Show kansas once battleground of settlers rich in farming oil and industry prep prepared re d hlonas by national geographic society washington a D C service ROP control measures CROP C are of vital interest in kansas where the corn crop is ripening and the problem of limiting wheat bhea t acreage is due for discussion in the fall of this year today from boston bankers to arizona cowboys all america eats bread made of kansas hard red winter wheat t each year some bushels are threshed here and enough is ground to make about 47 loaves for every human being in the united states until mennonites settled in kansas in 1873 little wheat was grown from russia however theses these immigrants brought a new variety vari etya a red winter grain so hard bard that millers at first had trouble grinding it since that time the best kinds of wheat grown here have come through selection or hybridization from turkey or from other imports of crimean wheat similar to turkeys now agents of soviet rus sias government come here to buy seed of this improved wheat taking it back bac kafter after all these years to the regions it came from to kansas from asia came white blossom sweet clover from manchuria the soybean in fact most plants of economic value in kansas are from other lands laa this Is true of orchards vegetable and flower gardens few plants were introduced accidentally the pioneers covered wagon carrying horse feed may have been the means of first bringing in bluegrass influx of noxious weeds may also be traced to accident but the spectacular change in a few de decades cades in kansas plant life was willfully achieved ac after study selection and scientific plant breeding owned by spain then france from spain to kansas was a long way in 1541 yet that year coronado got here seeking his fabled seven cities of cibola more spaniards came later but they left only faint footprints in the sands of kansas time after la salle floated down the mississippi and claimed its basin for louis XIV french trappers ranged all these midwest mid west streams from a trading post built near present day oak mills village in one year 1757 they shipped pe pelts its to paris via new orleans many french trappers married squaws squads charles curtis of kansas former vice president of the united states was proud of his indian ancestry bandied back and forth between spain and france this was a little known region even when napoleon in 1803 sold the louisiana territory to the united states it included most of kansas though spain still ruled over what is now the southwest section of the state I 1 rightfully we get title to all of what is now kansas till after the annexation of texas which as a republic had owned the southwest corner of it the same corner comer that had bad been first spanish and then mexican by this time a few whites were teg in east kansas from missouri to new mexico flowed that steady two way stream of traders soldiers teams wagons wagon s goods furs and treasure which was to make the santa fe trail one of the most romantic and spectacular carvan caravan a roads in all history gold cold seekers rushing to california after 1849 swarmed across kansas by scores of thousands along with outlaws swindlers lers and road agents breaking still more new trails including the oregon and its branches the salt lake mormon and california news that aroused the nation broke in kansas in 1854 over the kansas nebraska bill this Is law set up the territories named and said that when they were ready to loin join the union each might say tor for itself by popular vote whether or not its c citizens should hold slaves battled battleground round of north and south immediately kansas became a battleground from the north came colonists sent by the new england emigrant aid company to vote for free soll soil 11 some carried guns called beecher bibles because paid tor for with funds raised by henry ward beecher southern states raised funds and cent armed bands of settlers to vote the pro slavery ticket Missour missourians ians dubbed border ruffians Ruf flans flocked over to help the slave own ing element murders raids and house burn ings continued for or years at law rence type metal from the herald of freedom thrown into the river by a previous mob was fished out and molded into cannon balls one event in border war kansas kansa will never forget that is quan Quant rill riUa guerrilla raid on lawrence lawrenc e when that missouri hothead sacked and burnt the town and slew some citizens history gives space to the marais des bygnes massacre and old john browns historic crusade and his final execution after his effort to seize guns at harpers ferry arsenal to arm slaves even after kansas was admitted as a free state in 1861 and after the civil war ended it was plagued tor for years by indian raids county seat fights and bad men who rode up the great cow trails from texas writers still argue as to whether dodge city in its wild days was more wicked than abilene scenes in the oil fields day and night oil field bedlam as a at t russell field near hays fills the air with clatter and shouts big strikes s quickly cover empty plains W with ith new unpainted pine shacks tents new stores lumber yards machine shops auto camps big piles of new pipe walking beams of working pumps black pools fright ful looking dense smoke clouds from burning waste long lines of tall steel derricks that march like big skeletons to far horizons you see slangy waitresses at quick lunch counters electric welders in ceaseless movement i wearing odd helm helmets e ts that ward off heat ind and blinding torchlight and crowds of men in overalls so greasy that they seem to have just been baptized by total immersion in the smelly black oil now pumped from the worlds deep dark greasy bowels oil that means more cash to kansas than her boasted wheat crop As you near mcpherson erson silvery domes of oil refineries glint in morning sun like mosques on a babylonian plain heavy tank trucks loaded with new made gasoline speed west tor for denver one ot of the newest scientific oil hunting methods is use of the sis mcgraph mo graph which works more or less like the echo sounding machines used by ships now to measure ocean depths wichita Is a busy city wichita has one ot of the bests finest airports with airplane shops that build planes for or our army and navy and some for export supplanting its pioneer fires fire s ol of buffalo chips a gigantic fac factory tory here makes oil stoves and lamps that are sold to worlds end tall flour mills pierce the skies and crowded stockyards stock yards noisy with bawls grunts squeals and bleats handle trainloads train loads of meat bearing animals from all over the south buyers flock to Wi chitas busy mule mar ket missouri mockingbirds mocking birds they nickname these agile shapely but sterile hybrids whose quick heels pack a lot of dynamite metropolis of this state is kansas city kan on the missouri side shops that sell boots big sombreros sombre ros and horse gear on the kansas side a big busy town of mills packing plants soap factories and the fine homes of many who ride over to daily affairs in the big missouri town across q the river shaded by great modem buildings in the heart of the kansas city is an old indian burying ground long a bone of con between sentimentalists and municipal builders in sheer size colossal santa fe shops and offices easily dominate topeka almost obscuring even the statehouse brisk industries abound ranging from meat products product and and flour to the printing and metal tal trades curious among industries is one which packs horse meat for export lofrance to france hub of the states highway system served by four railways and by ample water and power plants topeka Is a good example of a well wea balanced mature american provincial city round fecund earth knows no better corn land than east kansas most corn is not sold for cas cash h it is turned into money through th the e alimentary canal of livestock pa particularly r ticul arly pigs |