From Panhandle Pioneers Volume 1 pages 59-61, 1969.

In April of 1906, I filed a homestead entry for the Southeast Quarter (SE ¼ of Section Twenty (20), in Township 2 North, Range 10 East, CM which is roughly twenty miles, northwest from Texhoma. Mrs. Taylor and I moved onto this quarter section and established our residence there in July of 1906.

We had good neighbors who shared with us all of the privations, hardships, and frustrations of the early day "Boomers" as newcomers to the county were called.

In the summer of 1907 I had succeeded in producing a very bountiful sod crop of maize (the old style crook neck), kaffir corn, beans, sorghum, corn, Indian corn, and stored away some vegetables, etc. for winter. We could not find a cash market for any of it.

In the meantime we had worn out the clothes we had brought with us when we came to the country, especially our shoes. I had ripped up an old leather horse collar and got enough to patch my work shoes (they were in pretty good shape). Mrs. Taylor had patched and pieced and otherwise worked over our other wearing apparel so that it kept us warm, but search as we could we could not find any material with which to repair her shoes as they were of a lighter material. The result was the girl was just about barefoot in wintertime.

About this time an old Civil War Veteran by the name of Packard who had filed on the SE ¼ of 22-2-10 had come in to establish residence as required by the homestead law.

I volunteered to help him on the job. When it was finished, and he moved in he asked me how much he owed me. I told him that it was the custom in such cases for the neighbors to help each other and that he did not owe me anything. The old soldier was very proud, so at my answer to his question he glanced up and told me that he was not an object of charity, and that he paid his own way, etc. When he got through with cutting me down, I said, "In that case you pay me what you think my services were worth," He gave me $3.50. I thanked him and hurried home to tell Mrs. Taylor that now she should have a new pair of shoes. Of course that cheered her.

The weather had been pleasant for some time - so I gave no thought to the weather. Shortly after midnight I went to the barn to feed and harness my team getting ready for the trip to town. It was very dark and still, and no stars were visible. It was warm and pleasant, but there was a stillness and quietness such as I had never experienced or seen. I had not lived in the country long enough at that time to recognize the ominous signs of a coming storm.

Oklahoma had built up considerably during the past years. There were several grocery stores., 3 wagon yards, 2 hardware stores, 2 dry good and clothing stores, and several other small businesses, including 2 saloons, a pool hall, 2 newspapers, and 2 banks on the Oklahoma side. One of the dry goods and clothing stores was located on the block where the Clinic is now and was owned and operated by J. P. Robertson and Mobley. The other one was located about where Ralph Bennett's barber shop is now and was known as "Thomason Brothers Dry Goods and Clothing". There were three brothers as owners. Tiff, "Slim," and Volney. I never knew Slim's real name. He was called "Slim" in satire because he was everything by slim. That was roughly the line-up in town at the time, I left home early and was about 8 miles from home. It was still dark and still until the quietness was broken by a rumbling noise from the north which increased to a "roar" and pretty soon the high wind came with a "whoosh" with a few snowflakes. The wind was cold. Then I knew I was in for a severe storm. I debated on whether to turn around and go back home or whether to go on to town. Remembering Mrs. Taylor's need for the shoes I decided to go on to town although it was getting colder fast.

At that time there was a well and windmill in the intersection of Walnut and Second Street (where the Clinic is now located). The water from this well was piped underground to the intersection at Second and Main Streets (by the First National Bank) where there was a large round stock water tank filled with water for the benefit of teamsters. When I reached town, I left the wagon in the lea of John Robertson's hardware store, ("where the Clinic is now located), unhitched the team, led them to the water tank for a drink. led them back and tied them to the wagon in which there was plenty of feed. Then I hurried with my errands. Thomason Brothers had advertised a brand of shoes with which we were familiar, so there I went. Volney Thomason waited on me. When I told him what I wanted he fumbled for a few seconds at the shelves and opened a shoebox with exactly the kind of shoe, and size, I had asked for and priced them at $1.75. I told him to wrap them up, which he did. I paid for them and went across the street to the postoffice, which was in a two-story wooden building where Crismon's Drug store is now and gave Jim Robertson (the postmaster) 25¢ for a book of two-cent postage stamps. It had been several months since we had written to our relatives or friends because we had not been able to finance a postage stamp. I then bought a few other articles, including a couple of spools of thread, and rushed back to hitch up my team and start home. I still had in my pocket 45¢ of my original 3.50. Hurrah.

That was most certainly a bitter trip. It had turned much colder. The wind was higher and the snow coming thicker. I hovered down in the wagon and tried to keep as warm as possible. After a few miles the team would not stay in the road. I would come out of my cover and jerk and abuse the team.

There was about 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground when I reached home before dark, after making the full round trip of 40 miles. When I begun to unhitch the team I found that the snow had packed in around the blinds of the bridles and completely shut off their vision. They were blind. I felt badly about abusing them. I put them in the barn, fed them, gathered my packages from the wagon and rushed into the house. After Mrs. Taylor get me thawed out we opened her shoebox, and found to our chagrin and consternation that both her shoes were for the left foot.
This incident may, or may not, teach a moral, if so, it is that people who try can live very comfortably and happily on very little money.