What do Will Rogers and bowl games have in common?

With bowl season just getting started and all the state schools playing in bowl games around the country it got me thinking about our states history with bowl games. Have we ever hosted a bowl game? Yes, we have the first in 1947 the inaugural and subsequently the last year for the Will Rogers Bowl held in Oklahoma City. The two lucky teams were Pepperdine University and Nebraska Wesleyan University. The night before the big game a storm blew in leaving snow and cold temperatures in it's path with a high for the day at 30° only 800 people showed up for the game. It was held on January 1, 1947 at 2:30 p.m. at Taft Stadium. Pepperdine won the game 38-13 and it is their one and only bowl appearance as they do not play football at the school anymore. 

 

Pepperdine bus with the Will Rogers Bowl banner 

 

Promotional photo for the bowl game Pepperdine Coach Warren Gaer (L) player Dennis Horn, and Will Rogers Jr. pose with a photo of Will Rogers.

 Taft Stadium was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934 it had a capacity at the time of 18,200 it was and still is located at  NW 23rd and May Ave. The stadium is currently home to Northwest Classen and John Marshall High School football teams. It has seen everything from the Oklahoma bowl games, stock car racing, soccer, and countless high school football games. It was recently "remodeled" but looks to me that it is a shell of what it once was. 

There is not a whole lot of information that I was able to find about this game as far as advertising or pictures but seeing how only 800 people showed up I guess it wasn't that big of a deal at the time. However, there is a very interesting 27 minute silent video of the game if you have the time take a look at it, the link will be at the bottom of the page. I took some screen shots of the video just to show some scenes from it as well.

It was brought to my attention that there were also four other bowl games played at Taft stadium called the All-Sports Bowl from 1961-64 all included a team from Oklahoma.

1961: Oklahoma Panhandle -28 vs. Langston 14 (8,000 people in attendance)
1962: Nebraska-Omaha - 34 vs. East Central 21 (2,500 people in attendance)
1963: Northeastern St. - 59 vs. Slippery Rock 12 (attendance unknown)
1964: Sul Ross St - 21 vs. East Central 13 (attendance unknown)

Players warming up before the game.

It seems like there are bowl games everywhere now and there are, 40 games to be exact.  The University of Tulsa will travel to Shreveport, Louisiana which has a population of 446,471 in the metro area. Which shows there is no reason we don’t have a bowl in Oklahoma! Oklahoma City is roughly 1.4 million people in the metro area and Tulsa is just under a million. Why can’t we be one of the 40 bowl games that smaller cities around the country host and bring money into their states by doing so? I wish I had an answer for everyone reading, I don’t know if it’s just because we don’t want one or don’t think we have the facilities to handle one which is probably the case. Norman would be the most plausible place to play a bowl game. I do think it is time our state pushes to bring back the Will Rogers Bowl or shall I say the Devon Energy Will Rogers Bowl or something along those lines, it won't bring 900 million into the state to offset the deficit, but it wouldn't hurt. Oklahoma deserves another chance to show the country that we can bring more people out to a bowl game in our great state. 

Taft Stadium before remodel

Close up of Taft Stadium scoreboard 1947

Will Rogers Bowl Trophy 

1947 Will Rogers Bowl game footage

Taft Stadium picture via: Waymarking

Pictures of run down Taft Stadium before the remodel: Daily Oklahoman

Info on Taft Stadium: Daily Oklahoman

Trophy and Will Rogers Jr. pictures from Pepperdine Archives

All other pictures are screen shots from the video link above. 

Bowl scores NCAA

If anyone has any pictures of the All-Sports Bowls held at Taft Stadium I would love to see them and will ad them to the page with permission.

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Email at okhistorypics@gmail.com 

Red sky at night...

Oklahoma sunset June 18 2015

Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning sailors take warning. As the rain storm blew past Oklahoma and into Missouri the sky lit up last night with glows of orange and red. Yes, the saying is old folklore but it does hold some truth and in fact farmers used this to predict rainfall. 

Crickets chirp faster when it's warm and slower when its cold. Is there truth to this old saying?Tradition says that if you count the cricket’s chirps for 14 seconds and then add 40, you will obtain the temperature in Fahrenheit at the cricket’s location.

