Arthur Foster

00:00:00Wanda Newton: Okay, this is Thursday, August the 5th?

00:00:05Arthur Foster: No, September the 5th.

00:00:07Wanda Newton: Oh, no, yeah, September 5th, 1991. I have Arthur Foster here in my kitchen, and I was asking him a question about the school house in Slick, and he's going to tell us about it. Okay, Arthur.

00:00:21Arthur Foster: Alright, the town of Slick was established approximately 1920 upon the oil boom there. It was named after Tom Slick, who drilled the initial wells, I believe, that came in so prolifically, And immediately after that, they started expanding the oil field, and also the town of Slick began to grow, and

00:01:03Wanda Newton: Oh, great. Will you tell her I'll pick it up this morning?

00:01:06Arthur Foster: Eventually, around

00:01:07Wanda Newton: Thanks a lot.

00:01:08Arthur Foster: The middle of 1920s they had reached a population of approximately 12 or 13,000 people, that are five years before they had been no town, because two miles north there was a little establishment called Tabor (ph) with a post office and a country store. But the town of Slick grew. They built buildings in the central part of town out of rock, and then people began to move in. Most of them lived in tents, and what we call shotgun houses, at that time, was single walls of one by 12 with one small boards covering the cracks, but those people were oil people, and they were drillers, interested in the production. So, the town decided that they were permanent because they were building a railroad from Bristow to Slick to Nuyaka, and ultimately, they were supposed to go to Okmulgee and with that railroad. They got down to Nuyaka, and that's where it ended. But the railroad was there, and they had begun to haul in supplies, where initially, they'd had to haul all the supplies by road, which is on Highway 16 at the present time, but we called it the Slick Road at that time. There was a continuous stream of wagons pulled by two or four teams of horses, and they were hauling boilers, lumber, all the supplies they needed to build those well, drill the, build the rigs.

00:03:12Wanda Newton: Well, now, how long did Slick last? Do you think?

00:03:17Arthur Foster: Well, let me tell you this little earlier about your school bond.

00:03:22Wanda Newton: Oh yeah, I want to know about that.

00:03:23Arthur Foster: They, they voted to build a brick high school in the northwest part of town. It was a nice school.

00:03:31Wanda Newton: Is that the same location that is

00:03:33Arthur Foster: Same location it is now. And, also, the town of Slick voted a 100 and some thousand dollars worth of bonds to build a water system with an overhead tank that holds about approximately 40 to 50,000 gallons water, and then put the pipes in the town. But in the early 1930s or late 1920s and early 1930 it seemed that they had practically drilled up that whole field, at least the people felt that way, and there were oil strikes, Kilgore, Texas, and then Seminole, Oklahoma, as well as the Oklahoma City field, began to [indecipherable]. And those people who had depended upon the drilling activities around Slick immediately deserted Slick and moved to these other oil producing

00:04:19Arthur Foster: Yes, the train was running at that time, and the depot is still there, but railroad tracks have been picked up and gone.

00:05:20Wanda Newton: But you can still see if you fly over where they

00:05:23Arthur Foster: You can follow it all the way from Bristow, Slick to Nuyaka.

00:05:30Wanda Newton: I meant to tell you, a couple of Sundays ago we went to Nuyaka to find the Indian Mission, and that little store at Nuyaka has a big sign on the front of it that says Nuyaka Mall.

00:05:40Arthur Foster: Right, that's what they intended to have. That was a development of the [indecipherable]. But with the people gone, and then they had two or three devastating fires in the business district of Slick, and so it ended up there were only two or three stores. The bank had gone broke. The post office was moved over into the old bank building, and then they still tried to maintain their education because they had a fairly good school district. But with the loss of the people, why they had no tax base to pay for the bonds, and I'm not for sure whether they ever repaid all of those bonds or not.

00:06:38Wanda Newton: Well, now Charlie said yesterday when I was talking with him, that by the time he was the superintendent, now they finally, he, he paid them off, but they had to reduce it some way, they had to,

00:06:51Arthur Foster: Well, they

00:06:53Wanda Newton: They had to reduce something, I don't know.

00:06:56Arthur Foster: Well, they had to reduce the levy, because they, those levees were so high on each block there that people just couldn't afford to pay the taxes.

