Annually in March this one acre of six foot tall prairie grass, that has been growing here for forty years is burned to help the roots send out new shoots. When the country was being colonized, prairie grass covered seventy percent of the land. Now, very little of it exists. The Church hired a botanist to select the seeds that most resembled the original grasses to plant as a reminder of what it was once like. Because the roots are so deep and thick, it took several years to grow.
The city fire department is on hand at one corner and they start the fire at the other end. The towns folk and missionaries come to see. Consessions are sold, chairs are set out and everyone lines up as if watching a parade.
From the first grasses that were started on fire to the last one, it only took about five minutes or less until the entire acre was consumed. It had been raining all week, so the grass was not that dry.
Fires were a threat and major fear of the homesteaders when their farms were so vulnerable to the elements.
It got pretty hot sitting across the street of the grass burning.
The very last grasses left to burn. The fire truck is just to the right of the photo.
Here is the same prairie grass on May 3rd, five weeks later looking from the opposite direction toward the street we were sitting on. It has begun to grow again until it reaches some six feet high to be burned again in March 2019.
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