Little Dixie; Big Economy R Lawton 629 5W (2 Avenue F0f.f SiU Lawton, OK 73501 CHA1\4SER WY(YUM~HRU.lnv Wichita Mot,Nalhs;,the oldest managed ~Ildhpreserve m the 560.355.3541 klni.ml S%&&. Explore natwe'a bwuQ in over 22=&30wres ~f 800.872.4510 wi.ldGfe hbitat,or fish and btonem ofoqrmeny lake,Lavvton Fa& &iff-It's ewto sew affwpu the n@tw& 'things ta OKLAHOMA

Where the West was

I FAVOR^ 'PAST' TIME. ' ranch, explore FFaalr LIqd WcigMs only - - &ysqxx,~~runiqw~utesaod dmce the g~.dm and his.trn of I BARTLESVILLE, OK -1I &American w&t.

Where High Style Meets Frank Lloyd Wright's , SITBARILESV L L I

MARCH . APRIL 2004 1 VOLUME 54, NUMBER 2 TODAY

On the Cover: Timber is king in southeast Oklahoma. On the Talimena Drive, a dog- wood mixes with hardwoods for a mystical landscape. Photograph by Michael Har- deman. Left, John Newsom with Full Circle. FEATURES

Pop Nature Seven Summits Cool Clear Water Where the Timber Andy Warhol meets John Highpointers, take note: Gather your rod ,~ndflies, and Grows Ja111es Audubon in this fusion Although Sir Edmund Hillary cast into one ofOklahoma's Paul Bunyan has nothing on of bold color and dramatic would find our summits a best-kept secrets, the Blue OklahotnA timber industry. wildlife. Enid native John breeze by comparison, the River. Here, one photographer Underneath the ceiling of Newsom takes us on a Sooner Srate has its share of reflects on what nukes the pine trees that keeps the comic-book tour of the great brearhralung vistas and chilling protected stream such a southeastern Oklahonla outdoors via oil on canvas. toppers. Join us as we examine pleasure for the world wcan: economy running strot~g, By Lolrisa McCu?ze these seven beauties. Why? Its blissfill remoteness. sawmills roar loudly while Because they're there. By Michael Ha~denzan loggers work to the buzz of By Scott Wigotz the chain saw. By Chad Love DEPARTMENTS

Contributors...... 4 Marketplace ...... 10 The Range...... 17 Events Guide ...... 61 Joe Jared, Steven Walker, A myriad of goodies for the Oscar-winning makeup Richad Florida, a~~rhor and Michael Hardenian outdoor enthusiast, from artist Matthew Mungle and of The K/P of'thp Crrdtir~~ Lo\vmnce GPS nits to a a fleet of 'Vettes in Enid Clil.css.;at rhc Okl'1homa City Editor's Letter ...... 6 champion Labrador Marriorr on April 6 Ok1'1homa City's new dog Getaway Guide.. ... 57 park is heaven on earth. Calendar ...... 13 The journey may be the The End ...... 64 > E The Swap Show and Sale destination, but researching The Name Game: Are you a 2 Feedback ...... 8 in Ada and a photog~~phy and buying your equipment city slicker or rural royalty? To-by! lo-by! To-by! exhibit at the I'lains Indians is \vIiere the real fun begins. Take our just-for-fun quiz to 5 Readers couldli'r get enough 81 Pioneers h/luse~unin Six outfitters stock all the find out where you fall on - of our 2003 Oklahoman of Wood\~pard necessities, fro111 fly rocis to the small-town sayscale. the Year, Toby Keith. Patagonia attire. CONTRIBUTORS

Oklahoma Since 1956 TODAY In 2004, art directorStevenWalker ush- ' ered in his sixteenth year with Oklahoma BRAD HENRY, Governor Today. Widely considered one of Oklaho- ma's premier graphic artists, Wider's draw- ings appear in "Seven Summits" (page 28) and "The Name Game" (page 64).Walker, a lifelong doodler, caremy designs each IOAN HENDERSON page of the magazine with attention to bal- Publisher ance. "Design involves problem-solving" LOUISA McCUNE he says, "and editorial problem-solving Editor in Chief comes naturally to me. I'm in my comfort- STEVEN WALKER WALKER CREATIVE, INC. able shoes when designing the magazine." A AnDirector Norman resident, Walker is married to Jill STEFFIE CORCORAN, Senior Editor and says he enjoys playing video gameswith BROOKE DEMETZ, Associate Editor CMYARNOLD, Edtro~IAsj~(tant children Bailey and Joe. He alsoplays the EMILY JERMY, SHAWNA PARKS. drumsbrrock band Loose Change, which KIM SHIPMAN, andJA'RENA SMITH Editorial Interns I can be seen at various Norman bars, indud- ing Brothers, and private parties. Contributon SHEILAH BRIGHT, KELLY CROW, BRUCE EAGLE, JOHN ELK III, GORDON GRICE, ROBERT HENRY, IOHN IERNIGAN. YOUSEF KHANFAR. RE. LINDSFI. Joe Jaredscribbled his first poem, "I Am the Lonely Wind," on a napkin while COLLEEN McINTYRE, hduction Manager KLM RYAN, AdvertisingAccount Executive driving through western Oklahoma in LAURA BEAM, Aduertisrng Account Euecutive USA BRECKENRIDGE, Accountant 1996.An adminkmtivehearing officer for KATHY FUGATE, WceManager the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilita- TAMMY CONAUGHTY, Custom Service Specialist tion Services, Jared writes poeny and prose Tourism and Recreation KATHRYN L. TAXOR, Cabinet Semctary in his fieetime. His novel,-~heknso&of RALPH MCCALMONT, Interim Director thehneW~m,was published last year Tourism and Remation Commirrion by PublishAmerica. "The book explains LT. GOV. MARY FALLIN, Chair ROBYN BATSON. TENNIFER COLBERT. IOE HARWOOD. how Norsemen came to Oklahoma and MELVIN ~oih,JANISRICKS, JIM ~CHLIMPERT, left their mark in the form of the Heavener BECKY SWITZER, WAYMAN TISDALE Runestone," he says. His poem "Mon- arch" appears in this issue (page 62).Jared spent four years in the U.S. Army indud- ing a tour of duty in Vietnam, and now ahlahorn Todrrya d include: 2003 IRMA Gold for Best Nature Featute; lives in Yukon with hiswife, Cindy. 2003 Oklahoma SPJ Fist Place, Overall Excellence; 2003 Oklahoma SPJ First Place, Feature Writing; 2002 IRMAGold for Best Profile; Sierra Club 2001 Conservation Journalism Award; Michael Hardeman, whose photograph Three Dah Press Club 2001 First Prize Honors; of the trees along the Talimena Drive ap- IRMA Mayinc of rhc Year, 1991, 1993, 1994,199(1; 1999 Folio Ed~rorialExcellence Award; 1998 Wtlbur Award pears on this issue's cover, was inspired by the untamed wilderness of the Blue River O&hhuT (ISSN 0030-1892) is ublished biionthl :in Januaty, tVhICf%aF J& September,an$ ~oyemb~rby the itate for his pordolio, "Cool Clear Water" (page of Oklahoma, OklahomaTourism and Rccmnon De amnent 15 Norch Robinson, Suite 100, Oklahoma Ci ,OK 7402. PO'ST- 28). His fifth photographic piece for the MASTER: PERIODICAL POSTAGE PA% IN OKLAHOMA magazine since 1995, Hardeman discovered CIn, OK, AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY OFFICES. Send the popular location for fly-fishers near Tishomingo a year ago. "Blue River has very few signs of civilization," says Harde- man. "And it presents many photographic opportunities." Hardeman, whose images I have also appeared in Outdoor Photographer and DiscoveringArchaeoIog;y,is the host of America; Best Country Countdown, a nation- ally syndicated Sunday afternoon radio show with more than 750,000 listeners. He lives in Richardson, Texas.

I OKLAHOMATODAY .MARCH/APRIL 2004 ltrol tor a d~risionot th

Okln and women ow nud "Every dog has his day."-Winston Churchill

Editor'sLetter

DOG IS THEIR COPILOT

AY GOODBYETOCOCKTAILPARTIES,THE GROCERY STORE,ANDTHE Sgym as primevenues for get-to-know-youconversationin the capitalcity. Paw Park, OklahomaCity's firstoff-leashdogpark, is the hottest spotin town. On a recent Sundayafternoon,the finaldayin a run of unseasonablywarm winter weather, no less than four hundred good-natured dogs ran like crazed beasts within the confines of a two-acre playground designed exclusivelywith their affabilityin mind. Paw Park, open sinceNovember 2003,attractsthose unmistakabledogloversamongus and inspirestangible states of awe, happiness, and delirium-and that's just amongthehumans. "Thedogs can't believe their eyes," says Don Bobzien, the doglover responsible for thecreation of Paw Park On March 4, Bobzien,vice president of community relations at Union Bank and a formerOklahomaCityclothier,will be honored by OKC Beautifulwith theirVisionaryAward. It's an award that recognizes Bobzien's gatedenvandexit systems lifetimecommitment to animalwehebut particularlypraises the Free to Live affermaximumsecurityfor Animal Sanctuarypast-presidentfor the two-year effort that brought Paw Park leashedcomings andgoings. into being. He says the park currentlyis one of the most popular socialsettingsin Awebsite, pawokcom, offers comprehensive OklahomaCity. informalionaboutthefree- "Unsnap theleash," he says, "and thesocdmngbepsin the mostwonderfulway." okharge, off-leashpark. Paw Park, the first urban spaceof itskind in Oklahoma,is modeled after Dexter, right, asixmontfr- dozensof successfuloff-leash parks around the country, and it may not be too far- oldGreatDane, is afrequent fetchedto swest that as Oklahomanstake on theseriouscharge of growingour visitor to Paw Park. economy,dogparks could serve theinterest of recruiting professional talent to our state. For many, safespacesfor caninecompanions translate to a high qualityof life. Case in point: Austin, long considereda talent mecca, has thirteen dog parks. Seattle, another model cityfor recruiting business and talent,has no less than eight. Minneapolishas four. Networkmgwith parkdesignersinthese andother cities proved instructivefor Bobzien, who avoided themistake ofpositioningbenches andwatering areas in the center area,where dogs tend to congegateand get themost rambunctious.Thoseare nowsituatedalongtheperimeter. Bobzien's thirteen-year-old chocolateLabrador, MurphyBrown, servedas partialinspiionfbrPaw Park's focalpoint, DuckPond, 4time-ht-deepwateringhole. "Dogs love toget downin there: he says.Thanksto fourhundredtonsof finelimestonegravel donatedby DoleseBrothersCompany, the beach is awater dog's heavenlysplashmggrounds. Thereare rules andregulationsatthe park, none more importantthan the age requirement and the off-leash restriction. Children under ten are not allowedunder anycircumstances."We also requirethat dogs areoff-leash," says Bobzien. "If a dogis off-leash and on neutralterritory,virtually no fightingtakesplace." WithTulsaand Edmond groups callingBobzien for counsel,it seems certain that thewave of dogparks willfind asupportivestrongholdin Oklahoma If there's any doubt,meetyour next dateat Paw Park You'll be ingood company.

I OKLAHOMATODAY MARCH/APRIL 2004 Song OF White Bedr Limited Edition of 500

Now available as a limited edition fine art print, Mike Larsen's Song of White Bear, from the Oklahoma-An Honorins series. This powerful 22" x 30" image is printed on heavy paper stock with an exterior dimension of 26" x 35". $165 signedl $95 unsigned. "This means more to me than anything else 1/11 ever get."-Toby Keith, January 13, 2004, on being named the Oklahoman of the Year

I Heart Toby Keep up the wonderful I agree wholeheartedly with your selec- work, Oklahoma Today. And tion ofToby Keith as the 2003 Oklahoman go, Sooners! of the Year. It's about time someone recog- Doug Waggoner nizes Toby for who he is and what he repre- FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - sents. ~ehasworked hard and tells it like it During Oklahoma Today's Oklahoman of is. Kudos to you and your magazine. Delivering an Opinion the Year ceremony of Rocky's Bricktown in 1 Patricia Anderson I received my Oklahoma Today in the Oldahoma City, Toby Keiiwas honored by fellow musician Wayman Ticdale and Gover- CANDOR, NEW YORK mail on Tuesday and was very glad to see 2 nor Brad Henry, above. First lady Kim Henry, Toby Keith on the front. Great article! right, also took fime to congratulate the Sooner in the Sun While looking at your website's home Norman resident. After the ceremony, Keith I wanted to tell you how much I liked page, I took time to take the "Are You an chattedwith some 150friends and fans. the JanuaryIFebruary 2004 issue with Oklahoman?" quiz and scored 264. No Toby Keith on the cover. My wife and I doubt about it, I'm an Okie. From First Page to Last are big fans. Although we love Fort Lau- I'm a United States Postal Service em- I'm a native Oklahoman born in Tulsa derdale, looking at your magazine brings ployee, serving the great state of Oklahoma in 1931. My brother Russell gave me a back memories of home and makes us and the red, white, and blue. subscription to Okhhoma Today in April. miss the great people and places of Okla- Robin Graham I can hardly wait to get my next issue and homa, like that beautifid winter picture of PAULS VALLEY read it cover to cover. d Grand Lake by Yousef Khanfar. Thank you very much for the wonder- I was born and raised in Lawton, later Write-In Candidates 11 articles and outstanding pictures of my moved to Oklahoma City, and then on to You missed picturing the real "Oklaho- home state, which help us decide the spots Grand Lake before settling in Florida thir- mans of the Year" for the cover of Oklaho- we want to visit next on our yearly visits teen years ago. I proudly fly an OU Sooners ma Today.You should have made the cover to Tulsa. flag on the front of my boat and will be at a collage depicting all the Oklahomans Eleanor Y. (Jones) Horen the Sugar Bowl to cheer them on, hopemy serving in our armed forces, especially SUN CITY WEST, ARIZONA to another national championship. those in hostile areas. They are the true I take a lot of flack down here from the Oklahomans of the year. Lifetime Commitment Miami and Florida State fans, but I can give John E. Turnauckas In 1957, while in the eleventh grade at it just as good as I get it. STUART Perry High School, I entered a statewide

