Duchess & Sadie's Spring Domain

Bayfield, Colorado - I want you to meet Mr. & Mrs. Mallard in the photo on the left. They have been spotted only a couple times earlier in the last week. They have been hanging around Weaselskin Creek and pond up at Vallecito.

NW Okie would not let this Duchess and Sadie Pug out when they were strolling about the grounds. I guess they thought we might woof-woof them and scare them away. I would not do that, but Sadie is another story. She is just a young pup compared to this more experienced (seven year old) Pug. Temperatures for the past few days have been reaching the mid-seventies up here in the SW Rocky mountains of Colorado. It is a beautiful mountain spring around here.

NW Okie is running late today, because she had an annual eye exam today -- she is recovering from that dreaded dilated eye syndrome that so many have felt after an eye check-up. NW Okie has been doing some spring cleaning over at the OkieLegacy website this week as she transfer some OkieLegacy archives (Volume 5 and 6) into the NEW php database. It has been a slow process up to now, but we will get it done.

You should be able to get to the old OkieLegacy ezine Volumes through the OkieLegacy Ezine frontpage. There is a horizontal menu at the top. If you mouse-over "Volumes," a drop-down menu should show you the volumes -- Click the particular Vol. number that you are looking -- It should bring you to the first Issue of that Vol. mouse-over the "Issues" menu and another drop-down menu should show you a list of Issues that we have added to the NEW php database -- then click on one of the Issues to view.

The "archive menu takes you to the "old" database files that we have not moved over yet. Hopefully, when we get them moved over, you will not need to use the "old archive" menu and it can be deleted. There is another way to view ezine features by way of communities (location). If you mouse-over the top menu "communities," a drop-down menu will show you ezine features by way of towns/states and how many features for that community. I believe this menu is in use in the "ezine" pages and not the "tabloid" pages, though.

In this and the next few OkieLegacy ezines you might see some old webpages (like county information, Oklahoma pioneer legacies, and etc.) that have been deleted and incorporated into our NEW OkieLegacy php database for easier searching, viewing and commenting.

NW Okie says, "Just trying to simplify things for easier to view, read, comment and move around The OkieLegacy Ezine. Thanks for your patience while we continue with our webpage Spring cleaning."

Good Night and Good Luck!
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Great Event Recalled In 1933 - by Pioneer T. J. Dyer

Oklahoma - This "Great Event" was written by Tom J. Dyer, September 16, 1933:

"On Saturday, September 16, 1933 will occur the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Cherokee Strip to white settlement. Time and space forbid the telling of the many changes that have taken place, but the intervening 40 years have been years of progress and development. No state has ever achieved such magnitude in so short a time as has Oklahoma, and I might add that in no part of the state has this progress and development been greater than that exemplified by this part of the state known as the Cherokee Strip or Outlet.

It is comprised for the most part of the finest farms in the state, with commodious dwellings, many of them modern, and other substantial improvements which constitute a real home.

"And its cities, towns and villages will stand comparison with any other portion of our great Oklahoma. As I look back over these 40 years, my mind goes still farther back, and memory calling up the past. I vision this country as it was when first I came to the then Indian Territory in 1870.

"Out here, where we now live, in Woods County, buffalo, elk, deer, and the antelope held supreme and unlimited sway, while the black bear, cougar, lynx, catamount, lobo wolf, and coyote sang their hideous incantations for a midnight reverie. The wild turkey was here in countless numbers. But I must hasten on.

"Later in the early 80's this part became home of the cattle barons, ranges were mapped out, ranches built, while the longhorn cattle in almost countless numbers roamed the country o'er hillside and plain, fattening on the luscious buffalo grass that grew everywhere, and then were shipped to the markets of the east. "With these ranges, ranches and cattle came the cowboy, and for a number of years they lived here, that carefree and happy life known only to the old-time cowboy.

"In that beautiful poem by Elizabeth Akers Allen, entitled, "Rock Me to Sleep," occur these words:

"Backward, turn backward, O time in your flight,
Make me a child again, just for tonight.
(I fain would change the last line to read thus: "Make me a cowboy again, just for tonight.")

Bring back the old days, of long, long ago, in this do not fail.
Bring back the longhorns, and the old Chisholm Trail.
Bring back the old chuck wagon, and a cook named Red,
Who could make good black coffee and sourdough bread.
O, for those old days, the cowboys still yearn,
But never, no never, will they ever return.

"There were a number of contributing factors which hastened the opening of the lands now embraced in the western half of the state to settlement by the white race. First, Old Oklahoma, so-called, was really government land and was never ceded to any tribe of Indians. David Payne discovered this while in Washington, D.C. and sought to colonize this particular tract of land. He made numerous excursions with white settlers, called Payne's Oklahoma boomers, into this territory, but each time was ejected b y federal troops. Occupancy of the Cherokee Strip by the cattlemen, called cattle barons by the home-seekers, was one of the prime factors.

"The same conditions existed in other Indian reservations. Times were hard, the people as a rule were poor, having lost their farms in Kansas and other states, were mortgage-ridden, without any hope of redemption. These people were now clamoring for new worlds to conquer. This caused the administration at Washington to sit up and take notice. Some statesmen and others became interested and sought a solution of the problem. The cattlemen were ordered out of the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation. The Alliance and Populist movement had been inaugurated.

"Populism was at its peak. Old Oklahoma was opened to white settlement April 22, 1889. The cattlemen were ordered from the Cherokee strip, and negotiations were under way to purchase this land from the Cherokee Indians.

"Although the cattlemen had been ejected from the strip, there were quite a number of them, contrary to orders, who still held herds here, and when discovered by the troops were escorted to the borders of Kansas. Once the soldiers were gone the return of the herd was an easy matter.

"Walter Fulton, now living near Fairvalley, told me of an experience with a squad of these gentry. They came upon him while in charge of one of these herds. The commanding officer was very emphatic in telling Walter to move on to other pastures. Walter good-naturedly assured the officer he had no place to go with his herd, but if he, the officer, knew any good grazing land, he, Walter, would be glad to profit by such knowledge, whereupon the officer immediately rounded up Walter and his outfit and proceeded to Camp Supply. The federal authorities having charge of the herd had to see that they were provided with water and grass, and thus relieve Walter of this responsibility.

