Muskogee Co, OK

Turning Back The Clock

By: C. W. "Dub" West (c) 1985

Muskogee Publishing Company, Box 1331, Muskogee, OK 74402

Snippets # 17

(Pg 133 & 134) Jobe Builds Home In Indian Territory. The home occupied by the Jobe sisters - Mary, Eliza and Florence - on Harris Road, one half mile east of the Main Street intersection, is one of the oldest structures in this area. It was built by their father, Lewis Jobe, whose grandmother came to Indian Territory in 1825, as evidenced by a claim she made against the United States government for property left behind.

The Creeks were brought to Fort Gibson on flatboats just a year after the fort was established. They first settled on the east side of the Arkansas River between Fort Gibson and Three Forks, but when a survey revealed the fact they were occupying Cherokee lands, they were moved west of the river.

The Jobe and Sells families, Lewis Jobe's grandparents, settled a mile north of the present Jobe home. Incidentally, tradition has been handed down that Milly Francis, the Creek Pocahontas, is buried in that vicinity.

Jobe attended Asbury Mission at old North Fork, and he and Chesquah Harris established Harris-Jobe School. He hauled wood which fired the kiln for the brick used to build Rockefeller Hall at Indian University (Bacone College), receiving 50 cents a day for himself and his team of mules.

He married Mary Ellen (Mollie) Sweeney Feb. 16,1890. Besides the daughters living in the home, there were two other children, Gertrude, who died in 1973, and Leo, who died last year. The elder Jobe died Dec. 4, 1914, followed by Mrs. Jobe in July 1940. ... [Photos of Mrs Lewis Jobe and Lewis Jobe]

(Pgs 134 & 135) Oil Drilling Was Big Business. According to Dr. Grant Foreman, Muskogee, not Bartlesville, should be given the distinction of having the first commercial oil well in Oklahoma.

Of course, oil was discovered in Indian Territory by Lewis Ross in 1857, the same year that Drake made the discovery in Titusville, Penn., but that was before the automobile, and Indian Territory was too far from the center of population to make the well profitable.

Foreman says James M. Givens, a prominent Muskogee attorney, along with associates, was passed by the council of the Creek Nation providing that land could be leased by non-citizens, provided they were associated with three Creek citizens.

Operating under this act, the Creek Oil and Gas Company was incorporated Sept. 19, 1895, with A.P. McKellop, Thomas J. Adams, and Taylor Chissoe, Creek citizens, and L.J. Baker, F.C. Hubbard, and James M. Givens, who were to furnish the capital.

Foreman says the first test well was started on the south edge of Katy's Pond, but because of a disagreement with the miller, who was to supply the power, the location was soon abandoned and operation moved to property, owned by Captain F.B. Severs on B Street. Foreman says oil was struck in November of 1896, a year before the Bartlesville strike.

Muskogee's real oil boom began in 1903 with numerous wells being drilled in the southeast section of the city. There was a headline in the Dec. 13, 1903 issue of the Muskogee Times Democrat: Oil Sprayed on Houses.

The J. Paul Getty Number One Well, located south of Muskogee is still producing.

An announcement was made Aug. 17, 1904 that an oil refinery would be built and the Oklahoma Historical Society marker south of Muskogee credits this refinery as being the first in Oklahoma.

Muskogee continued to make strides in oil production and a headline Jan. 2, 1907 proclaimed: Flame Lit up Sky - Brought in Another Well. Another one April 2 was: Big Oil Show Means $10,000 to Muskogee.

Muskogee citizens had a steamboat, "The City of Muskogee" built in Cincinatti, Ohio, in 1908, and several of them rode on it to Muskogee to accomplish two things - to prove the Arkansas was navigable, and to advertise Muskogee's gas and oil.

Muskogee's boom was eclipsed by the Glen Pool discovery, and since Tulsa, not Muskogee, had a railroad to the field, Tulsa got the jump on Muskogee. Foreman says that many of the skilled drillers in various fields throughout the world received their early training in the Muskogee field, and that he ran across several of them in his travels.

Muskogee continued to promote oil production despite the fact that the wells were all shallow. Another surge was experienced in the 1920s.

... A well was drilled on Alice Robertson's property near Agency Hill, but it was a gasser.

A headline April 13, 1926 was: Rich Oil Strike Near Muskogee. The well was owned by Cass M. Bradley and was near the Denton Marshall "gassers."

The 1926 Fair Edition of the Phoenix pictured Muskogee oil operators as follows: J.F. Darby, J.E. Cromwell, W.T. Denton, J.A. Swindler, J.L. Powell, H.M. Ogg, J.W. Hale, H.l. Jolly, Lee Swindler and H. Francis.