WHERE ARE YOU? AN OKLAHOMA TODAY CONTEST t This one's a bughie: Originally named for a native dwelling, this eleven-foot natural formation assumed an alias after local legend deemed it supernatu- MI. Moved from its original location near northeast Oklahoma's first Native American church, the geologic mass now resides near the gateway to the Osage. What is his mysterious object, and where is it located? Mail entries to Oklahoma Today, Attn: 'Where Are You?" 15 North Robinson, Suite 100, Oklahoma City, OK 73102, or send responses to [email protected] must be received by March 10, 2004. Three winners, drawn from all correct entries, will receive an Okla- homa Today T-shirt. Gvfhrie's Stone Lion Inn was the answer to last issue's 'Where Are You?" contest. Winners include Andrea ~eesle~of Norman, Louise B. Moss of Chickasha, and Mary C. Mitchell of Drumright. Congratulations! .- - . - -7 --7-n..-r.pr

contest as part of the fiftieth anni- tide made merakeI hewnext tonothing lve~satyof QItiahoma statehood. My essay about Pede MeMack, or the other stellar won-David Boren was fdurth-and m3y women you pofled.Th& for filling in priw was a $500 U.S.Savi'ngs Band, an some major gaps in my OUomhistory appearme on the Dave Garroway-hosted &, and lnrdw en smtainhg a magazine of T&y program, pmentation of my award such cons-llsrndyhi& @ty. at the Oklahoma State Fair, and a lifetime Even wben aartidenstopic doesn'tcatch dxuxiption ta Okhhmm T&j, _myimerest, the la~olitinvarhbly does. A .'I I haye enjoyed reading your magazine fewye&s ago, while working with a superb &t the past forty-seven years, while living graphicartist on a tough design challenge, I hughout the United States and abroad. brought in a few copies of Okhhom TBddy to senre as inspiration. It worked: She's been William R. Corr a fin ever since. PALMSPRINGS,CALIFORNIA Bob Henson LOUISVILLE, COLORADO

I"veham meaning ro send a love letter to T&y fbr years. The Nmmberl l3mxmb 2003 issue finayr got me to the ~Theteatiueonwomenof~was hblkItsblendofwonlsandpianteswms' afitdng~btothesesevendass am. E~~IgrewupinMes~Parkand mysisterontehadthe~f~mrnetodvtce on the mestage as.MariaTdM,your ar-

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The Heeling Arts ) Every hunter worth his shotgun needs a qualified canine comrade. In Oklahoma, says Noble resident Bill Cum- mins (who owns Han- nah, right, and is the field trial secretary of the Sooner Retriever Club), expect to pa6300 to $2,000 for an AKC-registered pup

OKLAHOMATODAY .MARCH/APRIL 2004 I lo 1 - 4 3 ' a - 1 -._ a - The bait-and-catch crowd bends over backwards for Falcon Graphite Rods of Broken Arrow. The custom rods fature the finest materiah on a large product lime. Known for their resilience, sensitivity, and balance, Falcon Rods range in price from $65 to $250. Look for them at Okie Bait &Tackle in ' Broken Arrow (918/251-2020) Where the and other Oklahoma retailers. Wild Things Are A Mconrods.com. Prefer a more controlled perspective on nature's splen- dor? Flip through Landscapingfor WiIdLife:A Aihto the Southern Great Plains (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003) by Jeremy Garrett. This handy resource includes information on attractingdesirable backyard creatures, waterscaping, wildscaping, and building nesting boxes and feeders. $24; wildlifedepartment.com.

Hart Tackle Company of Miami produces kid-friendly ing and fishing come spinnerbaitperfect for the at a price. Fees start at angler-in-training and sev- $5 for youth licenses, era1 lines of affordable lures climbing to $750 for for more established fishermen, includ- for residents. Most licenses are available online. Resident

$20, and spring turkey license, $7.75. Okla- homa Department of Wildlife Consema- tion, 1801North T. --I-.. nl-1.1.- ' Llnwln In u~~anolma Mass BassV / City. (800) 223-3333; In April, the mdd's best - wildlifedepartment.com. b. amateur anglers will dock II on Lake Keystone, fishing 1 for the 2004 Citgo Bass ik Federation Championship, a $15,000 &st prize, and Mapping New Territory A C a coveted spot in the 2004 Tulsa's Lowrance Electronics Bassmaster Classic pro tour- makes some of the best Global L nament later this summer. Positioning Systems in the "The championship is galaxy. A Lowrance subsidiary, L the best of the best of Eagle Electronics, produces amateur bass fishing," sonar fish finders. iFinder, L says Matt Pendleton ,&+&A of Bass Communica- % $149; FishMark 320, $169, 4 available at Academy Sports tions, the tournament's and Outdoors and other state- spokesman. Tourna- wT9 wide retailers. 1owrance.com; mt,April 19 to 24. 4 I bassmaste~com.

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Marchsprings By Ja'Rena Smith I SUNDAY I MONDAY I TUESDAY I WEDNESDAY I THURSDAY / FRIDAY / SATURDAY I

2 Have a heart for Break out the crimson Today is the last day Hitch up a pair of Figaro, Figarol art. Young Talent in and cream: It's Red to lasso a glimpse ieans and round Take a trip to Oklahoma includes River Rivalry time of artwork created up the kids for the Tulsa Opera for a the work of our as the OU women's by graduating OSU next-telast day of the production of The state's best high basketball team senior studio art Stephens County Ju- Borber of Seville. a school artists at the battles it out with the students at the Gar- nior Livestock Show Omniplex in Oklo- University of Texas diner Art Gallery. in Duncan. FFA and 1 homo City. Through at the Uoyd Noble 8 o.m.5 p.m. 4-H members will March 20. Center. 8 p.m. show their finest farm critters.

8 13 Get a taste of nature Grab a biscuit and See the Salzburg Would you watch it Rock ovt in Ada at Celebrate St. today at the Nature sop up some country Marionette Theater in a tr&? Would Patrick's Day Works Wildlife Art rock with Cross Co- without flying to you watch it in and Sale. Mineral early and enjoy the Show and Sale in nadian Ragweed's Austria. The globe OKC? Seussi- beautiful greens of Tulsa at the Mar- new album, Soul trotting puppet cal he Musical spring4nd the St. riott Southern Hills. Gravy. Released troupe will perform is at the Civic Paddy's parade in Fihy artists are ex- March 2, the album Mozart's Magic Flute Center Music Oklahoma City's pected to participate. features famous at the Oklahoma Hall. 7:30 p.m. dt the ~ontotoc I Bricktown at 1 p.m. 11 a.m.5 p.m. guests including Lee City Community CoC Through Sunday. I County Agri-PIex. v Ann Womack. lege Theatre. 7 p.m. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

15 b Western Hills Guest If pinches aren't Competition is in the It may not be Ranch is offering enough for you, air in Woodward as strawberry or grape, recreational Spring ead to Eskimo area high schoolers but nothing's sweeter Break programs vie for cash in the than a little jaws- through the week. Paul Laune High pecially the Elk City Crafts, archery, and School Art Competi- Bluegrass Jam. Bring fishing may be iust tion, disployed at your instruments to what the doctor the Plains Indians & the Holiday Inn and ordered to liven Pioneers Museum ioin the ocoustic fun. things up. this month. Through tomorrow.

21 22 23 24 25 27 Relive the Civil War Flower power in Money talks in Hold on to your Get wild with Remember what Don't be peckish. 3 firsthand with Civil March. Everything's El Reno. The cowboy hats, a Oscar Wilde's got the cat tonight Head to the Kaw 5 War Life, reenact- coming up roses as traveling Smithson- storm is com- The Importance of at the Broken City Chicken Noodle :ments of drilling, OSU's Gardiner Art ian exhibit, The ing--and it's raining Being Earnest at the Arrow Community Dinner tonight. For 2 cooking, marching, Gallery hosk Parc- Artistry of African softballs. The Tulsa Poncan Theatre in Playhouse. Curious $5, feast on home and other daily rou- disus: Paintings by Currency, makes Golden Hurricane Ponca City. Tonight's Savage is sure to cooked chicken and If t~nesfrom the period Tobi Kahn. The New a stop at Redlands take on the OSU performance, 8 p.m. leave you deep in noodles with all the at the Honey Springs York artist's work Cornmunity College Cowgirls tonight in Through Sunday. thought. Tonight's fixin's. Community 3 Battlefield site near features floral motifs. Art Gallery. Through Tulsa. 6:30 p.m. performance, 8 p.m. Building, 7 p.m. $+ Checotah. Free. Through April 7. August 9. Through April 4. $ 2 s 28 4 30 f2 It's time for a cup, The Edmond Histori- Mrs. Butterworth 3 ladies. Sip tea and cal Museum hosts the would be proud. E munch finger sand work of local artists Bite into os many wiches at the Red Randy Marks and fluffy pancakes as 4 Hat Tea in Newkirk Don Narcomey. The you can eat at the 3 today. Entertainment exhibit, featuring Alvo Masonic Lodge and door prizes are threedimensional Pancake Feed this I also on the activity artwork, is open mornina beainnina 1 2 menu. Heritoge Cen through April 3. Free. ter, 2 p.m. $5. 02 It1 Oklahoma Gifts

Okl 13/lh" diameter. ,I ~vGlablein OU, TU, and two versions of OSU. $25.00 each ($6.00 S&H)

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State Pride Golf Balls (AllTitleist) State seal on PRO V1, $14.00. State golf course logo balls on NXT, NXT Tour, $8.50 per sleeve; and DT %/Lo, $7.00 per sleeve. ($3.00S&Hper sleeve) Oklahoma Cuff Links Gold metal with the state seal embossed in wwter. each one */Z.Sold as a set, $25.00'&6.00 S&H) A

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Hand-craftedin Qlclahoma.Dishwasher I & mimwave safe. CVVY pronounced Cha-la-@means &mlree.M,Counter- Clockwise Spiral, $15.95. Right, Uktena, a powerful, mystic mature, $15.95. ($6.00 SgtK per mug) "I think everyone who had a family member in the [I 889 land] run takes pride in that." -Paul Moore, sculptor of the Oklahoma City.land run monument, in The Oklahoman

1 ? -h

By Emily Jerman

SUNC'IY MONDAY TUESDAY WIDNCSDAY THURSDAY SATIJRDAY

Reflect and renew

Make relaxation Kiddos demonstrate Ahhhl mat unm

Guthrie's old Santa Fe Depot, now treat yourself to one of Artie's outstanding lunch or dinner selections. On and off-premlse catering, featuringeverything from sandwich plattersto sitdown dinners, and even cakes, makesArtie's a top choice for businessluncheons and special occasions, tool Altie's Bakery InGuthrie'sold Santa Fe Deq~~t,409 W. OklahomaAve. (405) 282-1700 books inspireyou around every corner See the hot new trends among celebrity knitters, sign up for classes or ask about upcoming events. Catering to all tastes and levelsof expertise, this fashion- forward shop provides the supplies and sawy to Finders, keepers! NearAnd Far excites your passion for ind~vidual give your knitting and crochet projectsthat expression. Thoughtfulgifts, handcraftedjewqlry, rustic furniture professional touch! and home accessories fill two buildings with today's hottestfinds Gorgeous pottery, leather handbags, luggage, garden accents, quilts, throws, rugs and llnens offer endless ways to create signature style 715 W. Harrison (405) 282-0907 Literary Six-Pack Dream Hotline Corvette Expo OETA Update Pam Barryrnore OKT Profile

leaders of the Band t'scthe'endof the era. In 2003, dklah&a saidwAbyeto * nvo legendary musicians, A1 Good of big bandad tale"; G .agepcy fame and Speedy West, the fastest and flashieststeel - a @&player in history . 'lrDad played the steel above his head, hthhis 1%.,over.-the . IU," says son Gary "Speedy" West Jr. "Heeven added wh it one ooint." West, who was considered one ofllashville's kmusidans and played on more than six thousand 950to 1956,died in November. ' '~estrawas often thought of as Oklahoma ying the biggest parties and perform- !& arol Channing and Bob Hope. pch. fathers' torches: Speedy West Jr. ary Good a successfd booking r,

@ I THERANGE

Read All About It! POP OPEN THE LITERARY SIX-PACK I Bookmark this: Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma, sponsored in part by the Oklahoma Hurnani- des Council and the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, aims to unite teens and adults in the pursuit of reading. Each year through the 2007 centennial, readers will vote on one of six state-related books to discuss the next year. Voters selected Billie Letts' The Honkand HoLh Opening Soon (Warner Books, 1999) as the inaugural title for 2004. Check local libraries for the word on activities or start your own book club to discuss Letts's quirkycharacters and

discussion guides, and the first five chapters o available online. okreadsok.org.

ogee: Breathtaking, picture- spring color. 2. Woodward Park, Tulsa: Known for its rose garden, but the pioneer days," she says. don't overlook the statg. trees. conifers and rhododendrons. The recipes are anything but pioneer. T m guides 3. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 6. Sunshine Nurseryand students through concodions including Dutch oven cobbler Oldahoma City: Inspired Ahrefurn, Clinton: (above),enchilada cassmle, and pull-apart bacon bread. I examples of how to use splashesof Unique and underused trees The fresh bste keeps Jack Helt coming back for m."it annual color in the landscape. are on display here. Greatplant H e diffierence of cooking in a Dutch oven 4. Lester and Mary Cann Me- shopping to boot. regular skillet," he says. --Brooke Demetr rnorialGarden, Ponca Cii. 7. NorthemOldahoma Cd- Wonderful selection of plants and lege, Tonkawa: Parklike trees. The color improves as the and invigorating. An unforget- season progresses. table education in color. t 3 B I Savor a slice of birthday cake with a generous variety show, cash winnings, live music, and more. helping of nostalgia as Miami's Coleman Theatre Priits of Miami native Charles Banks Whn's oil Beautiful serves up gala events in honor of its painting depicting Wd Rogers performing on the seventy-fifth anniversary in April. Coleman stage also will be for sale for the first time. Local mining magnate and movie buffGeorge Practice deep breathing and arrive early to help L. Coleman Sr. built the Spanish Mission Revival- the Coleman Theatre Beautiful and its fans blow style theater in 1929. Sicethen, characters &om out those seventy-five candles. -Emily Jerman Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara to Frodo Baggins have captivated moviegoers. The Coleman~sevenry-f;$hanniwary events run The volunteer group Friends of the Coleman ApriLldto 18. I03 Noah Main Sheet in Miami planned the scheduled events: a children's movie, (918) 540-2425.

