To me, the Christmas holidays is the best time of the year. There is so much to see and do, Christmas decorations, music, food, presents and everyone is just happier during the Holidays. Carter County Government held their yearly Christmas dinner last week at the District 3 Barn in Lone Grove and there was a record attendance, employees and their family members and friends. Everyone left with their tummies full and smiles on their faces. A great time for all in attendance.
And I want to thank those of you who have sent Christmas cards, emails, Facebook posts and gifts to Jill and I. You are all appreciated and we wish everyone a Christmas blessing.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ChristmasDoor121813.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/TheValleyGrapefruit.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/PeanutMix121813.jpg
Paul Tucker, the Carter County emergency management director, received kind of an early Christmas gift this week from the State of Oklahoma. A brand new emergency outdoor lighting system that raises to 30 feet and reportedly will illuminate several acres. I know this piece of equipment will come in handy in certain night situations for this county when needed by emergency services.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/EmergencyLighting121813.jpg
Picked up a sliced BBQ beef sandwich at Ernie's Meat Market in Ardmore this week. It's my second one the past 30 days, and I can describe them both in one word. Delish!
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ErniesBBQ121813.jpg
1940 - Weston Building 300 1/2 West Main
Q. How many separate land
regions can be found in the state of Oklahoma?
A. 10
The Ozark Plateau, in the northeastern part of the state, is an extension of the Missiouri and Arkansas landscape. It's marked by rivers with steep valley walls separated by broad flat areas.
West and south of the Ozark Plateau lies the region known as the Prairie Plains. This area produces most of the state's coal and a great deal of oil. Cattle graze on the Prairie Plains and farms in the Arkansas River Valley, east of Muskogee, produce spinach, beans, and carrots.
On the border of Arkansas, in the southeastern part of Oklahoma, are the Ouachita Mountains. These sandstone ridges, running east to west, form the roughest land in Oklahoma. Spring-fed streams run through narrow valleys between the ridges.
In the north central part of Oklahoma, extending south from the Kansas border to the Red River, is the Sandstone Hills Region. The Sandstone Hills are from 250 to 400 feet high. Some are covered with Blackjack and Post Oak forests. It was in this region that early oil development commenced in Oklahoma.
The Arbuckle Mountains comprise an area of about 1,000 square miles in south-central Oklahoma. The low mountains rise about 600 to 700 feet above the plains. Unusual rock formations have been created by erosion in the mountains. The area is used for cattle grazing.
The Wichita Mountains are found in southwestern Oklahoma.
The Red River Valley Region, in southern Oklahoma along the Texas border, is characterized by rolling prairie. Some forested hills can also be found in the area. The soil is sandy and fertile. Cotton, peanuts, and vegetables are grown in this region.
To the west of the Sand Hills, are the Red Beds Plains. The largest land region in Oklahoma, the Red Beds Plains stretch from the Kansas border in the north, south through the center of the state. The Red Beds Plains slope upward from east to west. In the east are some forested areas. In the west the region is covered with grass.
The Gypsum Hills lie west of the Red Beds Plains and extend north to the High Plains in the northwestern part of Oklahoma. The Gypsum Hills are low (150 to 200 feet) hills capped with 15 to 20 foot layers of gypsum. The Gypsum Hills sparkle in the sunlight because of their gypsum content and, because of this, are sometimes called the Glass Hills.
The High Plains, in northwestern Oklahoma, are level grasslands. The High Plains rise from about 2,000 feet above sea level in the east to 4,973 feet above sea level at Black Mesa in the west. This region includes the Oklahoma Panhandle, the strip of land 166 miles long and only 34 miles wide between Colorado and Kansas in the north and Texas in the south.
Map of the 10 geographical regions of Oklahoma
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/TenGeoRegions.jpg
Q. What Oklahoma town claims
the biggest pecan pie each year?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of December 11, 1999:
I've received a lot of things in the mail during my lifetime. But this week a cassette tape came to me that knocked my socks off. My cousin in Virginia, Don Bridges, wrote a song about Brown Springs in Love County! Don plays the guitar (like my dad did when he was young), and titled the song "Browns Springs At Night" on his album "Ardmore Afternoon". He and his friend, Doug Rainoff, plays the lead guitar and accompanied him. Its a great song! Some really good guitar picking! Here's the lyrics Don wrote:
BROWN SPRINGS AT NIGHT by Don Bridges
Huntin' snakes where woods devour the roadway
Leeper Lake down by the Texas line
Set the bait, retreat into the darkness
Death in the park that hist'ry left behind
Chorus....
