JANUARY-FE LIARY '86 1 -. - BLIZZARDS OF TRIVIA: OUR FIRSTS BESTS L FAVORITES I : CUISINE ART -NORMAN'S SWEET SALUTE TO CHOCOLATE

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF TZHE STATE OF :.--a --~. OKIAHOMA TODM 4. xr*% January-February '86 George Nigh, Governor Vol. 36, No. 1 "%, .."J..T - -.wn COVERS 1 l6 1 31 Set Sail tor the Firsts, Bert. 8 Favorites Tulsa Boat Show The biggest, the best, the first, the Water sportsmen driven off the lakes last, the richest, the oldest, the wildest, by winter can start the '86 season early- the weirdest.. ..A celebration of Sooner indoors-at the Tulsa Boat, Sport and superlatives. Travel Show. 46 Oklahoma Portfolio Visions of winter by a gallery of Backstage at the Ballet Oklahoma photographers. Famed dancer Edward Villella is determined to keep Ballet Oklahoma on its toes.

A classic Oklahoma scene, transformed by snow. Photo by Larry D. Bmwn. Inside Chocolate: The MagnHicent hnt. American bison, near Confection Canton Reservoir. Photo by Just in time for Valentine's Day, Sylvia J. and Lloyd R. Brockus there's a love feast just made for 111. Back. Turner Falls chocomaniacs, courtesy of Norman's winter. Photo by J. R Toland. Firehouse Art Center. Here We Rest Fmm the new book by Kent Ruth and Jim Ago: a look at the fascinating stories Sooner tombstones tell. FEATURES DEPARTMENTS Today in Oklahoma ...... 4 BooksRetters...... 6 Bodedine cases Uncommon Common Folk ...... 8 Why the Panhandle came to be and Oklahoma Omnibus ...... 15 other true tales of how Oklahoma -got to ..... Destinations: Oilcrease ...... 52 7. --- be in the shape it's in...... , , 1 Enteltalnment Calendar...... 58 with free-lance writers and photogra- phers. The photographer must be given an assignment a year in advance so that photos are available to illustrate stories on special events and places in the prop- er season. For example, photos of Nor- man's Chocolate Festival had to be taken last February for this issue. Through the years, most of the state's top photographers have contributed to Ok/ahorna TODW. The magazine you hold in your hands took nearly two No writers or photographers work full years to produce, fmfirst planning session to final time for OkIahoma TODW. This means Kate spends much of her time conferring press run. In honor of Oklahoma TODAY'S 30tlr with free-lance writers about who should biflhday, we'd like to skesome of the history of the be interviewed for their assignments and Sooner State's officiaZ magazine. This issue begins the 30th year of pages with five to 10 color photos. That publication for Ok/ahoma TODAY maga- seems slim compared with the 52 pages zine. To celebrate this anniversary, we and 30 color photos in an average issue are including a special section on Firsts, now. Editor John McWilliams published Bests and Favorites in Oklahoma, which stories in that first issue on industrial you, our readers, helped select. growth, the Halliburton oil-well cement- Ok/ahoma TODAY has grown and ing plant in Duncan, the National Cow- changed since 1955, when State Rep. boy Hall of Fame, the Frontiers of George Nigh first introduced legislation Science Foundation, the premier show- creating the state's official magazine. ing of the movie "Oklahoma!", work on The staff of Ok/ahoma TODAY continues state highways, the new Roman Nose to inform and entertain its readers with a Lodge, fishing and the University of great deal of pride in the progress and Oklahoma football team. the beauty of our young state and its Undoubtedly editor McWilliams had the types of information to include. Top- people. And that same George Nigh, to rush to get that first issue published ics may vary from art exhibits to rodeo, now completing his second term as gov- by January. You might be surprised to from chicken fried steaks to migratory ernor, has spent a political lifetime pro- learn just how much planning and care- birds. Most will suggest something fun moting travel and the economic ful attention to detail are involved with to do or an interesting place to visit. development of Oklahoma. publishing Ok/ahoma TODAY. Unlike Other stories describe some unusual bit Those first issues in 1956 had only 20 other businesses that manufacture the of history or nature that makes our state Jan.-Feb. 1957 same product over and over, each issue special. Long hours are spent interview- of a magazine must be created and de- ing persons in the area, researching in signed individually, with no two alike. the library, writing, rewriting, editing The initial planning for this issue be- and weaving in all sorts of facts to inform gan about 15 months ago. Throughout and entertain. the year, managing editor Kate Jones When the photographer sends in and editor Sue Carter meet weekly to transparencies or black-and-white pho- consider story ideas they've collected tos, the real challenge begins. Art direc- and to discuss editorial content. They tor Pat Shaner may sift through 200 color aim for editorial as well as geographical slides to find the perfect five or six pho- balance, hoping that each reader, no tos to illustrate a story. Occasionally, matter what his interests, will find sever- things go wrong-the lighting is poor, al stories to enjoy. too many phone wires are in the fore- After the schedule of stories is set, ground, facial expressions are poor-and Kate contacts and makes assignments the photos have to be reshot.

