I am writing in hopes that someone upon this great website may be able to assist me. I represent the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont Kansas. We recently acquired the ponds directly south of the hotel that were originally developed to supply water to the Beaumont Water Tower. I am trying to find out as much history about these ponds as I possibly can to incorporate into the signage that we are planning to develop for placement at the pond. Does anyone know when they were constructed, by whom and are there any unique stories about these ponds. Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou, Travis
This isn't based on any facts perse, but the pond was probably constructed in 1885, when the Kansas City & Southwestern branched off from the St. Louis, Wichita & Western, that date also being when the water tower was built. Because of the extensive cattle grazing, the pond probably fed a good number of cattle awaiting shippment east. As the need to quench more and more locomotives grew, a second dam was built below the original dam. Just a few ramblings off the top of my head...
While looking up information regarding the Beaumont water tower, on Google maps, I found a satellite picture showing, what I believe to be, the ponds. Here is the link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Beaum...code_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ8gEwAA Interesting! Bob Lenexa, KS
Somewhere I have a plot of the area showing the actual location of the line that went to the tank. I believe that there is still a *****et on the ground on the north side of the track that was left in that even in the diesel era in the '70's had a hose attached to t long enough to water a diesel. One of the engineers once told Friscotony and myself that at least once in the hot summer heat he had one of the old boiler equipped geeps that had a smaller water tank and had to stop thee and refill it. The tank itself never had a spout but a standing water spout in the steam era that stood next to the tracks. I will try and find the plot for you.
My B&B of the Northern division shows that Beaumont, KS had a pump house next to the water tank. I do not know if it was a well pump or not. Richard
If you will go to www.cfpmidweek.com Next where it says "Download Current Issue" then look a little further down where it says Museum on The Move it will say Click Here to Download You may be able to pull up the article on page 6 titled "15 minutes with... Working on the railroad" I had the privilege today of having lunch with the person mentioned in this article. He worked in the Frisco Lab in Springfield and one of his duties was to monitor the water quality across the system. He retired about l985 (?) but remembered checking the water supply in Beaumont, KS. He said he always assumed it came from a well. Also he turned in all his records when he retired. My personal recollection go back to about 1953 when a Water Supply Employee was checking out the water plumbing. He first name was Ed and was headquartered in Ft. Scott, KS. I also remember watching them load out livestock with either an extra or local handling the cars. Also the ponds were located inside the "Y" as I recall. The livestock pens were on the south side of the tracks and at or near the east end of the Beaumont facilities. I also recall the old coal bin and some coal still in place (in 1952 or 1953?) There was also a small building west of the coal bin and the relief forman batched in one room. Hope this is helpful.
