This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 14 Issue 720 Circulation 5,000 November 11, 2010
PO Box 2
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-657-8616
This coming Friday and Saturday the
39th annual Carter County Arts and Crafts Show will be held at the Hardy Murphy
Coliseum. As most of you know, this one festival and food show draws more
people then any other event all year long. There is so much to see and do, and
to me, visiting with the 1,000s of people who attend is the most fun. We are
going to try and make it out there sometime Saturday, maybe we will see some of
you there!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/ArtsAndCraftsShow2010.jpg
A T&T Reader at Healdton, Oklahoma brought by a book for me to look over and read. Its the 1933 edition of Beginning of Tulsa by J.M. Hall. I knew when I first set my eyes on it, it would be worth reading, with its blue suede velvet cover. Here are just a few things I noticed as I thumbed through it....
First water well: But it was to wells and not the river that early Tulsa looked for its drinking water. The first water well was dug at the back of the Hall store in 1883 by a Negro named Shanks. After he had dug down about 15 feet left town for 10 days, then returning and completing his task. Good water was found in the black shale and the well never went dry. page 16 The Beginning to Tulsa by J.M. Hall
H.C. Hall founder of Tulsa.
First house in Tulsa was owned by Noah Patridge. 1882
First doctor in Tulsa, W.P. Booker
First sermon preached in Tulsa by Dr. R.M. Loughridge from the front porch of the Hall Mercantile store in 1883.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/BeginingOfTulsa1933.jpg
I did find the entire 100 page book online for anyone interested in reading this hard to find book.
http://www.tulsaokhistory.com/hall/toc.html
On the east edge of Lone Grove on the north side of Highway 70 (next door to Wilson Monuments) I saw this great looking statue made by a chain saw artist. It looks like the owner of the statue is Mountainman Dents used to draw attention to his paintless dent repair business.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/MountainManStatue110710a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/MountainManStatue110710b.jpg
These are a couple pictures taken by
friends who visited California last week. The first two are of the old
Plank Road between Imperial, CA and Yuma, AZ. He told me his dad traveled
this railroad tie road many times years ago. You had to take about 4 guys
with you because when you met another car coming the other way, everyone had to
pick the car up and moved over onto the sand, then when the other car passed,
everyone had to pick the car up again and moved it back onto the plank road. The
car having to move over was many times decided by who was the biggest and
meanest. The plank road was started in 1916 and continued until a new road
was finished in 1926.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/ImperialSandDuneRoad110410b.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/ImperialSandDuneRoad110410a.jpg
http://www.gbcnet.com/ushighways/US80/US80_plank_road.html
Here is another pic they snapped of the old bell at Territorial Jail at Yuma,
Arizona.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/YumaAZprisonBell.jpg
From This and That
newsletter archives November 1997:
Nine miles north of Ardmore, Oklahoma is the small town of Springer. It had been
a town long before statehood in 1907. In 1910 this little bustling city almost
became a town in name only. On a Friday evening in September, a fire broke out
in the Post Office. Before the fire could be stopped, many Main street
businesses would be destroyed, including the Post Office, D.M Sellers General
Store, Eskew Drug Store, Kuntz Bros Blacksmith Shop, the building used by the
Masons, Woodmen of the World, and the Oddfellows. Also several buildings owned
by Robert Scivally would be destroyed. (Mr. Scivally was the first County
Commissioner of Carter county.) When townspeople and firefighters saw their town
was about to be totally destroyed by the raging fire, they resorted to dynamite
to stop the flames.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/glimpsepast/fire1910.html
Dean Pelton grew up in the northeast part of Ardmore just a block from Dr. Boyd's and the Community Swimming Pool, in the same neighborhood I did. But most of Dean's adult life has been spent in Tyler, Texas. He is now retired and thinking more and more about home and wishing he was back here to finish out his days. Dean called me last week to say if anyone is interesting in trading homes with him in Tyler, send him an email in Tyler, Texas at fdpelton@yahoo.com
Last week I mentioned dropbox.com and how convenient it can be when transporting pictures and files around, especially LARGE files. Sure, we can do it the old fashion way and just attach the file(s) to an email or use that flash drive. I thought for a long time I wanted a flashdrive, but then I have to carry it around with me, and hope the flash drive doesn't crash (which they do) and I lose the files before I can get them copied off. If you travel and take lots of pictures, the dropbox is a must have solution. If you have internet access on the road, just upload that day's pictures to your dropbox, then delete them from your camera's memory card, so you ready to take more. I think their demo video explains it much better than I can here. If you think this free service is for you, then go to the link below and click on "Watch Video" and see the neat features dropbox offers.
Q. What was the
Oklahoma
Organic Act?
A. An act that gave Oklahoma a government and divided it into
counties.
Q. The Oklahoma ballad,
the Dicky
Bird, back in the 20s and 30s is reference to what?