"Perhaps there were a few herds that never entirely evacuated the country.

">Among the first cattle ranches to be established in Woods and Woodward Counties, after the opening of the Strip, was by Cion Floyd, Jim Hale, Clothier and Miles, Alph Updegraff, Lige Gaskill, Ishmael and Rudolph, Ewell and Justice, J. E. Fritzlen, and many others whose names I do not now recall.

"There are quite a few of the oldtime cowmen and cowboys circulating around on this mundane sphere but many have passed on to the cowman's paradise.

"Among those living in this county I recall Wiley Cowen, Gene Pardee, Walter Fulton, Jim Bridges, Price Fulton, Lew Parker, Bob Beal, Cion Floyd, Jim Hale, Gus Hadwiger and B. O. Haines.

"This anniversary occurs on the same day (Saturday) as the original opening day, 40 years ago.

"It is well that we celebrate this, the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Cherokee Strip. It will be a fitting tribute to the pioneer settlers, who braved the drouth and hot winds, besides enduring many hardships in order to subdue a semi-wilderness, which today, after the lapse of 40 years, is one of the most fertile and productive areas. Many of the old pioneers have gone to their reward, but their descendants, their kith and kin, a younger generation, still imbued with that pioneer spirit of their ancestors, are left to carry on to even greater and nobler achievements.

"Thus, we as a pioneer people have made history, and plenty of it.
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Elm Springs - Shady Grove

Elm Springs, Oklahoma -

This was also written by T. J. Dyer, April, 1931.

Elm Springs, for more than half a century this name has clung to this memorable and historic place. It was in the spring of 1879 that Stith and Watkins established a cow camp at these springs, which was later moved over to Buffalo Springs, about one-half mile east, now known as the Ellis (?) homestead.

Many and varied were the experiences of the cowboys who kept this camp. Like all good cowboys they returned to camp after their day's work was done, perhaps attending some roundup or riding the range. The evening repast being over, singing their favorite cowboy songs was in order, and I wish to impress upon the minds of my readers that there were some mighty good singers among those boys and that their music was far superior to some of the hi-falutin' jazz music of the present day. Here at Elm Springs was a camping place for buffalo hunters and for freighters in the early days before the advent of the cattlemen and when the country was filled with countless herds of buffalo, before the coming of the longhorn herds from Texas.

Legend has it, that prior to this and for ages gone by this was the camping ground of many tribes of wild Indians that roamed the country from the frozen wastes of the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south.

Perhaps the Pawnees, the Osages, the Sioux, Comanches and Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes have each in turn availed themselves of the advantageous facilities and have pitched their teepees here to drink of the cool and exhilarating waters of the bubbling springs that come forth from the hillside on either side of the small canyon and where their tired ponies could slake their thirst clear crystal rivulet that coursed its way from the springs down toward the Nescatunga.

This stream was also called the Salt Fork but was charted on the very earliest maps of the country as the Nescatunga or the Red Fork of the Arkansas, so-called by reason of the redness of the water which coursed down this stream while on one of its periodic rampages of overflow.

In April, 1885, during the high waters in this and other streams, I rode from my home on Little Mule Creek in Barber County, Kansas to view this raging torrent racing its way down to the sea, its waters reached from hill to hill on either side of this stream and as I stood on this historic camping ground of which I write the waves of water would reach within two hundred feet of where I was.

And this was the highest mark reached by this river since I have any knowledge of it. On this historic spot councils of war were held. The great medicine man of the tribes, he whose powers it was to dig the different herbs found here in abundance, and in pots and pans stew his decoctions (sic) that were supposed to heal all manner of ailments that the Indians were heir to, and also, when the tribe as preparing to go on the warpath, like the great oracle of the Greek God of Delphi his advice was sought in matters pertaining to war, and if he said the time was not opportune for such an undertaking it was abandoned for the time being. Yet always in event they did go to war with some neighboring tribe, the medicine man was their constant companion, and if any of the warriors were seriously wounded he was the one to treat the patient with some lotion supposed to contain healing properties for all occasions.

Here also was held (if they were successful in bringing back a few scalps of the enemy from the forays of war), the weird and hideous scalp dance. A pole was erected and from this pole dangled the scalps, trophies of war, while a circle of warriors clad only in breech clout and girdle, and varied colored war paint, danced, keeping step to the discordant beat of the tom tom, and all the while chanting their incantations, giving vent occasionally to the hideous and bloodcurdling war whoop, rending the midnight air until the coyote, the lobo wolf, bear, catamount, and mountain lion slink away taking refuge in their lairs in the fastness of the surrounding hills and canyons, while this place was being used as a camping ground by the many Indian tribes it was here in some shady nook of this sylvan grove that the dusky warrior and his sweetheart sitting there while the twilight shades of evening were deepening, and all nature seemed at rest he poured forth into here ears the story of his exploits of the hunt or chase or mayhap his daring deeds of prowess and valor while in battle with some neighboring tribe.

In 1884 after the railroad had reached Kiowa, Kansas, these springs were used as a camping place by the famous Indian scout Amos Chapman, hero of the Buffalo Wallow Fight. While hauling government freight to old Camp Supply over the old Camp Supply trail Chapman, who was engaged in this work, made two changes in the old trail between Kiowa, Kansas, and Supply. After reaching the divide at the head of Greenleaf Creek instead of following the divide from this point west, he turned southwest, crossing Redhorse at the Redhorse spring. From there over the divide between this point and Anderson Creek, here he crossed this stream about where R. I DeGeer located his homestead, and intersected the old trail again just east of where Old Freedom was located. The other change was made from a point where the trail first entered Sleeping Bear Creek, instead of following up the creek her crossed it here, going southwest along Granger Creek, went out on the divide at the head of Bent Canyon. These were the two changes made by Amos Chapman.

About the same time a stage or hack line was established between Kiowa and Camp Supply, which also passed by this historic lace and my old time cowboy friend, Cleve King, now living in Alva, was one of the drivers.

