Sometime during the middle of the depression, my Father, Murray "Spuds" Briscoe, was given the opportunity to become the wholesale gasoline dealer in Harmon County for the Continental Oil Company, aka "Conoco". I have no idea how he was able to buy a gas truck during the depression, probably with a loan from Emory Crow at the Gould Bank. For the next 30 or so years Spuds was a well known figure throughout the country driving the red and green truck with Conoco signs displayed. On Saturdays while most of the county was in town, he double parked his truck on Broadway hoping that one of his customers would pay him for the last delivery. You need to understand that during those days gas dealers didn�t send out monthly statements, just operated on "line-of-sight" collection. Of course most of the banks, grocery stores and in-town merchants operated on credit to the farmers because until harvest there was just no way the farmers could pay monthly. I guess that my Dad operated just like the farmers; he borrowed money from the bank. Times were tough, but he and my Mother, Leone, who was a school teacher, managed to keep solvent. During W W II he always was busy because the war machine needed the farms to produce and thus the need for gas. I guess his business was pretty good because just after the war he managed to buy a small 80 acre farm 3.5 miles east of town from Ed Masters.
I guess he and Ed were pretty good friends because in abut 1950 Ed Masters built a big, pretty Conoco Service Station on the east end of the downtown area. Spuds leased the station from Ed, and for about 15 years Spuds managed the "Busy Corner". Many people thought that he was the owner because it was a Conoco station and his truck was parked there when he wasn�t out making deliveries to farmers.
All of the high school kids would cruise the streets on Saturday night and many made the U-turn at the Busy Corner. I remember well the many lonely Saturday nights when I would be pumping gas while the other kids were cruising and honking at me. Shortly after he leased the station he asked my brother Burton and me which one of us wanted to work on the farm that summer. I really hated working out in the hot Oklahoma sun so I chose to work in town and of course Burton wanted to work on the farm. Worked pretty well until one Saturday night he pulled into the station driving the family car which I had washed that day and told me to fill it up. Of course, I wasn�t the only high school boy working there. I can remember Jerry Robinson and Billy Don Williams, but I am sure there were many others that I don�t remember.
During those days the word service station was really that, a full service oriented station. All customers had their tank filled with gas (around 19.9 cents in the early 50�s) windshield washed, oil and tires checked. Saturday was the busy day with many of the farmers bringing their car into town to have it washed and greased. We didn�t just wash the top; we had to put it on a lift and wash/pressure hose/hammer the caked mud from under the car. I can remember many days we would perform full service on as many as 15 cars in one day.
Younger readers of this paper need to understand that it was important to drive a clean car to church on Sunday. Also, all the men wore a coat and tie every Sunday and also wore a dress hat to church. During the summer it was a dress straw hat and in the cooler days it was felt. I also clearly remember that the children were really dressed up for church. In September I always got a new pair of church shoes and the last year�s church shoes were worn to school. Of course the church shoes were bought a little big, but I was really lucky because I don�t remember wearing cardboard for an insole. This brings up another thought. How many folks can remember having your shoes half-soled? I am pretty sure that anyone born after the late 50�s has never heard of that. A full-sole job also got you a new set of heels.
Oh, but I wandered from the original purpose of this paper which is to help us remember the early Hollis businesses, and the men/women who worked in-town. Someone needs to get some stories about the wonderful service provided by the bankers. Herman Reeves was was Emory Crow�s father-in-law was one of the earliest bankers. I know that all of the time that my Dad was farming that he borrowed money every year from Emory and never had a written note. Just a gentleman�s agreement that Spuds would pay off his loan after cotton season.
One story told by Darrell Brookman really points out the cooperative nature of doing business during that period of time. Darrell was in W W II and his ship was sunk. Darrell was given a leave to visit home. While back in Hollis, Bill Hall, who operated the Ford dealership, told Darrell that he needed to get his name on the waiting list for a tractor after the war and Darrell did just that. After he was discharged he got enough money from Emory Crow to buy a tractor and as they say "the rest is history". Darrell became one of the biggest and most successful farmers in the county. My parents were able to expand their farming interests and until Dad�s death in 1985 he operated two irrigated quarters. Mother managed the farms until her death in 2002.
What about the wheat elevators and the cotton gins? One summer Spuds didn�t have enough to do so he leased one of the wheat elevators, and I got the privilege of spending some hot summer days down in the "pit" fixing clogged wheat buckets. The worst job was nailing up the sides of the boxcars. Still not sure how I got out after the top piece of cardboard was nailed to seal the door. Just know that after farming, working at the service station and the wheat elevator, I was ready for another line of work. After college at OU I spent the next 26 years in the Air Force and never once complained about 12-14 hour days, because I had already learned one of the most valuable lessons in life, "how to work". All of us who grew up in Harmon County during the 30�s, 40�s and 50�s can name many very successful men and women, and I really think that our "bringing-up" had a lot to do with that success.
