HISTORIC SITES AND MUSEUMS

The official Oklahoma Route 66 Museum (580/323-7866), at 2229 Gary Boulevard in Clinton, is an entertaining and educational trek through six decades of "Mother Road" memories. The 12-room house built by Chief is the centerpiece of Eagle Park (580/429-3238), a gathering of historical buildings in Cache, 20 miles west of Lawton on SH-62. Parker lived here from 1885 until his death in 1911. Also in Eagle Park: 1860s officers' quarters from , a one-room schoolhouse and church, and replicas of an Indian trading post, saloon, drugstore, and livery stable. The Mattie Beal Home (580/678-3156) is a 14-room Greek Revival-style mansion constructed in 1909 on a portion of the 160 acres selected by Mattie Beal when her name was drawn in the 1901 Oklahoma Territory Land Lottery. The home has been restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, located at 1006 S.W. 5th in Lawton. The Museum of the Great Plains (405/581-3460) features special collections of printed, photographic, and archival material covering the environment and life on the Southern Great Plains, including the Native Americans of the region. It is located in Lawton at 601 Ferris. At the Rock Island Depot in Sayre is the Shortgrass Country Museum (580/928-5757 or 580/928-5735), and visitors may recognize the Beckham County Courthouse from the movie "The Grapes of Wrath." At US-81 and US-70 in Waurika, the 200-year history of the Chisholm Trail is the feature at the Chisholm Trail Historical Museum (580/228-2166). Fort Sill was established as a cavalry post in 1869 in the middle of what was then and Comanche land. Some of the 1870s-era buildings are still in use; one houses the u.S. Army Field Artillery and Fort Sill Museum (580/442-5123), where Native American and military artifacts are on display. A number of Native American leaders, including Quanah Parker and Kiowa chiefs Satank and Kicking Bird, are buried here in a cemetery known as Chief's Knoll, and leader Geronimo is buried in a larger cemetery nearby. The fort is still in use as an artillery school, and cannons, both vintage and modem, are on display along Cannon Walk. Fort Sill is second only to the Presidio in its collection of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. These attractions are located off 1-44 at the Key Gate Exit near Lawton. Visitors can see the Museum of the Western Prairie (580/482-1044) at 1100 N. Hightower in Altus; the Philomathic Pioneer Museum (4051247-3240) at 311 East Main in Anadarko; and the Delaware Tribal Museum (405/247-2448), two miles north of Anadarko on US-281. Other examples of pride in Southwest Oklahoma's heritage are the Apache Historical Museum (580/588-3392), located in the original 1901 frontier bank, which features an art gallery, located at Evans and Coblake in Apache; the Kiowa Tribal Museum (580/654-2300), located near Carnegie, one mile west on SH-9; and in Cordell, the Washita County Museum (580/832-3681 or 580/832-2053) at 105 East First.

NATURAL WONDERS AND PARKS

The 650-million-year-old Wichita Mountains are among the oldest mountains in the country, worn down to sculptured granite boulders and cross-hatched with canyons carved by mountain streams. Most ofthe northeast section of the range, where the peaks are the highest, is now part ofthe Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge (580/429-3222), west of Fort Sill on SH-115. It is the first such preserve in the nation, designated as a Forest Preserve by President McKinley in 1901. President Roosevelt changed its designation to a Game Preserve in 1905. Free roaming elk, bison, longhorn cattle, gray foxes, bobcat, and other species are protected on this 60,000-acre preserve, which also includes the Quanah Parker Nature Center. Visitors can enjoy wildlife viewing, mountain bicycling, rock climbing, 15 miles of trails, camping, picnicking, and fishing.

912