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UER Forum > Archived US: South > Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma (Viewed 1350 times)
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
< on 1/2/2012 5:52 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
One of my winter hobbies is finding places that have vanished, so called "barren" locations that "no longer exist." I've learned to search for such places in the winter, as anything that does remain will be impossible to find until growth has gone dormant and things once hidden, make themselves known. Assuming I don't bore you out of your mind, I have several of these type locations to post.

This is one such place. As difficult as it is to find evidence that these places existed, other than on an old map, is finding any history, or god forbid, photographs. I'm sure some photos exist, hidden away in a collection of family photo's.

Strangely enough, I had driven by where this town had once stood for a large part of my life, never even having heard it's name. While researching school locations on old maps, I saw it listed and thought Huh? What the hell is that?. A web search provided:

Filson OK, post office from 1895 to 1906. Named for Charles Filson, a territorial secretary of state. No longer exists.

The web is a wonderful thing, but for old stuff which is not part of the main stream, it sucks. Google book scans of old books has proven useful, finding tidbits in the strangest places. But I digress.

First things first. Find the place. It was shown on several old maps, one of which confused it's location with a similar community called Belford. I think some of these old maps were more guides than maps.




My first "drive by" was in the summer, and I could see the remains of an old cellar poking up from the grass, undoubtedly surrounded by mosquitoes, snakes, skunks, and cockleburs. Having confirmed there was at least some physical remnant, I decided to research further. I also found a flying J brand with a F. For Filson? Fred? Who knows.




Filson was founded after the 1893 land run. Though classified as a town, "Hey, we have a post office!", it was really just a community, or as the people who lived there called it, a colony. It was settled primarily by a group from Iowa, with two key families.. It was an agricultural community, but the people who had little "dry land" farming experience. They were unused to the typical Oklahoma weather pattern of decent rain until summer, and then dry and hot till fall. This resulted in many of these farms failing, with people selling off their land to their more successful neighbors. This was probably one of the primary reasons of the towns demise. Not to mention that farming in that era was just plain hard work.




I have to assume that in addition to the post office, there was at least a general store and blacksmith. I found no record of a school, but the Pleasant Valley school was only a couple of miles away and almost certainly would have served the colony. As expected, I was unable to find any information on the town, but I did find some family histories that describes a son of one of the founding families named Charles, who with his fiance, travelled to join his family at Filson in 1902. I'll quote some of Charles' observations amongst the photos.




"In the summer of 1901 my folks became interested in Oklahoma. Land in Iowa was beginning to be what was then thought to be high and the folks thought just as all our ancestors that by going farther west it might be possible to find land cheap enough so we children might settle on a home near them. Some Iowa folks had moved to Oklahoma from Iowa and we began to read letters with such glowing accounts of the bountiful crops raised there that father decided to look into the matter and if possible sell out and move there. People we knew went there to work in harvesting and when they came back they verified the letters. They also brought back a little book called “The Truth About Oklahoma” printed by a real estate firm at Pawnee. (Note: Google books actually list this, published in 1899) This book told such elaborate stories that father sold out, loaded the household goods into a freight car with cows and horses and shipped to Pawnee, Okla. in Sept. 1901."




"On Feb. 27, 1902, I took the train for Oklahoma with my brother Jesse, and cousin Grace. My brother Wayne who was to work father’s place let me in on the deal and we agreed to work it together each taking one third of the crop raised. There were two houses on the place; the original homestead stone shack and a new two room the folks had built that almost joined the old one. They agreed to let Clara and I have the small stone house to keep house in. It was not plastered inside and was only 14 feet square but we had to do this or wait another year so we decided to do it."






"Father’s place was covered with cockle burs every where it had been in cultivation and the old ridges where the last years Kaffir corn had been listed in were still in the fields. Our first work was to drag down these weeds and burs and plow this ground as we were planning on putting the whole place into corn because an Iowa man don’t know anything but corn."






"Clara’s folks lived about six miles from mine on the Pawnee road. We were married on April 16, 1902. Had a wedding at her home and had the Iowa Colony there as guests. We drove home after the wedding behind our mule team in my $10 wagon. We had no time to honeymoon as it was late to put in the crops and we wanted to do some repairing on the house so we could begin house keeping by ourselves."

I found an old newspaper article in Arlington, Iowa, where Charles and Clara had migrated from which described the wedding. These are some of the gifts they received. A set of silver table spoons, a set of desert spoons, a wash bowl and pitcher, a glass fruit dish, a pair of fancy towels, silver berry spoons, a cake plate, a nickle coffee pot, a nickle teakettle and tea pot, a set of flat irons, a set of silver knives and forks, a linen table cloth, and a cheese plate.






