August 14, 1919
The Pawhuska Capital
Microfilm Roll: MN00329
On this day in Osage country, an article written by a Tulsa journalist describing his recent trip to Pawhuska was published in The Pawhuska Capital.
According to journalist John W. Flenner, who supposedly decided to visit the town “in search of adventure,” Pawhuska was a bustling town with a unique culture. Throughout his trip he takes note of the liveliness of the town, its economic prosperity, and of course, the Osages.
At the time of his visit, Pawhuska was just 47 years old; the town was established in 1872 upon the arrival of “Osage Agent Isaac T. Gibson [who] established the Osage Agency,” (Pawhuska). By 1919, Flenner describes the city as being “one of the fastest growing cities in the country,” this, of course due, to the town’s booming oil industry at the time. Hotels were packed to the point that guests were being “turned away nightly,” being piled into rooms multiples at a time, or “on cots in the hallways.” The expense of renting a house or apartment was through the roof, anywhere from 50 to 100 dollars a month. Furthermore, he mentions that there are six banks total in the town with a population of only about 6,000 people.
As did many whites from other areas, Flenner seems to have had a strong fascination with the Osages. He describes their lifestyles as “easy come; easy go,” and mentions that even after “the social structure of the Osage [was] destr[oyed] by the white man’s government” they seem to be “accommodate[ing] themselves to new conditions and most of them seem to be succeeding very well.” Flenner took utmost interest in the Osages’ use of luxurious automobiles. He recalls sitting for hours on the stairs of the Citizens National bank “watching the steady stream of high priced, high-powered cars skim by.” Flenner also deemed the Osages as “speed fiends,” claiming that nothing makes an Osage happier than “to proceed out to the road west of town where with his cut-out open he will race anybody that comes along.”
Morgan M. Guzman
“Most Unique City in Oklahoma is Pawhuska, So Says Tulsa Writer.” The Pawhuska Capital. August 14, 1919, p. 1. Microfilm roll number MN00329. Sequoyah National Research Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Further Reading
May, John D. “Pawhuska.” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=PA020 Date accessed May 7, 2018.
Source File(s)
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