But, alas, Destiny, what a meaning is wrap up in this one small word. It was destined that at this historic place in coming years the Red Man would surrender his rights of imminent domain, and the paleface was to come into possession of this land. And the Great White Father at Washington, D. C., calling in all the great medicine men from all the states of the United States, and also inviting some of the noted Red Men of the Cherokee Nations, a great conclave was held, and at its conclusion an agreement was reached whereby the Indians were to receive six million, five hundred thousand dollars in lawful money of the United States in lieu of the six million acres or more contained in what was then known as the Cherokee Outlet. And thus it was that the Indian title was extinguished and the government became the sole owner.

He authorities at Washington set about immediately to open this land to settlement, and September 16, 1893 was the date for this occasion and on that date almost all this entire body of land was taken by homesteaders on that day.

It was on this date that one Jonathan C. Fuller staked the claim on which was situated the historic Elm Springs. Here he had a store and post office called Winchester, after the place where General Sheridan made his famous ride of twenty miles. Here he dispensed sugar, coffee, flour and other household necessities, and here the old settlers would gather at close of day to await the arrival of the mail and incidentally to listen to Mr. Fuller recount some of his thrilling experiences of the Civil War. He was General Grant's handy man, or perhaps his aide-de-camp. He took great delight in telling how by his keen foresight and timely advice he had kept the general and his army out of many a tight place.

In an old history which contained an account of the Civil War, I remember a picture of General Grant sitting on a log on the banks of the Rapidan River in Virginia, penciling an order or telegram to some of the other officers, and nearby was an orderly standing, holding his horse, waiting the writing of this order, and after meeting and becoming acquainted with this stalwart soldier of Winchester, I've wondered if this might not have been a picture of our own Jonathan C. Fuller. But in the course of time this old veteran answered the last roll call, and the family continued to live here for some years, but the title of the old homestead passed into the hands of others, Ed McGarry, of Alva, Okla. Ed is converting this place into a summer resort, is constructing some dams to impound some of the water which will make an ideal place to fish. The lake, or lakes, are to be stocked with all varieties of game fish. Many other improvements are under way, and when completed will afford an interesting and pleasant place to enjoy an outing, to recline, and rest in the inviting recesses of Shady Rest, as this is the name by which Ed now calls this beautiful and historic place. Here in the same shady nook where the Indian warrior and his sweetheart had used as a trysting place, will be gathered the modern pale-faced young man, and his sweetheart while he is crooning into her ears sweet nothings, as he has none of the exploits of his predecessors either in the chase or in war to recount.

PEOPLE'S FORUM (October 2, 1934)

Oklahoma -

To the old timers who have gathered from day to day during the hot days of the past summer, when a blazing sun cast its burning rays upon this parched earth, while hot winds scorched and withered all vegetation: We met under the spreading branches of the trees in the court house park, there to enjoy their immense shade in the coolest place in the city. There was neither class nor distinction, all met upon a common level.

Here we discussed the issues of the times, some were cussed depending entirely on the person occupying the floor. The topics ranged all the way from defending the policies of the Roosevelt administration to the defense of the bootlegger, everyone having a chance to say his say.

Many of those hot afternoons were made more tolerable by reason of Uncle Dean Murrow, and his irrigation system. The water running in small ditches, or standing in pools around each tree served as a cooling system. But cooler weather is coming and soon these meetings must close for a time. Even now the crowds have diminished to a mere dozen or so.

I have enjoyed these meetings, and will be loathe to give them up, even for only a few months, and I'm quite sure most every one has derived some benefit from these gatherings, but --

Hush, old timer, cease your repining,
Each somber cloud has a silver lining,
Soon will cease old winter's cold and snow,
Up from the south-land warm breezes blow,
Until all nature will be seen,
Decked out in robes of verdant green.
Then again beneath this leafy bower,
We'll meet to spend a pleasant hour,
May not there be one vacant chair,
But each familiar face be there.
To each familiar voice we'll bark
When we meet next year, in the court house park.

Amon McKeever Obituary

Oklahoma - News Article - Amon McKeever's Obituary was sent to me from Francis Melkus a few years back. Here it is again.

Amon McKeever Died Saturday -- Grim Reaper Takes Only Son and Daughter

From McKeever Family in Three Weeks -- Crepe on the homestead door at any time carries its burden of tears and sorrow, but when twice within three weeks the Grim Reaper hangs his emblem over the doorway of the same home and leaves two aged parents bereft of their only son and only daughter, it would seem that the limit of human endurance has been reached.

Such is the burden that rests upon the shoulders of Mr. and Mrs. John McKeever, pioneer Woods countians living six miles west of Alva, since the death of their only son Amon, at the Cherokee Hospital last Saturday night.

Three weeks ago, their, only daughter, Miss Phoebe, died at the Cherokee Hospital after a valiant fight after an appendicitis operation. At the time of her death, her brother was in the hospital in a very serious condition with appendicitis. Hopes had been held for his recovery but last Saturday evening he suffered a sudden relapse and life departed.

Amon E. McKeever was born in Seymour, Iowa, April 29, 1882 where he lived until he became 12 years of age. He then came with his parents to the Cherokee Strip at the opening and they took a claim which his parents now make their home. He attended the schools in Alva. On November 10, 1907, he married Corilla Bryson, and to this family was added one son, John, now 13 years of age.

Deceased worked in both Alva and Avard until 9 years ago, when he and his family went to make their home on a ranch near Freedom. He had been in poor health all summer but was not thought to be in a serious condition until about five weeks ago, when he was taken to the Hospital at Cherokee.

He is survived by his wife and son, father and mother, and a host of friends throughout Woods County to mourn his untimely departure from this life.

