Duchess Snowy Domain

My friend Ruff says, Merry Christmas Poker and Happy New Year 2010 to All!

We hope and wish you all a Happy New Year for 2010 as 2009 winds down this coming weekend. Did you get stuffed again with your family holiday feasts? We hope your Christmas Day was white and merry and that your family arrived safely to their destinations. Ours did here in SW Colorado. Also, we hear that central Oklahoma all the way to the Red River in the southern most part of Oklahoma received from 14 inches to 5 or 6 inches of snow on Christmas day. Another record breaking snowfall for this time of year.



There is a place online Weather Warehouse that shows the record snowfalls in Oklahoma and other states. Some in Oklahoma go back as far as 1902 or 1905. Using the above link you can choose the State link that you want to look at the historical monthly weather data. We clicked the State of Oklahoma and found the following monthly weather data from 1905 to 2009 for January thru December:

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

NW Okie selected February, because she was born in February of 1948 and her oldest son, Michael was born October 1971 when February's Winter snow storms were one of the historical record breaking snow storms in Oklahoma. The year of 1948 total snow fall for the month showed 13 inches with 4.5 inches falling in a 24 hour time; 1971 shows 13 inches of snow falling in a 24 hour timeline with a monthly snowfall of 18 inches; 1940 shows a monthly snowfall of 18 inches with 11.5 inches falling in a 24 hour period; 1938 shows monthly snowfall of 14.6 inches with 12 inches falling in a 24 hour period; 1912 shows a monthly snowfall for February of 22 inches with 12 inches falling in a 24 hour period. That is just a few of the snowfall records for Alva, Oklahoma from 1905 thru 2008, in Northwest Oklahoma.

In December 2007 they show the total monthly snowfall of 13.8 inces and 6.1 inches fell in a 24 hour period. If you scroll down to 1958, the December monthly snowfall reads 13.5 inches of which 5.5 inches fell in a 24 hour period. 1943 shows 14 inches monthly snowfall with 8 inches falling in a 24 hour period. The year before, 1942, shows 13 inches monthly snowfall with 6.5 inches falling in a 24 hour period. 1918 when NW Okie's father, Gene McGill, was two years old, shows a monthly snowfall for December at 15 inches with 13 inches falling in a 24 hour period. 1911 shows a monthly snowfall of 17 inches with 10 inches falling in a 24 hour period. 1904 shows 18.5 inches for the December monthly snowfall with 6 inches falling in a 24 hour period.

What year and month were you born? What was the weather like during your birthdays?
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Weather Events to Strike Texas & Oklahoma

According to Texas and Oklahoma's Greatest Hits, Section 9: Snow, "The Texas Panhandle and northwest Oklahoma are the area's snow belt, due to their lower wintertime temperatures. The most significant snowstorm to hit the area blasted parts of both states during Feb. 20-22, 1971. Ground zero was Buffalo, OK, which had 36" of snow on the ground by the 24th. Of course, the 30 to 60 mile per hour winds didn't allow that snow to lie flat. Drifts of up to 20 feet were reported. Loss of human life was small, but 13,000 head of cattle were lost in Texas and 11,000 in Oklahoma, despite military airdrops of hay."
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Historical Atlas of Oklahoma

The Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, by Charles Robert Goins, Canney Goble, John Wesley Morris, shows a map and gives other information about Oklahoma and its weather events.

Such as, the "Balck Sunday" Dust storm that struck northwestern Oklahoma on April 14, 1935, and was the worst ever experienced in that region. According to an observer at Kenton, the storm struck at 4;20 P.M., turning afternoon brightness immediately into midnight darkness and absolute zero visibility.

It goes on to state on the next page that "Oklahoma is often characterized as a prairie state, but the situation is much more complex. More than fifty years ago, a map based on extensive fieldwork conducted following the Dust Bowl portrayed the distribution of vegetation in the absence of human intervention. However, the natural vegetation of Oklahoma has been heavily modified by human agency over the past century.

"Ecologists, land managers, and historians are interested in how the Oklahoma landscape appeared to American Indians and early settlers. Fortunately, several early visitors to the region wrote journals containing accounts of the vegetation and wildlife they encountered. Although these records often lack the detail necessary for restoration of native ecosystems, they do provide insight."
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Waynoka Rattlesnake Hunt Inquiry

Deborah is writing a nonfiction account of the Waynoka Rattlesnake Hunts and would like real information, dates, with signatures that state she has permission to use their information.

Deborah Cavitt - email: dkcavitt@charter.net asks the OkieLegacy eZine, "I have been asked to write a nonfiction account of the Waynoka Rattlesnake Hunts. I need real information, dates, with signatures that state I have permission to use their information. Will you place this in the Okie Legacy and any other newsletter you have please? This includes everything from the cooking, pit, hunting, carnival, fleas markets, dress, contests, preparations, etc."

If anyone out there reading this has such information, please contact Deborah at her email above. Thanks!
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Westfall Sod House Near Carmen OK

Scott Stewart sent a couple of photos of his Westfall ancestors standing by their Sod house near Carmen, Oklahoma.

Scott says, "I have attached the photo I have been waiting for of Daniel, Rosa, Laura, William and Louis Westfall (who is Daniels younger brother) next to wagons. I thought you like this."

