DEWEY, OKLAHOMA (INDIAN TERRITORY) PAST AND PRESENT

My girlfriend's dad's truck Eli's Hog Hauler

 The photos above were taken this August at the Dewey Antique Car show at the Dewey Hotel. 

Veranda of the Dewey Hotel before statehood when it was Indian Territory

 

History of Dewey, Oklahoma

Dewey, Oklahoma is located approximately 49 miles north of Tulsa in Washington County. Dewey is about 15 miles south of the Kansas border.
Jake Bartles started the city of Dewey (which was originally part of Indian Territory, allotted to the Cherokee Nation) back in the 1890's after moving his general store from Bartlesville. During the move of the store, the Bartles family also began building the Dewey Hotel, which was completed in 1899. Dewey became a thriving community thanks to oil drilling, and was officially chartered December 8, 1905.
Today Dewey, Oklahoma sits quietly enjoying its role as a small town in the northeastern part of the state. If you drove through Dewey today you might find it hard to believe that for almost 20 years, the community was known around the world for its annual roundup. "The Dewey Roundup," as it was called, occurred every year for three days over the 4th of July holiday.
The event was foremost a contest of cowboy skills with prize money given to the winners, but other things happened as well. Airplane demonstrations were given everyday. Car and horse races, boxing matches, and Wild West shows filled the arena north of town. The Roundup began as a reunion for town founder Jake Bartles and his friends from the Civil War. It soon, however, turned into much more than that. After the first Roundup in 1908 Jake's son Joe made the event an annual affair, and so the tradition began.
So many people flooded into Dewey beginning in late June that special railroad tracks were built just to handle the traffic. Lodging was so impossible to find that people camped out in the yards of nearby houses or strung hammocks between building columns.
Every year the Roundup promised something special for those attending. Bulldogging from an airplane occurred in 1915, while in 1919 all of the prize money was issued in the form of solid gold coins minted especially for the event. Legend has it that the Dewey Roundup was the inspiration for the now famous Calgary Stampede and that a train car of Roundup officials from Dewey traveled to Canada to oversee the creation of that event.
The Roundup was an unofficial measure of one's skill as a cowboy. If you did well at Dewey then you knew that you were one of the best in the country. Ropers, riders and bulldoggers made their way to Dewey each year from almost every state in the union putting their skills, reputations, and sometimes careers to the test. Western movie stars were discovered and hired at the Roundup, and many a ranch hand got his first job based on his performance there. The Roundup is a piece of cowboy history, and many people from Dewey still remember the chaotic three days occurring every July. The Great Depression of 1929 put a stop to the Roundup, and the collapse of the mammoth grandstands in the 1930s signaled the end of any hope for a revival. It was in this week of 1908 that the first Dewey Roundup took place, starting a tradition and creating memories that would live on for decades.


Tom Mix served as town Marshal in 1912. He later became a world-famous silent film adventure actor. Dewey is home of the Tom Mix Museum and hosts an annual Tom Mix Festival and Wild West Show in September. The Tom Mix Museum serves as the city's Visitor Information Center.
The Dewey Portland Cement Company was most beneficial to the city. Owner Don Tyler not only benefited the local economy with Dewey Portland Cement, but was able to build the Washington County Fairgrounds, Library, the school gymnasium, and a community center. Several houses in the city are made with Dewey Portland cement. Dewey also had concrete electrical poles, some of which are still being used. Dewey had paved streets and sidewalks before most cities did!


Attend the city of Dewey

Western Heritage Days Parade

September, 18, 2010

3 PM  
Dewey's Tom Mix Festival and Wild West Show are coming up September 18 and 19. The events together make up Deweys Western Heritage Weekend.

Saturday's entertainment will include music, gun fights, children's games, an antique tractor show, great food and other vendors, tours of the Tom Mix Museum and haunted Dewey Hotel Museum, and a western parade - complete with a longhorn cattle drive through downtown Dewey!

Sunday's activities start with the "Sermon on the Mount" (horse-whispering), a chuck wagon breakfast, and moves on to more food vendors, gun fights, live music, Prairie Song tours, and culminates in a Wild West Show featuring the One Arm Bandit and other western acts!

