This and That Newsletter
Vol 13 Issue 667 Circulation 5,000 November 5, 2009
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: [email protected]
580-657-8616
The Daily Ardmoreite June 9, 1918
HORNESPEED FLYER SECURES FACTORY SITE
Twenty acres north of City Limits on Caddo Street purchased from Greater Ardmore Company. Mammoth plant for manufacture of Aeroplanes planned for Ardmore by James A. Horne and associates.
Mr. Horne is planning a trip East at early date to purchase necessary machinery and materials for the first flying machine to be built in Ardmore. He will also go to Washington and may secure war contracts and start negotiations for supplying the Government with the Hornespeed Machines for war services.
Ardmore continues to push forward as the coming industrial center of the State. First we had the great oil refineries and they are still coming. Next came the two mammoth million dollar Tire and Rubber plants. Then came the Iron Works and the modern Refrigerator Plant and other important industries. Already we had one of the largest Pecan Factories in the Southwest. The novel gas stove works, the Paint and Asphalt Works, and many other plants which started Ardmore on the road to being a City.
Hornespeed Propelling Company, 23 Main Street, Ardmore, Oklahoma, -The Daily Ardmoreite, July 7, 1918
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/Hornespeed061618.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/HornespeedPropellingCo1918Colorado.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/HornespeedBuffaloNY.jpg
Hornespeed Propeller Used On Watercraft
The Hornespeed will blow a greater current of air than any three other fans together. Engineers claim that for ventilating purposes only the Hornespeed Propellers are worth millions of dollars to this company and its stockholders. -The Daily Ardmoreite July 7, 1928
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/HornespeedPropellingAd.jpg
Last Saturday Jill and I traveled to Ringling around noon and stopped at The Ranch for a hamburger. Its located on the west side of Ringling on the Highway 70 near the stock yards. Their burger was a really good, even had the meat on top of the fixings like they're suppose to be made.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/TheRanchRinglingOK.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/TheRanchBurger.jpg
But you know, I'm still looking for a burger that beats the old fashion burger at the Lone Grove bowling ally (Bowl-A-Rama). For the money, its one of the best burgers we've found.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/LoneGroveBurger110309.jpg
A few feet to the east of The Ranch was an old windmill pumping water. Don't see many of these anymore.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/RinglingWellPump.jpg
Across the road (Highway 89) on the east side is the First Baptist Church of Ringling. They have a nice bell.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/RinglingBell09a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/RinglingBell09b.jpg
We traveled on in to Ringling to look at Main Street. It was pretty much deserted on a Saturday afternoon.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/RinglingMainStreet.jpg
Adjoining Ringling on the south/southwest is Cornish, Oklahoma. This sign is next to the windmill property and reads: Cornish, I.T.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CornishSign.jpg
The small community of Cornish has a City Hall too!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CornishCityHall103109.jpg
And of course one can not go to Cornish without going to see the wishing well on Main Street. This well has been there before statehood. Its been filled in with dirt today, to stop kids from throwing cats and dogs into the well. Shame.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CornishWishingWell.jpg
I took this pic of the Cornish water well back in 2001.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CornishWell2001.jpg
Here is a photograph of the Cornish well in 1960, still being used.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/CornishWell_1960.jpg
If your a 1971 graduate of Ardmore High School we have a special treat for you. Steve Hamm has taken the '71 year book and digitized it, placing it on the Internet for everyone to view! As you browse through the pages, you can click on any single page and bring it up almost bigger than life. Boy, the names and photos in that book brings back lots of memories for me, and I'm sure it will for you too, even if you didn't graduate that year. There are nearly 200 webpages, so it takes a while to browse through them.
