Indian Pioner Papers -     John Carlton

Submitted by   Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com
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                    Garvin County Indian Pioneer Papers
                                      
                               John Carlton



Interview #8348

Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

Date: September 1, 1937

Name: Mr. John Carlton

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth:  August 29, 1863

Place of Birth: Arkansas

Father: J. Carlton, born in Tennessee

Mother: Anna D. Davis, born in North Carolina





I was born August 29, 1863, in Arkansas.



I came to the Indian Territory in 1896.  There were three men 

traveling in wagons with their families; Tom Farmer, Mrs. Adams 

and myself.  We were headed for the Creek Nation, as Tom Farmer 

had lived in there in the early days.  When we got to a little 

place called Here, there was a postoffice and store. Mr. Farmer 

had told us there was plenty of work at this place.  When we got 

there I had no money and very few groceries.



We all camped at J.W. Edward's place.  There was no work to do, 

but Mr. Edward put me to work on his farm at fifty cents a day.  

He was a large cattle owner and farmer.  I worked that winter for 

him.



In the spring of 1897, I moved to a little place called Paoli, 

on the Santa Fe Railroad about seven miles north of Pauls Valley.  

I had a good team so I thought I would try farming.  I rented some 

land and farmed that year.  I raised lots of corn but it was only 

worth fifteen cents a bushel hauled to Pauls Valley.



One day, while I was at Pauls Valley with a load of corn, I met a 

man by the name of Frank Low who ran the Pauls Valley Milling 

Company and he gave me a job at $1.50 a day.  This was big money 

then so I quit farming and went to work for him.



People hauled corn here and piled it in log piles like wood.  

I have heard men say that they had burned corn for wood in the 

winter time.  Fat hogs were worth about two cents a pound dressed.



Pauls Valley was a small place, but it was a trading point from miles 

around.  It had a free school when I came .  The only taxed levied was 

a small tax on town property.  When I came here Zack Gardner owned 

a gin and grist mill east of Pauls Valley on the river.  There was 

another gin at the north end of town.  This was a round bale gin, 

the first one I saw in the Indian Territory where I had been.