Awhile ago, we explored the topic of recipe of desert boomtown, i.e. Amedee.  Boomtowns are fascinating creatures, no two are alike. While Amedee’s heyday peaked in 1892. its downward spiral was slow. The country’s financial panic of 1893  was front and center. The regional reclamation projects had over extended credit and were forced into bankruptcy. Along the same lines, the nations railroads over expanded, and in 1893, and new railroad construction in the mid-1890s was kept to a minimum.

There was silver lining for Amedee about the railroad’s doldrums. The NCO Railway had no financial means to extend its line beyond Amedee, thus, the town had a major draw of the railroad’s terminus. In 1899, that came to an end as NCO extended its line north to the Madeline Plains.  At Amedee’s height it had a population to between 300 to 400. In 1900 the population dwindled to 49.  In 1905 the Amedee School closed for a  lack of students. There was a hope on on the horizon, and Amedee would go through a revival.

Tim