July 28 - 29, 2021: Great Bend - Scott City - Oakley, Kansas
I am on route 96 riding through vast farm and ranch lands stretching from horizon to horizon. There are many small towns along the route and of course I stop at several.
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| My kind of driving |
I stay longer that expected at one town, La Crosse, Kansas where I visit the Rush County Museum housed in the old Timken Train Depot. They have several museum buildings, the Stone Post Museum, The Barbed Wire Museum, the School House and the Nekoma State Bank. LaCrosse also calls itself the barbed wire Capital of the World. The museum docent (a retired school teacher) took me through each locked building and explained much that I otherwise would have missed. He also told me about the beautiful Rush County Courthouse in the quaint downtown that I otherwise may have missed.
My next stop was Ness City, Kansas where I find many interesting sights, especially the Ness County Bank building known as the "Skyscraper of the Plains".
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Ness+City,+Kansas&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
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| The fabulous Ness County Bank building known as the "Skyscraper of the west" |
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| The front entrance |
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| Had to zoom in to the beautiful stone work details |
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| Loved the folksy quality of this mural |
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| Also the rock solid, brute strength of this view |
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| The other side of the Elevator is equally impressive |
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| Another great building that needs to be saved |
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| The Lion building was built in 1887, the Lion is rather weathered |
I arrive in Scott City, Kansas in mid afternoon where I drive down Main Street but actually see little that interests me, I had higher expectations for this town. One thing I did notice though was a constant stream of large stock trucks and oil tankers roaring down Main Street, route 83. There are several cattle feed lots in the surrounding area and as they transport the cows through town the odor is not always pleasant. This is definitely a working blue collar town, not much in the way of entertainment, culture or night life. Oil rigs are also scattered all around here, you often see them in the middle of a farmers wheat fields.
Looking for some local color, I went into the one bar I could find in the evening where a few locals were hanging out. They were pretty friendly and entertaining and eventually the one nearest to me started a conversation. He asked where I was from and when I said Tucson he said he had been there back in the 1990’s when he was driving a monster truck. I knew then that he might be a weird character. He started to inch into political stuff asking if the southern border issue was causing problems in Tucson. I hear this often, as people in these rural towns only hear right wing Fox news reports. I told him not more than usual, which he couldn’t understand, but then I told him the homeless situation was probably a bigger issue, not just in Tucson, but in all cities. He then went on to say something like; People here don't understand why that's a problem, “We just don’t allow those types of people here”. As I left the bar tender told me to watch out for the local cops, the speed limit through town is 20 MPH and they are very strict about it especially if you are from out of town.
In the morning I travel north on route 83 then exit onto a dirt back road to the Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park where I take a three mile trail that goes partially around the perimeter of the badlands. It is another impressive Nature Conservancy partnership effort in conjunction with the state of Kansas.
http://www.kansastravel.org/littlejerusalem.htm
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| There are several attractions in this area |
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| A nature Conservancy sign in the parking area |
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| After riding across the flat prairie for miles this landscape is a big surprise |
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| I had hoped that the trail would return down through the canyon, but it didn't |
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| It was a great hike with iconic views |
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| The trail was also great with many types of grass and wildflowers |
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| The Nature Conservancy does amazing things |
I then drive on route 86 north for a few miles to an unpaved back road to the Monument Rocks. They are very unusual and also historical as people have been coming to them since the early homesteading days. As the original softer rock deposits eroded away over million of years, the harder caulk like rocks were exposed and now jut straight up out of the prairie.
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| The view from the road, the ride there was also interesting |
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| These beautiful rock formation are slowly eroding away due to natural erosion |
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| Another viewpoint |
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| It has always been a local attraction, possibly too much, so with people climbing the rocks |
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| Another view |
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| The cliff swallows love this place |
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| The Monument Rocks were formed by a former interior seaway |
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| The Butterfield Overland Dispatch was a famous trail through this area |
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/butterfield-overland-despatch/
I then traveled south on route 86 to the Scott County State Park to the most northern Pueblo Indian ruins that are known to exist. They were noted by early Spanish explorers in their journals as El Cuatelejo. Recovered archeological artifacts have been dated to substantiate the age of the ruins. There really wasn’t much to see, just a reconstructed layer of stones to outline the original rooms.
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| The reconstructed Pueblo foundation based on an archeological excavation |
A few miles away is the site of the last Indian battle in Kansas in 1878 known as "The battle of the punished woman". It is located on a ridge overlooking a canyon surrounded by prairie lands. It was a valiant last ditch effort by the Northern Cheyenne tribe to return to their homeland. A portion of the tribe managed to escape the battle only to be recaptured shortly afterwards and returned to the reservation. Another sad story in our nations history.
https://www.keystonegallery.com/area/history/battle_of_punished.html
https://legendsofkansas.com/native-american-history-kansas/
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| Sign at the monument |
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| The stone monument with the prairie background is impressive |
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Virtually unchanged from the days of the battle, the dark area is a cave where the Indian
woman and children hid during the battle |
I then continue north on route 83 to the town of Oakley, Kansas which is a rather dull town except for the Fick Museum and the Buffalo Bill Travel Center. Not sure why the Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley obsession here. They weren't born here, never lived here and didn’t die here, but Buffalo Bill did kill many Buffalo in the area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakley,_Kansas
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| A nice mural, the Plainsman was or is a long standing local news paper |
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| Annie Oakley Motel, not sure she would approve ? |
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| A youthful looking Buffalo Bill |
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| Interesting map showing the 1868 Buffalo Hunt site |
I go into the Buffalo Bill's Bar & Grill downtown which has an interesting outside sign, is rather nice inside but has nothing very interesting or authentic. I kind of expected to see a mounted Buffalo Head on the wall. The young woman tending bar was friendly, spotting me as an outsider instantly and was very interested in my travels. I saw her as someone a little more sophisticated who may yearn to leave Oakley Kansas someday.
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| The outside view in the dark |
In the morning, I go to the Fick Museum which has a impressive display of local fossils found in the limestone caulk rock deposits common in this area. They also have various mineral samples from Kansas and around the world that people have donated or put on loan to them. There is also considerable local history displayed and a exhibit on the string of forts that were established along the Butterfield Overland Dispatch Trail for protection from Indians attack.
http://www.kansastravel.org/fickmuseum.htm
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| Bricks were to encourage sanitation and prevent disease |
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| Items found at the White Rock Station of the Butterfield Trail |
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| The geology of western Kansas is remarkable ! |
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| George Sternberg - famous local fossil hunter |
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| Fossil exhibits were well done |
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| The condition of the fossils is amazing |
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| Almost looks like science fiction ? |
On my way out of Oakley I stop at the Buffalo Bill Travel Center that I expected to be more like a Museum, but it was more like a travel information center and gift shop, housed in a beautiful building with an impressive monument outside of Buffalo Bill killing a Buffalo. He led an amazing, remarkable life by any account as described in the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill
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| The Monument was as huge as Buffalo Bill's fame and reputation |
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| An amazing group shot at one of the Wild West Shows |
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| Three old famous Buffalo hunters |
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| The peerless lady wing-shot |
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| How romantic they made the Indian war days appear |
So much for Oakley, Kansas, my next destination will be Bird City, Kansas.
