Teh Messe oUt bsOrNim Bi Uselele kT tN tt 
Report on a Booming Ground Trip 
By J. W. Galbreath 
ON SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH, eight members of the Cahokia Nature 
League left East St. Louis at 1:30 a.m. to be in the Prairie Chicken obser- 
vation blinds at Bogota at 5:00 am. We had heard from Biologists John 
Slachter and Jack Ellis that booming activity had started, so our hopes 
were high. The weather forecast was, “fair and cooler.” 
I H 
DIRECTIONAL MAP TO REACH SG awh 6 
DR. RALPH YEATTER 
PRAIRIE CHICKEN REFUGE 
es 
o 
= 
NEWTON 
avos]|{go1 yovIa 
From North take Black Top 
Road West of Newton; 
From South, turn West on 
Gravel Road at Boos. 
VIRGIL 
FRITSCHLE 
\ 
Refuge Map adapted for publication by N. Roy Lindquist 
By the time we got to Olney and turned north, it had begun to rain, 
and the flooded roadside ditches showed that it had been raining heavily. 
This dampened our spirits somewhat, and we had some doubts about the 
success of our mission. But we all had road maps out and were watching 
eagerly so as not to pass the turn-off to the Yeatter Sanctuary. However, 
miss the road we did, and we wound up in Bogota instead of the booming 
ground. The gravel roads were full of water and rain was falling in tor- 
rents. Since we were 150 miles from home and without rain coats or boots, 
one had reason to wonder about our sanity. But like true, dyed-in-the-wool 
bird watchers, we finally did reach the Sanctuary and sighted the head- 
lights shone by Biologist Jack Ellis, waiting not so patiently in his car 
at the Cemetery parking lot. He, too, had doubt whether we would show 
up at all on such a day. 
