From Far Away RussiaWheat"Kansas will be to America what the country of the Black Sea . . . is now to Europe -- her wheat field."--Topeka Commonwealth, October 15, 1874 
The Russian-Germans arrived at a critical time in Kansas history. They brought new dollars to the state following a period of severe drought, grasshopper infestation, and depression. In 1874 alone they added an estimated one million dollars to the Kansas economy. Above, a prosperous Harvey County Mennonite colony pictured in The Western Magazine, 1881. Russian-German farmers preferred to group their homes in villages (center) and commute to the fields. "They refute the statement so often heard in Kansas that a farmer cannot make money growing wheat alone. They have grown nothing except wheat for twenty-five years and are prosperous." 
Russian-German farmers helped turn Kansas into the nation's breadbasket. Unlike most other farmers new to Kansas, they were experienced at prairie-style agriculture. Mennonites often are credited with introducing Turkey red wheat to Kansas. This hardy winter variety flourished on the Plains. At right, Alex Schumacher and his brothers (Volga Germans) harvest wheat near Munjor, Kansas. "Whereas 200 years in Russia left them unchanged from what their fathers were--less than ten years in the great state of Kansas . . . finds them with landed estates, herds of cattle and horses and finer houses than they or any of their fathers ever hoped to occupy in Russia." 
At left, the home and store of the Klassens (Mennonites) near Goessel, Kansas, 1893.
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