Thanks, Scott, for sharing your old family photos with us all through the OkieLegacy eZine!
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James Louthan - Civil War Veteran Medals

Al Weigand, in Jacksonville, Florida says, "I've been looking for this for some time, hoping it might help round out them Louthans. The back of the medal reads (casting in bold, engraving in regular weight):

"THE STATE OF OHIO TO JAS LOUTHAN VETERAN CO E 73D REGT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFT." James Louthan was my great grandfather."
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Notice of Death of Terry Strickland

Bill & Linda Beeler (Alva High Class of '59) shared with us the death of Terry Strickland recently. Did you know Terry Stickland?

Beeler's say, "Received word early this afternoon that Terry Strickland died between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. this morning. Mary wanted all of you to be aware. He enjoyed the class reunion so much and just about was not able to attend. He was really looking forward to the 2 year - 70th birthday party. He and Mary wanted to help.

"Terry has been sick for a while some kind of Pulmonary Fibrosis. He was to be placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant, but I know there were other plans. I always feel like it is for a reason they do not have to go through the wait and stress of a lung.

"I have no service details yet. Mary was at the hospital with him and he had a down side yesterday and she had stayed with him. The Alva Review Courier will have on line update as well as Marshall Funeral Home Alva or Wharton Funeral Chapel.

"Mary's Address 1926 Maple Street. Thought you might want to send a card and let her know Terry's Classmates are thinking about her. Will try to see what the Class of '59 can do. Cares and Concerns to all."

Terry Strickland Obituary states, "Terry Strickland (1941-2009), will be at 1:00 P.M. Monday, December 28, 2009, at First United Methodist Church in Alva, with Rev. Terry Martindale officiating. Burial will be in the Short Springs Cemetery , with arrangements by Anderson-Burris Funeral Home, Enid.

He was born to Leo and Lura (Horner) Strickland on December 14, 1941, in Alva, and died Tuesday, December 22, 2009, in Enid.

Terry grew up in Alva and began his career in aviation as a child along side his father at Strickland Aviation. He earned his commercial license at age 17, his flight instructor’s license at 19, and at 23 he became the youngest FAA flight examiner in the Southwest Region. Highlights of his outstanding career include the following: flight crew for Braniff Airlines, Captain of Merlin Metholiner for United Supermarkets, Captain of Citation and Saberliner for Love’s Country Stores, Captain of Challenger for Lamanco, instructor for American Airlines, operated Alva Airlines, a scheduled air carrier from Alva to Fairview to Oklahoma City, operated and owned Ardmore and Duncan airports, operated airport in Brownwood, TX, provided air crew and managerial services through Strickland Aviation in Alva. Terry returned to Alva as a semi-retired pilot and continued to enjoy air shows, aerobatics, flying, smoke-flying and generally playing with airplanes. Terry and his wife Mary enjoyed traveling, sight-seeing, visiting family, going to air shows and finding new adventures together. Terry has many of his historical artifacts on display at the Alva airport. They were active members of the First United Methodist Church of Alva, and you could often see them riding in parades around town in his 1951 Studebaker.

He is survived by his wife Mary McFadden Shroyer Strickland; his children, Toni Day of Frisco, TX, and Tad Strickland of Galena, OH; stepchildren Allison Newfield of Broken Arrow, Katie and Matt Raffaele of Frisco, TX, Marc and Jamie Shryoer of Bartlesville, and Pamela and Brian Buchanan of Bartlesville; 11 grandchildren, Stacy and Justin Wylie, Terry Day, Trip and Jillian Newfield, Alaina and Macie Raffaele, Reese and Corbyn Shroyer, and Erin and Vivian Buchanan.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Lura Strickland, and sister Betty Lou Rawson."
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Runnymede History in Kansas

Rosalea says, "Having lived in Harper County most of my 73 years, I have known a lot about the Runnymede Hotel. Way back in the 1950s, Agnes Nye, Harper artist and historian, was the first person to ever research the significance of Runnymede, the English village of wild, rich hoodlums. When Jerry Brown began her dream of restoring the building in Alva (there are others you know), she came to Harper and we visited. Our publication, Red Door Journal/Prairie Connection did some features about it at that time. After Jerry was gone, there was nary a blip on the radar from Alva folks. I always wondered why Harper County folks were never invited to the Grand Opening, or kept informed of a part of THEIR heritage, too? We had a lot to offer."
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Southern Oklahoma's Merry Christmas Snow Angel

Butch and Jill Bridges, Lone Grove, Oklahoma, shared the following Christmas Snow of 2009 with the OkieLegacy ezine. Butch writes a weekly Oklahoma History T&T and says, "Around 5pm Christmas Eve we had to go out to the chicken run, scoot Milo and his 4 hens into the coop, close the door, and turn on the red heat lamp. Then we noticed the tarp we had over the wired chicken run loaded down with snow and bowing. We were afraid the weight of the snow would crash the wire roof down. So we had to scrap with a hoe what we could off the top of the tarp, then pull the tarp off onto the ground. WORK. Freezing fingers, numb. But we got the tarp off after lot a work. A Merry (white) Christmas from our house to yours."

