The following is an excerpt from a feature story about Wichita State University's new Youngmeyer Ranch Field Station that appeared in the Oct. 10 edition of the Wichita Eagle. (Subscription may be required to view content.)
Leaders at Wichita State University thought it was their scientists who’d be happiest with the donation giving them access to a 4,700-acre Flint Hills ranch.
But the university’s art faculty might want to scout the ranch, too.
Greg Houseman earlier this week opened a steel gate at the north end of the Youngmeyer Ranch, a short drive south of Beaumont in Butler County, and rolled his WSU pickup into the limestone track used by semitrailers to take cattle in and out of the vast grassland surrounding it.
It was near sundown. What followed was one of those sky-and-sundown shows that only the Flint Hills can display.