Have I Disturbed Some One? (Revisited), page 50

Originally posted by Bunken Drum

Originally posted by Valhall
Thank you for sharing.
Where I live, we say that as a polite euphemism for "What a wierdo!" Still, glad to return the piqued curiosity.
Had another go this Tuesday am. I saw a man peering over a grey painted solid wooden railing, like a balcony or porch, the latter if the ground sloped away so I was lower down than the ground floor of the house. It didn't look like any of the structures on your house though, that we've seen here anyway. It reminded me of the upper decks of old style passenger ships actually.
His face was pretty red & heavy set, with small features. He had snow white hair, very short on the sides, a little longer on top, in a side parting. No sign of recedeing hairline.
After a 2nd attempt, I got a flash of a series of letters, which has never happened before. I think they spelled "George", but I'm only 100% certain of the "orge" part.
Curiouser & curiouser...

Well, that's pretty interesting considering the original builder's name is Fred Brown and his brother was George Brown.

The following is from interviews done on what was called the "Chisolm Trail Pioneer Project" (if I'm remembering the title correctly). You can read about their history. Note (AND I JUST NOTICED THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME) Fred died of a heart attack in his bed in my house.

Fred said in a WPA interview: "I came to Oklahoma in 1886 over the old Chisholm Trail from Texas. I camped east of the Duncan store in a dugout for some time, then moved down below Comanche and have been here ever since. I ran about seven thousand head of cattle. Of course, it was under an Indian for everyone who held cattle had to be under an Indian. In fact, everything was under Indian control at that time. Hick Harrison was our Indian. He claimed all land or had charge of it. When they knocked him out it cost me $1000.00 to pay up.

We drove our cattle over the Chisholm Trail. Sometimes a bunch of cattlemen all threw together and had the same chuck wagon; in this way we cut our expenses down. You see we had to drive to Nocona, Texas, as it was our nearest shipping point then. Later we went to Belcher. Pres Addington went to Carlyle. He had as many as ten thousand head.

There were Indians here but they were Comanches. They would string out one behind the other for miles. Our settlement was called Tucker. It had a store, blacksmith shop, gin and an old mill.

After the railroad came through most all the people moved to the railroad, The Rock Island built a switch and laid out a townsite. Then the main street fronted the railroad. The first depot was an old freight car.

Comanche received its name from the Comanche tribe of Indians. They came here and camped around the place when their grass money was due. They stayed around until they spent most of the money,

There was a saloon just about the 98th Meridian where many of the Indians got rid of their money. They would come up to you and say, "Give me a quatah - me want a drink - make me feel good."

They did not stop to cook meat often. As soon as a beef was killed they would dive in and drink the blood. I asked one why they drank so much blood and he told me that blood made him strong.

Back in the early days Comanche started having carnivals. These Indians came over and took part in the exercises. They put on their war paint and had their old war dances, giving all sorts of Indian yells. They never hurt anyone. We treated them well. In the early days before Tucker started we received mail from Henrietta by a man on a horse. He came by Suggs ranch. We received mail once a week when the creek was not up, then it took longer. We were lucky to get a paper once a month.

Pres Addington ran the Keen O brand. My brand was the Pitchfork. There were several brands, 3 I, the Bar, H & W, Fleetwoods, then Colbert Bowen."

Later, in the mid-1930's, the Oklahoma Highway Department was instructed by the state legislature to determine the true route of the Chisholm Trail through Oklahoma and show that route on future highway maps. This was done. Much of the information came from interviews with pioneer residents of the areas close to the trail. Fred Brown was listed as one of those who shared their knowledge to accurately locate the old trail route through Oklahoma.

Another pioneer interviewed by the WPA was George A. Brown of Chickasha (no relation to the Fred Brown Family). This George Brown came up the Chisholm Trail in 1890 as a cowboy. When he arrived in Indian Territory, he was offered a job by Fred Brown at a better salary ($45 a month) and joined the Pitchfork Ranch. The interview went on to make several comments on the ranch and the Brown family.

