With Kansas and Nebraska now open to settlement, a homesteading fever swept across the country. Expansive and promising, the Great Plains seemed to answer the call of a nation, and in May 1854 Congress, after considerable debate, passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Only a trickle of missionaries, soldiers, and surveyors were allowed to penetrate this barren, unfamiliar landscape.īut by 1850 an ever-increasing population and a growing economy focused attention on the country's need for new land. Originally a part of the Louisiana Purchase, it had been strictly maintained by the government as an Indian territory and as such was officially closed to any white settlement. As a result, the Kansas wilderness remained relatively unknown until the middle of the nineteenth century. They called it "the Great American Desert." In the eyes of early explorers, Kansas appeared to be little more than an arid wasteland, unfit for cultivation and unsuitable for habitation. The wilderness is the place to find God, and the city is the place to study the multitude a knowledge of both makes master builders for the state and nation." We all need the wisdom of the wilderness - Moses did, Jesus did, and Paul did. "Pioneering is really a wilderness experience.
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