One Kay County town kicked up centennial festivities a notch with its celebration of, as Oklahoman state correspondent Jim Etter reported recently, one of the most unusual events during Oklahoma s centennial : the horse liniment that made Newkirk famous.
Held Sept. 8 this year, the annual Charlie Adams Day in the small community near Bartlesville is named for Charles Francis Adams, a Kansan who set foot in the area then Oklahoma Territory in 1889, Etter reported. Adams claim to fame there? Creating a medicinal rub for his horses suffering from harness sores.
Adams patented the elixir as Good Luck and later saddled his best racing horse with the name. The appellation apparently held true according to the Oke, the horse won more than $13,000 by 1949.