MOUNT MITCHELL: A NEXUS OF HERITAGE AND GEOLOGICAL MARVELS IN NORTHEASTERN KANSAS

Mount Mitchell is a large hill south of Wamego, Kansas. While generally unassuming, it and the surrounding landscape have played a key role throughout Kansas’ history. Native tribes used it as a sacred burial site and early explorers and settlers used a road alongside it to head west during the Oregon and California trails. This road would later be used for the Underground Railroad by helping enslaved people travel northward from 1857 to 1861. Mount Mitchell is now recognized as an authenticated Underground Railroad site in the Network to Freedom Program.

Mount Mitchell also provides excellent examples of geological features of northeastern Kansas. The site sits within the Flint Hills physiographic region of the state, which was formed by the erosion of Permian-age limestones and shales. During the early part of the Permian Period, shallow seas covered much of the state, Many of the limestones in the Flint Hills contain numerous bands of chert, which gravel caps most of the region's hilltops, slowing their erosion. These chert bands were also a valuable resource for the native tribes in the region. Mount Mitchell is also locally known for its array of quartzite boulders, brought down as glacial erratics by the glaciers during the last Ice Age. With respect to ecological resources, Mount Mitchell is located within the tallgrass prairie. The tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills region of Kansas is the largest remnant of the past landscape, but only 3% remains today.

Mount Mitchell Heritage Prairie Park is a park dedicated to protecting Mount Mitchell and its surrounding prairie and educating the public about the history and science of the area. Established and maintained by the Prairie Guard, the park is an excellent example of a geoheritage site that combines human, geologic, and environmental history. The Kansas Geological Survey partnered with the Prairie Guard in summer 2024 to develop educational signage at the park’s entrance and on smaller signage along the park’s various trails. Once installed, Mount Mitchell will be one of the first geoheritage sites established in Kansas.