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RonTheTurtleman — Stone Fence Posts


Stone Fence Posts
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Published: 2024-10-20 05:34:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 257; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 0
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Watts Mill Park, Kansas City Missouri, October 26, 2022.

Once when I was a child, my father drove with my brother and me, to Denver Colorado from St Louis to visit my maternal grandparents. Just now thinking about that trip, I surprised how many little things I can still remember about that.

I remember while he drove down Highway 70 through western Kansas, he pointed out the stone fence posts that were being used by the farmers here and there. He told us that trees to make fence posts were in short supply in that part of Kansas, so the farmers would use stone posts to supplement the supply.

In eastern Kansas where my father's parents lived, most of the fence posts were made of wood. Although I think the majority have now been replaced by steel posts.

Pastures that weren't maintained would quickly have their own crop of cedar trees growing in them. Those could be used to make rot resistant posts. But many farmers, my grandfather included, used the trunks and branches of Hedge Apple (Osage Orange) trees for most of their fence posts. In that part of Kansas, Hedge Apple posts would last about 30 years. About as long as steel posts would.

When I saw these stone posts I thought they might have been something salvaged from the ruins of the mill, but after a little research I think these are from a more modern source.

First, I learned that there are several companies that currently make and sell "Kansas Limestone Fenceposts". The website of one of these companies had a little snippet of information "The Land of the Post Rock is a distinction given to about 3 million acres in North Central Kansas. In the area, a single bed of rock in the Greenhorn limestone layer was used extensively for stone fence posts during the early days of Kansas settlement".

Secondly, these posts were not very common this far east. Lastly, many of the old stone posts had holes drilled through them. Wire would be strung though the holes and then barbs would then be clamped to the wire to make it "barbed wire".

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