OKLAHOMATODAY 8 MARCH/APRIL 2004 l8 I I EliscoverThe VWand Pointe Marin on Grad Lake. On the tip ofMankey Island at Shangri-laCountry Club, these exqubitelydesignedr&idenm an the p&t retreat. At Grand Lake's most prestigiousaddress, these luurious,qhlstiated homes apnestled at water's edge amid two championship golf courses, primte marina, airportand the most breathtaking views of t?hnoted Oklahoma playground Palatial midmces are individually appointedfor your iif&ylle with pimte pals, exteriorfireplaces,sepatate guest cabanas and g~lfcaftgarages~From $560,090. Enjoy comfort unswwdwith generousfhrphs &om2500 to 4000 squarefeet at Grand lake's two magnificent rmrt home communities,

FQB APPOIIWTMENT OR NQW.ON,CONTACT MAXSON ~~AT lt877-Z57-4371 THERANGE

Ecumenical Retreat Center Welcoming To All ' P.0.Box 158 - Des Moines, NM 88418 (505) 278-3002 www.mandalacenter.org Amos: Prophet for Our Time - Friday, March 26 - Sunday, March 28,2004. What has the prophet Amos to say for our hurting times? Explore the Book of Amos with Walter Harrelson, Th.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible at the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University and Adjunct UniversityProfessor of the Divin- ity School of Wake Forest University. Dr. Harrelson has written extensively on Biblical literature and Jewish and Christian relations. He is the General Editor of the recently published "TheNew Interpreter 5 Study Bible." Fee: $200.

Clergy Retreat with Walter Harrelson, Th.D. Monday, March 29 - Thursday, April 1. Retreat will focus on several sets of Psalms that are meditations on the meaning of life. Fee: $225.

St. Francis, Rumi and the Path of Lovers. Friday, April 23 - Sunday, April 25. Jim Fadiman, Ph.D., Institute for Transpersonal Psychology founder and John Fox, author and Certified Poetry Therapist, will lead discussion and small group writing sessions to help us explore our love relationships. The goal is to understand what we mean by love, DREAM ON what can enrich our loving and how we can lessen concern, confusion and suffering in our love life. Fee: $320. HAT DOYOU DREAMABOUT I Fees include tuition, double occupancy room and meals. I when you drift away?Whether w1 you envision marrying your childhood sweetheartor spend your nights losingyour

teeth, everydream has meaning.-. If you're dyingto dissect your slumber story, gab the nearestphone on April 23. Offered the last weekend in April every year since 1989,the National Dream Hotline is a free serviceprovided to residents of sixteen cities by the School of Y $1 Metaphysics, an interdisciplinary institu- 918-582-41.. tion that studies the principles believed to govern the universe. HARVARD PARKE, TULSA ..JR#IAN Beginningon Friday evening,local 918-492-4 p5;292-477' dream interpreterswill be on hand for a I continuous fifty-four hours, with the goal of offeringcallers insight into the some- WE! ?N AVE., OKC EDMOND times confusing nature of dreams. 405-840-4777 405-348- Damian Nordmann, a teacher at the Oklahoma City School of Metaphysics, says, "So many people disregard their dreams. By calling the hotline, callers are able to put dreams in proper perspective and help make connections within their lives." That's definitely a dream come true. -Andrea Lopez

TheNationalDream Hotline will be avail- able to Okhhoma Cityand ELa resiaha

OKLAHOMATODAY MARCH/APRIL 2004 20 I Built for Speed ENID'S CORVETTE EXPO

HE CORVE~EVERYTEEN- Tage boy's dream car-has a strange I mystiqueallits own. In its more than fifty years of existence, 1 the word Corvettestill sparks that glazed- 1 over, I'm-in-love look for almost every 1 red-blooded man in America. It oozes speed, saappeal, and serious bravado. 1 Enid's annual &air with this dream machine, the Corvette Expo, takes place Saturday, April 3. In October 1992,fiiends David Clark information, call and Bob Cassaday began Corvettes of Enid, (918) 74&5309 the local dub sponsoringthe expo. Clark, ,1 who has owned and restored some sixty- eight Corvettes, expects around 150 cars at this year's event. And that's just inside the ChisholmTrail Coliseum at the Garfield County Fairgrounds complex. "There should be another sixty or so K MUSEUM OF ART outside in the parking lot," he says. "But they're for show, too." The Corvette Expo's featured cars range fiom the split-window '63 and the '67 427 big block to a '04 C5 kith the drool-in- ducing 350 horsepower LS1 V-8 engiie. Chances are, fans ofvintage and hot-off- the-assembly line 'Vettes will find a fivorite at the expo. Selecting the ultimate Corvette, though, isn't so easy for the man who's owned so many "I don't know that I have a favorite," Clark says. "Every year is unique." -Chris Stinchcomb

The CorvetteEjcpo takespkzceApril3 at the Chisholm Trail Coliseum, I1I Westfir Buying or Selling lndian Art? dut in Enid $2 admission. (580) 233-6555; corvettesofenid com. Know the Law! Under the lndian Arts and Crafts Act, all products must be marketed truthfully regarding heritage.and tribal affiliation of the artist or craftsperson. For a free brochure on the lndian Arts and Crafts Act and how to file a complaint, contact the lndian Arts and Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, MS 4004-MIB Washington, DC 20240, -: 202.208.3773, E: [email protected], W: www.iacb.doi.gov

Visit the Southern Plains lndian Museum See authentic lndian arts and crafts, located in Anadarko, Oklahoma at 715 East Central Boulevard. The museum is open year-round and hosts a variety of exhibits from traditional clothing and artifacts, to contemporary paintings and sculptures. Southern Plains Indian Museum, P.O. Box 749, Anadarko, Oklahoma 73005, T: 405.247.6221 THERANGE "This was the musical that changed everything." -Trevor Nunn, director, Oklahoma! revival

OKLAHOMA! ACROSS THE POND Famed Musical Comes Home to OETA URSTATE'S MOST BELOVED MUSICAL WILL HAVE A of the London production is that the actors perform all of the 0British influence as OETA broadcasts Great Perfoomzances: dancing. In many Oklahoma!productions, look-alikes march in Rodgen and Hammerstein? Oklahoma!in March. The musical, for the fancy footwork. which first opened in 1943 on Broadway and is based on Claremore March and April also willgive OETA viewers a new program to tune native Lynn Riggs's play Green Grow the Likxs, was shot in London into, Okhhoma Forum, whichdebuted in February and airs Sundays at and features X-Men star Hugh Jackman as the free-spirited cowboy 1:30 p.m. Dick Pryor, OETAnews and public &manager and host Curly. Actors Josefina Gabrielle and Maureen Lip- of OkhbmaForum, says the thirty-minute news and man also return to their roles as Laurey and Aunt I publica&& programis siitoMeet thehss, with -.-Hler in the television production. an Oklahoma perspective. , - OET'Amationmanager BiiThrash says Jackman's "Thekey hereis talkabout relevant issues that notoriety may intrigueyounger Oklahomans unfimil- areimportant to Oklahomansand newsmakers," iar with the play Pryor says. :. "1n oklahoma, we all know the play" Thrash says. .wi&classic musicals and informative subject mat- "But we keep in perspective that some young people s,OETfi March and April lineup has somedung ? + \. may have not seen the performance. It willbe exciting." I for everyone. -Ja'Rena Smith \-. Thrash says one of the most interesting aspects

'N.' Hugh Jackman and Josefina Gabrielle star in the London produdon of Oklahoma1 airing on kh 6to21. Check with 0ETAJSrpeaf;Cairtimtr. ' ~0~ net. !- OETA in March. k Bead by Bead 1 k< 2.- NATIVE NECKLACES 6.. .

OR FIBER ARTIST PAM BARRY- and i____:diblylabor-intensive: EL--- and has embarked on a secot-, -__--r . Fmore, life is a rainbow. "I live my necklace can take up to twenty hours to Santa Fe-flavored line of jewelry. life through color, and I express myself create-time spent tediously and pre- Creativity is what keeps Barrymore through light," she says. cisely weaving each tiny loop. alive. "I have the ability to create beauti- Barrymore was enchanted by needle- Barrymore says the varied hues inspire ful work," she says, "and others are able to weaving after she began designing each piece. "Ultimately, I want to reflect receive joy from it. It's one of my favorite contemporaryNative American clothing light onto the wearer's face," she says. things about creating." in the late Eighties. "I love other cultures," Bibby Wilson, an Oklahoma City resi- -Andrea Lopez says Barrymore, herself half-Cherokee. dent who has purchased two of Barrymore's "Needleweaving became the perfect necklaces, says, "The coloration-that's Bmrymod art willbe on &p&y at the complement to my clothing design." why everyone is so taken with her work Wagebranch oftbe Mmpoliitan Library 1 - Needleweaving is an ancient art form Every time I wear one of her necklaces, *- Systm in Okkzboma Cig through Mach. originating more than two thousand years someone asks me where I got it." . I -% I0307Nod Pennrylvania, (405) 755-0710. ago. Today, the process involves weaving Life as a fiber artist is only one of >Tosche& a viewingofher work, cal(405) - ': various threads on a small loom to create Barrymore's many aspects. A professional ',- elaborate necklaces and other detailed singer, the Oklahoma City resident does . works. The finished pieces resemble hun- frequent radio ahd television voice-over ', PamBarrymore's beaded necklaces sell for dreds of tiny seed beads. work. She also continues to design her Nay $65 to $145. Her jewelry frequently is sold Barryrnore's necklaces are one of a kind tive American clothing line, Silver Fawn, at area trunk shows. THE OKT PROFILE[

MatthewWe Mungli 1

LoshgcleJh p ertirtM&M+ has ~ow&n~"~t%set'Cafe comerrIOngwlry~tbeAto8ax~~wkm -.. 4 smA: vgpr ' he was mired A spcdist itr pdt"gr'ftg, .Freddie's Bar-'B-Q Stea9chh1t~@' MU~~CPhas won loaAeadwqAwardd&e Ernrnp~~hrk~die- wod He bcw mdly wonking an thc ass& CSI: Miami. Q: Where doyou get your inspiration? A: My inspiition feeds off helong historyof Cheever's W6 prosthetic makeup and h p design in I ~ed~oostec LGd . the film and television industry. hon Star Neq5Catahge' Q: What importantlessonsdidyou learngrow Grand Boulevard &&*("Jt- ing up in OWahomat A: Not to standbehind ahorse when itkicks! I also had parentswho encowaged us to fbl- I NORlwm * low our dreams, no matterhow fiu reaching 9 , Library Bar & GF-- Open I?G@at4p-m GI@-LI~,No they might be. a Buchanan I SeaW . 9384232&&2 I?ax(918)4~-78 4 LaLunaMexican Q: What doyou like bestabout you& - a '.--' :-.. wyjv.pefes.prg j . A: Being able to adapt to situations under stress. Q: What qualifywwldyou changd A: Leavingwork at the workplace. Q: What motion picture or television prqed didyou find mast crealively satisfyi* A: Ghosts ofM&sippi. AgingJamesWoods was gratifj4ngand challenging. Q: What is-yourfavoritesaying or quotea A: "Just tell me where you want me to bc" Q: What's your favorite film, and why? A: 7Faccs ~rrf Dr. hand the way Wh Tuttle and Charlie Schram were able to changeTonyRandallintovariousdr;rranezs with prostheticmakeup. Q: Who are your favoriteadwsto work wid18 A: Robin Willis-very patient and very% very funny. Brendan Fraser-a true

gentleman and actor. James W* rl-hnnto ~trly,.qone t~ r,claltlna s IUNI intense and excellent actor. rbus hotels & dy mow than 200 hole nP rh-hnrnpionshipgolf. Then rrhs & Q: Whatdoyou enjoy inyour spare tid live the day's pnle over dinner in one ( A: Watchgmwies(iusttobeen-edd gdmnnd's 75 rfsburants ranging frtrm fast-flxxl-cmurtlto elegantlj-gourmet. not to ctitik the &) and reking. Q: What doyou miss aboutOklahomat A: My family and the beaudid country. Q: How do you define the word creativd A: Using a God-given talent to entertain and enlighten.

