Moved To Town
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Moved To Town
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture/digital Painting
Description
An art form grew out of the uniqueness of the prairie land and the needs and inventiveness of early settlers, post rock cutting may be the one uniquely Kansas folk art.
In 1862 the Homestead Act opened the way for the settlement of the plains and people with varied backgrounds were drawn to the dream of relatively free land. Much of central Kansas was treeless creating numerous problems for early settlers one of which was finding a means by which to enclose portions of the free range.
The area known as "Post Rock Country" stretches for approximately 200 miles from the Nebraska border on the north to Dodge City on the south. The limestone that is found in this area comes from the uppermost bed of the Greenhorn Formation. It was out of necessity that settlers in the late 1800's began turning back the sod and cutting posts from the layer of rock that lay underneath. By the mid-1880's limestone fence posts were in general use because of the widespread use of barbed wire.
At the time of settlement, most of the communities in central Kansas had at least one man who had learned masonry in the Old Country. Since post rock cutting was generally a community task, others learned the technique as well and in this way the traditional skills have been passed down for several generations.
The limestone itself is found close to the surface and is usually uniform in thickness. One of its greatest attractions is that it is soft enough to shape when freshly quarried but hardens with exposure to the air. The feather and wedge method is most commonly used to remove the stone. A rather modest set of tools is required, often made by the local blacksmith. A drill, a hammer, a chisel, and a set of feathers and wedges are needed. After the soil is removed, holes are drilled into the limestone about eight inches apart. Feathers and wedges are placed in the holes and the wedge is hit with the hammer to split the rock.
After the rock is quarried it must be moved to the site of the fence. The limestone posts are then set in the ground about 10 steps or more apart and prepared for a wire fence. Several methods were used but perhaps the most popular was to notch the post's edges to hold the barbed wire after which smooth wire is wrapped around the post to hold the barbed wire in place.
Not only fence posts but dwellings as well were made from the Kansas limestone. This photograph of a limestone house was made along Interstate 70 in central Kansas.
Image copyright Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
November 29th, 2015
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