PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net, Phone: 580-490-6823
I was thumbing through County Superintendent Kate Galt Zaneis 1923 School Book, and Cool Branch School caught my attention. Cool Branch was located just north of Ratliff City back in 1923. With the temperature hovering around 100 or more the past week, it sure would be nice to take a dip in that cool water that flowed near the school house.
“Way up in the northwest corner of Carter County on a hill overlooking a beautiful little valley, stands a little white school house which takes its name from the merry little stream that winds down the valley below.” -Journal of Carter County Schools 1923
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CoolBranchSchool1923a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CoolBranchSchool1923b.jpg
I used Chuck Stallcup’s Google Earth file he made back in February 2007 showing the locations of all the schools in Carter county to find Cool Branch school. Here’s a screen shot I took…..
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CoolBranchSchoolMap.jpg
If you have the program Google Earth installed and want to see Chuck Stallcup’s school locations for Carter county, right click on the link below and SAVE AS to your computer. Then use Google Earth to open the file.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/doc.kml
Monroe Cameron sent in some neat pieces of Ardmore history this week. Two photographs taken in the late teens or early 1920s of his family’s refinery at the NE edge of Ardmore. Of course today we know it as Valero Refinery. Here it is in his own words:
“Dear Butch, I ran across these photos of the Cameron refinery north of Ardmore. They are from the late teens or early 20’s. In the first photo you can see the Imperial Refinery in the upper left corner. I believe the Imperial site is now a Superfund cleanup site. They went bankrupt in 1934. The Cameron refinery was bought by Wirt Franklin and became Bell Refining. It is currently owned by Valero. When it began operation, the capacity was 1,600 barrels per day. Valero now claims it’s capacity as 85,000 barrels per day.” -Monroe Cameron
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CameronRefinery1920a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/CameronRefinery1920b.jpg
One of my great uncles, Caes (Cass) Key Murphree (1887-1927), fell to his death off one of those oil tanks in the photos above back on Septmeber 21, 1927. I mentioned his daughter, Ivadee Vojtek, in last week’s T&T.
I posted this unusual bell in my T&T a couple weeks ago, and no one seems to have recognized it. The Reader said she took the picture recently, somewhere in the Ardmore and southern Oklahoma area. If you’ve seen the bell, let me know.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/MysteryBell08a.jpg
A Reader told me this week he was looking for some land to lease, about 50 to 100 acres, in the Ardmore – Lone Grove area to put some horses on. If anyone has any land for lease in this size, send me an email or give me a call.
This week Steve Hamm added a new feature to the Carter County Assessors website, creating a webpage ideally suited for use with iPhones, iTunes and and other wireless access points. To check it out just follow the link below or just go to the assessors website and click Search, then click the Tab at the top of the webpage…….. “Mobile”.
http://www.cartercountyassessor.org/wap/mobilesearch.asp
Carter County Assessor Webpage
http://www.cartercountyassessor.org/
We have a bird house Jill placed on our front porch a couple weeks ago, given to us by a friend. We have several birdhouses, most of them given to us, on our new home and property, but this one was so nice looking Jill decided not to use it as a house for birds, and just placed it on the front porch. She was on the porch the other day and moved the bird house a little, and out flew a bird. She like to had a heart attack it scared her so much. Come to find out a Carolina Wren has taken up nesting in it, and the wren has 1 egg in the bird house. The bird is gone most of the daylight hours, but returns in the evening to spend the night. Here is a picture I snapped of her sitting on her egg. I think we will name her Grovie. She is such a little cutie.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/BirdHouseWren072308a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/Birdhouse072308.jpg
Here is a pic of her one egg.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WrenEgg.jpg
Last week Jill and I stopped at our favorite catfish place to eat here in Lone Grove, but this time I didn’t order the usual. I ordered frog legs. I hadn’t eaten frog legs since I was a teen. Back in the 60s my cousin Jerry Carmon took me frog hunting using a flashlight and spear, and caught several on the Walters property, east edge of Ardmore.
