Kansas had steadily progressed in prosperity and her towns and broad farming lands had increased immensely in value. This led to a "boom" during which cities were erected on paper and real towns increased in size. Many syndicates were organized to deal in Kansas real estate. Long blocks of buildings were erected in unnecessary towns, and the prairie was long after dotted with rusting pipes and hydrants, the only tangible evidences of these useless towns. The end of 1888 saw the great Kansas "boom" collapse, and, as this year had also had a failure of crops, Kansas experienced a panic. But this check in prosperity was comparatively brief.