Land in Chase County originally used by settlers in the 1862 Homestead Act to develop large family farms. Since 1870, with the railroads moving into Kansas, the land has moved from private ownership into corporate ownership with absentee landowners. Today the absentee landowners and corporations still own much of Chase County and the largest money making industry is from tourism. William Least Heat-Moon writes about the change in land ownership in PrairyErth in the chapter “In the Quadrangle: Elk” and effects that corporate and absentee owners have made to the family farmer and the average person born and raised in Chase County. Absentee ownership results in Chase County residents being unable to buy land, unable to find good paying jobs, …show more content…
The land was free for the taking as long as it was not already claimed. By 1870, with most of the bottom land claimed, the railroad companies started to move into Kansas. Land grants given to the Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroads which took up nearly 38 percent of Chase County land. The Railroads took up odd-numbered plots in the county, making the settlement pattern unconnected plots of land. The 40 to 60 acre plots left for private ownership after the railroads claimed their land were only enough to sustain a farming family. Eventually the railroads sold large plots of land that the farmers used for free grazing to large corporations the Eastern Land and Loan Company and the Western Land and Cattle Company. The owners of these large corporations were not residents of Chase County and were only interested in big profits and buying even more land. The Western Land and Cattle Company grew to 35,000 acres and eventually divided the land into three parcels. Today, non-residents own nearly all the land in the nearly Elk …show more content…
The typical ranch hand only earns on average $11.12 per hour (Farm Hand Salaries in Kansas). Technology has made cattle ranching and farming much easier reducing the need for farm hands. Cattle farming is not labor or material expensive. In a town so small, farming is the main income for the residents. The lack of land and poor paying jobs due to large corporations owning all the land result in a serf and lord relationship where the people of Chase County are dependent on the large corporations. The citizens has no chance of improvement only manual work is available.
Absentee owners who do not reside in Chase County do not have an interest in the progress of that county or the small towns. They are not concerned about the politics in the area, the infrastructure, or schools. The money that they make off the land leaves the area and is not invested back into the community but invested elsewhere. The low paying jobs that they offer the residents do not help with taxes which fund the community. Absentee landlords care about high