Duchess Corner

As Sunrise begins, Sunday, January 27, 2008, the clouds begin to gather for another bout of Winter storms & snow in the San Juans.

This week was a few degrees warmer than last week and temperatures reached a few degrees above the freezing mark (32F). Thursday we had another 3 to 4 inches of snow, but sunshine returned for the rest of the week. The clouds didn't start rolling in until Sunday for another windy blast of snow in the San Juans, expected this evening.

You can view some scenes from our SW Colorado Weather Cam that refreshes every 10 minutes. We have also set up another viewing site at NW OkieLegacy.

Oklahoma History & Heritage...
From reviewing and researching our Oklahoma heritage, we have noticed how the newspapers of early Oklahoma & Indian Territory began mostly with Democratic owners and influence. By 1914 & 1916 the newspapers appeared to have changed ownership, influence to the republican party as the northwestern parts of Oklahoma were experiencing an over-flow of republicans.

Opening of Unassigned Lands To Settlement...
Next weekend we shall bring you some information about "The Oklahoma Question In Congress" -- the bill for the opening of the Unassigned Lands to settlement, introduced at the beginning of the first session of the 49th Congress. We will find that the opposition to this measure was strongly entrenched, but did not make much headway.

The opposition to the opening of the vacant public lands of Oklahoma came from two sources: the cattlemen who had large herds of stock in the territory and were loath to give up their ranges; and the Indians, who naturally regarded the proposed change as the beginning of an invasion which would ultimately result in changing the old order whereas they preferred to live on in their own way and to cling to their own institutions.
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The First Newspapers of Oklahoma

The first newspaper printed, published in Oklahoma was the Cherokee Advocate, which was established and conducted under the auspices of the tribal government.

Its publication office was at Tahlequah, the first number appearing on the 26th of September, 1844. William P. Ross, a nephew of Chief John Ross and a graduate of Princeton University, was its first editor, and James D. Wofford was translator.

It was issued weekly and consisted of four pages of seven columns each. One page, sometimes more and sometimes less, was generally printed in the Cherokee (Sequoyah) text, the rest being in English. David Carter and James S. Vann were subsequent editors.

The publication of the Cherokee Advocate was discontinued several years before the outbreak of the Civil war because of the scarcity of funds. The publication of the Advocate was not resumed until in 1870. The columns of the Cherokee Advocate, during this first period of its existence, would have compared very favorably with the best weekly papers of the time in the states east of the Mississippi.

Executive proclamations, official notices, legislative council proceedings and enactments and news of the Cherokee Nation and neighboring Indian tribes were printed in both English and Cherokee. In Addition, there were timely editorials upon pertinent themes, a goodly selection from the news of the day (both domestic and foreign), with some space devoted to agriculture, industrial development, and education, and a miscellaneous assortment of short stories, poems and other literary products of the time.

Like the national seminaries, the Advocate exerted a profound influence upon the Cherokees as a people.

At least two efforts were made to establish a newspaper in the Choctaw Nation during this period, as the following news items bear witness:

Chatah Holisso... We have received the first number of the Choctaw Telegraph, printed in Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, edited by Daniel Folsom, a native, and published by D. G. Ball. It is neatly printed on a super-royal sheet and is well edited. We extend to them the right hand of fellowship. May it prosper. -- fort Smith Herald, November 8, 1848.

New Paper... The first number of the Choctaw Intelligencer came to hand this week, printed in English and Choctaw, Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, D. D. Alsobrook, publisher, J. P. Kingsbury and J. E. Dwight, editors. It is neatly printed and bids fair to excel its predecessor, the Choctaw Telegraph. Price $2 in advance. -- Fort Smith Herald, June 15, 1850. -- pg. 205, Vol. 1, A Standard History of Oklahoma, by Joseph B. Thoburn
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No Man's Land & Cimarron Territory

We found this interesting bit of information concerning No Man's Land in A Standard History of Oklahoma, pp. 599-602, Vol. 2, by Joseph B. Thobrun.

No Man's Land was that part of the lands ceded to the United States by Texas in 1850, which was bounded on the north by Kansas and Colorado, on the east by the Cherokee Outlet, on the south by the Texas Panhandle and on the west by New Mexico. It remained unattached to any state or territory until statehood, November 16, 1907.

It continued to be a part of the wilderness of the Great Plains region until the virtual disappearance of the buffalo herds and the retirement of the Indians to their reservations, about 1875, though a few cattle ranches had been established in the region of the Upper Cimarron River, as early as 1869.

