Vital Necessities

<br>The raised concrete slab behind the house covers a combination storm and root cellar, accessible from a lower level of the house. It is said that Mrs. Jones "feared tornadoes and took extreme precautions against them." This underground chamber also maintained the proper temperature and humidity for storing fruits and vegetables through the winter. The structure closest to the house is thought to be a curing house where meats were preserved by pickling or curing or simply a summer kitchen. Beneath the curing house, food was kept in an underground spring house where cold spring water ran through a trough providing year-round refrigeration.<br><br> Numerous springs in the Flint Hills provided water to settlers and ranchers. Mr. Jones named his Spring Hill Ranch after this vital necessity.<br><br> The outhouse, seen to the left of the smoke house, was another vital necessity. The Spring Hill outhouse was more solidly built than most homes of the period - and it was a three-holer!