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Destinations

OklahomaTeacher's Guide

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CIMC Students of All Ages: Your adventure is about to begin! Within these pages you will become a “Geo-Detective” exploring the six countries of . Yes, countries! Within Oklahoma you’ll be traveling to unique places or regions called “countries.” Maybe you’ve heard of “” with its forests and specialty crops, or “Red Carpet Country,” named for the red rocks and soil formed during the ancient age. Each region or country you visit will have special interesting themes or features, plus fun and sometimes challenging activities that you will be able to do. You will notice each country or region can be identifi ed by natural, economic, historic, cultural, geographic and geological features. The three maps you see on this page are examples of maps you might need for future Geo-Explorations. As a Geo-Detective having fun with the following activities, you’ll experience being a geographer and a geologist at the same time! So for starters, visit these websites and enjoy your Geo-Adventure:

http://education.usgs.gov http://www.ogs.ou.edu http://www.census.gov http://www.travelok.com/site/links.asp

Gary Gress, Geographer Neil Suneson, Geologist Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education Oklahoma Geological Survey

Teachers: PASS Standards met by Destinations Oklahoma are listed on pages 15 – 17.

Indian Nations of Oklahoma 1889 - Before and after the Civil War, tribal boundaries were constantly changing due to U.S. government policies. Eventually the Eastern and tribes merged into a state called “Oklahoma,” meaning “(land of) red people.”

Oklahoma's 10 Geographic Regions - These regions refl ect both physical features (topography) and soils. Oklahoma is one of few states with so many special areas.

Geological Resources Map of Oklahoma - Oil and gas have been produced in Oklahoma for more than 100 years and coal has been mined for more than 125 years. In 2008, Oklahoma produced more gypsum than any other state in the country.

2 Destinations Oklahoma: Arbuckle Country

old rocks, such as 1.4-billion-year-old Tishomingo . The Arbuckles reach approximately 35 miles east-west and 10 to 15 miles north-south. Much of the range is located in northern Carter County and southern Murray County. Geologists and students from around the world travel here to study these unique formations and their rich fossil beds.

The , the Red River and the fl ow through Arbuckle Country. This country also includes the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Located near Sulphur, it is the only national recreation area in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw National Recreation Area is Arbuckle Country includes 10 of Oklahoma’s 77 an ecotone, or meeting place, where two diff erent counties. Arbuckle Country also lies within the ecosystems overlap. Here, the eastern deciduous historic boundaries of the Chickasaw and the forest meets mixed-grass . Choctaw Nations.

Further to the west, Arbuckle Country also encompasses runs north and south through Arbuckle some of Oklahoma’s rich heritage in oil and gas production. Country. Atoka, the county seat of Atoka County, was Within the boundaries of Arbuckle Country are sites that once a stop on the historic Butterfi eld Overland Stage echo the state's energy heritage and history. Healdton, in Road—the route of the fi rst transcontinental United western Carter County, was the site of the Healdton fi eld. States mail. Today, U.S. 69 takes a southwest to At its peak in 1916, it produced some 95,000 barrels of northeast course from the Red River—the southern crude oil per day. boundary of Arbuckle Country—through Atoka on its way to southeast . U.S. 77 parallels Interstate 35 Coalgate is the county seat of Coal County, named for the throughout its course in Arbuckle Country. The 17-mile former major industry in the county. off ers a shortcut between Ada and the Sulphur/Davis area.

Visitors to Arbuckle Country can experience four distinct ecoregions, ranging from the central in the north to forests in the southeast. Roughly in its center lie Oklahoma’s Arbuckle , containing some very Turner Falls in the near Davis. (CIMC photo)

3 Talk of the Towns

Oklahoma has a combined shoreline that is longer than Some of the cities and towns in Arbuckle Country include: the Atlantic seaboard. Lakes, lakeside parks and resorts and recreation areas characterize Arbuckle Country. Ada Lone Grove Some of Oklahoma’s most popular lakes for swimming, Ardmore Madill boating and fi shing are here, including Lake , Atoka Pauls Valley Lake Murray and . Lake Texoma Coalgate Stratford is one of the two largest lakes between the Gulf of Davis Stringtown Mexico and the Great Lakes. (The second lake also is Durant Sulphur in Oklahoma. It is Lake Eufaula in Green Country and Healdton Tishomingo Kiamichi Country.) Lindsay Wynnewood