Thanks, Butch & Jill, for sharing your Southern Oklahoma Christmas snow with us!
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Regimental History - Illinois, THIRTIETH INFANTRY - (Three years)

The Thirtieth Infantry Illinois Volunteers was organized at Camp Butler Illinois, August 28, 1861, Colonel P. B. Fouke, commanding.

My maternal Great Grandpa, Henry Clay Paris, was amongst the infantry of those Union Privates from Illinois who fought in the Civil War. Great Grandpa Henry C. Paris moved to Illinois from Kentucky to live with an older brother, when he got disgusted with the selling of blacks into slavery. Another brother stayed in Kentucky and fought for the South in the Civil War.

As to the the history of the Regimental, Ilinois, 30th Infantry, on about September 1, 1861, they moved to Cairo, Illinois, and was assigned to Brigadier General John A. McClernand's Brigade - Brigadier General U. S. Grant commanding District of Cairo, and Major General John C. Fremont, commanding Department of Missouri.

October 22, went on scout into Kentucky, near Columbus. November 7, was engaged in the battle of Belmont. The Regiment did gallant service during this action, and captured the celebrated "Watson's New Orleans Battery." January 10, 1862, moved from Cairo on a reconnaissance into Kentucky, and returned on the 22d.

February 4, moved up Tennessee river. 6th, was in the attack and taking of Fort Henry, in Colonel Oglesby's Brigade. Was engaged in the siege and taking of Fort Donelson, 13th, 14th and 15th February, 1862.

Arrived at Pittsburg Landing, April 25. Took part in the siege of Corinth, in Colonel Logan's Brigade. June 4th and 6th, marched from Corinth to Bethel. 8th, occupied Jackson, Tennessee. 13th and 14th of August, marched to Estenaula, and the 31st to Denmark.

September 1, 1862, marched toward Medan Station, on the Mississippi Central Railroad, and about 4 miles from that place met the enemy's cavalry, 6,000 strong, under General Armstrong, and, after 4 hours, hard fighting, drove the enemy from the field, gaining a brilliant victory. The Thirtieth was commanded by Major Warren Shedd--Colonel Dennis, commanding Brigade of 20th and 30th Illinois Infantry, one section Schwartz's Illinois Battery, Captain Foster's company of Independent Ohio Cavalry, and 34 men Of Fourth Illinois Cavalry.

On 2 September, marched to Medan. 3d, to Jackson. 2 November, marched to Lagrange. On 11th, marched toward Water Valley, Mississippi, arriving December 19th. 21st, marched for Memphis, Tennessee, arriving January 19, 1863. Were stationed at Memphis, Tennessee, in Colonel Leggett's Brigade, Major General Logan's Division, Major General McPherson's Corps, February 22d, 1863, moved to Lake Providence, Louisiana.

Moved, soon after, to Vista's plantation. April 17, to Milliken's Bend, Louisiana. Joined Grant's army, and moved to Bruinsburg, Mississippi--crossing Mississippi river. May 1st, moved to Thompson's Hill. Moved to Hankinson's Ferry, on Black river, skirmishing with the enemy en route. Moved to Raymond, Mississippi. Engaged in the battle of Raymond May 12. Moved via Clinton to Jackson. Pursued the retreating enemy, after their defeat on 14th May. May 16, engaged in the battle of Champion Hills, losing heavily. Crossed Black river with the army, and arrived in the rear of Vicksburg, 19th May, 1863.

May 25, moved with expedition to Mechanicsburg, under General Blair. Returning, actively participated in the seige Of Vicksburg, until June 23, and then moved to Black river, under General Sherman, to watch the rebel General Johnson. Moved with General Sherman's army to Jackson, and assisted in the investment of that place, after which the Regiment moved to Vicksburg, arriving July 25. Remained in camp until August 20, when it moved to Monroe, Louisiana--returning 28th. October 14, moved, under General McPherson, toward Canton, Mississippi. Was in engagement at Bogachitta Creek. Returned same month.

January 1st, 1864, mustered in as veteran organization. 10th, moved with expedition up the Mississippi river, against guerrillas, and returned on 15th. February 3, left Vicksburg, on Meridian Campaign, under General Sherman. Participated in the several skirmishes with the enemy, and arrived at Meridian, February 15. Returned, March 3. Distance, 300 miles. March 5, left Vicksburg on veteran furlough to the State, arriving at Camp Butler, March 12.

April 18, left Camp Butler. 28th, left Cairo with"Tennessee River Expedition," under General W. Q. Gresham. Arrived at Clinton, Tennessee, 30th. May 5, marched, via Pulaski, Tennessee, and Athens, Alabama, to Huntsville, Alabama. May 25, moved to Decatur, crossing Tennessee river, 27th. Thence via Warrentown, Alabama, to Rome, Georgia, thence, via Kingston, joining General Sherman's "Grand Army" at Ackworth, June 8th. 10th, moved to Big Shanty, and commenced skirmishing with the enemy. 27th, moved out to make a demonstration in front, losing about 20 killed and wounded. On the night of July 2, moved, with Seventeenth Army Corps, to the right of General Sherman's army, 5th, moved to Nickajack creek. 9th, Regiment sent to guard Department Headquarters. 12th, moved to Sweet Water creek.