After 1875 the number of cattle ranches was greatly increased. In 1882 and 1883, most of these ranches were purchased by two of the big British syndicates, which controlled most of the region until the fences were ordered to be removed from Government lands. In time, this strip of land, which was not attached to any state or territory, came to be called No Man's Land.

In 1885-86, there was a heavy tide of immigration into Southwestern Kansas and Southeastern Colorado. Soon the settlers began to swarm across the border into ,i>No Man's Land. In 1886 two coal mines were opened in the western part of the present Cimarron County and a townsite, known as Mineral City, was laid out. Several towns were also projected in the eastern part of No Man's land, including Beaver City, in the valley of Beaver Creek. In the spring of 1887, it was estimated that No Man's Land contained a population of about 6,000.

There were no government land offices, so there could be no absolute ownership of lands. The settlers were also without law, either local or national. As a class, they were peaceable and orderly but a land without law always has it attractions for turbulent and unruly spirits, so desperadoes and horse thieves soon made trouble in the No Man's Land settlements.

The people promptly organized vigilance committees and put such a check on the outlaw class that a measure of order was restored. In No Man's Land, as elsewhere, when the people had to take the law into their own hands, the measures resorted to were sometimes harsh, but when evil doers had no respect for the rights of others, it was necessary to fill them with terror.

The settlers could not file on homesteads because no government land office had jurisdiction over the public lands of No Man's Land. Disputes over claims were numerous and the lawless element made claim "jumping" a regular business. The settlers held a meeting at Beaver, at which there was organized a "Claim Board" for the purpose of passing upon such disputes. A set of rules was also adopted for the guidance of the "Claim Board" in its deliberations and actions. The "Claim Board" held it meetings at the Town of Beaver, which was the metropolis of No Man's Land settlements. This town had a population of about 700, in 1887. The nearest railroad station was at Dodge City, Kansas, about 80 miles away.

Many of the settlers in No Man's Land believed that a territorial government should be organized to supersede the makeshift vigilance committee and claim board organizations. The claim board issued a call for an election to be held in November, 1886, for the purpose of choosing delegates to a convention which should consider the matter and take such action as might be deemed expedient.

The delegates thus chosen met at Beaver, March 4, 1887, and, after due consultation and deliberation, passed a declaratory act, organizing the Territory of Cimarron, with the capital at Beaver.

The No Man's Land country was divided into five counties, named respectively Benton, Beaver, Palo Duro, Optima and Sunset. The members of the convention were constituted a legislative body, which proceeded to enact numerous laws.

O. G. Chase was nominated by the Beaver convention as a candidate for delegate to Congress. Another party, led by Rev. R. M. Overstreet, then called a convention to be held at the rival of Rothwell. It placed John Dale in nomination as a candidate for delegate to congress, favored the attachment of No Man's Land to Kansas for judicial purposes, proposed to divide the tract into three counties and urged the establishment of a Government land office at Voorhees, Kansas, with a district jurisdiction that should include the No Man's Land country.

An election was held in November, 1887, at which a full set of territorial officers, a new Legislature and a delegate to Congress were chosen. Dr. J. R. Linley was elected governor, Thomas P. Braidwood, secretary of state, and O. G. Chase, delegate to Congress.

When Congress reconvened, in December, 1887, O. G. Chase presented himself at the capital and asked for recognition as the duly elected delegate from the Territory of Cimarron. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be in favor of his recognition as a territorial delegate and a resolution was offered by Representative William M. Springer of Illinois, giving him a seat in the House as such. John Dale, who had been the rival candidate, contested his election, however. The Springer resolution, together with the Dale contest, was therefore referred to the committee on elections, which never rendered any report.

The 2nd Legislature of the Territory of Cimarron was in session most of the time during the winter of 1887-88. Representative James Burns, of Missouri, introduced a bill in congress to provide for the organization of the territory of Cimarron. In the spring of 1888, the opposition to the Oklahoma Bill (which was being pressed for action), made a desperate effort to have the No Man's Land country annexed to Kansas, hoping thus to cripple the Oklahoma movement, but the attempt failed. The Beaver legislative party, anticipating the passage of the Burns Bill for the organization of the Territory of Cimarron, proceeded to hold another election in November, 1888, at which a full complement of territorial officers were chosen and also a new delegate to Congress.

