Gypsy’s grave found at Fairlawn
“MOURN THE LOSS OF GYPSY QUEEN NOMAD, HEAD OF BAND HERE, IS BURIED IN FAIRLAWN CEMETERY.”
It was just a small item on Page 5 of The Oklahoman, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1908, with a headline almost as big as the story.
Ellen Young, 69, was camping in Colcord Park near the river with her “band of nomadic Egyptians” when she died in a tent Friday, Jan. 31, 1908. Her funeral services were conducted the following Monday by the Rev. T.H. Harper of Pilgrim Congregational Church, and she was buried at Fairlawn. Fifty grief-stricken Gypsies attended her service.
The Oklahoman’s story read: “Mrs. Young had spent all her life travelling in covered wagons through Europe and America, telling fortunes, creating rugs, painting pictures, doing what she could to secure a living from a nomadic wandering life. Unlike her countrymen, she became a Christian, and she is of the strain of family which includes the renowned Congregational preacher, “Gypsy,” Smith, one of the greatest preachers of England.”
Can you imagine how cold it was living in a tent in January in Oklahoma?
From my research, I learned Gypsies more likely came from India, than Egypt, and many more of them were, and are, of the Christian faith than most people think.
Also, Rodney “Gypsy” Smith, born in 1860 in England and raised in a gypsy wagon, never attended school and was converted at the age of 16. He started preaching at 17, and during his evangelistic career that ended in 1947 with his death, he was as widely traveled and admired as Billy Graham is today.
Colcord Park, later renamed Delmar Gardens, was owned by Charles Colcord and consisted of 160 acres near Reno Avenue and Western close to the North Canadian River. Baseball was played in that area until the flood of 1923.
A trip to Fairlawn Cemetery and a check of the records located Young’s resting place, 103 years after her death.
The original entry in the cemetery ledger read Mrs. Emma Young (gypsy) camped near the ballpark, died Jan. 31 and was buried Feb. 3, 1908. The ledger also disclosed the location of her burial place in the cemetery and the funeral home handling the arrangements. Her first name was different, but the rest of the facts fit the newspaper’s story.
Turns out, her final resting place is just a few steps north of the cemetery office.
The last curious fact about Ellen/Emma is that her grave stone bears the wrong year for her death.
It reads:
Emma Young
born October 31, 1839
died January 31, 1907
So, after 69 years of wandering, a gypsy queen has spent over a century resting in peace in Fairlawn Cemetery.
Imagine that!
A bicycle built for two
But you’ll look sweet But you’ll look sweet
Upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.
Times change and our modes of transportation change with them.
The tandem bicycle or bicycle built for two was invented in late 19th century England and there is a report in The Oklahoman that possibly three bicycles, and one of those a tandem, participated in the Land Run of 1889.
Here is an article about a theft published November 28, 1938, that brought back memories of an earlier time to the responding police officers.
“Shades of the gay nineties descended upon the police department Sunday afternoon.”
“Got a stolen bicycle at the White House cafe, 1945 Northeast Twenty-third street,” Joe Jerkins, station captain, told (Clyde) Anderson (station officer).
Anderson took off and when he returned it was with “a bicycle built for two–a tandem. And the back seat was almost a large as a rocking chair seat, so the girl friend could ride sideways.”
“Twirling his moustache and yearning for the return of the mustache cup, Jack Barnett, scout car lieutenant, took one look at the machine and remembered how he had clipped a neat corner on one of the things in the dear, dead days. He could go whizzing by the Overholser Opera house on North Robinson avenue, do a fancy left turn, and coast to South Broadway.”
Try that today with downtown’s streets under various stages of repairs and you could probably wind up in a hole or run into a backhoe.
Jack Barnett continued telling about the first car he ever saw was one he ran into on his bicycle. He recalled, “It was a doctor’s car, and when he lifted me into that strange animal I quit hurting right away.”
“Many a boy and man hopped off their tandems to enlist for the Spanish-American war,” Barnett remembered. “And the fellow who had a shiny tandem could really give the girls the eye!”
Back to the crime, it was determined a teen-age boy had left the bicycle behind the cafe and escaped on foot. There was no indication he was ever apprehended, but it sure brought a nostalgic air to the police station back in 1938.
General’s obituary tells of rich and diverse life
General Roy Hoffman, Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. Photo Provided
Several men were recently inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. One of the inductees was Army Maj. Gen. Roy V. Hoffman.
