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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA July-August 1989 Vol. 39, No. 4 CENTENNIAL SERIES, PART FOUR: FRONTIER LIVING 10 As the settlers who managed to stake claims got down to the gritty business of living, they may have questioned their own luck. By Dr. David Baini OK LAKES: MANNA FOR LANDLOCKED SCUBA DIVERS 20 When divers from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas can't make it to the Caribbean, they travel to the mysterious world waiting here, beneath the water. By Jeanne M. Dmlin, photograhs by David and Jan Coud PORTFOLIO: AN AMISH CARRIAGE MAKER 26 Horsepower and a penchant for tradition keep a Clarita carriage maker going. Photographs by Jim Algo THE CHAMPIONS 32 More than in any other contest, Olympic stars reflect their glory on the folks back home. We caught up with a dozen gold medalists who still call Oklahoma home. By W.K. S~on,photographs by David Kwlrd Page 22 Page 34 I DEPARTMENTS TODAY IN OKLAHOMA 4 IN SHORT 5 LETTERS 6 OMNIBUS Carry A. Nation, by M. Scott Caaer 7 FOOD Festival Dining, by Barbara Palmer 43 THE WEEKENDER Guest Island Ranch, by Diana Nekon Jona 45 ARTS The Ghost Dance, by Badara Palmer 47 ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR A guide to what's happening 49 COVER: Former Oklahoma State wrestlers Kenny Monday and John Smith both won Olympic gold medals in Seoul and both plan to compete in Olympic Festival '89. Photograph by David Koelsch. Inside hntcover: The Tulsa Philharmonic on the Reynolds Floating Stage on the Arkansas River in Tulsa. Photograph by David Fitzgerald. Back cover: David Terry cames the Olympic Festival Torch near his hometown, Boise City. Photograph by Larry D. Brown. July-August 1989 ' 3 -ith Oklahoma hosting an of Perry to win in 1932 or three wres- Olympic Festival this July, tlers who now live out of state: Bobby we began wondering what Pearce who won gold in 1932 and Shel- had happened to past by Wilson and Doug Blubaugh, who Olympic greats. U'here are Oklaho- both took home gold medals in 1960. ma's gold medalists and what are they Of course, Jim Thorpe remains doing today? No one, it seems, has Oklahoma's-and perhaps the kept track of yesterday's champions by world's-greatest athlete. Thorpe's state, not even the U.S. Olympic gold medals for winning the pentath- Committee, although it did provide a lon and decathlon in 1912 can be starting list. To answer these questions viewed at the state capitol in Oklaho- took weeks of research, phone calls ma City; his daughter says Thorpe was and letters. Turn to page 32 to read most proud of his track accomplish- about those 12 Olympic gold medalists ments, because he considered them who still call Oklahoma home. true sport, the measure of an Writer W.K. Stratton interviewed individual. each athlete, catching Wayman Tis- hlore than 2.000 runners will share dale on the phone off court in Sacra- the responsibility of carrying the mento and Bart Conner home from Olympic torch through all 77 Oklaho- Hawaii. Photographer David Koelsch n~acounties on its way to the opening ceremonies in Norman on July 21. It all begins on June 18 in Cimarron County at the eastern tip of the Pan- handle; photographer Larry Brown vis- ited Boise City in April to recreate the start of the journey for a photo on our back cover and he was overwhelmed by the town's enthusiasm. Twenty- Zb~rhrunners, r/ockee,issr from top I@: nine people from Cimarron County Ham'man, Loyd, Grq, Jason H~ood, will participate in the torch run. hthrop and Pridb. To prepare for the run, 13-year-old Jennifer Priddy of Boise City says, roamed the state to capture the group "I'm running a '400' every day. Soon on film with assists from Rocky 1'11 start running an '800,' and then 1'11 Widner of Sacramento and Joan Hen- have to practice carrying something be- derson in Austin, Texas. cause the torch will weigh about three Unfortunately, not everyone from pounds." Oklahoma who ever won a gold medal Myron Lathrop, 11, runs 800 yards is included-the criteria didn't allow daily, and plans to carry a sandbag to for former Oklahomans like equestrian build arm strength. His sister, blyr- Charles Anderson, who won a gold anda, will also be a torch-runner. Their medal in 1948 but now lives in Germa- physical education teacher, Linda ny, or figure skater David Wilkinson Loyd, will also run a lap. Oldest of the Jenkins who won a gold medal as an Cin~arron<:ounty runners \r-ill be Dar- Ohioan in 1960, but who has been a lene Harriman. 