It's Dark Corner, Not Dark Corners!

New residents in the area often refer to the intersection of Texoma Park Rd and McDuffee Rd (now erroneously labeled McDeffee) as, "Dark Corners." That is strictly Taboo With the natives. That corner was originally known as "Goat ranch Corner" (25). The area northeast of that intersection was a huge goat ranch before the railroad was built. The road to the north was a mere trail until some times in the 1950's. It didn't connect with the state park.

The Rooster Creek Bridge was under construction when Lake Texoma went over the spillway in 1957. I know because I was working at the bridge and was having to wet down the concrete roadbed by pulling five gallon buckets full of water out of the lake. The lake covered the road and shut down the project.

The bridge was originally over the South Canadian River between Norman and Purcell. Monroe Barwick, Jr. crashed through it in 1953 while driving a Uke for Amis Brothers Construction Company. It was repaired, reopened and then abandoned when the I-35 Bridge was completed. It was then moved to Rooster Creek and assembled where it now stands.

The store at the above mentioned intersection was built by Dick Kyle and was named "Four Corners Grocery". When the employees answered the phones they would say "Four Corners". When Dr. Calvin Beams Jr. bought the store, he changed the name to "Dark Corner General Store" (24). Some of the previous clerks went to work for Calvin and they would answer the phone by saying, "Dark Corners!"

The Dark Corner School (19) was located slightly more than a mile to the east of "Goat Ranch Corner" on the south side of the road. The property was owned by William Noah "Noge" McCuan, son of Isaac Right McCuan. Noge built his house on the hill, on the south side of the road, just west of what is now called "Old Indian Trail Rd." It had one room on the front of the house that didn't have a connecting door to the rest of the house. It was built to house the teacher. Incidentally that old home place is still in the McCuan Family and has been for more than 100 years.

Great Grandfather Noge said the reason he wanted the school was for his grandchildren. He didn't want them growing up like his children with no place to go to school. In recent years three of Noge McCuan's descendants, Joey McWilliams, Megan Dillow and my grandson, Jerreck Moody McWilliams have been awarded the prestigious Parson's Scholarship at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Some of the first teachers at Dark Corner were: Buck Strickland 1910, Ora Bray 1911, Maud (Arrington) McCuan 1912, Hattie Bell (Steel) Hoggard 1913, Mahala (Webber) Vann 1914, and Guy Massey 1915.

The school was moved in 1915 from its original location, which was north of the railroad on what is now known as "Timberline Trail". It was on the northeast corner where Timberline Trail turns east. Logs were put down and the structure was slowly inched forward on the rolling logs by pulling it with teams of horses. The logs had to be constantly brought from the back and placed in front of the structure. Doyle McGarr's grandfather was the one in charge of the task. At a sandy place in the "road" the logs refused to roll. That necessitated putting down boards under the logs. At that time the road followed the crest of the hill to the east.

Guy Massey also taught in 1916 at the new location, making him one of the few, if not the only one, who taught for more than one year. After that the teachers were Mona March 1917, Naomi Show 1918, Findley Reeves 1919, Velma Barker 1920, Robert Mehaney 1921, Maud Henry 1922, Elise Cornelison 1923, Edna May Jones 1924.

These dates and names are open to debate. Since I wasn't born until 1938 all of this occurred before my time and I have to rely on information that I have compiled over the past 30 years. In 1927, the school incorporated with Woodville.

I'll list the names of some of the school children in the picture where they are standing in front of the school. On the left, starting at the front is Geraldine (Wheeler) McCuan, Ben Wheeler, Jewel (Russell) Mann, Claty (Lemmons) Russell, Emma Ray and Alice (McCuan) McWilliams. On the right, holding the bell is Monroe Russell. Behind Monroe are John Wheeler, Dillard Lemmons, Zona Ward and Linny Sullivan. The young man in the front petting the dog is Fred Lemmons.

Several years ago I took the picture and showed it to Claty (Lemmons) Russell, widow of Monroe Russell. She got out a big magnifying glass and started studying the picture. I asked her if she recognized anyone. She replied, "Why yes, that's Monroe holding the bell." She systematically identified others in the picture. Then to my surprise, she stated, "And that's Fed, with old Troop and old Rush, they were littermates to old Jeff and old Jake." I was totally amazed that she not only recalled the names of the two dogs in the picture, she also remembered the entire litter.

The other picture was taken on the north side of the school. (The front of the school faced to the east.) The arrow points to my mother, Alice (McCuan) McWilliams.

Some of the school board members at Dark Corner were: Isaac Lemmons, Moody McCuan and wife, Eunice (Sullivan) McCuan. These last two were the parents of my mother, Alice (McCuan) McWilliams. Moody was the son of Noge and grandson of Isaac Right.

The Old Woodville Reunion that I attended at the KYCC building the summer of 2002 was probably the catapulting force that thrust me into this tangled web of memories. It was on that occasion, while reminiscing with some truly old timers that I realized that if I didn't undertake this task it would probably continue to lie dormant.

We all have treasured memories, but they don't always harmonize. However, I have tried to document everything even though I am not allowed to, "quote" from some of my file cabinet full of ancient sources which date back to 1898. To the best of my knowledge and with a clear conscience I can truthfully say: "There is absolutely no fiction intended in these stories."