Volume 8 , Issue 12

Alva's Healthful Spring Water...

"I had read the material regarding Mr. Foucart (however you spell it) before, but I had never given much thought to the paragraph regarding Alva's water supply at the time, which was as follows: 'The sanitary history of the school and city has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that no more healthful place can be found than Alva and its immediate surroundings. The purest of spring water is furnished the school and city, which largely assists in maintaining a high degree of healthfulness.'

In several old photos of the Castle on the Hill and the Northwestern Normal campus, one can see a water tower that appears to be immediately behind the 'Castle.' I don't know if this supplied just the campus or the campus and the city (I strongly suspect that it did both), but I do know where the spring was ..., or more appropriately 'is'.

Alva's first water supply was from springs located north of the Salt Fork River and about three miles north of the center of town. It was on a farm owned by a man named Grimes (for whom the old wooden Grimes Bridge was named), and the site was purchased in the early 1930's by Floyd and Irene Wilcox. Floyd and Irene had two daughters, Catherine and Carolyn, and Carolyn's son still lives on the place.

What is interesting is that the spring is still there, it's still owned by the city, and the city still maintains the spring and the water line that runs from there to Alva. Though the land is owned by the current occupant, the city still maintains the mineral rights. Any owner of that land that lives on the place gets their water and maintenance of the pump and lines free of charge 'in perpetuity' with all costs borne by the city. In return, the city can draw on that water if they so choose. It's still considered an emergency back-up.

When I was in high school, Jim Maxwell (one of the Maxwell brothers that ran Maxwell Florists at the time), told me that the springs were at one time the sole provider of water for the city. It performed well until Alva outgrew it, filling the water tank up during the nightime hours and draining most of it back out as the people drew on it by day.

As Alva's population grew, more people had indoor plumbing, more lawns were watered, and things like diswashers, car washes, and swimming pools (McGill Brothers?) came into being, the demand outgrew the supply, the well could not keep up, and that's when the city began drawing water from the Cimarron aquifer to the south of town.

The springs were also well known by the cattlemen of the Cherokee Outlet and were used many times to water cattle prior to the run. If you drive north a half mile or so from the current 'Grimes bridge' and keep looking to the east, you'll see a small square building with a hip roof out in the middle of a field. That's one of the pump houses on the old line.

I just thought your readers might be interested and that this might go along with our 'cisterns' articles." -- Jim   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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