The Wagon Yard

If you have ever watched the old western movies, the hitching rack and watering trough in front of the general store or saloon is very familiar; plenty of vacant space in those scenes.  That didn't work to well in the crowded city, even if it was just a small county seat.  I had a photo of Waurika, OK, the city of my birth, on a special day; wagons and buggies with teams of horses and mules, some saddled horses, pedestrians, and a very few of those new fangled contraptions called automobiles; all in a hopelessly tangled mess without direction or control.

Cities similar to the one of my youth, Lawton, OK, solved this problem with a designated vacant space called The Wagon Yard.  Just a bare dirt portion of a city block with a watering trough; no signs nor charges for its use.  It might be dry and dusty or a muddy mire; all depending on the weather.  A few wagons or horses might be there on other days but Saturday was the big day.

Local businesses spent Friday preparing for that big day by stocking heavily.  Meat markets had salt pork stacked atop of their counter and tubs of bologna sliced and ready and  some extra bread on the shelves; even some of that 'sliced bread' the bakeries had just started selling.  Kresses 5¢ and 10¢ had the candy counters full and plenty of pop corn and roasted peanuts with that aroma whetting every appetite.

As much as eight or nine miles out in the country, the farmers, ranchers, and cowboys were also readying for the big day.  The water jug was filled and stowed under the wagon seat.  Some chickens had been caught for sale and their legs tied with strips of cloth.  Cream cans were filled and loaded along with eggs and feathers or duck down.  Mom was frying a basket of chicken and biscuits for lunch while in town.  The girls readied their nicest dresses.  Some of the biscuits were sacrificed to shine those patent leather shoes.  As soon as milking and feeding allowed, the trip to town began.  Fresh hay or straw was in the wagon bed to make a softer tide.  

That drive may have taken three hours or more with at least one stop to allow the team to rest and get a drink from a stream.  Eight or nine o'clock and they pulled into the wagon yard.  Across the alley from the Wagon Yard was a very important place.  Most of these folks came to town without a dime but they brought what they had to sell.  They stopped in the alley at the rear door and dock of Clapp's Produce and sold their goods.  If you did not stop at Clapp's to sell, You must be one of those merchants selling to the people who did.

There was no marked parking places or rules to be followed.  Puddles of urine and mule droppings dotted the landscape.  Finding a clean spot, if possible, the family debarked and team was unhitched and tied to the back of the wagon.  Some of the hay was pushed to the back for them to eat.  The dog was tied to a front wheel next to a pallet laid down for the baby.  It was time to take care of business.

Mom took her grocery list to a nearby grocer who sometimes let them buy on credit until corn harvest or cotton picking time but the money from Clapp's produce usually sufficed in this transaction.  Mom just left her list and boys in the store readied her order while she went to J. C. Penney, Kress, Singer Sewing.  Depending on available dimes, maybe the children would see a show.  First, Mom broke out that basket of fried chicken and biscuits and maybe some home made jelly or preserves.

Dad might need to take the mules over to the black smith Earl Christmas at the east side of the wagon yard.   While they were being shod, He  might dare to go to that pool hall up in the next block of 3rd street.  All shopping, business, entertainment had to be completed by about 3:30 PM and back at the wagon to get hitched up, say goodbye to any neighbors you have seen in the social center, The Wagon Yard.  A stop at the grocer to pick up the prepared order from Mom's list and start that long trip home where cows are waiting to be milked, cream separated, chickens fed, eggs gathered, supper cooked and eaten, bank the fire in the stove, turn the lamp wick down, and bid each other good night.