Alled Parallels, Are Established by the Angle Between a Radius from a Point at the Center of the Earth in Relation to the Equatorial Plane
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• Location and Size of Oklahoma • Demographics and Culture • Climate • Geology • Forests and Vegetation • Wildlife • Astronomical Phenomena This section was compiled using data from the following sources: The majority of the information comes from The Atlas o/Oklahoma, Classroom Edition, published by the Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University, October 1991, Tom Wikle, Editor. Additional information was found in the Publications Clearinghouse, Oklahoma Department of Libraries; Vicki Sullivan, Administrator. Also, Ken Johnson at the Geological Survey; State Geographer Bob Springer; Howard Johnson at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, Wayne Wyrick at the Kirkpatrick Planetarium, Nels Rodeseld at the Department of Wildlife, Mary Meacham at the National Weather Service Severe Storms Laboratory, Gary Schnell at the Oklahoma Biological Survey, Kurt Atkinson at the Oklahoma Forestry Service, and the University of Oklahoma Press. 748 OKLAHOMA LOCATION AND SIZE The state of Oklahoma is surrounded by six other states: Texas to the south and west, New Mexico to the west, Colorado and Kansas to the north, and Missouri and Arkansas to the east. The capital city of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City. It is located very near the geographic center of the state. Geographic center is approximately 8 miles north of Oklahoma City. Colorado Kansas Missouri New Mexico Location of Oklahoma Lines of longitude and latitude form a grid system on the earth's surface. These reference lines are used to pinpoint the position of any spot on Earth. Oklahoma extends across north latitudes and west longitudes. Latitude is distance measured north and south of the equator. Lines of latitude, also called parallels, are established by the angle between a radius from a point at the center of the earth in relation to the equatorial plane. Latitude ranges from 90 degrees at each pole to zero degrees at the equator. For greater precision, degrees of latitude can be broken up into minutes and seconds. There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in each minute. One degree of latitude equals roughly 69 miles because the earth is not a perfect sphere. Longitude is the other component of the Earth's grid system. Lines of longitude, called meridians, run north and south and help to pinpoint locations east and west. Longitude is also measured in degrees, minutes and seconds. The most important reference line used for longitudinal reference is the Prime Meridian established in 1884 by international agreement. The Prime Meridian runs through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, and represents a longitude of zero degrees. Longitudes to the east of the Prime Meridian are called east longitudes and those to the west, west longitudes. On the opposite side of the earth is the International Date Line that represents a longitude of 180 degrees. 749 Oklahoma is situated between 94 degrees, 29 minutes and 103 degrees west longitude; and 33 degrees, 41 minutes and 37 degrees north latitude. 95'W Ada J4-·28'N 960 4J'W Ardmore J4·1O'N 97·8'W Clinton 3S·31'N 98°S6'N Durant J:f'S9'N 96"2J'W Enid J6·24'N 9t'S4'W Goodwell Jrf'J6'N J01·J7'W ~~~~~~ o~b~~ 1'~9o~~;;29'W idobel.JJ·SYN 94·48'W Lawton .HoJ5'N 98·24'W McAlester J4·SS'N 9S·4S'W Miami J6·SJ'N 94·SI'W Muskogee J4·S5'N 9S·45'N Oklahoma City JS·28'N 97"JI'W Pawhuska 36 D41'N 96·20'W Poteau JS"J'N 94"J7'W Stillwater J6·?'N 97"4'W Tulsa J6·9'N 9S·S9'W Tahlequah J:!S5'N 9.fS8'W Woodward 36·25"N 9g·24'W Latitude and Longitude of Oklahoma By the time Oklahoma was granted statehood in 1907, it had been divided into 75 counties. New counties were created when Harmon County was separated from Greer County, and Cotton County broke away from Comanche County. With these additions in 1910, the number of counties was elevated to the present total of 77. Since statehood, only eight counties have relocated their county seats. Osage is the state's largest county with an area of 2,293 square miles, while Marshall is the smallest county in the state with only 360 square miles. Cimarron County is the only state county in the nation that borders four other states (Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas). The five largest counties by population are: Oklahoma (599,611), Tulsa (503,341), Cleveland (174,253), Comanche (111,486), and Canadian (74,409). In contrast, the five smallest counties by population are: Cimarron (3,301), Harmon (3,793), Harper (4,063), Roger Mills (4,147), and Ellis (4,497). Population figures are taken from the 1990 census. Locating