Karen Brady
If it’s rusty, Delayne Scarbrough likes it.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” says Scarbrough, owner of the so-called Dinosaur Ranch south of Chickasha. “The rustier, the better to me. I love this stuff.”
The stuff to which Scarbrough refers is the collection of “dinosaurs” and other assorted creatures built from rusted old machine parts, car parts, tools and lawn implements that are displayed on his 23 acres.
The Scarbrough home is on Hwy 81 about 12.5 miles south of Chickasha and the sculptures are easily seen from the road.
“There’s always someone pulling off the highway and taking pictures,” says Scarbrough.
Most of the rusty sculptures were built by Johnny Big Rivers, a full-blood Apache from Vernon, Texas.
After Big Rivers died, Fran, his widow, gave the pieces to Scarbrough on the condition that he did not sell them and that he displayed them for the public to enjoy.
“I don’t care what you do with them after I die,” said Fran, who had all of the sculptures displayed in her small yard, decorating them at Christmas so people coming from as far away as Florida could enjoy them.
Scarbrough readily agreed and took two trips to Texas with a large trailer to bring the big metal beasts home.
While he was loading the sculptures, some city workers, who did not enjoy the pieces as much as others, asked him, “Sir (a term Scarbrough disdains because of the implications of age), are you going to get all that stuff?”
When Scarbrough told them he was, they told him they would like to shake his hand because they were tired of looking at it.
The city workers were not the only ones eyeing the metal sculptures.
“The highway patrol who passed me looked at me real strange,” Scarbrough says, remembering his trip from Texas to Oklahoma.
Today, two large metal beasts guard the entry gate of Scarbrough’s home, baring their sharp teeth as if warning unwanted visitors to keep their distance.
Despite having two large trailer loads of “stuff,” Scarbrough still visits the Anadarko flea market most every Thursday looking for more treasures.
“Even in bad weather, there’s some kind of action going on,” he says. “ It’s a good crowd and I’m addicted to the place, so I hardly ever miss.”
Scarbrough and Sheila, his wife of 40 years, purchased the acreage two-and-a-half years ago where they are now re-doing a cabin on the property.
“She’s my sweetie,” Scarbrough quips. “I’ve got a dog, a shotgun, two pickups and a wife with a job who brings home her paycheck. What more could a man want?”
Scarbrough, a former junk store owner, still buys, sells and trades junk and says people are welcome to stop to make him an offer.
