SEE RELATED STORY: Madorin: Treeing the plains
By 1909, decades after the Ogallah Forestry Station opened and three years before it closed, Kansas hired new State Forester Albert Dickens. F.J. Turner served as foreman at Ogallah.
Legislation also included the Forestry Division as part of Kansas State Agricultural College. Stations at Ogallah and Dodge remained state property and served “for the purpose of conducting experimental and demonstration work in forestry under the supervision of board of regents of the State Agricultural College.”
Kansas legislators approved a budget for the two stations for 1910 and 1911:
• Maintenance and Repairs-$500; $500
• Labor-$1,200; $1,200
• Purchase of seeds, trees, cuttings-$300; $300
• Postage, freights, incidentals-$200; $200
Seeking answers, researchers examined treelessness on Kansas prairies.
They suggested wind, sun, and soil issues contributed but determined that fire best explained the lack of trees. According to early settlers, Kiowas burned the prairies north of the Arkansas to discourage northern tribes from hunting the region. According to interviews, “the deer and buffalo would desert the burned tracts and the roving Indian would find no pasture for his war horse or pack pony.” The source added, “And all the time fire was the factor that kept the timber growth from encroaching upon the domain of the prairie. In central and western Kansas, the natural timber is restricted to very narrow belts along streams.”
One K-State pamphlet suggests that broken ground, natural or manmade, checks fire, offering for example Cedar Bluffs, located in southern Trego County. Because broken rises and dips provided protection above the Smoky Hill, red cedars grew profusely. Drive rural areas today and you still find trees thriving in cuts and arroyos.
This 1910 document detailed additional difficulties Ogallah and Dodge foresters faced, with Dodge performing better. Perhaps better cultivated soils allowed seedlings to survive harsh prairie conditions. The analyst noted that if buffalo grass wasn’t controlled around seedlings, they didn’t receive necessary moisture. The state forester emphasized that western Kansas arborists needed to clear more grass and roots before planting than they imagined necessary.
According to station records, Austrian pines performed well, growing to heights of 22 ft. with a trunk meter of four inches. They grew slow but straight and added to the appearance of homes and farmsteads. Scotch pines weren’t quite as successful.
Additional statistics indicated evergreens created the best windbreaks. I’d guess red cedars outperformed the others.
Speaking of red cedars, Ogallah employees collected starts from bluffs along the Smoky Hill River 20 miles south. Reports state those not damaged through reshaping into cones and globes grew satisfactorily. Some farmers eventually grew enough they harvested them to use for posts they could use or sell.
Among deciduous trees, green ash planted in 1892 grew well at Ogallah station. By 1909, those trees averaged 11 feet heights with four inch diameter trunks. Citations indicate nearly 90% survived and thrived. Blown in soil and Russian thistles surrounding those growing on the station’s south increased heights to 16 feet. While ash trees succeeded, borers infected black locust trees, leading to crop failure.
By 1913, Ogallah Forestry Station closed. Today’s drivers cruising Old 40 west of Ogallah won’t see a hint of the old tree station. The only remnants are lingering tree claims in the region and a government-produced pamphlet.
Karen Madorin is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and sixth-generation Kansan.