Topics in Kansas History: Community & Daily Life

Essay

The Kansas frontier was a masculine world. In succession, trappers, traders, soldiers, hunters, gamblers, and cowboys sought adventure beyond the confines of Eastern society. Most worked for their own individual advantage with little thought for others. For recreation, they boozed and brawled, sometimes over the few women who ventured into such an environment. Human life was often very cheap. Young men, especially, were lured by the rough and tumble life of the frontier. There they could "sow wild oats" with virtually no restraint.

Missionaries worked to civilize the frontier by introducing social institutions, particularly churches and schools. Although their efforts had only a minimal impact on whites, missionaries still had an effect on the frontier by preaching Christian values and by reducing the flow of liquor that reached the Indians.

Frontier violence, and individualism were finally brought under control as a wave of farms and towns swept across Kansas after the Civil War. A more settled breed of people, including many families, came to replace the frontiersmen. Men's roles became focused on being leaders of their communities and breadwinners for their families. Their recreational activities also became more culturally oriented.

Beginning with the construction of Fort Leavenworth in 1827, a string of 12 forts were built in Kansas generally following the frontier westward. For recruits stationed at these outposts, their daily routine often did not meet their expectations of military life. Most of their time was spent doing manual labor with an occasional scouting trip, patrol, or campaign. Many never saw combat.

The military did not expect to occupy most frontier forts permanently. This resulted in inadequate funding for their construction. The military also required that all construction be done by the troops. Conditions at many of these forts were so bad that General Sherman commented in 1874: "Some of what are called military posts are mere collections of huts made of logs, adobes, or mere holes in the ground, and are about as much forts as prairie dog villages might be called forts."

Forts, according to military regulations, were constructed of readily available materials. Living conditions were still crowded. Each company (comprised of 100 men) was assigned a living area just 40 feet square.

Fort Leavenworth, a permanent military post, offered enlisted men better living conditions.

Officers always fared better than their troops with living quarters. The amount of living space awarded coincided directly to their rank. Many officers shared this space with their wives and families, a luxury few enlisted men could afford.

Drinking and gambling were standard diversions for many military men stationed on the frontier. Penalties for drunkenness or other infractions of military code were delivered swiftly and severely. Although prohibited by regulation, a few common forms of punishment were confinement in a sweatbox, marching to exhaustion while carrying a heavy load, and suspension by thumbs, wrist, or arms. Low regard for human life and quick tempers often resulted in violence on the frontier.

While much about camp life was harsh, it was not void of entertainment. Holidays and special occasions, such as a visiting general, would result in a festive celebration. Formal dinners, balls, and theatrical productions were not unknown on the frontier. Horse racing, baseball, and other athletic competitions were also favorite pastimes of the troops.

The post trader supplied troops with those items not provided by the military. Until 1881, the post trader was permitted to even sell liquor.

Begining about 1830, missionaries from several Christian denominations established permanent stations in the future Kansas. They came to serve Indian tribes that had been resettled from areas farther east. Isaac McCoy organized the Baptist missions and staffed them with younger missionaries who had worked with him in Illinois and Michigan.

Life was hard at the missions. Many of the Indians resisted the missionaries' efforts to teach them white culture, whether religious or secular. Dishonest whites sold the Indians liquor and stole their property, thereby undermining the missionaries' attempts to improve the lot of the Indians. Financial support from the eastern missionary societies was often meager and irregular, and living conditions on the frontier were primitive at best. Fortunately for the male missionaries, they usually had wives who shared their burdens and helped make their situation more bearable.

Troops accompanied stages, freighters, and other travelers when there was a possibility of attack by hostile forces.

In 1822, William Becknell led the first freight train to Santa Fe and opened up trade with the Southwest. For the next 50 years, muleskinners and bullwhackers directed their cargo- laden wagons along this trail. Usually comprised of 20 to 30 wagons, the caravans traveled from 14 to 18 miles a day. Work for the freighters began at dawn and ended long after the sun had gone down. Dangers, both man-made and natural, were numerous along the trail. For this hazardous job, freighters earned $35 a month. Men that engaged in this profession were often regarded as solid and adventurous but somewhat lacking in social refinement.

Stage drivers were socially ranked higher above the teamster in the transportation hierarchy. Known as "the dukes of the road," drivers participated in an industry that flourished in the West before the arrival of the railroad. In the 1850, an often bumpy and uncomfortable ride from Missouri to San Francisco took 22 days and cost $200.

