Indian Pioner Papers - Elmer Godwin

Submitted by Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com
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                    Garvin County Indian Pioneer Papers
                                      
                                                                    
                               Elmer Godwin



Interview #9765

Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

Date: January 19, 1938

Name: Mr. Elmer Godwin

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth: September 18, 1892

Place of Birth: Pauls Valley, Chickasaw Nation

Father: M.F. Godwin, born in Illinois

Mother: Mary Hider, born in Illinois





I was born on the Zach Gardner farm, two miles east of Pauls 

Valley, in 1892.  My father and mother came from the state of 

Illinois at an early date and, according to my father's story, 

he helped Zach Gardner build the dam across the river where Mr. 

Gardner built his grist mill.   I have heard him say they ground 

corn into meal for the soldiers at Fort Sill.   



My father was farming on the Gardner place at the time and he said 

he would haul his corn to Fort Sill and sell it to the Government.  

In the early days he said he received as high as $1.00 a bushel for 

his corn.  There was no cotton raised around Pauls Valley at that 

time and when people did start raising cotton, Zach Gardner, built 

the first cotton gin in this part of the country.  It was operated 

from the power of the old wheel that ran the mill.   They would have 

to carry the cotton from the wagon in baskets to the gin and I have 

heard him say five or six bales ginned was a good day's work

In the early days the Comanche Indians would come to Pauls Valley 

for their supplies, as Pauls Valley was the nearest railroad point 

at that time.  the Government would ship supplies to Pauls Valley for 

the Indians and they would come and haul their supplies back to the 

reservation where they lived, near Fort Sill.



In 1902, my father helped build the railroad from Pauls Valley to 

Lindsay and he hauled the first lumber from Pauls Valley to build 

the first building in Lindsay, a grocery store.  We moved to Lindsay 

before the town started to build.  Some of the store buildings from 

Erin Springs were moved to the townsite of Lindsay.  After the railroad 

was built up to that point and another railroad from Chickasha to Lindsay 

was built, the trains from Pauls Valley would just come to Lindsay and 

turn around.  The train from Chickasha would also turn at Lindsay.

  

There was no cotton gin at Lindsay for a few years and we had to haul 

our cotton to Pauls Valley, a distance of about twenty-five miles.  

It would take two days to make the trip there and back.



There were very few doctors in the early days when I was growing up.   

I can't remember ever seeing a doctor in our home until I was a grown 

young man.   There wasn't a great deal of sickness in the early 

days and if any of us kids at home complained of being sick, Mother 

would fix up some kind of home remedy and we were soon all right.



I remember when I was a young boy there were plenty of quail.    

Along the rivers and creeks the squirrels were plentiful and I have 

seen numbers of turkeys along the river, but very few deer.  I have 

heard my father say when he first came to this part of the country 

that right where the town of Pauls Valley is now was in grass as 

high as a horse's back and there was plenty of deer.  Very little 

of the land around here was in cultivation.  What was in cultivation 

was along the river.



In the early days when Father settled here he had to haul his 

supplies from Texas.  He would make one trip each Spring and bring 

enough supplies to last until the next Spring.