Welcome to the Prairie

You have arrived at the only unit in the National Park Service dedicated to the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Tallgrass prairie once covered a vast region that stretched from Mexico into Canada. Today, only a small fraction - perhaps less than ...

Little Barn on the Prairie

Upon completion, ranch owner Stephen F. Jones learned that his barn was one of the largest barns in the state of Kansas at the time.

Like most of the buildings on the ranch, the Spring Hill barn was built of limestone ...

Prairie for the People

When Stephen F. Jones began acquiring this property for his Spring Hill Ranch in 1878, Kansas had been a state for 17 years, and much of the Kansas prairie was already being converted into cropland.

The majority of the land which ...

St. Michael's Prairie / The Lewis and Clark Expedition

St. Michael's Prairie

St. Michael’s Prairie, the site where St. Joseph would be established, was identified on maps at least as early as 1792. French explorers and trappers had been traveling up and down the Missouri River since the early 1700s, ...

The Prairie States Forestry Project

The Prairie States Forestry Project was initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to combat the severe wind-caused soil erosion of the Dust Bowl days. From 1935 through 1942, the U.S. Forest Service, working with the Works Progress Administration ...

The Prairie

A Sea of Grass

In its early days Fort Snelling was surrounded by a sea of head-high grass. The vast Minnesota prairie was broken only by small groves of trees—willows, cottonwoods, and oaks that grew near creeks, lakes, and marshes.

Early soldiers ...

The Pawnee: Prairie Town Builders, Pawnee History

The Pawnee: Prairie Town Builders, Pawnee History

The Pawnee migrated from the Southwest and lived in the Platte and Loup Village areas for more than seven centuries.

The Pawnee were the most influential and populous of the native peoples of Nebraska. They ...

The Dead of Prairie Grove

The men who died on this field on December 7, 1862 are buried in the soldier cemeteries in Fayetteville. 700 unknown Confederate soldiers are in the cemetery maintained by the Southern Memorial Association on East Mountain. The Union dead are ...

Not So Little A Farm On the Prairie...

The agricultural censuses for 1860, 1865, and 1870 make it clear that J.B. Mahaffie had one of the most valuable farming operations in the township.

In 1865, J.B. owned 570 acres of land, with 240 of them enclosed by fence. The ...

Little House On The Prairie

Historical Site

Famous Children's Book

by: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Kansas Home Of Charles Ingalls Family 1869-1870

Carrie Ingalls was born here Aug. 3, 1870 (Third Daughter)

Sunny Side School 1872-1946

Wayside Post Office 1874-1976

Marker is on U.S. 75 near CR 3000, on the right when traveling ...