4 Oklahoma TODAY After the manuscripts are edited, they including a color proof, to be checked by trimmed in the bindery. Subscriber la- are sent to the printer in Tulsa for type- the editors. Columns of type must be bels are applied in the printer's mail- setting. Layout sheets are designed for straight, photos and captions must room, and the magazines trucked to the each story allowing space for titles, pho- match, and colors must be exact. Noth- post office. Other copies are boxed for tos and captions and noting where spots ing must be left out or overlooked. delivery to newsstands across the state. of color go. Finally, more than a year after the Soon the 35,000 copies printed for this Pat then determines how much each issue was first planned, it is ready for anniversary issue will be passed among photo slide should be enlarged. The printing. Okidoma TODAY is printed on our 160,000 readers scattered across the slides are sent to an engraver where each a large web press, similar to the kind that Spring 1973 is carefully "read" by a complex piece of prints newspapers. High-quality paper equipment called a laser scanner. The from a large roll winds through several outcome is four pieces of film in the printing rollers. Eight pages on each side correct size. Each negative will print one of the paper, called a signature, are print- of the four colors of ink used in print- ed at the same time. Although the press ing-black, red, yellow or blue. From will run much faster, 24,000 signatures these negatives, a color proof, called a are printed per hour to achieve maxi- Cromalin, is made, which Pat critiques. mum quality. Three press runs are re- A few will need to be corrected for a quired for the 48 inside pages. Another better color match. four-page signature for the Okkzhoma TO- Meanwhile, galleys of typeset manu- DAY cover is printed on a smaller press. scripts are being corrected, proofread While the presses are running and and shortened to fit the assigned space. spewing out thousands of copies, Pat The columns are pasted onto heavier works with the PennWell pressmen, ad- sheets of paper called boards, following justing the ink to make sure the color the original layout sheets. Story titles, and registration of the photos are exactly 50 states and the 45 foreign countries. photo captions and blurbs are added. right. Every effort is made by PennWell Some have been subscribing since 1956; A final check is made before sending technicians throughout the printing pro- others will see their first copy of Okkzho- the boards to PennWell Printing Co., the cess to make sure the highest standards ma TODAY in a doctor's waiting room or OkMoma TODAY printer, in Tulsa. The of quality required by the Ok/doma TO- a hotel gift shop. printers make a negative from the DAY staff are met. Some of you helped choose Oklaho- boards, then strip in the photos and each Once the signatures are printed and ma's Firsts, Bests and Favorites for the color area. Two more proofs are made, collated, the pages are cut, stapled and story that begins on page 32. If we've 5 overlooked your favorite item, let us know. Perhaps we can include it some li other time. H Most of all, we hope that after all the careful preparation and effort to bring you one of the nation's top magazines- we can say this after winning two major national awards for overall editorial ex- cellence in 1985-you'll continue to en- joy Okidoma TODAY for the next 30 years. -Sue Carter

Next issue: Spend an afternoon at the movies and learn about the first films made in the Sooner State, the heyday of the movie palaces, the roster of Hollywood stars who shone here first-and what the state is doing to lure high-dollar producrions across the border. Then travel to Muskogee for the Azalea Festival-and to the Skyline Bdore Ok/ahoma TODAY goes on press, PennWe/l employees ~i/lD~W; and ~ub~oyd check color Drive with photogmpher David Fiuger- and regitmtion. The magazine's cover section is printed on a Japanesepress calleda Komon', which is ald. All in the March-April issue of Okhioma most ofen used to printposters andhigh-quality arr reproductions. TODAY.

