18. Name the mineral resources of Kansas. Discuss each.
19. What manufacturing industries have grown from the mineral resources?
20. What industries are carried on in your community? Are any others being considered?
CHAPTER XVI
TRANSPORTATION IN KANSAS
The Beginning of Railroads in the United States. About the time Kansas was becoming the highway for the Santa Fe trade, experiments were being made in England with a new invention, the steam locomotive. By 1825 a fair degree of success had been attained. During the next half dozen years experiments were carried on in the United States, and by 1831 several short railroad lines were in use. By 1850 one could travel by rail between the chief cities of the East and as far west as St. Louis, but a decade more passed before any railroads were built in Kansas.
Kansas Settlers Desire Railroads. The agitation for railroads in this part of the country began even before the organization of the Kansas Territory. The settlers knew the difficulty of building up the State without the aid of the railway. They had crept across the prairies in their canvas-covered wagons, or had toiled up the shallow, sluggish waterways, and they foresaw that they would be unable to market their crops or their stock because of the lack of adequate means of transportation. Their great desire for railroads is made evident by the large number of railway charters granted to different companies by the Territorial Legislatures. On account of the immense cost of railroad construction, however, work was slow to begin.
Early Stage Lines. While the West was waiting for its railroads a number of stage routes for carrying mail and passengers were established. The first one was over the Santa Fe Trail. Stages made the trip from Kansas City to Santa Fe in about fifteen days. For many years stage lines were operated between the different towns of the Territory. Later, lines were established to Denver, to Salt Lake, and even to San Francisco.
