the recently erected buildings would grace the
capital itself. Nearly $1,000,000 have been expended in the past four
years in new structures, all of magnesia limestone, and built along the
lines of the most approved modern architecture, and of a character which
insures scores of years of usefulness.

The fort is situated on the left bank of the Kansas River, near the
junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill Forks. It was first laid out
in 1852, and has ever since been one of the leading Western posts.
Located, though it is, far out on the Kansas prairies, it has,
particularly in late years, been fully in touch with the social life of
the East, through the addition of new officers and the interchange of
post courtesies.

The post, as it stands to-day, consists of officers' quarters, artillery
and cavalry barracks, administration buildings, sheds, hospital,
dispensary, etc., scattered over 150 acres of ground. The Kansas River
is formed just southwest of it by the union of the Smoky Hill and
Republican Forks, and the topography for practice and sightseeing could
not be surpassed in the State. Five miles of macadamized streets,
150,000 feet of stone and gravel walks, six miles of sewers, four miles
of water and steam heating pipes, leading to every room of each of the
sixty buildings, make up the equipment, which is, of course, of the
highest quality throughout. All the stone is quarried on the
reservation, and is of lasting variety, and makes buildings which bear a
truly substantial appearance. The Government has an idea toward
permanency in its improvements.

The history of Fort Riley has been one of vicissitudes. When it was laid
out in 1852, it was at first called Camp Center, but was changed to its
present name by order of the War Department in honor of General B. C.
Riley. In 1855, the fort suffered from Asiatic cholera, and Major E. A.
Ogden, one of the original commissioners who laid out the reservation,
who was staying there, nursed the soldiers with a heroic attachment to
duty, and himself fell a victim to the disease. A handsome monument
marks his resting place. He was a true soldier hero, and his name is
still spoken in reverence by the attaches of the post.

Another notable feature of the reservation is the dismantled rock wall
to the east of the fort, which is all that now remains of the once
ambitious capitol building of the State of Kansas. It has a strange
history, being the "Pawnee House," in which