By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

STUDLEY -- Life on the High Plains of northwest Kansas was tough enough when the patriarch of the Pratt family first settled in Sheridan County in 1878.

But a state budget crisis will seal the fate of the historic Cottonwood Ranch, now scheduled to be shut down in late summer, its administrator -- the longest-serving Kansas State Historical Society employee -- losing his job.

"They're closing me down," said Don Rowlison, the longtime administrator of the site. "They terminated me and are closing the ranch."

Officially, Cottonwood Ranch will close Sept. 5 -- the start of the long Labor Day weekend.

Historic Fort Hays also will see dramatic cuts when two of its three employees will have their hours cut in half. Tammy Younger and Connie Schmeidler both will start working just 20 hours a week as of June 14. Site administrator Bob Wilhelm will remain as the only full-time person at the fort, long one of the most visited historic sites operated by the state.

With the closing, the Cottonwood Ranch will be a drive-through historic site, while at Fort Hays, its guided tours could be in jeopardy.

The cuts have taken place virtually unnoticed, inside and outside the agency.

Even the historical society's public information officer wasn't aware of what cuts were being made even though affected personnel were told earlier this month.

"I haven't been updated," Bobbie Athon said this morning. "I need to check with them and see what the final decision has been."

Historic sites administrator Terry Marmet could not be contacted this morning.

Brian Fenner, Sheridan County's sheriff and organizer of a September trail ride at the ranch, said the closing will hurt both Sheridan and Graham counties.

People attending the annual sheep dog trials, for example, stay at area motels and eat at local restaurants, he said. And it's a loss of history available to area students.

"It's not the revenue I'm worried about," Fenner said. "Our kids go out and tour it. It's not going to be around for our students, unless they want to walk around there."

Fenner also is concerned western Kansas is being targeted.

"We're losing ours out here, and they're keeping it in eastern Kansas," he said of historic sites. "We need it out here."

There are 19 historic properties operated by the state, only four of them in the western half of the state. One of those is simply a bluff overlooking the Santa Fe Trail; it is not staffed.

The historical society also is closing the Hollenberg Pony Express Station near Hanover and the Mine Creek Battlefield near Pleasanton. Administrators at both those sites, however, will be rehired in April.

Rowlison will not be hired back.

"They gave me an option," Rowlison said. "I could be groundskeeper for 8 hours a week."

While he didn't specifically turn down the offer, Rowlison said he's not going to take them up on the offer.

"I'm not going to be caretaker," he said.

Instead, he said he plans to seek unemployment benefits, at least until he is eligible for retirement.

"I am going to go on unemployment," he said, "simply because I've been participating for years and years and years. I'm going to get some money out of it. I hate to do that."

Rowlison isn't planning on moving, however, and will continue to live in "the metroplex of Studley, along with 330 other people."

Studley and the Cottonwood Ranch are located in eastern Sheridan County, along U.S. Highway 24.

Likely, there will be a battle brewing as the state starts to wind down the affairs of the historic site.

While the buildings and 25 acres surrounding the ranch are owned by the state, much of the contents are owned by the Friends of the Cottonwood Ranch.

There's also at least $1.25 million that has been pledged by descendants of the ranch founder. That money, however, is tied to development of the property, such as landscaping.