Hoffman was posthumously honored and his service was summarized in an article in The Oklahoman published Sept. 7, 2010:
“Maj. Gen. Roy V. Hoffman was born in Kansas and came to Oklahoma Territory on the eve of the 1889 Land Run. During the Spanish-American War, he entered the Army as a private. Soon he was commissioned as a captain of infantry in the U.S. Volunteers. In 1899, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Oklahoma National Guard. Hoffman served in France during World War I and in the Officers Reserve Corps until 1931, when he was appointed major general and commanded the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard. He retired from military service in June 1933. Hoffman died June 18, 1953.”
While that statement summarizes his military life, reading his obituary, published in The Oklahoman on June 19, 1953, tells the story of a multi-faceted man.
“The full and exciting career of Roy Hoffman, 84, one of Oklahoma’s best known citizens, ended Thursday with his death”.
“Newspaperman, lawyer, judge, statesman and soldier, Hoffman probably was best known for his military exploits. He served every rank from private to major general.”
Roy Hoffman was born June 13, 1869, in Kansas and at 19 years old, he participated in the Land Run of 1889, settling at Guthrie.
It was in Guthrie that he became a newspaper man.
“My brief and transitory newspaper experience began in Guthrie in the early days when it was a tent city and shortly after the opening,” Gen. Hoffman wrote years later.
Guthrie residents of the Democratic persuasion did not have a newspaper to support their point of view, so Hoffman started the Guthrie Daily Leader, the first daily newspaper in the territory.
“Having tried farming, cowpunching, school teaching, short-hand reporting, I thought I was eminently qualified for the service,” The Oklahoman quoted Hoffman as saying.
Hoffman was accepted to the state bar in 1891 and would practice law for 46 years. He was appointed an assistant U.S. district attorney, but resigned to begin his military career, when he enlisted for the Spanish-American War.
Returning from the war, Hoffman settled in Chandler and practiced law, until moving to Oklahoma City in 1914. He served as county attorney for several counties. He had experience as both a prosecution and defense lawyer, having participated in more than 100 cases.
He was a very successful attorney, representing Phillips Petroleum, Standard of Indiana and the Prairie Oil Co., the precursor of Sinclair Oil Co.
Hoffman served as a director of First National Bank and had other businesses. For a newspaper questionnaire he wrote about his business experiences: “Have been into nearly everything except train robbing.”
Hoffman helped organize the American Legion, served as a committeeman for the Democratic Party and belonged to many civic and social organizations.
Gen. Roy Hoffman arrived in Oklahoma at 19, started a newspaper, served in the military, practiced as an attorney, served in state government, helped lead the Democratic Party, and he was a husband, and the father of two sons and a daughter.
Roy Hoffman was an Oklahoma renaissance man.
It was a busy news day 100 years ago
One hundred years ago today, Feb. 28 fell on a Tuesday. Reading a newspaper from yesteryear can show what life was like and give a sense of what was important to the pioneer citizen.
A check of The Oklahoman for Wednesday, March 1, 1911, gives indication that Tuesday was a busy news day.
On the front page we find that U.S. Sen. Thomas P. Gore’s accusations that he and others had been offered bribes to influence the vote on the sale of Indian lands were substantiated and that a Senate resolution passed in the state House of Representatives to submit an amendment to change a section of the state Constitution barring railroad building in the state.
Inside the newspaper, then as now, the weather was important to Oklahoma’s residents, and 100 years ago, the state was having its first blizzard of the year with an ice storm in Oklahoma City and 8 to 10 inches of snow in some areas of the state.
Other items of note on the inside pages:
Chicken stealing was made a felony, if the bird was worth more than $5.
An arsonist was burning buildings in Stilwell and Snyder.
A bridegroom dropped his gun and shot himself in the leg on his way home after the wedding.
February was considered a slow month because only 74 marriage licenses had been issued.
The post office was booming, announcing a 32 percent increase in the sales of stamps and stamped envelopes, compared to 1910.
The conduct of the Legislature has not improved much judging by the story appearing on Page 14 in 1911, a part of which follows: “There was a lapse in the dignity of the House of Representatives Tuesday night, and toward adjournment at 11 o’clock the session reminded one slightly more of a farcical burlesque on the stage than the solemn deliberations of the dignified lawmakers of Oklahoma. This was so especially during a heated controversy between Speaker Durant and Representative Ed Clark, right in the midst of a roll call, when Mr. Clark arose and started to make a talk when his name was called. The speaker banged his gavel so viciously that the head flew off, and the two men together indulged in some language not exactly parliamentary.”
