“It is not a ghost town. If you listen closely, there’s a faint pulse. And if you stay long enough, the quiet cadence may even erupt into a car chase or conflagration. Amidst the shadows of memory in Cisco, Utah, there are new stories in the making. The town – population 5 or so, depending on the day – is not dead. However, its presence and its past are slowly sinking into an indifferent desert.
Most of Cisco’s buildings are in ruins. The wind has knocked all the right angles out of those still standing. The town’s broke-down vehicle-to-human ratio must be 50-to-1. Housewares are scattered across the desert. Amtrak’s California Zephyr still passes through town, though passengers and their dreams no longer make a stop here.
The only dreamers left in Cisco are oilmen. And the oilmen live elsewhere.”

—excerpted from “The Madness and Memories of Cisco, Utah,” Inside/Outside Southwest, Sept. 2010—