Kansas is not a manufacturing State. Its prosperity is based upon the
plow. It has, however, coal deposits equal to the needs of its
population, valuable lead mines in the southeast, and salt and gypsum in
abundance. But the manufacturing establishments of the State are
steadily increasing in importance as well as in number. In its flouring
and grist mills Kansas ranked, in 1880, as the thirteenth State of the
Union; in meat packing, as the twelfth; and in cheese products, as the
fourteenth.
In the following table the number of manufacturing establishments,
including mines and railroad shops, their capital, products, etc., is
given for the years named:
═══════════╤═══════════╤═══════════╤═══════════╤═══════════╤═══════════
_Year._ │_Establish-│_Capital._ │_Employés._│ _Wages._ │ _Value of
│ ments._ │ │ │ │products._
───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────
1860 │ 344│ $1,084,935│ 1,735│ $880,346│ $4,357,408
1870 │ 1,470│ 4,319,060│ 6,844│ 2,377,511│ 11,775,833
1880 │ 2,803│ 11,191,315│ 10,062│ 3,995,010│ 30,843,777
1885[3] │ 3,900│ 19,000,000│ 16,000│ 6,300,000│ 48,000,000
───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────
Footnote 3:
Partly estimated.