PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 580-490-6823
To give a person an idea just how dry its been here in southern Oklahoma this summer, here are 3 photos of Little Niagara at Sulphur. On March 31st of this year Little Niagara was so beautiful, flowing with water.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/LittleNiagara031311.jpg
This is the same place on August 18th, almost dry.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/LittleNiagara081811.jpg
And this is the same pic I had in last week’s T&T, bone dry.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/LittleNiagara090311.jpg
Here is how bad the drought was on September 6, 2011 in Oklahoma.
But the good news is just within the last 48 hours has rain begin to fall all over Oklahoma! Bring it on!
This is a pic I snapped of a unique antique copper bathtub at Bob Longest Antiques on East Main last week. It even has a tank above the tub on the wall to heat the water!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CopperBathtub080111a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CopperBathtub080111b.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CopperBathtub080111c.jpg
Behind Bob Longest Antiques I found the replica of a stagecoach. Nice.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/LongestStageCoach.jpg
Carter county maintenance crews were busy last week repairing the flag pole at the courthouse. Seems winds over time had broke the rope and a new one was needed.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/FlagRepair082911.jpg
Also last week the 1928 Seth Thomas clock in the dome of the courthouse stopped. A metal piece that holds the control rod to one of 2 electric motors broke. But Taylor Machine Shop came to the rescue, and got us going again. Taylor Machine has saved the day several times over the past 15 years in helping keep the historic clock running when a certain part was needed.
https://oklahomahistory.net/seththomasclock/clockworks04.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/seththomasclock.html
This week I stopped in at Key’s Grocery just off Caddo street and bought the biggest roast beef sandwich I think I’ve ever ate in my life. Let’s see, there was a thick slice of roast beef, a thick slice of cheddar cheese (my mother called it rat cheese), ripe tomato, pickles, SWEET onion, crisp lettuce, and miracle whip, all for a total of $4.30!
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/RoastBeefSandwich.jpg
After 4 days of using the HHO generator, I have saw no improvement on my MPG. Still 17 MPG. I think it has to do with the strength of my electrolyte solution, but not sure yet. Even though HHO is being generator into the carb, it is not enough. At last that is what I think. So will need to do some checking with Richie in TN.
https://oklahomahistory.net/goinggreen.html
Oh, by the way, I’ve been getting a good ribbing from friends. They have renamed my truck The Blue Flame! lol
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/74ChevyAfter060108a.jpg
U.S. drought monitor
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
From This and That newsletter archives of September 12, 1998:
“Back in the mid 40’s we lived just outside of Seminole, Ok. We had a push mower of which my dad decided to make a power mower out of it. He electrified it. Somehow he mounted an electric motor on the mower with a belt that drove the rotating blades. He bought the longest extension cord in Okla. And it worked. There were a few problems. One you always had to watch out for the cord so you wouldn’t cut it up and electrocute yourself. Another the mower was so heavy a grown man could hardly push it and cut a straight row. As I said it worked, but not the very best.”
“I was interested in a letter that someone wrote you and asked about the downtown stores of ages past. I can remember going to the Woolworth Store and sitting in the booth with friends and watch the people go by. A wonderful ice cream treat called Tulip Sundae was served there. We would sit in the booth for hours being entertained by the unsuspecting folks walking by. I will never forget the Kress store. I would go in there on Saturday to the candy counter, (after first going to the back and looking at the alligators in the fish tanks) and buy 10 cents worth of chocolate covered peanuts. The sales person would carefully weigh out the candy, and put it in a small white sack. But for 10 cents, there was enough candy to just about make you sick!”
Q. What is the largest county in Oklahoma??
A: Osage County
Q. Which Marvel comic book character built his temple Asgard in Oklahoma and where?
A. (answer in next week’s newsletter)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……
https://oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
THIS WEEKEND! The 18th Annual Murray County Antique Tractor and Implement Association. Show will be September 16, 17 and 18, 2011 in Sulphur at the showgrounds. 7 miles North of Sulphur on Hwy 177 then 3/4 mile East on Tractor Road. Watch for signs. $3.00 per person ? Under 16 and Over 60 ? FREE $5.00 registration fee for ATV and golf carts. There will be: WHEAT THRESHING, HAY BAILING, CORN SHELLING, SMALL GAS ENGINES, TRACTOR GAMES, ARTS & CRAFTS, TRACTOR PULLS, WOOD SAWING, TRACTOR RODEO, COTTON & PEANUT DISPLAYS, BROOM MAKING, KIDDIE TRACTOR PULLS, VENDORS, SWAP MEET, CONSIGNMENT AUCTION, BLACKSMITHS and much more!
http://www.arbuckletourism.com/MCATIA/
“My dad, Henry Onard Womack will be 100 on the 20th. He is in good health and has a great mind. We talk about the events in your newsletter as they kick off memories for him.
