We had two men on separate occasions to visit the museum this week. It was their first time to visit it and one said he was going to bring his wife for a tour when he could.
The Watonga third graders all wrote us thank you notes. Several of them mentioned they enjoyed seeing the home and hearing the history. This makes us feel like we did what we had hoped to do. One of them said they couldn’t wait to come back and bring family. They thought making the butter and working with the clay to make pottery was amazing. Some even mentioned enjoying writing with the calligraphy pens in the old timey notebooks we made for them. I saw a father of one of the students and he told me how much his son enjoyed it. Again we can’t thank the volunteers enough for their help. It wouldn’t have been possible without their help. I would like this to expand so we could have the Geary, Canton, and Okeene schools have a Frontier Day too.
According to the framed newspaper article written by Frank Beneda, that I wrote about the last three weeks he says, “the movies and TV depict a stage coach ride as a thrilling and dangerous experience with a band of outlaws or Indians waiting in ambush around every turn, they were mostly nothing more than a dusty, hot or cold, rough, tiring and boring ride. There were only two known exceptions to this, unless the stage company tended to suppress adverse information that might tend to discourage travel. One of these was a burned-out stage coach found southwest of the present site of Watonga. There also was a spectacular unsolved stage robbery between Ft. Supply and Mobeetie, Texas. The six mule team trotted into Mobeetie pulling an empty coach with blood splattered on the seats and running board and the mail and express box gone. The driver, shotgun guard and passengers were found dead, it was reported. All efforts by the Army and U. S. Marshals failed to solve the crime during a six month investigation.” I wondered where Mobeetie, Texas, was and found this information about it on Wikipedia. Mobeetie (formerly known as “Cantonment Sweetwater”) was a trading post for hunters and trappers for nearby United States Army outpost Fort Elliott. It was first a buffalo hunter’s camp unofficially called “Hidetown”. When they applied for a post office in 1879 they wanted it to be named Sweetwater but that name had already been used.
We have a couple of box cameras on the third floor. I have one just like one of them, and mine was almost 100 years old when I bought it as a teenager for $1.00 or $2.00. So it is nearly 130 years old now. There is a small metal handle you slide one way to take a picture then back the other way to take the next picture. Mine took good black and white pictures when I used it. I used to have to send the film and order film from Owl Photo in Weatherford, Oklahoma. We probably all have used Owl Photo at some point.
We welcome anyone that wants to volunteer or become a member of Friends of Ferguson Home. You don’t have to be a member to volunteer. If you can only help with one program or project we welcome you.
Hours of operation are Wednesday thru Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Closed state holidays. Just give us a call at 580-623-5069 or 580- 614-1018 to make arrangements for an after hours tour.