Weevils in the Flour

Awhile back I was reading some (way) back issues in the archives of the Altus Times-Democrat newspaper on Google News. Altus is the county seat of the little town where my mother grew up. I am working on a novel set in the area during the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression. This was an ad for a local grocery store during that time.

I guess they had more urgent things to worry about than weevils in their flour. "They are clean and harmless..." we are reassured. Yeah, I don't think I was all that worried about them being dirty and harmful. I just don't like the idea of bugs in my food. Apparently weevils fall in the category of First World problems.

On the other hand... I would like to have my groceries delivered right to my refrigerator, please.

Travel Stats: Day 3

Departed Tucumcari, New Mexico: 8:00 a.m. MDT.
 Hours driven: 9
Flat tires: 1
Hours stopped to change the tire and get it fixed in Amarillo: 2.5
Miles driven: 590 (including 44 on Old Route 66)
Average speed: 50.2 (including stops)
Fuel mileage:  39.7 (40.259 on one tank!)
States: New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas
Wildlife spotted: 2 snakes crossing the road in New Mexico
Other VW Jetta wagons spotted: 1 (silver)
Weather: sunny and warm (high of 95 in Amarillo)
Car Talk podcast: 2 episodes
Lum and Abner MP3s: 6 episodes
CBS Radio Mystery Theater episodes: 2
Indications that we had reached the Bible Belt: a giant cross as a tourist attraction, and a billboard advertising the Jesus Christ is Lord Travel Center
Arrived at my parents' house near Mulberry, Arkansas: 8:35 p.m. CDT.
Tuesday's destination: My mother-in-law's house in Rolla, Missouri.

The Eldorado Courier

My grandparents and their children moved away from Eldorado, Oklahoma in 1958. Many of our relatives still lived there, so my grandparents had a subscription to The Eldorado Courier (pronounced "Elda-ray-duh Coo-yer") to keep up with the happenings in their hometown. Sometimes Grandmother would include a clipping from the Courier in a letter to Mother when I was growing up.

When I walked into the Eldorado Historical Society Museum the other day, and saw the Courier masthead on the wall, I had my hopes up that I would be able to pore over the archives of the small town newspaper. I love family history and research.

One issue from 1929 was lying on the table. As you can imagine, the pages are very brittle and crumbly. I lifted the first page carefully and just peeked at the next page. I wondered where the other issues were. I hoped they were micro-filmed somewhere.

So I asked Mr. Goodin, the man who had opened the museum for us, if he knew where the archives were for the Courier. He knew exactly where they were. There was a door I hadn't noticed before just under the masthead (in the first picture). The archives are behind the door!

However, due to extreme brittleness of the paper, we wouldn't be able to take them out to look at them-- which is completely understandable. Mr. Goodin didn't know if they had ever been microfilmed or not. One of my cousins said he would try to contact the district library to find out, or to see about having it done.

I hope they are able to be preserved some way. After all, tidbits like this (from 1934) are just priceless...

...even if they did misspell Grandmother Ernesteen's name!

For more posts about vintage treasures visit Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady.

The Home Demonstration Club Quilt

As far as I could tell, downtown Eldorado, Oklahoma only has two or three "inhabited" buildings. There is the community building, where we met for our family reunion Labor Day weekend... an apparently current insurance office... and across the street, the historical museum. All the other buildings are vacant.

For such a tiny, dying town, the museum is quite impressive and full of interesting artifacts from the pioneering days of the community. It is open by appointment only, but one of my cousins who lives there made arrangements for the man to open it for us the afternoon of the reunion.

The most exciting discovery (for me) was a quilt made by the Midway Community Home Demonstration Club back in 1934-1935. Each member embroidered her name on a block. It was folded on a quilt rack hanging on the wall. My grandparents lived in the Midway Community (out in the country) when they were teenagers. I remembered reading about the Home Demonstration Club meetings in Grandmother's diary which she kept in 1934 and 1935 as a senior in high school, so I was pretty sure she had worked on this very quilt.

The name showing on the display just happened to be "Liffa Shumaker"-- my great-grandmother.

 Pinned to the quilt, just below Mother Shumaker's block, was a list of the other names on it. "Ernesteen Shumaker" (Grandmother's maiden name) was on that list!