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Christian church, with Rev. J. M Asbell, officiating. The I.O.O.F. attended the funeral. Interment in A.O.U.W. Cemetery.
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Greer County Beginnings

Greer County, Oklahoma - U.S. Supreme Court
U S v. Texas, 162 U.S. 1 (1896)
162 U.S. 1
United States v. State of Texas
No. 3, Original. March 16, 1896
[162 U.S. 1,3] Attorney General Harmon, Col. Gen. Conrad, and Edgar Allan, for complainant.
George Clark, M. M. Crane, and A. H. Garland, for defendant.
[162 U.S. 1, 20]
Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court.
By the act of congress of May 2, 1890, C. 182, establishing a temporary government for the territory of Oklahoma, and enlarging the jurisdiction of the United States court in the Indian Territory, it was declared that that act should not apply to Greer county until the title to the same had been adjudicated and determined to be in the United States. And, that there might be a speedy judicial determination of that question, the attorney general of the United States was directed to institute in this court a suit in equity against the state of Texas, setting forth the title and claim of the United States 'to the tract of land lying between the North and South Forks of the Red river where the Indian Territory and the state of Texas adjoin, east of the one hundredth degree of longitude, and claimed by the state of Texas as within its boundary and a part of its land, and designated on [162 U.S. 1,21] its map as Greer county'; the court, on the trial of the case, in its discretion, and so far as the ends of justice would warrant, to consider any evidence taken and received by the joint boundary commission under the act of congress approved January 31, 1885 (26 Stat. 81, 92, 25).

In order that the precise locality of this land may be indicated, and for convenience, we insert immediately after this page an extract from a map of Texas and of the Indian Territory, published in 1892. The territory in dispute is marked on that map with the words 'Unassigned Land.' It contains about 1,511,576.17 acres, lies east of the 100th meridian of longitude, and west and south of the river marked on that map as the 'North Fork of Red River,' and with the words 'Boundary Claimed by U. S. ' The river on the south side is now commonly known as 'Prairie Dog Town Fork of Red River' (the Indian name of which is 'Ke-che-ah-que-ho-no'), which has its source in the western part of Texas, and is the same river as the South Fork of Red river, mentioned in the act of 1890.

The present suit was instituted pursuant to that act. The state appeared, and demurred to the bill upon the following grounds: (1) The question of boundary raised by the suit was political in its character, and not susceptible of judicial determination by this court in the exercise of any jurisdiction conferred by the constitution and laws of the United States. (2) Under the constitution it was not competent for the United States to sue, in its own courts, one of the states composing the Union. (3) This court, sitting as a court of equity, could not hear and determine the present controversy; the right asserted by the United States being in its nature legal, and not equitable.

Upon full consideration these several grounds of demurrer were overruled. U. ,. V. Texas, 143 U.S. 621, 12 Sup. Ct. 488. The reasons given for that conclusion need not be here repeated.

The state answered the bill, controverting the claim of the United States, and asserting that the lands within the boundary mentioned in the above act constitute a part of its territory. The United States filed a replication, and, proofs having been taken, the case is now before the court upon its merits. [162 U.S. 1, 22]

Both parties assert title under certain articles of the treaty between the United States and Spain made February 22, 1819, and ratified February 19, 1821. 8 Stat. 252, 254, 256.

Before examining those articles, it will be useful to refer to the diplomatic correspondence that preceded the making of the treaty. That correspondence commenced during the administration of President Madison, and was concluded under that of President Monroe. It appears that the negotiations upon the subject of the boundaries between the respective possessions of the two countries was more than once suspended because certain demands on the part of Spain were regarded by the United States as wholly inadmissible. 4 Am.St.P. 'Foreign Relations,' pp. 425, 430, 438, 439, 452, 464-466, 474. Finally, on the 24th day of October, 1818, the Spanish minister, 'to avoid all cause of dispute in future,' proposed to Mr. Adams, secretary of state, that the limits of the possessions of the two governments west of the Mississippi should be designated by a line beginning 'on the Gulf of Mexico, between the rivers mermento and Calcasia, following the Arroyo Hondo, between the Adaes and Natchitoches, crossing the Rio or Red river at the thirty-second degree of latitude, and ninety-third of longitude from London, according to Melish's map, and thence running directly north, crossing the Arkansas, the White, and the Osage rivers, till it strikes the Missouri, and then following the middle of that river to its source, so that the territory on the right bank of the said river will belong to Spain, and that on the left bank to the United States. The navigation, as well of the Missouri as of the Mississippi and Mermento, shall remain free to the subjects of both parties. 'He also proposed that in order to' to fix this line with more precision, and to place the landmarks which shall designate exactly the limits of both nations, 'each of the contracting parties should appoint a commissioner and surveyor, who should run and mark the line, and make out plans, and keep journals of [162 U.S. 1, 24] their proceedings; the result agreed upon by them to be considered part of the treaty, and have the same effect as if inserted in it. Ann. Cong. (15th Cong., 2d. Sess., 1819) p. 1900.
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Charles F. Colcord Obituary - Written by Tom Dyer

Oklahoma - An obituary written by Tom Dyer in memory of Mr. Colcord. The Colcord Ranch was not far from Coldwater, Kansas and it was from here that the "salt haulers" set forth from when they wound up being killed by Little Wolf's and Dull Knife's Cheyennes during their flight back to the Dakotas.

Charles F. Colcord
Again are the ties of friendship broken,
That binds old friend to friend while here,
Once more those sad words must be spoken,
That record the passing of another pioneer.
Oh, thou Death, relentless Death!
Can'st thou not withstay thy hand?<
Can'st thou not withhold thy chilling breath,
And spare a remnant of our band?

No, no, poor mortal you ask in vain,<
Your days, your years, are numbered here.
This life you covet shall be rent in twain,
Although you may hold it a thing most dear.
In the going of this old time pioneer we are reminded of that era of western civilization in which he had and was a part of that great drama of life as portrayed in the days of the cattleman and the cowboy.

The writer first knew him at Medicine Lodge, Kansas in the early 1880s. At that time he and his father were embarked in the cattle business, and were associated with other in what was then know as the Comanche Pool, one of the largest cattle ranches which comprised in part most of the present boundaries of Comanche county, Kansas and a small part of western Barber County, besides that part south of Kansas and north of the Cimarron River in what was at that time known as the Cherokee Outlet.

Their headquarters camp was on the Salt Fork, in Kansas, and was called Evansville. The Colcords, however, had another camp down near the state line. This camp, most likely, was established here prior to the headquarters camp, as Charlie Colcord was one of the boys at this camp as early as 1878. There were a number of other occupants of this camp.

