Cactus

The Cactus Ordnance Works, on 700 acres in northern Moore County, was begun in the spring of 1942, after the United States government entered into a $5 million contract with the Chemical Construction Company of New York to erect, equip, and staff a plant for the manufacturing of ammonia nitrate, a product of natural gas, to be used in making munitions. Construction was supervised by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which was given temporary office space at the Moore County Courthouse in Dumas. There the engineers laid out plans for thirty-five staff houses, seven dormitories, seventy-five two-family duplexes, a cafeteria, a canteen, a fire station, and other facilities for an instant industrial town, as well as a railroad spur to the plant. In August 1942 a flag-raising ceremony was held at the COW. By the time of its completion in 1943, recreation clubs had been formed, and a plant newspaper, the COW Puncher (later the Cactuzette ) was being printed. Soon the plant had nearly 3,000 employees, enough to prompt Sunray and Dumas to provide shopping and other services.