A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 14 Tuesday
9/22/2020
This morning I headed southwest 30 miles on US-56 to visit the Stauth Memorial Museum located in Montezuma, KS. This museum tells the story of the world travels of Claude & Donnie Stauth with photos, videos, and artifacts. The museum also houses the extensive Ralph Fry Wildlife Collection of North American & exotic game animals, and the Howard Wall Western Bronze Collection consisting of Frederic Remington and other famous western bronze artists’ reproductions.
Now I headed south 30 miles on KS-23 to visit the Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum located in Meade, KS. This house and property, owned by then store owner John Whipple and his wife Eva, sister of the Dalton brothers, is reported to be where the Dalton Gang were hidden from the law in 1890. There is also a tunnel under the house, said to have been used by the Daulton Gang, if they needed to escape into the woods to elude persuers in case of an emergency.
After that informative experience, I headed southwest on US-160 & US-54 to visit the Mid-America Air Museum located adjacent to the Liberal Regional Airport in Liberal, KS. This large museum displays 100+ beautifully restored static aircraft, of all types, dating from 1913 to the present. I found it interesting to learn that the airport served as the Liberal Army Air Field, a B-24 Liberator training base, during WW II.
Next I headed northwest some 60 miles on KS-51 & KS-25, thru Moscow and Hickok, to visit the Historic Adobe Museum located in Ulysses, KS. This small museum was built intirely of adobe blocks in the 1930s and tells the story of early life on the High Plains reagion of southwestern Kansas with a riverside Indian incampment scene, a sod house scene, and gold rush town scene and artifacts. I found the story the tour guide told me, about the original town of Ulysses, to be as interesting as the museum displays.
Named for General Ulysses S. Grant, the High Plains town of Ulysses was originally founded in 1873, mostly by the efforts of George W. Earp (first cousin to Wyatt Earp). By 1888 the town was booming and it boasted a population of 2000. But then the gold in the area began to run out. Then came the crop failures, drought, and the financial crisis of the 1890s, and most of the residents began to leave for richer areas. Finally, by 1909 only 40 people were left in town. Due to increased county property taxes, over the years, and the lack of business in the area, the remaining families were about to be evicted from their homes and businesses. So, they came up with an original idea. They moved the entire town three miles (out of their local tax area) to its present location! Problem solved. How about that for American ingenuity?
The Edwards Hotel was cut into (3) sections and moved on skids
—–To Be Coninued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
Very good blog
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