He moved to Love County in 1914 and we lived there until the mid forties when the war ended. His family has all now left the County, but one great niece lives in Ardmore. His sister, Naoma Wilson taught almost everybody in the county and his brother, Mont Womack, sold hardware and tractors to everyone. My dad has hundreds of stories about those day? from the good times of farming and ranching in the teens and twenties, the bootlegging industry in the County during prohibition, through the depression (including working on Lake Murray and the poor crops), and owning the store at the corner of the 77 and 32 until they told him to sell it as he was going to be drafted. His family had owned that land earlier but sold it to Frank Schellenberger. My dad remembers him borrowing his horse to ride over the property and then using the saddle horn to write a check for $36,000 (a hundred dollars an acre). Frank said he was glad to be able to walk around a place without getting oil all over his boots. My mother, Hazel Velma Forbes Womack, was the daughter of Jake and Cora Forbes. Grandmother Forbes was a Schellenberger. There were not a lot of people in the County around the turn of the century (the 19th to the 20th, that is.)
We are having a birthday party for him on the 25th. If anyone has any stories about him and/or his family, would they be so kind as to send them to me so I can make them a part of his celebration. My dad says that one of the problems with living so long is that all your friends and those that know you have died and that makes it hard to carry on a conversation with them. His mind and sense of humor are still keen.
Thanks for the newsletter and for giving me this opportunity to solicit information about him.”
Milton Womack
[email protected]
“I am doing research that has led me to the Sooner Foods in Ardmore and the infamous shoot-out incident that occurred on the morning of December 22, 1960 on North Washington. I was hoping someone might be able to assist me with information. Please feel free to contact me at this email address or anytime, 817-723-8099.” -David Thornton [email protected]
https://oklahomahistory.net/rudisill.html
Pictures of the Texs drought of 2011 http://photoblog.statesman.com/dry-season-the-texas-drought-of-2011
“I also remember the small round boxes with peanuts, and if you were lucky, you found a nickel or a dime wrapped in wax like paper at the bottom. I also did my fair amount of shaking every box in hopes I would be lucky. I also remember the punch card. I can’t remember the cost to punch, but do remember winning a valomilk (probably spelled wrong) ever now and then. I can’t remember if money was won also.”
I would like to remind everyone of our upcoming public show dates:
September 17 ?Gilmer, TX ? My band and I will present a concert/dance at the Civic Center in downtown Gilmer. Doors open at 6pm. Show at 7pm. 903-843-3219
September 24 ? Gene Autry Birthday Jamboree, Gene Autry, OK Museum
Free Admission ? 10:30am to 7pm – Music, Auction, Tour Museum 580-763-3658
September 29 ? Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, Muskogee, OK, Introducing new CD titled ?Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame? Signing of new CD at 6:30pm,
Concert/Dance starts at 7:30pm (band) 918-687-0800
October 2 ? Midwest Country, Sandstone, MN – Open for Gene Watson –
Two shows – 3pm, 7pm ? 888-729-1033
October 8 ? Downtown Tioga, TX, ?Cowboy Rendezvous? All day starting at 9:00am For more information, call 903-821-1501 or 940-437-9900
October 9 ? Hydro, OK Community Center ? Patriotic and Christian Celebration ? 6:30pm ? Public Welcome 405-542-6983
October 12-29 – Silver Dollar City, Branson, MO (band) ?Missouri?s Biggest Barn Dance?, Three shows per day starting at 10:15am, 11:15am, 12:15pm
(Park is closed Mon/Tue)
November 11 — C.L. Hoover Opera House, Junction City, KS 7:30pm Concert (band) For reservations and directions, call 913-956-8901
November 19 – Elevator Museum Fund Raiser, Grenola, KS ? For reservations and directions, call 620-358-3241
December 10 ? Western Swing Christmas Ball, Winfield, KS ? For reservations and directions, call 620-222-2154 (band)
December 31 ? Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper ? Concert/Dance, Benton, KS 6:30pm (band) For reservations and directions, call 316-778-2121
-Les Gilliam, ?The Oklahoma Balladeer?