00:07:09Wanda Newton: Well, I know he said he bought some town lots for a nickel, a nickel a lot.

00:07:13Arthur Foster: They did, they were small lots, about 150 feet long by about 25 feet, and they became absolutely worthless, and then finally they compromised then on their school bond issue. And, also, the city of Slick had issued a hundered and some thousand dollars in bonds to build their water system, and they defaulted on those bonds, and over a period of years, I don't think they've all been paid yet. People had judgments on them, and they foreclosed on their judgments, but they couldn't collect anything for those lots, just as Charlie said, paid a nickel a lot.

00:07:56Wanda Newton: Yeah.

00:07:57Arthur Foster: That wouldn't go very far towards paying for a bond issue.

00:08:02Wanda Newton: Okay.

00:08:03Arthur Foster: That's what happened to Slick.

00:08:06Wanda Newton: Well, I'm glad to glad to know that. I had asked him if there were, you know, Indians down in that area that he could remember, and he said not any in particular, you know, unlike Ms. Johnson and some of them, and then he bought a ladies, an Indian ladies' home, but he said, as far as the Indians, I had read an earlier paper that there were some Indians in the Purdy Diary, I think it says that there were some Indians who came and threatened the people in Bristow to leave, and

00:08:41Arthur Foster: No, they didn't come into town. They were stopped. Closest they came was, from what dad told me, was several miles south of town, and I think there was two Indians, but they did send out scouts around Bristow, because they thought there was going to be a war party. That's the story I received from my father.

00:09:05Wanda Newton: Well, that's probably pretty accurate.

00:09:07Arthur Foster: Well, now Wilson Clinton's (ph) allotment is about two miles northeast of Slick, in which he became very wealthy, and he moved to Bristow. And Wilson would buy a new Buick about every month, because he wrecked the other one. He had a habit of drinking a little heavy. But his sons and one daughter are still alive, although they don't live around here, why they still have an interest in that allotment of his.

00:09:45Wanda Newton: Now he's the one who built that two-story house out there by the garment factory.

00:09:50Arthur Foster: That's right.

00:09:50Wanda Newton: And I always heard that the somebody rookie do'd him into building the big swimming pool here. Was he really rookie do'd into it, or did he do it?

00:09:59Arthur Foster: I never knew. I don't know.

00:10:02Wanda Newton: Yeah.

00:10:03Arthur Foster: I don't think so, though.

00:10:04Wanda Newton: You think he just really

00:10:06Arthur Foster: Yeah, could have been. He, he had

00:10:10Wanda Newton: I'm sorry.

00:10:11Arthur Foster: Gardeners, and I think Bob Williams was one of his gardeners.

00:10:14Wanda Newton: Well now was Jake.. huh? Was Jake?

00:10:16Unknown Speaker: [Inaudible]

00:10:17Wanda Newton: Yeah. Well, I'm in.. oh, he just.. now he's telling me some stuff, and I want to know was Jake, and I'm recording it. Is Jake Clinton, were Jake and Wilson Clinton brothers?

00:10:29Arthur Foster: No.

00:10:33Arthur Foster: Jake Clinton was Sally Clinton's son. I believe it was Sally. He was a brother to Ida Cliff, who became Ida Riley.

00:10:46Wanda Newton: Oh yeah, Ida Riley.

00:10:47Arthur Foster: Uh huh. Jerry Riley.

00:10:50Wanda Newton: Yeah, I need to go talk to her, don't I?

00:10:52Arthur Foster: Oh, yes. If you can.

00:10:54Wanda Newton: Yeah.

00:10:55Arthur Foster: She could tell you a lot.

00:10:56Wanda Newton: I had forgotten about that. I remember one time Punk Corey (ph) showed me a sketch he had made of Jake Clinton when he was down at the pool hall . He used to stay at the pool hall. That was the best thing. I don't know what Mrs. Corey did with that sketch, but it was, it really looked like

00:11:19Arthur Foster: It was.

00:11:22Arthur Foster: Punk was a good artist. He doodled a lot. He was a good artist. I've seen a lot of his work.

00:11:23Unknown Speaker: Arthur, who was Punk Corey?

