Duchess' Corner

NW Okie has been rummaging through this Duchess pug's younger years and found this picture of Sadie and myself when Sadie was just a "puppy." Sadie grown-up doesn't tag at my leash anymore as she did in this photo. I have gotten her broke of that and under my thumb ... NOW!

All day Sunday, July 26, 2009, we had thunder and hard rain in SW Colorado that dropped a quarter of an inch of rain in our rain gauge and cooled things off quite a bit. Friday of last week we also had some thunder clouds roll over knocking out our DSL connection, but not our phone for a couple of hours.

This Duchess Pug cringes at the noise the thunder makes and tends to curl up under a bed or next to NW Okie in the recliner. The rain came down so thick and hard that our DirecTV satellite signal box had to reset a few times after loosing its transmission in the Southwest mountains of the San Juan and LaPlatta mountains.

NW Okie has picked over a dozen "Early Girl" tomatoes from her patio, potted plant in the last week or so. This Pug does not no for sure, but is told by NW Okie that there is nothing like a homegrown tomato for its sweet, acidic flavor. The store tomatoes just don't have that flavor.

As July 2009 winds down this week, that means in a few weeks Waynoka and Freedom, Oklahoma will be having their annual stampede and Old Cowhand Reunions and rodeos around the first few weeks in August. Mark you calendars and be one of those old and young cowhands swarming into these two northwest Oklahoma communities for some western fun and rodeo days. McGill Sisters and The OkieLegacy just got their full-page AD submitted to the Freedom 2009 Rodeo Program this week.
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Waynoka's Santa Fe Station

Sandie Olson says, "Hi to All! The landscaping is truly beautiful at Waynoka Station, and I wanted to share it with you. I took photos today (July 25, 2009). Townsfolk have been commenting on the beauty of it, and driving by to see it.

We have a watering system, and the plantings have been very responsive. The yellow lillies are just beginning to bloom again, so you won't see many if any of them. Notice the tall Atlas cedars near the Harvey House and Depot (see photo on right) - I think there are 3 in the photo. They are unique.

We recently added an attractive entrance sign (see left photo). More interpretive signs are planned for various components of the Waynoka Station complex, starting with the restored section foreman's house, scale house, and log cabin.

Come see us anytime! Thank you for all your help."
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Looking Back ... Early 1900 Baseball & Grandpa Bill

They were known as "Alva the Champions!" The Baseball team pictured on the left played in the Alva, Greensburg and Hopeton area around 1904.

Listed Left to Right, Front Row: George Brannan, Jess Clifton, a dog, Lynn White, Ramsey; Middle Row: A Helena boy, Frank Crowell, Wilhite; Back Row: Museller, Quinlan, Bill McGill, Rolly Wilton, Ross Frazier.

Grandpa Bill McGill was born William Jacob McGill, 29 June 1880, died 29 July 1959, Alva, Oklahoma. On 23 March 1910 he married my Grandmother, Constance Estella Warwick. They divorced around the earlier 1940s and Grandpa married Blanche Miller in 1945.

Grandpa's baseball years ranged from 1902 to 1908. Beginning in 1902 & 1903, William "Bill" attended Northwestern Normal and was active in sports. By 1904, Bill was attending Friends University in Wichita, Kansas where he was considered to be a one-man track team, played football and baseball at Friends.

Around 1905 & 1906 he was pitching for the Austin Senators in the Texas Baseball League in Austin, TX. In 1907, Bill went to the Big Leagues and played with the St. Louis Browns.

In 1908, Bill was back in Oklahoma teaching school three miles north of Cherokee and in Woods County. He was also courtin' my Grandmother, Constance Estella Warwick, who was also a school teacher in Woods County, Oklahoma.
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1969 Lunar Landing Memories

James says, "I, being in the U S Air Force as a Wild Weasel "Bear," stationed at Tahkli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, located about 60 miles north of Bangkok. On that day and time I was not scheduled to fly until later in the evening. I was playing a game of bumper pool in the 333rd Fighter Squadron''s Dayroom. The picture was, indeed, fuzzy. I felt a sense of pride that our nation had pulled the Lunar Landing off safely. I later bought a 400 foot reel of movie film of the landing from NASA. I have had it put on DVD."
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Class of '59 Project - NWOSU

In case you missed last weeks newsletter James Bradley says, "If you can see fit to donate to this Endowment, please do so soon in order for you to get an income tax benefit for 2009 and so that it can be announced this Fall.

