Pawnee Rock

Back tracking - it was too hot to do some posting on the blog on Wednesday, it was over 100 and the wind was gusting to 40 miles per hour.  Just too darn uncomfortable.

This was a private's grave from 1846 at the base of the monument

Nice walkway around base of stature 

Wednesday we did a couple of different things - the first one was drive back north east and visit Pawnee Rock.  This particular outcropping of sandstone rock was about 100 feet in height and the freighters on the Santa Fe Trail knew when they reached this spot, it was half way to Santa Fe from Independence Missouri.  Glad we visited it.  Like Independence Rock in Wyoming  on the Oregon/California Emigrant trails, people who stopped carved their names into the rock.

Hard to read the names of people who came through

We thought this memorial was very tasteful

Etchings on all sides depicting life on the prairie

The builders of the statue took rock that had names on it and used in construction 

We climbed up to the viewing platform

We think we could see about 20 miles, Larned in distance

Unfortunately around 1890 and for the next 40 years or so, pieces of rock were chipped away and used to build in nearby towns.  The monument is now about 50 feet tall but by going up on top of the memorial viewing area, you were at the height that the Rock was originally. There were no trees (wood) to build so the next best thing to use for construction was rock.  Besides - we are in tornado alley and I would not want to be in a home of any kind and have it blasted away.

Huh!

On the way back up to Pawnee Rock we passed some interesting things.   Spearville, the next town north east of Dodge City, is known as the larges wind turbine field in the country.  We saw a large staging area where the wind mills were being staged together.  Pretty impressive.

This marble marker was all along the route for many miles

Huh!

Staging area of the wind turbines

We passed many truckers bringing in the wind pieces parts