January-February '86 now working in Japan. My wife and I traveled all around Oklahoma state by car during that time. Katsuhiko Machida Kawaguchi City, Japan The Vanished Splendor 111: Post- counties and county government in card Memories of Oklahoma City, by Oklahoma. It then details the pedigree Your November-December 1985 is- Jim Ehard, Mitdell OlipAant and Hal of every county courthouse ever used- sue is your best Okkzhoma TODAY ever. Omway; Abalade Book Shop Publishing including a rented adobe in Kenton, ho- "The Monk, The Mummy and Ma- Co., $18.95. Oklahoma Trivia Card tels in Arapaho and Kingfisher and the bee," "Last of the Big Tops" and "Rid- Set; Sbsortail Gama; $19.95. It's about Creek Council House in Okmulgee. ing Herd on the West" opened my eyes time someone came up with a trivia Historic photographics and brief text as to what may really be seen in game for Oklahomans, and Linda Ken- give a county-by-county rendition of Oklahoma. nedy Rosser, author of Pioneer Cookingin what buildings were used as court- I want to visit them all. Oklahoma and Chnkfnzas in Oklahoma, has houses, when old ones were renovated or Edie Danielson obliged. The set of 250 trivia cards (plus torn down-and what rose in their Oklahoma City 24 "symbol cards" and 26 "picture places. cards") is divided into "Frontier Fun," Oklahoma is one of my favorite places. "All Sports," "Spaces and Places," "Te- I've made many trips to the state to visit pees to Towers," "Famous and Infa- relatives in Elk City. mous" and "State of the Arts." It's I've read Oklahoma TODAY off and on Your magazine deserves much praise designed to be used with the Trivial since the first issue-mostly off. I am for its fine coverage of the many phases Pursuit game board. now a new subscriber again-this time I of Oklahoma life. The Indian Territory The difference is that instead of need- think 1'11 stay. Okldoma TODAY is look- phase of the state's life I find fascinating, ing to know who Joltin' Joe was or every- ing better all of the time. and I hope to see some articles relative to thing about Watergate, you need to Perhaps my attitude has to do with it in future issues. know how many NCAA Division I nostalgia; I'm more interested in what's Margaret McCabe championships OSU's won or what Okla- happening in Oklahoma than I used to Pittsford, New York homa train robber was pardoned by Ted- be. dy Roosevelt. And just in case you've ~~~d schmidt OR/o/roma TODAY welcomes letters from our never invested in a Trivial Pursuit board, readers. Our only requirements: They must be Hei&ts9New York signed, and we reserve the right to edit and/or Rosser has come up with a way to play condense them. Send your comments to: Letters, trivia using just her cards. I've intended for a long time to let you ORlahoma TODAY, P.O. BOX53384, Oklahoma Readers who've gotten hooked on the Civ, OK 73152. visual trivia in the first two volumes of know how really outstanding I feel ORla- Aoma TODAY is. The layout, copy, selec- STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AVD CIRCULATION Vanished Splendor have a Christmas treat (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685 filcd Scpumber 28, 1985) for 01Um 7VDAY tion of stories, pictures and continuity of Ma@"=, puMmdon number 407140, p~brihedbimonthly. 6 ~SIICS annually. this year: Volume 111. This one contin- annul subnipdon pries $10, by the suu of ~kl~h-. Tourism and ~srario" excellence from issue to issue-all are ~ep~matat P.O. B~Xs ~ Mahorns, (SV. O~~OMcounty. OK 73152. ues the tradition of reproducing post- Edimr-inChicf: Sue Csnsr. Okhhom Taurim and Rsradon Depmnenr. indeed top drawer. P.O. BOX 5 ~ ~klnh. city. OK 73152. ~ ~Edimr: ~nrc. b ~r i ~ ~ cards of "lost" Oklahoma City, and IO~CS, ~klsh~~TOU~~S~and ~UOII Depmncnt, P.O. B~XSW. ~dah~ Congratulations to everyone con- ~jry.OK 73152. natives can gaze with longing at views of OWNER: STATE OF OKLAHOMA. CUM- TUDAY, Oklahoma TOU~~~ cerned with this fine publication. Makes ~cp~mnafP.O. BOX SW. ma (SW. OK 73152. the Toddle House, the old M-K-T de- bondholden, mongrgser and chcr surity holden or holding 1 pemr amo~ a native Oklahoman even more proud to of W.I mountof bonds, IIIO~~~SS or omcr scaritin: pot, Adair's Tropical Cafeteria, Ander- EXTENTAND NATURE OF CIRCULATION: (A) Tod number ofmpk be a Sooner. prinpd (net p- run): 28.657 wcrpgc number of is. or ahiuuc during son's Antiques.. .. pruding 12 months. 32.W single iuuc -mt filing d~u.(B) pad ei~~ti~~: (I) Ma thmugh dden and anien. nrccr vendom end munur saln: 5.792 Chester L. Stinnet Sr. avcng number mpk of txh isme during wing12 months: 5.559 ri* County Courthouses of Oklahoma, by iuuc ~~1filing date. (2) Mdsubacrip~ks: 18.872 avsr~genumber of mpier Texarkana, Texas efsrh iwc during wing12 monthp: n,asin& iavc firmb dare. Dr. Ckda Gra&j, edited by Tim Zwink (C) T0.I pPid eircuhdan: 24.W fwcng. nvmk mpk of txh iave during prrccding 12 months, 29,014 dnglc iaue nenmt filing Lo.(D) Fmdimibution and Gordon Moon; Okkzhoma Historical by mil, onicr or other mar. mpb, annplimcnmry a4orhcr fempies: 1,019 wcngs number -pie ofeach kucduring prmcding 12 months. 7-52 single ~&i?ty;$15.95. They're all here, fKm 1 would like to order two 1986 scenic huenearat Iidingdau. (E) T~Idisaibution: 25,681 numbcrmpa of each iauc during @ing 12 mmths. 29,806 sin@ issue "-st filing dau. (F) the Art Deco of Adair County to the calendars. I have also ordered OkMoma cop.a=not dirrributcd: (I) OR= W, kit OW,, ~ ~ ~+led p pfwrd . printing: 256 avers@ number ofm+ ofeach kue during pding12 months. "courthouse modem" of Woods, from TODAY as a gift for my wife; she plans to 1.665 single kuc (2) Return urrgm.: 2.728avcmge number mpkofeach iauc during pding12 months. 529 single irsuc nearen the Doric columns of Tillman County to renew it when it is time. filing LU. (G)TOTAL:28.657 we.gc numbcr of mpia of each issue during the clock tower of Carter. I was in Oklahoma for two years and pdingI2 monrhs. 32.W sin& iauc mmtfiling dau. IrrIIily that dK smumma made by mc above are mmand mmplca. The book begins with a history of eight months until May 1985, and I am cs la&) sue Caner. ~di~~-inchid

6 Oklahoma TODAY BIG AND ORDER FORM I My name j (Fill in men if only sending gifrs) I BEAUTIFUL AS i Address 1 City 1 ALL OKLAHOMA! j State Zip I Day Phone # I I 1 Please send me -1986 scenic calendars I to me at above address I - I GIFT ORDERS Please send -1986 scenic calendars to the following people with gift cards en- closed:

Name Address City State Zip Sign gift card from:

j Name 1 Address j City j State Zip 1 Sign gift card from: I I I j Name j Address j City 1 State Zip j Sign gift card from: I I

Qty Price 1986 scenic wall calendars @ $5.95 Add $1.00 each for i shipping & handling I Total payment due I I 1986 Oklahoma TODAY I Check or money order enclosed j Visa Scenic Calendar 1 Mastercard, Interbank # I 13 outstanding full color photographs show Oklahoma's I Card # scenic beauty, all around the state j Exp. date [ Signature x I 9" 12calendar features large boxes for writing in I Mail to: OKLAHOMA TODAY, appointments and memos P.O. Box 53384 Oklahoma City, OK 73152 Printed on heavy weight paper with durable plastic binding I Or call 1-800-652-6552to11 free I with credit card order A beautiful way to keep track of all your days in 1986! I

