W.A. Morris


 

Morris, W.A. 

Field Worker:  John F. Daugherty 

Date:  March 15, 1938
Interview # 10238
Address: Sulphur, OK
Born: July 23, 1859
Place of Birth: Arkansas 
Father: A. F. Morris, born in Tennessee, Farmer
Mother: Betty Doran, born in Tennessee


My parents were A. F. Morris and Betty Doran Morris, both born in Tennessee.  There were four children.  I was born July 23, 1859, in Arkansas, and came to the Indian Territory with my parents in 1875.  We came in a covered wagon, from Kansas, crossing the state line at  Coffeyville. 

We came down the Kansas and Indian Territory Trail which followed the Verdigris River.   We came through Muskogee.  It has three small stores built of boards and a small depot on the Katy Railroad.  Here we turned east down the Arkansas River and settled at Webber Falls in the Cherokee Nation, in the Canadian District. 

There were two stores and a gin in Webbers Falls.  The cotton was carried by baskets to the gin stand.  The lint was blown into a room where it was picked up and carried by hand to the press.  Here it was tramped into the press by a man and the press was run up by a horse.

Goods were freighted from Muskogee to the stores at Webbers Falls when the Arkansas River got too low for the boat, the Jennie May, to run from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson.

Our mail came on the stage from Fort Smith to Muskogee.  It was drawn by four horses and carried mail, freight and passengers.  The driver sat on top with a long whip.  Webbers Falls was a stave stand and the horses were unhitched and the four rested horses were hitched to the stage in one minute.  They changed horses every ten miles.  Bob Blackstone was the postmaster while we lived there.

In 1876, I attended a fair at old Fort Gibson.  People came for many miles and many were there from Arkansas. J. Oates ran a wagon factory at Cincinnati, Arkansas.   he made wagons by hand.  He brought one of his wagons to this fair to advertise.  It was a beauty.  The sideboards were painted and so shiny, one could use them for mirrors.  He sold his wagon and received orders for others.   The wagon was called "The Arkansas Traveler."

Cobb and Hutton were licensed stock traders in the Cherokee nation.  They became very wealthy and finally moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where they organized the Hutton Cattle Company.

We had to drive cattle and hogs to Fort Smith or Muskogee for shipment.  I helped Mr. Hutton drive a train load of hogs to Fort Smith.  That was the largest bunch of hogs I ever saw.  After they were loaded, part of them were put on decks above the others.  some of the decks came down before the train started and many of the hogs were killed.

One incident I remember was the annual trip made by a tall, raw boned, long whiskered man from Arkansas, through Webbers Falls to old Oklahoma before the Opening in 1889.   He always took his entire family of several children and his wife and 'boomed' for several months each year.  He drove oxen with shoes on and on his trip toward Oklahoma, the inscription "Oklahoma or Bust", was printed on the side of his wagon.  he went through in the Spring and each Fall he returned to Arkansas and each Fall his wagon would bear the words 'Oklahoma - Busted'.  He made these trips for several years and became know as "Old Oklahoma" to the inhabitants of the Cherokee Nation.

We moved to Childers Station, Sequoyah District, in 1885.  In 1887 it became Sallisaw.  In 1891,  Father and I established a tobacco factory there.  It was the only factory of its kind in the Territory.  We manufactured smoking and chewing tobacco.  We got part of our tobacco from the Cherokee Nation and part of it was shipped from Kentucky.

We secured our license from the United States Revenue man at Fort Smith, and another Government man came from Kansas to show us how to place the revenue stamps across the top of the tobacco stacks.

In 1893, we took a wagon load of our product and started west to peddle it.  We sold to all the small stores along our route from Sallisaw to Stillwater.  When we reached Stillwater, people were gathering and training their horses for the Opening of the Cherokee Strip, which was to be in a few days.  We decided to remain for this great event. 

My uncle was there and we located him. He had a team of wild Spanish mules with which he intended to make the Run.  On September 16th everybody was excited, for this was the day of the big Run.  people of all descriptions were there.  Old, young, tall, short, fat and lean.  Some were in carts, some in wagons, others on horses and many on foot.  I secured a race horse, and couldn't find a saddle so I rode bareback.   Another young man and I were side by side on the line.  Father and Uncle were in their wagon not far down the line.  We were in the front line.  Finally I saw a soldier riding down the line.  He loaded his gun and in a few more paces, he fired.   We were off.  We had decided we would try to get to Bear Creek, twelve miles from Stillwater.  I lost sight of Father and Uncle.  The young man next to me hadn't gone far when he wanted to jump off and stake his claim on the prairie.  I told him I was heading for Bear Creek so he continued with me.  When we got there, Father and Uncle were there ahead of us and had their claim staked.  The mules had become frightened at all the noise and confusion and had run away with them.  As for me, I was so sore and tired I wasn't even interested in a claim.  Each person who staked a claim paid the Government $2.50 an acre.

We sold all of our tobacco among the people at this Run and returned to Sallisaw.   In 1894 we moved to Tahlequah. 

I helped haul the money when the payment was made by the Government to the Cherokees.   The currency and checks were in a safe and the gold and silver were in meal sacks.   The mixed breeds received currency and checks while the fill bloods would accept nothing but gold or silver.  These payments were made from the county seats.  At each place a tent town sprang up.  Cattle and horses were traded and sold.  The Indians camped for days about the payment grounds.

The only newspaper published in the Indian Territory when we first came was the Cherokee Advocate, a paper for both Indians and whites.  Part of it was printed in Cherokee and part of it in English.  It has a large circulation.  My brother-in-law, J. S. Holder, of Fort Gibson, bought the press and it is still in use at Fort Gibson.  He is editor of the Advocate.

I have lived in Murray County for eight years.


Transcribed by Brenda Choate and Dennis Muncrief, May 2001.