Lake Scott State Park

Lake Scott State Park is a 1280acres Kansas state park in Scott County, Kansas in the United States. The park was established in 1928 following a donation of the land by the Herbert Steele family. The park, also known as Scott State Park, surrounds Lake Scott, a spring-fed freshwater lake. Lake Scott State Park is between Oakley and Scott City, about one mile west of U.S. Route 83. The park is open for year-round recreation including camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, boating and picnicking. Lake Scott State Park is home to the only known Indian pueblo in Kansas, El Cuartelejo.HistoryLake Scott State Park is the site of a ruined Taos Pueblo. The Taos arrived in western Kansas in 1664. After having escaped the Spanish colonial rule in New Mexico. They formed an alliance with a group of Plains Apache. The Taos Indians built the protective pueblos and an irrigation system from a nearby spring to water their crops. The settlement, known as El Cuartelejo, was occupied for 20 years before the builders returned to their home territory. The pueblo was reoccupied in 1696 by a group of Picuri Indians. The Picuris were compelled to retreat to their homelands in colonial New Mexico ten years later.