January-February '86 7 UNCOMMON COMMON FOLI

By Kathryn Jenson White

1: eldon and Peggy Johnson Weldon explains that, "I'm not a duck of registered sheep, they've finished have been married long hunter, but I have friends who are, nearly 600 animals since they began 1enough that having a and they bring me ducks. I set 'em up working with wood only three years ago. conversation with the two of like I want and put 'em in Ziploc bags Weldon is the one who carves the them is often like talking to one in our freezer. Then I take them out and animals, and Peggy bums the coloration person with two different voice pitches. use them to work by for a while." into the wood with woodburning Sometimes, the female pitch starts an What started out with reluctance tools. Peggy got so good so fast that she answer and the male pitch slides in to has now become a full-scale enthusiasm. was asked to teach a woodburning finish; sometimes it's the other way Even though Peggy teaches class at a national woodworking school in around. Sometimes for a word or two elementary school, as she has for 21 Nebraska. She says, "I didn't want to there's even two-part harmony, but years, and Weldon tends to 200 head do it, but Weldon insisted. I teach school usually the conversational pass is a This shoveler taka the Johnsons 50-60 houn all year, and I just wanted to go up smooth one. to make, and costs $300. It's I$e-sized and there, relax and do what I wanted to

What these two Gotebo residents even pp)e& tire same as a lice shoveler. do..." "Which is go- to the shopping.. - like to talk about mall," Weldon . * . - - ,, - .. . I,.' . f I, . . . .. -.:.I ... most are mallards, $$ r .. - . finishes with a 1, pintails, blue and '. grin. Peggy continues - ., green wing teals, as if he hadn't shovelers, spoken: "I want to buffleheads and wood -.a -'r. ., - tell you, you teach ducks. Actually, since adults and they wod late in 1982, ail the you. You can't ducks they talk about relax; there's are wood, bass wood, someone over your since that's what they shoulder every min- use to create some ute." Weldon ducky works of art. admits the exposure This all began when was a bit intense; Peggy saw a wooden each day for a week, duck a friend had they generally carved and then began work at 7:45 detailed with a woodburning tool. a.m. and ended at 10 p.m. Although she admits neither she nor Although Weldon wasn't officially a Weldon knew anything about ducks carving instructor, he taught his teachers or woodworking and that Weldon was as $ and his fellow students a thing or two close to unenthusiastic as a person as well. "Weldon took 'Realistic could be at the idea of learning about Animals,' where they carved a either, she insisted they try their bugling elk," Peggy recounts with pride. hands at it, and he gave in. "He got his done before anyone and Now, Weldon spends a lot of his ended up doing two of those, a horse and time researching ducks and various other a bullfrog while they were still doing animals, and Peggy has to move the one." Weldon continues the story frozen mallards out of the way to take a with a laugh: "Since this bull elk is pot roast out of the deep freeze. bugling, he's got his head back and his