Speaking of . . . Arbuckle Country Supplement Activity When you hear these words, you know someone is It is known as a transition zone because it is where the eastern talking about Arbuckle Country: deciduous forest and the western meet. It is special because it has fl ora and fauna from both environments, and other fl ora and fauna specifi c to such transition areas. “Arbuckle Mountains” “Stratford peaches” Lesson Activities “Turner Falls” 1. Bedre’ Chocolates, Microtel, casinos and convenience stores. “Toy & Action Figure Museum” “Lake Texoma” 2. Answers are: “Brickfest” a. Blue is the color used, and was selected to represent the large “Fort Washita” quantity of water present in this country. “Arbuckle Wilderness” “National Striper Festival” b. The two major aquifers are the Arbuckle-Simpson and “Magnolia Festival” Edwards-Trinity. The Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer occurs in Carter, Murray, Johnston and Pontotoc counties. “Chickasaw National Recreation Area” “Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival” c. Carbonate Rock. “Chickasaw Nation” d. Red Washita and Red Sulphur. “Gene Autry” “Lake Murray” e. Ordovician. “Choctaw Nation” 3. Groundwater is subsurface water usually contained within the “Tucker Tower” pore spaces of rocks. While dry, the sponge is lightweight and “Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer” airy. The sponge gets heavier as the pores fi ll up with water. “Alfalfa Bill Murray” The medicine dropper is representative of a water well. One “Falls Creek” reason to conserve our natural resources is that vital resources need to be protected from pollution and not used in excess.

4 Destinations Oklahoma: Frontier Country

the commercial district was booming in the 1910s, Boley’s growth was cut short by crop failures in the 1920s and the Great Depression in the 1930s. Many town residents left and did not return. Boley now has about 1,000 residents.

Major transportation routes of Frontier Country includes 12 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. the past and present crisscross Frontier Country also encompasses all or part of multiple Frontier Country. The central tribal jurisdictions. They include the Absentee , stretch of historic Route 66 in -, Chickasaw, Citizen , Oklahoma reaches east to west Iowa, Kickapoo, (Creek), Pawnee, Sac & Fox across Lincoln, Oklahoma and A vintage sign along historic Route 66 in Stroud (CIMC photo) and tribes, as well as the Alabama Quassarte, Canadian Counties. Interstates Kialegee and Thlopthlocco tribal towns. Several counties 35 (north-south) and 40 in this area are named for tribes, including Pottawatomie (east-west) intersect in , making Frontier County (in honor of the Potawatomi tribe) and Seminole Country the “crossroads of America.” County (originally a part of the Seminole Nation). The historic cattle drive route of the frontier West—today’s U.S. 81—runs through Canadian and Grady counties. Oklahoma has some 220 miles of the A part of Oklahoma's African-American heritage also is on historic trail between the Red River in the south and the view in Frontier Country. In Langston, visitors to Beulah Kansas border in the north. Tourist Information Centers in Land Cemetery will see grave markers of town founders Frontier Country are located on in Midwest City and on Interstate 35 north of Oklahoma City. and former slaves—reminders of the town’s early history as one of the all-black towns in .

The community of Boley, on U.S. 62 in Okfuskee Frontier Country’s Oklahoma County is where the County, was one such all-black town. It was founded in sits. The site was chosen in 1915, 1903 by African-American railroad workers. The town on land donated by William Freemont Harn, an early attracted residents from other southern states who saw developer of Oklahoma City and John James Culbertson. the community as a refuge from oppression. Although

5 It is the only state capitol with an oil well on its Talk of the Towns grounds. Although Governor Robert Williams moved into the capitol building in 1917, construction of the Some of the cities and towns in Frontier Country state capitol dome was not started until 2001 due to include: the cost. The dome was fi nally completed in time for Statehood Day on November 16, 2002. Boley Okemah Chandler Oklahoma City Chickasha Purcell El Reno Seminole Visitors to Frontier Country encounter a landscape Guthrie Shawnee having features of both the central great plains and Holdenville Stillwater the ecoregions. It is a landscape of prairie Norman Wewoka grasses and scattered hills between the less rugged regions to the west and the more hilly oak savanna to the east. Oil and gas wells are common. The Canadian, Supplement Activity North Canadian and Rivers traverse the landscape of Frontier Country. (The name “Cimarron” Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. highway system that means wild or unruly in Spanish.) connected Chicago, Illinois, and , California. Route 66 is important because it opened a major path for migrants who went west in the era of the 1930s and supported the local Speaking of . . . Frontier Country economies of many communities. Although the road still exists, it is no longer part of the national highway system. The state- When you hear these words, you know someone is sponsored Route 66 Museum is located in Clinton, Oklahoma. The National Route 66 Museum also is in Oklahoma, down the talking about Frontier Country: road in City.