The business page told of real estate sales totaling more than $2 million, double that of January. Building permits were down, the complaint being the weather caused construction to cease.
Boxing and baseball dominated the sports page, while the society column announced that with Ash Wednesday and the coming of Lent, there would be less formal entertaining.
These items indicate a busy news day, and The Oklahoman was there to keep residents informed, then as it is now.
Mary Phillips writes “The Archivist,” which appears regularly on Tuesdays in the Oklahoman. If you have any Oklahoma natural wonders that you might like to share, e-mail Phillips at mphillips@opubco.com.
7 state wonders remain beautiful
The Oklahoman has had many columnists over the years, and they have covered a variety of subjects.
One of the most popular columns, “The Smoking Room,” was written by one of The Oklahoman’s great editors and writers, who was known to most newspaper readers as R.G.M., the initials that accompanied his column.
R.G.M. was Richard “Dick” G. Miller, who came to The Oklahoman in 1920 and retired in 1968. For the 30-plus years lof his column, R.G.M. wrote mostly about the state he loved and its people and places. He was, according to his obituary published Sept. 16, 1970, “the state’s undisputed champion booster and ambassador.”
Here’s an excerpt from a “Smoking Room” column published March 29, 1936, that captured my attention:
“We should like to have the help of Smoking Room readers in naming the Seven Wonders of Oklahoma. Jot down your ideas and send them in. Of course, the whole state is a wonder, having been settled only 47 years ago and ranking among the best of them now. Our oil fields constitute another wonder. It is also a wonder, sometimes, how some men get elected to high office in Oklahoma. But the kind of wonder we are talking about is the kind that was built by nature but cared for and possibly aided by men.
To give you an idea and start you thinking, here is a list of what we call the wonders of Oklahoma, and there are more:
1. The Great Salt Plains in Alfalfa County, near Cherokee and Jet.
2. The artesian sulphur wells at Sulphur.
3. The bat caves at Freedom, near the Woods-Woodward county line.
4. The Glass Mountains in Major County. The queerest hill formations in the state.
5. The basket weavers’ caves in the western part of Cimarron County. Definite proof is visible there of prehistoric man’s existence in this state.
6. Devil’s Den, a few miles north of Tishomingo. Giant piles of solid granite boulders; one wonders how they ever got that way.
7. The mammoth caves and canyons in Blaine County north of Watonga and west of Hitchcock — large earth rooms that are explorable.
8. The sand dunes on the North Canadian River just south of Waynoka; more sand hills are visible from this point than anywhere else in the state.
9. The giant cliff that towers above the Illinois River just across from the village of Cookson in Cherokee county — probably the state’s largest and most scenic cliff.
10. The Kiamichi Mountain scenery, made easily accessible by CCC roads which lead around and to the peaks of the highest mountains.
11. Dripping Springs in southern Delaware County near the Arkansas line. Nature left a queer-shaped but beautiful piece of handiwork here, with sparkling 80-foot falls.
12. The Turner Falls area, in the Arbuckle Mountains between Davis and Ardmore.
13. Robbers Cave near Wilburton; giant rocks, deep hideouts, one of nature’s beauty spots.
Take that list for a starter, make any additions you like, and vote for seven — the seven which you believe to be the Seven Wonders of Oklahoma.”
I haven’t been to all the places on Miller’s list, but I can agree on all of those above that I have seen.
My list would include (1) Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur with its natural springs and range of nature; (2) Devil’s Den, with its rock formations and Pennington Creek, a natural water slide, before it became privately owned; (3) the sand dunes at Little Sahara State Park; (4) Beaver’s Bend and the Mountain Fork River; (5) Turner Falls and (6) Black Mesa, the highest spot in Oklahoma, complete with dinosaur tracks.
I have been to the salt plains, the canyons at Roman Nose State Park near Watonga, the Glass or Gloss Mountains and once spent an entire day driving on some of those CCC roads in the Kiamichi Mountains.
But for me, my seventh wonder would have to be any Oklahoma sunset that lights up the sky in colors no artist or photographer can truly do justice.