8 Oklahoma TODAY UNCOMMON COMMON FOLK mouth open. Well, I carved in his production process takes at least twice as a magnifying visor like doctors wear tongue, but everyone else just cut the long as Weldon's 12 hours, so the when they're sewing a person up. hole out for his mouth. Then total time is a minimum of 36 hours. That's how I'm able to get the lines so someone else got to looking at mine and They ask around $250 for the large close together. " said, 'What're you doin' dm?' I told ducks, so, as Weldon explains, including Peggy's duck work is more him that since it was a stag elk, I was materials, "If you take the price of physically tiring than Weldon's. She leavin' the testicles and the sheath one of our ducks and divide it by $5, you says, "What Weldon does relaxes on. Even the instructor had taken his can figure just about the number of him. I love to do it, but I can't relax at it. elk's off. Boy, everybody went to hours we got in it." They sell small But, then, I'm not a relaxed person. I trying to get a piece of wood to glue back ducks, 4% inches long with the same make a big job out of everything." on. I carried them high about that, I detailed woodburning, for about $25. "That's for sure," Weldon agrees and can tell you." Since $5 an hour seems fairly low pay continues. "Once, I sat down in front of Peggy explains that, "Weldon does for the beauty of their art, Peggy is quick a window right after I got started a lot of research. He's realistic and I'm to add, "But it's fun, it really is." doing this. It was 5 o'clock and just stylistic. I want it to look pretty, and Although they sell most of their 1 about sundown. I started carving, and he wants it to be right. We don't always ducks right out of their home, the after a while I thought I'd get up and get agree on how it ought to be burned." Johnsons get orders from all over, myself a drink. I figured I'd been "Uh huh," Weldon intejects, "but I'm since Johnson ducks with their creators' there about an hour. Well, I looked at always right." "He may be right," address and phone number on them my watch and it was 9 o'clock. I'd Peggy continues, "but we sort of have migrated to just about every state. been there four hours, sitting right in compromise." "Unless," Weldon This modest advertising, the only front of a window as the sun went breaks in again, "it's something I really that the Johnsons do, has led to some down, and I'd never even looked up." want, that I've put a lot of carving major sales. "A lady in Lawton In addition to providing a satisfying into. Take the turkey. We got into it bought a mallard and sent it to her son hobby and business, woodworking is over a turkey's feathers, and I finally for his birthday," Weldon recalls. bringing honors to the Johnsons. Last drove to a neighbor's place 25 miles from "He called us and asked if we had any May, their ducks were displayed in the me, caught his 01' turkey and pulled on hand, and we told him we had 22. Governor's Gallery at the State feathers out of all the different parts of He said he wanted every one of 'em." Capitol. They shared this show with his body. I had quite a tussle gettin' Although both Johnsons are Gerald Mobley, whose art has won in those feathers, but I got 'em." "And the pleased with the enthusiastic response to both federal and state duck stamp buffilo," adds Peggy. "He was havin' their art, they're still a bit surprised at contests. Weldon admits, "I kind of a terrible time with a buffalo, so we got it. When they took up their hobby, they wondered about taking our stuff up there in the pickup and drove down into honestly never imagined ever selling with him winning all that national the Wichita Mountains and right out into one of their ducks. Now, looking back recognition. He had beautiful work and I the middle of a herd of them. Weldon over the hundreds they've sent out of was worried, no longer than we'd sketched on his wood, and when we got the nest, Weldon says, "I tell everybody been at it. But he didn't take nothin' home he had to cut the ears off and I've made only one perfect duck since from us, I didn't feel like. They went move them to another place." we've been doing this. I'll show them real well together." With this concern for correctness Number One, and they'll kind of Looking at Weldon with affection, and style, the Johnsons obviously spend grin. Then I'll tell 'em, 'I didn't think Peggy says, "It's good because we're quite a bit of time on each piece. there was any room anywhere for getting close to retirement, and we Weldon estimates that, "It takes about improvement when I made it.' Boy, it's have something to do together." "We eight hours to carve a big duck out a silly-looking thing. Its eyes stick out thought we'd make a run when we do and smooth it down. After it's sanded, I on the outside of its head, and his bill's retire," Weldon explains, "just travel draw in my feathers with a pencil, and about twice as wide up at the head as along to arts and crafts shows. I like to it probably takes about four hours more what it's supposed to be." visit people and see what they've got." to carve the feathers in and dress 'em "Needless to say," Peggy needs to Peggy laughs and says, "He dg?ni&b down. When I first started I used an say anyway, "I didn't do a very good job likes to visit." They both do, and they're emery board to go around every of burning it, either." That wonderful folks to talk to. But you feather. Now I've got a tool with a little confession inspires Weldon to add, really ought to see their work; in this buffer on it that's made out of those "Each feather she did had only about case, one pintail is worth 1,000 words. III pads they buff floors with. I can buff it four bums in it. Now some have close to Gea nominee for "Uncommon down in three minutes now rather 100." In her own defense, now, Common Folk"? Wn'te to Kadqln [lo than three hours." Peggy must continue, "I couldn't see Oklahoma TODAY, P.O. Box 53384, Peggy's part of the two-person well enough. After that first one I got I I I 1 January-February '86 9 BORDERLINE CASES

------l'ikmap ofpmto-ORIaAoma datesfrom theyeats 1819-1822.Its Iegmdreah, in part, "Map of Arhnsa (sic)andother Temton'es of the Unitedstates."

10 Oklahoma TODAY By Jon Mark

Here's the "story behind the story" of how Oklahoma got its shape. With Arkansas

and Missouri to the east, Kansas and Colorado to the north and Texas to the south and

west, Oklahoma "got what was left over" before she, too, became a state in 1907. And

it was a fight every step of the way.

with Arkansas Territory from the start of used to separate Virginia from North The the Choctaw line (100 paces west of Fort Carolina, Kentucky from Tennessee, Smith), "thence in a direct line (north) to and Arkansas from Missouri (except for Eastern the Southwest Corner of Missouri." Missouri's Bootheel region). Why was Border: (This treaty created the characteristic jog the southern border of Kansas placed 34 How 12,000 Square Miles in our eastern border, by the way.) miles north of the line used to separate Calhoun and Adams moved the west- six previous states? of Oklahoma Were ern border of Arkansas Territory 40 miles The southern border of Kansas was to Almost Left in Arkansas east of where Congress had fured it, sav- be Thirty-six Thirty when the Kansas- ing 12,000 square miles for the Choc- Nebraska Act of 1854 was first proposed Oklahoma is one of 14 states carved taws, the Cherokees and, ultimately, by Illinois senator Stephen Douglas. He from 800,000 square miles of the 1803 Oklahoma. In 1825, Arkansas surveyors wanted the nation's first transcontinental Louisiana Purchase. In 1819, Congress staked the border from Fort Smith 120 railroad to go through Nebraska; South- created the Arkansas Territory to include miles south to the Red River. U.S. gov- erners wanted a route through Texas and parts of present-day Oklahoma east of ernment surveys of 1856 and 1877 con- Mexico. Historians think Douglas the 100th Meridian (100 degrees west firmed the 1825 line ran not south, but moved the Kansas border north (to 37 longitude), the meridian that today four miles west of south at the river. The degrees) to gain support of Southern forms our north-south border with Tex- Choctaws, deprived of 136,204 acres in- congressmen seeking to protect slavery as. It was the beginning of a 105-year cluding valuable salt springs, were paid in the West-Douglas agreed to permit battle to fm Oklahoma's borders. 50 cents an acre compensation. But the slavery south of 37 degrees if Southern- In 1824, Congress decided the west- false line of 1825 remains the border. ers would support the Kansas-Nebraska em border of Arkansas Territory should Act, and consequently earlier railroad de- run from 40 miles west of the southwest velopment in Nebraska. comer of the state of Missouri due south Southerners had their own schemes. to Red River. The idea was to separate By 1854 many Cherokees lived in a 34- the white settlers of Arkansas Territory The mile strip of land between Thirty-six from Choctaw Indians recently moved to Thirty and 37 degrees. From the Arkan- what is now Oklahoma from their home- Northern sas-Missouri line to present-day north- lands east of the Mississippi. The line Bo-ler: west Oklahoma, some 10,000 square drawn by Congress passed just east of miles were involved. Southerners in present-day Muskogee and assigned How i0,000 Congress argued against "disturbing" 12,000 square miles of pre-Oklahoma to Square Miles of the Indians by including them in Kansas Arkansas Territory. Oklahoma Were Almost Territory (by making Thirty-six Thirty But U.S. Secretary of War John C. Left in Kansas its southern border). But historians sus- Calhoun made a treaty with the Choc- pect that Southerners intended to organ- taws in 1825 specifying that the border Congress fixed the southern border of ize a slave-holding state where with Arkansas began "100 paces west of Kansas (the future northern border of Oklahoma is today, a state incorporating old Fort Smith and thence due south to Oklahoma) at 37 degrees north latitude the same Indian land. the Red River." In 1828, President John when Kansas was admitted to the Union The Civil War changed everything. Quincy Adams made a similar treaty with in 1861. But 36 degrees, 30 minutes Slavery was crushed, the organization of the Cherokees by drawing their border (Thirty-six Thirty) north latitude was Oklahoma was delayed many years, and

