Grab your calculators and head for New Cuyama, California — a spunky little desert hamlet proudly displaying a sign that's either a mathematical cry for help or a ruse to scare away city folk who want to buy up the houses and Airbnb them to tourists interested in looking at Carrizo Plain National Monument's salt lake:
Population: 562
Feet above sea level: 2150
Established: 1951
TOTAL: 4663
New Cuyama is living proof that if you build it in the middle of nowhere, exactly 562 people will come. And stay. The town was founded in 1951 by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) following the 1949 discovery of oil. ARCO built the entire town infrastructure, including housing, businesses, and even funded schools. During its early days, New Cuyama was considered the "pearl" of eastern Santa Barbara County due to its oil production. However, as oil and gas production declined, the area returned to its agricultural roots.
At 2,150 feet above sea level, they're just high enough to look down on statistical accuracy but not quite high enough to blame the thin air for this mathematical masterpiece.
[Via Futility Closet]
Previously:
• James Horner, 1953-2015
