In 1925 the elected Sheriff of Carter county, Ewing London, was indicted by a Grand Jury. London was temporaily removed from office and a new sheriff appointed by the name of James Cruce. Cruce would only be sheriff for 30 days. A Purcell, Oklahoma Judge would overrule the removal and order Sheriff London reinstated to office. London would serve out the rest of his term unchallenged. James Cruce was a dairyman living north of Ardmore on Mt Washington Road in 1925. Below is a photo of James Cruce, the Carter county sheriff that time forgot.
September 9, 1920 – Ardmore Chief of Police Chancellor has finally procured a motorcycle cop whose chief duty will be to catch and bring before the city court the “speeders” on the city streets. The new man is Mr. Jack Miller. As soon as the motorcycle for his use arrives, he will use his best effort to put a stop to the all too common practice of stepping on the gas on either downtown or the suburban streets. Such an officer has been badly needed in Ardmore for a long time.
Steam Boats Through the Red Rivery Valley -by The Red River Historian
https://www.redriverhistorian.com/red-river-steam
“I remember when they constructed the new highway, US 70, west of Madill. My dad used to call it the Raymond Gary Highway because it ran from Madill where Gary was from. Actually, he was born somewhere between Madill and Kingston. I remember Gary was known for his highway construction during his term.
Sometime after it was finished, on a Sunday drive, we discovered it driving from the west. You’re right about the turn at the end of the highway. There was a barrier, a one lane exit to the left (south) onto a section line. My mother was driving and I think Betty Tarver was with us. She was the nurse at the Carter County Health Service back in the 50’s. As I remember, there weren’t any signs on the highway designating speed, highway number, anything. Betty and her husband, “Red,” Tarver lived on the west side of North Washington in about the 500 block. Red was an old friend of my dad.” -Monroe Cameron
Addditional Notes: The present day Highway 70 from Madill to Ardmore back in the 1970s was Highway 199. It started at Madill and ended at the Marshall/Carter county line because State money stopped and it did not continue on into ardmore from the Marshall/Carter county line. Hence at that time period it was called the “highway to nowhere” when you left going west from Madill. At the Carter line the highway suddenly came to and end, and with barricades and one had get exit to the south to a Carter county road to continue on west. It would be several years before State money flowed again and the new Highway 70 would continue on into Ardmore.
Below is a map I created to show where the “highway to nowhere” from Madilll ended at the Carter county line.
“I do remember when Channel 12 had a studio in Ardmore on N. Washington St in the block S. of AHS. They did have a teen dance show live each week and it was called Sock Hop. I can’t remember the name of the young HS student who was in charge, but I think he graduated in 1958. I do know of someone I could ask, but thought I had better share this before I forget the name of the Program. Of course they played all the current top 10 hits and others that nearly all teenagers listened to daily via the radio.”
In October we reached out to try and find about 70 Oklahomans with unclaimed insurance at the State Treasurers office in OKC. We were able to conclude through contact over 20 of those 70 people. So the search continures……
https://oklahomahistory.net/unclaimed-property-in-oklahoma/
From this week’s Mailbag
Hey ”On-The-Halves” > I’ve been meaning to send you the info I had
on the CSA soldier buried at Rose Hill in Ardmore. You can receive
info concerning CSA soldiers via: ( [email protected] ).
The reason for his receiving the Southern Cross of Honor would be due
to his rank or some act of courage during his attachment to Company
”G” of the 10th Texas (Locke’s) Calvary, He was born in 1840 and
died in 1919 at Sherman, Texas. His brother, James Madison Gladney
died in battle at the Siege of Corinth (29 April – 30 May, 1862) He
is buried in the McDaniel Cemetery.
Another source of info. can be obtained by contacting the History
Librarian (Shaina Destine) via the University of Tenn in Knoxville:
(865)974-1000. -Steve Miller (like the band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_of_Honor
HAM Talk by KC5JVT via Echolink
Last Sunday at 8:00pm the Arbuckle 970 Net might have set a new record with 13 HAM check-ins. Now to keep the momentum going. If your a HAM in southern Oklahoma or North Texas we welcome you to check-in Sunday nights at 8:00pm. The repeater is located near Turner Falls in the Arbuckle Mountains.
The Boredom Breaker Net out of Claremore is held every day at noon and runs for 2 hours. Its still going strong with new HAMs checking in almost daily.
Below is from my newsletter archives dated
January 25, 2007 – Issue 522
In the last few issues of T&T there has been several mentions of Tater Hill east of Ardmore. Tater Hill is located 3 miles southwest of Dickson, Oklahoma. take Dickson Road from Highway 199 intersection, go south 3 miles to Tater Hill Road and then turn west on Tater Hill Road. As we’ve read in past T&Ts, Kirk Holley Smith grew up at Tater Hill and I’m sure he’s got some more info and stories he can pass along to everyone next week. Last week Kirk talked about wanting to fix up a mess of fried okra in Montana where he lives now. Folks up there don’t even know what fried okra looks like, much less that delicious taste when its fried. I can hardly wait until summer when okra is in season can I can eat a mess of fried okra. Boy, ain’t life grand….. we got it made here in Oklahoma when it comes to good old home style southern cooking.
Tater Hill GPS – 34.144430, -97.004020
Anna Flatt lives pretty close to Tater Hill and sent in this photo view today.
Note: Tater Hill is a high point where Ardmoreite Jack Thompson and his wife watched from their nearby cabin a UFO with his telescope on the evening of August 2, 1965. https://oklahomahistory.net/ufo-scare-1965/
Jill and I were at Ada this past weekend doing some looking around. I snapped some pics of the Holcim cement plant on the south side of Ada. It once had the longest conveyor belt in the world, but that long mechanical belt is all gone now. The conveyor belt ran south all the way to Roff, Oklahoma and then some. It carried the limestone and rock used in making the portland cement to the plant there in Ada. Here are two pictures of the Ada Cement Plant.
Note: 2017 – Below is the Holcim (headquarted in Chicago) websitewith more details on the Ada plant along with a great aerial view. The facility in Ada uses more than 3 million scrap tires per year as supplemental fuel.
https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/holcim-unveils-new-oklahoma-cement-plant
“As a child in Ardmore our ritual after church on Sunday was to dine at Priddy’s restaurant which became Eden’s later. It was there that I was “educated” about the educated hamburger. This was late 40’s, early 50’s. I was always torn between the educated burger and Priddy’s chicken salad sandwich, both of which I thought were the best on earth. And they WERE good!!” -Penny Phipps Powhatan
“Hi Butch, Hope all is ok with you. I thought you might be interested in an article in this month’s edition of Hemmings classic car. You can’t reprint it because of copywrite stuff but maybe your Ardmore readers remember a Lewis C. Markley of Ardmore, who in 1953 won a first prize of an unrestored 1930 Lincoln LeBaron convertible (worth about $500 in 1953) for sending in the winning entry in a contest sponsored by MOTOR TREND MAGAZINE, defining what a “Classic Automobile” is. His four paragraph answer was really well written. Does anyone remember Mr. Markley and his 1930 Lincoln convertible, sounds like quite a distinctive prize to drive around the Arbuckles in to me.” -John in Joliet, Illinois
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
580-490-6823
