What a history those stars have witnessed on this tiny minute speck in the vastness that is our home world!
Back through time, several millennia ago, the great glaciers pushed their way ever so slowly south, finally melting, and leaving the Wichita Mountains, quiet sentries of the plains. Mighty mastodons roamed, early man hunted.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Time crept forward; other people lived on the plains. Indians migrated west, first, walking, running, hunting across this land. When they found horses, life became a bit easier. Hunting the buffalo became easier; moving to new areas became easier.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.The Spanish and French explorers followed to this North America after Columbus found it. Oklahoma was part of the Spanish explorations. The white men came in search of gold to these Wichitas. The Indians they had found told of Seven Cities made of Gold. These men in flashing armor followed the tales of gold, searching, leaving behind their legends of lost treasures.
The Indians roamed the prairies, hunting, fighting, and moving, some tribes drifting south to mark their territory. White people, also searching for new homes, soon started crossing their prairie, in wagon trains, then came the Iron Horses that carried more, faster, into this prairie kingdom of the Red Man. Wars between the Indian and Indian, Indian and whites, whites and whites, North and South, were played out.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Finally, the last century of a millennia, 1900, dawned. When this century was but a year and half old, the whites again invaded the Indian's lands that were to be theirs "as long as the grass grows and the waters run". This new infant, Kiowa County, was born on this windswept prairie, once the domain of other peoples. Again, it is August, 1901, hot and windy, homesteaders, white men, seeking to build a home among the red men. Civilization has reached into this last domain.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.From 1901 through 1907, some 50 small towns scattered across the prairie. Dugouts, (homes dug into small rises), sod houses, finally wood houses sprang up on the myriad of farms, fields fenced, plowed with horses, schools and churches. The Indians watched this, and knew their free, roaming home on the Prairie did not exist anymore. Their way of life ended, they must try to live with this new situation.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Many of the communities were country stores, which also housed the post office. Here necessaries were sold, news was passed, and mail was sent and picked up. Friends met and talked, weather, crops, bugs, who was doing what, and who wasn't, were the topics of the day. Winters brought out the dominoes, checkers or cards, and games were played as they sat around the old pot belly stove, planning next year and discussing last year. Country schools educated the farmer's children, doubled as churches, community centers.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Some communities grew, other businesses came…. Blacksmith shops, barbershops, doctors came in, lumber yards, livery stables, hotels, cafes….and saloons. The country stores supplied everything from calico to coal oil, flour, sugar, canned fruits, sometimes even fresh eggs and butter to home remedies, such as paregoric, Epsom salts, castor oil, camphor.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Railroads moved into the county. They helped determine which towns would grow and which would die in future years. The automobile came and the people were able to go further, faster, children grew up and moved on. School attendance dropped, country schools consolidated, students were sent to larger schools and many closed.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Weather also played a part in determining which survived. Tornados threw their fury against towns in the county, Snyder, Lugert, Mountain View, some survived, and some didn't. Other small towns disappeared beneath the waters of lakes built, like Lugert and Cold Springs.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Now in this year 2003, Kiowa County is 102 years old. The 50 small communities have dwindled to 8. The small farms have given way to larger ownerships. Many have gone back to grassland and ranching. The horse and mule has given way to huge tractors that can plow more in one day that took 10 days to do. Cars and pickups carry people to other towns in just a matter of minutes, instead of hours. The school children are still growing up, then moving on, in search of their own piece of the world.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.Huge planes traverse the skies of Kiowa County that was once the domain of the hawks, carrying people around the world. Military planes also cross, following their missions, and the Wichitas echo with artillery from Fort Sill. At times, the space lab passes miles overhead on it's orbit around the world. The future of Kiowa county is still unknown, perhaps it will one day host a landing site for the space shuttles. The legends remain, the people remain, and the Indians remain.
Silently, the stars watched from above and the prairie winds blew.