A BIOGRAPHY OF “O. L. JOHNSON”
In about 1874, a fellow named Pleasant
Wimberley bought old water driven grist mill at a place called Cude’s
Mill in
The census for that year showed
Pleasent Wimberly as the proprietor of the establishment and he had two
employees. One was the son
of Pleasant Wimberly and the other was O.L. Johnson, a Norwegian
immigrant, who along with his wife, Alma Rebecca “Emmons”, were
expecting their first child, Julia.
A further study of the census finds
Oliver Ludwick Olsen was born in
The Olsen family was living in
Probably while still in his teens, perhaps as a
result of the fire, OL left
By
May 8, 1879 when OL married
Lenora recounted in her senior years that “I do
not remember of seeing the house I was born in, but it was a crude log
house with chinking and mud between the logs.
It was very rough country with patches for farming.
The first place that I remember living was called the
Lenora continues with her remembrances of the
home where she was born.
“As far as my childish mind can recollect, my mother always had a big
rocking chair before the fireplace.
There was one wooden bedstead with a high headboard that reached
almost to the ceiling and one trundle bed that was pushed under the
other bed in the daytime.
My sister, Julia, just one year older than myself, and I occupied the
trundle bed at night.”
She recalled that her father, OL, got what she
called ‘the Western Fever” and wanted to go west. Lenora said that in
about 1889 when Leona was 2 yrs old he loaded the family and their
belongings in a covered wagon and headed out, not so much west, but
north toward
Quite a few families started together.
Some stopped and located on the way and some turned back.
OL pulled on alone, encouraged by his wife who was a real pioneer
woman. Lenora never recalled hearing her mother complain, at least not
that she could remember. Lenora remembered how happy the children were
when the family stopped for the night and all the young ones could get
out of the covered wagon. The great cattle drives from south
The Johnson family came to the south side of the
Canadian River about 50 miles upstream from
In
1874, just a little over a decade prior to the OL Johnson family
settling there, a group of buffalo hunters had sought shelter there and
repulsed an attack of a large band of Indians lead by the Comanche war
chief Quanah Parker. At the close of the battle, two Indians rode to the
top of a bluff about a mile away to have one last look at the camp
before they moved on. On a
fluke, one of the hunters, Billy Dixon fired at the Indians with his
buffalo gun, knocking one of the Indian off his horse and killing him.
When the Johnson’s arrived from
south-central
Undeterred, OL quickly constructed a
dug-out for shelter for his young family. He got a job from Postmaster
Billy Dixon to carry the mail to and from Canadian City, about 60 miles
distance from Adobe Walls. He rode mostly on horseback but sometimes
drove a buck-board and two horses.
He had to cross the
OL became acquainted with the cowboys
from the Turkey Track and made friends with some of them.
One day, a cowboy by the name of John Coffey came by and told OL
that “the Turkey Track did not have all that country leased and that if
he wanted to settle there he could file in their horse pasture and tell
them to “git”. OL went to
the County Court House and did just that.
The land was located on a little creek, with the bluff where
Billy Dixon shot the Indian serving as OL’s north boundary.
After filing on this land, OL then went to the breaks of the
canyon and cut big logs of cottonwood and hewed the sides flat and built
a log house. Lenora recounted it was three rooms with a fireplace in two
of the rooms, the other room being the kitchen with is own stove. It was
in this house that son Richard Malcom Johnson was born about 3 yrs after
they arrived.
In April 1892 , OL made the land run
into the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian lands and claimed 160 acres located on
the Washita River, just East of where Strong City is now situated.
Ted Kimzey now owns and lives on that quarter section.
It was owned by Weldon and Nelda Davis before Ted. The same John
Coffey who had informed OL of his right to homestead in
OL was an industrious man who was
confident of his abilities to build and produce with his hands. We will
assume that OL learned the mill trade while working in the mill at
Wimberly. Undoubtedly OL
learned from his father to work with his hands, even though it appears
he was somewhat handicapped by missing fingers on one hand.
In September of 1893, OL bid on and received a contract from the
county government of
Even though OL lived and farmed at his
home on the Washita, his business ventures took him to both Hammon and
The 1900 census reports that OL and Alma had
seven children living at home out of 10 born.
One of these, a son,
When OL made his application for final proof on
his homestead in 1901, he stated that he first built a 16x12 dugout and
at the date of application his farm improvements consisted of a log and
lumber house, barn, sheds, outhouse, corrals, a well, cistern, orchard
and fencing. He also stated
that he had a gristmill at Hammon.
In 1900, the
According to an article discovered in an old
issue of the Cheyenne newspaper, the home that OL and Alma established
on the Washita was the scene of a country dance on at least one occasion
and probably others as the Johnson’s were one of the bellwether families
in the area.
