Too Long in the Wind

September 2011

Season's greetings

[September 30]   Our first "chance of snow" -- 20 percent -- appears in today's forecast for Fairbanks, so I'm getting psyched up for the festive holiday season. As you can imagine, White Columbus Day and White Halloween are nearly as much fun as White Christmas.

In the meantime, I'd like to share the spirit of winter with you all. Here's a scene of Pawnee Rock's main street one November in the 1970s.

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Attention, friends of Steve Biehler

[September 30]   Cindy Biehler sent this note about her husband, Steve Biehler:

"My husband was the manager of the Co-op in Pawnee Rock in the late '80s. He has many friends in that area still but has lost track of them. As a gift to him I would like to see if you could get the word out that he would love to hear from all of them. He can be reached through e-mail at apbrokerage@alidapearl.com.

"We had two small children when we lived there who have memories of Pawnee Rock as well.

"Thank you in advance for your efforts!"

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Notable book is honored

[September 26]   Cheryl Unruh's recent book, "Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State," was honored this past weekend in a State Library gala in Topeka. Cheryl, speaking on behalf of the book, accepted a medal and a lot of applause.

As you may remember, there's a lot of Pawnee Rock in her collection of essays.

Here are some photos of the authors of the year's outstanding Kansas-related books.

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Dale Carr Jr. dies

[September 21]   Dale Carr Jr., a lifetime resident of Pawnee Rock and Great Bend, died Monday in Great Bend. He was 74 years old.

Mr. Carr was a carpenter and a veteran of the Korean War, during which he served in the Navy. He is survied by his father, Walt Crist; brothers John Carr, Gordon Crist, and Ed Crist; and sisters Jan Flint, Kay Gilkey, Gloria Callaway, and Tonya Appel.

His ashes will be buried Friday afternoon in the Pawnee Rock Cemetery. (Obituary)

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Phyllis Bowman Smith dies

[September 19]   Phyllis B. Smith, a longtime resident of the Pawnee Rock area, died in Hutchinson last Wednesday, about two weeks short of her 99th birthday.

She was the daughter of Burchard and Estella Bowman, and she graduated from Pawnee Rock High School in 1930 (photo). She married John Wendell Smith in Cottonwood Falls in 1931, and she lived most of her life in rural Pawnee Rock. She was a homemaker. She moved to Hutchinson in 1980, four years after Mr. Smith died.

Her survivors include daughters Linda Kruckenberg Deckert of Manhattan and Sherry Mundhenke of Hutchinson, nine grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a daughter, Jacepine Myers, and sisters Elaine Bowman and Berdine Stansbury.

Mrs. Smith will be buried in the Pawnee Rock Cemetery. (Obituary)

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When the salt plant was young

A clipping from the Great Bend Tribune shows the steam boiler at the salt plant north of Pawnee Rock. Barb Schmidt sent this image, showing Adam Deckert (top) along with plant manager Robert Davis, left, and John Conner, the foreman.

Paul Schmidt is featured in this clipping from the Great Bend Tribune. Barb Schmidt sent the clipping of her dad.

[September 19]   Barb Schmidt never fails to amaze me with her gifts to us. This weekend she sent a photo she made 32 years ago and some clippings published 51 years ago in the Great Bend Tribune.

Here is what Barb wrote about the salt plant, which was a half-mile east of her family's farm:

I took the color photo of the former salt plant in October 1979 on a visit back to the PR area. The old plant was being used as a barn for cattle being pastured on the property. Quite a change from the photo you've got somewhere on your website of the salt plant in its prime, with steam billowing out of the chimney.

These two newspaper photos were published in the Great Bend Daily Tribune in 1960. The first photo ("500 Horsepower Steam Boiler") was probably taken in May 1960 and the second photo ("Production") in early June 1960, based on the news that appears on the back side of the clippings. Both news photos are from the earliest days when the salt plant was in operation.

In the beginning, the salt plant was owned by Davis Mud & Chemical, Inc. My dad (Paul Schmidt) was one of many local men who first worked to build the salt plant and then later to help operate it. Dad's records show he started work part-time on the building project as early as January 1959 and was working fulltime at the plant by February 1960. From what facts I can piece together, I'd say the salt plant began operating in the first few days of June 1960.

When the plant was operating, it ran 24 hours a day with men working 3 different shifts and the plant lit up brightly (and sometimes rather noisy ) all through the night. Adam Deckert (my uncle) of PR is one of the 3 workers in the steam boiler photo. My recollection is that the other men, Bob Davis and John Conner, lived in Great Bend.