The whole contention was due to the activities of the promoters of the rival townsites of Beaver and Rothwell and to the machinations of ambitious politicians. During the summer of 1888, several men were killed in No Man's Land as a result of a county seat war across the line, in Stevens County, Kansas. This event served to strengthen the popular demand for local civil government.
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Pioneer J. Everett Smith - Woodward, OK

J. Everett Smith was born in 1869, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. After securing his primary education in the public schools, he entered Purdue University and later took a course at the Iowa State Normal School.

After his graduation from the latter institution he entered upon his career as an educator, during which he taught in several states and gained a substantial reputation as an able and thorough instructor.

For four years J. Everett Smith was a member of the staff of the Northwestern State Normal School, of Alva, Oklahoma, where he established an excellent record, and in 1903, entered upon his editorial labors when he purchased the Woodward Bulletin, the pioneer paper of Woodward county, and its printing plant.

Under J Everett Smith's capable management this soon became recognized as a power in molding public opinion, and in 1909 the paper was consolidated with the Woodward News, adopting the name of Woodward News-Bulletin, with Mr. Smith as editor and the firm of Smith & Thomas, publisher.

While it was republican in policy and the official county organ of that party, it was the aim of the editor to place questions before its readers in a strictly impartial manner. Its columns had always been open to the aiding of movements for the welfare of the county and its influence had contributed in no small way to the development of Western Oklahoma. Mr. Smith's efforts had been recognized substantially in the gaining of a large and representative circulation, and he was being generously supported by the business men of Woodward County, who found the News-Bulletin an excellent advertising medium.

J. Everett Smith was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and one of the most enthusiastic and active members of the Commercial Club.

The official organ of the republican party in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory was The Woodward News Bulletin, one of the alert enterprising, thoroughly and some thought to be one of the reliable newspapers of Northwest Oklahoma Territory. Its steady rise to a position of influence in this section had been brought about by the efforts of its capable and energetic editor, J. Everett Smith, who, was well known in journalistic circles, was formerly and widely, favorably known as an educator. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, pg. 1611, Vol. 4
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Pioneer Jay H. Reigner - Pushmataha County, OK

Jay Harlin Reigner was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1870, the son of William and Elizabeth Reigner, both natives of the old Keystone State, where the original American progenitor of the Reigner family settled upon his immigration from Alsace, France, in 1730.

Representatives of this sterling old Reigner family had been found aligned as patriot soldiers from that commonwealth or colony in the war of the Revolution. William Reigner was the eldest in a family of nine children and died in 1889. His wife had died a number of years before.

Jay H. Reigner was reared to adult age in Pennsylvania and afforded the advantages of the public schools. In 1890 he became a student in the Westchester Normal School, at Westchester, Pennsylvania, but he withdrew from this institution within a short time and moved to the Middle West.

Jay Reigner finally entered the law department of the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he was graduated in 1893, and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Prior to this Jay Reigner had become effectively identified with newspaper work and had virtually decided to make the same his permanent vocation.

In 1887, when Jay Reigner was 17 years of age, he became a reporter on the staff of the Intelligencer at Wheeling, West Virginia, and later he assumed the position of editor of the News-Democrat at Canton, Stark County, Ohio, the home of the late, lamented President McKinley.

While the incumbent of this position Jay H. Reigner was able to wield no little influence in supporting the cause of the Democratic party in the national campaign of 1896, when William Jennings Bryan first appeared as the party's candidate for the presidency. He was a loyal supporter of Bryan in that memorable campaign, and later he became editor of an independent democratic weekly paper, the Sunday Herald, at Canton, Ohio. In 1897 he went to the city of Alliance, in the same county, where for several years he was editor of the Daily Critic.

With an assured reputation for successful work as a representative of the profession of his choice, in 1905, Jay Reigner came to Oklahoma Territory and established his residence at Antlers, the judicial center of Pushmataha County, where he purchased the plant, business of the Antlers News, a weekly paper. Later he purchased the plants of the Antlers Record and The Kiamichi Reporter, the latter at Albion, in the same county, and in 1908 the three papers were consolidated by reigner under the present title of the Antlers News-Record.

Aside form Jay H. Reigner's influence in political affairs as a newspaper editor, Reigner had individually taken an active part in several campaigns in Ohio, where in 1898 he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee of the 16th Congressional District of the state and where he served several times as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Stark County.

When Jay Reigner came to Oklahoma he manifested a lively interest in political and governmental affairs and soon became a recognized leader in the local councils of his party. He was a firm believer in the basic principles of the Democratic party and in an independent and courageous way always advocates for it policies that should make it justify in a generic way its title of Democratic -- his stand of the theory of government being that "power should be given to the whole people rather than to the few."

