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1868 Handwritten Letter Belle Plaine Kansas Prairie Agricultural Fair Wild Plums Antique Manuscript
Approximately 7.5\" by 8\"
1868 Frontier Letter — Belle Plaine, Kansas Prairie Life & Agricultural Fair
Offered here is a wonderful piece of 19th-century American postal history — a handwritten letter dated June 1868, addressed to Cuddebackville, New York, and written from the Kansas prairie frontier.
The writer vividly describes the landscape: little timber, wild plums and crab apples, wire fences, and cattle running at large. He enthusiastically reports attending a large Agricultural Fair at Belle Plaine, noting a fine showing of livestock, including \"very fine horses.\"
The letter closes warmly — \"Write as soon as you get this, be sure & send the Draft\" — signed J. Wm. Loucks (or similar).
Highlights:
- Dated June 1868 — early Kansas settlement era
- Rare firsthand account of prairie frontier life
- References Belle Plaine Agricultural Fair — early Kansas county fair history
- Addressed to Cuddebackville, New York
- Written on lined paper in period iron gall ink
- Folded letter format, two pages
A compelling piece for collectors of Kansas history, frontier Americana, or 19th-century handwritten correspondence.
Condition: Age-toned with light foxing and staining consistent with 157-year-old paper. Folds intact. Text legible.
