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MELVILLE B. BAIRD.   In a history of that section of Oklahoma which until recently had existence under the name of the Indian Territory, Melville B. Baird, of Tulsa, now a well-known capitalist, has done effective work in promoting early progress and development, utilizing the natural resources of the state in promoting his individual interests and also contributing thereby to the general property of the communities in which he lived. He became well known as a dealer in walnut timber and later as a builder of toll bridges in the Territory. He was born in Bairdstown, Wood county, Ohio. His father, John Baird, in whose honor the Ohio town was named, was a representative of the old Baird family of Philadelphia, where the Bairds have lived for several generations.
    At the old family home in Ohio, Melville B. Baird was reared, but acquired the greater part of his education at Findlay, Hancock county, where he spent four years as a student in the high school and was then graduated. Before he had attained his majority he had entered commercial life, his labors characterized by unfaltering energy and laudable ambition. Quick to note opportunities and to utilize them, he became interested in the walnut long industry in the south, and in 1885 made his way to the Indian Territory, where he began dealing in walnut logs on an extensive scale in Creek and Cherokee Nations. In the year of his arrival in the Territory he visited Tulsa, which at that time was but a very small settlement. His cash capital was but sixty-five dollars, but he possessed what is better than money—a ready understanding of a business situation and an ability to control, to assimilate and unify the forces at hand. Within less than a year from that time he was doing a business in the walnut log industry aggregating about one hundred thousand dollars a year, and in eighteen months had paid off what he owed and had a clear profit of about seventy-five thousand dollars. Of course, all this meant arduous, unremitting toil, intelligently directed, but he has never feared that laborious attention to detail which is always an essential in a successful business career. At that time the country through which he made his journeys was almost inaccessible on account of the lack of roads, bridges and accommodations of any sort for white people. Moreover, he had to encounter, on more than one occasion, the desperado element that then infested the Indian nations. In the face of obstacles which would utterly have discouraged many a man of less resolute spirit, he continued his operations, and as the years have gone by has met with a success which is most gratifying, admirable and commendable. He continued to deal in walnut logs for several years, not only in the Indian Territory, but in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana.
    Later, as a capitalist, Mr. Baird took up the business of building toll bridges. Previous to the admission of Oklahoma to the Union there were no public bridges across the rivers and creeks in the Indian Territory, and such as existed had to be built by private capital and operated on the toll plan. Mr. Baird entered into this business with characteristic energy and has invested more capital therein than any other one man. His work has been of the utmost benefit to this part of the state at large, bringing into close touch districts which were previously isolated, from the fact of there being no method to cross the rivers and streams. With his associates Mr. Baird built the present substantial bridge across the Arkansas river at a cost of about forty thousand dollars, and it is considered one of the most potent elements in building up the trade of this city, rendering Tulsa easy of access to the residents of outlying districts. He also built the bridge across the Verdigris river four miles east of Nowata and also erected the bridge across Bird creek, six miles north of Tulsa, together with a bridge across the Caney, four and a half miles north of Collinsville, and one across the same stream at Ocheleta. It was through the efforts of Mr. Baird that the bridge across the Grand river, about five miles east of Choteau, was built, and altogether through his individual efforts or with associates, he has erected seven substantial bridges in the Indian Ter-[itory.]

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[Ter]itory. It is a work of which he has every reason to be proud, as it has been the means of incalculable benefit and convenience in facilitating travel and building up the country. It is notable also from the fact that building bridges in this country was an enterprise that ordinarily capitalists would not touch on account of the risks involved.
    Mr. Baird may truly be said to be one of the leading spirits to whom Tulsa owes its present prosperity and progress, for he has been one of its most public-spirited citizens in the promotion of its growth and development along substantial and permanent lines. He was one of the organizers of the Manufacturers' Club and later of the present Commercial Club, into which the first named was merged. At no time has his aid or cooperation been solicited in vain for the benefit of the city. He owns valuable real estate and business interests in Tulsa and the surrounding country, and while deriving his income from a valuable property, he stands ready at all times to further the interests of the community and cooperate with his fellow townsmen in every movement that he deems will prove of public benefit. He organized the first stock company in Tulsa, and built the first sidewalk and bridge in Tulsa.

