On our day off, participants Darrel and Marilyn Miller invited us to their farm in Scott City, 40 miles north of Garden City. The Millers use center pivot irrigation to make their corn grow so tall, since western Kansas averages less than 2 inches of precipitation per month.
We ate lunch at the Majestic, Scott City’s most famous restaurant. Marilyn’s parents used to run the Majestic back when it was a 600 person theater that showed silent films and brought traveling shows. Today, the well preserved Majestic serves lunch and dinner and occasionally hosts live performances.
Marilyn is the president of the Scott County Historical Society, which is housed in the recently opened El Cuartelejo Museum. The museum features exhibits on local history, geology and culture. During a tour of historical farm equipment, facilitator Ryan Murdock put his nose to the grindstone (finally).
Before we headed home, the Millers brought us to Monument Rocks. Locally known as the Chalk Pyramids, these large chalk formations tower up to 70 feet over the otherwise flat prairie land surrounding it. The rapidly eroding spires formed when Kansas formed the bottom of the Western Interior Niobrara seaway, over 80 million years ago. The site is known for its fossil deposits as well as its role as a landmark for travelers on the Butterfield Overland Dispatch trail.
