History of the Stone Post
In
the years after the Civil War, the early settlers came to Kansas
and found the prairies nearly tree-less. As they broke the
sod, they found limestone, which they called greenhorn. This
was a ready made building material. The first homes were
called dugouts. As time prevailed the settlers cleaned off
the stone and quarried it into building materials. They used
these to build homes, barns, corrals and fence posts. The
posts were used with the invention of barbed wire, as the earliest
form of fencing livestock.
A
full size post is about six feet long and weighs between 300 to 500
pounds. Over 40,000 miles of fence were built in 50 years,
using the stone post. Many of these are still in use
today.
The photo
above was taken at the Vonada Stone Quarry, in Lincoln
County. It depicts how the stone is quarried using feather
and wedges.
Below you will find miniature limestone posts made to display in
you home or office. They maybe purchased online or in the
store.
