River Bottom Pecans

Moody McCuan (Daddy Moody) was born in Lipan, Texas September 17, 1882. He died on October 24, 1971. He was four years old when his father brought him to Indian Territory in 1887. They settled in Dark Corner and he spent most of his life there. He married Sarah Eunice Sullivan on July 31, 1904.

He owned 196 acres of land in the Washita River bottom that was covered by water when Lake Texoma was created. All but a few acres were in Marshall County between the Hwy. 70 Bridge and the railroad. He acquired the land in ten and twenty acre parcels over a 30 to 40 year period. When be bought a tract he would clear it of brush and leave only the best pecan trees. He planted corn, watermelons and tomatoes which he marketed. These crops were minor in comparison to the pecan crops. As soon as one parcel of land was paid off he would buy an additional acreage. He had a small acreage in Bryan County also, and decided to raise a crop of corn on it one year. The Washita River had a low-water crossing where he could easily cross with his team of mules, Jude and Jody. When harvest time came, the river was running bank full. He had to go all the way to Aylesworth to cross the river on the bridge that connected Madill to Durant. It took several trips to haul all of the corn home in a wagon. That was the last crop that he ever planted in Bryan County.

Moody McCuan had a "Dream & Vision." He dreamed of one day having a vast pecan orchard in the fertile bottom land of the Washita River.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified him that they were taking his land, he put up a noble but futile fight. He wasn't willing to settle for the small amount of money being offered. He claimed that his 216 paper shell pecan trees and all of the big native pecan trees had great value and were a source of income. He went to the court in Ardmore whit his records for 1940 and 1941, showing that he had cleared in excess of $4,000.00 per year for those two years. Naturally, he lost the case and they didn't pay him one cent for his trees. He literally begged them to let him harvest his crop in 1942, but that wasn't allowed and the trees were cut down, even though the lake didn't fill until 1945.

He was paid $49.00 per acre for his land and he had to pay his attorney fees out of that. Had he been allowed to harvest the pecans from 1942 until 1944, the crop would have probably brought more than what he received for his land. He was selling his native pecans for six cents a pound and the paper shells were bringing in nine cents a pound. What would they be worth today? In 1942 the price on pecans had jumped to 21 cents per pound.

Daddy Moody told me that the big tree would produce 1,000 pounds of pecans per year. He had another native tree that he called the "Pintail" that would produce 750 pounds per year. He also said that there were several trees that would yield 500 pounds per year. Just about every able bodied person in Dark Corner that wanted to work in the fall picked up pecans for him. In 1941 he was paying $1.00 per day for workers. My two older brothers, Rickard and Wendyl, ages 9 and 7 worked one day and were paid 50 cents each.

I have a newspaper clipping from a paper from the 1940 era that stated how progressive he was grafting the native pecan trees with the more desirable paper shell pecans.

The big pecan tree must have been a sight to see. I was told that Daddy Moody was never able to persuade anyone else to climb and thrash it. He had to cut a small sapling with a fork near the base that would hook over the limbs up in the big tree when the sapling was turned upside down. He would invert the sapling and hook the fork over the lowest limb then shimmy up the sapling. Then the sapling had to be raised and hooked over the next limb. From that point on he could climb up the trunk of the tree.

A long, but much smaller diameter sapling also had to be taken up the tree to use as a frail pole. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to make that climb.

On January 4, 2008, I discovered a young seedling tree that had nice size pecans on it. I ate a few of the nuts and found them to be very delicious. The flavor was very similar to a Burkett and the size and shape of the pecan was similar to that of a Burkett, but more oblong and less round. Every nut I measured was more than one inch in diameter.

A week or so later I showed the tree to my son John Moody and his son Jerreck Moody. I had already determined that I would collect some graft wood from this tree and attempt to propagate it for future posterity. Now came the task of selecting a name for the pecan. Jerreck Moody suggested we call it a "MOODY." As soon as he said it, I knew that would be the name that was most appropriate. Here we were, three generations all named after Moody McCuan.

Moody had made a name for himself grafting pecan trees. His oldest son. Red followed in his father's footsteps. After spending 30 years in the Navy, Fred settled down in Kingston, OK and grafted many trees with paper shell graft wood. His daughter Kay McCorstin & husband Robert Ross (Bobby) live on a fire acre tract in Kingston that has many paper shell trees that her father grafted to native stock. Kay has given me permission to graft the "MOODY" to some of the native trees. After all, Moody was her grandfather, too.

I've gone online and studied grafting techniques and watched video presentations and have no doubt that I can propagate this pecan. I will be using the "Bark Graft" technique and will be grafting to mature trees that are already producing the small natives. Once the grafts produce sufficient foliage the trees with be topped and only the new growth will remain. By using this method the grafts will start producing in three or four years.

No matter how great our plans, sometimes things just don't work out. Before I got around to grafting the Moody pecan, the county work crew came along and pushed it down with a bull dozer. They were in the process of clearing an old right-of-way with long range plans to re-open a road that has been closed for many years. The tree was several feet from the old roadbed and in no way would have interfered with the proposed new road. It was totally unnecessary to push it down. The agony that I felt when I discovered the tree lying on the ground in some way helped me relate to Daddy Moody's anguish as he watched them cut down his dream, and destroy his vision.

An interesting side note to the purchase of those 10 and 20 acre tracks of bottom land was a story related by my uncle Fred McCuan.

Moody's dad Noge McCuan was in Kingston one day and got in a conversation with Hamp Willis, the man responsible for Kingston moving to its present location. Noge told Hamp that his son Moody was going to lose his land because he couldn't pay off the note and the banker was going to foreclose and take possession of the land. A flood on the Washita River had probably wiped out his pecan crop and the banker wouldn't extend the mortgage.

Hamp Willis, a man of means, told Noge, "You tell that boy to come see me. He will make a crop in a year or two and be able to pay me back." Moody jumped on a horse and went to see Hamp. With a handshake Hamp let him have the money to pay off the note. When Moody walked into the bank in Old Woodville and paid the note the banker was furious. Moody's son Fred said that the banker was "Hoppin' Mad!" he thought he was going to get some prime bottom land at a bargain.

Recently as I was sitting in Gorrell's Barber Shop in Kingston I observed an antique mirror with the name, J. Hamp Willis on it. Suddenly it dawned on me as to where I probably got the name Willis. I'm sure my mother greatly appreciated what Hamp Willis had done for her father Moody. It's just a guess, but I guess that must have been why I was named Willis Moody. There is not another Willis in my ancestry so far as I know and after all, I am somewhat of a nut.