100 years ago in Kansas, August 9-11, 1917:

August 9, 1917

  • A remount station for 10,000 horses and a bakery to provide bread for 50,000 men were planned at Fort Riley.

August 10, 1917

  • The War Department announced that the regular army was at full war strength and that Kansas had filled its quota.
  • Congress passed the food and fuel control act.  Farmers were urged to plant more wheat and were called slackers if they refused.  The government did not advise as to soil requirements.  An increase of 1,000,000 acres was Kansas’ quota.  Wheat was selling at $2.10 a bushel.

August 11, 1917

  • Because of failure of feed crops, farmers in the Utica vicinity were filling their silos with Russian thistles.  Thistles had been cured for hay quite successfully.
  • Kansas dairy herds had increased 76 percent since 1910.  Over a million milk cows were registered.

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.