Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Seven miles ahead you will drive through the southern edge of Fort Riley, established as Camp Center in 1852. The fort was visited by Horace Greeley, noted editor of the New York Tribune, when he traveled by stagecoach to the Pike's Peak region in 1859 to determine if reports of gold discoveries were humbug. Of Fort Riley, "I hear that two millions of Uncle Sam's money have been expended in making these snug arrangements, and that the oats largely consumed here have often cost three dollars per bushel!"

The famous Seventh U.S. cavalry was organized at Fort Riley in 1866 with George A. Custer second in command. Riley remained a cavalry post through World War II, though by the early 1940s fuel-burning engines had replaced oats-eating horses.

When you reach the reservation, Marshall Field, one of the army's oldest airports, will be seen to the right. Here a young lieutenant in 1912 dropped colored cards from his aircraft to direct artillery practice. The cards were weighted with iron nuts; the "bomb" chute was a stovepipe. The lieutenant was H.H. "Hap" Arnold, who became commanding general of the USAAF in World War II. Junction City, three miles farther on, has been an army town since its inception in 1857.

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