Threshing Machine Canyon

One of the best-kept secrets in the state, Threshing Machine Canyon, lies near the park. Located along the old Butterfield Overland Despatch trail (BOD), the canyon is the site of an 1850s Native American attack on a wagon train bearing a threshing machine. This historic canyon is located in a wildlife area, the walls of the canyon still show carvings dating back to the mid-1800s. Pieces of the charred threshing machine can be seen at the Trego County Historical Society Museum in WaKeeney. A stone marker for the BOD trail can be seen along the highway near the Cedar Bluff dam Threshing Machine Canyon is found along the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway. Named for their hazy, blue appearance at sunrise and sunset, the Smoky Hills divide the more easterly mixed-grass prairie from the shortgrass prairie of the Western Great Plains. The Smoky Valley Scenic Byway travels through the Smoky Hill River Valley, a showplace of native grasses and wildflowers. Purple and bright-yellow coneflowers species, red-and-yellow Indian blanket flower, sky-blue pitcher sage, and cream-flowered yucca mix with big and little bluestem and grama grasses. Croplands provide additional color washes of emerald-green winter wheat in early spring and russet, ripened milo in autumn. Rock outcroppings hint at the foundation underlying the landscape - chalky limestone left by ancient seas. Take a look at the other sights you can see along the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway here.