This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 22 Issue 1,101 Circulation 5,000 March 1, 2018
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My permanent email address: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-490-6823
About 2 years after the founding of Ardmore an industry emerged and the Santa Fe invested several thousand dollars building a spur track to a coal mine and empowering about 75 men. The mounds of the mine can be seen today at short distance Southwest of the office to Lake Murray Park. Four attempts were made to make to make this mind a paying investment for the owners between 1888 and 1942. The Sydney Ford family moved to the mine before 1890 and a member of the family, Brownie Ford, was one of the three men who reopened the mine in 1942. Ford and his partners abandoned the 1942 effort because of water problems.
C. I. Bodine was the original promoter of the mine and convince the railroad it should build the spur line. The mine was equipped with an underground railroad with small cars that were pulled out by a steam windless to the tipple, where they were dumped into railroad cars.
After Bodine failed to keep the mine open, it was taken over by a group from Pennsylvania and a number of miners were imported from that state. They mined for a year or more and a settlement of some size was located around the mine. The Pennsylvania group abandoned the project in 1893.
E. F. Ainsworth was the next to open the mine and had Bill Brown as superintendent. The spur track was gone by this time and Ainsworth decided it wasn't feasible to haul the coal to the railroad and finally gave up the effort. -The History of Carter County, First Edition, 1957
Last week the Ardmore area received 5.71 inches of much needed rain. Here is a picture taken at Turner Falls at the week's end of rain, on Saturday February 23rd.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/TurnerFalls022318.jpg
The picture above is reminiscent of March 2007 after a 5 inch rain.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/turnerfalls/TurnerFalls033107b.jpg
Last week it was brought to my attention the similarity of the old Methodist parsonage next door to the ME Church at West Broadway and C Street and today's old Sayre-Mann house on F Street SW.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18a/SayreMannHouseMEParsonage.jpg
I stumbled across this bit of Ringling history when Leon Gleason ran the newspaper in Ringling from 1957 to 1991 selling it to Melissa Grace who is the current owner and publisher.
http://newsok.com/article/1978522
The other day I was thinking back when I was a wee lad and my mother gave me Syrup of Pepsin. I don't remember what she gave it to me to treat, but I sure remember it was the most awful tasting black liquid.
http://www.bottlebooks.com/questions/common/caldwell%27s%20syrup%20of%20pepsin.htm
Q. Where in Oklahoma was the world's largest pecan pie baked?
A. Okmulgee, OklahomaQ. Where in Oklahoma can one take a hike to the site of a plane crash back in 1968 where remnants of the crash are still scattered around the ground?
A. Answer in next week's newsletter
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of March 9, 2006
This week I saw the first blossoms on my Empress tree in my front yard.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/EmpressTreeBlossoms030706.jpgMany of you will remember I planted this Paulownia Empress tree in June 2003 with it was only 12 inches high. Its now taller then my house!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos3b/empresstree3a.jpg
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"Last weeks article about Sylvan Goldman who invented the first shopping cart in 1936 and owned a chain of Oklahoma City grocery stores called Humpty-Dumpty brought back some good memories. Allied Supermarkets of Detroit, Michigan bought Humpty-Dumpty and eventually called the stores Humpty Supermarkets. I worked for them in Oklahoma City as their Training Director from 1973-76 when I was transferred to the Corporate office in Detroit. They went out of business in 1978. The trainer in Oklahoma City for newly hired cashiers for all stores located south of Tulsa was a very nice woman named Myrtle. (can't remember her last name) Most of us called her Murt. She worked for Mr. Sylvan Goldman in his original store. According to her, and she loved to tell the story, the first shopping cart was a peach basket placed on a wooden chair and pulled around the store. From that came wheels, and eventually the cart as we know it today." -W. E. (Wally) Glasscock, Richmond, VA
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"When I was in high school at Davis during the late '50s and early '60s, some of us guys from Davis would go down to the old Springer drag strip. I remember seeing JR Shaw in his black ugly plymouth racing and wiping out other people with that hot car. Jimmy Ragland is another name that I recall, after 40 some odd years. Tommy Jamison had a 1964 Ford that no one could beat back then. Seems he traded for a 406 ci engine that came out of a 1963 ford that the dealership in Davis owned and received after a young man from Wynnewood was shipped to Nam. The young guy I was told, let the car go back to the dealer after he was drafted. Wonder what ever became of him? Anyways, after Tommy wiped out a few hotrodders, they wanted to tear into his car, and of course, he told them no, and they banned him from racing at that track. I will tell ya this....one night I was sitting in the back seat of that '64 and the speedometer dial went out of sight at 120 mph at 5000 rpm, and I watched the Tachometer hit, 6000 rpm before Tommy relaxed his foot on the gas pedal. That machine would fly just like that old souped up Lincoln immortalized in song. If there had been any white picket fences to see, I doubt that we could have seen them." -Scott Bumgarner
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Where was the Devil's Neck Bone and the Adam Jimmy Point?"Colonel James Bourland (1801-1879) traced the "Whiskey Trail" from his home on the Delaware Bend of Red River (Love county) to Fort Arbuckle in now Garvin County. This road passed by the "Devil's Neck Bone" near the present Lake Murray site (Carter-Love county line, twp 6S ran 2W), then intersected the Gainesville road at the Adam Jimmy point. The "Adam Jimmy House" is cited on a 1935 Love County map in my 1,014-page book, BOURLAND IN NORTH TEXAS AND INDIAN TERRITORY DURING THE CIVIL WAR: FORT COBB, FORT ARBUCKLE & THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS." -Patricia Adkins-Rochette
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/AdamJimmyHouseLoveCounty.jpg
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"Butch. This picture was taken at Camp Chapman. Ken Wells, my brother is on the left. Phleat Boyd, son of Dr. Boyd, is on the right." -Grover Wells
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/KenWellsPhleatBoydCampChapman.jpg
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------------------------------------------------------------------------Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"Butch, I was just wondering if you or some of your readers might have some pictures of the old Berwyn Washita bridge that used to cross the Washita River behind the Ardmore Municipal Airport near the southeast corner of the park in Gene Autry. I believe it washed out in 1986 or 1987 after the big flood that year, but I may be wrong. Any information you could give would be greatly appreciated. I would love to read some history of the area also. I found a story about an old ferry close to that area and wondered if anyone could confirm." -Jerry Baker
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Do anyone have any pictures of the wagon wheel stob with the mailboxes that used to be in the intersection at Stobtown? -Barbara Royal
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See the Feb 22, 2018 edition of Ringling Eagle... Colvert's Dairy sign and cow from Syble's Grocery and market.
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Just wanted to tell you that I sure do appreciate all the work you do on your website. I have learned a lot about Oklahoma from you and look forward to the newsletter each week. I went last week and checked out Magnetic Hill, it was worth the trip. Thanks again. -Joe
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/magnetichill.html
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Hey Butch! Here is a website that that you might be interested in, if you haven't already discovered it. I was looking at a map of the Berwyn area from the Carter County map of 1973. Interestingly, it shows the names and house locations of people who lived in the area. -Jerry Bakerhttp://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/676018/T3S+R3E/Carter+County+1973/Oklahoma/
http://www.historicmapworks.com/
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-----------------------------------------------"Let us, before we die, gather up our heritage, and offer it to our children." -Will Durant, The Story of Civilization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_CivilizationButch and Jill Bridges
"Friends Make Life Worth Living"
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Oklahoma Bells: http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm's Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
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 Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us
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