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[Illustration: MEMORIAL HALL]
A HISTORY OF KANSAS
by
ANNA E. ARNOLD
Author of Civics and Citizenship
[Illustration: Seal of the State of Kansas]
Published by
the State Of Kansas
Imri Zumwalt, State Printer
Topeka, 1919
7-6552
Copyright 1914, Anna E. Arnold
Copyright 1919 (Revised), Anna E. Arnold
All Rights Reserved
[Illustration: Printer’s Logo]
PREFACE
No State has a history better calculated to inspire patriotism in its
people than has Kansas. In this fact lies the greatest reason for
teaching Kansas History in the schools. A knowledge of the
difficulties that have been met and conquered in building the State
will create in the minds of the boys and girls a greater respect for
the sturdy qualities of the pioneers; it will give them a wholesome
sense of the great cost at which the ease and comfort of to-day have
been purchased; it will stimulate in them a desire to live up to the
past.
If the study of Kansas History is to accomplish these results, the
subject must be presented in such a way as to arouse the interest of
the pupils. They must feel its reality. They must catch its spirit.
With the hope of fulfilling in some measure these requirements, this
book has been prepared with the following aims constantly in mind: to
make it, as nearly as possible, a narrative; to select from the wealth
of material at hand such subject matter as is within the comprehension
of children, eliminating such matter as can be fully understood and
appreciated only by mature minds; to present the general movement of
the State’s progress rather than a mass of unrelated facts. Only so
much detail has been used as is necessary to a clear understanding of
events. The purpose has not been to chronicle a multitude of events,
but rather to show forth what manner of men and women were the
builders of our State, what motives actuated them, what conditions
surrounded them, how they lived, and what they accomplished.
An effort has been made to give the pupils a general view of the
State’s history as a whole, to give them a framework on which to build
their later knowledge, and to leave them with a desire to learn more
of Kansas history.
ANNA E. ARNOLD.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 9
II. KANSAS BECOMES A PART OF THE UNITED STATES 16
III. EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY BY THE UNITED STATES 20
IV. KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 29
V. KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 45
VI. KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY 55
VII. THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 62
VIII. THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 72
IX. RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS 78
X. THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 83
XI. THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 94
XII. PIONEER LIFE 102
XIII. KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR 109
XIV. THE PERIOD SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 115
XV. THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 142
XVI. TRANSPORTATION IN KANSAS 174
XVII. EDUCATION IN KANSAS 187
XVIII. KANSAS MEMORIALS 207
XIX. THE KANSAS SPIRIT 217
APPENDIX 223
QUIVERA――KANSAS
In that half-forgotten era,
With the avarice of old,
Seeking cities he was told
Had been paved with yellow gold,
In the kingdom of Quivera――
Came the restless Coronado
To the open Kansas plain,
With his knights from sunny Spain;
In an effort that, though vain,
Thrilled with boldness and bravado.
League by league, in aimless marching,
Knowing scarcely where or why,
Crossed they uplands drear and dry,
That an unprotected sky
Had for centuries been parching.
But their expectations, eager,
Found, instead of fruitful lands,
Shallow streams and shifting sands,
Where the buffalo in bands
Roamed o’er deserts dry and meager.
Back to scenes more trite, yet tragic,
Marched the knights with armor’d steeds
Not for them the quiet deeds;
Not for them to sow the seeds
From which empires grow like magic.
Thus Quivera was forsaken;
And the world forgot the place
Through the lapse of time and space.
Then the blue-eyed Saxon race
Came and bade the desert waken.
――EUGENE WARE.
A HISTORY OF KANSAS
CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY
=Introduction.= More than four centuries have passed since Columbus
discovered America. During that time the hunting ground of three
hundred thousand Indians has become the United States with its more
than one hundred million civilized people. In the center of this great
nation, which occupies nearly half the area of the continent, lies
Kansas, a rectangle four hundred miles long and two hundred miles
wide.