A. (answer in
next week's newsletter)
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/b/bu019.html
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....The Adventures of Cotton Top and Earnest is now available through Xlibris-Barnsandnoble or Amazon. The story starts on the Washita River in 1953
and takes the reader through the towns of Sulphur, Mead, Russett, Tishomingo,
Ardmore, Lake Texoma and many points in between. Humor, adventure, thrills and
good home cooking. Cotton Top, Earnest & some very interesting friends take a trip
down the Washita River on a homemade raft made from a cork outhouse. So join us for a
raft ride down the Washita River and hold on tight. ISBN HARDCOVER
978-1-4500-3402-9 ISBN Softcover 978-1-4500-3401-2 or call 888-795-4274 ext 7879
"The Adventures of Cotton Top and Earnest"
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Cotton-Top-Earnest/dp/1450034012
"Mr. Bridges: I have noticed the mention of KVSO-TV in your newsletter recently and thought you might be interested to know that one of the original television cameras was just donated to the Greater Southwest Historical Museum in Ardmore. It is not on display at the moment, due to our Christmas program taking over most of the museum at this time of year. But I am hoping to display it sometime next year. Hopefully, some of your readers will come out to the museum to see it." -Christina Smith
"In your last This n That, KVSO was mentioned and it brought back a memory that happened in 1939 or 1940. My best friend, Millie Brady (Telford), who some of you might know, lived close to the KVSO station and one day we thought how great it would be to go on the air. She said she knew a cowboy song and I said I knew a piece I could play on the piano. So we entered the building and was met by a man who asked us what we wanted. We told him of this great talent we had and wanted to share it over the air. Millie was first and she was doing a wonderful job.....she would sing a verse, and then do a couple of minutes of yodeling, then another verse and some more yodeling, etc. She did a perfect job. Then he gave my name and said I would play the piano. I would like to explain that I had played this piece a hundred times and felt like I knew it even backwards. But as soon as I played the first note, I became a complete blank. So rather than just sit there, I proceeded to play every note up and down the piano and after several times of doing this, I finally quit Even after all these seventy or so years, I still wonder what people thought while all this mad rush of going up and down the scales was going on. I know the man had a look of relief on his face when I finally quit."
"Verrry interesting! As it happens, I've been corresponding with a couple of descendants of the maker of this bell, who was William Thompson Garratt of San Francisco. We speculate, but have not been able to prove, that W.T. Garratt was related to John W. Garratt of St. Louis, who ran a brass foundry. .W. Garratt did not advertise bells, but a couple have been found bearing the name of his company. Most interestingly, both Garratts hung their bells on fittings which are in the same style as that used by the Hooper/Blake bell foundry of Boston, Mass. This photo is a good illustration of that face. From the photo, the Yuma bell was made in the 1870s" -Carl Zimmerman
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos10a/YumaAZprisonBell.jpg
"Butch, don't know if an answer was received about getting the old canister film developed but if no one locally does it, here's a good place to do it by mail order. B&H Photo & Video is a very reputable source. My Son and I have bought from them for years. The film size in those canisters wasn't mentioned but B&H should be able to handle it."
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
Butch,
here's a little follow up about the B&H store I mentioned previously. We just
received our December 2010 issue of Consumer Reports in the mail and on page 22
under "Ratings: Electronics Stores," BHPhotoVideo.com was rated number 1 on the
list of 12 online stores.
Here's the list:
1. www.BHPhotoVideo.com
2. Crutchfield.com
3. Amazon.com
4. Newegg.com
5. Costco.com
6. Apple.com
7. TigerDirect.com
8. Buy.com
9. Walmart.com
10. AbesofMaine.com
11. Dell.com
12. BestBuy.com
Barkingwater Productions, Inc. of Lawton, OK will present the Lawton Fort Sill Cowboy Story Hour on Saturday, November 13, at 7 p.m. at the McMahon Memorial Auditorium at 801 N. W. Ferris in Lawton. We will be sharing the lives and times of those who lived in the late 1880's and helped settle this great state of ours. We will have the stories of the cowboys as told by Wallace C. Moore, Sr. Wallace is a cowboy poet, storyteller, historian, and author of "Ebony Shadows of the Trail". Wallace will also tell the story of the Buffalo Soldiers who built Fort Sill. Ms. Debra Coppinger Hill of Northeast Oklahoma will share with us in her cowboy poetry the views of that time from a woman's perspective. Mr. Timothy Tate Nevaquaya with fill the air with the sounds of his Native American Flutes and share that history with us. Mr. Kris Forsyth will fill the background with his guitar music before and throughout the show. There is NO admission for this show. After the show donations for Prevent Blindness Oklahoma will be taken as this organization travels to all 77 counties of Oklahoma and does vision screening on school children. Last year they screened over 260,000 children in our state. This year the goal is 275,000 children will have their eyes screened. We know that children can not learn if they can not see, and research has shown 1 in 4 school age children have a vision problem. This show is being sponsored by the City of Lawton, LAHC, NEA, and Oklahoma Arts Council. If you need more information, you may call Marcia Peppel at 580-351-8862 or email us a mpeppel@earthlink.net
Check us out at www.barkingwaterproductions.com
The Daily Ardmoreite
June 9, 1927
REPAIRS MADE TO COUNTY HOME
Carter County's Institution Is Being Given General Overhauling
Extensive repairs are being made on the county home located southwest of the city and when completed the house will take on a more cheerful aspect, Jeff O'Brien, county commissioner, who visited the place Wednesday stated. New paint is being applied both interior and exterior, the rooms are being papered and the place given a general overhauling. The matron, Mrs. A. M. DeHart, seems to be giving general satisfaction to the inmates and to the commissioners, O'Brien said. Nine inmates are being cared for. The expense of maintenance is down to the minimum for the reason that much of the stuff consumed by the old people is raised on the two acres that belongs to the home, it is said. They have three good cows, that furnish plenty of milk and butter, a big flock of chickens, and hogs enough growing to insure a year's meat supply. These with one of the best gardens in this section is going a long way toward making the place self-sustaining, O'Brien declares.
"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph." -Thomas Paine, The Crisis - December, 1776
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official American Flyers Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
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