Duchess of Weaselskin

Bayfield, Colorado - Our Alva photographer took the following photo of the updated location of the house fire a few weeks ago at 7th & Church Street in Alva, Oklahoma, with the burning of the old two-story frame house of Brandt's home. The demolition and cleanup of the burned home has progressed quickly, leaving only a vacant lot with only trees, shrubs, driveway and freshly worked ground.

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Dust Bowl & Okie Lore

Oklahoma - Lois Guffy sent us the following information and links concerning the "Dust Bowl Lore" and the "Okies" term that was coined by Ben Reddick. Reddick, a newsman, coined the "Okies" term and was credited with first using the term Okie in the mid-1930's, to identify migrant farm workers. He noticed the "OK" abbreviation (for Oklahoma) on many of the migrant's license plates and referred to them in his article as "OKies."

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Dust Bowl: Southern Plains In the 1930's

Southern Plains - We found another book online at Google books entitled, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains In the 1930's, by Donald Worster. It gives a history of the lives finding life sometimes easy and sometimes nasty under harsh, severe weather . . . just when things are getting to feel comfortable.

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This Day In History (June 27 & 28)

America - On this day in history we browse important events in history over at the archival features of the New York Times website for June 27 and 28. On June 27, 1950, President Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the Korean War following a call from the United Nations Security Council for member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North. Go to article.

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Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads

Oklahoma - You can buy and do a partial listening to discoverthe music at Last.fm of Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads. You can buy these MP3 at Amazon ($9.99).

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LIFE Magazine (April 10, 1950)

America - In the LIFE magazine, dated April 10, 1950, on page 40, there was a feature entitled "A Dust Bowl Look In Texas" where the worst wind since 1936 blew away southwest fields.

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NW Okie's Ancestry Corner

Bayfield, Colorado - We all know that the Dust Bowl was the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains. The Dust Bowl took only 50 years to accomplish. People blazed their way across a once richly endowed continent with a ruthless, devastating efficiency. The white man coming to the plains talked of "busting" and "breaking" the land. AND . . . that is what they did. [more]... View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

An Oklahoma History

Oklahoma - This week's lesson in an Oklahoma History takes us back to a particular Saturday, September 16th, 1893, in the Great Race for Homes. We found this sketch, which was drawn by Geo. V. Cummins, of Winchester, Oklahoma (17 miles northwest of Alva), in the Alva Pioneer, dated January 1, 1904. The Alva Pioneer wrote that Cummins made the race and still lived in that vicinity.

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