“Bricktown” Lesson Activities “National Weather Center” 1. Payne, Pottawatomie, Cleveland, McClain, Oklahoma, Logan, “Route 66” Grady, Canadian, Lincoln, Seminole, Okfuskee and Hughes “Oklahoma City National Memorial” counties. “State Capitol” 2. The U.S. government established this fort in 1874 to protect “National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum” the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Fort Reno also supervised “Stockyards City” the historic 1889 . During World War II, Fort Reno “State Fair of Oklahoma” served as a prisoner of war camp for captured German and “Chisholm Trail” Italian soldiers. “Rush Springs watermelon” 3. The trail was named for Jesse Chisholm, an Indian trader, “Tinker Air Force Base” guide and interpreter, born in the early 1800s. Other trails “National Softball Hall of Fame” that went through Oklahoma were the Great Western Trail “Boley ” and Shawnee Trail. “Run of 1889” “Rose Rocks”

6 Destinations Oklahoma: Great Plains Country

fl ats characteristic of the central great plains ecoregion. Traveling toward the east, the landscape becomes the wooded low hills, ridges and plains of the crosstimbers region. Heading west, visitors encounter the more rugged hills, , plains and mesas of the . The are located in Great Plains Country. The Washita River and the Red River traverse the landscape of Great Plains Country. Besides the Red River itself, three of its tributaries—the Elm Fork, the Salt Fork and the North Fork of the Red River—fl ow through Great Plains Country.

Three high spots rise above Great Plains Country. Each Great Plains Country includes 14 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. is over 2,400 feet high. These spots are Antelope Hills in Great Plains Country also encompasses all or part of northern Roger Mills County, in the Wichita multiple tribal jurisdictions. They include the , Mountains of northern County and Arapaho, , Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Comanche, Mountain in Greer and Counties. The Antelope , Kiowa and Wichita & Affi liated tribes. Hills once marked the boundary between the and Mexico.

Major transportation routes of the past and present form the rough boundaries of Great Plains Country in The landscape of the Great Plains Country is also the the north and east. Historic Route 66 and Interstate 40 perfect setting for some of Oklahoma's numerous ghost shadow one another across the north. The Chisholm Trail cattle drive route—U.S. 81—runs along the eastern edge. The southern boundary of Great Plains Country is the Red River and its western edge is the state line. Tourist Information Centers in Great Plains Country are located on Interstate 40, between the Texas state line and Sayre, in Beckham County; and on Interstate 44, north of Walters, in Cotton County.

As visitors enter Great Plains Country, they most often see Scenery within the Wichita Mountains. (CIMC photo) a landscape of scattered hills, low mountains and sandy

7 towns. A “” is a town that has disappeared Talk of the Towns completely or has suff ered a drastic drop in its population. Some of the cities and towns in Great Plains Country In Great Plains Country, places like Binkman in Greer include: County, Cornish in Jeff erson County and Meers in Altus Hollis Comanche County fi t that defi nition. Still identifi ed Anadarko Lawton/Ft. Sill on the offi cial state map, these communities today Cheyenne Lone Wolf are mostly reminders of the lives once lived there. Clinton Mangum Meers remains well-known for its hamburgers and an Cordell Meers Oklahoma Geological Survey seismograph station. Duncan Sayre Elk City Walters Speaking of . . . Great Plains Country Frederick Waurika Hobart Weatherford

When you hear these words, you know someone is Supplement Activity talking about Great Plains Country: The answers are:

“Wichita Mountains” 1. Quatena, Ordovia, Cambrian Igneous and Permian ages. “Route 66 museums” “Bison” 2. A fault is breakage in one or more rock layers. A fold is bending of the rock layers. Counties that have faults are Comanche, “Southwest Oklahoma” Cotton, Harmon, Greer, Kiowa, Beckham and Washita. “” “Ft. Sill” Lesson Activities “Battle of the Washita” 1. Answers may vary. “” 2. Comanche County is named for the Comanche Tribe and is 1,069 “U.S. Army Field Artillery Center and School” square miles. “Oklahoma spaceport” Custer County is named for General “Meers burgers” and is 987 square miles. “Chisholm Trail museums” Jackson County is named for Confederate General Thomas “” "Stonewall" Jackson and is 803 square miles. “” Kiowa County is named for the Kiowa Tribe and is 1,015 “ towns” square miles. “Texas Longhorn cattle” Washita County is named for the Washita River and is 1,003 “Rattlesnake round-ups” square miles. “Indian City USA” Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/40/40149.html. “George Armstrong Custer” “Mount Scott” 3. The answers are: “Altus Air Force Base” a. Lawton. “Red Rock ” b. Wind turbine technology. “Meers Store” c. Wind technician, industrial safety and wind service workers. d. OSU-OKC is the only college that off ers a Wind Technology degree program at this time.

