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On December 5, 1854,
nine men made the wintry
trek from the tent city
of Lawrence to a small
log cabin on the banks
of the Kansas River.
Huddled in the cold
before a smoky fire,
this group of men founded
a town which was to
play a major role in
the "Bleeding Kansas"
territory and later
become the new state's
capital.
The site was not an
accidental one. The
Pappan brothers had
been operating a ferry
there for several years,
catering to the wagon
trains heading westward
to California. Topeka
was becoming an early-day
crossroads. It would
eventually develop into
a railroad and highway
transportation center.
One of the grandsons
of these pioneer ferry
operators, Charles Curtis,
grew up to become vice-president
of the United States,
the only vice-president
to be of Native American
descent.
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