Texas County, Oklahoma ||| Ghost Towns, Cemeteries, and Historic Places ||| Part 3

[@joshualucas3421]

I mow our Lutheran cemetery north of Guymon, because of my family that are buried in the cemetery. I do this as a tribute to my ancestors. It is because of what they, my ancestors did, helped form me today. So, I cut our cemetery to say, “Thank you and I still love you.”

[@ronfullerton3162]

So many of our old and abandoned cemeteries are taken care of by wonderful people who dedicate their time and money. I have heard it called a labor of love . While still living in Iowa, a man there went around our county finding the old abandoned cemeteries, and worked and slaved 32:23 to clean them up and make them look respectable once again. He ran around keeping them up till his health started to fail. Then I think neighboring people of these cemeteries, or relatives of those buried there, took over at that point and have kept them attended. That fellow and I didn't get a long. But I still respected him for finding and restoring those cemeteries And one of the cemeteries visited, John had a good headstone picture of Louisa Wolfe's headstone. Made me wonder about the pronunciation of the first name. The little county in Iowa where I lived, was named after the daughter of an early settler. And the locals till today say it is pronounced Lou I sa, where many others think it should be Lou wE sa. Funny how the pronunciation of words can vary so much. But that was part of the fun I had when traveling, hearing the local pronunciation of names of places and people. And that makes me think of two friends of my brother in law. They would argue about anything, and on a trip the three of them took, those two started arguing about the pronunciation of the town's name they had stopped in. They made a bet on it, and agreed to have a local pronounce the name to settle the bet, but they could not taint their pronunciation by one of them saying it first. So they asked a worker at the place they ate, "What is the name of this place we are at?" She asked what that was all about, and one of them said that they were just curious of how she pronounced the name of where they were at. So the girl responded, " Bur- ger-king"! My brother in law said he laughed at them for the rest of the trip. Just good old country boys having a good time.

[@AJ67901]

The BM&E railroad also had the nickname of "Butter, Milk, & Eggs" since farmers used the railroads to get their goods to market in the early days. The BM&E was a subsidiary of the KATY railroad and had the distinction of never using any ballast between the ties. Consequently, the track was often in bad shape due to erosion and weeds. The other railroad through Baker, Adams, Hardesty, and Hitchland was a Rock Island connecting line named the ACR Line for Amarillo Canadian River. It ran between Liberal and Amarillo. It was built in the depression days and died out about the same time as the Rock Island in 1980. The rails were taken up a few years later. I enjoy your videos, thanks for posting.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Great info thank you!!

[@seminolewar]

Oklahoma is pretty good with historical markers/ monuments.

[@Nickifoster-hl3ux]

"A location not a vocation" 😂 I like that.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I like how they have a sense of humor about it :)

[@EverettBaland]

Many cemeteries still need volunteer help. They're interesting places and sometimes vandalized.

[@lostribe5130]

Pretty deer and sweet dog.

[@chris1960]

That’s a job you don’t want sheriff of beer city… 😳 Being sheriff would be hard enough, people wanting you dead would be your exit alert…

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I know right?!?! Not for me!

[@gordonbittle8337]

Really enjoy your work 😊

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you very much!

[@travis303]

Woohoo, Beaver Dusters! Looking forward to it

[@stevehilliard1495]

Very interesting video. Curious why the road was elevated in the one section. By the number of cemeteries there has to have been something that drew so many people to a desolate place 😎

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

For sure! I was surprised how many cemeteries in the eastern part of the county compared to the west.

[@sheilawells9623]

Free land for farming and European immigrants wanting a better life.

[@travis303]

It's been fun reexploring Texas County with you!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks!!

[@travis303]

The historic tidbits you dig up is amazing. Hope you got yourself a Horny Toads T-shirt in Hooker! "It's a location, not a vocation"

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I got a shirt that says “Support your local Hookers” 😂

[@georgevan2589]

Hooker Horny Toads American Legion Baseball Team----now that was a great mascot. When is was a young kid there were red ants and horny toads (who had them for lunch) everywhere, then almost instantly we rarely saw either.

[@williammatzek4660]

John the steel bridge you showed at the begining of this video reminds me of Thearosa's bridge.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very similiar!

[@deborahross9974]

Boy howdy, Beer City was a very wild town at the time. That poor sheriff sure was brave to try and bring law to the town but sad because he was killed in such a horrible way. And that story at the end, was horrible too and i bet the people in the town was scared to even leave their homes. But it was interesting history none the less. You talked about the Katy railroad and it reminded me of traveling on it from Kansas City Mo to Parsons Ks as a child. Mother had relatives living in Parsons and we would go there via the Katy.. Her half brother work for the railroad and he would check the wheels, why I don't really know because at that time I was a child. Seems like he was some kind of fireman but I could be wrong. Can't wait to visit the next No Man's Land County. Thank you for the trip. Happy trails to you and God bless.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you! Definitely excited to go to Beaver County but it might be a while 😊

[@roberteshaw9520]

Hey Coach. Good old train photos. The Beer City sheriff story is some piece of history. The closing story of those awful criminal incidents is something that seems to smack of a demon.The twin playground rides on gravel with a cloud favor oetina, ran well 8.0 The N. O. (non operational} machines defy a rating. The one of that lot came in at a strong 9.1. Happy Motoring.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! I agree about the non-ratings haha. FYI make sure to watch my next Tuesday video, you might get a shout out :)

[@travis303]

Oh man I never knew that about Hardesty, old Hardesty and New Hardesty and the marker. I had been through there a few times and never noticed that marker! Never knew or cared to look I guess

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Pretty interesting history there!

