The first field station superintendent, Ellery "Frank" Chilcott, said there was a lone cottonwood on the grounds of the research station when he arrived. The tree marked the grave of Ed Jennings, who had been buried there in 1895 following the shoot out between Ed, his brother, John, and Temple Houston and Jack Love.⁶ Fairview, as the cemetery was called, was probably used first about 1893; in 1905 Woodward city officials replaced it with the purchase of a new cemetery, Elmwood, located in the next section south and west. There had been concern over title to Fairview as it was on a school section, and it was also poorly platted and arranged, lacking proper surveying into lots, driveways, and walks. Lots were ready in Elmwood by December, 1905, as Billy Bolton's Woodward News reported: "Those desiring to purchase cemetery lots may now do so by calling on city clerk, Fyffe, as the plot is ready for dispersal. Early comers secure choice. All one price, ten dollars each."⁷

Some remains may have been moved from Fairview to Elmwood at this time, but it was not until the land was chosen as the site for the field station that there was an organized approach to moving the graves, a real necessity after E.C. Chilcott, Frank's father who also worked for the Department of Agriculture in charge of Dry Land Investigation, visited Woodward in November, 1913, and located the new station's administration building on top of the old cemetery.⁸

The original cottonwood tree, said to mark Ed Jennings' grave, near the first headquarters and superintendent's home. (All photos courtesy U.S.D.A. Research Station unless otherwise noted.)

Ellery Franklin Chilcott was the first superintendent at the Experiment Station acting in that capacity until his death in 1939.

In February, 1914, Woodward County Commissioners awarded a contract to Mooreland undertaker C.L. Lambert, who had submitted the low bid of $6.75 to disinter and re-bury each body. Officials estimated the remains of about 65 people would be moved. Relatives of the known dead would be billed for this expense, but in the case of unknowns, and there were several of these due to Woodward's early and deserved reputation as a "little Dodge City," the county paid for removal. Lambert later told friends in Mooreland that "lead poisoning" was the cause of death for many of those "planted" on the hills.⁹

Plant geneticist John B. Sieglinger arrived in Woodward in 1915 to take charge of the sorghum and broomcorn improvement. "Sorghum had a crooked head that bent to one side when it was ripe," Winona Chilcott said. "Mr. Sieglinger decided the head should be erect and stand up straight so it could be harvested easier [mechanically by combine or header rather than by hand]. We watched that erect-headed sorghum develop. Two or three generations were grown in the green house to speed things up."¹³ By 1921 "sixty-eight new varieties of grain sorghums brought from the dry countries of Asia and Africa" could be found growing in Woodward under Sieglinger's care.¹⁴ More varieties were added and by 1928 Chilcott observed, "I think it is safe to say there are more varieties of kaffirs, milos, and broom corns grown here than any other place in the world .... The Experiment Station sells at reasonable prices many bushels of pure seed."¹⁵

Because of the emphasis on sorghum, the principal field day at the early experiment station was in the fall when the crop was ready for harvest. Field days were giant open houses. Area farmers, ranchers, and other agri-business people came to see the research in progress and hear lectures from agriculture leaders and scientists. They greeted old friends and shared their picnic lunches on the grounds. Often the station furnished bunches of grapes for dessert, and visitors were encouraged to guess how many different varieties were offered.

For at least twenty years those visitors expected to hear "Sieg" discuss the various plots of sorghums, and, as indicated by the 1924 Farmers' Day agenda, they also viewed broomcorn experimental plots, saw "results of different dates of planting, spacing of plants in rows, etc.; varieties of cowpeas and other crops grown; methods of cross-breeding and fertilization to secure new and better varieties; the orchard and vineyard and the many kinds of trees and ornamental shrubs that are being grown on the grounds."¹⁹ Sorghum research would continue until the early 1970s.²⁰

Workers at the station stacked sorqhum which dominated early research and was the "principal hay crop of the Southwest.''

The trees and shrubs viewed by field day visitors in 1924 were the pet project of Chilcott. "He wanted the station to look pretty in addition to being a research site. He felt the same about a farm too, that people could get their farms to look good. The station was a showplace to inspire individual owners."²¹ In keeping with the showplace approach, one employee recalled Chilcott's instructions, "Never leave a weed."²² Chilcott's philosophy was reflected in a caption found in a photograph album which shows projects done in the mid-1930s: "The more difficult it is to grow trees and flowers, the more value people place upon them. In the dry Southwest they are beyond price."²³ The album was kept by longtime station foreman John Brenner.

