It will be different to walk in the Museum and not see the Christmas Trees the various businesses decorated for us after next week. They all are beautiful in their own way.
We had four visitors this week. We are glad people still want to take time to come visit during this busy time.
Clay was up Friday working inside the Home. That is his plan to do inside restoration this winter while it is too cold outside to work. The plans are to scrape and paint the woodwork, fix a few places where the wallpaper is bubbling, and other inside repairs.
There is a trunk on the second floor that has an Atlantic Ocean map on the inside lid. It shows Jamaica, Cuba, and the Caribbean Sea. There is a picture of a ship that was likely glued in the center of the map. Possibly, someone came across the ocean in a ship like that. The trunk has etching on the outside. It must have been very beautiful when new and still is even after 75 to 100 years.
In the introduction of the book written by Elva Ferguson “They Carried the Torch” she mentions Zach Mulhall so I decided to check him out. He was a very successful cattle man with an 80,000 acre ranch at Mulhall, Oklahoma. His daughter Lucille attended school in St. Louis, Missouri, but longed to be back on the ranch. Zack traveled to St. Louis to escort Lucille home. Lucille then attended St. Joseph’s Academy in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 20 miles away. This way she could go home every weekend to train her horses and practice her riding and roping. Zack bought her a sorrel colt as a coming home present after bringing her home from St. Louis. Lucille named the colt, Governor Ferguson and she began training him immediately, working with him two hours every day. She didn’t allow anyone else to handle Governor. He learned to pick up a wooden handle dinner bell with his mouth and swing his head while the bell rings. When given a different command he would sink down on his back legs and sit upright like a dog. He learned to play lame and hobble around favoring one leg at a time. He could bow to an audience, dance to music, rear on his hind legs, and walk on his knees. Lucille’s horses weren’t one trick ponies but were highly disciplined and well trained performers as well as top-notch ranch horses. Zach had a dual life; he was married to Mary and had another family with a Georgia Smith that he met while working for the railroad. When he moved his family from St. Louis to Mulhall he moved Georgia and their son, Charley, into the family house in St. Louis, then later after she gave birth to a daughter, he moved her to Mulhall. The daughter was a new born and was not named yet; he let Mary name and raise her. Zack had a son with Mary that passed away right before his 14th birthday. He moved Charley onto the ranch since he was his only son. I got side tracked with Zach Mulhall and his family but I thought it interesting that Lucille named her pony Governor Ferguson. This article doesn’t say how the Mulhalls and Fergusons were involved but obviously they were because of the naming of the pony. This article does say the Mulhalls were at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904 with their horse show. Governor Ferguson was also there promoting Oklahoma Territory to become a State. This information is from the Flint Hills Special, written by Greg Hoots.
Our hours are Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. We will be closing at noon on Friday and will be closed Saturday, Christmas Day and will be closed New Year Eve and New Year Day. If you have company during the holidays and you want to bring them for a visit you can call me at 580-614-1018 and I’ll be glad to make arrangements to give you a tour.