HON. DAVID L. SLEEPER.   The rapid development of Oklahoma in its various commercial centers in attributable to the fact that its leading citizens are not men who have to work out the problems of town building through slow, tedious processes of development, but are men of marked enterprise and activity who have been conversant with municipal and government interests in other sections of the country and have, therefore, brought to bear upon the questions that arise here the broad experience and knowledge gained ere their removal to this district. Such a one is Hon. David L. Sleeper, now a prominent lawyer of Tulsa and one of the leading promoters of its growth and progress. He is recognized as an influential factor in Republican circles and was formerly prominent in the ranks of the party in Ohio, serving in that state as a member and speaker of the general assembly.
    Mr. Sleeper, however, is a native of Iowa, his birth having occurred in Warren county in 1856. His parents had settled in that state in 1852, removing from Ohio to the middle west, but later they returned to their old home in Athens county, Ohio, and David L. Sleeper was, therefore, reared upon a farm in the Buckeye state. Prior to his removal to the southwest he spent the greater part of his life in Athens county, although for a time his home was in the city of Columbus. He completed his education in Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio, and prepared for a professional career as a law student in the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1880. He then began his practice in Athens, Ohio, where he remained for sixteen years, and then, seeking a broader field of labor, opened an office in Columbus, where he continued as a member of the bar for some time. He was prosecuting attorney of Athens county for six years, and his fellow townsmen, in recognition of his worth, ability and loyal citizenship, elected him as their representative in the Ohio legislature, where he served in the seventy-first and seventy-second sessions—from 1893 until 1897. During the latter he was speaker of the house and made a fair and impartial official, whose course was highly commended not only by the members of his own party, but also by the opposition. He was also chief counsel for the dairy and food commission of Ohio for two years, and in Columbus was president of the city board of equalization. While he attained success at the bar and won recognition as an able and learned lawyer, he also studied closely those questions which are to the statesman and the man of affairs of vital importance, becoming thoroughly informed concerning the sociological, economic and political questions of the day. His clear expression of his views and the advanced stand which he took upon many subjects gained him a position of leadership and in many ways he ranked among the distinguished citizens of Ohio.
    In 1900 Colonel Sleeper was appointed state agent of the general land office at

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Oklahoma and came to the territory in that capacity. He was located first in Oklahoma City and later at Lawton, where he assisted officially in the opening of the Kiowa-Comanche reservation, which took place on the 6th of August, 1901. He was engaged in that work in southwestern Oklahoma for two and a half years and came to his present home in Tulsa early in 1903, having resigned his position in the general land office. He had become deeply interested in the Territory and its possibilities and resolved to make it his home, so, accordingly he established himself in the practice of law in Tulsa, where he has since remained, securing liberal clientage, which is now large and of a distinctively representative character. His title by which he is always known here has come to him as a courtesy from his fellow townsmen, who recognize in him a citizen of unfaltering devotion to the public good. Indeed, he has taken a very active prominent and helpful part in all the forward and progressive movements that are making Tulsa one of the wonderful cities of the southwest, producing its rapid and substantial development, whereby it has already become recognized as an important industrial and commercial center. Colonel Sleeper is always chosen as a leader of delegations and as orator for welcoming committees, and his ability as a public speaker and his happy manner in expressing any thought make him a particular favorite on such occasions. He has unselfishly devoted much of his time to public matters without pecuniary reward, but has the satisfaction of having drawn to himself a wide circle of devoted friends who recognize the fact that he places the general good before personal aggrandizement and the welfare of the public before partisanship. He has, however, remained a loyal defender of the political principles in which he believes and in the statehood campaign of 1907 was selected by the Republican party as its candidate for state senator from Tulsa county.
    Colonel Sleeper was married in Athens, Ohio, to Miss Della Burson, who was born and reared in that county. They now have five children, John B., Mrs. Ethel B. Dole, Frances B., Clarence B. and Dorothy B.
    Colonel Sleeper is prominent in fraternal circles, having been exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks, and is now serving as District Deputy for Oklahoma East, in that order. In Masonry he has become a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine, while in the Scottish Rite he has attained the thirty-second degree. That he occupies a prominent position in his profession is indicated by the fact that he has been honored by the presidency of the Tulsa Bar Association. There are in every community men who, without any particular effort on their part, leave an impress upon the community which can never be effaced. Colonel Sleeper is one of these. He is taking an active and helpful part in shaping the destiny of Tulsa and his labors arise from a sincere interest in the city and its permanent welfare. He is a splendid type of the noble American citizen, and kindliness and patriotism, sincerity and friendship are instructively associated with his name.