The first ornamental tree and shrub plantings were done "due to Supt. Chilcott's love of trees and his tireless efforts to develop this phase of work 'between times' as so much farm improvement must be done," a contemporary story noted.²⁴ At field day in 1924 more than 50 varieties of shade and ornamental trees, and as many shrubs, grew on the grounds where once there had been the single cottonwood. In the orchard more than 50 varieties of peaches, 35 varieties of apples, several plums, apricots, pears, and 120 varieties of grapes were exhibited to visiting farmers and their wives.²⁵

From 1931 (above) to 1935 (below), the dramatic growth of shrubbery around the superintendent's house illustrated the aesthetic and practical advantages of rural home beautification on the Southern Plains.

As the trees grew so too did the nature and scope of the station. The two were sometimes in conflict. Grace Hunter Adams, Mrs. Chilcott's sister, recalled: "Frank's love of those trees was so intense that he could not bear to see one destroyed as was often needed as the station changed. There was a standing joke to the effect that if trees had to be removed he would wait until he must be gone on a visit to one of the six other stations he supervised in Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, or Colorado. He marked the trees and left the order that they be removed while he was away."²⁶

In 1938 Locke began such a project with a search for a tomato that would grow faithfully on the arid Southern Plains. He crossed a Porter tomato with a Danmark, using the Porter as the female parent. A selected F-2 plant was crossed with Break 01 Day. Several generations of tomatoes later, in February, 1950, Locke introduced the Westernred, a tomato that would bear fruit almost without fail. Locke, who was allergic to tomatoes, depended on his wife to taste, cook, and evaluate the many tomatoes produced between 1938 and 1950.²⁹

"Winona fixed artichokes one time. She cooked them, and put a little butter over them" Grace Adams said, "but they were rather bland."³⁶ Undoubtedly Mrs. Chilcott served them to Marum on occasion since, "the last Saturday night of every month was Judge Marum's. He always came to dinner at the station then."³⁷

The neat fields of grains, shrubs, and vegetables reflected Superintendent Chilcott's desire to have "the station look pretty in addition to being a research site."

Another of Marum's interests involved more than just planting a few artichokes. This one doubled the size of the station. It was another scheme designed to free farmers from dependence on wheat and beef cattle. Registered herds of dairy cows, pigs, and chickens were certain to bring prosperity, Marum believed. He had once told a Kansas newspaper, "It took us 40 years to learn that 30 acres of land were necessary to produce a ten dollar range cow, while four acres properly cultivated will feed a pure-bred Holstein. The Holstein will give you 18,000 pounds of milk a year, and give you a pure-bred calf for good measure."³⁸

Local pride in the research station was seen in this billboard two miles east of Woodward, erected about the same time, 1919, that a dairy herd (below) was established on what became the Woodward High School campus.

In 1919 Congress appropriated $10,000 to establish a livestock department at the Woodward field station. But, according to an editorial by Marum, "This could not be used because the bill failed to authorize the erection of buildings to shelter the animals."³⁹ Marum was not to be denied and continued lobbying for the new department. On February 23, 1921, Senator Gore telegraphed him: "The Senate agreed to my amendment today appropriating ten thousand dollars for livestock breeding station at Woodward, and authorized the Secretary to expend three thousand dollars in building stalls, sheds, etc. I am on the conference committee and feel sure of keeping the amendment in the bill."⁴⁰

A special election was held June 18, 1921, to approve the land purchase for the dairy. Eighty-five percent of the voters favored the new "park" as the cow pasture was called in the papers.⁴³ By the end of June, 1921, Chilcott reported at a meeting of the Woodward Chamber of Commerce, "The cows have arrived." He added, "I do want to say however that the wise, untiring, General through all the years and all the hardships has been Judge D.P. Marum."⁴⁴

The Holstein bull, Count Piebe Watson Hero 311691, and his harem--six young cows, five two-year-old heifers, and a heifer calf-quickly settled in at Woodward under the care of C.J. Stauber, who had accompanied them on their train trip from Beltsville, Maryland, and had broken his hand while unloading them at Woodward.⁴⁷ For field days thereafter, the station could investigate whether or not "sugar beets are good cow feed?" and report "that in twenty-three days from planting, sudan grass will produce more pasture than can be had from other grasses, even if planted as late at July 1st, and that the cows pastured on this grass yield a big supply of milk of good quality."⁴⁸ This was just the kind of information which must have pleased Marum.

Pleasing him was important. "He saved the field station once when Congress failed to appropriate the money," Mrs. Chilcott said. "Town leaders tidied him up, he never cared much about how he looked but was devoted to the station, and sent him off to Washington. When he came back Congress had appropriated the money."⁴⁹ Before his death in April, 1929, Marum saw the station double in size again, when in 1928, "a tract of 240 acres to the west of the station was purchased by the state for small grain breeding and variety experiments and the expansion of tillage and rotation experiments."⁵⁰

Stalks of wheat were gathered and stored in Barn #1 for testing to find selections that "had stiffer straw, does not shatter so easily, is more disease resistant, and gives a higher yield."

