In The Quadrangle: Elk Summary

Originally land claimed in Chase County by settlers in the 1862 Homestead Act was intended to develop large family farms. Since 1870, with the railroad 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, removes money from Chase County, and tourism, which is the largest industry is seasonal and does not bring permanent residents to the area who pay taxes PrairyErth.
Settlers received 160 acres of free land in Chase county in the 1862 Homestead Act. The land was free for the taking as long as it was not already claimed PrairyErth. 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 took up nearly 38 percent …show more content…
The author Heat-Moon recalls an account from Realty Agent Whitt Laughridge, who believes that “nearly three quarters of the county now belongs to nonresident” (PrairyErth 427). With large corporations and absentee owners owning most of Chase County, residents find themselves unable to stay in the area because they cannot afford the land and cannot find jobs that pay a living wage moreover, because money earned by absentee owners leaves the county instead of staying in the towns and because of the instability of tourism the largest industry growth in Chase County has become