Thus it is that in his direct, earnest and well taken editorial utterances he was duly conservative and fell short of undue or ultra radicalism.

In the election of November, 1914, Jay H. Reigner was elected Representative of Pushmataha County in the 5th General Assembly of the Oklahoma legislature, and this preferment came as a consistent recognition of his loyal and earnest labors as an advocate of the principles of the Democratic party and in behalf of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of the state of Oklahoma.

In 1914, Jay Reigner was elected representative of Pushmataha County in the lower house of the Oklahoma Legislature, in which he has made an admirable record of conscientious, effective and loyal effort to conserve good government, wise legislation and the promotion of the best interests of the state and its people.

Jay Reigner was made chairman of the committee on Judicial and Senatorial Apportionment, and was assigned also to the committees on elections, on fees and salaries, on retrenchment and reform, on initiative and referendum, and on congressional apportionment.

Reigner introduced and ably championed a bill relative to senatorial apportionment and another providing for the reduction of district-court districts from 32 to 21. As an unfaltering advocate of the fundamental principles of the Democratic party he had consistently opposed any movement or legislation tending to abrogate in the least the power and authority of the people, and thus it was natural that he should be found earnestly supporting measures providing for the preferential primary ballot and also presidential primaries.

Jay Reigner was a popular member of the Oklahoma Press Association; an active, entusiastic member of the Anters Commercial Club; affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Chapter and Council in his home city, with Hugo Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templars, at Hugo, Choctaw county, and with Bedouin Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Muskogee.

At Antler he served as thrice illustrious master of Zabud Council, No. 20, Royal and Select Masters, and he had held other official chairs in the time-honored Masonic fraternity.

At Canton, Ohio, in 1902, Jay Reigner married Emma E. Shroyer, who died November 3, 1911, leaving no children.
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Tribal Changes - Indian Territory

In theory the Cherokee people were united under a republican form of government, though the internal dissensions seriously interfered with the perfect working of the political system which had been devised for this purpose. In the other tribes from the South, there was even less of unity in their respective tribal political organizations.

In the Creek Nation, the people acted together in matters that affected the interests of the whole tribe, such as in making treaties and distributing annuity funds, they generally kept the sub-tribal lines intact, and in their internal affairs, were practically distinct tribes -- the Upper and Lower Creeks -- just as they were before their migration to the West.

When the Choctaw people first came to the West, they promptly re-established the form of tribal government which they had maintained in their old homeland east of the Mississippi, in which there were three distinct chiefs who collectively acted as the executive head of the tribal government.

When the Chickasaw people came west, they joined their kinsmen, the Choctaws, by purchasing an interest in the Choctaw reservation and merging themselves into its body politic with the proviso that there should be a Chickasaw district, thus making four districts in the Choctaw-Chickasaw Nation (Treaty of Doaksville, January 17, 1837, Senate Document No. 542, Fifty-seventh Congress, 1st Session, pp. 361-2.).

When the Seminole people were transported to the West, it was the intention of the Government authorities to not only settle them among their kinsmen, the Creeks (for the Seminoles were an offshoot of the Creek or Muskogee Nation), but also to have them assume citizenship in the Creek Nation.

Whether the divisions among the Creek Nation, proper, had anything to do with a contrary determination on the part of the Seminoles is not known. The Seminoles held themselves aloof from participation in the political affairs of the Creek Nation, and eventually asked to be set off by themselves.

While the Chickasaws were personally friendly to the Choctaws and held a common and undivided interest in the reservation which had originally been granted to the latter, they became politically dissatisfied. They had the same rights and privileges that the Choctaws did, but the arrangement became somewhat irksome to the Chickasaws because, the tribal lines being always drawn politically, they were always out-numbered and out-voted. The Choctaws were always in full control of the tribal government and only Choctaws were elected to fill national position.

The Chickasaws finally insisted upon a political separation from the Choctaws. Accordingly, on June 22, 1855, at Washington, D. C., commissioners representing respectively the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes and the Federal Government, signed a treaty by the terms of which the political jurisdiction of the Chickasaw District passed under the control of the Chickasaw Nation in consideration of the payment of $150,000 from the trust fund of the Chickasaw Nation to the Choctaws.

Both tribes agreed to relinquish all claims to the country west of the 98th meridian and to accept in compensation, such an amount as might be determined by the United States Senate (Senate Document No. 452, Fifty-seventh congress, 1st Session, pp. 531-6.).

