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One day an out of state visitor at the farm remarked, “Kansas is really flat!” Brian responded, “Kansas isn’t flat. It’s level.” Actually were we live and work it is neither flat nor level. Barber County is the gateway to the Kansas Red Hills, one of the most scenic places in the world.
Locals often refer to the Red Hills as the “Gyp Hills”. In this case the word ‘gyp’ is short for gypsum, a mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate often used in fertilizer and as the main component in plaster and drywall. Gypsum is mined in the western part of the county and has supplied a local drywall manufacturing operation in Medicine Lodge for more than 100 years.
The western part of Barber County (the Red Hills) is home to many large cattle ranches that produce some of the best beef in the world. The eastern part of Barber County is tillable and thus more suitable for commercial cultivation. Wheat, soybeans, canola and cotton are the principal crops grown in eastern Barber County.
Medicine Lodge is the county seat of Barber County. Other towns include Kiowa, Sharon, Isabel, Hazelton, Hardtner, Sun City and Lake City. Each year, in September, the community commemorates the signing of a peace treaty between five native tribes and the United States government in 1867. The Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Pageant attracts tens of thousands of visitors from all over the globe.
