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BACKROADS OF KANSAS &
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LIMESTONE FENCE POSTS AND BUILDINGS IN KANSAS Early pioneers were faced with an unusual difficulty on the expansive plains of Kansas; lack of trees. Most pioneers traveled from the coast where trees were readily available for building, shade, food, and firewood. Kansas, though, was a vast dry prairie where few trees were able to grow due to the drought-like conditions and high occurrences of prairie fires. Early pioneers quickly found a substitution for firewood, a source of fuel very abundant on the open prairies, bison chips. The large round piles of bison dung were literally everywhere on the prairie and burned hot, making it preferable to wood for cooking. However, the pioneers probably did not consider making their homes out of this abundant resource! Instead, the first pioneers made their homes from something even more abundant, the ground itself. Most pioneers could not afford to ship lumber from the coast to build houses, so they made houses in the ground. Some pioneers settled on land that had hills into which they dug their houses, these structures are called dugouts. Pioneers not so fortunate as to have hills on their land, dug down, making dugouts below the ground surface. Other pioneers cut squares from the soil making sod (soil) bricks to build houses. Dugouts and sod houses protected the early pioneers from most dangers, but torrential rainfalls would flood dugouts and common prairie fires could destroy sod houses. These early pioneers of Kansas, like all pioneers, continued to search for a better way to live. These industrious pioneers discovered a layer of rock, located only a few feet below the soil surface, that could be used to make permanent, weather resistant, beautiful buildings. This rock layer is known as limestone and due to the geological formation is just the right thickness (8 to 12 inches) for building stones and posts. When limestone is first exposed it is soft and chalky, making it easier to drill and dress (form). However, once the stone has been exposed to air, the edges become hard making it an exceptional building material for the plains pioneer. At first, limestone blocks were just used to form the walls of dugouts. As the pioneers recognized the structural potential of limestone, more permanent all-stone buildings were constructed. Limestone blocks quickly became a common building material throughout north central Kansas. Stone blocks were used to build schools, churches, homes, bridges, posts, decorative stone, window trims, steps, hitching posts, troughs (feed and water), tombstones, and walkways. Early limestone quarrying was done at the edges of ravines or outcroppings where the limestone layer was exposed by erosion of the surrounding soil. At first, pioneers sledged out building rocks and dressed (formed and sized) each block with stone hammers. Sledging describes the use of hand drills and hammers to make a straight line of holes along the exposed layer. Once the holes were drilled pinch bars were used to pry the blocks loose. Smaller drills and hammers were then used to size and shape each block for building. Another problem that the homesteader on the treeless prairie faced by the early 1860s was a need to protect crops from cattle and wildlife. During this time the cattle industry was booming and existing range laws protected the cattle owner, requiring farmers to protect their own crops. Early farmers found that the Osage Orange tree grew quickly in the dry Kansas soil and would form a thick hedge impeding cattle and other wildlife that liked to feed on growing crops. Osage Orange, while not as expensive as wooden fence posts, was a costly fence to maintain. So the ever-ingenious pioneer found yet another use for the local limestone layer . . . fence posts. Initially, farmers used the limestone fence posts, now called post rocks, to support smooth wire. Smooth wire was not effective in controlling livestock or wildlife so the use of any fence post was not in high demand. However with the development of barbed wire (a low-cost, highly effective wire), the need for sturdy, low cost, accessible fence posts made the post rocks a valuable asset to the region's farmers. Typically stone posts were quarried where the limestone layer was close to 8 inches thick and each post would be split 6 feet long and 8 inches wide. Each post weighed between 250 to 450 pounds and a team of horses could only haul, at most, 8 posts at a time. Most farmers chose to quarry and haul their own posts, however, many could afford the 25 cents charge per post (delivery included). Post rocks were quarried the same as building blocks, but the increased size and weight made moving them more difficult. The typical method for hauling the posts was to quarry and dress the posts, drive a wagon directly over each post, and attach the post in a sling on the underside of the wagon. The farmer would then drive along the fence line and drop down posts at each posthole, usually set at 10 steps apart. When the posts were released from the underside of the wagon, one end would slide into the hole as the post was lifted upright. An average of 25 posts could be completed each day and typically only the number that were going to be placed were drilled each day to in order to preserve the softness of the posts for dressing. Most post rocks were dressed with 3 or 4 