Cave Springs the Town that Never Was

[kfclark]

Sorry for the condition of this article, but even in its poor state I thought it was pretty neat.

I believe this is from the Howard Courant Citizen, circa 1976 (based on ads and articles on back)

CAVE SPRINGS: The Town That Never Was
Nothing remains. Not even a ghost town.

More than 100 years ago inland towns lived or died on the location of a necessary and indispensable mode of transportation--the railroad.

And so it was with a hamlet called Cave Springs, located some 12 miles northeast of Howard. It died almost before it was born.

Sometime in the 1870's a railroad survey was made through the Cave Springs area in conjunction with a similar survey in the Severy-Fiat area.

Also in the 70's a large general store became the focal point for the rural community at Cave Springs.  The store became more than a gathering place including even a post office for the neighborhood from a star route out of Severy.

A big livery barn, a huge grain barn and a blacksmith shop made up the remainder of the Cave Springs business establishments.

Interestingly, the young blacksmith, a Norwegian, came to Cave Springs from Chicago.  He left the city when his fiancee was killed in the great Chicago fire.

The community blossomed and grew.  A townsite was laid out just west of the spring encompassing a half-mile square on what is now the Bill Gragg pastureland.

A race track was built less than one-half mile south of the springs that became the Sunday rendezvous for horse racing, picnics and family gathering.  Remains of the race track are still visible.

Then came the blow.  The railroad was constructed through Fiat and Cave Springs' growth came to a standstill.  The demise of the "almost town" came suddenly when the general store burned down in 1903.

And shortly afterward the blacksmith moved to Fiat leaving a community that withered and died.

All that remains now of Cave Springs is the massive sandstone ledges, the never failing spring water from whence the town derived its name--and memories.

Top Photo Caption: The massive, four foot thick sandstone ledge forms the cave and fresh flowing spring water at Cave Springs, 12 miles northeast of Howard.  Around this historic landmark a settlement grew only to die and fade away.  As happened too many small hamlets in America before the turn of the century, the building of the railroads determined a town's life or death. Cave Springs was no different.  The Santa Fe railroad chose to build six miles west of the springs and so an era, a community, withered and disappeared.

Bottom Photo Caption: The thick sandstone walls forming the interior of the cave at Cave Springs lends itself to sh(missing)nd is dotted with hu(missing)and dates such as these dating back to 1897.