. Louis. Either of these are 
 good w^gon routes, and the choice will be deter- 
 mined' by the starting-point. A loaded team will 
 make twenty-five miles per day, the distance from 
 the /farthest point named being about four hundred 
 miles. It is hardly safe to start before the first of 
 May, as the teams must depend mainly upon 
 green feed. The expense is trifling, if provision is 
 made for camping. In warm weather this trip can 
 be taken, even by females, without exposure to 
 severe hardships. No difficulty will be encountered 
 in finding the route from any of the above starting- 
 points. Every party should have a tent, cooking 
 utensils, and abundant bedding. They can live in 
 their wagons and tents after arriving in the Terri- 
 tory, until a home is secured. 
 
 WHAT TO CAREY. 
 
 This will depend upon the time you go and the 
 place where you start. In all cases, carry such ar- 
 ticles of necessity and convenience as -you have, 
 unless very heavy or bulky. Cany abundant bed- 
 ding, good strong clothing, a few chairs and a 
 table, the stove if you, can take it to pieces, a few 
 dishes, and whatever is necessary for house-keeping, 
 judged by the pioneer standard. ' 
 
 Carry also garden-seeds, and fruit seeds of all 
 kinds. Procure a hundred or two root grafts, apple 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 29 
 
 and pear, plum, cherry, peach, and grape roots, cur- 
 rants, ornamental shrubs, and other small fruits, in 
 cuttings or roots. Pack them in damp saw-dust 
 in a box and take them with you. You will find 
 some place to set them, and they will pay you a 
 ■hundred-fold, and surround your new home with 
 comfort and beauty. If you have tools, take them. 
 If not, you can purchase quite as cheaply at St. 
 Louis or in Kansas as in the East. 
 
 Your coarse stuff should be shipped by some 
 transportation company, to reach Kansas as cheaply 
 as possible. 
 
 Rather than sell at a great sacrifice, take valua- 
 ble articles of household furniture. The ordinary 
 articles of housekeeping, husbandry, etc., as well 
 as clothing and dry goods, can now be bought at 
 reasonable rates in Kansas or Nebraska. 
 
 Freights up the Missouri to Kansas are from 30 
 cents to $2.50 per cwt., according to the stage of 
 the water. The highest rates occur in March, Oc- 
 tober, and November ; the lowest in May and June. 
 Present rates are $1. 
 
 3*- 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CLAIMS AND PRE-EMPTIONS. LAND IN MARKET. 
 
 Persons not familiar with the mothod of 
 acquiring titles to lands in new States are apt to 
 over-estimate the difficulties, and suffer much need- 
 less anxiety. The following hints as to Kansas 
 lands may be of use to settlers, or persons wishing 
 to invest. 
 
 Any person who is a citizen of the United 
 States, or has filed notice of intention to become 
 such, who is either the head' of a family, a widow, 
 or a single man over twenty-one years of age, may 
 enter upon 160 acres of Government land, wherever 
 he or she may choose to select it, if not already 
 occupied, and, by residing upon it and improving 
 it, secure the same at $1.25 per acre. It is neces- 
 sary only to make an actual residence on the land, 
 to file a notice of intention to pre-empt the same, 
 and to be ready to make" the payment before the 
 public sale, which will be advertised for three 
 months. 
 
 As this is a matter of great importance to every 
 new-comer, we will give the law more fully. 
 
 (so) 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 31 
 
 PRE-EMPTION LAW. 
 
 1. The settler must never before have had the 
 benefit of pre-emption under the act. 
 
 2. He must not at the time of making the pre- 
 emption be the owner of 320 acres of land in any- 
 State or Territory in the United States. 
 
 3. He must settle upon and improve the land in 
 good faith for his own exclusive use or benefit, and 
 not with the intention of selling it on speculation ; 
 and must not make, directly or indirectly, any con- 
 tract or agreement in any way or manner with any 
 person or persons, by which the title which he may 
 acquire from the United States should enure, in 
 whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except 
 himself. 
 
 4. He must be twenty-one years of age, and a 
 citizen of the United States ; or, if a foreigner, 
 must have declared his intention to become a citi- 
 zen before the proper authority and received a cer- 
 tificate to that effect. 
 
 5. He must build a house on the land, live in 
 it, and make it his exclusive home, and must be an 
 inhabitant of the same at the time of making 
 application for pre-emption. (Until lately, a single 
 man might board with his nearest neighbor ; but 
 the same is now required of a single as a married 
 man, except that, if married, the family of the set- 
 tler must also live in the house.) 
 
 6. The law requires that more or less improve- 
 
32 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 merit be made on the land, such as breaking, fenc- 
 ing, etc.; but pre-emptions are granted where a 
 half-acre is broken and inclosed. 
 
 7. It is necessary that no other person entitled 
 to pre-emption reside on the land at the same time. 
 
 8. No one is permitted to remove from his own 
 land and make a pre-emption in the same State or 
 Territory. 
 
 9. The settler is required to bring with him to 
 the land office a written or printed application, set- 
 ting forth the facts in his case of the 1st, 2d, and 
 3d requirements here mentioned, with a certificate 
 appended, to be signed by the Register and Re- 
 ceiver ; and he must make affidavit to the same. 
 
 10. He is also required to bring with him a 
 respectable witness of his acquaintance, who is 
 knowing to the facts of his settlement, to make 
 affidavit to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th require- 
 ments here mentioned, with the same set forth on 
 paper, with a corresponding blank certificate 
 attached, to be signed by the land officers. 
 
 11. The pre-emptor, if a foreigner, must bring 
 with him to the land office duplicates of his natu- 
 ralization papers, duly signed by the official from 
 whom they were received; 
 
 A minor who is the head of a family, or a widow, 
 may also pre-empt, — their families being required 
 to live on the land. 
 
 The settler is required to file a written declara- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 33 
 
 tory statement of his intention to pre-empt before 
 he can proceed with his pre-emption. 
 
 Fees. — 1st. The fee required by the Register, 
 for filing a declaratory statement, is one dollar. 
 2d. For granting a pre-emption, the Register and 
 Receiver can receive fifty cents. 3d. For duplicate 
 of the map of any township, one dollar is required 
 by the Register. 
 
 Payment may be made at any time after the 
 Government survey has been completed, but need 
 not be until immediately prior to the commence- 
 ment of the public sale in that district where the 
 person has fixed his location ; the money cannot 
 be paid portions at a time ; locations may be made 
 anywhere except on the Government or Indian 
 reserves, or on certain tracts which by law are 
 exempted from the operations of the pre-emption 
 act. 
 
 The Commissioner of the general land office has 
 prescribed the following form to be used by those 
 who would avail themselves of the benefits of the 
 pre-emption law. This statement must be signed 
 by the applicant, in presence of a certifying wit- 
 ness, after which it must be transmitted to the 
 office of the Territorial Surveyor-general, from 
 whence he will receive a receipt or certificate in 
 return. 
 
34 , KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Form of a Declaratory Statement,. to be used in cases where 
 the land is not subject to private entry. 
 
 " 1, — '■ , of , being -, have, on the — day of 
 
 , A. D. 18 — , settled, and improved the — quarter of sec- 
 tion number — in township number — , of range number — , 
 in the district of lands subject to sale at the land office at 
 
 , . and containing acres, which land has not yet 
 
 been offered at public sale, and thus rendered subject to private 
 entry ; and I do hereby declare my intention to claim the said 
 tract of land as a pre-emption right, under the provisions of 
 said act of 4th September, 1841. 
 
 " Given under my hand; this — day of , A. D. IS — . 
 
 " In presence of ■ 
 
 RESERVED LANDS. 
 
 By the proclamation of the President, dated 
 Washington City, Feb. 28, the sales of the Indian 
 trust lands in Kansas' were to occur as follows : 
 
 " The Iowa lands, consisting of 95,000 acres, 
 will commence at -Iowa Point, Doniphan county, 
 on the 5th day of May, to continue from day to 
 day till sold. The Kaskaskia, Peoria, Pinkieshaw, 
 and Wea lands, consisting of 214,000 acres, will 
 commence at Paolo, Lykens county, on Thursday, 
 the 26th of May next. The remainder of the Del- 
 aware trust lands, consisting of 214,000 acres, will 
 commence at Lecompton, on the 23d day of June 
 next." 
 
 The terms of sale are cash, no bid being taken 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 35 
 
 below the valuation of the commissioner appointed 
 to classify and value the same. 
 
 The 16th and 32d sections of every township 
 are reserved for school purposes, and cannot be 
 pre-empted or entered at the land office. Those 
 who settle on these lands will have a long time for 
 payment, but must expect to pay a high price. 
 
 Land warrants can probably be used in pay- 
 ment for pre-emptions. No man who has made 
 and kept a claim by a genuine residence, need be 
 in fear of losing it. The settlers will protect each 
 others' claims while necessarily absent from their 
 families, or on business. 
 
 Kemember, all lands not covered by Indian res- 
 ervations are open for settlement. The reserved 
 lands are but a small portion of the Territory. 
 
CHAPTER T. 
 
 COST OP OPENING FARMS. BUILDING MATERIALS. — 
 
 CEMENT HOUSES. 
 
 Expense will depend much upon location. In 
 a neighborhood where men and teams can be had 
 at a low price, comparatively, it will cost much less 
 than in a more remote and sparsely settled district. 
 We will give the average rates: Breaking costs 
 from $2.50 to $4 per acre ; rails, from $2 to $3 
 per hundred ; sod fence, from 30 to 40 cents per 
 rod ; stone fence, 80 cents to $1 per rod ; hedge 
 set, 32 cents per rod, growing in five years to an 
 efficient fence ; timber sells for from 25 to $30 per 
 thousand feet, one-half of which cost is in sawing. 
 Oak, black walnut, and cotton-wood are generally 
 used. Brick will be cheap when business is fairly 
 started. "Working cattle sell at from 80 to $100 
 per yoke ; mules from 100 to $200 per head. 
 
 Working oxen, cows, horses, etc., can usually be 
 bought in Missouri. Heretofore, large droves have 
 been brought into the Territory from Southern 
 Missouri, and in one or two instances from Ar- 
 kansas. As the demand for oxen and cows increase, 
 
 (36) 
 
KANSAS AND NEBKASKA HANDBOOK. 37 
 
 the supply will increase with it ; so, however great 
 the next spring's emigration, there will undoubtedly 
 be stock enough in market to supply the demand. 
 Horses are worth from 75 to $150 apiece. Hogs, 
 value unknown. Fresh pork has been selling in 
 any quantity, the past fall and fore part of winter, 
 at $6 per cwt. Sheep are probably worth $2 
 apiece. Hens, 25 cents apiece. 
 
 Seed-corn, potatoes, wheat, etc., can be procured 
 much cheaper than to bring them from Wisconsin 
 or Illinois. Farming implements can be bought at 
 fair prices, and a ^person on the ground can make 
 better selections than to buy in another market. 
 
 Claims can be purchased around all the inland 
 towns of Kansas. The price depends very much 
 on the circumstances of the settler, the shrewdness 
 of the buyer, and the location of the claim. A 
 log-hut can be built on a claim for from 50 to $ 100. 
 A tent, costing from 8 to $15, provided the settler 
 or his family lives in it, — which is no great incon- 
 venience in the summer-time, — is sufficient to enti- 
 tle him to 160 acres of land. 
 
 CEMENT HOUSES. 
 
 Owing to the scarcity of lumber, and the abun- 
 dant supply of clay for brick, with the best of lime- 
 stone, and coal for converting it into lime, it will 
 become the people of Kansas to erect brick, stone, 
 or cement houses. In some portions of the Union, 
 
 4 
 
38 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 whole villages and towns are built up with cement 
 houses, which are said to be preferable to any other 
 in certain respects, and to cost far less. I would 
 advise a trial of this kind of building, where lime, 
 sand, and gravel are convenient. 
 
 The modes of preparing the cement are differ- 
 ent, and vary with the material employed, and 
 the judgment of the builder. Whether sand, 
 gravel, the rubbish from quarries, or the small 
 stones from the field are used, it is requisite that 
 all materials be slightly coated with the mortar. 
 Hence it will be perceived that, the finer the gravel 
 or rubbish is, the more lime will be required ; and 
 that still less will be necessary where stone or 
 coarse rubbish, is used. One mode of procedure, 
 adopted by a gentleman in the State of New York, 
 and which he represents to be eminently success- 
 ful, I have read with care, and will endeavor to 
 sketch it, so as to make it intelligible to the readers 
 of this work. 
 
 In the erection of his house, he took three bar- 
 rels of stone lime, and, after slaking it and then 
 reducing it to a thin cream-like consistence, he 
 added twelve or fourteen barrels of sand, and a 
 sufficient quantity of- water to allow the mass to 
 mix, or temper thoroughly. Then, beginning at 
 one end of the mortar-bed, he placed there a barrel 
 of slate rubbish, or two or three bushels of small 
 stones; then threw on the rubbish one or two shov- 
 elsful of the mixed lime and sand; then another 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 39 
 
 barrel of rubbish or stones, and two or three shov- 
 elsful of mortar, proceeding in like manner until he 
 put in thirty-five or forty barrels of the rubbish. 
 Having done this, one man, commencing at the 
 part of the mortar-bed where he last worked, would 
 wet a shovel over the materials until they were 
 thoroughly intermixed and well coated over; then 
 throw them into a wheelbarrow, wheel them to the 
 walls of the building, and shovel them into the 
 boxes or frames for the walls. When the walls 
 had become somewhat elevated and out of reach, 
 the mortar was thrown into small elevated mor- 
 tar-beds, and thence into the wall-boxes. Each 
 successive shoveling of the materials, by mixing 
 them more thoroughly, made them better; and, 
 while this mass was being shoveled into the boxes, 
 some twenty or thirty barrels of stones (additional to 
 those before used) were also thrown into the wall 
 and covered with the mortar, — thus making about 
 eighty or ninety barrels of stones, rubbish, and 
 sand, for three barrels of lime, or about thirty to 
 one. This ratio is regarded as sufficient, and pro- 
 duces a well-compacted, strong, and solid wall, 
 equal to those formed of brick or stone. 
 
 The limej of course, gives to the wall its strength ; 
 and, by cementing together all the materials coated 
 with it, it converts them, as it were, into a com- 
 pacted layer of limestone. There should be, as 
 near as can be effected, a regular gradation from 
 finer to coarser particles in the sand, gravel, and 
 
40 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 rubbish, and so on to stones as large as can be 
 inclosed in the boxes, and slightly coated with the 
 mortar. The quantity of sand and lime must also 
 be proportionate to the fineness or coarseness of 
 the stones or rubbish used in the wall. 
 
 The mortar, having been thus prepared, is now 
 ready for the laying of the wall. The foundation 
 being first laid firmly, and below the effects of the 
 frost, as for a brick edifice, the walls reared upon it 
 should be of a thickness corresponding with the 
 size and height of the building, and the purposes to 
 which it is devoted. For common dwellings, a 
 thickness of twelve inches for the outside, and 
 eight inches for the inner walls, is found to be 
 abundantly sufficient. This being, determined, the 
 curbing is now to be fitted for the reception of the 
 mortar. This requires plank, — straight, true, and 
 firm, — and they should be at least a foot wide, 
 and one and a half inches thick, and be sufficient 
 in number to reach around the building. 
 
 The planks are held up by narrow strips of 
 board standing on the end, and tacked with a nail 
 to the plank at or near each end. Clamps formed 
 of pieces of scantling some two feet long, with 
 strong pins put in far enough apart to include the 
 thickness of the wall and also the planks, keep the 
 curbing planks firmly in their places. These 
 clamps are hung over the top edges of the planks, 
 and the pins hang down on each side to hold them 
 together ; while a small stick, of equal length with 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 41 
 
 the thickness of the wall, is placed between the 
 planks and immediately under the clamps, to hold 
 the upper part of the planks apart. A better plan 
 is to have iron rods, the right length, to hold the 
 curbing planks in place v secured by a head on one 
 end and a key-hole in the other, the rod passing 
 across or through the wall, and being drawn out 
 where the boards are to be raised. As the wall 
 rises, the lower edges of the planks lap on the 
 former layers, so as to keep the bottom right ; and 
 a constant use of the plumb is indispensable to 
 keep the wall true. 
 
 The chimneys can be carried up in the walls, as 
 in brick buildings, without much additional labor, 
 or any expense for brick or mortar. The frames 
 for doors and windows should be equal in width 
 to the thickness of the wall, and about three inches 
 thick, and framed together ; the former being planed 
 and grooved on the faced side to let in the stop- 
 pers to hold the sash, and the latter rabbeted for the 
 doors to shut in. As they need no casing, it dimin- 
 ishes the cost of the finish very much. The joists 
 being put into the wall as in brick buildings, no 
 posts, sills, or beams are required. 
 
 Some persons prepare flat roofs, to avoid plates 
 or rafters, giving to the posts a pitch of half an 
 inch to the foot, and sufficient to turn off the 
 water. To these joists are nailed straight-edged 
 boards, on which is laid a two-inch coat of gravel- 
 mortar, to make it fire-proof. On this, when dry, 
 
 4* 
 
42 KANSAS AND NEBKASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 a coat of tar is laid ; then sand sifted on the tar ; 
 and several successive coats of tar and sand, until 
 it is water-tight. It soon becomes hard and solid, 
 is cheap, and believed to be very durable. Much 
 care will be necessary to render the composition or 
 gravel roof water-proof. The wall should be car- 
 ried up higher than the roof, to support such neat 
 balustrade as good taste would direct. 
 
 Though the wall constructed as above presents 
 a rough and uninviting appearance, yet it can easily 
 be made smooth and level by plastering on a coat 
 of coarse sand and lime, say one part of the latter 
 to eight of the former, and floated on to make it 
 level. Then put on a fine coat of half lime and 
 half sand with the trowel and brush, and this forms 
 a hard finish, both for the outer and inner walls.- 
 If now a beautiful white finish is desired, white- 
 wash two or three coats with fresh lime, and it will 
 present an elegant and most imposing appearance. 
 
 As these walls do not become perfectly hard like 
 stone immediately, it is obvious that, when practi- 
 cable, they should be constructed in the spring, or 
 early in the summer, that they may have the aid of 
 hot and dry weather for their induration. This 
 hardening process, though not the most rapid, is 
 very sure, and continues for more than a dozen 
 years. 
 
 As the carbonic acid of the lime was expelled 
 from it when burned in the kiln, it now gathers an 
 equal quantity from the atmosphere, which is con- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 43 
 
 stantly charged with it; and this re-union by chem- 
 ical agency again converts the lime into stone, 
 binds the wall together, and makes it a mass 
 of rock, apparently as firm as the hills, and dura- 
 ble as time. An eight-inch wall, within two 
 weeks after its completion, has sustained a weight 
 of six or eight tons, — which is much beyond 
 the ordinary requirements of a house; and a 
 twelve-inch wall, within three days after it was 
 laid, has supported from ten, to fifteen tons 
 weight. Hence it is apparent that, if a wall when 
 green will sustain such a burden, after it shall 
 become consolidated and thoroughly indurated it 
 may be expected to endure almost any pressure to 
 which a building can be subjected, and to resem- 
 ble a vein of solid rock. 
 
 The cost of these walls, as every reader will per- 
 ceive, is exceedingly small. Nearly the whole 
 expense consists of labor, and of that kind which 
 can be performed by almost any day or month 
 laborer. The sand and gravel-stones will ordina- 
 rily cost little or nothing beyond the expense of 
 hauling them ; and 130 bushels of lime, costing 
 about $20, will suffice to rear the outer and inner 
 walls of a house thirty feet square and twenty feet 
 high. A gentleman in Elgin, 111., put up the walls 
 of a good-sized dwelling-house for about $40, and 
 then commenced the erection of a church edifice 
 there, of the same materials. The writer of arti- 
 cles in the scientific journals, after considerable 
 
44 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 experience in building, says that, in his judgment, 
 the walls of a house -constructed of this gravel 
 cement will cost only one eighth as much as 
 brick or stone, and only one fifth as much as 
 wood. There is but a small outlay of money 
 required, and that is chiefly for lime and a few 
 days' labor. Hence, it will be seen, that a good and 
 durable dwelling, warm in winter, cool in summer, 
 and well guarded against fire, is within the reach 
 of every industrious, economical citizen ; and, as 
 the walls are susceptible of high finish, the wealthy 
 farmer may so beautify and adorn them, as to give 
 an edifice the air of a white marble palace. 
 
 A. more full description of this style of building, 
 with plans, views, etc., may be found in a work 
 entitled, " The Gravel Wall : a home for all," by 
 Fowlers and Wells, New York. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHAT BUSINESS WILL PAY BEST ? PRICES CUR- 
 KENT. 
 
 This is a question that arises in the mind of 
 almost every man who thinks of going to the 
 west ; and too many, alas ! launch out in the frail 
 bark of "mercantile gain," and find themselves 
 wrecked before they are fairly under weigh. There 
 are too many who want to make a fortune from the 
 labor of others. 
 
 Those best calculated to succeed in Kansas, or 
 any other portion of the West, are the producing 
 class. There are, and ever will be, a very great 
 majority of consumers in every community ; and 
 those who till the soil, and manufacture the imple- 
 ments and fabrics for the use of the masses, are 
 they who will most benefit the community, and 
 most rapidly enrich themselves. Let such, then, 
 come West and establish here their homes, and 
 help build up religious and educational institu- 
 tions. 
 
 Masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, wagon-makers, 
 and cabinet-makers, are in great demand, and will 
 
 (45) 
 
46 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 find abundant employment and good prices. Every 
 branch of common mechanical labor can be profit- 
 ably pursued. Masons and carpenters secure from 
 $2 to $3 per day. Rough stone, or concrete, as it 
 is called, is a favorite building material ; and every 
 man who can lay stone, will find constant work. . 
 Physicians, lawyers, clergymen, real-estate brokers, 
 and the like, had better stay at home ; for the Ter- 
 ritory is already bountifully supplied with them. 
 
 For the services of respectable young women, as 
 teachers, domestic helps, and seamstresses, there is 
 a great demand in every new country, and espe- . 
 cially so in Kansas. 
 
 While Kansas is the country for the poor man, it 
 holds out advantages equally for the man of limited 
 fortune. While a man without a dollar can find 
 remunerative work, the small capitalist or store- 
 keeper will increase his fortune more rapidly than 
 in any other Territory of the United States. He 
 can do it by buying trust-lands, town-lots, claimsj or 
 by loaning money on good security, at a heavy rate 
 of interest. He can do it more rapidly still by 
 establishing workshops or stores ; by building and 
 renting out houses ; by keeping a hotel, or erecting 
 a saw-mill. There are openings enough for all 
 these enterprises, and every variety of , them, in 
 every town and county of Kansas. 
 
 Grist and saw-mills, and machine shops, are 
 greatly needed, and would be excellent investments 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 47 
 
 in any part of Kansas or Nebraska. "We know of 
 but one flouring-mill in all the Territory. No busi- 
 ness will pay better than milling. The tens of 
 thousands who are crowding hither; are to be sup- 
 plied with " the staff of life," and wise will they be 
 who invest in mills in Kansas. Factories and tan- 
 neries will also find this a profitable field for invest- 
 ment. Business here is brisk ; terms cash, with but 
 few risks. * 
 
 Let nurserymen and gardeners turn their atten- 
 tion and their capital thither, and they will meet" 
 with a handsome return for their labors. 
 
 The better way for those who wish to engage in 
 mercantile business is, first to select a suitable loca- 
 tion, where trading is not already overdone, and 
 where the prospects for a fair home business are 
 good. Merchants should supply themselves liber- 
 ally with building materials, glass, etc., which will 
 be in greater demand than any other class of goods, 
 except provisions, and can principally be procured 
 at St. Louis, at as favorable rates as anywhere 
 East. 
 
 The following Prices Current we find in the Law- 
 rence Herald of Freedom, Jan. 31st, 1857, which 
 may probably be relied upon as above the average. 
 Many conjecture that provisions will be much 
 cheaper during ihe spring and summer ; but it is 
 certain, that the army of emigrants that are march- 
 ing into Kansas this season, will require a greater 
 
48 
 
 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 supply of provisions than can be procured north of 
 St. Louis. In many of the articles herein enumer- 
 ated, there will doubtless be quite a decline. 
 
 Flour, snper 4 $4.50 per hundred 
 Wheat, 1 $1.50 per bushel. 
 Corn, 50 a 60c. " 
 Corn Meal, $1. " 
 
 White Bean's, $2 a $3 per bushel. 
 
 Potatoes, $1.25 a $1.50 " 
 
 Sweet Potatoes, $2 " 
 Gre»n Apples, $1.25 a $2 bushel 
 Dried Apples, $3 " 
 
 Crackers, 15c. per lb. 
 Fresh Butter, 30 a 50e. per lb. 
 
 Cheese, 20 a 25c. " 
 
 Saleratus, 12 l-2c. " 
 
 Brown Sugar, 17 2-3e. " 
 
 White Sugar, 18 a 20c. " 
 
 Rice, 12 l-2c. " 
 
 Teas, 75c. a $1 " ' 
 
 Coffee, 16 2-3 a 20c. • " 
 
 Beef, 5e. a 8c. " 
 
 Bacon, lie. " 
 Codfish, 10 a 12 l-2c. 
 
 Mackerel, 12 a 28c. " 
 
 Tobacco, 30 a 50c. • " 
 
 Manilla Rope, 15c. " 
 Soap, 10c. 
 Candles, Star, 35c. 
 
