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WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO CIMARRON? Some History with a bit of April Fools Satire; 4/1/2013 Back to PU
Back in the day, and I mean
way back, things were really good for our small town. In fact, it
wasn’t even a town. We didn’t have paved streets; streets by the
way that now cost an arm and a leg to put in and maintain. In
fact, there weren’t any streets; just a dirt road that ran next to the
railroad tracks. There was only one building in those really early
years so there wasn’t even a need for sidewalks, or as would have been
the norm in those days, boardwalks. There wasn’t a grocery store,
there wasn’t a clothing store; there wasn’t even a drug store.
Heck, there wasn’t even a beer joint. The only thing here was a
shack that was occupied by one stationmaster, hired to help fill the
passing trains with water from a water tank. There were
water-stops all along the rail system. They were positioned every
three miles and each had their own name. Wettick was just three
miles east of our town, for one; Sears was just 3 mile west of Dodge
City for another. Our first water tank was probably the start of
the mess we now find ourselves in today.
As time went on, we became
a town. The water tank at the tracks remained for years, but
people started moving in, so we had to have a water tower. People
selfishly wanted running water, not water from their own windmills, but
from a water tower which would send water to their homes using gravity.
At first, it was just a tank that set on the ground up on the hill.
Now we have the tower that sits where the old tank had been.
These people were a lot
different than some that live here today. They actually wanted
things to get better for everyone. They wanted their children to
have a better life than they had. They were movers and thinkers
that made things happen. Those are the kind of folks that caused
all or our problems. Oh, if only we hadn’t put up that first water
tower.
Ingalls was another
water-stop town just to the west of Cimarron. At one time, it was
even larger and more robust than Cimarron. They had the same type
of movers and shakers as Cimarron, so the battle was on. There was
the county seat war and to Cimarron’s detriment, Cimarron won. Now
we not only had a water tower, but now we had to have a better Court
House.
From there, it just kept
getting worse. More businesses and more jobs kept coming to our
town. That meant more people, so the small school that was here
was not big enough. What do you do? Well the simple solution
would have been to get the county seat moved over to Ingalls.
Ingalls had the perfect location; about half way between Dodge City and
Garden City. We could have turned over all of the trouble of
growing into a nice little town over to Ingalls. Then they would
have what we have now. Not only that, they would be paying the
costs instead of us local Cimarron folk.
Cimarron has been burdened
by many extravagances over the years. Most of our streets are
paved. Of course, that meant more people to maintain and clean
them, and of course, that meant better schools. We built a new
Grade School just a mere 45 years or so ago. Now they think we
need to enlarge and remodel it. We have a great high school, but
who cares about that? Just a few of our inhabitants have children
that use it. And besides, with a nice school, yes you guessed it;
more people. And a new swimming pool: what in the hell were we
thinking.
There had been a great
swimming pool before the one we have now that was good enough. It
was a little cold on Tuesdays due to needing re-filled weekly on
Mondays, but it was warm again by Sunday. Now we are getting
another new one. The old pool in the south part of town was plenty
good enough. Besides, the people that use the pool hardly pay
anything; it is us older people that have to pay the piper. And
once again, a new pool means more expense and more workers and yes, we
older folks for the most part won’t even use it; but we will have to pay
the lion’s share of the up-keep.
And it gets worse my
friends. Years back, as our town got bigger, they just out of the
blue, decided we needed an airport, and mainly for just a very few
people that would use it. Heck, you could drive 25 miles east or
west and be at real airports. But no, it did not end there.
We had to pave the runway. There had been old barrels that when
lit with fuel, served as landing lights. They were plenty good
enough for night landings. Of course, they were not good enough
for our little town. Yep, you got it right. New landing
lights had to be put in. And the rest of the country was going just as
nuts as we were. They were building bigger planes that required
longer and better runways. Yep, you guessed it again; longer
runways. Man, why didn’t we just listen to the “CAVE MEN”
(Citizens Against Virtually Everything) at the coffee shop back in those
days. They knew what was going to happen. They knew there
would be no end to it. And boy, were they right.
Let’s talk about
electricity. Yes, it is nice, but was it really necessary? I
say heck no. You don’t have to have lights. Just go to bed
at dark and get up early and go to work. What the heck were we
thinking? And of course, more expense, more workers, more taxes.
Will it ever end?
Then there were those nuts
that said; “if we are going to grow, we need recreation”. Yes, you
know what they meant; build it and they will come. Crap, more
deadbeats that are going to cost taxpayers more money. Years ago,
the park was built and there was a ballpark added to it. You would
think that would be enough, but no! We had to build a shelter
house, put in picnic tables, a playground and low and behold, one ball
park wasn’t enough, we had to have two. Now we are even putting in a
new playground. Yes, you guessed it again, more money for upkeep
and more people to take care of everything.
You would have thought that
the ball parks would have been the end of it. Wrong again.
Some selfish men got together and built a golf course. It had sand
greens and a local businessman let them use the ground for nothing.
All of the work was volunteer labor and all of the expense was left to
those that used it. Now, finally we were making progress. No
new taxes; the CAVE MEN could keep more of their money. Finally,
something was getting into the shape these geniuses were after from the
start; a few nice things that didn’t cost them!
But low and behold, more
people still came to our community. Builders started constructing
more new homes. As those homes became older, another bunch of
money hungry bums came in and started building more and more homes.
More homes, more people and of course, more taxes. Once again; was
it ever going to end?
Oh yes, I told you about
the sand greens golf course. The owner of the land offered to sell
the City the land the golf course sat on. The City fathers,
obviously not of sound mind, wanted to buy that land. There were
some pretty good reasons however. The price was very cheap, and
water was starting to become a factor all over the country. They
knew if they owned that land, the Cities water rights would be
increased. More people wanted to move to a town with good schools,
nice recreation, and of course, more people meant more water usage.
Here we go again.
There were some caveats
included in buying the golf course ground. There had always been a
movement for enlarging the golf course and to put in grass greens.
The local businessman also made it part of the deal to move it further
south, and yes, there had to be grass greens. Many local business’
and many community members made a great commitment. They donated
and raised enough money that the course was not only increased in size,
but with grass greens. Much of the money even came from businesses
from other towns. It was done with volunteer labor and there was
no debt to the City other than the cost of the ground. You would
think the Cave Men would be OK with that. But of course, as the
Cave Men already knew, more money would be needed. More taxes and
of course, there were more employees to pay. Not only that, but
once again more people wanted to move to our town. The pattern was
becoming very clear.
It did not matter that the
city increased their water rights; we could have gotten by without more.
It did not matter that the golf course watering system was used to prove
water rights legally rather than running water down the streets
illegally; we had never been caught before. It did not matter that
a dry city well was able to be re-drilled on the golf course only
because it was for the golf course. It did not matter that during
the drought of 2011 that the city would probably have had to haul water
if it wasn’t for that well. What mattered was that we didn’t need
to be bigger in the first place. We didn’t need to make our
community better.
But it is history now.
If the Cave Men are right again, we will soon be broke. We will
soon have to get rid of these worthless extravagances. If we could
just cut our population in half, or even less. If we could just
get our streets back to dirt and get rid of that damned water tower, the
drain on our pocketbooks would slow down, and the steady losses we have
endured over the years could perhaps come to an end.
Ingalls!!!! Where
were you when we needed you?
If you cannot reach me with the above link email me at mailto:cimarronkansas@yahoo.com with 1960 in the subject line.
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