Mary Phillips writes “The Archivist,” which appears regularly on Tuesdays in The Oklahoman. If you have any Oklahoma natural wonders that you might like to share, e-mail Phillips at mphillip@opubco.com.
Sidney Brock was here and left his mark
Brock Park sits in southwest Oklahoma City along Pennsylvania Avenue between SW 29 and SW 36.
Brock Creek runs through it, and it has a playground and a walking trail. Brock Drive runs along the west side of the park.
It has been a park since 1909. It was named for, and the land donated by, Sidney L. (Lorenzo) Brock, a pioneer civic leader who left a personal legacy to Oklahoma City that endures today.
Sidney L. Brock was born in 1869 to a family of comfortable means in Missouri. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and began a career of general merchandising with a partner. He bought his partner out and later sold a successful business to begin raising cattle.
He was a success at that, too, but in 1905 he moved to Oklahoma City and opened Sidney L. Brock Dry Goods Store on Main Street and became a civic leader.
In 1909 he was elected president of the Chamber of Commerce and recognized that Oklahoma City’s manpower, resources and location would be an ideal place for a packing plant. Within months, the chamber, with Brock as a driving force, had convinced Morris & Co., one of the major meatpackers in the country to build a plant in Oklahoma City.
In October 1910 the plant opened with Sidney Brock pressing a button in New York City that started power to the plant in Oklahoma City. The packing plants — another was built soon after — were major Oklahoma City employers for several decades, and housing additions were built on the south side of Oklahoma City, and the streetcar line was extended to transport workers and their families.
It could be said without the vision of the Chamber of Commerce and the leadership of Sidney Brock, the Oklahoma National Stockyards might never have existed, and certainly not on the scale it has achieved.
Sidney Brock only stayed in Oklahoma City until 1915, when he retired, sold his store to the predecessor of John A. Brown’s and moved to Colorado and then to California. He visited often, though, because his daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons lived in Nichols Hills, and the newspaper society writers kept tabs on their activities.
He became an artist, he was a charter member of the Oklahoma Art League, and an Internet search on his name turned up some of his paintings.
When Sidney L. Brock died in 1943 in California, his obituary published in The Oklahoman, March 20, 1943, summed up his life with this statement: “He retired in 1915, and has since lived in Denver, Florida and California, but has always considered Oklahoma City his home.”
Oklahoma voters faced a long ballot in 1910
The Oklahoman has been providing stories following up on Oklahoma’s recent historic election.
As we begin a new chapter in the state’s history, let’s look back 100 years and do a follow-up on the 1910 election.
In 1910, Oklahoma’s state election was held the second week in November, rather than on the first Tuesday as it is now.
On Nov. 9, 1910, The Oklahoman announced the win of Lee Cruce as the state’s second governor over William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray after an acrimonious gubernatorial campaign. The headlines shouted the news of the Democratic landslide that swept the nation.
“With a total of 200 candidates and six state questions to be voted on, so great was the crush at the polls Tuesday morning that not over two-thirds of the city registration could secure ballots. In nearly every precinct, the inspectors provided extra booths, but even this failed to supply the demand and over 2,000 voters, tired of waiting in line, gave up in vain.
“Fully 2,000 people gathered in front of The Daily Oklahoman building to watch the returns Tuesday night. It was a good natured throng, and favorite candidates were cheered heartily whenever the meager returns justified it. The greatest interest was shown in the gubernatorial candidates, the local option and high license bill, and the results of the elections in other states. It was midnight before the crowd dispersed.”
Of the six questions on the ballot, local option, allowing liquor sales, and women’s suffrage, allowing women the right to vote, generated the most interest of the voting public. They both went down in defeat. Women’s suffrage, allowing women the right to vote, would not pass until 1918, and local option (liquor by the drink decided by individual counties) would not pass until 1984.
“Although the vote was light compared to the registration, it was the largest in the history of the county. The large number of questions to be voted upon as well as the great number of candidates on the ballot required not less than five minutes for a voter to properly mark his ballot. This was the minimum, and in cases where voters were unfamiliar with the question and had to read them in the booth, a longer time was necessary.”
There were long waits this past Tuesday thanks to the lengthy ballot. And as the votes were tallied, there were exciting wins and bitter defeats.
An editorial from The Oklahoman on Nov. 9, 1910, summed up the importance of the election and the effects of participation. It bears reading in its entirety, but here is an excerpt from the last paragraph that is as appropriate now as it was then.
