R.H. Wessel was the owner, editor, and publisher of the Frederick
Enterprise / Frederick Press, and a leading citizen from the day he
first came to Frederick, Oklahoma, in 1902 until his death in 1956. He
is best known for his column The Observer, for which this book is
titled. He left behind a considerable legacy of his adventurous life
through letters, photographs, documents, and historic files. His
experiences in Lawton during the 1901 Land Lottery and the following
homestead years in Frederick are covered in this book.
As a newspaperman, with a love for telling a story, his letters are an
incredible documentation of life on the Oklahoma frontier, as well as
his love story by mail with Margaret Scow, the bride he brought to
Oklahoma after proving up on his homestead and obtaining his own
newspaper.