Rambling Back with Rip

By M.L. "Rip" Teal

January 9, 2004

As I sit down at the computer and look over at the trusty calendar I see its three night before Christmas. I knew it was getting close by the amount of hustle and bustle going on all over the place. I was out and about and the traffic was so bad even in this little town. The local super center was wall to wall people and there were people in the little strip malls but down town was mostly deserted. What keeps our down town going is the Johnson County Court House and the U.S. Post Office. There are still a couple of banks and a few other businesses that are desperately trying to hang on. There is a big furniture store that is going out of business. When a business closes down town there is just another empty store to add to the list. They are building new strip malls and new business are filling them up. Most of them are members of a chain. I guess that is progress but what an awful price to pay. When we first moved down into this country nearly all the business was around the court house square or the streets behind it. What wasn't there was strung up both sides of highway 64. Then all the traffic came down the highway and stopped at the two traffic lights and a few would stop for gas or maybe for a bite of food before they went on their way. All the stores were owned by local folks and when they passed away there was a son or daughter to take over. Things were very laid back and nearly all the stores closed on Wednesday afternoon so they could go fishing or what ever. Saturday was really the big day. All the farmers would come to town to do their shopping. The women would shop and the men would lean against the bank, whittle, and exchange all the latest news. If it was near election time that was discussed with much vigor and some times it might come to blows. Of course back then the Democrats could do no wrong. They had control of the local, state, and the federal government. The local court house would control the county. It was all democrats as it had been for ever. They ruled the roost and had the say in just about every thing. If there was a job opening, I would guarantee that kinfolks got first chance at it as long as they voted the right way. When we first moved down here there were very few jobs and a foreigner like me was way down the list. The only way I ever got a job was that I got acquainted with some fellows at the little Baptist church we were going to and they felt sorry for me and pulled a few strings. It wasn't much of a job and it sure didn't pay much but I got my foot in the door.

Well to go on with the story, Interstate 40 came along and missed our little town by a couple of miles. They first built a gas station on the interchange then the first Wal-Mart came along, then for some reason the town began moving out that way. There wasn't much moving done. All the buildings were new and most of the business was also new.

While I was writing the above a line of thunder showers moved through. There was lots of thunder; some lightening then there was a little shower of rain. We probably got just about as much moisture as you all did when the cold front came through Kiowa County.

While we were in Lamar we talked to Lily Fox. She and Loren were our neighbors to the southeast. Loren always had the best crops and the fattest cattle in the neighborhood. Many years ago they sold their farm to Leroy Wilcox. They bought several hundred acres of grass land that joined Goff Springs south of Eads. They built a new house and soon had a prosperous ranch going. Lily was a school teacher and taught at several locations in Kiowa County. Loren passed away several years ago and Lily continued teaching school and living in the country. She told us that she had bought a house in town and was a city girl now.

Now for a little history! While we are on the subject of Goff springs I read the account of H.L. Adams of the Founding of Eads. He referred to them as Kiowa Springs. In 1887 there were several Lamar men who formed a company called the Dayton Land And Town Company. They were going to start the town of Dayton at Kiowa Springs. Soon there was a grocery store, a saloon, and a population of twelve men, two boys and a woman with two small children. All went well till the spring round up. All the cowboys camped near Kiowa Springs. They rounded up all day and spent the nights drinking in the saloon. Along about this time two railroad surveying gangs pitched camp near the springs. A Santa Fe and a Missouri Pacific gang. They camped there for three weeks. The Missouri Pacific ran two survey lines. One came through Dayton and the other was two miles north. There was going to be a big city there. The little town really boomed. They proved up on the town of Dayton and sat back to make their fortune. When the Missouri Pacific began to build their line in the fall of 1887 they built on the north line and missed the town of Dayton by nearly two miles. Of course the people of Dayton were down hearted but the land company bought some land to the north and they moved the town to where the rail road was going to be built. Sure enough the rail road came through the middle of Dayton. The town was called New Dayton. The rail road went right on through town and plotted and built a new town to the west and named it Eads after the head engineer who built the bridge over Mississippi River. The trains would go right on through New Dayton and stop at Eads. There had been forty houses and some business moved up the hill to New Dayton. Most of them were moved to the west to Eads. So that was the story of the beginning of Dayton, New Dayton and Eads. They were going to divide up Bent county up into five counties. Eads was going to be the county seat of one of them and the rail road was going to put in a division shop at Eads. After all the folks moved their houses and buildings once again the county seat was built at Sheridan Lake and the division shop was put at Chivington.

By the time you get to read this I'm sure Christmas will be history and maybe the New Year will be ushered in. Maybe I can get the history and the story of Loren and Lily Fox. They were good neighbors and fine people. Lily touched the lives of many young people through her many years as a devoted teacher.

Would you folks help me out? Nearly 43 years have passed since we left Kiowa County. I have just about covered all the memories I have of those years we spent in Kiowa County. If you, the readers, have some one or some thing that would be of interest please send the material and I’ll write it up. You can e-mail me by using the following address----ripteal@arkansas.net .