VIEWPOINT/Mayor of Tiny Town

Unlike many mayors facing re-election next month, Leda Price is probably not too worried. It’s not because she’s held the position for 15 terms, or that the job only pays $3 a year. Leda Price is mayor of Lost Springs, Wyo., population 1, according to U.S. Census figures.

Two years ago, the town’s other unofficial three residents did not make it to the polls, and Price was elected unanimously by her own vote. Since then, Lost Springs has added a fifth resident, Alfred Stringham, the 53-year-old-son of Lost Springs residents Bob and Clara Stringham, owners of the town’s Antique Store and prominent members of the four-member Town Council. The Stringham’s younger son, Arthur, 45, moved back home a couple of years ago with the idea of becoming mayor. He hasn’t made that move yet, saying that he’s not sure if he wants the responsibility. Arthur isn’t shirking his civic responsibility, though, and has joined his parents on the Town Council.

Every community needs tending to, and Lost Springs — one of the nation’s smallest incorporated towns — is no exception. Price and the Stringhams meet on the second Tuesday of each month at the town hall. There they address the ordinary needs of municipal government, ranging from trash collection to snow removal. (Refuse is housed in a dumpster and carted away by a hauler from a nearby community, while Art Stringham shovels snow during the winter.)

Updating the 2000 census figures, which by Price’s count is off by 3 people, is also on the Council’s list. The Stringhams insist they completed and mailed back their census forms, but they could have been counted in Converse County figures by mistake, according to the Bureau of Census.

Nevertheless, the error is costing the town about $70 a month in sales tax revenue returned by the state, which is not much compared to the $12,000 a year it sends Lost Springs for the town’s part in the Federal Mineral Royalty Distribution. The mayor, who will be boosting the population by one with her marriage next spring, still wants to set the record straight.

Although Lost Springs is tiny by any measure, the town remains viable for at least two reasons. First, it remains a business center for the large number of ranchers and other people living in the area. (Price, if you haven’t already guessed, isn’t living off her $3 mayoral salary; she also owns the town’s bar and a catering service, and she rents trailers during hunting season.) The main reason for Lost Springs’ survival is its simple but cohesive sense of community. Because the mayor and town council can count on each other, their small community works. It is for this reason, too, that America works, right down to Lost Springs, Wyo., population 1.