DR. W. ALBERT COOK, now serving as president of the Tulsa Medical Association, has, since locating in Tulsa in 1902, built up a large and lucrative practice, making a specialty of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He was born in Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa, in 1875, where he was reared and received his literary education, graduating from the Charles City high school. Choosing the practice of medicine as a life work, he began preparation in this direction in the University of Iowa and finished in Rush Medical College, of Chicago, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. Returning to his home city he there began practice as a physician and surgeon, continuing there until 1900, when he returned to Chicago and took post-graduate work in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical College. After completing his special course he returned once more to Charles City, where he remained until 1902, in which year he made his way to Tulsa, Oklahoma,

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believing that the southwest offered great opportunities for the ambitious professional man. During the first two years of his residence here he was a general practitioner, but since that time has practiced exclusively as a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, in which he has achieved distinction, having built up a large and lucrative practice commensurate with the remarkable growth that Tulsa has made in the last few years. In the line of his profession he is identified with the Tulsa County Medical Society, of which he is now serving as president, and of the State and American Medical Associations. In the winter of 1907-8 he took a post-graduate course in Manhattan Hospital, of New York, eye, ear, nose and throat hospital.
    Dr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Irene Lowe, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and their marriage has been blessed with one daughter, Elizabeth Cook. The family is prominent in the social circles of the city and in the line of his profession the Doctor is meeting with unbounded success, for he possesses a genial and sympathetic nature, which wins him friends wherever he goes. He belongs to the F. & A. M. and Knights of Pythias, and politically is a Republican. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He has been very successful and now owns four farms in Tulsa county.

ROBERT NEWTON BYNUM. With the interests of Oklahoma during its pioneer epoch, when it was a part of the Indian Territory, and through the period of its later development and progress, Robert New Bynum has been closely associated and is well known because of his activity as a stockman, his later efforts as a merchant and now as a banker and capitalist. He was born in Jackson county, Alabama, February 17, 1858, his parents being J. M. and Mary (Proctor) Bynum. This is the well-known family of Bynums which has produced several citizens of prominence in public life, including the former congressman of that name, of Indiana.
    Robert N. Bynum came with his parents and their family to the southwest in early youth, a settlement being made in Arkansas, where he attended school. The year of their removal was 1867, and Robert N. Bynum remained with the parents until 1874, when he came into the Indian Territory and began raising cattle in the Choctaw Nation, his headquarters and shipping point being at South McAlester. He discontinued active business in the stock industry in 1886 and in that year established himself in the mercantile business in Tulsa, which has been his home continuously since. Few residents of this enterprising and rapidly growing city can claim so long a continuous connection therewith. At the time of his arrival there were not more than a dozen houses of any pretention [pretension] in the town, yet the village commanded quite an extensive trade which it drew from a large scope of surrounding country. Mr. Bynum opened a store at the southwest corner of First and Main streets, in a building which is still standing, but has been moved back, however, to serve as a warehouse for the present Wright store—a brick structure that has been erected in more recent years. The old building still shows the hole that was made by Grant Dalton, the desperado, on one of his shooting escapades in Tulsa's early days.
    Mr. Bynum remained in mercantile business with success until October 4, 1902, when he retired, having, in the meantime, developed a trade of large and satisfactory proportions, bringing him a good financial return annually. Since withdrawing from commercial pursuits he has engaged in banking and other enterprises demanding the investment of capital. He is the second vice president of the Union Trust Company, known as one of the strongest and safest financial institutions in the new state. He has also erected and is the owner of the Bynum building, a business block, at the corner of Main and Second streets, now occupied by the Farmers' National Bank. His home, a splendid modern brick structure, is one of the largest and most costly of the city, standing at the corner of Fifth street and South Cheyenne. It is built in most attractive style of archi-[tecture]

