PIOttRIRO* UBfl* IHTSKVTSW*

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Form A-(S~U9)

FORMWORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

Indian-Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma

:Pi9ld Worker* s nameGrate

^Thi

>

s report

Name

made on

U•

(date) July 1937 193

12. Post Offioe Address t T^rfil Bouto Two

is.4.

5.

Residence address (o.r location)

DATE OF" BIRTH: Month % •

Place of b i r t h ^«»is

A0T069 xrom

Day

old i[«nry»ttn L«k«

Year lWt

>. Name of Father Place of birth

Other information about father

'. Name of Mother Cj*W»i* Alia Place of birth

Other infoxaation about mother

Sotes or complete narrative by the field worker dealing with the l i fed story of tho person interviewed. Refer to Manual for suggested

ibjects and questions. Continue on blank sheets if necessary andIttach firmly to this fora. Number of sheets attached __* .

333

WH. INTERVIEW 6901.

), 1937,

An lnt®Trim with Mr• Levi Pickering,Henrietta^ Oklahoma*

Th@ first time I earn® to tUe Iadi«n Territory was

in 1879 ia "Si© wint®?e I was ©levea yeays oM in tha

February,

We crossed into this country a t Eelqher wh i>§ tiiere

was both a ferry and & fo?i«

Weat of Ardaore there la a prairie ^hieh was Earned

for our family* Pickering Prairie is where wa located.

Father was e Mataodist prcscher biit aa h@ did not

get pels for prseoMng b® was @£@Q a farmar* A log

9@s built and ohurch and Sunafiy-Soiiool were

hold t h e r t on. Simdaya^ riti« bmoh&s W&TB of s p l i t logs.slanting

with/legs driven into th«R, 'riiese benches got very hard

fore the day was over and v& did a lot at squirtning around•» -

on them.

A Pioneor Beaae.

horns was a l i t t l e better then the average but

334

PXCKER2K0, LEW INISRVIBW 8001« .

• 2 «•

I t was aot» any too g©o&© i'<© bad two log houses with a

halXaay e t w e e s a i ^ we had g lass windows, v»© bad a

eookstoT© besides tbs fir©plae©« That yet>r we r a i s M

a lo t of mmt pota toes snfi 1 »w©r a te &Eg b e t t e r ones

than w© used to roaat l a tlit.t f i r e p l a c e n WQ would rak@

ttea out of tha f irsplac® s p l i t thea opeas tak© them to

ths -febl® aaS COT^ 1 thm with good ba t t e r* We had plenty

of s i l k and bu t te r as w© brought tk l r ty»£i 'W or fo r ty

bead of cattl© with us whaa w© earns from

Th© secosad y@jir ifether raised a l i t t l e whdat cropg

and hs also raised cottOEs corn and oats* H© was ki l led

•fchet year and X had to tak® the wh^t to mill* F i r s t ,

th© waeat was tlireshecU A tsau of horses ware fastened

in a chute with a treadmill feo walk on* The wheat wee

pat ia there and as tk@y walked i i f e l l through the

between tha rollers» Than, i t was taken out in the opea

and whipped out a&d the wind was allowed to blow the chaff

me^9 W© got twelve bnshe3js wnidi I ted to taJc© f i f ty milss

to GainaTlJLl©, TiKsa© to be g^atiai iato flois?« Th©r0 was iw

flour mill closer than Gtoinsvllle. l e had a good team of

335

PICK&RIKG, LOT IMEKKVIES 6901

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oxen who »er® brin&le cci@r@A» They war©

t&aa horses ^ yos always last? they eouM get you sher©

you wanted to g© aad coi4d sake t t o r e t u r n t r i p , I

fed tiiess oxen a i i tha^r wanted a t aigfatj wetered t h e s

the aesrt s»rixing but did not give thm &8g breakfas t*

fhey w^re fed w®ll one© a day and w@r© watered t i r e e

tlussa e day* At noon wh©E X stopped for lunch they

l i e down l a th© abade and cfe©w t h e i r cudae

For two years i?e -ot our laail a t Baleher9

Thm Ardis>r6 was s t a r t e d and- the Jteri©r?ei AlXlaace

Trading s t c r e ©as open®! by $@ats Bfemer feed Dobsy»

