Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 6 of 264
two hundred sixty four pages : ill. ; page 23 x 18 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Scotland to High. Plains
11,000 Phones Here
As Amarillo has grown so have
communication f a c i 1 i t i e s—thoise
links between store, warehouse and
home that knit the city close to-
gether and enable business and in-
dustry to function rapidly and ef-
flrinntl1907, the city of Amarillo "^r.thej^ 2Ut?j2S!I
90,000 are made each day now. The
average number of long distance
calls each day ha* increased from
118 in 1913 to more than 1,000.
Amarillo's dial telephone system
was placed in service Oct. 29, 1927
granted a charter to H. H. Daven-
port and Company for a telephone
system here. Shortly afterwards, the
lirst exchange was opened.
Prom a small beginning in those
days when the bulky telephones
were bolted to the wall and "cen-
tral" was summoned by cranking,
the exchange grew until by 1912,
installed in the telephone company's
attractive and then just completed
two-story building at the corner of
Tyler Street and Ninth Avenue.
At the present time there are 142
employes working for the company
in Amarillo in addition to those
working in the Amarillo district
which includes exchanges in Hale
when the Panhandle Telephone i Center. Floydada, Lockney, Plain
Company, headed by the late Dr. J. view, Hereford, Canyon, Texline,
E. Nunn, was purchased by the Pampa, Borger. Tulia, Stinnett,
Southwestern Bell Telephone Com-! CSruver, Lefors, Canadian and
pany, it boasted 1,380 local sub- Shamrock.
scribers and 30 toll lines. A. O. Thomas is the district man-
Exemplifying ths growth of the, ager, having been named to that
Amarillo exchange, there are now post at the death of W. G. Riddle,
more than 11,000 subscribers in the Other officials are H. F. Norwood,
city and more than 100 toll lines, i district plant chief. J. F. Blount,
Whereas, 16,000 local calls were district traffic chief, and W. R.
handled daily in 1912, more than Fox, local manager.
True Trailer |)as|, to R;lrl
The B. C. True Trailer & Equip . , .,
ment Co.. Panhandle, Texas, fur- 1 Prank Smith and his family
nish equipment for the job Instead I to the Panhandle where
of a job for equipment.
Established 15 years ago by Mr.!
True, a native Texan, this company
has expanded until now it supplies
all types of trailers and trailer
chassis, throughout West Texas.
"We specialize In truck bodies,
trailers and merchandise bodies,"
said Mr. True.
"We carry a complete stock of
supplies and repair equipment for
truck bodies and trailers and we j iancj near Claude the last of Novem-
offer sales and service for national- >
they could have cheaper land and
more range for their cattle and
horses. That was in 1891. They
brought with them 1,000 head of
horses and nearly as many roan
Durham cattle.
They drove slowly, taking six
weeks to go 250 miles. They had
two covered wagons and a hack.
Mrs. Smith drove the hack, the
children riding with her. They
reached their previously purchased
It's a long way from South Coun-
try Scotland to the High Plains dis-
trict of Texas; but It's the road that
Jack Hail traveled.
The well known Panhandle stock-
man was born in Scotland in Jan-,
uary of 1864. He came to America
in the early part of 1883 and went
to work for the Western Land and
Cattle Company.
Four years later, In 1887 he came
to the Panhandle and started work
at the Quarter Circle Heart ranch
near Clarendon. He quit and went
in the mercantile business in Clar-
endon. In 1898 he became assistant
manager and bookeeper for the old
JA. He worked there six years un-
der Dick Walsh, general manager.
In 1899 he quit the JA. and went
into cattle business for himself near
Amarillo. He was a partner of
Henry Harding for five years and
made many of his transactions with
Lee Bivins, another Plains stock-
man. Hail bought and sold high
grade Herefords and sometimes car-
ried as many as 2,000 head.
In 1914 he bought a ranch north-
west. of Amarillo. Shortly thereaft-
er he became county commissioner,
which office he held for nearly three
terms. While serving as commis-
sioner he made arrangements for
the purchase of land for the North-
A. L. RIDINGS
Blacksmith
ly known equipment such as trailer
axles, trailer wheels, rims, air
brakes, trailer springs and bear-
ings. Call on us for anything you
need in the truck and trailer trans-
portation line."
Expert engineers supervise every
step of True-Built jobs, which are
carefully inspected and supervised
by Mr. True personally while un-
der construction.
The True company also includes
painting in its truck and trailer
service.
