In 1860, just before statehood, Kansas was no longer primeval short-grass prairie. Famous roads like the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail went through from east to west. A number of settlements had sprung up where these roads crossed one of the numerous small and large rivers.
Above: Kansas territory in 1857. It included, as shown here, part of what is now Colorado; but nearly all the settlements were in the eastern sixth of the territory.
Kansas was made a territory in 1854. At that time it was still part of Indian Territory, and had in fact been named from the Kansas River, which got its name from one of the local tribes. Many of the natives had already been dipossessed of lands east of the Mississippi. They were promised lands in perpetuity in the Territory, but white settlers flooded in almost immediately and were in almost constant conflict with the Indians as well as among themselves.
By 1860 the territory had just over 107,000 inhabitants (today it has about 2.7 million). Emporia, which features in this story, was on the Neosho River where the Santa Fe Trail crossed it. About 50 miles to the southwest was an even smaller place on Durecho Creek, called Chelsea. Between the two was an expanse of rolling plains with no settlers at all, either white or native.