00:11:26Arthur Foster: That's Kate Corey's husband.

00:11:28Unknown Speaker: Husband.

00:11:28Arthur Foster: Ralph Corey.

00:11:30Unknown Speaker: Now, the son was Ralph Junior?

00:11:32Wanda Newton: Yes, and he was in my class.

00:11:34Unknown Speaker: Yeah, and the father of Punk Corey, his name was?

00:11:37Arthur Foster: Hiram. Hiram W. Corey.

00:11:39Unknown Speaker: Okay, who was Gus?

00:11:41Arthur Foster: Gus Corey was Punk's brother.

00:11:46Wanda Newton: Is he the one that lived on that house right next to our church that we bought that the scouts used to use?

00:11:51Arthur Foster: The father was, yeah.

00:11:53Wanda Newton: Oh, that was the father.

00:11:54Arthur Foster: That was their original homestead there.

00:11:57Wanda Newton: Oh.

00:11:59Arthur Foster: He was with the railroad when he first came here.

00:12:02Unknown Speaker: Who? Gus?

00:12:04Wanda Newton: Hiram.

00:12:06Unknown Speaker: Hiram, H.W.

00:12:07Unknown Speaker: H.W. Katherine Ann (ph) had given us these World War I army uniforms, and some of them had Gus Corey written in it. Some havd Ralph Corey, and I was confused about

00:12:21Arthur Foster: They're brothers.

00:12:21Unknown Speaker: You know

00:12:22Wanda Newton: They're brothers.

00:12:22Unknown Speaker: Okay. So, Ralph

00:12:24Arthur Foster: And there was one other brother, and I can't think it was named that now.

00:12:29Wanda Newton: While I'm thinking

00:12:29Arthur Foster: Lived down at Edmond or Oklahoma City.

00:12:32Wanda Newton: Well, I'm thinking about it, and you're here. I, I've been going through these early newspapers, and it keeps talking about a brick factory, a brick factory here. Do you ever remember a brick factory here? And the glass, a glass factory?

00:12:46Arthur Foster: Oh, the glass factory was up there on north, north of 10th Street on the railroad.

00:12:52Wanda Newton: Okay. Now, is that

00:12:54Arthur Foster: It was run by people, the name of Zenor, Z E N O R, C.P. Zenor.

00:12:59Wanda Newton: Yeah, that's right, that's what it said in the newspaper.

00:13:02Arthur Foster: Well, I don't care what the newspaper said. That's what it was.

00:13:04Wanda Newton: And then Clell Long [Charles Clell Long] had a bottling works later on, then, but he didn't manufacture glass, though, did he? He just bottled it. And, also, I read

00:13:17Arthur Foster: His plant over on East Fifth Street.

00:13:19Wanda Newton: Yeah, also read in the paper where Bristow had five cotton gins, and one of them was named Magnolia. Do you remember that?

00:13:27Arthur Foster: No, but they had five cotton gins. Ed Abraham, no, Joe Abraham owned one. Albert Kelly owned one. Mills and Frierson, uh that was Ethan Mills and

00:13:47Wanda Newton: M Frierson.

00:13:48Arthur Foster: No.

00:13:50Arthur Foster: Mrs. Frierson was married to Am's brother.

00:13:54Wanda Newton: Oh.

00:13:55Arthur Foster: And he died. And,so, she stayed in and run the business, but she run the gin, and they also, in addition to having a gin, they had a press where they made cake.

00:14:09Wanda Newton: Oh, cotton seed cake.

00:14:10Arthur Foster: Cotton seed cake, and that's down on east Eighth Street as burned down now. And then it was one over on the east side, and I don't remember who operated that till Roy Krumme bought that, and then he moved from, he closed his gin down at

00:14:33Wanda Newton: Tuskegee.

00:14:37Arthur Foster: Newby.

00:14:38Wanda Newton: Oh,

00:14:39Arthur Foster: And when he moved it, opened it up here on east Ninth Street, and then later on he turned it into, when he went into the oil business, why he changed that into a pipe yard.

00:14:50Wanda Newton: Okay, let me ask you something else. We have heard that the old depot used to be in the center of Sixth Street, is that right, or in the area?

