Volume 11 , Issue 7

NW Oklahoma Ghost Towns

This information was gathered by Rod Murrow awhile back and used to be on one of our "Ghost Towns" webpages before we had this OkieLegacy database. We have done away with the "ghosttowns" directory and we are incorporating those stories into our OkieLegacy eZine database in the next few months.

The information below is accurate (Augusta's location), but somewhat incomplete. All of this (and many other towns current and past) came from a little publication Town & The Woods County originally included Alfalfa County as well, because the next eastern boundary shows Waukomis and Enid. This clearly shows it as Woods and not M.

AUGUSTA, Alfalfa County, Section 5, Township 24N, Range 12W (located a mile west of Carmen, had a post office from 1895 to 1912.); Zula, Woods County, Section 11, Township 27N, Range 13E; (Zula, located 3 1/2 miles north of present day Dacoma was the first Post Office.) Alfalfa County, Section 5, Township 24N, Range 12W (established in 1894, it lasted a year and then merged with nearby Augusta.).

AUGUSTA soon grew from a little trading post and post office into a thriving little village where nearly all branches of business were represented. The growth was steady and the town soon filled with a class of business men whose energies coupled with the conservativeness made it a trade center for miles around. Mr. Stilwell [note: President of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, mentioned earlier in this article] was persuaded to locate their railroad line through Woods County and establish a town site within two miles of Augusta.

The same energetic group which made Augusta prosperous turned their attention to this new town, which received the name of Carmen.

The new town of Augusta opened Dec. 18, 1900 with the sale of lots on the main line of the Orient R.R. Prices of the lots ran $500 for corner business lots, next to the corner was $450, inside lots $400, etc. Residence lots ran $50 to $250 according to location. This was the first town to be located on the new Orient Railroad. The first day of the sale 125 lots were sold for the amount of $50,000. The old Orient depot is still there, with a caboose. I think they intended to create some kind of historical society/museum operation, but it didn't get off the ground

Also, in the same collection was a newspaper article, no paper name nor date included, that mentioned the closing of the RR station on Friday, May 13, 1983. It includes these comments: "The historical significance of the structure [the depot building] can be realized by taking into account that it was the first depot in Oklahoma on the Orient Railroad and was given the name "Carmen" in commemoration of the wife of Mexico/s President Diaz."

The first train steamed into Carmen> in March of 1903 bearing railroad President Arthur Stillwell, Vice-President Dickinson and other railroad officials [the name Stilwell/Stillwell, spelled two ways in these two documents. For what it's worth, STILLWELL is the spelling by the newspaper, STILWELL is the spelling by Chuck Belknap --RCM.]

CLYMER, Woods County, Section 18, Township 24N, Range 13W;

DACOMA, Woods County, Section 11, Township 25N, Range 13W; Homer was the name of the pump station for the railroad, but the name "Homer" was already taken, so Dakoma was chosen. Due to a clerical error, Dacoma was recorded. Promoters from Fayetteville, Arkansas, with A. F. Wolfe as it representative formed the Dakoma Town Co., purchased land and planned the town. Dakoma was located in the E/2 of Section 11 T25N-R13W on the original claims of Frank Kimberline and Nathan Dedman (both negroes). Blocks were platted and a locust tree planted in the corner of each block. The last locust tree was chopped down in 1977. The Lots sold for $30 each.

CARMEN - Quoting from an article written by Chuck Belknap (no date, and his "real" name is Charles, nickname is Chuck) about the history of Carmen. CARMEN might be said to date back to the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, commonly known as The Strip, when a few men made the race in the heart of Woods County, secured claims, and established a little trading post called Eagle Chief, within one-half mile of the limits of the present city of Carmen.

EAGLE CHIEF consisted of one store, one residence and one blacksmith shop, and upon application for a post office they found they could not procure one under the name of Eagle Chief on account of another of the same name, so the post office was given the name of Augusta, and it, together with the store and blacksmith shop, were soon moved one mile northwest onto a forty-acre tract which was proved up for townsite purposes. EAGLE CHIEF was established in 1894, it lasted a year and then merged with nearby Augusta.

Finally, in an article in the Enid Morning News, Sunday, September 25, 1988 (page A-4) under the heading Windows on the Past, is an article by Bill Edson mentioning the origins of towns in Alfalfa County, which might lead you to some new ghost town names as well.

AUGUSTA was located a mile west of Carmen, had a post office from 1895 to 1912.

Other town names in this article: Alger, Aline, Alvaretta, Amorita, Ashley, Auburn, Burlington, Byron, Carmen, Carwile, Cherokee, Clay, Driftwood, Drumm, Elkton, Friends, Goltry, Helena, Ingersoll, Jet, Karoma, Keith, Knowlton, Lambert, Lonetree, McWillie, Marion, Mendon, Milan, Needs, Oxford, Roundgrove, Short Springs, Springs, Timberlake, Vance, Vining, Yewed (named for Admiral George Dewey, hero of the Spanish American War, they spelled his name backwards. It had a post office from 1898 to 1952).

The others have brief descriptions, too. As far as she knew, the woman who was in charge of the museum did not know of any photos taken at Augusta, at least to her knowledge. Further, there was a newspaper in Augusta, albeit only briefly, and I am not sure if copies exist anywhere or not. The Oklahoma Historical Society has a big microfilm library of OK newspapers and mentions this one -- the Cherokee Library has copies of old Alfalfa County papers on microfilm, but neither the museum NOR the library has a microfilm reader. Lots of film, but no way to read it.
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