February 28, 2016
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS The student reception for this years Student Art Show was a great success. With over 90 students, parents, grandparents, teachers, and museum supporters in attendance, Lovella Thiessen presented the awards with me as her helper. 42 prizes were presented with Ethan Gregory receiving the Best of Show award. Programs are still available if any one would like to have one. Our meeting room had plenty of space so we now know we can accommodate up to 100 in our new spaces. We want to thank our sponsors for this years prizes: Follett Interbank; SNB Bank; Lemon Insurance Agency; Miller Supply; First Bank Southwest; Lemon, Shearer, Phillips, & Good, P.C. A special thanks to the schools, parents, and teachers for assisting and providing art opportunities to the students so that we can offer this program each year. I ventured to the dedication of the William Hamblen Memorial Highway on Saturday. This is Hwy 207 and goes thru Tule Canyon. If you haven't driven from Claude to Post on Hwy 207 thru this canyon, please plan to do so on a pretty sunny day. It is a beautiful drive with the green plant life against our red clay makes it as pretty if not better view than the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert. There was a nice turnout for the dedication with Mr. Hamblen's granddaughter unveiling the sign. The Wednesday crew is busy cleaning and rearranging our workspace and assisting with the completion of our annual report. HISTORICAL MUSINGS I received an article by David Bowser entitled "Pile of Pancakes Saved Woman, Daughters From Indian Raiders". The article tells the story of Ms. E.E. Polly's pancake episode with the Indians as related to him from Jim Cloyd is the great grandson of Mr. Polly. The article conveys the following about Mr. Polly. He had been a hospital steward at Fort Hays taking care of both the soldiers and Indians. The Indians considered him a medicine man. He apparently came with the army in 1868 when they established Fort Supply. The Polly's were the first white family to settle in this part of the Panhandle. Mr. Polly continued to work for the Army traveling to Fort Supply and guiding people into the Panhandle. The Polly dugout was originally built by the Army. Polly moved his family into the dugout in 1874. He relates the following story told to him by his grandmother: "Grandma said that she and her baby sister were here by themselves with her mother," They woke up one morning and this whole flat was covered up with Indians. It was a war party. There weren't any women or children with them. They wanted something to eat, My great grandmother took a barrel of flour and made pancakes to feed them. When she was cooking, if she'd run out of batter they'd pinch her and pull her hair, but they didn't mistreat her otherwise. After she ran out of flour, She took her youngest daughter, who hadn't been fed, and began to nurse her. the Indians tried to get her to make more pancakes but she finally convinced them that she didn't have any more flour and they finally left taking her two milk cows with them. This wasn't the last episode with the Indians, I will continue their story next week. |
© 2006 - 2024 Wolf Creek Heritage Museum
All Rights Reserved |