“In Oklahoma, the passing of the election is like the lifting of a fog, for local conditions are now such that ordinary activities may be resumed with confidence and politics will be relegated to the rear. …”
Let’s hope that is true as Gov.-elect Mary Fallin begins preparing for her term as the first female governor of Oklahoma.
A ring, a button and a thimble — who knew?
While searching The Oklahoman’s online archive for information about Pershing, OK, an oil boomtown that went bust long ago, I came across a story from 1904, where then-Capt. John Joseph Pershing (he would become known as Gen. Black Jack Pershing), while serving as assistant chief of staff of the Southwest Army Division, was present in Oklahoma City at the wedding of Lt. Louis H. Kilbourne and Margaret Crittenden Laird.
It was the description of the cutting of the wedding cake that sent me off on a tangent.
From the society pages of The Oklahoman of Jan. 24, 1904, is the description:
“The reception held afterwards at the Laird home on North Robinson was a delightful crush. The cutting of the bride’s cake, containing the prophetic emblems, was attended by the most breathless interest by the four dainty bridesmaids and the other unwedded ones present. It contained a ring, a button and a thimble.
“Captain Pershing, one of the bachelors attached to General Sumner’s staff, who is causing a flutter among the girls, caused a deeper and more painful flutter by drawing the ring, which signifies that he will soon become a benedict; Miss Richardson, one of the bridesmaids, a petite, brown-haired lassie, drew the hateful thimble that used to mean that one would become a spinster, but now only signifies that she will be a bachelor maid. However the cruel fate was left undecided by her catching the bouquet, which the bride threw from the top of the stair to the maids lined up in the hall below expectantly. This contradiction will have to be unraveled by later events, but it seems that the omen of the bouquet, which means she will be the next to wed of the bridal party, seems the most likely solution to the tangle.
“Mr. Edgar Laird drew the button. This regulates him to single blessedness all his days, so it must be one of those buttons you sew on with a hammer or a hairbrush, and which are called ‘bachelor buttons,’ a name once signifying an innocent little yellow flower.”
Never having heard of putting things in cakes, except for Mardi Gras king’s cake, I had to do a little research.
The Oklahoman’s archives provided several more examples, one in 1911, in which the ring, the thimble, the darning needle, the button and the shell were put around the base of the cake and had ribbons attached for the participants to draw. The shell was for the promise of a sea voyage. I’m not sure about the darning needle. I did learn a “benedict” was a newly married man who was thought to be a confirmed bachelor.
I guess in Pershing’s case, it was true, because several years later he married. But in the case of Laird, the button didn’t take, because the next year, the society pages were mentioning Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Laird.
By 1939, Emily Post, who had a syndicated column, was suggesting that the favors be placed beside the cake.
The Oklahoman carried advertisements for a selection of favors, and my Aunt Grace Helms said when she married in 1941, her mother bought a set and slipped the pieces between the layers of her cake.
In 1960, the favors were recommended for Halloween or birthdays with these explanations: a button for bachelor, a ring for marriage, spoon for spoony (foolishness), a thimble for old maid, a dime for fortune, a penny for poverty, a dog for luck and an airplane for travel.
Other stories and ads mention a wishbone for luck.
A search of the Internet suggested that the ring, the thimble and the button were of Irish origin.
Now, when I married, I did wear something borrowed and something blue, and had a sixpence in my shoe. But my wedding cake was empty, but for the flowers that decorated its surface.
Evolution of a building: 106-year-old building has survived all of downtown Oklahoma City’s transitions intact
The Lee Office Building, pre-1910. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives.
If you’ve been around a few years, you know that downtown Oklahoma City has changed a great deal.
The 1960s and ’70s were years of transition when many older buildings were torn down to make room for new buildings that reflected the architectural ideal of the time.
At Main and Robinson, time sort of stands still: A building built in 1904 still stands after surviving several remodels. It still serves its tenants well.
In February 1903, when The Oklahoman sent a writer to report on a new building being considered for construction on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson — “a five-story business and office building
The Lee Building circa 1940. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
on this site, which is considered the heart of the business district, would not lack for tenants” — he probably had no clue that 106 years after the building was built, it would still be there.
On Aug. 18, 1903, The Oklahoman announced: “The plans have been completed for what will be the handsomest building in Oklahoma City’s business district — the Lee office building, to be erected on the northeast corner of Main and Robinson, site of the old Lion store building, which was destroyed by fire last spring.