There was an old wagon trail that led from this camp to the little Salt Plains. Two of the boys had been sent to the plains for salt.

At this time, old Chief Dull Knife of the Cheyenne tribe, and who was a prisoner at one of the military posts, took a hurried leave of absence between two suns without the knowledge of the military authorities, to make his escape from captivity, and with a considerable number of his people, young braves, old men and women and children. They were traveling across the country trying to make their way back to their old habitat in the northland.

The main body of the Indians no doubt crossed the Cimarron River near the Salt Plains in what is now Woods County, Oklahoma. Thence they went in a northwesterly direction into Comanche County, Kansas.

As is the custom with the Indians, there were scouting parties ranging on either side of the main body, whose business it was to secure food, and also to report if they were being followed by government troops. One of these scouting parties came upon the two boys unawares, and to satiate their inordinate thirst and desire for blood and revenge, they murdered these two boys and went on their way.

The boys at camp, learning of the presence of the Indians in the immediate vicinity, became alarmed for the safety of the two men. A searching party was sent out, and Charlie Colcord was its leader. Guided by their knowledge of the country, it was not long before they came upon a gruesome sight, their comrades lying along the old wagon trail. They were buried where found. A grave was dug and their remains lowered therein.

But here an incident occurred that so vividly portrays the human as well as the divine instincts of man. How could they consign these two comrades to mother earth without some religious rite being performed? A minister was not to be had, no orator to deliver a fitting eulogy. Yet these boys bowed their heads in earnest reverence to their Maker while Charlie Colcord offered up a fervent prayer for the souls of their departed friends.

Who would say today but what that humble cowboy prayer was wafted to the very courts of heaven and that eternity only may reveal. Perhaps these two boys had many times while seated around their campfire helped to sing that old familiar song:

"O bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyote may howl o'er me.
Where a blizzard wails, and winds blow free,
O, bury me not on the lone prairie."

There was not a tree near to cast its shadow, or to scatter a pleasant sunbeam, or where a song bird in his flight might rest among its branches and warble forth sweet music o'er their last resting place.

Most likely the wild coyotes gathered near this lonely spot and chanted a weird requiem, or the lobo wolf would howl in ominous tones a solemn dirge. I first saw this grave in 1883, and again in 1907. At this later date it was enclosed with a wire fence with high posts at each corner.

The last time that I met my friend Charles Colcord was at the unveiling of the Andrew Drumm monument on the old Drumm ranch some three years ago. We had not met in more than 40 years, yet he was that same genial, whole-souled fellow of years gone by. He recognized me at once. He did not appear to be aged in looks, or point of years, but his hair was white as the snow drift. Yes, time changes all things. He is gone. His spirit perhaps is holding a glad reunion with the other spirits of the old boys who have preceded him to the great beyond. There will be Alph, Lige, Red Houser, Oliver, Joe, John, Oakley, Jim, Bob, Hi, Ike, Bud, Tip, Jeff, Charley, Ed, Happy Jack, Bill, Frank, Newt, Oscar, and an innumerable host of others who have gone over the great divide. They are gathered in one great bivouac, awaiting the last roundup.

This story of the burial of the two boys as related in the foregoing story was told by Mr. Colcord at a reunion of old-timers held at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, last February. ~~ T.J. DYER. ~~
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Clymer, Oklahoma

Clymer, Oklahoma - Clymer, Oklahoma - Woods County, Section 18, Township 24N, Range 13W . Size of Woods County... cub-reporter, Nola (Veley) Wilkerson submitted this a few years back:

Some interesting notes regarding places related to our family heritage and regarding the size of Woods County -- I found an old copy of the '10th Anniversary Edition' of the 'Carmen Newspaper', dated before 1910. It has been donated to Cherokee Strip Museum in Alva.

There was an article on the front page about the history of Carmen, Augusta, and Woods Co. up to that time. According to that article, Woods County was once much larger than present. Carmen had hoped and expected to become the county seat. When Oklahoma became a State, Woods County was divided into 3 counties: Woods, Alfalfa, and Major. I'm a little weak on my Oklahoma geography, but I believe I remember that Major was the 3rd.

Clymer, Oklahoma, (Woods County, Section 18, Township 24N, Range 13W) rang a bell with me -- My father just recently told me that my grandmother (Lulu Frack Veley) worked at a little store called Clymer's when she was a young girl. He said it was on the southwest corner of the same section the Green Valley Church is on.

Would that be where the townsite of Clymer would've been?

In that same newspaper article (Carmen paper mentioned above), there was quite a bit about the old town of Augusta, which was 'one mile west of Carmen.'

A local man was quoted as telling that some of the men from the town and surrounding area were working so hard to get the railroad to come there to Augusta, and were so hopeful, that they had even worked to construct eight miles of roadbed.

Some big shots from the railroad company in Kansas City, however, came to the area, bought a chunk of land where Carmen is and decided to run their railroad there. Hence, the businesses in Augusta started moving to Carmen, and the rest is history... My abbreviated summary isn't nearly as interesting as the original article, of course. I surely hope the museum takes good care of that paper and is able to share all the articles with interested parties. I found it fascinating! Perhaps there is an archive somewhere with the old Carmen papers in it.
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David Cannon Oates

Alva, Oklahoma - David C. Oates came to Woods County with the first settlers, then only a young man, he passed through the struggles of the early days side by side with men who were believers in Alva. He served our country as Sheriff when it was a large county comprising Woods, Alfalfa and Major counties. David Cannon Oates was Under-sheriff - 1895-1898; Woods County Sheriff - 1900-1904; Deputy Warden - 1909-1914.

Oates was a man whose courage was never questioned. He was a fearless officer -- firm and determined at all times in the discharge of duties imposed -- Beneath it all he was Big-hearted, Kind and Likeable.

According to the Woods County history book - Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County - D. C. "Pat" Oates (David Cannon Oates) was born August 19, 1870, Margerum, Alabama.

D. C. Oates was called "Pat" from the time he was a small child because of his good nature.

"Pat" Oates became known to the people of the southwest as a brave, efficient peace officer. He devoted a good deal of his terms as sheriff to the running down and capture of horse thieves.

