Stone Messages

Placing stone on hillsides to deliver a message seems to have been a favorite past time of Kansans.

This particular one is located 2 1/2 miles east of Bazine in Ness county on the south side of U.S. 96.

What is so neat is that a bronze plaque located at the corner just west of the crosses tells about this being a church project in 1940. Local kids still repaint the stones.

Another stone message that has been around since 1897 is located east of Arkansas City and can be viewed by north bound traffic on U.S. 77 Bypass.

In 1897 a railroad dispatcher created this 475-foot message for everyone on the northbound train to see. It reads: "Christ died for the ungodly." Built of stone, each letter is 18 feet high, 12 feet wide, and 3 feet deep.

To figure out why we would do this heavy work to write a message is to "Get Kansas!"

KE #2 Marci Penner