What I like to do is make these presentations as suspenseful as possible.  This time however, as soon as I say anything about this business, you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about!  

Almost all the businesses here in Kiowa County are very local, and except for the one I opened during COVID, all have been considered essential. The business that we are recognizing this year is one that is not only in Kiowa County but is essential in making it possible for those of us here in Kiowa County to be better commercially tied to the world and that business is CWC Rail.

CWC Rail, with its hand-on president Matt Prince, was hired by Colorado Pacific Railroad to rehabilitate, maintain, and now operate the line that runs from Towner Colorado here in Kiowa County to the NA Junction just east of Boone Colorado in Pueblo County.  Going west to ports on the west coast only makes sense and gives our ag producers the ability to be competitive on the international market by helping to keep transportation cost down.

I’m sure that Colorado Pacific and even those of us here in Kiowa County couldn’t be certain that a family from Tennessee could make the move to the dry plains of eastern Colorado.  We can all count the number of transplants who had to move on because the culture shock was just too much.  As Doris Lessenden has highlighted how the Prince family has contributed on a very personal level to the betterment of our county, this award of Business of the Year recognizes the company’s contribution to helping our economic stability.

CWC has now operated in Kiowa County for about four years and its that kind of stability that helps keep a vision going forward.  This continuity of operation makes it possible for other activities like distribution centers as well as the confidence of our ag producers to continue their operations.