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
One of our four Barred Rock hens produced our first egg last Saturday! We've waited 9 months for that day. We bought the 4 hens ($2.25 each) the first week of May and they were already at least 6 weeks old. I made 2 pin holes in our first egg, removed the contents, and we are saving it as memento. We've been getting an egg every other day. One hen has a deep red comb, we are sure she's the one laying the eggs. Another hen has a not so dark red comb, and the other 2 even less red. When all four hens are laying we should have plenty of fresh eggs!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/FirstEgg103009.jpg
I have had this egg weighing contraption since around 1970, so I decided to weigh our first egg. I don't know how accurate the scales are since I haven't tried to calibrate it. I need to find something that weighs, say exactly 2 ounces, and calibrate the scales.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/FirstEggWeight103009.jpg
Probably nearly 2 months ago when Milo first starting crowing, it was the most pitiful sound, he could barely eke it out of himself. But today, he can bellow out a dozen or two loud crows in the early morning. The video byte below is about 2 megs, so give it a minute to load.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/MiloCrowing110409.wmv
A reader sent in a pic of an old post card from years ago of the Vendome Plunge in Sulphur.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/VendomePlungePNP.jpg
Another reader brought me a turkey foot this week to photograph. His cousin or someone killed a turkey and gave him a leg to make something out of it. If you look at it with a little imagination, seems all it needs is some eyes, and a nose painted on the bone, and some big red lips at the end of that bone, and it will get a lot of laughs. lol
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/TurkeyFoot.jpg
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Q. What is Oklahoma's
state grass?
A. Indian Grass
Q. What direction did the
Cross Timbers in Oklahoma run?
A. (answer in next week's issue)
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"I've uploaded today's photos of the actual removal of the two metal bridge structures of the Ardmoretrestle system. One was over BNSF's Red Rock Sub Main and the other was over "G" St. Also photos of the removal of the section between the two. One of the saddest photo assignments I've had but I do greatly appreciate the permission granted for me to get in close for some tight shots. One trestle remains on "I" St.
Will find out next week when it will be removed." -Dwane Stevens, Ardmore
http://rides.webshots.com/album/575290695ynOJtd
"This 1911 Bell is at the First Methodist Church in Buffalo, Harper County, Oklahoma. I got to ring it when I was in Methodist Youth Fellowship. Back then the bell was in the belfry in an old fashioned white wood building church, just across the lot from where the church is now." -Carolyn Leonard
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bellphotos/BuffaloOKbellA.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bellphotos/BuffaloOKbellB.jpg
"Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" is a good song. Boy, does it bring back memories."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPZVrmJ2HH8
"please send address for Rick Wallace's veterans center website"
http://www.OklahomaVeteransCenter.com
"Hi Butch: After I saw your piece in This & That on Sweetheart Limo service out of Davis, I hired Charles Dodd, a nice young man who owns the service, to take some friends and me to Denton for dinner last week. We had a marvelous time. Very reasonable and high-quality service. Charles is a pro. Thanks." -Paula
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/SweetheartsLimo.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/SweetheartsLimoCard.jpg
"Please don’t sell T&T, when I read that little “blurp”…I thought I would have an anxiety attack!"
"December 30th, 1976 was the date of the arrests, around 11 or midnight.
We actually started working with the OBNDD and Customs around Thanksgiving 1976. We staked out the Ardmore Airpark at Gene Autry. A plane had been left at American Flyers, a Lockheed Loadstar, for refurbishing. The people wanted to line the cargo area with plexi-glass. During the work the workers found marijuana seeds in the cracks of the floor and notified OBNDD. OBNDD and Customs contacted me, and Terry Dickson and I went out to the Airpark. We watched as a pilot flew into the airpark in a Cessna 310, James Richard Joyce, and he got into the Loadstar and headed for the southern tip of Texas. Customs gave chase, as a transponder had been placed in the Loadstar. OBNDD had set up a plan with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to surround the Airport in the event the plane came back to the Ardmore Airpark as suspected. Jimmy Birdsong (OBNDD), Terry Dickson (Ardmore PD) and I, missed Thanksgiving while staking out the airport. We received a call stating that the plane had landed in south Texas due to weather. The day after Thanksgiving we got a call that the Loadstar had been seized in Columbia for customs violations. So we called the whole thing off.
The night of December 30th or 31st I received a call a home from Agent Birdsong stating that a DC4 had been purchased in Arizona and had flown to Columbia. It was spotted coming back into the United States at New Orleans and the plane had stopped in Sulphur Springs, Texas to refuel and had parked at the far end of the runway there, claiming they transporting nuclear waste. The fuel truck had to go out to them to refuel. He stated that the plane had gone airborne and was lost on radar around Sulphur.
I contacted Chief Culley and Detective Terry Dickson. I picked up Dickson and headed to the Airpark in my personal car. We passed five U-Haul trucks traveling down State Highway 53, going east toward the Airpark. We took up a position near the airport tower where we observed a plane landing at the far east side of the runway. It taxied to the Tower and the pilot got out of a Cessna 310, the same plane that had been flown to the Airpark by the pilot that took off in the Loadstar.
