Papoose City

By Judy Goodspeed

On August 1923 a gusher blew in, forever changing the lives of an Oklahoma farming community. Witness the birth and death of Papoose City, also known as Slick City. Experience the discovery of oil and the building of a gasoline plant. Then walk through the process of reclaiming the many acres of land damaged in the search for black gold. Follow the people who lived and worked there. Get to know Mattie who loved to dance, Gertie who worked at the boarding house to be near her sweetheart, and P. J. who picked up rivets to pay for his college education. Meet Tom Slick, Waite Phillips, and Frank Phillips, oilmen who were instrumental in the development of the Papoose Oilfield. [Non-Fiction / Petroleum Industry / Environmental Issues (©2011) 80 pages in print | see print editions for more photographs, illustrations, and back index]

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dragonfly Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781941278031

Judy Goodspeed

Judy Goodspeed, a graduate of East Central State College in Oklahoma, was a Junior High School teacher and coach for thirty years. She has been a contributing writer for local newspapers and has written articles for several national magazines. Publications include two non-fiction books and five children's picture books.

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PAPOOSE CITY

Written by

Judy Goodspeed

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Dragonfly Publishing, Inc.

www.dragonflypubs.com

Papoose City

©2011 Judy Goodspeed

Non-Fiction / American History

Abridged Edition

EAN 978-1-941278-03-1

ISBN 1-941278-03-5

Cover Design ©2011 Terri L. Branson

Dragonfly Logo ©2001 Terri L. Branson

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. This ebook edition is protected by copyright, and is sold under a standard single user license for the exclusive use of the initial retail customer. This file may not be re-sold, copied, printed, changed, used for library lending, performed, or distributed by any means for sale or for free to any other persons or business entities without the prior consent of the publisher and all copyright holders.

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Read the print edition of PAPOOSE CITY, which includes additional photographs, a Table of Contents, an illustrated Appendix, plus an Index.

Hardback [EAN 978-1-936381-29-6 | ISBN 1-936381-29-X]

Paperback [EAN 978-1-936381-30-2 | ISBN 1-936381-30-3]

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Buck Goodspeed, whose tales of Papoose City / Slick City prompted me to research and tell the story of the town that boomed in Hughes County, Oklahoma in 1923.

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Buck Goodspeed

Steer Roper Buck Goodspeed mounted on G.I. at Hobbs, New Mexico (1938):

papoose001dedicationbuckshort

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Acknowledgements

MY thanks to the following individuals: Mattie Muirhead Dillman, Mona Muirhead Campbell, Elaine Grace Keesee, Gertie Reed, Loise Chastain, P.J. Primm, Billy Bob Richardson, Pat Brinlee Ray and Oliver Brinlee, for sharing their life stories and photographs with me.

Thanks to Greg Cook for explaining the process of restoration and to Phillip Landers for sharing information about the methods of early drilling and laying pipelines.

As always, thanks to my writers group for encouragement and suggestions.

A special thanks goes to Johnnie Wingo, Naomi Tomlinson and Carol Eyster for their editing and helpful suggestions.

Many people have told stories of Papoose City, and I appreciate each bit of information. I can’t name all of you, but thank you.

Without my publisher and friend, Terri Branson, I would be flapping helplessly in wind. Thank you Terri.

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INTRODUCTION

DISCOVERING oil wasn’t high on my priority list that May morning in 1950.

I was seven years old, out of school for the summer and anxious to escape kitchen duty so I could ride my horse, Tuffy.

When the last dish was dried, I shot out the back door and raced to the barn. Tuffy met me at the corral gate. He stood over sixteen hands and I stood about four feet, so I had to climb up on his feed trough to bridle him. I opened the gate and led Tuffy alongside it. Then I climbed to the top of the gate and mounted my horse.

I was in a hurry because Dad had a head start on me, but I was a good tracker so I would find him. Tuffy and I headed west from the barn. We crossed the creek and angled north for the canyon.

Going through the canyon was scary. It wasn’t long, but it was deep, so deep that I couldn’t see the top and I just knew a wolf or mountain lion waited to jump on us. When we entered the narrow passageway, I urged Tuffy into a lope. He responded, and we flew through without being attacked. I had to grip tight with my legs