 Candles, Stparine,-25c. " 
 
 Tallow, 12 l-2c. " 
 Beeswax, 20c. ■ 
 
 Cotton Batting, 15 a 20c. " 
 
 Iron, 7 a 10c. " 
 
 Nails, 7 a 10c. " 
 
 Castings, 9c. " 
 
 Log Chain, 12 l-2c. " 
 
 Stove Pipe, 16 2-3c. " 
 
 Sad Irons, 10 a 12 l-2c. per lb. 
 Hides, green, 4c ; dry, 10c per lb. 
 Salt, per sack of 200 lbs., $5.50. 
 Axes, New England pattern, 
 
 $1.35, 
 Saws, crpss-cut, per foot, 75c.a$l. 
 Ox Bows, 25 cents a piece. 
 Socks, per pair, 50c, in large de- 
 mand. , 
 Boots, Stogie, per pair, $3 a $3.75. 
 Boots, fine, per pair, $3.75- a 
 
 ,$4.50. 
 Boots, calf, per pair, $4.50 a 
 
 $5.50 
 Sheetings, brown, per yard, 10 a 
 
 12c. , 
 Sheetings, bleached peryard, 12 
 
 1-2 a 20c. 
 Prints, per yard, 8 a 15c. 
 De Lainos, per yard, 25 a 50c. 
 Oil, linseed, per gallon, $1.75. 
 Oil, lard, per gallon, $1 .25 a$l .50. 
 Oil, fish, per gallon, $1.60. 
 Burning Fluid, per gallon, $1.25. 
 Molasses, per gallon, $1. 
 Syrup, per gallon, $1.30 a $1.50. 
 'VV'ood, hard, per cord, $3. 
 Coal, stone, per.bushel, 30c. 
 Saddles, $7 a $15. 
 Harness, per set, $16 a $25. 
 Glass, 8x10, per fifty feet, $3. 
 Glass, 10x12, per fifty feet, $3.25. 
 Glass, 10x14, per fifty feet, $3.87. 
 Lumber, per thousand feet, $30 a 
 
 $35. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EMIGRATION. PRESENT CONDITION OF KANSAS. 
 
 Referring to emigration to Kansas, a corres- 
 pondent of the St. Louis Democrat, writing from 
 Leavenworth, on the 29th of March, says : 
 
 " The emigration to Kansas, which, during the 
 past winter, promised so largely, seems to have 
 commenced now in earnest. Every train from 
 Boston and New York to St. Louis is crowded 
 with passengers ; and the boats from your city and 
 Jefferson are daily pouring out their swarms of set- 
 tlers into the Territory. It is estimated that already 
 from eight to ten thousand people have arrived at 
 Kansas City, while thousands of others pass on 
 to Wyandot, Quindaro, and this city. The arri- 
 vals at this point will, during the present week, 
 average from four to five hundred per day, and, 
 since navigation opened, they have averaged from 
 two to three hundred per day. Probably two-thirds, 
 and perhaps more, of these will become actual and 
 and valuable settlers ; the others are speculators, or 
 those who come to " look around," and then go 
 
 5 (49) 
 
50 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 back for^their families. Nearly all of them are 
 young men, and many of them newly married." 
 So far the emigration has been almost entirely 
 from the Free States. 
 
 A correspondent of the Missouri Republican 
 writes from St. Joseph : 
 
 *' The emigration to Kansas reminds me of that 
 to California, in the days of its greatest allure- 
 ments. Trains, upon trains are pouring in from 
 every quarter, but particularly from the Free States. 
 I had once thought, as I used to write you, that 
 Kansas would be a Slave State ; but I am now 
 forced to alter my opinion from the overwhelming 
 evidences to the contrary that force themselves 
 upon me every day. 
 
 " Our ferry boats are busily engaged, from day- 
 light until dark, in carrying over trains, and the 
 proportion of Free-Soil to the Pro- Slavery emigrants 
 is as fifteen to one. This is not confined alone to 
 our point of crossing, but it is so at every other 
 that I can hear from ; and it satisfies me that the 
 political destiny of Kansas is fixed beyond all 
 question, and that another year will fill all her 
 prolific plains with a thrifty population. "Wars 
 and rumors of wars she will know no more, but 
 peace will brood over her beautiful prairies and 
 prosperity will reign throughout her borders. I am 
 a Pro- Slavery man, and would prefer to see my fa- 
 vorite institution established there ; but I am, nev- 
 ertheless, cttovinbeti thai the energetic^ enterprising 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 51 
 
 Yankee, will develop the resources and build up 
 the country sooner than we could do, and that, by 
 living in harmony with them, as our neighbors, 
 they will do us no injury in our peculiar prop- 
 erty." 
 
 The Alton Democrat, under the head of "Ho! 
 for Kansas," says : 
 
 " The rush for Kansas Territory is immense. A 
 friend states, that it was estimated that there were 
 over four thousand emigrants in St. Louis, March 
 1st, at hotels and on steamers, bound for the Terri- 
 tory. The trains from Chicago and Terra Haute 
 bring down car-loads of them daily." 
 
 The Missouri Democrat says that, on Monday 
 last, April 6, ten boats arrived at St, Louis, from 
 the Ohio river, bringing on board two thousand 
 passengers, most of whom were emigrants to 
 Kansas. 
 
 The Topeka (Kansas) Tribune, of 6th April, 
 says : 
 
 " The immigration continues to pour into the 
 Territory with increased volume. So great is the 
 rush that it is impossible at all times to secure 
 suitable accommodations or conveyance to the dif- 
 ferent parts. of the country. 
 
 " "We had anticipated a very large emigration, 
 but the realization is beyond all our preconceived 
 ideas. They come like the locusts of .Egypt, not 
 however to destroy, but to save, and right, welcome 
 they are. A large proportion, too, have come to 
 
52 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 stay, and will add vastly to our strength, both for 
 defence against usurpation, and in developing the 
 resources' of the country." 
 
 The Kansas Enterprise, of April 5th, thus speaks 
 of " the crowd at Kansas City :'" 
 
 " Every boat that, arrives at our wharf comes 
 freighted with emigrants, and we are continually 
 advised that the tide has not commenced. Should 
 the expectation of those already arrived be any 
 thing like realized, Kansas Territory will have a 
 population of one hundred thousand by the first 
 of October next. Kansas City receives fully one 
 half of all the emigration to the Territory, and her 
 merchants, stock dealers, and commission houses 
 are kept constantly employed, and the business is 
 increasing every day. The sales of Kansas City 
 for the past week, we are assured, have never been 
 surpassed, and are larger than all the towns above 
 us combined. We have traders here from Frank- 
 lin, Lawrence, Tecumseh, Lecompton, Topeka, 
 Manhattan, Council Grove, the Neosho, Arkansas, 
 New Mexico, the Cherokee Nation, and all points 
 west, south, and southwest, from Fort Laramie on 
 the Platte, to Albuquerque on the Rio Grande. 
 Our levee is overrun with goods, and the roads 
 lined with teams and trains. Such an immense 
 traffic has no parallel in the western country." 
 
 The Kansas Herald of Freedom, of 11th April, 
 says: 
 
 " Ten thousand emigrants have arrived in the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 53 
 
 Territory since the opening of navigation. But 
 few have remained in the cities, having generally 
 scattered over the country and taken claims. Mis- 
 souri is now reaping a rich harvest in the sale of 
 her cattle and produce. She will also receive a 
 large share of the grocery and dry goods' 1 trade. 
 We see among the emigrants many of our old 
 acquaintances who had returned to the States for 
 their families, but are with us again, with their 
 wives and little ones, ready to commence farming 
 as soon as the weather will permit. This speaks 
 well for Kansas. 
 
 " Emigration into Kansas exceeds one thousand 
 a day, and yet those now arriving are only advance 
 parties, selecting locations for larger bodies about 
 to follow. 
 
 " The Lacori has made three trips to Lawrence 
 this season from Wyandot, each time bringing a 
 large number of passengers, and near a hundred 
 tons of freight." 
 
 E. B. Whitman, Esq., a reliable man and prom- 
 inent citizen of Kansas, writing from Lawrence on 
 10th of April, says : 
 
 " As a general thing, the emigrants are pleased 
 with the country. I came in immediate contact 
 with large numbers of them, and have means of 
 knowing. 
 
 " The arrangements for transportation are highly 
 satisfactory. Messrs. Simmons & Leadbeater, St. 
 Louis, are doing all they can to promote the inter- 
 
 5* 
 
54 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 ests of the emigrants, by giving them the best 
 advice in regard to the two routes up the river, as 
 occasion demands. 
 
 " The passengers up the river are subject to much 
 inconvenience on the boats, but it is in consequence 
 of the hosts that travel. Some inconvenience has 
 been hitherto experienced in getting from the river 
 into the interior. The fine roads and stages from 
 Wyandott and Quindaro have been only fabulous. 
 Some small hacks have recently been put upon 
 these routes. The navigation of the Kansas river, 
 which seems now to be a settled fact, is doing the 
 work for emigration. The Lacon has been for 
 some time running direct between the wharfboat 
 hotel at Wyandot and Lawrence, and the Light- 
 foot has just commenced her regular trips from 
 Quindaro and Wyandot to this place. A great 
 inconvenience is still felt from the insufficient 
 hotel accommodations ; but this evil is fast being 
 remedied." 
 
 TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 
 
 There seems, this spring, to be a town-mania 
 prevalent in Kansas and Nebraska. The slavery 
 oligarchy, who have made havoc of human life 
 and homes, without any reservation or respect for 
 age or sex, are at last yielding the palm. The Free 
 State men are overpowering them with numbers, 
 and there probably is, to-day, five bona-flde citizens 
 pf Kansas opposed to slavery where one is in 
 
KANSAS AND NEBKASKA HANDBOOK. 55 
 
 favor of its extension. The most careful observers, 
 and those most intimate with the affairs of Kan- 
 sas, now aver that Eastern enterprise and Eastern 
 capital are to possess her fertile fields and, develop 
 her great resources ; that the men who build rail- 
 roads and towns and citiqs are to people Kansas ; 
 that the trading Yankees, with their sterling integ- 
 rity and indomitable energy, their factories and 
 their free schools, will establish a western Massa- 
 chusetts beyond the Missouri river. Not a little 
 interest is already manifested, by capitalists, to 
 know where the cities and chief towns of this 
 New England of the "West are to be located, — 
 at what points its principal marts of trade and 
 commerce will be fixed. Wise indeed will be he 
 whose judgment shall decide this matter, and who 
 secures, at an early day, a few hundred acres near 
 any of these important points. 
 
 So rapid is the increase of population in Kan- 
 sas, and so varied the circumstances that contribute 
 to advance or retard the growth of the towns, that 
 it would be impossible to. make any estimate of 
 the present or future population of any town. 
 Hence, we merely give the location, with a brief 
 description of the more prominent towns and vil- 
 lages. 
 
 Leavenworth City, in the county of -the same 
 name, is. situated on the Missouri river, three miles 
 below Fort Leavenworth. The location was sur- 
 veyed, and the first improvements made, in the fall 
 
56 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 of 1854. It has now a population, it is esti- 
 mated, of 3,500, and forty stores, together with 
 churches, newspapers, schools, etc. Much is said, 
 by letter-writers, of the beauty of this location, — 
 the magnificent natural scenery, the commanding 
 and healthy position of the city, and the strange 
 appearance of Pilot Knob at this point, from the 
 summit of which a very extensive view can be 
 had of a large section of this truly beautiful coun- 
 try. The height of this mountain, above the Mis- 
 souri, is 420 feet. It is stated by river men that 
 the island in front, and the bar at the upper point, 
 render the location of this place unfortunate. 
 
 Fort Leavenworth possesses one of the finest 
 locations on the Missouri, river. The buildings, 
 stand upon a high, rocky bluff, which extends to 
 the river, and forms an excellent landing. The 
 government has here reserved a tract, three miles 
 square, for the purpose of building a fort. This 
 would be a very favorable location for a city ; but 
 as this military post has already become very im- 
 portant, as a means of forwarding supplies, both of 
 provisions and men, to forts farther west, the gov- 
 ernment will probably not yield it for years to 
 come. This accounts for Leavenworth City being 
 established on land immediately adjoining the res- 
 ervation. 
 
 Kansas City, heretofore regarded as the rival 
 of Leavenworth City, is situated on a fine rocky 
 bluff, rather high, and requiring heavy grading; 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 57 
 
 but the elevation makes it very conspicuous, and 
 gives it an imposing appearance, on approaching 
 it from the river, above or below, — the town being 
 on the very extremity of the bluff. Between this 
 place and the mouth of the Kansas river is a broad 
 bottom, of nearly two miles, one square mile of 
 which is a military reservation, selected as such by 
 Governor Clark, of Lewis and Clark, the first ex- 
 plorers of the west; but, from its unfitness, it has 
 never been thus used. Kansas City has long 
 enjoyed the Santa Fe trade, and is the proposed 
 terminus of the railroad from St. Louis. 
 
 Wyandot City lies directly at the junction 
 of the Kansas with the Missouri river. The Kanr 
 sas river is but seventy-five yards wide here, though 
 it is pretty deep, and the landing would be good, 
 probably, even if the channel of the Missouri river 
 should change'which is not improbable. But little 
 effort has been made, thus far, to develop this 
 place, as both the Indian and white proprietors 
 think their location will secure them a large town 
 without any efforts on their part. From the town, 
 a level, alluvial bottom, half a mile in width, 
 slopes to the river's brink, skirted in the rear by 
 gently swelling hills. The surveyor-general's 
 office was located here, until removed to Lecomp- 
 ton last fall. 
 
 Quindaro (pronounced Kindarro), is a new 
 Free State town on the Missouri river, located by 
 Governor Robinson and his associates on lands 
 
58 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK/ 
 
 purchased of the "Wyandot Indians. The river 
 is narrower here than at almost any other point ; 
 and the rocky bluffs come nearer together, afford- 
 ing a superior and permanent steamboat landing. 
 This place, like Kansas City, is located on the ex- 
 treme end of the bluff; and all the land lying 
 between the two cities is bottom, without any ^per- 
 manent reliable landing. Quindaro is underlaid 
 with limestone, and well supplied with running 
 water. It is as well laid out as any Missouri river 
 town, many of its streets being one hundred feet 
 wide, and none less than eighty. It has a broad 
 levee, running the entire length of the town, while, 
 near its centre, is a park of eighty acres, on which 
 the natural forest is to be left, some of the trees on 
 which measure sixteen feet in circumference. The 
 distance from Quindaro to "Wyandot City (mouth of 
 the Kansas river) is two miles, and»two from there 
 to Kansas City, — so that three cities are projected 
 within the space of four miles. 
 
 A friend has shown us a letter, dated Quindaro, 
 January 19, 1857, which thus speaks of the im- 
 provements now going on in that city : 
 
 '' A large steam saw-mill, the largest west of the 
 Mississippi, is now being put up here, and, when 
 in operation, will be capable of sawing twenty 
 thousand feet of lumber per day, besides furnishing 
 ample power for other useful purposes. Other 
 buildings are also being put up, among which is a 
 three-story hotel, which is to be completed as early 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 59 
 
 as the 15th of March. Another hotel is also pro- 
 jected, which will soon be commenced. Three 
 warehouses are to be erected and completed before 
 the opening of navigation, and a road is now un- 
 der contract, and is being opened to Lawrenqg. 
 
 " A number of laborers are now at work in the 
 vicinity, cutting timber for the mill, and grading 
 the streets. Lime-kilns are also being prepared, 
 and a brick-yard will soon be established. Eastern 
 mechanics are settling here, and more of the same 
 sort are wanted. 
 
 " This indicates nattering prospects for the new 
 town, which, on account of its favorable location 
 near the mouth of the Kansas river, will be an im- 
 portant point. A responsible company has been 
 formed, to purchase a steamboat for navigating 
 Kansas river, running the same between Quin- 
 daro and Lawrence. The levee at Quindaro is a 
 mile and a half- in length, and the river at that 
 point runs along a rocky bed, and averages from 
 six to twelve feet in depth." 
 
 The writer further states, that " the citizens of 
 Parkville are actively engaged in getting up sub- 
 scriptions for a railroad, to connect with the Han- 
 nibal and St. Joseph Railroad, a distance of forty- 
 five miles, and that a charter is soon to be applied 
 for for a railroad up the valley of the Kansas river, 
 to connect with the one proposed to Parkville." 
 
 Lawrence has a beautiful location, and bids 
 iair to be one of the^mtfre imp/ortant Of the cities 
 
60 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 of the Territory. It is situated on the south side 
 of the Kansas river, nearly forty miles from its 
 mouth. Surrounded by a fertile soil on every side, 
 with high, healthy, undulating prairies, underlaid 
 with Jimestone and stone coal, with a bed of gyp- 
 sum near at hand, Lawrence will be found a desir- 
 able location for those who desire such advantages 
 in a rapidly-growing town. 
 
 Topeka is situated on the south side of the 
 Kansas river, thirty miles above Lawrence, and 
 half way between the mouth of the river and Fort 
 Riley. It is beautifully situated, in the centre of a 
 rich agricultural country, and has by some been 
 called the " Isle of Beauty," being one of the most 
 attractive towns, in appearance, in the Territory. 
 Gen. Lane has made arrangements for the erection 
 of a number of substantial buildings, and is about 
 locating here in the law business. 
 
 Fokt Riley is at the junction of the Republi- 
 can Fork and Smoky Hill, forming the Kansas 
 river, east of the Smoky Fork, and one mile from 
 Kansas river. The buildings are of hard, whitish 
 limestone, by some considered next to marble in 
 quality. This stone exists in abundance, and 
 makes very beautiful and substantial buildings. 
 
 Manhattan, at the junction of the Big Blue 
 and Kansas rivers, is pleasantly situated, and pos- 
 sesses many advantages, being surrounded by good 
 tillable land, and haying an abundance of timber, 
 coal, and limestone. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 61 
 
 Grasshopper Falls is situated on Sawtelle 
 river, a tributary of the Kansas, forming a junc- 
 tion with that river ten miles above Lawrence. 
 It has an excellent water-power, the only one north 
 of Kansas river, the entire fall being ten feet, with 
 a perpendicular fall of three feet. A saw-mill, 
 fiouring-mill, lath-mill, and turning machine are 
 among the improvements^ It is on the direct road 
 from Leavenworth to Topeka, Manhattan, and 
 Fort Riley, — twenty-eight miles from Leaven- 
 worth, and four from Jefferson City. 
 
 Osawattomie is on the Osage river, about 
 twenty-eight miles west of the Missouri State-line, 
 and has fair prospects for becoming a good point. 
 
 Geary City. — Of this place, the Herald of 
 Freedom says : 
 
 " A city of the above name has been laid out in 
 northern Kansas. It possesses the advantages of 
 good landing, a good ferry, and a good road to St. 
 Joseph. The ground is admirably situated for 
 building, the outlets are good to the back country, 
 and the surrounding country is capable of sustain- 
 ing a dense population. Abundance of timber, 
 coal, limestone, brick clay, and sand can be found 
 near the city, and a fine stream of water runs 
 through the placej capable of furnishing all neces- 
 sary steam purposes. 
 
 "Good claims can be had in that vicinity. The 
 Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, being mostly 
 under the control of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
 
 6 
 
62 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 will be the first road to Kansas, as the contracts for 
 grading and laying ties are already let, to be com- 
 pleted in eighteen months. The inhabitants of 
 Geary City and vicinity are using their utmost 
 efforts to have this road extended to that place. 
 This is the only Free State town on the Missouri 
 river, north of Leayenworth, in Kansas. Already 
 over one hundred and fifty houses are contracted 
 to be built, and emigration is fast pouring that 
 way." 
 
 Emporia. — This town is located on the forks of 
 the Cottonwood and Neosho rivers, and is situated 
 on the highest bench of ground in central Kansas. 
 It is purposed ■ by the proprietors to make it the 
 head-quarters of the Santa Fe traders, it being in 
 the neighborhood of the most desirable grazing 
 country in Kansas Territory. By so doing, the 
 Santa Fe traders will be enabled to make one ad- 
 ditional trip every season. Plenty of good claims 
 may be had in this region. 
 
 Carson is pleasantly -situated in the geographi- 
 cal centre of Brown county, Nebraska Territory ; 
 being forty miles northwest from St. Joseph, Mo., 
 twenty miles from Iowa Point, and fifteen miles 
 south of the Nebraska line. The location is both 
 healthy and pleasant, lying on the high prairie 
 bank' of a clear, swift-running stream. Permanent 
 springs of pure cold water abound in the vicinity ; 
 and abundant quarries of good building-stone un- 
 derlie the western portion of the town lots. Tim- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 63 
 
 ber is plenty in the neighborhood. Stone-coal 
 abounds, also, three veins having already been 
 opened within four miles of the site. Brown 
 county is acknowledged, by every one who ha|5 
 travelled through it, to be one of the richest, best 
 timbered, and decidedly the best watered, in the 
 Territory. For particulars of this place, address 
 D. McFarland, Carson, via Iowa Point, Kansas. 
 
 Palmyra. — Palmyra is situated 1 - southeast of 
 Topeka, and south of Lawrence about twelve miles, 
 on the Santa Fe road, in one of the most beautiful 
 and picturesque spots in Kansas. The university 
 site is a very commanding one. Turn your eye 
 which way you will, you cease to see objects, only 
 because the eye becomes weary with the distance ; 
 yet it is only on a handsome swell, but little above 
 the surrounding prairie. One of those beautiful 
 upland groves, so uncommon in Kansas, and per- 
 haps so attractive because in Kansas, graces the 
 eastern slope of the site of " Baker University." 
 The city. of Palmyra lies about one-half mile, to 
 the west. There is an extensive body of timber, 
 young and thrifty ; and very good limestone, sand- 
 stone, and water can be reached only a few feet 
 from the surface, even at the highest points. We 
 predict a glorious and enviable future to the young 
 city of Palmyra. 
 
 Burlington. — Burlington is the name of a 
 new town, located on the Neosho, about sixty miles 
 south of Topeka. It is said to be a good point, 
 
64 KANSAS AND NEBKASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 and is at present attracting a good deal of atten- 
 tion. A large mill will soon be in operation at 
 this point. The company propose putting a bridge 
 ajcross the Neosho river the present spring, and 
 mailing other improvements, which cannot fail to 
 render it a point of importance. 
 
 Prairie City we have riot seen, but find the 
 following in the Louisville Courier of March 28 : 
 
 " A second party left here, on. yesterday, bound 
 for Prairie City, Kansas Territory, consisting of 
 four families, in all twenty-two persons. They go 
 out to settle at that point, and have all the neces- 
 sary farming implements to break ground success- 
 fully within this new and fast improving Territory. 
 Prairie City belongs to an association of mechan- 
 ics of Louisville, and was laid out last spring. 
 We understand that this town has just been incor- 
 porated by the Kansas Legislature, as well as the 
 association to whom it belongs. „ A fine vein of 
 cannel coal has been found within five hundred 
 yards of the town-site." 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 HISTORY OF KANSAS AND NEBRASKA TERRITORIES. 
 
 On the 18th of December, 1818, a petition from 
 the then Missouri Territory was presented to the 
 Congress of the United States, asking for the ad- 
 mission of that Territory into the Union as a State. 
 A bill, embodying the wishes of the petitioners, 
 was framed, and on the 19th of February an 
 amendment, prohibiting the further introduction of 
 slavery, was adopted. During. the following ses- 
 sion of Congress, the Missouri bill came before 
 this body again, and the results of the deliberations 
 were — the Missouri Compromise, which stipulated 
 that Missouri was to be admitted as a Slave State, 
 but that, forever after, slavery was to be prohibited 
 in all the United States Territory north of 36° 30'. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. 
 
 During the session of the 33rd Congress of the 
 United States, the absorbing topic was a bill organ- 
 izing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska; 
 repealing the slavery restriction in the Missouri 
 ! Compromise; giving the President the power of 
 
 6* (65) 
 
68 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 9. On the survey of the Territory, the settlers to 
 deed and re-deed to each other, so as to secure to 
 each the amount of land specified as the amount 
 of claim. 
 
 10 to 13, inclusive, provide for the appointment 
 of a chief justice, register, marshal, and treasurer, 
 and define their duties. 
 
 14. The limits of the 'Association to be the 
 waters of the Wakarusa and Kansas rivers, and 
 the territory between the same, from the mouth 
 of the Wakarusa up to the Shawnee Purchase. 
 
 15 to 21 provide for the election and removal of 
 officers by a majority of members, and other inci- 
 dental regulations. 
 
 The first officers elected were : John A. "Wake- 
 field, chief justice ; J. W. Hayes, register ; William 
 Lykins, marshal ; William Lyon, treasurer. 
 
 ' Under these regulations, the Territory was rap- 
 idly passing into the hands of squatters, as early as 
 April and May, 1854. Men of the calibre of 
 Stringfellow, excited by their political leaders, oc- 
 cupying high places in the U. S. Congress, formed 
 themselves into leagues, called " Blue Lodges," 
 " Friends' Societies," " Star Lodges," etc., with the 
 avowed object of establishing slavery in the Terri- 
 tory of Kansas. Their members were sworn, upon 
 the peril of their lives, to make Kansas a Slave 
 State. Speeches were made in Western Missouri, 
 to the effect that " Abolitionists shall be wiped out, 
 and all are Abolitionists who come from any point 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 69 
 
 north of Mason and Dixon's line." They swore 
 they would drive all the present Free-Slate men 
 from the Territory, and prevent others from enter- 
 ing. Then, in bands, the " Border Ruffians " com- 
 menced their war of extermination. 
 
 In July, 1854, at Worcester, Mass., Mr. Eli 
 Thayer, Mr. A. A. Lawrence of Boston, and Mr. 
 J. M. F. Williams of Cambridge, organized the 
 New England Emigrant Aid Society, which had 
 for its object to assist emigrants to settle in the 
 West, and, by the formation of large companies, 
 reduce the expenses, and secure to those who would 
 go, the benefits and advantages of membership, — 
 one of which was, the early establishment of 
 churches and schools, and other home advantages, 
 which those going alone to the West often spend 
 years in attaining. This society was organized by 
 an act passed by the legislature of Massachusetts 
 on the 21st February. 
 
