This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 25  Issue 1,251    Circulation 5,000      December January 14, 2021
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My email address:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-490-6823

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us
What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."


A Glimpse Into The Past

American Red Cross - Ardmore chapter 1955

Most of the activities of the Red Cross are well-known to the public, but perhaps the details of the administration of local chapters are not so widely known.

The Carter County chapter received its Charter in 1917. It's affairs were controlled by a board of directors who are elected for a three-year period, but a system a rotation assures that one third of the directors are changed each year. Any director who has served for two consecutive terms is not eligible to serve again until 12 months have elapsed. Present officers of the Carter County chapter are Earle E. Garrison, chapter chairman; T. Fred Collins, chairman; John Hendricks, treasurer, and Mrs. William J. Cashman, secretary. These officers are members of the board of directors.

Other board members are Carl Buck of Fox; Homer J. Leslie and Shade Young of Wilson; Reverend and Mrs. Frank Sears of Healdton; Mrs. Tom Ezell of Dillard; Mrs. Patsy Telford of Gene Autry and Marvin Sampley of Springer. Directors who live in Ardmore are Joe Shinn, Earl Brown, Mrs. A. J. Schwarz, John Hendricks, Mrs. William J. Cashman, Mrs. Leon Daube, Mrs. Ernest E. Dirks, and Hardy Murphy.
-from Carter County History book 1957

http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos21a/ArdmoreRedCross1955.jpg

November 1982
A man and woman apparently waiting for a flying saucer in Minnesota spent a month in a car in the snowy wilderness before the woman died and the man fell unconscious. Laverne Landis, a registered nurse from Saint Paul, was found dead in the car, apparently from hypothermia, dehydration and starvation. Gerald Falch, 38, an electrician from West Saint Paul, was found beside a road by a motorist. He had been admitted for psychiatric evaluation. Authorities said the couple had been receiving "messages." The last one told them to go to the end of Gunflint Trail and wait further messages. They kind of believed in flying saucers.

November 1950
John D. Bogle, butane salesman for the past six years, has bought the Peyton–Chambers butane-propane system at Lone Grove, formerly run by Ray Pinkerton, who is moving to Arkansas. Bogle has lived in this area always and is well known in the community.

November 1926
For the first time since November 7, 1925 when a .45 caliber revolver barked three times in the quiet hours of the early morning, and a love County pioneer, Dr. J. V. Jenkins, slumped to the floor, the sordid details will be told in court Monday morning. Among those accused of murder is his wife, Mrs. Jenkins.

As of today we have reached people about unclaimed property totaling over $535,061. And the search continues.

So with the above being said, how long has it been since you checked your name or a family member's name? Its easy to do a search at the Oklahoma State Treasurer link below. I think every state in the union has a unclaimed property website through the respective state treasures website.
https://OKtreasure.com

Q. What Oklahoma governor sometimes depended on astrology?
A.  Henry Johnston

Q.  Where in Oklahoma is the Teepee Rock also known as the Healing Rock?
A.  Answer in next week's newsletter

Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....

Does anyone know about William Lacy Deel killed by Bill Johnson Sept 28, 1903 My grandma was Vernie Wood and my grandpa was Roy Dehart. In 1933 my dad, Dean London, and his brother Ray, who were from Ringling, attended Camp Chapman, a long since abandoned Boy Scout camp on Deel Creek, about a mile upstream from where it empties into the Washita near Dougherty, Oklahoma. That year, the Scoutmaster took the troop into Torture Cave, located just off a side creek about a quarter mile from Camp. It may go by other names, but Dad said it was called Torture Cave due to the cold water which had to be waded or swum. After what seemed like a mile in the cave, it apparently ended at a circular pool surrounded by rock. The Scoutmaster dove into the pool, returning within a minute, saying that there was more cave on the other side, but he would not let the Scouts try it due to the danger. My Dad always wondered about that other side. When I was 12, he took me on an Arbuckle hike which included Torture cave, but we only went in a few feet because we had no lights. -Susie Harvey 50qusie50@gmail.com
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/CampChapman.jpg
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Butch: I was doing some research on the old Mill Creek dam west of Ravia that was part of the 1920s Madill water supply system. I saw multiple reports on the site in some of your old This and That newsletters. Did you ever get any pictures of the dam and the remaining structures there at the dam?
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/MillcreekDam2008.jpg

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I have heard for years about a train or maybe trolley that ran from Ardmore to the Wirt Franklin estate at Dornick Hill so people could swim at a pool and maybe picnic on the grounds. I think I have seen what's left of the cement pool years ago. It was located east of the big grey granite house but before you got to what we called Cassidy's pond. This information was what I remember from the 60's. Do you know anything about it and if so where can find out information and what is
was called (if it had a name). Thanks. -Steve
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/maps/TrolleyCarMap.jpg
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Q. I was wondering if you have any info on Lorena Park that was located at Dornick Hills years ago?

