In the Summer of 1889 we were living at Trinidad, Colorado. We were
newly married and we decided to come to Oklahoma. My wife’s sister and her
husband came with us. We both had spring wagons covered, and we brought very
little along except our bedding and camp stuff. At night we camped out and the
trip took us a month. It was September when we got here. The last place we
camped before entering Oklahoma was Kiowa, Kansas. Then we crossed No Man’s
Land and came on down to Kingfisher, where we stayed one night. It was a busy
place, but there seemed to be about two carpenters after every job. I was a
carpenter, so we decided to come on to Guthrie.
Out first night here we camped at the north end of Fifth Street under a
big cottonwood tree. Most of the town was still tents, some shacks, and one
brick building was being built on the corner of Oklahoma and Second Streets.
The first house we lived in was on Second Street, across the street from the
present location of the Fairmont Creamery. Water was scarce and bad. We
carried all ours, while we lived there, from a well on the corner of Cleveland
and First, two blocks. Our first baby was born here and died. There was lots
of sickness and death, especially among the children. I had typhoid and was
sick a long time.
The first work I found to do was hauling logs to a sawmill which was on
Fifth Street and Harrison on the Cottonwood River, and was owned by a man
named PIBERN. I bought tracts of timer, mostly cottonwood, from men along the
river and cut the logs and sold them to the mill. For a while I ran this mill
for Mr. Pibern.
Most of the first shacks were made of this cottonwood lumber. We lived
in one for a while. It warped so badly that you could "throw a cat"
through that house.
Then I worked at a furniture factory that was by the side of the
sawmill. We lived across the street from the factory in a house that is still
there, and I made a whole set of furniture out of black walnut for our home. I
worked as a carpenter, building some of the nice homes that people were
building about this time.
Mr. THOMAS lived close to the old sawmill and while I was working there
he hired me to build a steamboat. It would carry seventy-five passengers and
had a big wheel at the back. He named it "The Charley Mansur" for
his friend who was a congressman from Missouri. When it was finished MANSUR
came on a visit and we got up a party and went down the river to May
Park. That was the most fun I ever had. I don't remember what we did, only we
had some beer along.
The Cottonwood River had more water in it in those days. Young couples
went rowing on it, and a trip down to this park on the steamship was a real
thrill. Mansur Avenue was name for this same man. In 1901 we built a home on
the top of West Noble Hill. There were very few houses west of us. Joe W.
MCNEALS's big house and the McCANN house on Cleveland were the only ones I
remember. The hill was steep and full of rocks, and after a rain, muddy. I did
most of the work myself and we were proud of our home.
Dr. A. L. BLEASH was our family doctor until he moved to Oklahoma City.
I was a member of the city council when Dr. JOHN W. DUKE was mayor, but I was
so busy after I got into the cotton business that I didn't have much time for
office holding.
We attended the Christian Church and soon after we came I helped build
the first frame building. I think it was on the corner of Cleveland and Broad.
Before the Government was established in the Territory, there was a company of
soldiers under Captain CAVANAUGH stationed in West Guthrie. Things were pretty
quiet, though. Very little disorder and crime. The most exciting thing that
happened was a shooting just outside the land office. Ira W. TERRELL, a member
of the Territorial Legislature, had warned a man named Emery not to testify
against him in a case about his claim in Payne County. Emery was subpoenaed
and went in, when called, looking pretty nervous. Just as he came out of the
land office, after giving his testimony, Terrell shot him. I saw him fall.
Terrell was sent to the penitentiary.
I built the Pioneer Cotton Mill, the first, and for many years the only,
cotton mill in Oklahoma. There is another now at Sand Springs. I was the
president and general manager of the Pioneer Mills until 1918. Then I sold out
my interest in it.
Soon after the close of the War, Governor ROBERTSON appointed me a
delegate to the World's Cotton Conference at Manchester, England. I was also a
delegate to the Rotary Convention at Edinburgh, Scotland, so I made a four
months trip, all through Europe and the Holy Land. I visited some of the
battlefields and the ruins of fine buildings. The most beautiful was
Rheims Cathedral, but great parts of it were ruined. From Solomon's Temple I
brought home some stones which are kept in the museum of that building
(Masonic building, probably - Ed.) and one piece was made the keystone over
the entrance of the main auditorium.