8 Destinations Oklahoma: Green Country

Verdigris are major rivers in Green Country. The Illinois River is a designated scenic river. The historic Cimarron River of the frontier West briefl y enters Green Country before it joins with the River north of Mannford.

The landscape of Green Country includes features that are unique in Oklahoma—and in America. The Preserve, in Osage County, covers more than 39,000 acres and represents the largest protected remnant of tallgrass prairie on Earth. With Green Country includes 18 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. over 600 miles of shoreline, Lake Eufaula in Green Country also encompasses all or part of multiple McIntosh County is the largest lake located entirely in Oklahoma. Green Country is tribal jurisdictions. They include the , Eastern A skyward view Shawnee, Modoc, Miami, Muscogee (Creek), Osage, also home to the head of navigation along of Price Tower in Oklahoma’s “waterway to the world.” Bartlesville, designed Ottawa, Pawnee, Peoria, Quapaw, Seneca-Cayuga, by Frank Lloyd Shawnee, United Keetoowah Band of and Wright. (CIMC photo) Wyandotte tribes. From the Port of Catoosa, northeast of Tulsa—one of the largest and most inland river ports in America—the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System is a 440-mile route for shipping all Visitors will encounter seven ecoregions in Green the way to the and beyond. Completed by Country, giving this region one of the most diverse the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1971, the McClellan- landscapes in Oklahoma. A mixture of rolling plains, low Kerr uses 18 locks and dams along the Verdigris River, hills, tallgrass prairie and oak-hickory forest characterize Arkansas River, Arkansas Post Canal and the White River. the center of Green Country from north to south. To the This system creates a “staircase” of water to move barges, west, visitors will encounter a more rugged landscape usually in blocks of eight barges (each barge being 35 feet as the plains and prairies give way to the eastern red wide and 195 feet long), to the River. Named cedar and oak forests of the crosstimbers region that for Arkansas Senator John McClellan and Oklahoma characterizes much of . A wedge of the Senator Robert S. Kerr, the McClellan-Kerr handles an and stony soils of the dips down average of 13 million tons of cargo each year. Its location from Kansas to the north. To the east, visitors experience allows the waterway to remain operational all year. more of Green Country’s natural oak-hickory and oak- hickory- forests, wooded hills and ridges and native The landscape of Green Country also encompasses the bottomland forest. The Arkansas, Canadian, Illinois and Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge

9 was formerly called the Oklahoma Bat Caves National Supplement Activity Wildlife Refuge because of the number of endangered topography is an irregular region with bat species found there. sinkholes, underground streams and caverns. In Green Country, you can fi nd karst topography in the Ozark Plateau.

The old Texas Road, used heavily during the Civil War When carbonic acid seeps through the soil and reaches the underlying bedrock, the acid will slowly dissolve the bedrock if (1861–1865), became the East Shawnee Trail in 1866 and it is limestone (or another carbonate rock). The limestone in the was one of the fi rst cattle trails to cross the area. Today, Ozark Plateau formed during the Period between a network of state and U.S. highways, historic routes 320 million years ago and 290 million years ago. and turnpikes crisscross Green Country. Major east-west Answers will vary. Possible answers include having water, routes across Green Country include State Highway 10 stalactites and stalagmites, and being home to bats, cavefi sh and U.S. 60 in the north and Interstate 40 in the south. and salamanders. Major north-south routes include U.S. 75, U.S. 59, U.S. 69 and U.S. 169, as well as State Highways 48, 99 and 82. Lesson Activities 1. The dictionary defi nes the term “” as a future Speaking of . . . Green Country event accepted as inevitable. However, “Manifest Destiny” When you hear these words, you know someone is is most often used to describe the mid-19th century doctrine talking about Green Country: that affi rmed the U.S. westward expansion to the Pacifi c. The artists who were a part of Manifest Destiny painted and drew life in the West as they saw it. Publications and galleries “Philbrook Museum of Art” “U.S.S. Batfi sh” carried their art, and this was the fi rst time ordinary people “Tallgrass Prairie” “Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and had a glimpse of what western life was like. Photojournalists Museum” “Sequoyah” “Northeast Oklahoma” send us photographs of war, poverty and diff erent lifestyles “Will Rogers Memorial” “Frank Lloyd Wright” that newspapers, television, websites and magazines publish. “Lake Eufaula” “Oklahoma State Championship Chili Because of photojournalists, most of us have some idea what the world is like in other places. Cook-Off ” “Woolaroc” “Tom Mix” “Gilcrease Museum” “ Museum” “Pawnee Bill” 2. The answers are: “Art Deco” “Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame” a. The vertical diff erence between any two contours. “Frank Phillips” “Nellie Johnstone No. 1” “Glenn Pool” b. Every fi fth contour line vertically is an index contour. Index Talk of the Towns contours are shown by darker brown lines on the map. These Some of the cities and towns in Green Country include: are the contour lines that are usually labeled. c. The average height of the surface of the sea for all stages Bartlesville Pryor of the tide. Claremore Sallisaw Eufaula Sapulpa d. The scale of the map permits the user to convert distance on the map to distance on the ground or vice versa. Jay Stilwell Miami Tahlequah Topographic maps provide a top-down view. Muskogee Tulsa 3. 50 feet. The index contour lines are at 100, 300 and 500 feet. Nowata Vinita Okmulgee Wagoner Pawhuska

