February 1, 2012� Page 3AMustang Times � www.mustangpaper.com

Donated corn meal sack is at least 100 years old, Mustang Historical Society member says

Sheriff’s offi ce to enforce seatbelt lawsTh e Canadian County Sheriff ’s Offi ce will promote ‘Highway and Public Safety’ on Friday, Feb. 3; Highway 66 to be patrolled heavily, Sheriff says

-Staff photos by Jon WatjeAbove: The Mustang Mill corn meal sack that was donated to the Mustang Historical Soci-ety museum by the Darrow family.

Left: The Mustang Grain Mill and Elevator was located near the railroad tracks on the south side of Mustang around the turn of the century.

Donation preserves part of city’s history

By Jon WatjeManaging Editor

A part of the legacy of a Mustang founding citizen will be forever engrained in a sack of feed that was donated to the Mustang Historical Society Museum. Ivan Darrow was a unique founder in that not one, but both sets of his grandparents homesteaded in the area.

The Darrow family homesteaded the land around SW. 119th and Cemetery Road, while his mother’s side, the Payne family, homesteaded by Banner.

Darrow passed away in 2009. His granddaughter, Christy

Darrow Hagan, brought a interesting and unique piece of Mustang’s history on Friday, Jan. 27.

“My father, Dewane Darrow, found a sack of feed on Ivan’s property after he had passed away,” Hagan said. “We are pretty sure that it is at least 100 years old.”

Mustang Historical Society member Dolly Priest said she agrees with Hagan on the age of the sack.

“It has to be at least 100 years old because the Mustang grain elevator was here at the turn of the 20th century,” Priest said.

The Mustang Grain Mill and

Elevator was located near the railroad tracks on the south side of Mustang around the turn of the century. At the time, agriculture was the primary employer in the area.

There was also a cotton gin located near the Mustang Grain Mill and Elevator at that time.

The sack donated by the Darrow family says ‘Mustang Mill’ at the top and then ‘Fresh grounded corn meal’ in the center.

Priest said she and the Mustang Historical Society learned something new from the donated sack.

“We didn’t know they did corn meal,” she said. “I thought they did flour with the material bags, but I didn’t know they did corn meal.”

The sack was framed and will be put on display at the museum along a large variety of other historical Mustang items.

“It’s in excellent shape,” Priest said. “We’re just really glad to get it.

The Mustang Historical Society Museum is located at 470 W. State Highway 152.

“We are working on preserving the history of Mustang for future generations,” Priest said. “We just want Mustang to know it has history behind it.”

-Staff photo by Jon WatjeChristy Darrow Hagan and her one year-old son, Kenny, presented the Mustang Historical Society Museum with a Mustang Mill corn meal sack that is estimated to be at least 100 years old. The sack was found at Ivan Darrow’s property after he passed way, who is Hagan’s grandfather. Christy and Kenny gave the sack to the museum on Friday, Jan. 27.

The Canadian County Sheriff ’s Office will be taking part in a state wide effort this week promoting “Highway and Public Safety” on Friday, Feb. 3.

This will be the third straight year the Sheriff ’s Office has taken part in this program. This special emphasis concentrates on seatbelt safety and publ ic awarenes s , through enforcement. T h e p r o g r a m w i l l b e conducted primarily on Highway 66 from one side of the county to the other, for a twenty-four hour period.

The Sheriff ’s Office will have 12 or more deputies participating in this p r o g r a m . A l t h o u g h it focuses on Highway 66, that does not mean if law-enforcement witnesses seatbelt violations at other locations throughout the county, that the driver won’t be cited in those areas also.

This state-wide program is sponsored by

t h e O k l a h o m a State Highway Patrol and is called “Clicks on 66”. It is an excellent program, it was designed to promote the strict adherence of State seatbelt safety laws by the driver as well a s a l l o ther occupants o f v e h i c l e s , including restraint systems for children. “This program, through

the enforcement of seatbelt safety saves lives state wide. Statistics show that if you

are in a serious accident, your odds of surviving it are ninety percent greater if you are wearing a seatbelt,” Sheriff Randall Edwards said. “I could not tell you how many accidents involving fatalities I have personally seen that the victim, or victims, died needlessly from not having worn their seatbelts.”

This promotion will start midnight Thursday night and will run through midnight on Friday night.

This program, through the enforcement of seatbelt safety, saves lives.

“

” Randall Edwards, Canadian County Sheriff