[Illustration: STATE GOVERNORS, 1877-1893. JOHN P. ST. JOHN GEORGE T. ANTHONY GEORGE W. GLICK LYMAN U. HUMPHREY JOHN A. MARTIN LORENZO D. LLEWELLING] =The Kansas Boom in the ’80’s.= The ten years following the grasshopper invasion of 1874 were all good years. The rains fell and crops flourished. It was a period of remarkable growth and prosperity. During these years the railroads were making special efforts to bring settlers into the State, and Kansas was widely advertised. Reports of the opportunities here stimulated immigration, and settlements overspread the western prairies. Great confidence was felt in the future of the State, and people in the East eagerly invested in western land and property. Money was easy to borrow, and the Kansas people borrowed liberally and began speculating in real estate. Kansas was soon “on the boom.” Property was bought, not to use, but to sell again at a higher price. Cities and towns laid out additions which were divided into lots and sold for large sums. Expensive improvements were made, and public and business buildings were constructed that were far larger and more costly than the needs of the time demanded. Railway and street-car lines were built where there was not business enough to support them. Hundreds of new towns were mapped out and the lots sold. Many of these towns never existed except on paper, and most of the others were later turned into pastures or cornfields. =Collapse of the Boom, 1887.= Since the new settlers were not familiar with soil and climate conditions in Kansas many of them selected land that was not adapted to agriculture, therefore much of the farming was not profitable. In 1887 came one of the most severe drouths that was ever known in the country. The people lost confidence in Kansas and the boom collapsed. Eastern people wanted their money back, but there was nothing with which to pay them. Money could not be borrowed and mortgages were foreclosed. People who had bought property at high prices, expecting to sell at a profit, found themselves unable to sell at any price. Many who had counted themselves wealthy found their property almost valueless. Banks and business houses failed and hundreds of people were ruined. Thousands left Kansas, some of the western counties being almost abandoned. The year 1887 was followed, however, by several good crop seasons. A great deal of attention was given to the study of farm conditions, and Kansas began to make progress again.