July 17, moved towards Decatur, via Marietta, crossing the Chattahoochie at Roswell's, and arriving at Decatur on 20th. Was in battle of July 21st, near Atlanta. Also, in battle of July 22d, near Atlanta-lost heavily. Actively engaged until the fall of Atlanta and Jonesboro. Camped at East Point, September 6.

October 4, 1864, moved northward, in the pursuit of General Hood, via Kenesaw Mountain, to Resaca, and returned to Smyrna Camp Ground, via Galesville, Alabama, arriving November 5.

November 13, moved to Atlanta. 15th, moved with General Sherman's army in the "March to the Sea" participating in the capture of Savannah, Georgia, December 21st. Left Savannah January 4, 1865, and moved, by water, to Beaufort, South Carolina. Left Beaufort, January 13th, and participated in the capture of Pocotaligo, on the 15th. Remained at Pocotaligo until 30th. Marched, with Sherman's army to Goldsboro, North Carolina, where the Regiment arrived March 25, 1865. Was engaged, during the march, in the capture of Orangeburg, Columbia and Cheraw, South Carolina, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, besides destroying railroad track, etc.

April 10. moved to Raleigh, arriving there on the 14th. Remained in camp until the surrender of the rebel army, under General Johnson.

April 29, marched northward, via Richmond, to Alexandria, Virginia, arriving May 19th. The Regiment took part in the grand review, May 24, 1865, at Washington, D C. Camped near Washington same day. Left Washington June 7, via Baltimore and Ohio railroad, arriving at Parkersburg, Virginia, 9th. Proceeded, by steamboat, to Louisville, Kentucky. Remained in camp at Louisville.

Mustered out of United States service July 17, 1865, by First Lieutenant Aug. P. Noyes, A. C. M. Third Division, Seventeenth Army Corps.

Arrived at Camp Butler, Illinois, July 20. Received final payment and discharge July 27, 1865. Source: Illinois Adjutant-General's Report, vol. 2, p. 537

Battles Fought:
Fought on 7 Nov 1861 at Belmont, MO.
Fought on 14 Feb 1862 at Fort Donelson, TN.
Fought on 15 Feb 1862 at Fort Donelson, TN.
Fought on 16 Feb 1862 at Fort Donelson, TN.
Fought on 1 Sep 1862 at Britton's Lane, TN.
Fought on 16 Oct 1862 at Jackson, TN.
Fought on 3 May 1863 at Black River Bridge, MS.
Fought on 16 May 1863 at Champion's Hill, MS.
Fought on 5 Feb 1864.
Fought on 15 Jun 1864.
Fought on 27 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.
Fought on 29 Jun 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain, GA.
Fought on 22 Jul 1864 at Atlanta, GA.
Fought on 28 Jul 1864 at Atlanta, GA.
Fought on 17 Aug 1864 at Atlanta, GA.
Fought on 28 Aug 1864 at Atlanta, GA.
Fought on 25 Feb 1865.
Fought on 8 Mar 1865 at Kinston, NC.
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1st Week In January 2009 Summary

A summary of the 2009 OkieLegacy for January is listed in this week's Okielegacy, December 2009, Issue 52, starting with the 1st week of January 2009.

Around this time last year (2009) our NWTechie had been doing some fine tuning to our OkieLegacy format and had added a "Classified" section. The Classifieds are moderated and are limited to 150 characters or less. You can post Jobs, For Sale, WAnted, For Rent postings. Do not forget to put in the date of how long you want your Classified to run. You should include your name, email and/or phone number before you click the "send" button.

Another interesting tidbit we learned last January was in the book, "Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales," page 244, concerning Fort Arbuckle's Lost Payroll. It goes something like this, "Early one morning in 1869 a heavily guarded caravan of wagons rumbled out of fort Leavenworth, Kansas, bound for Fort Arbuckle. The iron-rimmed wheels of one wagon left broad, deep ruts in the dirt. it carried a United Sates government gold payroll."

"The caravan safely journeyed through the Indian country and was approaching the designated outpost. A few miles more and the journey would be completed. But as the wagons rounded a bend in the trail near Mill Creek, a barrage of shots from a dozen or more rifles caught the soldiers by surprise. The military detail promptly returned a volley, instantly killing five outlaws who had dared show themselves. All the soldiers were killed in the ambush."

"The outlaws removed the gold from the wagon, fearing that more troops would be dispatched from the nearby fort when the caravan failed to show."

We also learned about the history of the Red River War of 1874. It was during the summer of 1874, the US Army launched a campaign to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian tribes from the Southern Plains and enforce their relocation to reservations in Indian Territory.

According to the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, the government would provide the tribes with a variety of basic services and training, housing, food and supplies, including guns and ammunition for hunting. They would receive these allotments each year for 30 years and would be allowed to hunt on any lands south of the Arkansas River so long as the buffalo may range thereon. In exchange, the Indians agreed to stop their attacks and raids on the settlers. Ten chiefs endorsed the treaty and many tribal members moved voluntarily to reservations.

BUT... the treaty was destined for failure when commercial buffalo hunters ignored the terms of the treaty and the southern herd of American bison was exterminated in just four years -- from 1874 to 1878. The hunters slaughtered the bison and sent the hides back east and left the carcasses to rot on the plains. The US government did nothing to stop it.
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2nd Week In January 2009 Summary

During the second week of january 2009 we experienced a big, bright Full Moon that really lit up the whole San Juan snowy mountains. AND … Our NWTechie was incorporating a random selection of our photos into each OkieLegacy Issue that change time you view the page. You might have notice these larger photos around the OkieLegacy Statistics area and business cards Ads submitted for viewing on down the page.

