PIONEER LIFE
[Illustration: A DUGOUT.]
=Comforts of Life Receive Little Attention.= The seven Territorial
years had brought freedom to Kansas, but the struggle had left the
pioneers little time or strength for building better homes, improving
their farms, or establishing public institutions. The energy that
might have accomplished these things had been given to fighting and to
politics. When Kansas became a State, the people had almost as few of
the comforts of life as when they first came to the Territory. A few
of them had come with little idea of the hardships and privations of
frontier life, and others had believed that such conditions would last
but a short time. Many of these, of course, grew discouraged and
returned to their eastern homes. But the great body of Kansas pioneers
had come with the twofold purpose of securing homes and making a free
state, and were not to be discouraged. They had come to stay.
[Illustration: IN PIONEER DAYS.]
=Conditions of Living During the ’50’s.= Frontier life is always hard,
but it was made many times harder in Kansas by the years of strife and
warfare. The inconveniences and hardships were especially severe
outside the towns. In these days of railways and good roads, of the
telegraph and the telephone, it is difficult to realize what life on
the prairies meant in the ’50’s. Post offices and mail routes came
slowly, and for many of the settlers a trip for mail and provisions
meant a journey of two or three days, or even longer, with an ox team.
Neighbors were often many miles apart. Nearly every one’s supply of
farming implements was scanty, and to replace a broken ax might
require a trip of from twenty-five to fifty miles. In the winter these
journeys were often accompanied with danger and suffering. Streams
were without bridges and many of the fords were deep and treacherous.
Fences were few and roads were mere trails over the prairies, so when
the blizzard swept across the country, piling its drifts of snow and
obliterating every landmark, the unfortunate traveler was in great
danger of losing his way. Getting a farm under cultivation was slow
work at best. Since most of the settlers brought but little money with
them they had to trust to raising a crop, and if sickness or drouth or
raids made it impossible to raise the crop, want and suffering
followed.
The privations, the sacrifices, and the loneliness of pioneer life
fell most heavily on the women. Business and necessity brought the men
together occasionally, but the pioneer woman in the isolation of her
prairie home often saw no friendly face for months at a time. There
was much sickness and death, especially among women and children,
resulting from the combination of poor food, uncomfortable houses,
homesickness, and excitement arising from the many dangers. The cost
of transportation was so great that only the most necessary articles
were brought from the East. Most furniture was home-made and cooking
was done over an open fireplace. Corn bread and bacon with occasional
game and wild fruits were the usual foods. In wet seasons there was
much fever and ague. Sometimes a whole family would be sick at the
same time, with no neighbors near enough to help and no physician
within many miles.
=The Drouth of 1859-’60.= Each year during the Territorial period the
crops raised were barely sufficient to keep the people through the
winter. There was no surplus at any time, and when the summer of 1859
brought a drouth, a famine resulted. Through all the hard struggle the
people had believed that as soon as the strife and political
difficulties were over, prosperity would come. However, with the
dawning of peace in the Territory there came the most severe drouth
that has ever been known in the West. It began in June, 1859, and from
that time until November, 1860, a period of more than sixteen months,
not enough rain fell at any one time to wet the earth to a depth of
more than two inches. Two light snows fell during the winter, but
neither was heavy enough to cover the ground. The ground became so dry
that it broke open in great cracks, wells and springs went dry, and
the crops were a total failure.
[Illustration: A SOD HOUSE.]
=Effect of the Drouth on Kansas Settlers.= There were at this time
nearly 100,000 people in Kansas, and to fully 60,000 of them the
drouth finally meant that they must receive help or starve. They had
been able to fight border ruffians, but they could not fight
starvation. After a year of the drouth they began to give up and go
back East. During the fall of 1860 no fewer than 30,000 settlers
abandoned their claims and the improvements that had been made at the
expense of so much labor, and left Kansas. There were still 30,000
people here for whom charity was necessary. All this brought bitter
disappointment to the people who had come to Kansas with high hopes
and willing hands.
=Aid Sent from the East.= As soon as the true condition of affairs was
known in the East a movement was begun for the relief of the
sufferers. Many states responded liberally, and immense quantities of
provisions and clothes were sent here to be distributed. Hundreds of
bushels of seed wheat were furnished. Besides all of the public help,
many relatives and friends sent supplies to the pioneers.
Nevertheless, there were many that winter who barely escaped
starvation.
=Drouth Retards Development of Kansas.= Great as was the suffering
from disappointment and want, the drouth brought another evil; it
threw Kansas back in its development. Not only had a third of the
population left the Territory, but the accounts given by those who
returned tended to discourage others from coming. The old stories
about the “Great American Desert” were revived. Kansas was looked upon
as a place of drouth and famine, and for several years the number of
immigrants was much decreased.
=Statehood Begins.= All this was taking place while the Wyandotte
Constitution was being considered. Kansas was admitted as a State on
January 29, 1861, at the close of the terrible drouth. Through the
winter and spring of 1861 supplies continued to come in from other
states, and included seeds for the spring planting. An excellent
season followed. It might be thought that at last the Kansas settlers
were to have an opportunity to cultivate their farms, build homes, and
make their new State a place of peace and prosperity. But not so;
Kansas was again to suffer from the troubles of the Nation. The
opening of the Civil War was near.
SUMMARY
The fighting and political strife of the Territorial period
left the people little opportunity for building up the
country. Statehood found frontier life but little improved.
The early settlers came to secure homes and to make Kansas a
free state, and were not easily discouraged. The drouth of
1859-’60 caused nearly a third of the 100,000 Kansas
settlers to leave the Territory, and another third had to be
given aid from the East. Immigration to Kansas was greatly
decreased for a time. A good crop year followed, but Kansas
had yet to pass through the Civil War before it could enjoy
peace.
REFERENCES
Andreas, History of Kansas, County Histories.
Cordley, Pioneering in Kansas.
Hunt, Kansas History for Children.
Historical Collections, vol. IX, pp. 33, 126; vol. XII, p. 353.
Mrs. Robinson, Kansas――Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Ropes, Six Months in Kansas.
QUESTIONS
1. What had been the chief interest of the Kansas people during
the Territorial period?
2. What were the chief reasons for people coming to Kansas?
3. Discuss the conditions under which the pioneers lived,
including travel, roads, bridges, fences, money, social life,
houses, furniture, food, and health.
4. Give an account of the drouth of 1859-’60. How long did it
last?
5. What was the population of Kansas in 1860?
6. What was the effect of the drouth on Kansas?
7. What have you read of pioneer conditions other than in this
book?
8. What have you learned about early Kansas conditions from
talking with people?
9. What new burden came with the beginning of statehood?