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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: February 9, 1938
Name: Mr. B. L. Anderson
Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: September 30, 1870
Place of Birth: Texas
Father: W.S. Anderson, born in Missouri
Mother: Jane Enloe (Enloo, Enlee?), born in Missouri
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Interview #9967 

I was born in 1870 in Texas and came to the Indian Territory in 1889. I went to work for John OVERSTREET, a cattle buyer and farmer, on the farm seven miles north of Burneyville, for which I was paid $20.00 a month and board.

Near where we lived there was a cotton gin owned by Ross and Foreman which was the only gin in that part of the country.

Mr. Overstreet's ranch and farm was located along Walnut Bayou Creek not far from the gin. we would have to haul the cotton to Gainesville, Texas, to market it as there was no market at Burneyville at that time.

We would go into Texas and buy up a bunch of poor cattle and drive them back to the ranch and fatten them after which they were taken to market at Fort Smith, Arkansas, or at Sherman, Texas.

There was plenty of grass where the Overstreet ranch was and in a few months with plenty of grass and water the cattle would be ready for the market.

At that time anybody living in the Indian Territory had to pay a permit. I had to pay $2.50 a year.

When I went to work for Mr. Overstreet there were very few schools and churches in that part of the country.

All the men carried pistols and United States Marshals were the only kind of officers we had then.

There were no saloons in the Indian Territory but there were plenty of bootleggers.

Court was held at Fort Smith, Arkansas, at that time. I only had to go to court one time and that was in June, 1890. There was a community picnic held at that time and two men brought some whiskey from Gainesville, Texas, to this picnic. I happened to be standing by when they rode up. Two United States Marshals stopped them and wanted to search their saddle bags but the two men drew their guns and began shooting. The marshals killed both of the men and one of the horses the bootleggers were riding. The marshals took the names of the men who saw the shooting and I was one of the witnesses and made a trip to Fort Smith. In all the time I stayed and worked there, that was the only killing I ever saw.

In the early days people around Burneyville didn't try to farm the whole country at one time. Thirty to forty acres was counted a large farm, of course, some farmed larger farms than than but in general that was the size of the farms and then they would raise more than they could harvest. I have raised a bale of cotton to the acre and from seventy-five to a hundred bushels of corn to the acre, but there was no market for corn. If we raised more than we would use in feeding out the cattle and horses we would haul it to Gainesville where there was a market for it, but it would only bring about 15 cents a bushel.

People didn't have to buy very much in that time. They raised nearly everything they had to have and nearly every farmer would have a bunch of cattle.

There was plenty of deer and turkeys and other kinds of wild game.

I worked for Mr. Overstreet three years and saved enough money to start in farming and raising cattle for myself.

In later years I moved to Roff and went to work on the railroad and I helped build most of the buildings at Roff.

I now live in Pauls Valley.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Brenda Choate.