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History
THE PERKINS JOURNAL, Thursday, June 30, 2011 - AS
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THE HISTORY CHANNEL By Charles Wall
• On July 8, 1776, a 2,000-
pound copper-and-tin bell
now known as the "Lib-
erty Bell" rings out from
the tower of the Pennsyl-
vania State House (now
Independence Hall) in
Philadelphia, summoning
citizens to the first public
reading of the Declaration
of Independence. As the
British advanced toward
Philadelphia in the fall of
1777, the bell was removed
from the city and hidden in
Allentown to save it from
being melted down by the
British and used to make
cannons.
• On July 4, 1826, the 50th
anniversary of the adop-
tion of the Declaration of
Independence, John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson, the
second and third presidents
of the United States, respec-
tively, die. Both men had
been central in the drafting
of the historic document.
• On July 5, 1865, in London,
revivalist preacher William
Booth and his wife Cath-
erine establish the Christian
Mission, later known as the
Salvation Army, to wage
war against the evils of
poverty and religious indif-
ference.
• On July 7, 1930, construc-
tion of the Hoover Dam
begins. Over the next five
years, a total of 21,000
men would produce what
would be the largest dam
of its time. Today, the
Hoover Dam generates
enough energy each year
to serve more than a mil-
lion people.
• On July 9, 1947, in a cer-
emony held at the Pentagon
in Arlington, Va., Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
appoints Florence Blanch-
field to be a lieutenant
colonel in the U.S. Army,
making her the first woman
in U.S. history to hold
permanent military rank.
Blanchfield had served as
superintendent of the Army
Nurse Cows during World
War II.
• On July 6, 1957, Liverpool
teenagers John Lennon and
Paul McCartney meet for
the first time. Lennon was a
member of the Quarry Men,
scheduled to play at a public
event. Two weeks later,
Lennon invited McCartney
to join the Quarry Men.
• On July 10; 1962, the
United States Patent Office
issues Swedish engineer
Nils Bohlin a patent for
his three-point automobile
safety belt. The traditional
two-point belt had been
known to cause severe
internal abdominal injuries
in the event of a high-speed
crash.
(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.
Cooling Equipment III
Using Excavations for Cooling
The subsoil temperature in the Perkins area is about
sixty degrees year-round at a depth of eight feet. The
temperature at this depth is governed by the local
average yearly air temperature which is also sixty
degrees. This stable cool temperature and its
advantage for food preservation motivated the
homesteaders to construct
underground cellars of
various types. The
complete destruction of
Cimarron City six miles
west of Perkins by a
tornado in 1893 also
demonstrated the value of
cellars as places of refuge.
As a tribute to the
settlers' efforts, many B Cellar
cellars in this area (including a few cut into solid
sandstone) survive long after the other buildings of the
homestead have Vanished.
If the homesteader's house had a basement, a food
elevator could be installed to move food between the
kitchen and the basement. These elevators ranged from
simple boxes to manufactured units with glass doors.
A food elevator allowed perishable foodstuffs to be
..... lowered into the cooler air of
the basement when they were
not needed in the kitchen. It
also allowed the kitchen to be
easily resupplied from food
: stocks (especially home-
canned produce) stored in the
basement. Some builders
even constructed a shaft
beneath the basement floor
• where the food elevator could
be parked in close contact
with the cool subsoil.
If you own a cellar in the Perkins community dating
from Territorial days and you would allow it to be
photographed for the Farm Tool and Equipment
Collection at the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza, please
call Bob or Norma Constien at 405 547-
5057.
I will relate some
things I remember about
my grandparents Fiala
home in the 1940's at
Goodnight, southwest of
Perkins.
As was true in many
farm homes, the back
porch was used as an entry
way, and most people
parked their cars on that
side of the house. When
it was time for people to
leave, every one would go
out at the back side of the
house. That is where pho-
tographs were taken.
During World War II,
two of my Fiala aunts
worked as secretaries for
Phillips Petroleum Com-
pany in Bartlesville, and
another aunt worked in
Tulsa. When they came
to visit their parents at
Goodnight on a weekend
or holiday, they rode the
M. K. and O. Bus. Some-
one in the family would
pick them up at the Nine
Mile Corner where high-
ways 33 and 177 meet.
This was a bus stop
where northbound buses
would meet and change
passengers with west-
bound and eastbound
buses. Buses were often
crowded.
Sometimes on Sunday
afternoon my mother
would tgke my aunts to
the Nine Mile Corner to
catch the bus to Tulsa.
My sister and I woul d go
with them to the bus stop.
We had a 1938 Chevrolet
car.
Another way of travel-
ing was hitchhiking. A
lot of service men hitch-
hiked back then, and the
Nine Mile Corner was a
good place to catch a ride.
Hitchhiking was encour-
aged, like carpooling is
now. It was a way to save
fuel and money. ! don't
recommend hitchhikirtg
in 2011. Carpooling is
o.k.
Before the coming of
electrical service in 1943,
I remember some of my
uncles were in the Fiala
kitchen sitting around a
table listening to a bat-
tery operated radio. They
were listening to a World
Series baseball game.
The radio was hooked up
to an outside antenna.
In those days base-
ball was popular. Some
towns and neighborhoods
had adult baseball teams
that played each other.
The teams discontinued
when many of the young
men went to the army for
World War II.
In anticipation of the
coming of rural electric-
ity, my grandfather and
sons-in-law built a bath-
room on the house. In
1943, electricity did come
so the Fiala house could
have running water, and
the bathroom could be in
operation.
The water well was 80
feet deep. Previously
the well had only a hand
pump, but electricity
made an electric pump
possible.
There was also a water
well by the barn, and it
had a windmill pump to
provide water for work-
horses, cattle, and hogs.
There was a garage
where Grandpa parked his
1938 Buick. The Fialas
had a brooder house for
baby chicks and a laying
hen house. They sold
eggs and cream. They
always had a big garden,
and they had a trumpet
vine which bloomed in
the summer.
There was a small build-
ing, 10 ft. x 12 ft., just
south of the house. At
various times it was
used as a smoke house,
laundry wash house, and
milk house for separating
cream.
When Grandma Fiala
helped with the chores,
she wore men's work
shoes..She used a two
wheel cart to bring the
cans of whole milk from
the barn to the milk house I
and then, after separating,
to take the skim mill<
back to the barn to feed
the hogs.
In the mid- 1940's the
Fialas got a kerosene
cook stove to replace the
wood- burning kitchefi
stove. Then around 1949',
the family laid a one incE
natural gas line from the
house to Goodnight (ff
distance of one-half mile)'
where it was tapped into
and metered from a main-
gas line that ran from
Goodnight to Perkins.
Pact Gas Company oper-
ated the main line.
Les Huls was the Perkins
manager. After Galen
Holsinger was discharged
from the army and started*
working for Payne County
Bank, Galen helped with
financial records and
collections for Pact .Gas
Company.
West side of Fiala house in 1949 photo with Fiala sisters and Grandma Fiala The Small
child is my sister Donna
Hattie's Main Place
30700/,, N. Main St., Perkins
• Custom Sewing & Alterations
• Dry Cleaning/Laundry
Mon.-Fri, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. ° Saurday 10 a.mA p.m.
(405) 547-5429
Don Wooldridge, Agent N
505 E. Hwy. 33° Per00:ins
0 (405) 547-5126
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