We had a table at the Blaine County Fair to possibly get new members. We had one couple and an individual sign up. Welcome to Friends of the Ferguson Home.
A lady came by the table to visit at the Fair and said her dad was a painter and he was hired to paint the roof of the Ferguson Home a few times. He said he hated trying to paint the steeple. I can see why. Painting the roof must have been to preserve the wooden shingles.
Barbara and I attended the Red Carpet Country Conference this past week. We heard interesting things from the speakers. Retired Representative Mike Sanders was a speaker and we were able to visit. I bragged about the work being done on the home and he said he would stop by and see us when he passes through next time. Jim Inhofe’s field representative, Ryan Sproul, remembered me from the coffee we had back in June and came up to me to visit, thanking me for the tour I gave the group. Representative Mike Dobrinski had someone or several someones around him so I didn’t get to say hi to him. Oklahoma is getting to be a place to make movies. One of the speakers in charge of the movie industry here shared how much money is spent in the community while filming and all that is involved. Some parts may be filmed in one location while something else is filmed across the state. One of the speakers did a short video and it started out like two men at a news desk and late breaking news happened. Then shortly after that the fire sirens went off and it took a few seconds to figure out what was going on. He stopped speaking and said I assure you that is not my late breaking news.
During Governor Ferguson’s administration deficit spending was eliminated. At the beginning of his administration, he took up the work of improving conditions in the insane asylum and prisons, and looking after school land matters that had been severely criticized previous to his regime. The territorial schools received special attention during all of Governor Ferguson’s administration. Teachers especially fitted for the work and certified rather than for political reasons were selected. He organized the Board of Agriculture. Among the bills which he signed that caused the most criticism was one in regard to herd laws. At that time, Western Oklahoma was sparsely settled, cattlemen had large herds in that part of the territory, and those who were trying to farm were constantly harassed by cattle destroying their crops. It was almost impossible to hold down their claims. The settlers from the west come to the legislature for relief. The herd law bill was passed, compelling the cattlemen to fence their pastures, imposing a severe penalty if they allowed their stock to destroy the settler’s crops. This did not suit the cattlemen who hoped to make a cattle country rather than a farming country of western Oklahoma, but they gradually gave way and obeyed the law.
Ferguson strongly promoted Oklahoma’s participation in the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1903. Most of the legislation enacted in this period was either suggested by him or strongly influenced by his actions. Perhaps his greatest contribution was his unwavering devotion to the cause of statehood for Oklahoma Territory. To be continued.
We have a couple of large butter churns with the long handles that look like broom handles as well as one that look it may hold a half gallon with beaters like a mixer would have that you hand crank. I have been thinking about how they separated the cream from the milk. The separator spins and the milk goes to the outside and the cream stays close to the center and each has its own spout to come out. Before separators were thought of they would strain the milk and cream through a cloth. We also have butter molds they used to shape the butter with. When they wanted to be fancy they would stamp a design on the side. A lady told me a few years back that there was a pen for the town’s cows where Dominoes is now. Her brother was hired to go each morning and take the cows to the owner’s house and the cows stayed there all day. He would do this before school and take them back before dark. He was quite a bit older than her (she was 3 to 5 years old and he was a teenager) and occasionally she was able to go with him of an evening. Her mother didn’t like her to go because she was afraid one of the cows might step on her.
The hours of operations are Wednesday – Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Closed state holidays. Call 580-623-5069 for information or to schedule a tour or event at times we are not open. Be sure and leave name and number because we don’t have caller ID.