altitude from 750 feet at the eastern limit to 

 3,300 feet at the western or Colorado border. 

 No mountains and no swamps find place in her 

 topography. In soil there is much diversity, 

 from the dark, deep loam of limestone land 

 prevalent in the eastern third, to the "plains" 

 and sandy formation to the westward, the latter 

 being more especially common to the Southwest. 

 Their comparative fertility is an unsettled prob- 

 lem, as the possessor of either is satisfied that 

 no other is quite so fertile as his own. 



Her climate is such as would be expected in 

 such a zone and along such parallels, having 

 neither tropic heat nor arctic cold. The official 

 in charge of the United States Weather Service 

 for Kansas furnishes the following as from his 

 records covering the last fifteen years: 

 Average temperature during three winter 

 months — December, January and Feb- 

 ruary 31^ 



Average temperature during the three summer 



m.onths— June, July and August 76.7° 



Average annual temperature for the State •••.54.2" 

 The average annual rainfall in the eastern 

 third of the State for fourteen years approxi- 

 mates 34 inches, gradually decreasing further 

 west. For the whole State the annual precipi- 

 tation has averaged 26.42 inches 

 For three winter months— Decem- 

 ber, January and February 0.91 inches. 



For three summer months — June, 



July and August 3.26 inches. 



There were no white inhabitants' in Kansas 

 in 1850; in 1856 there were less than 10,000, 

 and in i860 but 107,000. At the enumera- 

 tion, March, 1901, her population was 1,467,808. 

 The State is divided into 105 counties; the 

 largest of these in area is Butler, with 1,428 

 square miles, and ranking seventeenth in popu- 

 lation, with 22,802 inhabitants; the smallest 

 county is Wyandotte, of 153 square miles, but 

 first in population, with 74,267 inhabitants, and 

 including Kansas City, the seat of the second 

 largest live-stock market and also of the second 

 most extensive meat-packing industries in the 



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