The City of Guthrie simply has had tough luck when it comes to the pond at Mineral Wells Park over the last several months. The pond has gone from completely dry to high grass flooded in water.
City work crews began working on clearing out the over-grown grass with rakes and a long rope on Wednesday.
The pond became noticeably bare over the last few years (due to drought conditions and a rusted-out drain) with grass over taking the place of water and a fountain.
In June, workers replaced and relocated the drain and pumped water into the ponds from the Cottonwood Creek.
Before pumping the water into the pond, that can be seen from Division St., the grass was mowed down and ready to go. However, filling the ponds took longer than expected and allowed the grass to grow back.
A pond company treated the grass, but again that process took longer than expected to kill out the stingy grass. Now, the grass is being removed in hopes of restoring the pond’s beauty.
The City’s street and park crews submerged a rope into the pond and pulled the rope with two riding mowers on each side of the pond. The action pulled up the grass and allowed workers to then haul in the smelly grass with rakes.
It would have been a whole lot easier to have used a mower or a weed eater when it was dry for all that time. Not to mention way less manpower!