John William "Bill" Smart

Bill never married, working in Oklahoma most of his life. He lived much of the time with Frances and Roscoe Pafford at Range.

One year, Bill, Pete Kenney, Ota, George, and Margaret drove a herd of cattle from Texas to Clinton where they sold them at the stockyard.

With the help of his brothers George and Ota, Bill operated and worked in country stores in Texoma, Parkersburg, Clinton, Cloud Chief, Range, and Tyrone.

Bill first went to the Panhandle in 1918 to visit Charles while helping Roscoe and Frances move from Clinton to Range.

Bill and Roscoe started the Range Valley Gardens where they (and later Grover) grew fruits and vegetables on the first irrigated land in the Panhandle. People came to there to buy and they supplied local stores.

This endeavor was successful until World War II. The Range Dam washed out several times. In 1921 it was rebuilt by Roscoe, Ed Smith, Price Grubbs, and Sam Snyder.

Bill Strikes it Rich

In 1920, one of the first oil wells in the Oklahoma Panhandle was erected on land owned by Jacob Trent two miles northwest of Range near Charles's place. Men, including John Hildreth from Spearman, started the well. The drill was steam powered--W.A Hale attending the boiler. It was sold to Garner and Howard.

They sold shares to finance the endeavor. Bill Smart was one of those fortunate investors. When the well came in, he bought the finest suit in Guymon complete with top hat.

Click for Three Way Oil Well Picture

Bills Later Years

Bill went to Wenatchee, Washington for several years, working on farms and in fruit orchards. He remained close to his family.

In the 1950s, Bill worked as the Texas County Jailer, in Guymon.

In 1956 he retired and moved to his sister Amanda Taylor's place in Sentinel to take life easy.

Bills Passes On

Bill was laid to rest in June of 1957 at the cemetery in Port at the age of 80