00:14:58Arthur Foster: I always remember it was a wooden building sitting just about where it is now, or it may have been closer to sixth, but when they built the brick building in the 1920s,well, they tore down

00:15:13Wanda Newton: The wood one.

00:15:18Arthur Foster: I don't remember it being the middle of sixth street,

00:15:20Wanda Newton: Somebody has said that.

00:15:21Unknown Speaker: At one time

00:15:22Wanda Newton: Who said that?

00:15:27Unknown Speaker: [Indecipherable] Church just started on this.

00:15:30Wanda Newton: Oh yeah, let's see, Roy Hickman.

00:15:34Unknown Speaker: No.

00:15:34Wanda Newton: Ray Hickman.

00:15:35Unknown Speaker: Ray

00:15:35Wanda Newton: Hickman.

00:15:38Unknown Speaker: In his research, he said the middle of sixth. I don't know what that meant. It could be very well be where Arthu says, just closer to sixth than where it is now.

00:15:46Wanda Newton: Yeah.

00:15:47Unknown Speaker: Yeah, and then there's some controversy about who the first station master was. You know, Mrs. Corey says,

00:15:54Wanda Newton: But now, according to the newspaper, Mrs. Corey, the articles I found, he's the first one that I found mentioned in there.

00:16:04Unknown Speaker: I've forgotten now who'd Ray say was the first one in

00:16:07Wanda Newton: I don't know. I read so much of this stuff, and I can't remember anything.

00:16:14Arthur Foster: Well, but Mr. Corey was the first one that I remember, and then there may have been someone in between, but Cy Slocum [E.R. "Cy" Slocum], they were here when I started school in 1919.

00:16:32Wanda Newton: Well, now Arthur, when did you first come?

00:16:36Arthur Foster: I was born here.

00:16:37Wanda Newton: You were born here in Indian Territory days.

00:16:39Arthur Foster: No! State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907.

00:16:49Wanda Newton: Yes, I know that.

00:16:50Arthur Foster: I was born in Bristow, December 15, 1912. I'll show you!

00:17:01Wanda Newton: When I get in this history, I just get lost. I, you know, I can't tell how old people are, or how old the cars are. If they're shiny, they're new to me.

00:17:10Arthur Foster: Well, I suppose so.

00:17:11Wanda Newton: If you got gray hair, you're old, Arthur.

00:17:17Arthur Foster: I know it better than anybody.

00:17:21Wanda Newton: Oh, I can remember when I, Mrs. M. Jones, lived across the street, and to me she has always been an old lady, because when I was a child, you know, if you're 25, you're old. They're all my stages, she

00:17:34Arthur Foster: I'm going to have to run. I will sit down with you some other time.

00:17:39Wanda Newton: All right, will you? Okay.

00:17:41Arthur Foster: Tell you later.

00:17:43Wanda Newton: I may never get you later. I don't let a moment pass. Go ahead, Arthur. Your grandparents came from Arkansas.

00:17:49Arthur Foster: Yes, they had, they had originally come from Kentucky [indecipherable]. They moved to Arkansas near southwest [indecipherable].

00:18:07Wanda Newton: Now, were they Indian?

00:18:08Arthur Foster: No.

00:18:09Wanda Newton: No? Okay.

00:18:10Arthur Foster: They were Scotch Irish.

00:18:12Wanda Newton: Scotch Irish.

00:18:14Arthur Foster: And they moved to Arkansas about 1880, and they stayed there until 1899 and the story is that my father told that they had intended to move to Texas, so they got the wagons and livestock, kids, one grandson and they came west. They got to Bristow. There were approximately 200 people here at that time, and the Little Deep Fork was out of its banks. Big Deep Fork was out of its banks. They decided to stay here until the creeks went down, but by that time, why, my grandfather was not in good health, so they decided to stay, and they settled here 1899.

00:18:17Wanda Newton: You know that flood you're talking about in Deep Fork, my grandmother and grandfather had built a log cabin on Deep Fork south of Davenport, and had cleared off the land, and a flood came and washed off all their crop and got up into their cabin and everything, and that's when they moved to Depew then.

00:18:19Arthur Foster: Well, some other time.