Please make your checks payable to Northwestern Foundation, Inc.. Mail the donation to the address below:
NWOSU Foundation Inc. & Alumni Association
709 Oklahoma Blvd.
Alva, OK 73717"

What I envision is an Endowment that would provide a lecture series: “... something similar to a lecture series at Kansas State University, known as The Landon Lecture Series.

"The series, as I envision it in my thoughts, doesn't have to be like this series in every way. I think the list of speakers should be persons of current stature in world, national, or even state circles, not necessarily political. I think the person could be in science/medicine, an author, a President of a major company, a military leader, or a college/university leader from a major school. I know that I have a much different outlook on these things now than I might have had fifty years, or so, ago.

"The student of today seems much more interested in hearing outside points of view, especially those that coincide with some topic of the semester's classes. It seems to me that it would make a much more rounded student that graduates from NWOSU.

"I think we have an opportunity here to bring something useful to NWOSU other than another plaque or bench or monument. If we do it correctly we can leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. Something that will be useful as part of an education process.”

"If an alumnae were able to donate $100 to this project, it would take 250 donations to establish the Endowment that would automatically generate another $25,000 in matching funds from the State Board of Regents. Of course larger amounts would be welcome and would increase the size of the gift. I am kicking this off with a donation of $1,000 as seed money to start this Endowment.
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John Standley In Oklahoma

Roy of Perry, OK says, "Johnny Standley was a member of the "Standley Family Players" growing up. In later years I had the pleasure of appearing on stage with his sister, Martha (Standley) Knott at the Mummer's Theatre (in the round) in Oklahoma City.

The Standley Family Players followed the Chautauqua circuit throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to perform lectures, skits, and vaudeville-type acts. The Standleys performed mostly singing (and minor acting) type acts.

In later years, Johnny Standley became a singer with the Horace Heidt Orchestra and they recorded this double sided record that was released on 78 and 45 rpm records. Somewhere I think I still have a 45 rpm version."
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Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights

Horace Heidt led one of the most successful commercial orchestras of the dance band era. Heidt's bands were known as Horace Heidt & His Californias, Horace Heidt & His Musicial Knights, Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers.

Heidt studied piano as a youth, but his main interest was athletics. He played football for the University of California at Berkeley and planned on turning professional. However, a back injury ended his ambitions, and he decided instead to enter the music business, forming a small orchestra in 1923, originally called Horace Heidt and His Californians.

The band's popularity, and size, grew as the decade progressed. In 1929 the group joined the Fanchon-Marco vaudeville circuit and later toured Europe. Upon their return to the states they disbanded.

In 1932, Heidt formed a new orchestra. By 1936 Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers had their own national radio program out of the Drake Theater in Chicago. Heidt gained tremendous popularity when he began to feature cash giveaways to listeners. Called the "Pot o' Gold" program, it became a sensation and even spawned a feature film.

Heidt's orchestra later came to be known by its best remembered moniker, Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights.

In the late 1930's, Heidt was impressed by the popularity of swing music and he began to hire some of the era's outstanding musicians, such as Bobby Hackett, Frank DeVol, Irving Fazola, Shorty Sherock, Frankie Carleson, Joe Rushton, and Jess Stacy.

Heidt remained popular throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, recording on the Brunswick label. A dispute with his management company, M.C.A., however, forced him to leave the business in 1945. He temporarily retired and concentrated on his many real estate holdings, including ownership of the Los Angeles Trianon Ballroom. In 1947, when his contract with M.C.A. expired, he came out of retirement and organized a new orchestra which appeared on the Philip Morris sponsored Talent Show and Youth Opportunity radio programs. The band also hosted The Swift Show Wagon on television in 1955. He retired permanently soon after.

