State senate gives port big boost

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 13, 2000, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The new manufacturing facility, Therma Tru, manufacturer of steel and fiber-glass doors, is slated to be completed by mid-year in Roland. Construction of the 375,000-square-feet facility began late last summer, Dave Haddix, corporate officer at Therma Tru said. “We’re moving right along,” Haddix said Thursday.

The company was founded in 1962 and has been at its current Van Buren, Ark., location since the late 70s, Haddix said. Therma Tru is a nationwide company also located in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and Arizona and in Mexico. The company sells products in all 50 states and internationally.

Haddix said Therma Tru had bought enough land in Roland for future expansion, but hasn’t made plans beyond the current construction.

50 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 13, 1975, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —A long-desired port for the Sallisaw area received a shot in the arm Tuesday when the Oklahoma State Senate passed a resolution calling upon Congress to appropriate funds to dredge a channel to the port site.

State Sen. James E. Hamilton, D-Poteau, authored the Senate Concurrent Resolution which asks Congress to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the $980,000 necessary to dredge a channel to a port site.

—Commissioner of Charities and Corrections Jim Cook met with the board of county commissioners Monday morning and discussed the local jail situation.

According to Cook his main concern in issuing the ultimatum last week was the wooden stairway leading upstairs to the jail.

“We don’t want to punish you,” Cook said, “We want to help you.”

Putting in a steel set of stairs and rewiring the facilities will be sufficient to satisfy the commissioner from Oklahoma City.

75 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 17, 1950, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —That Sallisaw’s industry is making itself felt in the far corners of the nation was proved conclusively by an incident that was brought to our attention this week.

P.L. Lane of Sallisaw came in to Your TIMES office Wednesday with an empty can his wife had just received from her sister, Mrs. Bertha Hugh, in Bandon, Ore.

The label on the can read: Sallisaw Brand Mustard Greens, Packed by Sallisaw Canning Co., Sallisaw, Okla.

Mrs. Hugh stated that she wanted the people here to know that they were getting our canned goods up there all the time, and humorously suggested that the company “refill this can and send it back.”

By the time the can had reached the Lane residence, it had traveled well over 3,000 miles. The Oregon town of Bandon is approximately 1,575 miles northwest of Sallisaw.

—Work at the Sallisaw Glass Plant hit a snag Tuesday when two bricks in the day tank and one in the continuous tank cracked and fell through into the furnaces when the drying fires became too hot, according to W.F. Wagner and William F. Brown operators The bricks were replaced and the fires turned down Tuesday. Brown stated that they had hoped to start production Thursday, but now would have to postpone opening until Monday or Tuesday.

Otherwise, said Wagner, things are shaping up rapidly. They are insulating their tempering tank with mineral wool so that the articles placed in it will cool gradually and at a constant temperature decrease.

100 years ago

(From the Feb. 13, 1925, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —In the death of Argyle Quesenbury, last Tuesday, February 10, Sallisaw loses one of her most distinguished and highly respected citizens and suffers a very material loss in that the man who had more to do perhaps than any other, and the man whose very life was woven into the life of this community, has passed on.

The deceased was the first white settler in what is now Sequoyah County. He is the real pioneer of this section of Oklahoma and was one of the most true and loyal friends that the Cherokee tribe has ever known. He came into the Cherokee Nation at a time when but few of the residents could speak English. He mastered the Cherokee language after a time and later mastered the Creek language and could speak both fluently. He was born at Fort Smith, Ark., June 3, 1839, the youngest of a family of four boys, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Quesenbury, who were originally citizens of Mulberry, Ark.