Bill’s Catfish in Lone Grove is one of those best kept secrets in this county. If you’re in the Lone Grove area, stop by, you won’t to disappointed. A senior’s catfish meal is only $4.95 and its plenty to eat!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/BillsCafish072108.jpg
Now here’s a pic of those frog legs. They are good, but come in a second to the catfish platter.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/FrogLegs071808.jpg
Last week Carter County Commissioner Bill McLaughlin’s road crew had been working out on Mt Washington Road near Caddo Creek. They left a bulldozer nearby overnight, and when they returned the next morning someone had painted a water color of the bulldozer on cardboard. The artist left their signature on the water color, and also a hand written note on the back that read: “Keep up the good work”, with their initials underneath. Now the mystery. No one can read this artist signature, so maybe someone out there can look and tell us who night have painted it. Whoever they are, they sure did a beautiful water color painting.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WaterColor8b.jpg
This is a close-up of the signature in the lower right hand corner of the painting. Does anyone know the artist?
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/WaterColorSignature.jpg
I snapped a pic of a pickup truck this week, and what caught my attention was the Harley Davidson symbol on the side. Seems Ford teamed up with Harley Davidson motorcycles to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the motorcycle company on their F150 in 2003. Nice looking pickup and the Harley Davidson logo on both sides, sure sets it off.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HarleyPickupTruck8a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HarleyPickupTruck8b.jpg
Visit the Oklahoma History Boards, start a topic if you want too!
http://oklahomaroots.proboards83.com/
Q. What famous Apache leader was imprisoned at Ft Sill?
A. Geronimo
Q. What is Oklahoma’s state rock?
A. (answer in next week’s T&T)
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..“I need help in finding more information about the life & history of Lt. Col. Raymond Harvey, I believe the first Indian recipient of the Medal of Honor! I’m hoping that some of his close relatives can give us some information, and hopefully can email us some photos. Some of our members want to install a brass plaque in his honor in our Museum, since he lived here in Sulphur for several years duing his school days. FYI, we have information from WIKIPEDIA, the Department of Defense, and the Arlington Cemetery.
Also, we would appreciate any photos and history any of your readers have about Sulphur. Thanks for continuing to put out such an interesting weekly volume of information! -C. Roland Earsom. Send any information to: ursm_17848@yahoo.com
“Hi Butch, Enjoy the low gas price. Ours has gone from $4.569 on Monday, July 14 to $4.859 on July 18 in Juneau, Alaska. Whitehorse, BC Canada, the price on July 1 was $4.69 a litter. Remember, a litter is just a little under half a gallon. Ours will never go down. Once they get the price up, it stays there. Thanks for the good news today. We need some encouraging at times.” -Claude
“I was surprised to see another T&T in my ‘inbox’ and had to smile as I read that. My wife and I were in line at McDonald’s for a cheap breakfast when someone we know mentioned that this Love’s price was $3.69. We had just gone to the Farmer’s Market on East Broadway and talked about gas prices along the way when we saw the Love’s on Broadway was 20 cents under the other stations. Then we heard the $3.69 while in line and went there after breakfast to fill the tank. The word must be out because they were full and will probably run out of gas if they don’t get a load delivered. The sad part is the joy we will feel if gas comes down to anything lower than the stratosphere it is headed for lately. That is just what the producers have conditioned the public for in all this fiasco. Raise those prices sky high for awhile then when they come back down ten to twenty cents we are all so happy we forget they were artificially inflated so we would not complain at the cost when they lower it back to a target they want which is three times what they were getting per gallon. The really sad part is many other corporations and utilities are jumping on this same business model. Shock them with exorbitant prices then get their praise when we lower the price where we really wanted to raise it anyway. I read on MSN this morning that at the $140 per barrel price the oil reserves in the Middle East are worth more than all the industrial complex of the entire United States. In other words they could buy the United States. Indeed we are seeing many American institutions going to foreign ownership so they are taking over the United States and not firing a shot do to so. And that is my two cents.” -Ron Brown
https://oklahomahistory.net:80/ttphotos8a/LovesGas071908.jpg
“Friends and Family: The following link is to a tribute I made for my Dad, Carl W. Stevens, and to my Uncle Pierce R. Stevens for their “service to our country during WW II. Thought you might enjoy seeing it. Be sure and turn up the volume!”