Sometimes instead of relying on our fancy smart phones to tell us what the weather is going to do, we need to put the phone down and look to the sky and listen around us to tell us what the weather will be like. History shows that mother nature is pretty reliable. Plus we all need a break from whatever device you're reading this on. 

Claude Thompson plants bermuda seed in Chickasha, Ok on the Arnold Obie Farm on June 19, 1949

I wonder what Claude Thompson's (pictured) sky looked like that morning and how fast those crickets where chirping, on this day 66 years ago. The weather for Oklahoma City that day was a high of 85 a low of 64 with wind gust up to 10 knots. So i would say it was a pretty good mid June day for Mr. Thompson. 

Do you have any folklore that has been passed down to you? Let us know on twitter @OkieHistoryPics or comment below.  

Read more weather folklore here.

Tractor photo courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society. 

Why so many Oklahoma lakes?

The recent trend of rainy weather in Oklahoma got me thinking. Why the heck, do we have so many lakes in Oklahoma and why are they all man made? If you didn’t already know Oklahoma has a lot of shoreline, we’re talking 55,646 miles of shoreline!

                It mainly started with Governor Robert S. Kerr who gave a speech about water in Oklahoma in 1963 and how we needed to tame the abundant supplies of water we have in Oklahoma, referring to the rivers that ran through the state. Kerr stated in his speech, “I tell the people of Oklahoma that our abundant supplies of water will be worth more to our great state in the next half century then all the oil and gas we’ve produced have been worth to it in the past half century.” That is a bold statement when talking about a state big on oil and gas production.

Robert S. Kerr walking across the Altus Lake Dam.

                Another man by the name of Carl Albert was also influential in the building of Oklahoma reservoirs.  In fact President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke of how influential both Carl Albert and Robert “Bob” Kerr were during his remarks at the dedication of the Eufaula Dam in 1964. Johnson, a native Texan, was also devoted to conserve natural resources and stated that nothing that the government accomplished that year could have happened except under the leadership of the Oklahoma delegation and particularly Carl Albert.  In his dedication he mentioned how the Eufaula Dam was one of Robert Kerr’s dreams and how he wished he could have been there to see the completion.  Kerr passed away in 1963, the same year he gave the speech to Oklahoma about conserving water.  It is a great dedication and you can read it all by clicking on the link at the bottom.

So why do we have so many lakes? There are a few reasons, mainly for flood control, water supply, recreation, fish, wildlife, and hydroelectric power.  And who knows this might not have happened if not for a few men having the foresight and the dream to conserve Oklahoma’s natural resources for the future. Without them we would probably be still struggling through patterns of flood and drought. With our current season of rain I think we all should appreciate this a little more when we go to sleep in our dry houses and drive to work on only semi flooded roads. Just think how much worse it could have been.

Bluff Creek Dam, Lake Hefner 1945

Does Oklahoma have any natural lakes?

               This question came up early when researching why Oklahoma had so many lakes and the answer is of course complicated.  To explain this I must also give a short geology lesson.  The only natural lakes in Oklahoma are called oxbow and playa lakes. An oxbow lake is a crescent-shaped lake lying alongside a winding river. It is created overtime as erosion occurs both on the outside of the loop, making it wider and on the neck of the loop eventually allowing the river to flow straight instead of taking the curve. An example of this is Horseshoe Lake in Rogers County Oklahoma. There are several of these horseshoe lakes in Oklahoma this is just an example of one of them. 

An example of an Oklahoma oxbow lake. Horseshoe Lake Rogers County 

The other type of “natural lake” is a playa lake. A playa lake is a round hollow in the ground that is only present at certain times of the year which is typically the rainy time of year. The only playa lake information for Oklahoma I could find was the Smithton Playa Lake. Basically a playa is a medium to large low spot that fills with water when it rains and usually dries up in the hot summer months. There is a hiking trail near Guymon called the Playa Lake Loop it might be something to check out in the future.  

Smithon Playa Lake Oklahoma

So to answer the question: Does Oklahoma have any natural lakes? Yes we do and sometimes there are more than others.


Check out my twitter page @OkieHistoryPics

Read the full dedication of Eufaula Dam by Lyndon Johnson.
Learn about our rivers, lakes and streams.
Listen to the water speech by Robert S. Kerr.
Smithton Playa Lake picture courtesy of. Farm Service Agency
Historical Picture courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society. 