10 Destinations Oklahoma: Kiamichi Country

cypress tree, a relative of the redwood. These trees, which can grow to heights of 80 to 100 feet and live for hundreds of years, provided a raw material for drums, canoes and housing to the early Choctaws. Kiamichi Country’s Muddy Boggy Creek—and the Blue River in Arbuckle Country—are the only uncontrolled waterways in Oklahoma that fl ow into the Red River on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, estuarine fi sh and the American eel are found here. The lower Red River in Kiamichi Country fl ows that direction but is impeded by Lake Texoma. The Kiamichi Country includes 7 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. Poteau River is the only Oklahoma river Visitors will experience three ecoregions in Kiamichi that fl ows northward. Country. In the north, the landscape may be the most diverse, presenting a mosaic of plains, fl oodplains, hills, terraces and scattered mountains. At the heart of Looking up from below a Long before statehood, Kiamichi cliff in Robbers Cave State Kiamichi Country lie the . These Park. (CIMC photo) low, forested mountains of oak, hickory and pine include Country was a transportation crossroads the largest remaining tract of unharvested old growth and a witness to America’s westward oak-shortleaf pine habitat in America. The red-cockaded expansion. The Butterfi eld Overland woodpecker, an endangered species, also lives here. Mail Route from St. Louis to began after a contract was signed in 1857 for delivering the mail. The The Ouachita Mountains are one of the few mountain route was one of the fi rst transcontinental links between ranges in America that run east and west. Hernando De east and west. It cut through what is today Kiamichi Soto’s party of explorers from Spain crossed these rugged Country, where stops included the homes of prominent yet scenic mountains in 1541. French expeditions came members of the Choctaw Nation in places like Skullyville, later, leaving behind their language in the names of places in present-day LeFlore County and in Red Oak, now in the region. (The name “Ouachita” is the French spelling in Latimer County. These stops allowed for meals and of a Native American word meaning “good hunting changes of horses. Local blacksmiths also kept the horses, ground.”) In the shadow of the Ouachita Mountains, mules and wagons on the move. Cavanal Hill near Poteau is often called “the world’s tallest hill” at 1,999 feet.

To the south, visitors encounter the edge of the southern The Archaeological Center, north of Poteau coniferous forest belt. This region is the home of the bald in LeFlore County, is Oklahoma's only archaeological park.

11 Its 150 acres encompass 12 southern mounds containing Talk of the Towns evidence of the ancient inhabitants who occupied the site from the years 850 to 1450. The area was the Some of the cities and towns in Kiamichi Country center of a culture that infl uenced the entire American include: southeast. Many people consider the Spiro Mounds one of the most important archaeological sites in America. Antlers McAlester The Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center conducts Broken Bow Pocola special guided tours during the summer solstice in June, Hartshorne Poteau the winter solstice in December and the vernal equinox Heavener Stigler in March. Archaeologists explain the history of the Hugo Spiro mounds’ excavation and why some of the mounds line Idabel Valliant up for the solstice and equinox sunsets. Krebs Wilburton

Supplement Activity Today, Kiamichi Country remains a crossroads. The Indian Nation Turnpike crosses north to south along is the name given to the southeast region of its western edge. State Highway 1, entering Kiamichi Oklahoma, which is heavily infl uenced by southern “Dixie” Country from west of McAlester, continues to the culture, as it was settled chiefl y by Southerners seeking a start in new lands following the American Civil War. Arkansas state line. State Highway 3, which reaches northwest all the way to the state line, travels Lesson Activities through Kiamichi Country from west of Antlers to the 1. Answers are: very southeastern tip of the state, just east of Tom. U.S. 70 reaches across the southern edge of Kiamichi Country a. LeFlore County. and heads west across much of southern Oklahoma. b. .