shallow troughs (nicks) to hold wire strands in place but a few farmers drilled holes to thread wire through the post. Eventually, farmers learned to appreciate these post rocks that had a lasting quality of 60 or more years as opposed to the 6 to 10 years of a wooden post. Post rock fences were used over 40 thousand miles of country, predominately situated throughout Washington county 200 miles north to Ford county. The widespread use of post rock fencing and stone post houses created a landscape and culture embued with the spirit of ingenious pioneers. Each post is unique, no two fence posts are the same size, shape, or color, and many even have fossils. Even today, many of the buildings and fences quarried by hand and hauled by horses, are still in use.1 1. http://www.rushcounty.org/postrockmuseum/ L. & P. P. Express Co. Stage Coach Line, 1859 In early 1859, the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell started the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company (L. & P.P. Express Co.), which a year later became the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company. This stage and express line was to run between Leavenworth, Kansas and Denver. The new firm hoped to transport mail and miners to the gold fields along a middle route between the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. First, the L.&P.P. Express Co. surveyed and laid out a new road from Leavenworth to the Rocky Mountain gold diggings. They located twenty-seven stations along the 680-mile route, approximately twenty-five miles apart. One of these stations was located near what would become 14th Street and Curtis, where the phone building now stands. Near the station was a corral for cows and for the fresh horses and mules needed by drivers in order to continue on their routes. They also ordered fifty new Concord coaches (at $250 each) and bought 800 mules to pull them. To run the operation and attend the needs of the travelers, they employed 108 men as drivers, stock tenders, harness makers, blacksmiths, messengers, and division agents. By May 1859, the L. & P.P. Express Co. scheduled its first trip. They charged $1.25 (2. See Note Below) for a passenger ticket, $1.00 a pound for express packages, and 25˘ for each letter carried. The trip from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Denver took about a week.The L.&P.P. Express Co. became the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Co., which would go on to establish an overland express route known as The Pony Express. This service followed the more northerly route through Kansas, Nebraska and Utah, bypassing Denver. The only Pony Express station in Colorado was in Julesburg (see first sidebar). The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Co. continued to offer passenger and freighting service to and from Denver and California (see second sidebar). 11.
http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/LHPonyExpress.shtml ROUTE OF THE CHEYENNE, 1865 Several years later, 17 Sep 1868, not far from this sign, Col. George A. Forsyth and his command were on Arikaree Creek, a fork of the Republican River, five miles due west of Kansas's northwest corner. They were surrounded by nearly a thousand Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux. They retreated to an "island" (sandbar) in the Arikaree and dug-in. They suffered heavy losses, including the company's surgeon and its second-in-command, Lt. Fred H. Beecher (he was nephew of Henry Ward Beecher, of Harriet Beecher Stowe). The U.S. Army officially named this the Battle of Beecher Island in honor of Lieutenant Beecher. (http://www.vlib.us/old_west/lineoftime.html) Here is a link to a map showing many battle sites around the west. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/amh/Map14-35.jpg SMOKEY HILL WEAPONS RANGE
- from photographing Hawks to Hercules C130's The Air Force Reserve Research Entomologist in cooperation with the Saline and McPherson County Weed Departments and the State Noxious Weed Director are overseeing this aerial spraying operation. A total of 4,600 acres was targeted for treatment. Application was only be on federal property. Only a portion of the 34,000 acres of the Smoky Hill range needed to be sprayed. Flying at 100 feet over the range while applying the herbicide, the Air Force Reserve’s C-130 aircraft made its turns outside of the range installation boundary but did not be releasing any herbicides while turning. The aircraft utilized the digital global positioning satellite (GPS) system to apply the herbicide. This system had been used for the last five years and has been extremely accurate. The musk thistle has been declared a noxious weed by the state of Kansas. This thistle is capable of producing up to 15,000 seeds per plant with approximately 50 percent of those being viable. It is thought that the seeds can remain viable for up to seven years. To control the musk thistle, the C-130 applied 10 ounces of Tordon 22K per acre, which is the rate recommended by the Saline and McPherson County Weed Directors. The herbicide is mixed with water for the application. The Air Force Reserve unit doing the
aerial spraying did so as part of their training, which meant there is
no cost to the Kansas Air National Guard for the flight. Another mission
of this unit includes mosquito control operations after floods and
hurricanes or during disease outbreaks.1
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