Interview #1238
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date: May 3, 1937
Name: Mr. S.O. Richardson
Residence: Wynnewood, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1857
Place of Birth: Geogia
Father: M.B. Richardson, born in Georgia
Mother:
Story told by Mr. S.O. Richardson, born in 1857, in Georgia
I came to the Indian Territory in 1886. I came horseback, looking
for a place to settle. I came through where Wynnewood is now and they were building
the right-of-way for the Santa Fe Railroad at that time. There was nothing but a
grading crew's camp where Wynnewood is. Old Cherokee Town was about five miles north
of there, and I crossed the Washita River at Old Cherokee Town.
I stayed a few days in Pauls Valley where there was one store and a
blacksmith shop. What few people there were at Pauls Valley at that time were so
excited over the coming of the railroad that they could not talk business with anybody.
I didn't like it around Pauls Valley so I went to Caddo, Indian Territory. I
went to work there for Mr. McCoy who owned a general store. I worked two years
for Mr. McCoy and I have sold flour for one dollar and twenty-five cents for a forty-eight
pound sack. Sugar was about five dollars for a hundred pounds.
I didn't like that part of the country so I came to old Fort Arbuckle.
This was on Wild Horse Creek. I didn't own a big ranch but I raised cattle
and hogs. I sold mostly milch cows but would keep all the heifer calves. At
weaning time I would sell the bull calves for five or six dollars a piece.
There was lots of wild game on Wild Horse Creek. Plenty of deer and
turkey, so you could have fresh meat at every meal if you wanted it. Quail went in
droves and there were lots of squirrels and plenty of fish in Wild Horse Creek.
There was plenty of wild grapes and plums and in the fall there were lots of pecans
and walnuts. People never thought about gathering them, though. I have picked
up a sack or two to eat on through the winter. About all we would have to buy would
be sugar and coffee and a few other things.
I have been in bad health for several years and I can't remember as I used
to. Everything wasn't just a bed of roses as some people think it was in those days.
We had hardships just like we do today. There wasn't as much work in those
days as there is now and there weren''t as many people then as there are today.