Speaking of . . . Kiamichi Country c. 22. d. Queen Wilhelmina State Park. When you hear these words, you know someone is talking about Kiamichi Country: 2. The name of the mountainous section of Kiamichi Country is the Ouachita Mountains. The folds occur in Atoka, LeFlore, Latimer, McCurtain, Pushmataha and Pittsburg counties. “Alligators” “Choctaw Nation” “Fall foliage” “Runestone” 3. Answers will vary. “Italian Festival” “Swamp rabbit” “Talimena Drive” “Robbers Cave” “Jack Fork Mountains” “Ouachita Uplift” “Cavanal Hill” “Bald Eagles” “Acrocanthosaurus” “Winding Stair Mountains”

12 Destinations Oklahoma: Red Carpet Country

of the central great plains. Red rocks of the Permian Age, low mountains and scattered hills and salt plains and sand dunes characterize this landscape. The Glass (or Gloss) Mountains, which formed millions of years ago, rise just south of the Cimarron River in Major County. Heading west toward the Panhandle, the scenery changes to the high plains and to the more rugged southwestern tablelands of canyons, buttes and mesas. This scenery rivals that of and Arizona, without being as massive. Three major rivers—the Cimarron River, the North Canadian River and the Canadian River—cross the landscape of Red Carpet Country. , in the northwest corner of Cimarron County, is the highest point in Oklahoma at 4,973 feet. Red Carpet Country includes 16 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. When Oklahoma Territory was established in 1890, The salt plains near Jet in Alfalfa County are an unusual numbers designated the fi rst seven counties and counties geological area. The added later were designated by letters. For example, Blaine 11,000-acre area is nearly County—originally known as County “C”—takes its name fl at with a thin crust of from James G. Blaine, a U.S. senator and presidential salt. This formed when candidate. Another Red Carpet Country county, Cimarron waters from ancient County, is the only county in America that is bordered Permian formations by four states: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas. evaporated, depositing Kenton, in the far northwest of the county, is the only thick layers of salt. town in Oklahoma within the Mountain Time Zone (one Groundwater travels hour earlier than the rest of the state, which is within the through the salt-saturated sand and reaches the surface, Little Sahara State Park, south of Waynoka, Central Time Zone). has more than 1,600 acres of sand dunes where it evaporates, leaving between 25 and 75 feet high. (OKAGE photo) Red Carpet Country encompasses all or part of multiple the crust of salt. tribal jurisdictions. They include the Arapaho, Caddo, Cheyenne, Delaware, Kaw, Otoe-Missouria, Ponca, The concentrated saline solution combines with gypsum and Wichita & Affi liated tribes. to promote selenite crystal growth in a portion of the salt fl ats. Selenite crystals in the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge have a dark design that resembles an hourglass in their centers. This shape is only found at the Salt Plains Visitors will encounter three ecoregions in Red Carpet in Oklahoma's Red Carpet Country, earning the hourglass Country. Most of Red Carpet Country has the landscape selenite the title of state crystal.

13 Talk of the Towns

Indispensable to the early settlers in Red Carpet Some of the cities and towns in Red Carpet Country Country was the windmill. The windmill brought include: a scarce resource—water—to the surface using an abundant resource—the prairie winds. The Shattuck Alva Freedom Windmill Museum and Park in Shattuck displays dozens Arnett Guymon of rare and restored windmills from 1870 to 1970 . Beaver Kingfi sher Blackwell Ponca City Boise City Slapout Buff alo Tonkawa State Highway 3 crosses Red Carpet Country east to Enid Waynoka west from Kingfi sher to the Colorado state line. U.S. Fairview Watonga 64 travels along the northern edge of Red Carpet Fort Supply Woodward Country. A state tourist welcome center is located on Interstate 35 near Blackwell in Kay County. Local tourist Supplement Activity information centers are located in Guymon, Woodward and Enid. 1. Boise City. 2. Black Mesa. Speaking of . . . Red Carpet Country 3. Camp Supply, near present-day Fort Supply.

When you hear these words, you know someone is 4. Watonga; the product is cheese. talking about Red Carpet Country: 5. Alabaster Caverns.