The cattle and horses were not
acclimated, and the winter was
unusually severe. Many froze to
death, and others had their hoofs
frozen so badly that they had to
be killed.
Mr. Smith helped round up a
big bunch of yearlings for the JA
and with several other men was
holding them one night in the
Palo Duro Canyon. It was cold, a
drizzling rain was falling and the
cattle were so restless that the
men kept a fresh horse apiece
saddled and literally lay down to
sleep with one eye open. The
man on guard struck a match to
light a cigarette. It frightened a
Power, Lijilit
Through theTexasPan^ndle and ]
Kansas,'the"plant of the Panhandle ^eoff^Sg'on the roci^'
Power and Light Company sends
electrical energy into practically
every home in the territory, and
provides the power for operation
of large and small industries.
Situated in the Canadian River
valley a few miles north of the city
of Borger, this plant Is one of the
marvels of the vicinity, producing
16.000 kilowatts of power.
Officials of the company arc: C.
p. Stahl. general manager; K T.
Kone, sales and advertising man-
ager: M. E. Strom, superintendent
of production: T. H. Sappington.
chief clerk and B. G. Briton, en-
gineer.
By MRS. J. M. WINCHESTER
A. L. Ridings and his son Steve
came to Amarillo from Vernon, Tex-
as in 1890. They only stayed here
over night and in the morning
started in a light hack for the newly
organized little town of La Plata, 50
miles west of Amarillo.
rp TT , Dave McBride owned a piece of
the l.oH0SP,tal S1ie- Mast 0f land that part of the country,
Seewald ^ acqu fl'om PhU : and knowing'that a county was to
— ' be established there, decided to sur-
,lne Pnantom civic development vey this plot of land and start a
plan, Castle Cliffs, was to be partly \ town.
«.on his ,land' Hp «old the : He had met Mr. Ridings in Vernon
'.pr,ISe!? a_ Iare« block of his and knowing him to be a first-class
"" J * 111 1926 a part of the blacksmith told him of the oppor-
northwest of the city was tunity he would find in the West,
turned into a public park. Part of ! and offered him special induce-
"°*e g''fSS acrea&e ^ sti'l rented ments to locate in the little town he
out. to cattlemen. was promoting.
The same Hall, who once trailed i An election was held soon after
down a famous band of horse thieves I the>' arrived in La Plata. There were
in Clarendon and participated in a ^ voters. They made La Plata the
nundred other adventures of the i county seat. A small frame build-
rrontier, now sits on the front porch ' inK was erected to s-erve as a court-
onw beautiful rambling farm home ; house, and another one for the
a d surveys his land—the same land I" addition to these, there
J- J™1c.h prank Collinson drove S was a general store and several
nis 3,300 head herd on the way to i homes.
"™!re!"n markets. It was the "first The little town failed to prosper
the tr t °f cattle to make for several reasons. It was not a
logical place for settlement, the
Flln H married in 1904 to Mrs. wells had to be at least 200 feet
,.a-v a' Amarillo. The deep and few settlers had the monev
sninnW tV ,on thp front porch to drill such deep wells. After
At th ir l of_ RrPat frontier, about three years of struggling La
Trail Driver
Although the railroad came In
1887 when Amarillo was founded the
city was destined to see trail herds
of cattle for several years. One of
these, some 2,000 head, gathered at
Penasco, 50 miles southwest of Ros-
well and delivered to the J. Mill out-
fit east of Panahndlc, watered at
the old city lake on July 4, 1894, ac-
cording to W. F. Baird of Canyon,
one of the trail drivers. The follow-
ing night the herd watered at Wild-
horse Lake, near Washburn.
Mr. Baird recalls that Amarillo
in 1894 had eight or nine stores of
various kinds, including the post-
office and three saloons. These
were clustered about the old lake.
Born in Van Zandt County, Texas,
Mr. Baird as a boy came with his
parents to New Mexico in 1885,
shortly after the close of the Lin-
coln County war. He grew into
manhood at Cloudcroft and as a
youngster in the 90's aided in driv-
ing two large herds from New Mex-
ico into or through the Panahndle.
One of these trips s-aw the trail
drivers leaving Penasco April
1 after several weeks' preparations
and going by way of Fort Sumner,
House, Endee, Clayton and across
the Cimarron River to Beaver City.
He worked for a time as a cowboy
on the J. Mill Ranch and then with
his brothers James F., E. T., N. J.
and J. C., moved to Higgins and op-
erated a small ranch in the late 90's.
