Col. Sidney Suggs was born in Mississippi and lived in Indian Territory, where streams were small and railroads were few. It was largely through his efforts and speech-making campaign regarding the unfair way in which the federal government provided large sums of money to build railroads and dredge waterways to serve only a limited area of the United States. His leadership in the protest ultimately led to the federal highway program, including the farm-to-market roads which he declared were the most important of all. In 1897, he purchased The Daily Ardmorite and enjoyed researching and mapping old Indian trails. He also served as Oklahoma’s first highway commissioner.