pop nature BY LOUISA McCUNE

The Realism, Small Animals, and Happiwss of John Newsom

John Newsom's oil paintings HE PAINTINGS OF JOHN NEWSOM ARE A BIT ALARMING. IN ONE, A DIS- are large in format and take Tpassionate collection of owls blankly stare out from their canvas against a cheerful anywherefrom one month to backdrop inspired more by Andy Warhol than the Ouachitas or Black Forest. In another, one year to finish. As a high school rhrdent in hidin the a horde of hibernating ladybugs cluster on the head of a blithe sunflower set against late 198% he designed logos stripes that bring to mind outdated breakfast-room wallpaper. In all of Newsom's paint- for local groups and illustrated ings, a yearning for the outdoors and, perhaps, for the 1970s seems apparent as the cold, the cover of the hidHigh hard h&t of day collides with a kind of vibrant romanticism. John Newsom, we see, is not School yearbook; in 1986, your average nature painter. his cartoons won first place in an Oklahoma Interscholastic I grew up with Newsom in Enid, and in an email a few years back, he told me that his PressAssocialion competition. paintings resonate as much with the FedEx delivery man who brings packages to his downtown Newsomnow liisin New Manhattan studio as with members of the insulated art world. Accessible but outrageous, York. Opporite: The OM Guard. cold yet happy, Newsom's paintings represent a new perspective on an old form. This page: Together ForeverI "If I paint a certain bird, fish, insect, flower-an image that someone living in rural Omit3,ologic~lTheatreI and Newmm. Oklahoma might see in their backyard or along a highway-it becomes a global image," says Newsom, who turns thirty-four in April. "People understand these images naturally, without even thinking about them." Those of us who knew John as youngsters hadvery few doubts about his future: His talent and ambition made success a foregone conclusion. In 1996, my roommate and I attended his first New York show in a galleryon Fifty-seventh Street and gaspedwith excitement when Harrison Ford breezed through the elevator door. Evidently, we didn't stay long enough for the other two luminaries, Mick Jagger and Jasper Johns, who came later. In the eight years since, Newsom has continued to make a splash in the competitive art market. His paintings start around $1 5,000, and he's frequently referred to as a rising star on the international art scene. He lives four blocks from his SoHo studio, which he describes as a cross between a doctor's office and a boxing ring, and his paintings show both of these influences: the sterility of nature coexisting with the action of a Marvel superhero. Newsom's childhood, translated to canvas, is more Grimmls than Tom Sawyer. I This page: Summer Swarm, Critic Martha Schwendener, writing in Artforum in 2001, said that "Newsom paints 1 John Newsom with Full Circle, birds with a matter-of-factness that acknowledges, as Hitchcock's film did, the turf-war and detail of Blood Orange. Oppositct: Detail of Midday sensibility of these creatures.. ..They are neither conveniently labeled nor cute and Migrotion. Newsom returns to cuddly, nor are they anthropomorphized in any way." A year later, Steven Vincent of Oklahoma two to three times Art &Auction-which featured a Newsom painting on its cover-described his works a year for extended stays and as having a "distinctive look-thick, confident brush strokes depicting owls, eagles, says he may one day set up a ravens, and other feathered creatures, often combined with medieval weaponry." studio here. Vincent also believes that Newsom and a slew of other young artists have created--con- sciously or not-an artistic response to the events of September 11, saying that these 1 emerging talents are an "alternative to conceptual burnout ...y oung painters who reject the cool, detached Duchampian tradition in favor of warm, colorful, viewer-friendly 1 canvases.. ..They all make painting that is unapologetically beautiful and, even more unusual, earnest."

A frank and unsentimental affinity with nature is clearly- important- to Newsom, an unabashed extrovert, who, with his father and brother, spent many hours as a child in the woods and ponds around Enid, exploring the earth's offerings and creating a vast database of mental resource material. That childhood, translated to Newsom's canvas, has a pure, fairytale quality, reminiscent more of Grimm's than Tom Sawyer. What those forays produced was not the life of, say, a solitary park ranger, but a fantastic effort of color and whimsy. "Where else would a kid want to grow up?" he asks. "My father would take me and my brother fishing and hunting when I was a kid, and my mother would pack us lunches when we'd go. I spent a lot of time outside in Oklahoma when I was growing up, and that informs my work to this day." His parents, Joe and Claire, gave Newsom another critical experience. Recognizing their son's talent and enthusiasm for cartooning, they introduced him to the work of modern painters, among them Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg. The latter made perhaps the biggest and most lasting impact. "My father and I flew down to the Dallas Museum ofArt on my fourteenth birthday," says Newsom, who has a bachelor's degree from Rhode Island school of Design and a master's of fine art from New York University. "I walked into the DMA and saw Robert Rauschenberg's largest combine painting called Skyway. It's still there. It's an enormous painting that combines images of American life from the sixties with a heroic portrait of John F. Kennedy. From that day forth, all I wanted to do was to become a great American painter." rn

John Newsomi paintings can be seen in the upcomingfim, Spider-Man 2, starring Tobey Maguire and openingJuly 2. A new book, John Newsom (Mike Weiss Editions, 2004, $40) features&IL-color reproductions of his work. mikeweissgahry.com. I

OKLAHOMATODAY .MARCH/APRIL 2004 ..-.I . - 8A.L-A A,-.

Sugar Loaf 7'II

% 11 I 2,564 FEET I 11 1 LE FLORE COUNTY II ARLY FRENCH TRAPPERS WORK- Eing the hills and hollows of south- eastern Oklahoma's Ouachita Mountain region got it right when they named Sugar Loaf Mountain. The name is hardly origi- nal, but it does present visitors with two questions: What exactly is a sugar loaf, and why would someone name a mountain af- ter it? The first answer is simple: A sugar loafis nothing more than a pile of the sweet stuffmolded-into a cone shape. Secondly, Sugar Loaf Mountain, located in extreme eastern Le Flore County about eight miles southeast of Poteau, does in fict resemble a large, conical-shaped pile of sugar. The 2,564-foot sandstone peak rises like a solitary greenish-brown spire over the countryside, commanding the land- scape for miles around. While the map indi- cates that Sugar Loaf's summit is securely in Sooner territory, the peak itself is part of a you have these privately owned, and signs are posted to small range called the reflections and discourage trespassers. Sugar Loaf Mountains shadows moving Freshwater springs emanating from that spill over into Arkan- on the mountain." Sugar Loaf once helped slake the thirst sas, less than a mile east. In the mid-1970s, of Indians and early explorers who fre- In truth, Sugar- Loafseems hap - the undulating magnetism quently camped beneath the mountain. pily divorced from the yawning valleys, of the Ouachitas lure; ~e&lund, Local legend, according to Henry L. Peck's wrinkled slopes, and hazy blue hogback a former NASA employee who worked on The Proud History ofLe FLore County, also ridges- that form the bulk of the Ouachita manned space missions, into retirement puts outlaws Frank and Jesse James on the Mountains, a chain that encompasses in Poteau and became the impetus for lam for three years in a secret hideout in some 20,865 square miles of western Ar- his second career as an acrylic-on-canvas the Sugar Loaf Mountains. kansas and southeastern Oklahoma. Sugar artist. At eighty-five, Berglund continues Supposedly, the brothers buried up to Loafpreens like a dandy on the Ouachita's to paint local mountain scenes, and his $50,000 obtained from bank and train northern fringes, casting its spell on visi- works appear in many public and private robberies there. Periodic and unofficial tors and locals alike, including one Poteau spaces throughout the area. "It's a very excavations by treasure hunters have artist named Rend Berglund. beautiful setting," he says. "That's what failed, however, to turn up any of the "Sugar- Loaf is my favorite because of attracted me." James brothers' ill-gotten gains. its distinctive shape," says Berglund, a Sugar Loaf retains an elegant, time- It isn't hard to find Sugar Loaf Moun- painter who describes his style as landscape tested dignity enhanced by the hawks tain. Take U.S. Highway 59 south of realism. "The Sugar Loaf Mountains are and bald eagles that ride updrafts over Poteau and turn east on State Highway very beautiful when there are clouds and the mountain's oak and evergreen flanks. 83. Immediately visible, Sugar Loaf be- suSar~4~~,,,,-i,,, above, hornstate , While presenting no obvious technical gins to do what it seems to do best: grab Highway 83. difficulties to climbers, the mountain is your attention. 2,666 FEET LE FLORE COUNTY

tion of be'ieastern Okiahoma's highest a continent collided with No& America "The mountain's east-west orientation

Ths popularTdmena Drivs, which con. factJ the mountains, made of sandstones While this fact alone may qualify nmTalwnoand Mena, Arkanras, mns and shales deposited 325 million years as merely a geological footnote, Rich along scenic Rich ~auntain,inset. constant southerly winds, is a relatively arid place where drought-tolerant short- leaf pines hold sway over deciduous tires. The north side, by contrast, is wetter and more diverse, with an abundance ofwhite oak, red oak, hickory, black walnut, and red maple. Once inhabited by prehistoric Cad- doan peoples and later used for hunting and trapping by the French and Indians, Rich Mountain was opened to homestead- ers in 1862. Their descendants departed decades ago, and between 1964 and 1969, the states of Oklahoma and Arkansas con- structed the Talimena Drive (State High-

N UN WECTEDTHING HAPPENS Aas you drive southwest on Inrerstate 44 toward Lawton. Just when you've got- ten used to the tedium ofwide-open prairie, dark humps, like a procession of elephants' backs, materialize suddenly on the horizon, growing ever larger until they dominate both the landscape and your thoughts. At 2,464 feet, Mount Scott is the second- highest mountain in the Wichita range. Mount Pinchot a few miles northwest is fifteen feet higher but easily places second in natural drama, beauty, and accessibility. Both mountains exist within the boundaries of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Lawton and the FOIT Sill Military Reservation. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people ascend to the summit of Mount Scott via a road that corkscrews up the mountain's boulder-strewn flanks. The Wichitas, which cover some 1,500square miles of southwest Oklahoma and rise like islands out of the surrounding sea of prai- rie, serve only to accentuate Mount Scott's preeminence and majesty.

A view from the summit of Mount Scott.

hundreds minated Then, by executive order in 1905, of millions President Theodore Rmsevelt-who trav- of years ago. eled the anzin 190btedthe With the ancient Forest Reserve, and,in 1907,fifteen head of

2,411 FEET KIOWA COUNTY boulders perch precariously on its slopes hundred bison, seven hundred elk, and

buffslo population around Mount Scott- :were reintroduced to the region. Today visi- western part of the W~chitas-it certainly long a haven for wildM+had been aaer- tors second dmemotion. doesn't get the royal treatment. has a bad case of Rodney Dangerfield Syn- ural habitat flowishi with mice, small &m&t doesn't get any respect. For most birds, lizards, and eggs. In other wards, motorists tradirng on Stare Highway 44, King provides a writable smorgasbord figappears to be just another undistin- for rattlers. Hohson suggests would- 2,604 FEET guished granite mound arnong many be climbers content themselves with

mission to mankind, thm5 an antenna on make themselves scarce.

would willigly tolerate.

from the Texas border, have sertied as a

der of [Kin%]mountain," says Quartz quite and prickly pear and other things Mountain Nature Ccnter naturalist, that wdl poke you." Sue Hokanson. "That's the only reason And bite you. people even notice it." "You've got to look and listen," she says. EmMother Nature is indined to heap "And don't put you hand under rocks." ' woe upon King Mountain. Until a few Ultimately, that may be the charm of ' pars ago, Hobreports, Kingsported King Mountain-that it remains an es- a robe of royd purple each spring, th& sentiallywild hunk of granite, a safe place to an abundance of redbud tree blooms. A for rattlesnakes and other critters to do

Boy Scoutsmeeveryyear ac0undThanks- givingand comb the mom&&" So what does King Mountain have ping for it besides altitude? In a word, snakes. Lxlts and lots of' rattlesnakes: western diamondbacks, prairie rattlers, and pygmy rattlers, among others. "We don't recommend people climb the mountain unless it's between November and March," she says. "That; when the snakes den up for the winter in small av-

King Mountain, above M, towers ovor hkeAdh,sdugwt. The Antelope Hills, right, were a beticonfar earlyplainstraders.

