Crossing the prairie

PRINCETON — Did you ever wonder what it was like for those early settlers who first crossed the prairie?

Do you get misty-eyed when you watch the beginning of “Little House on the Prairie” reruns?

Do you have a hankering to head ’em up and move ’em out?

If so, the Bureau County Soil and Water Conservation District has a event coming just for you.

On Sept. 13, the SWCD is hosting a “Prairie Crossing” in celebration of Princeton’s Homestead Festival, and everyone is invited to come and take a horse-drawn covered wagon ride through the tall grasses of Center Prairie, located between Princeton and Wyanet.

In addition to viewing the sea of grasses from a covered wagon, also known as a prairie schooner, those attending will be able to visit a Native American lodge and hear how they enjoyed the prairie. Travelers will also visit a wagon wheel craftsman to see how wooden wheels are made, see a frontier trading post, and hear from frontiersmen and women, fur traders and prairie storytellers.

Center Prairie is one of the earliest re-established roadside prairies in the state. It was created in the early 1970s in a cooperative effort between the SWCD and the Illinois Department of Transportation, in the land between the old Route 6 and the new Route 6.

While the covered wagon is new, prairie tours during the Homestead Festival have been going on for about 10 years, said Brook Rohrer, a resource conservationist for the SWCD.

“In the past, there wasn’t a very good turn-out for the prairie walk,” Rohrer said. “Last year, in fact, only six people came out for the walk.”

So the SWCD decided it wanted to do something different. After brainstorming a few suggestions, the SWCD decided to offer instead a prairie ride.

Rohrer said, in addition to being just plain fun, the point of the prairie rides or walks is to educate people.

“With Center Prairie, a lot of people think as they drive by it’s just a weed patch,” she said. “We want to get the information out that it’s not really a weed patch.”