Oates came to Cherokee Strip in 1891 and to Woods County at the opening of the Strip. He acquired a claim in the southeast part of the county. He had a store at Walthall or Roscoe ( Major County now, but at that time it was in Woods County)

In 1895, Mr. Oates was a single man of about 26 years of age when he was seriously shot in one fight at Roscoe and later killed three horse thieves in a single-handed battle.

As recorded in The Beaver Herald, Thursday, September 19, 1895, pg. 1, column 5... "Another holdup by robbers and shooting of merchant farmer took place on sunday night about sixty-five miles southeast of here (Roscoe) on Indian Creek, near Walthall, which is about 15 miles west of Enid. The only news received here was a dispatch from the latter point, dated yesterday stating that David Oates was held up by robbers and badly shot. Mr. Oates came to this county from Luka, Mississippi at the opening of the Strip and a few months afterwards took a claim. The probable scene of the outlawry, as he had established a country store on his claim. Mr. Oates was one of the men who aided in the pursuit of Wyatt just previous to Wyatt's capture and this leads some of his assailants was revenge and carried out by some of Wyatt's friends. The most probable inference is that the deed was done for the purpose of robbery."

Oates was a Deputy Sheriff under H. Clay McGrath, the first elected Sheriff of Woods County, from 1895 until the beginning of the Spanish-American War - when he enlisted in the First Oklahoma Regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Alva. Oates was elected Sheriff in 1900 and served two terms (1900-1904).

David Oates married Beulah C. Snoddy, youngest daughter of Col. and Mrs. W. W. S. Snoddy. Col. Snoddy was recognized as one of the most widely known, ablest lawyers in the State.

At the convening of the 2nd Legislature, Oates was also Assistant Sergeant at Arms of the Constitutional Convention. In 1909 when Warden Dick was appointed warden at McAlester Penitentiary, Oates became 1st Deputy Warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

On January 19, 1914, he was killed in line of duty during the first prison riot in Oklahoma. Oates was 44 years of age at the time of his death. His body was shipped to Alva for burial in the Alva Cemetery -- In Block 09-Lot 011-Plot 08 (09-011-08) -- date of death as January 19, 1914.

It was reported that four good men and three escaping convicts were killed within 30 minutes. Oates left behind his wife, Beulah, and two children, Marjorie and William S. If you Click National Law Enforcement Officers -- Do a search for Fallen Officers -- Search for Oates in Oklahoma -- You will find the following information: D C OATES, Deputy Warden; Oklahoma Department of Corrections; Oklahoma City, OK; Date of Death: 01/19/1914; Panel 22, East-10

Oates sister and brother-in-law, James W. Coman, also came to Alva at the opening. Mr. Coman was a clerk and later Receiver in the U.S. Land Office, but returned to their home in Mississippi about 1902. Oates had another sister, but not sure of that name as of this writing. David C. Oates also had a brother, Ben Oates of Avant, Oklahoma.
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Patriotic and Other Poems

Alva, Oklahoma - Patriotic and Other Poems by - Claud Baird, Alva, Oklahoma, First Volume to Public - 1917. I Love My Country More and More - Click Here to view actual poem.]

On the brink, I've stood and watched the tide
Of the rolling Pacific, far and wide,
'Twas beauty itself -- this ocean view --
It filled me, yes thrilled me through and through.
I closed my eyes from the beauteous sight
And felt an inmost soul delight;
This was my country's shore.

Upon the Rockies' highest peaks
I've heard the mighty eagle-shrieks,
The frigid cliffs were white with snow.
T'was beauty grand, and far below
I heard the torrent cataract roar.
These all thrilled me o'er and o'er.
I love the lofty peaks.

Through endless plains I've found my way,
And looked abroad at break of day
To see the countless herds that grazed --
I could but look, I stood and gazed,
T'was riches indeed, all this did spell;
It made my heart in rapture swell,
In praise of the Western Plains.

By myriad fields of growing grain
I've made my way on rumbling train,
How grand the sight seemed unto me
As waving fields swept on so free!
And as I watched the glorious sight
I could but feel with keen delight
Our land is blessed indeed.

Far in the southland's fields of white
My eyes have seen its splendor bright.
The dusky toilers filled the breeze
With lulling music like the seas.
The humming mills and factories there
But made the Southern land more fair.
United are our states.

Far down into the deeper mines
I've trod the ever spreading lines
Of tunneled caves and cove-like rooms,
Where ores are scooped from out their tombs,
And sent abroad to upper air
To feed the glowing furnace there --
Wealth of my Nativew land.

Through forests broad, of oak and pine,
I've viewed the shrub and clustering vine
That sought in vain the higher air --
Their gragrant blossoms were so rare --
While from their branches onward rolled
The sweetest music uncontrolled
I love the Forest Cheer.

As thus I trod my Country o'er,
I've learned to love it more and more,
The North, the South, I love them both.
Of East and west, I am not loath
To sing in song their endless priase;
And thus I give my humble lays
To the, My Noble Land.
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Ed Hinton Obituary Written by T. J. DYER

Oklahoma - The name is variously spelled as "Hinton" and "Henton" in the article. Another one of Dyer's tributes to the passing of an old-timer. Thanks to Joy Sherman for sharing these Tom Dyer writings with the Okie Legacy.

Like the golden leaves of autumn that are falling, one by one to earth, so with my erstwhile friends who are passing down the valley, one by one to the endless shores of eternity.

The last one to answer to the roll call of time was my old time cowboy friend, Ed Henton of Capron. It is something like a half century or more since I first met him. Ed was born and reared in the state of Missouri until he had attained to the age of 14 years. In the fall of 1878, the Henton family left that state and emigrated to Kansas, settled in Barber county in the beautiful valley of Sharon, October, 1878. Here they secured a fine tract of land and built a home.

In the early part of the month of November, 1881, while in the employ of Gregory, Eldred and company, I was making my first trip to Harper City, Kansas, for a load of freight for this company. Harper was the nearest railroad station, and was the terminus of the old Southern Kansas Railroad before it was taken over by the Santa Fe. Gregory, Eldred and company bought their supplies by wholesale, had them shipped to Harper and then freighted to the ranches.