January-February '86 11 both northern and southern railroads to Residents of No Man's Land attempt- California were built in the post-war ed self-government and law enforcement boom years. But the politicians of the by establishing the "Cimarron Territory" 1850s had done their job. Ten thousand in 1887. But in July 1888, near present- square miles of Kansas were "wheeled day Hooker, a Kansas sheriff and three and dealed" into what became of his posse were shot to death by the Oklahoma. men they were chasing as the lawmen rested in a hayfield. The outcry for law and order was heard in Washington. On The May 2, 1890, Congress created "Oklaho- ma Territory" and attached No Man's Panhandle: Land to it-for lack of anywhere else to How "No Man's Land" put it. It's been "The Panhandle" ever Became Oklahoma's since.

What we call the Oklahoma Panhan- The dle may have the most complicated his- tory of any strip of land in North Western America. First claimed by France in 1682, it was given to Spain in 1763, then Border: traded back to France in 1800, then sold The Saga of to the U.S. as pan of the 1803 Louisiana the 100th Meridian Purchase. In 1819 it was returned to Spain, transferred to Mexico in 1824 and attached to the Republic of Texas in It was all because of John Melish. His 1836. 1818 map of the American West was In 1845, Texas became a state by re- used in 1819 by U.S. emissaries negoti- linquishing lands north of Thirty-six ating with Spain to trade Florida for por- Thirty. In 1850 the eastern border of tions of present-day Oklahoma and New Mexico Territory was fixed at 103 Texas. The 100th Meridian (100 degrees degrees west longitude, and in 1854 and west longitude) was chosen to divide 1861, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Col- Spanish from American territory. But the orado Territory legislation organized all 100th Meridian as shown on Melish's land north of 37 degrees. Since the Cher- map was about 90 miles east of its actual okee lands of pre-Oklahoma ended at location. 100 degrees west longitude, the result of Eventually, the State of Texas inherit- all this was to create a piece of land 167 ed all Spanish and Mexican land north of miles long and 34 miles wide just north Red River and west of the 100th Merid- of the Texas Panhandle. It became "No ian-which Melish placed east of pre- Man's Land" because no one seemed to sent-day Fort Sill. Surveys of 1853 and want it. 1859 moved it to within 4,000 feet of its From 1861 to 1890, No Man's Land actual location. Thinking the matter filled with ranchers, squatters, cattle- closed, in 1860 Texas established "Greer men, Indian bands and outlaws fleeing County" on the 1% million acres in the surrounding jurisdictions. A typical No far southwest comer of Indian Territory. Man's Land story, possibly true: A For 30 years, Texas operated courts homesteader was mistakenly hanged for and schools, collected taxes, and issued cattle rustling. As the vigilantes were rid- countless land certificates to Civil War ing home, they met the real rustler put- veterans. Then Red River took a hand. ting stolen stock in the dead man's pen. It seems the original treaty setting They hanged him, too, and rode to tell the homesteader's widow the joke was TAispre-Runvim of Indian Tmioo7y is from the on them! I888 editon of Gaskell's Atlas of the World.

12 Oklahoma TODAY January-February '86 13 Texas' north border had specified the main channel of the salty old river. Texas had assumed that that meant the north, or Prairie Dog, fork. But in 18% the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Greer County was in Oklahoma Territory, not in Texas, because the south fork was the main channel. The Texas boundary was still the 100th Meridian, all right, but the 100th Meridian where it crossed the south fork. That decision wiped out ev- ery Texas property title in Greer Coun- try. Thousands lost title to their homes. The precise location of the 100th Me- ridian was still in dispute. The 1859 sur- vey placed it 4,000 feet too far west. A 1902 survey moved it east 3,600 feet, but it wasn't till 1929 that an astronomical and geodetic engineer appointed by the Supreme Court found it once and for all. One historian writes of Mrs. I. F. C. Moss, who occupied the same house near Hollis for 45 years, but lived in one territory, two states and three counties because of the troubles.

