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UER Forum > Archived US: South > The little house under the prairie (Viewed 413 times)
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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The little house under the prairie
< on 3/7/2011 2:16 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Osage, also called Osage City, was located north of Skedee, Oklahoma. The town itself no longer exists. It was settled after the original Oklahoma land run in late 1893. It was really just a small community, with a school, which still stands.

Osage had a post office from 23 May 1894 till the 15th of September, 1902. The "town" was largely abandoned after the railroad bypassed it for Skedee, though there where still many farmsteads in the area and the school continued in use until at least the 1930s. A map of the area from 1894/1895. The red dot was the community of Osage. The town of Skedee, for which it was abandoned, didn't exist at the time of the map.



When I was photographing the school, a local gentleman stopped to talk and told me about some old dugouts about a mile west of the school by a creek that where built by the original homesteaders, but he wasn't sure if they where still there.

About three weeks ago, I happened to be in the area and he had already given me permission to go look, so I hiked in to see what I could find.

This is in the middle of a mile section with a large field of prairie grass followed by trees and a small creek, though it looks like it could get much larger in a heavy rain. It was a good location, close to a creek and the Arkansas river, with good prairie for farming. That's the old Osage one room school in the distance on the other side of the dirt road.



An up close shot of the old Osage school district 5 taken from my previous visit.



An old photo of the school from the 1920s. The wooden stable to the left is from the original wooden school, which burned. The gentleman I was talking to said his grandfather had been a young boy going to school at Osage when the fire started in the chimney and had ridden for help.



Into the woods.



At first I did some to piles of rock that didn't look entirely natural, but you never know. Most dugouts I've heard about where constructed mostly of timber with a dirt roof, so I would be surprised if anything remained.





Then I found this, definately not natural. It even had a bit of cement still attached to it.



Then, suddenly, there it was. At first I didn't see it. It blended with the background very well.







It would never have survived if the roof hadn't been made of stone. It would be very interesting to do a dig in the area and see what could be found. I doubt very much I can find out who built it or lived there, as those in the know will have passed on, and the fact that the communities existence was very short, but you never know.
[last edit 3/7/2011 2:32 AM by dwtaylor999 - edited 1 times]

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
Price 


Location: Houston,TX
Gender: Male


Urbex: Keeping record of things most people have forgotten.

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Re: The little house under the prairie
<Reply # 1 on 3/7/2011 3:04 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
love this. history rules

“It still amazes me how many millions goes to discovering another star in the galaxies when, for all we know, we are still sitting on top of another undiscovered world beneath our feet.”

-Martin Dansky (1952)
VBJag 


Location: Oklahoma
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Re: The little house under the prairie
<Reply # 2 on 3/7/2011 3:06 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Wow, that schoolhouse is in remarkable condition!

Imbroglio 


Location: DFW
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Re: The little house under the prairie
<Reply # 3 on 3/7/2011 5:39 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Man, the brick construction on that school is impressive.

http://www.noelkernsphotography.com
UER Forum > Archived US: South > The little house under the prairie (Viewed 413 times)



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