Citizens for a Rural Community "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has." ~ Margaret Meade
	News  Letters & Essays  Feedback  Resources  About CRC
Hot Topics Open Space Meetings Agua Fria Center Village at Young's Farm   Dewey-Humboldt History Organizations Photos Other Information   Get Involved! Join Our Mailing List Share Your Thoughts	Are you considering moving to Dewey-Humboldt?  If so, here are some things that you probably have not thought to ask your real estate agent about. 1.  Bring your own water.  Ok, it's a joke, but you should take a serious look at where your water will be coming from and don't assume that average households have a ready supply.  It is not unknown for new residents on Henderson Road or in the Blue Hills Farm area to be surprised that they have to get all of their household water from a community well and haul it 2 to 4 miles up a hill to their home.  Even if you are assured that you have your own water available, you might want to ask the locals for the latest information because our supply is being recklessly tapped by poorly planned growth and we are unsure if we will have enough even in the next few years. 2.  Please buy a house that has been built prior to about 2002 or one that sits on at least 1.5 acres.  Despite one local myth, there is an overwhelming desire on the part of the residents of Dewey-Humboldt to preserve this community as a rural area.  We take this issue very seriously and don't take kindly to the rampant development that we are only partially successful at quelling.  The residents of this town are some of the nicest that you will ever meet but if you move into new crowded housing, it will almost certainly aggravate that thorn that's already protruding from our sides.  It's not fair to you and we know it.  We're sorry but we'd appreciate it if you did not support the developers that that are trying to ruin the good thing we have.  Instead, please select an older home and you're more likely to enjoy the kind of rural atmosphere we enjoy, not just another spot in a sub-division.  If you are buying land to build a house, please consider doing so within current zoning specifications. 3.  If you move here, please accept this town for what it is.  You'll grow to like it very quickly but realize that its quiet, beauty, and friendliness is an indirect result of the minimal services that the town offers in return.  If you will miss many of your conveniences, please don't try to change this town to offer them because that costs money which in turn requires more commercial develpment to support it all and this compromises our rural nature.  Treat this area and your neighbors with a rural mindset and accept that we do strange things like farming, raising chickens, boarding horses and fixing our own cars.  Many of our habits would not be welcome in sanitized suburbs so please put your handi-wipes away and let us get on with our dirty work. 4.  Get to know your neighbors right away.  This will give you a much better feel for what the town is like.  Please leave the city and suburbs behind!  We don't want any of it.  We prize our quiet and dark nights so when the sun goes down, quiet and dark is how we like it.  As said before, we are friendly and helpful people but you'll find yourself quite unwelcome the first time you use a loud stereo any time of day or night. 5.  If you just are not a country person, please reconsider living here!  It might look good now but you are in for real changes if you don't know what to expect.  Try living for a summer here to get an idea of what it's like and if you are turned off by having to drive to places like Prescott or Phoenix on a daily basis, it'll get really old, especially as gas prices climb. Here are some of the things that you can expect to find here that you may not have realized. 1.  Tarantula season - Yep, each summer for about a month the tarantulas come out and show up in the most interesting places.  Some areas of town see very few but others have them everywhere.  They are every bit as big as people say they are and you can see them crossing the road from over a hundred feet away.  Don't handle our tarantulas!  They are not the same sub-species that you find in pet stores and are not guaranteed to be that docile. 2.  Mine and smelter related contamination - Some areas of town have toxic levels of arsenic, mercury, lead and other contaminants in the land and water from bygone days of mining.  An industrial operation at the old Iron King mine has open tailings steadily blowing away in the wind and washing down the hill in the occasional rains that we have.  The EPA has designated at least one superfund site in a residential area and the hazards of the expanses of land (and some of the water) around the old smelter and the Iron King mine are considerable.  The town is addressing these problems through governmental agencies such as the EPA and ADEQ but progress is slow and thus far insufficient.  If you are considering living anywhere near either the mine or the smelter (or even worse, in between them) you might want to talk to the locals for some advice before buying into an environmental nightmare. 3.  Coyotes, mountain lions, snakes, etc - It's a rural area here and we have lots of animals that we enjoy watching and listening to almost as much as they enjoying snapping up small pets.  If you're bringing cats or small dogs, don't be leaving them out at night and don't assume that birds will leave them alone, day or night.  Above all, don't complain if the local wildlife does reduce your number of dependents because that's the law of the jungle and we respect it.  Our predators may be a pain in the neck at times but they are beautiful in their own way and we like them much more than your french poodle. 4.  This is the desert - You will learn to be water conscious!  At first you may want to water that lawn and have the greenest one on the block (which is easy when you are the newest resident because everybody else has stopped doing it).  You'll also realize what it means to have to irrigate almost everything that you want to keep alive and that will help teach you the value of our most precious resource. 5.  Hidden costs - You probably already know that houses and land are comparatively cheap here (less so each day, however).  Be aware that there are hidden costs, mostly to do with travel since this is a fairly remote area.  You'll find variety somewhat limited and you'll either make do like the rest of us rural folks or you will stubbornly hold onto urban ways and travel long distances to get what you want.  Your choice. 6.  This is a remote area - Of course you'll find all the necessities of life here (or in Prescott Valley 8 miles away) but remember that you are still a very long away from any non-local relatives.  If you are retiring here, the nearest large airport is in Phoenix about 90 minutes away (and that distance is growing as the traffic congestion north of Phoenix on I-17 is getting outrageous).  Seeing your family (assuming they don't live here) will be harder than you think and we've seen many retirees leave to be closer to the ones they love.  Also, if you're planning to commute to Phoenix, that drive is getting longer with all the development that is happening between here and there.  Just wait until you are stuck on I-17 behind an accident that takes hours to clear.  There are very few alternate routes to Phoenix and most of them are dirt roads and jeep trails that only the locals know about.  For that matter, there are very few alternate ways into Prescott or Prescott Valley.  If the stretch between Young's Farm and the country club is blocked, you're either taking a 1.5 hour detour through Cottonwood or walking. If the preceeding has not detered you any, it may well be that you are perfectly cut out to live in Dewey-Humboldt.  If that's the case, most of us would be glad to have you as a neighbor.  If you feel wary, please be careful.  There are lots of nice places to live, just be sure to pick the one that is best suited for you. This essay by Len Marinaccio is both warmly applauded and vehemently attacked, depending on who you talk to.  Check the facts, talk to the locals and let us know what you think. Copyright 2006, Citizens for a Rural Community