Duchess Corner

We seemed to have jogged a few memories of old cistern tales out there. Thanks to everyone that sent in their stories. Also, we forwarded those stories to "The Prairie Connection."

Just for a few minutes let us put ourselves into the footprints of our ancestors who had no electricity and running water to their homestead. To get water to the house for drinking, cooking and washing we might step out onto the back porch. We would crank up the old pump which would then start a chain of little buckets going round and round while it dumped water out of the spout into the bucket.

Do you remember the hand pump which brought that sweet, soft water up in small cups to fill the water bucket for drinking, cooking, bathing, etc...? AND... Never wasting a drop of that precious water.

AND... what about those community baths we would take in galvanized tubs setting on the back porch. Letting the baby of the family go first in the clean water while it would then proceed on down to the oldest before it was dumped out.

We would have the rain water washing off the roofs during a rainstorm into metal gutters and a filtering box -- filling an underground cistern or wooden barrels above ground. It was a sweet, soft water. Unlike the water wells of hard, mineral water.

Remember as a young child looking down into that dark hole with a claustrophobic, scary feeling of what was down there. How far would I fall?

I remember the concrete cistern we had out at our ranch north of Waynoka when I was just a young girl (perhaps in the early to mid-1950's). It seemed at the time that it was about 3 or 4 feet wide -- not sure how deep, though. It had a concrete lid with rebar handles set into it for lifting in and out to fill it with water hauled from Alva, Oklahoma. It did not have a crank/pump outside, though. It seems like it was piped to the electric pump in a room on the back porch. Those memories are vague. I suppose my two older sisters memories of that concrete cistern might be a bit clearer.

How big was your cistern? 5 or 6 feet wide? 12 to 15 feet deep? 30 feet deep? What kind of filtering systems did you use? Pebbles in the bottom of the cisterns? Big sand vats that allowed the water to filter through and drain into a big underground storage hole with a bucket chain crank system on the top?

Do you remember when it came time to clean the deep, dark hole in the ground? It seemed like the smallest one in the family had the responsibility, honor (if that what it was) to be lowered down into the bottom of the cistern to clean the debris that might have settled at the bottom. Meanwhile, the adult would send down buckets of clean water and haul up in buckets the debris that you might find down below.

We would love to share your old photos of Cook Shacks, Cisterns, threshing machines, etc... in our OkieLegacy Ezine. If you have a scanner, scan them to a jpg file and send them our way to: mcwagner.lk@gmail.com. IF NOT, you can snail-mail us a copy (or original, which we can mail back to you). Our Snail-mail address is: OkieLegacy Ezine
c/o Linda Wagner
PO Box 619
Bayfield, CO 81122-0619

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Threshing Machines & Cook Shacks...

Let's go back to the threshing machines of the 1920's that our ancestors used before the combine came along. The threshing machines would be parked in the fields -- wheat, oats and barley would be cut and tied in bundles -- then shocked and hauled to the threshing machine.

Farmers, neighbors helping neighbors, would gather together while the women would pitch a tent-like structure in the field to be used as a "Cook Shack" (or chuck wagon). Those were the days of the "straw piles" and cattle using those piles in the winter to keep warm.

All those abandoned houses setting windowless out there on the prairie that we pass everyday still hold memories and stories of families that once occupied those dwellings long ago. The dwellings are mostly decayed, barely standing, setting back into the overgrown trees or torn down. BUT... that doesn't mean we can not bring back the memories and preserve them for the future generations. That's where we need your HELP! Send us your family memories, photos and help us preserve them for the next generations. Let us not take our modern conveniences for granted?

A story has two sides. Let us hear yours! It is healthy for us all to seek a genuine diversity of opinions of our past & present -- supporting one another in our honest pursuit of it. There are always two sides to every story that you might read in your smalltown, daily newspaper. Let us help you preserve the truth and your side of the story. View/Write Comments (count 2)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Anatomy of A Cistern...

by - Charlie Cook in Louisiana Bayou Country

"My grandparents, Earl and Edith Smith Cook farmed in Grant Co., Oklahoma most of their adult life. They lived about three miles northwest of Lamont. While their farming equipment was fairly modern, they were never able to find a decent water well on that place. Therefore they had to have a cistern. It was located on their back porch, and had a crank type pump. That actually consisted of a chain of little 'buckets' that went round and round, dumping their little amount of water to run out of the spout.

During droughts, they had to haul water from neighborhood wells. Obviously they would ration the water during those times. I can remember hired hands bathing in the cows water tank.