Like the Chickasaws, the Seminoles desired to be set apart and to be allowed to manage their own tribal affairs. They were clothed with the full rights of Creek citizenship, but they were not satisfied, for they wanted to govern themselves rather than Washington, D. C.

August 7, 1856, commissioners representing respectively the Federal Government and the Creek and Seminole tribes of Indians, concluded a treaty by the terms of which a part of the reservation assigned to the Creek Nation was ceded to the Seminoles, who were to be granted a separate agency and to be permitted to establish an independent tribal government. (Ibid., pp. 569-76. The reservation set aside for the Seminole Nation was bounded on the east by a line which would divide the present Pottawattomie County into two very nearly equal parts; thence it extended in a northwesterly direction to the Texas Panhandle line, bounded on the south by the Canadian River and on the north by the North Canadian and the Cherokee Outlet.)

The Choctaws and Chickasaws having separated as the result of the agreement entered into by the treaty of 1855, both nations adopted new constitutions in 1857. The constitutions of both nations, like that of the Cherokees, were republican in form, having many features in common but differing somewhat in detail. Thus, the chief executive of the Choctaw Nation was styled the Principal Chief," while that of the Chickasaw Nation was designated as "Governnor." Both nations had a "Senate" and a "House of Representatives," and, in the Chickasaw Nation the two were called the "Legislature," while in the Choctaw Nation the entire legislative branch of the tribal government was styled the "General Council."

The Choctaw constitution, commonly called "The Skullaville Constitution," was not regarded with favor by a large faction of the people of that tribe and was the occasion of intense political excitement, which for a time threatened to lead to violence. Those who opposed the new order of things under the Skullaville constitution were mostly of the conservative and non-progressive class. They held a convention in Blue County, at which sundry objections to the constitution were enumerated.

The tribal officers, who had been elected in accordance with the provisions of the constitution (and who had been recognized as the lawful authorities of the Choctaw Nation by the Federal Government) promptly submitted amendments to the constitution to remedy all of the alleged defects. Still discontented, the opposition held a convention at Doaksville framed another constitution and proceeded to hold an election for a legislature and new chiefs.

Although the condition was described as having nearly reached "the brink of anarchy, "the conciliatory attitude of the de facto tribal government ultimately led to a subsidence of the agitation and quiet was restored though not until the whole constitution had been resubmitted to a vote of the people and a number of admendments adopted and the tribal capital moved to Doaksville.

The Cherokee Nation was divided into nine districts, for the purpose of civil administration and the apportionment of legislators, and respectively named as follows: Canadian, Illinois, Sequoyah, Flint, Delaware, Going-Snake, Tahlequah, Saline and Cooweescoowee. These districts resembled counties in size and form of organization.

The Choctaw Nation was divided into three districts, called respectively, Apukshunnubbee, Pushmataha and Mosholatubbee. The first of these was divided into seven counties, the second into four counties and the last mentioned district was divided into five counties.

The names of the sixteen Choctaw counties were as follows: Towson, Cedar, Red River, Eagle, Wade, Boktucklo, Nashoba, Kiamichi, Blue, Atoka, Jack's Fork, Sugar-Loaf, Skullaville, San Bois, Gaines and Tocuksy.

The Chickasaw Nation was divided into four counties, namely, Panola, Pickens, Pontotoc and Tishomingo.

The Creek Nation was never divided into counties or districts as were the tribal domains of the other civilized tribes. Instead the ancient town organization was still maintained. There were forty-seven Creek towns, or communities, each of which had its own petty government. Each of these towns was entitled to representation in the national council.

Shortly after the Choctaw tribal government was reorganized under the constitution of 1857, the general council, or legislative assembly, adopted outright a large part of the statute laws of the State of Mississippi, as the laws of the Cherokee Nation. Whether they were found suited to the administrative requirements of the Choctaw Nation is not recorded, but the compiled laws of the Choctaws, published in 1868, do not contain many if any specimens of legislative statutes which originated outside the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation.

After the adoption of the Chickasaw constitution, the tribal legislature met and enacted a number of laws. A young man, who was a member of the tribe, was sent into Texas with the original copies of the statutes (no duplicates being retained) for the purpose of having them printed. The young man who had been entrusted with this important mission disappeared very mysteriously and the newly enacted laws with him. As a result of this condition, it became necessary to reconvene the tribal legislature in a special session for the purpose of re-enacting the laws which had been thus lost.

Territorial Organizations Proposed
In February, 1854, Senator Robert W. Johnson, of Arkansas, introduced a bill in the United States Senate to create three territories to be known respectively as Chelokee, Muscogee and Chatah and to have their respective capitals at Tahlequah, the Creek Agency, and Doaksville.

