The History of Twin Springs Ranch

Would you like to take a road trip with me? Nope, you won’t need a car or your smart phone, but you will need a good broke team of horses and a sturdy wagon!

Let’s get going, our destination is in Delaware County, Oklahoma, near Flint Creek, only 11 miles west of Siloam Springs on Highway 412. The place we are going to is called Twin Springs Ranch now, but in 1920, when it was built, it had a different name. The ranch is named for the two bubbling springs that come out of the caves in which the house is built above. The two springs supply water for the house, cabin, and all the cattle on the ranch. Are the horses harnessed and ready to go? Before we get too far into our trip, you need to know a little bit about what life was like in the 1900s. Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States; James B.A. Robertson was governor of Oklahoma, and T.D. Evans was the mayor of Tulsa. In 1922-1928 and 1932-1934 Herman “Henry” Newblock was mayor of Tulsa. A gallon of milk and a dozen eggs would cost you 35 cents each, a loaf of bread would cost 5 cents, and a good average salary in 1920 was $3,269.40 a year. The minimum wage was $0.33 an hour, a car would cost you $260.00 (not many people had them back then), and a radio would cost about $150.00. For entertainment, families played games, and some had enough money to buy a radio to listen to in the evenings. 

I hope you have a good break on your wagon because we are headed to the foothills of the Ozark Mountains and we will have to navigate Flint Hill. It is just east of Flint Creek, and it is a big one! If we were headed east from Tulsa to Twin Springs Ranch, it would take us about three days by wagon to travel the 60 miles, or two days if we really pushed our horses. We would have to drive our team and wagon on a ferry to cross the Arkansas River and Grand River on the way from Tulsa. When the team turned into Twin Springs, our horses would be tired and ready for a nice long drink from the cold spring water. 

In 1920, Harvey Standlee bought the land that makes up Twin Springs Ranch from Floyd and Mary Hager and built the big home called “The Perry” up over the springs and a station down below by the springs. The springs were a very popular place to camp and rest horses while traveling from Tulsa to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He decided it would be a great place to open a station and sell some supplies. He also built a big barn in the lower pasture on the east end of the property with a loft that had hardwood floors. Parties and dances were held in the barn. On Saturday nights, the young people in the local community would meet to have ice cream and cake and play games like “Old Dan Tucker” and “Round and Round to Old Joe Clark” in the yard. I bet you can hear the screams of laughter and picture the light flickering from those old kerosene and gas lanterns hung from trees as the kids were gleefully playing games and catching fireflies. Harvey Standlee also loved baseball, and he built a baseball field across the highway from The Perry. He trained a baseball team, and they had games at his baseball field. 

The Standlees eventually moved away, and The Perry welcomed a new family named Stanford; they were originally from Tulsa. After a few years, Mr. Newblock, the former mayor of Tulsa, bought the Twin Springs property. Mr. Newblock and his family also had a home in Tulsa, so they hired the Chastains to  live at Twin Springs and take care of the property. In 1936, Mary McKee Bunger and her family lived in the station down by the springs while they were waiting for another family to move out of their old farm house. They had just moved back to the area from Georgia. On March 11, 1937, the Grove Sun Newspaper said, “Mr. Chastain of the Newblock Farms at Twin Springs was in Kansas Monday.” Eventually, the Chastains moved back to Tulsa, and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis from Tulsa moved into the house. 

In the 1970s, Bud and Pearl Chiles bought Twin Springs. Bud was a foot doctor who designed and made special shoes and braces for people with foot and ankle problems. Lots of people, young and old, remember going to Twin Springs to see Dr. Chiles and get special braces and shoes. Unfortunately, the big barn with hardwood floors that was east of the house burned down while Mr. and Mrs. Chiles lived there. Sam Lively and his wife were the next owners of Twin Springs. Sam raised and raced quarter horses, so he built a nice barn north of the main house with stalls. Sam’s wife loved cats, and she cared for many stray ones over the years. She had some breathing problems, and her doctor advised her to move to a drier climate. Eugene Longcrier was the current owner of Flint Creek Store and Park, plus he was a real estate agent. Sam contacted him to list Twin Springs for sale. Eugene listed it, but it didn’t sell and Sam was getting desperate to move his wife to a drier climate. Eugene offered him a little less than he was asking, and he took the offer. 

Eugene and Zella Longcrier moved into Twin Springs and started renovating and painting the house, adding metal fencing and a rock gate entrance. They also paved the driveway. Within a few years, they had the place looking pretty sharp. Eugene was a retired oilman who worked with Dowell, and Zella was a retired registered nurse. In 2000, they built a cabin on the west side of the yard for guests and a place for missionaries to stay when they needed a rest. A few years later, they also added another room to the house. In 1997, Troy and Jessica Thomposn got married at Twin Springs, below the house in front of the springs. Jessica was Eugene and Zella’s granddaughter. Eugene also raised race horses, and he raised one named Royal Miss Smith. She won the Black Gold Futurity, and Eugene was named Oklahoma breeder of the year. In about 2007, Eugene started raising registered black Angus cattle. Eugene passed away in 2017 after a battle with cancer. His great granddaughters Lindsey and Hannah Thompson, moved in with Zella so she would not be alone. In the spring of 2021, Zella sold Twin Springs to Troy and Jessica Thompson. Zella moved to the cabin with her great granddaughter Hannah, where she would spend the remainder of her life. In February 2022, she passed away. Troy and Jessica Thompson have big plans for Twin Springs Ranch. Troy and his son Tristan are avid whitetail deer and turkey hunters. They still raise a line of Eugene Longcrier’s black Angus cattle, and their daughters Lindsey and Hannah have horses they use for rodeos. Dr. Jessica Thompson was a teacher for 23 years but then went back to school to become a therapist. She plans to eventually open an equine therapy facility at Twin Springs, which her grandmother Zella helped her plan. They turned the guest cabin into an Airbnb rental that is open to the public. 

I hope you enjoyed your horse and wagon adventure at Twin Springs Ranch. We covered over a hundred years of history, traveling from 1920 to 2022. Lots of things have changed over the years. kerosene lanterns to electricity, carrying water from the spring to running water, dirt roads to turnpikes, mayors to teachers, horse and wagon supply stations to Airbnb, and so many other changes. One thing has remained the same over the years. The owners of Twin Springs enjoyed life and the beauty of the land and springs. They loved to share it with others, from ice cream socials, baseball games, and barn dances to Airbnbs and equine therapy.