The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 353
591 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Old Red River Station
through the Station to Fort Sill. The first herds of cattle came
from the south in the fall of 1867; and for the first year or two,
the settlers were still forted up at the Station. For a period of
time there was only one building at the Station which housed
a supply post, a saloon, and a freight depot. In the spring of 1868
many herds came through, and it was not uncommon for several
herds to be at the Station waiting their turns to cross. Most of
the trail drivers who came up the first few years were ex-Confed-
erate soldiers. It was the first time for some at the Station to see
the gray of the Confederacy as some of the drivers still wore
portions of the old uniforms. The militia stationed there during
the war had no uniforms. These first herds crowding in on the
Station created quite a problem for the settlers and at times
played havoc with their small fields. Later some of the rail fences
placed around the larger fields above and below the Station made
fine holding lines for the herds. The settlers soon realized that
more and more herds would be coming and, regardless of the
Indians, began to move out of the path of the incoming herds,
taking up land from one to three miles from the Station.
Through the years the impression has been that Red River
Station was merely a crossing with a store and a saloon, but this
is not true. In 1870 or 1871 a townsite was surveyed near where
the old stockade stood. A copy of this survey was placed on record
in the county seat, but all records were destroyed by fire in 1884.
An old abstract record compiled before the fire shows that in
1871 Woodson and Morris acquired Lot two, in Block one;
Richard Boren and Rufus Green purchased lots in Block three.
This old record shows that there were at least twelve blocks.
More than one hundred lots were sold between 1871 and 1888.
j. S. Love acquired Lots ten and eleven, Block one, in 1873.
This must have been where the hotel stood as no other lots appear
in his name. The first floor of the hotel was made of double logs
with the second floor of lumber. Lot three, Block one, must have
been the location of the general merchandise store owned by
Huckabee, L. N. Perkins, W. H. Grigsby, and others. The black-
smith shop of W. S. Thurston and M. Yates was on Lot one, in
Block two. The branding irons made by Thurston and Yates were
known all up and down the trail. Yates was an extremely large
man and was left strictly alone by the would-be bullies. Thurston353
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958, periodical, 1958; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101164/m1/433/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.