The Senate Committee of Territories made a favorable report on the bill in July, but it never came up for consideration. The object aimed at in creating three territories instead of one was to induce the various tribes to accept territorial organizations in order to pave the way for the union of all of them under one state government later.

The matter of the organization and admission of an Indian state had been mooted at various times before the introduction of this measure. As early as 1845 Peter P. Pitchlynn had advocated the organization of the Choctaw Territory. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, Chapter XXVIII, pg. 207, Vol. 1.
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"The second entry appears to be 50 kero 3.50 which would be 7 cents per gal. Does that sound right for the time?" -- Jim Bradley Okie Legacy Comment
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No Man's Land

The establishment of the territory of New Mexico (September 9, 1850), with the one hundred and third meridian as its boundary, and of the territory of Kansas (May 30, 1854), with the thirty-seventh parallel as its southern boundary, together with the northern boundary of Texas as established by the cession of 1850, and the western limit of the Cherokee Outlet (i.e., the one hundredth meridian) left a tract of land, thirty-four miles wide and 166 miles long, unassigned to any state or territory. Eventually it became known as No Mans Land and as such it remained until it was opened to settlement in 1889 and, in 1890, was included in the bounds of the Territory of Oklahoma by the terms of the Organic Act.

Act to 1821 it was claimed as a part of the dominions of the Kingdom of Spain. Then, until 1836, it was included in the domain of the Republic of Mexico. From 1836 to 1845 it belonged to the Republic of Texas. Brought into the Union as a part of a state, it was later excluded and long remained as the only tract of unorganized public domain in the country. it is now included in the three Oklahoma counties of Beaver, Texas and Cimarron. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, Chapter XXVIII, pg. 207, Vol. 1.
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It's Saturday In Oklahoma

"There was a heavy fog this morning when I first let the dog out. It's still cool and overcast. Yesterday's gas prices were back up to $2.81.9." -- Roy K.
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Growin' Up In Oklahoma & Texas Panhandle - Part II

We are in the process of taking down Kenneth Updike's stories and ramblings of "Growing Up In Oklahoma" because Kenneth asked us, "To remove all of my previous writings to you about my Ramblins. Personal stories that I told you and your readers. My Son has had all of my writings, and notes copyrighted so that we can put them in a book or booklet. His idea. I really have no objections to this, but he insists we can be viewed by more people. I leave it up to him. Thanks for your help in the past, and I still read your Okie Legacy nearly every week."

If you find some of Kenneth's Ramblings that I have missed, Please email me the link with Vol. and Iss. numbers so that this NW Okie can remove them. Thanks for your help!
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Growin' Up In Oklahoma & Texas Panhandle

"I'm so sorry Mr. Updike lost his best friend in the wreck he told us about. I'm glad, though, that he shares his stories with your readers." -- sbw

"Sorry you had to go through all that, but glad you are able to write about it and share your story. We lived in Borger when this accident happened and I used to work at a funeral home there. Best wishes to you." -- lc OkieLegacy Comments
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Alva High Class of '66

"I'm a goldbug of 1966 I've been married for 29 years and have two girls and coming a grandmother on sept. 1st.I missed 2000 reunion because nobody knew where I was or how to get hold of me I moved from Alva in 1990 and moved two Tryon,Ok. Then to Stillwater,Ok. Then to Cushing, Ok.I hope to have someone class of 1966 email me. It was good to read about a old friend Ron Lawson." -- Sharon Gerber - Email: sharongerber1718@yahoo.com
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WWII History Center

"After seeing all the info and questions on The WWII prisoners, I have to tell everyone about the WWII History Center in El Dorado near Wichita, Kansas. A new non-profit organization who are trying to fund and build a museum dedicated to WWII. Please go to their website to learn all about the research offered now and many efforts to record oral histories of soldiers and homefront workers/families. Many displays and links to help you find info. WONDERFUL! WWII History Center." -- Leann (May) Bird - Email: leannbird@hotmail.com
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Do You Remember These?

