Early June, strong hot south winds are blowing across the ripening wheat fields of east central Kansas. I feel those strong gusts against my GMC as I head west on U.S. 56, following the route of the Old Santa Fe Trail, the main route of commerce that once connected Missouri to Santa Fe, N.M.
I pause to view a historical marker on the approximate intersection of the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Chisholm Trail on which cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas. As I open the door, the strong wind catches it and snaps it open. I struggle to close it against the strong wind and wander over to the marker.
I study the text on the marker and pick up a brochure that describes various tours along the old Santa Fe Trail. It's hard to believe that countless wagon trains and tons of freight going east to west, and many tens of thousands of head of cattle moving south to north, once crossed this lonely windswept piece of real estate. Who says the Great Plains are boring? A lot of history and culture is tied up here.
I climb back into my GMC, opening the door carefully, then tug hard to close it against the powerful wind, and head west to McPherson. This city of about 14,000 often makes the list of the best towns in America. I can see why. The streets are clean and well-paved, the modest homes neat and well kept, and the downtown business district inviting and prosperous looking.
At the main downtown business intersection I note a bookstore and coffee shop I had not noticed before. It looks like a nice place to stop for a while. Not today - but I'll keep it in mind for another time.
I head west through more golden wheat fields, the strong south wind rocking my GMC on this semi hazy day. Reaching Great Bend in central Kansas, I usually stop at Dillon's Supermarket and partake of their excellent salad bar as an antidote to the junk food one is too often tempted on these trips. But as I'm not hungry yet, I gas up and continue.
From Great Bend, US 56 bends southwest, still following the old Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River. After a few miles, on impulse, I veer off the highway into a small town, Pawnee, that is announcing its 125th anniversary.
But there is no celebration today in Pawnee. As I cruise down a dusty street past mostly vacant or deteriorating houses, the wind is kicking up dust from the vacant streets and dry lawns. A few houses look to be inhabited, but there is no viable business district. I pass a sign that reads "post office," and will regret later that I didn't stop to see if it was still in operation.
Pawnee typifies countless small towns, especially in sparsely populated regions, that have lost their sociological and economic reasons for existence - victims of the "fewer and larger" phenomenon that pervades so many walks of life. Fewer ranchers and farmers need fewer small business and support services. The fewer but larger existing ranchers and farmers, with the aid of enhanced transportation, patronize the fewer but larger implement dealers and support services in the larger regional centers.
It's nobody's "fault," really. Although we lament the loss of small town viability, it's the result of inexorable social and economic forces. Regional economic centers like McPherson, Great Bend, Pratt, Emporia, and Dodge City will do just fine. But the very small towns in sparsely populated regions are dying, and even the smaller county seats will struggle.
I press on to Dodge City, the hot winds persisting and the temperature reaching high 90s. There are a lot of wind turbines around here. At Dodge City, the temperature hits the century mark.
Dodge City, notorious as a railhead when the Kansas Legislature declared the more settled range country of central Kansas off limits to Texas cattle drives. Dodge City became the destination of the Old Western Trail. While Dodge City became famous in fact and fiction as a cattle town, it started as a stop and commercial site on the old Santa Fe Trail, adjacent to the Army's Fort Dodge.
Legend and lore of the Old West is perpetuated on Dodge City's reconstituted Front Street with its restaurants, saloons, and customary souvenir and gift shops. The iconic characters from the long-running radio and TV series "Gunsmoke," Marshal Dillon, his gimpy sidekick Chester, the proprietress of the Long Branch Saloon, Kitty, and the Doc live again.
Marshal Matt Dillon was fashioned after real peace officers, the well-known Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, and the lesser known Billy Tilghman, Ham Bell, and Charlie Basset. There is a real life election coming up for sheriff of Ford County. The winner certainly has big shoes, er, boots to fill.
The only gunfights presently occurring in Dodge City - current peace officers obviously performing competently - are those performed for the amusement of tourists. Instead of cattle, horses, corals and livery stables, visitor will see farm implement dealerships, gas stations, convenience stores, motels and a lot of Mexican restaurants.
And of course for supermarkets there is the ubiquitous, in that neck of the woods anyway, Dillon's Supermarket - no known relation to the fictitious Marshal Dillon, or to my long time classmate, Monroe's quite real Frank Dillon.
Another time I'll pause for a while at Front Street and maybe even enjoy a beverage at the reconstituted Long Branch Saloon. But now, without a whiff of gun smoke in the air, I head south across the Arkansas River.
