06/01/1859
Though the year has been fairly successful agriculturally, the summer and fall of 1859 in Kansas were unseasonably dry. After a winter with only a little rain and less snow, Kansas began to experience a severe drought that produced heavy dust-storms across the territory and helped bring on what was called "the Kansas Famine." (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
Benson J. Lossing, Harper's Encylopedia of United States History From 458 A.D. to 1902, Volume IX (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1902), 343.