Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 13, No. 1
March, 1935
A TRIBUTE TO CHARLES F. COLCORD
By Walter Ferguson
Page 9
To pay a tribute to Charley Colcord is to pay a tribute to an epoch; to tell him good-bye is to say farewell to an age. To
review the crowded hours of his useful life is to see and feel in retrospect the colorful pageant of western drama and pioneer
romance. So conspicuous as a symbol of the old order, so typical of the builders on a firm foundation and so outstanding as
a trail blazer into uncharted wilds and unknown prairies as he was, a period of history seems wrapped in his shroud.
The story of Charley Colcord is an animate chronicle of a great American state. More completely and more emphatically than
any other man of this generation his name is etched in enduring fame on the corner-stone of Oklahoma's memory. As the lathe
of time turns on, more and more will those who follow in his footsteps learn to appreciate the heritage he left, and to meditate
at the shrine of his memory. As the story of his life unfolds and future generations learn of his works Charley Colcord will
take his place among Oklahoma immortals and the vacant niche in the Hall of Fame in Washington should receive him in enduring
marble to take his rightful place among the pioneers and the empire builders of American Commonwealths.
Down the Trail Together
The dramatic life of Colcord and the picturesque saga of Oklahoma began and grew together. Down the long trail they traveled
but never separated. Their allegiance to each other was founded in faith and while one has reached the end of the trail the
other goes on fondly remembering and deeply grateful. Oklahoma deeply misses her favorite son who meant so much in the days
of her youth, but vivid recollection of his superb courage, his sublime faith and his burning affection are engraved forever
on the heart of the Twin-Territories which he helped to mould into a proud American state.
When Colcord first saw Oklahoma there was little of promise of the state that was to be. To scan the barren prairies and to
push through the tangled woods required an almost supernatural gift to vision an empire.
Page 10
In fancy I can see Colonel Colcord as a youth leaving the last rim of civilization and plunging into the ford at Doan's Crossing
with hundreds of long-horned steers, milling wildly in the flood of the Red River—headed for the unknown in the old Chickasaw
Nation. I can see that weary trail breaking new paths through an uncharted domain to the banks of the Washita, where floods
halted them, wild Indians harassed them and vicious stampedes at midnight threatened both life and property. I can see him
again rushing the herds through the midst of the shifting sands of the South Canadian, and after sleepless days in the saddle,
swimming the herd in the crimson flood of the winding Cimarron.
Next in fancy imagine him stretched in repose, with the stars for a blanket and his saddle under his head—the herd bedded
down on the banks of the Arkansas, with the rail heads in striking distance, recounting the long days on the trail—storing
up memories of the land through which he had passed, and dreaming of the empire which he was to help to build. The trails
that Charley Colcord and his kind built through the Chickasaw Nation and the Cherokee Strip—the Washita, Canadian and Cimarron
that they conquered in their path, were the first dim traces of a civilization which was a burning challenge to the Last Frontier.
He Visioned Proud Cities
Such resolute and determined men as Colcord decreed that the frontier, the wilderness and the buffalo dotted plains must give
way to the plow; proud cities must rise on the sites near the waterholes, where herds were bedded down on their trek to the
hell-roaring Kansas towns. Colcord broke dim trails through the matted buffalo grass, which are now paved highways from north
to south. While crooning lullabies to milling herds to soothe them from an ever present desire to stampede, wonderful dreams
of future splendor were unfolded before his eyes. He saw with a vision that few men possess—an empire of steel and concrete
and barbed wire and forestation. He determined to be a vital, dominant factor in its creation.
When the last of the legal entanglements were cleared up, the Indian treaties abrogated and it was determined the last frontier
would surrender to the plow, Colcord cast his lot with the Boomers, who peopled old Oklahoma in a day. Before the sun had
set on a crowd, tented sprawling in the bend of the
Page 11
Canadian, Colcord was the leading citizen of Oklahoma City. When he came to the end of the trail—in Fairlawn, he had held
the title of First Citizen of Oklahoma City for an unbroken span—only five years less than a half century, and had added to
it the glittery lustre of the title "First Citizen of Oklahoma."
Plunging into the activities attendant upon the building of a primitive civilization among the wildflowers and the wild life,
Colcord cast his lot with law and order. Sensing that only determined and fearless men could wrest the destiny of the future
from the wild and lawless element who were seeking to terrorize the homesteaders and discourage the effort to bring firesides
to no-man's land, Colcord became the outstanding captain to marshal and organize resistance to banditry and license.
