Volume 9 , Issue 34

1914 News - Woods County 5-Year Wheat Record

Here is a headline from The Oklahoman, dated April 21, 1914, pg. 72, headlines: Great Five-year Record In Wheat - Woods County Averages Are More Than Fifteen Bushels To Acre - Flour and Plaster Mills and Creamery leading Industries.

Alva, Okla., April 21, 1914 -- "Woods county is located in the Cherokee strip, in the north part of the state, and in the great wheat belt. It is one of the banner agricultural counties of the state, and while wheat is the chief product the crops are not confined to this alone, the soil producing equally well - alfalfa, corn, broom corn, kafir, milo, maize, and in fact all the cereals and fruits.

For the last five years the county has averaged 1,439,522 bushels of wheat a year, making fifteen and a fraction bushels to the acre, while $500,0000 worth of broom corn is shipped from tis point each year, it being the largest broom corn market in the section of the state. The other crops are mostly fed to livestock, which is one of the leading industries of the county. The Alva grain market is the center for all grain shipments for a radius of one hundred miles, and controls thousands of cars of wheat and broom corn yearly.

In the county last year were 25,015 horses and mules, valued at $1,875,000; 19,582 head of cattle valued at $807,288; and 1,200 hogs valued at $96,101.

The natural resources of the country are mostly gypsum and salt, both of which can be found in abundance. A company has recently been formed here that will begin putting down test wells for oil and gas within the next thirty days, and many acres of land have already been leased.

Towns In County
The principal towns in the county are Alva, the county seat with a population of 5,000. Waynoka with a population of 2,000 and the smaller towns of Capron, Avard, Freedom and Dacoma, each with a population of from 300 to 500.

The principal industries of Alva are the Alva Roller Mills, with capacity of 500 barrels daily and an elevator capacity of 100,0000 bushels; the Alva Plaster Mill with a capacity of four cars of finished product daily; the Alva Rose Creamery, which is the second largest creamery in the state; a large broom factory employing several men; the Alva greenhouse, which is the largest institution devoted to raising flowers in the state -- with four large glass rooms each 26x100 feet, and two acres of outside ground. This institution has a patronage that extends all over the western part of the state and into both Kansas and Texas. Besides the above there are several minor industries.

The Northwestern State Normal school, located in this city, is one of the largest schools in the state. The main building was created at a cost of $110,000 and later the Science Hall was added at a cost of $65,000, an engine room and power house at a cost of $20,000. There are now 584 students in attendance. The city also has two public school buildings that cost $35,000 each, and a city hall that was erected two years ago at a cost of $10,000. The city owns its waterworks system and has a plant valued at $200,000. a sewer system runs through the principal streets of the city which affords excellent drainage, and was put in at a cost of $50,00. While the light plant is owned by a corporation, Alva is one of the best-lighted cities in the state. The city also has four and one-half miles of paved streets and six miles of graded streets.

Santa Fe Machine Shops
Waynoka, the second largest town in the county, is the home of the Santa Fe machine shops on this division, and is one of the best business towns in the west.

There are eleven banks in the county -- six at Alva, two at Waynoka, one at Avard, one at Capron and one at Dacoma -- with a combined deposit of $1,250,000, while the total assessed valuation of the county is $18,210,712.

There are now forty miles of public road being improved by the commercial clubs of the different towns and the farmers of the county, in addition to the road work that is being done by the county commissioners.

The Santa Fe, Rock Island and Frisco railroads run through the county, and there are two other proposed roads that will be built in the near future which will run through the county.

The wheat crop this year bids fair to be the largest in the history of the county, and it is claimed by the farmers that there is now sufficient moisture in the ground to carry the crop until harvest."
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