property in Oklahoma can be accomplished by using a reference system know as Township and Range. The system was adopted by the federal government as a part of the Northwest Ordinance of 1785 to prevent conflicting titles of land as pioneers claimed irregularly shaped plots to acquire the most fertile lands. It was also initiated to assist in the orderly survey and sale of public land. The Township and Range System uses an initial point from which all locations are referenced. The primary initial point used for land in Oklahoma is located about one mile south of Fort Arbuckle in Murray County (in south central Oklahoma). This point was established by Ehud N. Darling in 1870 to aid in the dispersion of Indian lands. Running through the initial point are two lines: a base line that corresponds to an east/west parallel, and a north/south meridian. All areas to the north of this point are referred to as township north and areas to the south are called township south. The meridian associated with the initial point is called the "Indian Meridian" and is used to designate range east from range west. The base line and meridian are divided into six mile segments forming a grid of individual township/range units. These units are again divided into thirty-six, one square-mile sections that are numbered consecutively beginning in the northeast corner of the township/range. These section (640 acres each) are then divided into half-sections, quarter-sections, etc. 750 Excluding the panhandle, there are 38 township lines running east and west and 53 range lines running north and south. A separate initial point was used for the panhandle and is located at the southwest corner of Cimarron County. T,."o;,/R",. II""'" '" .. " ." ," "".m f'"uno . ::IS m 6 5 4 ) 2 1 eniar<;lement of ,:,~,',::::: I--~('60 1920 2122 24 VI 1/2 00"") ~~ ~~ ~~ ~:~: ~: ~ ~::) enlargement ofT. 2. N.. ' st 1/Z01 R. .oW 5(1/. (10acras) Township and Range Oklahoma is located farther west than any country in South America. Traveling due south from Oklahoma City, one would cross Texas and the country of Mexico before reaching the Pacific Ocean. All of South America would be located to the east. Oklahoma covers an area of 69,903 square miles. The map below shows Oklahoma compared to European countries in size. Size of Oklahoma compared to European countries 751 Oklahoma ranks eighteenth in size in the United States and is considered one of the larger states when compared to those of the East Coast. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut are smaller in area. Oklahoma is more than ftfty times larger than the state of Rhode Island and has about the same area as the South American country of Uruguay. Only Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Alaska have greater east-west distances than Oklahoma. With 277,340 square miles, Texas is almost four times larger than Oklahoma. When compared to other states in the West, Oklahoma is larger than Washington and Hawaii. ";~'Ll _______" li~ ! I 11'''"''''-- ~l.~~~t.Oklo;omo\~ ~~_~~ ~.. I D SJlJ"'il"s '-J 'lr(j-\~ Texas Rhode ISland] _________ I ~-------o so mIles State Dimensions DEMOGRAPHICS POPULATION Oklahoma was ranked 28th in state population with a total population of about 3,145,585 in 1990. This gave Oklahoma a population density averaging 46.1 persons per square mile. Most of the state's population in 1989 was white (85.6%) with the percentages of African Americans (6.9%) and American Indians (6.3%) being nearly equal. Overall, Oklahoma experienced a 2.7 percent population decline from the previous year which amounted to 90,000 fewer people. People tend to be leaving rural areas of the state in favor of urbanized areas. The counties which had the most negative net migration from 1980-1986 were Washington, Woodward, Garfteld, Jackson, Tillman, Comanche, and McCurtain counties. The counties showing the greatest gains in population were generally areas near large cities such as Tulsa and Oklahoma City and their suburbs. The two biggest concentrations of people in the state are in the metropolitan areas of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. 752 D less thon 10 ~ 10 to 19 ~ 20 to 39 ~ 40 to 100 mgreoter thon 100 Population Density in Oklahoma VITAL STATISTICS In 1994, there were 46,711 births in Oklahoma. This was about 14.8 per 1,000 persons, compared to the national average birth rate for that year of 15.7 births per 1,000 persons. There were 32,574 deaths in Oklahoma in 1994, or 10.3 per 1,000 persons. This was higher than the national average of 8.8 per 1,000. To compare, in 1993, the number of births was 46,165, or 14.5 per 1,000; number of deaths was 32,265, or 10.3 per 1,000 persons. In 1994, there were 30,495 marriages in Oklahoma, which averaged 9.7 marriages per 1,000 persons.