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UER Forum > Archived US: South > Lonely bones (Viewed 499 times)
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Lonely bones
< on 4/28/2011 5:08 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I was on the fence on whether to post this or not, so a precautionary warning, this is not a visual extravaganza. I think I'm posting this here so in some little piece of cyberspace, some memory of this place will remain.

When I drove to the location I didn't expect much, but I was a bit shocked at how little was left. Without the sign a person could have driven completely past, never knowing a town had once existed.

While researching online, I asked the question, "How do you tell the story of a place that doesn't exist?"

Foraker was just such a place. Lost in the rolling prairie of Osage county amongst the oil fields of north central Oklahoma, practically nothing remains of the town but a church, a couple of houses, and some disintegrating bits of concrete. The town was unincorporated long ago and no streets survive, having been converted to numeric county road designations. Abandoned sidewalks to nowhere, and the hint of streets long gone, are now traveled only by cattle.



My first instinct was to drive away in search of more lucrative locations, but I parked next to a couple of abandoned box cars to take a closer look around. It was evident this was and is cattle country. A short distance away is the Tall Grass prairie, where you can find buffalo and mustangs grazing on the bluestem grass. This is what attracted the first settlers here, excellent grazing for cattle and farm land for alfalfa and corn. Cattle is what brought the railroad and created the towns first boom.



With a post office established in 1903, Foraker was officially founded in 1905 when the town was plotted and lots sold. By 1909 the town had 500 residents and resembled a much older place. The city had designated two blocks for a public park, bonds had been voted for a light and water system, and a new stone school building had been completed. Freight and passenger service from the Midland Valley railway into and out of Foraker had tripled within the year.







Concrete sidewalks been put down throughout the business district, two newspapers were operating, as well as two banks, two drugstores, three hardware stores, six mercantile stores, two grocery stores, two lumberyards, two livery stables, two grain elevators, and other typical retail establishments. There were also active churches and fraternal organizations.













After its initial boom, Foraker became stagnant until the oil discovery in the nearby Burbank field. The population swelled to 2,000, with the town becoming a major shipping point for oil field equipment and supplies. In addition to the Midland Valley rail line, a second rail line, the Osage railway, was added
specifically for shipping oil by train. Pipelines and pumping stations where also built.











With the decrease in oil production during the 1930s, Foraker declined rapidly. The development of large ranches and the use of large trucks to move livestock to market resulted in the abandonment of the rail lines. New roads bypassed the town and as the business district fell silent, people moved away. As one long-time resident stated, "Stores gone, post office gone, trains gone, school gone, oil gone, boys and girls gone -- only thing not gone is graveyard and it got bigger."















It was a bit eerie standing in what had been the main street, knowing that buildings would have once surrounded you.

Online, someone had replied to my earlier question. The answer they gave was "They tend to tell themselves." And so they do.





Ruins, the fate of all cities.
Imbroglio 


Location: DFW
Gender: Male


The glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 1 on 4/28/2011 5:27 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
See, I dig stuff like this at least as much as most other stuff.

Very interesting; I love seeing just the fleeting vestiges of the roads and outlines of foundations and whatnot...very compelling, to me anyway.

http://www.noelkernsphotography.com
insulinguy 


Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 2 on 4/28/2011 1:40 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
i agree with noel! i love all your posts - theyre enough to make a texan jealous of oklamhoma!! tons of good stuff up your way - thanks for sharing your hidden gems with us. im planning a trip from fort worth to skedee based solely on your post!

pro-abortion, anti-christ
cr400 


Location: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Male




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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 3 on 4/28/2011 2:11 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I gotta agree.......Your posts are among my favorites. Thanks for putting them together.

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.
fiftyone_eggs 


Location: jerzey
Gender: Male




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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 4 on 4/28/2011 2:15 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Nothing says desolation quite like rural abandonment. This is a great set. What's that in #9? Mineshaft? Storm shelter?

dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 5 on 4/28/2011 2:30 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thanks for the comments!

A gentleman named John Morris wrote a book in 1978 aptly called "Ghost Towns of Oklahoma". In it, he tried to determine what classified as a ghost town. He essentially came up with three primary criteria.

1. The town no longer exists, like this one.
2. Minimal population with abandoned structures and ruins remaining.
3. The town has lost 80 percent or more of its original population with many abandoned or neglected structures.

Based on this criteria, Oklahoma had over 2,000 ghost towns in 1978. The reason for this is, that with the exception of Oklahoma, every state in the Union was settled gradually, allowing for gradual readjustments as things changed.

In Oklahoma, with the land runs and mass settlements, towns literally sprang up overnight, many in poor locations. Add events like the oil boom, dust bowl, and Great Depression to the mix, and there you have it.

I can never see them all, but I'm damn sure going to try.
[last edit 4/28/2011 10:31 PM by dwtaylor999 - edited 1 times]

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 6 on 4/28/2011 2:31 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by fiftyone_eggs
Nothing says desolation quite like rural abandonment. This is a great set. What's that in #9? Mineshaft? Storm shelter?


A storm cellar. Old timers called them storm caves. Settlers learned very quickly about tornadoes in Oklahoma.

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
yokes 


Location: Toronto
Gender: Male


I aim to misbehave

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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 7 on 4/28/2011 2:44 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Was the cellar accessible?

Fantastic set, and great research.

"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
Gender: Male




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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 8 on 4/28/2011 3:56 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by yokes
Was the cellar accessible?

Fantastic set, and great research.


Yeah, nothing but dust and ghosts.

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
Twisted Orchid 


Gender: Female


My inner child is a mean little fuck

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Re: Lonely bones
<Reply # 9 on 4/29/2011 8:54 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Fascinating, your posts are so interesting keep up the great work, job well done my friend!

UER Forum > Archived US: South > Lonely bones (Viewed 499 times)



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