 The first party sent out by this society arrived in 
 the Territory in August, 1854, and consisted of 
 about thirty persons. These persons met with op- 
 position as soon as they entered upon their journey 
 up the Missouri ; and, wherever they set a stake 
 making a claim, the Missoufians were there to 
 make a pretended claim. This company founded 
 Lawrence, which they named after Mr. A. A. Law- 
 rence of Boston. This little band met with various 
 persecutions and threats from the Border Ruffians, 
 who had followed them from the Missouri to their 
 
70 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 new homes. On the 28th of September, 1854, a 
 Squatter meeting was held near Lawrence, where 
 a majority were Free-State men, and they decided 
 that only residents in the Territory should have a 
 voice at the meetings where the laws for the regu- 
 lation of the Territory were enacted. New parties 
 were continually arriving in the Territory, the strife 
 growing less. 
 
 On the 9th of October, Governor Reeder and oth- 
 er officers, appointed by the Federal Government, 
 arrived in the Territory. The first Territorial elec- 
 tion for delegate to Congress took place on. the 29th 
 of November following. The conspiracy against 
 freedom gained ground, and on this day, hordes of 
 armed Missourians invaded the Territory, voting 
 at the polls in great numbers, crowding their way 
 to the ballot-box, armed with pistols and bowie- 
 knives. Frauds of this character were everywhere 
 practised. General Whitefield was elected in this 
 way. 
 
 In January, 1855, Governor Reeder caused the 
 census to be taken. The whole number of inhabi- 
 tants at that time was 8501. On the same day 
 that the census was completed, Governor Reeder 
 issued a proclamation for an election of members 
 of the Legislative "Assembly, to take place March 
 30th, 1855. 
 
 Again the Territory was invaded; the ballot- 
 boxes seized,- or wrested from the hands of the 
 judges, and new ones put in their places from 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 71 
 
 among the invaders. In one precinct, where there 
 were but 150 voters according to the census just 
 taken, 1000 votes were polled. Several members 
 who were elected to the Legislative Assembly were 
 residents of Missouri. Thus again were the 
 peaceable intentions of the people of Kansas frus- 
 trated in their efforts to proceed with affairs of gov- 
 ernment. One of the judges in the third district, 
 having at last been driven from his post, where he 
 was determined to do his duty, made affidavit of 
 the illegality of the election, for which act an in- 
 dictment for perjury was found against him, to be 
 tried before the infamous Lecompte. One Wil- 
 liam Phillips, for a similar protest, was seized by 
 the Border Ruffians, tarred and feathered, and pub- 
 licly sold to a negro in Missouri, — thus offering 
 him, in their opinion, the highest possible insult. 
 A public meeting was afterwards held, which 
 passed resolutions approving all these acts on the 
 part of the pro-slavery invaders. 
 
 Spring brought new parties into the Territory ; 
 one arriving on the 25th of May, in charge of Dr. 
 Charles Robinson, who has acted so fearlessly in 
 the late Kansas war, and who to-day stands charged 
 with treason against the code of the Border Ruf- 
 fians, made to oppress jthe immigrants of Kansas, 
 who there sought a peaceful home. 
 
 On the 30th of March, the election of members 
 of the Legislative Assembly took place; large 
 numbers of Missourians participating and voting 
 
72 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 in all the precincts. Governor Reeder, although 
 threatened with assassination for hesitating, refused 
 to grant certificates legalizing these elections, but 
 issued a proclamation, giving the people four days 
 to render accounts of the contested elections ; which 
 was too little time, and the more distant precincts 
 were not reported upon. The Missourians re-^ 
 mained in the Territory, threatening the officers of 
 the Government with " death and h— 1-fire " if they 
 did not render a favorable account of the election, 
 and grant regular certificates to the bogus mem- 
 bers. 
 
 In those districts where the election was con- 
 tested, the Governor ordered a new election to take 
 place on the 22d July, which passed off without 
 further excitement or meddling on the part of the 
 Missourians. 
 
 From these elections, the present double legisla- 
 tive bodies of Kansas originated, — the so-called 
 bogus legislature, holding its last winter session at 
 Leavenworth City, and the Free- State legislature, 
 at Topeka. 
 
 Oh the 2d of July, the legislative body selected 
 by the Pro-Slavery invaders — attended and parti- 
 cipated in by its Border Ruffian authors — assem- 
 bled at Pawnee, a small town situated about one 
 hundred miles from the Missouri boundary line. 
 Mr. Conway, of the sixth district, resigned his seat 
 in the Council, on the ground that, having been 
 elected by illegal votes, this pretended legislature 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 73 
 
 had no claims to that character. The members of 
 the House, chosen at the new election ordered by 
 Governor Reeder, were deprived of their seats by 
 the action of these pretended legislators. 
 
 On the 4th of July, the body passed an act re- 
 moving the seat of government to Shawnee Mis- 
 sion, two or three miles from Westport, Missouri. 
 Governor Reeder vetoed the act as inconsistent with 
 the organic law of the United States. On the 16th 
 the legislature, notwithstanding this vote, reassem- 
 bled at Shawnee. Dr. Houston, the only Free- 
 State member of the Assembly, resigned his seat, 
 not only on the ground that the legislature was an 
 illegally elected body, but that by its removal from 
 Pawnee it was totally annulled. The laws passed 
 by this body were, as might be expected, of an 
 intolerant pro-slavery character, — most of them 
 copied from the Missouri statutes* 
 
 The enemies of Governor Reeder, finding him 
 impartial in his administration of the Territorial 
 laws, circulated a charge against him, of speculat- 
 ing in the lands belonging to the Kaw Indians. 
 These tales were forwarded to Washington, and 
 resulted in his removal from office. Subsequently, 
 on trial before the United States Supreme Court, 
 he was acquitted of all the charges brought against 
 him, — and thus his removal was proved to have 
 originated wholly in pro-slavery spite. 
 
 * See Executive Document, No. 234,. published at Washington. 
 
 7 
 
74 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 During the month of August, 1855, meetings 
 •and conventions were held in various parts of the 
 Territory, discussing these pro-slavery oppressions, 
 and resolving to form a State Government, and 
 seek admission into the Union at the assembling 
 of the next Congress. 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1855,Wilson Shannon 
 of Ohio, the newly appointed governor of Kansas, 
 arrived at Westport, Missouri, where he made an 
 address to the people, calling on them to sustain 
 him and their legislators, and the laws they had 
 enacted, — meaning the Border Ruffian code pro- 
 mulgated from Shawnee Mission. Leavenworth 
 was fixed upon as the future capital of Kansas, 
 according to an act of the bogus, legislature. 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1855, a convention 
 was held at Topeka, to take into consideration the 
 formation of a State constitution. After a lengthy 
 discussion, it was resolved to call a constitutional 
 convention on the 22d of October, at Topeka. 
 This primary convention a\so organized a pro- 
 visional government to superintend the election of 
 delegates. Previous to this, the mass convention, 
 held at Lawrence August 15th, had resulted in a 
 call for this of the 19th September at Topeka, and 
 also in the call for a delegate convention, held at 
 Big Springs September 5th, to fix a day for the 
 election of a delegate to represent the Territory in 
 Congress, and to nominate a candidate. It was 
 decided, at the Topeka convention, to hold this 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 75 
 
 delegate election on the 9th of October, instead of 
 the 2d of the same month, which was the time 
 fixed upon by the Border Ruffian statute. Ex- 
 Governor Reederwas nominated as a candidate by 
 this convention, or by the Free- State party. At 
 this convention, the matter of the State organiza- 
 tion was referred to the Topeka convention, which 
 was to represent all parties. 
 
 On the 9th of October, 1855, the election for 
 Territorial delegate to Congress, and delegates to 
 the constitutional convention, was held. 
 
 The constitutional convention, called together 
 at Topeka, met Oct. 22d. J. H. Lane was chosen 
 president, and S. C. Smith, secretary. Thirty 
 members were in attendance.* 
 
 " AN ADDRESS 
 
 " To the People of the United States and Kansas Territory, 
 by the Free State Convention. 
 
 " The Committee appointed by the late Free 
 State Convention, held, at Topeka, K. T., on the 
 10th of March, 1857, to whom was committed the 
 charge of preparing an address to the American 
 
 * Note. — The author of these pages, having arrived at this 
 period in the progress of his work, was suddenly attacked by 
 severe inflammation of the eyes, and obliged to suspend further 
 labor. A portion of the manuscript being already in print, 
 and a desire felt to bring out the work during the spring, the 
 following address is inserted. It narrates in a condensed form 
 all the principal events, and their effect, in Kansas. 
 
74 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 During the month of August; 1855, meetings 
 and contentions were held in various parts of the 
 Territory, discussing these pro-slavery oppressions, 
 and resolving to form a State Government, and 
 seek admission into the Union at the assembling 
 of the next Congress. 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1855, Wilson Shannon 
 of Ohio, the newly appointed governor of Kansas, 
 arrived at Westport, Missouri, where he made an 
 address to the people, calling on them to sustain 
 him and their legislators, and the laws they had 
 enacted, — meaning the Border Ruffian code pro- 
 mulgated from Shawnee Mission. Leavenworth 
 was fixed upon as the future capital of Kansas, 
 according to an act of the bogus legislature. 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1855, a convention 
 was held at Topeka, to take into consideration the 
 formation of a State constitution. After a lengthy 
 discussion, it was resolved to call a constitutional 
 convention on the 22d of October, at Topeka. 
 This primary convention also organized a pro- 
 visional government to superintend the election of 
 delegates. Previous to this, the mass convention, 
 held at Lawrence August 15th, had resulted in a 
 call for this of the 19th September at Topeka, and 
 also in the call for a delegate convention, held at 
 Big Springs September 5th, to fix a day for the 
 election of a delegate to represent the Territory in 
 Congress, and to nominate a candidate. It was 
 decided, at the Topeka convention, to hold this 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 75 
 
 delegate election on the 9th of October, instead of 
 the 2d of the same month, which was the time 
 fixed upon by the Border Ruffian statute. Ex- 
 Governor Reeder was nominated as a candidate by 
 this convention, or by the Free-State party. At 
 this convention, the matter of the State organiza- 
 tion was referred to the Topeka convention, which 
 was to represent all parties. 
 
 On the 9th of October, 1855, the election for 
 Territorial delegate to Congress, and delegates to 
 the constitutional convention, was held. 
 
 The constitutional convention, called together. 
 at Topeka, met Oct. 22d. J. H. Lane was chosen 
 president, and S. C. Smith, secretary. Thirty 
 members were in attendance* 
 
 " AN ADDRESS 
 
 " To the People of the United States and Kansas Territory, 
 by the Free State Convention. 
 
 " The Committee appointed by the late Free 
 State Convention, held at Topeka, K. T., on the 
 10th of March, 1857, to whom was committed the 
 charge of preparing an address to the American 
 
 *Note. — The author of these pages, having arrived at this 
 period in the progress of his work, was suddenly attacked by 
 severe inflammation of the eyes, and obliged to suspend further 
 labor. A portion of the manuscript being already in print, 
 and a desire felt to bring out the work during the spring, the 
 following address is inserted. It narrates in a condensed form 
 all the principal events, and their effect, in Kansas. 
 
76 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 people, have prepared and respectfully submit the 
 following : 
 
 " The Pro- Slavery Convention, which assembled 
 at Lecompton January 12, 1857, have issued an 
 '.address,' which has been spread broadcast over 
 the States. In this pamphlet an attempt is made 
 to palliate the crimes and excuse the outrages of 
 which the Pro- Slavery party — sailing under the 
 colors of ' democracy ' — have been guilty in the 
 Territory. Nay, more. It is sought to throw the 
 entire blame and responsibility of the afflictions 
 which have been visited upon the settlers and resi- 
 dents of Kansas on the Free-State men, and those 
 active and earnest patriots who have labored with 
 an energy that knows no defeat, and a will that 
 knows no faltering, in behalf of freedom and free 
 labor. 
 
 " The burden of the address is, that the Free- 
 State party initiated and inaugurated revolution- 
 ary and incendiary proceedings ; that they rallied 
 against the enforcement of legal enactments, 
 laughed to scorn the authorities, and beat back the 
 officers of justice, thereby necessitating the ' law 
 and order * men to take up arms for the preserva- 
 tion of peace and for the punishment of traitors. 
 They brand Lane, Robinson, and Reeder, and a 
 host of other good men and true, as hired emissa- 
 ries, animated by a nllibustering spirit, hostile to 
 the Constitution, foes to the union of the States, 
 and enemies to the well-being of the Territory. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 77 
 
 They represent themselves to have been innocent, 
 law-abiding, and inoffensive, earnestly in favor of 
 peace and repose in Kansas, and end their address 
 with a great rhetorical nourish, and bombastic as- 
 surances of patriotic devotion to their country, their 
 party, and their God. 
 
 '' To unmask the hypocrisy, to expose the false- 
 hoods, and reveal the contradictions and inconsis- 
 tencies of this address, would be superfluous ; for 
 the throes and the anguish, the indignities and the 
 oppressions, which the Free-State men have suf- 
 fered, are written in characters of blood, and burned 
 into the memory of every honest citizen of our 
 country. Subterfuge and deceit, brazen falsehood 
 and base perjury, can avail nothing ; for the great 
 truths in the gigantic wrongs of Kansas' history 
 have been seen and known and pondered of all 
 men, and will stand, like the Egyptian pyramids, 
 to the surprise and the wonder of coming gener- 
 ations. 
 
 " The Free-State men have violated no law, for 
 that which is not just is not law, and that which is 
 devoid of justice should not be obeyed. The code 
 attempted to be forced upon them was not enacted 
 for proper legislation, for the regulation and protec- 
 tion of society, or for the development of the re- 
 sources of the country, but to enslave the body and 
 soul of every citizen, and to rivet the institution of 
 slavery upon a soil consecrated to freedom. No 
 honest man could indorse or subscribe to. such a 
 7* 
 
78 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 code, and the Free State men did not. Yet they 
 raised no arm, neither committed any violence 
 against their oppressors. But when they were 
 driven from their homes and their families, treated 
 with unheard-of cruelty by this self-styled ' law and 
 order ' party, then it was that all the higher voices 
 of their nature appealed to them to rise and pro- 
 tect their rights and liberties, or sink to the level of 
 serfs. The blood and the manhood and the mus- 
 cle of Northern freemen could brook no more, for 
 forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, and the time 
 was come when they must vindicate their -courage 
 and establish their rights to the title of men. 
 
 " But when the invaders were driven back, and 
 the dissensions in a manner quieted, they once 
 again returned to the more congenial pursuits of 
 peace, and devoted themselves with activity and 
 energy to the industrial occupations which they 
 loved. 
 
 " It is our purpose to present a brief, though com- 
 prehensive, sketch of what has transpired in Kansas 
 since the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and 
 let the American people judge for themselves 
 whether or not the Free- State party have acted 
 according to the dictates of justice and of right ; 
 whether or not they have- been wronged or out- 
 raged; and whether they or the self-styled 'law and 
 order ' party are responsible for the crimes and the 
 blood which have stained the virgin soil of the 
 Territory. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 79 
 
 "But in this cause we must take our proper po- 
 sition. The Free State party of Kansas cannot 
 act upon the defensive before a tribunal where the 
 American people sit as judges. We arraign the 
 self-styled 'law and order' party of Kansas as 
 guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors ; we charge 
 upon them the burden of guilt and of wrong, and 
 we only ask a fair and honest verdict from the evi- 
 dence and arguments we may adduce. 
 
 " Although the Kansas-Nebraska bill was vio- 
 lently opposed at the time of its presentation to 
 Congres's, by a decided majority of the Northern 
 representatives, backed by the opinion of then: con- 
 stituents, it was indorsed as ' a law ' by the citizens 
 of Kansas, who desired only to have its principles 
 and provisions faithfully carried out. A. H. Reeder 
 Was appointed governor of the Territory, under the 
 bill, and a large Northern emigration poured into 
 the Territory to test the question of ' popular sov- 
 ereignty,' and secure freedom for Kansas by a 
 numerical preponderance. 
 
 " The time came at last for electing a Territorial 
 legislature and a delegate to Congress. How 
 this election was carried is a matter of history. 
 The Missourians poured into the Territory, violated 
 the sanctity of the ballot-box, outraged all law and 
 decency, and thwarted the voice and the will of the 
 actual residents. This was on the 31st day of 
 March, 1855, — a day never to be. forgotten, — when 
 the invading hordes, with insulting banners, on 
 
80 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 which were inscribed, ' Death to the damned Abo- 
 litionists,' ' A Slave State for Kansas,' ' No quarter 
 for Free-State men,' and other devices, and with 
 bowie-knives and revolvers, bore down upon the 
 polls, ousted the judges and clerks of election, and 
 stuffed the boxes with illegal ballots. In this mode, 
 and by such means, the first so-called legislature 
 of Kansas was elected, — four thousand nine hun- 
 dred and eight illegal votes being polled by Missou- 
 rians. Only four days had been allowed to protest 
 against the returns of the election judges, and the 
 formalities were attended to but in six districts, in 
 which Governor Reeder ordered new elections. At 
 these elections, — May 22d, 1855, — all the Free- 
 State nominees were elected, except at Leaven- 
 worth City, where the Missourians played their old 
 game of invasion and illegal voting ; and on the 
 25th, a few days subsequently, a Pro- Slavery 
 meeting was held, at which the Missourians were 
 indorsed, and the outrage on Mr. Phillips, a Free- 
 State man, who had been taken into Missouri, 
 tarred and feathered, and sold at auction to a negro, 
 indorsed. 
 
 " The first meeting of the Missouri-elected leg- 
 islature of Kansas took place at Pawnee, near Fort 
 Riley. It appeared that there was but one Free- 
 State man in the whole Council, Who - immediately 
 resigned his seat, and the legislature ousted all 
 the Free- State members of the House elected at the 
 special elections ordered by Governor Reeder, and 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 81 
 
 gave their seats to their Pro- Slavery opponents. An 
 act was then passed for the removal of the seat of 
 government to Shawnee Mission, near the Missouri 
 border, which was finally adopted over Governor 
 Breeder's veto. 
 
 " All Territorial offices were filled by these ' leg- 
 islators,' or by commissioners appointed by them ; 
 and Governor Eeeder, who bravely stood up against 
 the illegal assembly and their enactments, was 
 removed, the administration falling into the hands 
 of Secretary Woodson, who actively co-operated 
 with the Pro-Slavery party. 
 
 " A code of laws was enacted by the bogus legis- 
 lature, pronounced by General Cass to be ' a dis- 
 grace to the age ; ' and, having provided for another 
 election, the fraudulent body adjourned sine die. 
 
 " On the 1st of October, Whitfield was returned 
 as a delegate to Congress by a vote of two thou- 
 sand eight hundred, four-fifths of which was polled 
 by Missourians, as the Free-State men refused to 
 vote. 
 
 , " Wilson Shannon, having been appointed gov- 
 ernor of Kansas, acted with the Pro-Slavery organi- 
 zation, took part in their meetings, and subsequently, 
 in response to a cali from bogus Sheriff Jones, 
 declared the Territory in a state of open rebellion, 
 and issued orders for the enlistment of men ,to 
 enforce the Territorial laws. An army of invaders 
 marched towards Lawrence, scattering terror in 
 their course, while Atchison and Stringfellow ap- 
 
82 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 pealed for aid to the South. A Free-State print- 
 ing press was destroyed at Leavenworth, and all 
 the horrors of a war of extermination visited upon 
 the peaceful settlers. President Pierce lent his 
 sanction to the invaders, and authorized Shannon 
 to call out the United States troops. Companies 
 from the purlieus and grog-shops of the South, 
 under a Major Buford, took an active part in out- 
 raging the Free-State citizens, and the Territory- 
 presented the. awful spectacle of a region overrun 
 by fire and sword, 
 
 " In the mean while the actual residents of Kan- 
 sas were adopting initiatory measures for the organ- 
 ization of a State government, for the election of 
 a legislature, and for the protection of their lives 
 and property, as well as for the securing a voice in 
 legislative proceedings, and the filling of official 
 posts. A convention of the people assembled at 
 Lawrence, August 14, 1855, repudiated the author- 
 ity of the late legislature, and recommended the 
 election of delegates on the 25th, to meet at Big 
 Springs, September 5th, for the consideration of 
 public affairs. At this convention the bogus laws 
 were also repudiated, Ex-Governor E-eeder nomi- 
 nated as delegate to Congress, and a day appointed 
 for the election. On the 17th of September, 
 another convention was held at Topeka, to make 
 arrangements for electing delegates to form a Free- 
 State constitution. This convention selected an 
 executive committee, who were invested with the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 83 
 
 authority of a provisional government, to provide 
 for the complete organization of a State govern- 
 ment. October 9th, Reeder was elected delegate 
 to Congress by a vote of twenty-four hundred, and 
 delegates at the same time were elected to the 
 constitutional convention^ This convention as- 
 sembled at Topeka on the 23d, and November 11th 
 submitted a constitution to the people, appointing 
 the 4th of March, 1856, for organizing a State 
 government. December 15th, 1855, the Topeka 
 constitution was voted upon by the people, with 
 no outbreak, except at Leavenworth City, where 
 the election was prevented and the poll-book stolen. 
 On the 15th of January, 1856, officers were elected 
 under the Topeka constitution, and Charles Rob- 
 inson chosen governor. On the 4th of March the 
 State legislature met at Topeka, Governor Robin- 
 son and other officers were sworn in, the executive 
 committee discharged, and the legislature then 
 adjourned to meet at Topeka, July 4th. 
 
 " Although these proceedings were in violation 
 of no law, and demanded by the necessities of the 
 occasion, and although precedent and authority 
 could be found for them in the history of Michigan, 
 Arkansas, and California, the President of the 
 United States issued a proclamation denouncing 
 the formation of a State government as an act of 
 rebellion, and upholding and indorsing the bogus 
 legislature. Acting upon this proclamation, and in 
 accordance with his own base instincts, Judge 
 
84 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Lecompte charged the grand jury to find indict- 
 ments for high treason against all who- had partici- 
 pated in organizing the State government. The 
 jury succumbed, found indictments against Robin- 
 son, Lane, Reeder, and many others, and presented 
 the two Lawrence newspapers and the Free- State 
 hotel as nuisances. 
 
 " Thus affairs stood when the Congressional in- 
 vestigating committee arrived in the Territory." 
 Many obstacles were thrown in their way by the 
 Pro-Slavery party, and every means adopted by 
 which a fair and just investigation of Kansas affairs 
 might be prevented. But the committee proved 
 equal to the arduous responsibility which devolved 
 upon them, and well performed a noble duty. The 
 result of their labors and the character of then- 
 report are well known. It substantiated the ille- 
 gality of every election held under the enactments 
 of the bogus legislature, and corroborated the truth 
 of all that the Free-State men of Kansas were re- 
 ported to have undergone. 
 
 " Up to this time the Pro-Slavery party had been 
 guilty of committing crimes at which the blood 
 curdles. J. W. B. Kelley had been beaten and 
 shamefully abused at Atchison ; the Rev. Pardee 
 Butler had been lynched, tarred and feathered, and 
 sent down the Missouri on a frail raft ; Collins had 
 been cruelly murdered at Doniphan, and Dow at 
 Hickory Point; Barber had been shot down by 
 Major Clarke, a government official ; and Brown 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 85 
 
 tortured to death near Leavenworth. And yet 
 the murderers ran at large, boasted of their exploits, 
 and openly defied the law. Governor Robinson 
 was arrested, May 8th, at Lexington, Missouri, and 
 sent back to Kansas, where, with six others, he 
 was thrown into prison and kept confined for four 
 months. 
 
 " May 11th, Marshal Donaldson raised a force 
 of ruffians, embracing Major Buford's ' chivalric 
 boys,' and marched to destroy Lawrence, under the 
 pretence that the citizens had aided Reeder in re- 
 sisting his authority.. Like the swarm of Egyptian 
 locusts, this force carried desolation as they went. 
 Jones and Stuart, harmless and excellent citizens, 
 were shot down like beasts ; and upon the 20th of 
 May the ruffians reached the city of Lawrence. 
 The citizens were almost paralyzed with amaze- 
 ment as they looked upon the angry and demoniac 
 throngs^ by which their homes were surrounded. 
 But they determined on mustering all, as in the 
 days of Rome, from twelve to seventy, and resolved 
 to beat back the ruthless invaders of their peace 
 and prosperity, or fall like earnest men and patriots. 
 The marauders, though outnumbering their oppo- 
 nents five to one, were yet afraid to risk a fair en- 
 gagement, and sent bogus Sheriff Jones to secure 
 the arms, and cannon by promising protection to 
 life and property. Deceived and betrayed by these 
 pledges, in an evil hour the Free- State men agreed 
 to the terms, and the" ruffians were allowed to pour" 
 
86 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 into their city, and then, regardless of their pledges 
 and plighted faith, did they commence anew the 
 work of ruin and plunder. Two presses were de- 
 stroyed, together with a beautiful new hotel, and 
 Governor Robinson's private house, while Atchison 
 incited them to other deeds of violence and wrong. 
 Scattering from Lawrence, in foraging parties, 
 Buford's men scoured the country about, like lawless 
 pirates, as they were. Such was the policy of the 
 'law and order' party, — the 'National Democracy' 
 of Kansas. 
 