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[archi]tecture, supplied with every modern convenience and is indeed an ornament to the city.
    In 1878, near Eufaula, Indian Territory, Mr. Bynum married Miss Electra McElroy, a daughter of the well-known pioneer citizen, John H. McElroy, who was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, in 1835, and was reared in in Allen county, Ohio. There he enlisted in November, 1861, as a member of Company E of the Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Joining the Army of the Potomac, he participated in the battle of Winchester, the engagements of the Peninsular campaign, the capture of Hatteras Island and Newbern in North Carolina and several engagements in South Carolina. Rejoining the Army of the Potomac in Virginia, he fought in the battle of the Wilderness, the battle of Cold Harbor and aided in the capture of City Point and Bermuda Hundred. He was also in the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond, and was also present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox and marched through the streets of the capital in the grand review at Washington. Returning to his home in Ohio, he there remained until 1867, when he removed westward to Kansas, where he took contracts for carrying mail in Indian Territory—routes that had been discontinued during the war. He opened up the mail route between Fort Gibson and Wewoka and other routes, making his headquarters at Muskogee and Eufala. During the early years there he likewise engaged in freighting to some extent and visited the present site of Oklahoma City as early as 1870. In 1883 he located in Tulsa, where he has since made his home and in 1890 he discontinued his contracts on mail routes. This business had brought to him a wide acquaintance, and wherever known he commanded respect and friendship of those with whom he was associated.
    Mr. McElroy is well known as the organizer of the first Grand Army post in Creek Nation at Tulsa. His efforts for the development and improvement of this section of the land along various lines have been most effective, beneficial and far-reaching. To Mr. and Mrs. Bynum have been born six children: Arthur H., William T., Mabel M., Zella, Robert Roy and George Therin. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bynum have a wide acquaintance in this part of the state and have been active in those lines whereby the material, social, intellectual and moral progress of the community has been promoted. Mrs. Bynum is particularly prominent in church work and for three years has been president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal church. Possessing literary tastes, she is also connected with one of the book clubs of the city. Mr. Bynum, active in municipal affairs, served as the second mayor of Tulsa, having been elected in 1899 and giving to the city a businesslike, progressive administration. He also served for two terms in the city council and exercised his official prerogatives for the public good. As the years have advanced he has become a wealthy man, but is entirely free from ostentation or pride, and manifests the same kindly, cordial and genial spirit which characterized him in his earlier years. He is in every respect a representative and valued citizen of Tulsa and without invidious distinction may well be termed one of its most prominent residents.

CHARLES W. GRIMES, a representative of the Tulsa bar and the efficient county superintendent of schools in whose hands the education interests of the community are ably conserved, was born at Decatur, Brown county, Ohio, in 1876. His parents are Wilson and Mary (Hizer) Grimes, and in both the paternal and maternal lines he is descended from Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, John Grimes, settled in Brown county, Ohio in 1812, and there the birth of Wilson Grimes occurred. Both he and his wife are still living at the old home in Decatur.
    Charles W. Grimes received thorough educational training and equipment, being graduated from the literary department of the Ohio Northern University at Ada, that state, in the class of 1903, while in the law department of the same institution he was graduated with the class of 1905. Before completing his college course he taught school at intervals in Brown and Adams

