Small Places of Interest-Soutwest to Midwest

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Truth or Consequences got its name from a contest the radio show with the same name had.  Ralph Edwards, the host, in March of 1950, promised to air the show from a town that would change its name to Truth or Consequences.  Hot Spring, NM took him up on the promise and became Truth or Consequences, MN in 1950.

Billy the Kid’s Grave – Fort Sumner, New Mexico

Billy the Kid’s real name was Henry McCarthy.  He was born in New York City sometime in 1959.  He moved to Wichita, KS in the 1870’s. In 1875 his first run in with the law was over stealing clothing from a Chinese laundry.  He escaped from jail and began his life as a cowhand and criminal and became known as Billy the Kid.

In 1878 he was part of a feud between mercantile and cattle owners.  During this feud he was accused of killing Sheriff William Brady.  The rest of his life was spent “on the run”.  In 1881 he escaped from jail before being hung for the Sheriff’s murder.  Later that year, at Fort Sumner, Sherriff Pat Garrett shot Billy the Kid in the heart.  Billy died instantly at the age of 21.  Contrary to some tales, Billy never robed a train, bank, or stagecoach.  He mainly rustled cattle.

His gravestone is held in place with iron shackles because it has been stolen 4 times.

Fort Sumner was demolished and sold to a New Mexico rancher in 1870.   Yes, this is the fort where the Navajo were kept after their defeat by Kit Carson and US Army at Canyon de Chelly.  This was not a good place for the Navajo, over 20% of the tribe died here and were buried not only in the graveyard but about the grounds outside as well. They call this place the Place of Suffering. The treaty signed in 1868 established the Navajo National Lands in Arizona.

The Dalton Gang Hideout, Meade, Kansas

The Dalton Gang was made up of 5 brothers and a few others.  The brothers were 5 of 15 children.  They and some of their brothers were at first law men in Oklahoma, Indian Territory.  They began their outlaw career when they weren’t paid for their peacekeeping services. 

The Dalton House is the home of one of the Dalton sisters who lived in Meade, KS.  People reported seeing the brothers about Meade and they got along fine.  The Daltons never robbed anyone in Meade.  No one knew of the tunnel until the people who bought the home after the Dalton’s sister and her husband lost the home through foreclosure. People who owned the home told stories about men coming into the house from the barn via the tunnel not knowing the Dalton sister didn’t live there anymore and leaving the same way they came.  It became a historical site and is maintained by the local county historical society.  There is a museum with information about the Dalton Gang and oddities such as those seen in the photos. 

Four of the five Daltons were killed on October 5, 1892, while trying to escape from Coffeyville, KS after robbing two banks at the same time.  The fifth brother was tried and spent 15 years in prison.  He moved to California and became a Hollywood screenwriter.

Mushroom Rock State Park, Ellsworth County, KS – near Kanopolis, Kanas

These rocks were formed along the edges of the Cretaceous Sea about 60 million years ago.  These shapes were formed much like the hoodoos further west, harder rock concretions atop sandstone eroded by time. 

This is the smallest Kansas State Park, only 5 miles in area however has some very interesting rock formations.  It was donated to the Kansas State Park system by the Ellsworth County Historical Society.

John Wayne’s Home, Winterset, Iowa

John Wayne’s home and Museum is right on John Wayne Drive, the main street in Winterset.  John was born Marion Robert Morrison May 26, 1907.  His father was a pharmacist.  The family moved to the California desert and later to the coast.  In the mid 1920’s he gained the nickname “Duke”.  His screen name became John Wayne in 1930.  He appeared in over 170 films.  During his lifetime he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1979 and after his death the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Fick Fossil and History Museum, Oakley, Kansas

We’re back in Kansas and its ancient history as part of the ancient Western Interior Seaway.  The large creatures that lived in these waters left their remains in the chalk.  Early in the 1900’s Ernest and Vi Fick began collecting fossils near their home in Oakley.  They left their collection to the City of Oakley, KS and thus began the Fick Museum.

Among the collection is the largest known mosasaur, a large, extinct marine reptile. There are lots of other fossils which are very interesting along with folk art and historical items from the area.

Buffalo Bill’s Cultural Center, Oakley, Kansas

There isn’t much here other than a twice life size bronze sculpture of Buffalo Bill killing a Bison and a few interpretive panels about Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill.

