[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Ft. Gibson Post
Vol III No 43
Thursday September 8, 1898 (Part 1)
Abstracted / Transcribed by Linda Haas Davenport
When the print is so faded that it cannot be read <.....> will be used . All transcription will be as found in the paper, misspellings and all
|
Purchasing old newspapers on microfilm is expensive and abstracting them is very tedious and time consuming. Therefore I ask that you respect my hard work and do not copy or make any use of these abstracts - except for the information that relates to your own family. I am making this information available to you for free, in turn I ask that
You Please Respect My Work on Your Behalf
If I find that my work is being stolen and placed on e-mail lists, other web sites, etc. etc. Then I shall stop making them available for free.
If you find them somewhere other than here please let me know. Thanks [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
Page 1, column 1
A BIG FLOURING MILL
One is Practically Assured for Fort Gibson
Water Works and Electric Lights May
Also be Put In - Our Great Water
Power to be Utilized
Fort Gibson's big boom is brewing, and the expectations are that it will soon break forth in all its hurrying, bustling, invigorating fury. It is coming. There is no longer any doubt about it. Letters continue to come in from the surrounding states asking for information about the resources of the adjacent country and the natural advantages of the town, which are so many and yet so little known abroad.
J F Sisson, a big mill man of Windsor, Mo., has heard of Fort Gibson recently and he wants to know more about the place, because he is now contemplating the building of a big flouring mill here. Mr Sisson is proprietor of the Windsor, (Mo) Roller Mills, and spent nearly a life time in the business. In a letter to Postmaster Hubbard Ross, just received, Mr Sisson writes:
"I am pleased to inform you that your letter - also the newspapers - were received in due time. I am pleased with your description of Fort Gibson and the surrounding country and I think I will come down and see the location and get acquainted with the people. Building a mill in a new place requires one to become acquainted with the surrounding before one can decide. It is no small matter, for when one builds a good mill he becomes a fixture and will be compelled to stay.
"A good mill will do more for the place than any other one enterprise that could be started. I might put in water works and electric lights if the water power is good. Let me hear from you again, with all the light you can produce on the subject.
"Has the stream (Grand River) got much fall? How wide is it where a dam could be made? How much fall could be had near the town of Fort Gibson? Is Fort Gibson a
Page 1, column 2
county seat? Will it be feasable to build a timber dam, or can a stone dam be built at a reasonable cost? How large is the place - 500 or 1000?
"Yours, J F Sisson."
We answered the above questions for the information of Mr Sisson and the general public: There is a 22 feet fall in about a mile above this town. Stream is about 500 feet wide at that point. Fort Gibson is centrally located for a county seat. No such in the Territory yet. A mountain of granite and lime rock extends to the river at that point - a down hill pull for material. The population is about 1,000. No trouble about the fall, cost nor horse power. Come and See.
IRISH POTATO RAISING.
A Renter who has Money in the
Bank Raising "Spuds"
J R Edmunds, of Fort Smith, one of the best known and successful potato growers in the vicinity of the "Border City," was in town last Saturday, looking at the country hereabouts, with which he is much pleased. He says that the bottom lands in this vicinity is the place for growing Irish potatoes, and that it is an extravagant waste to raise cotton when two crops of potatoes a year can be grown on the same land at a better profit for each crop. Mr Edmunds raised last year about 10,000 bushels of potatoes, the early crop realizing him about 50 cents a bushel and the fall crop about $1 a bushel. He had an extra piece of land containing 7 acres, on which he raised last year 300 bushels to the acre, first crop, and about 200 bushels to the acre, second crop.
Mr Edmunds came to Fort Smith about four years ago, with no worldly wealth save some household goods, a team and wagon. But he was a worker, leased some bottom land on the Cherokee side of the river, and went to raising potatoes. Today, he owns several fine teams, has plenty, with money in the bank, all in four years from raising potatoes on hired land. It is needless to say that no such results can be obtained raising cotton.
OUR COAL FIELDS
Some one should take hold and develop the coal fields in this vicinity. It is known to exist in various places around town. That was a fine vein found on Mrs Andre's place, last summer.
Page 1, column 3
NEXT IS A PAPER MILL
Grand River Water Found to be
The Right Quality
Favorable Report Made by an Expert
Who Was Sent Here to Make a
Preliminary Survey
A paper mill at Fort Gibson in the near future is not only probably, but almost an assured fact. Mr Frank MacKeen, of Cairo, Illinois, civil engeneer and representative of the Hollyoke, (Mass) Paper Mills, was here at Fort Gibson a few days since, looked over the site and made a preliminary survey. He reports that a dam with 40,000 horse power can be ad here on Grand river, and that the water is all right for paper making. Regarding this matter the Purcell Register, a representative newspaper of the Territory says:
The Fort Gibson Post states that parties have examined the situation there and say that the town affords a splendid location for a paper mill. It is possible for paper to be made at that place, or any point in the west, the newspapers of the trans-Mississippi section should obligate themselves to buy of the mill. The trouble usually found in making paper is that suitable water cannot be found, the manufacture of the better grades of paper requiring a clear water, free from all impurities and minerals secretions. The territory papers should encourage this move, if there is any reason to believe that the water at that place will prove to be of such purity that print paper can be made thee.