It was the 2nd week of January 2009 we connected with a descendant of Floyd H. Huddelston that our Uncle Robert "Bob" McGill had gone to school with at the Kemper Military school in Boonesville, Missouri in 1938 and also played in a dance swing band in third class tourist aboard the Ship Europa during the Summer of 1938 to Europe. It is always fascinating to hear from those connected through our ancestors. Thanks to everyone for letting us come into your life through the OkieLegacy eZine.

We also learned a little bit about the Wichita Mountains of SW Oklahoma … where the Pawnee moved to Oklahoma in 1876 and were given a reservation in the North ridge of hills in southwestern Oklahoma called the Wichita Mountains.

Fletcher, Oklahoma was another northeastern Comanche county, in Oklahoma that we learned a little bit about. The post office was established, May 10, 1902. Named for Fletcher Dodge, local early day resident. According to Wikipedia, Fletcher is a town in Comanche County, Oklahoma with a population that was 1.022 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Lawton, Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical area.

We also learned that Indian Territory was home to other Native American tribes, including Apache, Choctaw and Comanche. These tribes had to share their land and resources with the Cherokee. The white encroachment on Indian lands was spreading further and further West. Sam and Belle Starr also settled in the Briartown area, naming their homestead Younger's Bend. Younger's Bend became a haven for outlaws. Ironically, Frank West lived only a few miles away. Sam and Belle were arrested in 1882 when deputy marshalls found stolen horses in their stables. Sam was arrested on many counts of hold-ups of US Mail hacks and post offices. Belle was indicted for Larceny in stealing horses and robbery. She often wore mens clothing in her raids and was dubbed "gang leader" after a robbery in Cache of horses and about $40.

Speaking of the legendary Belle Starr (1848-1889, Belle developed a reputation as a "Bandit Queen" of the Old West. Belle was an expert rider who could handle a gun and was associated with famous outlaws such as Frank and Jesse James. Many accounts of her life conatind more legend than fact, though. She has been credited with a long list of spectacular crimes, but it appears she did little more than steal some horses and harbor some fugitive friends.

Belle Starr was born as Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848, in Jasper County, Missouri, near Carthage. Her parents were John Shirley and Eliza (Pennington) Shirley, who called their daughter Belle. John Shirley, married three times, was the black sheep of an affluent Virginia family. Pennington, his third wife, came from the Hatfield family of the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud. In 1839, Shirley moved his family to southwest Missouri, where he became wealthy raising wheat, corn, horses, and livestock.

This last year (2009), the 2nd week of January, we wrote about the James Gangs $2 million Gold treasure hidden in Oklahoma and wondered if anyone had ever discovered it in the Wichita Mountains of South west Oklahoma near Old Fort Sill and the Keechi Hills. The source of the fabled gold and its final place of burial have often varied. BUT … all stories lead to the Wichita Mountains and most often begin with the year 1876. As the story goes, the most wanted outlaw of the West, Jesse Woodson James, painfully pounded the letters into an old brass kettle: "This, the 5th day of March 1876, in the year of our Lord ...."

Each member of the infamous outlaw band was bound to secrecy about a golden treasure's hiding place. Jesse carefully chiseled the names of twelve deadly outlaws below the contract and then buried the brass bucket and its secret. The place was Tarbone Mountain, a roughhewn granite colossus easily approached from the north in the Wichita Mountains, in what was then Indian Territory. Jesse worked out a clever plan that no other outlaw of his time had devised. It had all resulted from the winter before.

It all began somewhere in northern Chihuahua, Mexico, not far from the southwestern settlement of El Paso, Texas, when Jesse and Frank and ten members of their gang surprised a detail of Mexican guardsmen driving eighteen burros transporting gold bullion. The brigands led the heavily laden pack-train across the Rio Grande and over the plains of central Texas.

Their destination was Indian Territory, a haven for wanted men and a region already familiar to both Jesse and Frank. When the outlaws entered the Wichitas, they were greeted by a severe winter blizzard. For three and a half days they traveled with little rest through snow almost a foot deep. Jesse and his men were cold and weary, and Jesse knew that the gold had to be buried. It was now obvious that their exhausted animals could travel little farther.

It was after almost three hours of slow, arduous travel east of Cache Creek, that Jesse and Frank agreed to bury the golden cargo and burn the packsaddles to warm their chilled bodies.

At the head of a small arroyo the gang of outlaws untied the packs from the burros and watched as the gold bars sank into the snow-covered ravine. After concealing the Mexican treasure with rocks and boulders and kicking the half frozen earth off the side of the arroyo with their boot heels, the horsemen gathered round the packsaddles and set them afire. One lame burro was shot, while the others were set free to wander.

Jesse made two final but lasting signs to the gold. A burro shoe nailed into the bank of a tree served as one. Into a nearby cottonwood Jesse emptied both his six shooters for a second mark. They would do until the day when the men could return to plant their gold in a much safer place. March 5, 1876 Jesse had made up his mind about what to do with part of the two million dollars, plus other proceeds the gunmen had gathered while terrorizing banks and trains from Missouri to Mexico.