A Night with Don White: Live and Loud with the Tulsa Sound

I thought I should preface this entry just to say this isn’t going to be a normal old time Oklahoma story this Oklahoma history comes from a little later in statehood but is history none-the-less. I hope you enjoy it and again learn something you didn’t know.

On a cold Tulsa night in March my father and I got a chance to see a local legend of the Tulsa Sound. The venue wasn’t your typical concert hall or smoky bar room. This one was far more intimate, located at a woman’s house around 15^th and Delaware in midtown Tulsa. I had never been to a concert at someone’s house and still question the legality of the occasion, considering tickets were sold and alcohol was present, but regardless the night kicked off without a hitch and made for some great memories. As I sat there listening I couldn’t help but think how cool it will be to take my kids, that I don’t have yet, to this house years from now and paint them a picture of the night me and their grandpa saw Don White there. Now, I am sure I will seem old as dirt, saying I went to a concert in a house but that’s a ways away.

On to the show, in this small midtown house 15 or so people gathered to listen to the music and stories of Don White and his son Steve White.  Don White, which he says everyone calls him since his name is so short, may not be as famous as the countless other musicians that line the walls of the Oklahoma Music  Hall of Fame but he deserves his place right alongside them. He is as classic country as they come with his well-worn light brown cowboy hat, “Okie Grown” t-shirt with complimentary pearl snap, blue jeans, and boots. You see, Don White was one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound playing in a band with the late J.J. Cale. 

Don White (right) with son Steve March 5th 2015

He told story after story from drinking and playing with The Crickets, of Buddy Holly fame, playing with Buddy Knox, to playing guitar with Eric Clapton. He told of the first time he played with singer and fellow Tulsan Gus Hardin. Saying, the first time she sang with anyone was at a band practice when one of his bandmates brought his wife to sing with the band. Never hearing Gus sing White recalled thinking “Oh great his wife is going to come sing.” She then got up on the mic stiff and nervous but she knocked their socks off. Don White was there the last time Gus Hardin would perform as well in 1996 he drove her home after a show, to her home in Salina, Ok, she died the next morning in a traffic accident. My favorite story of the evening was about him drinking with The Crickets after Buddy Holly had died. After what he portrayed to be having a few too many drinks he asked one of the band members, (I’m paraphrasing here as this is all from memory) “Do you think if Buddy had known what kind of legacy and influence he was going to leave behind with his music if he still would have chosen to play music and die, or work at the post office and live to be 85?” After a laugh the band member simply said, “Post Office.” It was a great light hearted moment about a musical icon.

Don White (left) with  Rockabilly musician John D. Levan

There were too many great stories to talk about here including Tulsa radio DJ “Rockin” John Henry and  Don White doing a radio show himself in Vinita, Ok called “Not Necessarily Nashville.” Overall it was a wonderful evening of many great songs and the many great stories behind them.

As my dad reminded me, because somehow I forgot, Don White used to practice in my grandfathers house when my dad was just a kid. It made the memories of that night that much more important to hold onto.  So if you’re from Oklahoma or anywhere for that matter and you see Don White on the bill, get there because you will get a great show and maybe even here some great stories.  People like this aren't going to be around forever to tell stories of when music was raw and real.

Don White show in 1975

Learn more about Don White here:Don White
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Photo Source: Don White and John Levan : http://www.rockabillyhall.com/johndlevan.html
Photo Source: Cains Ballroom Poster: http://www.posterchild.com/posterproject/docs/75-2.htm

Frank Lloyd Wright: Prairie Skyscraper

On a "snowy" day in Northeastern Oklahoma where me and my wife both had the day off work, instead of staying at home and relaxing in the warm house we decided to venture up highway 75 to Bartlesville. Partly inspired by the book I received in the mail yesterday, a postcard history of Bartlesville. We decided we would go grab lunch at the Price Tower and then grab some coffee downtown. Neither one of us had ever been to the Price Tower and we were pretty excited to see it.