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counties and thus became closely associated with educational work, gaining an experience which has proved of the utmost value to him in the prosecution of his duties as the present county superintendent of schools in Tulsa county, Oklahoma.
    Mr. Grimes located for the practice of law in the city of Tulsa in October, 1905, and has been in practice since. A man of ability in his profession, Mr. Grimes never fails to give a thorough and comprehensive preparation to his cases, while his presentation of his cause in the courts is characterized by logical and sound deductions. He is seldom, if ever, at fault in quoting a legal authority or a precedent, and his comprehensive knowledge of the law commands the respect and confidence of his fellow practitioners.
    In July, 1907, Mr. Grimes received the Democratic nomination for county superintendent of schools for Tulsa county and at the general election of September 17th was chosen for the office by popular suffrage. It is generally recognized that he is peculiarly qualified for this position from the fact that he is both a successful lawyer and teacher, for it is probable that many legal technicalities will arise in organizing an entirely new county school system in a new county, that until the establishment of statehood was a portion of the Indian Territory.
    Mr. Grimes was married to Miss Josephine Templeton, of Lawrence county, Ohio, and they have a little son, Philo Willis. The parents are well known socially and have many warm friends, while Mr. Grimes' salient qualities as a lawyer, a citizen and a public official commend him to the confidence, trust, respect and friendship of all with whom he is associated.

JOHN W. KIEFF, a practitioner at the bar of Tulsa and a former United States commissioner, comes to the southwest from Tippecanoe, Indiana, his birth having occurred near Lafayette in 1859. His early boyhood was spent on the farm and he supplemented his preliminary education, acquired in the public schools, by a course in Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, being graduated therefrom with the class of 1887. He taught school for several years, principally in Oregon, Missouri, where he was the principal of the local schools. He read law in the office of L. R. Knowles, at Oregon, and was admitted to the bar in 1890. Locating for practice in that town, he afterward, believing that the west offered a better field of labor, removed to the state of Oregon, where he established himself in practice at the town of Dallas, in Polk county, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state. He afterward resided for a time in Latah county, Idaho, and was enrolling clerk of the Idaho senate in the session of 1894-5. Mr. Kieff continued in practice in Indiana until 1900, in which year he came to the Indian Territory and opened an office at Holdenville, where he soon secured a good clientage and also for two years filled the office of deputy United States recorder. On the 1st of June, 1907, he was appointed United States commissioner and in the autumn of that year removed to Tulsa, where he is now making his home. Here he entered into a partnership with Charles W. Grimes, for the practice of law under the firm name of Kieff & Grimes. His term as United States commissioner expired with the establishment of statehood on the 16th of November, 1907.

DR. WALTER E. WRIGHT, a physician and surgeon of Tulsa, is one of those active, energetic and ambitious young professional men who, in these modern times, seems to have leaped over the traditional "starvation period" of the young doctor in the achievement of success in his profession, while yet young in years. He has an extensive patronage and his ability is widely recognized and acknowledged by the general public.
    A native of Kentucky, Dr. Wright was born in Washington county in 1882 and represents an old family of that state, well known in connection with the raising of fine stock. His boyhood days were spent on the Wright plantation in the heart of the richest section of the Blue Grass state. In 1890 the family removed to Springfield, Missouri, and although Dr. Wright considered Springfield his home, he yet spent

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much time in the state of his nativity as a student in the school and in the work connected with the old plantation there. He acquired an excellent literary education, which he completed by graduation from Drury College, at Springfield, Missouri, in the class of 1900. He then matriculated in the medical department in the University of Louisville to prepare for a professional career and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1904.
    Dr. Wright located for practice in Springfield but the following year removed to Tulsa, realizing the fact that this new but rapidly developing town offered excellent opportunities. He has become one of the well-known young men in the medical profession in the new state and has an office splendidly equipped for practice in general surgery and medicine. He is thoroughly in touch with the most modern methods known to the fraternity and his skill and ability are widely acknowledged. He is seldom, if ever, wrong even in the preliminary diagnosis of a case and in foretelling the outcome of disease, and his conscientious zeal and devotion to the interests of his patients has resulted in notably successful work in his chosen field of labor. He keeps in touch with the best thinking men of the medical fraternity as a member of the County, the State and the American Medical Associations, and in non-professional lines he is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

