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Driftwood


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nice pix...:ty:

  Mike have you ever spent some time down in that area?

 

I searched for some pic's that I have seen from the big loggin in Winterburn, I couldn't find them but I found some pics of the town I was born in. Actually I was born in MIX RUN a thriving sub- ;D burb of Driftwood.  While I'm here---can anybody find a net copy of a paper or mag called the OUTDOOR JOURNAL?  There was a two part story in that publication called "Albert and the bears paw camp" (I think) I have one of the two part hard copies somewhere. The story was written by a game warden named Erickson (I think). Albert was my grandfather. He was a trip--the things he knew would blow yer mind---hell he should me how to fish with short liittle sticks colored red.

 

 

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In the 1950's some Texans arrived in the Driftwood,Benezette and Mix Run area on reports that natural gas could be found there......It was....Then a myriad of residents of that area signed just about any piece of paper put in front of them approving drilling on their property and thereby became "millionaires".I say"millionaires" because most of them managed to quickly blow their "millions",if the well came in, in a very short time on stuff like jewelry,children who took what they could steal,fancy cars, homes in Florida etc. DuBoisites,especially people who were owed money for debts of the newly prosperous ,and the local banks who were asked to form estates for some of the few careful guys and then all manner of rip-off artists who would turn up at your place tomorrow if you were suddenly aclaimed "rich",created a real "gold rush"atmosphere which was a real entertainment for our whole region...When I see that drilling rig in the picture I'm reminded about what money can do. I'll never forget the story of the Driftwood gas rush (I watched it) and how a whole bunch of money came to that area and then disappeared in a year or two....

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WE spent some time at Fred's Place!!!!:shots::rofl::shots:

  When I was there back in the day there was a shelve above the bar with all kinds of bullets There also was a priest that was part of a camp deal up dents run. That man could drink and smoke with the best of them.

 

 

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Did they ever do anything with the site that is supposed to be Tom Mix's birthplace? The last time i saw it 20+ years ago, it was a partial stone foundation of a cabin..

  They tried to make a tourist thing out of it.  It was where he was born. They built a little building beside it an did the tourist bull. It didn't work. The foundation is still there.

 

 

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In the 1950's some Texans arrived in the Driftwood,Benezette and Mix Run area on reports that natural gas could be found there......It was....Then a myriad of residents of that area signed just about any piece of paper put in front of them approving drilling on their property and thereby became "millionaires".I say"millionaires" because most of them managed to quickly blow their "millions",if the well came in, in a very short time on stuff like jewelry,children who took what they could steal,fancy cars, homes in Florida etc. DuBoisites,especially people who were owed money for debts of the newly prosperous ,and the local banks who were asked to form estates for some of the few careful guys and then all manner of rip-off artists who would turn up at your place tomorrow if you were suddenly aclaimed "rich",created a real "gold rush"atmosphere which was a real entertainment for our whole region...When I see that drilling rig in the picture I'm reminded about what money can do. I'll never forget the story of the Driftwood gas rush (I watched it) and how a whole bunch of money came to that area and then disappeared in a year or two....

  I'm kinda interested in where you got the 1950's quote. The start of the gas well drilling had to be  (at the very least before 1954) I was born in 1954 at the St Marys hospital. My dad showed up in Mix run at least 9 months before that.  Do I need to do the math?

 

  As far as the people pissing their money away you are right. If there was some numbers person in the family I'd be rich today--just call me the coulda been Jed Clampett decendent. ;D

 

  The only one to leave that area and make money on their own was Tom Mix and that was way before anybody knew there was natural gas to be had.

 

 

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FEDUP: I just saw the date on the picture of the rig and got swept into my recollection of the Driftwood gas rush.....I remember riding down there when a well was scheduled to "come in"  .......I'm an old guy..I was in school at the time.I could be off by a few years.. Sorry you missed out on your "millions''....But,.it was all a very memorable local event...And when the Beverly Hillbillies came out all the locals who had watched the "Driftwood Rush" smiled...A phone call to any of "them old boys" down there would tell us when they drilled and "hit it" .....

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whats behind those guys....ducks?

 

I am quite certain they are Grouse. If you look closely you can see the black "ruffs" on many of the birds. No long tails for pheasants, and they weren't stocked in Pennsylvania before 1915. Much of that area had been timbered and was in the "red brush" stage, wonderful grouse cover. I've heard, from long since gone old-timers, tales of the glory days for "Ruffed Grouse" in that area.

 

 

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See reply twelve: My father ,like the rest of the local kids, never failed to visit the Avenue Theatre on Long avenue in the 1930's when the Tom Mix Circus appeared in the Driving Park in DuBois and Tom himself strolled through the downtown and would sit in the theatre next to his mother.They always showed his movies free that week to hype Tom's circus . What my dad always told me was that ,in the fight scenes, Tom's mother would stand up and scream,........"Git'um Tom.... I have no doubt that that car in the picture was provided by Tom who loved cars.and died in a Cord on a backroad, I think, in Arizona. ..My dad said that ,except for a very few, the valley locals were dirt poor..

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