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LUTHER FOUNTAIN
Vol. 3, p. 1242-1243

But for his untimely death in 1915, Luther Fountain, long well known
as a landowner and stockman in the Wapanucka community of Johnston
County, would have been directing the destinies of agricultural
education in Oklahoma to such an extent that the state's development
has been materially enhanced. It was the purpose of Governor R. L.
Williams that Mr. Fountain, one of the most successful and
progressive farmers of the eastern section of the state, should
become a member of the State Board of Agriculture. His appointment
would have been a worthy tribute to one of the leaders of that class
of progressive men who during the last fifteen years have succeeded
the inefficient and improvident farmer and have successfully applied
the modern ideas of diversification in agriculture.

Only forty-five years of age at the time of his death Luther
Fountain was born in Sturgeon, Missouri, in 1870, a son of Clay and
Sallie Fountain. His father, a native of Missouri, was a large
landowner and representative citizen. He was a cousin to Mrs. Mary E.
Logan, widow of Gen. John A. LOGAN.

As a boy on his father's estate Mr. Fountain learned farming
scientifically and thoroughly, and that early training proved a great
factor in the success he later won in Oklahoma. At the age of twenty
he started to study the livestock commission business in St. Louis.
At the age of eighteen he had left the farm and become a student in
the University of Missouri and also completed a course in a business
college at Quincy, Illinois. He began the study of the commission
business as a bookkeeper for the Western Sales Stables Company of St.
Louis remaining with that company until 1897, and then engaging in
business for himself in Kansas City. Five years later, owing to poor
health, he sold out and moved to Wapanucka, Oklahoma, attracted by
the opportunities abounding in the undeveloped land resources of that
country. The site that he selected for his home was thirty miles
inland from railroads, and his household goods were hauled over that
distance from the Town of Troy. Later when his family joined him they
drove from Atoka, which was about the same distance from railroad to
the ranch as Troy.

Owing to restrictions placed by Congress on the sale of Indian lands
it was not possible for Mr. Fountain to purchase a large acreage at
that time. He had the foresight to enter into lease contract with the
Indians whose lands he could purchase later when the restrictions
were removed. As one after another of these tracts was brought into
the market he purchased them, until at the time of his death he owned
land in four counties of old Indian Territory. Some of these lands
are among the most valuable in the state, and he improved them with
the best methods of agriculture, and gained the name of being one of
the most successful farmers of the Indian country as well as one of
the state's most useful citizens. His land holdings became a valuable
heritage to his family. Mr. Fountain during his lifetime assisted in
the establishment of schools and churches prior to statehood and in
the organization of good society and the advancement of all other
uplift activities of this section. He participated as a democrat in
political activities, an served on term as a member of the county
election board.\t

In 1898 at Mexico, Missouri, Mr. Fountain married Miss Mamie GAMBLE.
She has many prominent family connections. One of her grandfathers
was a leader among pioneer educators in the State of Ohio. She is a
niece of Dr. M. M. FISHER, who at the time of his death was acting
president of the University of Missouri and was for fourteen years a
teacher of Latin in that institution. Her grandfather, Judge J. W.
Gamble, was a pioneer settler and prominent citizen of Mexico,
Missouri. Her father, C. R. Gamble, was born in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Gable ancestry runs back to include W. H. MCCAGUE, who was a hero
of the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Fountain's mother was directly related
to the family of Charles Dickens. Mrs. Fountain is a woman of culture
and active leadership in literary club affairs of her town and county
and in now serving as auditor of the Fourth District of the State
Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1906 she was one of the organizers of
the Wapanucka Literary Club. She is a member of the Presbyterian
Church, as was also Mr. Fountain, and devotes much of her time to
church service. She is a graduate of that fine old school in Mexico,
Missouri, Hardin College. Mr. Fountain has a sister. Mrs. W. S.
ROWLAND, wife of a farmer, and two half-brothers, P.M. GREEN of
Centralia, Missouri, and J. H. Green of Sturgeon, Missouri, Both of
who are stockmen. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Fountain were born
two children: Gamble, now fifteen years of age, and a student in the
Wapanucka High School; and Parker Boyne, age ten.

A year or so before his death a Johnston County editor paid the late
Luther Fountain a tribute to his personality and character which
deserves quotation in this permanent record: "Mr. Fountain is plain
and unassuming, easily approached, positive and frank. And no man---
white or black---ever went to him for help and met disappointment. He
has always been a progressive man in any line of work he has
undertaken. As a farmer he has been very successful. As a financier
it is hard to find his equal in this part of the country. He is a
public spirited, conservative citizen, believing in the advancement
of education and the uplifting of the morals and the general
betterment of conditions in the community."

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, November 11, 1998.