Entrance to Copper Restaurant and Bar on the 15th floor of the Price Tower 

Now I know this isn't a food blog but if you are ever in the area and decide to go to the Copper Restaurant and Bar you will not be disappointed the food was great. Moving on, I thought the tower looked smaller than it actually is. We talked to a lady inside who told us it was 19 stories and that there are hotel rooms on every other floor for a grand total of 19 rooms. We looked it up and rooms run from $145 a night for one bedroom suite with king bed to $245 a night for a two bedroom suite. They also offer a tour of the building for a nominal fee, which we opted out of but would still like to do sometime.

The Price Tower was designed by the one and only Frank Lloyd Wright and is the tallest structure he designed that was ever built. The tower was originally designed in 1929 as a three tower group called St. Marks in the Bowery in New York City. The St. Marks Church was to be the center piece with these buildings surrounding it. This obviously never happened and FLW had to sit on his plans for a little while longer.

Sketch of what the tower arrangement in New York around St Marks Church would have looked like.

Now for those of you who don't know FLW came up with an innovative design using a center "taproot" for his building and having lightweight floors and walls hanging off it much like a tree has a center trunk and branches hanging from it. This design allowed for less materials and thus a cheaper total cost to build tall structures. Although it was FLW's idea other architects adapted it and had buildings built before he could. FLW's thought process was that you could build this tower and sort of get the city started around this central tower and these could be built anywhere,

Plans for Price Tower showing the center taproot design.

It wasn't until 1952 that FLW's first and last skyscraper would start to be realized when Howard C. Price owner of H.C. Price Company, which built oil and gas pipelines, decided to construct a new headquarters building in Bartlesville.

Inside of one of the four elevators of the Price Tower depicting the construction of the tower.

It wasn't until 1954 that construction began and was finally finished on January 2nd 1956. Frank Lloyd Wright died not long after on March 16th 1959.

Price Tower Bartlesville, Ok

View of downtown Bartlesville from the 15th floor of the Price Tower

Downtown Bartlesville looking out from the Price Tower

Downtown Bartlesville looking out from the Price Tower

There is a little more on the timeline at the Price Tower website here: Price Tower
You can also learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture here: Frank Lloyd Wright

Picture Sketch with around St. Marks Church http://smhlf.org/content/landmark-fund-lectures
Plan, Source: http://newamericanvillage.blogspot.com/2009/08/frank-lloyd-wrights-price-tower.html
Outside PIcture of Price Tower source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_Tower



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The Battle of Ingalls

Approximately 54 miles west of Tulsa on highway 51 lies the ghost town of Ingalls. Ingalls was later changed to Signet in 1921 but that town also never really took off. Ingalls started off as most towns of that time did, ready to grow and be the next big metropolis in Oklahoma Territory. 

I found this story, true or not pretty entertaining, it just goes to show you that kids were kids back then and will always be kids. As one townsman recalled, when the town was still young there was a water well being drilled when suddenly they hit what they thought was a vein of coal. This of course spread like wildfire and everyone in the town thought this was the towns big break. But it turned out that two girls had dumped coal into the hole as a joke. I can only imagine how mad the leaders of this town, and the two girls fathers were when they found out that their "boom town" was to be so short lived.

Anyway, Ingalls was a rather large town for this time period it had four or five doctors, stores, livery barns, saloons, hotel, blacksmith shop and other common businesses of the time.

A notorious band of outlaws chose this up and coming town as their favorite place to hang out. The outlaws were actually well behaved when coming and going in town, I am sure this was to not stir up any sort of law enforcement in the area.  These “boys” as some of the residents called them drank in the saloons, played poker, furnished oysters for country dances and took part in a lot of community affairs. (Wow! I can almost picture the whole town scene playing out like some great western, setting up for the grand finale gunfight.)

On the afternoon of September 1, 1893 just six months after the opening of the Cherokee Strip to homesteaders, the town of Ingalls is caught up in a gun fight. This turned into one of the deadliest confrontations in the history of the U.S. marshals. The gang was inside George Ransom’s saloon, the members of the gang present were Bill Doolin, Bill Dalton, Dan “Dynamite Dick” Clifton,  George “Red Buck” Weightman, George “Bitter Creek” Newcomb, “Arkansas Tom” Jones, and Bill “Tulsa Jack” Blake.  The marshals were headed by Deputy Marshal John Hixon, along with him were four other deputies which included Lafe Shadley, Tom Hueston, Dick Speed, and Jim Masterson. There were eight additional men with them to try and bring down the gang once and for all.