Thon th® isa i l was brought t o H a i d t t by bta^y but

I do aot know whsther i t came from ^rd^or® or not*

Joe Fai toa had a s t o r e and a pos t o f f i ce e t Hewitt*

fis a corn m i l l ss& drug ®fe>2© t h e r e In 1888 but

not l a 1830s

Whit© p©opl© #3? p tsp i ,^ fsH>a @t^#r pa r f e o l th© stat©

336

PICKERING,, LEVI imwmw 6901

had to pay about five dollars e year to some Indian

Councilman, or Light Haseaaaa, to X®t their cattl©

rangs in this country* The fields were fenced and the

eaitle renged*

K&gfe Gyass and..Preirie Fires

In the 8T2BS38J?t the grass grew shouLaer ni&r..In trie

fall *t fel l down and a 3hortsr grass gre? under thr t«

Th© cattle ats this short grass t i l v?inter and became

fatter than in a dry sunsnsr. They di&nH have to ba fed

an^thiDg ©seept the peaturage, sajrasar or winter*

In %h® fa l l and winter- we had to ct ke s fireguard

srosad eTerythlngj houses ead out«-buildir.gs avsi everythingwe

whichZdld not i?aiit to bs btirnad* "Bo sake these g?iarde we

maild start a fire burning toward th@ -srind BE4 have wet

sacks to k®@p i t from going the way w© did not want i t to

go« Tk® riiad blowing against i t ma,1e i« burn WOT& slowly

than if i t w.8 burning i?itii ttea «rindg and we could headl©

it better. When i t had tmrn©d a Vraadi*ed or two hui^lred

f^ t w« sta^tei a t one ^ia and fanned i t oat with th© w©t

sacks. SomstiE^s if ths wind WBS high i t would jusup th©

pards fnd biiraiug grass would fly hi^x in th© air and be

337

USH IWSmUW 6901

carried aer©@© ttoa fireguard and would s t a r t a fir©

on the othar side wher$ i t f e l l to the grouB&« These

fires would burn day sad Eight ao& the people with

th&ir household goods wers pat In the fi©Ms for safety.

The fire souM ru t g©t Into the fieMs b©cr\is0 of the

plonsd ©potmd* Pu©pl© hav® los t plenty of property fron

grass fires©

W© ted a good spring t23T©9- h ^ i ? 8 ^ yards £rom

hm.se but w© aleo had a w©ii ia the yaM«

Walnut Mjou was thre© ail©8 £rom our house and

tiier® was a spring whsr© th« people hauled watsi* ajsi the

eatile went tfesr© fo?

The CMsholm TITAII waa west of Hsv?iti;? crop-elng th©

Red RlTer d o ^ to the Spanish £ o r t . X*T© wa-ccihed the

herds of catUo pasBing. ana I t v/ouM tass a s ^ ' i ^ a l l day

foy a big herd ^> &>$& ^ BiT@r» About ©v€a?7 half mil©

a esirboy was stationed to *rl&a

was a creok about a iamdred &x& f i f ty

338

XOT IHEESYIEB

our iiouse «feleli raa into th® Walimt Bayou* Th©

wild horsss he& a regale? t r a i l v?h©r© they crossed from

ana side to the of; er to graz©» W© bui l t a tr: p to cr-tch

them ther®» A saa l i corral m.s built os the south side

of the er©©&« I t was made of p61es aa t a l l - r aliM>st as

t i l l as Q t@X©gi>sph pole*, fken we 3"^ a treneh in a

elrsl©8 wing do«at to vihsre tha t i ^ t l went into a pen8 The

pen had a draw bar and as aooa a? tlie horses MQT® in i t

a red blanket ®as throwa ov^s* it,nsaking a &o©a? that thes©

wild horsoa v?onld EO% go nsaas "Ki© wiH liO2»Bes ware found

about fifteen s i l a s av?ay© Men vdf§ statioasd ©vary two

sllea to catch tbsa aM tfe© f i r s t men to reeeh tlis wild

^mlA fthas© thea ua t i l thei? o^n boraes fea^m to

and thea wotiM hmd them to!7a3^ th© neat men tslio bad

hor§as« The £s*@ak bore®s wciuld tttak© r

wild k>ri^g aad run them toward t^s other mm»

horses wer© k@pt rennlttg aafl aa the^ bad great

cottld t l r a oitt th€ tarn© borses* At l a s t i?h©n

gattiag wiadiid t id fipeah horses kept orow&iug

until th^1 cowlci not b® aa wateliful a s be fore» ^h®a a

339

PZC3CEHIN0, IXn INTERVIEW 6901

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wild hor*e Is crowded the f i r s t ones can fel) end the

others win go over that until they hare piled up as

high as a feouse and the last ones will go on over. I s

the wild horses were trying to get away from these fresh

horses they were heeding for tho crossing they knew about

find went into the pen before they saw i t . If the pen

hadnft been high poles they would hsre juaped over i t to

get away,

tfvi Pickering Killed by a Horse

A wild whit* horse belonging to Father's brother-

in-law got away and nobody could catch him* Father said

that if he wes riding on his owe pet black mare he could

(jatch this wild horse, so they planned for Father to wait

in a certain place and the refit of the men would chase the

wild horse past hlm« The wild horse was blind on the right

side. When i t ca&e past, Father "took' after i t on that

side but ins teed of the rope sett l ing over the wild horse**

head i t went across the good aye. The rope coming across

the wild horse's good eye turned him toward Father and the

two houses cent together* The mere fel l and ro^ltd over

340

IHTEHVIEtf 6»01

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Tether sad the wild horse fe l l on top of the mere.

