Westbound
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
NOVEMBER CAN be a cold month to explore Kansas, but Dave and I trekked across the state anyway.
We took a weekend swing through Western Kansas and were accompanied on part of the journey by Emporians Jim and Susie Aber.
At our first stop along U.S. Highway 50, we caught the morning glow on the double arch bridge at Clements.
This is a gorgeous limestone landmark which shows off the art of masonry. It’s a historic bridge, built in 1886, and is no longer used for vehicular traffic.
We didn’t linger. The air temperature of 25 degrees was accentuated by a painful wind. Cold air pierced our jeans like needles. And not in a good way.
While Jim and Dave checked out the north side of the bridge, Susie and I ducked into the car, away from the bitter gusts. To handle wind chill, it helps if one is weather-hardy. I am not hardy in that way.
Down the road a piece, still in Chase County, we took another left turn into the tiny community of Cedar Point to photograph the Drinkwater (love that name) and Schriver Mill which for many years ground flour using the power of the Cottonwood River.
The tall, 1875 picturesque limestone mill has a vertical fault line, a jagged crack in between the stones the full height of the structure. One of these days the building will collapse into the river, but for now it’s a beautiful scene, water flowing over the spillway, trees huddled around.
We drove separate cars because the Abers were headed to Colorado. Jim and Susie are well-traveled and well-prepared people, and upon our departure from Emporia, they handed us a walkie-talkie so that we could easily communicate between cars.
Using the walkies, Jim and Susie, geologists and educators at Emporia State University, pointed out geological aspects of the landscape as we drove along. It was as if they were in our car with us. And we played a walkie-talkie game of Kansas Trivia.
“Geographically speaking, what’s the smallest county in Kansas?” Jim asked.
I thought for a moment. “Wyandotte.”
“That’s right,” Jim said.
As we approached Halstead (pop. 1,912) in Harvey County, I told Susie that we expected a tour from the hometown girl.
Susie took us to Riverside Park on the edge of Halstead. The Labor Day scenes in the movie “Picnic” were filmed here. (The play “Picnic” was written by Kansan William Inge.)
We bounced our way across the swinging bridge. A plaque indicates it was built in 1938 by local builder Orris Hinshaw.
The bridge didn’t swing wildly or anything but there was definitely some swaying and jiggling of the bridge floor as we crossed.
“It swings, but it won’t fall down,” Susie said.
“What if we got 300 kids to run across it?” I asked.
“It’s been done,” she laughed. “There’s not much to do in a small town, so it’s been done.”
The swinging bridge crosses the Little Arkansas River. It’s a beautiful stream and who doesn’t like a river running through town? But, as rivers tend to be, this one has been a bit troublesome from time to time.
“When it reaches 23 feet, that’s bad news,” Susie said, as she pointed out the large vertical ruler stuck into the river bank.
On the south side of the river, the city has built a dike to keep flood waters out of town. And to prevent water from sneaking in on the roadways, they have added steel walls on the two bridges into Halstead that can be closed tightly, sealing off the town when waters rise.
Medicine brought fame and glory to Halstead. In the early 1900s, Dr. Arthur Hertzler founded the Halstead Hospital and later the Hertzler Clinic here.
Halstead, “The biggest little city in Kansas,” seemed like a pleasant town, but we couldn’t stay forever. We continued westbound.
Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.
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