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Crossing Medicine Creek
by Andrew Harmantas
Oil on linen on braced luan panel
Original Painting Image size 12" x 36"
Framed size 12½" x 36½" (deep-profile silver-toned gallery frame)
Frisco's Southwest Extension extended Frisco's reach westward, traversing the lands out of Oklahoma City,
through Fort Sill and Lawton, then turning west through Altus, and eventually on to Quanah, Texas, where it would
exchange traffic with the Santa Fe and the Fort Worth & Denver railroads. The scenery throughout most of the route
was rolling prairie grasslands giving way to semi-arid plains, punctuated by granite and vast surface deposits of
gypsum as the ground gradually rose toward the west. Miles and miles of cotton and wheat fields stretched across the
horizon. Because of the constant wind and little rainfall, trees were rare. It could be where the term vast prairie
landscape came from, or the more parochial wide open spaces. Water crossed the landscape primarily in shallow ravines,
and those that ran water for much of the year had the distinction of being named creeks. Medicine Creek was one. It
meanders through the area surrounding Lawton and Fort Sill, and creates obstacles to automotive and rail traffic.
When the spring floods come, the bridges have to be of substantial construction to survive the rushing water and
debris, as is this Frisco bridge over Medicine Creek just outside of Fort Sill. One of Frisco's fast freights is
hustling across the prairie and into the evening sun as it moves its cargo, a scene I witnessed countless times on
my way home after a day's work.
Price: $1,100 (includes US shipping)
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