By the time Oklahoma Statehood was
approved in1907, OL and
After several years of operating
business firms in
In January of 1920 their
son, Richard, died from injuries he sustained in WW1 and was buried at
Clayton N.M. His son Charles who married in 1920 died in
OL operated his saw mill business alone
until he died of a heart attack at
OL and Alma were true pioneers of
Footnote:: Many thanks to OL Johnson‘s decendants - Lenora Johnson Wilson, William Kishbaugh , Bettie Drewry and others who are responsible for providing much of the information contained in this biography. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.
Oklahoma Timeline for O L Johnson
The head of Elk Creek and the area that was to
become Elk City was first surveyed by the US Government in1874.
In about 1887 OL Johnson , his wife Alma and 3
small girls joined other settlers and traveled from Wimberley, Hays
County, Texas north in a horse drawn wagon. Some of the
settlers turned back, some dropped out along the way, but OL and
his family continued on, finally settling near Adobe Walls Texas on the
South side of Adobe Walls Mountain. .
Between 1887 and 1892 , OL carried the mail from
Adobe Walls Texas to Canadian Texas for Billy Dixon who was the
appointed postmaster at Adobe Walls.
In 1892 the unsettled Western portion of Oklahoma
Territory was opened for settlement by white settlers. It was referred
to as “the run” by local settlers.
On April 22, 1892 , OL Johnson claimed 160 acres
of land along the Washita River, just East of what was to become
Cheyenne Oklahoma.
In 1892 the settlement of Cheyenne was
established in Roger Mills County.
In Sept. 1893 a contract was let for OL Johnson
to build a cell house or jail building to be 23ft long , 14 ft wide and
10 ft high. It was located on the S/E corner of the courthouse square in
Cheyenne at a cost of $462.00.
In 1894 the town of Hammon was established East
of Cheyenne in Custer County.
In February 1895 OL Johnson moved his sawmill
from Cheyenne to Elk Creek. The Cheyenne newspaper reported that he had
a large supply of logs stacked on Elk Creek.
In 1895 the first settler built a dug-out on Elk
Creek where Elk City was soon to be established.
On April 12, 1895 , the Cheyenne newspaper
reported a daughter born to Mr. & Mrs. OL Johnson
the previous day . The daughter was my mother Lulu Flora Johnson.
Aug 2, 1895 the Cheyenne newspaper reported that
OL Johnson would be moving his mill back to Cheyenne to grind corn for
his customers there.
Oct.11, 1895 the Cheyenne newspaper reported that
OL Johnson’s saw and grist mill would soon be in operation in Cheyenne
as a permanent enterprise.
On Dec 13, 1895 the Cheyenne newspaper announced
that OL Johnson was ready to start grinding for the farmers and would
keep a full stock of chopped corn and meal.
May 21, 1896 a son Forest
Johnson was born to OL and Alma Johnson.
July 19, 1896 , Forest Johnson, son of OL and
Alma Johnson died and was buried at Snakey Bend Cemetery..
On Sept 25, 1898 OL Johnson bought land from
Thomas M. Cherry where strong City Oklahoma is now located.
On Dec 7, 1900 OL Johnson advertised in the
Cheyenne Sunbeam newspaper that he was prepared to do your ginning, will
buy or gin your cotton for you in Hammon, Oklahoma.
In 1901 and six years after OL Johnson had
established his sawmill on Elk Creek, and the first settler had built a
dugout there, the railroad arrived. It brought with it, many new
settlers and Cheyenne soon lost it’s place as the largest settlement in
the area.
On March 18, 1901 Elk City was surveyed and
divided into blocks, streets etc.
In 1901 a telephone company was established in
Elk City and served the surrounding area It soon served almost 50 homes
and businesses.
On 28 Jan.1902 OL Johnson sold his properties
near Cheyenne to I.M. Huffer for the sum of
$2400.00
In 1902
Fleas , Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Small Pox spread among the
residents of Elk City, most of whom lived in dug-outs and tents.
In 1903, OL Johnson established the first
Electric light company in Elk City .
In 1908, OL Johnson established an ice plant and
cold storage facility in Elk City.He also went into partnership with Mr.
John Stahl and established a pork processing and packing plant in Elk
City.
In 1911, OL Johnson sold his Elk City enterprises
and bought the old Dettemore Ranch on the Currumpa Creek east of Des
Moines, Union County, New Mexico. The Corrumpa Creek was at the head of
the Canadian River which flowed eastward across the Texas Panhandle and
into Oklahoma.
By 1920 OL Johnson had sold his ranch on the
Corrumpa Creek and bought a sawmill which he operated in the mountains
around Jemez Springs New Mexico, N/W of Bernalillo New Mexico.