He Fought for Order
The effort to wrest control of the new territory from the vicious element who wanted the old order to continue, for the benefit
of those who wanted to build homes and rear families in security and peace, was not a thing to be accomplished in a day—or
without tremendous sacrifice and indomitable physical courage. There was no established order save a semi-martial law which
a handful of Federal troops lazily and intermittently enforced, a sort of vigilante arrangement, organized by the better element,
centered on Colonel Colcord as the leader of this signal challenge to the old order.
They did not arm him with proclamations, but rather with a Colt six-shooter, which Colcord was always reluctant—but never
afraid to use. As the first Chief of Police of Oklahoma City, enlightened by his experience in the hell-roaring towns of Abilene,
Ellsworth, Hays City and Wichita, he knew what to watch for to prevent the lawless order gaining the upper hand. As a result,
Oklahoma City launched her career with vastly less of the reign of terror that most towns the old frontier knew. With the
organization of peaceful, ordered government in the town where his primitive home was located, he was called into the larger
service as United States Marshal to subdue the hell-towns of the old Cherokee Strip.
With these roaring towns tamed, the beacon lights of civilization ablaze throughout the promised land, hearth fires lighted
Page 12
in countless new homes, Colonel Colcord dedicated himself to metropolitanism. He built for a permanency and not for froth
of cowtown booms. Looking down the streak of dust that was called Broadway, he saw the squalor of the crude saloon and honkatonk.
From the chili joints and greasy-spoon eating houses came anything but an inspiration for a city. The clink of gross glassware
and the rattle of poker chips did not sound like the builder's hammer. The lounging cowboy and the sleek gambler seemed ill
fitted to use in the mold of civic enterprise.
Kindred Spirits Hailed Him
Gathering about him some kindred spirits, fired with a like ambition, inspiring them to an almost religious fervor, he unfolded
a vision of a great city in the hazy clouds of tomorrow that would be the metropolitan center of a vast state.
At that time the whole of the Indian Territory had to be acquired. The Cherokee Strip was a cattle ranch and the Cherokee
and Arapaho country was an Indian reservation. The Kiowa and Comanche country which was to prove such an abundant feeder for
the future city, was the "Big Pasture." To see his dream come true all of these elements must be woven into one state if Oklahoma
City was to be the center. Under the obvious plan it was but twenty miles from the border.
Colonel Colcord lived to see the domain of the Choctaw, the empire of the Creek, the pastures of the southwest and the vast
reaches of the Cherokee Strip, with many other far-flung acres, welded into a single state, and the great city he loved and
lived for was within twenty miles of the center rather than the border. Single statehood, the union of the Twin Territories
made of Oklahoma City a metropolis in 1907, but the brain-child was born in 1889 in the mind of Colonel Colcord.
Urged Hotel Building
Determined to spare no effort that would result in the expansion of a great city, Colonel Colcord was one of the builders
of the first good hotel in his home town. Shortly before the Last Round-Up, he was the prime builder of the last great tavern.
When he built the structure which bears his name, it was a daring enterprise, but also a stalwart challenge—a definite line
dividing a village and a city. Throughout forty-five years the influence
Page 13
of Colonel Colcord never varied. He was the undisputed leader in every civic enterprise designed to contribute to the expansion
of his city. Twenty years ago he was one of the most potent influences in removing the state capital to the city he loved
so well. Oklahoma City is naming a park in his honor, but it would not be amiss to change the designation of the city to his
name.
In the virile, aggressive period of his life he expanded his activities so as to leave his permanent impress on the dominant
industry of the state and to become a pioneer in the discovery of the product for which Oklahoma is really famous. Prior to
the discovery of oil a few miles south of Sapulpa there were some small discoveries of petroleum and some minor explorations.
Aided Oil Development
With the advent of the Glenn Pool, Oklahoma became a major oil state, and the discovery well was drilled by three men—one
of whom was Charlie Colcord. The opening of Glenn Pool marked the beginning of modern, and metropolitan Tulsa, so Colonel
Colcord may be ranked as one of the founders of the Oil Capital as well as the State Capital.
The closing days of his life were crowned with a signal service to the state he loved. For many years he was President of
the Oklahoma Historical Society and earnestly and faithfully sought to preserve the colorful history he had helped to make.
He loved the romance, the traditions and the legends of the Oklahoma of yesterday. The beautiful Historical Society building
on the capitol grounds is one of the many monuments to him.
We may pay loving tribute to his memory today with futile words. They express in a small degree our sorrow at his passing
and our deep appreciation of his splendid life. However, the tribute that impressed me most of all was at his funeral service.
With beautiful music, with eloquent words, amidst a profusion of flowers, a last farewell to the plainsman, the pioneer, the
builder, was being said. A grizzled frontiersman lifted his arm to brush away a tear, and Chris Madsen, the greatest marshal
of all time, silently but eloquently rendered the supreme tribute.
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