A second attempt to close the station occurred in 1934 as New Deal programs were put in place. The headlines of the Woodward Daily Press for January 5, 1934, screamed, "Field Station Out." A telegram from Will Rogers the next morning reassured, "Am advised that the only station eliminated is the one at Lawton. Yours intact." He was wrong. A telegram from Senator Gore-this time his message was not the usual good news-confirmed the Woodward station was not funded in the 1935 budget. All the Great Plains stations, in fact, were out of favor as part of the recovery scheme. The plan to close them was met with such a storm of protest from farmers, ranchers, and chambers of commerce that by late February they were again in the budget. The dairy division, which reported to different people in Washington, was not in danger of closing in 1934.⁵¹

The Woodward station is the gateway to the Southern Plains. Practically all plant material, whether sorghums, wheat grasses or trees is first tested here. If it proves promising it is further tested at stations with considerable less rainfall at Garden City, Kans., Dalhart and Big Springs, Tex., and at Tucumcari, N.M. If it proves good at these stations also it is distributed to farmers.⁵⁴

This aerial view, taken in 1936, shows: 1. field planted to trees in contours; 2. variety test of roses; 3. demonstration windbreaks; 4. nursery, 5. garden; 6. tests of trees; 7. vineyard; 8. field crops; 9. tree tests; 10. tests of farming methods; and 11. windbreak along edge of station.

 

In time there were 500 such cooperators.

To head this new mission, agronomist David A. Savage transferred from Fort Hays. At Woodward he developed methods for reseeding the abandoned farm and crop land, methods which would be applied to nearly five million acres in the Southern Great Plains. Not only did the staff expand, but once again the size of the station increased. "In 1938, a 480-acre tract was added by government purchase for the expansion of grass and other investigations. The dam on Spring Creek was built in 1938 and the irrigation system completed the next year."⁵⁹

Before grass breeding and reseeding began, the station needed native grass plants. Harley Brown, who had worked for Johnson under the National Youth Administration program, helped gather these. "Collections were made all over the Southern Great Plains," Brown said. "We would drive the roadsides looking for grass." Among the grasses assembled were buffalo grass, side bluestem, sand love, switch grass, side-oats grama, blue grama, and Indian grass.⁶⁰

By the 1930s research into grass selection and production was added to the scope of the research station. Here, varieties were tested in controlled plots.

Maurice Peterson became the first grass breeder at the station in 1939. From then until 1942 he assisted in the development of seed supplies of sand lovegrass, developed Tucson side-oats grama, and refined several greenhouse techniques for growing grass seedlings. He was followed by Dr. Jack R. Harlan from 1942 to 1951. Dr. Harlan and his associates were highly successful in the development of improved grasses such as Southland bromegrass, Caddo switchgrass, Coronado side-oats grama, and Midland Bermuda. His collection and study of Old World bluestems attracted national and international attention. Subsequent grass breeders were Dr. Bob Kneebone, Don Hutchison, Dr. Joe Hunt, and Dr. Paul Voight, the last (1973) grass breeder by that title. Development of a more palatable weeping lovegrass resulted from their research.⁶¹

Grass and cattle came to dominate research activities after World War II. This excellent stand of weeping lovegrass was planted in 1942 and photographed in 1948.

In 1939, as the station was expanding both in size and mission, Superintendent Chilcott was killed in an automobile accident. Chilcott would be called "the Boss" by former employees almost fifty years later.

The first Hereford steers were released at the Fort Supply range on December 7, 1941.⁶⁴ Field day hereafter included pasture tours, and for several years, a Clay Potts barbecue at noon. Potts, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was the "recognized dean of barbecuers."⁶⁵ Crowds attending the range tours might number from 1,500 to 3,000 people. Each would be served a barbecue sandwich, thick onion slice, and beans. They viewed results of grazing experiments and saw demonstrations of ways to control sagebrush, skunk brush, and shinnery.⁶⁶

Cecil Armstrong, who worked for the station from 1938 to 1976, retiring in charge of brush control, said, "All weed control was done through cooperative work with ranchers who stood the cost of spraying. We were limited in area to do ground plots on the station ranch because of grazing experiments."⁶⁷ Cars with license tags from Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, and sometimes as far distant as Minnesota, as well as those from Oklahoma, formed a dusty caravan to these ranches. At headquarters in Woodward, range grasses were displayed to illustrate that "the condition and stocking rate of range depends upon the relative amounts of desirable and undesirable grasses."⁶⁸

Over 4,000 acres of range near old Fort Supply were added to the research station holdings in 1940. A survey party (above) prepared for fencing of the land. At the end of each grazing year, farmers and stockmen inspected steers at the ranch (below).

