Train Home thru Tulsa - 3/15/1917

Leaving Tulsa, Okla

On Train

Mar. 15, 1917

My Dear Parents: - 

We were to go to Kansas City on the Santa Fe R.R., but at Wayonaha, Okla., they changed us to the Frisco Lines, which took us thru Tulsa, Okla., I wired Uncle Clarence, but our train did not reach Tulsa until several hours after we expected it to, therefor I did not get to see him. We will pass thru St. Louis and go on to Ft. Sheridan, Ill. We are way behind schedule, having been held up by a Freight train wreck, and a couple times we got stalled on steep grades.

We are having a fine trip. Lots of fun shooting Jack Rabbits, etc. 

The roadbed was so rough back a ways, that we had to stop & spike a couple of our Amb. down, that had been torn loose. 

Everything fine & dandy, and am feeling fine. Also enjoying every minute of our trip.

Love to All

Howard

The above photo is from the Tulsa Historical Society. Its description reads: Photograph of Main Street in 1917 during Durbar. The photo shows the Tulsa arch. The following description is written on the back of the accession sheet: "Frisco tracks. Metal buildings at lower right are those of the Oil Well Supply Company's first store. Across the street are the National Supply Company and Continental Supply Company. At left center is the Lyric Theatre. Building under construction at top left is the first unit of the Exchange National Bank building, now National Bank of Tulsa. Street car tracks can be seen in middle of street. Automobiles greatly outnumber horse-drawn wagons. Note posters on building at right advertising the coming of the Sells-Floto Circus on May 1." 

Being that Howard said they were switched to the Frisco lines mentioned in the photo description, we can guess this is a pretty similar view to what he had. Considering the circus poster advertised for a May 1 show, it was also very close to the same time frame.

Uncle Clarence was Howard's mother's oldest brother. In the 1920 census, Clarence was listed as living in Tulsa with with wife Elsie and son Glenn (who would have been 7 in 1917). Uncle Clarence  was an office manager at an oil company. Who knows? Maybe it was even the Oil Well Supply Company in picture above?

Glenn was listed as having been born in Missouri, so we can guess than Clarence hadn't lived in Tulsa for very long. I could not find Clarence, Elsie, or Glenn anywhere in the 1910 census.

By the time 1930 rolls around, Clarence is still living in Tulsa, but with a different wife, Margaret. At age 63, he is still working as an office manager. He dies in 1939 at age 72 in Tulsa.

Hell in Texas

The above isn't a letter per se  - it's kind of a 1917 version of what my generation might have called a mix tape. I thought it was appropriate to include as Howard was preparing to leave El Paso.

The YouTube video below explains it (and the gentleman sings it) well better than I can. The verses are in a different order than Howard writes it, but you get the general idea.

The main difference is what Howard writes at the very end -

 - But Uncle Sam thinks it alright for his men.

Birthday at the Cow Parade - 3/6/1917

El Paso, Tex.

Mar. 5, 1917.

My Dear Mother: - 

Yours of the 28th rec. Hope you got moved O.K. Be careful and do not work too hard.

Tomorrow I'll be 19 years old, and I suppose I'll celebrate by taking part in a a big parade. All the troops in this district are to be reviewed, and will also take part in the Cow. (?) Puncher's (?) Exposition Parade. The Expo takes place from the 7th to the 11th. 

I put on my civilian clothes tonight and "sneaked" out of camp, and went down to the Fire Sta: Capt. Sullivan is out of the city for 5 days, as a witness for a murder trial.

Took a good cleaning out today with epson salts, and feel fine as silk.

I suppose the Troop D Boys were glad to get home. It still looks as though we would get out of here by the last of the month. I hope nothing comes up to delay us in our return.

Owing to the parade tomorrow we have to get up at 5A.M. so will close and turn in.

Love to All
Howard

The above photo from the El Paso Library archives is titled "Soldiers parading north on S El Paso Street passing through Pioneer Plaza". There is no date listed, but the description of the parade route matches the El Paso Times for 1917, so it's a pretty good guess.

I had a hard time deciphering exactly what Howard called the parade in his letter, so I looked up more about it in the El Paso times. I didn't find the exact words that he used, but the official convention name was the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockmen's Association. Over 1,000 visitors came to El Paso from across the Southwest to talk cow business, I guess. Whatever it was, it was a big deal to El Paso. Here's the article.

Despite having to get up at 5am, I think that Howard probably did enjoy his birthday. The newspaper described the atmosphere of the Expo as similar to Mardi Gras, so I would imagine that his fellow guardsmen probably helped him find some fun. After all, his body was nice and clean after those epsom salts!

This is the first letter addressed to Howard's mother at her new address on Glenwood Avenue. I was much more pleased with my Google street view search this around. Kudos to the current owners for allowing me to actually imagine by great-great grandparents living there in 1917.

Pneumonia Quarantine Hijinks - 3/1/1917

El Paso, Tex.

Mar. 1, 1917

My Dear Mother: -

Between shots I'll try to write you a letter. We have several two-by-fours on the floor and are shooting in them to see how far they (the bullets) would penetrate. I guess the fellows in the next tent thought someone was trying to commit suicide when we fired the first shot.

Just five more days, and I will be nineteen years old. The last three years surely have gone fast for me. This is the first day of our confinement, owing to the quarantine they put on the military camp, on account of pneumonia.

Last night someone put salt in the sugar, & pepper in the coffee. You should have seen the fellows this morning when mess was served.

We rec. word today from the Base Hospital, that the fellow from our company, who was so serious with pneumonia, was very much improved.

We are still making more and more preparations for our return. We only draw 10 days forage, for our animals, at a time.

This climate is surely making me sleep. I sleep nearly every afternoon, and turn in anywhere from 7 to 11P.M.

I suppose it is about time for me to be changing the address of my letters, or won't you get away as soon as you expected from the south end.

Everything just the same here.

Feeling fine and dandy.

Love
Howard

The above clipping from the March 12, 1917 edition of the El Paso Times gives us a snapshot of just how important this pneumonia that Howard writes about really was the rest of the world (and to the future of modern medicine). The Base Hospital was the only place outside of New York that was administering a life-saving serum to those with the disease. You can find the full article here.

The 1917 Health News Bulletin from the New York State Department of Health states that there were 417 cases of pneumonia at the border that winter. Of those treated with the serum, the death rate was only 5.5%. Those that were not treated had a mortality rate of 39%. That meant that, in Howard's camp alone, that serum saved 20 lives.