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Travel

2003-09-01 10:08:00

Kansas

ANSWER: Where can you find proof that the dinosaur roamed, see and sample elderberry wine, locate the perfect fishing hole, and see bison grazing on an open prairie? Where can you discover all of this and more? Where else but Kansas?   Set out on a journey and discover Kansas...just an easy drive away.     Fort Hays was an important U.S. Army post that was active from 1865 until 1889. Originally designated Fort Fletcher (after Governor Thomas C. Fletcher of Missouri), it was located five miles south of present-day Walker, Kansas, and became operational on October 11, 1865. Troops stationed at Fort Fletcher were to protect the stage and freight wagons of the Butterfield Overland Dispatch (BOD) traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail to Denver. Despite the presence of the soldiers, Southern Cheyenne and Southern Arapaho Indians continued to attack traffic along the trail. David Butterfield, owner of the BOD, went bankrupt as a result of these attacks, and the line was abandoned. Since the Smoky Hill Trail was no longer in use, Fort Fletcher was closed on May 5, 1866.  On October 11, 1866, Fort Fletcher was reopened approximately 1/4th mile north of its previous location, at the confluence of Big Creek and the North Fork of Big Creek. The Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, was being constructed westward roughly paralleling the Smoky Hill Trail and the construction workers needed the protection of the U.S. Army. In December 1866 Fort Fletcher was renamed Fort Hays in honor of Brigadier General Alexander Hays, who was killed during the Civil War. As the railroad approached Fort Hays, it became apparent that it would pass approximately five miles to the north of the post.   The army wanted the fort to be used as a supply depot for other forts in the area and therefore needed it to be located close to the railroad line. In the spring of 1867 a flood nearly wiped out Fort Hays killing nine soldiers and civilians. Two weeks later, on June 23, the new Fort Hays near the railroad right-of-way was occupied. With the arrival of the railway a few months later, the goal of a large supply depot to service forts to the south and west was realized.   In addition to its supply role, Fort Hays was a base for troops defending the railroad and white settlements in the area. Nearly six hundred troops were stationed here in the early years. Some of the famous figures associated with the fort included Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, General Nelson Miles, General Philip Sheridan, and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It was also the home of several well-known Indian wars regiments such as the Seventh U.S. Cavalry, the Fifth U.S. Infantry, and the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, whose black troopers were better known as buffalo soldiers. After twenty-five years of service, Fort Hays was abandoned on Nov. 8, 1889.   Today four original buildings survive: the blockhouse (completed as the post headquarters in 1868), guardhouse, and two officers' quarters. A modern visitor's center also helps interpret the significance of Fort Hays to the forty thousand visitors that the site draws each year. The museum was opened in 1967 and is administered by the Kansas State Historical Society.   Just an easy drive…Take Highway 135 North to Highway 70 West at Salina, to Hays. Or take your time and enjoy the scenic route, which will treat you to vast fields of sunflowers, wheat fields, through the town of Hutchinson (home of the Kansas State Fair) where you will take Highway 96 through Great Bend to Rush Center. There, you will head north on Highway 183, cross the Smoky Hill River to Old Fort Hays. Towns are sparse, and the hours of business can be short. September in Kansas can still bring temperatures in the 100's, so make sure that your car's air-conditioning is in proper working order.