A. Joe F. Robison (1857-1910), the man who, with partner A.V. Doak, built the first Federal Building and who owned the opera house at Main and C Street Southwest, had another brainstorm about 1907 – street cars for Ardmore. He organized and was president of the Ardmore Traction Company which functioned until 1924 when it fell victim to the automobile age. Two second-hand trolley cars were obtained from Fort Worth Texas. The first conductor was J.W. "Bill" Moore, and the fare was $0.05 in town $0.10 to the end of the line, Lorena Park. The trolley followed a route from the Santa Fe Depot west on Main Street to C Street, then north along C Street to 8th Avenue Northwest, west along 8th to Wolverton, north along Wolverton out of town to the car barn, 1 mile north of town, then to Lorena Park, also Robison's conception, on the edge on the ridge near Dornick Hills Country Club. In time, the equipment increased from 2 Cars to six which included 2 summer cars consisting of mounted benches shaded by canopies overhead. This transportation venture was popular but not lucrative, particularly after the advent of the automobile. In 1922, service was discontinued, and during the 1930s the tracks were removed as a project of the WPA.

Robison, Ardmore's early impresario, was remembered by historian Ouida Hardreader, as a large, red-faced man who, like many of the time, was an intermarried citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He met an untimely death when in an altercation in front of his opera house at West Main and C Street he was knocked down, hit the curb, and suffered a fatal blow to his head.

Lorena Park was named for Lorena Cruce, daughter of Oklahoma second governor, Lee Cruce. It was a highly popular recreation area, baseball field, picnic areas, and a lake for swimming and fishing and playgrounds for the youngsters. -From Sally Gray's book, Territory Town, The Ardmore Story
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25084970/joseph-f-robison
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Below is from This and That newsletter archives of January 8, 2009

Roy Justice from over in Johnston county sent in a photo he took in 1983. He and his dad removed the boiler at Scotta's Nursery, which was used to heat the greenhouses during the worst winter months. The brick tower that's been talked about several times lately was part of the boiler system of Scotta's. Thanks Roy for clearing up the questions people had on the brick tower behind the Chickasaw Towers.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/ScottasBoiler1983.jpg

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This week state highway crews will start dismantling the old Caddo Creek bridge north of Ardmore on Highway 77.  A new bridge will be in its place by summer.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CaddoCreekBridge010409.jpg

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"A lot of information on Wild Women Cave!"  -Larry
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okmurray/stories/wild_woman_cave.htm
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"Wild Woman cave is east of Nebo about 3 miles. Wagon Wheel Cave is south of the pool below turner falls about 1/4 mile and a climb up about 75 ft. It is a large opening about 7ft in almost a perfect circle, thus the name wagon wheel. Bitter Enders is a cave I don't know anything about, but.... the cave where all the water comes down Honey creek and over the falls is the one I spent a lot of time in. One of the descriptions a fella wrote about going down into mud and sliding down and down until you hit the water. It was ice cold and we had to use old small inner tubes that we blew up by mouth to float down to the room where the water went under the ledge and outside. You could see the outside light coming from under the water. It may be called Bitter Enders but I never knew the name of it. It is about 3 to 4 miles due West of the falls and the water comes out from under a large ledge. Opening is couple of hundred feed west of that. Straight down for at least 60 ft, then the steep mud slope into the water. The mud slope is about 50 to 60 ft long at about a 30 to 40 degree angle. Went back into that cave in late 60's after they built the freeway and a rock the size of a small house had come down from the roof. Probably due to all the dynamiting for the highway. Swore I'd never go into it again. Killed a trophy sized coon tail rattler with a rock and took him back and park service came to the house and skinned him and he was on display in the nature center for several years. It was lying at the entrance to the cave "Bitter Enders" and I almost got nailed by him." -Larry Ogwin
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“That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.” -Henry David Thoreau

See everyone next week!

Butch and Jill Bridges

"Friends Make Life Worth Living"
Ardmore, Oklahoma
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net

Oklahoma History Website #2 (backup website)
http://www.okiehistory.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
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us

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