Tidelands, county to assess site damage

By Rod Haxton, editor

When members of the Scott County Historical Society discovered the landscape at Battle Canyon had been damaged by crews doing seismograph work in the area they were outraged.

And they wanted to get the attention of those responsible. Mission accomplished.

Following news stories in The Record, area daily newspapers and on television regarding damage to the “pristine landscape” at Battle Canyon, Tidelands Geophysical has responded with half page advertisements in The Record and The Hutchinson News downplaying the extent of the damage.

“We caught their attention in a big way,” says Larry Hoeme, a county commissioner and member of the Scott County Historical Society which has assumed responsibility for management of Battle Canyon.

However, the historical society has also taken exception to claims by Tidelands that news accounts of the damage were inaccurate. They dispute claims by Tidelands that their crews “never left the public access areas of this roadway.” Even Tidelands, apparently, is now backing away from those claims.

“I advised their field representative last week that they need to come out and see the site for themselves before making fools of themselves,” says Hoeme. “They had a lawyer, an executive vice president and a field man out here on Monday and they viewed the site. They admit they did leave the road.”

The evidence was pretty clear given the deep-rutted tracks that can be seen along the rim of the canyon and the hillside immediately west of the Battle Canyon monument.

“They narrowly missed two of the rifle pits purely by accident. If they’d have run over them that’s something we’d never have been able to repair,” Hoeme says.

What has county commissioners and members of the historical society particularly irate is that Tidelands was denied access to the land on more than one occasion. Hoeme says the company had a map on which it was “clearly marked” where they couldn’t take their vehicles.

The tracks which mar the landscape are in the area where vehicles were prohibited.

It’s not just the local historical society that is upset with the damage done to the National Historic Site. The incident has caught the attention of the Kansas State Historical Society and the Cheyenne Nation.

Representatives with Tidelands Geophysical are to meet with county commissioners and the historical society on Tuesday afternoon.

“Tidelands has offered to repair the damage, but other than bringing in some sod I don’t know what can be done, realistically,” Hoeme says.

He emphasizes that the commission and historical society won’t be content with Tidelands “simply saying ‘We’re sorry’ and walking away from this.”

“They’ve acknowledged that substantial damage was done. Now we have to determine the next step - what kind of financial compensation will be due,” Hoeme says.

The SCHS is hopeful that efforts to repair the landscape can be completed early this spring so the site can be ready for the many visitors who tour the battlefield each year.

“The dollars we get aren’t near as important as the message we want to deliver,” Hoeme emphasizes. “We don’t want this to happen again.”

Tidelands will be meeting with county commissioners in the courthouse on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.

User Comments

• Tracks on Historical site

  "The expectation that "efforts to repair the landscape can be completed early this spring" is not realistic. Tracks from early pioneers are still visible to this day, and the compaction of the surface soil is not easily reversed. Restitution may not be enough but who will determine an equitable solution?"

  Posted by Dave Swanson on Feb. 22, 2010