More Memories   Pawnee, Oklahoma

I know they all had a hard time getting out of Europe. Getting across the ocean then getting here after all the "stops" in between.
Then after they arrived it was not much better except they were free to do whatever they could. Note: after 1946 the "freedoms" started "wearing thin".
Now there are video cameras mounted on telephone poles - It's progress.

Yes, I've thought of how all those poor souls suffered coming over here to a strange land- not knowing what next and with Kaiser Bill breathing on their backs.
 They sure had to be determined. They also had more than their share of "spongers" to deal with.
They were lied to and stole from everywhere they stopped. (for what little they had)

I got to talk with a couple of old ladies who were survivors of all that when I serviced the rest home at Tonkawa, OK back in 1962.
I was working for Orkin at that time. (They could not believe I was not a direct descendent of Arthur Gooch.)
 Anyway, they told me how they came to western Oklahoma with their folks when they were young girls.
That part of the world was as bad as a desert at that time. 
People back in St.Louis told them "how wool grew on rocks, eggs grew on trees",
 how buffalo would scrape their winter hair on trees and it was no problem to roll it off and make yarn to weave into quilts.
 Also, there were so many prarie chickens - just walk out into the grass with a pot and one would surely jump in.
Anything to get the settlers to spend their money on supplies and move on.

But it was much worse up north. Hundreds of immigrants froze to death during the first year. No one told them how fierce the winter would be.
They planted their wheat and the first blizzard hit during harvest time.
All they knew was they had land, most of a crop harvested and were dressed for summer with no housing to protect against the bitter cold.
 The wagon trains hauled the wheat away and left them there - told them "summer will be back in a few days".
So you see it was not easy to make the transition. Many lost everything, even their lives.


My memory did not start "kicking in" until I was nearly one year old.
We left the old homestead and moved to the little farm (just south of Pawnee) in 1939-1940. I can remember a few scenes from then.
I remember sitting on Anton's lap with the guitar and watching Frances creeping around and the house seemed too dark.   

(Grandma Frances was blind  ALW)

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I don't remember Frances "falling on a stick" making her blind. She was fair complexioned and the sun; heat, wind and dust took a toll on her eyesight.
That would explain her cataracts. Also, in those days people did not wear sunglasses.
Not only were they too expensive but it was considered only "night club people" wore them.

My father and uncle still butchered hogs the old fashioned way until 1947.
My uncle "packaged" the pork bellies in brown sugar from the 50's on back. That made the best bacon ever.
It's amazing how the old folks kept the farm going on as they did. I found out in my early years- it takes three able-bodied men to make a farm "work".
They must have had more stamina then than we can muster these days.
 I also can remember the lye soap very well. Everyone used it in those days. It was a standard household item.
I remember it would "burn" if you left it on too long. My aunt used to keep us supplied with it. It was sure good to get my mechanic garments clean.
I was driving and working on trucks back then.

I can remember scenes from the Ripley place but nothing special except
I got to see the big tin barn Elmer Ripley built (before the tornado blew it away in late 1939 or early 1940). I have a picture of it.
That barn was considered a great wonderment of the times. Had to be because he built it with salvage and junk.
People just could not understand how he did it.

I remember my first winter there. It was so cold- and no heat to do any good. Had to "get in the fire" to feel it.
There were still some "real" wolves around then - the big ones. I remember the old folks told of them years later.
I was too young to know a wolf if I saw one. Later in 1943 I did see a couple southwest of the little farm. I had a "playground" that covered six square miles.


The Doodlebug traveled within a one hundred-mile radius. It stopped at all the Frisco railway spurs that were all over this area.
 It was a small engine that pulled several rail cars.The Doodlebug hauled some passengers but its main purpose was to haul farm products and supplies.
The "Doodlebug" headquarters was in Perry, Oklahoma. There was once a large railroad yard there with a turntable and huge maintenance barn.
The shop in Perry performed maintenance on all the Frisco trains that passed through.
The Doodlebug was phased out in the early 1950's. There was a bad accident about 1949 that gave it a "boost" the wrong way.
A horse fell between the ties on a stretch of railway (country bridge). The horse's legs were wedged in between the ties and it was stuck.
The Doodlebug came along and ran over the horse.
An investigation concluded it was operator error since the Doodlebug was not a fast train and the weather was clear.
That spelled the end for the Doodlebug.


The Gypsies were always coming through until the early 1940's.
One reason they stopped is because my Uncle bought and took over their camping ground about nine miles to the south of Pawnee.
This land had the big "everflowing" spring - good fresh water, and plenty of it year around.
The gypsies would take anything handy -children and babies too. They also would leave anything that was of no use to them or if they thought it was cursed.
As they did leave (name withheld) so the Echohawk Indians could find him.
There was something about him the gypsies did not like so they "dumped" him on the Indians. So he grew up as an Indian.
They gave him the name (withheld) and even to this day he believes he is an Indian.
The gypsies moved their route farther west. The last time I saw them was in the early 60's at the Great Salt Flats during the winter.
They all had Cadillac's and were "pulling" Airstream trailers. They would stay at the Great Salt Flats about a month during the winter. (But no more)
Note:
The "Great Salt Flats" is located in the heart of the Oklahoma panhandle near Gage, Oklahoma.
There is a state park in the area and many people camp there and drive off-road vehicles in the dunes. (ALW)


The last time I was in Maramec I forgot to see if the remains of the Cech rock house was still there.
The rock house was the undeclared "city hall" of Maramec. It was the meeting place for all those passing through.
All the stone work at Valley, Oklahoma has been hauled away by scavengers. They even took the tombstones from the graveyard.
They use the stones for yard ornaments or fireplaces. Even some stones with visible lettering were used as ornaments.
Same at the rock and brick school at the East Side of Maramec. All hauled away, nothing is left but "prarie".
The only things left at Maramec is the water pump and the old store building. (and memories of earlier times)


I remember when I was four or five years old we were downtown (Pawnee, OK) and a couple stopped in on their way to California to work in the shipyards.
The woman was wearing sunglasses and slacks. They were run out of town. The "crazed villagers" took after them. Accused them of being Nazi spies.


Yes, the little creeks everywhere are almost history.
There were some good ones here 60 years ago - full of water and fish the year around.
But no more. Progress of man has used them up.
Note:
My theory is building dams, pumping groundwater and contour farming is the reason. (ALW)