News and Updates
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September 2021, DOUBLE MATCH again!
The Prairie Guards have again received generous challenge grants from the Miller/Hammond and HHM Charitable Foundations! Their gifts totaling $50,000 will retire our mortgage and the match we raise will be used as matching funds for additional grants that will allow...
Prairie Guards Reach Goal
Dear Prairie Guards and Friends of Mount Mitchell. I have good news; it’s time to celebrate! Thanks to the generosity of our many donors, we reached a milestone on Monday June 3rd when we became the new owners of the former Mitchell meadow and farmland next to the...
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Hello Everyone, the final fundraising event of the year for the support and maintenance of Mount Mitchell begins at 12:00 a.m. tonight and lasts until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night. If you appreciate and enjoy the Park please help support it.
THE OTHER MONUMENT AT MOUNT MITCHELL![]()
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MEMORIAL TO CAPTAIN FIELDING![]()
Alma Signal Enterprise June 5, 1947![]()
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The members of Ed. Palenske Post No. 32, of Alma, had charge of the Memorial Day services at the Wabaunsee Cemetery.![]()
After the Wabaunsee services the thirty-two members of the Post present went to the Mitchell farm in Wabaunsee township, where a stone with bronze tablet had been erected to the memory of Captain George T. Fielding III, who was killed in action at Luzon. The monument was dedicated by the Legion to all service men who lost their lives in the war, and to Captain Fielding.![]()
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The following story was written by Temple Fielding, a brother of Captain Fielding, but was received too late for publication Memorial Day:![]()
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“In his early boyhood, one of life’s greatest adventures for George was to return to the land of his people. Grandfather Fielding was several times Mayor of Manhattan, a pillar in the community; Father Fielding was a proud graduate of the wheat fields, the local schools and the State College. They were Kansas. By blood and choice, so was young “Dodge.”![]()
It was 1926 when he made his boldest expedition. He was passing his second summer at the Big Four Ranch near Wamego, a quiet earnest boy of ten. Miss Maude Mitchell, his cousin, packed a lunch for the pirates—Junior Bright, age nine, was his companion—and together they trudged across the road and up the steep hill, which smiles over the countryside. As an afterthought, Miss Mitchell tucked a ten-cent bag of clover seed into their parcel.![]()
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They spent a long day on top of their mountain, searching for arrowheads, playing Captain Kidd, munching sweet drumsticks from the lunch box, watching the wind in the golden sea below. Dodge planted the clover with tender care; Junior sunned himself on a rock and made up yarns about the cotton clouds. Before darkness fell, they returned to the farmhouse, happy in the accomplishment of their perilous mission.![]()
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As the years passed, Dodge grew away from the soil, but he never forgot it. Eastern schools claimed him. He was graduated from Princeton with Highest Honors in 1939. The University gave him the White Cup, symbol for performance in the ROTC; they knew a soldier when they saw one.![]()
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In battle, percentages too often run out. He volunteered for the National Guard in 1940, and during his three years in the Pacific he fought as a forward observer, survey officer, and reconnaissance officer—the riskiest assignments in Field Artillery.![]()
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At Munda he was personally commended by Lt. General Harmon, Supreme Commander of the invasion; in New Guinea he was awarded the Bronze Star; later he was recommended for the Legion of Merit. But no soldier can land with the first wave forever; his chapter was closed when a Jap grenade exploded during the last major campaign of the war.![]()
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Twenty-one years is a lifetime to many men, but to clover it is a fleeting second of time. The seeds this youngster planted multiplied with two decades of passing seasons. On top of the hill there now stretches a soft rich blanket, a blaze of color which can be seen from miles around. The American Legion men of Alma were there on Memorial Day; so was “Aunt Maude,” Hal Weaver and other friends.![]()
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The surviving members of his family—Connecticut, Michigan, New York, California, and five other states—have chosen this flowering hilltop as the site most suitable as a living memorial. On a large rock in the center of the pink patch was placed a bronze tablet. It says:—![]()
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Captain George T. Fielding III. 192nd F.A. Bn., 43rd Div., U.S. A. Killed in Action Near Manila. P.I. April 30, 1945. Aged 28 years.![]()
Then simply and quietly, “In memory of Dodge—Doer of Good Deeds.”![]()
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Because the memory of Dodge and our thousands of Dodge’s will live as long and spread as heartily as the Kansas clover.”
Thank you to the 72 donors who have contributed to the development of the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park during the Wamego Match Day. We have until midnight tonight to reach our goal of 25K. Please consider a gift of any size if you use the Park or support our work from afar. wamegomatchday.com
The Wamego Match "Day" is Here! If you haven't already, please consider a contribution to the maintenance and development of the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park. On line donations are accepted until midnight on Saturday October 5th.
Come check out the first 3 of 6 interpretive panels that will be installed in the Park's new interpretive kiosk. Thanks to the many folks who have made this possible.