KANSAS. 



419 



authori/.ed by the !:i-t I.e-Mature, for the ptir- 



>f |iri)\ idinu' t'nr tin- erection o!' un ad- 

 ditional \vinu r t.) tin- State penitentiary, and of 

 one \vii, _'<>( a new capitol build'nur. 



KYporN \\ere received in 1 sc.7 from 1,050 

 school district- in the St;ite, \vliieh ln>\v that 

 ' ehildreii \vero in attendance at the puh- 

 lie schools during tlie year, Besides tlie com- 

 mon selio'ds, which appear to be in a flourish- 



nditioii, there niv .-everal academies and 

 coHcir. s in tin- State. The State I'niversity, 

 located at Lawrence, has inado a marked ad- 

 vancement toward a high rank as an educa- 

 tional institution, a preparatory department 

 having been organized, and a regular collegiate 

 coin-so of study marked out. Additions have 

 also heen made to the corps of instructors and 

 to the apparatus in use for illustration. One 

 hundred and five students were in attendance 

 at the university during the past yenr. This 

 institution is endowed with a grant of land of 

 46,080 acres. The State Agricultural College 

 :;t Manhattan has also been -.'rowing in strength 

 (luring the year. One hundred and seventy- 

 eight students were enrolled in its various de- 

 partments and some progress has been made 

 in perfecting the strictly agricultural feature of 

 the institution. A military department has 

 heen added, and Brevet Major-General J. W. 

 Davidson, of the United States Army, detailed 

 liy the Secretary of War, in accordance with an 

 act of Congress approved July 28, 1866, as 

 Professor of Military Science. A. State Normal 

 School has been in successful operation for 

 three years at Eraporia. A new building for 

 the use of this school was dedicated on the 2d 

 day of January last. A Model School forms 

 an interesting feature of this institution. Dur- 

 ing the past year one hundred and twenty-five 

 students were in attendance in the Normal De- 

 partment, and twenty-seven attended the Model 

 School. 



The public eleemosynary institutions of the 

 State are represented as in a flourishing con- 

 dition. There is an asylum for the deaf and 

 dumb at Olathe, at which twenty-five ' pupils 

 were provided for during the year. The Insane 

 Asylum, at Ossawatomie, is capable of accom- 

 modating only twenty-two patients, and thirty- 

 eight of those applying for admission during the 

 could not be received for want of room; 

 but the twenty-two who were provided for 

 were so successfully treated that twelve of the 

 number had been- discharged as nearly or quite 

 restored to a sound state of mind. An institu- 

 tion for the blind had been previously located 

 at Wyandotte, but the necessary appropriations 

 for its erection were not made until the last 

 i) of the Legislature. Under the pro- 

 visions of an act passed in February last, a 

 hoard of directors were appointed to erect 

 suitable buildings for this institution. A build- 

 in::, sufficiently commodious for the present 

 wants of the State, has accordingly been 

 erected, at a cost of about $18,000. A new 

 structure is in progress' for the uses of a State 



capitol, and is expected to be ready for occn- 



Eation at the time of the meeting of the Legi*- 

 itjire in 1869. 



Kansas has made great progress in the con- 

 struction of railroads within two or three years 

 past. The Eastern Division of the Union Pacific 

 Railroad, running along the valleys of the Kan- 

 sas and Smoky Hill Rivers, has been com; 

 from Wyandotte westward, to a distance of 

 three 1 1 u m I red and thirty-five miles; and thirty- 

 five miles more will bring it to the western 

 boundary of the State. There is also a branch 

 of thin road completed between the cities of 

 Lawrence and Leaven worth, a distance of thirty- 

 three miles. The Central Branch of the Union 

 Pacific Railway is already in operatirm for ninety 

 miles, running from the city of Atchison west- 

 ward to the Republican valley, and thence in a 

 northwesterly direction to intersect the Pacific 

 line near the one hundredth meridian. A contin- 

 uation of the Missouri Pacific Railroad has been 

 constructed from Wyandotte to Leavenworth. 

 A railroad is also in progress from Leavenworth 

 southward, which is to traverse the State of 

 Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas, termi- 

 nating at Galveston. Sixty-five miles of this 

 line are already in working order, and when 

 complete, including a bridge at Leavenworth, it 

 will connect Chicago and Galveston by a con- 

 tinuous line of railway, and cannot fail to aid 

 vastly in the development of the resources of 

 Texas and the Indian Territory. Several other 

 important railroads are in progress in the State 

 which will connect its leading towns with the 

 large cities of all the surrounding States. 

 Among the lines projected and undergoing sur- 

 vey are the Southern Branch of the Union Pa- 

 cific Railway, to run in a southeasterly direction 

 from Junction City and intersect the Memphis 

 and Little Rock road at Fort Smith, Ark. ; a 

 line from St. Joseph to Denver City, in Colo- 

 rado ; and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F 

 roads. 



Kansas suffered severely from the attacks 

 and depredations of the Indians during the war 

 with certain hostile tribes which raged during 

 thepast summer, especially on the line of the Pa- 

 cific Railroad. In June the camp at Fort Harker 

 was attacked by the Indians, on which occasion 

 Governor Crawford offered to furnish a bat- 

 talion of volunteers to Lieutenant-General Sher- 

 man to aid in suppressing the hostilities in that 

 vicinity. The offer was accepted by the com- 

 mander of the division, and a battalion of the 

 Eighteenth Kansas cavalry, consisting of four 

 companies, was mustered into the service of the 

 I'nited States for four months, at Fort Harker, 

 on the 15th of July. 



The Legislature of Kansas, which meets an- 

 nually on the second Tuesday in January, as- 

 sembled on the 8th, and continued in session 

 until the 26th of February. Considerable time 

 was occupied during the first part of the session 

 in a close contest for the election of United States 

 Senators, which resulted in the choice of the 

 radical Republican candidates S. C. Pomeroy 



