The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-16
O|L TOWNS GROW
 LIKE MUSHROOMS
Oklahoma Boom Cities Push Their Way Into Existence
 on Barren PrairieS
By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, Okla, April 15.- Like mushrooms that spring up over
 night Oklahoma's oil towns have pushed their way into existence from the barren prairie or the rock-strewn hillside
 In the wake of the "wIldcatters,
 the lease sale and the inevitable der rick, these towns have reached their growth in twinkling and flourished
 on the golden pot of gold found at the end of the rainbow. With their un- painted buildings of flimsy structure,
 these ephemeral villages blazon the
 trail of the oil scout who has crossed hill and dale in search of the under
 ground treasure of petroluem
 The latest addition to Oklahoma's s | oil towns is Shidler. A few months ago it's site was known only as the southwest quarter of section 2S, in | Osage county. But that was before
 the Osage lease sale held in Paw huska last. December. when oil com panies and promoters paid $8,O0G, 900
 for leases on Indian lands. Then l drilling began, and what had been
 barren plain, on the morrow was the
 site of bustling town.
 Shidler has. a school house, like towns of more sober growth. It was
 built from funds donated by lumber l companies when a school census re- vealed that AZ children in the village
 craved a chance at the Three R's." Then too, Shidler is a railroad term mus. for the Emile line of steel from
 Foraker comes to an abrupt end in | this oil-made village. And it has its
 romance. Seven months before Shid-
 Ter sprang from the prairie, T. A. Gale. young engineer, married an I fA ..t L.
 acres of open land, the site of the | future village. Now the Gales live
 in town, along with hundreds of other
 folks.
 1 Whiz- Banz--a word familiar to the
 doughboy who fought mud and Ger
 mans in trenches in France-was the | oil town sensation before Shidler pop ped into the world. It. too, is located
 in the Osage Indian country and
 startled the natives with it's sudden l growth and open violation of gamb Hing and prohibitory statues.
 l A abiding element in the coun- l ty. however, started a vice crusade
 which ended in the busting of the sheriff, after trial at the county seat | of Pawhuska, and now Whiz- bang is
 tanned. The original owner of the town site was Miss Eileen De Nova
 -year-old French-Indian girl Only
 recently, Miss be Nova sold her hold
 ings and the town dropped it's war
 time cognomen and adopted the more
 prosaic De Nova.
 Then there are the oil towns of other years, which have thrived on the
 pools of crude tapped by the drillers and grown into respectable, incorp- 1 orated towns with stable govern ments. banks, schools, churches. Among these, which were brought 1 into the world by the discovery of 1 oil, are Healdton. Wilson. Cushing,
 Garber. Shamrock, Yale, Boynton, Slick and Beggs.
 The modern city of Tulsa is pri-
 marily an oil town, although few are the derrioks that can be seen from the roofs of it's skyscrapers. When the Red Fork oil fields was discover ed in 1901, Tulsa was a struggling village. The boom was absorbed by the towns of Red Fork and Sapulpa,
 which passed Tulsa in population. A
 year later. however. when the Glenn
 pool was opened up, it was Tulsa that benefited. It was the only nearby
 town where office room was procur- able and there the oil men Hooked : to establish their headquarters. Now
 the city claims population of 5000
 and because of it's rapid growth is
 known as The Magic City"