As Jesse carved the contract into the brass kettle, he thought to himself that neither he nor any of his cohorts would ever want for money ... If and when they were taken by the law. But if anyone violated the "brass bucket pact," that fellow would personally answer to him. With that, Jesse James placed the brass bucket beneath a rock ledge on the side of Tarbone Mountain.

The brass bucket with its secret treasure code was never to be retrieved by Jesse or any of his men, even though several would try years later. Only six months later almost to the day, the notorious James gang was shot up and dispersed while attempting to rob the Northfield, Minnesota bank. Jesse and Frank were among the few to escape.

Finally, on April 3, 1882, Jesse James met his death by the hand of a "coward" in St. Joseph, Missouri. Frank later stood trial and was acquitted of his past crimes. Frank had not forgotten the hidden gold down in Indian Territory. He was waiting only for the right time to return as inconspicuously as possible.

Frank James in 1898, before he returned to his Oklahoma haunts to settle on a farm near Fletcher. Frank spent most of the remaining years of his life seeking outlaw gold in the Wichitas and the nearby Keechi Hills.

We also learned about the Cole younger search for the Brass Bucket that Jesse James left behind in the Wichita mountains of SW Oklahoma. His name would also appear on the "brass bucket contract." Cole Younger had just completed a twenty-five year sentence for his part in the Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery. When he was released from prison, Cole made tracks for the Wichitas.

In December 1903, Younger was in Lawton, Oklahoma, a frontier boom town barely two years old. Cole was not particular about what he told the press. One paper reported in November that Younger was in Ardmore visiting a relative and planned to visit Dallas and the Texas Panhandle and then return home to Lee's Summit, Missouri about December 1st.

BUT... Cole changed his mind. On December 1st 1903 he was in Lawton. The papers reported, "Cole Younger was in the city Friday and Saturday with a view to locating there. Reports have it that he will go into the newspaper business. He was given a reception by the citizens and is pleased with the city." How long Cole Younger visited is not known, but apparently Frank was not convinced that he found much.

Then there was the meeting of Billy Royce and Frank James. The two men had met almost forty years before. Yet neither had forgotten that accidental run-in so many miles away up in Montana Territory. It was early in the 1870's, remembered Royce, that Frank, Jesse, and five others were making tracks between them and the law. After a long day's ride the brothers ran into a group of buffalo hunters.

One long-haired sharpshooter recognized Frank and called out to him. Frank placed his hand close to his six shooter and then almost instantly recognized the hunter as William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself. That evening they camped together. Cody's cooks served a hot meal of venison and wild turkey. One of the cooks was Billy Royce, then only a tousled haired youth of fourteen. Billy was the son of an Irishman who had served as a doorkeeper at the White house when Lincoln was president.

Billy Royce homesteaded in the Keechi Hills, the very place where Frank and Jesse had hidden part of their booty and holed up on more occasions than Frank cared to recall.

As to James retrieving the caches of gold, the story goes that from the time Frank retrieved the cache of gold, Royce became a persistent treasure hunter of the Keechi Hills. In a newspaper article about him in 1932 the eighty-year-old settler reported that within only a few days a niece of Frank James and some male companions were due to arrive on a mysterious hunt.

What they found has never been learned, but the story of Frank's niece turns up time and again in as many locations over the Wichita Mountains of what she was seeking. She kept to herself and divulged very little with people she talked to. There was at least one other cache that Frank removed successfully from its secret depository, and there are stories of still others. There is no question that Frank James dug up two caches hidden near the Wichita Mountains. There were rumors that he recovered more, each carefully guarded by landmarks known only to him or Jesse.

Even though Frank recovered a portion of the outlaw loot, he did not retrieve it all, because he did not find the "brass bucket with the outlaw contract" carved into it. Nor did he find the "iron teapot," which he must have walked over a thousand times in the Keechi Hills while searching Belle Hedlund's and Billy Royce's farms.

When Frank James finally left his Oklahoma farm about 1914 (a year before he died), he must have thought often of the brass bucket pact and the two million dollars in gold hidden during that bitter winter of 1875, so many years before. Perhaps it was his niece who came back to find them, with Frank's final instructions. She was no more successful than Frank James, though. It was after 30 years had passed since the border gold was hidden during the bitter winter of 1876, when Frank James made known his return this old stomping grounds of SW Oklahoma.

In 1907 he and his wife, Ann, settled two miles north of Fletcher on a 160 acre farm between the Wichita Mountains and the Keechi Hills, the latter where Frank was later to dig up a least six thousand dollars of the outlaw loot.

Years before, Frank had hung up his guns for a final time. He was no longer the surly, gentlemanly, outlaw whom so many had read about. At sixty-four and balding, he remained soft spoken and took no pleasure in recounting the past. His objectives he now kept mainly to himself. The news of Frank's purchase of the farm spread fast when papers announced the story in November, 1907. Frank was then building his new home and planned to move in during the spring. Frank was also busy helping celebrate Oklahoma's statehood.