Brown Springs at night
(The moon is bathed in blood)
Shadows in flight
(They shudder from the sight)
Man dog will bite
(You better bring your Bible)
Down in Brown Springs at night
Drippin' meat chopped open with a hatchet
Evil deeds left scattered on the ground
Take a drink on top of toppled markers
Chickasaw heart screams out without a sound
Repeat chorus
Their spirits still fight
In Brown Springs at night
In the place where cannibals run rampant
Gettin' late when ghosts begin to rise
Course your fate and hold onto your partner
Doomed if you start to open up your eyes
Repeat chorus
Down in Brown Springs at night
Down in Brown Springs at night
"I have a BIG pecan tree in my back yard. It was prolific this year. I got 5 FULL grocery bags of Big, Full pecans. I didn't know how to shell them. After the feeble attempt with a little hand nutcracker. I called a local 'Pecan and Gift Store" and asked them how the heck you shelled all those pecans. The lady told me to get an 'inertial' nutcracker. I didn't have a clue as to what that was. I looked on INet and saw some photos. Then I started in, here in Houston. SOOOOO final results, I went to a fancy kinda upscale kitchen and hardware store (Bering's) here in Houston. I found one. "Reed's Rocket" ($17.95 and well worth every penny) !! YES .. it's wood with a metal lever thing..you put the nut in there and mash down on the handle. It works. You soon develop a technical slant on the easiest way to do it. I started getting 75% of the meat out of the nut in one fell swoop and then dug out the little pieces that were left with the pointy end of one of the little gadgets that you hold an ear of corn with,to eat. Bottom line, I shelled all 5 bags of pecans, and got at least 20 lbs of shelled pecans. I have most of them away to my kids to use for Xmas. At the going rate of $4.99 for 8/10 ozs. I figured that was a darn good present :))) AND I finally learned how to make pecan pie."
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"Hi Butch, Hope things are great with you. As far as the grapette thing, there is a Mexican drink that is sold in bottles in Wal-Mart in the Mexican foods section, it is called Sangria and is non-alcoholic and tastes a lot like grapette. anyway near enough that when you drink it, you think of Grapette!"
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This week I received some sad news from a friend in Davis, OK. Last July a sweet lady and the "unofficial historian" for Davis took me to where "Seven Springs" was located at the SW edge of Davis, Oklahoma. No one else I talked to really knew exactly where those springs where. She was 92 years old and took me right to those springs. Last Monday night there was a dedication in Sulphur, OK for their new book, "History of Murray County". She was one of the main authors of this new book and one hour before she was killed in a two car crash, she was given the first book at that Dedication Ceremony. Opal Hartsill Brown will be sorely missed by many. A piece of Murray County history died that night.
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Charlie Durie, west of Marietta, Oklahoma called me the other day. He has the Love County Courthouse tower clock running almost perfectly. He found a major problem with the swing of the pendulum, fixed it, and now its right on the money. He does have to adjust the timing on the bell, but its working better than it has in years.
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Non-ethanol gas (pure gas) stations in the Ardmore area (updated).
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
A Quantrill Raider Died in Ardmore OK; Explanation of his Fake Name
This Rush Springs, Oklahoma resident gave a fake name on his
Oklahoma Confederate pension application because it was well known that he had
ridden with Quantrill.
He received his pension then died in the Confederate Home in Ardmore Oklahoma,
and yes, his tombstone has a fake name.