Barb Schmidt made this photo of the salt plant in 1979.

The salt plant in 1972.

Paul Schmidt made this photo of the salt plant in 1963.

There was more to Barb's research:

I always like to look at the back of old news clippings to see what else was going on in the world at the same time. The backs of these news photos are particularly interesting:

When the "steam boiler" photo was published, Russia's Nikita Khrushchev was getting the cold shoulder from China's Mao Tze-tung because Mao thought Khrushchev was "too soft" on President Eisenhower about an American spy plane shot down over Russia on May 1, 1960 (the Gary Powers U-2 incident) -- Kansans were keeping an eye on a notorious murder trial in Barber County -- and (best of all) the Great Bend Daily Tribune was sponsoring a contest to identify GB's "friendliest employees," with nominees including workers at (some of your readers will remember these places) the Mayflower Cafe, St. Rose Hospital, Meschke's, Howards, Lischesky's, ABC Drugs, Klingensmith Service, Hutton's IGA and Aden Furniture.

When the "production" salt plant photo was published, Vice President Nixon and Senator Kennedy had just finished the presidential primaries and were preparing for their party's nominating conventions. But the exciting news dealt with what later proved to be one of the largest mountain rescue efforts in U.S. history. The rescue occurred in your corner of the country -- up on Mt. McKinley (now Denali) after stranded mountaineers (including Seattle's Jim Whittaker, who later became the first American to climb Mt. Everest) were able to make radio contact with someone in Anchorage only because one climber happened to bring a portable 2-way radio along in hopes of a "publicity stunt" broadcast from the summit. Rescue efforts succeeded in part thanks to a gutsy helicopter pilot who took his copter over 17,000 feet above sea level (way beyond the manufacturer's limits) and despite the deaths of 2 rescuers whose small plane flew straight into the side of the mountain. Meanwhile, in PR, we were celebrating because the salt plant's new steam generator actually worked!

-- Barb

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Yoder bakery turns off its ovens

[September 15]   If you can't stay in business by selling fattening food to residents of Hutchinson and Wichita and everybody else passing through Yoder . . .

The Dutch Mill bakery has been closed and foreclosed, according to a story in the Hutch News.

This makes me sad. I always stopped there when I flew into Wichita, getting a roll for myself and a loaf of bread for relatives. The place was an institution, and (while it was in business) an entrepreneurial inspiration. (See the story)

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Business forum underway

[September 15]   A story in the Great Bend Tribune describes a conference -- the Sirolli Institute international fall forum (Linda McCowan is quoted) -- going on this week at Heartland Farms, north of Pawnee Rock. Its focus is the encouragement of entrepreneurship. (See the story)

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An eyeful of autumn

Vacationers on Nenana River rafts make their way north out of the Alaska Range near Denali National Park.

[September 14]   In my part of Alaska, where seven months of the year is winter, I very much enjoy the burst of life that is spring-summer-fall. The last of August through the end of September is especially beautiful.

I know, Kansas is a land of beauty, subtle beauty. Sometimes, however, I like Nature to scream in my face, and that's what it has been doing this week.

Within a couple of weeks, we'll be scraping our windshields every morning and running extension cords out to the car, which will already have its studded tires on. So while we still have T-shirt weather in the 50s and 60s, I'm going to enjoy this time of year, and you can, too.

You can travel north and west to Alaska, you know. We're around the corner of the earth, but still on the continent. Keith Mull has done it, Leon Miller has, Pat Wycoff has, and my mom has as well. Come in late May and early June to see the summer while the greenery is fresh, the animals have their babies, and it's least likely to rain under the midnight sun; come in midsummer for the warmth; and come around Labor Day for the cheaper prices and fall colors. Come in the spring for long sunlight and skiing.

It's not Kansas, where the lone yellow cottonwood decorates an entire section of pasture, but it'll do.

Aspens on a hillside in Fairbanks.

A wild rose's leaves glow in the willow underbrush.

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Are these your ancestors?

Boy on chair: A young fellow holds still for a gentle portrait.

[September 12]   Janice Baca has some photos of folks who may have lived around Pawnee Rock, and she'd like our help in identifying them.

Can you provide a name for any of these people?

Janice wrote:

My mother, Geneva Boese Glunt, a granddaughter of Christian Schultz, had loads of old pictures. These five pictures have no names on them, and I wondered if you would be able to post these to see if anyone knows them. We were fortunate there was only five with no names. They could be on the Schultz side or Boese side or neither.