On Frank's sandy farm land he built a frame house, worked a plot of ground, and planted a grove of peach trees. Just before his mother died, in February, 1911, she visited Frank and his wife at their farm. She died in Oklahoma City while en route back to Missouri. It was reported by old timers that say Frank James wore out six horses riding the trails, searching for landmarks to put him back on the road to the golden treasure. But the country had now been fenced and plowed. The Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation had been opened to white settlement in August, 1901. Miners had swarmed into the Wichita Mountains to seek their own fortunes. Towns had grown up overnight, and new roads were traveled. The old trails were not called by the names the outlaws had known them. Frank hoped that the old landmarks would help him recall his secluded haunts of thirty years before, the treasure code Jesse had laid down, and the brass bucket somewhere on Tarbone Mountain.

It was one of Frank's day after day rides that attracted the eye of Dr. L. C. Knee, a highly respected physician of early Lawton. While paying house calls near Apache, Dr. Knee observed every day for a week or more that Frank had ridden to the top of a hill about four miles east of Apache. There he sat astride his mount, facing south, staring as if in a kind of trance.

One day, out of curiosity, Dr. Knee drove his buggy up to Frank James. After the usual comments about the weather, Dr. Knee dismissed his manners and said, "I don't want to seem inquisitive, Frank, but why do you sit in that saddle up here for so long, just staring at the bald prairie? What is it you're looking for?"

It was not known what Frank replied, but it was not many weeks later that the doctor and two local men arrived with teams and fresno scrapers and dug out a portion of a small canyon. Their search yielded the proper clues, for they had not dug long when they uncovered the skeleton of a burro, and not far away they found a burro shoe firmly embedded in a large tree. But it was their last clue, and after spending more than four thousand dollars, Dr. Knee gave up in disgust.

Frank had once explained that the eighteen burros had traveled so slowly after they forded Cache Creek in the winter of 1875 that it would take him only about a fifteen minute ride on a good horse to cover the same distance to where they had unloaded the heavy golden cargo.

Dr. Knee may have known the old Fort Sill stage driver, Holsey Green Bennett, who one winter day early in 1876 spotted seventeen burros grazing at the base of Mount Scott. Bennett had thought it strange, for o military animals were allowed to roam that far from the fort, and the animals he saw carried no government brand.

One piece of property just east of Cement in the Keechi Hills, attracted Frank James. It was the farm of a teacher, Mrs. Belle Hedlund. In 1907, Frank inquired about an old spring and some symbols etched on a rock and asked Mrs. Hedlund whether he could look over her land.

The schoolteacher was curious and walked along with the stranger (Frank James) as he poked an iron rod into the ground in an inviting spot. She showed him the only spring she knew about, at the foot of a lone knoll with a natural cave through one side, known as Buzzard Roost.

Frank pointing to a nearby rock as he bent down to reach under a stone and pulled out a rusted spoon, declared, "If this is the right place, this was Jesse's Kitchen."

As Frank continued his search, he confided in Mrs. Hedlund that he was seeking sixty-four thousand dollars that Jesse had taken during a robbery at Independence, Missouri.

Jesse had carved a map and directions on a large rock and turned it upside down. That rock Frank believed was on Mrs. Hedlund's farm, near the spring, where the outlaws had camped on many an occasion. Frank revealed that Jesse drew a similar map on his boot, later transferred it to paper, and gave it to his mother.

Some time later Frank found some of the markings he was seeking. At the foot of "Buzzard Roost" he found the carving of a pair of crossed rifles cut deeply into a rock. The barrel of one pointed east to an aged tree, on which were etched the letters "M. O. O." and below, the letter "Y." Beneath the carvings was a "mule shoe nailed into a blaze."

Not far from that tree Frank unearthed a copper kettle with a crock cover containing six thousand dollars -- or so he said. One old settler who was sure that Frank's claim was true was Uncle Billy Royce, who owned the farm adjacent to Mrs. Hedlund's. Billy Royce knew that the kettle of loot was not all that Frank was seeking. One day while Frank was in Cement buying supplies, Royce first spotted him. He took a double look and then hollered out, "Hello, Frank!" The old outlaw wheeled around, staring, as if trying to remember where he had seen him before.

To read more about the treasure trail beginnings, you can go to our "Archives" for Vol. 11, January 2009, click on the second issue of Volume 11.
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3rd Week In January 2009 Summary

It was the third week of January 2009 that we experienced an historical event and journey culminating, January 20, 2009, as American's 44th president and vice-president were sworn in amongst millions who had journeyed to the capitol to witness history in the making. Some of us watch diligently as CNN.com LIVE broadcasted this historically event. We all took that journey with the 44th President. There were Ups and Downs and hard work ahead for all of us in restoring, renewing America's diplomacy around the world. We have come along way in the last year with many firsts accumulating along the way.

We are and were not so naive -- we understood that one person can not do it alone. We have finally elected a president and leader of intelligence and diplomacy that can lead and handle multiple-tasking without displaying and using fear to control the America citizens. We also learned that it would take hard work from all of us working together, united to regain the respect, trust that America and ALL deserve around the World. It would take us ALL coming together in America's melting pot to renew, review our history and continue what our patriots began 233 years ago (1776). Leaving the extreme right hate-mongers to destroy themselves in the process over this last year of 2009.