DR. W. W. BRYAN, a prosperous dentist of Claremore, Rogers county, and influential in its public affairs, is also a farmer and a breeder of standard roadsters. He was born at Otterville, Missouri, and various members of his family have been leaders in the governmental affairs of that state. Hon. John H. Bryan, of Rolla, North Carolina, his grandfather, was a representative to Congress of North Carolina during the ante-bellum period and was one of the pioneers in influence and active affairs of state. The father, Hon. Charles S. Bryan, of Cassville, Missouri, has filled nearly all offices of the Barry county government and has also been the representative of his district in the state legislature. The mother (formerly Miss Mildred Wear) is of a prominent Missouri family, daughter of a cotton broker of Memphis, Tennessee, who became a merchant of Otterville, Missouri.
    Dr. Bryan obtained his early education in the public schools of the above named town, where he was born September 7, 1868. He also pursued a course in the business college at Springfield, Missouri, and not long after its completion commenced the study of dentistry. In 1893 he graduated from the Western Dental College of Kansas City, Missouri, with his degree of D. D. S., and commenced the practice of his profession at Cassville, Missouri.
    Dr. Bryan located at Claremore as its pioneer dentist, arriving on the scene in time to secure office rooms in the first brick structure of the city. He also arrived in time to become thoroughly identified with the development of the community in all its affairs, having served both as mayor of the city and as a member of its aldermanic board. He is a director of the Bank of Claremore, and, as an index to his professional standing, holds the presidency of the State Board of Dental Examiners, under appointment of Governor C. N. Haskell. As a recreation the Doctor indulges in agriculture, and, as a combination of country and urban surroundings, his homestead is ideal in its improvements and appointments. He is an enthusiast on the subject of standard and high-grade roadsters, and has in his stables some fine specimens of trotters.
    On August 12, 1892, Dr. Bryan was united in marriage at Pryor Creek, Indian Territory, to Miss Rachael B. Mayes, daughter of William H. Mayes, and niece to Joel B. Mayes, ex-chief of the Cherokees, both men prominent in the affairs of the Cherokee Indian Nation. The two children born of this union are Joseph Lucullus and Mamie Alexander Bryan.

THE CLAREMORE RADIUM WELLS COMPANY was organized in 1904 at Claremore, Rogers county, to bore for oil and illuminating gas. The well was struck in 1903 at a depth of 1,600 feet and a flow of mineral water found, so offensive in odor and

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rank in taste, and so destructive to paint, metals and other materials that the people of the town declared that the enterprise was a nuisance. In the little creek where the water ran waste, frogs, turtles, snakes, trees and other vegetation were killed; but the larger animals, such as horses, cattle, hogs and dogs, who simply waded through it, were cleaned of skin diseases, their cuts and bruises were healed and a general purification set up. It then occurred to the people of the vicinity that human beings might likewise profit, and several remarkable cures of blood diseases and impurities were effected. A human stream of the efflicted [afflicted?] soon set in, the waters were analyzed, a few of the progressive citizens of Claremore raised the money to build bath houses, and now the enterprise is on a substantial basis, founded on the accompaniment of numerous cures of long-standing and serious cases. Flowing at the rate of two thousand barrels per day, warmed to a bathing temperature by the burning sulphur in mid-earth, gathering in its ascent the disease-slaying elements of sulphur, hydrogen sulphide gas, calcium chloride, iron, salt and magnesia, Radium is certainly a remarkable health-giving water.
    An analysis of the water by Edward H. Keiser, professor of chemistry at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, resulted in the following report: "I have made a careful analysis of the artesian well water sent to me and find it to be highly charged with hydrogen sulphide gas. This gas burns with a pale blue flame and gives out the odor of burning sulphur; before burning the gas has the odor of decaying eggs. This is the same gas that is present in the water of Sulphur Springs, Virginia, and other famous spring waters. It has medical qualities and is valuable on this account. The water, when first drawn, has a green, yellowish color. On standing a black sediment collects on the bottom of the vessel, and if the water is exposed to the air a white precipitate of sediment slowly forms throughout the entire body of the water. This is due to the liberation of finely divided sulphur from the gas (hydrogen sulphide) in the water. The black sediment that settles, put (as soon as the water stands) into a corked bottle, is chiefly iron sulphide, but contains a little zinc sulphide. There is in solution in this water, besides the hydrogen sulphide gas already mentioned, a large quantity of mineral salts. The most common of these is common salt, or sodium chloride, of which there are over 1,800 grains to the gallon. Next comes calcium chloride, of which there are over 200, and magnesium chloride, 110 grains to the gallon. There are smaller amounts of other salts. The water contains no sulphur in solution, and in that respect differs from most mineral waters. I find the quantity of hydrogen sulphide in solution to be 6, 864 grains per gallon, which can be driven out by boiling. From the chemical analysis I should judge this to be a valuable medicinal sulphur mineral water."

