Fish, Wild Game Found Within Present Bounds of Okemah about 35 Years Ago
by J. D. Kezer
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These are some of the first things I remember as a boy of 8 years.:

We came overland from Weleetka.  My father and I saw Okemah for the first time from a hill five miles east of town.  Okemah was a city of tents and they looked like great white shells on the side of a green hill.

The first school I attended in Okemah was taught by Judge S. L. O'Bannon, now of Okmulgee.  The second day I attended classes, the teacher resigned.

The first fish I caught were from two large ponds, one in the present Phelan addition, the other just back of the location of the C. B. Cochran home on North Seventh Street.

The first wild duck was on a pond just back of the present home of Martin L. Frerichs.  The first coyotes I heard were on the hill now known as Mildred Heights.

There was little for a boy to do in those days but hunt and fish.  My first hunting companion was a fullblood Indian boy named Woxie Harjo.  He was a crippled boy and it was necessary for us to hunt a great deal on horses, from which we shot rabbits, squirrels, quail and ducks.  I recall the first Indian ball game I saw was on a hill some place between here and Henryetta about 1903 and 1904.

There were hundreds of Indians and the players wore breechcloths, fox tails and war paint.  Well, it turned out to be a battle instead of a game, and many of the Indians are wearing scars to this day.

I attended the first ball game with Okemah's first postmaster, the late Perry Rodkey, and well remember the first Fourth of July celebration when it was estimated that 5000 persons were in attendance, coming from 20 miles in buggies, wagons, and on horseback.

The celebration was held in a pasture north of Okemah known as the Dill addition.

I remember the first band concert, the first baseball team, the first automobile ever seen in Okemah, the first traveling United States court where the prisoners were handcuffed and chained to the wagons while court was in session.

Many other firsts do I remember, but will give someone else a chance.  I think Okemah is the best town in Oklahoma for its size, and I know some of the best people in the world live here.

This page was last updated on 10/12/11

 

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