Buffalo were being hunted for profit as early as the 1820s. With the arrival of the railroad in the early 1870s, which helped shipping and the increased demand for hides, thousands of young men became involved in the buffalo slaughter.

Buffalo existed in such vast numbers that hunters were known to kill hundreds in a matter of days and thousands in a matter of months. Buffalo hunter Frank Mayer commented: "We never killed all the buff we could, but only as many as our skinners could handle. Every outfit had its quota, which was determined by the ambition and the number of skinners. My regular quota was twenty-five a day, but on days when my crew weren't tired, I sometimes would run this up to 50 or even 60. But there I stopped, no matter how plentiful the buff were. Killing more than we could use would waste buff, which wasn't important; it also would waste ammunition, which was."

Dodge City was a major shipping point for buffalo meat and hides. In the first 3 months of 1872, over 43,000 buffalo hides and nearly 1.5 million pounds of meat were shipped to the East on the Santa Fe Railroad.

Buffalo were also killed in great numbers for sport. George Armstrong Custer and party are engaged in such a hunt in this photograph. In 1872, Custer took the celebrated Grand Duke Alexis of Russia on a hunting trip through Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas.

Another industry sprang from the slaughter of buffalo. Bone pickers were paid $4 to $6 a ton for the dried buffalo bones. Shipped east, the bones were then ground and used in the manufacture of fertilizer, combs, dice, buttons, and bone china dishes. Some homesteaders used this business to supplement their farm income.

Between 1867 and 1885, many men were engaged in the Texas cattle trade either as cowboys or businessmen who supplied the needs of the cattle industry. Every spring, herds of Texas longhorns were driven to the railheads in Kansas or farther north to stock the open ranges. It took about 30 to 40 days for a dozen cowboys to trail 2,000 head of cattle north from Texas. For their labors, cowboys earned between $25 and $40 a month, plus their food.

Most cowboys were young men, in their late teens or early twenties, and single. One 19th century definition of a "cowboy" was "anyone with guts and a horse." They needed to be strong to survive the harsh conditions of trail life. Cattle stampedes, hazardous trail conditions, and long hours in the saddle in all types of weather resulted in accidents and illness among cowhands.

After completing the grueling 300 to 350 mile trip from Texas, members of the crew were free to take advantage of town activities. Saloonkeepers, gamblers, and "sporting women" were always waiting at the end of the trail to take their hard-earned money.

Although the long cattle drives came to an end in the mid-1880s, there was still plenty of work for the cowboy. Cattle production in Kansas increased as ranchers became involved with the breeding of better stock.

In the spring and fall, cattle were rounded up for branding. Every rancher had a unique brand that was burned into the animal's hide to identify ownership.

The legend of the cowboy often omits the many Blacks, Mexican-Americans, and immigrants who worked the trails and ranches of the West.

In 1854, the newly created territory of Kansas was opened for settlers. It was not until after the Civil War, however, that Kansas experienced a significant increase in population. Free and cheap land provided by the Homestead Act and the railroads attracted many settlers. Over 70 percent of the immigrants arriving in these first two decades, were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture remained the principal occupation for Kansans until the 1920s.

Some men arrived alone to stake their claim and build a house before sending for their families.

To supplement their farm income during the early years or lean times, men would work for others breaking sod, plowing fields, digging wells, or hauling freight. In 1886, one female homesteader boasted in a letter to her family that her husband would make $9.00 a day plowing and had received $34 for 12 days work on a freighting trip.

After several years of working the land, farms began to take on a more permanent appearance.

Between 1860 and 1920, numerous mechanical and technological improvements in farm equipment changed the way farmers worked the land. Horse- drawn sulky plows, cultivators, binders, and reapers replaced slower, hand operations formerly used in crop production. Portable steam engines, introduced in the 1870s, and gasoline engines, available in the 1890s, enabled even more land to be cultivated and greatly reduced the amount of time and man-power needed to harvest crops.

Non-agricultural jobs for men became increasingly available as towns grew and as new businesses developed. More and more men worked some distance from home, leaving household affairs and child- rearing almost totally in the hands of women. Fathers were still authority figures but often had limited time for interaction with their families.

Many men found companionship outside the home in male-only clubs and societies. As leisure time was increased by technological advances and labor regulations, men had greater opportunities for recreational activities with other men of similar interests.

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