WILLIAM JASPER PERDUE, proprietor of the Claremore Radium Wells Company, is a native of Salem, Indiana, born on the 31st of March, 1862, son of Phillip W. and Sarah S. (Thompson) PerDue. His father was a well known merchant of that place, and he received his education in its public schools. As a young man he went west and entered the employ of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company as a brakeman on a freight train. His run was on the division between Topeka, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, but after a short service in the capacity named he was promoted to be freight conductor. Mr. PerDue was thus employed until 1884, when he assumed a similar position with the Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain road, in the following year being transferred to its passenger service as conductor on the central division. Mr. PerDue faithfully performed the duties of that position for seventeen years, or until the time of his investments in the Radium Wells Company at Claremore. When the mineral waters now controlled by the company were first brought to the surface by deep boring they were so offensive because of their strong impregnation with sulphur and hydrogen sulphide gas that they were declared by the townspeople as a nuisance;

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but as their wonderful purifying and healing properties were discovered they commenced to attract ailing and diseased visitors, until they are now the basis of a private health resort, which is obtaining wide note and adding to the standing and growth of the town itself. Mr. PerDue, as president of the promoting company, is proving himself a popular and competent manager. In 1881 Mr. PerDue was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth J. Steele, of Topeka, Kansas, and their two children are Ethel S., now Mrs. R. H. Kistler of St. Louis, Missouri, and Pearl, now deceased.

HARRY JENINGS, lawyer and postmaster of Claremore, Rogers county, was for years one of the most prominent men connected with the Cherokee Nation, whether in business or official life, legal or journalistic matters, or as a stalwart and untiring Republican leader and organizer. For the past nine years he has resided in Claremore, has been a prime factor in the progress of education, agriculture and commerce, and, under statehood, is still the same able, strong and liberal citizen, always alert and busy, but never too absorbed to neglect any matter which promises to advance the well being of his community.
    Postmaster Jenings is a fine type of the Americanized Englishman, born in London July 28, 1854, son of John Richards Jenings, a manufacturer. His other (formerly Eliza King) was the daughter of the land steward of the Marquis of Hastings, a public position of responsibility and honor. The son received his education at the preparatory and collegiate institute located at St. John's Wood, a suburb of London, and was employed in England as bookkeeper with the Bickle Furniture Company of Hastings, being thus engaged until he became a resident of the United States. His first location was in Chicago, but instead of continuing toward the west he retraced his steps and settled at Midland, Canada, there becoming bookkeeper for the C. Beck Lumber Company. But the wide west drew him, and in 1888 he commenced a prospecting tour which covered a year's time and much of the country of California. He finally located at Bartlesville, Indian territory (now Washington county, Oklahoma), and became bookkeeper for Johnson and Keeler, general merchants and stockmen, who also transacted a considerable banking business in the line of Indian payments. In the meantime Mr. Jenings had been studying law with his usual energy and aptitude, and in 1892 was admitted to practice, opening his first office at Bartlesville. He also founded its first newspaper, the Bartlesville Magnet, now known as the Examiner, and conducted it with good judgment for some time. Among its other effects it added to his strong standing as a Republican.
    Upon his appointment as United States commissioner for the third district of Indian Territory Mr. Jenings disposed of his newspaper, and in 1899 removed to Claremore. While holding the commissionership he was very active and strongly influential in the support of the statehood movement, and is considered one of the creators of the commonwealth. He was the first secretary of the Republican organization of the Cherokee Nation, and has been a member of all the important standing committees of his party. The postmaster has also been an active and practical promoter of the industries, agriculture and commerce of his residence communities. He was a pioneer in the development of the Cherokee oil and gas fields, personally inducing numerous good citizens to settle in the country under the generous land-grant inducements offered by the Indian council. He has served as secretary of the Claremore Commercial Club and of the Claremore County Fair Association, and has held the same position with the Claremore Athletic Association and the Claremore Odd Fellows' Building Association, while his leadership in educational matters is indicated in that he is chairman of the Claremore School Board. His commission as postmaster dates from February 1, 1905, and his courtesy and efficiency as a government official have since been in constant evidence.
    Postmaster Jenings has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Millicent

