The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-04-12
Approach of the twenty-fifth an


niversary of the opening Of Oklahc
ma to settlement has brought out
great many "reminiscences from 50
ers--a number of them persons whor
no one would now think of in con
nection with pioneering and horse
back rides into the plains cOuntr
with a weeks supply of bacon an
corn meal strapped on their saddles
Men who spend an hour to two hour
over elaborate luncheons in the strict
" modern hotels Of Oklahoma's goot
cities do not remind one of the Rem
ington paintings of plainsmen ant
gaunt frontiersmen. Bnt there are
many such here now--and the ap-
proach of April 90 reminds them o.
those other DAYS, when this was q
Commonwealth in the raw, and they
were pioneers of state building and
home making.
II is not only the eighty niners
who are thinking of their arrival N
Oklahoma The men who came in
1891 and those who came at other
openings and at times other than
openings in the early days are re-
viewing the situation Two pioneers
from different directions and in wide
ly separated sections of Oklahoma
have become reminiscent this week.
One of them is Bob Loorburrow, now
an Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court whose home is in Beaver conn
ty--No Mans Land when he pionee
ed into Oklahoma-and the other Is
Bill Alexander, successful business
man and politician who rode a Tex
as Cayuse in from Grayson County
A Boy in No Mans Land
Judge Ioofburrow rode into NO.
Mans Land one January day in 1891
1T was not in run for homes. IN
fact the bay saddle pony that was
hitting the old 'Dode walls tral
southwark in a running walk was
alone with his rider in all the expanse
of plain. The trail was that from
Dodge City. Kan, TO Dobe Walls
Texas Some day 1t will be remark
ed as the Santa Fe trail is and as
the Kings Highway is to be. It was
great old trail in those days
Bob Loofburrow was an 1S-year old
hoy then. He had Just finished
teaching a term Of country school inl
Kansas and was rich in the possession
of the hay pony and s75i in rea
money and heart fullofhope and a
brain full of plans for wealth and
fame in the Panhandle country of Ok
lahoma. He dreamed of broad acres
as he galloped across the tenantless
and treeess plain far from brook
Or waterhole He visualzed herds oi
beautiful horses and grazing cattle,
a cozv cottage with room enough for
two and health and success in the
new land that his daylight visions
had been framing in the new country
He says the years did not bring the
acres or the horses or the cattle
They brought the cottage, and it had
TO be made larger sometimes But
success came in another form than
the law and his friends elected him
TO the office of county attorney and
later. when statehood came he was
made Judge Of his judicial district.
Then came a vacancy in the Supreme
Court, and the pioneer hoy became
a Justice Of his states highest trih-
unal
His lines were cast in the most
unpromisng part of the new state.
But industry and energy and appn-
alton of scientific principles to ag-
riculture and stock raising has made
az what used TO be Beaver County
or No Mans Land most pleasing
farming section. There are three
counties now where about the time
of the pilgrimage of the hoy and bay
pony there was no settlement at all.
Booming from Grayson County.
W. l.. Alexander was real boomer
in the original opening in April 1889.
He was on a small ranch in the
Texas Panhandle when the procla-
nation opening Oklahoma was made.
lie hastened TO his old home M
Grayson County. and with three 9TH
er boys like himself, Just old enough