GEOGRAPHY 1 35 tlers, sheltering Indian encampments, and, for a while, serving as a demarcation point between the United States and Mexico. Although reaching only 2,604 feet above sea level, the hills rise high enough above the surrounding plains to make them conspicuous for miles around. But from a geological perspective, they are, well, little more than the debris of the Rocky Moun- tains washed downstream by rivers. "The rocks that compose the Antelope Hills are about twenty million or so years old," says Tom Stanley, a geologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. "They're basically erosional remnants of the Ogal- lala Aquifer." In other words, after the Rockies uplifted about thirty million years ago, some of the eroded materials washed downstream and formed the Antelope Hills. The Antelope Hills, Stanley says, have proven to be a durable feature of the landscape, thanks to their composition. "The sand grains are well cemented together, and they don't break down that easily," he says. "That's why the hills stand out above the surrounding plains." Today, the Antelope Hills, located off a remote gravel road six miles north of State Highway 33, are privately owned, @mFfiy;;'ll (1 though they do attract a number of sight- lm y . ii >?;;%$5; L. * . A .z +a, > .; ,+.. seers and climbers eager to scale an Old P'.::., .-.."AT"&; 11 West landmark. 11 "We get a lot of visitors," says June 11 * id Hartley. "We'll look out sometimes and see people standing along the ridges." Two decades ago, June and husband Charlie purchased 840 acres of land, including 200 acres that encompass the Antelope Hills behind their ranch house. Through the years, Boy Scout troops, solitary climbers, and even people dig- ging for dinosaur bones have tromped atop Black Mesa near the granite obelisk up to the top of the slopes, much to the marking the highest point, one could just Hartleys' chagrin. as easily be in a cow pasture hundreds of "We just like people to ask beforehand. CBlack Mesa] feet below. But flat should never be mis- There are liability issues when people are taken for boring. on your land," she says. CIMARRONCOUNTY J Step to the perimeter of the yucca- A red dirt road crosses over the east- studded mesa, and the whole world opens ern shoulder of the hills, and visitors are S FATE AND THE FORCES OF GEOL- up to dazzling panoramas of windswept welcome to exit their vehicles, gaze up, Aogy would have it, even the highest valleys and bluffs in nearby Colorado and drink in the solitude, and contemplate a point in Oklahoma, Black Mesa, plays New Mexico. Black Mesa, it turns out, remnant of the high plains that may well right into the old Panhandle stereo- is one of the most interesting and diverse appear much as it did when wagon trains type-it's flat, or at least it is on top, thus landscape features anywhere in the state. passed nearby 150 years ago. earning its designation. In fact, standing It is also, of course, a favorite of "high- Located in extreme western Cimarron County about a mile and a half from the New Mexico state line, Black Mesa is a mas- sive structure that pours down out of New Mexico, then spills over into Oklahoma. The Oklahoma portion of the mesa includes a 1,600-acre nature preserve donated ten years ago to the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department by the Oklahoma Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Like the Antelope Hills, Black Mesa is composed primarily of erosional rem- nants from the Rocky Mountains but is capped by an erosion-resistant basalt magma that flowed from ancient vol- canoes. It is this black basalt that gives the mesa its distinctive color and name. Geologists place the ape of Black Mesa at 11 L, a bout twenty to thirty million yc3r5. "Resides bcing thc t~llestdrca in 0kl.thorns. ir is also one ot' few pl.lces to see 3 \,Ieso/oic section fronl the ;I~C01' dinosaurs," saysTom Stanle! n geologist with the Oklahom~(;cologic;ll Survey. "?'hers .Ire Crctnccous through Jur.lssic

I rocks, a lot of dino5.1i1r bone,, ,~ndcii- pointers," people who spend much of an area, especially when people usually think nosaur tracks." their spare time climbing the highest of the Oldahoma Panhandle as plain flat." The rracks, imprinted on ancient soils, spots around, state by state, even county Sugent has bagged several county high are located near the tr.ailhead that leads by county across the United States. One points in Oldahoma, including the An- up the mesa. Black Mesa is accessible via of those highpointers is Scott Sugent of telope Hills in Roger Mills Counry, and a road that branches aff State Highway Chandler, Arizona, who has climbed has climbed all the county high points in 325 east of the tiny burg of Kenton, Black Mesa twice and attended the Na- Arizona, most of the h~ghpoints in Ne- Qklahomak only town on Mountain tional State Highpoinrers Convention vada and Ncw Mexico, and more than one Standard Time. A 4.2-mile trail winds there in 2002. hundred county high points in Texas. around the base, and then c11mb.s steeply "1t"s the highest point in Oklahoma and "My stereotypes of certain regions for six hundred fee1 to rhe top of the happens to be an outstandingly be'tutiful have been shattered, and it's rare thar mesa. Along the way, hikers cad shrink place, with juniper-spotted hills and impres- I ever visit an area and not come away sive mesas," he says. "It's truly a little gem of with x positive impression," he says. View from Black Mesa's Summit Trail.

I GEOGRAPHY 37

Mountain bragging rights over Lynn. Bastarache, who has been working in the But the difference between the two lies Ouachitas for twelve years, says there are deeper in thedetails. Sure, Rich ~ountain' only a half-dozen or so areas where this has the Tdimena Drive and sole claim to rare bird has been located. the Rich Mountain salamander and the The Beech Creek area is a favorite of Rich Mountain slit-mouthed snail, but both amateur and serious botanists, who Lynn Mountain is in many respects come to appreciate and study the native OMahoma's Little Eden, a multifaceted trees and wildflowers, including the rhir- emerald of biodiversity found nowhere teen orchid species. else in the world. Also nearby is the isolated Cucumber

Lynn Mountain does not give up her Creek Nature Preserve, a 3,270-acre area ' secrets easily to the casual visitor. In fact, adjacent to Lynn Mountain established Ithe hurried traveler may find Lynn in 1989 by the Nature Conservancy Mountain, unlike its well- for the benefit of neotropical migrant ' traveled neighbor, somewhat birds induding rhe cerulean warbler, inaccessible, with only scarlet tanager, indigo bunting, barred a rugged and daunting owl, and pileated woodpecker. Rarely forest road cutting across visited, this preserve offers a sliver of largely untrammeled living room for In order to get to know some of the Ouachita's less-observed what this mountain is all mammalian residents. about, you'll have to do Those residents include species rang- V some hiking and maybe ing from the gray fox and bobcat to a even a little bit of camping, growing population of black bears. At ,t won't hurt, either, if your in- one time scarce in the Ouachitas, black s include botany, ornithology, and bears were reintroduced to the mountains on the Arkansas side during the 1940s more remote than Rich and W50s. As those populations grew, Mountain," says USDA Forest Service Dis- bears eventually spread into Oklahoma, trict wildlife biologist Robert Bastarache. looking tGr territory of their own. "There's good hiking and pretty wuntry "Now we have our own population of scenery with mountain streams. Oklahoma bears, and they're doing well," The south slope of Lynn Mounta~n says Bastarache, who says Lynn Mountain boasts perhaps the most diverse habitats visitors have a decent chance of seeing a dtheOklahoma Ouachitas. So much so, bear from spring through late fall. the area has been designated the Beech One cannot escape the Lynn Mountain Creek National Scenic Area. This 7,000- area, much less the Ouachitas, without acre area is an unbroken wilderness with finally entertaining a bit of endemic lo- towering stands of hardwoods climbiiup cal folklore, that of Bigfoot. For decades, to seventy feet high. The area dso features numerous sightings, tracks, and sounds beech and magnolia trees, the only place have been reported by locals who swea in the Oklahoma portion of the Ouachitas a tall, hairy, and stinky ape man lurks where these species grow in abundance. in the his. "With the Lynn Mountain and Beech "We get reports on that pretty regu- Creekarea, a lot goes back to the sail type," larly, and there are people who are wn- its bigger brother, Rich Mountain, directly says Bastarache. "It's a rich, fertile soil that vinced they saw something," says Basta- across the shimmering Kiamichi River can support those beech and magnolia rache with a laugh. "Out of ten people, vaIIey that separates the two sandstone trees, and that's what dictates what can probably four or five say they've seen one ridges in far eastern. Oklahoma. Indeed, grow on that land." or seen tracks, but it's just folklore as far the untrained eye can distinguish little These huge trees support an abundance as I'm concerned. I'm not buying it one difference between these two Ouachita of bird life, including the rare, for Okla- bit until someone throws a dead Bigfoot 1 Mountain high points. homa at least, cerulean warbler. This tiny on my desk." Both are blanketed with a mix of short- blue bird inhabits the high tops of hard- Bigfoot or not, Lynn Mountain leaf pine and hardwoods, and only 186 woods and is rarely seen though highly promises a high return on investment of Get of additional elevation allows Rich sought after by hard-core bird watchers. a dedicated visitor's time. mP I OKLAHOMATODAY MARCH/APRIL 2004 COOL CLEAR WAT E R

BY MICHAEL HARDEMAN

fishing licenses. It's a typical Saturday nforning at Scotty's Blue River One Stop in Davis. An early fog has lifted, and the arousing smell of bacon gives the fly-fishermen a burst of energy. You can hear the anticipation in their voices as Bidwell and Simpler finish their business with owner Scotty McCarthick. The old friends haven't been fishing here in a couple of years and are eager to drive the two miles north to Blue River and resume some long-overdue rainbow trout fishing. -If you are fly-fishing in a beautiful area [like Blue River]," says Simpler, "it doesn't matter if you catch any fish." Simpler took me by surprise last spring when he first told me about Blue River Public Fishing and Hunting Area eleven miles northeast of 9' Tishomingo. I'd been roaming- around Oklahoma with my cameras ,,,,for ,,,,for more than a dozen years and had not heard -. . of the place. Blue River, maned by the OWa- homa ~e~artmintdf Wildlife Conservation, is a reminder of the joy of discovering- wilderness places that are still remote and untouched by human progress. A small path only occasionally inter- sects with a dirt road, and the only real signs of civi- lization are a few scattered trash cans. Pad Mauck, whose terri- tory covers the south-central

PORTFOLIO 1 41 YOU GET IT ALL

region of Oklahoma, is the Blue River's fishery supenisor. He came along in 1969, two years after the area was originally established with 923 acres. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation purchased the land from a local land- ownerin an effort to provide public-albeit protected-access to such remote areas. A respectable size then, the area has grown to more than 3,300 acres of pristine wildlife habitat in the past thirty-five years, again thanks to government purchases. Because of its lush, steep gradient and geologic formations, there is no place in the state's wildlife system Mauck values more hq$dy than Blue River, and for him, keeping this river's habitat pristine is a must. 'When you walk along this six miles of river, you get it d,"I he says. Mauck proudly points out the river's eight-foot water- 8 fails, its rich stream banks, and the profusion of seaside alders and cedar trees. "It's the jewel of southern Oklahoma."

42 1 OKLAHOMATODAY .MARCH/APRIL 2004 Seeing only the lackluster part of Blue River that empties For trout enthusiasts Bidwell and Simpler, the reservoir is into the Red River, the new traveler might not understand nowhere in site as they wade in the river, seeking the four- or Mauck's point of view. But park at the junction of Blue River five-inch trout that nibble at their lines. To the delight of fisher- and State Highway 7, walk the two-and-one-quarter miles of men statewide, the stream is stocked with 95,000 trout from paths where vehicles or camping of any sort are not permitted, November through March and is home to native species and and that sense will come. all types of bass year-round. "I call it the 'misplaced river,'" says Mauck, "because of its Today, these old friends have grabbed their limit of six fish vegetation, the rolling hills, and the old, tall cedar trees-as per day and even boast a couple of three- or four-pounders. tall as pine trees. The granite boulders, too, are amazing. They And that's no fish tale. rn create pools and braided streams." But the real secret to Blue River lies underground. Those rush- Since 2003, those who pkan to hunt, M,or visit the area are re- ing cascades are fed largely by the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer, quired to purchase an appropriate license or a Blue River Comema- a natural limestone and sandstone reservoir situated under no tion Passport. Children and educationalgroupsare exempt. Primi- less than five counties that serves as the lifeblood of the river. tive campsites are available. wildlifedepartment.codblueriver. htm. Without this subterranean water source, the Blue River would Scot$ Blue River One sGp in Davis is apopukar stop for visitors only flow when it rains. headed to the Blue rive^ (580) 443-5728 or bluwiverok.com.

PORTFOLIO I

Beavers Bend Resort Park, here, and the i Ouachita National Forest are popular tour- in destinations. Both areas are located a L half hour from Weyerhaeuser's Wright City plant, where this crane operates.

