Interview #8348
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date: September 1, 1937
Name: Mr. John Carlton
Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: August 29, 1863
Place of Birth: Arkansas
Father: J. Carlton, born in Tennessee
Mother: Anna D. Davis, born in North Carolina
I was born August 29, 1863, in Arkansas.
I came to the Indian Territory in 1896. There were three men
traveling in wagons with their families; Tom Farmer, Mrs. Adams and
myself. We were headed for the Creek Nation, as Tom Farmer
had lived in there in the early days. When we got to a little place called Here,
there was a postoffice and store. Mr. Farmer had told us there was
plenty of work at this place. When we got there I had no money and very few
groceries.
We all camped at J.W. Edward's place. There was no work to
do, but Mr. Edward put me to work on his farm at fifty
cents a day. He was a large cattle owner and farmer. I worked that winter for
him.
In the spring of 1897, I moved to a little place called Paoli,
on the Santa Fe Railroad about seven miles north of Pauls
Valley. I had a good team so I thought I would try farming. I rented
some land and farmed that year. I raised lots of corn but it was only worth fifteen
cents a bushel hauled to Pauls Valley.
One day, while I was at Pauls Valley with a load of corn,
I met a man by the name of Frank Low who ran the Pauls Valley
Milling Company and he gave me a job at $1.50 a day. This was big money
then so I quit farming and went to work for him.
People hauled corn here and piled it in log piles like wood. I have
heard men say that they had burned corn for wood in the winter time. Fat hogs were
worth about two cents a pound dressed.
Pauls Valley was a small place, but it was a trading
point from miles around. It had a free school when I came . The only taxed
levied was a small tax on town property. When I cam e here Zack Gardner
owned a gin and grist mill east of Pauls Valley on the river. There
was another gin at the north end of town. This was a round bale gin, the first one I
saw in the Indian Territory where I had been.
