Truck stop destroyed by fire

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Sept. 23,1999, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) (From the Sept. 23, 1999, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Fire burned through the Fina truck stop at Interstate 40 and U.S. 64 in Sallisaw early Sunday morning, destroying it.

The fire started at 3:10 a.m. in a storage room at the west end of the building containing batteries and rags, Roy Fair, Sallisaw assistant fire chief, said. As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, it spread into the adjoining Fig Tree restaurant and the convenience store, Fair said.

Owner Ed Stites said his losses are somewhere around $1 million. Mike Tubbs, Sallisaw Fire Department safety and training officer, estimated the loss at $1.2 million. But the insurance will only cover the truck stop, Stites said.

Stites also had 50 toy pedal cars worth around $100,000 on display at the truck stop. One, a 1924 Hudson with detachable fenders, was worth about $6,500, he said. The cars were not insured, he said.

The Oklahoma State Fire Marshall said the blaze started as an electrical fire, Stites said. The insurance investigator has yet to determine a cause, he said.

50 Years Ago

(From the Oct. 3,1974, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —A reunion celebrating Dwight Heritage Day will be held Saturday at the Dwight Mission, according to Heritage Day co-chairman, Richard Chuculate, Sallisaw and E.B. Wilson, Vian.

Former students of Dwight Mission, Chuculate is an elder in the Sallisaw Presbyterian Church and Wilson is president of Sequoyah County Historical Society.

—S.C. and Emma Lessley have again become the owners of Lessley s Café in Sallisaw after an absence of 10 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Lessley ran the restaurant for 20 years before selling it 10 years ago.

The café will be closed from Tuesday, Oct. 1 until Tuesday, Oct. 15, for remodeling.

75 Years Ago

(From the Oct. 7,1949, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —A contract is being signed today with the parties who will operate the new Sallisaw Glass Company, announced the chamber of commerce this morning.

Guy E. Stoy, secretary-manager of the C of C, is out of town signing the contract with the company’s representatives.

The new company, he said, will be making a very high-grade type of lighting fixtures, lamp chimneys and numerous other glass products.

Local interests will erect a new building just west of the underpass on highway 64, he said.

—Bill Brockman, Vian, is very enthusiastic about the television reception he has been getting recently.

“Reception has been very good every night except Monday when they had the big storm in Texas,” he said. “There is a little local interference, like a motor starting up now and then, but we re about to get that ironed out.”

—The place of business of Joe Ben Crawford, Marble City, was broken into Tuesday night and several articles were taken, according to Sheriff EW Floyd.

Among the stolen goods were seven or eight cases of beer, 24 boxes of Hersheys chocolate, $15 in cash, and seven or eight cartons of cigarettes.

After leaving the place, said Floyd, the culprits threw the cash register into the creek. Floyd is checking on the case.

100 years ago

(From the Oct. 3,1924, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —W.R. Gragg, special a government agent of the United States department of agriculture this week made announcement of the fact that the cattle quarantine had been lifted entirely from Sequoyah County and that dipping was no more. The announcement was greeted with more downright enjoyment and gratification than has been any announcement of any kind in this county in recent years.

Mr. Gragg himself was pleased to make the announcement and stated to a representative of The Democrat that this was the end to which the Government had worked for years and that he had personally labored to bring about a successful clean-up before the end of this calendar year.

—What is considered to be one of the most unusual and interesting animals in the animal world, is owned by Col. Al Todd, veteran showman and local poultry dealer of this city, in the form of a baby monkey, it having arrived in this world a few mornings ago. The Colonel has been the owner of two interesting and intelligent monkeys for three years past and they have been the object of many curious visitors to his shop, but the list of visitors has tripled since the baby monkey has arrived this week.

He plans to place the unusual family of father, mother and baby monkey on exhibition next week during the big legion carnival here, and everyone can then get a chance to see something that they have probably never before seen and probably never will get to see again.