US 160 in Kansas

Travel across southern Kansas from cowboys to coal mines.

  Enter Stanton County

• Saunders
• Manter
• Johnson City - county seat of Stanton County  
• Big Bow

  Enter Grant County

• Ulysses   Visit the hotel at the museum  
• Hickok

  Enter Haskell County

Join US 83 and turn South - the pile of cattle feed on the northwest side of the intersection is the tallest hill for many miles.

Intersect US 56 between Sublette and Satanta

  Enter Seward County

Turn East leaving US 83 which continues south to Liberal.

  Enter Meade County

• Plains - with possibly the widest main street in the U.S.
   
  Missler is just a couple of miles north of 160
   
• Meade - county seat of Meade County  

  Enter Clark County

Join US 283 and go South.

Go through the   Land of the Plains Indian and the Big Basin sinkhole

Leave US 283 and go East

Keiger Creek has carved photogenic little canyons through the red rocks.
 

• Ashland - county seat of Clark County  
• Sitka is a mile south.

  Join US 183

  Enter Comanche County

• Protection
• Coldwater - county seat of Comanche County  
   
  Leave US-183
   
• Wilmore is just a little north.

  Enter Barber County [Mile 201.8]

• Sun City is just seven miles North. [Mile 205.6]
• Deerhead is three miles south - Nothing much is left. [Mile 206.8]
   
  One end of a scenic drive though the Gyp Hills goes south. [Mile 211.9]
  There is a scenic lookout on the north side. [Mile 215.8]
  Other end of the Gyp Hills scenic drive runs South. [Mile 221.5]
  Cross the Medicine River. [Mile 224.6]
   
• Medicine Lodge - county seat of Barber County.  

  On the east side of town a historical marker describes the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaties.
   

• Sharon - Take a side trip South to Hazelton & Kiowa

 
  Enter Harper County

• Attica
  See the grave of a TRUE Republican in the cemetery here
• Crystal Springs
   
  At about mile 252 there is a fine old abandoned two-room school on the north side of the highway.
   
• For a side trip into Anthony go South on K-14
• Harper  
• Freeport - Kansas' smallest city
• Danville
  

  Enter Sumner County

• Argonia - home of America's first woman mayor  
• Milan

  Highway K-49 leads south to Caldwell with all of its rich history.  
   

• Mayfield
   
  Highway 160 crosses the old Chisolm Trail about one mile East of Mayfield. There is a nice red stone historical marker describing it a mile South of US 160, just over the AT&SF tracks.
   
• Wellington - county seat of Sumner County  
   
  Cross over the Kansas Turnpike (I-35) on the east side of Wellington.
   
• Dalton
• Oxford - famous for its old mill  

  Enter Cowley County

• Winfield - home of Southwestern College  
• Burden
• Cambridge

  Just before you leave Cowley county, there is an unpaved road at mile 348.9 leading North.  A mile or so up this road is the vanished town of Grand Summit; all that's left is one house, some sidewalks and a rusting sign beside the AT&SF tracks.

  Enter Elk County

Leave the high prairies of the Flint Hills and cross the Caney River
 
• Grenola
• Moline  

  Highway K-99 goes south to Sedan. and north to Howard.
   
  Prudence Crandall historical markers.
   

• Elk Falls - The living ghost town
   
  Cross the Elk River
   
• Longton
  
• Oak Valley
  

  Enter Montgomery County

• Elk City - almost surrounded by the Elk City Wildlife Refuge
   
  Cross the Elk river (again)
    Ride along the levee that helps form the Elk City Lake.
   
• Independence - County Seat of Montgomery County  
   
    Montgomery County was once the home of the Osages.
   
• Cherryvale

  Enter Labette County

 
  The murderous Bender family did their awful deeds in this area.
 
• Parsons
   
  Cross the Neosho River

 
Leave Labette County. Travel the border between Cherokee & Crawford County
 
  Join US 69 and enter Crawford County.

• Pittsburg - Home of Pittsburg State University  
• Frontenac

References

• Buchanan, Rex & MacCauley, James Roadside Kansas (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas; 1987)

  Chapter 1 is a geological tour guide to US-160

• The WPA Guide to 1930s Kansas (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas; 1984) - reprint

  Tour 6 (pages 423-438) covers US 160

For more about US 160 write:

U. S. 160 Highway Group
Rt 2. Box 10A
Harper, KS 67058

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June 10, 2004 / John & Susan Howell / Wichita, Kansas / towns@kslib.info

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