The Cooks retired to Blackwell, Kay County, Oklahoma about 1950. The REA never reached their farm and so they never had electricity until after they retired. Baths were taken in a galvanized tub on the back porch. I can still remember the way a house smells when lighting is furnished by oil lamps not bad, just different and distinctive. There was no bathroom or running water in the kitchen. In the latter, there was the enamel water bucket, with the required dipper, which was communal. My Mom wasn't too wild about that.

Of course, the cistern water was supplied by rain running off the roof (wooden shingles in this case) and into metal gutters. The single central down spout emptied into a filter box. Hopefully, that removed much of the dirt, bugs, and bird poop the water picked up on its travel down the roof. Tin roofs would have been a little cleaner, but not much. The water out of the cistern tasted great, as I recall. I don't want to think why. It had a slightly brown tint.

About twenty years ago I visited that farm. The house was abandoned and windowless, but it and the out buildings were still standing, all much smaller than I remembered as a youth. The milk separator room I remembered was little more than a closet. The cistern was gone. Someone had finally found a vein of water for a well. I was scrounging the countryside for old milk cans and fruit jars. In the dump behind the pond dam in the pasture, I found the chain of little water buckets from the old cistern. No one but me remembers any of that earlier day, but a couple of my older cousins. I can tell you they lived a hard but good life. The passing of the family farm, as it used to be, is a sad event.

Cisterns were underground to keep them from freezing in the winter, even in such moderate climates as Oklahoma. However, in the very Deep South the cisterns would not freeze and burst in the winter, so they were on top of the ground, round, and made of wood. In Louisiana where I live they were made of cypress. They were made by coopers, the same people who made wooden barrels. Because they were above ground they could be elevated and sometimes the homes they supported had piping run from the cistern into the house - running water. The above ground cisterns had a space between the top of the sides and lid, so it could overflow. That space was usually covered with wire screen to keep the mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water - Yuk! Wiggle tails! Boy howdy. Do we taken modern conveniences for granted.

On the other hand, the soft rain water was wonderful for washing and bathing, particularly for hair and clothes. Sometimes well water was high in mineral content and called hard water. This sometimes affected its taste. Rain water is always sweet.

Today, an old filled cistern is a great place to find old bottles, as are filled wells and out house sites. This is particularly true in urban areas, since they had less space to use for dumping purposes. Over the years, I've excavated many of both. My poor old back won't allow much of that anymore.

I'm inserting a photo of the house in the early days, showing Joseph's sister, Hannah Barnett Foster, who resided in Reno County, Kansas, while visiting her brother. It shows the gutters and down spout running across the house to join the one on the other side before draining into the cistern. I am also adding a photo taken a couple of years ago at the former site of the house, showing the now open round brick cistern. It was about four or five feet in diameter.

As I've mentioned in the web site before, the Waynoka, Woods Co., Oklahoma Historical Society is presently reassembling the log cabin my gg-grandfather, Joseph Barnett, built on the south bank of the Cimarron River, present Major County. It was built prior to Oklahoma statehood when that was still part of Woods County. He built it with cedar longs pulled out of the river with horses. This house had a brick lined cistern.

Note how the logs are dove tailed at the corners. That was all done by hand.

Incidentally, the Waynoka Historical Society still needs more funds to finish the log cabin project. Preserving history isn't cheap and Waynoka is a small community. They need help. Donations can be sent to the address below.

Waynoka Historical Society
P.O. Box 193
Waynoka, Ok 73860."

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Berdie Smelker & Barnett Log Cabin Update...

The attached photo, labeled Berdie Smelker, may have come from the area of the Barnett log cabin in southern Woods County, now part of Major County, south of the Cimarron River about 6 miles southeast of Waynoka, OK. The photo was among the Barnett photos which were provided by your reader, Charles Cook. Perhaps the readers of Okie Legacy can help with information about Berdie Smelker. Thank you.

Barnett Log Cabin Update... The work is progressing nicely on the restoration of the log cabin at Waynoka Station. The cabin was built by Joseph and Wealthy Ann Barnett in about 1904 on their property near the Cimarron River south of Waynoka, OK. It has been moved to Waynoka Station where the restoration is taking place. The roof is finished. Chinking between the logs has just begun. Questions, comments, and visitors are always welcome." -- Sandie Olson, Waynoka Historical Society - EMAIL: sandieo@pldi.net

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Craigville, MN Ghost Town...

"There is also a town called Craigville Mn still on the map but is no longer there. A few buildings remain, I do have some photos taken this summer if you are interested, Craigville was a logging town noted for Brothels drinking and a good place for a logger to get rolled on a Saturday night it had a population of around 3000 people and went downhill when the trees were logged off around the late 1930's." -- donholmbo@hotmail.com

OkieLegacy Blog - Minnesota Ghost Towns
OkieLegacy Blog - Ghost Towns

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AHS Goldbug '76 Class Reunion...