 A story in 1946 promised that field day visitors "will have the opportunity of inspecting newly developed strains of grass, and the grass breeding nurseries and a 150 acre grass cafeteria where beef cattle grazed free choice on 40 different species of grass."⁶⁹

Field Day was canceled in 1947 because of the Woodward tornado. It was also canceled in 1950 due to a "wartime economy [Korean Conflict] which is expected to result in a 10% cut in funds for all non-military government agencies," Savage announced.⁷¹ Such cuts did not halt construction of a new administration building on the site of the original office building which had been badly damaged by the 1947 storm. The old structure also had been partially burned in 1948 and had become infested with termites.⁷² During construction the original use of the land became evident, according to Allen Schneider, who worked on the project. "We'd hear glass breaking [turn-of-the-century coffin lids] as the dirt work was done, and then we'd know to look for bones and handles from the caskets."⁷³

Controlling sand sagebrush was a major objective of research activities. Mowing demonstrations were conducted at field days (above) and comparisons in weight gain we're conducted to prove the advantages of sage control.

A story in the Woodward Daily Press reported the skeletons of two men were found, "one a big man [rumors persist that he was seven feet tall] who was still wearing his coat although all other clothing had deteriorated. Bits of light colored hair clung to his skull. [He's remembered as a red head.] The other man's bones harbored the [45 caliber] slug and several shot."⁷⁴

By 1950, when the new office was built, the ten dollar range cow, of which judge Marum had once warned-or at least her better-bred successor-was winning in the competition with the Holstein for grazing rights on the Southern Great Plains. E.H. (Pat) McIlvain recalled: "When I came to work in Woodward County there were about 13,000 people and 13,000 head of cattle in the county. When I retired in 1977 there were about 20,000 people and 105,000 head of cattle. From 1940 to 1977 there was a conversion to beef cattle. We at the field station have always taken credit for part of it. The type of farming changed from pig, dairy cow, chicken to specialized operations."⁷⁵

Other changes were coming, with tillage experiments continuing under the direction of Oklahoma State University staff rather than field station professionals after the 1950s. More than 500 one-tenth acre plots, farmed with teams of horses, were planted to crops such as wheat, milo, broomcorn, cotton, peanuts, cow peas, corn, guar beans, and grass in these experiments.⁷⁸

Pat McIlvain (above) served as superintendent of the research station for nearly twenty-five years. He and other experts demonstrated range management skills at well-attended field days at the Fort Supply range.

In September, 1954, Pat McIlvain was named superintendent.⁷⁹ During the nearly 25 years of McIlvain's leadership, research focused on range management with the Fort Supply ranch becoming increasingly important. Among the successes he listed were the use of weeping love grass as an intensively managed pasture, the pioneer research on 2,4-D for control of sage and pasture weeds, and investigation into supplemental feedings.⁸⁰

The range cow's victory was complete.

The station emerged with a new director, Dr. Phillip L. Sims, who became superintendent in 1977; a new name, the Southern Plains Range Research Station in 1978; and a "mission to increase the efficiency of red meat production from rangeland consistent with perpetuation of range resources."⁸³ In keeping with this goal the station introduced two improved Old World bluestem grasses, WW-Spar and WW-Iron Master, in 1982 and 1987 respectively, and weaned two, ten-month old, 1,000 pound calves in the 1983-84 calf crop, well over the average weaning weight of 450 to 600 pounds.⁸⁴

Phenomenal results have come to be expected from the USDA field station at Woodward, for example, the harvest of $70,000 worth of native grass seed after spraying shinnery oak range south of Arnett with 2-4-5T, about 1960 (above), or weaning two, ten-month-old 1,000 pound calves in the 1983-84 calf crop (photo courtesy Jim Shearhart).

Seventy-five years after its beginning, the station has approximately twenty employees and an annual budget of $750,000. The original 160-acre tract is probably the state's largest arboretum with over 10,000 varieties of trees and shrubs having been tested here.⁸⁵ In a greenhouse shaded by what could be the first three Chinese Elms planted in the United States, agronomist Chet Dewald starts Eastern gammagrass as John Sieglinger once sprouted sorghum and Lowell Locke tomatoes. Dewald says he will spend the rest of his life improving the grass which has been reported to be capable of producing fifty tons of hay per acre. In the past, eight tons of hay per acre has been phenomenal, but this is just the type of help farmers and ranchers have come to expect from the USDA research station at Woodward.

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