Historical Kansas

The Big Dam Foolishness fight was lost, and four towns went under. The Flood Control Act of 1938 authorized the reservoir, and the Great Flood of 1951, which swamped Manhattan, Topeka and the West Bottoms of Kansas City, pushed it ahead. Blue Valley residents organized under the slogan "Let's quit this dam foolishness" and helped send Democrat Howard S. Miller to Congress in 1952, but construction began that year. When the lake filled from 1962 it submerged Cleburne, Randolph, Garrison Cross and Stockdale; only Randolph rebuilt, naming its streets for the drowned towns.

What the plaque says

Historical Kansas North on scenic K-177 is Manhattan, home of Kansas State University, established as Bluemont College in 1858. Above Manhattan is the huge Tuttle Creek dam and reservoir, described in the 1950's by embattled valley residents as "Big Dam Foolishness." South on K-177 is Council Grove reservoir, and the historic city astride the old Santa Fe trail. This was the nation's first major highway linking the East and the West. The Kaw Indian mission and other buildings, dating from the trail's heyday, 1821-1870, are still to be seen in Council Grove. Bluestem pastures -- known locally as the Flint Hills -- abound here. They extend in a 60-mile-wide strip south into Oklahoma. These succulent pastures are dominated by Big and Little Bluestem, with assorted other grasses, nurtured over a limestone base. Upon them a million cattle are grazed annually. Kansas is on the central bird flyway, and 400 species have been seen in the state. Of these, about 200 nest here. Many are beautiful, scores are songsters, and nearly all are beneficial. The state bird of Kansas is the Western Meadowlark. Both the Eastern and Western Meadowlark frequent this area. Although the two look alike they can be identified by their calls -- that of the Western is more melodious.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Konza Prairie Biological Station — 2.9 mi
  Kansas State's research prairie south of Manhattan, named for the Kanza, where every watershed burns on its own schedule and a public nature trail climbs from Kings Creek to the open hills.
• Flint Hills Discovery Center — 8.3 mi
  Manhattan's city-run museum of the tallgrass prairie, opened in 2012 at the edge of downtown, and the place to have the Flint Hills explained before driving into them.

More markers nearby

• Fort Riley & Junction City — 0.4 mi
• First Capitol of Kansas — 8.1 mi
• Fort Riley — 8.8 mi
• Historical Kansas — 15 mi