The Ordway new era., 1920-09-10


Invested several thousand dollars in
school trucks in which to transport
the pupils to and from school. Crow
ley will have the only Smith-Hughes
school in this section.
Sugar City erected q magnific ent
high school building year ago that
is an adornment to that town and
justly the pride of its enterprising
citizens. No town. no community,
no section can prosper where there Is
a lack of friendship between the town
and the country dweller, between one
town and another, or between one
class and another. Wherever tho
sun shines fellowship. civic pride and
progress go hand in hand. And alb
sence of the first makes certain lack
of the other two. Nowhere ic it bet
ter illustrated than ct Sugar City that
our progress is mcaSured by the
friendly feeling all classes have for
each other. The Sugar factory at
Sugar City is by far the biggest tax
payer in the school district, and one
might imagine that this corporation
would wish to cut out as much as pos
sible every expense which did not
yield them direct returns. Such, how
ever. is not the case Don't neglect
the children" has always been the
wetchword of this company No
school expense, Il legitimate and
needed. has ever been objected to by
them. And in return for their inter-
est in the future citizens of the COM
munity, tho people have an uawritten
law that one of the three members of
the school board shall be an omploye
OF the sugar company.
Ordway, the largest town il the
county, with a population of /. .1S6 by
tho 1920 Federal ccaSus, is populated
with the same kind of people as are
found in the rest of the county, no
better and no worse, with the same
high ideals and the same ambitious
hopes. Her school building, COM
pleted less than yea ago to take the
place of the one destroyed by fire in
October. 1918, is tho very last word
in school architecture. No less a
parsonage than John Temple Gravea.
tho noted traveller. lecturer and auth.
or. recently said of It that in all his
travels he had nowhere seen, even in
a town of ten times the population of
Ordway. Il school building of greater
magnifcence or greater adaptability
to the uses for which /. was intended.
Ordway, like Sugar City and Crowley,
furnishes transportation for her rural
pupils.
People Arc Interested
Not only the town schools, but the
rural schools also show an intense
interest on the part of our citizens in
Numa, the four-room
country school just west of Ordway.
is fine example. Not satisfied with
u magnificent stone and brick school
that would today cost S25,-
900 to 100000 to erect, the good
people of that district last year erec-
ted q $4,000 teacherCge in which to
house their teachers. And last year
every one of the teachers at Numa
was the holder of ~ Colorado State
Teachers Certificate. How many
rural grade schools in the United
States hold such a record?
This is not all. Even the newly
settled parts CT the county show the
same spirit of progress, and the Same
desire for good schools. Tho short
term school is no longer to be found
even there. Each succeeding year
has brought other coed school build
ings and more nine months terms of
school until last year cnly six schools
in the county were in session for
shorter period than niIe months, and
three of them only because no teach
er could be found.
Grandview school. 25 miles north
west from Ordway, is n good example
CT progressivencss in our newly settl-
ed territory, tho other examples in
this and other sections of the county
could be given. Five years ago all
the region about tho present site of
the Grandvicw school house for miles
in every direction was one vast prairie
with no dwelling in sight, and no
signs of animal life save thousands of
cattle and sheep contentedly grazing
on the plains, and the numerous jack
rabbits, coyotes and prairie dogs that
scampered about. An occasional
windmill and sheep corral, an oCcas-
ional shepherd, keeping lonely vigil
over his flock, and IN occasional cow
boy, riding out to see how the cattle
were faring, were the only Sights that
broke the monotony of the scene.
Then came the settlers. Now ell that
region receives mail daily except Sun
day by rural carrier, and truck
takes up, at the settlers door. his
can of cream and he is paid within
four cents CT the market price for 1t.
The range cattle arc gone, and in
stead are found dairy COWS owned by
the farmer. Four years ago tho chill
dren of the Grandview community had
the privilege of attending school for
four months. This school was con-
Quoted in n shack l 6 by 32 feet, con-
structed of boards put on vertically.
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