KANSAS, one of the United States of America, lying between lat. 37° and 40° n., and long. 94° 40' and 102° west. Bounded on the n. by Nebraska, e. by Missouri, s. by Indian territory, w. by Colorado. It is 208 m. broad, and 408 in. long, and con tains 81,318 sq. miles. The capital is Topeka, and the principal towns are Atchison, Lawrence, and Leavenworth. The chief rivers are the Missouri, Kansas, Osage, Neosho, the Arkansas, and their branches. Nearly 2,000,000 acres are mineral lands, but three. fourths of the entire area is well suited for agriculture. There are no mountains or swamps, but the land rises in bluffs and rolling prairies. Efforts are being made to reclaim the arid plains, once called the "Great American Desert," and there seems promise of success. The soil is very fertile, producing all the cereals, with cotton, hemp tobacco, and fruits. The prairies contain abundance of game, consisting of the buffalo,
deer, antelope, wild turkey, wild goose, prairie hen. The rivers are full of fish, and their banks are sparsely timbered. Iron, coal, lignite, marble, kaolin, and salt are among.the minerals. In 1872 there were 1771 m. of railway completed, and 2,040 in. in 1875 In 1870 there were 1639 educational establishments, including a university and 21 colleges. In 1878 the state debt was $1,181,975; the value of real property, $96,695,457. Kansas was organized as a territory in 1854, and became the scene of violent contests, between northern and southern settlers, on the question of slavery. After much violence a constitution was adopted excluding slavery, and Kansas was admitted into the union Jan. 29, 1861. Pop. in 1870, 364,399.