In 1935, Oklahoma was one of the poorer tougher living places, having become a state just 28 years previous, but with the depression, the grounds of the area were not blessed yet with the cadre of lakes that line the eastern half of the state today, and just under 2 million people lived here.
Will Rogers was the star among those living and working here. He was the number one box office actor, he was dedicated to being from Oklahoma, having been born outside of Oologah, and then claiming Claremore as his home place the rest of his life.
Will was in the Ziegfeld Follies in New York, moved to California and was the number one movie star of silent, then of "talking" pictures. He performed on the radio, and wrote a column for newspapers all over the country on a daily basis.
Will was "a humorist" which means he was like a great deal of Oklahomans, just talking sense and reality to the people of the world.
Will and Wiley Post, a pilot from Oklahoma, in 1935 went about touring the Alaskan territory, and seeing what the world continued to offer.
Much to everyone's consternation, Wiley crashed his plane from about fifty feet, in a terrific right hand turn off of Point Barrow Alaska, killing both he and Will Rogers.
Lydia Jacobs works as a rescue pilot out of Barrow Alaska, running 90,000 miles of territory, and recently made a stop in Claremore to see Will Rogers Memorial, where she shared this picture, that still shows the memorial to Will and Wiley, that was placed in 1939. Oklahoma City has two major airports, The Wiley Post and the Will Rogers World Airports.
The little piece of Oklahoma that rests, just off the coast, of Alaska.
Ralph E Peck
Photo by Lydia Jacobs
Photo by Ralph Peck
Point Barrow Alaska and Claremore Oklahoma at the Will Rogers Memorial with Tom Egbert
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