OOPS! Trevor was supposed to hide this page from the public! But since you are here, feel free to read ahead.

This page serves as an in-progress workspace for me to collect historical documents related to a growing project investigating the psychology of a place (Cheney, KS). I am interested in learning more about the psychology of the early years of this place as a way of understanding the present moment.

In particular, I am collecting information related to 1) how people talk about and understand land in the context of colonial westward expansion, and 2) how people talk about and represent Native and Black Americans throughout history.

It is not well organized. It is akin to a folder of papers with jagged sticky notes protruding from all sides.

The Last Indian Scare?

In the book "The History of Wichita and Sedgwick County" (1910), O. H. Bentley details "The Last Indian Scare" which he notes occurred in the area of Sedgwick, Wichita, Kingman, and Harvey counties. He describes this as the "last Indian scare we ever had in this part of the country."

A differing account of the "last Indian scare" appears below in three separate newspaper clippings from the Wichita Eagle which describes an "Indian scare" in the same region but in 1885. The writer describes how, despite rampant fear and "excite[ment]" from the settlers, he "has seen no one that could truthfully say that they had seen a hostile Indian within the state."

The hysteria of the moment is an important demonstration of white settler anxiety with regard to whether they would indeed be able to have a comfortable future in this space.

Land for Sale

One important socioeconomic force that helped shape this space in the late 19th century was the U.S. federal government's incentive for settlers to "settle and make profitable large sections of country." Settlers understood the land as virgin grounds that had not yet realized their full productive potential. 

The realization of that potential required three things: the mass (and rapid) slaughter of bison which sent ripple effects through the local ecologies, the removal of Natives, and finally, the extension of vast railroad networks to facilitate the transport of resources. 

These three factors combined with government incentives for settlement to allow settlers to pick and choose where to live and reap profits from the land. As such, the local ecosystem consisting of deep biodiversity and deep prairie roots transformed into spacious green factories for the agricultural development of beef, wheat, and corn.