I'm going to post this update because I'm majorly procrastinating once again. Oh, to be young again...currently. But in the mean time, Please enjoy this story that I wrote a little while ago. I honestly can't remember why I wrote this. It might have been for school or something, but I got an A on it, I know so that means that it was good. or it met all the conventional requirements. Either way I hope you enjoy it.
The road between St. Julius, Wyoming and Knighton, Montana was the first interstate road that isn’t a highway. Candle Lane is a 120 mile straight shot between the two cities. There are a total of 9,360 houses on this irregular street. Some houses dating all the way back to the WWII era. Others only built in the recent past. A 120 mile straight line surrounded by little suburban bungalows; little houses preparing to be condemned, destroyed and rebuilt, others just about to be christened as a viable home for anyone to live in. An array of dwellings all in a line like ducklings following their parents. It seemed almost that houses were naturally sprouting up out of the ground just as another house came down.
Oddly, the road initially had no point. The road was built starting on the Wyoming side in the mid 1920s. At first it was only a dead end, three mile patch of road with nothing on it, and due to financial constraints and the fact that the road lacked reason the project and the road was abandoned. During WWII, Jefferson King, a carpenter from Converse County, built the first house on Candle Lane. His family moved into 1232 Candle Lane in 1944 where they lived for 57 years. After WWII ended suburban life exploded. People started moving out of big cities and into suburban areas. The land on Candle Lane became extremely valuable and the government saw it necessary to add more land to this road. The value spiked abruptly and the need for more space on this land became even more urgent. The state of Wyoming handed the Casper Pavement Company a blank check and said, “It needs to be done by June.” CPC being given only three months to build a road, they called in every available person and paid everyone extra. By the beginning of June 1947 Wyoming shared a road with Montana and was out half a billion dollars. The CPC got a little bit over zealous and accidentally built into the State of Montana. When Governor Ford found this out he laughed out loud. He stated, “If Wyoming feels that they want to give some money to us we won’t turn them away.”
Candle Lane had officially reached a length of 87 miles, an average population of 14531.34 people, and a grand total of 6786 houses by 1955. Unfortunately in 1956 all work on this road ceased in preparation for the new highways to be built. The road stood still for the first time in a long while. The population dropped by nearly 50 percent due to people moving out of the once valuable and priceless real estate. They moved to more interstate accessible areas. Candle Lane remained unchanged until, 37 years later, Governor of Montana, Marc Racicot paid the near bankrupt CPC more money to come out and work more on Candle Lane. This action set the road at its current length of 120 miles. It wasn’t until 2001 when Governors Martz and Geringer, with the support of President Bush and Secretary of the Interior Norton, establish Candle Lane as a historical landmark. It currently stands at 120 miles, 9360 houses, and about 19500 people.
In St. Julius, Wyoming, 1232 Candle Lane still stands strong. It is now owned by Jefferson’s daughter, Jessica Bentle, and her family. It is the oldest house on the entire street. The people of Candle Lane hold Jefferson King in high regard. The people of Wyoming see him as the person who started the tight knit community that is Candle Lane. The Montanans see him as the only Wyomingite that they’ll ever like. Candle Lane is a major tourist spot for many people. It is a very rich historical area. Out of a mere fluke did this bountiful community spring up. This community will, without a doubt, stay together and standing for much longer than anyone ever expected. This road had its lulls and this road had times where no one thought that it would come out of it standing. Now if you drive through Candle Lane, not only will you be on the road for a while, but you will see old houses and you will see new houses and you will see old houses being torn down to make space for new houses. This road is a thriving, living, developing, changing thing. It won’t stop for anything.
And there it is. Please respond with comments, questions, frustrations, videos of a cat pooping on a baby, etc I'm gonna keep on keeping on
Goodnight everyone,
Tuna