 " When the Free-State men discovered how 
 useless, how worse than useless, it was to appeal 
 for protection to Shannon, the infamous governor, 
 to the national administration, to the legal tribu- 
 nals, — when, in their distant homes, they found ' 
 themselves forsaken, betrayed, and deserted, sur- 
 rounded by a relentless and blood-thirsty foe, bent 
 on driving them from their firesides, or crimsoning 
 the soil with their blood, — then was it that they felt 
 called upon to resort to arms and physical resist- 
 ance. Inspired by a cause as pure and holy as that 
 for which Washington fought and Warren fell, 
 they rallied under a common banner, and went 
 forth like the brave Magyars to defend those rights 
 which are intuitive in the manly breast; rights and 
 liberties which must be preserved by freemen at all 
 hazards, if they would preserve their own self-re- 
 spect. They did not ' gird on their armor ' out of 
 revenge for their wrongs, neither out of any mer- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 87 
 
 cenary motive by which their interests might be 
 advanced. They sought only to drive back the 
 oppressive hordes of unprincipled invaders, and to 
 vindicate a principle which was dear to them as life 
 itself. 
 
 " At the first engagement at Ossowattamie, the 
 ruffians were sorely beaten. At Palmyra or Black 
 Jack, Captains Brown and Shore routed a band of 
 plunderers under the lead of Pate, from Missouri. 
 The battle of Franklin followed, in which the Free- 
 State men were also victorious. "Whitfield, the 
 bogus delegate to Congress, who was advancing 
 into the Territory with a large force, was uncere- 
 moniously sent back by Colonel Sumner, com- 
 manding the United States dragoons. The ruffians 
 murdered a Free-State man, Cantral, in cold blood, 
 by way of revenge, and committed other heartless 
 depredations. During the remainder of the month 
 of June, the Territory was afflicted with all the 
 horrors of a bloody civil war. Ossowattamie was 
 sacked by a large Pro-Slavery company, who 
 destroyed or carried off every thing of value, and 
 shamefully abused the unarmed and defenceless 
 citizens. Then followed the Missouri river out- 
 rages. The boats were stopped and searched — 
 money, goods, and arms were stolen^ and Northern 
 emigrants sent back penniless. Governor Shannon, 
 Colonel Sumner, and Judge Lecompte refused to 
 interfere, and the administration openly encouraged 
 the depredation*. '- 
 
OS KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 " On the 4th of July, the Free-State legislature 
 convened at Topeka, pursuant to adjournment. It 
 was a day memorable in the history of our govern- 
 ment, upon which our forefathers declared their 
 independence in a declaration which constitutes 
 the noblest paper that graces the archives of any 
 nation ; and a marked correspondence existed be- 
 tween the two occasions, though separated by a 
 long lapse of years. The Free-State men of Kan- 
 sas met, like the revolutionary patriots, in a dark 
 and trying hour. They met, as lovers of liberty, 
 to organize against an existing oppression. They 
 met as men who had felt the yoke of bondage, but 
 who could not submit to the enslavement of body 
 or soul. For peaceful deliberation they had con- 
 vened, to consult the interests of their country, and 
 to devote themselves to the administration of jus- 
 tice. They met in obedience to the will of the 
 majority of the residents of Kansas, and they were 
 intrusted with the hopes and prayers of a suffering 
 people. Then and there, in that sacred place, and 
 on that solemn day, was an outrage committed 
 which must ever remain a blot upon the historic 
 page, — an outrage which mantles the cheek of 
 every true American with shame, and paints with 
 vivid colors the degeneracy and degradation of our 
 federal government, — for, when the legislature 
 was on the point of coming to order, the gleam of 
 the United States arms and the federal troops were 
 seen, and an officer of our government ordered the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 89 
 
 legislature to disperse. He spoke not for himself, 
 but for a higher official, — for him who occupied 
 the most honorable position that this or any other 
 country knows. Cromwell once dispersed a refrac- 
 tory parliament, and the great Napoleon an angry 
 assembly ; but these usurpations of authority were 
 nothing in comparison to that executed by Pierce, 
 in ordering a federal officer to disperse a legislature 
 convened in violation of no law or established prin- 
 ciple, in a country professing to be a free republic. 
 It was one of the darkest of the many dark deeds 
 that distinguished the last administration, and con- 
 signed it to a grave of everlasting infamy. 
 
 " When the reports of what was transpiring in 
 Kansas, — of Shannon's treachery, the ruffians' cru- 
 elty, and the administration's duplicity, — reached 
 the Northern States, they were scarcely credited. 
 Persons could not believe that the detailed cruel- 
 ties had been committed, or that the government 
 could lend its sanction and indorsement to a set 
 of ruffian invaders. But, as the reports were 
 substantiated, and the frightful accounts of exist- 
 ing affairs verified, the Northern people awoke to 
 a realizing sense of their duty, and contributed 
 men and means, as well as arms and provisions, 
 for their friends and relatives in the far West, with 
 an alacrity and liberality that did them honor. 
 
 " As Northern emigration on the Missouri river 
 was interdicted, a new route was opened through 
 Iowa, and Lane took charge of a large body of 
 
 8* 
 
90 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 emigrants, who reached Kansas during the month 
 of August. The supplies they brought, together 
 with the evidence they furnished to the Free- State 
 men that their struggles and privations were not 
 unappreciated, cheered and animated them with 
 a new hope and a fresh courage. A short time 
 previous to this, Mr. Day, the only Free- State fed- 
 eral officer in the Territory, was cruelly murdered. 
 Colonel Sumner, who had exhibited some human- 
 ity toward the Free- State men, was superseded by 
 General Smith of Louisiana, who was expected 
 to side entirely with the Kansas invaders. On the 
 5th of August, another contest took place between 
 the respective parties, near*Ossowatamie, and a 
 set of Georgian marauders were driven from their 
 post. At the same time, Mr. Hoyt of Lawrence, 
 who had been sent, single and alone, to remon- 
 strate with a prowling band of Southerners, under 
 Colonel Treadwell, was waylaid and murdered. 
 
 " Important events followed in rapid succession, 
 and various warlike encounters took place between 
 the Free- State and Pro- Slavery parties, in which 
 the latter were generally worsted. On the 18th of 
 August, a treaty of peace was concluded between 
 the citizens of Lawrence and Governor Shannon. 
 On the same day, two Free-State men were mur- 
 dered and scalped near Leavenworth, while a Ger- 
 man, who expressed his horror at the bloody work, 
 was shot dead in the streets. 
 
 " The leading Border Ruffians, — Richardson, 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 91 
 
 Atchison, and Stringfellow, — laboring under the 
 hallucination that Lane was advancing into the 
 Territory with an army as numerous as that of 
 Xerxes, issued a proclamation to the. Missourians, 
 which was promptly responded to, and numerous 
 crowds gathered at Weston, Mo., chose Atchison 
 commander-in-chief, and marched again towards 
 Lawrence. Shannon having been removed, Wood- 
 son assumed the reins of government, and raised 
 another force in the west to act in concert with the 
 army of Atchison, which styled itself, with sardonic 
 irony, ' the army of law and order in Kansas Terri- 
 tory.' This 'peaceful ' army exemplified their ' law 
 and order ' propensities by falling upon a Quaker 
 mission, and treating the settlers with cannibalistic 
 fury. Lawrence was again in danger, and was only 
 saved from destruction by the prompt action of 
 Lane, who organized a force of 300 Free- State men, 
 and drove Atchison across the Missouri, where he 
 dispersed his troops, engaging them to rally again 
 on the 13th of September, for ' another march on 
 the d — d Abolitionists.' 
 
 " Although we have recounted outrages at which 
 the heart sickens, and which must shock the sense 
 of every civilized community, a darker chapter yet 
 remains unwritten. The annual municipal election 
 in Leavenworth City took place September 1st. 
 That day, which is known as Bloody Monday, and 
 the events which transpired upon it, in their revolt- 
 ing and distorted features, more resembled the 
 
92 KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 'reign of terror,' when the streets of Paris ran 
 blood, than an American city of the nineteenth 
 century. The Missourians, thirsting for revenge, 
 and burning with hate and frenzy, poured into the 
 
 city, cried 
 
 ' Havoc ! 
 And let slip the dogs of war.' 
 
 " Colonel Emory led on the infuriated mob, who 
 committed the most horrible acts of violence. 
 Phillips was shot down at his own threshold, and 
 bullets were fired into every part of the house. 
 The leading citizens were driven from their homes, 
 and their wives and daughters subjected to every 
 species of indignity. In the agony of despair, many 
 appealed, as only the suffering can appeal, to Gen- 
 eral Smith, the commanding officer at Fort Leav- 
 enworth, for a detachment of troops to protect their 
 families and property. But that appeal, which was 
 enough to make a ' marble statue weep,' met no 
 response from the icy -hearted commander. Though 
 he might have quelled the disturbance in a mo- 
 ment, no finger was lifted, and no order issued, 
 except to command his sergeant to drive from the 
 fort the afflicted citizens who had there sought 
 temporary refuge and protection. In that act the 
 flag of our country was disgraced, and the charac- ■ 
 ter of our military officers stained. It would 
 require volumes to enumerate the outrages that 
 were subsequently perpetrated in Leavenworth, — 
 how houses and stores were burnt ; how the citi- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 93 
 
 zens were forced upon the boats at the point of the 
 bayonet ; how men were murdered in cold blood ; 
 how the sick and the weak, innocent women and 
 harmless children, were treated with a cruelty al- 
 most beyond conception. Such were some or the 
 more marked features which distinguished the reign 
 of the ' law and order ' party in Leavenworth City. 
 There may still be seen the charred and blackened 
 ruins of many buildings that were destroyed; 
 many are the residents who can give heart-rending 
 accounts of what occurred during that sad period, 
 and new-made graves upon Pilot Knob seem to 
 plead, with a sad and mournful eloquence, against 
 the cruel and untimely cutting off of those who 
 sleep beneath. 
 
 " During this month, Lane forced Woodson, the 
 acting governor, to release his Free-State prisoners 
 and disband his forces. Upon the 8th, the Su- 
 preme Court met at Lecompton to try the political 
 prisoners. The district attorney not being ready 
 to go on with the cases, all the prisoners were ad- 
 mitted to bail, and on the same day Governor 
 Geary arrived in the Territory. Immediately upon 
 assuming his office he issued a proclamation, com- 
 manding ' all bodies of men combined, armed, and 
 equipped with munitions of war, without authority 
 of government, instantly to disband and quit 'the 
 Territory.' 
 
 " In obedience to this proclamation, the Free- 
 State forces disbanded, but the Border Ruffians, in 
 
94 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 open defiance of it, re-assembled, according to pre- 
 vious agreement, at Weston, Mo., and, to the 
 number of 2,500 strong, with five pieces of artil- 
 lery, marched towards Lawrence. It was with 
 grear difficulty that Governor Geary, at the head 
 of United States. troops, by throwing himself be- 
 tween the invaders and Lawrence, succeeded in 
 saving the city and prevailing upon the Missou- 
 rians to retire. In their retreat, among other out- 
 rages,, they shot down an unoffending Free-State 
 man (Buffum),for remonstrating against the steal- 
 ing of his horses. 
 
 " The political Free-State prisoners, under indict- 
 ment for treason and murder, were treated with 
 revolting barbarity by Colonel Titus and his South- 
 ern ruffians, and the citizens of Ossawatomie were 
 once again visited by new afflictions from fresh 
 bodies of invaders. October 16th, an election took 
 place, under the bogus legislative enactment, for 
 delegate to Congress, members of Territorial legis- 
 lature, and on the question of a delegate convention 
 to adopt a State constitution. In this election the 
 Free-State men took no part, and the Border Ruf- 
 fians had it all their own way. 
 
 " On the 13th, a Free-State convention was held 
 at Topeka ; and, a few days afterwards, another at 
 Big Springs, where protests against "Whitfield's 
 election to Congress, and memorials to Congress, 
 were adopted, praying for the admission of Reeder, 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. . 95 
 
 as representing the real sentiments of a majority of 
 the citizens of the Territory. 
 
 " During the latter part of October, the trial of 
 the Free-State prisoners took place at Lecompton, 
 before a packed jury of bitter Pro- Slavery parti- 
 sans, and twenty-one were sentenced by the Kan- 
 sas Jeffries to* five years' hard labor with ball and 
 chain. These persons were guilty of no crime. 
 They had acted purely in self-defence at Hickory 
 Point, and would instantly have been acquitted by 
 a fair and honorable tribunal. Their crime, in the 
 eyes of the court, was a devoted love of liberty, 
 and for that devotion they were treated as felons 
 and murderers. But in that higher court and by 
 that higher law which exists in, and is constituted 
 by, a just and generous people, they were not only 
 proclaimed not guilty, but crowned with honor and 
 loaded with great testimonials, as a small acknowl- 
 edgment of their labors and services in the cause 
 of freedom. 
 
 " It will be remembered that, while the Free- 
 State men were being subjected to the severest 
 penalties which an unholy tribunal could inflict, 
 their oppressors and persecutors, with hands reek- 
 ing with bloodthat cried aloud for vengeance, were 
 never called to account or made to answer for the 
 laws they had outraged and the barbarities they 
 had perpetrated. The judges of the Supreme 
 Court, be it said to their eternal disgrace, threw off 
 the spotless ermine, and cloaked themselves in the 
 
96 KA*NSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 polluted garments of fanatical partisanship. Before* 
 such a tribunal, a charge against a Free-State man, 
 no matter how base, how unfounded, or how frivo- 
 lous, was equivalent to conviction. Law was 
 mockery, principles meaningless, and justice but a 
 word. To illustrate the truth of what we affirm, 
 we need but cite the murder of Buffum, and the 
 subsequent action of the Supreme Court, of which 
 Governor Geary gives the following account: 
 When he reached Buffum, the poor fellow was 
 lying upon the earth in his agonies, the blood 
 streaming from his wounds, and the cold sweat of 
 death upon his brow. He seized the Governor's 
 hand, and declared that, as he hoped for mercy 
 hereafter, he was innocent of all cause of offence, — 
 that it was a most foul and unprovoked murder. 
 He asked his assassin why he sought for his life or 
 desired to take his property? said that upon his ef- 
 forts depended the subsistence of an aged father and 
 mother, a deaf and dumb brother and sister ; that 
 he himself was a cripple, and therefore harmless. 
 To -this appeal he was told he was a ' d — d Abo- 
 litionist, and that they intended to destroy the whole 
 of them.' Upon which Hayes, one of the gang, 
 seized him by the collar, and, placing the pistol 
 against his stomach, shot him. The Governor 
 pledged him, while he held his cold hand in his 
 own, that he would use all his power to bring his 
 murderers to justice. ' I spent,' said the Governor, 
 ' five hundred dollars to have his assassins arrested, 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 97 
 
 and I would have spent five thousand to have done 
 so, if it had been necessary.' It is well known that 
 the Governor had Hayes arrested, but scarcely was 
 he put in prison when Lecompte issued a writ of 
 hebeas corpus, had him released, and set at liberty 
 upon straw bail. Hayes is now in Missouri, and 
 is playing the gentleman. The Governor further 
 states, that, after the release of Hayes, Surveyor- 
 general Calhoun took occasion, in a public speech 
 upon the matter, to declare that the discharge of 
 Hayes was perfectly legal ; and it was a mistake 
 to suppose that the Territorial laws were enacted 
 for the benefit of any other persons than the Pro- 
 Slavery men. 
 
 " In consequence of Judge Lecompte's course in 
 this case, and his determined opposition to Gover- 
 nor Geary, the Governor demanded his removal 
 from the office he disgraced. 
 
 " On the first Monday in January, 1857, the 
 second bogus legislature convened at Lecompton. 
 A more disgraceful session could not have been 
 conceived, nor could a body of men have been 
 found more bitterly opposed to the views and con- 
 victions of the Free-State party. Their legislation 
 was a perfect mockery, forming a fit sequel to, and 
 connecting link with, the enactments of that first 
 odious and illegal body, which inaugurated the 
 ' reign of terror ' in Kansas, and which spread a 
 blighting devastation over the beautiful and peace- 
 ful face of the Territory. In vain Governor Geary 
 
98 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 strove to moderate their fury and allay their pas- 
 sions. To no purpose did he veto their outrageous 
 measures. Insensible to the dictates of reason, and 
 deaf to the pleadings of justice, they yet had the 
 impudence to believe that the actual residents of 
 Kansas would be forced to acknowledge their legal- 
 ity as a legislature, and the binding force of their 
 enactments. God forbid that such another ' legis- 
 lature ' pollute the soil or taint the atmosphere of 
 the Territory. 
 
 ' The Pro-Slavery convention, that met at Le- 
 compton on the 12th of January, was an outgrowth 
 of this rotten and pestiferous trunk,- — an ugly but 
 natural excrescence. The address they coined is 
 too palpably counterfeit to pass current, and adds 
 but another to the formidable list of crimes of which 
 the 'law and order' party, or 'national democracy of 
 Kansas,' have been guilty, — the crime of falsehood 
 and perjury. 
 
 " On the 4th of March, Governor Geary sent on 
 his resignation to "Washington. His reasons for 
 this are only too well known. The faithlessness 
 of the federal administration ; the hostility of the 
 judiciary ; the inactivity of the military ; the refusal 
 to remove Lecompte ; the want of funds, and the 
 development of conspiracies against his life, com- 
 pelled him to resign. His statements prove the 
 desperate character of the Pro-Slavery leaders who 
 have so long disturbed the peace of the Territory, 
 and must convince even the most sceptical that the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 99 
 
 half of what the Free-State citizens have suffered 
 has not yet been written. If it were but possible 
 for every intelligent qualified elector of our country 
 — either from the North or South — to come out 
 here and examine for himself, listen to the accounts 
 of those who have passed through the fiery ordeal 
 of a two years' residence, and learn from personal 
 observation the truth of what has occurred, loud 
 and deep would be the indignation against the Pro- 
 Slavery party. 
 
 " Nor were the invading Missourians and South- 
 erners the only opponents with which the Free- 
 State men of Kansas were compelled to contend. 
 In defiance of protests, and petitions, and memori- 
 als, of the Congressional committee's report, and 
 detailed statements, substantiated beyond the 
 shadow of a doubt, a democratic majority in Con- 
 gress has not only refused to grant the Free-State 
 men redress, but even gone so far, in the madness 
 of party zeal, as to ridicule their prayers, to admit 
 Whitfield, the bogus delegate, and to refuse to 
 adopt the Topeka constitution, which had been 
 • indorsed by fully three-fourths of the residents of 
 Kansas. 
 
 " On the 10th of March, a Free-State convention 
 assembled at Topeka, and adopted a platform 
 which will be found appended to this address. In 
 that platform, it will be seen that the Free-State 
 men refuse to vote for delegates to a constitutional 
 convention, under a registry act which passed the 
 
100 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 last bogus legislature. Late developments have 
 proved the wisdom of this policy, for, by the lists 
 of qualified electors returned by the sheriffs of the 
 different counties, thousands of Free-State voters 
 have been ignored, while the names of numerous 
 unknown and mythical individuals are entered as 
 ' qualified electors.' All the machinery of the elec- 
 tion is to be controlled by Pro-Slavery partisans, 
 and it would be suicidal for the Free-State party to 
 go. into an election, in the face of such odds, and 
 with their past experience. 
 
 " Although the present federal . administration 
 owes its success to the impression that prevailed 
 at the North that the chief executive would use his 
 influence and authority toward securing the free- 
 dom of Kansas, if such should be the will of the 
 people, we can see as yet no indication of any 
 such policy on the part of Mr. Buchanan, and with 
 moderation, yet firmness, we emphatically protest 
 against the federal appointments that have been 
 made in the Territory, selected as they have been 
 from the most guilty and obnoxious of our Pro- 
 Slavery opponents. 
 
 " Both President Buchanan, in his inaugural, and 
 Governor "Walker, in his letter of acceptance, have 
 pledged themselves to obtain ' an open, honest, and 
 independent expression of opinion from the bona 
 fide residents of Kansas.' We look to see this 
 pledge redeemed, and feel satisfied that, if it is, the 
 next delegate to Congress and the next legislature 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 101 
 
 of Kansas will be pre-eminently Free-State, and 
 that with a free constitution Kansas will come 
 into the Union. 
 
 " At the municipal election in Leavenworth City, 
 held Monday, April 13th, a Free-State mayor was 
 elected by a majority of 184 over all other oppo- 
 nents. This is the first time in the history of the 
 city that a fair vote has been obtained ; and the 
 result may be regarded as significant of the pervad- 
 ing opinion in Kansas on the question of freedom 
 or slavery. 
 
 " Having thus delineated the course of events 
 that have transpired in Kansas ; having shown how 
 the Free-State party, though embracing more than 
 two-thirds of the actual settlers, have been deprived, 
 through fraud and violence, of any representation 
 in legislative assemblies, and of any voice in the 
 enacting of laws, or the selection of Territorial 
 officials, and being threatened with the enforcement 
 and adoption of a slave constitution, by Congress, 
 for Kansas, — we appeal with the deepest sincerity 
 and earnestness to the Northern people, without 
 distinction of party or creed, to aid in averting such 
 a national calamity. We ask but that Congress 
 may adopt the Topeka constitution, which has 
 already passed the House, or that both it and the 
 one that will be adopted by the Pro- Slavery con- 
 vention in September, be returned to the people of 
 the Territory, with an enabling act providing for a 
 
 9* 
 
102 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 fair and honest vote of the bona fide residents. 
 "We ask no more than this, — we can ask no less. 
 
 " None are more devoted to our Union and our 
 Constitution than the Free-State citizens of Kan- 
 sas. For the institutions of our country none can 
 have a deeper or more loyal attachment. But we 
 believe the purity of our government, and the in- 
 tegrity of our institutions, can only be preserved by 
 the admission of Kansas as a free State. And 
 such, we are convinced, are the convictions of a 
 large majority of our population. Though the 
 past is voicefulwith the wrongs and oppressions to 
 which we have been forced to submit ; though the 
 marks of a tyrannous hand with which we have 
 been scourged, have not yet been effaced, we can 
 forget it all and forgive, if simple justice is granted 
 us in the future. 
 
 " We wish but that the slavery or freedom of 
 Kansas may be settled, once for all, by an honest 
 and legal vote of the actual residents, in accordance 
 with the principles of the organic act. 
 
 "From our new-made homes in the distant 
 West, far from the comforts and conveniencies 
 of Settled society, yet struggling amid the hard- 
 ships and difficulties coincident with a border life, 
 and suffering from the trials and sorrows to which 
 we have been particularly subjected, we again 
 appeal to Northern freemen to stand by us in the 
 dark emergency that threatens our future progress 
 and prosperity. Let Northern representatives be 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 103 
 
 instructed to support our righteous prayers and 
 claims, and let the people, in their sovereign capa- 
 city, rising in dignity and might, cheer us with their 
 actual sympathy and earnest co-operation. 
 
 " Thus will the schemes and plots of political 
 demagogues be foiled, and the freedom of our new 
 State be attained. To the cause, and for the 
 principles which have become endeared and sanc- 
 tified through our sufferings, we acknowledge an 
 unwavering devotion. Strong in the confidence^ 
 of truth, reliant in the sincerity of our purpose, 
 we cheerfully unfold our standard, on which is 
 inscribed our watchword and our motto, ' Free 
 Kansas for Free Labor,' to realize which we pledge 
 anew ' our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
 honor.' James Davis, Chairman. 
 
 " Lyman Allen* N. Y. A. Polley, N. Y. 
 
 W. W. Ross, Ohio. J. B. McAfee, Md. 
 
 Rev. II. Jones, Pa. Rev. J. Gillpatrick, Me. 
 
 H. Miles Moore> Miss. J. T. Goodnoe, R. I. 
 
 M. J. Parrott, Ohio. J. A. Wakefield, S. C. 
 
 C. F. Currier, Ind. A. Lazelere, Miss. 
 
 S. N. Latta, Iowa. Wm. Mitchell, Conn. 
 
 O. B. Holman, Wis. J. H. Kaze, Va. 
 
 C. Robinson, Mass, J. P. Mitchell, Texas. 
 
 Prof. W. Oakley, Del. Rev. W. R. Griffith, Pa. 
 
 Albert A. Griffin, Ga. J. W. Morris, 111. 
 
 M. Fennimore, Ind. B. F. Harding. 
 
 James Blood, Wis. L. J. Worden, N. Y. 
 
 S. B. Prentiss, Ga. J. E. Stewart." 
 Rev. C. E. Blood, 111. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 BORDER RUFFIAN POLICY. PROPER COURSE FOR 
 
 THE EMIGRANT TO PURSUE. BETTER DAYS IN 
 
 ANTICIPATION FOR KANSAS., . 
 
 The following letters and newspaper articles 
 will give the reader some idea of political affairs in 
 Kansas at the present time, as well as the opinions 
 of people abroad. In making these selections, we 
 are indebted to a good extent to the Chicago Press, 
 the leading journal of the great Northwest. The 
 Press of April 16th says : 
 
 " Since last fall, we have received, at various 
 times, the proceedings of meetings of the citizens 
 of several of the border towns of Western Missouri, 
 whose character was 'border ruffian' par excel- 
 lence, declaring in substance that they had discov- 
 ered the error of their ways, and were now prepared 
 and determined to turn over a new leaf, and treat 
 all, whether from free or slave States, as men and 
 brethren ; that they would no longer attack defence- 
 less men and women on their way to Kansas, nor 
 plunder them of their property ; that they would lay 
 aside the tar-bucket, the feathers, and the grape- 
 
 104 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 105 
 
 vine, and salute all with a hearty welcome to the 
 goodly land which had attracted them thither. 
 This repentance — notwithstanding its well-known 
 coincidence with a long list of commercial failures . 
 that the New York Independent published — was 
 hailed with pleasure by the Free- State people, and 
 many are now disposed to forgive, forget, and give 
 them their trade. 
 
