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

I am soo happy and yes there are old cars too!!!
Among other things ,such as 3 mobile homes ,a pull trailor, 3 camper shells,a farmall,5 planes,tractor equiptment,a motorcycle ,4 or 5 different engines,A lift truck of some sort{frame of a truck with a picker on the back},3 cars,asperigus,fruit trees,a garlic field,a green onion patch,a large row of greens,several pear trees,a 2 car garage,a outhouse,a 40 by 80 quonset,a 20 by 40 shed,a 10 by 16 shed ,a 12 by 14 shed,a concrete duck pond,a large storm cellar.
It has power and a well on it and a septic tank I cant find yet and it is in the middle of no where.........


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I'm jelous. Very nice. All you need now is a couple of partridges in the Pear trees.:3dSMILE:

Wow! You got a lot of nice treasures with that property!:D The one that I see that may definitely come in handy is the storm shelter.:eek: Always a good thing to have in Tornado Alley!:LOL::LOL:

God's Country!

All it needs is a couple of big dogs. I'm jealous too. :3dSMILE:

Wowzer Zowzer! Lot's of cool stuff.. We probably need to have a party and help you sort through all the "stuff"..

them airplanes are tornado bait

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

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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.

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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..:confused:
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.
:D

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Originally Posted by pastor bubba

What part of KS is this located in?

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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 :LOL: he told me what to do and told me if I had any question to call him...:D
I like small towns:3dSMILE:

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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

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:LOL:
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..:LOL:

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.:rolleyes:
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 ...:confused:

shawn you must have enough scrap aluminum all those air plane parts and Mobile homes and camper and scrap iron to end with the property for free maybe even a profit.....ted

OK, so you have it... What are you going to do with it?
I drive through Alabama and see neglected properties all the time, but if you buy them then you are obligated to the property for taxes and all. I can buy a house in Repton, AL for $25000 move in ready, but then I will live in Repton. I thought of doing it and find old abandoned cars and Ebay the parts.

Thats what I am planning on doing ,all but the airplanes ,supposedly people like to restore old airplanes ,those are mid 60s cesnas and i hope to find those people and sell it to them cheap.
The previous owner exspressed his wishes as to see them goto someone who would use them as planes and I feel the same ,those were his dads planes and he did not want them to get turned into beer cans......I completely agreeded and want them to be used by rebuilders or collectors ,even if it just means basically giving them away at scrap price to them,supposedly rebuildable wings are worth some money a 1000 dollars a pair ,but I am not looking for top dollar,just someone who will use them to rebuild or as displays etc.
But there is a tons of other aluminum and scap metal...literally tons,the guy i bought it from said he was shure there is almost enuff there for me to break even on,but he did not have the want or time to do that from out of state.
He was a retired Colonel from the military and was a good guy to deal with.

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Originally Posted by Jetstang

OK, so you have it... What are you going to do with it?
I drive through Alabama and see neglected properties all the time, but if you buy them then you are obligated to the property for taxes and all. I can buy a house in Repton, AL for $25000 move in ready, but then I will live in Repton. I thought of doing it and find old abandoned cars and Ebay the parts.

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Get out of california...I plan to live there,taxes are 100 dollars a year ,water is free ,trash gets burnt and electricity is cheap ,food will be grown as well as chickens and a pig or steer each year to help cut the grocery bill down,should have enuff money from selling the house in california to not have to do much at all for along time.
Mess with a few cars to restore and generally be happy and free of the city,the close person living there is over 2 miles away and most of them have already stopped by ,said how nice the place was looking ,offered help and give me water to drink if I needed it untill i got the well going again.
I plan to have a good time ,relax and enjoy myself for awhile and get away from all the rules out here in california,2 of my aunts and uncles live close as well as my grandma,they are less than 15 minutes away,thats part of why the location was perfect ,the other properties I was looking at were hours away from my family.

That is what I was thinking when I retired from the military, but the retirement was only enough so I could live there poor, lol, I still needed a job and they weren't paying much. Congrats on your purchase and it looks interesting, and like a lot of work. Do you get internet out there?
My uncle has a place in Wisconsin he calls the Hideaway. We go there every year, he owns a 300 acre valley with hills on both sides with a pond. 2 old houses, a barn and a couple old out buildings. He has a bunch of farm all tractors, one with a 318 Mopar in it! Anyway, we go there every year and it's the best day of our vacation. I can appreciate what you have and it should be an interesting episode of your life.

How close is the property to the old Santa Fe Trail?.....
http://www.nps.gov/archive/safe/fnl-.../map4/map4.htm

Satelite internet and tv ....but I dont watch tv,dont even own one. :CRY:

The only thing that comes from civilization is a power wire.:HMMM:

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

How close is the property to the old Santa Fe Trail?.....
http://www.nps.gov/archive/safe/fnl-.../map4/map4.htm

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Very close ,I was looking at some property that actually had some of the trail running thru it ,still had existing ruts,but there was no power there and I was afraid some sort of historic restriction of some sort might be in effect or go into effect and part of the reason I am moving is to get away from the restrictions.

My grandma and aunt and uncle are in larned and I am 15 minutes away.Over close to Fort larned.

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Originally Posted by shawnlee28

part of the reason I am moving is to get away from the restrictions.

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Dig it.....

Waiting to see your location changed from so.cal, Ca to Fraidy Hole, Kansas. Too cool.

Congrats Shawnee
Place seems like a real gem. All the basics already in place, Shelter, food, water, power and not to mention the fraidy hole! It will be a nice break from the So Cal urban density, and also nice to be near family. Any chance of resurecting the Farmall? That looked in pretty good shape. My neighbor went to his Casadero property and resurected a Cat that had been sitting for over 8 years, in three hours had it running again!
Might be fun to shoot some paint on the tractor! Some of those cars might fetch more cash from a sale on ebay than the scrap yard. You also might find craigslist usefull. Again congrats on following the dream, and getting back to a more simple peacefull life!
Now you'll be living the Kansas version of traffic Jam, 3 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the road!:D

Bailin' on "The OC, and SoCal", huh?? Good for you; you're still young enough to make some hay in that paradise you bought. We lived and worked in OC from '68 to '95, when we retired, and fled to NorCal, but I was too broken and worn out to deal effectively with the needs of deep rural living, most especially the snow and ice of the Sierras. Started hunting a warmer and flatter place to hang out for the duration, and wound up in Las Vegas in '03. Don't much miss "The OC", or SoCal; being a "Desert Rat" at heart, though, I don't mind metro Las Vegas too much.

Shawnlee a gold mine for sure but I also look at it as antiques to keep .

Thanks !!

I am a project kinda guy ,might have to keep one airplane just for a project.....would kinda be cool to have it inside the quonset as a ornament !!!

My first thought was to mount one ontop of the quonset hut for a lookout tower to sit in and take in the view....you know how flat kansas is ,30 feet in the air and you can see for miles and miles....:LOL:

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.....:LOL:
I dont dare try and use the hand crank though....:D

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 !!!!!