Just how many of us are there?

By Stoney Hardcastle
Special to the News-Capital

March 24, 2007 09:56 am

— In this, our centennial year, one of the most frequently asked questions is was there a statehood, 1907, census taken? After much research, the answer could be, yes, maybe. Records on these census are very fuzzy. In 1921 most of the state’s population records were destroyed by fire in the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. There is another story. It goes like this: A census was taken in 1907 and the records were given to each county clerk, but through the years these records have been lost or destroyed by fire. There was a time in early statehood when many courthouses mysteriously burned just before audit time.
The best proof we found that a census was taken is in a Geography of Oklahoma text book, copyright 1909, by Charles N. Gould, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, director of Geological Survey. He writes there was a census taken in 1907 and the population was 1,414,177, with the heaviest population in the coal belt of Southeastern Oklahoma. County population at that time in this region is of interest: Haskell County 16,656, Latimer County 37,294, LeFlore County 30,707, McIntosh County 17,975, and Pittsburg County 37,677. Note: the population of Latimer County was more than twice the population at present.
This is also the 70th anniversary of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The first patrol cars were 1937 Fords painted black and white and nicknamed “Spotted Ponies.”
I remember when they were first giving the driver license test in Stigler. A good ol’ boy from Enterprise was taking the test orally because he couldn’t read or write. He was asked what is the first thing to do when you have a wreck and, after some thought, he answered, “Hide the whiskey.”
One of our astute state legislators has introduced a bill to take manure off the hazardous materials list. He must think it is piled so high in the state House the EPA will shut the place down.
Old Bush Hog Bob from Tucker Knob came down with the miseries. He went to a doctor. The doctor said he had a bad case of hay fever. Old Bush went home and scolded at his wife. “You never listen to me. I told you that cheap brand of oatmeal you buy is full of hay and would make us sick.”
A new study shows eating beans will increase brain power. I guess that is the reason we old “po’ folks” can add two and two without a calculator.
This is the beginning of the fifth year of the war in Iraq. Let’s pray that, somehow, our country’s leaders an find a way out of this mess.
Stoney Hardcastle is a retired teacher and writer from Wilburton.