50° KANSAS AND THE COUNTRY BEYOND.

KANSAS CITY.

Is in Missouri, just across the line dividing that State from Kansas.
It is situated on a bluff on the south bank of the Missouri, about a
mile below the mouth of the Kansas river. At the mouth of the Kan-
sas the Missouri makes a great bend, changing its course from nearly
south to almost due east. It is a magnificent site for a city, whether
regarded in the light of its immediate location or of its commercial
possibilities as a great railroad centre. It is now the western ter-
minus of the Missouri Pacific road, and the eastern terminus of the
main line of the Union Pacific, Eastern Division. Soon it will have a
branch road to Cameron, on the Hannibal and St. Joseph road. Ere
long a branch of the North Missouri Railroad— which begins at St.
Louis, crosses the Missouri at St. Charles, and thence runs up through
the northern part of the State— will be made to Kansas City. Both
these important branch roads are to cross the Missouri at Kansas
City on the same bridge.

In addition to all these, Kansas City is to be one of the termini of
the great railroad which is soon to be made from several points in
Kansas to Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, which is but little over six
hundred miles distant, through one of me most beautiful and fertile
regions on the continent. The central stem of this road will reach
the Union Pacific at Lawrence; the eastern at Kansas City, and
probably the western will terminate at Junction City, at the mouth
of the Republican river, three miles beyond Fort Riley. The people
of the ambitious little city last named talk as if their branch was a
sure thing. That to Lawrence is sure, for they are pushing it on
vigorously, and expect to have twenty-four miles of it completed and
in operation by January next. As for the branch to Kaiisas City
there seems to be no doubt. All these roads run through very rich
agricultural lands, and all traverse good coal-fields before they come
together at or near the southern border of the State.

Such are the prospective advantages of Kansas City. To what it
may grow remains to be seen. Should its future be directed by men
of large, liberal and enlightened views, I cannot see how it can fail to
become one of the chief cities of this vast and magnificent region.
But should its destiny fall into the hands of narrow-minded, greedy
and unscrupulous adventurers, and should a rowdy element collect
there and give it a bad moral tone, then Leavenworth—which has
very nearly equal geographical advantages, and superior local advan-
tages—will maintain its position as the chief city of this important
centre. The struggle for the ascendancy between these two cities will