A cloud of dust arises from the dry riverbed, kicked up by a school of fish swimming by. Or maybe it's just from another gust of Kansas wind.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
I pause to view a historical marker on the approximate intersection of the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Chisholm Trail on which cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas. As I open the door, the strong wind catches it and snaps it open. I struggle to close it against the strong wind and wander over to the marker.
I study the text on the marker and pick up a brochure that describes various tours along the old Santa Fe Trail. It's hard to believe that countless wagon trains and tons of freight going east to west, and many tens of thousands of head of cattle moving south to north, once crossed this lonely windswept piece of real estate. Who says the Great Plains are boring? A lot of history and culture is tied up here.
I climb back into my GMC, opening the door carefully, then tug hard to close it against the powerful wind, and head west to McPherson. This city of about 14,000 often makes the list of the best towns in America. I can see why. The streets are clean and well-paved, the modest homes neat and well kept, and the downtown business district inviting and prosperous looking.
At the main downtown business intersection I note a bookstore and coffee shop I had not noticed before. It looks like a nice place to stop for a while. Not today - but I'll keep it in mind for another time.
I head west through more golden wheat fields, the strong south wind rocking my GMC on this semi hazy day. Reaching Great Bend in central Kansas, I usually stop at Dillon's Supermarket and partake of their excellent salad bar as an antidote to the junk food one is too often tempted on these trips. But as I'm not hungry yet, I gas up and continue.
From Great Bend, US 56 bends southwest, still following the old Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River. After a few miles, on impulse, I veer off the highway into a small town, Pawnee, that is announcing its 125th anniversary.
But there is no celebration today in Pawnee. As I cruise down a dusty street past mostly vacant or deteriorating houses, the wind is kicking up dust from the vacant streets and dry lawns. A few houses look to be inhabited, but there is no viable business district. I pass a sign that reads "post office," and will regret later that I didn't stop to see if it was still in operation.
Pawnee typifies countless small towns, especially in sparsely populated regions, that have lost their sociological and economic reasons for existence - victims of the "fewer and larger" phenomenon that pervades so many walks of life. Fewer ranchers and farmers need fewer small business and support services. The fewer but larger existing ranchers and farmers, with the aid of enhanced transportation, patronize the fewer but larger implement dealers and support services in the larger regional centers.
It's nobody's "fault," really. Although we lament the loss of small town viability, it's the result of inexorable social and economic forces. Regional economic centers like McPherson, Great Bend, Pratt, Emporia, and Dodge City will do just fine. But the very small towns in sparsely populated regions are dying, and even the smaller county seats will struggle.
I press on to Dodge City, the hot winds persisting and the temperature reaching high 90s. There are a lot of wind turbines around here. At Dodge City, the temperature hits the century mark.
Dodge City, notorious as a railhead when the Kansas Legislature declared the more settled range country of central Kansas off limits to Texas cattle drives. Dodge City became the destination of the Old Western Trail. While Dodge City became famous in fact and fiction as a cattle town, it started as a stop and commercial site on the old Santa Fe Trail, adjacent to the Army's Fort Dodge.
Legend and lore of the Old West is perpetuated on Dodge City's reconstituted Front Street with its restaurants, saloons, and customary souvenir and gift shops. The iconic characters from the long-running radio and TV series "Gunsmoke," Marshal Dillon, his gimpy sidekick Chester, the proprietress of the Long Branch Saloon, Kitty, and the Doc live again.
Marshal Matt Dillon was fashioned after real peace officers, the well-known Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, and the lesser known Billy Tilghman, Ham Bell, and Charlie Basset. There is a real life election coming up for sheriff of Ford County. The winner certainly has big shoes, er, boots to fill.
The only gunfights presently occurring in Dodge City - current peace officers obviously performing competently - are those performed for the amusement of tourists. Instead of cattle, horses, corals and livery stables, visitor will see farm implement dealerships, gas stations, convenience stores, motels and a lot of Mexican restaurants.
And of course for supermarkets there is the ubiquitous, in that neck of the woods anyway, Dillon's Supermarket - no known relation to the fictitious Marshal Dillon, or to my long time classmate, Monroe's quite real Frank Dillon.
Another time I'll pause for a while at Front Street and maybe even enjoy a beverage at the reconstituted Long Branch Saloon. But now, without a whiff of gun smoke in the air, I head south across the Arkansas River.
A cloud of dust arises from the dry riverbed, kicked up by a school of fish swimming by. Or maybe it's just from another gust of Kansas wind.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
