Big Basin Preserve/St. Jacob's Well

Location:  From Ashland:   11 West on Hwy US 160 and 3 North on Hwy US 283.

Nearest Towns:  Ashland, Meade

Contact:  Ph. 316/227-8609

This nearly 2000 acre prairie preserve is a little known treasure.  It sits on the edge of the Red Hills region and was purchased by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in 1974 from the Nature Conservancy with the agreement that it be managed as a nature preserve.  It has also been named a National Natural Landmark .  This is a very beautiful, peaceful, and unique place.

In days of the cattle drives bringing cattle from Texas to the rail heads in Kansas, Big Basin and St. Jacob's well were an important water source in this normally arid land.

A herd of bison roams the preserve.  Though they may look docile and slow moving, don't bet your life on it.   They can charge at speeds of over 20 miles per hour and there are few trees to duck behind out here.  These photos were taken with a 300 mm lens from inside a vehicle.   A good time to see the bison is early in the morning or towards evening.   Travel is allowed on the unimproved roads of the preserve, suitable for carefully driven passenger cars in dry weather.

The small photo, above, captures two of Kansas's symbols in one frame--the buffalo and the windmill.  The windmills pump water from deep underground into stock tanks for the bison herd of the preserve.

At right, a bull bison rolls in the dirt of a "Buffalo Wallow".  They are thought to do this in an effort to deter flies and other biting insects with a coating of dust.

The quiet pool of St. Jacob's Well must have seemed like a mirage to the first explorers who came across it.  It has never been known to go dry.  The area is a true oasis in this arid country, and it supports a wide variety of life packed into a small area.  Birds and other animals travel here for water.  Many water loving plants (including Poison Ivy) are found here next to the life giving water.

Legends grew that the well was bottomless and was inhabited by blind fish.  It was believed that an underground stream feed the well, and it's current would carry anything away which fell into the water.  Modern research has replaced the legend--and the romance--with facts.  St. Jacob's well is about 60 feet deep and more or less shaped like a funnel.  No evidence of blind fish or an underground stream has been found.

The Living Water Monument (pictured right) points the way to St. Jacob's well.  The small group of trees visible in the distance surround the well.

In the photo at right, a Bumble Bee pollinates a sunflower at Big Basin Prairie Preserve.  The bee may have visited a sunflower several miles away before feeding at this one.  By carrying pollen from distant flowers, bees and other insects are nature's way of cross pollinating plants and thus insuring genetic diversity among plants of the same species.

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