Thread: Just bought 5.5 acres in kansas...lots of big pictures

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What part of KS is this located in?

It would be interesting to go over the grounds with a metal detector. No telling what's been buried or otherwise covered up after 200 years of squatters and ne'er-do-wells.

First order of business though, might be resurrecting the Farmall and attaching a Bushhog to the rear.

Was the property bought from the previous owner or bought for back taxes or a bank repo or what? Just curious.

In Texas, that storm shelter was called a "fraidy hole" cause only the folks who were afraid of tornadoes when in there.....from playing in them as a kid, they were really only a spider farm.....I'd rather face the storm than face the spiders.

Also, an interesting statistic....there is supposedly an average of one hand-dug well for every square mile in Kansas. The wells were cribbed over with logs and, as the logs rot, pose a nice place for tractors or other vehicles to fall into. It used to be a common occurance for a farmer to be plowing and his tractor broke thru and fell partially into the hole.

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by robot

In Texas, that storm shelter was called a "fraidy hole" cause only the folks who were afraid of tornadoes when in there.....from playing in them as a kid, they were really only a spider farm.....I'd rather face the storm than face the spiders.

Also, an interesting statistic....there is supposedly an average of one hand-dug well for every square mile in Kansas. The wells were cribbed over with logs and, as the logs rot, pose a nice place for tractors or other vehicles to fall into. It used to be a common occurance for a farmer to be plowing and his tractor broke thru and fell partially into the hole.

mike in tucson

I like that......You have just named it for me ,I will make a sign over the entrance that sayes ....Fraidy hole....and let people ask what it means.....thanks.

It was full of spiders and critters ,I was fraidy of it ,thats for shure..

I had deer each day I was there cutting grass peeking around the trees and buildings looking at me,I would get that feeling i was being watched or just happen to see one out of the corner of my eye and stop cutting to watch them.....not to mention all the coon poop from about 50 mulberry trees .
I even had a badger diggin a hole out front overnight,I guess he needed a place to sleep for the night ,so he dug a 4 foot deep hole about 10 inches around to sleep in ,I have not seen him since.
There are more chiggers and ticks that you can shake a stick at there too,I went thru 5 cans of 40 percent deet trying to keep them at a managable level,finally I got a pair of rubber boots and that tamed them down alot ,but still had a few ticks each day when I gat back to the place and showered up.The skeeters were out of hand too,big black and white speckled scoundrels that left big red welts where they bit.
I have already eaten mulberries,green onions,asperagus and garlic from there,I was not too shure about the greens ,some type of mustard or kale and they were a little too big to eat....still waiting on the pears to get ripe and chow down on those.....none of the other fruit trees had fruit on them......I guess it too cold or they need to be trimmed and watered to produce fruit after being neglected for 12 years ...

Originally Posted by techinspector1

It would be interesting to go over the grounds with a metal detector. No telling what's been buried or otherwise covered up after 200 years of squatters and ne'er-do-wells.

First order of business though, might be resurrecting the Farmall and attaching a Bushhog to the rear.

Was the property bought from the previous owner or bought for back taxes or a bank repo or what? Just curious.

I bought it from the owner.........it had been abandoned for 12 years......it`s a long story ,but here it is anyway.


I had been looking for property out there and had not really found anything interesting at all.My aunt suggested we go looking in the country for abandoned property and try and contact the owner.I saw this one and knew it was the one....only problem was who owned it..
We went to the courthouse and thought we found the owner ,called and a nice old lady and she said it broke her heart to see it in that condition and would be happy to sell it ,but she had sold it in the 60s and was not shure who owned it anymore,she still owned 300 plus acres of farmland around it ,but...it had been sold a few times since then,but she gave me the farmers name that farms most of the fields around there,he said he farmed 13 quartes ,whatever that means.
Soo I talked to him and he remebered the last name of the guy that had been living there 12 years ago and so we went back to the courthouse with the new information and were able to get his address and town he lived in,he did not even live in kansas anymore.I called and the answering machine picked up......called back later and he answered the phone,it was only luck that he wanted to sell it ,he had it listed before for along time and no one had ever called him on it,so he said yes he would like to sell,I offered him what the court had the property appraised at for taxes ,which was $6730.00 ...he accepted,so I met him there about a week later and walked the property with him and he picked up a few things he wanted and we did the deal.

I am soo lucky to have found it in the first place and for him to want to sell it was even more lucky..............I cut all the grass down over a 2 week period with a push weed eater and mowed it with a rider last time,so it looks totally different than those first ruff pictures,also cleaned alot of brush up and moved some stacks of metal around to the back ,so it looked more presentable from the road.

It took almost a month to get the new address for it,it still had the old rural route address from 12 years ago ,but new 911 addresses had been issued and the post office had no idea of the new address or even the old one,I had to call the local police to get them to find it and that took a couple of weeks too.
I cant wait to get it all cleaned up,the cars in the barn and the brush burnt up,it has a big burning trench already just for that.....I have gotten the well back up and running and I need to have it teasted ,but it looks clear after about a hour of running and find someone to haul off the old mobiles or tear them down for scrap.There is a ton of work to do,but I am happy to do it.

Originally Posted by pastor bubba

What part of KS is this located in?

Pawnee county outside of a little town. I was concerned as to what I had to do to burn there ,so I called the city hall and they put me right thru to the mayor he told me what to do and told me if I had any question to call him...
I like small towns

Those airplanes are REALLY worth some bucks IF they have the Serial Plate on them, actually just the Plate. So if you scrape them out for the aluminum save the Plate.

Kind of reminds me of my son's place.

There ought to be a prize winning story here, somewhere. In '39 Steinbeck wrote of the Joads as part of the mass exodus of good midwestern folk that were driven out of their farms by the drought and depression, headed to the better life of SoCal. Now 80 years later here you are reversing the trip, abandoning the life of SoCal for the simple country life of Kansas. All we need is a good first line.........

Welcome home! You're out in the middle of the state around Larned, and there's lots of ground for tornados to choose so you may only use that 'fraidy hole for a root cellar.

I even got the farmall like Green Acres.....
I dont dare try and use the hand crank though....

Seems like alot of people are doing just that ,moving out of the cities and into the country. I have not soo happy in a long time as I was covered in sweat and cutting grass out there for 2 weeks . Seems odd as I have owned a few houses in town before ,but working on them is not the same as having land out of town....maybe thats just me though.




Hey those pictures look like the state alot of those properties end up for some reason ,I actually saw quite a few that had stuff everywhere from being deserted........I guess thats a common theme.

I am getting ready to put a roof on out here ,then will be headed back to Kansas to get the power on and burn alot of the trash there ,cut more grass,only this time with a rider and clean more junk piles,hopefully get them off the property and sold as scrap.

I have talked to a few people now and there seems to be alot of interest in those old planes for some reason.....It looks like I might get all my money back on just the planes,the guy I purchased the place from was right when he said there is enuff stuff out there to get all my money back.Just alot of work involved to do it,but my time is free and I enjoy doing the work for some reason.

Thanks for the goood coments guys,I will keep you up to date on my progress and snap more pictures when I go back,like I said it looks nothing like those pictures now and will look even better after this next round of cleanup !!!!!