Find-a-Grave. Thanks to the Find-a-Grave organization, a family member
explained: "John
B. Brady's personal story" on the web page devoted to this soldier. This
family's Ancestry.com file shows photos, but shows no info from 1850 to 1870.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/BradyJohnBourland.pdf
Patricia Adkins-Rochette, 580-252-2094
1509 Shadybrook Lane
Duncan, OK 73533
http://www.BourlandCivilWar.com
BOURLAND IN NORTH TEXAS AND INDIAN TERRITORY DURING THE CIVIL WAR: FORT COBB,
FORT ARBUCKLE, AND THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS
"Mr. Robert Goins (biology teacher in Ardmore) would go to the jelly factory over by the overpass and pickup the leftovers from the strawberry or grape jelly. He would then place it by his bee hive in the window at Ardmore High school. He would give us a sample of the strawberry or grape honey the bees made." -Dan Holder
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/RobertGoins1966.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/GoinsClass1966.jpg
Elk north of Ardmore. -Doug Williams
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ArdmoreElk121513a.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ArdmoreElk121513b.jpg
"Butch, if you find a way to change this from a jpg and make it shorter w/o all the pictures, I know MANY readers will truly enjoy it!" -Susan Nance
http://geemail.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/just-a-little-walk-down-memory-lane/
"I found this googling about Rex jell." -Cheryl Santos
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/RexJelly.jpg
1st Day of WWI
See SLATE'S depiction of "The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme" by Joe Sacco on the following web page. It shows one of twenty-four panels that makes an "according." On the 1st page go to the bottom of the page and click on "Continue" then click on the yellow highlights.
Sacco, b-1960, grew up in Australia where schools make sure kids know about WWI, with a special holiday, etc. Sacco said he had studied WWI since he was a small boy then became a cartoonist. He was asked to design a diorama and this was part of the results.
Patricia Adkins-Rochette, 580-252-20941509 Shadybrook Lane
Duncan, OK 73533, www.bourlandcivilwar.com
BOURLAND IN NORTH TEXAS AND INDIAN TERRITORY DURING THE CIVIL WAR: FORT COBB, FORT ARBUCKLE, AND THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS
"Dear Butch: Speaking of things that used to be here is an old favorite of many; Delaware Punch. I found a web site dedicated to the old soft drink." -Larry Paul
http://www.delawarepunch.org/
"Dear Butch: I loved your article on the Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad thank you. I have a few photos of what was once the Ardmore Depot (3rd and N. Washington) of the railroad and I thought you would like to have them. They were taken in the summer of 2005. I would love to see this building declared a state or national historical site before it gets lost to history. Again thank you so much for your wonderful stories." -Larry Paul
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ArdmoreDepot2005.jpg
"Hi ya there Butch!! Well as you know I live in the City of Galveston Texas and work at the University of Texas. In your last newsletter there was a posting of the building with the face on it, I have seen this many times and know a bit about the history of it. In my years here I know of 2 deaths that have been caused by the face. The first one drowned when backing their car up and went off the wall killing one person. The other was standing taking photos and fell off the wall and drowned. Here is a story on the face."
http://insidenanabreadshead.com/2012/01/30/a-monday-mystery-galvestons-infamous-phantom-face/
"The newsletter of the company that I spent a lifetime with. Some pictures are shown which I took in the late 1950's of the Big Canyon Quarry south of Davis, Oklahoma where I spent my first 13 years with the company." -Happy Trails, Roy Miller
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/718f1b22?page=106#/718f1b22/106
"Butch, - I first ran across your newsletter several years ago while I was trying to find information about "Col. Jim Eskew" and "Col. Cliff "Wildhorse" Gatewood" in whose rodeos I rode saddle broncs and bulls back in the 1940s. I was trying to get information for the book I was writing. I subscribed to your newsletter and have enjoyed it every week ever since. I am now 88 years old and have finally finished my book and it has been published. The name of it is "Adventures and Escapades with Friends, Foes and Renegades" Although it is available from Amazon and several other book outlets, the best place to buy it is from the publishers website http://www.SarahBookPublishing.com/ because they don't charge for shipping. You only pay for the book which is only $14.95. It has over 110,000 words and over 300 pictures. It has 342 pages. I just received an e-mail from a family friend and I quote her reaction below." -LeRoy Overstreet
"Hi LeRoy - I bought a copy of your book (actually I
bought 3 copies - one for me, one for the library and one for Stefan) Loved it!
What a fun read! And what a life you have led -- whoo-eeee.......should be made
into a movie--seriously." -Beth Edwards,
Librarian,
------- County Library
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/OverstreetBook121913a.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/OverstreetBook121913b.jpg
"Butch, I found a 1976 paper from Ardmore today and took photos of the ad's in there. Its a shock of how many businesses are no longer in Ardmore." -Doug Williams
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/1976-Newspaer-Ads-of-Business/i-w7FmWq3
I hope everyone remembers when Christmas day comes next week, the true reason for the season. Merry Christmas everyone!
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
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:
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/
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