There he met Pairlee Porter, daugh-
ter of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Porter,
pioneer residents of that region who
now live at La Juanta, Colo., and
they were married. He and his
brothers bought land for cattle and
farming in Floyd County in 1899,
where he lived until he moved to
Canyon in 1919.
The Bairds have two rhiidren, W.
J. ':'Bill" Baird and Mrs. John Mc-
carty, both of Amarillo.
At their feet is the
called "Tack.'
Knows Oil
ever-present dog J Plata gave up the ghost, and Here-
ford i once called Aire) became the
county seat.
While the Ridings lived in La
Plata, the little cemetery was start
An
Smith called to the man beside j Irvin, form the
intimate knowledge of all
formations in the Panhandle field
Ph-e etlPeCia!!? thosf> f°rmations that
give the driller trouble, has played
a big part in the success of Bob
Murphy who with his partner. Gus
him. ''They're off—you ride left,
I'll ride right." They were after
the stampeding calves in a minute,
but in spite of all their efforts
they couldn't circle them among
the boulders.
After an hour or so, the chase
was so hopeless that Smith and
his partner decided to wait and
round them up when it was light
again. They dismounted and sat
on the dry side of a" big boulder,
where they had stopped when their
ride ended.
Daylight came and as they walked
around the boulder, they saw there
was a steep cliff about 100 feet
ing Company.
Lone Star Drill-
Here in 1898
"From nuts and bolts to real es-
tate and insurance" is a story in a
nutshell of L. E. Lyles, Amarillo
real estate and inrura'nee man.
Coming to Amarillo in 1898 from
his birthplace in Warren County,
Kentucky, he entered the employ
of the Stringfellow-Hume Hardware
Company, leaving there at the time
they sold out to the present Mor-
row-Thomas Hardware Company. He
then worked for something over a
Whittenburg
To a Large
J. A. Whittenburg left his home in
Missouri with $13 in his pocket when
he was 12 years old. When he died
in October of 1938 Dun & Bradstreet
estimated his personal fortune at
$5,000,000.
The colorful Panhandle rancher
and oil man was born in Chilllcothe,
Mo., In 1857. During his 12th year
he laid plans to run away from
home. He sold apples and newspa-
pers until he had saved what he be-
lieved to be an ample sum, $13.
Early in the morning his mother
sent him out. after wood and he
caught a train headed for Texas.
Years later he returned home at
about the same time of day—and en-
tered the house with his arms loaded
down with the wood.
He worked for his half-brother In
Texas for a few years, before making
his first drive up the trail in 1876.
He moved to Young County, home-
steading 80 acres, and married Ten-
nessee Ann Parham in 1878. He
Raised $13
Fortune
moved to Lamar County from Iheie
to Wilbarger County and from there
Into Oklahoma.
It was while he was in Oklahoma
that a peddler showed him a geologic
map, which had Hutchinson County
on it. The map showed that there
were oil possibilities in that area. In
1898 he filed on four sections of land
in the county.
He kept acquiring more land unu
in 1920 he had 25.000 acres, well
stocked with cattle. Later, oil came
in on his property in Young, Okla-
homa and Hutchinson counties.
He lived in Plemons until the
death of his wife in 1927, after which
he spent much of his time in Ama-
rillo. The wealthy cattleman died in
October of 1936 of injuries suffer-
ed in an automobile crash. Two
daughters, Mrs. S. B. Yates of Boul-
der, Colo., and Mrs. Sid Hjdgecocke,
of Amarillo survive, and there are
several grandchildren, mast of whom
live in Amarillo and Canyon.
tint .DEN ANNIVERSARY EDITION. 1938.
Lubrication
BATH BUSINESS WAS GOOD
The cowboys just had to have
their Saturday night baths. And,
for that reason, the barbering bus-
iness in Amarillo in the early days
was more lucrative than it is at pres-
ent.
Henry Gurtz, who came here from
Louisville, Ky„ in 1905, believes he
has been in the business continu-
ously longer than any other man now
following the profession in Amer-
illo. He and V. C. Walker are the
operators of the Pioneer Hotel Bar-
ber Shop.
"The bath business more than paid
our overhead in the early days," re-
calls Gurtz. "Even the hotels had
very few private baths, and there
were not many homes equipped with
bath rooms. We have had as high
as 35 men waiting for baths at one
time, and on Saturdays we would
run from $25 to $50 on the bath bus-
iness at 35 cents a bath.