Can you remember these things?
FOR YOU YOUNGER ONES THESE ARE OUR MEMORIES:
45 rpm spindles, Green Stamps, Metal ice cubes trays with levers, Beanie and Cecil, Roller-skate keys, Cork pop guns, Marlin Perkins, Drive -in Movies, Drive in restaurants, Car Hops, Studebakers, Topo Gigio, Washtub wringers, The Fuller Brush Man, Sky King, Reel-To-Reel tape recorders, Tinkertoys, Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, 15 cent McDonald hamburgers, 5 cent packs of baseball cards, Penny candy, 25 cent a gallon gasoline, Jiffy Pop popcorn, 5 cent stamps, Gum wrapper chains, Chatty Cathy dolls, 5 cent Cokes, Speedy Alka-Seltzer, Cigarettes for Christmas, Falstaff Beer, Burma Shave signs, Brownie camera, Flash bulbs, TV Test patterns, Old Yeller, Chef Boy-AR-dee, Fire escape tubes, Timmy and Lassie, Ding Dong Avon calling, Brylcreem, Aluminum Christmas Trees.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived! Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from?their "grown-up" life ... I double-dog-dare-ya!" -- Terry & Linda S.
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HURT Family Legacy

"I have come across your Hurt Family Legacy. Can you possibly help us? we are searching for heirs of Antonin Hurt. Antonin Hurt was born 24 May 1879 He had a wife Anna, nee Zajicova, born 16 Juni 1882 They had two sons, Antonin Hurt, born 24 may 1904; Milos Hurt, born 27 July 1905. It is believed that Milos emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Canada - but that is not certain. Does any of this mean anything to you please? Do toy know anyone else whom we could contact to ask about this? We would be most grateful for any information or guidance you may have. Thanks, and be well." -- The Search & Unite Team, People searchers, wherever they have scattered, and property claims in the CZECH REPUBLIC, Email: davidlewin@btinternet.com - Web Page: remember.org/unite - David Lewin, 156 Totteridge Lane, London N20 8JJ England.
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Original Runnymede Hotel - Kansas Colony

My great grandfather came over from England to the Runnymede Arms Hotel sometime around 1889-1890. Where can I find more information about this place?" -- Anonymous Post on OkieLegacy blogspot
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OkieLegacy Guestbook

1/23/2008 -- Niece of Kenneth Roach... "My Grandparents were Ruth and Walter Roach, mother of Kenneth, Geraldine and Mae Roach from Slapout, Oklahoma. My uncle, Kenneth Roach still resides there, and Geraldine Caldwell and Mae Shelley still own land in Slapout." -- Jacque Lea Caldwell - Email: jacquecaldwell@comcast.net

1/22/2008 -- WWII Prisoner of War Camp... "I am trying to find any info on a german prisoner at the Tonkawa camp by the name of Hans Jaenisch." -- Billy R Burroughs - Email: billy.burroughs@sbcglobal.net

1/24/2008 -- Strickland Field-Alva... "Found your site investigating a photo of my dad on Rex Strickland's Swallow two seater. Shortly thereafter, Dad contracted Polio. His brother, Foy Don May was probably taking lessons. Both were raised at Medicine Lodge. Thanks for the site-will offer more as I find it." -- Leann (May) Bird - Email: leannbird@hotmail.com
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Indian Territory Reduced In Size

By the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (May 30, 1854) the Indian Territory was reduced in size by taking from it all the vast region extending from the 37th parallel of North Latitude to the Niobrara River. The Indian Territory, proper, was thus reduced to the area which it included up to the time of the passage of the Organic Act under which the Territory of Oklahoma was formed in 1890.

The boundary line between the Indian Territory and Kansas Territory (which extended westward to the Continental Divide) was surveyed during the summer of 1857, by a party under the command of Lieut.-Col. Joseph E. Johnston, of the Second United States Dragoons. Colonel Johnston subsequently became one of the most distinguished generals in the Confederate Army.

The western boundary of Oklahoma, from the Red River North as far as the Canadian, was surveyed under the direction of Daniel C. Major, of the U. S. Astronomical Observatory, in the summer of 1859.

Although Kansas and Nebraska were cut off from the Indian Territory together, they still contained the reservations of about twenty tribes of Indians, most of whom had been removed from states East of the Mississippi River. In addition to these, in the central and western portions of the two new territories, there were a number of tribes of the untamed Indians of the plains, whose people still roamed unhindered in the wilderness and who had as yet no reservations assigned to them. Eventually, most of these tribes were removed to the Indian Territory, though not until after the close of the Civil war. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, Chapter XXVIII, pg. 207, Vol. 1.
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The Texas Cession

By the terms of the compromise under which the State of Missouri had been admitted into the Union, there were to be no new slave states West of Missouri, North of the southern boundary of that state. When Texas was annexed to the United States, in 1845, her dominions West of the 100 Meridian extended North to the Arkansas River and therefore included parts of the present states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

In compliance with the provision of the Missouri Compromise which forbade the admission of states with slave territory North of the southern boundary of Missouri (Latitude 36 30′, North), the State of Texas relinquished it claim to the ownership of all lands North of that line, November 25, 1850.