Kansas is a part of the great plain that slopes gradually from the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Its
surface, cut by many eastward-flowing streams, lies level in the west
but in the east curves into countless hills and valleys.
On these broad prairies to-day are thousands of cattle, and great
fields of corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Towns and cities are scattered
over the State, and the country between is dotted with the homes of
farmers. There are mines, factories, churches, schools, and colleges.
Uniting all are miles and miles of railroad. Kansas is now the home of
more than a million seven hundred thousand of busy, prosperous people.
But it was not always so; these prairies were once used only by the
Indian and the buffalo. If we are to understand how this change has
come about we must begin with the coming of the first white men to
America.
=The First White Men in Kansas.= At that time Spain was the most
powerful nation of Europe, and since she had furnished the funds for
the voyage of Columbus she claimed the first right to America and
became the pioneer in the exploration of the New World. The Spaniards
first explored the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, discovered the Pacific
Ocean and the Mississippi River, and were the first to sail around the
world. In 1519 Cortez, a Spaniard, landed on the present site of Vera
Cruz and marched into the heart of Mexico, the home of the Aztec
Indians. He made himself master of that great region and called it New
Spain. All of these expeditions were too far south to reach what is
now Kansas, but only a few more years were to pass before this far-off
country was to be explored by the adventurous Spaniards, the first
white men to set foot on Kansas soil.
=Cabeza de Vaca.= In 1528 Narvaez, a Spaniard, led an exploring
expedition westward from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Through
various misfortunes and hardships nearly all of the party perished.
One of the commanders, Cabeza de Vaca, and three of his men were taken
prisoners by the Indians. After being held in captivity nearly six
years they succeeded in making their escape. They fled westward, and
after an adventurous journey of nearly two years reached a Spanish
settlement near the western coast of New Spain. The exact route
followed by Cabeza de Vaca and his companions can never be known, but
his accounts of their wanderings were largely the cause of the
expedition of Coronado, who was the first white man known with
certainty to have traveled across what is now Kansas.
=Purpose of the Spaniards.= The chief purpose of all the Spanish
explorers was to search for wealth. Cortez is said to have made this
remark to the Indians: “We Spaniards are troubled with a disease of
the heart for which we find gold, and gold only, a specific remedy.”
The hope of finding gold and precious stones lying about like pebbles
lured many Spaniards into enterprises filled with terrible hardships.
Reports of great cities of untold wealth to the northward, the “Seven
Cities of Cibola,” as they were called, had reached New Spain at
various times, and when Cabeza de Vaca told similar tales that he had
heard from the Indians it stirred the Spaniards to explore the region.
=Coronado.= Great preparation was made for an expedition. An army of
three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred friendly Indians was
gathered and placed under the command of Coronado. This was a large
army for those times and the burden of furnishing it with arms and
supplies fell heavily on New Spain. But so hopeful were the people of
the success of the expedition that no sacrifice seemed too great. In
the spring of 1540 the long march into unexplored country began.
=The Search for Quivira.= After months of travel in a northerly and
then in a northeasterly direction, Coronado and his army reached the
province of Cibola, which was probably in the western part of what is
now New Mexico, and the “Seven Cities” proved to be ordinary adobe
Indian villages. They took possession of the Indian supplies and spent
the winter in the villages. The Indians, anxious to get rid of their
unwelcome visitors, persuaded a Quivira Indian, whom they held as a
prisoner, to tell the Spaniards tales of the wonderful land of Quivira
in order to lead them off into the wilderness where they would die
from lack of food and water. Coronado and his men listened to this
Indian, whom they called “Turk,” and followed him as a guide for many
days. He led them steadily toward the east, and after a time they
became convinced that they were being deceived and made him confess
that Quivira was far to the northward. They had been only too willing
to listen to Turk’s stories, but when they learned that he had misled
them they put him to death. Supplies were now low and Coronado sent
back the main body of the army, which was composed of footmen, and
with thirty horsemen started northward.