"Now, we don't have more than
one or two calls a year for baths
and so far as I know there is only
one barber shop in Amarillo that still
has bath tubs."
Gurtz got to Amarillo with 50
cents in his pocket.
"Amarillo was just a cowtown—
nothing else—and they claimed 5.-
man got into my chair and asked
for a haircut and I turned him
down."
In those days, no woman ever
dared to enter a barber shop. It
was the general gathering place,
where all the gossip was retold and
racy stories related. In the barber
shops, one could hear all the latest
prize fight news and read the Po-
lice Gazette.
Being something of a meeting
place, many big cattle deals often
were made in the barber shops.
"In those days, we did a big credit
business and we didn't lose much
money," says Curtz, who estimates
Independent Jobbers until recently,
the Plains Lubricating Company,
Third and Arthur, was established
in 1921 and was purchased In 1932
by a corporation headed by Robert
C. Neely and M. E. Neely, both of
whom have lived in the Panhandle
for 30 years and in Amarillo for
13 years.
From 1932 until May, 1938, thi
firm acted as refinery representa-
tives, Jobbers, and distributors of
wholesale petroleum products. At
that time, the Plains Lubricating
Company took over the distribution
of the Standard Oil Products for
the trade territory which includes
the entire High Plains from Tulia
north.
The Standard Oil Company of
Texas, with headquarters at El
Paso, is owned by Standard of Cali-
fornia. The Standard National
Credit Courtesy Cards are honored
by 15 companies in every state of
the union.
The Neelys moved to Amarillo in
1925 with the intention of making
it a life-time home.
"I believe that the city during
the next 50 years will show more
progress than the last 50," R. C.
Neely declares. "I also think that
Amarillo will have a population of
100.000 withir. 10 years' time."
that $150, including baths, was about
the biggest single day he ever saw in
an early day Amarillo shop.
DR. H. H. BALL
DENTIST
308 Blackburn Bldg.
Offire Phone Kes. Phone
5111 7383
were obliged to get their wood in
the canyons.
In the spring the Ridings came
to Amarillo, with a plan in their
mind of returning to their old
home in Vernon. In order to wind
up some business they stayed here
rp,,,. „„„ „ a few days, and during this time
R,I ? m fpmierly headed by, Cub McGee, who had the only
nhv ? J0e Mur~ blacksmith shop here at the time,
™.t\e.j? ,thR parlyl employed Mr. Ridings for a few-
days. He was an excellent workman
days of development, and has been
one of the best known drilling con-
tracting firms in the field.
While in the earlier development
work the efforts of the company
were confined for the greater part
to contract work, later some valu-
able leases were developed in
Hutchinson County and the com-
pany now owns several good pro-
ducing properties.
Three years ago when Joe Mur-
year for Nobles Bros. Mercantile
Company. He left Nobles Bros, to : 000 people but there were not that
buy an interest in the Amarillo many here," he said "The fall aft-
Hardware Company, which he later er I came here they began bring-
ed—two suicides and the victim of I so,cl ln order to join with S. C. | ing in home-seekers from Iowa. Ne-
a shooting scrape. All the settlers I Tulloss in organizing the Lyles-Tul- j braska, Indiana. Illinois and Kan-
loss Hardware Company, buying the sas, and that was the real begin-
hardware business of H. E. Chesnutt. j ning of the settling up of this coun-
The Lyles-Tulloss company was sold S try."
in 1918 to the Western Hardware | Gurtz went to work for B. V.
Company and Mr. Lyles was not ac- , Blackwell, who operated the Ira-
tive in business again until about j perial Barber Shop, at its present
1925 when he helped organize the J location. He worked there six years
Palo Duro Furniture Company. A j and was manager five years of that
short time after the organization ; time. He bought a shop in 1912
of the furniture company, Mr. Lyles and operated it until two years ago.
sold his interest in that venture to \ "On one particular Saturday, I
Allen Early and in 1927 opened his shaved more than 75 faces between
present office in the Oliver-Eakle 7 o'clock in the morning and 11
Bldg., offering a complete real estate j o'clock at night." he said. "About
and fire insurance service. two minutes before rlosing time, a
and when he told McGee that he
was getting ready to leave, McGee
made him a very attractive offer
and the return to Vernon was in-
definitely postponed.
Before long he established a shop
of his own. It was located at var-
ious places on Polk Street, the
last the site of the present Schulte- j
United Store.
*1
°Uto
yO(j
Over 26 years of building experience in Amarillo Has given
us knowledge of building conditions here that will prove
invaluable to you if you intend to build, remodel or repair.
