Miscellaneous Papers. 275 



Through the summer of 1860 the hot wind parched the soil and no 

 harvest followed the seed-time; hence, the approaching winter 

 brought an alarming outlook." (He was living in Marshall county 

 then.) 



Mr. Wm. H. Coffin, who settled in Leavenworth county in the 

 '50's, speaking of the drought, says, in part: "In the great drought 

 in Kansas, from June 19, 1859, to November, 1860, not a shower of 

 rain fell at any one time to wet more than two inches deep, and 

 but two light snows in the winter (1859-60). Roads never got 

 muddy, and the ground broke open in great cracks. There were 

 no vegetables whatever, and a burning hot wind in July and August 

 withered everything before it. Fall wheat came up in the spring, 

 but withered and died. Most counties did not harvest a bushel. 

 Low bottom-lands, where well tilled, gave some corn, but most other 

 lands dry fodder. Prairie-grass grew until July, then all withered 

 and died ; enough to supply their needs was mostly secured from 

 low bottom-lands. Wells, springs and streams dried up." 



Hon. Geo. W. Martin, in an address before the Old Settlers' As- 

 sociation of Geary County, September 21, 1901, said, in part: "The 

 changed condition in Kansas is indicated by the tone of the people 

 during the recent dry spell. It is no easy matter to reclaim a new 

 country, but the people of Kansas have accomplished marvels. 

 The drought of 1860 began September 1, 1859, from which date 

 there was no rain until September or October, 1860. . . . On 

 the 13th of July the mercury went up to 112 and 114 degrees in. 

 the shade ( the highest temperature at Manhattan was 115 degrees), 

 and, with a hot, scorching wind, it kept at these figures for weeks. 

 The leaves withered and fell off the trees, and eggs roasted in the 

 sand at midday. The dates of the beginning and ending of the 

 drought vary in locations, but it may be said that there were from 

 twelve to fourteen months between rains." 



Horace Greeley, writing in the New York Independent, of Feb- 

 ruary 7, 1861, referring to the drought of the preceding year, said : 

 " . . . Drought is not unknown to us ; but a drought so persist- 

 ent and so severe as that which devastated Kansas in 1860 is a 

 stranger this side of the Mississippi. No rain, or none of any con- 

 sequence, over an area of 40,000 square miles, from seed-time till 

 harvest — wheat, Indian corn, buckwheat, successively deposited in 

 the earth, to die without germination, or to start only to be blighted 

 and wither for want of moisture," 



Mrs. Susan M. Weymouth, in the Daily Capital, July 19, 1901, 

 says: "The drought of 1860 gave to Kansas the ignominious name, 