We perceive that the editor of the Register knows whereof he speaks, and that none but pure water will do to make good print paper. Having been around paper mills and seeing the article manufactured, the senior editor of The Post knows something of the paper business, and has long been satisfied that Fort Gibson contains one of the most desirable locations for a paper mill we ever saw. As to the sufficient purity of the water here for making a good quality of print paper, there is no doubt, for it has been tested, and there is lots of it. Grand river is the clearest and purest stream of its size west of the Mississippi river to the Rocky mountains, better water, in fact, than that used in the celebrated Ypsilanti paper mills in Michigan.
No, there is no doubt about the purity of the water here for paper making purposes. It has been tested and found all right. And, there is plenty material for pulp mixed with other substance - cottonwood and other suitable timbers for miles and miles along the river. No, there is no doubt about the purity and suitability of the water. All that is needed is someone with capital to establish this enterprise. A grand opportunity is here open to capitalists. This is no mere newspaper talk nor "boom article." The water and the location for a 40,000 horse power is here and can be seen at any time.
Since the above was in type we have learned from Mr Eddleman, proprietor of the Muskogee Daily and Weekly Times, that cotton stalks make an excellent quality of print paper - that he has seen the paper, and knows whereof he speaks. This being true, cotton stalks, now a great bother, in the near future will have commercial value in this vicinity.
FINE BUILDING MATERIAL
Fort Gibson Leads All Other Territorial
Towns in This Line
One of the finest stone buildings in the south-west is going up at Muskogee, the material of which is a very fine quality of sandstone of a bright yellow color, which is found about 4 miles from town. The same kind of rock is found here in Fort Gibson in
Page 1, column 4
the vicinity of the old garrison within the corporation, and also about half a mile from town south-east, and lots of it.
But this is not the best nor finest building rock found in this vicinity. There is a grey granite rock of fine quality, white lime rock, and brown marble, which takes a high polish.
But, perhaps the best and most profitable building rock for ordinary purposes is of bright blue color similar in appearance to blue limestone, found in large quantities near this town. This rock is in regular horizontal ledges perpendicularly seamed, easily taken out in long blocks ten inches to a foot and more in thickness, about as smooth and even as if done by man, and lay up in wall nearly as smooth and regular as brick work. This rock is mostly used for building foundations all over town, a specimen of which may be seen in front of the postoffice. Then, there is a fine quality of shale here, such as makes verified brick, the same as manufactured in Fort Smith.
Another great resource here is a superior quality of sand, so handy on the banks and shoals of Grand river that flows through town. Then for concrete work there are thousands of tons of the finest gravel. Thus it may be seen that there is no other town in the Indian Territory where natural building material is as plentiful and convenient. Nature has done much for Fort Gibson and vicinity in this line.
CHEROKEE WARRANT GOOD
For Tuition and Board at the
National High Schools
A short time ago Agent Wisdom issued an order to the effect that tuition and board of pupils at the Cherokee High Schools must hereafter be paid in hard cash instead of national warrants or tickets, as has been the custom for years past.
This new order of things was discovered to be very unsatisfactory to both the Cherokee nation and to the patrons of these institutions, and on Saturday last J E Butler and Geo W Mitchell, members of the Cherokee school board, went over to Muskogee to discuss the situation with Agent Wisdom and Indian Inspector Wright. The result was that the gentlemen of the school board were received cordially by the aent and inspector and a new order was issued allowing Cherokee scrip to be used as payment for tuition and board at the Cherokee high schools, as heretofore, the only difference being that such script shall be placed by Treasurer Lipe in the Bank of Tahlequah subject to the order of Agent Wisdom. Agent Wisdom and Inspector Wright showed a disposition to help rather than to retard the progress of the Cherokee schools, and the members of the Cherokee school board were greatly pleased with the treatment they received at the hands of the agent and inspector. They say they are gentlemenly officials of the first water are disposed to treat the Cherokees in the most considerate and friendly manner in all matters pertaining to their welfare.
Inspector Wright will shortly visit the Cherokee high school in company with the board of education and report to the secretary of the interior as to their management and conduct.
In this connect it is not amiss to say that Inspector Wright is rapidly winning the confidence of the people of this country by his manifest consideration of their welfare, and it is evident that no mistake was made in his selection for the responsible position he now holds. Agent Wisdom already has the utmost confidence of our people and he will only strengthen it by his continued fair dealing and incumbency in the office of Indian agent
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
