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Barton County B
arton County is poised near the geographical center of Kansas, and is home to the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge, the Kansas Wetlands Education Center and many historic sites that tell the story of how the region helped shape the nation as a whole. From Native Americans to Spanish explorers and settlers on the Santa Fe Trail, many have passed through the region over the centuries. The Arkansas River, the sixth largest river in the United States, flows through the county, with its northernmost bend peaking just six miles east of where Great Bend sits today. Indigenous people settled along the river for thousands of years before Spanish conquistador and explorer Ferdinand Coronado and his men traveled through the area in the 1540s. A 192-mile portion of the Arkansas River in Kansas was designated as a National Water Trail, by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism in 2016. The trail begins in Great Bend and ends at the Kansas-Oklahoma border southeast of Arkansas City. Barton County is now a hub of state, national and international trade with the Transload Facility at the Great
Bend Municipal Airport. It is also the crossroads of two major highways, U.S. 56 and U.S. 281. But, the history runs deeper. Spanish conquistadors and explorers are reported to be the first Europeans to ever visit this portion of Kansas. Nearly three centuries later, the first Americans to officially visit the area were Lt. Zebulon Pike and his men while conducting an expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1806. Later, this route became known as the Santa Fe Trail, traveled by pioneers heading west for a better way of life. Then the
railroads, and civilization in the form of cities and towns took hold. In 1867, Barton County was created, but it wasn’t until 1872 that the minimum population of 600 was reached in order for the county to be organized. It was on May 16, 1872 that Gov. Harvey gave the nod for Barton County to be incorporated, and declared Great Bend the temporary county seat. A week later, on May 23, it became permanent, and three townships were created – Great Bend, Lakin and Buffalo. The people who settled
came from all corners of the globe. Immigrants from throughout Europe settled on homesteads and helped build small towns, as did pioneers from the eastern United States. There were freed slaves, called “exodusters” who traveled to Kansas looking for a new life, too. The surrounding prairie was broken and farmed, and agriculture thrived. Through trial and error, they learned that wheat performed very well. Barton County has become a “banner” wheat county in Kansas. The main line of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroad followed the Arkansas River, replacing the Santa Fe Trail. It brought goods and people into and out of the area, allowing cities to flourish with trade in the late 1800s and into the first half of the 1900s. In the late 1800’s oil was discovered in Cheyenne Bottoms, a vast marshland of international importance north of Great Bend. The first well didn’t produce, but subsequent drills were successful, and touched off an oil boom in the county. Early in the 20th century, there was another oil boom. This added another dimension to the county and is still a big part of the economy.
