![]() ![]() But, the Flint Hills would follow a different path. ![]() Their harvests fed a growing nation and world. American settlers carved up the tallgrass of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The majority transformed into the agricultural heartland of America through 200 years of settlement and development. With cattle driven up from Texas and the introduction of barbed wire, ranching boomed into a huge business, setting the foundations for present-day Flint Hills cattle culture.Īt one point, 150 million acres of tallgrass prairie stretched from Texas to Canada. The settlers began building cattle ranches in the Flint Hills in the 1870s. Observing the healthy bison on the land, they began to herd cattle, which like the bison, fattened quite quickly on the rich prairie grasses. When Euro-American settlers arrived in the 1850s, they struggled to farm the land because of the overabundance of rock in the soil. As a result, they adapted this natural process to attract bison and other grazing animals to their Flint Hills hunting grounds by setting grass fires of their own and waiting for bison and other grazing animals to find new plant life.įlint Hills near Eureka, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.Īmerican explorer Zebulon Pike inadvertently coined the term “Flint Hills.” Passing through the area in September 1806, he made this journal observation: These Native people noticed that bison and other grazing animals were attracted to the tender, new plant life that grew immediately after lightning had set vast grass fires. The Flint Hills also provided much-needed chert or “flint” that they used to make tools, weapons, arrowheads, and ceremonial pieces. The Flint Hills were a communal hunting ground for the tribes, who knew that the area was good grazing ground for bison. These native peoples grew crops and lived in semi-permanent homes along streams and creeks. In Kansas, these tribes included the Wichita, Kanza, Osage, and Pawnee. By 1,500 A.D., more farming occurred, combined with increased bison hunting, due to the acquisition of the horse by Native Americans. By about 1,000 A.D., domesticated plants and associated artifacts reflect a predominantly horticultural existence shifting to settled village life. About 2,200 years ago, began the use of domesticated plants, produce ceramics, and hunted with bow and arrow. Trade networks extended well beyond the Plains. Human activity in the Kansas Flint Hills can be traced back about 12,000 years, when people used the area’s natural resources to hunt large mammals and gather wild plants. This temperate grassland is marked by few trees but abundant forbs and grasses that can grow up to 10 feet tall. Due to its rocky soil, the early settlers were unable to plow the area, resulting in the prevalence of cattle ranches instead of the cropland more typical of the Great Plains. The Flint Hills are a distinct region because it has the most densely covered intact tallgrass prairie in North America. Flint Hills near Manhattan, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. ![]()
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