Oklahoma has in excess of 7.5 million acres of forested area, and forestry-related activity pumps more than a half-billion dollars into the state economy each year. .The industry employs 11,000 workers, has an annual payroll of $260 million, and contributes about 4.1 percent of the state's total manufacturing output. Beyond numbers, however, timber inhses the culture of the southeast region. You can see it in the never-ending line of log-laden semis feeding the massive Weyerhaeuser plant that soars over Wright City. You can smell it in the sweet, edyscent of newly Like its Montana sisterscape, timber rules is proud of. Soproud, in fia,she's made it her cut wood, you can hear it in the metallic this region. It is a land of vast forests, both career to tell people about it. As director ofthe bite of a high-rewing chain saw, and you public and private, and towns large, small, Oklahoma Forest Heritage Center Museum can feel it on the rough, callused bark of and nearly nonexistent that depend almost at Beavers Bend Resort Park, Finch-Walker a native pine. Wherever you go in timber entirely on what those forests produce. sees more than 150,000 people a year come country, your senses are inundated with its Paradoxically, what those woods produce is through the museum's doors. past, present, and future. not only the raw material for red-hot hous- "We're uying to educate people about the Two geographical features physically de- ing markets in places like Oklahoma City signhcanceof forestry in history, culture, and fine Oklahoma timber country. In the north, and Dallas, but also the weekend getaway the economy," says Finch-Walker. primarily in Le Flore, northern McCurtain, destinations for the urban escapees living "Take this state s ark, for example. People and Pushmataha counties, lies the Ouachita in those very markets. can't believe it when they discover this park Upthrust, a jumbled plexus of ridges, r'lvers, Timber rules here as surely as wheat isn't virgin forest. The entire area was cut anrtrees where ancient, rounded mountains rules the silo-punctured skies of Kingfisher over by Dierks back in the thirties. But it's of crumbling metamorphic rock slouch sky- or Enid. In fact, it is hard to overstate the come back, and it's hdthier than ever. The ward. Covered by angular stands of shortleaf' timber industry's importance to the people way to look at the umber industry down and loblolly pine, oak, hickory, and sweet of this area. It is not merely a part of the here is that it's a crop that people have been gun, clear streams rush on a southeastern economy-it is the economy. growing for a long time, just like any other journey, sparkling mountain quicksilver That's something Michelle Finch-Walker crop in other parts of the state." destined to be sullied by the muddy cur- - The center hosts an annual forest heri- rents of the Mississippi and the saline bite tage festival called Owa-Chito, complete of the Gulf. with lumberjack competitions and an art In the southern half of timber country, merely a part of festival, but it is education Finch-Waker mainly in southern McCurtain County, the the economy-it is sees as the center's primary goal. land is flatter, the rivers and streams more ! meandering, and the air slightly moister and the economy- "Oklahoma is sitting on an industry that's been in continuous operation for thicker, with a hint of bayou and alligators. over a century. It was only supposed to last This is the classic coastal plains eco-region, a few years, until the trees were gone, but humid, dense loblolly pine forests inter- 1 here we are a hundred years later, and it's spersed with dank cypress swamps. '*T, still going strong." Oklahomais unique among most western forestry states in that the majority of its tim- UR POPULAR IMAGEAS A FLAT ber is situated on private land, which largely shields it from the contentious issues kcing -'" 0wheat state notwithstanding, sta- tistically speaking, Oklahoma puts up some western states. The largest tract of federal impressive forestry numbers. Timber ranks land in Oklahoma is the Ouachita National fifth among all state agricultural commodi- Forest, which is why Oklahoma's timber h- ties. On average, more than 130 million ture is in the hands of private landowners. cubic feet of timber is cut each year. "There's very little logging in the Oua- chita National Forest now," saysTom Smith, .Tress inBwvars BedResort Park, opposite. the area forester for the Oklahoma Depart- 4 Chaprawdm.r)r,I&,i.uKdtoh 7 loss at -r might City plant. A ment of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. ? weyeheuser transporttruck, above. "They work under the same restrictions as

INDUSTRY 1 47 federal lands in the West, so the amount of logging they're doing is greatly reduced. Most of the wood is coming off timber company land." For this reason, Smithand otherssee Okla- homa as a comingplayer in the national tim- ber markets. "There is an increased demand for lumber nationally, primarily because of resuictionsplaced on the harvestingoftimber on federally owned land in the West. That used to be the area where a great deal of our lumber came from, but the emphasis has shifted here to the private lands." - ,eyerhaeuser is the undisputed Y FAR THE BIGGEST PRIVATE titan of Oklahoma's Blandownerinsou- Oklahoma is multinational timber giant Weyerhaeuser, timber industry. which bought out ~ie&'s entirestate hold- I ings in 1969. The company ernploys more proof that, in a region historically affected than 1,100 people, owns 500,000-plus acres by poverty and unemployment, not only of Oklahoma timberland, and operates the do trees provide jobs and communal glue largest sawmill east of the Rocky Mountains for small towns, they give considerableeco- in Wright City nomic clout to the region's hub cities. Headquartered in Federal Way, Wash- Broken Bow is the southerngatewayto ington, Weyerhaeuser also owns one of Ouachitas and the epicenter of Oklahoma the world's largest paper mills in Valliant, timber. Establishedin 1911 as a Dierks s as well as a building materials distributfon mill town, Broken Bow was named afier ale center and containerboard packagingplant brothers' hometown in Nebraska. in Oklahoma Cityand a large tree farm near "Timber is our livelihood down here," says Wright City that sprouts millions of trees Mark G. Guthrie,Broken Bow citymanager. a year and an annual payroll in excess of "Broken Bow's been a sawmill town sinu $50 million. It is the undisputed titan of started. Timber's kept us going for a long OHahoma's timber industry time, and Ithink we'll eventuallybe thewood Weyerhaews presence and influence is basket of the nation before we get done." Despite its relatively small size, only five thousand people, Broken Bow continues to i growwith theforestsit has benefited fromfor { almost a century. The city recently beat out i sites from three other states for what will be i the largest oriented strand board plant in the world, a $170million project thatwill create kounaea m 1974by owner RobertJulian, hundreds of additionalforestry-relatedjobs. the companyhas grown from two people and But it's not just big corporationsthat drive a truckinto thelargest singleemployerin the , the timber economy. Forty-five mileswest of county. The company has mills in Broken I Broken Bow sits Rattan, little more than a Bow, T&na, and Nashoba, where contract fewgaspumps and a speedzone in southern wood haulers bring the raw timber that Ju- Pushmataha County. At first glance, there lids post mills turn into finished products. doesn't seem to be anythingresembling eco- From its sprawling fifty-seven-acre main nomic activity, and in fact therewouldn't be, yard in Rattan, it ships more than 100,000 , if not for Julian Lumber Company. tons of posts and poles a year to thirty-eight I statesand sixcountries.Julian's success relies lh Oklahoma He*ge CanlwMrc on &king with a niche market and work- dunat BeyBend Resort Park, above, fiecwmIcnn's d,,tion. Wayar- ingwith companieslike Weyerhaeuserrather haeuser- machinery, left, cuts timber at 20 than competingwith them. aeconds per tree. "We deal strictly in posts and poles, no I OKLAHOMATODAY MARCH/APRIL 2004 _umber," says owner Robert Julian. "We take "In 2002, we gave out 571 W-2s and 1099s The original trees on the Talimena Drive, above, the small stuff in their timber stands, the sdthat went to the employees in the yards, truck were removed in the twenties and thiriies by rampant timber harvesting. For the most part, all they can't use. We buy a lot of timber from drivers, and our wood haulers," says Julian. second- and hird-generation growth is repom 1 Weyerhaeuser and John Hancock, Georgia- "Trees are the economy down here." sible for the area's beauty today. , Pacific, and Plum Creek." Nowhere is that more evident than at / Contract workers cut and haul the timber Julian's Nashoba plant, a post mill tucked that lace the Kiamichi Mountains in and / out of the woods to one of Julian's satellite into a clearing just off State Highway 144 around Nashoba, working in a forest tran- mills. Once there, it's processed, graded, and west of Nashoba in the heart of the Kiamichi sected by a patchwork maze of clear-cuts, sent to the main yard in Rattan to be shipped Mountains. The plant employs twenty-one two-tracks, and stands of timber in various out for use in fence posts and barn poles. Ml-time workers and an additional twenty- stages of growth. The impact of that activity in a region one contractors. "If it weren't for the trees, there wouldn't with very little agriculture and even less Plant manager Ellis Welker, a congenial, be anyone who could make a living here," mineral extraction underscores just how dif- lifelong Julian employee, knows the impor- he says. ferent, economically speaking, southeastern tance of those jobs. Every day, his crews drive Julian's contract loggers cut primar- Oklahoma is to the rest of the state. the rutted, washboard-rough logging roads ily monoculture stands of young loblolly That untouched, unexploited resource the cutting. While numerous outfits would 4 1 would remain relativelyunscathed through indeed spill into Indian Territory and begin 3 the early machinations ofAmericanhistory. cutting, no one shaped Oklahoma's nascent O , But changes were afoot that would eventu- timber industrymore than two entrepreneur- , allyintertwineOklahoma's timberlandswith ial German brothers from Nebraska named ' that of the state's larger history. Hans and Herman Dierks. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803gave sole At the turn of the century, the great forests ownership of what would become Okla- of the Northeast had been cut over, and the Ihoma to the fledgling United States, and it Dierks brothers were looking for ways to is a telling indicator of the immense natural keep the timber rolling into their retail lum- resources of this country in the nineteenth ber yards in Nebraska and Kansas City. century that the United States government, They found it in Indian Territory. Iseeing no apparent use for the area, in 1820 "Lokng and lumbering in southeastern ceded it to the Choctaw Nation under terms Oklahoma really began with the Dierks I , ., Iof the Treaty of Doak's Stand. brothers [who operated under the name The treaty gave the Choctaws thirteen Choctaw Lumber Company]. They came million acres in southeastern Oklahoma down andbought a huge areaofland in Okla- and western Arkansas in exchange for homa and ArLsas,"says Kurt Atkinson, about five million acres of the Choctaw's assistant director of the forestry division for native land in Mississippi. Ten years later, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, pine-known as "plantation pine" for the the Choctawswere forced to giveup alltheir Food, and ~oresufandan ardentstudent of even, parklike spacing of the trees-planted Mississippiland and completelyrelocate to Oklahoma forestryhistory. by Weyerhaeuser. When you drive logging Indian Territory. "Theylaid the groundworkfor everything roads, everything as far as the eye can see is Under Choctaw law, tribal lands and re- goingon today, and at one time they owned second-,third-, Ad sometimestburth-growth sourceswere held collectively, and there was about 1.8 million acres of land in Arkansas forest. It's all been cut at some point. little organized timber harvestingother than and Oklahoma and close to 900,000 in And that is important to keep in 2nd: subsistence-based activities and small-scale Oklahoma alone." Southeastern Oklahoma'sforests, at least at sawmill operations. However, three pivotal this point, are much more a product of man events would lead to an influx of timber than of nature. Virtually all of the region's speculators that would both kill Choctaw A 70one shaped originalforests--except for the trees in the sovereigntyand spawn an industry. Oklahoma's nascent McCurtain County Wilderness Area-are The first was the Civil War. The Choc- gone, supplanted by eithernatural regrowth taws, like other members of the Five Na- timber industry or plantation-style standsof quick-growing tions, backed the Confederacy, and in the af- more than Hans and pine trees on a twenty-five- to thirty-year termath ofAppomattox, the Union exacted harvest rotation. a heavy toll fir that decision, nullifying all Herman Dierks. previous treaties and forcing new treaties HETERM "VIRGIN FOREST" ISAN that opened the door for postwar railroad r Toft-used, nearly meaningless cliche expansion into Choctaw lands. that doesn't do justice to the spectacle it at- At the sametime, unabated logging in the tempts to describe, but that's exactly what North and East had severelydepleted timber the first explorers to this region bore witness resources in those areas, making the formerly to: vast, unbroken stands of trees immeasur- worthless IndianTerritory a potentialtimber ably old. How old? In the Oklahoma For- cash cow. est Heritage Center Museum sits the cross The final blow was levied in 1887 with section of an ancient bald cypress harvested the passage of the infamousDawes Severalty along the banks of the Little River sometime Act, which effectivelyended collective tribal in the early 1960s. Its annual growth rings ownershipof Indian lands, instead allotting reveal it sprouted in 1653. individual parcels to tribal members. The remaining "surplus land" totalingmillionsof Logger MamA%ns 43, of Clayton, OPP acres would eventudv be o~enedfor white I site, nims branches aff a pine kes at a JuIian &dementand corpo;ate e~ploitation. Lumber Company site. This 1950s-emChev- rolet truck, right, has been convertedinto This broke the back of tribal sovereignty a ddidder*and udto movefelledtrees and hastened a surge of speculatorseager to from the loggingsite to the transportt~ck. cash in on millions of acres of trees ripe for