[@lostribe5130]

At least they have nice dogs.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

True 😊

[@peterselten500]

Hi john cool towns good to see you made it out alive 5 death go rounds an the school i think you need to take a lottery ticket . Cheers mate

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Haha thanks! It was a trip of death that's for sure!

[@RonaldDailey-z8b]

I was surprised to see that except for the towns, it's completely barrion of trees. I was in Lawton inthe 70's for boot camp at fort sill. And it was always hot. Thanks for showing us , the rest of west Oklahoma.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Oklahoma is an interesting state to explore, very different from east to west, and especially in the panhandle!

[@RonaldDailey-z8b]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy I agree

[@pamelacrowe4971]

Oh my gosh. I remember that story of the murders on some true crime channel. That's scary. Be careful on your travels John. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

[@ronfullerton3162]

I want to know if the hair on the back of John's neck stood straight out when he found out the truth about his stop. I am sure mine would of!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you! And yes it did Ron 😂

[@ronfullerton3162]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy It is always sort of a shock to the system when we find out something like that. The "chills" factor is definitely high! Hopefully that is as close as you will ever come to anything like that again.

[@Jody-kt9ev]

Great video as usual. I remember reading about the murders.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks!

[@larryclark4791]

I love the small towns like Hardesty trying to stay alive

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I agree!

[@judithhstevens126]

Now I know why my relatives went to beaver county outside of Kansas Now my genealogy makes sense now

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very cool 😎

[@travis303]

The merry-go-rounds in Tyrone are painted the school colors, green and white

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Bonus points haha

[@rosiemcnaughton9933]

Fascinating as always. The Beer City story is interesting. I remember the Plainview School video. Be careful! You are really alone out there! Thanks again.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you! Will do! 😊

[@Han1523yt]

Fun Fact about Hardesty, according to the newest ADM numbers their high school has 6 kids, like in the whole school. 1.5 kids per grade 😂

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Wow 😮

[@travis303]

Glad you were safe! That could have been dangerous if they were still in operation and here you come wandering around

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I know - lucky!

[@williammatzek4660]

John you may or may not know this! On the red International truck , that is a drill fill auger.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I have no idea sorry

[@davidmcjunkin3068]

WAKE UP BABE, NEW TRAVEL WITH A WISEGUY

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Woohoo!!!

[@bertholini2810]

What a bizarre video. But, odd things are found/happen to all of us at one time or another. My mother in law spoke of the spanish flu. She was 6 at the time and said it killed a lot of people (almost her as well). Nice Merry-go-Rounds, kind of odd to have 3. How many times would an old Merry-go-Round actually "gone around". Fall stuff here (66 degrees and rain tomorrow). Be good, be safe !!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I agree this one had a little bit of everything! Some of those seem to never stop spinning!

[@UMtiger311]

you can really tell which of these small towns have the desire/sense of community to preserve so many of these wonderful places.. also that bonus at end of video was crazy

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Agreed 👍🏼

[@papabear562]

That county is incredible, and the story surrounding the Plainview school is absolutely creepy to hear about. Great video as always, and I got a lot of old towns to try and locate in Texas County. See ya Coach!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you and good luck! 😊

[@travis303]

That Optima Lake, looks like from your drone footage there used to be a lot of places for maybe RV camping. Did you drive down that abandoned road and explore more? Is it legal? Theoretically could you still get in an RV and boondock or just put up a tent if you wanted? Is that legal? Is it private property now as in you'd be trespassing if you tried?

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I think it’s still open but no facilities. So you could camp and explore around I believe. I didn’t go down the road.

[@rossbryan6102]

THE LARGE SHORT WATER TOWER TELL ME THAT THIS WAS AN WATER STOP, IN THE DAYS OF STEAM LOCOMOTIVES!!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Good point!

[@stevemccoy8138]

Nice to see someone actually working on a cemeteries. I just wonder how they grease the bearing on the Death go rounds ?😊 I've never heard of the murders 😮.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Seems like some super sonic grease from NASA 😂

[@michaelgraves5188]

Nicely done Coach 😎👍❤️

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks for the visit!

[@juliogonzales5441]

Enjoy your weekend 😊

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

You too!!

