The Arikaree Breaks

Location:  From the courthouse in downtown St. Francis, take the only road North out of town.  In about 10 miles you will reach the edge of the Arikaree Breaks.  See contact for a detailed auto tour guide.

Nearest Town:  St. Francis

Contact:   Ph. 785/332-2961 or Email:  schamber@ruraltel.net  
A map of the driving tour is available at--  http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/StFrancis/drive.html

This is Western Kansas, but it sure isn't flat!  The Arikaree Breaks are a little known, but beautiful area in the extreme Northwest corner of the state.  The soil here--a type called Loess--is thought to have blown into the area less than 10,000 years ago.  Soil of this type is also found along the Missouri River on the other end of the state in the Northeast Corner.  One peculiarity of this type of soil is it's tendency to erode leaving nearly vertical slopes.   This is what forms the "breaks" of Cheyenne County.

All the photos here were taken along the auto tour route which lies straight north of St. Francis.  A very helpful pamphlet is available at the contact listed above. 

A small sunflower clings to it's tenuous hold at the edge of a near vertical in the Arikaree Breaks near Devil's Gap.  Indians passed this very place on their way to attack Julesburg, CO on New Years Day 1865.   It's easy the see why this area is called the "Mini Grand Canyon".

Photo at left shows all that is left of Horse Thief Cave.  One of several caves in the Breaks area, this one was used by horse-stealin' varmints in the 1870's to hide from the law.  All that is left today is the arch of the entrance, but when it was in use it had two chambers, the sunken area to the right being the other room of the cave.

A small butterfly sips nectar from a flower in the Arikaree Breaks.

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