The Southern Border: "The Most An 1874 venion of the Indian Tenitoly, wid de GmCounty country labeled ')ubliclanak." Complicated Boundary Dispute on Record homa Indians. The four-party case it. He declared martial law to make his concluded in 1927 after an unprecedent- point and sent the national guard to take Anywhere" ed number of reports, rulings and sur- custody of bridges south of Durant. The veys. At issue was the river itself: How courts ultimately upheld Alfalfa Bill. The Greer County case established does one find the south bank of a stream Since 1924, Red River has shifted its that Oklahoma extended to the sou& that forever meanders? The court stud- course continuously. The Supreme bank of Red River. But Texas continued ied history, plant ecology, hydrology and Court markers no longer mark the south to collect tolls at the south end of bridges law, then concluded the Oklahoma bor- cut-bank where the river has mean- over the river, and claimed jurisdiction to der was the "cut-bank"-where the dered. An oil well taxed by Oklahoma is its midpoint. The situation grew serious flow of water stops the growth of vegeta- sometimes found south of the water; in 1918 when oil was found under the tion on the south side of the river. In small pieces of Texas sometimes lie south bank near Burkburnett, Texas. A 1924, border markers were placed at the north of it. But except for these vagaries, land boom erupted, violence flared over south cut-bank. since 1924 Oklahoma's been in fine conflicting claims, and Texas Rangers In 1931, Oklahoma and Texas clashed shape. la occasionally seized control from Oklaho- over bridges again. Texas judges ordered ma authorities. certain bridges closed, certain ones jon M~~;o/ka adwohin Tuba ad In 1919, Oklahoma sued Texas in the open. Governor "Alfali Bill" Murray in- Am wdfor Oklahoma TODAY on U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. gov- sisted that Oklahoma owned the river- -ding from M@L to heflora and ernment sued Texas on behalf of Okla- bed and controlled any bridges spanning fauna of Rdhd VaI..

14 Oklahoma TODAY COURTESY MaAHOMA HlSTORlCAL SOCIETY I I Like mighty armies, they moved full use. Jesse Chisholm-a mixed- reach shifting rail towns in Kansas. slowly northward through the Indian blood Cherokee-was a trader, guide, Nevertheless, from Red River Cross- Territory. The came first by the hun- interpreter and salt maker rather than a ing near Ted to the Kansas border dreds, then by the thousands; in dusty, 1 cattleman. He spoke more than a doz- near Renfrow, all cattle herds followed restless herds stretching as ir as the en Indian languages and was one of the the same trail. At one time it was de- eye could see. They were longhorn cat- few frontiersmen who had the trust of scribed as 200 to 400 yards wide and tle, worth $3 a head in South Texas, both Indians and settlers. Chisholrn bare as a city street. Although it mean- selling for $20 to $30 at Kansas rail started several trading posts on his sup- dered slightly to reach the best river centers and bringing up to $50 at Chi- ply route from the Arkansas River near fords and waterholes, the trail went cago processing plants. Wichita to the North Canadian River along a line later followed by the Rock Joseph McCoy, a young Illinois live- near present-day Yukon-a distance of Island Railroad. stock trader, came west in 1867 to es- 220 miles. Because he marked the Today, in its course through Oklaho- tablish Abilene as the first Kansas cattle route his trading wagons followed, the ma, U.S. 81 has the Chisholm Trail for 1 stockyard and terminal site. News trav- name CbisAo/m Trad stuck and was later historical background. A scattering of eled swiftly, helped along by McCoy, applied to the entire trail. I highway markers, monuments and who sent handbills to Texas towns and Chisholm didn't live to see the huge tombstones define the trail at Medford, hired a stockman to ride south and cattle herds and cowboys follow his Pond Creek, Enid, Hennessey, Dover, ' spread the word. Even before the wagon path into Kansas. He died in the Tuttle, Chickasha, Rush Springs and stockyards were finished, 20,000 head spring of 1868 after eating contaminat- Duncan. of cattle grazed near Abilene. ed bear's grease during a visit to the Also noteworthy is the Chisholm More than 37,000 cattle moved into camp of his Arapaho friend, Chief Lit- Trail Museum at Kingfisher and the town before the end of the 1867 sea- tle Hand. Today, a monument marks Monument Hill marker, two miles east son. The number rose, year by year, to his grave on a grassy hillside 9% miles of Addington. The museum, operated a peak of nearly 600,000 longhorns in northeast of Geary. by the Tourism and Recreation De- 1871. In all, nearly 14 million cows Credit for breaking the trail south to partment, is open free of charge, Tues- were driven through Oklahoma during Red River belongs to Buffalo Bill days through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 those historic years. Matthewson, a famous hunter, guide p.m., and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. It con- Many trails were used for these and horse trader. In July 1867, Mat- tains trail artifacts, memorabilia and drives. But the biggest and most popu- thewson met a large herd of longhorns restorations of early-day buildings. lar route was the famous Chisholm near Red River. He made an agree- Near Addington, a tall stone monu- Trail. Cattlemen liked it because it was ment with the owner to guide the herd ment, built in 1893, marks the camp- shorter, less settled, had easier river to Chisholm's trading post on the site where drovers once stacked fords, more water and better grazing. North Canadian. Chisholm's wagon sandstone rocks in two piles-10 feet But the long, two-month drive through tracks then led the herd into Kansas. across and 12 feet high-to signal the Oklahoma was not hazard free. Cow- They reached the new Abilene ship- trail's entry into Oklahoma. boys had to face swollen rivers, stam- ping pens in late August, the first Tex- In most places, weather, prairie grass pedes, Indians demanding steers for as herd up the trail. and farm plows have long since re- safe passage, cholera, prairie fires, Long after cattle drives became his- moved all traces of the world's greatest wind, hail and rustlers. tory, controversy developed over the cow trail. In a few locations, however, As busy as the trail was for a time, its exact route of the Chisholm Trail and the route is worn too deeply into the history was brief. Fences began appear- the man for whom it was named. Much sub-soil to erase the millions of long- ing on the open range in 1880, and, confusion came from the fact that a hom hoofprints that tramped out histo- four years later, the Chisholm Trail was cattleman, John Chisum, pioneered ry along the Chisholm Trail. mil strangled in barbed wire. several trails through Texas to reach Ironically, the man who loaned the Red River. Later, other trails also Gene Hi// is a free-hnce writer who lives trail his name never saw the route in branched off the Chisholm route to and wods in Bartk&//e.