 " The other day, we received another of these' 
 manifestoes, — and that from Parkville, whose 
 merchants quietly looked on and allowed a band 
 of ruffians to throw their press, the Parkville Lu- 
 minary, into the Missouri river, and drove its 
 editors, Messrs. Park and Patterson, from their 
 homes, because they ventured to question the mor- 
 ality of a Missourian voting one day in Kansas 
 and the next in Parkville. In the proceedings of 
 the meeting held at this place, we find the names 
 of Dr. E. S. Clardy, F. M. McDonald, and others, 
 who figured prominently in the above transaction, 
 and who went on board steamers, as they arrived 
 at Parkville, and maltreated Free-State men and 
 women. It is these men, who now appear as the 
 representatives of Parkville, desirous, as they say, 
 'to set themselves right before mankind, — to pro- 
 claim to the world that they are peaceable- and 
 conservative citizens, and that immigrants from all 
 sections shall be protected and welcomed to their 
 city.' 
 
 " Well, it is Christian to forgive ; and we do not 
 
106 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 doubt but this and other manifestoes of the kind 
 may have the effect desired. But it is not our duty 
 to countenance any such pocket-deep penitence ; 
 and our advice to Kansas emigrants is, to give 
 those towns on the Missouri border, which have 
 evinced a violent, murderous, and plundering dis- 
 position, a wide berth. Besides, they ought to 
 build up Kansas and not Missouri cities. There 
 is Quindaro, Delaware City, Leavenworth City, 
 and other towns on the Kansas side of the Mis- 
 souri, which, though young, are worthy of becom- 
 ing important points. To encourage them by their 
 trade and their business is to build up Kansas, and 
 strengthen the Free-State men and the Free-State 
 sentiment. Let the ruffians continue the suppli- 
 catory exercises they are now engaged in. It will 
 do them good. To be sure, they are on their knees 
 now ; but we must let them remain there till their 
 penance has become heavy enough for their future 
 remembrance." 
 
 The following is from the correspondence of the 
 same journal : 
 
 "LVwkence, April 10, 1857. 
 " H. B. Hued, Secretary of National Kansas Committee: 
 
 " I snatch an hour from sleep, to say a few words 
 to you in relation to the affairs of the Territory. 
 The necessity of it is urged upon me by the reports 
 that reach us of the panic that seems to prevail in 
 some parts of the States in regard to Kansas affairs. 
 The resignation of Governor Geary, the action of 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 107 
 
 the Topeka convention, and the appointment of a 
 Southern governor, seem to our friends East to be 
 portentous of evil. The effect has been for a time 
 to check the immigration. This may be well prac- 
 tically, for the rush had already begun to exceed 
 our accommodations. The suggestions I made 
 some time ago, to Simmons and Leadbeater, to 
 advise immigrants to provide themselves with tents, 
 is answering a good purpose. But what I wish 
 particularly to say is, that our people protest against 
 any representations or anticipations of the kind. 
 Peace, order, and quiet everywhere reign through- 
 out our Territory. The farmers are busily at work 
 getting in their seed, the town-builders are doing a 
 thriving business, and mechanics find full employ- 
 ment at good wages. Now we feel assured, here, 
 that Governor Walker is not the man to disturb 
 this quiet. The Pro-Slavery men of the Territory 
 will not sanction it, and the Free-State men will 
 not permit it. Our Free-State capitalists and spec- 
 ulators are being invited to participate in most of 
 the Pro-Slavery towns. Some of these towns have 
 been purchased, and are mostly in the hands and 
 under the control of Free-State men. Nearly every 
 town on the Missouri river is or soon will be in 
 Free-State hands. Yankee enterprise and capital 
 have come to a good market. 
 
 " There may be a few discontented spirits, who 
 still seek to foment discord, on both sides : men who, 
 in time of peace, have no notoriety but in conten- 
 
108 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 tion and strife, will contrive to push themselves 
 forward and make themselves heeded. The mark 
 of Cain is already upon such men,* and the time is 
 not far distant when none shall be found so poor as 
 to do them reverence. 
 
 " I do not think that our people are resting upon 
 a false security. They are not forgetful of their 
 position or remiss in their watchfulness. The 
 feeling of safety and security is the result rather 
 of watchfulness than weariness. I venture to say 
 that any who hesitate to emigrate from any such 
 cause as this are unwise. The people on the 
 ground are themselves better judges than inter- 
 ested politicians or panic-stricken alarmists in the 
 States. 
 
 " The immigration already here, and which is 
 still coming, is silently but surely doing the work. 
 These new men will soon constitute a majority. 
 They are cool and unbiased ; have no injuries to 
 avenge, and no political ends to serve; but will 
 judge coolly and dispassionately, and act accord- 
 ingly." 
 
 We cbnclude with an editorial extract from the 
 same paper of April 18th : 
 
 " We had the pleasure of an interview, yester- 
 day, with Dr. John Evans, of this city, who had 
 just returned from a month's tour in Kansas. Like 
 most others who have visited the Territory, he is 
 charmed with it. Every place he visited was over- 
 run with new-comers, — Lawrence, Topeka, Q,uin- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 109 
 
 daro, Leavenworth, and every place where there is 
 a hotel. The steamboats that arrive are uniformly 
 crowded with emigrants, nineteen-twentieths of 
 whom are from the North, and of course Free- 
 State men. The emigrants are of all classes, but 
 most of them go with a view to permanent settle- 
 ment. Not a few are speculators and capitalists, 
 who go to build up new cities and towns, erect 
 saw-mills, etc. These push their way in every 
 direction ; hunting up good sites along the rivers 
 and water-courses. Central Kansas is beginning 
 to attract a good deal of attention, and numerous 
 towns and settlements are being built up. The 
 Shawnee Reserve is fast filling up, and it is there 
 where the Chicago German company propose 
 locating. The settlers on the Reserve held a meet- 
 ing a few days before Dr. Evans left, and they 
 passed a resolution to the effect that, after the 4th 
 of the present month, they Would allow all claims 
 to be oqcupied by actual settlers, the first claimant 
 of which is not on the ground or had not up to 
 that date erected a building. The practice of 
 'laying poles' on a claim, and then leaving it 
 unimproved, will no longer be allowed by the 
 resident settlers, whose direct interest it is to have 
 as many neighbors as possible. Free-State men 
 have an equal chance with those from the slave 
 States. 
 
 " Dr. Evans visited Parkville, Weston, Leaven- 
 worth, Liberty, Kansas City, and most of the towns 
 10 
 
110 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 on the river. They are all heartily, sick of Border 
 Ruffianism ; it don't pay, and they are convinced 
 it never will. Most of the towns in the Territory, 
 that have had a Border Ruffian character, manage 
 this spring to keep two or three Free-State men in 
 their interest, for the purpose of assuring new- 
 comers that they have nothing to fear from them. 
 Leavenworth was to elect a mayor on the 13th, 
 and Dr. E. is confident that he would be a Free- 
 State man, unless Missourians should come over 
 and vote. Several of the Missouri towns have held 
 meetings and passed resolutions expressing a deter- 
 mination to treat all men as equal, whether they be 
 from the free or the slave States." 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 OPINIONS OP AN OLD RESIDENT OF THE TERRITO- 
 RIES OF KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 The following letter, with introductory remarks, 
 appeared in the Iowa City Republican. It bears 
 the impress of truth : 
 
 " Great interest is felt in all that relates to the 
 Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Reliable 
 information is hard to get. A trip through the 
 Territory is deemed sufficient, by many, to enable 
 them to form a pretty correct opinion of the soil, 
 climate, resources, productions, etc. These hastily 
 formed opinions are the staple of nearly all the 
 public see and hear on the subject. Or — what is 
 worse — the one-sided, unreliable statements of 
 land speculators, framed for effect, are foisted upon 
 the reader as the candid opinions of an impartial 
 observer. It affords us pleasure, therefore, to be 
 able to furnish our readers with information from 
 an actual settler; one who has resided in the Ter- 
 ritory for many years, and who writes for the eye, 
 of a friend solely, without any idea of seeing his 
 letter in print. The writer of the following , letter 
 
112 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA ' HANDBOOK. 
 
 is a man of high character, a close and careful ob- 
 server of facts. What he states is the result of 
 personal knowledge, and observations extending 
 through successive years. The letter was ad- 
 dressed to Silas Foster, Esq., of this city, by 
 whose permission we make it public. 
 
 " ' Kearney Gitt, Otoe Co., .) 
 Neb. Tee., March 30th. ) 
 
 "'Dear Sir, — I spent the summer and autumn 
 of 1855 on the western frontier and in Kansas. 
 In the centre of the last-named Territory, pretty 
 well west, I spent most of the time,, making my 
 home at two points, about ten miles from each 
 other. One was Council City (a paper town), 
 about ninety miles from the Missouri river, on the 
 Santa Fe trail; and the other was Brownsville, 
 on the Wakarusa creek, north of the trail. I 
 visited patients at the westernmost settlement in 
 the Territory, close by the Buffalo Range ; but my 
 information about the north part of the Territory 
 •and the southern part, I have derived mostly from 
 those who have resided there from seven to twenty 
 years. One of my neighbors had been in the em- 
 ploy of government there some twenty years, and 
 had traveled over all the desirable part of the Ter- 
 ritory, and had finally settled on the Wakarusa. 
 Kansas, on the whole (I mean the eastern third, 
 which is the only part of Kansas or Nebraska 
 which will be settled at present), has a lack of tim- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 113 
 
 ber and water. As regards timber, I think Kansas 
 has the advantage; while Nebraska is much better 
 watered. Still, stock would not suffer for water 
 in Kansas, badly. The small streams many of 
 them do not have a current in very dry weather, 
 but stand in pools from three to eighty rods long, 
 and a greenish scum collects on them ; but the 
 water must be supplied from springs at the bot- 
 tom, for fish live in them through the dry weather. 
 The want of timber is a great evil, to be sure ; but, 
 where railroads and steamboats penetrate, is not • 
 by any means an insurmountable obstacle to the 
 early and rapid Settlement of a country. 
 
 " ' The most important - questions seem to be : 
 What is the quality of the soil? what the 
 healthiness of the locality? what the facilities 
 for communication with market, at present or im- 
 mediately prospective ? what the state of so- 
 ciety? These questions can all be favorably 
 answered for Nebraska. , They cannot be an- 
 swered as favorably for Kansas to-day, but the 
 most important of them can, I think, in one or 
 two years. 
 
 " ' All the mismanagement and wickedness which 
 can be perpetrated in "Washington — either in the 
 Capitol or at the White House — cannot make a 
 Slave State of either Kansas or Nebraska. The 
 laws of nature and the laws of emigration have 
 decreed it otherwise. Four fifths of the actual 
 residents of Kansas, are to-day, and always have 
 10* 
 
114 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDEOOK. 
 
 been, opposed to the admission of slavery ; and of 
 these, I dare say one-third were born and reared in 
 Slave States. " I speak that I know, and testify 
 of that which I have seen," for I was an actor -in 
 most of the Free State Conventions held there a 
 year ago last summer and fall. Missouri, Western 
 and Central Missouri, has been frantically deter- 
 mined, ever since Douglas' bill was introduced 
 into the Senate, to make slave territory of Kansas. 
 The "Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society" was 
 well' intended, but made the matter worse, and the 
 Southern Aid Societies capped the climax of 
 blundering folly. 
 
 " ' Kansas will be, I think, and Nebraska certainly 
 is, healthy for a new country (more or less bilious 
 sickness will occur, in settling any new country 
 where the soil is rich). But the questions are : Is 
 it dry ? is it rolling ? do the streams have a good 
 current ? There has been a great deal of sickness 
 of a lingering character in Kansas ; but I attribute 
 these features of the sickness to the state of mind 
 the population has been in, and to their want of 
 comforts. In the vicinity of the large streams, the 
 face of the country is more or less broken, but the 
 general surface is just rolling enough. I have seen 
 taller grass on high prairie in Kansas than on any 
 other high prairie I have ever seen. As you go 
 towards the frontier west, in either Kansas or Ne- 
 braska, you have from sixty to eighty miles of 
 excellent country (not quite as good on the Mis- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 115 
 
 souri as ten 'miles back) ; on the large streams, 
 pretty well timbered ; on the small streams, poorly, 
 and injured by fixe. You now begin, as you cross 
 the ridges of the prairie, to see gravel and quartz 
 stick out, though the bottoms are good, and a great 
 deal of the prairie ; but the proportion of poor soil 
 gradually increases as you go west, till you reach 
 the Great Desert 
 
 " The most part of Kansas is poorly supplied 
 with streams fit for water-power ; though some of 
 the tributaries of the Arkansas and Kansas rivers 
 are available. Nebraska is better supplied with 
 hydraulic power. The climate, I fear, of both 
 Kansas and Nebraska has received praises to 
 which it is not entitled. It is very windy,, tremen- 
 dously so, and increasing as you go north. The 
 thermometer ranges about the same as in the' same 
 latitudes in Illinois and Iowa. 
 
 " Pretty good lime rock is plentiful, everywhere 
 I have been, in Kansas and Nebraska. Bitumi- 
 nous coal, I think, will prove abundant in both 
 Territories. We have saline springs within thirty 
 or forty miles northwest of this place. There is 
 great boasting about some of them, but their pre- 
 cise chemical analysis,, or the quantity of water 
 running from them, or the per centage of salt, I do 
 not know. 
 
 " Leavenworth City promises the most of any 
 town in Kansas, I think ; but, when the Indian 
 titles are entirely extinct along the Missouri river, 
 
116 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 it may haye formidable rivals. Of the inland 
 towns in existence at present, I have the best 
 opinion of Lawrence and Topeka. 
 
 "In Nebraska, Omaha City is the capital, and, 
 some say, the largest town. Some think our 
 town is the largest. I do not think Omaha will 
 keep the capitol, as it was given her by fraudulent 
 votes from Iowa, and the legislature this winter 
 came within two votes of removing the capital by 
 a two-thirds vote, over the governor's veto. ' Squat- 
 ter sovereignty' has proved something of a hum- 
 bug in Nebraska, as well as in Kansas. 
 
 " The garden of Nebraska is said to be between 
 the Platte and the Nemaha, and. our town (com- 
 prising Nebraska City and Kearney City, on differ- 
 ent sections) is about midway on the eastern bor- 
 der of the tract. We shall have a railroad within 
 a very few years, without doubt, whether more 
 'lhan one main trunk is finished near to us or not. 
 We have some capital, and a good deal of 
 enterprise; particularly in Nebraska City, though 
 Kearney has the landing on the river. Boats have 
 commenced running, and emigration promises to be 
 large. Rents, provisions, and the prices of labor- 
 are very high. I think men get about 25 per cent 
 on their real estate investments in the shape of 
 rents. Carpenters last year had plenty of work at 
 from ,$2.50 to $3.00 per day. Masons earned still 
 more. The great trouble in building here, at pres- 
 ent, is the uncertainty of having lumber, unless 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 117 
 
 you wait till you have obtained every stick of it, 
 and every board ready piled up. The mills are 
 mostly steam, of moderate power, and, at this dis- 
 tance from repair-shops, lay still a great deal. I 
 suppose it will be some better this year, for we 
 have a number of new mills, and are going to have, 
 probably, a pretty good lumber-yard in Kearney. 
 They have pushed their real estate up to the balloon 
 prices already. It may remain where it is without 
 falling, but it certainly seems as if it could not be 
 pushed much higher." 
 
 The Herald of Freedom, published at Lawrence, 
 on the 18th of April says, in its editorial, that "A 
 pro-slavery constitution will be adopted for Kan- 
 sas;" but declares that slavery will never exist 
 there. The adoption of a pro-slavery constitution 
 will be the death-knell to Southern politicians. 
 
 In regard to the convention to form a constitu- 
 tion, it says : 
 
 " To show how much voice the people are to 
 have in the convention, we will state the fact, that 
 in Johnson county, embracing the Shawnee Res- 
 ervation, which is not open to settlement by the 
 whites, and in which fifty bona fide settlers do not 
 reside, some three thousand names are registered. 
 These names are the members of a secret lodge in 
 Missouri, who have, banded together for, fraudulent 
 purposes, and who have pretended to take claims 
 on the Shawnee Reservation, continuing their 
 actual residence all the time in Missouri, and are 
 
118 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 carrying on business there, as if they never had 
 been in Kansas, — as nine-tenths of them never 
 have, save when here on their plundering or voting 
 expeditions. These non-residents form the basis 
 of representation in the constitutional convention, 
 and are entitled to one delegate in that body for 
 each sixty registered voters. The three thousand 
 names will entitle them to fifty representatives. 
 With the view of silencing the Lawrence district, 
 it is said we were detached from Douglas county 
 on the eve of the session of the bogus legislature, 
 and attached to Johnson county, of which the Re- 
 serve is composed, with the design of neutralizing 
 our votes by non-residents from Missouri." 
 
 In relation to the character of the emigration, 
 there is the following : 
 
 " A gentleman from Illinois, who has been trav- 
 eling for some weeks in Kansas, visiting almost 
 every part of the Territory south of the Kansas 
 river, reports that he should judge ninety-nine- 
 hundredths of the population of the Territory 
 were in favor of making it a free State, while no 
 man of intelligence has pretended to place the 
 number below five-sixths in favor of freedom. 
 Our private opinion is that now we have a popula- 
 tion of nineteen-twentieths in favor of a free 
 State, and that this disparity is daily on the 
 increase." 
 
NEBRASKA. 
 
 (119) 
 
NEBRASKA TERRITORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BOUNDARY. AREA. TERRITORIAL OFFICERS. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 This Territory, as erected by Congress, in 1854, 
 embraces an area equal to that of Italy, France 
 and Spain. It is bounded on the north by the 
 49th parallel of latitude, south by the 40th paral- 
 lel, (a few miles below the north-west corner of 
 the State of Missouri,) east by ^'Missouri River, 
 Missouri and Minnesota, and west by the main 
 ridge of the Rocky Mountains. Its area is 335,882 
 square miles — a wider extent of country, having a 
 single government, than any other on the conti- 
 nent. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. 
 
 On the organization of the Territory, the Pres- 
 ident appointed, — 
 
 Governor — Francis Bent, of South Carolina. 
 Secretary — Thomas B. Cumming, of Iowa. 
 
122 KANSAS: AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 District- Attorney — Experience Estabrook, of 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 Marshal — Mark W. Izard, of Arkansas. 
 Chief Justice — Fenner Ferguson, of Michigan. 
 Associate Justice — E. R. Hardin, of Georgia. 
 
 The Governor- made his residence at Bellevue, 
 and, so arduous were the duties he had assumed, 
 harassed and worn out by the unexpected and 
 vexatious trials and labors in this position, he died 
 in less than a month after his arrival in the Ter- 
 ritory. Secretary Cumming became the acting 
 Governor, and upon him devolved the very impor- 
 tant duty of organizing the Territory. On the 21st 
 of October, '54, Gov. Cumming issued his procla- 
 mation for talcing the census, and on the 21st of 
 November, following, issued another for holding 
 an election on the 12th of December. Under the 
 Organic Act, the Governor appoints and directs 
 at what place the first Legislature shall hold its 
 session. Each township in the Territory, almost, 
 sought to secure to itself this honor. The Gov- 
 ernor was "plied, pressed, begged, entreated, 
 assailed, threatened, and the very vexations which 
 had destroyed one Governor's life, were multiplied 
 tenfold with the acting Governor." 
 
 Omaha City was designated as the place where 
 the first session of the Legislature should be held, 
 and by the Acts of the first session was made the 
 capital of the Territory. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 123 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 The surface of the country, from the Missouri 
 River westward to the base of the mountains, is 
 rolling prairie, but little diversified in its aspect, 
 save by the intersection of its streams. The soil, 
 for a space varying from 50 to 100 miles west of 
 the Missouri River and the State line, is nearly 
 identical with that of Iowa and Missouri. The 
 highlands are open prairies, covered with grasses ; 
 the river . bottom, a deep, rich loam, shaded . by 
 dense forests. From this first district, to about 
 the mouth of Running "Water River, the country 
 is one boundless expanse of rolling prairie, so 
 largely intermixed with sand as to be almost unfit 
 for ordinary agricultural purposes. The prairies 
 are, however, covered with tender, juicy grasses, 
 affording an inexhaustible supply for herds of cat- 
 tle and sheep. The third district, extending in a 
 belt of many miles east and west of the Mandan 
 Village, on the most northern bend of the Mis- 
 souri River, and southward across the southern 
 boundary of the Territory, is a formation of marl 
 and earthy limestone. The soil of this district is 
 very productive, and especially adapted to wheat, 
 rye, barley, Indian corn and oats. It is in this dis- 
 trict that what are called buttes by the Canadian 
 French, and cerros by the "Spaniards, are profusely 
 scattered.' Here and there the traveller finds sur- 
 faces, varying in diameter from a hundred feet to a 
 
124 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 mile, elevated from fifteen to fifty feet above the 
 surrounding surface. These are not hills or knolls, 
 the sides of which are more or less steep, and -cov- 
 ered with grass, but they are nearly perpendicular, 
 their surfaces flat, and often covered with mountain 
 cherries and other shrubs. They have the appear- 
 ance of having been suddenly forced above the 
 surrounding plain by some specific cause. This 
 marl and . limestone formation is, in many locali- 
 ties, worked into fantastic or picturesque forms by 
 the action of the elements. In one place, espe- 
 cially, called by the traders La Mauvaise Terre, 
 (the bad lands,) and about thirty miles in diameter, 
 it has assumed a marvellous variety of singular 
 forms. From one point of view it assumes the 
 aspect of an extensive and frowning fortification ; 
 from another, the appearance of an Oriental city, 
 crowned with domes and minarets; and from a 
 third, the appearance of a sterile, broken, and un- 
 attractive congregation of incongruous elements. 
 These delusive appearances are produced by dis- 
 tance, and the position of the sun. The wrecks 
 of the diluvian period of Geology are spread all 
 over this region, and most profusely on that portion 
 north of the Missouri River. Detached masses of 
 rock, some of them hundreds of tons in weight, 
 wholly unconnected with the adjacent geological 
 formations, and evidently allied to those of the 
 northern Rocky Mountain region, dot the whole 
 country. These " bad lands " are located at lati- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 125 
 
 tude 42°, longitude 26° west from Washington, 
 between the headwaters of Cheyenne and White 
 Earth Rivers, and are thus discussed by David 
 Dale- Owen, U. S. Geologist : — 
 
 " After crossing Sage Creek and proceeding, in 
 the direction of White River, twelve or fifteen 
 miles, the formation of mauvaises terres proper^ 
 bursts into view, disclosing, as here depicted, one 
 of the most extraordinary and picturesque sights 
 that can be found in the whole Missouri country. 
 From the high prairies that rise in the background 
 by a series of terraces or benches towards the spur 
 of' the Rocky Mountains, the traveller looks down 
 into an extensive valley, that may be said to con- 
 stitute a world of its own, and which appears to 
 have been formed partly by an extensive vertical 
 vault, and partly by the long-continued influence 
 of the scorching^ action of denudation. The width 
 of this valley may be about thirty miles, and its 
 whole length about ninety, as it stretches away 
 westwardly toward the base of the gloomy and 
 dark range of mountains, known as the Black 
 Hills. Its most depressed portion, three hundred 
 feet below the general level of the surrounding 
 country, is clothed with scanty grasses, and covered 
 by a soil similar to that of the higher ground. 
 From the uniform, monotonous, open prairie, the 
 traveller suddenly descends one or two hundred 
 feet, into a valley that looks as if it had sunk away 
 
126 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 from the surrounding world, leaving standing all 
 over it thousands of abrupt, irregular, prismatic 
 and columnar masses, frequently capped with irreg- 
 ular pyramids, and stretching up to a height from 
 one to two hundred feet or more, and so thickly 
 are these natural towns studded over the surface 
 of this extraordinary region, that the traveller 
 threads his way through deep, confined, labyrin- 
 thine passages, not unlike the narrow, irregular 
 streets and lanes of some quaint old town of the 
 European continent. Viewed in the distance, 
 indeed, these rocky piles, in their endless succes- 
 sion, assume the appearance of massive artificial 
 structures, decked out with all the accessories of 
 buttress and turret, arched doorway and clustered 
 shaft, pinnacle and tapering spire. Embedded in 
 the debris, lie, strewn in the greatest profusion, 
 organic relics of extinct animals. All speak of a 
 vast fresh-water deposit of the early tertiary period, 
 and disclose the existence of the most remarkable 
 races that roamed about in bygone ages, high up 
 in the valley of the Missouri, toward the source of 
 its western tributaries, where now pasture the big- 
 horned ovis montana, the shaggy buffalo, or Amer- 
 ican bison, and the elegant and slenderly con- 
 structed antelope. Every specimen brought from 
 the 'bad lands,' proves to be of species that 
 became exterminated before the mammoth and mas- 
 todon lived, and differ in their specific character 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 127 
 
 not alone from all living animals, but also from all 
 fossils obtained even from contemporaneous geo- 
 logical formations elsewhere." 
 
 Nebraska contains no mountains, save the Black 
 Hills, which are but a low extension, to the east, 
 of the Rocky Mountains, and are but' little more 
 than ridges and clusters of Slevated summits. Col. 
 Fremont writes : — 
 
 " The district at the base of the Black Hills, 
 between that range and the Rocky Mountains, 
 includes the valley of the Yellow Stone, of the 
 Maria's River, and a variety of other small valleys, 
 circumvallated by an amphitheatre of mountains, 
 and gorgeous mountain scenery. The valley of 
 the Yellow Stone is spacious, fertile, and salubri- 
 ous. The streams are fringed with trees, from 
 whence the valley expands, many miles, to the 
 mountains. The traveller can almost imagine 
 himself upon the Danube, for the valley is sprin- 
 kled over at long intervals with cyclopean struc- 
 tures of granite, closely assimilated in appearance, 
 from a distant view, to the stern and solitary cas- 
 tles with which Europe was covered and guarded 
 during the middle ages. But these structures 
 exceed those of Europe in magnitude and grandeur, 
 and the woods and water are disposed with a taste 
 and beauty which the highest art must ever toil 
 after in vain. It is encircled by a rich girdle of 
 
128 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 heights and mountains, the bases and darker sides 
 of which are obscured in shrubs, and the summits 
 tufted with noble forest trees. And here is to be 
 the seat of a , populous and powerful community 
 in the far future." 
 
