Ken Martin,
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My description of the land, later called Kansas, that Coronodo saw in the 1740s is from a lecture in a course "Kansas Geography and History" at Pittsburg State College, Pittsburg KS. And yes, students quizzed him extensively. No apogolies on my behalf.
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I question your statement: "You can't graze cattle well on 6+ foot tall grass."
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I can only speak for cattle grazing in about 4.5 feet grass, or within a couple of inches of the height of Hereford cow. ... Today, people cannot believe it, but my dad had about 200 acres in a slough (a wet land) that happened to have an oil-field road coursing through it. As we drove on that road countless times, we saw the tops of the backs, barely visable, of our Hereford cows grazing in Bermuda grass that wwere only a few feet from the road. Yes, cattle will graze, and thrive, where there are nutrients. .... "How many head of cattle per acre can you graze in this enviroment?" was a major bone of contention at every contract signing that my father dreaded as he rented this land all of my formative years. Yes, this was a major topic of conversation all of my life.
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Therefore, I submit that cattle can not only graze, but thrive on 6-foot tall prairie grass. ... Our conception of reality has been colored by the movies.
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And by the way, a different professor at Pittsburg State College from the Univ of Illinois Urbana related the "you will not cast a shadow on our experimental fields" story.
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Another factoid. My father had very few, if any, cattle die onsite due to neglect (such as being bogged down in a creek). He did not want to see a cow suffer. When cattle got old, he sold them as canners and cutters. ... Disgustingly. These so-called gentleman ranchers are surprised when cattle die and have cattle feet straight up within view of a highway ... turns out that they have no compassion for the animal.
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Years ago, I interviewed three times a WWI vet, Bink Graham, at the formerly Confederate Home in Ardmore OK. Bink stressed that his father loved cattle: he liked to count them, herd them, and feed them. And Bink said: "He loved to watch them eat." A true cowboy.
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A sharcropper rancher's daughter,
Patti, prochette@Juno.com
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