Re: “Lost Residents”

I- O- Wah. Yes, ” it’s a beautiful name when you say it like we say it back home.”

My daughter recently sent an email suggesting that she was confused about an article she had read from an Iowa newspaper (ours). The article speaks to the issue of rural Iowa and its lost citizens. She was unsure whether the citizens, perhaps more than likely, the older citizens, were indeed hopelessly lost, wandering about aimlessly and in immediate danger or whether there was an actual loss of rural citizens and if so what happened to them and was there anything she could do to help.

Thus, as a responsible Father, I decided to address the issue for her and see if I could provide some clarification. Of course, my research would start in the most logical place, my own neighborhood, and then beyond. A quick count of our block and surrounding blocks resulted in the conclusion that we do have many missing residents from the time that Daughter Julie remembered. My recollection is that of the 10 nearest homes, there would have been anywhere from three to eight per household with many children playing happily throughout the area. In those same 10 nearest homes now, a count reveals that there are only two homes with more than two people and that the majority have only one person living within, and there are practically no children playing happily in the area. So the missing residents appear to be children.

The next effort was to determine whether there were people wandering about, lost and helpless. Indeed, while out on my morning walk, there were numerous Seniors sometimes with the aid of an apparent “guide dog” wandering throughout the park and on the streets with seemingly no real destination in mind. I, myself, actually was stopped only twice by passing cars, and was asked if I were lost and did I need a ride? In reality, I knew exactly where I was, within a close estimate, and where I hoped to end up.

Anyway, all of these observations did not seem to be much different than what I have been used to seeing for several years. While the missing children is a worry, there may be an explanation. A trip to the grocery store’s milk section indicated that there were no more than the usual number of missing children shown on the milk cartons. Also, there have not been an excessive number of “Amber Alerts” for missing or endangered children recently. Thus, it is concluded that the missing children may have grown up and gone to Texas or Florida. Incidentally, if you are missing people in Texas, please check San Antonio. UT is playing Memphis in the NCAA Tournament and they may have gone there. (That would be as of Sunday, March 30, 2008.)

So, our problem appears to be more of a loss of rural residents rather than “lost” rural residents. A somewhat historical study indicates that this has been going on for some time. As a high school student in the 1940’s, I remember Ringgold County Iowa had 10 High Schools in 10 towns within the county. A past look at the same county would show that prior to that, some five or six towns had already disappeared. Knowlton, Watterson, Caledonia, Lesanville, and others sometimes appeared on road maps but in reality were nothing but a cornfield (what else?). Today, there are only two High Schools remaining with one on death watch. Of the 10 towns, only the county seat has over 1000 people, and probably only three or four have a population of more than 100. The average farm size would be about 10 times or more larger than that in the 1940’s and would require no more labor, so many farmers had to leave the farms. It is assumed they moved to the cities. They may have gone to Kansas City where basketball tournaments are also sometimes held.

So, not only have we lost farmers, but we appear to be losing whole towns that no longer exist because there are no farmers to support them. Over 900 High Schools in Iowa in the 40’s, now number 300 plus. The loss of the school will eventually result in the loss of the town in many cases.

As a teacher, in the 1970’s, I recall reading an article about “The Dakotization of the state of Iowa.” The premise was that Iowa would someday look like North or South Dakota, with its 50 miles or more between communities. It’s a process that may or may not come about, but we appear to be heading in that direction. I do not believe we will lose the entire state, and thus far, even though we are losing whole towns, we have not yet lost any counties. However, those snobs in Northern Iowa often insist that the two southern tiers of counties in Iowa, should be ceded to Missouri. Then, they insist, both states would be better off. Thanks a lot. In addition, some think that we could well do with a lot fewer counties inasmuch as the county court houses were established with the idea of only being no more than an hour or two away by horse and buggy from each resident (at least those that weren’t yet “lost”). Since the court house is now no more than about 10 minutes away by automobile from any citizen in Iowa, the idea would be that we could put the court house an hour away and we would eliminate lots of county court houses and the need for all of our 99 counties. This would eliminate lots of duplications and jobs, be more efficient, and also would speed up the disturbing loss of rural farms and towns. Come to think of it, we might then really have a lot of “lost” wandering souls seeking a place to go as well as a loss of population. I sure hope this answers your concerns, Julie. Thanks for asking.