...The decline in oil prices spelled the doom of oil activity around Muskogee, but with the increase in prices in recent years, there has been renewed activity. [photo of the Needmore well near Muskogee, Phoenix special photos]

(Pgs 135-137) VA Hospital Celebrates 60 Years. [Article covers the establishment of the VA Hospital in 1922-23 and its history] [Drawing of the original Veterans Administration Hospital in 1922, Phoenix special photos]

(Pgs 137-139) Robert L. Owen Called Muskogee His Home. [Photo Robert L Owen] Robert L. Owen, one of Muskogee's most distinguished citizens, became associated with this fair city in 1885 when he was appointed Indian Agent of the Union Agency.

Owen had an illustrious heritage. He was born in Lynchburg, Va., on Feb. 2, 1856, the son of Robert L. and Narcissa Chisholm Owen. His father was a Virginia planter, senator and president of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. His mother was the daughter of Thomas Chisholm, chief of the Western Cherokees and a descendant of the great war chief, Oconostota.

... Owen came to Tahlequah in 1879 as the principal teacher of the Cherokee National Orphanage ... He owned the Vinita Chieftain in 1884.

... Dec 31, 1889, he married Daisy Hester, daughter of Captain and Mrs. George B Hester. [remainder of article describes Owen's activities and achievements. ]

.... He died in Washington on July 19, 1947.

(Pg 139 & 140) Muskogee Citizens Recall Lincoln, Family. It is interesting to note that three Muskogee residents had dealings with Abraham Lincoln.

An article in the Muskogee Phoenix dated Oct. 18, 1931, featured D.A. Rogers, who attended the Lincoln-Douglas debates with his father. Rogers did not realize the significance of the occasion as "Lincoln appeared to be just another lawyer." He and his companion played leapfrog "while Abe and Shorty Douglas spoke."

The Phoenix had a story Feb. 13, 1923, about W.D. Ford with the headline, "Muskogeean who knew Lincoln and wife recalls school days with Tad."

Ford met the Great Emancipator when he visited Ford's home town, Clinton, Ill., to speak at a social event.... Abe spent the night in the Ford home, and young Ford enjoyed the witty stories and yarns the future president of the United States told. Ford and Tad Lincoln, who were near the same age, were schoolmates at the Chicago Academy.

...Maj. George F. Bucher, who was engaged in the real estate business in Muskogee, recalled in an article Feb. 12, 1922, that he guarded Lincoln's tomb to keep thieves form stealing the body.

Bucher recalled: "Funny how little you appreciate your biggest moments until they are just thoughts in the background. I was only 17 years old that night when I stood before his tomb and held a musket to my shoulder. Yet, I did not realize - and I don't suppose the other guards did - the responsibility and the honor, "There was need for us, too. It must have been along about midnight that night, when everything was quiet, that two men slipped up to the tomb. They didn't see us first, and they made for the locked door. They had come to steal Lincoln's body. They were rough looking fellows, not in uniform, and it wasn't much work for us to arrest them, and later they were sent to prison." ... [drawing of Lincoln]

(Pgs 140-141) John Doyle - A Pioneer Nina Doyle McCormick was moved into the house at 612 S. Second St. when she was 1-day-old, 81 years ago.

... Her father, John Doyle, came to Muscogee in 1880. He first operated a drayage business but later joined his brother-in-law, H.W. New, in the operation of three livery stables.

... Mr and Mrs Doyle had four sons, Jess, Eugene, John and Vernon George, and two daughters, Lillian Doyle Stitze and Mrs McCormick... [remainder of article discusses the family and the house which is on the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory as being a house of historical note.] [photo of John Doyle]

(Pgs 141 & 142) Local Man Devoted His Life To Indians Friends of Russell J. Vaughan participated in his 94th birthday celebration a few weeks ago. An account of Vaughan's life gives us a glimpse of many employees of the Bureau of Indians Affairs, who have an important group of Muskogee citizens for the past 107 years.

Vaughan began his career with the Indian Service in 1912 when he and Mrs. Vaughan were assigned to conduct the Little White River Day School on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

The school was 11 miles from the nearest town, and since they had no phone nor transportation, a member of the Indian police ran errands for the Vaughans and brought them groceries. The area was so remote that their first child was born without the assistance of a doctor or a nurse. They were more fortunate with the birth of their second child.

... Roy Spinks, a longtime employee at Bacone College, graduated from Sherman Institute while Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan was there. ... [remainder of article discusses the Vaughans achievements and different posts] [Photo Russell J Vaughan]