Information for Travelers

• Barton
• Cloud
• Ellis
• Ellsworth
• Jewell

• Lincoln
• Mitchell
• Osborne
• Ottawa

• Pawnee
• Phillips
• Republic
• Rooks

• Rush
• Russell
• Saline
• Smith

• Garden of Eden in Lucas. Review in Roadside America.
• Carnegie libraries in Kansas
• Carnegie libraries used for other purposes.

Art

• The customs section below lists the cultural centers in the CKLS region.
• List of living Kansas authors with links to email and Web site addresses. Sponsored by the Kansas Center for the Book
• Kansas artists, art centers, galleries, museums and organizations.

Commerce

• US 36 Highway Association covers a major east-west highway through Republic, Jewell, Smith, Phillips counties.
• Solomon Valley Highway 24 Heritage Alliance covers a major east-west highway through Cloud, Mitchell, Osborne, Rooks counties.
• Amazing 100 Miles Tourism Coalition covers a strip of Interstate-70 between Salina and Hays that includes Saline, Ellsworth, Russell, and Ellis counties.
• Kansas bed and breakfasts

Cuisine

• Kansas recipes

Customs

• Cultural centers in our region.

  Belleville - World's fastest .5 dirt track, High Banks Cawker City - World's largest ball of sisal twine Clyde - Watermelon Capital Concordia - Stained Glass Capital Cuba - Rocking Chair Capital Downs - Storytelling Capital Ellis County - German Capital Ellsworth - Drover's Capital Ellsworth County - Chicken Fried Steak Capital Great Bend - Lustron Home Capital

  Kirwin- Goose Capital LaCrosse - Barbed Wired Capital Lincoln County - Post Rock Capital Lucas - Grassroots Art Capital Osborne County - Homestead Literature Capital Palco - Earthquake Capital Phillips County - Cow/calf and Hamburger Steak Capital Salina - Terra Cotta Capital Wilson - Czech Capital

   

• Kansas Explores Club Interactive Map:
  • Four soda fountains in our area: Agenda, Beloit, Bennington, Glasco and Hays
  • Three coffee shops: Ellsworth, Hays, Salina
  • One drive-in movie theater: Kanopolis
  • Two breweries: Beaver and Hays
• Kansas wines: Ellinwood and Salina.

Geography

• North Central Kansas Rural Development Council describes seven of our counties: Smith, Jewell, Republic, Osborne, Mitchell, Cloud, Lincoln.
• Post Rock Scenic Byway (K-232) in Russell, Ellsworth and Lincoln counties.
• Wetlands & Wildlife Scenic Byway begins in Barton county.
• Kansas Geological Survey Photo Library of agriculture, architecture, flowers, industries, landscapes, outcrops, transportation, and wildlife.
• Map of Geologic regions of Kansas. All 17 of our counties are in or are touched by the Smoky Hills. Parts of Phillips and Smith in the northwest are on the High Plains. Parts of Barton and Pawnee counties are in the center hump of the Arkansas River Lowlands. The factsheets below describe the rocks and minerals in the area and list places to see interesting gelogical formations.
  • Smoky Hills Factsheet (PDF document)
  • Arkansas River Lowlands Factsheet (PDF document)
  • High Plains Factsheet (PDF document)

• Kansas also has lots of wild areas.
  • Wildflowers and grasses groups plants by color, time of flowering, has a common and scientific name index, etc.
  • Wildlife watching in Kansas describes numerous places to observe wildlife. Our region is in west side of "North Central," the east side of "Northwest" and northwest corner of "South Central" Kansas.
  • Birding in Kansas is a good introduction to birdwatching in Kansas.
  • Kansas County Checklist Project provides checklists of the species of birds that can seen in each county.
• There are seven Kansas state parksin our area.
  • Cedar Bluff near Ellis
  • Glen Elder near Glen Elder
  • Kanopolis became the first state park in 1959. Kansas was once the bottom of a shallow sea.
  • Lovewell near Mankato
  • Mushroom Rock near Kanopolis
  • Webster near Stockton
  • Wilson near Wilson

History

• Search by city, county or date for Kansas newspapers(The Kansas State Historical Society has one of the best collections of local newspapers in the country.)
  • First Newspapers in Kansas Counties, 1854-1864
  • First Newspapers in Kansas Counties, 1865-1871
  • First Newspapers in Kansas Counties, 1871-1879
  • First Newspapers in Kansas Counties, 1879-1886
• The CKLS region has three state historical sites.
  • Pawnee Indian Village Museum in Republic County
  • Fort Hays in Hays, Ellis County
  • Pawnee Rock in Pawnee County
• On-line history books:
  • Barton County:
    
    • Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas 1912
    • The Ranch at Walnut Creek Crossing
    • The Ranch at the Great Bend
  • Cloud County:
    
    • Biographical History of Cloud County, Kansas c1903
    • A Hoosier in Kansas, The Diary of Hiram H. Young, 1886-1889
    • A Hoosier in Kansas, The Diary of Hiram H. Young, 1890-1891
    • A Hoosier in Kansas, The Diary of Hiram H. Young, 1892
    • A Hoosier in Kansas, The Diary of Hiram H. Young, 1893
    • A Hoosier in Kansas, The Diary of Hiram H. Young, 1894-1895
  • Ellis County:
    
    • The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas, 1926
    • The Migration of the Russian-Germans to Kansas
    • An Old Trail Plowed Under - Hays to Dodge
  • Ellsworth County: Ellsworth as a Texas Cattle Market, 1935
  • Jewell County:
    
    • 1878 History of Jewell County, Kansas
    • School Yearbooks
  • Lincoln County:
    
    • Souvenir History of Lincoln County, Kansas 1908
    • Indian Raids in Lincoln County Kansas 1864 and 1869
  • Ottawa County: Geographical Names in Ottawa County, 1934
  • Pawnee County: The Story of Fort Larned
  • Phillips County: Patrolling the Santa Fe Trail: Reminiscences of John S. Kirwin
  • Republic County: A history of Republic County, Kansas, 1901
  • Rush County: The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas publ. 1926
  • Saline County:
    
    • Salina, Kansas - past and present, progress and prosperity - Souvenir c191?
    • Ferries in Kansas, Part VII - Saline River, 1935
    • Solomon Valley: Exploring the Solomon River Valley in 1869, 1937                                                                          

• Kansas Indian tribes lists and briefly describes tribes in Kansas.
• USGenWebMap allows you to click on counties to retrieve pages with lots of genealogical links for that county.
• Cemetery and obituary indexes
  
  • Kanopolis Cemetery Records
  • Obituary indexes:
    • Plainville
    • Minneapolis
    • Great Bend
    • Rush County
• County 1990 and 2000 census data from the Policy Research Institute at the University of Kansas
• County population (1980-2002), per capita income (1981-2001), assessed valuation (1992-2002) and employment (1980-2002) data from the Policy Research Institute at the University of Kansas
• County population, socio-economic, and employment data, historical and present data by Kansas Center for Community Economic Development