“Architect D. Turbyfill yesterday exhibited to a representative of this paper the completed plans for this beautiful building, which will be a mammoth six-story and basement structure, dimensions 50 by 140 feet, constructed of St. Louis grey brick, trimmed with Carthage white stone and corniced with terra cotta. The entire ground floor frontage will be of plate glass. The ground floor will be divided into eight business rooms, all of which leased in advance.
“The grand entrance to the structure will be located about the center of the building on the Robinson
The Lee Building with its 1953 facade. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Street side. It will be very handsome, will open into a lobby and commodious hall floored with tiling and wainscoted with marble.
“At the rear of the hall will be an electric elevator with a landing on each floor.
“The five floors above the first will be divided into office rooms, 22 on each floor, making a total of 120 office rooms, a grand building exclusive of the basement.
“Throughout the building will be furnished with steam heat and electric lights, while a toilet room will be provided on each floor.
“The building, when completed, will be entirely fireproof.”
Construction began in June 1904, and the building built by Oscar G. Lee had five stories and a basement when completed. In February 1905, businesses were announcing their locations in the new Lee Office Building.
Liberty National Bank moved in and bought the building in 1918, renaming it after itself. The bank remained in the building until 1952.
The building was sold in July 1952 and again in January 1953. The new owners gave it a new facade and a new name: Oil and Gas Building.
The building was sold again, and in an article in The Oklahoman of March 30, 1980, Neal Horton of the
The red brick building in the lower right corner is the Oil and Gas Building as it looks today. - Photo from The Oklahoman Archives
Horton Co., one of the new owners, said that while the new owners had hoped to restore the building to its original look, so much had been lost during the 1953 remodel that they decided to make a change, saying, “The new facade will give the stable feeling of the original brick structure, while allowing us to create a pleasant first-floor retail space.”
If you go downtown today, you can judge if the owners succeeded. And if you use a little imagination, 1904 won’t be far away.
Remembering Oklahoma City’s first canal
The tablet describing the location of the canal. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman
A short trip downtown on a hot Sunday afternoon confirmed that the preservation of the memory of a bit of Oklahoma City history was still in place.
A story from The Oklahoman on Feb. 9, 1938, tells the story about Oklahoma City’s first canal. It tells of a grand idea and a grand failure.
The story was being retold, because a historical marker, a small bronze tablet, was being placed to mark the location of the old canal by the ’89er organization. The canal itself was well on its way to disappearing altogether.
The tablet read: “This tablet marks the location of the canal built in 1889 by the Oklahoma Ditch and Power Co. Charles Price, Pres. and C.P. Walker, Secy. The canal head was four miles west. The power plant was located at Broadway and Canal streets. It furnished power to operate an electric light plant for a brief period.”
I doubted, given the address, that 72 years later it would still be there. Oklahoma City, south of the present Crosstown Expressway, is changing due to the rerouting of Interstate 35.
The door of the Oklahoma Operating Company with the tablet on the right. - Photo by Mary Phillips, The Oklahoman.
The address was 819 SW 3 St., formerly known as Noble Street. It was here the Oklahoma Operating Company in 1930 built their new office/plant building. The company was the owner of several laundries in town. The story said that the tablet was located on the wall to the right of the door to the office.
The building is now deserted and for sale, but the tablet was right where the story said it would be.
As I stood and looked around, I doubted that those stalwart pioneers would recognize the area. Buildings have been built, and the North Canadian River itself is nowhere to be seen as it was moved south, straightened for flood control and now renamed The Oklahoma River. But because of those ’89ers, a small group of Land Run participants, who wanted those who followed to remember the past, a memorial exists today for those who will seek it out.
Map showing the route of the 1890 Oklahoma City Industrial Canal. - From The Okahoman Archives
Stories abound in The Oklahoman about how the investors were so sure the canal would work that one of them, Charles “Gristmill” Jones built a gristmill to ground flour, and other investors built a power plant to produce electricity.
On Christmas Eve 1890, when water was sent down the canal and it worked for a short time, Oklahoma Citians were so excited. But blame for the failure that followed was put on gophers that damaged the banks and quicksand that clogged the turbines. In less than two years, the canal was abandoned and began its disappearing act.
So, if you are ever downtown visiting Oklahoma City’s successful canal, give a thought to the one that didn’t work.
– Mary Phillips
