The massive underground water source is going dry in places. That's not good for the economy, or the local governments that deal with providing services, schools, law enforcement and other amenities to fewer taxpayers who must pay for them. Wallace County has 1,802 people, roughly 700 less than when it became a county in 1889. It lost only 19 people during the 1990s. The town of Wallace, eight miles east of Sharon Springs, boasted a population of 3,500 in the early 1880s.
Commissioners have some of the same strategies as other rural counties.
They adopted a policy to allow for tax abatements, and there's an economic development office. A new hotel was built a couple years ago to satisfy demand primarily from Union Pacific train crews. Sharon Springs is a turnaround point for the line that runs from Denver to Kansas City. That has helped with the mill levy. The local co-op installed a unit train grain loading facility.