The big f e t saddle horn was on Father's cheat. They

took Father to a neighbor's house and sent for Mother*

He lived twenty-four hours end was burled on Bowman's

Point. John Bowman had been buried there forty-two

years before »y the Indiana end i t la used now 88 a

graveyard*

Wild Game

X have eeen thirty-six wild deer at one time, I

had a pet deer which used to go end play with the id Id

ones*

I hare seen about three hundred turkeys in one bunch.

One winter there waa snow and the jack rabbits oou!fcdaft

find anything green to eat* We bad a patch of green

onions close to the house* Erery night we wou1 d k i l l

ten to fif%#ea of these jack rabbets. The becks, and haiss

were eeH«d down ia two barrels and we had rabbit all next

year*

Once in a while a deer would get into e crop but aeuelly

wild gene didn't bother the crops* The turkeys TlTod on

341

PICKEBIHG, i m INTIHVIB* < 6901

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acorns* Most of the wil d game was too wil d to get

liter e fle^d for they icnew i t ires dangerous and they

eoul d scent a person a long way.

Raiaed Our Food

*e didn*t "freight" our produce, fce just raised

nhat we used* tfe had hogs, sorj£umand catt le* Once in

awhile we took some thing, hogs or c a t t l e , to s e l l for

clothing which w<s usually bought «t Belcher, Texas* After

jFether diad we l ived on the fa in two or three years and

mored back to Belcher onto a fana ve owned.

Caac back in 1888

In 1880-the only ranch was the U-Raneh a he^f

west from us . I t extended west within tventy-two mil es

of where Hewitt i s now, close to Wilson, those towns were

not there then*

We came back to Heritt wher I was nineteen years o d

end the Diamojld Spear Ranch was three-fourths of a mile

east of us and bed been there for two years* B i l l Be"H

was the foraaan on i t .

342

PICKERING, tTSTl INTERVIEW 6901

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Catching Spotted D»er

AB Easterner to^d B i l l Bell that he would g i v e

him fifty dollars apiece for a*H the spotted deer he

could get. I lived close end Bill to"* d me about i t

end wanted to know if I thought I cou1 d catch any. They

are very hard to find and harder to catch after you find

them* BiT1 had a horae,which I wanted, which was named

T.J>. I told him that I beUeved that I could i f I had

that hoP8« neJBfcd5 T. p. Of course, he told n» to ue«

this horse and early every morning I wou1 d go hunting.

When I'd find the place vhere an old deer *ras hiding her

young i t *ou1d be in some shin oak which i s Just bushes*

A deer whichis "under" a month old has spots on i t but as

i t gets o"> der the spots 1 eate. The horse could not catch

a deer over a month o1d either,4s soon as we would come up

to the kitt le deert which i s as wild as a squirre't, i t

iratfld run end they cen run fast . The horse, LJ5^ would

fly, and I fd catch,that i s lesso the deer in e hundred

yards* As soofl ea I'd catch the deer, 7,P. would stop end •

I wcuM fa^ off of him and t i e the de«r. I t wee lik« roping

goats.

343

PIC5ERIN0, TEV1 IHTEHVIEW 6901

In tiro aonths we caught ten spotted deer* %'e

hunted every Boraing and there were a lot of deer bat

ire figured ire did right v e i l . I t meant two hundred

and f i f ty dollars for Bill end iae each and that wasn't

bad wages for two months' work then»

First Store Cothea

Tae f irst store suit I ever owned I bought myself.

I raised an acre of cotton, took care of i t by myself,

and when I took i t to town and so''d i t I bought a seven

do^ar suit of jeans and a pair of bresa toed shoes. I

beHeve I was prouder of th*se shoeB than any I have

owned since*

Medicine

After catching the deer I owned L. p» and thtt faM

ws had « different kind of work to do. Bi"n vao taken

sick withc«oasuti^t?iSh and the doctor gave hin ';p to die*

He sent fo? me and tshen I got there he was in bed end

took-ed terribly sick and wasted.