CHAPTER Xil, 
 
 RIVERS. SOIL. CLIMATE. 
 
 The Missouri Eiver is one of the largest in the 
 world, having its rise in the Rocky Mountains, 
 between parallels 44 and 46, whence it maintains a 
 north-easterly course to where it receives the Yel- 
 low Stone, thence holding a south-easterly, but 
 very circuitous course to its confluence with the 
 Mississippi, twenty miles above St. Louis. The 
 Missouri .River was ascended by Lewis and Clarke, 
 in canoes, a distance of three thousand miles, and 
 it has been navigated by steamboats to the foot of 
 the Great Falls, twenty-five hundred miles. From 
 a point where the Nodoway enters it, upward, the 
 northern bluffs recede, leaving a broad, open, roll- 
 ing plain. On the south bank, the highlands skirt 
 the stream closely. Above Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
 the bluffs on both sides recede, and there is little 
 or no timber, except clusters of cotton wood. From 
 the mouth of Jacques River, the Missouri Valley 
 continues to become narrower to the base of the 
 mountains. The river valley is the only rich allu- 
 vion,— the highlands being largely intermixed 
 with sand, and, in the main, unfit for agricultural 
 
 (129 
 
130 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 purposes. The waters of the Missouri, from its 
 sources to Milk River, are pure and clear, but be- 
 come tinged by the waters of this tributary, Which, 
 as its name indicates, is of a milky color. It re- 
 ceives from the Yellow Stone a yet deeper color, 
 as well from the water of that river, as also from 
 the ashes, burnt stone, &c, which it here takes up 
 from the volcanic region. From thence, onward 
 to its mouth, it is impregnated by its tributaries 
 with decomposed rock, sand, marl, and drift-wood, 
 and always looks as muddy as if in a freshet. 
 This water is soft and sweet to the taste, and when 
 filtered, or suffered to stand until settled, is con- 
 sidered healthy, and is generally drank on the 
 steamboats. The current of this stream is very 
 irregular. Flowing through, a valley of from five 
 to twenty-five miles in width, its course is from 
 half a mile to five miles . wide, while its current 
 does not generally exceed one-quarter of a mile, 
 and yet it is ever changing its current between the 
 widest bounds of its course, and often breaking 
 off in quantities or wearing aWay gradually the 
 soil beyond in the valley. Steamboat pilots state 
 that the channel is sometimes changed hundreds 
 of yards in a few hours, and that where there is a 
 depth of twelve feet in the morning, may be but 
 two feet in the evening, and vice versa. The 
 annual freshet usually occurs about the first of 
 June," occasioned by the spring rains and the melt- 
 ing of the snows on the mountains. Except during 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 131 
 
 this freshet, the ascent above Omaha, by boats of 
 50 tons or upwards, is arduous and difficult, and 
 its descent by such boats nearly, impossible, on 
 account of the number and shifting character of 
 the bars. There is a difference of seven degrees 
 in the specific gravity of the. waters of the Mis- 
 souri at the mouth of the Kansas River, and the 
 waters of the latter named stream. The average 
 rapidity of the waters of the Missouri is nearly 
 twice that of the Upper Mississippi ; the Oronoco, 
 only, exceeds it in velocity. On the 41st parallel, 
 the Missouri is more than five hundred feet above 
 the Mississippi on the same line. After leaving 
 the Great Falls, the tributaries of the Missouri 
 are not numerous, and none of them, above Oma- 
 ha, are navigable for anything but canoes. The . 
 large space intervening between the Missouri and 
 Platte, is destitute of streams and has but very few 
 springs, hence the grass and herbage on a large 
 portion of this immense plain, becomes withered 
 very early in the season. 
 
 The Nebraska, or Platte, is the principal tribu- 
 tary of the Missouri. Its first name, of Indian 
 origin, signifying Ne, water, and braska, wide or 
 shallow, which name it has given to the Territory. . 
 Its last name is French, having the same meaning. 
 This river rises near the 40th degree of latitude, 
 and longitude 106°, in the Rocky Mountains, and 
 flows thence, northward and eastward, to its out- 
 let, receiving the South Fork in latitude 41°, and 
 
132 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 longitude 100°. At the junction of the two forks, 
 the river is over 5,000 feet in width, and thence, 
 onward, varies from one to two miles in width. It 
 is so shallow and capricious, in consequence of 
 quicksands, that it may be considered as almost 
 useless for purposes of commerce; however, a 
 steamboat has been running between Omaha and 
 a point fifty miles from its mouth, a portion of this 
 season. If its waters could be confined to a nar- 
 row channel, this stream would be one of the noblest 
 in the, world, but this may be considered as imprac- 
 ticable. The valley varies from eight to fifteen 
 and twenty miles in width, and is generally a dead 
 flat, elevated only from one to two feet above the 
 surface of the stream, and the greater portion of 
 the valley is subject to inundation. It is almost 
 entirely destitute of timber, but produces a lux- 
 uriant growth of the richest grapes, and a heavy 
 yield of grass. This river rises in the mountains, 
 by two forks, the north and the south. The source 
 of the North Fork is the Sweetwater, which has 
 a diurnal rise and fall, according as the temperature 
 of the atmosphere acts upon its ice-bound and 
 snow-covered tributaries. The Sweetwater rises 
 near the South Pass, runs through Devil's Gate, 
 and under Independence Rock. It is a handsome 
 mountain stream, J20 miles long, with a, well- 
 defined valley, about five miles in width, and gen- 
 erally very sandy. The South Fork of the Platte 
 rises in the South Park. The two branches unite 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 133 
 
 on meridian 101, and, flowing westerly, empty into 
 the Missouri between seven and eight hundred 
 miles above its mouth. 
 
 The Yellow Stone has its sources in the Rocky 
 Mountains, but their exact location has not been 
 explored. It has been navigated, for eighty miles, 
 by steamboats, and may be ascended by smaller 
 craft, two hundred and fifty miles. The valley of 
 the- Yellow Stone is considered the garden spot of 
 Nebraska, being finely timbered and watered, with 
 a rich, fertile soil. Commercial intercourse will, at 
 no distant day, be established between this valley 
 and that of Clarke's branch of the Amazon. An 
 excellent wagon road, connecting these two valleys, 
 was found by Gen. Clarke in 1806, and Major 
 Stevens has quite recently discovered a gap 
 through the Rocky Mountains. These two valleys, 
 embracing the sources of the two greatest rivers 
 on the continent, which will bear their products to 
 the two great oceans, surrounded by smaller, but 
 no less rich ones, will be the future Switzerland of 
 America. 
 
 The Ni-obrarah or Rapid River, rises in the 
 " bad lands," and holds an easterly course for its 
 entire length, which is 400 miles. The valley on 
 the southern side is broad and fertile ; the Indians 
 successfully cultivate it, securing large yields of 
 corn, small grain and tobacco. Its northern shore 
 is broken, irregular; and rather sterile. 
 
 The Great Nemaha River, (with its tributaries,) 
 
 ■ 12 
 
134 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 is a stream of brisk current, with numerous rapids, 
 or falls, affording excellent mill sites, either by dam 
 or race. Except at the rapids or falls, the banks 
 are from five to twenty feet above the water, are 
 of clay or hard earth, and extending back from the 
 river, form the bottom lands, which are from one 
 to three miles in width. The soil of the bottoms, 
 is an alluvial deposit, — light, porous, vegetable 
 mould, capable of easy cultivation, and very pro- 
 ductive. 
 
 The Little Nemaha is also a rapid stream, flow- 
 ing over a soft, variable bed, now and then flowing 
 over a rock' with rapids, affording ample milling 
 privileges along its entire length, which is also true 
 of Honey Creek, and Big Muddy, which is a trib- 
 utary of the Great Nemaha. 
 
 .These rivers, with their numesous tributaries, 
 afford an abundant supply of pure water to the 
 counties through which they pass, traversing nearly 
 every township. 
 
 SOIL. 
 
 The soil of Nebraska may be divided into three 
 classes : — Bottom lands, table lands, and rolling 
 prairies. The bottom lands are of different widths, 
 (explained in description of " the Rivers of Nebras- 
 ka.") They are an alluvial deposit, composed of 
 an admixture of sand, clay, ashes, carbon, and 
 large quantities of decomposed vegetable matter, — ■ 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 135 
 
 the deposit of ages, — forming a light, porous, 
 black mould, easy of cultivation, and very pro- 
 ductive, yielding in some instances four hundred 
 bushels of potatoes, and one hundred and fifty of 
 corn, to the acre, and that, too, with the careless 
 cultivation so universal in the West. Its fertility 
 is inexhaustible, its depth being from three to 
 twenty feet. These bottoms are generally subject 
 to inundation once a year, but it is very seldom 
 they are overflowed later than June, or after the 
 seed is in. Above these bottoms, from forty to 
 one hundred feet, are second bottoms or table lands, 
 which slope back to the summits of bluffs, which 
 range with the general level of the country beyond. 
 Sometimes these table lands are broken by ranges 
 of bluffs, extending as a dividing ridge, terminating 
 abruptly at the river. Along the Missouri, these 
 second bottom lands extend from the Kansas line 
 up to where the 99th longitudinal meridian crosses 
 the river, on the picturesque site of which, one 
 continuous city might be drawn out. Still farther 
 back, lie the rolling prairies. These are well 
 watered by streams and springs of pure water; 
 there being scarcely a quarter section of land, 
 without one, and sometimes half a dozen springs, 
 and not a township without a running stream. 
 The novelty of the prairie country is striking, and 
 never fails to cause an exclamation of surprise 
 from those who have lived in the rugged, moun- 
 tainous Eastern States, or 'mid the heavily tim- 
 
136- KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 beared regions of Ohio and Kentucky. It has been . 
 well described, as " bold, naked prairie, with sweep- 
 ing undulations of the surface, as if a heavy 
 ground swell, of the Ocean had been suddenly 
 arrested, and converted by the wand of some 
 enchanter, into solid, fixed soil." These plains, 
 although preserving a general level, in respect to 
 the whole country, are yet, in themselves, not flat, 
 but exhibit a gracefully waving surface, swelling 
 and sinking with easy, graceful slopes, and full, 
 rounded outlines, equally avoiding the unmeaning 
 horizontal surface, and the interruption of abrupt 
 or angular elevations. The soil is of much the 
 same character as the other two descriptions, hav- 
 ing, however, a larger proportion of mineral, and 
 less of vegetable matter. These prairies are cov- 
 ered with a thick, heavy growth of long, coarse 
 grass, which soon assumes a golden hue, and waves 
 in the wind like a fully ripe harvest. The prairie 
 grass never attains its highest growth in the richest 
 soil ; but in low, wet, or marshy land, where the 
 substratum of clay lies near the surface, the centre 
 or main stem of the grass, — that which bears the 
 seed, — shoots up to the height of eight, or ten 
 feet, throwing out long, coarse leaves or blades. 
 But on the rich, undulating prairies, the grass is 
 finer, with less of stalk and a greater profusion of 
 leaves. The roots spread and interweave, forming 
 a compact, even sod, and the blades expand into 
 a close, thick grass, which is seldom more than 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 137 
 
 eighteen inches high, until late in the season, when 
 the seed-bearing stem shoots up. The first coat is 
 mingled with small flowers — the violet, the bloom 
 qf the wild strawberry, and various"" others, of the 
 most minute and delicate texture. As the grass 
 increases in height, these smaller flowers disappear, 
 and others, taller and more gaudyf display their 
 brilliant colors upon the green surface ; and still 
 later, a larger and coarser succession arises with 
 the rising tide of verdure. It is impossible to con- 
 ceive a more infinite diversity; or a richer profusion 
 of hues, "from grave to gay," than graces the 
 beautiful carpet of green throughout the entire 
 season of summer. 
 
 When the prairie is bare, it is easy to distinguish 
 the rich from the poorer lands, by the small hillocks 
 which are scattered over them, and which are most 
 abundant where the soil is least productive. They 
 are from a few inches to two or three feet in height, 
 and only exist where the clay lies' near the surface ; 
 as such mounds composed of rich mould would 
 soon crumble and become level. These, by some, 
 are said to be the work of the gopher — a small 
 quadruped ; by others, are thought to be thrown up 
 by craw-fish ; which is doubtless true of wet situa- 
 tions ; while those in drier portions are attributed 
 to colonies of ants : each class belonging, however, 
 to the clay party, and working only in poor soil. 
 
 The prairies are covered with a stout sod, the 
 matted growth of ages, which requires the strength 
 
 12* 
 
138 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 of two, four, land sometimes six yokes of oxen to 
 break up. But there are those in almost every sec- 
 tion, who make a regular business of "breaking 
 prairie" at from $2.25 to $3.00 an acre. The 
 prairie plow is, to all new comers, a great curios- 
 ity ; let us diverge a moment, and give a short des- 
 cription of it : It is, in all respects, like other plows, 
 but much larger in size ; being 10 feet long, and 
 cutting a furrow of some 22 to 24 inches in width. 
 The fore-end of the beam rests upon an axle, with 
 wheels, one of which runs in the furrow and 
 guages the width, acting like the wheel of the loco- 
 motive upon the rail. A lever is attached to the 
 fore-end of the beam, running back to the handles, 
 which regulates the depth of furrow, and throws 
 the plow out when desired. When the plow is 
 once set in, it needs no further attention in good 
 prairie, as it runs alone, and the driver has only to 
 attend to his team, which consists of some five 
 yoke of oxen. The roots of the wild grass are 
 much longer and harder to break than the tame. 
 It is considered best to break the ground as shal- 
 low as possible, or only to cut a sufficient depth to 
 turn over the roots of grass : the soil under it being 
 very loose, and the thinner the sod, the sooner it 
 will rot. Often the farmer sends his boys to drop 
 corn along every third or fourth furrow; and corn 
 is thus produced, with no further care, yielding 30 
 bushels to the acre. The next season the sod is 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 139 
 
 well rotted, and the ground in prime order for wheat. 
 In the meantime, the immigrant encloses his fields, 
 either with sawed lumber or rails, as circumstances 
 will permit, erects his dwelling, and begins his 
 
 *' Life on the prairie green, 
 A home on the boundless waste ! " 
 
 The soil is ready to till, and but few weeds grow 
 for the first two or three years. As I have before 
 said, corn is planted and grown. without using the 
 hoe : the horse and- plow do the cultivating. 
 
 The table lands are supplied with a considerable 
 quantity of timber, principally oak, black walnut, 
 ash, cotton-wood, willow and cedar. Outcroppings 
 of sandstone and limestone are found on various 
 portions of these table lands. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 The climate of Nebraska is somewhat milder 
 than the same latitudes at the East. The portion 
 that will probably be most densely settled, is in 
 the same latitudes as Southern Iowa, Indiana, Illi- 
 nois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Vegetation in Iowa 
 is some weeks later than in Missouri or Southern 
 Kansas, and in Eastern Nebraska it is later than 
 in Iowa, and still later in the vicinity of the moun- 
 tains. Snow falls at the foot of the mountains 
 about the 1st of September, and at Council Bluffs 
 
140 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 about the 1st of November. Residents state that 
 " Spring opens early, and the seasons afford ample 
 time for two crops." The heat is great in summer, 
 but is always relieved by the cool health-giving 
 breeze from the green prairies. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DESCRIPTION 'OF THE SURVEYED COUNTIES.* 
 RICHARDSON COUNTY. 
 
 This county lies, its eastern line on the Missouri 
 River, its southern on Kansas. Its eastern por- 
 tion is occupied by the Half-breed Reservation. 
 
 This Reservation was made by Article X. of a 
 "treaty made and concluded by William Clark, 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Willoughby 
 Morgan, Colonel of the United States 1st Regt. 
 Infantry, Commissioners on behalf of the United 
 States, on the one part, and the undersigned Dep- 
 utations of the Confederated Tribes of the Sacs 
 and Foxes, the Medawah-Kanton, Wahpacoota, 
 "Wahpeton, and Sissetong Bands or Tribes of 
 Sioux, the Omahas, Ioways, Ottoes, and Missou- 
 
 *For this description of the surveyed counties, we are indebted 
 to James M. Wool-worth, Attorney, at Omaha City, whose perma- 
 nent location in, and extensive travels through the Territory, ren- 
 der his information of' these counties more' correct and thorough 
 than those of a traveller could be. Of course the figures given of 
 the population of different towns and counties, cannot remain cor- 
 rect long after they are written, so rapidly do villages become towns, 
 and towns cities ! •(1411 
 
142 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 rias, on the other part," July 15, 1830. The article 
 reads as follows : 
 
 " The Omahas, Ioways, and Ottoes for them- 
 selves, and in behalf of the Yancton and Santie 
 Bands of Sioux, having earnestly requested that 
 they might be permitted to make some provision 
 for their half-breeds, and particularly that they 
 might bestow upon them the tract of country within 
 the following limits, to wit: beginning at the 
 mouth of the Little Ne-mohaw River, and running 
 up the main channel of said river to a point which 
 will be-ten miles from its mouth, in a direct line ; 
 from thence, in a direct line, to strike the Grand 
 Ne-mohaw ten miles above its mouth, in a direct 
 line (the distance between the two Ne-mohaws. 
 being about twenty miles) ; thence down said river 
 to its mouth ; thence up and with the meanders of 
 the Missouri River, to the point of beginning. It 
 is agreed that the half-breeds of said tribes and 
 bands may be suffered to occupy said tract of land, 
 holding it in the same manner and by the same 
 title that other Indian titles are held ; but the Pres- 
 ident of the United States may hereafter assign to 
 any of the said half-breeds, to be held by him or 
 them, in fee simple, any portion of said tract not 
 exceeding a section of six hundred and forty acres, 
 to each individual. And this provision shall extend 
 to the cession made by Siotix. in the preceding 
 article." 
 
 This Reservation, with a very small exception, 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 143 
 
 cuts off the portion of the county lying on the 
 river. It is hoped that within a short time the 
 President will assign this tract, in sections, to the 
 individuals of the half-breeds ; as immediately 
 afterward, title may be obtained by the whites. At 
 present, however, no title can be obtained to these 
 lands, although some settlers have gone upon them. 
 The interior of the county is, therefore, all that 
 concerns us here. The county is traversed from 
 its north-west corner to its south-east corner, by 
 the Great Nemaha River. 
 
 This river, with its tributaries, is a stream of 
 brisk current. It is broken at convenient intervals 
 by rapids, which generally fall over rocks, and has 
 sufficient descent to afford excellent milling privi- 
 leges, either by damming or racing. This is true 
 both of the Great Nemaha and nearly all its tribu- 
 taries which water the whole county. 
 
 Except at these rapids and falls, the banks are 
 of earth, which lie from five to twenty feet above 
 the river. These banks, which extend back from 
 the river, form the bottom lands, which vary from 
 one-half to two miles in width. The soil is the 
 light, porous, vegetable mold ; capable of easy cul- 
 tivation, and highly productive. They are set down 
 by the surveyors as first class lauds. Above these 
 bottoms lie the prairie lands, which are slightly 
 rolling, the" descents being barely sufficient to fur 
 nish thorough drainage to the country. This land 
 is fertile — capable of producing all the products 
 
144 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 of the farm.- It lies so high as to give wide com- 
 manding views of, the country, which, rolling in 
 pr.airie, and breaking in valleys, and traversed by 
 streams, and clothed with the' rank verdure of its 
 exceeding richness, and dotted here and there with 
 the home of the settler, with his farm teeming with 
 the almost spontaneous growth of the soil, is 
 enchanting to the lover of nature, and inviting to 
 the seeker of a home in this land of beauty and 
 fatness. 
 
 In the bluffs which divide the bottoms from the 
 highlands, different kinds of rock are -found, in 
 many places of excellent quality and inexhaustible 
 quantity, consisting of limestone, sandstone, free- 
 stone, and a curious conglomerate, composed of 
 animal and vegetable remains, together with sand, 
 gravel, and lime, all cemented firmly together so 
 as to form a solid rock fit for building or other 
 mechanical uses. It will take a fine polish, under 
 which its variegated surface rivals in beauty the 
 choicest marbles. This rock occurs in ranges or 
 ridges extending often from stream to stream. The 
 limestone is of excellent quality, and can be readily 
 and cheaply quarried. 
 
 Along the Great Nemaha and its tributaries 
 runs a continuous belt of timber, of variable width, 
 while on the prairies are numerous groves of con- 
 siderable extent. The country may be said to be 
 well wooded, and of the .following kinds, in rela- 
 tive proportion, in the order in which their names 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 145 
 
 occur ; oak, walnut, cotton-wood, elm, hickory, ash, 
 box-elder, willow ; under-growth, hazel and prickly- 
 ash. 
 
 Several towns have been projected in this county, 
 but none have become of much consequence. 
 Archet is pleasantly situated some thiee miles 
 above the Great Nemaha, in the western part of 
 the Reservation, and is. a thriving village. The 
 fact, however, that it lies within the half-breed Res- 
 ervation is a serious objection to it. 'Shares in it 
 are yet in market, and sell at from one to two hun- 
 dred dollars. No fixed value can be placed upon 
 them. 
 
 A large proportion of the inhabitants of this 
 county are from Missouri, Iowa, and some of the 
 other western States. The population is mostly a 
 farming' population. Many fine farms are to be 
 seen along the rivers, where the settlements are 
 most numerous. 
 
 It may be well to state here, inasmuch as some 
 anxiety has been excited at the East about the 
 "peculiar institution" in Nebraska, that but very 
 few of the settlers from Missouri have brought 
 slaves with them. At Nebraska City there are 
 eleven slaves — the only ones in the Territory. 
 
 The people of Nebraska have no apprehensions, 
 or cause, for apprehensions, on this subject; and 
 therefore it is not a matter much thought of or 
 often mentioned. 
 
 13 
 
146 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 PAWNEE COUNTY. 
 
 This county lies directly back of. Richardson 
 County. Its western line is the guide meridian. 
 It is traversed by the Great Nemaha, the north fork 
 passing through the extreme north-east township, 
 the south fork traversing the county from north to 
 south nearly through the centre, and its tributa- 
 ries watering the whole region. What- was said 
 of the lands in Richardson is applicable to the 
 southern portion of Pawnee, with the single excep- 
 tion that the rock is more abundant The north 
 range of townships are rocky ; the most so, with 
 the south part of Johnson, of any part of the Ter- 
 ritory. The surface of the land is strewn with 
 rock, and the quarries are of great extent. The 
 valuable rock found here is limestone. . In this 
 region coal is found in large quantities but a few 
 feet below the surface. This is the bituminous 
 coal, but of a superior quality. 
 
 The lands in this part of the county ar'e hardly 
 .fit' for cultivation as compared with the other lands, 
 the rock being in too great quantities. 
 
 There are no towns of importance in this county. 
 The settlements are as yet confined to the valleys 
 of the rivers, where splendid farms are already to 
 be seen. The inhabitants, like those in Richard- 
 son, are mostly from Missouri and southern Iowa. 
 
 In neither of these counties has much been done 
 for schools — the settlements are too new and too 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 147 
 
 scattered. The Methodists and Carripbellites are 
 the most numerous of the religious bodies. 
 
 NEMAHA COUNTY. 
 
 The rivers of this county are the Little Nemaha, 
 and its tributaries, Rock, Honey, 8 - and the Big 
 Muddy. The Little Nemaha is a rapid stream 
 flowing over a Soft, variable bed, now and then 
 flowing over rock with rapids. It affords, at fre- 
 quent intervals, ample milling P r ivil§g es ! which is 
 also true of Honey creek, which passes through 
 the two north-east townships, and the Big Muddy, 
 which waters the south-west corner and is a tribu- 
 tary of the Great Nemaha. Some of tnese priv- 
 ileges have been occupied by mills which supply 
 the county. These rivers, with their tributaries, 
 which are numerous, water the county thoroughly, 
 there being not a township without a considerable 
 stream, and hardly a section without its run of 
 clear water. All these waters are bordered with 
 wood, which is usually hard wood ; — oak, walnut, 
 hickory, etc., etc., existing in about the same pro- 
 portion as in Richardson along the Great Nemaha. 
 There is abundance of wood to furnish fencing and 
 fuel material to the whole country for years. At 
 Brownville, wood is delivered at $2.00 per cord. 
 
 The first bottom of the Missouri forms the east- 
 ern border of the county, arid, , at the mouth of 
 Honey creek, is six miles wide.' At Brownville, 
 
148 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 which is nearly the centre point between the nortt, 
 and south lines' of the county, the bottom is cut 
 off; the river sweeping up to the bluffs. Just south 
 of that place, the bottom commences again, .and 
 runs on to the mouth of the Little Nemaha. On 
 the immediate borders of the Little Nemaha, is a 
 strip of land which may be called wet. It is about 
 half a mile wide. At about that average distance 
 from the river, is an abrupt ascent of about ten 
 feet, beyond which extends a table bottom, per- 
 fectly level, and from four to eight miles wide. It is 
 fertile in the highest degree, and is pronounced by 
 the surveyors, first class land. Above the bottom 
 is the rolling prairie. It isj like the same lands in 
 Richardson, less. broken than in some parts of the 
 Territory. There is hardly one hundred acres in 
 the whole county, which may not be cultivated 
 with success. All kinds of produce are raised here. 
 Wheat is grown in considerable quantities. 
 
