We received some books about the history of Southard and Okeene, the Blaine County cemeteries, and a book written about the museum titled, This Old House, which were donated to the Friends of the Ferguson Home on Saturday. A picture of Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours was also donated. It was autographed by Ernest Tubb. On the back in pencil is 4-11-80 Longdale. I’m assuming that is the date and place it was taken but it doesn’t say where in Longdale. In 1980 there were several clubs open or it could have been at the school. Thank you for the donation. I was reading the book about USG while at the museum Saturday and it was interesting.
We had a couple from Watonga come Saturday morning. We had a good visit. As they were leaving a couple from Oklahoma City came in. They were just driving through Watonga and saw the small sign on the highway about the Ferguson museum. They said they almost missed the sign. I explained we had talked to the state about new signs a few years ago and we were told that along the highway was state property and we couldn’t put up new signs. After the conversation with the state, someone did try to clean the road grim off the old ones, which we really appreciated. They knew nothing about Governor Ferguson so I was able to give them the full history. He said they have visited several other museums in western Oklahoma. It reminded me of the Tour de Museum we used to do for museums in western Oklahoma. She said she really liked the displays on the top floor. He was very knowledgeable concerning the antiques. He thought it was great that the Watonga Republican is still our weekly newspaper. I told them at one time there was another newspaper whose editor was a Democrat so there were heated arguments between the two newspapers concerning politics. They both made comments and asked questions.
There is a metal mold for candle making at the museum. It will make eight of the twelve-inch-tall slim candles. You would cut the wick a few inches longer than the finished size and thread it through the small hole in the bottom leaving a tail at the top to finish with. First dip the wick in the tallow or wax so it would be stiff or a person would be fighting the wick to go all the way through. Wicks were of twisted hemp or cotton. They would melt tallow from cattle and sheep then pour it into the mold. The research I did said the tallow smelled terrible and smoked badly so they were always adding different fruit to find something to improve the smell. Someone in Battersea, UK, used paraffin wax instead of tallow and that was a big improvement. I wonder if Mrs. Ferguson had time with her family and helping run the newspaper to make candles.
In the book, They Carried the Torch, Mrs. Ferguson tells us that Henry Merrifield who ran the stage line would start using the horseless carriages to carry the mail and passengers from El Reno to Cloud Chief in western Oklahoma which was about 50 miles apart and that the road was level and straight. I had not heard of Cloud Chief, so I looked it up and found that it is now a ghost town in Washita County and was actually the county seat there when the land run took place, April 19, 1892. The citizens voted, August 7, 1901, to move the county seat to Cordell but the U.S. Congress didn’t let them move it until 1906. Cloud Chief was about 3,000 in population shortly after the land run. There is a monument showing where there was a court house. Initially, the children went to school in a dug out until a 30 x 50 schoolhouse was built in 1894.
Anyone that wants to volunteer or become a member of Friends of Ferguson Home is welcome. We welcome all the help we can get.