In the winter of 1879–1880, Armour traveled to Wyandotte County, Kansas, after becoming disturbed to hear that emancipated blacks from the deep South had arrived there unprepared for the midwestern winter. Armour returned to Chicago and raised funds for the stranded Exodusters, reporting, "I talked with a great many of them and was surprised at their intelligence. I asked them where they thought they were going. They said only North to escape persecution. . . . They had no idea that they were going to a land of plenty or idleness, but simply to a land of freedom." In all, Armour raised $1,200 from Chicago businesses ($200 from his own Armour and Company, $200 from the unrelated Armour, Dole & Co. (owned by George Armour), $200 from Field, Leiter & Co. (later known as Marshall Field & Company), $100 from N.K. Fairbank & Co. (owned by N.K. Fairbank), and $50 each from ten others).