422 



KANSAS. 



tion City, a short distance west of Fort 

 Riley, and 139 miles from Wyandotte. A con- 

 tract has been made for constructing an addi- 

 tional 240 miles westward, to be completed 

 by January 1, 1868. This will carry the road 

 to within 240 miles of Denver, and insures its 

 completion in two years more. The Atchison 

 branch of the Union Pacific was originally in- 

 tended to run 100 miles west from Atcmson, 

 and there connect with the Wyandotte branch 

 on its way northward to join the Nebraska line. 

 But the change of route effected by the Wyan- 

 dotte branch leaves the Atchison road practi- 

 cally without a terminus, and it is therefore 

 not unlikely that an effort will be made to carry 

 it up the Republican Fork of the Kansas River, 

 and thence to Fort Kearney, which will be very 

 nearly the route marked out originally for the 

 "Wyandotte branch. About 50 miles of this 

 road were completed in 1866. North of the 

 Atchison branch, and parallel with it, for a dis- 

 tance, is the St. Joseph and Pike's Peak Rail- 

 road, which is designed to run westward from 

 Elwood, on the Missouri River, opposite St. 

 Joseph (Mo.), and join the Union Pacific. It 

 receives a liberal grant of lands from Congress, 

 but no Government bonds. But a few miles of 

 the road have been completed. Besides these 

 roads, four others have been projected, and will 

 soon be commenced, viz. : the Kansas and Neo- 

 sho Valley, running south from "Wyandotte, or 

 Kansas City, through one of the richest por- 

 tions of the State, to the Neosho River; the 

 Neosho Valley, running from Fort Riley, via 

 Neosho and Arkansas Valleys and Fort Gibson to 

 Fort Smith, Arkansas; the Leavenworth, Law- 

 rence, and Fort Gibson, running from Lawrence 

 southward; and the Leavenworth, Lawrence, 

 and Galveston road, destined to connect Kan- 

 sas with the Gulf of Mexico, 700 miles distant. 

 The two first named of these roads have re- 

 ceived liberal land grants from Congress. The 

 last has a subsidy from the Government of 

 64,000 acres of land to the mile, and an addi- 

 tional grant from the State of 125,000 acres. In 

 connection with this, aid has been given by the 

 five counties through which it passes, to the 

 amount of $125,000 each, and application will 

 be made to the Legislature to indorse these 

 county bonds, with a view of securing the com- 

 pletion of the road. In the latter part of 1866 

 the directors entered into a contract for its 

 commencement, and promises to complete it 

 beyond the southern boundary of Douglas 

 County by midsummer. "Within two years it 

 is expected that the cars will run to the south- 

 ern line of Kansas. 



The constant development of the mineral 

 wealth of Kansas places the State among the 

 foremost in the Union. Iron, tin, gypsum, and 

 other precious minerals have already been dis- 

 covered in large quantities, and the Leaven- 

 worth papers report coal of a superior quality 

 has at length been found on the Government 

 reserve in Kansas. The vein was struck at a 

 depth of 580 feet. In addition to the remark- 



able discoveries of salt springs announced in out 

 account of Kansas for 1865, others of equal im- 

 portance have recently been made. Their loca- 

 tion is in the extreme southern portion of the 

 State, off the usual great routes of travel, and 

 in a region infested by savage tribes of Indians. 

 The salt covers the ground completely, forming 

 a crust, and can be shovelled up in large quan- 

 tities. It is fit for use in its original state, being 

 of the very purest character. "When cleaned from 

 the surface, leaving the earth bare, it appears 

 again immediately, and in a day or so the saline 

 deposits form a hard crust. These deposits ex- 

 ist in remarkable abundance over a country sixty 

 miles in extent. 



The crops of 1866 are reported to be among 

 the heaviest ever known, and statistics show 

 that in the average yield per acre of corn and 

 wheat, Kansas exceeds almost every State in 

 the Union. Sixty to eighty bushels of oats, and 

 thirty-five to forty-five bushels of wheat to the 

 acre were harvested in many parts of the State. 

 The ravages of the grasshoppers, which farmers 

 living west of the Mississippi are always liable 

 to encounter, caused in 1866 comparatively lit- 

 tle injury to the crops, which had been generally 

 harvested before their appearance. The north- 

 western part of the State suffered most from 

 them. 



The election in Kansas in 1866 was for a 

 Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of 

 State, Auditor, Treasurer, Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, Attorney-General, Chief 

 Justice of the Supreme Court, and Represent- 

 atives of Congress. The Republican State 

 Convention met at Topeka on September 5th, 

 and nominated S. J. Crawford for reelection as 

 Governor, and the following: For Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Major N. Green ; Secretary of State, 

 R. A. Barker; Treasurer, Major Martin Ander- 

 son ; Attorney-General, George H. Hoyt ; Chief 

 Justice, Samuel A. Mergwan. For Congress, 

 Hon. Sidney Clarke was renominated by accla- 

 mation. All these candidates were Radical Re- 

 publicans. The resolutions were strongly radi- 

 cal, and denounced the President and his pol- 

 icy. One of them recommended to the Legis- 

 lature to submit to the people the question of 

 striking the word " white " from the State 

 constitution. 



A State Convention of Democrats, and " all 

 others who are in favor of the principles enun- 

 ciated in the address and resolutions adopted 

 by the late Philadelphia Convention," was called 

 to meet at Topeka, Kansas, on September 12th, 

 to nominate candidates for Governor and other 

 officers. Meanwhile, however, a "National 

 Union Convention" was summoned to meet at 

 the same place, and for a similar purpose, on the 

 20th, the call being signed by the State Execu- 

 tive Committee, Hugh Ewing, the delegates 

 to the Philadelphia Convention, and many 

 others. In view of this call, and in accord- 

 ance with the desire of the Democratic Central 

 Committee, the call for the Democratic Con- 

 vention at Topeka, on the 12th instant,. was 