During the gunfight Deputy Hueston was fired on as he dove for cover.  Amidst the gunfire Deputy Speed tried to get over to where Deputy Shadley was, Doolin shot Speed killing him. Shadley sees one of the outlaws fall after being shot and moved in but he too was killed and outlaw Bill Dalton was credited for this kill. With 3 out of 5 deputies down I assume times got desperate and Deputy Masterson through some dynamite into where the outlaws hiding place. This I would assume caused the outlaws to scatter but one did not get away, “Arkansas Tom” Jones. As the rest of the outlaws escaped to the southeast of town they turned and fired a few more shots and one of those shots killed an innocent bystander by the name of Frank Briggs.

Deputy Speed died instantly from his gunshot wound and Deputies Hueston and Shadley died the next day. The apprehended outlaw, “Arkansas Tom” Jones was sent to federal prison in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory.  

"Arkansas Tom" Jones sent to federal prison in Gurthie, Ok

Even though the story I just told gives all the facts I just couldn’t post this without having the following because no one can tell this story better than someone who was actually there. Below is an excerpt from the diary of Dr. J.H. Pickering whose family lived in the town of Ingalls. Dr. Pickering was there that day helping attend to the wounded. (Any typos or misspelled words were part of the diary so I left them just for affect.)

Diary of Dr. J.H. Pickering

In July Wm. Doolan, George Newcomb (alias Bitter Creek), Slaughter Kid, Tom Jones (alias Arkansas Tom), Danimite, Tulsa Jack and Bill Dalton began to come here frequently & in a short time they all staid here accept Dalton. He was out at B. Dunn's. As a rule they were quite (sic) and peaceable. They all went heavily armed & constantly on their guard, generally went 2 together. They boarded at the O.K. Hotel, staid at B. Dunn's when not in town. The last of this month a man by the name of Dock Roberts and Red Lucas came to town looking up a proposed Rail Road rout. Both parties took in the haunts of the outlaws. They were both jovial fellows & soon were drinking & playing cards with them. They left and came back in a week & said they was here to locate a booth, a place for intended settlers to register and get certificates to make a race for land or town lots, They staid here until the last week in August then left. On the morning of Sept. 1st there was 27 deputy marshals piloted into town in covered wagons. They caused no suspicion as there was hundreds of Boomers moving the same way. 2 wagons stopped at Light's Black Smith Shop & one drove up by my house & they all proceeded to unload in a quite (8b) manner and take positions. Doolan, Bitter Creek, Danimite Dick, Tulsa Jack, & Dalton was in Ransom & Murrys Saloon.  