"Any word on the '76 Classes reunion for this year?" -- Ron Kennedy - Email: okiesshot21@yahoo.com

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FOR SALE In Harper, Kansas...

"I realize none of you are looking to invest in a building, but I just thought you might like to see where we left our hearts back in 2002. CLICK HERE. Please pass it on to anyone who might be interested in an investment property, we had some really good times in that town!" -- Cindy & Rob - EMAIL: cmcanulty@cox.net
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Old Cistern Memories...

"I have a vivid memory of my first experience with cisterns. After WWII ended my Dad lost his job with Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City when they closed the plant and sent everybody on their way. We had barely survived the dustbowl depression days in northwest oklahoma and now we had to start over again.

My mother had a teaching certificate from Northwestern State Teachers College but she didn't have her degree. My Dad had been a butcher, farmer, cook and a cowboy so he was ready for anykind of job.

Mom found a teaching job at a small town southwest of Cherokee called Lambert. They were also looking for a school janitor so this fit our situation to a tee. Dad was janitor and Mom was the 3rd and 4th grade teacher.

The town was on the verge of becoming a ghost town (which it eventually did) and had an elevator, postoffice, and maybe a small store. There were some old abandoned business buildings on the very end of a small main street. The school was the biggest activity there and most of the students were all bused in from the country

Here is the cistern story... We found an old house to rent that hadn't been lived in for a couple of years. The town only had about 8 or 10 houses and 1 church.

The water system for the house was an old cistern outside by the side of the house. Its only source of water was rainwater. The house had guttering around the roof and the drainage was routed to a filtering system which was basically a big sand vat and the water filtered through that and drained into the big underground storage hole with a bucket chain crank system on top.

The first thing we had to do was get the County to come and check the purity of the water which was found to be dreadful after looking down in the well. There were dead rats, mice, waterdogs, etc. all in the water.

The county agent came out and he and my Dad devised a cleaning and retrieval system for getting all the dead animals and other residue from the well. That system consisted of putting me in a rope harness they fixed up and lowering me down into the well. They would then lower a bucket with another rope and I would scoop everything up and they would raise the buscket, empty it, and send it back down to me. I can remember those ropes cutting into my legs and I worried that the rope holding me would break or come loose.

I was only 11-years-old at the time, but I was the oldest child so I always had to pull my share. I was always small for my age so that made it easier to fit through the top of the cistern.

We got all the varmints cleaned and then they poured something in the water to disinfect it but I have no idea what it was. I know we couldn't use the water until it rained and we got some fresh water in the cistern.

Until our water supply was ready we used water from the old town windmill and horse tank but we had to carry it 2 blocks. Would you believe that we moved on to Burlington 2 years later and I'll be darned if that place had a cistern also---but it was clean." -- Gilvin Walker, Harper,Kansas

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Old Cisterns...

"I can't help on the 'cook shack' question, but let's talk about cisterns for a minute. In answer to the question, what happened to the old cistern cups?: Many are still around and folks buy them (at farm sales or antique stores) to paint little scenes on them for decorating a wall; just like the folks who paint old hand saws, or the one or two-man cross-cut saws that were used for clearing timber.

My cistern story will be different from others you might receive because the cistern I was familiar with was used by the town of Britton, Oklahoma before they built the big new water tower (later removed when the town became part of Oklahoma City). This 'water storage tank' was mostly above ground and was constructed entirely of concrete (except for a wooden cover about 4 foot in diameter over what, I presume, was an inspection hole or a place to add chemicals). It was circular in design and I would guess that it was probably about 30-feet in diameter and at least 12 to 15 feet deep. Plus... it had large pebbles in the bottom. This tank was apparently used as a holding tank between two pumps. One pumping water in from a deep well and the other to pump the water up to the tower above. Naturally, we kids were told to stay away from it, but being curious, we didn't. My family had moved next door (probably about 500 feet from it) and there were at least 3 of us who pried the cover off that hole and (on a dare) swam in that cool water (which had been the towns source of drinking water before they built the new water tower). I'm presuming that it was no longer in use, but still had clear water in it at the time, and we used some sort of a rope to get in and out. The smaller water tower had already been torn down but this concrete cistern or water storage-tank remained for another few years.

I'm not even certain that people who remember them as 'rain gatherers' would classify that big tank as a cistern, but it was referred to as that when I was about 10 to 12 years old, and the thing was there until I was about 17 or 18, perhaps longer. I may still have some cistern cups in storage somewhere. At one time, my antique mall had a complete 'cistern delivery system' with the cistern cups still connected together. I think that one may have been hand cranked.

