The property containing the Lehigh Portland Trails contains a number of stone fences (or rock fences) in various states of repair.
The stone fences offer a glimpse of life when this part of the country was homesteaded.
The fences were built with local limestone, using either rocks on the surface of the land, or quarried locally. The “BMX Quarry” at Lehigh was the probably the source of most of the rock used in the fences, as well as the stone used for farmstead building foundations.
Obviously, quarrying the stones, transporting them, and actually fitting the stones together was a very labor-intensive process, and must have required a great investment of time.
So why did the early homesteaders build stone fences?
In the days before barbed wire, the choices for marking property boundaries and confining livestock were primarily hedges, wood, or stone. Hedges took a while to grow, and wood was valued for building and heating homes. So stone, which also happened to be a traditional fencing material among many of the ethnic groups — English, Scottish, German — was a favorite choice, despite the expense.
In addition, a Kansas fence statute was enacted in 1867 which said a landowner would be paid 40 cents per rod (16.5 feet), to build and maintain a 4.5-feet-high stone fence. This payment was discontinued in 1881 when barbed wire became widely available.
So presumably, the stone fences at Lehigh Portland Trails were built sometime between 1855 (when Allen County was first settled) and the 1880s. The 1878 Kansas Agriculture Report shows that there were 20,578 rods of stone fence in Allen County, costing $38,000. Allen County was under “fence law” at that time, meaning that fences were erected to protect crops (as opposed to “herd law”, where fences are erected to confine livestock); in other words, the stone fences were built primarily by crop farmers, as opposed to livestock farmers.
There are roughly 1200 feet of stone fences at Lehigh Portland Trails, primarily located on the eastern-most parts of the property (since the western side was dominated by the cement plant). The “Stonewall Glade” area is named for the stone walls along the perimeter of a small limestone glade meadow. Although some portions of the walls are in relatively solid condition, the majority are in rather poor condition, sadly.
Despite their state, it’s still impressive that these historic structures are standing after nearly 150 years!