Murray's Saloon Ingalls, Ok

Arkansas Tom was in bed at the Hotel. Bitter Creek got his horse & was riding up to a small building where Said ConIey staid & the marshalls thinking he was known to the move tired on him. Dick Speed marshal from Perkins fired the first shot. The magazine was knocked ofCf1 of his, Bitter Creek's gun & he was shot in the leg. He made his escape to the southwest. Speed was shot about this time & instantly killed, also young Simonds mortally wounded. The fires of the Marshalls was centered on the Saloon 8t old man Ransom was shot in the leg. Marry in arm and aide. Walker shot through the liver. By this time the outlaws had got to the stable & saddled their horses. Doolan & Danimite went out at the back door & down a draw southwest. Dalton and Tulsa made a dash from the front door. As they came out Dalton's horse was hit on the jaw but he had a hard time getting him started, but finally 8ucceeded.s He went probably 75 yards when his horse got his leg broke. He then got off of him & walked on the opposite side for a ways, then left him but came back to his saddle pockets & got his wire cutters & cut a fence, then got behind one of the other boys & rode off. A great many say he shot Shadly but I seen Shadly run from my place to Dr. Call's fence & in going through it he was first shot. He then got to Ransom's house & was debating with Mrs. Ransom, she ordering him to leave when he got his last shots.  He fell there and crawled to Selph's cave. A great many believe that Dalton shot him; intact he thot so for when I and Dr. Selph was working with him in the cave he said Dalton shot him 3 times quicker than he could turn around, but I think I know better, taking the lay of the ground in consideration & I stood where I saw Dalton most of the time & never saw him fire once & Shadly was hit in the right hip and all the balls tended downward. If Dalton had of shot him he would of been shot in front & balls of ranged up. The outlaws crossed the draw south of town & stopped a few minutes shooting up the street my house is on. One of these shots hit Frank Briggs in the shoulder but a slight flesh wound. I took him to my cave and dressed his wound, then wen1 to Walker & gave him temporary (sio) aid, from there to Murry's & laid his wound open and removed the shattered bone. Some of the doctors11 wanted me to amputate but I fought for his arm; 2 inch radius (&) was shot away, slight flesh wounds in the side. About this time I was called aside & told to go to Hotel, that Jones was up there either wounded or killed. I and Alva Peirce & boy by the name of Wendell, boys about 12 years old, went over. I went in & called but got no answer & was about to leave when he12 came to top of the stairs & says 'is that you Dock?' and I told him it was. I asked U he was hurt & he said no. He said for me to come up & I told him if he wasn't hurt I would not but he insisted. So I went up. He had his coat and vest off also his boots. Had his Winchester in his hands & revolvers lying on the bed. I said Tom come down and surrender. He says 'I can't do it for I won't get justice'. He says: 'I don't want to hurt anyone but I won't be taken alive.' He says: 'Where is the boys?' (meaning the outlaws). I told him they had gone. He said he did not think they would leave him. It hurt him bad. I never seen a man wilt so in my life. He staid in Hotel till after 2 o'clock & then surrendered to a Mr. Mason, a preacher. They took him off right away. Of the wounded, Simonds died at 6 p.m. Shadly & Hueton was taken to Stillwater, both died in three or four days. Walker shot through the liver died the 16th. All the rest recovered. The outlaws staid close to town as Bitter Creek was not able to travel. Dr. Bland of Cushion tended him. I loaned him instruments to work on wound with although I did not know just where he was at. A piece of magazine was blown in his leg. It eventually worked out and he got able to again ride. Tom was indicted for the killing of Huston, Speed & Shadly, was tried on the Huston case and convicted of manslaughter in 1st degree with no leniency of the court. Judge dale sentenced him to 50 years at hard labor in the Lansing Penitentiary. Dalton drifted away from the crowd & was killed near Ardmore. The rest staid around Dunn'e. Danamite ordered a big gun sent to Tulsa. The Marshalls got onto it & watched for him thinking he would come in at night to get it but he rode in at 2 p.m. & got his gun & was getting out of town before they knew it. They started after him & had a running fight from there to Turkey Track ranch. They killed 2 horses from under him. They thought they had him surrounded in the timber there & sent for more help but when they got it & searched thorough he was gone. He then left the territory for good. Bitter Creek, and Tulsa, still staid here. Doolan disappeared and no one knew where; also Edith Elsworth, they probely went off together. Bitter Creek, Tulsa, Peirce & others went to Dover & held up train. Was pushed closely & Tulsa in trying to cover the retreat of the others was shot and killed. Bitter Creek and Peirce come back to their old haunts and in a short time was killed on Dall Dunn's farm. It is the universal belief that they were betrayed by the Dunn boys If not killed by them.

There is a break in the Diary and picks up here:

In March 1896 Bill Doolan was captured in Eureka Springe by Bill Tilghman of Perry. He was brought back and lodged in Guthrie jail. I went and seen him there. In June, Danimite was caught in Texas for bootlegging, tried & sent to county jail for 60 days and they suspected him of being one of the Doolan gang & sent Magee, the U. S. Marshall, word and he sent a man there to identify him and they brought him to Guthrie. They got several murder cases against him, but on Sunday night July the 5th, Doolan and a negro overpowered the guards, locked them in cells & 14 of the worst men made their escape, and I think for good. Rumor is they were helped to get out. Time will tell as there is to be an investigation. Toward the last of August, Doolan and small band was located on Mud Creek 12 or 15 miles east of Ingalls. He was seen to go to Lawson, P.O., several times and the marshalls laid a trap for him and between 9 and 10 o'clock Monday night, Aug. 24, he walked into it and was shot and killed dead. No particulars yet in regard to it. I will note them when I get a full account. They say Danimite & 8 others are hiding close by, Later; Doolan was at Lawson making arrangements to leave the country with his supposed wife. He had just left the woman, and was walking down the road when he was shot from ambush. He was killed dead. He was put in a wagon and taken to Guthrie that night. The parties that killed him was Heck Thomas, Dall, Bee, George and John Dunn with one or two others. They had Dr. Call's No. 8 shotgun. This did the work for he had 16 buckshot in him also 2 Winchester balls. His wife went to Guthrie to get his body but failed to get it. On the morning of the 25th the marshals sighted the remaining outlaws a few miles from where they killed Doolan, but they were on the move heading for Turkey track ranch and it is doubtful if they ever get them now. There was 4 in the bunch.

