South of Wamego

There were three or four big turkey vultures circling around this place. Sometimes I lay flat on the grass to get a better perspective for photographs, but I didn’t want to get their hopes up. I stayed on my feet for this one. I really don’t go out looking for these places, and usually just pass’em by. Too many crumbling sites doesn’t send a balanced representation of Kansas, not that I attempt to do that anyway. But from to time the character of a place just calls out to me. The textures of stone, wood and weed make the photos more  interesting than an old gray ruin has a right to be. Plus there are all the unknown stories that pull at our imaginations.

Morris County

The small town of Olmitz has a few structures of a type I haven’t noticed elsewhere. I think they are pump houses, and that the upper section likely housed an elevated storage tank to provide water pressure to the home before motorized pressure systems were common. Remains of a windmill can be seen directly behind the building. Another, close by, has a old pump beside it.

So what’s inside? Is there a turn-of-the-century hot tub in there, a shower for the farmer at the end of a day in the field? Would there be a wood burning fireplace to keep the water from freezing in the winter? If you know the answers please tag a comment on to this. We need to be ready if it ever comes up on Jeopardy. The old stone water tower in Wilson is similar. The bottom section of it was used as a temporary jail.

West of LeRoy

Waterville, Kansas

Most towns have an old vehicle or two gathering rust somewhere. Here’s a classy Mercury from Waterville.