There's also a small cistern here at this mall, in which rain water coming off a roof into a downspout goes into before going on down into the ground to help feed an underground stream. Inside that same building is a 'dug' well with a concrete cover that has a couple of holes for a pump. In earlier days, I'm told that the well was used to water livestock (mostly horses), coming into town off the trail. Even as dry as our county is, there's still a fair supply of water in that well and it's only about 30 feet down I think.

Aha! I just took a 100' fiberglass tape measure, fastened a padlock to it for a weight and dropped it in. It hit bottom at 27' and when I pulled it up, the tape was wet for more than 10' which means I could draw at least 10 feet of water out of it (which would be a minimum of 30 gallons if the water wasn't flowing into it). Since it's fed by an underground stream which we think is about 10 to 30 miles long (no one is certain where it starts, but could come from Black Bear Creek or perhaps Red Rock Creek), there might be an endless supply of clear water. We know that the stream snakes south and north underground across highway US64 at least 2 or 3 times and has fed several local wells in the past. Some folks think it might be an underground river or even a lake. A few years ago there was a 6 to 8 foot in diameter sink-hole in an alley a block north of here that took at least 5 loads of gravel to make it passable for garbage trucks again. This same underground source feeds wells at the county courthouse so it is used during drouth conditions to keep the grass and trees green." -- Roy

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Old Cook Shack & Cistern...

"My Aunt Maria used to talk about the days when she and Aunt Clara run the 'old cook shack.' My grandfather, Gottlieb Wiersig, had a threshing machine and this was in the days before combines. My dad and his brothers all worked together around the threshing machine and they did the threshing for the family and also members of the community. The threshing machine would be parked in the field. The wheat, oats or barley would have been cut and tied into bundles, then shocked and later hauled to the threshing machine. That was the days of the 'straw piles' and the cattle liked these in the winter as it was a way for the cattle to keep warm. This was in the 1920's. I was born in '31 and by this time we used a combine. I know they set up a tent type structure and the two aunts did all the work to serve the food during harvest time. I can't say what they did with it at the end of harvest but we did have a large machine shed on the farm when I was very young and this was used to store all of the farm equipment. My guess is that it was taken down and stored in that old machine shed.

My grandfather owned the farm 2-miles south of Alva which is now being taken by the city to lengthen the airport runway. That machine shed has been gone many, many years. BUT... it was located near the 'old road' set back to the West of the still standing house. My grandfather bought this farm about 2 years after land run and my father bought it from him.

As a child we also had a cistern on the porch and that supplied all the water which was used in the house. When it rained we would let the dirt wash off of the roof and then open it so that the water could run into the cistern. Of course the rest of the dirt just settled to the bottom. We had a hand pump which turned the cogs and brought the water up in small cups -- filled the water bucket and that bucket did it all. We drank it, cooked with it, used it for bath, etc. Of course we were very cautious how much water we used as it was too much of an effort to be wasteful. We all took a bath in the same water in the square galvanized tub. Since I was youngest I always got the 'clean water.' We shut down the cistern and brought water into the house in the late '30's. At this time the city drilled wells about 20 miles south of Alva and we were able to connect us to this water line. We also had another cistern out by the wash house and this is the water we used to wash the clothes. It had the kind of pump that had to be primed so that also required a lot of pumping to wash and rinse the clothes. That old wash house is still standing just as it was back in 1931. It even has the old stove in it which was used to heat the water to wash the clothes. I suppose it won't be there much longer, though, since the city is taking the land to extend the airport runway.

By the way, it is possible that mom could have a picture of the old "cook shack" as I know daddy had some pictures of the threshing machine. I have thought of writing my life story and start with what I remember of the life of my grandparents, and I grew up with the outhouse, butchering the hogs, making butter, etc. I especially enjoyed your writing about the prisoner of war camps back when the land now owned by the city was war camp and we lived across the road from it. At that time I sent you a brief story about what I remembered. Really enjoy reading your newsy website." -- Arlene (Wiersig) Thies

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Cisterns...

"When me and my twin sister were small, maybe 10 yrs. old, our dad would lower one of us down in the cistern in a bucket to clean it by dipping up what little bit of water and sending it back up. Dad would then send down a bucket of clean water and a broom for us to slosh around to clean the old dirty grimmy slimmy stuff and send it to the top so more clean water could be sent down. When Dad thought the water was clean enough when sent back he would then pull us up in the bucket. Clean charcoal was then put in the filtering tank ready for a rain to fill the cistern with good soft water for drinking, cooking and washing up before dinner and supper. It was used also for washing clothes and bathing. To us it was a fun thing to do, never was scared to be let down in the bucket. The cistern was also used in the summertime to keep milk cool by hanging it down to just above the water. Mother even made Jello by hanging it in the cistern. This is what I call 'Making Memories'." -- RJ

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Missouri Sales Tax Receipts...