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Sneath, of Penetanguishene, by whom he became the father of the following: Alfred H.; Eunice Florence, now wife of Walter Downing, of Muskogee, Oklahoma; Ethel Mary, Mrs. Homer Needles, of the same place; Lucy Mary; and Wilfred, a machinist in the employ of the Grand Trunk Railway Company. The second marriage was with Miss Emma Hobart, of Marseilles, Illinois, and the children of this union are Winifred, Gywnne Hobart and Kathlene and Evelyn (deceased). Mr. Jening's present wife was Miss Lillie Conley, of Caney, Kansas. With his official duties and his many outside interests and responsibilities, the postmaster is a very busy man; yet he finds time to range through a wide field of literature and general reading and has both an extensive and a select library.

GEORGE W. EATON. A retired business man of Claremore, Rogers county, George W. Eaton is a pioneer of the city and perhaps its main builder. He was born in Henderson, Rusk county, Texas, on the 15th of December, 1845, being a son of John C. and Cincinnati Caroline (Melton) Eaton. He is the son of a mechanic and received the usual common-school education in his Texas home, and was still a student when he enlisted for service in the Confederate army. He first joined the infantry branch, but on account of his youth and ill health was unable to perform his duties in the ranks. Later, however, he joined a cavalry regiment, Morgan's Battalion, commanded by Colonel Parsons of Steele's brigade, and remained in the service until the disbandment of the command in May, 1865. During this period he participated in the Yellow Bayou engagement, and was assigned to various points in Texas for the succeeding two years.
    On Christmas of 1867, about two weeks after he had celebrated his twenty-second birthday, Mr. Eaton located a mile and half below the Arkansas line in Indian Territory, near what is now the Oklahoma state line. He then removed to Batie Prairie, remaining there until May, 1874, engaged in farming and as a salesman for the Musgrove and Jackson Tobacco Manufacturing Company, his field in the latter capacity including Indian territory and Texas and his goods not only tobacco but various articles of merchandise. His next removal was to Claremore Mound, five miles north of the present city site, which is historically famous as the last battle ground of the Cherokee and Osage Indians. Mr. Eaton there located on a fine tract of 700 acres which he skillfully cultivated and wisely improved until 1896, when he moved to Claremore, which was than a town only in name, and commenced its substantial development by erecting its first brick store in which he installed his stock of general merchandise. He afterward established a grocery, erected other creditable buildings, and in a dozen ways promoted the growth and solid advancement of Claremore.
    In 1903 Mr. Eaton organized a company for the purpose of developing the adjacent oil and gas fields. His first deep drilling of 1,095 feet resulted in a strong flow of water; another vein of water was tapped at 1,100 feet and still a third at 1,105 feet. Although it was found that the water was highly charged with salt, sulphur and gas, it was at first generally declared that the failure to strike oil rendered the work entirely profitless; but on a more careful and scientific investigation of the water its properties were found to be purifying, stimulating and decidedly medicinal. Mr. Eaton was tireless in his experiments and investigations. For instance, he subjected a mangy and sick dog to five baths and the animal quickly took a new lease of vigorous life. In fact, he was convinced that it was business policy to stop boring for oil and utilize these wonderful waters which he had accidentally tapped, and despite some adverse opinions and not a little opposition he built bath houses, and established a health resort which has brought fame to the town itself. The so-called Radium water is carried to the health seeker at a pressure of fifty-two pounds, and its pronounced curative powers are now beyond question. Mr. Eaton's wife known before marriage as Nancy Elizabeth Williams, was related to the famous Cherokee family of [p. 500] Wards, and is now deceased. The four children of their union are Caroline; James Calvin; Martha P., now Mrs. M. York, of Claremore; and Joel Merritt Eaton.