In his early years Heidt had suffered from stammering. He later opened the Horace Heidt School for Stammering to help others affected by the disability. Heidt was a shrewd businessman. Through sound investments he emerged as the wealthiest orchestra leader of his day. Horace Heidt passed away in 1986. His son, Horace Jr., continues to lead a band in his father's image.
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The Little Boy

Rod says, "I found a copy of this when I was cleaning my office today…and thought you might enjoy the tale of The Little Boy, by Helen Buckley.

Once a little boy went to school.
He was quite a little boy
and it was quite a big school.
But when the little boy
Found that he could go to his room
By walking right in from the door outside
He was happy.
And the school did not seem
Quite so big anymore.

One morning
When the little boy had been in school awhile,
The teacher said,
“Today we are going to make a picture.”
“Good!” thought the little boy.
He liked to make pictures.
He could make all kinds –
Lions and tigers,
Chickens and cows,
Trains and boats.
And he took out his box of crayons
And began to draw.

But the teacher said, “Wait!”
“It is not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now,” said the teacher,
“We are going to make flowers.”
“Good!” thought the little boy.
He liked to make beautiful ones.
With his pink and orange and blue crayons.
But the teacher said, “Wait!”
“And I will show you how.”
And it was red, with a green stem.
“There,” said the teacher.
“Now you may begin.”

The little boy looked at the teacher’s flower.
Then he looked at his own flower.
He liked his flower better than the teacher’s
But he did not say this.
He just turned his paper over.
And made a flower like the teacher’s.
It was red, with a green stem.

On another day,
When the little boy had opened
The door from the outside all by himself,
The teacher said,
“Today we are going to make something with clay.”
“Good!” thought the little boy.
He liked clay.
He could make all kinds of things with clay –
Snakes and snowmen,
Elephants and mice,
Cars and trucks.
And he began to pull and pinch
His ball of clay.

But the teacher said, “Wait!”
“It is not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now,” said the teacher.
“We are going to make a dish.”
“Good!” thought the little boy.
He liked to make dishes.
And he began to make some
That were all shapes and sizes.
But the teacher said, “Wait!”
“And I will show you how!”
And she showed everyone how to make
One deep dish.
“There,” said the teacher.
“Now you may begin.”

The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish.
Then he looked at his own dish.
He liked his dish better than the teacher’s
But he did not say this.
He just rolled his clay into a big ball again
And made a dish like the teacher’s.
It was a deep dish.

And pretty soon
The little boy learned to wait
And to watch,
And to make things just like the teacher.
And pretty soon
He didn’t make things of his own anymore.
Then it happened
That the little boy and his family
Moved to another house
In another city.
And the little boy
Had to go to another school.
This school was even bigger
Than the other one.
And there was no door from the outside
Into his room.

He had to go up some big steps
And walk down a long hall
To get to his room.
And the very first day
He was there
The teacher said,
“Today we are going to make a picture.”
“Good!” thought the little boy.
And he waited for the teacher
To tell him what to do.
But the teacher didn’t say anything.
She just walked around the room.

When she came to the little boy
She said, “Don’t you want to make a picture?”
“Yes,” said the little boy,
“What are we going to make?”
“I don’t know until you make it,” said the teacher.
“How shall I make it?” said the little boy.
“Why, any way you like,” said the teacher.
“And any color?” said the little boy.
“Any color,” said the teacher.
“If everyone made the same picture
And used the same colors,
How would I know who made what
And which was which?” said the teacher.
“I don’t know,” said the little boy.
And he began to make a flower.
It was red with a green stem."
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That's The Way It Was - 1905

1905 events taken from The People's Chronolog, edited by James Trager, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, copyrighted in 1979, first edition, includes a historical chronology, ISBN 0-03-017811-8, with 1206 pages, including the index.

