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Reservoir lures spenders to rural area
Published 8/2/2010 in Local News
By AMY BICKEL
Special to The Telegram
Sitting in his office where glass windows overlook grocery aisles, Mark Wellbrock says he has already seen a small impact from the out-of-county visitors heading to Hodgeman County's new lake.
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Sandra J. Milburn/The Hutchinson News Marvin Frizzell nets a small catfish at Horse Thief Reservoir Wednesday just west of Jetmore. Frizzell really appreciates the lake being closer to his home instead of his normal drive to Nebraska to go fishing.
Worm sales are up more than 40 percent, he said.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, it's because of the reservoir," the Jetmore Food Center owner said with a grin, noting he already has added coolers, barbecue grills and propane bottles to his inventory in hopes of seeing more business from the throng of folks heading to Kansas' newest lake.
More than 8,000 people have visited Hodgeman County's HorseThief Reservoir since it opened June 26. And residents are hoping the influx of people will offer an economic impact to a county of 2,000 people.
Wellbrock isn't the only one preparing for the multitudes. Curtis Rasmussen, who owns Carquest and R & R Supply, said he plans to add marine parts to his offerings, and a mechanic is selling a few watercrafts in his front lawn and has had requests for boat batteries.
Another entrepreneur may provide storage for boats and Jet Skis, said Lea Ann Seiler, director of Hodgeman County Economic Development.
"They're buying ice, pop and beer at the grocery, they're getting fuel," she said.
Some out-of-town guests are even frequenting a few of the city's restaurants.
"It's been great for Hodgeman," she said.
A lake for western Kansas
Larry Steinbring leaned against the counter between helping customers at Jetmore Lumber Co. There really hadn't been much for water recreation in western Kansas before this, he said.
With a semiarid landscape, there are no other reservoirs in southwest Kansas and many small lakes are dry. Even the mighty Arkansas River hasn't flowed in years.
Building a reservoir in Hodgeman County for recreation and flood control isn't a new idea. It was a lengthy process.
In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps explored the site for a reservoir but decided it was too large an area to build the lake it wanted. Then, more than 50 years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explored it as a potential lake site, but at that time, it was considered too small.
The Pawnee is the largest watershed district in the U.S., containing more than 1.5 million acres in parts of nine southwest Kansas counties — Edwards, Finney, Ford, Gray, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness, Pawnee and Rush. When the district formed in 1968, a plan was formulated for the district that included several dams. A lake at HorseThief's present site has been part of the discussion since at least the early 1970s.
However, it wasn't until 2005 the idea was to become a reality, when voters in Ford, Finney, Hodgeman and Gray counties, all in the HorseThief Benefit District, agreed to a sales tax to help pay for a portion of the $21 million project.
That's a minimal cost when it comes to the 450--acre reservoir's economic potential, Wellbrock said. He's seeing more out--of--county license plates with people who are heading to the lake to fish, picnic and boat.
Seiler said Hodgeman County residents are also purchasing Jet Skis and other watercraft. Her family invested in a wind surfer. That means other needs are popping up, such as life jackets and, for a predominately treeless reservoir, umbrellas.
There's an upbeat mood in the small county seat town these days — a town that, a decade ago, was on the same path as some other rural communities — motionless, he says.
"We needed this," Steinbring said. "It's getting traffic into town."
More than just a lake
Hodgeman County didn't need a lake to start moving forward.
Take a drive down the highway west toward Jetmore and passers--by will see two wind turbines spinning on the southern horizon — an effort by the town to stabilize increasing electrical rates. The city also is developing a nine--hole golf course on the edge of town, which is surrounded by new homes.
County residents have been working with Public Square Communities, a Kansas corporation that works with community leaders to transform towns into thriving communities by focusing on four sectors of the community: business, education, government and human services, Wellbrock said.
Last year, he said, Hodgeman County became the fourth accredited Public Square community in Kansas. Success stories include the implementation of a vintage baseball team, hospital improvements, the creation of a fall festival and expanding recreation.
Seiler says another success that came out of the public--square concept is the Hodgeman County Land Rush, which grants families building a new home in Hodgeman County $5,000 toward the home's purchase. Those building in Jetmore can receive $10,000.
About 10 families have taken advantage of the program so far, she said. She also received four calls last week from people looking for two--bedroom homes that are on the market.
The hope is that Dodge City's boom times with a new casino and other ventures might trickle into Hodgeman County, just a half hour to the north.
Other positives include a new housing development being built near the Hodgeman/Ford county line, she said. The Jetmore Motorplex reopened this summer.
The community also is coming together in education, with the merger of Hanston and Jetmore schools, forming Hodgeman County Schools, Wellbrock said.
Coincidentally, it's been 100 years since the first "Hodgeman County High School" was established, he noted.
Wellbrock said he notices more young families moving back and finding jobs either in Dodge City or in the county.
Good fishing
Attendance at the reservoir, named after the original HorseThief Canyon not far from the site of the dam — a box canyon where horse thieves would hide their loot back in the day — can only get better, said HorseThief Manager Josh Hobbs.
Campsites are expected to be ready for campers by fall, which Hobbs says should bring even more people to the area.
Fishing also will improve in future years. Since September, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks biologists have been stocking everything from bluegill and minnows to largemouth bass, walleye and even keeper catfish.
Watching his pole from his fishing boat, Garden City resident Marvin Frizzell couldn't think of much negative about his new fishing hole.
"Except for the rattlesnakes," he said.
Yet, a couple of rattlers haven't been enough to deter Frizzell from coming to HorseThief — less than an hour east of his home in Garden City. The longtime catfisherman has been traveling to Nebraska over the years to fish because he never had any waters close to home.
"This is a much needed thing for this part of the state because, otherwise, we have no water," Frizzell said, noting the 2-- to 3--pounders can only get bigger.
No one figured the lake would nearly fill in just a year, Rasmussen said, who lives along the Buckner Creek not far from the lake. Some even doubted the lake would fill much at all.
"But it's already having a positive impact for our county," he said. "People are fishing; people are getting out on the water. It's nice to see other people coming through here and having that added traffic."
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