Kansasans claim a strong historical
connection with ruts. It's hard to find a map or tourist guide to
Kansas that doesn't list the ruts of Kansas as significant and
important cultural attractions to be sought out and appreciated by
those visiting the state. Whereas in Montana it's common to be asked
“Got yur Elk yet?”, in Kansas we were often asked “Seen a rut”?
Apparently ruts are distinguished from
ditches in that ruts are normally found in pairs and run in parallel.
While this can be confusing to neophyte rut hunters (i.e., rutters),
with patience and experience, the confusion lessens and the two are
rarely mistaken for one another except during heavy rains.
The story goes that the Santa Fe and
Cimarron Trails were forged by settlers moving West in their prairie
schooners – known to rut cognoscenti as “rut wagons”. [Note:
earlier interpretations of the meaning of the term “rut wagons”
have generally been discredited as the prurient fantasies of virgin
historians.] As the wagons crossed the Kansas prairie, their heavy
iron-clad wheels dug deep ruts that can still be seen today as this
photo clearly shows:
We, as rookie rutters, did find rutting
wasn't as easy as we first believed. It requires the development of
a keen eye and an advanced skill set far greater than that needed by
those (called “trunkers” or “stumpers”) who seek out the
trunks and stumps of Kansas as documented by Nola (see below).
Regretfully we are soon leaving Kansas
as we head East – but be assured we will continue our rut quest –
seeking those enduring symbols of Manifest Destiny and the settlement
of the American West.
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