As I was moving to a different location the pilot saw me and asked about a fuel truck and I told him that I thought the operations at the Airpark were closed for the night. He continued on into the Tower building.
I notified the OBNDD of what was happening they in turn notified the OHP. I could see movement out where the big plane was located, lights flickering as if someone was moving between lights and my point of view.
OBNDD, Customs and the DEA were on there way from Oklahoma City. I do not remember how long we waited, but approximately two and a half and three hours, I saw trucks moving out with their lights out. The Highway patrol started stopping vehicles that were leaving and OBNDD ordered me to move on the pilot at the tower and then move to the big plane on the east side of the airport. Terry and I arrested Joyce at the Tower and then headed for the DC4. We pulled up and could see, what appeared to be marijuana blowing around on the ground. No one was found at the plane. Two engines were feathered, cargo door was open and then the State and Federal law enforcement showed up.
Later it was determined that the OHP, OBNDD and DEA had stopped 4 U-Haul trucks, and two cars. They had radios and a night scope. Twelve people were arrested and 17,000 lbs of marijuana confiscated, wrapped in burlap bags that had printed on them "Product of Columbia"
A blue norther blew in that night. Two days after the arrest an 11th person was discovered at the Airpark. He was nearly frozen. He had run off into the Washita River and the quicksand had sucked his shoes off. He had severe frost bite on his fingers and toes. The DA did not prosecute.
There was some animosity over this investigation. OBNDD had informed us to not tell anyone what we were working at the time the investigation started. As far as APD knew, the investigation was over the day after Thanksgiving. On the spur of the moment we were notified of the movements of the DC4 and we did not have time to notify the DAs Office. Apparently OBNDD did not notify the DAs Office. That created an ongoing friction for some time.
While the El Paso 10 was being booked at Ardmore PD, Jerry Wilson, pilot of the DC4, made a local phone call and talked with someone locally and described me on the phone and the local person gave Wilson my name.
Also, I believe there was a fifth truck and Jerry Wilson told Birdsong and me of the record that he had 20,000 lbs of marijuana."
Beverly's Chicken in the Rough - OKC
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2006/07/north-on-lincoln-chicken-in-rough.html
"Butch, you better hide your rooster Milo, this guy is looking for him. This rooster was outside the Fried Pie place by Turner Falls."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/FriedPieRooster.jpg
Q. "I am looking for the correct spelling of a dairy in or around Ardmore in the 1970's. I believe it was McGowan or McCowan. First name I believe was Ray. Hope you can help." -Helen in CA
A. "Ray McKown lived SE of Ardmore on Springdale Road. I'd ride my Sears moped to his diary when I was 14 and 15 years old (about 1964) and buy a gallon of raw milk for 95 cents. We swapped out glass gallon jugs (had to be glass). Wish I could buy raw cow's milk today" -Butch Bridges
Google Earth streams the world over wired and wireless networks enabling users to virtually go anywhere on the planet and see places in photographic detail. This is not like any map you have ever seen. This is a 3D model of the real world, based on real satellite images combined with maps, guides to restaurants, hotels, entertainment, businesses and more. You can zoom from space to street level instantly and then pan or jump from place to place, city to city, even country to country. Get Google Earth. Put the world in perspective.
http://earth.google.com
"November 1, 2009 and we're out looking and enjoying southern Oklahoma at its finest. This creek was located just east of I-35, at the bottom of Turner Falls take a little jog to the right and head north on a road that parallels I-35 and the creek is on that road. You will pass the weigh station and the road comes out just east of the casino on Hwy 7." -Doug Williams
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/DavisCreek110109a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos9a/DavisCreek110109b.jpg
"Butch, the lumber yard on east main in Madill sells the Bengal Fire Ant Killer, 6.99 a can"
"This is the website I sent my postcard of the SS Healdton to in Holland, he finally got it on his page, and it looks very nice." -Lee Thompson
http://www.aukevisser.nl/inter/id737.htm
'My Home' by Stuart Hamblen 1962
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4upbGYHglE
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
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 schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website.
Feel free to forward this free newsletter. Mailouts: over 1,600.
To be removed from my T&T mailings, just send me an email.
I do not sell, trade or give my mailing list to anyone for any reason.