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HISTORY OF KANSAS.

CHAPTER I.

Description of the Territory,-Its boundaries-rivers-prairies-woodlands-soil-climate-appearance-and general characteristics.

THE territory of Kansas is a strip of land over two hundred miles in width, extending from the western boundary of Missouri to the highest ridge of the Rocky Mountains. It is bounded on the north by the territory of Nebraska; on the east by the state of Missouri; on the south by the Indian Territory and New Mexico; and on the west by the territory of Utah.

Its principal river is the Kaw or Kansas, which empties into the Missouri in latitude 39°, and longitude 94°, at the southern point, where that river separates the territory from the state of Missouri. It flows eastward to this point, receiving in its course many tributaries, some of which, the Republican and the Smoky Hill Forks, take their rise in the Rocky Mountains.

The north-western portion of the territory is watered by the tributaries of the Platte, which flows through Nebraska; and the eastern and southern districts by the Osage and Upper Arkansas and their branches.

None of these streams are navigable. A light-draught steamboat has passed up the Kansas more than one hundred miles, to Fort Riley; but very few attempts have been made

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