Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/57

 from which place the inhabitants receive mail by rural free delivery. Goddard is the most convenient railroad station.

Alexander, a prosperous little town of Rush county, is situated in Belle Prairie township, on Walnut creek and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., about 15 miles southwest of La Crosse, the county seat. It has a bank, two creameries, several good mercantile establishments, a money order postoffice, express and telegraph service, churches of several denominations, and reported a population of 150 in 1910.

Alexis, Grand Duke.—Many people may not know that Kansas was once honored by a visit from royalty. In Nov., 1871, Alexander II, at that time czar of Russia, sent his third son, Grand Duke Alexis, as a special embassador to President Grant and the people of the United States with congratulations on the outcome of the Civil war. With a desire to see something of the country, the grand duke spent a portion of Jan., 1872, with some army officers and plainsmen in roughing it through Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. The duke's desire was to engage in a buffalo hunt. Accordingly he was met by Gen. Custer and conducted to a camp on Red Willow creek, where it was supposed buffalo could be found. Learning that a large herd of buffalo had been seen in the vicinity of Kit Carson, 130 miles east of Denver, the party took a train at Fort Wallace, Kan., and went there. The troop horses used by the hunting party were unused to the bison and almost stampeded when they came within sight of the herd, causing several ludicrous and some slightly serious accidents. The grand duke has been described as “modest, good-humored and companionable,” and his good humor never showed to better advantage than in that buffalo hunt. After a ball at Denver, given in his honor, the royal party left on a special train for the east. A short stop was made at Topeka, where the grand duke was officially received by Gov. Harvey and the legislature, which was then in session, after which there was an informal reception.

 Alfalfa.—This leguminous plant was cultivated in ancient times by the Egyptians, Medes, Persians, Greeks and Romans. It is called lucerne in all countries of Europe, except Spain, where it is known by its Arabic name—alfalfa. Early in the history of the western continent the Spaniards carried alfalfa to South America, where it escaped from cultivation and is said to be found today growing wild over large areas. Alfalfa was carried from Chile to California about the year 1853 and from there it has spread eastward to the Mississippi river—and beyond. It was also introduced into America by the Germans, who planted it in New York as early as 1820. Alfalfa was grown ln Kansas earlier than 1891, but not until then does the Kansas State Board of Agriculture give a report of its acreage in its statistics on tame grasses. The table for 1891 shows three counties, Miami, Atchison, and Johnson as growing no alfalfa whatever. It shows the counties of Stanton, Ness, Neosho, Morton, Linn, Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Doniphan, Franklin, Haskell, Jefferson and Leavenworth as