1905 -- A paper on the special theory of relatiity by Swiss theorectical physicist Albert Einsteing, 26, is published at Bern and revises traditionally held Newteonian views of space and time. Einstein introduces the equation E=mc² in "The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" and predicts that light (or radio) waves moving from one planet to another will be bent off their path by massive body like the sun, slowing them down for a fraction of a second.

Procaine (novocaine) is introduced into clinical use by German surgeon Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Braun, 43. The local anesthetic would find wide use in dentistry.

Wildcat oil prospectors in Oklahoma Territory make a big strike in the Glenn Pool near a village on the Arkansas River called by its residents Tulsey Town. It was quickly built up into Tulsa, "Oil Capital of the World."

The Stanley Steamer sets a speed record of 127 miles per hour, but its quiet, nonpolluting external combustion engine requires a 30-minute warm-up and must take on fresh water every 20 miles.

The Wright brothers improve their flying machine of 1903 to the point where they can fly a full circle of 24.5 miles in 38 minutes, a feat they demonstrated at Dayton, Ohio. Their machine was patented in May of 1906, and they gave a series of exhibitions in the United States and Europe to popularize flying.

L.C. Smith & Brothers sells is first typewriter to the New York Tribune for the paper's newsroom. The Syracuse, New York firm was for years the largest producer of typewriters.

Nonfiction The Life of Reason, volume 1 of five volumes, by Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (Jorge Ruis Santayana y Burrais) 42, wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Ty Cobb signs with the Detroit Tigers to begin an outstanding baseball career. Outfielder Tyrus Aymond Cobb, 18, had been nicknamed "The Georgia Pach" by sportwriter Grantland Rice for his prowess with the Augusta team of the South Atlantic League. Ty Cobb would play 22 seasons for Detroit and two more for the Philadelphia Athletics before retiring in 1928. Cobb had a lifetime batting average of .367 with a record 4,191 hits; scored a record 2,244 runs; played a record number of 3,033 games; batted above .300 for a record of 23 games; and stole a record 829 bases.

The New York Giants win the World Series by defeating the Philadelphia Athletics 4 games to 1.

Palmolive Soap is introduced by Milwaukee's 42-year-old, B. W. Johnson Soap Company, who Caleb Johnson had bought a new soap milling machine he saw at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. The toilet soap was made from a formula that included some hydrogenated palm and olive oils, using the hydrogenation process invented by England's William Normann, 1901. It was advertised with the slogan "Keep that Schoolgirl Complexion," and the Johnson company would be reincorporated in 1917 under the name, The Palmolive Company.

President Roosevelt creates a Bureau of Foestry in the US Department of Agriculture, February 1, with Gifford Pinchot as chief forester. Congress passes a bill transferring US forest reserves form the Department of the Interior to the USDA. The reserves are soon designated National Forests as Pinchot works to make the Forest Service a defender of the public lands against private interests.

The Wichita Mountains Refuge for big game is established by President Roosevelt in Oklahoma territory.
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E=mc² Explained

E=mc² Explained -- One of Albert Einstein's great insights was to realize that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing. Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter.

Einstein's formula tells us the amount of energy this mass would be equivalent to, if it were all suddenly turned into energy. It says that to find the energy, you multiply the mass by the square of the speed of light, this number being 300,000,000 meters per second (a very large number):
= 0.111 x 300,000,000 x 300,000,000
= 10,000,000,000,000,000 Joules

one Joule is about the energy released when you drop a textbook to the floor. But the amount of energy in 30 grams of hydrogen atoms is equivalent to burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline!
NOVA Einstein's Big Idea E=mc² Explained
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That's The Way It Was - 1930

1930 events taken from The People's Chronolog, edited by James Trager, published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. The People's Chronology copyrighted in 1979, first edition, includes a historical chronology, ISBN 0-03-017811-8, with 1206 pages, including the index.

Wiley Post, 31, wins the first Bendix Trophy Air Race flying the Winnie Mae owned by his Oklahoma oilman employer Floyd C. Hall. Bendix had offered a prize for the winner of the Los Angeles to Chicago race that would become a transcontinental race beginning 1931.

