Cousins' Week: Day 4, Maxwell Wildlife Refuge

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam

Where the Deer and the Antelope play;

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Ok, technically, this isn't a buffalo.  Buffalo are Asian.  The correct word is bison.  

But to me, it will always be a buffalo.

The above song is the Kansas State song.  It is said to have been Franklin D. Roosevelt's favorite song.

Allen and I came here on one of our Kansas tours.  Click here to see that blogpost.

Jill and I took the children north of Canton to the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge.

We got on a tram that took us out on the prairie to where the buffalo bison were.

He could almost touch him!  If he had Uncle Adam's long arms....

Pretty neat to be up and close!



At one point in history, there were only 300 bison left.  Mr. Maxwell and others bought up a lot of prairie land and now there are an estimated 500,000!  But once 20-30 million dominated the entire American landscape!

The calves are called "red dogs"

 

On this particular day, there were 3 trams on the tour.  You need to call ahead to make arrangements.

After taking lots of pictures, the trams began the trip back.  They stopped along the way so we could have a lesson on prairie grasses and flowers, but one bison came trotting over to see  what was happening.  We had to wait until she left.  These creatures are not tame.  I would sure hate to be gored by one!

  

 She finally left to join the others so we got off.

Many of the plants had medicinal properties.  If they'd put a particular flower under their bedding, it kept the bed bugs from biting.

We had to watch where we'd step.  

When the wagon trains were headed west, the childrens' job would be to pick up the dried "buffalo chips" to be used for starting fires for cooking.

After the tour, we had a picnic lunch.

Then we headed to the watchtower.

The beauty of the Kansas prairie!

The elk weren't anywhere to be seen this day.

  It seemed like a L ON G way down!  I think someone was a tad bit freaked out??  Jill?