Show 4 ff D N r v V by EDWARD EMERINE feature we do not live but only stay and are arc too poor to get away life on the frontier is always hard it was doubly hard jn in kansas where the pioneers 11 had to endure border wars over slavery bad men droutha drout hs grasshoppers blizzards and dust storms in ili addition to the ordinary hardships of a new country but they stuck it out they stuck it out and sticking it out until the battle Is won Is still a chara characteristic ct of kansas people perhaps it was the crucible of those early years that steeled and tempered the kansas spirit which conquered tha the prairies they stuck it out rosa hoove above the trials of the hour and developed that rare sense of humor which enables kansas people i to laugh at themselves and the foibles of mankind despite coronado and other spanish explorers and french traders kansas remained andl indian a n and a nd buffalo country for two cen centuries aurles after english colonists settled iri in new england and virginia slow blow in settlement it was not until the tha kansas ne braska bill was passed in 1854 1834 that the land was opened to settlement at that time the entire white population of kansas consisted of about soldiers based at forts lea leavenworth en and riley and walnut creek 0 CHIEF EXECUTIVE gov andrew F Is it a native kansan born in claflin in barton thirton county fA former lawyer andret cran ot of world war 1 I ho he was A member of the kansas corporation commission until ho he was governor in 1942 apost office on the santo fe trail and an equal number of civilians civilian s at indian missions miss lons stage stations and trading posts the que question silon of slavery atit ined mediately lately plunged kansas into bloodshed even before the kan sas nebraska bill was signed aho vho favored slavery slipped across the border and founded leavenworth and atchison but ell thayer found 29 me mei in new england who were willing to cini emigrate grate to kansas settle on the prairie bo be neighbors to indians indiana and fight slave holders dr charles robinson brought a second secona party of antislavery emigrants including tour four musicians from boston to settle at lawrence congress i had decreed that kansas would decide the question flindt of Dt slavery for itself and kan sans set out aut to do it in their own way A OF THE WORLD kansas Is the no I 1 wheat producing sta teof the nation yielding almost a fourth of the entire U S crop whether for or against slavery kansas sewers settlers lived in log huts shake houses sod shanties dug outs and other humble shelters using grass brush ano an buffalo chips for fuel the sod crop was corn and corn they atel ate I 1 corn bread parched corn hornley cornmeal corn meal mush they boiled corn fried it baked it stewed it fortunately I 1 they had beef pork and milk to go with it and a coffee substitute made of dried sweet potatoes dried green okra and parched wheat ground together and boiled would kansas be slave or tree free territory on its first election day in 1855 1835 hundreds of missourians Missour ians 11 with rifles rides on their shoulders six shooters in their belts and a liberal supply off oft whiskey in their wagons crossed the border and voted all ot of ahe thel pro slavery candidates except one were elected I 1 and when the bogus legislature met in july the missouri slave code was the law I 1 of kansas the curtain ralser raiser to the civil war was wai fought in kansas men alen were murdered in cold blood border ruf flans ravaged antislavery settlements john drown brown ind andl his sons took up the challenge and took after lie slave holders bleeding kansas was no misnomer during the next few years dut but gradually the antislavery anti slavery forces won and kansas became a free state only two slaves were listed in the ahe census of 1860 many notables have trod tr odthe the kansas i is toge heading the list Is geri gen I 1 dawighi D eisenhower Elsen hower great mill mili i tary lender leader of world war 11 j the history of the old west Is represented 1 by such kansas personage sj si as wild bill hickock the marshal of abilene and buffalo bill the scout carrie nation and ancl her saloon busting hatchet also brought the state nto the he limelight in statuary ahall hall in the nations capitol is the he 1 l figure of john J ingalls senator orator essayist poet E ed d howe the sage of potato hill and his contemporaries walt wait mason and william allen alien white of the emporia gazette were kansas folks but we the unknown soldier the he un honorid hero I 1 of kansas Is the man obb introduced the plow lie ho was not a glamorous figure and his hands were gnarled and blistered blister edi and bent to the shape of a ale plow handle t kansas is ideally situated for agriculture but it took a plow to break the sod where william F cody used to hunt buffalo are the greatest wheat lands in the world kansas produces more wheat than any other state in the union almost one fourth of the entire united states crop it Is first in milling and wheat storage corn alfalfa hay sorghum broom corn sudan grass potatoes sugar beets barley flax rye soybeans vegetables fruits truck crops kansas produces almost everything that Is in grown on a farm richla resources kansas finds riches below as well as above the surface of her rolling fertile acres kansas is one of the leaders in oil production with its companion natural gas lead and zinc are ml mined ned extensively coal Is s produced in most parts of the state under kansas Is enough salt to last volcanic ash gypsum limestone clays and ther other resources are mined in kansas it is an important source of helium gas As the geological center of the united states kansas was and Is the die land of trails those who valio sought land in oregon gold in california or colorado trade with the mexicans in santa fe or cattle from texas used kansas as a highway the santa fe trail the california and oregon trails the butterfield trail the te smoky hill route overland trails pony express espre ss route jim lane Tr trail alland and the cattle tr trails alls from texas including the chisholm old shawnee ellsworth and western trails oil all used kansas for a right of way kansas today bears some of the ahe scars of long ago i ruts made by thousands of cover covered ed wagons and hooves ot of cattle among them lonely graves still may be found and bridle bits parts of wagons and other muto mute i reminders of the pa past stare are picked up occasionally by grandchildren of the pioneers kansas Is great not only as one ot of the food producing states of the nation but as a great family of people who retain much of the pioneer spirit they stuck it out a few generations ago and kansans kansana are still sticking it out for freedom of thought and of action and for the right to progress by their own efforts 1 arnn 4 V 0 7 ta 1 F I h R 11 I 1 f N 7 31 i 73 te f 0 o qi pill po A x w I 1 NI w |