59, who plays volley- Tulsan for 20 years. ball and lifts weights. So far as we can Our criteria let us include four wres- tell, there's not a couch potato in the tlers, but it didn't allow for the likes of lot. the late Jack VanBebber who came out continued on page 6 Oklahoma 'TODAY + I - a - A Blockbuster Quilt Show Oklahoma-bound settlers the classes and lectures that will brought precious few possessions accompany it, send a self-addressed, with them, but most managed to stamped envelope to: P.O. Box bring at least one item prized above 23916, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1, all for its beauty. More often than 73123. 1, not, says Jane Hamden, a member of the Central Oklahoma Quilters Elbow Grease Award Guild, that item was a quilt. In the early 1970s, Guthrie On August 10-13, the guild will woke up and realized it had umpteen sponsor a 500-quilt show in historic buildings within its city Oklahoma City. The stars of the limits that either had to go or be show are likely to be 50 quilts gussied up. "The more we looked uncovered during a two-year at it we realized about the only thing & the town had to sell was its history 3 and architecture," recalls Don "2 9 of the Logan County Historical P Society. "We couldn't tear them down. We had to fix them." A Royal Contest Bit by bit the town, which sits For 364 days each year, the size just off Interstate 35 in north central of the sandy shores of the Arkansas Oklahoma, reclaimed its historic River in Tulsa depends on the legacy. Now 1,400 acres and 400 city volume of water released upstream at blocks of saloons, hotels (now the Lake Keystone dam. bed-and-breakfasts), bordellos (no But on July 22, the flow of longer in use), homes and water is put entirely on hold. Banks, vaudeville houses glow with fresh bars and islands of sand rise to the paint and polished red brick. surface. Armed with buckets and "Each of the 2,169 homes has been shovels, people plow down the personally looked at," says sides of the riverbed with blueprints Coffin. for castles, dragons and other The work hasn't gone sandy creations in mind. unnoticed. What draws them is the annual In 1988, the historical society's River Parks Sand Castle Contest. In Maude &aman, with '89er quilt and efforts won a National Preservation its 14th year, it's grown to include guild member Pam Woolbn'g/rt. Honor Award from the National concessions and entertainment. Five Trust for Historic Preservation; the thousand people are expected chis town has become a center for year; 350 of them as contestants. For quest for the state's heirloom quilts. regional tourism, and the Guthrie Guild members put out a call more information, call Historic District is now listed as (918) 582- 0051. for quilts brought to or made in one of the nation's largest in Oklahoma before 1940 and spread the National Register of out across the state, registering and Historic Places. photographing more than 4,000 of Coffin sees no end in them. 'The tip of the iceberg," says sight for the preservation Harnden. Along with every quilt, project, either. "This there was a story. The guild collected kind of thing never gets those, too. done," he says. His Color photographs of a select next goal: To strip the A group of 200 quilts will appear in the asphalt off city streets guild's book Oklahoma Heritage revealing their original Quilts, along with pictures of their brick facade. For details makers, when available, and with call (405) 282-1947. their histories. The book will debut at the show, "A Celebration of Quilts," at Don Coffin, in the heart 1 the Lincoln Plaza in OKC. For of he Cuhni Historic information about the show, or about &hict. July-August 1989 continued from page 4 clean air. Your motto should be: Don't 100th anniversary celebration, is it not Historian Dr. David Baird continues Overlook Oklahoma. only a time to remember but a time to the Centennial series with an article on look toward the future of Oklahoma? the lifestyle of the settlers during the Mary Longley Territorial Period. "Tell us all about Toledo, Ohio J.S. Allen-Thompson the box suppers, square dances and Ringling fun things the settlers did in those first The first issue that we had seen of years after the Run," we requested. ORIahoma TODAY was the May-June Let me first compliment you and all This was a tough task, Baird says, 1986 issue that featured Osage Coun- the staff of ORLa/roma TODAY for a because life for rural settlers was any- ty. We bought a dozen copies. We magazine that all Oklahomans can be thing but "fun" during those first 10 have two copies left.