When the Northwest Extension of the Burkburnett oil field opened in 1919, prospectors thronged this area. Bridgetown sprang up at the Texas end of a mile-long Red River toll bridge built for oil field traffic. It became the largest and wealthiest of . . . — — Map (db m187183) HM
One of the most famous Texas boom towns. Name was given to post office at request of President T.R. Roosevelt after his 1905 wolf hunt with rancher Burk Burnett in this area. Townsite was laid out in 1907 by Joseph A. Kemp and Frank Kell, . . . — — Map (db m74822) HM
In the 1870s, Samuel Burk Burnett started the 6666 (Four Sixes) ranch in Wichita County. Cattle operations were near the center of the county. Drought in the 1880s led Burnett and other ranchers to lease thousands of acres of grazing land from the . . . — — Map (db m187185) HM
In 1918, cotton farmers Shields and Cassie Fowler considered leaving their land due to oppressive drought conditions. Aware of small but successful oil finds in the area, however, Cassie suggested they drill a well on their land. With help from . . . — — Map (db m187179) HM
Herman Specht migrated in 1870 to Galveston from Germany. In 1884 he married Clara M. Vogel Lange (1853-1912), a wealthy widow. Adding to earlier property holdings in Galveston, he began buying extensive tracts of land in northern Wichita County, . . . — — Map (db m186739) HM
Oil exploration and production in this area was minimal until April 17, 1919, when the Bob Waggoner Well No. 1 blew in at 4,800 barrels per day. It was the first well in what became known as the Northwest Extension Oilfield, comprised of . . . — — Map (db m187182) HM
First called Getty's Creek, this stream was renamed by cowboys and settlers who found near its mouth, on Red River, remains of a military outpost garrisoned by the U.S. Tenth Cavalry from 1873 to 1875.
Most of the Negro soldiers and white . . . — — Map (db m186743) HM
A natural border of the Louisiana Territory when it was acquired by the United States in 1803, the Red River later served as a boundary between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The exact location for the line of separation was challenged in 1920 . . . — — Map (db m187184) HM
Named for the red soil across which it flows, the main stream of the Red River is 1,360 miles long, and for 440 miles the river forms the Texas-Oklahoma boundary. For years, this was an international boundary. The 1819 treaty with Spain established . . . — — Map (db m74824) HM
"Newtown", or "Thrift", originated about 1919 in the Northwestern Extension of the Burkburnett Oil Field. Early in its existence it gained prestige by the founding of a bank - the only one in the area at that time. Mostly a tent city, Thrift . . . — — Map (db m187180) HM
Herman and Clara (Vogel) Specht platted the Clara townsite in 1886, and the community rapidly swelled with German immigrants. The Rev. Francis M. Rudi of Wichita Falls began to conduct Lutheran worship services in the Clara public schoolhouse in . . . — — Map (db m186741) HM