My cousin asked the man if we could possibly take the quilt down and unfold it, so we could see the other names. He kindly consented, and helped us with it.

 Mother recognized quite a few of the names on the quilt, as she was born about 5 or 6 years after this quilt was made, in the Midway Community, and lived there until she was 17.

And sure enough, there was Grandmother's square!

Another square of interest was Aunt Thelma's. She was Granddaddy's sister and also Grandmother's best friend when they were teenagers. She ended up marrying Grandmother's brother, so their children were double cousins with my mother and her siblings.

I love that it was a friendship quilt, so each person's square featured their name in their own handwriting.

I could have easily spent several days in this little building, poring over records and documents from earlier generations.

For more posts about vintage treasures visit Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady.

Tater Mountain

When we came to the turn-off for the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma last Friday, Mother asked, "Do we want to take a detour and drive through there? We have plenty of time."

Uncle Carlton and I responded, "Yes!" in unison.

Mother wasn't quite sure it was the right road. "Yes, it is," Uncle Carlton assured her. "See those mountains off in the distance?"

"Where?" I wondered. I couldn't see any mountains. Oh, wait a minute, yes, I guess there were some hills off yonder.

As we got a little closer we decided to drive up Mount Scott. I vaguely remembered having gone up once when we were through there in the 1970s. The road went around and around. And around. And around some more. We finally got to the top for a view of the lake and the surrounding countryside. At not quite 2,500 feet it didn't seem like much of a mountain to me, but it was fun to drive up it.

"Wait till you see Tater Mountain!" I was told. "Carlton, do you remember Tater Mountain?"

"Of course, I remember Tater Mountain!" he said.

"I guess it's called Tea Cup now," she said. "I don't know when its name was changed."

"Why was it called Tater Mountain?" I wondered.

"Because it was shaped something like a sweet potato," was the reason.

I couldn't wait to see it.

 Later that evening we went for a drive in the countryside surrounding Eldorado (pronounced Elda-ray-duh by the locals). We first approached Tater Mountain from the east, with the sun beginning to set behind it.

 "It's not as big as I remember it being when we were kids," my mother said.

"Well, it's probably not as big," Uncle Carlton mused. "I'm sure the weather has worn it down some, and it looks like whoever put that fence on it carved some of it off."

So the shape changed, and they changed the name to Tea Cup? I dunno. If you squint at it just right you can sorta make out the original shape of a sweet potato... and now a tea cup. I guess.

It's probably hard to tell the size of it from the pictures, but just to give you an idea, the whole thing is just slightly larger than my house.

It does create a distinctive landmark from about a mile away.

And so, 60 years ago, it was known as Tater Mountain.

Labor Day Weekend

I had intended to micro-blog all weekend so my family (at least) could follow along with my adventures. But "the best-laid plans of mice and men..." and all that. I hadn't realized there wouldn't be a very good cell signal in the remote little corner of south-western Oklahoma where i spent the better part of the weekend. I did have a wonderful time reconnecting with my extended family, appreciating once again the very special heritage I have, and realizing what a blessing it is to be descended from "good people."

My dad let me "adopt" his DSLR camera for the weekend. As I snapped hundreds of pictures of the desolate landscape and the various clusters of scrubby mesquite trees where this-relative-or-that's farm "used to be" I wondered what it was that drew my ancestors to the area to start with.

I have more to share (with pictures) later. I'm on my way home now, watching the sunset from the Denver airport. Thank you, Mother and Uncle Carlton for being my tour guides this week-end.

Tally of Relatives in Attendance (as they are related to me... not counting in-laws)

Mother - 1
Uncle - 1
Aunt - 1
Great-uncles - 3
First cousin -1
First cousins once-removed - 9
First cousins twice-removed - 2
Second cousins - 5
Second cousins once-removed - 6

And that was just a small representation of my extended family that I am personally acquainted with. I think that's kinda impressive.

Blue Moon

The blue moon rising over Great-Aunt Kathryn's house, near Eldorado, Oklahoma last night. Granddaddy built this house in 1950.

Mount Scott

This is what they call a mountain in Oklahoma.