According to the interview, Fred Brown and his brother George Bundy Brown were partners in the ranch. The Pitchfork Ranch was one and a half miles east of present day Duncan, Oklahoma. The ranch headquarters was one and a half miles south of the Duncan store. George A. Brown went on to say "The Brown brothers brand was a pitchfork on the left hip (a graphic of a three-tined fork pointing up was included in the interview). They had between eight and ten thousand head of cattle, and around five thousand head of horses. They had a small horse pasture at the ranch headquarters, the rest of the ranch was open country, incidentally it took several cowboys to keep the cattle and horses from straying, and to do the branding of the cattle and horses. There was a big round corral on the ranch that was used to catch and brand the horses, but all of the cattle were branded in the open. We would round up about a thousand head of cattle in one bunch and several cowboys would hold the cattle together, while about five good ropers would ride in the herd, and rope the calves around the neck, and drag them out to the big log branding fire, where there would be several men to bull-dog the calves, while others branded and marked them.

My main job was to break horses. The mares were all little Spanish mares crossed with Steel Dust and Morgan horses. The offspring of this cross made excellent cow horses, and also good work horses. Some times, these geldings would be sold on a contract before they were broken. I remember once, George Brown, the eldest of whom I worked for, came to me and said he had sold three carloads of broke geldings to some man in Florida, and for me to break that many horses just as soon as I could. I only rode some of the horses six or seven times, so it did not take very long. We had one outlaw horse on the ranch, that we called Cyclone, that had never been ridden by anyone but me. He would buck just as long as he could, then rest a while and start bucking again. I begged Mr. Brown to take this horse to Florida with the others, but he said no, we need him to test out the new cowboys we hire. When we started south with the broken horses, I saw "Old Cyclone" grazing near me, and I rode out and threw him in the bunch. When we got to Belcherville, Texas with our horses which was the nearest shipping point at that time, Mr. Brown was there and scolded me for bringing "Old Cyclone" but he took him along anyway.

We bought a few things at Mr. and Mrs. Duncan's country store, but we freighted the most of our supplies from Belcherville, Texas, with four head of horses. We crossed Red river at the Cable Crossing, twelve miles east and six miles south of Ryan, Oklahoma on a ferry boat operated by Jess Kimble.

I worked for the Brown brothers for four years or until 1894. While I was there the Rock Island railroad company built road south and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Duncan moved their little store to the railroad and built the first store building in what is now Duncan.

When I quit working on the ranch, I started in business for myself, buying, selling and trading horses and cattle. The grass was good, and there was plenty of it. Many mornings when the dew was on the grass a person would get wet up to his waist while riding horseback in it."

A 1938 interview with an A. J. Johnston says, "There was much ranch land around Duncan and a great many cattle. Fred Brown owned the Pitchfork Ranch southeast of Duncan; The reason he called it the Pitchfork Ranch was because that was his brand."

These interviews and other similar ones show that Fred Brown was truly a pioneer in the Oklahoma area.

He related later that the Indians came through the neighborhood in town regularly to sell meat, both beef and pork. This went well until he go some rancid meat and decided to stop trading with the Indians. The next time they came around, he said that he didn't want any because they had sold him bad meat. That night, they cut off the ears of all his cattle. After that, he just pretended that he wanted what they did not have. If they were selling beef, he would say "Me no savvy beef today, me savvy pork." If they had pork, he would say "Me no savvy pork today, me savvy beef." That way he did not hurt their feelings and everything was fine.

Fred Arthur BROWN died on 30 Jan 1949 at Comanche, Stephens County, Oklahoma, at age 83. The Duncan Daily Banner said, "Fred A. Brown, 83, pioneer Indian Territory resident and founder of the Farmer's Gin in Comanche, was found dead in bed at his Comanche home Sunday morning. He had suffered a heart attack the previous evening.

He was born in Walpole, N. H., September 26, 1865, and moved in 1882 to the vicinity of what is now Comanche. He entered the cattle business, and married the former Clara A. Brockway of Fowler, Ind., december 15, 1892. She died about 12 years ago. Brown founded the Farmer's Gin in 1906, and managed it 37 years before retiring in 1943.