September 4th Expedition
On Sunday, September 4th, we went on a little expedition into Greer, Kiowa, and Washita counties. We were planning to head down to Mangum, but decided to save that for another expedition.
Our first stop was the First Shelterbelt in the United States marker on U.S. 283 about 11 miles north of Mangum.
A shelterbelt is designed to be a barrier of trees and shrubs that protects against the wind and reduces erosion. Oklahoma was home to the very first one put up by the WPA and CCC in 1939. The actual shelterbelt is 5 miles east from this marker on a road which isn't shown on the 2005 State Highway Map.
Five miles later and we found ourselves at Lake Creek.
During the 1940's the Lake Creek area contained a school, a general store & gas station, garage, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, Baptist church and Parsonage, Church of Christ and several homes. Now all that is left are a few homes and the Lake Creek Baptist Church.
One mile north on a dirt road we found the Nation's First Shelterbelt.
The wooden marker was a little overgrown, so it could be hard to see. Look for a large group of trees (the actual shelterbelt). The marker is on the right. The main marker is easy to read, but the two diamond shaped signs to either side have faded away.
As a side note: The Western Oklahoma Prairie Skies Association have put together a Wildlife Trail highlighting nature sites all over western Oklahoma. The First Shelterbelt is stop # 28 on their trail.
We next traveled a few miles south to Granite. Here we found the Giant of the Great Plains. A large granite mosaic of Will Rogers.
This was going to be a large tourist attraction for Granite. The plan was to have several similar large mosaics of some of Oklahoma's greatest historical figures, like Will Rogers and Sequoyah. I'm not sure what happened to this project. If you have any information, please feel free to contact us or post a comment.
Another side note: Nextdoor to big Will, is Willis Granite. Willis Granite produced many of the granite historic monuments you see around the state. Just look near the bottom or on the back of a granite marker, you will probably find the Willis name.
We then journeyed south to the Quartz Mountain Resort to find a few more historic markers.
Peace On The Plains was an easy marker to find. It's on the north side of the road at the intersection of U.S. 283 and 44.
A related marker to this one is the Chief Bugler's Grave. Unfortunately the marker is not there. When they rebuilt the Quartz Mountain Lodge after a fire in 1995, they moved the marker because of all the construction. It is said to be in a storage room at the lodge.
On the way back from the lodge we found the CCC-Quartz Mountain State Park marker. This is a dedication for all the CCC workers who helped build the Quartz Mountain State Park in the 1930's.
On a tip from the nice lady at the Quartz Mountain information center we journeyed northeast near Hobart to find a new site that wasn't even on our list, the Site of Babbs Switch Tragic School Fire.
Have you ever noticed that most public buildings have doors that open outward? On Christmas Eve, 1924, 35 people lost there lives in a tragic fire. The small school's doors opened inward trapping many in the panic to get out. A new school building was built in memorial and to be a model for safer county schools.
Yep another side note: We found a few books about Babbs Switch at our local library. One is The Babbs Switch Story by Darleen Bailey Beard. It's a 2003 Oklahoma Book Award winner.
The sun was starting to set so we thought we would journeyed north toward Clinton for dinner. As we passed through Rocky we found the Rocky School Memorial. This memorial includes information on the history of Rocky, Rocky Public School, and a few other historic Rocky places.
We are really getting hungry at this point so we head north yet again going through Cordell, and as we got near Bessie we remembered about one last marker for our expedition, the Ben Kiehn Memorial.
Ben Kiehn, a decorated hero of World War I and casher of the Bessie State Bank, died in a shoot out while defending the bank from a pair of bank robbers in 1928.
By this time the sun had set, ending our expidition. We drove into Clinton and had 2 for 3 at Wongs.
Here are all the places we visited during our expedition in order of visit:
Our first stop was the First Shelterbelt in the United States marker on U.S. 283 about 11 miles north of Mangum.
