Green grass on the red hills

The years when it rains a lot in Western Oklahoma, the grass covers the red hills, except the wash outs and the steep slopes. They bleed through and glint with gyp.



By late summer, the grass is sparse and dry, and the hard red clay is even drier.

Ever walk out your back door and see a tornado?

I did that yesterday. And it was the first time in all my life to ever see one.

Here's the first one. I handed the video camera to my husband to shoot the video.

I was looking east from Hopeton, Oklahoma. (That's 8 miles south of Alva, in Woods County.) The tornado was moving NNE 1.4 miles away, passing between Hopeton and Dacoma between 7:40 an 7:44pm.



See the rest of the tornado pics on Flickr. 

The mysterious Dunbar Townsite sign

On Highway 132 west of Hennessey, and south of Drummond, Oklahoma, is a road sign for Dunbar Townsite. I've driven past it hundreds of times. In March, I decided to go look. That lead me to a Mt. Zion Church and a building labeled Morrison Hall. It looks like the remnant of pioneer community, much like any other community in western Oklahoma.

The brick pioneer monument sits in front of Morrison Hall on the left, and the Mt.
Zion Church is on the right.

Soldier Abraham Lincoln, Co. E, 53 U.S.C.Inf.,
a member of the U.S. Colored Infantry

Down the road a bit is Morrison Cemetery. As I wandered through the cemetery, I noticed military markers for "U.S.C.Inf." or "USCC". Those were unfamiliar to me, so I searched online as I stood there. I was surprised to find those are the abbreviations for colored troops, U.S. Colored Infantry and U.S. Colored Cavalry. These are the troops commonly called "Buffalo soldiers" who played such an important role in Western Oklahoma's early history.

That's when I finally figured out that I was in a former "Black town" in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma was home to a number of all-Black towns.  While there are lists of Oklahoma's All-Black towns, Dunbar or Morrison are not listed. In fact, I had trouble finding out much about it online. Dunbar was part of a cluster of All-Black towns in Kingfisher County, further west than most of the well-known communities. Looking at the map of Oklahoma's All-Black Towns, it was nearest the marker for Columbia.

The most substantive record online about Dunbar is at the Geochaching site, which includes this description of the town:

Dunbar was a Negro community for many years. This [geocache] is not really where the townsite was located, but is where the school was. The school was known for its agricultural program, particularly livestock, and students took many prizes in the shows. After intergration, the school was closed and the students, went to Lacey, Drummond and Hennessey. The building was sold and torn down.

From reading the pioneer monument between the church and Morrison Hall, it seems that a religious order  played a role in the community.

The cemetery is still in active use today, so I am sure that the families associated with it have more information about Dunbar and Morrison, but it's just not online.

From the grave stone of Robert Tutt:
"A man who, by his honesty and fair dealings,
earned the goodwill and respect of his
neighbors and has advanced the cause of
his race among all people."

More pictures at Flickr: Dunbar Townsite.