 Upon the heads of the bluffs, particularly at and 
 near Brownville, vineyards may be planted, it is 
 believed, with great success. It is in nearly the 
 same latitude as the great vineyards of Cincinnati, 
 and in soil and other respects, resembles that local- 
 ity. The experiment will be thoroughly tried, the 
 coming season, of growing the grape, and manu- 
 facturing wine from it, by Mr. Furnace, of Brown- 
 ville. 
 
 In the bluffs is an abundance of rock, particu- 
 larly sandstone and limestone, for all building pur- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 149 
 
 poses, although not in as great quantities as in 
 Richardson and Pawnee Counties. (Granite boul- 
 ders are scattered over the prairie's, of all sizes, 
 from mere pebbles to one hundred tons' weight. 
 
 Last season, a gentleman, who had been a resi- 
 dent of Missouri, nearly opposite Brownville, vis- 
 ited that place, and reported that some eight or ten 
 years ago, coal had been taken from the bluffs of 
 that point, and carried in quantities into all the 
 neighboring country ; but that a slide of the hill 
 had filled and covered the pits. The citizens there- 
 upon caused the slide to be removed, when the pits 
 were found, and coal of a superior quality taken 
 out in quantity. No thorough search has been 
 made in this county for coal, the abundance of 
 wood furnishing fuel. 
 
 The county is well supplied with springs of pure 
 water. At a depth of about thirty-three feet water 
 is found in almost every portion of the county. 
 
 The inhabitants are mostly from New York, 
 Ohio, and Indiana. The first settlement was in 
 August, 1854, from Missouri ; but the Missourians 
 have mostly returned. Of the religious denomi- 
 nations, the Methodists and Campbellites are most 
 numerous. The population of the county is about 
 2,000. Schools, under the Territorial common' 
 school system, have been ■ established at several 
 places. 
 
 The towns of this county are : Brownville, Ne- 
 maha City, Mount Vernon, and St. George. 
 
 13* 
 
150 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Brownville is the county seat. It is situated on 
 a bench of land, above the river bottom, which sets 
 into the bluffs^ forming a kind of basin. It is ele- 
 vated above the river from thirty to forty feet, and 
 the bluffs are so close around it that it can not be 
 seen from the river but at one point. It has a rock 
 bottom landing, which is considered an advantage. 
 The business is considerable for its size. It com- 
 mands the whole interior, even Johnson County. 
 One of its mercantile houses has done $100,000 
 of business the past year. There are three mail 
 routes from as many different points in Missouri ; 
 one from Nebraska City, and one from Fort Kear- 
 ney, to this place. A steam ferry will ply across 
 the river here next season. The Nebraska Adver- 
 tiser is published here, by R. W. Furnace, the 
 establishment of which is the largest in the Ter- 
 ritory. Brownville College is located here, and 
 will go into operation next year. 
 
 The other towns have no considerable import- 
 ance. 
 
 JOHNSON COUNTY. 
 
 This county was formed by the last Legislature 
 out of the west portion of Nemaha, and the north 
 tier of towns of Pawnee Counties. 
 
 Its southern portion is traversed by the Great 
 Nemaha, its northern by the. Little Nemaha. The 
 southern portion is very rocky, so much so as not 
 to be favorable to agriculture. Coal is found in 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 151 
 
 great quantities ; upon one of the branches of the 
 Great Nemaha, called Lawrence, is a mine, which 
 is now being worked, and from which Nebraska 
 City is supplied with coal. The rock found in this 
 county is the sandstone, limestone, freestone, and 
 the conglomerate of fossil, sand, gravel, and lime, 
 spoken of above. This county is well timbered, 
 especially in the northern portion, and along the 
 Little Nemaha, and its tributaries. The land is, 
 in the northern portion of the county, of the same 
 description as that of Nemaha County. Fine mill 
 privileges are to be had in almost every portion of 
 the county. 
 
 This county, as yet, is being thinly settled, and 
 is of importance more on account of its* coal and 
 rock, than for its agriculture. 
 
 Techumey is the county seat. 
 
 OTOE COUNTY. 
 
 This county runs from the Missouri River on the 
 east to the guide meridian on the west. It is 
 three townships wide, and is nearly the largest river 
 county in the Territory. It has no bottom land on 
 the Missouri, the bluffs running -up to the river. It 
 is watered by Honey creek in the south-east corner, 
 and its western half is traversed by the Little 
 Nemaha, its branches running through every town- 
 ship ; the creeks and little runs of which, also water 
 nearly every section. The bottoms . of these rivers 
 
152 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK.' 
 
 vary in width, generally nearly in exact proportion 
 to their size. \ The description given of the bot- 
 toms of this river in Nemaha County, applies to 
 the bottoms of : the same river in Otoe County, 
 except they are narrower. Immediately on the 
 banks of fhe streams, is a border of Wet ground at 
 a general average of about a quarter of a mile in 
 width ; then going away from the river is an abrupt 
 ascent of from two to ten feet, beyond which' 
 extends a table bottom, perfectly level and dry, and 
 from one to three miles wide. This is first class 
 land. Above (the bottom is the rolling prairie, 
 which becomes at places hilly. It is easily culti- 
 vated, however, the soil being good, but not equal 
 to the bottoms. The best farms in this county are 
 those lying partly on the prairie and partly on the 
 bottom, in perhaps equal proportions. The county 
 is scattered over with beautiful springs of pure 
 water. 
 
 The eastern part of the county runs into rolling 
 prairie, and is somewhat broken — more so, indeed, 
 than the more southern portions of the Territory. 
 But little land, however, is lost in the breaks ; and 
 in a country where the land was not exceedingly 
 productive, and the hand of the cultivator had 
 become hardened by the working of an unwilling 
 soil, none would be considered unfit for successful 
 tillage. There is less rock in this county than in 
 the counties south of it. That most found, indeed 
 the only rock found in sufficient quantities to merit 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 153 
 
 attention here, is limestone, which is found in the 
 bluffs along the rivers, and is of (good quality. 
 There is abundance of timber in the western part 
 of the county, consisting, mostly, of oak, walnut, 
 hickory, cotton-wood, and willow. The eastern 
 portion of the county is not so well wooded, the 
 prairies extending in far-reaches of perfect naked- 
 ness. No coal, at least none of any quantity, has 
 been found, although it is believed to exist. It is 
 a misfortune which meets us at every turn, that no 
 thorough geological survey of Nebraska has ever 
 been made." Such a survey would, we are per- 
 suaded, reveal within our limits inexhaustible mines 
 of wealth. The best knowledge of the character- 
 istics of the country, in these respects, is to be 
 obtained by conversation with the United States 
 surveyors; whose attention is not particularly 
 drawn to these matters, in their rapid runnings over 
 the country. Thorough investigations will, how- 
 ever, be made the coming summer, by the inhab- 
 itants of Otoe County, for coal and other mines, 
 and quarries of rock. Indications of iron are found 
 in this region, although it is hardly probable that it 
 exists in any large quantities, or in such a state as 
 fits it for working. 
 
 The population of Otoe County is made up of ' 
 emigrants from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indi- 
 ana, with a good share from Missouri. The Camp- 
 bellites and Methodists are the largest of the 
 
154 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 religious denominations. The Old School Pres- 
 byterians have planted themselves here. 
 
 The largest] town in this county is Nebraska * 
 City, which is, a thriving, active town of about 
 twelve hundred people. The buildings are gen- 
 erally wood, though a handsome brick block of 
 some half dozen stores is just completed, while 
 several others are about being built. 
 
 The town lies pretty high from the river, but one 
 angle touching the Missouri, and that on an eleva- 
 tion almost worthy of being called a hill. The 
 site itself is broken by a creek (Rock creek), which 
 passes through it, forming a deep valley. 
 
 Bordering the town is Kearney City, which is 
 separated from Nebraska City by Rock creek. It 
 is owned by the parties most largely interested in 
 Nebraska City, and can be considered no rival of 
 that place. Indeed, it is little more than a town 
 site. At this place is the old Fort Kearney. 
 
 The fort itself is a mere block-house, built of 
 square logs, two stories in height. About it are 
 the buildings which the officers and men occupied 
 as their quarters. They were not on a large scale, 
 and are not now appropriated to military uses. 
 
 At this place is also the Nebraska City Prepara- 
 tory and Collegiate Institute. This institution is 
 not yet in operation, but the intention of its pro- 
 jectors is, that in the course of the coming summer, 
 it shall be a good school, affording to the people of 
 the county all the opportunities for education 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 1 55 
 
 usually sought in a new country. Ultimately it is 
 designed to make it a first class institution. 
 
 Nebraska. City is the largest town south of the 
 Platte. If the Land Office of the Platte Valley 
 district is located here, as is probable, it must 
 become an important town. It will doubtless be 
 the western terrninus of the Burlington and Mis- 
 souri Railroad, and of the Great "Western Railroad 
 of Iowa. One of the main stage routes of Iowa, 
 terminates here. 
 
 The Nebraska Nievjs, one of the best papers in 
 the Territory, is published here. 
 
 CASS COUNTY. 
 
 This county takes us up to the Platte River, 
 which forms its northern boundary. It reaches 
 from the Missouri on the east, to the guide merid- 
 ian on the west. 
 
 Like Otoe County, it has but little bottom on 
 the Missouri, and the greater proportion of its land 
 is rolling prairie. 
 
 The Weeping Water is the principal river in 
 this county. This river waters the middle and 
 south-east portion of the county. Like most of 
 the streams in Nebraska, it is rapid. It flows over 
 a rocky bed. In places it forms excellent milling 
 privileges ; the best of which is the Weeping Water 
 Falls, where the river pours over a ledge of rock 
 eight feet high. This river and its tributaries are 
 
156 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 bordered by the bottom lands, which are similar to 
 those of the Little Nemaha. They vary from one- 
 half a mile to >four miles in width, and are what 
 the surveyors call first class lands. The tributaries 
 of this river are so numerous as to make the town- 
 ships through which it passes, by the large quan- 
 tity of bottom land, exceedingly attractive to the 
 cultivator of the soil. The western portion of this 
 county is well watered by tributaries of Salt creek, 
 which cuts through the north-west township ; and 
 the northern portion is well watered by streams 
 running into the Platte. Above the bottom lands 
 are the high rolling prairies, which are somewhat 
 more broken than those of the counties south of 
 this. They are, however, easily cultivated, and, 
 like all the rolling prairie land, called second rate 
 lands. 
 
 There is a fair share of timber in this county, 
 which is mostly oak, black walnut, hickory, cotton- 
 wood, and willow. Along the Platte wood is 
 found in abundance, cotton-wood being the most 
 prevalent. 
 
 A good deal of rock is found in this county, 
 "which is mostly limestone, and which is of excel- 
 lent quality. It is most abundant along the 
 Weeping "Water and its larger tributaries. But 
 little is found along the smaller streams. 
 
 The springs in this county are more abundant 
 than in the counties south of it. Indeed, it is a 
 rule, that from the south line of the Territory, up to 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 157 
 
 where the Missouri makes a westerly turn, north of 
 Dakotah County, the springs continually increase. 
 In the north part of Pawnee County, springs are 
 rare. There is hardly a claim of three hundred 
 and twenty acres in Bent County, which has not 
 one, two, three, and sometimes more, clear, fresh, 
 and considerable springs. 
 
 Several towns have been laid out in the eastern 
 part of Cass County. Kock Bluffs is one. It is 
 situated in the valley of a small* creek, passing 
 down into the Missouri. On each side of the town 
 rise bold hills, which are about half a mile apart 
 on the river, and widen, as they run* from it, to a 
 mile or a mile and a half in distance, at the west- 
 ern line of the town plot. It is a good location, 
 and its projectors show a bona fide intention to 
 make a town of it. 
 
 Plattesmouth is, however, the place of largest 
 promise in this county. It is located as near the 
 Platte River as a town could be, its business por- 
 tion being only somewhat over a mile from that 
 river. Its site is, like that of Rock Bluffs, on a 
 place made by the cutting through the bluffs of a 
 stream. It is about twenty-five feet above the 
 Missouri, and has a good landing. As yet it is 
 not a considerable settlement, having, perhaps, five 
 hundred inhabitants. It is, however, regarded as 
 a point, and will enjoy a rapid growth. As a little 
 town, it has a heavy commercial business. It lays 
 large claims to being the western terminus of the 
 u 
 
1.58 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Burlington and Missouri Railroad. Other places 
 dispute its claim, but it has considerable advan- 
 tages. The act of Congress donating lands in 
 Iowa to aid the construction of that road, requires 
 that it terminate as near as possible to the- mouth 
 of the Platte. } If the road were to terminate at a 
 point north of the mouth, it would, when contin- 
 ued, at a very little distance from the Missouri, 
 strike the Mississippi and Missouri road ; while, if 
 it runs south of the Platte, it would pass through 
 a beautiful country of great extent, and at no very 
 distant day to be thickly settled. Besides, by 
 keeping south of the Platte, a bridge, of very great 
 expense, over that river, would be saved. 
 
 The interests in favor of "Plattesmouth are -very 
 large, and we are compelled, by a consideration of 
 all circumstances in our estimate of places, to give 
 it an advantage. 
 
 Cass County is well settled along the rivers, and 
 many claims upon the prairies are made and put 
 under cultivation. The inhabitants are mostly 
 from the most important of the northern States, 
 and are themselves active, industrious, and pros- 
 perous. , The Presbyterians are strong here. Edu- 
 cation is making some advances. In the large 
 settlements, scheols, somewhat above the character 
 of those found in . new and sparsely settled coun- 
 tries, have been put in operation. 
 
 The Plattesmouth Collegiate Institute will fur- 
 nish ample educational facilities for the county. 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 159 
 
 - • 
 
 SARPY COUNTY. 
 
 , This county was erected from Douglas County 
 at the last session of the Legislature, and took its 
 name from the veteran trader, General P- A. Sarpy. 
 The two parts, when one county, might be set 
 down as the most important in the Territory. Even 
 separated as they are, each possesses important 
 advantages. 
 
 Sarpy runs from the Missouri on the east to the 
 Platte on the west ; the latter river flowing south 
 and thus forming the western boundary of the 
 county, makes ah eastern deflect jon at nearly a 
 right angle, and forms its southern border. 
 
 The rivers of this county are larger and more 
 important than those of the southern counties. 
 Thus we have, as we have said, the Missouri with 
 numberless little streams flowing into it ; the Platte 
 with several others, one of which, Buffalo creek, in 
 the south-east corner, being large enough to afford 
 ample milling privileges — the Elk Horn just 
 touching its west part, and the Big Pappillion with 
 its mouth, and the Little, and West Pappillion. 
 
 These rivers are all bordered by bottoms which 
 lie about two feet above the river. That of the 
 Missouri is on an average half a mile wide. That 
 of the Platte is much wider, extending sometimes 
 back six, eighty and even ten miles. The .bottoms 
 of the other rivers vary from forty rods to four 
 miles in width. These bottoms are in the highest 
 
160 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 degree fertile. In places, the gopher has worked in 
 the ground, until it has become light and soft, so as 
 to be ready for the seed of the gardener without the 
 upturning of the plow. These places, should this 
 Territory ever become thickly populated, will make 
 gardens which will produce vegetables sufficient for 
 thousands, with an incredibly small amount of 
 labor. 
 
 Above the bottoms, in this county, are almost 
 invariably found the second bottom or table lands, 
 which are level, 5 strips of land, of variable width, 
 equally productive with the first bottoms, but more 
 dry and perhaps better fitted for being inhabited. 
 Hardly any lands rivaling them in beauty are to 
 be found in the world. As the eye follows down 
 one of these tables, its view is broken, but here 
 and there, by trees scattered in solitude or gath- 
 ered in clumps and groves, as if the hand of art 
 had disposed them for their finest effect ; beneath, 
 extends the bottom lands, rank with heavy vegeta- 
 tion, or covered by the towering trees of- many 
 years' growth ; while above, are the bluffs, bold and 
 precipitous, or quietly rising, beyond which extend 
 the highlands or rolling prairies, their summits 
 keeping nearly an exact level with the bluffs, their 
 descents being sufficient to afford ample drainage 
 to the whole country, both for culture and for 
 health. 
 
 Along the Platte in some seasons, perhaps in the 
 high water of every season, the first bottoms over- 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 161 
 
 flow. General P. A. Sarpy says he has been all 
 over this region in canoes. So large and extensive 
 overflows have not been known, however, since the 
 settlement of the Territory. There can be no doubt 
 that all the rivers in this part of the country have 
 been gradually decreasing — a fact which may 
 account for the decrease of the overflows of this 
 strange river. It is further known that once in 
 about every seven years, this river has an extra- 
 ordinary rise, reaching a great height and overflow- 
 ing wide tracts of land not usually reached by its 
 waters. This may furnish another solution to the 
 problem. 
 
 The bottom and table lands of this county are 
 first class, the high lands are second class. The 
 large proportion of bottom and table lands war- 
 rants the assertion that the county is composed of 
 the_ most fertile and valuable lands. 
 
 Along the Platte is found a blue limestone, of 
 the very best quality, and in great abundance. 
 Sandstone of a good quality is found in the bluffs. 
 
 There is abundance of wood along.all the streams. 
 The kind most abundant is cotton-wood ; although 
 oak, black walnut, and hickory are found in suffi- 
 cient quantities to fence and furnish fuel to" the 
 county for years. 
 
 Sand, clean and white, is found in the Platte, of 
 a better character for building purposes, than can 
 be found elsewhere. 
 
 In the opinion of many persons, coal will be 
 
162 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 found just below a soft limestone, which exists in 
 quantities, and at a distance perhaps of over twelve 
 feet from the ; surface. The writer is not aware 
 whether any has been found in this county. 
 
 It is conceded by all, that near the mouth of the 
 Platte is to be, at no very future day, a great com- 
 mercial emporium. 
 
 Sarpy County promises largely to the. settler and 
 capitalist. Its great fertility, and the fact that the 
 great future emporium of this county as to be near 
 it,' makes its lands valuable, and its towns, within 
 reasonable limits, certainties of success. 
 
 The principal town of this county is Bellevue. 
 This place was selected many years ago by the 
 Presbyterians, as a mission station to the Indians. 
 A mile square was taken and occupied by the mis- 
 sion, and when the United States extinguished the 
 Indian title, those savages insisted upon the cession 
 of the lands occupied by the Mission to the parties 
 in charge of it. 
 
 The American Fur Company also made this one 
 of their posts, and they continued the station as 
 long as trade in the furs of the region lasted. 
 
 These two facts show that the place is one of 
 importance so far as position goes, for the trade of 
 succeeding years has almost always ratified the 
 judgment of the missionary and the hunter in the 
 selection of available points in the country. 
 
 Bellevue is beautifully situated on the table or 
 second bottom lands of the Missouri. It lies some 
 
KANSAS AND NEBEASKA HANDBOOK. 163 
 
 distance from the river — a bottom of "considerable 
 extent intervenes between the river and the town. 
 Additions to the town have been made which 
 extend it down to the river, where it has a good 
 landing. It has here a good steam ferry. The 
 town consists at present of two settlements, nearly 
 three-quarters of a mile apart, one at the mission, 
 and one on the site of the town as first laid out. 
 The two interests have been united, and the growth 
 of the two settlements will be in the direction of 
 each other. 
 
 There are numbers of handsome houses and 
 blocks in this place. Buildings will go up the com- 
 ing summer on a large scale. Contracts, for the 
 construction of brick and stone blocks, which even 
 in eastern cities would be considered large, have 
 been made. 
 
 Sarpy County is well settled by a farming pop- 
 ulation. ' Produce is sold in Bellevue at lower fig- 
 ures by far than in Omaha. Its two hotels are 
 equal to first class houses at the East, and another 
 larger, and with architectural beauty, is about being 
 built. 
 
 The Bellevue Gazette, at this place, is a hand- 
 some and spirited sheet. 
 
 Of the religious denominations, the Presbyte- 
 rians are the most numerous. The Methodists are 
 also occupying this point. 
 
164 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 DOUGLAS COUNTY. 
 
 This county lies between the Missouri on the 
 east and the Platte on the west. 
 
 The Little Pappillion, the Big' Pappillion, and 
 the Elk Horn, are its rivers. It has numberless 
 little streams cutting it up in every direction. 
 
 Upon the Missouri is a bottom of the rich light 
 vegetable mold,ipn an average of half a mile wide. 
 For some distance above Sarpy, about one town- 
 ship, the bluffs rise from these bottoms abrupt and 
 rugged. From a mile below Omaha, back of the 
 bottoms is a table land on an average of a mile 
 wide, back*of which the bluffs, more properly called 
 hills, # rise as gently and evenly as if smoothed by 
 long cultivation. The plateau or table land forms 
 the most beautiful sites for towns, and they have 
 been well occupied. From the bluffs run back the 
 rolling prairie or high lands. In the south part of 
 the county these are a good deal broken, especially 
 near the bluffs, while toward the north the roll is 
 pretty heavy — at no place, however, so much so 
 as to render it in the least difficult of cultivation, 
 The Little Pappillion is a small stream which has 
 cut its bed down deep in the soil, so that it cannot 
 be said to have any bottom land. Some of the 
 little streams which run into it, however, have 
 formed small bottoms. The Big Pappillion a much 
 larger river, runs nearly through the centre of the 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 165 
 
 county. This river is a brisk stream, running over 
 a soft variable bed of earth, with broad ■ bottom 
 lands of the greatest richness on each side. On 
 , the west of the river, the prairies rise up gently, 
 near the Elk Horn, becoming very high. From 
 these lands on the east, the houses in Omaha City 
 can be distinctly seen ; while on the west, the eye 
 follows the Platte in its tortuous course through 
 the richest valley in the world, a distanee of forty 
 miles. As the sun glances upon the broad waters 
 of the Platte, which stretch themselves off to the 
 Missouri, and as the two valleys of these two 
 great rivers extend, the one till it is lost in the dis- 
 tant south, the other toward the great mountains, 
 where are its sources, both laden with the heavy 
 growth of grasses, and of forest, and teeming with 
 the undeveloped richness of product, of coal, of 
 rock, dotted all over with settlements, which must 
 become, at no distant day, towns and cities, the 
 mind of the beholder is filled with wonder, at the 
 future which awaits this heart of the great Union, 
 fit to be the seat of its government when its Ter- 
 ritories shall all have become States, and its States 
 have become Empires. 
 
 The land on the east of the Elk Horn rolls up 
 close to the bed of the river, where it forms bold 
 precipitous bluffs. The Elk Horn and the Platte 
 both run in the same valley through the west of 
 Douglas; the land between them being merely 
 bottom land. This valley overflows at times, but 
 
166 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 not so as to do much damage. Of course it is all 
 the richer for the overflow. It is the most fertile 
 land. 
 
 The Elk Horn is about one hundred and fifty 
 rods, wide, running over a soft, variable bed of earth. 
 All the rivers we have mentioned afford excellent 
 milling privilege's. 
 
 A good shoW of timber, mainly cotton-wood, is 
 found in this* county, especially along the Elk Horn, 
 Platte, and Big "Pappillion. In "places, the bluffs 
 are crowned with forests of hard wood. This is 
 particularly true of the bluffs along the Missouri, 
 from Omaha City to Sarpy County. 
 
 Rock in sufficient abundance is found in the 
 bluffs. It is mostly limestone of a good quality. 
 The most and best is found in the bluffs along the 
 Missouri and the Elk Horn. 
 
 This county is more distinguished for its towns 
 than any other characteristic. Having the capital, 
 and being the part of the Territory easiest reached 
 from the East, it has filled "up, especially the prin- 
 cipal town, Omaha City, with the active, specu- 
 lative young men, who throng to any point newly 
 opened, which promises to become a great empo- 
 rium. Capital, energy, business, activity, and skill, 
 have poured in here, until the whole county may 
 be said to rival any town at the East. 
 
 Along the Missouri River we have laid out four 
 towns : the first is Omaha City ; on the north of 
 it, at the distance of six miles, is Florence ; and 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 1G7 
 
 between Florence and Omaha City is Saratoga ; 
 and seuth of Omaha City is Omaha. 
 
 Omaha City is beautifully situated on a wide 
 plateau, the second bottom of the Missouri River. 
 Back of it rise the bluffs by gentle slopes, from the 
 summits of which the great prairies of the interior 
 roll in beautiful undulations. Frjpm the first of 
 these may be seen the grandest view the eye of 
 man ever looked upon. Up and down the river on 
 the Nebraska side runs as far as the eye can reach, 
 the table lands, so smooth, so unbroken, so perfect, 
 the hand of art could not add to or take from 6ne 
 part of it. Beyond is the river, bordered by heavy 
 trees, with its broad shallows and turbid current, 
 floating with serpentine windings. On the oppo- 
 site side is the broad bottom of the river, and cut- 
 ting short the view, rise the bold, rugged bluffs of 
 Iowa ; the tracery of their forests standing out in 
 the clear atmosphere, with the strongest distinct- 
 ness, while Council Bluffs lies ensconced within an 
 opening, a busy mart of all that region. 
 
 Omaha City is well built up with substantial 
 brick blocks. It numbers eighteen hundred people. 
 Its advantages are, first, it is the capital of the 
 Territory. The United States have commenced- 
 building a capitol, which is situated on a handsome 
 and commanding hill in the west of the town. 
 The building is a parallelogram in form, with heavy 
 columns upon each side. The ornaments, which 
 are elaborate, are of iron, as are also the casings 
 
168 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 of the pillars and the caps of the windows. Fifty 
 thousand dollars have been expended in laying the 
 foundations and carrying it up one story. A like 
 sum has been appropriated by Congress to com- 
 plete it. When finished, it will be a most elegant 
 building. 
 