Leaving the headquarters ranch in Barber County, I passed the place known as Last Chance, situated on the banks of the placid waters of the stream called Little Mule Creek. Traveling northeast from this place, I crossed the Medicine River at what was then known as the old Landis ford. Continuing on in the same course, I passed the north edge of the Cedar Hills. Dropping down into the Sharon Valley, I pitched my camp on the bank of a small stream, whose crystal waters were coursing their way down toward the sea. About 100 yards distant from my camp was a farm house, which I learned later was the home of the Henton family.

After unhitching, watering and feeding my four-horse team, I was building a fire on which to cook something to eat, when a young man perhaps 17 years of age came from the nearby house down to my camp. After the usual western greetings, we were soon engaged in conversation as if we had known each other always. He told me his name in answer to my inquiry. I also told him who I was, and for whom I was working, and before we separated, I had promised this young fellow in response to his request to try and secure for him a job with the outfit for whom I was working. This young man was none other than Ed Henton, who was ever after my life long friend.

I made numerous other trips over this same route, and often camped near the Henton home, and was always a welcome visitor in this home. In the course of time, and human events, Ed was hired by this company to work on their Barber County ranch. Some months later he was transferred to the ranch south of the Cimarron River. Here he was furnished with a mount of horses. He participated in the roundups and became a full-fledged cowboy. He was a trusted employee of this company for a number of years, was one of a half dozen of the old boys who helped to drive the last herd of longhorns that were shipped to market from the stockyards here, only a short time before the opening of the Cherokee Strip to settlement.

At the opening of the Cherokee Strip to settlement the Hinton family secured a fine claim one-half mile south and three miles east of the present site of Capron, but at that time it was called Warren. Here the family resided until the death of the father. Some years later the family disposed of the farm, secured property and built a home in Capron. Ed lived with and cared for his mother until her death. Since that time he has resided in this home alone. For 20 years he has served the Capron schools as janitor, and the large concourse of people, relatives, friends, and acquaintances that filled the Methodist Church at that place, to its capacity, attest the esteem in which he was held by the neighbors and folks who knew him best.

He will be missed from his accustomed place by the faculty and students of the school for whom he labored so long and faithfully. He was always on the job. Ed was of a modest and retiring disposition, yet possessed a fund of droll humor that was interesting and instructive. His remains were interred in the Capron cemetery, where repose the remains of his father and mother.

Like many of the old boys with whom he was associated in days long gone by, he has crossed the great divide that separates life and death, and call it what you may, the spirit, soul, or the immortal and invisible mind of man is now traversing new and unknown realms, and on that great day when the last great roundup is staged, our friend Ed will be there, on that day will occur a reunion of these kindred spirits.
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More Claud Baird Poems

Oklahoma - Patriotic and Other Poems - cover by Claud Baird, Alva, Oklahoma, First Volume to Public - 1917. Dedication (pg. 2 ) -- Dedicated to his mother for whom he was given his greatest inspiration. This was his first volume to the public that was copyrighted in 1917 by Claud Baird, Alva, Oklahoma. It was printed, published in 1917, and Renfrew's Record Print printed it. There are 30 pages.

Ode To My Mother - pg. 3
To The Pilgrim Bard - pg. 3
I Love My Country More and More
pg. 4 - pg. 5
Liberty's Colors - pg. 6
Answering The Call (Written in Memory of Our Soldier Boys) - pg. 7
The Greater Hell (Sherman's version of war is no longer fitting.) - pg. 8
The Return of the Mayflower (Written June 30, 1917) - pg. 9 - pg. 10 - pg. 11
America's Gift (Alva, Okla., July 21, 1917) -
pg. 12 - pg. 13 - pg. 14
The Kaiser's Nightmare - pg, 14 - pg. 15
After the War, What Then? - pg. 16
Northwestern Colors (Northwestern Normal School, Alva, Okla.) - pg. 17
Friendship's Blossom - pg. 18
The Real Christmas Spirit (December 22, 1916) - pg. 19
Winter Jingles - pg. 20 - pg. 21
The Lost Home - pg. 21 - pg. 22
Character builders - pg. 22 - pg. 23
My Forest Home - pg. 23 - pg. 24
Why Hold thy Secrets? - pg. 24 - pg. 25
Trading Post, Kansas, and Her Famous Mill -
pg. 25 - pg. 26 - pg. 27
Sunset At The Golden Gate - pg. 27
Ode To Salt Lake City - pg. 27
Don't You Remember? - pg. 28
A Disjointed Wedding - pg. 29 - pg. 30
Shop Talk (With due apology to less talkative barbers) - pg. 30 View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Hatfield Park - Alva, Oklahoma

Alva, Oklahoma - There is a Warranty Deed (handwritten, filed in the Woods County Courthouse) dated 20 March 1906 concerning Hatfield Park, Alva, Oklahoma. It reads as follows:

This indenture made this 20th day of March A.D. 1906 between William F. Hatfield and Fannie L. Hatfield, husband and wife of Woods County in the Territory of Oklahoma, of the first part and the City of Alva, an incorporated City of the first class in Woods County Oklahoma Territory of the second part.

Witnesseth, the said parties of the first part, in consideration of the sum of Two and no/100 Dollars, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged do by these presents grant, bargain sell and convey unto said party of the second part its successors; heirs and assigns all of the following described Real Estate situated in the County of Woods and Territory of Oklahoma towit.

Beginning at a point 1513 feet west of the 1/4 section corner of Sections 14 and 23 - Township 27N - Range 14WIM and run thence west 424 feet, thence south 90 feet, thence south var. 58° 30' west 192 feet, thence south var. 32° west 320 feet, thence west on a true line 224 feet and intersect sectionline at a point 967 feet south of the corner of Sections 14, 15, 22 and 23 - T.27N - R. 14WIM, thence south on sectionline 673 feet, thence east 283 feet, thence south 380 feet, thence west 283 feet, and intersect sectionline at a point 620 feet north of the 1/4 section corner to Sections 22 and 23 - T.27N-R.14WIM, thence south 310 feet, thence east 302 feet thence south 250 feet, thence west 302 feet and intersect sectionline at a point 60 feet north of the 1/4 section corner of Sections 22 and 23 T.27N-R.14WIM, thence south 60 feet to 1/4 section corner of section 22 and 23 T.27N-R.14WIM, thence east on the 1/2 sectionline between the North 1/2 and south 1/2 of Section 23, 1127 feet, thence north 2640 feet, to place of beginning, containing 58 acres of land more or less; according to the survey and plat made by the county surveyor and to be known as Hatfield's Park and Lake. To have and to hold the same for the use and benefit of the people of the City of Alva. Together with all and singular the tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining forever after the death of the above named William F. Hatfield.

