When driving I-70, in the Flint Hills, I always look for the large cannon sitting on top of a hill overlooking Fort Riley. We take this route to get to our state beekeeping meeting or when traveling west to Colorado. I always assumed it was left from WWII. I got curious and searched online and the cannon has an interesting history. There is a walking path up to it and it sets in a small park called Freedom Park. It's name is Atomic Cannon and a remnant from the Cold War. It had a range of 20 miles and was designed to fire a nuclear war head with the destructive power similar to what was dropped on Hiroshima. I'm glad we didn't have to use it! There are more spread around the US. Twenty were sent to Western Europe and South Korea. They were all retired in the early 1960's. Now we know!
