Silhouettes of Kaw Tribe members have motorists doing a double take along the Flint Hills Scenic Byway. Community Arts Council members created four separate scenes from Kansas prairie history. Cowboys, Indians and pioneers are the subjects of these roadside works of art, reminding today's travelers of those who lived in the area during the 19th century.
   A large swath of prairie land, located between Topeka and Wichita, is considered the Flint Hills. The official byway covers 47 miles across Kansas Route K-177 between Council Grove and Cassoday. Visitors are amazed at the vast stretches of nothingness ... one way of expressing the lack of civilization and telltale signs of the modern world. Here, the native tallgrass prairie remains unspoiled by power lines and the rush of traffic, and always stirred by endless prairie winds.
   Historic towns, military outposts, cattle and pioneer trails offer a few casual lessons of the area's history. Eliminating classroom boredom, Council Grove includes a trip through time at the Kaw Mission State Historic Site and Museum, a look at the Old Cowboy Jail, and the Last Chance Store. Cassody, the Prairie Chicken Capitol of Kansas, presents the Cassoday Museum. The Chase County Courthouse, the oldest county courthouse still in use today, proudly stands at the head of Broadway Avenue in Cottonwood Falls. Completed in 1873, the building is the state's finest remaining example of a Second Empire style of architecture.

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