"In Littlefield on "Main Street", facing east-southeast at about where the First National Bank (AimBank) now is (behind the camera). Fred Hoover in a "cigar race". The building behind Fred is the "mercantile", and in the far background is Neil Douglass’s newspaper office. c/a 1913."

 

August 13, 2006

(This picture was taken from local historian Bettye Kate Smith’s files. The cowboy, Fred Hoover, was identified by R. M. Smith, who knew him personally. Much of the following text was also taken from Mrs. Smith’s files, most of it passed down from people who were actually there, and recorded [often literally] by Mrs. Smith. The discussion of games comes from an old newspaper article, written by long-time columnist for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Dirk West, date unlisted.)

As noted in the last column, opportunities for socializing were often few and far between in "the early days" of Littlefield. People welcomed any chance to get together and have fun. The picture above was actually taken during the picnic / barbeque on July 13, 1913, welcoming the first train to Littlefield.

In this case, Fred Hoover is participating in a "cigar race". The rider "would go down there and light a cigar, and had to have it going good, then ride back to the starting line." As most of you know, it isn’t always easy, especially in our West Texas wind, to light anything on some days!.

The picnic that day was held at the city well, which was located where the City Hall now stands. The city well was there for those settlers who didn’t have their own well or wind mill.

There were lots of games held, for just about every age group. A popular game among young men was "Tin Can Shinnie".

"’Tin Can Shinnie’ was very similar to hockey, complete with fights and violence, but there were no rules.

"First you found, after searching the trash cans in the neighborhood, some evaporated milk cans. Just any tin can would not work, it had to be an evaporated milk can – the small size – because they were of a soft metal and after a few minutes of play, flattened out to become almost like a puck in hockey. Second, you gathered together eight or nine kids, and divided the team as equally as possible between big kids and little kids. Each player had a stick, a tree limb, or perhaps a rocker off a rocking chair.

"You the marked goals with stakes at each end of the school ground and a player from each team had a face-off at midfield. After knocking their sticks together three times, they take a swipe at the can and the game is on.

"Each team attempts to knock, push, drag or whatever, the can across the opponent’s goal.

"After an hour or so, you usually put a new can into play because the cans became flat with jagged edges. A line drive could become very unpleasant if it caught you on the side of the head."

A variation on this was "Kick the Can", since in early Littlefield, trees were very scarce and precious. Any kid caught damaging the few young trees just to play a game would have been severely reprimanded.

After the fun and games of the day, round dancing and square dancing took place at the Smith Hotel for those who wished to participate, and visiting and swapping tales for everyone.

A very special "Thank You" to Bruce and Teri Peel, and to Stephen Henry and the staff of the Leader News, who have given us a great deal of support in our efforts at the Museum. Thanks a million, you guys!!