By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Standing in the massive shadow of what is said to be the last standing oil derrick in Ellis County, Bob Eickhoff was suddenly swept back in time.

"Things have changed since the good old days," he said, pulling himself back into the present.

Eickhoff, a retired fuel hauler from Natoma, was one of about a dozen history enthusiasts and members of the Natoma Heritage Seekers and Osborne County Tourism participating in a tour of area sights on Saturday.

Led by Ed Breit, a Hays resident who grew up near the small Osborne County town, the tour lasted about six hours and also led the group into southern Rooks County and northern Ellis County.

In Codell, Breit told of the town's illustrious history as a target for natural disasters.

Codell, he said, was devastated by tornadoes three years in a row, from 1916 through 1918, on the same day each year.

Later, parked on the top of King Hill overlooking the Saline River Valley, the topic was the river flowing through the region, the origin of its name and the early ranchers and oil workers who relied on its life-sustaining liquids.

"Most of them used the Saline River for water when they first came here," Breit said. "Most of that was settled up by 1880.

"That was about the only water they had until they started digging wells."

Traveling the narrow gravel back roads not typically visited by anyone except the oil, gas and ranch workers who live in the area, the day was a "real adventure," said 88-year-old Mildred Morgan of Osborne.

Getting out on a pleasant afternoon and reconnecting with events that happened when she was growing up contributed to her enjoyment, she said.

For Breit, a curiosity about history was not always present in his life.

"I guess it was just kind of an accident," he said.

Breit started dabbling in genealogy, then progressed into a general interest when he joined up with the Heritage Seekers.

"The bug bit me," he said.

Hopefully, it will bite more people, Osborne historian and author Von Rothenberger said.

"We have very little 20th-century history we've been saving," he said. "We've lived it in our lifetimes, a lot of us, so we don't think it's important to maintain."

If not careful, he said, cultural areas like those seen by the group on Saturday could deteriorate, and special pieces of the state's history could be lost.

One way that can be prevented, he suggested, is by taking tours like those hosted by the Natoma group.

"You can talk about the oil fields and that's one thing," he said, "but to actually see it, to be out here (is another)."