Those who went west came through here

A couple of weeks ago I drove about 30 minutes to the North and West and ran across the Oregon Trail. Today I drove about 14 South on US 75 and then 6 miles on 56 and found the Santa Fe Trail. The Trails for the most started in Independence,Missouri and whether they ended up in Oregon,California ,Utah or New Mexico, hundreds of thousands passed through Kansas, fairly close to Topeka. Wheel ruts of the 6 foot tall wagons can still be seen in fields,and parks in this part of the country. One of the speakers I heard today spoke of the covers of Conastoga wagons as far as the eye could see.

This week the town of Overbrook with it's 900 or so residents celebrated "Santa Fe Trail Days" a two day celebration at the fairgrounds which are doted with 4H barns and advertisements for next weeks Demolition Derby. Yes, the sign on the water tower does say "Don't overlook Overbrook".

At 11am there was a parade which the next entry will detail in pictures. It went down a residental street near the fair grounds past a guy with a home speaker system discribing the enterants and announcing the winners of yesterday Coloring contest. He interviewed some of the marchers, my favorite was a couple from Oklahoma who announced themselves as "from the terriotory of Oklahoma, soon to be a state". The parade was all horses or horse drawn wagons, except for the final marcher a golf cart with a man scooping up the horse droppings, I resisted the urge to photograph that. The Costumes were amazing as were the horses.

The fair itself had historical speakers,horse riding contest,re enactors doing bull whip demostrations,gun fights, a tent served as a Salloon with girls in period costume playing Scott Joplin rags and served Pop in a bottle, Root Beer,Orange and Grape Nehi.

Lower Pott County 9/6/08

One of the charms of this time of the year is Sunflowers , the state flower is everywhere.Beautiful,majestic,taller than me at 6'1'' .They line the highways, grow in back yards adding a Yellow and Brown color to the green fields and grass.



I crossed the new bridge and hooked up with US Hwy 24 in North Topeka and headed West. Highway 24 runs 1,540 miles from Clarkston,Michigan to Dowd,Colorado. You pass the Goodyear plant and Cargill Grain elevators. Further down the road is a Television station,and the small town of Silver Lake. I began to notice something interesting, Cars parked on both sides of the 2 lane highway.A garage sale was in progress, then another house on the highway and another.



The particulars of Silver Lake are 1,358 poulation and 568 households according to 2000 Cencus. On this day I think I can say the population has tripled and most ,if not all 568 were having garage sales. I stopped at a couple. I am looking for a couple of specific DVD/VHS and I'm always up for Expanding my Frank Sinatra CD collection. Came up with nothing at the 4 or 5 places I stopped.



5 miles down the road is Rossville,covered last month and maybe 10 miles down the road was St Mary's. St Mary's may be worth it's own entry for an Indian Pay Station and the Academy and College.The Pay station wasn't opened yet so I continued on. Maybe another 5 miles down the road was a sign advertisng the Oregon Trail Nature Park.

http://www.naturalkansas.org/oregon.htm



I'll be honest, I had no idea this place existed and it's about 1 mile off 24 and not visible from the highway. It is a bunch of walking trials, there is not any historical markers, nothing says this is on the Oregon trial. It's a pretty area with a couple of hills that are pretty heavy climbs,one promised a view of the Jeffery Enegry Center, a steep climb,I did not attempt. A silo with portraits greets visitors in the parking lot. The lower left picture has the town of Belvue in the background, if you can see it.

Labor Day

There were more options than time over Labor Day. Indian Pow Wows, Train festivals in Baldwin, the start of Football season in Topeka,Emporia,Lawrence or Manhattan. I choose on Saturday to attend Railroad Days at the Great Overland Station, the former Union Pacific Station that has been restored. The Station itself is worth it's own blog entry, which I will do sometime.