OKLAHOMATODAY MARCH/APRIL 2004

I ------

HE DIERKS BROTHERS' STAMP Ton the region is indelible even today. The basic infrastructure of Weyerhaeuser's current presence in Oklahoma was largely in place when it bought out all Dierks's hold- ings in 1969. Broken Bow and Wright City were both company-. towns founded to serve Dierks's lumber operations. Although Oklahoma's forests represented millions of board-feet of lucrative lumber, there were problems. Southeastern Okla- homa was-and remains-rugged, isolated, and largely vertical. Most activities were dic- tated by topography, and felling umber was no different. The farther out from the large sawmills in Broken Bow or Wright City a tree was, the longer it took to reach it and then get it out. "~ierksbegan hiring people, crews, and equipment to harvest timber," Atkinson says. "They'd fell trees in the woods with a crosscut saw, haul them on mule or oxen carts to railhead, and ship them out. They be found on the state map, though it took built spur lines all over southeastern Okla- some homework and a few tries to get it homa, and when the trees were harvested there. Clebit-now called Pickens-started out of area, they pulled up the railroad and out north of Eagletown- and moved a total started all over." - of seven times before corning to rest in its But the farther timber crews penetrated present location west of U.S. Highway 259 into the interior of the region, the longer it in far western McCurtain County. took to reach sites and--considering- that The Dierks mobile timber towns may have profit margin is directly correlated to how been a logistical success for the company, but fast crews can extract resources-time was ultimately they came to represent what was money. The solution came in the form of fundamentally wrong with early-day logging, 3I 111y hnctional towns on wheels, the idea the concept of "cut out and get out." 4 being that if you can't take the trees to the "Dierks basically operated that way $ town, take the town to the trees. through the twenties and thirties," says "What the Dierkses did was develop por- Atkinson. "They didn't really think about was created at Oklahoma State University table lumber towns on rails," says Atkinson. the future. Their operation was to come into in 1946 and graduated its first class of pro- "The homes were made out of wood. They an area, take out the best trees, and cut the fessional foresters four years later," says At- brought entire families into the woods so good stuff. When it was gone, they moved kinson. "Many of these foresters were hired the loggers wouldn't have to go back and on and started all over again." by Dierks and others, and they were able to forth every day." The result was the virtual denuding of convince them they needed to be leaving These weren't glorified tents, either. The Oklahoma's once-lush forests. The destruc- some of those trees for regeneration so they portable towns averaged two hundred homes tion was so complete that professional could come back in twenty or thirty years per site, and the company brought in stores, foresters of the day considered much of and harvest the area again. That's when they post offices, movie theaters, and even small Oklahoma's timberlands virtually worthless. started thinking long term." water towers to supply running water. Large parts of the southeast region were little For much of the land, however, it was ."Astimberwas cut out of an area, they'd pick more than empty moonscapes. considered too late. Government buyback up the entire town, put it on rails, and move In the fifties, however, with timber com- was the only option. Beginning in the it to a new location," says Atkinson. "They'd panies realizing that Oklahoma's timber 1930s, for as little as $1.42 an acre, the fed- cut the houses in W, load them onto railroad would shortly become an expended com- cut cars, haul them deeper into the woods, and 'fOdity ifwvnonlycut but bite, se~-Talimeno Drive, above. A stack of freshly fence posts, above inset, at Julian Lumber set werythmg up all over again." generating resource if properly managed, h,pny in Noshobo. Weyerhaeumr Despite its transitory nature, one of the attitudes began to change. employee Fred Fallis, opposite, inspects a two original mobile timber towns can still "Oklahoma's first forestry department onayea~ldtree at a company tree fann. eral government began buying back bare, Most of Oklahoma's logging now is done some doesn't. We have dug wal and lead from eroded mountainsides, and in the process, on private lands. And therein lies a key differ- the stony hills, we pump oil and gas fiom the Oklahoma got its first national forest, albeit ence between Oklahoma and other western deep earth, we wax wheat from the loamy without the-trees. tirnber-producing states. Although the region prairie soils, and in the forests of Little Dixie, Like the national grasslands carved out is 60 percent forested, almost 90 percent of we cut timber. a of devastated Dust Bowl homesteads in the what's considered timberland is in private 1930s from similar environmental destruc- ownership. Only 12percent is public land. tion, what would eventually become a large chunk of the Ouachita National Forest IMBER COUNTRY IS A SECRETNE eventually healed. Today, tourists driving the Tland, and it does not yield its story crest of the Talimena Drive might look out easily. Largely overshadowed by the state's 1 over the verdant green landscape and never prairie mythos, its tribulations and triumphs suspect that at one time parts of the area remain hidden, overrun by brambles and the were bare dirt and smoldering slash piles. dense, furtive shadows of the ever-present Logging continued in those government forest that defines this land's culture, powers areas, but under the auspices of the National its economy, and frames its history. Forest Service. With the exception of general Oklahoma is built almost wholly on exuac- a maintenance, however, large-scale logging in tion. Since before statehood, wehave taken $ the Ouachita National Forest has ended. what the land offers up. Some comes back; 2

INDUSTRY I 53 i9rr CELEBRATION

GU'SHKIE JAZZ I BANJO FESTIVAL -" .,. J S E U M APPLtS AND QUlL1'S 28,000 square feet of FtSTlVAL hands-on exhibits provide hours of educational fun I GUSHKIE ART WALK and entertainment. where 1 3- to 12-year-olds become a doctor, pilot, judge, artist, firefighter, archeologist, construction worker, & much more. Come see our newest addition, the SuperSONIC Express-a train for big kids and little kids! It's a great place for a birthday party!

Request your FREE Visitors Guide today at www.co~etostilIwater.conr or call 800-991-6717 I

www.stagecenter.com I Stage Center, 400 West Sheridan, Downtown OKC Don't miss one I of the top fine arts festivals in the nation! The 2004 Festival of the Arts, April 20-25, I in Downtown OKC, Stage Center and the Myriad Gardens, is a community celebration of

Stage Center and the Festival of the Arts are projects of the Arts Council of Oklahoma Ci ty...dedicated to bringing the arts and the community together. .s

FRONTIER COUNTRY -- 7%

d MGrMrnQLA MGrMrnQLA For complete y: UnveilingAncient Myste I information on Struscan Treasures y:q I L Tune 1- October 31,2& 1 Frontier Country events, attractions, Bronze and terracotta artifacts is fr.1 a and destinations, Etruscan Mnsmof the Vati Museums.Tickets online at '- or for a FREE a 1-800-511-W52. www.mgmoa.o .C . ..""rn"DlOd L- copy of the 2004 I Frontier Country Vacation Guide, call 3ur Tourist lnfoline at: I (800) 386-6552 or visit us online at www.oktourism.com

I Come to I To Learn

OKLAHOMA CITY 1 NATIONAL ' MEMORIAL 1 620 N. Harvey Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73102 (405) 235-3313 www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org7 1 Acton's Furniture (page 16) 21 The Mandala Center (page 20) 2 Artie's Bakery (page 16) 22 May Fair Arts Festival (page 58) 3 Bartlesville Convention & Visitors 23 Medieval Fair (page 58) Bureau (page 1) 24 Mid America Industrial Park (page 5) 4 Central State Massage Academy 25 Nancy's Place (page 60)

(page 60) 26 Near & Far Antiques [page 16) 5 Cherokee Heritage Center (page 63) 27 Norman Convention &

6 Cimarron Steak House (page 60) Visitors Bureau (page 58) 7 Crystal Bay Marina (page 63) 28 Oklahoma Arts Council (page 54) 8 Discover Oklahoma (back cover) 29 Oklahoma City National 9 Edmond Convention & Visitors Memorial (page 55)

Bureau (page 23) 6 30 OU Opera & School of Dance

10 Elks Alley Mercantile (page 16) (page 58) 1 1 Frontier Country Marketing 3 1 Pete's Place Restaurant (page 23) Association (page 54 & 55) 32 PhilbrookMuseum (page 21)

12 Green Country Marketing 33 Red Carpet Country Association (page 9)

Association (page 63) 34 Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Art

13 The Heritage Collection (page 16) (page 58) I 14 Hideaway Pizza (page 20) 35 Sealed With A Kiss (page 16) I 15 Indian Arts & Crafts Board (page 2 1) 36 Stillwater Convention & Visitors 16 Jasmine Moran Children's Museum Bureau (page 54)

(page 541 37 Time Lines Charter Service 17 Kokopelli Trails (page 16) (inside back cover) 18 Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce 38 Tokyo Sushi Bar &Japanese Cuisine

(inside front cover) (page 60) 19 Little River Zoo (page 58) ' 39 Tulsa Zoo Friends (page 63) I 20 Mabee-Guerrer Museum (page 55) 40 The Villas at Shangri-la (page 19) is, FRONTIER COUN IRY For more information, contact us at 1-800-386-6552 www.oktourism.com

OU OPERA AND %HOOL OF DANCE PRESENT... 3ONEACTSBYDAMS M~LJ-IAUD FEATURING THE NEW CENTURY ENSEMEU

Student Matinee: April 8, 2004 10:W a.m. April 9. 2004 8:W p.m. Sooner Theatre 10 1 East Main, Norman

28rh Annuat For tickets call the OU Fine Arts Ticket Office ids for Kindness I Earch Day Festival medieval Fai~ (405) 325-4 10 1 Partnered the Cg of NommrP Arbor Dg md Rey6ngDg. Ap~ir2,3 & 4 Over 30 activi booths designedto teach e a: prhciples I Reava of Humane Education. Reaves Pqk-Norman www.lrttlemerzoo.com Free A-9ox

www.0~~6.ou.ExIv/ , ntexkvaw 14300-767-7260 I-rn See the Treasures

~naowntown Norman, nort I of the public library P r-For a IknW time only:I

S@~ttsa~rd.by: ~ssistanceLeagues of Norma 405132%7111 jdyw&@B@homi.~3m massistaneel~rq

7-F lItEQ0;74~-72@-vMiDPo~.~h . ,,, Norma: 2401 ChautauquaAb. @bt;AWAYGUIDE "We need someihing that will spur toursim and interest, and Bass Pra Shops will da that." -Bricktown Brewey owner Jim Cowan, in The Oklahuman

LARGEMOUTH The Fin Crowd On the eve of the gand opening of Oklahoma City's Bass Oklahoma City's fly-fishing set once Pro Shops-Out- in Bricktown last November, had to wade through catalogs for the door World all-important geark replenish the an- outdoor enthusiasts camped in the parking gler soul. That's changed. OKC Bass lot, waiting for the doors to open. Rods, now carries Shimano reels, Zoom soft reels, rifles, camping gear, golfing equip- ment, Tommy Bahama apparel, Timberland baits, and a full line of O~isfly-fishing products. 7929 North May Avenue, footwear, boaeit's all there, spread over 110,000 square feet complete with a25,OOO- (405)840-3344. Another option is River5 Edge, gallon aquarium swimmingwith native fish. with top-of-the-line Scott, Winston, Pooped out?Pull up a bench next to a cozy fire while YOLU better half goes gaga over the and G. Loomis fly-fishing rods, Ross and Abel reels, and waders, boots, electronic gadgets, indoor putting geen, and flies, fly-tying material, and kayaks. casting pond stocked with fish. 200 Bass Pro Drive, (405) 218-5200 or basspro.com. 'We have a niche market and don't Q to compete with large outdoor retail Hook, Line & Sinker At BlueWater Sports Center in Disney, you'll welcome the personal service while schooling around the shop's assorted fishing tackle, rods, reels, and archery supplies. "It's a friendly, cozy little store," says owner Gene

custom-order guns. For predawn fishing

The Angling Epicenter When D&B Outfiltersopened in The promise of trout risiithrough the mist on the Lower Mountain Fork Tulsa in1954, outdoorsy types sloshed River tempts anglers to southeast Oklahoma, but lhwRivas%Shop through rivers and up mountains with keeps them hooked. Located near Beavers Bend Resort Park, Three Rivers bricks on their feet-or that's what it stocks breathable waders, fishing boots, outerwear, felt like. Today's equipment is light, Redugon fly rods and apparel, reels, and tight, and functional, and D&B's flies and fly-tying material. To tap into high-end inventory floats high. ,We thebest holes along the river, ask cater more toward the serious outdoor about their guide serviceor visit types than car campers," says co- the shop's online community owner Rex Dunn. At D&B, you'll find board for fishmg reports. duds, accessories, and footwear from U.S. Highway 259 North, a host of outdoor equipment giants (580)494-6 115 or like Patagonia, Mad River, and North threeriversflyshop.com. Face. 6044 South Sheridan Road. 1 Metro Life b Leisure Oklahoma City's Finest Pastimes & Pleasures Dining Leisure Entertainment

Central State Massage Academy I - -One hour massage starting at $29.50

I Detoxifying Para- fango Body Wrap, $65.00

Combo Massage room for up r( packages starting L I at $52.00 to 10 people I The best Tokyo Japanese Restaurant NEW CAREERS 7516 N. Western START HERE! sushi in Day & Evening classes. Oklahoma City 406.; 1.6733

OKC Market Square 8494 NW Expressway (405) 722-4560 www,centralstatemassageacademy.com 10% OFF PURCHASE Licensed by OBPUS I Dinner only. &ires May 27, 2004. I EVENTSGUIDE A Guide to Activities and Events Statewide

'89er BBQ Apr 22, Elks Lodge South Room. BARTLESVI LLE DUNCAN 14051 375-5 176 Community Center Adams Blvd & Cherokee Stephens County Jr. Livestock Show Mar Ave. Mar 8, Fame. Mar 16, Michael Schneider 2-5, Stephens county Fair & Expo Center. (580) with the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra. Apr 255-323 1 15, Singing in the Rain. Apr 18, The Young Mn-Duncan Barbershoppers Mar 5, Sim- Home & Garden Show Mar 27-28, Great Artist Family Concert. Apr 24-25, Samson & mons Center Theatre. (580) 252-2900 Plains Coliseum. (580) 355-2490 Delilah. (918) 337-2787 Spring Bluegrass Festival Apr 22-25, Shady Prince of Peace Pageant Apr 3,10, Wichita Places Mar 25-28, Apr 2-4, Theater Bartlesville Oaks RV Park. (580) 255-7042 Mountains Wildlife Refuge. (580) 429-3361 Facility. (918) 336-1900 1870s Cattle Drive Encampment Apr 28-30, Musica Antiqua Apr 3, Oklahoma Wesleyan Uni- Museum of the Great Plains. (580) 581-3460 versity Chapel of Fine Arts. (918) 333-1845 ELK CITY Wild Onion Dinner Apr 3, Washington County Holiday Inn 108 Meadowridge. Mar 19-20, Fairgrounds. (918) 333-7483 Bluegrass Jam, (580) 225-3000. Apr 15- MCALESTER 17, Oklahoma State Fiddlers Festival, (405) Expo Center 4500 W US Hwy 270. Apr 3-4, 685-1644 Country Friends Arts & Crafts Show, (918) 426- Western Okie Mountain Bike Classic Mar 1747. Apr 17-18, Home & Garden Show, (918) 21, Lake Elk City. (580) 225-6974 423-2550 Southwest Farm & Home Expo Apr 3-4, Civic Pittsburg County Jr. Livestock Show Mar Center. (580) 225-0207 4-6, Fairgrounds. (918) 423-41 20 Palm Sunday Pageant Apr 4, Masonic Center. (918) 423-6360 ENID Baby Fair Apr 17, Main and Oklahoma Church Northwest District Jr. Livestock Show of Christ. (918) 423-41 20 Mar 3-8, Garfield County Fairgrounds. (580) Walk America Apr 24, Boeing Plant. (918) 237-2494 $29-1 234 Artists of the American West Mar 24Apr 25, Museum of the Cherokee Strip. (580) 237-1907 MUSKOGEE Home, Garden & Recreation Show Mar Five Ciilized Tribes Museum Agency Hill on 27-28, Chisholm Trail Expo Center. (580) Honor Heights Dr. Apr 3-4, Indian Market. Apr 237-1390 330, Art Under the Oaks. (918) 683-1701 Westlake KobeFestival & Craft Show Apr Muskogee Little Theatre Cincinnati & D St. 10-1 1, Westlake Recreation Area. (580) Mar 4-6, Ruthless. Apr 16-24, 22-24, Egad, 796-2403 the Woman in White. (918) 683-7660 Roaring Twenties Apr 17-1 8, Enid Symphony Exchange Club BBQ & Chili Cook-off Apr Center. (580) 237-9696 2-3, Downtown. (9 18) 682-7788 Tri-State Music Festival Apr 28-30, Citywide. Azalea Arts, Crafts & Gifts Show Apr 3, (580) 2374964 Downtown. (918) 682-2422 Downtown Walking Tour Apr 17, Three Rivers Museum. (918) 686-6624

