=The Drouth of 1859-’60.= Each year during the Territorial period the crops raised were barely sufficient to keep the people through the winter. There was no surplus at any time, and when the summer of 1859 brought a drouth, a famine resulted. Through all the hard struggle the people had believed that as soon as the strife and political difficulties were over, prosperity would come. However, with the dawning of peace in the Territory there came the most severe drouth that has ever been known in the West. It began in June, 1859, and from that time until November, 1860, a period of more than sixteen months, not enough rain fell at any one time to wet the earth to a depth of more than two inches. Two light snows fell during the winter, but neither was heavy enough to cover the ground. The ground became so dry that it broke open in great cracks, wells and springs went dry, and the crops were a total failure. [Illustration: A SOD HOUSE.] =Effect of the Drouth on Kansas Settlers.= There were at this time nearly 100,000 people in Kansas, and to fully 60,000 of them the drouth finally meant that they must receive help or starve. They had been able to fight border ruffians, but they could not fight starvation. After a year of the drouth they began to give up and go back East. During the fall of 1860 no fewer than 30,000 settlers abandoned their claims and the improvements that had been made at the expense of so much labor, and left Kansas. There were still 30,000 people here for whom charity was necessary. All this brought bitter disappointment to the people who had come to Kansas with high hopes and willing hands. =Aid Sent from the East.= As soon as the true condition of affairs was known in the East a movement was begun for the relief of the sufferers. Many states responded liberally, and immense quantities of provisions and clothes were sent here to be distributed. Hundreds of bushels of seed wheat were furnished. Besides all of the public help, many relatives and friends sent supplies to the pioneers. Nevertheless, there were many that winter who barely escaped starvation. =Drouth Retards Development of Kansas.= Great as was the suffering from disappointment and want, the drouth brought another evil; it threw Kansas back in its development. Not only had a third of the population left the Territory, but the accounts given by those who returned tended to discourage others from coming. The old stories about the “Great American Desert” were revived. Kansas was looked upon as a place of drouth and famine, and for several years the number of immigrants was much decreased.