itory for settlement. For
various reasons, more or less valid, and more or less the result of
influence and possible corruption, the actual opening of the country was
deferred for more than twenty years after its cession to the United
States Government, and in the meantime it occupied a peculiar condition.
Immense herds of cattle were pastured on it, and bad men and outlaws
from various sections of the country awoke reminiscences of biblical
stories about cities of refuge by squatting upon it, making a living by
hunting and indifferent agriculture, and resting secure from molestation
from officers of the law.

To remedy this anomaly, and to secure homes for themselves and families
in what was reported to be one of the most fertile tracts in the world,
Captain Payne and a number of determined men organized themselves into
colonies. There has always been a mania for new land, and many people
are never happy unless they are keeping pace with the invasion of
civilization into hitherto unknown and unopened countries. Many who
joined the Payne movement were doubtless roving spirits of this
character, but the majority of them were bona fide home-seekers, who
believed as citizens of this country they had a right to
quarter-sections in the promised land, and who were determined to
enforce those rights.

No matter, however, what were the motives of the "boomers," as they were
called from the first, it is certain that they went to work in a
business-like manner, planned a regular invasion, and formed a number of
colonies or small armies for the purpose.

We will follow the fortune of one of these colonies in order to show
what extraordinary difficulties they went through, and how much more
there is in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our humdrum
philosophy. The town of Caldwell, on the southern line of Kansas, was
the camp from which the first colonists started. It consisted of about
forty men, and about 100 women and children. Each family provided itself
with such equipment and conveniences as the scanty means at disposal
made possible. A prairie schooner, or a wagon with a covering to protect
the inmates from the weather and secure a certain amount of privacy for
the women and children, was an indispensable item. When the advance was
made, there were forty such covered wagons, each drawn by a pair of
horses or mules, and each containing such furniture as the family
possessed. The more fortunate ones also had in the wagon