Downtown Oklahoma & Harrison Ave. Mar 27, Art Walk, (405) 282-1947. Apr 20-25, '89er NORMAN Celebration, (405) 282-2589 Rupel J Jones Theatre 563 Elm Ave. Mar 47, Lazy E Arena 9600 Lazy E Dr. Mar 12-14, Modern Repertory Dance Theatre. Mar 26Apr Timed Event Championship of he World. Apr 4, Much Ado About Nothing. Apr 23-25, 30, 23-24, '89er Days PRCA Rodeo &Concerts. Chess the Musical. (405) 325-5321 (405) 282-7433 Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Fiddler on the Roof Apr 2-30, Pollard Theatre. History 2401 Chautauqua Ave. Mar 1-2 1, (405) 282-2800 New Territory: Women Behind the Camera in Oklahoma Before 1907. Mar 15-18, Spring Break Adventure. Apr 7, Dinosaur Egg Hunt. KINGFISHER (405) 325-47 12 Chisholm Trail Museum 605 Zellers Ave. Junior Zookeeper Spring Break Program Mar 12, Victorian Dance Lessons. Apr 3, Mar 18-20, Little River Zoo. (405) 366-7229 Living History on the Chisholm Trail. (405) Creative Craft Festival Mar 27, Fairgrounds. 375-5 176 (405) 360-472 1 Happy Homemakers Spring Craft Show '89er Day Parade, Car Show & Festival Mar 6, Fairgrounds. (405) 3754888 Apr 24, Downtown. (405) 701-2061 Governor Seay Inaugural Ball Mar 20, little River Zoo's Kids for Kindness Earth Memorial Hall. (405) 375-5176 Day Apr 25, Reaves Park. (405) 366-7229 Buckle of the Wheat Belt Run Mar 27, May Fair Arts Festival Apr 30, Andrews Park. Downtown. (405) 3754445 (405)329-7411

PLANNER I 61 EVENTSGUIDE

Zoo &Aquarium Month Celebration Apr 17- CLEVELAND Motoring for Marfans Car & Bike 18, Oklahoma City Zoo. (405) 4243344 Show, Apr 17, Feyodi Park. (918) 371-71 81 Monarch OKC NaYl Memorial Marathon Apr 25,6* DRUMRIGHT A Gentleman and a Scoundrel, Apr & Harvey. (405) 235-33 13 16-25, Boomtown Theater. (918) 352-2236 , DURANT Fort Washita Fur Trade Era Rendezvous, I woke and crept from my cocoon Mar 3lApr 4, Fort Washita. (580) 924-6502 And gasped. My heart stood still. ST1 LLWATE R EDMOND The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Mar 6, No longer worm as pale as moon, Seretean Center Oklahoma State University Cam- UCO Mitchell Hall. (405) 974-3375 pus. Mar 10, Salzburg Marionettes. Apr 1, Bruce EL RENO Tractor Show & Pull, Apr 30, Hwy 66 1 But winged with wondrous skill. Wood Dance Company. (405) 743-3697 & Country Club Rd. (405) 893-2546 Jr. livestock Show Mar 16, Payne County Expo FREEDOM Wakhable Wildlife Weekend, Apr 30, , Center. (405) 743-3697 Alabaster Caverns State Park. (580) 6213381 ', A monarch of the dappled dusk Blazathon BBQ Cook-Off Apr 2-3, Elks Lodge. GORE Spring Fling Trout Tourney, Mar 5-7, MarVal On vast vermilion wings. (405) 743-3300 Camping Resort. (918) 489-2295 I Run for the Arts Apr 17, Couch Park. (405) GROVE Civic Center, 1720 S Main. Mar 12-14, I've cast away the hated husk 1 743-3697 Grand Lake Boat & Sport Show, (918) 786-2289. 1 Of vile enslaving things. AD^ 10-1 1. Northeast Oklahoma Kennel Club A~I- reed dog Show, (91 8) 786-8656 TAH LEQUAH HOBART Great Plains Antique Tractor Show, Apr Oh now the gossamer unfolds Cherokee Heritage Center East on Willis Road 23-24, Hwy 9. (580) 726-2504 Like tongues of golden flame. off Hwy 62. Mar 6, Basketry. Apr 3, Cherokee HUGO Early-Bird Bluegrass Music Show, Mar 26- Cooking. Apr 24, Fingerweaving. Mar 27, 27, Agriplex Auditorium. (580) 326-5598 There is no gravity that holds Cherokee Genealogy Conference. Apr 4, 18, IDABEL Dogwood Days Festival, Apr 3, Downtown. Me to the ancient shame. Nature Tour. (918) 456-6007 (580) 286-3305 A Night in the Old West: An Evening of JENKS Herb & Plant Festival, Apr 24, Municipal Oklahoma Talent Mar 5, NSU Center for Parking Lot. (918) 227-1528 A shudder and a blur of wings, Performing Arts. (918) 458-2075 MANGUMRattlesnake Derby & Flea Market, Apr 23-25, Downtown Square. (580) 782-2434 I vault above the vale, MIAMI Peoria Stomp Dance, Mar 6, Ottawa/ And every fiber in me sings TULSA Peoria Cultural Center. (918) 540-2535 Upon my golden sail. ExwCenter 2 1 & Yale. Mar 1 1-14. Greater OKEENE Rattlesnake Roundup,. Apr. 30, Downtown. tulsa Home & Garden Show, (918) 663-5820. (580) 8223 101 -Joe Jared Mar 18-21, International Auto Show, (918) PAWHUSKA Bill Brown's Oklahoma Jubilee. Mar 742-2626. Mar 26-28, Tulsa Motorcycle Show, 6, Constantine Center. (918) 287-1208 (918) 282-6604. Apr 3-4, Wanenmacher's SAND SPRINGS Herbal Affair, Apr 17, Down- Joe Jared is a writer living in Yukon. Tulsa Arms Show, (91 8) 492-0401. Apr 16- town. (91 8) 246-256 1 18, Green Country RV Show & Sale, (918) SHAWNEE Spring Native American Indian Arts 742-2626 & Crafts Show & Powwow, Mar 12-14, VFW Tulsa Performing Arts Center 1 10 E 2* St. Post 13 17. (405) 273-7098 OKLAHOMA CITY Mar 9-14, The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? SPlRO Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center, 3 Carpenter Square Theatre 400 W California. Apr 2-4, Just Desserts. (918) 596-71 1 1 Miles East of Spiro on Hwy 9. Mar 19-20, Vernal Mar 4-1 3, Incorruptible. Mar 26-Apr 17, The Oil Capital Cat Club CFA Championship Cat Equinox Walks. Mar 20, Family Kite Fly Day. Cripple of Inishmaan. (405) 232-6500 Show Mar 20-2 1, Maxwell Convention Center (918) 962-2062 CMC Center 201 N Walker Ave. Mar 6, Classics Exhibit Hall B. (918) 7445568 TONKAWA Redbud Jazz Festival Concert, Concert with Robert McDuffie. Mar 21, Paint to Square Dance Festival Apr 3, Convention Apr 2, NOC Performing Arts Center. (580) Music. Mar 26-27, A Star-Spangled Celebra- Center. (9 18) 445-2444 628-6208 tion! Apr 3, Philharmonic Classics Concert with River City Market Apr 3-30, Market on the River. WAGONER Kite Flight & Family Fun Day, Western Canterbury Choral Society. Apr 630, Late Nite (918) 5841745 Hills Guest Ranch. (918) 772-2545 Catechism. Apr 16-17, Philharmonic Pops Con- WAURIKA Rattlesnake Hunt, Apr 9-1 1, Down- cert with Roberta Flack. (405) 232-7575 town. (580) 228-2553 Myriad Botanical Gardens 100 Myriad Gar- OUT & ABOUT WEATHERFORD Romeo &Juliet, Apr 13, SWOSU dens. Mar 27, Oklahoma Gardening School, ALTUS Spring Expo Fishing Derby, Car & Mo- Fine Arts Center. (580) 7743063 (405) 297-3995. Apr 20-25, Festival of the torcycle Show, Apr 10, Community Building. WOODWARD Loose Shoes, Apr 1, Woodward Ark, (405) 270-4848 15801 482-1555 Arts Theatre. (580) 256-7120 Nat'l Cowboy & Western Heritage Mu- ALVA ~orthwestOklahoma Concert Series, Mar seum 1700 NE 63"'. Mar 1Apr 30, The Art 30, Herod Hall Auditorium. (580) 327-8591 of American Arms Makers. Mar 13, An Evening ARDMORE Business Expo & Outdoor Living with Baxter Black. (405) 478-2250 Show, Apr 24, Hardy Murphy Coliseum. Oklahoma City Uniwrsity 2501 N Blackwelder (580) 223-7765 Ave. Mar 5-7, Songs for a New World. Apr 23- BLACKWELL Tulips a Bloom Festival, Apr 3, Dates and times are subiect to change; please 25, Man of La Mancha. (405) 521-5227 Citywide. (580) 363-41 95 confirm before attending any event. The Events Guide St. Luke's United Methodist Church 222 BROKEN BOW Spring Wood Art Exhibit & Sale, is a free service published on a space-available NW Fifteenth Street. Mar 18, Ambassador Mar 7-Apr 30, Beavers Bend Resort Park. (580) basis. To be considered, please mail a notice of Edwin Corr. Apr 15, Dickie Arbiter. (405) 494-6497 the event that includes date, place, address, and 751-0529 CHANDLER Lincoln County Trade Days, Mar 12- both a contact telephone number and a phone McDonald's All-American High School 14, Apr 16-18, Fairgrounds & Tilghman Park. number that can be published. Notices must ar- Basketball Game Mar 31, Ford Center. (405) 258-32 15 rive at Oklahoma Today three calendar months (405) 236-5000 CHEROKEE Crystal Festival &Celebration of Birds, prior to publication (i.e. July/August 2004 events Rdbud Classic Apr 3-4, Waterford Complex. Apr 2425, Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. must arrive by April 1). Events Guide, Oklahoma (405) 842-8295 (580) 596-3053 Today, 15 North Robinson, Suite 100, Oklahoma Odyssey Astronomy Club's Public Star CHICKASHA Oklahoma State Fiddlers Show, City, OK 73 102. Fax: (405) 522-4588. Email: Party Apr 16-17, Lake Stanley Draper Soc- Mar 14, A~F1 1, Borden Community Center. [email protected] cannot take cer Fields. (405) 899-401 6 (405) 2246261 listings over the telephone.

62 1 OKLAHOMATODAY. MARCH/APRIL 2004 k* - - % GREEN COUNTR" -.. b IXLE~OMA For more information, contact us at rnAMERIC4 1-800-922-2118 www.greencountryok.co

Awards Presentation I PM May I

CHEROKEEHERITAGECENTER Tahlequah, Oklahoma www.CherokeeHeritage.org 888.999.6007

O"'."O". DANK OF OoKlAHoMA CV""<,, "I was born in a small town, and I live in a small town."-John Mellencamp

he Name Game

HERE SMALL TOWNS ARE CONCERNED, IT'S ALL A MATTER OF wperspective. Disney, you say? It's far more than a Hollywood powerhouse. It's one of Oklahoma's beloved small towns. To test your hamlet nomenclature

ii against our verbal high jinks, we've created a little name game sure to put loyal dkies in a pickle. The objective: Find the right town fiom the pool ofclues below. An example: "Oops, I gabbed my red jacket. Wd you run inside and get my BIy'acket, please?" --Illushations by Stevgn Walker

13. Wa4she would be - b=p9Ms soanas&p* the bank. . thaw 8* ?&wwns.- ?4#*ann~ e bpio~pp rns~~h&?~t*Z %em 2, Rhondasai&"lsetr cakdusp&m. . *hb-. mybrushonthe Rl!dadawh.tbe, 151 Lotsofpeo&k &, but does MUA-~sweet pi&k+,but I *~b said, ''Marim, this muyim-. where is?' shodd've been 16. Myever told a dr~c;tieg3t~remc, -&pmberII &t@kW ' tlcrat.~~

4 ~~~~. 'HaaoBd Sc*ea&iokd& 1 . - - in ,mthe Id- 1FolDNG FOOT REST I IADJUSTABLE HEADRE *A+!) muod puo 'p~oupoo~'UDWJON 'puorpl '~alonll!+~'uo+ml 'aa60pw '~alsalpw'oslnl '))(oU! slallno alqm uo sar!l uoqs ~ojsfiu!ls!l lo)ol yaq)

?.-,-; <.c wY* :@ Yt, 22