-Dwane Stevens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0OifhPo5rE
“Hi Butch and Jill, From this weeks T&T, the third of Duane Stephens’ pictures is a train hauling Rip Rap in Air Dump Cars. These cars are designed to dump rip rap or other stone materials to either side of the track to protect the road bed. During the 1957 flood, we used these cars to dump rip rap on the curve just south of the Big Canyon plant, in an effort to keep the track from washing out. The work crew dumped 7 cars while we loaded 7. This was repeated for 30 straight hours. We lost the battle and the river won. We lost the track and entire road bed but we gave it a heck of a try. Also from that T & T. I remember Buck Hale very well. My Big Canyon days were a very happy time in my life and I worked with some great people. I finished my working years in the Aggregate Sales Dept. for Dolese Bros Co, in Oklahoma City. I am attempting to attach a picture of the flood that I mentioned above.” -Roy Miller, Oklahoma City riprap1927@gmail.com
“Hi there Butch, These old postcards were in my grandfathers album and there are some pics of lovely old homes….my grandfather and his family stayed in Ardmore for awhile during the 20’s maybe some earlier and later this was the address on the postcard 1012 West Bixby Ardmore Oklahoma, do you know if that home is still there? He had pictures of people he knew in front of a very beautiful home (very ornate) with an iron fence around it with the caption “first house with an iron fence”. I wish I could get a copy of the picture but it’s glued to this rather large scrap book along with photo’s of a parade etc. I was hoping someone may have some information about my family Daniel N. Walling and his wife Lillian E. Walling their children Lawrence J. Walling, Charles C. Walling, Gladys Walling and Martha Walling. Daniel Walling’s father was J.M.(?)Walling but I don’t know what the J.M is. I do know that Dan & Lawrence were builders and Charles married Arquilla and had C.C. Walling Jr. Is it just me or does the old man on the post card look like the old man in the photo? Jeez I know that’s alot to bite off but I desperately would like to find out as much as I can about them and where they came from. Thanks for any assistance”. -D.N. Cannon (Walling)
momabearto4@yahoo.com
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/Walling08a.jpg
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“Hi Butch, I was just looking at the Johnston County OK web page and found all your info. Very good. I wasn?t able to see some of the pictures, though. I enjoyed reading about your area. I was looking for information about Charles Nathan Caton, who was a doctor in Garner for several years. Does anyone know any Catons?” -Wilda Madrid AZ wmwm12@frontiernet.net
“Does anyone have any information about Stobtown or Butcher Pen. My paternal grandparents were Mitchell and Josephine Harvey.” JacciS@health.ok.gov
“Hey Butch: Cache Creek and its many tributaries is shown on the map I sent you (by email) several years ago, of Oklahoma and Indian Territories circa 1900. I see it (and West Cache) extending from the area about 40 miles north of the military reservation at Fort Sill in the Kiowa and Comanche counties on down to where they join Deep Red Run which feeds into the Red River near the southeast corner of what is now Cotton County. It is NOT near Altus. That one was the “Elk”. The Cache probably feeds what is now known as Lake Ellsworth and one of its tributaries (I think) would also feed Lake Lawtonka. The Cache is also found on this 1928 map of Oklahoma Highways.” -Roy K. https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/OklaHighways1928SWcorner.jpg
“Hi Butch, Lately I’ve noticed several of your viewers mentioning the O’Savior farm in western Love County. This is indeed of interest to me. Frank O’Savior, who the farm belonged to at one time, is buried in the Eastman Cemetery which is located on the farm my husband and I now own. This land has been in my family since the early 1900’s. For those who may be interested his tombstone reads:
Frank O’Savior
50 Years Old
Died – Feb. 5, 1920
This cemetery is also in Love County, in the Eastman Community which is 12 miles northwest of Marietta. Anything I see about the O’Savior family is always of interest to me since Columbus (Tumby) O’Savior, a brother of Frank, lived with my family until his death in 1953 at the age of 103 years. He came to my family in 1936, a little broken up cowboy. He was very dear to me. My Dad remembers the time he first saw him, somewhere around 1926, when he came riding up, what is now known as Eastman Road, on a little spirited Indian pony. Underneath him was a beautiful Navajo blanket. My Dad said he was a sight to behold. He had worked at one time on the well known Washington Ranch which was located southwest of Marietta. Columbus could not read or write his name. He sat and rocked me many, many hours when I was a little girl. He died 1 month after I married and left home. That was in November 1953. I just thought I would like to share this with anyone who is interested in the O’Savior family.” -Betty Keller Rackley bbgrack2@arbuckleonline.com
Whether the weather is cold
Whether the weather is hot
We’ll have to whether the weather
Whether we like it or not
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443https://oklahomahistory.net
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