Railroad days is a return to a tradition that happened from the late 80's to the early years of this century.It would last the whole weekend and attract big name entertainment. It basically was a County Fair, midway,arts and craft,a lot of exhibits dedicated to Topeka Railroad history.It went away from several years and now returned in a much smaller format, with great hopes of bigger and better things. I was there early and could have returned for a concert in the evening,but was torn away by the start of Football.

Monday evening brought the return of Hockey Season in Topeka and a inter squad came played on a foggy ice at the Expocentre. Blue beat White for the season year in a row ,2-1 in OT.

August and Beyond

Has it really been over a month since I wrote anything. It's been a busy month, The Olympics and back to back Political conventions. A thing or two didn't pan out, maybe in the fall I'm told.I did take in "Wheat stock V" a day long bluegrass festival in Topeka , held at a hotel on a hot Saturday afternoon, I think the first one was held in the park,outdoors in August. Moving it indoors was a wise choice. It was a fund raiser for the Jayhawk Theatre, which is in desperate need of repairs and refurbishing. If restored to original glory it would truly be one of the great movie palaces of days gone by.The possibilities are endless.

http://www.jayhawktheatre.com/

I didn't know this story until I read the flier,but it's believed that Gypsy Rose Lee started her career right here in Topeka and at the Jayhawk.

I made a short journey to Rossville,Kansas.Located maybe 15 miles North and west on US Highway 24, the Population is about 1,000,smaller that Wasilla ,Alaska by several thousand. The Baseball diamond is in the city park which has a shelter area,a swing and a slide and a new swimming pool. The wood grandstand was featured in the 1976 Bicentennial issue of Sports Illustrated. A creek runs through the western edge of the town and a walking bridge runs across it , in the distance you can see the train tracks and the highway before it.

A River runs under it -Part 2

The Levee was built as a response to the flood of 51. I was intrigued to see the water marker. It came close to being breeched in 93 but the levee held the water in.





View of South Topeka from bridge,Capital Dome peeking up to the right of the bridge tower.








I love these next two pictures,looking West,you can see the bend of the river and the Omnipresent grain elevators.

View of Downtown and the police impound yard.I always wondered where it was, and knock on wood, glad I have never had a need to know.Again Capital Dome is hiding from this angle.

A River runs under it

A couple of years ago a chunk of Topeka Blvd Bridge fell off. The Bridge was closed down, Congress and money from the Sales Tax was used for construction of a new bridge. It opened today,August 3. A ribbon cutting or something happened at 5. I wanted to go,but as yesterday entry suggested It's too hot. So I went out with a friend later in the evening. Tomorrow it will be opened for car traffic, but tonight belonged to bicycles,dog walking and the curious.
Getting a chance to walk over the bridge solved a problem for me, This is as close as I've ever been to the Kansas River. Topeka was founded by people ferrying wagons ,horses etc on the various trails. The first settlers of Topeka lived near the river. Today it's hard to get close to it. I spent some time driving around a couple of weeks ago thinking there might be a park or something on the North Side that I hadn't known about.

That trip did get just on the other side of the Levee near the Kansas Avenue Bridge, but not on the river itself.Looking on line I was able to find 2 boat ramps in Shawnee County. Now that I think about it,I was foiled looking for the Kansas River in Lecompton as well. There is a log cabin about a mile from the Territorial Capitol that sits on the river, a forest of tree obstructs the view.I know there a river park in Lawrence and further opportunities to get close to the Kansas River exist elsewhere. So Much to see, no independent means to take a year off and see it.

A train went by,which was cool.Note below the engine , that is the old railroad bridge,It didn't survive the 1951 Flood,yet remains in the river.







I like the bridge, you'll see the Limestone towers that support the clocks that are on both side.I know from reading about the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate,similar opportunities to walk the bridge existed before it was open to traffic.



Nice way to spend a hot Sunday evening and something that doesn't happen that often.

Heat Wave

The Car is air conditioned, The Prairie is not. Travels and fun sites on hiatus.