An effort has been made to give the pupils a general view of the State’s history as a whole, to give them a framework on which to build their later knowledge, and to leave them with a desire to learn more of Kansas history.
II. KANSAS BECOMES A PART OF THE UNITED STATES 16
III. EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY BY THE UNITED STATES 20
VIII. THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 72
In that half-forgotten era, With the avarice of old, Seeking cities he was told Had been paved with yellow gold, In the kingdom of Quivera――
Came the restless Coronado To the open Kansas plain, With his knights from sunny Spain; In an effort that, though vain, Thrilled with boldness and bravado.
League by league, in aimless marching, Knowing scarcely where or why, Crossed they uplands drear and dry, That an unprotected sky Had for centuries been parching.
But their expectations, eager, Found, instead of fruitful lands, Shallow streams and shifting sands, Where the buffalo in bands Roamed o’er deserts dry and meager.
Back to scenes more trite, yet tragic, Marched the knights with armor’d steeds Not for them the quiet deeds; Not for them to sow the seeds From which empires grow like magic.
Thus Quivera was forsaken; And the world forgot the place Through the lapse of time and space. Then the blue-eyed Saxon race Came and bade the desert waken.
=Introduction.= More than four centuries have passed since Columbus discovered America. During that time the hunting ground of three hundred thousand Indians has become the United States with its more than one hundred million civilized people. In the center of this great nation, which occupies nearly half the area of the continent, lies Kansas, a rectangle four hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide.
Kansas is a part of the great plain that slopes gradually from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Its surface, cut by many eastward-flowing streams, lies level in the west but in the east curves into countless hills and valleys.
On these broad prairies to-day are thousands of cattle, and great fields of corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Towns and cities are scattered over the State, and the country between is dotted with the homes of farmers. There are mines, factories, churches, schools, and colleges. Uniting all are miles and miles of railroad. Kansas is now the home of more than a million seven hundred thousand of busy, prosperous people. But it was not always so; these prairies were once used only by the Indian and the buffalo. If we are to understand how this change has come about we must begin with the coming of the first white men to America.