After the law passed, anti-slavery people were worried that the Kansas Territory would become a slave state. This is because the state next to Kansas is Missouri, which was a slave state. People believed that the first settlers in Kansas would be from Missouri. To stop Missouri from influencing Kansas, anti-slavery people from around the United States came to Kansas. These people wanted to make Kansas a free state. These people were called "free-staters." The New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC) helped anti-slavery people move to Kansas. It sent two men named Charles L. Robinson and Charles H. Branscomb to explore the land. They would decide a good place to send people. They saw Hogback Ridge, and they liked it because it was close to the Oregon Trail. They told the NEEAC to send people to this place.