Q. “Hey Butch! I was in Daugherty this afternoon looking for photographic Nopportunities and had a talk with Tuklo Nashoba for a few minutes. He told me about an old abandoned bridge in vicinity of the cemetery. We tried to find it but didn?t have any luck. Did pass a very curious old concrete structure along side of Highway 110 a few miles out of Daugherty. I have never seen anything built like that. It was really constructed strong and has railroad rails imbedded in the concrete walls for reinforcement. There was also several other old concrete foundations for some type of machinery nearby the old large building. Here is a shot of the building that I took this afternoon.” -Bob Finley, Goldsby OK
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/RockCrusherBuilding2011.jpg
A. “Prior to Dolese having a rock crusher south of Dougherty, Oklahoma in the 1920’s and 30’s, during the height of the depression, several of the locals created a rock quarry on some of my family’s land just a block over from my home. They blasted the rock with dynamite, and then gathered the rock up with an old cable shovel (steam shovel) and then loaded it onto flat bed trucks and ferried it to the tracks. Not very productive, but, they made enough money to keep going. The concrete building that is in the photo started out as an asphaltum plant. Asphaltum is abundant here. There is another plant just like it on the road to the spillway at the lake. Once the asphaltum played out, then they installed some homemade rock breaking equipment and began making gravel. That is what I have been told, but I do not know how accurate the story is. I was born in 1946, and the supposed tale taking place in the Great Depression? Well, I was not even born yet. LOL I do know for a fact that the building on the spillway road was an asphaltum rendering plant. There are tailing across the road of the unprocessed ashpaltum still standing there. Hope this helps.” -tuklo
100 Years Ago The Davis News 09/14/11: A Santa Fe demonstration train consisting of old and new equipment was set to make a stop in Davis. It included the largest locomotive in the world, which cost $43,880, was 126 feet long and had 20 drivers.
Students bought their school books at City Drug Store, which would only accept cash as payment.
Rev. R.L. Churchwell organized a Baptist church at Price’s chapel.
Sheriff Rawlings and several deputies raided six places in Davis and captured large quantities of beer and whiskey.
West side citizens complained that the Santa Fe stock pens were a nuisance.
“I am trying to find anyone who knew John C. Tate, son of Harry Tate who lived in Ardmore. John served in the RAF then the AAF. If anyone has any info please contact me.” -Ruth Bellamy [email protected]
“I was wondering if the person that said she remembered the little boxes that contained peanuts and sometimes, a coin, also remembered the grocery stores having a punch board that you paid a nickel to punch a spot out and sometime won a candy bar, etc. I can’t remember all the details of what else you might win. I do remember shaking those little boxes of peanuts and trying to pick the one that might have a coin inside.” -Elisabeth
“For those who recall rolling your own cigarettes, perhaps you also remember a little device that was available to help the less dexterous. I don’t remember what it was called.” -Don
“Was going through old photos today, Butch, and found these pix of the
Dougherty Depot that I took back around 1986 or so, I believe. I thought you might want to share.” -Kathi G, Fayetteville, Arkansas
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/DoughertyDepot1986a.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/DoughertyDepot1986b.jpg
Hummingbirds
This is an incredible story with breathtaking photography. If you’re anything like me then you’ll enjoy this piece of nature. It’s amazing if you will only take the time and allow naturally wild hummingbirds to get use to you. If you’re computer is unable to keep up wit 720p resolution then click on the bottom right of the video where you’ll see that number and reduce it to either 480p or 360p and start over again. Don’t forget to click on the little rectangle at the bottom right of the video for full screen mode and have your volume on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EUEZkwJulBY
“Hi Butch, my Mom (Tweed Stonum Machock) was asking me this weekend if I could ask you and your Readers if any of her Ardmore Class of 1935 are still living? I told her I would write and see. She will be 96 in a couple of weeks!!!! If anyone knows of someone, please send me an email!” -Helen Tweed in Texas [email protected]
“I know some about Wild Woman Cave and Bitter Enders Cave. I worked on a mapping project at Wild Woman Cave and made over a dozen trips back in 1984 ? 1985. One thing I can tell you for sure and that is you don?t want to be in Wild Woman Cave when it rains!” -Jerry Pate
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/BitterEndersCave1984.jpg
The Daily Ardmoreite
April 7, 1946 – Ramblin Reporter
The column slipped up on the blind side of Ed Tamplin and learned alot about him. Ed is the man who has a mail contract between Durant and Ardmore and that includes Mannsville, Madill, Ravia, Tishomingo, Milburn and Nida and probably Emmett. Besides carrying mail Ed carries passengers. From Mannsville to Ardmore he charges 15 cents and in all these boom prices Ed’s prices have remained the same. A woman whose husband works at the Globe theater and who lives 12 miles out on the Mannsville road is the person who talked about Ed. This woman said Ed would bring a gallon of gasoline, he will buy a bottle of medicine, he will buy a spool of thread. He does all these errands without any pay. He is a busy man every day and when Sunday comes he takes his load of mail just as he does every week day. When asked if he saved money he said he was paying out a home and he would put a few dollars on it. Once when the government was about to make a change that would take Ed Tamplin’s route away from him the people all along the line sent so many letters and petitions into the department that the government abandoned the idea of changing Ed Tamplin. He is one man who lives in the hearts of the people whom he serves.
Music when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder. –John Ruskin
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
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: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund – Administration Webpage
https://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
https://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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