Show g ayr ay q IA R M 7 A 1 by EDWARD feature we d do 0 riot not live but only stay and are too poor to get away life on the frontier is always hard it was doubly hard in kansas where the pioneers had to endure border wars over slavery bad men drout droutha hs grasshoppers blizzards and dust storms in 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 characteristic of kansas people perhaps it was the crucible of those early years that steeled and tempered the kansas spirit which conquered the prairies they stuck it out rose above the trials of the hour arid and developed that rare sense of humor which enables kansas people to laugh at themselves and the foibles of 0 mankind despite coronado and other spanish explorers and french traders kansas remained indian and buffalo country for two centuries after english colonists settled in new england and virginia slow in settlement it was not until the kansas ne braska bill was passed in 1854 that the land was opened to settlement at that time the entire white population of kansas consisted of about soldiers based at forts leavenworth and riley and walnut creek CHIEF EXECUTIVE gov andrew F cl is a native kansan born in claflin in barton county A former lawyer and veteran of world war 1 I he was a member of the kansas corporation commission until he be was elected governor in 1912 1942 post office on the sante fe trail and an equal number of civilians at indian missions stage stations and trading posts the question of 0 slavery immediately plunged kansas into bloodshed even before the kan sas nebraska bill was signed Missour missourians ians who mho favored slavery slipped across the border and founded leavenworth and atchison but eli found 29 men in new england who were willing to emigrate to kansas settle on the prairie be neighbors to indians and fight slave holders dr charles robinson brought a second party of antislavery emigrants including tour four musicians from boston to settle at al lawrence congress had decreed that kansas would decide the question of slavery tor for itself and kan sans set out to do it in their owr own way k V 14 1 I 1 i BREAD BASKET OF THE WORLD kansas Is the no I 1 wheat producing state of the nation yielding almost a fourth of t he entire U S crop whether for or against slavery kansas settlers lived in log huts buts shake houses bouses sod shanties dug outs and other humble shelters using grass brush and buffalo chips for fuel the sod crop was corn and corn they atel corn bread parched corn hominy cornmeal corn com meal mush they boiled corn tried fried it baked it stewed it fortunately 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 hundreds of missourians Missour ians with rifles on their shoulders six shooters in their belts and a liberal supply of whiskey in their wagons crossed the border and voted vote d all ali of the pro slavery candid candidates ates except one were elect elected edl and when the bogus legislature met in july the missouri slave code was the law of kansas the curtain raiser to the civil war was fought in kansas men alen were murdered in cold blood border ruffians ravaged antislavery settlements john brown and his sons took up the challenge and took after the slave holders bleeding kansas was no misnomer during the next few years but gradually the antislavery anti slavery forces won and kansas became a free state only two slaves were listed in the census of 1860 many notables have trod the kansas sta stage stae e heading the list is gen dwight D eisenhower Elsen hower great military leader of world war il II frontier personages the history of the old west is represented by such kansas personages as wild bill hickock the marshal of abilene and buffalo bill the scout carrie nation and her saloon busting hatchet also brought the state into the limelight in statuary hall in the nations capitol is the figure of john J ingalls senator orator essayists essayist poet ed howe the sage of potato hill and his contemporaries walt mason and william allen alien white of the emporia gazette were kansas folks but the unknown soldier the hero of kansas is the man who introduced the plow ile he was not a glamorous figure and his bis hands were gnarled and blistered and bent to the shape of a plow handle kansas Is ideally situated for or 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 firstin first in milling and wheat storage corn alf alfalfa alf a hay bay sorghum broom brookh corn sudan grass potatoes sugar beets barley flax rye soybeans vegetables fruits truck crops kansas produces almost everything that is grown on a farm rich in resources kansas finds riches below as well as above the surface of her rolling fertile aares acres kansas is one of the leaders in oil production with its companion natural gas lead and zinc are mined extensively coal is produced in most parts of the state under kansas is enough salt to last years volcanic ash gypsum limestone clays and 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 land of trails those who sought land in oregon gold in california or colorado trade with the mexicans in santa fe or cattle from texas used kan basas a highway the santa fe trail the california and oregon trails the butterfield trail the smoky hill route overland trails pony express route jim lane trail and the tha cattle trails from texas including the chisholm old shawnee ellsworth and western trails all used kansas tor for a right of way kansas today bears some of the scars of long ago rut ruts made by thousands of covered wagons and hooves of cattle among them lonely graves still may be found and bridle bits parts of wagons and other mute reminders of the p past are picked up occasionally by grand grandchildren chii of the pioneers kansas is great not only as one of the food producing states of the nation but as a great family of f people who retain much of th the e pi pia neer spirit they stuck it out a few generations pene rations ago and kansans kansana are still sticking it out tor for freedom of thought and of action and for the right to progress by their own efforts fi 2 A III J L P t 1 A e ty we aa VP t 1 C lip |