I, like a lot of people, grew up in a small town and had often heard it referred to as 'A jerkwater town'...
I really never gave it much thought, till I got older and started questioning life in general. Then, I had to ask...WHY is it called a JERKWATER town? Where did that term ever come from? What did it mean?
As I discovered, the jerkwater part didn't apply to where I was from because the Railroad didn't come near us. I find out that was an old term for towns, with a JERKWATER tank, where the old steam trains use to stop and fill their tanks...
The trains would make a brief stop, let off or pick up passengers, and drop the JERKWATER spout to refill their tanks for the next leg of the journey across country. I have no idea what sort of mileage they got on one tank, but there was always another 'JERKWATER TOWN' on down the line...
Somehow, over the years, the term got attached to just about ANY small town that wasn't on the map or nobody had ever heard of...EXCEPT the people living there...
I really never gave it much thought, till I got older and started questioning life in general. Then, I had to ask...WHY is it called a JERKWATER town? Where did that term ever come from? What did it mean?
As I discovered, the jerkwater part didn't apply to where I was from because the Railroad didn't come near us. I find out that was an old term for towns, with a JERKWATER tank, where the old steam trains use to stop and fill their tanks...
Somehow, over the years, the term got attached to just about ANY small town that wasn't on the map or nobody had ever heard of...EXCEPT the people living there...
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