The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-08-19


sir. | shall never bc satisfied until We
get real gusher. want to see one OF
'em 20 over the top and soak "A hun
dred and sixty acre field. That's what
| we need"
You Are There
Your train pulls into Walters past
miles of cars loaded with oil field
equipment and building material, past
| hundreds of teams pulling great loads
| into the foeld past scores of new
residences and hundreds Of living
tents, past loading racks and refineries
past small mountains Of oil well cas-
ing and big supply houses, and the
model &c engine spews hcroically ul
beside a model 81 express car, and the
conductor tells you to get off, you're
| there.
That old express car is all the ran
road station there is in Walters II
hundred passengers are waiting ioi
the train and it's raining, 20 per cent
of them must stand out in the rain and
get wet. 1t seems like ages since the
station burned. Then came the war
and retrenchment. I'm in favor OF
inviting Director Hines to visit Walt
ers.
| used to say that Walters was the
best Saturday afternoon town that |
ever visited 1t was. 1t seemed that
every farmer within twenty miles OF
the place took out at noon and he ana
all his family and the hired hands ana
the horses, mules and dogs, came TO
town. Any Saturday afternoon in Wal
ters made one inquire if a carnival
had hit the town.
Just an ordinary Saturday after
noon crowd an editor answered me
one day, but I've a notion that two
thirds of them ought to be at home
cutting the weeds out of their cotton.
Every day seems like Saturday since
the oil boom is well under way.
I'D like 80 have a picture of one OF
your Saturday crowds l said to a
photographer.
mo use to wait till Saturday" he
replied "A shot on Main street at ,
o'clock any morning is better than
the old Saturday views"
President Dave Boyer of the Cham
Der of Commerce asserts that Walters
needs more residences. Nearly every
day men are forced to find other places
to live because they can't find houses
here. While the cost of living is very
nigh here, it has not reached the out
landish figure that prevails in some oil
towns of West Texas. You even pay
Tor the privilege of getting robbed in
some of those towns.
/ talked to a railroad man who had
paid $3.50 for a work shirt in an OIL
field village, and he learned that he
could have bought the same shirt up
at Albany, Texas, for So less money.
For the most part the same mer'
chants are in business here who were
in business before the boom and L am
informed that as reasonable prices
prevail as in other towns SINH
larly situated that have no such
boom. Probably luXuries come higher
here. A barber at Duncan asked if l
thought there was an opening for an
other shop in Walters. | told him !
didn't know.
Il hear you can charge anything you
want to and get away with it over
there" he said.
The gravitation of farmers who have
profited from oil development toward
town has not developed into land
slide here, as it has at Wichita Fails,
for instance, but the speiler who shows
YOU the town advises that many OF
the elegant homes were built by rlch
farmers.
City life is not appearing strongly
to many Of the men who have grown
rich here. l asked one if he hadn't
enough now that he could move TO
Oklahoma City for the enjoyment of
more social and educational advan-
tages.
NO sir-ree," he answered emphati-
cally. Il have all the advantages |
need here. The town of Walters is
good enough for anybody. and she's
going to be a city herself"
Probably no other town in Western
Oklahoma has so many visitors daily
by motor car. It's the chief stopping
point between Oklahoma City and
Wichita Falls; between Ardmore and
Frederick between Fort Worth and
and it has become headquar-
ters for wildcatters over four counties.
No end of lease buyers, biologists,
scouts and perambulating capitalists
are its daily visitors.