Four-lane U.S. 59 project is funded

25 years ago

(From the Oct. 15,2000, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —The final approval on the four-lane widening of U.S. Highway 59 was announced Wednesday, and construction may begin sooner than originally planned.

The new four-lane highway will run from Highway 59 South in Sallisaw to U.S. Highway 271 just north of Panama in LeFlore County. U.S. Highway 271 is already four lanes south to Poteau. State Rep. J.T. Stites (D-Sallisaw) and Sen. Larry Dickerson (D-Poteau) Started working on the improvement of the highway in 1991.

After nine years, a state board composed of Gov. Frank Keating, Senate President Pro Tempore Stratton Taylor (D-Claremore) and House Speaker Loyd Benson approved a $799 million highway construction bond package which will pay for the project.

50 Years Ago

(From the Oct. 16,1975, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Production at the Kerr-McGee Sequoyah Facility near Gore will not be affected by the closing of the processing plant near Cresent, according to a spokesman for the organization.

Bill Phillips said four technicians from the Cimarron plant will probably go to the Sequoyah Facility.

Kerr-McGee Corp. announced Friday that its nuclear processing plant near Crescent will cease manufacturing operations in December and go on a standby basis the first of the year.

The basic purpose of the Gore plant is purification and conversion of uranium.

The Crescent plant makes pellets out of the enriched uranium.

75 Years Ago

(From the Oct. 20,1950, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —If the weatherman remains on good behavior, the $190,349 modernization on U.S. Highway 59 from Sallisaw south will be in construction within less than a month after the state highway commission awarded the contract to Layman and Sons of Tulsa.

The job will have 17 inches of base thickness, an 8-inch subsoil and 9-inch stailized rock base that will be carried the full 28 feet of the roadbed after using up more than 57,000 tons of aggregates.

—Halloween night at the Gay-Way Roller Rink a half mile north of Sallisaw will be observed Tuesday night, Oct. 31, Joe Rigsby, owner, announced this week.

All skaters are urged to come masked and in costume to compete “for the spookiest and best costumes” prizes, he said.

First prize will be $5, second will be $2.50 and third will be three tickets to the rink, Rigsby announced. All contestants must be skating, and they will be judged at 9 p.m. between sessions.

100 years ago

(From the Oct. 16,1925, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —Joe M. Morgan, who for three years past has held the position of special liquor enforcement officer in this section of the state, was this week reappointed to that important position under the new federal organization. Officer Morgan has climbed fast in the enforcement organization and enjoys the full confidence and friendship of the men in charge of the liquor enforcement in this part of the country. He served under Millard F. Meadors when the old organization plan was in force, and when the new national law went into effect July 1, and a new man was named to cover both Oklahoma and Texas, Morgan was one of the first names to be approved, a hold-over appointee. He is a quiet, effective worker and has the reputation of bringing results without much hurrah and talk. Under the new plan, the eastern section of Oklahoma will be under the jurisdiction of T.F. Brents whose offices will be in Muskogee and Mr. Morgan will work under District Director Brents.

—The County of Sequoyah stands to realize near half a million of dollars from the sweet potato crop of 1925. If the weather permits, work will start next week in gathering the big crop. The potatoes will be dug from Sequoyah County’s fertile soil and stored in wellconstructed and well-ventilated store houses and drying rooms.

Sequoyah County will be more than half a million dollars richer by January first than she would have been had farming efforts been limited strictly to cotton. Cotton will itself bring around three millions of dollars into the County, and sweet potatoes will bring another half million.