“In 1900, after George had filed his claim, George went back in Kansas where George made his peace with his family and prepared to leave, along with hundreds of other Germans. They rounded up their cattle, their chickens, their horses, packed kraut cutters and Bibles, accordions and songbooks.” [1] And, on March 1, 1901, 65 Adventist families from the Lehigh (south of Wichita) area of Kansas moved by immigrant train to Shattuck. The railroad cars carried people and all their possessions, including animals, food, furniture, dishes, grain, baled hay, seed for planting, implements and tools.[2]

When They Arrived in Shattuck

“When the train arrived in Shattuck, the Germans were stunned by what they saw. Oklahoma looked like hell. The land was black and charred. The air was full of smoke, the smell putrid. Across the way, the grass of what was to be their new farms was burned, and for miles on the horizon there was nothing but sharp, black bristles.” “On this bewhiskered and blackened land, the Volga Germans would try to recreate what they had in Russia.”[1]

The Indian Departure

“The Indians – mainly Cherokee – who had been promised this land for eternity had left in a fiery fury. They had been betrayed at least three times by the American government. This latest land grab, which opened some of the last chunks of Cherokee Nation territory to homesteading, was agreed to by several tribal leaders, who accepted a promise of 160 acres a person in return for giving up the larger land base. But other Indians thought they were robbed.”[1]

“The Comanche felt the same way. Their small reservation was opened to settlement at the same time, leaving the Lords of the Plains with little but brochures from the government on how to become farmers. As the Indians walked away from the land, they burned everything in their wake, torching the grass.”[1]

The Anglo Reception

“The second day in Shattuck, a blizzard hit Oklahoma. It snowed for two days. The Germans camped near the train station but their animals strayed into the storm. They spent the next week collecting the beasts, but some died in the chill, with no grass to eat. Shopkeepers in Shattuck refused to sell to the Germans; others tried to pass an ordinance prohibiting the language from being spoken in the city limits. It seemed odd to the Anglo ranchers that these singing, beer-making, strangely dressed people hurried about their business as if predestined to the southern plains.”[1]

Settling In

“After arrival, they set to work building shelters for themselves and the animals. Sod huts were common. Spring came bringing severe weather and dust storms. A few people became discouraged and moved back to Kansas. The month of May brought moisture, so the homesteaders were able to plant. More rain came and things began to grow, bringing new hope to the people.”[2]

Discussion

It was into this colony of Vulga German- Russians as well as Anglo neighbors that my grandparents, William and Martha Kirmse, arrived in 1904.

Notes

1. Timothy Egan, ‘The WORST HARD TIME – The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the The Great American Dust Bowl’. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, , New York, New York. 2006. Chapter 4 High Plans Deutsch, page 68.
2. History of Oklahoma Conference. Downloaded from http://www.oklahomaadventist.org/article/21/about-us/history-of-oklahoma-conference.
3. See Appendix: Volga German-Russians for more details on the origins of the German-Russians who colonized in the Goodwin/Shattuck area of the Oklahoma Territory.