“Black Mesa” “Pioneer Woman” Lesson Activities “Alabaster Caverns” “Panhandle” “Northwest Passage” “Coronado” 1. Red Carpet Country is most like New Mexico and Colorado. “Selenite crystal” “” 2. We are red , clay and shale and can be found in the “Chisholm Trail” “Roman Nose” Red Bed plains and the gypsum hills. “Great Salt Plains” “Cherokee Strip” 3. I am gypsum and I can be found in the Gypsum Hills or Glass “Cow chip throwing” “” Mountains. “Little Sahara” “E.W. Marland” “Rattlesnake round-ups” “101 Wild West Rodeo” 4. I am salt and you can fi nd me at the Great Salt Plains State Park. “” “Buff alo wallows” 5. I am the Morrison Formation and I am found in the Panhandle. “Harvey House” “Ogallala aquifer” “Bat fl ights” “Sod House Museum” 6. I am alabaster and in Oklahoma you can only fi nd me at Alabaster Caverns.

14 DESTINATIONS OKLAHOMA Social Studies — Grade 5 Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) standards addressed 2.2 Identify the impact of the encounter between Native Americans and Europeans. Social Studies — Grade 4 6.1 Describe and sequence the territorial exploration, Demonstrate the ability to utilize research materials, such as expansion and settlement of the United States, including encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, newspapers, photographs, the Purchase… visual images and computer-based technologies. 7.1 Identify, evaluate and draw conclusions from diff erent 2.1 Interpret geographic information using primary kinds of maps, graphs, charts, diagrams and other and secondary sources, atlases, charts, graphs sources and representations…; and construct and use and visual images. maps of locales, regions, continents and the world that demonstrate an understanding of mental mapping, 2.2 Identify, use and interpret basic political, physical relative location, direction, latitude, longitude, key, and thematic maps and globes. legend, map symbols, scale, size, shape and landforms. 2.3 Construct and use maps…. 7.2 Evaluate how the physical environment aff ects humans 3.3 Analyze how the major physical features (e.g., and how humans modify their physical environment. landforms and bodies of water) were formed and 7.4 Interpret geographic information to explain how society continue to change. changed as the population of the United States moved 5.2 Describe major events of Oklahoma’s past, such as west, including where Native Americans lived and how settlements by Native Americans, cattle drives, land they made their living. runs, statehood and the discovery of oil. 7.5 Compare and contrast how diff erent cultures adapt 5.3 Analyze the use of Oklahoma’s natural resources (e.g., to, modify and have an impact on their physical salt, bison, oil, coal, timber and sod) by early visitors environment… and settlers.

5.5 Develop an understanding of and an appreciation for the Science — Grade 5 cultural diversity of his or her community by examining the historical and contemporary racial, ethnic and 2.1 Organisms in a community, interacting populations in a cultural groups of the area. common location, depend on each other for food, shelter and reproduction.

2.2 Changes in environmental conditions due to human Science — Grade 4 interactions or natural phenomena can aff ect the 4.1 The processes of erosion, weathering and sedimentation survival of individual organisms and/or entire species. aff ect Earth materials. 3.1 Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic 4.2 Fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals materials from dead plants, animals and bacteria. that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at Soils are often found in layers. that time (e.g., simulating the formation of fossils).

15 Social Studies [World Studies] — Grade 6 Social Studies [World Geography] — Grade 7

Identify, evaluate and draw conclusions from diff erent Standard 1: The student will use maps and other geographic kinds of maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, timelines and other representations, tools and technologies to analyze representations such as photographs and satellite-produced relationships between people, places and environments… images or computer-based technologies. 1.1 Locate, gather, analyze and apply information from Interpret information from a broad selection of research primary and secondary sources. materials such as encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, atlases and cartoons. 1.2 Apply the concepts of scale, distance, direction, relative location, latitude and longitude. 2.1 Apply the concepts of scale, orientation, latitude and longitude, and physical regions. 1.3 Construct and use maps, globes, graphs, charts, models and databases to analyze spatial distributions 2.2 Compare political, physical and thematic maps. and patterns.

2.3 Defi ne, recognize and locate basic landforms and bodies 1.4 Recognize the characteristics, functions and applications of water on appropriate maps and globes. of maps, globes, aerial and other photographs, satellite images and models. 3.2 Compare and contrast common characteristics of culture, such as language, customs, shelter, diet, traditional 3.1 Identify forces beneath and above the earth’s crust, occupations, belief systems and folk traditions. explaining the processes and agents that infl uence the distribution of resources.

5.2 Evaluate the eff ects of human modifi cation of and Science — Grade 6 adaptation to the natural environment (e.g., use of Process Standard 3.5: Design and conduct experiments. the steel plow, crop rotation, types of housing, fl ood prevention, discovery of valuable minerals deposits, Content Standard 1.1: Matter has physical properties that the greenhouse eff ect, desertifi cation, clear-cutting can be measured (i.e., mass, volume, temperature, color and forests, air and water pollution, urban sprawl and use texture). Changes in physical properties of objects can be of pesticides and herbicides in agriculture). observed, described and measured…. 6.1 Evaluate and draw conclusions from diff erent kinds of Content Standard 4: Populations and Ecosystems — maps, graphs, charts, diagrams and other sources and Populations consist of individuals of a species that occur representations… together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factor with which they interact 6.2 Explain the infl uence of geographic features on the compose an ecosystem… development of historic events and movements.