The region thus ceded by the State of Texas thus became a part of the public domain of the United States. Oddly enough, in 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a decision declaring that the Missouri Compromise Act was unconstitutional. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, Chapter XXVIII, pg. 207, Vol. 1.
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The Press of Indian Territory

The press of the Indian Territory began to develop during the period of the railway, telegraph lines, steamboats on the Arkansas River, and the Indian International Fair Association Exposition at Muskogee in the autumn of each year for a dozen years. During the latter half of the period an annual fair was held at Vinita.

The Cherokee Advocate, which had been re-established in 1870, was burned out in 1876 and equipped with a new plant a few months later, again starting with a new volume and number. As before, it was printed partly in English and partly in Cherokee, and was the official organ of the Cherokee Nation.

The Indian Journal was established at Muskogee in 1876. A number of years later it was moved to Eufaula, where it was still published and, since discontinuance of the Cherokee Advocate with the advent of statehood, it had been the oldest journal in the state.

Other periodicals established during this period were: The Indian Chieftain, at Vinita; The Indian Champion, at Atoka; The Telephone, at Tahlequah; The Indian Arrow, at Fort Gibson; Our Brother in Red (Methodist), at Muskogee; The Indian Missionary (Baptist), at Atoka; The Enterprise, at Pauls Valley; The Indian Citizen, at Atoka; the Register, at Purcell, and The Courier, at Ardmore.

The newspapers published in the Indian Territory during this period carried columns of advertising from ranchmen who made known their respective cattle brands. The news items contained in the local columns reflected faithfully the life of the period.

Editorially, they were outspoken and frank without exception, especially in the denunciation of policies and practices which did not meet with their approval in the conduct of national and tribal affairs. The lack of a spirit of fraternity between the editors of the papers then published in the territory was also strikingly apparent, sarcasm being cultivated, seemingly, as a fine art, while in some instances at least a propensity for resorting to the use of epithet was freely indulged.

Argumentative correspondents were numerous, usually contributing their communications over a nom-d-lume, though, instead of "Veritas," "Pro Bono Publico" and Vox Populi," the pen names adopted were such as "Red Bird," "Raven," "Black Fox," "Woodpecker," "Sapsucker," " Sleeping Rabbit," etc.

In the western part of the territory, at different times during the course of this period, there were newspapers published at no less than three places, namely, Darlington, Beaver and Mangum.

The Cheyenne Transporter was originally established at the agency at Darlington as a school paper, but in time it became independent of the agency school and was published for a number of years as a general newspaper and organ of the range cattle interests.

The newspapers at Beaver and Mangum were the organs respectively of two of the unique "sooner" settlements of Oklahoma, namely, No Mans Land and the Greer County Country.

The Oklahoma War Chief was also published at Rock Falls, in the Cherokee Outlet, for a few weeks in the summer of 1884, but lacked a permanent circulation within the limits of the territory as well as a permanent place of publication. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Vol. 2, pp. 628 & 629, by Joseph B. Thoburn.
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Land of My Dreaming

This poem entitled, Land of My Dreaming, by George Riley Hall, was found in Vol. 1 of A Standard History of Oklahoma, written by Joseph B. Thoburn.

Land of My Dreaming - by George Riley Hall
Land of the mistletoe, smiling in splendor,
Out from the borderland, mystic and old,
Sweet are the memories, precious and tender,
Linked with thy summers of azure and gold.
O, Oklahoma, fair land of my dreaming,
Land of the lover, the loved and the lost:
Cherish thy legends with tragedy teeming,
Legends where love reckoned not of the cost.
Land of Sequoyah, my heart's in thy keeping.
O, Tulledega, how can I forget!
Calm are thy vales where the silences sleeping,
Wake into melodies tinged with regret.
Let the deep chorus of life's music throbbing,
Swell to full harmony born of the years;
Or for the loved and lost, tenderly sobbing,
Drop to that cadence that whispers of tears.
Land of the mistletoe, here's to thy glory!
Here's to thy daughters as fair as the dawn!
Here's to thy pioneer sons, in whose story
Valor and love shall live endlessly on!
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Oklahoma: An Ode

Oklahoma: An Ode, by Freeman E. Miller - read on "Oklahoma Day," July 19, 1915, at the Oklahoma Building, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California.