And said William F. Hatfield and Fannie L. Hatfield for themselves, their heirs, executors or administrators do hereby covenant, promise and agree to and with said party of the second part that at the delivery of these presents they are lawfully seized in their own right of an absolete and indefeasible estate of inheritance, in fee simple, of and in all and singular the above granted and described premises, with the appurtenances; that the same are free, clear, discharged and unencumbered of and from all former and other grants, titles, charges, estates, judgments, taxes assessments and encumbrances of what nature or kind so ever excepting any unexpired lease that may exist at the time of the death of said W.F. Hatfield.

And that they will warrant and forever defend the same unto said party of the second part its successors heirs and assigns against said parties of the first part, their heirs, and all and every person or persons whomsoever, lawfully claiming or to claim the same.

In Witness whereof the said parties of the first part have hereunto set their hands the day and year fist above written.

William F. Hatfield
Fannie L. Hatfield

Territory of Oklahoma Woods County } ss

Before me a Notary Public in and for said County and Territory, on this 21st day of March 1906 personally appeared William F. Hatfield and Fannie L. Hatfield to me known to be the identical persons who executed the within and foregoing instrument, and acknowledged to me that they executed the same as their free and voluntary act and deed for the uses and purposes therein set forth.

SEAL --- Bertha J. Brown, Notary Public

My commission expires May 8, 1909

Filed for record Sept. 16th, 1908 at 2:20p.m.

S. H. Quinlan, Reg. of Deeds
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Denoya (Whizbang), Oklahoma, Osage County

Denoya, Oklahoma - [Information on Denoya, Oklahoma is from the book written by John W. Morris - "Ghost Towns of Oklahoma".] -- Denoya (a.k.a. known as Whizbang) is located in Sec. 6, T26N, R6E, 7 miles north, 20 miles west of Pawhuska; 1½ miles north, 1½ miles west of Shidler.

The Post Office began December 31, 1921 thru September 30, 1942. The Post Office Department thought the name Whizbang was an undignified identification, so they named the new town Denoya after a prominent Osage Indian family.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, ran through or near the town at one time, but was abandoned around 1939.

Denoya was the wildest of the boom towns that developed with the opening of the Burbank Oil Field. Denoya came into existence almost overnight after a six-hundred-barrel well was brought in just north of where the town located. E. W. Marland (later Governor and US Congressman of Oklahoma) drilled that well. The second well was a heavy gas and light oil producer. The oil would burn in an automobile. The third offset well was topped the day before Christmas.

On New Year's Day, while the crew was on vacation, the well started flowing one barrel per minute with the tools still in the hole. The only tank available was a thousand-barrel wooden storage tank. A flow line was laid to it, and help was summoned from Tulsa immediately. By dark, trucks had delivered three-inch pipe, and by three o'clock the next morning a pipeline three miles long had been laid to adequate storage facilities. The flow from the well increased to a little over twenty-five hundred barrels per day.

With an oil play of such magnitude, businesses of all kinds, desirable and undesirable, were soon established in the new town. Large oilfield supply houses were started, and a railroad was extended to Denoya. In the early 1920s there were more than three hundred business buildings ranging in size from the very small hamburger shacks to two moderately large hotels. Many people living in Denoya were not connected with oil companies. Shootings were more frequent in Denoya than in other towns in the Burbank area. The bank was robbed twice, and "it wasn't safe for a woman to be on the streets of Whizbang after dark."

Alvarado, probably the most controversial law officer to serve in an Oklahoma oil field area, was a special officer for oil companies during a part of the boom period. His name was actually Bert Bryant, he was a Texan, and he had served in the revolutionary army of Pancho Villa. During WWI he worked with General Alvarado of Mexico, and in the early 1920s he came northward to the Oklahoma oil fields. Stories of his activities describe him as everything from a cold-blooded killer to a Robin Hood. One story says that during a raid on a notorious "boarding house" he seized twenty-five hundred dollars from the woman manager. Later he returned the money to the woman in the presence of two bankers and received a receipt for it, but he was arrested for stealing it, and was finally tried and acquitted.

On another occasion, when fire started in the post office of Denoya, Alvarado refused to let the oil companies help extinguish the fire until all postal records were burned. After that the oil companies refused to help, and an entire business block was burned.

During the fire Alvarado had a shootout with a lawman from a neighboring town, probably over a married woman. The visiting lawman killed the woman and then shot Alvarado in the chest. Alvarado returned fire and shot the other man four times in the body while he was hunting for cover. Alvarado then took cover behind a merchandise-laden table that had been moved into the street from a burning store, but since his legs were exposed below the tabletop he was shot in the shins, and both his legs were broken. (The two men were taken to the same hospital; they recovered, forgot the woman, and became good friends.) This was a day in the life of Whizbang.

Denoya died almost as rapidly as it was built. In the late 1920s, as production declined, people started moving away. Good roads to large cities, changes in agriculture and cattle business, the depression of the 1930s, with the loss of property evaluation, and abandonment of the railroad resulted in the the death not only of Denoya but also of most Burbank Oil Field towns and camps. All that remains of Denoya today are foundations of some buildings and a few oil rigs. In 1975, the location of the town was marked by the remains of a few buildings and crumbling foundations.

In 1927, E. W. Marland was one of the prinicpal developers of the Burbank-Denoya field, founder of the Marland Oil Company (later Conoco), Congressman (1932-34), and governor of Oklahoma (1935-39).

Denoya, In 1924, Shotgun houses were built for workers by oil companies on leases they owned. View/Write Comments (count 2)   |   Receive updates (2 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe