Created in 1996, in a unique joint partnership between the National Park
Trust and the National Park Service, the Tallgrass
Prairie National Preserve envelopes 10,894 acres of pristine Flint Hills
landscape. The tallgrass ecosystem once covered 400,000 sq. miles of North
America, but now less than 1% remains, predominantly here in the Flint Hills.
For a quick view and some good pics, click on the "Glimpse" section of
the above web link.
The Spring Hill Ranch was a showpiece for it's owner, Stephen Jones who built
the mansion and massive barn (the barn is 60 X 110, and only 2 feet short of the
largest in Kansas) from native Cottonwood Limestone in 1881. He came from
Colorado to raise cattle in what is known as the best cattle-grazing range in
America, where cattle could feast on such grasses as Big Bluestem and gain up to
1-1/2 pounds per day. Eventually the Spring Hill Ranch grew to over 7000 acres.
This required lots fences to keep the cattle on his land. The landscape had few
trees to build fences with, but an endless supply of limestone. You can see
limestone fence posts all over Kansas, as well as entire fences and walls made
of limestone here in the Flint Hills.
The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is open for tours from 9:00 to 4:00
daily. This is a very neat tour. At the gate you can find a box with after-hours
informative pamphlets about the Preserve, which are available any time. The
pamphlet lists 8 tour stops you can take on a self-guided tour of the ranch. To
claim a credit for this virtual cache email
me with the answer this question, which can be found at the end of the
description of Stop 1:
The 1885 census reported that the Spring Hill Ranch had how many miles of
stone fences?
Please do not post on the cache page. I reserve the right to delete logs
which don't meet the criterion. To receive your certificate, click on the
Certificate link below; the password will be the number in the answer to the
above question, in lower case.
Be sure to catch the Fox
Creek School, which is located on the Preserve, and is a separate virtual
cache. Just a short drive north of the house.