(originally posted Mar 6, 2010)

I’m not sure about the height, but city water is now in Jones Valley, Caddo Gap, Arkansas. And Cousins, from all reports, it tastes very good! This milestone was reached during the last days of February 2010 when our President, Larry Braswell, directed the successful completion of the connections to the end points from the city water termination junction near the well and pump.

Water connections now include: the dining hall/kitchen, restroom/showers, camper spigots (2), Cathy and Gary’s cabin, the Cubage cabin, the Diffie cabin, Gil Jones’ camper area, Larry and Paula’s cabin, and the Hillbilly. The project had normal challenges associated with any utility work, such as avoiding existing lines, with the added challenge of no previous work being documented. Larry and our contractor, Lemoin Jackson, met the challenge and completed the job. This comes under the well-used phrase of “gitten ‘er done.”

The long-term benefits of having dependable, clean water for Jones Valley are many, and I think our ancestors would be amazed at this progress. The opportunity for having city water in the Valley came about a couple years back when the town of Norman had problems with its water supply and obtained a grant to have water provided from the city of Glenwood. Of course having an opportunity and acting upon it are two different things.

When I discussed this news with cousin Buddy Carnes, who along with his brother, Billy, spent quite a bit of time in their early days living in the Cubage cabin in the 1930’s, he recalled how one his jobs was fetching water from the spring. Well, we haven’t used the spring for quite some time now; however it serves as a touchstone to that era, when life in the Valley didn’t offer many creature comforts, but yielded close family ties and countless memories.

So this Reunion, or the next time you visit Jones Valley, please enjoy a nice drink of our water – and thanks Larry!