"Nothing of importance happened that summer. Aunt Phoebe visited our folks and we all had fine times fishing on the Arkansas River which was only four miles away. The men of the neighborhood formed a company and had a 210 foot seine made and as it rained most of the time so we could not work we put in our time fishing. We caught fish weighing up to 65 lbs. Three kinds of cat fish, carp, shad, perch, sturgeon, drumheads, buffalo and other kinds I have forgotten."




"We raised a nice garden and all together spent a pleasant summer. My third of the crops made me lots of rough feed so we decided to buy some stock. We had bought a cow for our milk and had let her run in the home pasture."






"In the fall of 1902 Clara’s father offered to sell us 80 acres of a second place he had bought and as he had between four and five hundred dollars of her money that she had saved from teaching and offered to take that as first payment we decided to take it. Clara also had sufficient money to buy most of our first housekeeping furniture. We gave $1800 for the 80 acres on a contract to be deeded when full payments were made. The place had a good orchard, well, barn and a nice stone house and cave or outside cellar, but only about six acres of broken land the balance being in fine pasture."






"May 29 of that year our first baby came. We named him Aaron Lorimer. This was 1903."




"In May 1904 a R.F.D. examination was given in Pawnee and two new routes were to be established and as I had got all the farming I could stand I took this examination. This work started July 1-1904 and we had just got our corn land by for the season. We had only 3 days to get ready our outfits, sell off our stock, rent a house in town and move in. In our haste we almost gave our stock away and gave big prices for driving horses. I gave $120 for a span of ponies and ordered a regular Studebaker mail hack which cost $75."




"The move of father’s seemed to start a regular exodus from the Maple Grove neighborhood and even farther away and this continued till many Iowa families moved to and settled between Pawnee and Ralston: At one time it was quite common to have picnics at which there would be 75 or 80 Iowa people present. We called this the Iowa Colony. This colony only clung together four or five years and then began to scatter. At first to the towns and farms near there but later farther away just 20 years later only a few families still live there."

The last listing on a map I can find of Filson is 1921, which is when the last statement above was written. One last tidbit from Charles. "Father soon began to acquire milk cows and followed this form of farming as long as he was able to take care of them." Though no longer with the family, this dairy was in operation until it finally closed in 2000. I remember my parents buying fresh milk there. Who knew.




The old house I'm restoring was built in 1904, about when this story took place. This spring, I'm making a walkway in the back and I've decided to incorporate a bit of history, so I've begun gathering a single brick or stone from these vanished places that I'll incorporate into it. I now have my brick from Filson.



Filson, Oklahoma. Post Office (Discontinued June 21, 1906, effective July 14, 1906)
(Mail to Ralston)


[last edit 1/2/2012 5:54 AM by dwtaylor999 - edited 1 times]

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
cowtownclimber 


Location: Fort Worth
Gender: Male


e^(i*Pi)+1=0

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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 1 on 1/2/2012 4:32 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Amazing stuff. I have a ton of respect for those who are deeply involved in the historical aspect of our hobby.

leafloving4x4gal 


Location: Durham Region
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 2 on 1/2/2012 5:04 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I really enjoyed reading this piece of history and I LOVE the fact that your incorporating the bricks from these places into your own....very cool

"if you are not selfish enough to make yourself happy, you have nothing of value to offer the world."
cdevon 


Location: west county
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 3 on 1/2/2012 5:39 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
very well done.


When I say I'm 'clean and sober', it means I've showered and I'm headed to the liquor store.
Ghostofthelens 


Location: Pearland, Tx.
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 4 on 1/2/2012 5:46 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Excellent collection and story.

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Imbroglio 


Location: DFW
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 5 on 1/3/2012 1:28 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
You're my favorite urban explorer!

http://www.noelkernsphotography.com
Navi23 


Location: The Calculus Rock
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 6 on 1/13/2012 2:27 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Interesting stuff. That's really cool how you're collecting a brick from each of these places & incorporating them into your house.

I'm also jealous of living in a place where winter means you simply explore without vegetation...whereas some of us live in places where winter means you have to explore in 3 feet of snow

cr400 


Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 7 on 1/13/2012 3:54 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Yeah! DW, I think I could sit under a shade tree, sip some sweet tea, and shoot the shit with you for hours.

There are few others on this site i feel the same about.

You can see a million miles tonite, but you can't get very far.

Honorary member of UER lifetime acheivement award winning, 2Xplorations and Guide Services, Texas.
yeya 


Location: La La Land, TX
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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 8 on 1/13/2012 7:20 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Awesome post as always. I've read my history for the day. Very informative and then some. Looking forward to your next post.

dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Re: Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma
<Reply # 9 on 1/13/2012 11:13 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thanks for the comments. Three feet of snow would be somewhat of a challenge, lol. I like exploring in the winter down here the best, don't have to worry about the snakes, mosquitoes, ticks, and it's much easier to find some of this stuff without all the growth.

It's amazing how many of these places there were that have just disappeared.

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
UER Forum > Archived US: South > Vanished: Filson, Oklahoma (Viewed 1350 times)



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