2013 Spring Newsletter

Droughty Kansas from page 9

would have gone down to their graves long before this time nor of the barefooted and half clad teamsters toiling beside their half-starved teams thro’ the snow for days together with the food sent from “the East” that was to gladden the hearts of those destitute ones at home Every dweller in Kansas owes a lasting debt of gratitude to “the East” for what she IBT EPOF GPS UIF TVČ FSJOH IFSF 4BSBIw Finally on April 12, 1861 the drought ends and John writes, “It has set in to rain, and now it rains every day a little damp and cold consequently.” # + 4IFSJEBO PXOFS BOE FEJUPS PG UIF ć F 8FTUFSO 4QJSJU XSPUF B DPMVNO UJUMFE ć F 8FFLMZ $SJUJDw 0O +BOVBSZ IF TUBSUFE B TFSJFT IJT BVUPCJPHSBQIZ IF DBMMFE 4UPSJFT PG B ,BOTBO ć SPVHI UIF FZFT PG B TFWFO PS FJHIU ZFBS PME CPZ IF EFTDSJCFT UIF ESPVHIU ZFBST )F XSJUFT i*O .BSDI TBX UIF ĕ STU HSFBU ĕ SF ć FSF IBE CFFO OFJUIFS SBJO nor snow for two months, and the prairie was a tinder box. Fire seemed to start on both sides of the Marais des Cygnes, BOE FWFSZ TFUUMFS NVTU IBWF TFU JO UP CBDLĕ SF *U MPPLFE MJLF UIF XPSME XBT CVSOJOH VQ w )F DPOUJOVFT i* TBX UIF PVUMJOFT PG UIF .JBNJ .JTTJPO CVJMEJOHT BQQBSFOUMZ CVSOJOH CFUXFFO NF BOE UIF Ę BTIJOH XBMMT PG ĕ SF UP UIF FBTU .PTU PG UIF OJHIU JU XBT CSJHIU BT EBZ w 5PP IJT QFSTQFDUJWF ić F ESPVHIU PG A XBTO U TP CBE BT JU XBT QJDUVSFE w )F DPOUJOVFE writing that patches of corn “along the rivers produced 20 bushel to the acre of prime corn.” Bernie Sheridan’s “recol lection is there wasn’t a skit of snow, or shower of rain, from February until June, when there came a general sprinkle. Most wells and springs went dry, and water was hauled in barrels from pools in the river and the creeks.” According to .S 4IFSJEBO FWFO XBTIEBZT XBT B DBVTF GPS B IPMJEBZ XIJDI XBT DFMFCSBUFE iGSPN $PVODJM #MVČ T UP $PVODJM (SPWF

Page 16