For more information about any of the activities, including the overnight cattle drive, here are the contacts:  Parade, Craig Epps 337-3379 (or pick up a parade entry form at City Hall); Cattle Drive, Rod Nicholas 534-1809; Vending applications, Nick Brown 534-7428. 

Dewey continues to be a thriving community today.  I am proud to say that this is the town that I grew up in!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Window Washer For Hire

Will work for Doggie Treats

Hummingbird Wars and Feeding Frenzie!

We have had a larger than normal amount of hummingbirds at our house this year.

They sure do cuss me out when I am outside and interrupting

their feeding.  I just love to listen to the chatter of those little guys!

There are so many of them I can not even try to count. 

I have 8 feeders up and I have to fill them every day to day and a half.  

I am keeping the sugar company in business!

My recipe

 is 

1part sugar

4 parts water, boiled 

let cool then fill feeders

THE FAMILY

SHEDDING DOG HAIR.....YUCK!

Kelsey our rescue

We have been up to our eyeballs with dog hair.  Kelsey was blackish and white and she was a real shedding machine...I said I don't want anymore dogs that shed, especially white ones..... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to wear black, I love to wear black as much as I love to sleep late and stay up late.....  My miniature schnauzers don't shed so I had gotten spoiled.  So then when Kelsey passed on I was sure we would just have Schnauzers from then on, Chloe was still fairly young  and so we were finally free of dog hair clogging up and burning out all the vacuum motors!  We went through several of them with Kelsey.  Dog hair is really hard on motors!

 

Chloe, Zoe, and Kelsey 

Chloe then soon came down with Cushings Disease and diabetes soon and within 6 months I had lost both of my beautiful girls...   We were then dog-less.

Well I was watching the morning news program out of Tulsa a few months later and they had this cute little Jack Russell on trying to find her a good home...

well you know the rest of the story........

How could I resist  those eyes??????

Yes, it was Jackie and does she shed white hair??????

Oh my goodness, yes, 

but our friend who is a Jack Russell owner told us about this product to help with shedding that they use on Ellie's food.  I got on line and ordered it immediately! 

Halo Dream Coat

It took a while to receive in the mail, but  it works, it worked within a week!  Yes, Jackie still sheds some but it is amazing how it works!  The online prices vary greatly but the link above has the best price I could find.  It took awhile to get it but well worth the wait.  Try it I think you will like it and they get so shiny too!

It is also for cats

That is my best tip of the month or maybe ever!

Happy Birthday Mom

Mom celebrated her 87th birthday on the 6th.  Her friends threw her a party at a local steak house and 18 attended.  Mom and her friends are all square dancers and have been friends for many years.  My parents started square dancing  in about 1957, but most of those that danced before about 1965 or so have gone on now.  When Mom had her 80th birthday celebration we had square danceing along with the party....  my in-laws couldn't believe she still had the dosey doe goin' on, and she still does!

Wilma made the cake...

yep, it was good!

Ruth Ann cut the cake....

and everyone had a good time

including the birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Momma 

I love you!

The Brave One

Our resident doe has twins again this year but they don't usually get up close enough to the house to photograph, and when they do I am asleep (I sleep late) or it is too shady in the evening with the trees. 

 

This one seems to be the brave one and he was up posing for some time the other evening. 

cute little cuss!

Grandparents

An old photo of my family back in around 1980 at the Coors Plant:  Dad, Sarah ,my niece, Mom, and me. A little humor to lighten your day.... 1. A grandmother was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she'd done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!" I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye.... 2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?" 3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?" 4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We  picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!" 5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you  know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are we alike?''

"You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story.
"What's it about?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I
continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!"

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects.
Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not sure."

"Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised "Mine says I'm 4 to 6."

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother,  "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool.

"That's interesting." she said. "How do you make babies?"
"It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'."

11. Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher.

The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder
pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked.
"Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties.
"They use him to keep crowds back," said one child.
"No," said another. "He's just for good luck."
A third child brought the argument to a close."They use the dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. "Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then,  when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport."

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

15. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

 16.  A little 4 year old girl was watching her Grandmother put on her makeup one morning in the bathroom mirror. The grandmother said in an uncertain tone, "does this makeup make me look tacky?"
In such a approving excited tone the little girl responded, 
"oh yes, very tacky!".