Thank you
Janice Baca

Baby: Whose baby is this?

Deer: Woman feeds a captive deer.

Young man in suit: A young man prepares to enter the adult world.

Man: Was he a farmer, a banker, a businessman?

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Evidence of the hard summer

[September 8]   Like many families in Pawnee Rock, ours had a yard decorated with pampas grass, that Argentinean miracle that grew like a maniac in the spring and early summer and dried out into a clump of tan strands that smelled of heaven when we burned it in the fall. No care was needed -- this was grass that was enthusiastic about life in an arid land.

And then comes the summer of 2011. Larry and Carolyn Mix of St. John sent some photos of their backyard stand of pampas grass.

Normal year: Summer's growth of pampas grass in the Mixes' backyard.

This year: Summer's growth in 2011.

Larry wrote:

Thought we might show you some photos of our back yard pampas grass. The photos are from a year ago and this year. We in this area have had between 52 and 54 days of over a hundred degree days, plus 30 to 40 mile per hour winds, a calm day for Kansas.

(From Leon: According to measurements made at the Great Bend airport and kept by the National Weather Service, the last rain of more than an inch [1.23 inches] fell on May 24. Since then, there has been only one rain greater than a half-inch -- on May 25. See the statistics.)

It turns out that the weather isn't the only thing that's hot. The Mixes are, too, after seeing changes in Quivira National Wildlife Refuge northeast of St. John.

But before I get to Larry again, I'd like to show a photo I made in August 2010 of a pool along the main road into the refuge. It shows a variety of birds including herons and a multitude of pelicans.

August 2010: Herons and pelicans in a pond at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

Now, back to Larry and his photos:

While we are on the subject of hot and dry! Carolyn and I went for a drive to Quivira Refuge. In our opinion they are totally destroying the most beautiful place in Stafford County.

They are taking out all the trees. What are they thinking? We don't know what the birds are going to do this fall as there is no water left. The wind has a open space to blow across the plains and water.

In the past when we drove around the Refuge we would see from 25 to a high of 360 deers. Now we see 5 or 10 if we are lucky. Before this took place we were never skunked now it's most of the time. The photo with the deer in it, the trees in the background are all gone.

Deer: Whitetails and cedars (no longer) in Quivira.

Pond bottom: A dry pond at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in the summer of 2011.

These photos are of the north large pond on the north end showing how dry it is. What is going to happen when the birds head south? They won't be stopping in Stafford County!

Parched: Cracked, dried silt remains after a shallow pond evaporated in 2011 at Quivira.

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Date chosen for 2012 reunion

[September 7]   Mark your calendar now for next summer's school reunion. This message came Tuesday from Roger Hanhardt:

Beans (Ed) Crosby has reserved the Black Angus in Great Bend for next year, 2012, for Saturday, August 11.

The '62 class will be having their 50th next year, so hope they will include their celebration with this date."

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Overall, good memories

[September 7]   Cheryl Unruh, my sister the writer, remembers our dad and his overalls.

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In praise of Barry Jack

[September 7]   Cindy Armstrong, who wrote recently to urge Pawnee Rockers to attend the Sept. 12 meeting of the City Council and discuss the Fire Department, follows up with a new message.

A response from Dustin Chambers, the fire chief, is welcome.

Here is Cindy's e-mail:

It's a sad day when I am told that a child can't speak to me anymore because I live with Barry Jack. All because Mr. Dustin Chambers, fire chief of Pawnee Rock, told her mother lies. What has our small little community come to when a stranger can move in and tell untruths about people he never took the time to talk to. This from one of our council members and fire chief!

So I ask that you post this letter on your web site so that people may know the truth about Barry Jack. He was born in Kansas at a time when life moved at a slower pace. Not ever knowing his birth mother he was adopted by two of the kindest loving people I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

He has spent his entire life giving of his self for his family, country and community. He spent 18 years in the army serving many tours of duty in places that would scare most people, but did it gladly for his country.

At this time he has worked in Larned corrections for 12 years and strives to keep his fellow officers safe as well as the community. He has three beautiful children that he loves with all his heart. In fact he calls them every night just to tell them he loves them WITHOUT FAIL. He encourages them to strive for greatness in all that they do.

He has dedicated many hours of his free time in training to serve his community, by taking EVERY training class offered by surrounding fire departments. I can say he is one of the most trustworthy, honest, hardworking men I have ever known!

