After the Run

bluebird wrote:This is great information. Some we have not seen.
Where was Terry and Cross? Are they still towns? Thanks for this article.bluebird.

The rail road could make or break a town, much like interstate highways do today. The town of Terry could have died if the rail road didn't stop there. The rail roads were the life line for commerce. Business's would follow the rail roads lead.

The Rock Island wanted to put their depot in North Enid rather than the town of Enid proper. Certain people kept tearing up the tracks and dynamiting the bridge in Enid forcing the train to stop there. Finally the Rock Island relented and built their depot in Enid. North Enid now is just a "sub-division" of Enid.

Also many towns changed names over time and could be known as something else now.

Another thing to look at is personal transportation. When the territory was first opened people had horses and wagons for long range transportation. Many walked. Most "communities" were about ten miles from each other. Making it a days travel to town and back for those furtherest from town. Everyone was a farmer. They had chores that had to be done morning and night so they generally couldn't be gone from home for longer periods unless they made arrangements for someone else to look after the place for them. As personal transportation improved [cars and trucks] they could travel further to buy what they needed so they started going to the larger towns. Larger towns had better selections. Many little communities died.

I know the lady that is the sole resident of Midway in Logan County. Her parents had a little "convenience store" there back in the thirties and forties. [ Didn't know there was such a thing back that far did you ]. Midway was a "corner store" off the highway about four miles. They had some groceries and a gas pump. They lived in the back of the store. Now she doesn't sell anything but the old "store" is still there pretty much like it always was. Even the old cash register. Some of the little "communities", like Midway, left no traces.

Look at your particular situation. Between Ark City and Ponca City you can buy just about everything you need. But, if you go to Wichita, Tulsa, or Oklahoma City you find a larger selection to choose from. We live about halfway between Guthrie and Edmond. All of the necessities are readily available. BUT, if we make that little extra effort [ and fight the traffic ] and go on into Oklahoma City we have much more to choose from.

OK, I'll shut up and quit rambling now.

This is great information. Some we have not seen.
Where was Terry and Cross? Are they still towns? Thanks for this article.bluebird.

The morning call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, September 20

STILL THE EXODUS.
Thousands Are Coming Out of the
Cherokee Strip.
Arkansas City, Kans., Sept. 19.— The
railroads are carrying thousands of disap-
pointed people from the Cherokee Strip
and hundreds are passing through in
wagons, on horseback and on foot. Light
rains fell this afternoon, but the water
sank into the parched ground so quickly
that they had little beneficial effect. Sup
plies of food have been received at the
new townsites and settler's can now live at
moderate expense. Great inconvenience
still exists, however, because of the insuf-
ficient supply of water. Frame buildings
are going up in all the townsites, but the
majority still live and do business in
tents. The Rock Island still refuses to
stop its trains at the Government site of
Pond Creek, and is giving all advantages
possible to the independent rival town
sites. At Terry the Santa Fe is pursuing
a similar course and fostering the rival
towns of Wharton and Kildare.
A mass-meeting was held last night and
resolutions adopted demanding an inves-
tigation of the Killing of John R. Hill of
New Jersey by soldiers, and asking the
punishment of the officers responsible
therefore.
Guthrie, O. T., Sept. 19.— Five more
dead bodies were found on the strip to
day, all having perished from prairie fires,
and two more are reported to have killed
each other over a claim near Cross.