[@timmountford8610]

I have 2 nephews that graduated from Hardesty High School.

[@everettvancampen3315]

Thank you for doing this project, I went to Panhandle from ‘68 until ‘73. Enjoyed you videos.

[@gazooberful]

i think we are related to charles dumbell, dumbell was memaw gazooberful's maiden name

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I was thinking about you when I saw that headstone 😊

[@gazooberful]

i appreciate that john

[@Mikell-h2c]

Super cool production, always was aware of the panhandle , now I know the history , America is sooo large and unique , thanks again WG

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Glad you enjoyed it! I really love learning about this part of Oklahoma!

[@Mikell-h2c]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy so did I, my father-in-law was born in Laredo, Texas in the very late 1800s he served with Pershing in the Mexican border campaign and World War I his brother wrote a brief family history about growing up in Texas and it was really wild

[@danhardesty6318]

Thank you for the Hardesty history, this Hardesty thanks you!

[@perseusguy]

Delightful as always. I was pleased to see Optima Lake, even though it didn't quite turn out as the engineers had planned, but appears to be an excellent place as a waterfowl [anseriformes] sanctuary.

[@justnerdystuff]

The school ground with the 3 merrygorounds finally went with a different manufacturer after the first two duds.

[@empressvogt]

Beer City in my Weird Oklahoma book.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

It’s in a ghost town book of mine too 😊

[@georgevan2589]

Many years ago, I was traveling as a kid with my dad one evening when we passed through Slapout. As I recall, there was a gas pump or two and a little convenience type store. As we pulled into the store I remember saying that I was surprised there was a store "out here in the middle of nowhere". He told me the story of how Slapout got it's name because they were always "slapout" of whatever you wanted. I said why are we stopping then and he said "all I want is beer, and I've never stopped here that they didn't have beer!

[@justnerdystuff]

Wow, now I'm going to have to "KZbin" that ending story. (KZbin is the new "Google", according to me, I don't know if it is or not, I just now made up that reference.

[@justnerdystuff]

So......at the Nabisco Cemetery were there any tree elves there? And that "tree" marker, was that one of the elves? You know I had to ask that.🧐🤓🥸

[@Partzman23]

Hi John, very interesting video, the news reel at the end was shocking! Glad you were there after all the murders not during 🥸 Bet you were surprised to hear about the school on the news 🫢 Thanks for sharing Drive safe and God Bless

[@ErinLogan-y6l]

Beautiful part of the country. I love to hear about the history about each town. Would've hated being that sheriff who got killed . Yikes!😬😯😯

[@Oklahoman-in6ph]

I've always thought it would be the undertaker's responsibility. Whoever the undertaker for that community is must have passed away or is pocketing the money. Oh well.

[@sheilawells9623]

Local volunteers from the communities care for the rural cemeteries. Once all the families have passed away there is no longer anyone to care for them.

[@Oklahoman-in6ph]

@@sheilawells9623 Thanks Sheila!

[@Castleknight]

Rural America is and has been emptying out for decades. I live in Arkansas and between the 2010 and 2020 census 50 of the 75 counties in Arkansas, have lost population. I bet it's the same in OK and KS or even more so.,

[@timmountford8610]

Lake Optima is interesting. We use to go swimming there in the 80's. We drove down the boat ramp just to get to the water. It was really nice back then. It was sad that it never filled up. I told that it never sealed up and the water went under the dam.

[@dugaboom]

Enjoyed this episode a lot since I've been through that area many times. Remembering coming down from Liberal KS while I was in High School to go explore the abandoned Baker High School. At the time, you could still go into the auditorium. Are you going to be going up to or have already filmed around the Liberal area?

[@aliceevans3377]

How scary to be so close to a murder scene unknowingly. Proves you just can't imagine how folks are, they very probably live in unpopulated areas for a reason. I'll have to research the what, why, how of this. Gives new meaning to stay safe and GOD bless!

[@timmountford8610]

The Hitch ranch is interesting. The main house or mansion was built around the old log cabin. There are at least 2 other large homes on the ranch.

[@sandiewilliams238]

Coach, I am happy you met no evil when you visited the Plainview school. The footage of the magnificent deer and the cute, friendly dog reminds me good always overcomes evil. Be safe coach! 🙏🏼

[@ChristyTheBaker]

I grew up in and live in Texas county. I went to school in Hardesty. So many hours are recess on those death traps 😂We have an old schoolhouse on our property with a death go round lol. We don’t have much history on the schoolhouse except it was moved to the property due to it was going to be demolished if not moved. It’s a fascinating building. Also think I know those antelope. They tend to stay in one area. Thanks for exploring our area! You helped me learn even more about it!

[@justnerdystuff]

Your voice is at a higher pitch than it was a couple of years ago.

[@robertdodd8169]

I live in Katy Tx and the city was named after the Katy train line that stopped here . We have a huge grain elevators from those years.

[@lostribe5130]

So they have two good ones and that's it.