He would give any one a helping hand that asked. I have been with him when there has been a stranger stranded along the side of the road and he stopped to give assistance in freezing weather. He has always been the first to arrive when called out for assistance.

This is what is so upsetting to me. Mr. Chambers claims he wants to serve our community but he removed Barry from the fire deptment because of his opinion. If he really cared about our city he wouldn't have removed Barry. No one said that they had to be friends, but can Pawnee Rock really afford to lose someone like Barry Jack serving the community? It's not like we have too many volunteers in our town that Mr. Chambers can pick and choose.

Please post this as I encourage many of the people in town to go to your web site and take part in our city.

Once again thank you.

Cindy Armstrong

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The joy of Pawnee Rock

[September 1]   Please add me to the list of friends of Pawnee Rock. My name is Cindy Armstrong. I moved to Pawnee Rock 2 years ago. I purchased the little yellow house at 515 Rock Rd. I have since sold it to a very nice man and he is restoring it to live in. I work for USD 495. I came from Tucson, Arizona. I had never been to Kansas untill I moved here but I am never leaving! This is a great place to live! Coming from a very large city its a breath of fresh air. To see the wildlife in your own back yard is a site to behold. I am currently trying to get my 3 daughters to move here to raise their childern in this safe friendly place. My mother in law (mom) said her mother used to tell her that Kansas was GODS little secret, and I do agree.

I know I dont have any history in Pawnee Rock but many of my friewnds and fellow work associates do. In fact one of them was born right her 82 years ago and still loves this little town. She now lives in Larned but has her final resting place in our little cemetery. This little town is dear to her heart and she tells me many of the storys about how wonderful her childhood was here.

My goal as a resident here in Pawnee Rock is to see we have a safe town,one we can be proud of and one that people know for how unique and quaint it is. We have a special place to show our fellow country men( THE ROCK) which is a historical site.

I want people to come to our town and see the pride of the American settler and how our counrty was built by the tenacity, sweat and desire for a better life. We as Americans still endur and strive for just these things. So please add me to you list and post this letter> I am proud to say I live in Pawnee Rock And want others to feel the same . Maybe me coming from a big city my ideas and desires for our city are too large but I just want to make this part of Kansas a great place that we are all proud to call home!

[I asked Cindy about her Larned friend with the Pawnee Rock roots. She replied with another e-mail:]

My friend that I spoke of is Joanna Rainbolt. We work together at Phinney Elementary. Its a honor to know someone who was born right here in Pawnee Rock. She tells me she was born at home. I know that 82 years ago isn't a long time by most standards,but to have lived in that time an era and to have struggled as those before us did is a great accomplishment to me.

I have walked through the cemetry and looked at the dates on most of the old head stones it amazes me to see that people managed to remain here with all they had to endure. There is one that breaks my heart, it is a four sided head stone with the names of four children. One on each side they all died within several monhts of each other in the years of 1885-1886. This tells a story of great hardships. To have stayed here and made it possible for us to call this home now is beyond anything I have struggled or endured in this life.

Joanna told me this was a very nice little town with a bank, stores, schools. I have seen the old pictures you post on your web site and it saddens me to look at the town now. I recently took a trip to Arizona traveling by car. We drove through KS, OK, AZ, TX all along the way I saw the same thing happening to many of these small towns in our great Country. It's really sad to see that our forefathers (I mean the people of the '20s and' 30s) who worked so hard for us to live this way of life is turning into broken-down dusty memories. I'm affraid, At the rate of decay I witnessed it wont be long before our town becomes the same.

What I do know is we all have the power to change the outcome of tomorrow by stepping up and becoming a community like the people of Pawnee Rock were before us. You can post this if you like I'm sure Ms. Rainbolt won't mind. She loves this town as do I.

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Joan (Dueser) Rosenbaum dies

[September 1]   Joan Rosenbaum, who graduated from Pawnee Rock High School in 1962, has died. She was 67 years old and lived in Great Bend.

Mrs. Rosenbaum was born in 1944 to Andrew and Bessie Dueser. She was a trumpet player in high school and went on to become a hairdresser and booster of Barton County Community College. Her husband of four years, Gary, died in 1973, and she is survived by a son and a daughter. Her brother Russell also preceded her in death.

Mrs. Rosenbaum's funeral will be Saturday morning at Bryant Funeral Home in Great Bend, and she'll be buried in the Great Bend Cemetery. (Obituary)

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