Town of Sitka slowly fades from view
SITKA — Preparing to haul water to thirsty cattle during October's dry spell, professional steer wrestler Jule Hazen peered across a landscape where a lively town once stood.
An old bank — now a heaping pile of bricks — sits near the corner of the city street that leads to his ranch house. A few foundations are scattered in the neighboring pasture where cattle graze across sidewalks that lead to nowhere — signs that people once inhabited this farming and ranching community.
But not anymore. Living in the nearly 100-year-old house he and his wife, Heidi, bought earlier this year, Hazen is the last cowboy in Sitka, population 2.
"My cousin said you can still see where the city blocks were at from the top of the elevator," Hazen said, gesturing to the town's last business, a cooperative open only during harvest seasons.
Those taking U.S. 183 to the Oklahoma state line will find Sitka, a small stop in southern Clark County. It seems the town, once a center of commerce, has quietly slipped away.
Eldora McMinimy, who lives on a farm just outside the city limits, said Sitka was once a thriving community. With the help of Ashland's Pioneer-Krier Museum, she published a book on Sitka's history in April.
Her husband's ancestors were among the area's early settlers, homesteading the land before Sitka's first post office was established in 1886.
As the story goes, Sitka got its name from a fierce winter when temperatures dipped to 17 degrees below zero. A group of men had gathered to discuss what to name the town, and one suggested Sitka, saying, "It's as cold as Sitka, Alaska," McMinimy said.
Sitka's start wasn't prosperous, she said. The terrain rough and the winters cold, those trying to eke out a living off the prairie left. The post office closed in 1888.
Others persevered, and by 1900, several families had established farms and ranches. The post office reopened in December 1908, and the town began to grow. The Feb. 11, 1909, Wichita Eagle reported, "A new Town to Rise on Old Site of Sitka." By October 1909, the Clark County Clipper reported that Sitka had a population of 41 — counting five pigs.
Growth continued, McMinimy said. Sitka boasted two lumberyards, a drugstore, a couple of groceries, plus elevators, livery barns, garages, a railroad, depot and hotel. A school had nearly 80 children in 1924.
One local resident told McMinimy she recalls as many as 300 people living in Sitka at one time, but McMinimy considers that number a little high. She does know that Sitka Township peaked at 559 residents in 1916.
With the advent of railroad lines in other towns, Sitka began a slow decline.
The post office closed in 1964.
In a Kansas City Star interview in 1995, former restaurant owner Buddy Probst, according to McMinimy's book, blamed Sitka's decline on the water situation.
"Sorriest water you ever drank," he told the reporter. "Hook it up to an ice-making machine, and it'd eat the tubing."
Probst closed his restaurant, which he operated out of the old school, in 1999.
McMinimy said some people moved a few of the houses to Ashland, along with the Catholic rectory and the Methodist parsonage. The depot was moved to Ashland, but now is at home at Dodge City's Boot Hill Museum.
The school, once the home of Probst's restaurant, still stands, as well as a few dilapidated houses. Trucks loaded with grain come in to dump at the elevator during the season.
During the summer, Hazen stays busy traveling the rodeo circuit. But rodeo season is winding down, with Hazen working around the home and tending to cattle while his wife teaches school in Ashland.
In December, Hazen, who currently sits eighth in the nation for steer wrestling, will compete in the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas — the Super Bowl of rodeo — a feat he has accomplished twice.
Meanwhile, there will be growth in Sitka in the future, the cowboy adds with a grin. He and Heidi will increase the population by one come April.
This story was originally published October 31, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Town of Sitka slowly fades from view."