 The second advantage which Omaha City enjoys, 
 is the fact that she lies directly opposite Council 
 Bluffs, and is, at present at least, the head of nav- 
 igation of the Missouri River. The first circum- 
 stance gives her the advantage of receiving the 
 emigrant into the Territory. He sees her promise, 
 and feels her enterprise, and makes her his home ; 
 or, if he seeks some other point, ever acknowledges 
 that she is the great town of Nebraska. The sec- 
 ond fills her landings with the immense imports 
 from the Bast which supply the Territory. She is, 
 indeed, the main point of entry for the emigrant 
 and for merchandise. The coming season, at least 
 one boat a day from St. Louis will unload at her 
 landing. 
 
 A further advantage of Omaha City is the fact, 
 that she is the eastern terminus of the great route 
 to the West. A year ago, Congress established a 
 military road from this place to new Fort Kerney, 
 and appropriated fifty thousand dollars for its con- 
 struction. That work is nearly complete, and runs 
 up the valley of the Platte through all the princi- 
 pal settlements west of this. Congress has made 
 the further appropriation of four hundred thousand 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 169 
 
 dollars to construct a great wagon-road to the 
 South Pass, the eastern terminus of which is here. 
 
 These facts give Omaha City a great impetus, 
 injier growth into a commercial 7 town. Far and 
 wide over the country her name is known as well 
 as that of the Territory itself. To it is the great 
 rush of emigration at the present time. It has the 
 start of all rivals, which no ordinary advantage 
 can overcome. 
 
 The population of this place is made up of intel- 
 ligent and enterprising men. They are generally 
 from the cultivated and educated classes of the 
 East. In the character of its society, as regards 
 intelligence and culture, genteel, and even fashion- 
 able life, Omaha City rivals the best town of twice 
 her population which can be named in New York 
 or New England. 
 
 As an evidence of this, we refer to a course of- 
 ten lectures, delivered under the auspices of its 
 library association, by citizens of the place, which, 
 both in the character of the lectures delivered, and 
 of the audiences assembled to listen to them, would 
 do the 'highest credit to an eastern city. 
 
 Handsome churches have been built by the 
 Methodists and Congregationalists, in both of 
 which are settled clergymen. The Baptists' also 
 have a clergyman here. An Episcopal church has 
 been organized, and service is regularly held on 
 Sunday by a clergyman. A handsome church is 
 to be erected by the - Episcopalians the coming 
 
 15 
 
170 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 summer, at an expense of $7,000. The Roman 
 Catholics also have a church here. 
 
 The Territorial library, containing a nearly full 
 set of the American Reports, and a good selection 
 from the English, together with a large number of 
 elementary law books, and a handsome case of 
 miscellaneous works, — in all numbering about four 
 thousand volumes, — is located here. The library 
 is provided for in the organic act. 
 
 Florence lies about six miles north of Omaha 
 City. It is a thriving place, with many advan- 
 tages. It lies upon the same beautiful plateau as 
 Omaha City. Opposite to it, on the Iowa side, is 
 Crescent City, also a flourishing place. Its growth 
 has been rapid ;and apparently substantial. Those < 
 interested in it claim for it a rock bottom landing, 
 . and that, at a short distance from the shore, is a 
 rock island, and upon these two, it is believed, a 
 substantial and cheap bridge can be constructed — 
 a work which cannot be accomplished elsewhere in 
 consequence of the variable bed and current of 
 the river. ' The great military road to Fort Kearney 
 touches its western line, and much of the trade 
 from the Platte valley stops here. The mercantile 
 business of the place is heavy, commanding, as it 
 does, the north, a portion of the west, and even a 
 part of Iowa. 
 
 Saratoga lies - between Omaha City and Flor- 
 ence, upon the same plateau with them. As yet it 
 has no improvements, although a large hotel, and 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 1'71 
 
 some fine residences, are to be built upon it the 
 coming season. Its promise is rather for a splen- 
 did place for residence, than for business. It is 
 hardly possible it should draw largely on the trade 
 of Omaha City, unless some circumstance which 
 cannot now be seen, reveals itself. , But as a resi- 
 dence it is unequalled. 
 
 Omaha lies at the south-east corner of Omaha 
 City, with about two-thirds 'of its site upon the 
 bottom of the Missouri, the remaining third being 
 upon the bluffs. It was laid out only a few months 
 since ; although the revenue of a. large quarry of 
 limestone, which is upon its lands, by a resolution 
 of the Company, is to be expended in grading and 
 paving its streets, and constructing a levee, which 
 will add largely to its value. Its value consists in 
 being located directly opposite the depot and 
 grounds of the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad. 
 The act of Congress, donating lands to aid in the 
 construction of this road, designates Council Bluffs 
 as its western terminus. The Company, or mem- 
 bers of the Company, on its behalf, have made 
 large purchases of lands for depots and grounds, as 
 was necessary at that place. 
 
 It must be ten years before .the.great Pacific road 
 can be carried through — carried even so far as to 
 render the shortest route a necessity or even a 
 desideratum. Till then, places of considerable 
 size, although lying a little off the air line, will 
 bring the road to them. The fact that Council 
 
172 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 Bluffs is the terminus of this road, and Omaha is 
 directly opposite, will build up a town of large 
 influence here very rapidly. We are, therefore, of 
 opinion, that the great point for ten years to come 
 is to be about the point where this road crosses the 
 river. By that time it may change — may go to 
 Florence — to save the deflection of many miles, 
 first to the south to reach Council Bluffs, and then 
 riorth to keep the north bank of the Platte. » This 
 is the work and the problem of future years. 
 
 It is further to be noted that along the Missis- 
 sippi the large towns are all on the west side of 
 the river. The law of that region can hardly help 
 but rule here." 
 
 The gentleman most interested in the Missis- 
 sippi road, seem to have foreseen the importance 
 of Omaha, having obtained large interests there. 
 
 The ferry, which heretofore has landed toward 
 the northern part of Omaha City, it is said, will, 
 the coming season, land at the landing of Omaha. 
 
 A large influence is at work to secure the land- 
 ing of all the boats from St. Louis at this place. 
 
 Hazelton is a town beautifully situated in the 
 south part of the county. Extensive improvements 
 are to be made there the coming season. 
 
 Elk Horn City lies upon one of the high prairies 
 we have already described, east of the river of that 
 name. > 
 
 The Simpson University, a school under the 
 Methodist influence, is located at Omaha City, and 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 173 
 
 the Nebraska University of Saratoga is located at 
 that place. Neither are yet organized. 
 
 WASHINGTON COUNTY. 
 
 The Missouri River has no bottom at the extreme 
 south-east corner of this county, but at Fort Cal- 
 houn, some three miles above, there is about half 
 a mile of bottom which is low and wet, with about 
 three-quarters of a mile of table, the most beau-' 
 tiful to be found. The bottom and table widen to 
 about six miles at Cuming City. At the north- 
 east, corner of the county the bluffs run down to 
 the river. The valley of Fish creek, which runs 
 through this bottom, is wet, but the remaining por- 
 tion is dry, and considered valuable for farming 
 purposes. It is all claimed, and Will be put under 
 cultivation the coming summer. Within the bends 
 of the Missouri, the land is low and heavily wooded 
 with- cotton-wood. Back of the bottoms the tables 
 are very beautiful. The valley of the Big Papil- 
 lion is narrow. On the east of it the land is but 
 little above the table, but on the west it is. the roll- 
 ing prairie, considerably broketn. Along the streams 
 which run into it, is a large supply of hard wood. 
 Sandstone is found in great quantities in this 
 county. 
 
 Cuming City is beautifully located on the table- 
 is* 
 
174 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 land, advantageously for the commerce of the river 
 and the trade of the interior. 
 
 Fort Calhoun is the county seat. 
 
 BENT COUNTY. 
 
 This county, like Washington, has upon the 
 Missouri broad bottoms, which are very fertile, and 
 broad tables which are both fertile and beautiful. 
 The two, in plaices, run back six, eight, and ten 
 miles. At the north-east corner the bluffs run down 
 to the river. The description of Washington is 
 almost exactly applicable to Bent, as to wood, 
 stone, and rolling prairie. Through the western 
 part runs Logan £reek, a branch of the Elk Horn, 
 which has a narrow valley. 
 
 Central City, a town newly laid out by the Iowa 
 Central Air Line and South Pass Railroad Com- 
 panies, being near the sixth standard parallel, 
 claims the crossing of the Iowa Air Line Railroad, 
 running from Lyons and Sabula. It is beautifully 
 located, with a good rock landing, and claims, and 
 indeed has, large advantages for the crossing. It 
 is in the hands of good men, who will, by improve- 
 ment and influence, undoubtedly build it up into a 
 town of importance. The persons interested are 
 energetic men, whose names are a sufficient guar- 
 antee of success, some < of whom are Henn, Wil- 
 liams & Co., S. S. Jones, of Illinois, President of 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 175 
 
 the Air Line Railroad Co. ; N. "W. Isabel,. Iowa, 
 Vice President of the same; Dr. Enos Lowe, 
 Council Bluffs, Iowa ; John K. Cook, proprietor 
 Sioux City ; James Jackson, Council Bluffs ; Pop- 
 pleton & Byers,. of Omaha, N. T., and others, to 
 the number of twenty-four in all. This company 
 have constituted themselves into a Nebraska Ter- 
 ritory Land Company, and procured a charter for 
 the same ; also have a charter granted for a Rail- 
 road running west from this vicinity to South Pass, 
 a Bank charter, City charter, Ferry charter, several 
 Territorial roads, &c, &c, all of which augur good, 
 not only for the town on the west side, but Monona 
 City as well. 
 
 The interests of the two places being so 
 closely identified, I also here notice Monona City, 
 situated on the east bank of the Missouri River, in 
 Monona county, Iowa, possessing a fine site for 
 building, the best landing in this section of 
 country, and, in our judgment, the choicest natural . 
 business location on the river, as you may in part 
 ascertain by examining the map of Iowa ; being 
 opposite, and but seven miles from, the mouth of 
 Maple Riverj where it empties into the Little 'Sioux. 
 The Maple has justly acquired a celebrity for its 
 beautiful valley, and as affording sufficient timber 
 to maintain large settlements, in which it has been 
 selected in almost its entire length as the location of 
 the Air Line Railroad. The Little Sioux also 
 emerges from the bluffs, some four miles above, and 
 
176 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 drains one of the most extensive portions of our 
 farming- country. The Soldier also is tributary to 
 this point. In addition to these smaller vallies is 
 the Missouri Valley, which ranges from seven to 
 thirty miles in width, and producing, both on the 
 river and in the bluffs back, any quantity of timber, 
 which is held by speculators at but a trifling ad- 
 vance on prairie lands. 
 
 Mechanics, especially, would do well to come to 
 this point as early as possible in the spring, as a 
 large amount of improvements is anticipated, and 
 while they were growing up with the place and 
 reaping the natural rewards, they would receive an 
 ample remuneration for their labor, at least fifty 
 per cent more than in the eastern part 'of this 
 State. 
 
 DAHKOTA COUNTY. 
 
 This county lies north of the Omaha Reserve. 
 This Reserve was granted to the Indians of the 
 Omaha tribe two years ago, in exchange for lands 
 then occupied by them further up the Missouri, 
 about. L'Eau Qui Court county. It is the most 
 thickly wooded of any portion of the Territory. 
 
 The Missouri first and second bottoms, in Dah- 
 kota county, run from the south-east corner, to St. 
 Johns, about two townships east of the west line 
 of the county. These bottoms are well wooded 
 with willow and cotton-wood. On the small streams 
 at the head of the bluffs, are many beautiful groves 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 177 
 
 of hard timber. Back from the bottoms are the 
 rolling prairies. This county has abundance of 
 wood and rock, with signs of coal. The fact, now 
 well established, that coal is found in Iowa, directly 
 opposite, favors the idea that it exists in quantities 
 in Dahkota county. 
 
 This county is well settled by a farming popula- 
 tion, and is probably as good a county as any in the 
 Territory. 
 
 The railroad from Dubuque is to terminate at or 
 near Sioux City, which lies directly opposite Dah- 
 kota, on the Iowa side. This will build up some 
 large town in this county, at no distant day. There 
 are many towns which claim the crossing. 
 
 Omadi is located on table land, overlooking the 
 Missouri and its valley. Through the south part of 
 the town runs Omaha Creek, which furnishes a 
 good water-power, which is well used. Between 
 this place and the Omaha Reservation, nine miles 
 south, is a body of fifteen thousand acres of timber. 
 
 At the base of the bluffs, west of this town, is a 
 sulphur spring, which is said to possess medicinal 
 properties. We believe the waters have never been 
 analyzed. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE. 
 
 Not only is emigration filling up the great valley 
 of the Missouri, but it is extending west in the val- 
 ley of the Platte. 
 
178 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 The great richness of the bottoms of this river, 
 and the advantage of abundance of timber, and of 
 rock, and coal, is attracting thither the large portion 
 of the settlers now coming into Nebraska. 
 
 The lands of the counties west of those we have 
 described have not been yet surveyed, and no accu- 
 rate information can be obtained as to their forma- 
 tions. 
 
 We know, however, that in the counties of D.odge 
 and Platte, the river makes wide bottoms of great 
 fertility and beauty. The high lands near them 
 afford beautiful commanding views. The valley is 
 well wooded with cotton-wood, and the numerous 
 streams running into it are bordered by fine groves 
 of hard wood. 
 
 This valley is conceded to be the route of the 
 Pacific Railroad ; a road can easily be built, with 
 scarcely a grade, along the north bank of the Platte. 
 Fremont is a tqwnbeautifully situated on this river, 
 and is believed to be on -the great route. It is set- 
 tled by intelligent, active men, who will give it 
 importance. , 
 
 Buchanan, named after the President, to whom 
 a share of its stock was presented, which was ac- 
 knowledged by him in a handsome note, and Co- 
 lumbus,, on Loupe Fork claim, are believed by sur- 
 veyors to be on the route. 
 
 Fontenelle is the county seat of Dodge. It is 
 handsomely located on the east bank of the Elk 
 
KANSAS, AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 179 
 
 Horn, and is the largest inland town in the Ter- 
 ritory. 
 
 Loupe Fork of the Platte River has a south- 
 easterly course, a rapid current, and flows with the 
 main stream about eighty miles west of Omaha 
 City, and is distinguished from the Platte by its 
 clear water and hard sandy bottom. The water is 
 from two to six feet deep, according to its width, 
 which varies from a quarter to three quarters of a 
 mile. The banks are hard, and but little liable to 
 wash ; are from five to twenty feet high, and cov- 
 ered at intervals with groves of timber, varying from 
 one hundred to one thousand acres in size, consist- 
 ing chiefly of cotton- wood, ash, hickory, black wal- 
 nut and cedar. Where the river is wide there are 
 islands covered with heavy timber. The valley is 
 from three to seven miles wide on each side of the 
 river, and consists of a deep, rich alluvial, deposed 
 with sufficient fall for drainage, and not subject to 
 overflow from the river. Looking Glass Creek 
 enters the Loupe Fork about eighteen miles above 
 its mouth, and five miles higher up, Beaver 
 Creek empties in. Both of these fords were used 
 before there was a ferry at Columbus, and they now 
 present features favorable for town sites, about the 
 proper distance apart, fertile' land, good water and 
 abundance of timber. . 
 
 The bluffs, so called, risei gently from the river to 
 a table land, smooth and level, in places presenting 
 only gentle swells for several miles in width. On 
 
180 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 the east side of the valley, and north of this table, 
 runs Shell Creek, which empties into the Platte at 
 the town of Buchanan. Twenty miles below Loupe 
 Fork there is hard wood timber, and good stone for 
 building purposes along Shell Creek. Four miles 
 above the mouth of Loupe Fork the town of Colum- 
 bus is situated. Here the emigrant road and new 
 military road from Omaha City to Fort Kearney 
 crosses the river at a good and safe ferry. This is, 
 at present, the pioneer town of the Platte Valley, 
 the most westerly from the Missouri River, and is 
 already a prominent place. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 THE SALT INTEREST. 
 
 This Territory has never been thoroughly inves- 
 tigated by any scientific explorer, and nothing is 
 known of its mineralogical resources, save what has 
 been made known through the casual observance 
 of settlers and travellers. The territory is well sup- 
 plied with several kinds of rock, including limestone, 
 sandstone, freestone, and a conglomerate, marble, 
 composed of animal and vegetable remains, together 
 with sand, gravel and lime, cemented firmly together, 
 so as to form a solid rock, suitable for building pur- 
 poses, and susceptible of a high polish. Banks of 
 bituminous coal, of good quality, have been found 
 to exist in Pawnee, Nemaha and Johnson counties, 
 and indications of iron are numerous in Otoe 
 county. 
 
 In his last annual message, the Governor of Ne- 
 braska says : 
 
 " A complete and thorough knowledge of the 
 extent and variety of our mineral resources is not 
 only desirable, but must be regarded as essential to 
 the proper development of the rich treasures of our 
 
 16 (181> ' 
 
182 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 soil and the general prosperity of the territory.. To 
 obtain this, a geological survey of the Territory, 
 conducted by some one competent to the task, must 
 be made. The attention of Congress was called to 
 the subject at its last session, and an adequate ap- 
 propriation for the purpose was asked for, but with- 
 out securing the necessary action. I suggest that 
 that body be again memorialized at the present 
 session, for the appropriation of an amount suffi- 
 cient to defray the expenses of the desired survey." 
 
 THE SALT INTEREST. 
 
 On the eastern borders of Lancaster county, on 
 Salt Creek, is a basin, formed by bluffs, in which 
 are some ten springs of salt water. The creek runs 
 through the basin, and the springs pour their waters 
 into the creek. It is said, by parties who have ex- 
 amined these waters, to contain ninety-five parts 
 salt. The salt impregnates large extents of land 
 about the springs, and as the waters of Salt Creek 
 empty into the Platte, the salt waters of the first 
 may be distinctly traced for a great distance. 
 
 Two companies, the Chester and the Lancaster", 
 have taken up these lands, and are preparing to 
 manufacture salt. 
 
 We are informed by Mr. Hebird, of Burlington, 
 
 Iowa, who recently visited Nebraska Territory, and 
 
 made an examination of the newly discovered Salt 
 
 ■ Lake and Springs, that there is no exaggeration in 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 183 
 
 the accounts published — that it is really the most 
 valuable saline region yet discovered in this coun- 
 try, and will afford salt enough to salt the whole 
 world ! 
 
 Mr. Hebird says it is situated some forty miles 
 from the Missouri, and twenty-five miles from the 
 Platte river — that this water is discharged from 
 quite a number of springs, the capacity of one of 
 which he measured, and found that it discharged 
 200,000 gallons of water in twenty-four hours. He 
 brought a bottle of the water here, .which was 
 handed to one of our druggists for analysis. And 
 this gentleman declares it almost free from mineral 
 or other foreign substances, and that it will afford 
 one pound of pure salt to each; gallon of water. 
 Here is a mine of real wealth opened, which will 
 prove more valuable than the gold mines of Cali- 
 fornia. Nebraska is destined to salt the entire 
 West and Northwest. Push along the Burlington 
 and Missouri River Railroad, and bfi ready to trans- 
 port this. new article of Western manufacture. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. EDUCA- 
 TION. PRE-EMPTION AND SETTLER'S CLAIMS. 
 
 "We find much of interest in the Message of Gov- 
 ernor Izard, delivered to the Nebraska Legislature, 
 January 3d, 1857, and herein insert a few extracts 
 which seem to most particularly interest the general 
 reader : 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 The Governor thus alludes to the provisions made 
 for educational purposes in Nebraska : 
 
 " In a Government like ours, reposing in an emi- 
 nent degree upon the virtue and intelligence of the 
 people, a general diffusion of knowledge among all 
 classes cannot be too earnestly desired, or too care- 
 fully provided for. A wide spread and effective 
 system of common schools, the immediate influ- 
 ences of which are generally diffused among the 
 masses of society, must ever be regarded as the 
 surest guaranty of civil and religious liberty, and 
 ought to be reckoned as among the first objects a 
 free government should secure to its people. Igno- 
 rance, in all ages, has ever been the handmaid of 
 
 (184) 
 
'**&*' 
 
 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 185 
 
 slavery and vice. History teaches us that the en- 
 slavement of a people begins where general intelli- 
 gence and public virtue end. In the establishment 
 of our free government, our fathers wisely ordained 
 among its first objects the general diffusion of 
 knowledge among the people. Their example has 
 been followed in the formation of the several State 
 Governments, and the establishment of a general 
 system of education is now regarded as an essen- 
 tial element of national safety, and as among 
 the most salutary measures conducive to. the 
 public weal. Much of that general prosperity 
 which characterizes us as a people, is due to the 
 generous rivalry thus excited among the several 
 States and Territories, upon the subject of liberal- 
 izing and extending the common school system, 
 and to the earnest and well-directed efforts for a 
 general diffusion of knowledge, to which this has 
 led. 
 
 "In view of the many blessings that are depen- 
 dent upon the general spread of knowledge, I can- 
 not too strongly urge upon you the duty of at once 
 putting into operation a system of common schools 
 adequate to the rapidly increasing demands of our 
 people. -In all the elements of material prosperity, 
 we have reason to be abundantly satisfied with our 
 condition ; but no degree of wealth, no extent or 
 fertility of soil, no amount of population can com- 
 pensate us for the want of a good and efficient sys- 
 tem of education. Laws,' judiciously framed and 
 
 10* 
 
186 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 faithfully administered^ are necessary to punish 
 crime, but the intelligence and virtue of the masses' 
 constitute the only true basis for its prevention. 
 The present school law is in most respects a good 
 one, but means must be provided to make it effec- 
 tive. It has been usual in the States to levy a tax 
 for this purpose, but in a new country like ours, 
 where the title to all the lands remains in the Gov- 
 ernment, it is not probable that a sufficient amount 
 for the support of a general system of schools 
 could be raised by taxation, without operating too 
 oppressively upon our people. The law itself ap- 
 propriates all fines arising from a breach of the 
 penal laws, and all funds arising from the sale of 
 water crafts, lost goods and estrays, to school pur- 
 poses, and confers the discretionary power upon the 
 inhabitants of the several school districts in the 
 Territory, when the same shall be created, to levy a 
 tax for the erection of school houses, and to defray 
 the contingent expenses of the district. The 16th 
 section of the Organic Law sets apart sections 16 
 and 36 in each Township for the support of educa- 
 tion, and if the benefits intended to be conferred by 
 this donation could be made immediately available, 
 the revenue thus derived, in addition to that arising 
 from the resources above mentioned, might be suf- 
 ficient to put into operation and maintain a general 
 system of schools. After our lands come into 
 market, and titles vested in the holders, the difficul- 
 ties under which we how labor will in a great 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 187 
 
 measure be removed, and the ordinary sources of 
 revenue for this purpose can be resorted to. 
 
 " I would therefore recommend that you memo- 
 rialize. Congress to take such action at its present ses- 
 sion, as may be necessary to place these lands at 
 the disposal of the Legislature at the earliest prac- 
 ticable moment. 
 
 " There is no subject in which the settlers of a new 
 country feel a deeper interest than. in an early dis- 
 position of the public lands. It is important to this 
 class of our citizens that they should have an op- 
 portunity, at the earliest day practicable, of perfect- 
 ing their titles to the lands upon which they have 
 settled. Until this is done, improvements cannot 
 and will not be made, of that permanent character 
 and to the extent which could naturally follow a 
 confirmation of absolute and perfect title to the 
 soil. '-, 
 
 " Give our settlers an opportunity to possess them- 
 selves of their farms in fee, and business of every 
 kind will assume at once a fixed and settled char- 
 acter. 
 
 " All past experience has shown that few evils 
 incident to the settlement of a new country are 
 more blighting in their effects, or more to be dreaded 
 than doubtful and unsettled titles to the soil. Years 
 of litigation and controversy, of public inquietude 
 
188 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 
 
 and sluggish growth, have not unfrequently followed 
 an early neglect of, and inattention to this subject. 
 
 " This state of things once existed to an alarming 
 extent in my native State (Kentucky) by means of 
 which the peace and happiness of the people were 
 for a long time disturbed, and the progress of gen- 
 eral improvement greatly retarded.. Some difficul- 
 ties of this character have already arisen in our own 
 Territory, but it is believed not more than have at- 
 tended the settlement of most counties similarly 
 situated. 
 
 " Time and custom have hallowed, the practice 
 of permitting the earliest settlers to make their se- 
 lections and remain in quiet possession of their 
 lands until opportunity is afforded them to pre-empt 
 or purchase them of the Government at the mini- 
 mum price. The Government itself has encour- 
 aged this practice, and in our Territory, indeed, it 
 has invited it. It is so eminently just, that the pio- 
 neer in a new country should be idemnined in some 
 way for the toils and privations thus incurred, that 
 there are but few who feel disposed to rob him of 
 his dear bought home, not unfrequently his all. As 
 an evidence of the justice and tenor of public feel- 
 ing upon this subject, we have only to refer to the 
 public land sales which recently took place at Lea- 
 venworth, in the Territory of Kansas. Those lands 
 belonged to the Indians, for whose benefit they were 
 held in trust by the Government, under a treaty 
 stipulation to prevent any settlements from being 
 
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA HANDBOOK. 189 
 
 made thereon. Notwithstanding this, a large num- 
 ber of persons had settled upon and occupied them 
 in violation of the treaty. The sale brought together 
 a larger number of persons from all parts of the 
 country, and a greater amount of capital, it is be- 
 lieved, than were ever before concentrated at one 
 land sale, and yet I am informed that not a single 
 bid was made during the whole sale against any 
 actual settler. I entertain the utmost confidence 
 that the same course will be pursuedavben our own 
 lands are brought into market ; arid I apprehend 
 that the actual settler, under the assurances thus 
 afforded, may dismiss all fear that his rights will be 
 interfered with by outside bidders. 
 
 " It is, in my judgment, a matter of great impor- 
 tance, that the lands in the settled portions of the 
 Territory, in limited quantities, should be brought 
 into market without delay, for the reasons above 
 indicated, and others which might be given."