About Buffalo Bill.  He got this name by winning a contest of who could kill the most buffalo in one day between himself and Bill Comstock, a rival buffalo hunter.  Buffalo Bill won.  After leaving the service of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, Buffalo Bill became the showman most remember him for being.

Monuments Rocks, near Oakley, Kansas

Monument Rocks are a unique chalk formation.  It is also a product of the of the Cretaceous Sea about 60 million years ago.  These “Chalk Pyramids” stand out and up from the green pastures of the plains of Kansas.  Why these and a similar chalk formation remain so high above the plains is not known.  Why they have such unique forms is due to wind, rain, heat and cold. 

These formations are on private lands off the US and State highways on unpaved, dry weather only roads. They are wonderfully grand.  There are signs to please take only photos, leave only footprints.  There was no graffiti and no destruction of the formations.

Interestingly, nearby there was someone herding a few cows and their calves back to the herd with an off-road vehicle.

Syracuse, Kansas on US 50 on the way to Koshare Museum had the first all-female city council back in 1887.  This city in the farm fields of Kansas on the banks of the Arkansas River has a population of 1,826.  It grows hay, wheat, corn, and milo.

Koshare Museum, La Junta, Colorado

The Koshare Museum was built in 1949.  Part of the museum is a Kiva sixty feet in diameter with the largest self-supported log ceiling in the world.  There are beautiful articles of clothing, head dresses, feathered bustles, bead and quill work, pottery, and jewelry from the Arapaho, Blackfeet, Plains Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Kiowa, Lakota, Plains Cree, Navajo, Pueblo, and Plains Ojibwe.  There are also painting by local artists. The calendars from the Santa Fe Railroad were beautiful artworks celebrating the Native American tribes.  There is a complete set of each of these calendar covers.

The Museum takes its name from the Koshare, which is, to the Pueblo People, a clown, jester, or trickster.  There is also a collection of these Koshare here at the Museum. You can also see Maria Martinez’s black on polished black pottery and Navajo textiles.

Santa Fe Mountain Route Trail, Southwestern Kansas and Southeastern Colorado

I’ve driven this route three times.  First time no time to stop, second pouring rain.  This time overcast with smoke from wildfires and weather but still beautiful and time to stop.  This part of the mountain route began for me this time in Garden City, KS, continued on US Route 50 to La Junta, CO, then on US350 through about 70 miles of beautiful country, including the Comanche National Grasslands, with no people and no gas to Trinidad, CO. 

There are five ghost towns along the route.  Delhi was the stage for the 1973 movie Badlands with Walter Sheen and Sissy Spacek.  Off to the west are the Sangre de Christo Mountains.   

The route follows I25 from Trinidad to Raton, New Mexico.  This pass took 5 days for the wagons to go through.  While it was difficult, it was a pass through the mountains and safer than the trail that crossed the grasslands to the north and the Native Americans that tended to raid wagon trains.  This pass was also important in gaining Santa Fe from the Mexicans and during the Civil War.  Attesting to the fact that this pass is still difficult, the speed limit on the Interstate drops to 55 over and through this pass.

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Bureau of Land Management, Tularosa, New Mexico

This site is on a paved road only 5 miles off US 54 on the road from Ratan to Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The petroglyphs were made by the Jornada Mogollon peoples who lived in this area between 200 and 1450 A.D.  They scratched or used two rocks, one to chisel and one to hammer on the chisel, to make these images.  They removed the black rock patina, created by iron and magnesium being oxidized by the air and organisms on the rock.  There are also the remains of several pit houses.

The petroglyphs are clearly visible along the trail up to 5,000 feet.   I must admit I did not find all 21,000+ petroglyphs.  To the west one can see the San Andres Mountains, to the east the Sierra Blanca mountains which rise to 12,003 feet are part of the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.

Shenandoah is an American folk song and sea chantey.  It is believed that this chantey began with the voyageurs on rivers west of the Mississippi.  It became a capstan chantey-used when men moved the capstan on the vessel to heave heavy weights, then became a favorite of the calvary who fought and sometimes married Native Americans out west.  I couldn’t think of a better piece of music to go with these photographs.

Hope you enjoy the photos of these small, unique places along the little roads through the middle of this beautiful country.