Now this is not the Salt Creek Bridge but you will remember it looked just like this one and it took people to a lot of places like the water falls and the Phillips Park (another bunch of stories). This bridge was south of Shidler on OLD Highway 18, across Salt Creek, before the Highway got rerouted across the new bridge. Immediately south of the old bridge was a dirt road to the east, along the creek. That road went to the Shidler golf course, where Russell Whiles had a summer job as keeper of the "greens". I (thepioneerman) learned to play golf there and one of my best memories was Becky Sharp who was about the best golfer I ever played with. When her family got moved to Borger, Texas and the North Sea, Shidler lost a great family. It seems we lost a lot of families to those same towns plus Bartlesville.
Now back to Russell: The greens at this golf course were unique, made of oiled SAND! My job was to push a mower around the course and mow the tight spots near greens and tees, where the tractors could not mow...AND, to RAKE the greens! Raking a green was done by dragging a very heavy rake around the green (each green had one); beginning at the cup in the center and raking in concentric circles spiraling outward to the edge of the green. The rakes were heavy because they were cut
from a length of steel pipe, maybe 2 or 3 inches diameter and about 24 inches long. The pipe was split long-wise, and a long handle welded to one side of a half-pipe, with serrated teeth cut into the edge opposite the handle. After I raked each green with serrated spiral patterns, the golfers would use the smooth side of the same rake to drag a smooth putting path, from the cup out toward their ball.
Done for the day, I usually hoofed it down to the intersection by the bridge to wait for a ride. On this particular day, I spotted a HUGE wasp nest, very high in a tree by the road, and doing what boys do, I found a suitable rock to throw. My confidence level was low, thinking it mostly an impossible shot at
that angle and such a height, but my desire to try was strong.
The movie Field of Dreams had not been conceived, so the line had not been heard, "If you build it, they will come". In the case of wasps and their nests, more accurately, "If you bust it, they will
come"! I did, and they did! I turned on a dime...that Salt Creek Bridge was the only escape, my salvation! Mom picked me up on the other side of the bridge, that day, un-stung and triumphant, bragging even today on that throw!
Thanks Russell for a great story and a great memory.
What do you learn from the Osage?· Grass is always greener at a golf course besides ours in Shidler
· Growing up the grass seemed greener and we moved away but now the grass IS GREENER in the Osage
· Home is where the heart is, the Osage
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
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