I have looked back to my ancestors and find that I am a product of Dutch, Welsh, English, Scottish, German, Austria-Hungary (Bohemian) and even Russia. My ancestors were apart of that melting pot of Americans.

I also remember another year not so long ago, twenty years or so ago, in 1988 & 1990, when "Do-Right, Dynamite, Dorthy (spelled with one "o") McGill, ran for office in Northwest Oklahoma for State Representative District 58 with the slogan, "Together we can do it!"

Twenty years later we have noticed others have taken up that grass roots movement with a slogan of their own, such as, "Yes we can! -- Yes We did!" … Restoring our hopes and dreams along the way. It is time for us all to remember … We are a people with common hopes, dreams and differences. We ALL deserve respect for our differences and beliefs. Let us squash the angry, hatred and fear and replenish the hopes and dreams of ALL Americans!

It is time for ALL to come together -- to restore those hopes, dreams, respect and trust that we all deserve and need. This is a land of promise for ALL Americans! We ALL deserve the same healthcare plans that our US congressmen and other government employees are offered. We all deserve the choice of a "single payer" or "public" (or whatever you want to call it) option. Big, private insurance scrooges and their flunky congressperson and lobbyists should start using that over $6 millions of dollars to the betterment of insuring the American citizens, instead of lining the pockets of Congresspersons and Lobbyists.
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4th Week of January 2009 Summary

During the fourth and last week of January 2009, we learned of the passing of our Uncle John Smith of Chester, Oklahoma, and John's Mobile Service at the Cottonwood Corners in Major county. We also did some research of the county high schools in Oklahoma Territory. Such as … Most of those ready for high school were not within walking, riding distance of secondary schools of any sort. Only a few attended the preparatory department of public colleges where tuition was free. Very few towns were able to provide high school facilities and the private and church schools were few and small."

Oklahoma had several counties that voted on proposals to establish county high schools under a law enacted in 1901 and repealed in 1909. Four counties organized and operated under this law. In 1919, another county established a high school under a law enacted to meet its needs. It was between 1903 and 1935 that Oklahoma had five county high schools operating from 4 to 26 years each.

Besides county high schools, the Territorial Legislature tried two other methods of bringing secondary education sufficiently near to the homes of the youth. These were called the township high schools and the consolidated district.

1. Township High Schools -- The township high school was authorized by the 1st Territorial Legislature, in 1891, and repealed by the 2nd Assembly, in 1893. It was under this proposal, each congressional Township, six miles square, included four common school districts, each three miles square. A township board coordinated the work of the four district boards and operated a high school, in the center of the township. Some townships did not began a high school during these two years.

2. Consolidated Districts -- In 1905, the Territorial Legislature enacted a law which permitted two of more districts to combine, when approved by a majority of the voters in the areas affected. A centrally located school offered high school subjects as well as upper elementary grades.The consolidated district was often built around a town district, which already had a high school, though some were strictly rural. The Oklahoma reorganization law, enacted by the 22nd Legislature and amended by the 23rd, discontinued the consolidated district as a legalized unit. By 1950, improved roads and transportation shifting of population to town, and other causes contributed to make the consolidated district less and less needed.

3. County High Schools -- It was in 1901, county high school law was enacted by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature and amended in 1903. Between 1905-1933 there were at least six other laws dealing with county high schools. Two of these were concerned mainly with Cimarron County, in the Panhandle. Others dealt with disposal of funds or property of schools that had been discontinued.

Pupils living too far from the school to reach it daily from their homes usually lived during the week in the school town, returning home over the week end to care for laundry needs, replenish food supply, or sometimes to help with the farm work. A good many boarded in homes or in clubs or did light housekeeping. Some kept house for owners children and those of neighbors, returning home most weekends and at the close of the school year. I know this is what my mother, Vada Paris, did when she attended high school in Seiling, Oklahoma.

During this last week of January 2009, we learned about the Woods County High school (1905-1907). On November 8, 1904, Woods County electors voted, 2,509 to 2,104, to establish a county high school. The 1903 amendment permitted county commissioners to locate a school not already located by the terms of the election. This was a time when Woods, Alfalfa and Major counties were still a part of "M" county -- before the split in 1907 at statehood.

A local county commissioner induced the other two members to locate the school at Helena if the people voted its establishment. This was a small town and in an area rather remote from much of the county's population. Because of this, the school was doomed to have much difficulty in drawing sufficient enrollment.

In January, 1905, the newly appointed trustees made plans to erect a building of 32 rooms on 15 acres of campus just outside Helena. The next legislature passed a law authorizing Dick's Township to vote bonds for the erection and equipment of Woods County High School, Helena, Oklahoma .... in the sum of $5,000.

The name had been changed to Alfalfa County High School. The tax payers of Alfalfa county found the cost of retiring bonds and operating the school more than they could bear. On December 14, 1909, Alfalfa county voted, 1,433 to 144, to discontinue the high school which had already closed the previous spring, and to give the campus and buildings to the State.

The Connell School of Agriculture, one of the six secondary agricultural schools in the new State, was already using the school plant. When that school's appropriation was cut off in 1917, Connell closed, its property then was given to the Helena District. In 1921, the State bought the property from the Helena District to open a State orphanage, called West Oklahoma State Home.

You can view more of the OkieLegacy, "Archives" for Vol. 11, January 2009.
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