A shelterbelt is designed to be a barrier of trees and shrubs that protects against the wind and reduces erosion. Oklahoma was home to the very first one put up by the WPA and CCC in 1939. The actual shelterbelt is 5 miles east from this marker on a road which isn't shown on the 2005 State Highway Map.
Five miles later and we found ourselves at Lake Creek.
During the 1940's the Lake Creek area contained a school, a general store & gas station, garage, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, Baptist church and Parsonage, Church of Christ and several homes. Now all that is left are a few homes and the Lake Creek Baptist Church.
One mile north on a dirt road we found the Nation's First Shelterbelt.The wooden marker was a little overgrown, so it could be hard to see. Look for a large group of trees (the actual shelterbelt). The marker is on the right. The main marker is easy to read, but the two diamond shaped signs to either side have faded away.
As a side note: The Western Oklahoma Prairie Skies Association have put together a Wildlife Trail highlighting nature sites all over western Oklahoma. The First Shelterbelt is stop # 28 on their trail.
We next traveled a few miles south to Granite. Here we found the Giant of the Great Plains. A large granite mosaic of Will Rogers.
This was going to be a large tourist attraction for Granite. The plan was to have several similar large mosaics of some of Oklahoma's greatest historical figures, like Will Rogers and Sequoyah. I'm not sure what happened to this project. If you have any information, please feel free to contact us or post a comment.
Another side note: Nextdoor to big Will, is Willis Granite. Willis Granite produced many of the granite historic monuments you see around the state. Just look near the bottom or on the back of a granite marker, you will probably find the Willis name.
We then journeyed south to the Quartz Mountain Resort to find a few more historic markers.Peace On The Plains was an easy marker to find. It's on the north side of the road at the intersection of U.S. 283 and 44.
A related marker to this one is the Chief Bugler's Grave. Unfortunately the marker is not there. When they rebuilt the Quartz Mountain Lodge after a fire in 1995, they moved the marker because of all the construction. It is said to be in a storage room at the lodge.
On the way back from the lodge we found the CCC-Quartz Mountain State Park marker. This is a dedication for all the CCC workers who helped build the Quartz Mountain State Park in the 1930's.
On a tip from the nice lady at the Quartz Mountain information center we journeyed northeast near Hobart to find a new site that wasn't even on our list, the Site of Babbs Switch Tragic School Fire.
Have you ever noticed that most public buildings have doors that open outward? On Christmas Eve, 1924, 35 people lost there lives in a tragic fire. The small school's doors opened inward trapping many in the panic to get out. A new school building was built in memorial and to be a model for safer county schools.
Yep another side note: We found a few books about Babbs Switch at our local library. One is The Babbs Switch Story by Darleen Bailey Beard. It's a 2003 Oklahoma Book Award winner.
The sun was starting to set so we thought we would journeyed north toward Clinton for dinner. As we passed through Rocky we found the Rocky School Memorial. This memorial includes information on the history of Rocky, Rocky Public School, and a few other historic Rocky places.
We are really getting hungry at this point so we head north yet again going through Cordell, and as we got near Bessie we remembered about one last marker for our expedition, the Ben Kiehn Memorial.
Ben Kiehn, a decorated hero of World War I and casher of the Bessie State Bank, died in a shoot out while defending the bank from a pair of bank robbers in 1928.
By this time the sun had set, ending our expidition. We drove into Clinton and had 2 for 3 at Wongs.
Here are all the places we visited during our expedition in order of visit:
- First Shelterbelt in the United States
- Lake Creek Marker
- Nation's First Shelterbelt
- Giants of the Great Plains
- Peace On The Plains
- Quartz Mountain Resort Park
- Lake Altus-Lugert
- Quartz Mountain Resort Arts & Conference Center
- Chief Bugler's Grave
- CCC-Quartz Mountain State Park
- Site of Babbs Switch Tragic School Fire
- Rocky School Memorial
- Ben Kiehn Memorial