Here the Doctor’s Diary gives some insight on what happened a few months later.

Friday Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. George Dunn rode into Ingalls very fast & said his brother Bee had been shot by Deputy U. S. Marshal Canton in Pawnee. They left for there immediately. Saturday afternoon Mr. Cots of Stillwater & family, also Mrs. Bee Dunn arrived with dead body of Bee. They took him to his stepfather's house & kept the body until Sunday noon & then buried it. There was a long Funeral procession. They found no bill against Canton for the killing and let him loose at once. The feeling In Pawnee is all in favor of Canton. Past reputation is what hurts Dunn. All kinds of reports are afloat in regard to his past life. At Ingalls people are divided on the case. All was looking for Dunn to be killed, but expected it to come from some of the remaining outlaws. There is bound to be more killing over this. I think it only a matter of time until more of the Dunn boys are killed or they get Canton. After Bee's death, John, Dall and George go on the scout.19 There is a number of bills against them in Pawnee for cattle stealing. T. Boggs and Bill Long left for Kansas to avoid same charge. They got into trouble there and was sent to jail. As soon as their time was out, Havelin wrote for his step-son, Bill Long, to come home. He thought there was not anything against him but just as soon as he got here they took him in. He laid in jail at Pawnee a month or 80 and gave bond for two thousand to appear at Sept. 1897 court. Bob Boggs went to Texas to get away & stole down there 47 head of cattle. They caught him & sent him over the road for 4 years. Pawnee county will get him when his time is out. Bill Chappel, Tom Boggh A. E. Peirce and several others left the country for good. McIlhiney (Narrow Guage Kid) skipped his bond & is gone for good. Some think he went to Cuba 3. McLain, Dr. Steel & W. Wilson are his bondsmen. A May term the Grand Jury found bills against John & All McLain at our place & several others in Stillwater for perjury. They gave bonds. It was on sceduling their property for taxes.

The diary is out of a very interesting book called the “Chronicles of Oklahoma.” This book is available through the Oklahoma State Digital Library.

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v036/v036p429.pdf

Ingalls, Ok Present Day (Photo Credit: Ricky Barnard, Flickr)

Apparently there are still old buildings in Ingalls, Ok that have lasted from the days of the shoot out. I hope to check the town out for myself and see what all is still there and really get a feel for the place.


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Oklahoma Land Run

Ask any Oklahoman what year the land run occurred and they will more than likely tell you that it was in 1889. Although this was the first land run it wasn't the only land run that took place in Oklahoma. In fact there were five land runs that took place in what was then called Indian Territory. 

The fourth land run which was in 1893 and was the largest in land size took place on what was known as the Cherokee Strip. This land was of course owned by the Cherokee Indians, hence the name, as it was given to them by the government not long before. During the Civil War (1861-1865) the Cherokee fought for the Confederacy and because of this the government wanted a new treaty between them and the Cherokee, sort of as a punishment perhaps for siding with the Confederates. The government reduced the reservation lands and allowed some of the tribes to move to the eastern portion of the territory. The settlers pressured the government to purchase the land from the Cherokees, which I am sure the government did not like having to do since they had given it to them in the first place. Anyways, the government ended up purchasing it and paid more the 8.5 million dollars for 6 million acres. 

The President Grover Cleveland set the date of Sept 16, 1893. 100,000 settlers raced for 42,000 claims. The land that had just been nothing but open prairies was changed in a matter of hours. The cities of Enid, Perry, Alva, and Woodward were established that day. 

Picture taken in what would become Perry, Ok at the Land Office in 1893

1893 Land Run of more than 100,000 settlers





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