50 years ago, December 14, 1972Masonic Officer Installation Is Thursday NightGeorge R. McNitt will be installed Worshipful Master of the Tonkawa Lodge A.F. & A.M. in ceremonies at the Temple. Homer Barkley, Past Grand Master of Oklahoma will be the installing officer.The public is invited to attend.Other officers to be installed are: Senior Warden, Alfred F. Fuhr; Junior Warden, Charles Bell; Treasurer, James D. Farris; Secretary, A. Ray Smith. They were elected at a meeting held Monday, December 4th.Appointed officers for the 1973 year are: Chaplain, W. Everett Mugg; Senior Deacon, Harry L. Kitchen; Junior Deacon, Michael Brewer; Senior Steward, Furman Simmons; Junior Steward, Marion J. Messenger; Tyler, Frank M. Haney.Refreshments will be served in the basement of the Temple following the Installation.Christmas Tree Farm Proves Practical HereAll Christmas trees don’t come from the North woods country. A lot this year are coming from a patch of ground east of Tonkawa . . . on land that once grew wheat. And a project eight years ago to find a better cash crop than wheat, when the market was at an all time low, has turned out well for the two Tonkawa men, Hubert L. McIntyre, businessman, and Tedrowe Coulter, farmer.Eight years ago the pair planted 3,000 Scotch Pines seedling trees on a seven acre plot east of the city, farmed by Coulter. They added more seedlings at various times until they had approximately 6,000 planted. They sold the first trees from the patch in 1968, when the average height of the trees was four feet. This year they have many ten-footers. The ideal marketing time for the trees is six to seven years after they are set out.Since they started the project, they estimate they have sold around 1,000 trees. This year, for the first time, 200 Scotch Pines were shipped to Dallas, Tex. and another 200 to San Antonio.McIntyre and Coulter got interested in the possibility of raising their own trees a year after they had purchased tree flocking equipment. They bought the equipment nine years ago and have flocked trees each Christmas since that time. They also sell a good number of green trees.McIntyre said the seedlings are planted in the spring on the basis of about 1,000 to the acre. “You can expect to have 750 marketable trees from the original planting,” he said. And added that the trees take little care but must be shaped and ...
