Cimarron National Grasslands

Location:  Access is from the Elkhart area along Hwy US 56.  Be sure to stop at the Forest Service office on Hwy US 56 in Elkhart for auto tour information.

Nearest Town:  Elkhart

Contact:  Ph. 316/697-4621

Sitting quietly in the southwest corner of Kansas is one of the State's greatest treasures of public land:  The Cimarron National Grasslands.  This was farm ground once, until the drought and dust storms of the 1930's put a halt to farming here. 

In the 1920's, a land boom had taken place that saw much of the protective native grass turned under by the plow.  Wheat grew well and produced abundantly in the sandy soil--as long as it rained.  The next decade would bring drastic changes.  Both drought and economic collapse in the 1930's would change the face of this land forever.  The powder-dry soil was wiped up strong winds to produce the great dust storms.  These were huge clouds of dust which darkened the sky as far east as Kansas City.  At least one dust storm traveled as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.  Many of those storms were born in the area you see in the picture above.  In the 1920's, waving fields of wheat could be seen here, but by late in the next decade, scarcely a living thing could be seen here from horizon to horizon.

The US Government started buying farms from those who'd had enough in 1932 .  Through the direction of several government agencies and the labor of thousands of workers, the Grasslands were reclaimed.  In the 1960's, they were placed under the control of the USDA Forest Service and the 108,175 acre area was named the Cimarron National Grasslands.

One of the most notable features of the Grasslands is known as the Point of Rocks.  First noted by the Spanish explorer Coronado in the mid-1500's, it has been a landmark ever since.  After a severe flood on the nearby Cimarron River removed some soil from the base of the rocks in 1941, and inscription was found with the date 1541--Coronado had signed the register!   Unfortunately, a couple of local people cut out and removed the historic stone before it could be preserved.  It was a  senseless and galling act that stole from future generations, but there are no limits to which people won't go to prove stupidity.

At the base of the rocks, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a monument in 1906 to honor those who passed by here on the Santa Fe Trail.  The Point of Rocks were an important landmark on the Cimarron or Dry route of that trail.  Finding the nearby Middle Cimarron Springs meant the difference between living and dying to the travelers of this trail in the 1800's.

The view from the top of Point of Rocks is great!  It's the third highest point in Kansas.  The trees in the distance are along the normally dry Cimarron River.  Until the 1940's few trees grew there, but the growth of the trees has provided habitat for animals that would otherwise not be found here, such as Whitetail deer.

A few of the 5000 or so head of cattle that seasonally graze the Grasslands gather at a windmill and water tank (left).

A simple stone marks the grave of two graves of pioneer children killed when the flooding Cimarron River carried them away during  a flash flood in 1914 (right photo).

During the days of the Santa Fe Trail, this area was the famous Middle Cimarron Springs.  Travelers of the Dry or Cimarron Route depended on this for water as the Cimarron River seldom ran water.

The spring is fed by the Ogallala Aquifer, which is now used heavily for irrigation on the High Plains.  With the subsequent lowering of the water table in the aquifer, historic springs like these are dry during some parts of the year.  About all that is left of this spring now is a slowly drying mud puddle with a few desperate frogs hopping around.

As the sun sets on the Grasslands, less than 10 miles south on Highway US 56 travelers speed along on their way content in the belief that there is nothing out here but distance to be covered. 

At a windmill on the Grasslands, I pause to view the sunset just to see what nothing is like.  A sentinel guarding the prairie, the windmill lets out a slow pulse; thunk....thunk....thunk, which speeds up and slows down with the wind.  A cow in the distance calls her calf to gather it to the herd before dark.  Nearby a grasshopper fiddles it's late summer serenade among the grass.   

There is peace on earth, or at least this small part of it.  The travelers down on Highway 56 are both right and wrong at the same time.

BACK TO INDEX