Re said he hpd a ,1ob which had to be dons end h«

would not aakr ae except thai I was the only tasn whom he

344

PICKERIJW, T.EVI INTEmriBP 6901

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knew thet he thought could "gat by" with i t . He

wanted ne to go to Spanish Fort and get four gal

of whiikey. He thought heM pull through if he hsd

that whiskey, Fe l l , i t VKB n penitentiary offense i f

ceught and I toi d him that 1 had never done any job

Tike that but i f he thought i t would he">p him l i ve , I

would go for h i* . I w«nt tw«nty»five miles to the Red

River snd crossed by ferry ( there ' s a rai lroad bridge

there now) and I told the ferryman that I would be beck

about nine o'clock that evening i nd from there I went

oa to Spanish Fort . I had two seeks t i e ' ' onto *he front

of my horse end two in the back and each sack had a

gallon jug in i t . I got these jugs sl i fu"H of vrhiskey

and started beck. When I got to the crossing the ferry

wasn't there so as I didn' t went to wait, I forded Ped

River and got tc the ranch before daylight* Whan I got

ther» BiU started to drinking thia whiskey just a U t t l e

at a time. He never got drunk but kept on drinking i t . He

drunk tae four gallons end I did not help him driak i t

345

PICIOERIKO, ven INTERVIEW e»oi

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either and he wanted me to go again* This titne I ^

SidnH go by the road for they had teen picking up

people who were transporting whiskey into the Terri-

tory* I went lower down on Red River and forded both

ways* I knew i f I got on cleer ground and *ss not

picked up at the river thst I would heve a good chance

to get away for I did not think that any other horse

eouid catch T-,P, Bill drank thia second quantity of

whiakty aad iaproYed BO raich that he took contro1 of

•tilt ranch again &nd lived for eeren years longer.

?11d

of this story so far has been in the Chickesew

Bill Washington had heerd that I had helped

and se l l twenty-four wild horses. Sot es

he had e hundred ni^d horses penned up, he got && tivc a

lftgro, ntaed Ed Loro, to break the» for five dozers aridden

heed and our board. They were to be/three "saddles" or

It WBB ne&r Boggf Bey era. There wts e ferae five

346

PICKERING, T.EYI HmmiSK 690i

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miles long and another seren miles long with six or

e«T«a miles between than* There was one oek tree and

the rest was prairie with no trees* Two wild horses

wore ridden each day* First, one was put iuto a chuteis a

end I put a saddle and (u8Ck~e-iaure" on him* This.Zrope

put on in such a way that when the horse got so that I

could not do enythisg with him I could shut his wind off

and make him stop running* ;hen the chute was dropped

or openad and the horse either ran or started bucking*

We had e round pen with SMs drop chute* The horse

usually looked back and seeing me on his back, snorted,

and tried in erery way to get rae off his beck but ajne-

tises he sterted running and kept i t up until he wast

tired out, sometimes he would be too tired to get back

to the corral or pea. The meaner horses wou1 d turn their

heeds around and try to bite my boots and chaps* The

stirrups were tied underneath the horse and the saddle

was cinched down aa tighV^y as possible* A loose skinned

horse can cause the saddle to go OXQT on one side i f i t

isn't pat on tightlyjif he ever gets you out of balance

i t i s not hard to throw you* The only tine I was erer

347

PICKBHI1I&, ttn INTERVIEW 6»01.

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thrown was before I oace to the T e r r i t o r y f o r the

f i r s t t ime . I waa under e l even year9 old* I got a

x out on my knee end carry the s c a r now but i t didn*t

hurt as naich as the idea of being thrown, i t hurt

worse than be ing whipped e t the mi l l by the "Bu^y".

I saddled and put the "Hack-a-more" on the horse

i n a chute but the negro had to saddle the aaroe horse,

a f t er I had ridden him thr«e t i m a , in the round pen

just as i f he were a tamed horse and then put

a bridge on him i n p l a c e of t h e ^hock-awaore" and r ide

him three timas but we l e t t h e horse r e s t two or three

deys between the tinse I rode him end the time the negro

rode him*

Going to MT»!

When a boy vent to mi l l the f i r s t t ime , there wouTd

always be a bunch of boys aroand there andone b u l l y . You'd

put the sack of corn down and i f someone came a f t e r you i t

was s e t behind yours , j u s t t i k e standing i n Mne but t h e

corn stood i n l i n e f o r you, The mi lder ground the corn

jus t as he caiae to i t no matter whose corn i t was* The

b a l l y would • • • when t k e s i l l e r we* not looking and woul d

• " ' - u t . i t a t 1 L , ; - - . £ \ v . • • • * . - ' " r'.u

348

PICCERIBO, LKYI HTBHVIEW 6901

• 10 -

take your corn sad put i t a t the end of the l i n e . I f

you were not *ye11ov* you took your corn beck and put

i t «here i t belonged, and then you bad c f i g h t and you

fought as hard as you could . I f you did t t i e end ti»

bul ly whipped you, he and h i s p e l s Mked you end sa id

you. vere sure B f i g h t e r eve* i f you got tfhippec, fazt

i f you "Jet M B get evay with moving the corn you were

"yetlor* aa& your H f e »BB t, torrwnt. I t -was rery

s e l & a y^u vent to alTI wi12iaiit hering e f i g h t

but i t sure hurt t o ge t shipped.