[Illustration: THE JOURNEYS OF CABEZA DE VACA AND CORONADO.]
=Coronado in Kansas.= It must be remembered that the whole country was
a vast wilderness without names or boundary lines, and we can describe
the journey of the Spaniards only by using names and boundary lines
that have come into existence long since that time. As nearly as can
be learned, Coronado and his men entered Kansas about where Clark
County now is, and went on northward, crossing the Arkansas River at
or near the site of Dodge City. From this point they followed the
river to Great Bend, and then continued in a northeasterly direction
to the vicinity of Junction City. At the end of their journey they set
up a cross bearing the inscription: “Francisco Vasqueth de Coronado,
commander of an expedition, arrived at this place.”
[Illustration: “FRANCISCO VASQUETH DE CORONADO, COMMANDER OF
AN EXPEDITION, ARRIVED AT THIS PLACE.”]
=Quivira Found.= After all this weary journey they had reached Quivira
and found it to be merely the home of a tribe of Indians, the
Quiviras, later known as the Pawnees. Coronado wrote in a letter to
the King of Spain:
“The country itself is the best I have ever seen for
producing all of the fruits of Spain, for, besides the land
itself being very fat and black, and being very well watered
by rivulets, springs, and rivers, I found prunes like those
in Spain and nuts and very good sweet grapes and mulberries.
I remained twenty-five days in this province of Quivira,
both to see and explore the country, and to find out whether
there was anything beyond which could be of service to your
Majesty, because the guides who had brought me had given me
an account of other provinces beyond this. And what I am
sure of is that there is not any gold or any other metal in
all that country, and the other things of which they told me
are nothing but little villages, and in many of these they
do not plant anything, and do not have any houses, except of
skins and sticks, and they wander around with the cows. So
that the account they gave me was false, because they wanted
to get me to go there with the whole force, believing that
as the way was through such uninhabitable deserts, and from
lack of water they would get us where our horses and we
would die of thirst. And the guides confessed this, and they
said they did it by the advice of the natives of these
provinces.”[1]
=Coronado’s Return to New Spain.= Empty-handed, Coronado and his
little band of Spanish knights turned toward New Spain and carried to
their waiting countrymen the disappointing story of their two years’
expedition. With this event fifty years had passed since the discovery
of America, and for the next two and a half centuries little attention
was paid to the Kansas country.
SUMMARY
The history of Kansas begins with the first exploration of
this country by white men nearly four hundred years ago.
Spain was the first nation to explore the New World. The
chief purpose of the Spaniards was to find gold. They had
heard from the Indians of rich cities to the northward, and
when Cabeza de Vaca told them similar tales the people of
New Spain decided to explore the country. They sent Coronado
with a large army on a journey of exploration lasting two
years. He failed to find gold, but his expedition is of
interest because he was the first white man known to have
traversed what is now Kansas.
REFERENCES
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 1-23.
Foster, A History of the United States, p. 29.
Spring, Kansas, pp. 17-19.
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 44-45.
Bourne, Spain in America (vol. III, of The American Nation, a
History).
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics.
Historical Collections, vol. VII, pp. 20, 40, 268, 573; vol. VIII,
p. 152; vol. X, p. 68; vol. XII, p. 219.
Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
QUESTIONS
1. How long has it been since Columbus discovered America?
2. Compare the population at that time with the present
population of the United States.
3. In what part of the United States is Kansas?
4. Describe briefly the western part of the Mississippi valley.
Describe the surface of Kansas.
5. What relation has Spain to the history of Kansas? Why did
Spain claim the first right to America? Name some of the early
discoveries of the Spaniards.
6. Where was New Spain?
7. What influenced the Spaniards in their ventures in the New
World?
8. Who was Cabeza de Vaca? Of what importance is the account of
his adventures?
9. Tell the story of Coronado. What is his relation to Kansas
history?