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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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EXCITING GRANT OPPORTUNITY!![]()
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Dear Friends and Neighbors and Supporters of the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park,![]()
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We need your help.![]()
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The Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards have been invited by the Kansas Department of Transportation to prepare an application for a federal Transportation Alternatives Grant to build a pedestrian/bike trail from Wamego’s Miller Nature Park on the south bank of the Kansas River to the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park, a distance of three miles.![]()
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The project is a segment of the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Master Trail Plan for the region between Junction City and Wamego and is called the “Mount Mitchell Connector.” The opportunity to build this trail has come about because the design of the third phase of the K-99 realignment project between I-70 and the city of Wamego hasn’t been completed and the trail can still be included in the design.![]()
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Paralleling the highway, the trail will provide safe pedestrian and bike access to the historic Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park, a beloved 164-acre native tallgrass prairie and location of a trail used by those seeking to escape enslavement on the westernmost route of the Underground Railroad.![]()
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The Park is: a Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area Star Attraction; a National Park Service Network to Freedom Site commemorating the Underground Railroad; an auxiliary site of the Brown V. Board National Historic Park and the US Civil Rights Trail. It is also a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places; an auxiliary site of the Kansas River Water Trail; and a featured attraction along the Native Stone Scenic Byway and the Road to Oz. When improvements are completed, the Park will be eligible for inclusion in the Kansas African American History Trail.![]()
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TRAIL BENEFITS:![]()
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• The Mount Mitchell Connector pedestrian/bike trail will provide safe access to Mount Mitchell for Wamego residents and users of the Kansas River Water Trail.![]()
• It will provide safety for riders on the Canada to Mexico Great Plains Gravel Route.![]()
• Mount Mitchell is an outdoor classroom and museum visited by schoolchildren, residents, and tourists. Providing better access to it helps preserve our heritage and strengthens community identity.![]()
• The scientific basis for nature’s health benefits is now overwhelming. Study after peer-reviewed study has shown that nature exposure is linked to living longer, sleeping better, displaying improved cognitive function, and enjoying lower rates of heart disease, obesity, depression and stress.![]()
• Trails not only provide health and wellness to individuals, they also encourage economic revitalization of communities, protection of the environment, and provide improved quality of life.![]()
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Please consider writing a letter of support for this project. A draft letter is attached, but a simple statement of support is fine. The grant deadline is fast approaching, so please send your letter ASAP to: info@mountmitchellprairie.org or PO Box 136 Wamego, KS 66547.![]()
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For the Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards, sincerely yours, Michael Stubbs![]()
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Organizations; please write the letter of support on your letterhead![]()
Please sign letter scan and attach to an email to info@mountmitchellprairie.org![]()
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Date![]()
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Jenny Kramer ![]()
Active Transportation Manager ![]()
Kansas Department of Transportation ![]()
700 SW Harrison – 2nd Floor West ![]()
Topeka, KS 66603 ![]()
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SUBJECT: Mount Mitchell Transportation Alternatives Application![]()
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Dear Ms. Kramer and Review Panel,![]()
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I am writing this letter in support of the Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards’ application for a Transportation Alternatives Grant to build a pedestrian/bike trail parallel to the third phase of the Highway 99 reconstruction between Wamego and Interstate 70.![]()
• Comment on why you think it’s a good idea![]()
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I am pleased to offer my endorsement and support of the Mount Mitchell Connector project.![]()
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Sincerely,![]()
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Name![]()
Title (If applicable)![]()
Name of organization being represented (If applicable)
Join the Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards this Saturday from 10 to 5 for this annual event and learn about the exciting new amenities at the Park.
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On February 14th visitors to the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park south of Wamego discovered that the hilltop monument to Captain William Mitchell and the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony had been toppled and destroyed. The nine-foot-tall limestone monolith had been erected in 1956 by the Kansas State Historical Society during the centennial year of the colony’s arrival in Kansas Territory. Its placement had been one of the stipulations of the property’s transfer to state ownership by Captain Mitchell’s son Will three years earlier. Another stipulation of the gift was that the property would become a state park dedicated to Mitchell and the abolitionists of the Connecticut Colony.![]()
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After her brother’s death, Maude Mitchell, daughter of Captain and Mary Mitchell, contracted with Joe Beaudet of the Manhattan Monument Company to erect the marker. She accompanied Beaudet and his crew to the top of the hill expressing to him that she hoped the state would create the park she and her brother had envisioned. She died the following year.![]()
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For many reasons, the state never developed a park, and in 2002 the historical society began plans to return the property to Will Mitchell’s heirs. Local residents, now known as the Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards, contacted the Mitchell family and received their permission to pursue the property’s transfer to local control so that they could create the park their grandfather had envisioned.![]()
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The Kansas Legislature made the transfer in April of 2006 and since that time the Prairie Guards have raised over one million dollars to develop the Park. Its size has grown from 30 to 164 acres. Construction of a new main entrance and parking area at 29000 Mount Mitchell Road began last July and is expected to be completed in time for the Guard’s 11th annual Mitchell Farm and Prairie Celebration on June 22nd.![]()
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Other improvements include the installation of water, power, and WIFI connectivity, and a restroom as well as an accessible path to the swales of the Topeka Fort Riley Road, used by the westernmost route of the Underground Railroad. An interpretive kiosk will inform visitors of the many stories associated with this landscape. It will begin with the ancient Permian seas that created the Flint Hills topography, the appearance of a glacier that brought Sioux quartzite boulders to the area, the first indigenous people to live here, and continue to the present day.![]()
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The bronze plaque from the toppled monument has been salvaged and will be incorporated into a new monument that will also acknowledge the many donors who have fulfilled Will Mitchell’s dream to create a park that honors the pioneers who made Kansas a state free from slavery. ![]()
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The Prairie Guards are currently working with the Kansas Department of Transportation and local officials to include a bike/walking path as part of the final phase of Highway 99’s reconstruction. The trail will run from the Miller Family Nature Preserve south of the Kansas River Bridge to the northwest corner of the Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park at the junction of Highways K99 and K18. This route is included in the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Master Trail Plan and will connect Mount Mitchell with the Kansas River National Water Trail and the Great Plains Gravel Route. ![]()
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According to cell phone data, Mount Mitchell received 3,220 visitors in 2022. The majority of visitors came from Pottawatomie, Riley, and Wabaunsee Counties. Tax-deductible contributions to assist in replacing the destroyed monument or for other improvements to the park can be made by check to Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards, PO Box 136, Wamego KS 66547, or at mountmitchellprairie.org/.
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In the question and answer portion of this interview Flint HIlls Discovery Center Assistant Director Stephen Bridenstine eloquently describes the beauty and magic of the Flint Hills. A must see!
"Grassland birds are the most rapidly declining avian guild in North America (Fuhlendorf et al. 2012) and are rarely observed once juniper exceeds 10% of land cover (Chapman et al. 2004)."![]()
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Quote from Twidwell et al. 2013, The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment doi.org/10.1890/130015![]()
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Find more research quotes on our website www.theprairieproject.org/resources/supporting-details