Interview #
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date:
Name:
Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Father:
Mother:
(One of the state's oldest towns, Pauls Valley, as a
town or settlement first came into being about 1872, according to old timers here, as a
stage stand or stop on the route from Caddo, near Atoka, to Fort Sill.
However, it had been used prior to that time as a camp for soldiers during the Civil
War.
The valley was first used by Smith Paul, who at one
time sold 80,000 bushels of corn to the Government at Fort Sill.
His son, Sam Paul, donated the right-of-way to the Santa
Fe Railroad at the time of its construction in 1887, and the depot was named in
his honor.
The stage line was owned and operated by P. Hopkins,
who also had a boarding house on Rush Creek some distance east of the
site of the present town of Pauls Valley. At this location, there
was a general store and blacksmith shop operated by Frank Miller and Tom Green,
who came here from Winston, North Carolina. The town continued in
its present location until the time of the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad
through the Indian Territory in 1887. It was moved
to its present site when the location of the depot was established. The stage, which
was the principal means of travel took a day and night and part of a second day to make
the trip from Caddo to Fort Sill. The fare was ten cents per mile and the comforts
meager, according to old timers, who have traveled in the stages. The towns made on
the route from Caddo were Mill Creek, Cherokee Town, Pauls Valley, Whitebead Hill,
Beef Creek (Maysville), Erin Springs, Twin Sandys (about half way between Erin Springs and
Fort Sill. Horses were changed at Mill Creek, Pauls Valley, Erin Springs and Twin
Sandys.
The first townsite was started at Pauls Valley soon
after the establishment of the depot. This was begun by Tom Fields and Sam
Paul. However, no lots were sold at the sale because of the high price that
was asked. Later Albert Rennie and eight other men
formed a townsite company. They bought 160 acres from Mr. Paul for
$200.00 and a tenth interest in the company. The town was platted and surveyed by J.J.
Higgins of Norman in 1887 and a number of lots sold at the first
sale. The members of the company retained several business and residence lots and
named streets in the new town after themselves. Members of the original townsite
company besides Mr. Rennie and Mr. Paul were Richard Sneed, James Rennie, Sam
Paul, S.J. Garvin, Calvin J. Grant, John A. Bradley, T.H. Martin, Col. Tom Grant and
William Guy, governor of the Chickasaw Nation. The plat
was approved by the Daws Commission and in 1903 all lot owners had to
purchase their lots again under the rulings of the commission. They also had to put
some kind of improvements on them to retain them and this brought forth the first building
boom of the town. Wells were drilled on some of the lots and buildings of all kinds
and descriptions appeared on others. Many of these buildings stood for years as
evidence of a boom but all are gone today.
Business first started locating on the present site soon after the
location of the depot and establishment of regular train service. Prior to this time
Mr. Green, part owner of the general store at the old site had died and
his partner, Mr. Miller, disposed of the business to Calvin
J. Grant, son of Tom Grant, who had been clerking in the store. Grant moved
the store to the present site of the Leland Hotel and his was one of the
first business firms here. Other businesses began to locate here until by 1895,
there was quite a business section along the west side of the railroad and facing it.
This was known in the early days as "Smoky Row".
Some of the other business here in 1895 were Richard Sneed's
general store, just south of Grant's store, a drug store where
Tyler and Simpson wholesale grocery is now located and the Robinson Hotel,
just north of it, a livery stable on the corner across the street east of the Moody
Hotel site, a harness and furniture store on the ground floor of a building on
the corner where the Pauls Valley Building and Loan is now located.
One of the early events that turned the tide of business to
Pauls Valley and added greatly to the growth of the town was the construction of
a telephone line from Old Center, an island town about 45 miles east
which was at that time one of the leading trading centers of the country, according to Tom
Fields, early day settler and founder of the Enterprise in 1887.
The phone line which cost $1,800.00 was built with the citizens of Old
Center paying half the cost and Pauls Valley paying the other
half. Mr. Fields, who represented Old Center visited
Pauls Valley in regard to the line and Calvin Grant
told him that he would give him $200.00 in gold to let Pauls Valley have
this end of the line. However, Fields had been instructed to present the proposition
to Wynnewood, also, and would not make a deal until he had seen the
people there. Wynnewood rejected the proposition and the line was
built to Pauls Valley. The principal advantage of the line was that it
enabled merchants in Old Center to call here to see whether or not
shipments had arrived by train. In the past they had been forced to send freight
wagons over and pay the expenses of the freighter for several days.