4.1 Organisms within an ecosystem are dependent on one another and on nonliving components of the environment…

16 Social Studies [United States History] — Grade 8 Oklahoma History — High School

7.4 Compare and contrast the policies toward Native 1.2 Identify, evaluate and explain the relationships Americans pursued by presidential administrations between the and its historical through the Jacksonian era, and evaluate the impact development by using diff erent kinds of maps, graphs, on Native Americans of white expansion, including the charts, diagrams and other representations such as resistance and removal of the Five Tribes (i.e., Choctaw, photographs, satellite-produced images and computer- Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee). based technologies.

9.1 Examine and discuss Manifest Destiny as a motivation 2.3 Analyze the impact of territorial claims on the and justifi cation for westward expansion, the lure of the development of the state of Oklahoma, including the West and the reality of life on the frontier. Louisiana Purchase and Adams-Onis Treaty.

9.3 Describe the causes and eff ects of the Louisiana Purchase 3.1 Identify and describe signifi cant phases of prehistoric and the explorations of Lewis and Clark. cultures, including the Paleo Indians (Clovis points), Archaic Indians (Folsom points), the Mound Builders 9.8 Describe the importance of trade on the frontiers and and the Plains Tribes. assess the impact of westward expansion on Native American peoples, including their displacement and 3.2 Trace the movement of other North American peoples removal and the Indian Wars of 1850s–1870s. into present-day Oklahoma including the Five Tribes, Plains Tribes and Eastern Tribes.

3.3 Compare and contrast cultural perspectives (e.g., land Science — Grade 8 ownership and use, agricultural methods, production and 4.1 Landforms result from constructive forces such as distribution of commodities, and trading practices) of crustal deformation, volcanic eruption and deposition of Native Americans and European Americans. sediment and destructive forces such as weathering 4.3 Assess the impact of the cattle industry (e.g., cattle and erosion. trails, railheads and cow towns in Kansas and the 4.2 The formation, weathering, sedimentation and location of railroad lines). reformation of rock constitute a continuing “rock cycle” 4.4 Evaluate the impact and importance of the various in which the total amount of materials stays the same as means of distributing land in Oklahoma (e.g., allotments, its form changes. land runs, lottery and Supreme Court settlement).

5.2 Fossils provide important evidence of how life and 6.1 Locate the signifi cant physical and human features of environmental conditions have changed. the state on a map (e.g., major waterways, cities, natural resources, military installations, major highways and major landform regions).

7.1 Identify cultural and ethnic groups in Oklahoma (e.g., African Americans, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Germans and Vietnamese) and explore the causes and eff ects of their immigration and settlement patterns.

17 Destinations Oklahoma was developed by:

CareerTech Curriculum and Instructional Oklahoma Geological Survey Materials Center Randy Keller, Director Craig Maile, Manager Connie Smith, Information Specialist Melinda Hawk, Electronic Documents Specialist Neil Suneson, Geologist

Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education Gary Gress, Coordinator and Geographer Eugene Earsom, Program Director Brooke Barnett, Communications and Development Specialist Jayne Marley, Teacher Consultant from Yukon Public Schools Robin Plumb, Teacher Consultant from Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Helen Chaney, Teacher Consultant from Wilson Public Schools Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

To learn more about Oklahoma’s CareerTech System, including the Technology Center nearest you, visit: www.okcareertech.org CIMC Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

To learn more about the CIMC’s Touring Oklahoma curriculum, plus “Cyber Tour Routes” for each Country area, visit: www.okcimc.com/titles/tourism

Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education Teacher Training | Curriculum Development | Outreach Programs | and More!

Our Mission OKAGE is helping to spread geographic literacy through the preK-16 curriculum by providing high-quality professional development opportunities and classroom-ready materials for teachers. Our Programs Through a year-round series of workshops, training institutes, field studies and confer- ences, OKAGE is the primary source of information and professional development opportunities for geography educators in Oklahoma. Help Your Students Become Globally Aware Membership in OKAGE and most of our programs are free. Visit www.okageweb.org today and click “Become an OKAGE Member” to get started.

100 East Boyd, SEC 442 | Norman, OK | 73019-1018 |Tel: 405.325.5832 | Toll Free 800.522.0772 x 5832 | [email protected] | www.okageweb.org