"I was wondering if you might be able to tell me a little about these tokens and maybe if they are worth anything? Thank You." -- JOSEPH PLATT - EMAIL: SNIZZLEDEFIZZLE@aol.com

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Runnymede Depot...

"The Runneymede depot that you have written about was not located at the original town of Runneymede. If they had been able to get a railroad to Runneymede the old town might have survived. The town was founded in 1887 and by 1893 the town was abandoned and the hotel was on its way to Alva.

The town of Runneymede was then re-established 2-1/2 miles south when the Orient railroad tracks were laid. The depot in question would have been located at the second townsite and belonged to the Santa Fe after they purchased the M.K.C.&O. out of bankruptcy.

There is an historical sign located at the roadside park where the second townsite was located along K-2 highway. The railroad line paralled K-2 and K-42 highway all the way from Harper to Wichita except for a short run through Milton. The old Milton Depot is located in Harper and presently houses the Harper Art Society.

Having graduated from Milton, I remember when the depot was active. The last agent was Mr. Foster Barker.

I remember driving K-2 and K-42 when they were gravel highways and we used to 'race' along the highway beside the old steam engines.

I just wanted to make it clear that the original Runneymede town did not have a railroad. The town fathers led by Mr. Ned Turnley used every effort available and almost succeeded but at the last moment everything fell apart, even with the funding in place. It quickly became a ghost town." -- Gilvin Walker - Harper, Kansas

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West Texas Cisterns...

"I lived in Childress, Texas in the late 1940's, right before moving to Anadarko, Oklahoma. Right beside the house was a cistern well that we would get water from. I was always spooked of that old hole in the ground, but I sent the bucket down to draw water anyway when my granny told me to. I would peer down in the hole and wonder what was really down there. I don't ever recall using a flashlight to see better, I just always wonder. One day when I pulled the bucket to the surface, low and behold, there was a small frog looking back at me. We drank the water anyway.

One Afternoon I heard a strange sound coming from the bottom of the cistern so I went to investigate. Much to my surprise, a pig had somehow fallen in that dark hole in the ground. I sumoned my Granny and she said we will never be able to use that cistern again. We decided to fill it in with dirt and give the poor pig a proper burial. Fortunately, there was a large pile of dirt close by and we had the entire neighborhood come over and start shoveling dirt in the soon to be history cistern. Everyone felt bad for the pig but there was nothing we could do to save him so we kept shoveling and shoveling and shoveling and shoveling.

When we had only a few feet to go until the well was history, I heard that same funny sound again and everyone peered down in the hole and there was that pig who had risen to the surface by shaking off each and every shovel full of dirt that was thrown his way. We couldn't believe our eyes. Bottom line... PIG LIVED! CISTERN DIED that afternoon in Childress, Texas."

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Perry, OK Gas & Weather...

"A few days after I passed on the information about gas prices (probably) going to (perhaps) $5 per gallon tomorrow, they raised ours by 11 cents! I checked today and the bottom price is $2.22.9 for unleaded regular. My tank's full anyway (with an extra 5 gallons in another container). ON 2/3/2006... Instead of gas prices going up further, they went back down 6-cents here in Perry, Oklahoma (to $2.16.9).

Perry is still in need of 12" to 20" of rainfall. It seems to come close at times and either quit, or go around our county."

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SLAPE Ancestry of Cleveland, Oklahoma...

"My father was Earl Coy Slape. He was born in Cleveland, Oklahoma. His father was William Shelby Slape. He also was born in Oklahoma." -- Michael E. Slape - Email: meslape@aol.com View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

HISAW Surname - Firsco, Oklahoma...

Was browsing for anything with the HISAW surname in Oklahoma. In the OkieLegacy (Vol. VI, Iss. 40) Mailbag section came upon a note from a J. Hisaw with a reference to Cager Hisaw, Sr. My father-in-law Eddie Allen Hisaw, born in Ada, OK, had a brother Cager. I would like any contact with anyone with information on this family. We are very interested in learning about our Indian heritage. Eddie Allen Hisaw married Courrine (Cooie) Ray of Webbers Falls (Cherokee line) and they came to California in early 1930’s to Kern County. Would appreciate any contact concerning these wonderful people. Many thanks." -- D. Marvin , Auburn, California Email: dunsmoretoo@yahoo.com

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