World oil prices collapse after wildcatter Columbus M. Joiner, 71, brings in a gusher October 3 in Rusk county, eastern Texas, to open a huge new oilfield. Joiner sold out to H. L. Hunt for $40,000 in cash, $45,000 in short-term notes, and a guarantee of $1.2 million from future profits, his filed would produce at least 3.6 billion barrels of oil, and it would make H. L. Hunt the richest man in America.

Blondie is introduced by King Features comic strip cartoonist Murat Bernard "Chic" Young, 29, who earlier drew a strip called Dumb Dora. His jazzage flapper heroine was married to playboy Dagwood Bumstead. Their antics would make "Blondie" the most widely syndicated of all cartoon strips. More than 1,600 US newspapers plus some foreign papers would carry the strip, and the huge sandwiches created by Bumstead on evening forays to the refrigerator would become widely known as "dagwoods."

The radio drama The Lone Ranger 1/20 over Detroit's WXYZ began with the overture from the Rossini opera Guillaume Tell of 1829 and an announcer saying, "A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-yo Silver' -- the Lone Ranger rides again."

The serial had been developed from Curly Edwards and the Coboys by James E. Jewell, 23, who would soon give his masked hero an Indian friend, Tonto, who would call the Lone Ranger "Kemo Sabe (trusting brave)," the name of a Michigan summer camp operated by the father of the girl Jewell would marry. Death Valley Days 7/30 on NBC Blue Network stations... New York advertising writer Ruth Cornwall Woodman had researched background for the show by visiting Panamint City, she introduced "The Old Ranger" to give the story authenticity, the series would move to CBS in 1941, and it would continue until 1945.

Carsbad Caverns National Park is established by Congress on 46,753 acres of underground chambers in southern New Mexico.

Northwest Colorado cowranges are opened to sheep grazing by colorado-Utah rancher James Manghan, 38, who started working as a cowhand in summer roundups at age 16 and who was president of the Rio Branco Wool Growers' Association in 1930. Managhan would become an historian beginning in 1945.
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Insight Into Grandma & John C. McClure

We find this week's letters to Grandma are dated April 2, 7 and 22, 1905 and postmarked and mailed from Alva, Oklahoma. Steve asks, "I wonder is the same McClure that had the insurance company there in Alva?"

The answer is No! John had a cousin who married a J. T. Bolte.

Someone told me that there was no relation to the Insurance McClure's. In the "Pioneer Across Woods County" history book there is no mention amongst the Insurance McClure family legacy of a John C. McClure.

April 2, 1905, Alva, O.T., Monday, Noon ... This letter is a short note invite, introducing to Miss Constance Warwick, Mrs. J. T. Bolte. It states, "Miss Constance Warwick, This note will introduce to you my cousin, Mrs. J. T. Bolte. There is to be an entertainment at the Normal tonight and I whish to have you attend it, so if you will please come to Alva with Mrs. J. T. Bolte. In haste, J. C. Mc."

April 7, 1905, Thursday Eve ... This short note begins, "I received your letter and you may be sure I am sorry I could not fullfil your kind invitation. I had to work until 11:00 last night and also tonight. One of the clerks has the mumps, so that was the reason. I will come Sun. Eve at the place mentioned, but if you are in town Sat. inquire at the B. fore me. Drop me a line Sat. morning if you are not coming to town.

I saw that other known fellow and he told me a story or two. Yours, J. C. McClure, adr. First National Bank.

April 22, 1905, Fri. Eve ... The third letter in April, 1905 was another short note, but this time on First National Bank stationery and addressed to Miss Constance Warwick, Alva, Okla., c/o John Warwick.

It reads as follows, "Miss Warwick, The week has passed almost before I was aware, so I don't know whether you will get this or not. I will be out Sun, afternoon. If I can not get there by 2:30, I may go to the school house then to your house for I must see a cattleman at church, but I think I will be there by 2:20. Yours Truly, J. C. McClure."
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