I’m visiting son Ted in Kansas again, here to see our new born baby granddaughter for the first time. As you may recall, he lives in Manhattan, Kansas, which happens to be in the Flint Hills region of the state. It’s also in what’s known as the Tallgrass Prairie.
I guess I sort of knew this but didn’t realize the real impact of what that means. Previously we were here visiting when Ted was in the US Army, stationed at Ft. Riley which is full of it’s own history. I’ve shared some of that with you in a previous column.
During this visit, we took the opportunity to go to the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, which was well worth the $9.00 admission price. This is a relatively new center, right downtown. A beautiful facility with great dioramas and a very informative 15 minute movie.
All of this is to feature the historic and special ecosystem known as the Tallgrass Prairie of the region. The Tallgrass Prairie has been fairly well preserved since the inception of time, despite human presence, primarily because of the rocky base just below the surface which prevented farmers from tilling the soil.
Conseqently, because of the absence of farming, the only useful purpose of the land is grazing, which is what it has been used for since the beginning. This is where the vast herds of buffalo roamed back in the day. The first inhabitants of the land, the indians, learned that fire and grazing was essential for the continued growth of the grasses.
These grasses are a combination of various species of Blue Stem, Gamas, Switch Grass and Indian Grasses to mention a few. The roots grow to depths of 6 feet or more, finding their way down through the cracks and crevices of the rock layer just inches below the surface.
The land is one of weather extremes. When it rains, it pours. Living on the edge of the desert southwest as we do in Montrose, it’s hard to imagine rains producing 3 to 4 inches up to 6 or 7 inches in 24 hours. Extreme draughts are just as frequent. Wind and fire, the norm.
The landscape is generally rolling hills of grass stretching from down in Texas all the way up into Canada. These fast grasslands attracted the cattlemen of Texas and it was a natural attraction for the great cattle drives of the late 1800’s.
Because of the inability of the farmer to till the soil as I mentioned earlier, it is still great cattle country. Kansas is littered with these cowtowns. Wichita, Dodge City, Hutchison, Kansas City. There remain some large sale barns where cattle ranchers can sell their cattle at auction.
The West is still alive in Kansas. Naturally there are some pretty good steakhouses in the area, lots of western wear stores and BBQ joints, which are as plentiful as Starbucks.
From the pictures I’ve seen, when it greens up it looks beautiful under a vast blue sky. I’m guessing these Flint Hills and the Tallgrass Prairie can be very paintable in the right light. Next time I come out, I’m going to find out for myself.