Consult us first and let us make your building dollar go
further in materials, service and advice.
Complete and Efficient Building Service
Amarillo Lumber & Supply Co.
501 Washington
Dial 8263
The night following Potter Coun-
ty's organization election, the Fort
Worth and Denver bridge over the
Pease River at Memphis was
washed out by a flood. The first
train up the line from Fort Worth
was a work train, carrying bridge bridge at Tascosa The crew used
timbers and a crew for the con- the material to replace the wash- ran rest assured it go
just a few steps from where they ! PrljPS jn Kansas and later in oil
bedded down. Peering over it's properties in Illinois, Bob bought his
j edge they saw five or six of the j brother's interest in the company
yearlings piled up at the foot of it. : and has guided its affairs since that
; time. When a turnkey job is turned
pljv became interested in gas prop-1 *** ■ A- ^'ding is now 90 years
old and makes his home with his
son Steve, who since his father's
retirement has carried on his busi-
ness.
Steve
has
hobby of making
over to the Lone Star the operator beautiful things in wrought iron,
and in addition he and his father
gtruction of the Canadian River; out.
Ou/l GREAT CTlUjUAt
How Ul P/lOgflM
Bringing You
SAVINGS OF 35?i TO 40'
ON CUSTOM MADE FUR GARMENTS
contract depth in good order.
Helped Many
have fashioned branding irons for
I " I practically every ranch ln this coun-
try.
Steve Ridings has four sons and
two daughters- Albert, Brecken-
ridge. Paul, Portales. N. M.; Gilbert,
"He was a banker and cattleman. Louise, Mrs. Joe Miller and Mrs.
He had lived in Texas 68 years. He I Lois Curb, Amarillo.
was 71 years old when he died, Feb- j —
It has often been said
been a
Panhandle."
Such are the highlights gleaned
from the newspaper story of the
death of O. P. Jones, a rugged
ranchman and outstanding citizen
of the Panhandle.
After leaving Baird, in 1898. Mr.
Jones bought the Long S Ranch in
Wheeler County. From that time
until his death he played a prom-
inent part in the development of
this territory. Mr. Jones lived the
last 15 years of his life in Ama-
rillo.
His daughter, Mrs. Hal Peck, is the
only woman game commissioner in
the United States, having been ap-
of Mr.
Jones that "he loaned lots and
lots of money with character as the
only security." After surmounting
obstai les to make his fame and for-
tune, he went out of his way to help
many voting persons get an educa-
tion and today there are hundreds
of West Texans who remember him
as the man who lent a helping
hand.
Presenting the New Fur Styles of
Fa!! and Winter of i 93 8 -19 3 9
We've Served Amarillo for 15 Years
Buy your furs from thp Panhandle's only exclusive Fur Shop.
Thirty-five yrars of active experience in the fur business is at. your
service in siding your selection and consultations regarding fur
problems are gladly given.
Take advantage of these low
prices to select a coat from our
complete new showing of $100,000
worth of Furs. We've reduced
prices but offer you the same
high quality that has built our
business. You owe It to yourself
to see the values that we offer.
LONDON-ALASKA FUR CO.
511 Polk
Phone 5407
SOOTHE BURNS
SNOW-WHITE PETROLEUM JELLY
s
50
14 KARAT GOLD
DIAMOND RING
IT'S THE SCOOP OF THE YEAR
August
T° 'k' Kerrigan's
;;H(, county-
ann,veriarY . . „ H Ka* bee"
. be called pioneers md' ' ^
Even though w. can ^ ^ devel0pme ^ ^
our happy PrW',Uqe ^ we are grateful for ^ hav# b„en
for rnore
.l,« 20 mun;w. Although we
*han 1 1 . , il:. «reaV comenuntty.
k.J in tk, "* ""
. bu,ir,.>. only •• kt.
for the
m Pw ul
growth *e have
been afel* to m<
,11 beginning
we
V,ave rnore
than doubled our
floor
our patronage to u
th an e*
tent
for th#
i n d
A genuine fine brilliant diamnnrl
set tn beautiful 1 4 karat natural
gold mounting.
4 DISTINCT STYLES
TO CHOOSE FROM
The complete ring — diamond
and all — for less than what von
ordinarily would pay for the
mounting alone.
*
^IJOHN FURBACH
JEWELER
Paramount Theater Building
::r«r:.'v.nnin, :--rr;... «*.
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M*n g'r
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Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/6/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.