He'd Have Preferred A Lasso, I Think

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El Capitan has been a fixture of downtown Dodge City since Jasper D'Ambrosi finished sculpting this monument (around 1980) to the trail drives of the 1870s and 1880s. El Capitan is shown as gaunt because that's pretty much how the cattle arriving at Dodge looked - the drives really wore 'em down.

He was placed in a rather prominent position in downtown Dodge - a part of Second Avenue was closed and he resided in the real estate gained. The idea was that traffic would be insulated from the old downtown area, making it more pedestrian friendly. Traffic northbound from Second plus easterly and westerly US50 traffic would be greeted by his visage. Southbounders on Second were treated to a view of his butt and a detour.

But last night an eighteen year old - who ran after launching his car over the pedestal and knocking the old steer to the ground, was found and charged with several counts, none of which included a DUI. His left horn is broken, there are some scuffs on his snout, and a broken tail and ankle. Since D'Ambrosi died in 1986, repairing him won't be easy. This incident has restarted the original debate over closing that section of Second. There seems to be some support for moving a repaired El Capitan to Wright Park or some other "safe" location and reopening the closed section to traffic - with the idea that it will help revitalize downtown Dodge.

At the moment, Dodge City only has one north-south street capable of carrying high amounts of traffic - which is Fourteenth Street - twelve blocks away from the South Second/Wyatt Earp Boulevard (US50). South Second carries US283 traffic into downtown Dodge - but it turns to the east and runs with US 50 to an intersection east of town, where it continues north. The de facto north route is Central Avenue - which is one way, and First Avenue, which is also one way. First only runs up to Commanche Street. So, someone going southbound on Central in north Dodge has to get on Commanche, go west one block, then down First to get to downtown Dodge. If they want to get to south Dodge, they have to go another block west and head down south Second. Central above Commanche is four lane - and below that both Central and First are two lane one way streets - but they are brick (keeping it historic) and narrow. When cars are parked on both sides of the street, navigating two cars side by side is pretty tricky stuff.

Clearly something needs to be done - and it's been needing fixed for decades. I kinda doubt opening a two hundred yard stretch of Second is gonna fix all that - the traffic would ball up at Commanche anyway. No, if Dodge wants to fix this, it's gonna mean ripping up the brick streets and a whole slew of houses and businesses (like the Post Office, where yours truly worked, and is a historic landmark) to put in a dedicated four lane street.

I wouldn't count on that happening any time soon. Put El Capitan back on his pedestal and put a drill stem fence or some jersey style barriers around him so this can't happen again.