January-February '86 15 SETBy Missy Kruse PhotographsSAIL by Bill Akers It's time for that most dreaded of winter illnesses-cabin fever. The cure? According to 80,000 Oklahomans (and neighbors from surrounding states), it's the Tulsa Boat, Sport and Travel Show.

A combination hodcshow, wish book andfamily reunion, the Tuka Boar, Sport and TraweLShm /urn some80,OOOpeopkandnearly 300 dibitors.

16 klahoma TODAY for the JBoat

he January event at Tulsa's extravagant on-the-water toys including the nation-and nearly 40 on a waiting Expo Square is the opening yachts in the $3300,000 price range. At list. T number for the state's boating the other end of the scale is a $295 mini- The show celebrates its 30th anniver- and fishing season. For five days, it bass boat. sary this season. "It is more than a boat draws outdoor-sport lovers from as far The show also includes motor boats, and tackle show. It has become a social away as Nebraska, sometimes through sailboats, houseboats, recreational vehi- gathering," says general manager Fred sleet, snow and ice. cles and numerous displays by fishing Chrisman, who has run the show since Some die-hards charter buses; others equipment dealers, manufacturers and 1966. "We see many of the same people come with boat in tow hoping for a trade. vacation-spot promoters. Last year's year after year and have watched their For most, it's a chance to salivate over show had 281 exhibitors from throughout kids grow up. Because it's a social event,

January-February '86 17 most come to spend the day." have managed to draw a small but atten- couple are newly established as boat No wonder. The building housing the tive crowd. They are making jigs for builders. show is the size of 13 football fields striper fishing. In moments they have John Thomas has actually been in the and packed to the walls. Sponsored by converted a few raw materials into a sale- boat business 16 years, selling other the Tulsa Downtown Lions Club and able item. manufacturers' goods. Two years ago, he Magic Empire Recreation Inc., the show Developing a product is not new to decided there was a market for a boat has grown from a handful of exhibitors to Lively. A former production manager for that didn't contain as much glitter and one of the largest in the nation. Promot- a local manufacturing firm, he converted glamor-but did offer a lot of boat for a ers say some aspects, such as the sailboat what could have been a bad time in his smaller price tag. exhibits, are impossible elsewhere. The career to a lucrative business. He developed what he calls "a tough masts would bump the ceiling. "I was laid off from my job several boat-lighter, stronger, with a rolled For the serious looker, it's the ideal years ago, and I had plenty of time to gunnel." For the uninitiated, that means place to comparison shop. And dealers fish," he says. "I began to find there was it is made in one piece. say they think that is a good thing. "The not a lot of equipment available for strip- For Thomas, the boat show is a show gives them a place to start look- er fishing. I started out as a custom rod chance to catch the attention of the buy- ing," says Phil Keeter, owner of Tulsa's builder and then began to develop er who might not know that such a prod- Romer Marine. speciality items for striper fishing." uct exists. He is one of a number of "No matter what I do for advertising, In addition to his local retail store, he dealers who use the boat show to wedge I couldn't get as many prospects as I do wholesales his products across the re- their products into the consumer's con- at the show. We have no qualms about gion. Fishing equipment is the most sciousness alongside better-known being here with competitors. We think competitive business in town, he says. names. our products stand up well against them. "The boat show offers me the exposure Joe Becker, of Tulsa Sailcraft, has And we can attribute one-third of our I need to show what I have available." been exhibiting in the show for 12 years. year's business to the show, much of it The product that John and Norma He gets added help from sailing enthusi- coming 30 to 90 days after the show Thomas are selling down the way is de- asts he knows: "Last year I had 80 vol- closes." signed to make sure that Lively's lures unteers who came up from the lake to Clyde Bayer, owner of Bayer Marine, make it into the water. The Checotah talk boats to prospective buyers. Many Tulsa, agrees: "I do 20 to 25 percent of are representatives of the sailboat clubs my business at the show. We get repeat who simply enjoy talking about sailing." customers, some for 30 years." Boat buyers are a special breed, he For the fishing fanatics, the show has thinks. They don't buy quickly. "The a special lure (no pun intended). Here .IIUIMIIII mere fact you are at the boat show can they can pin down well-known Oklaho- Getting help generate business," he says. "A po- ma fishing personalities like Joe Krieger There tential customer may come back a year and Jimmy Houston on the more ab- Ilk yds Tuka Boat, Sport and or two years later ready to buy. But they struse aspects of their sport. Travel Show m7.l sport 10% aim3 of keep looking until they have saved At the exhibit the size of some evny1ing imaginabk &ling mY water enough to purchase. " convenience stores, Houston holds court spom:* boa&, swim mmr, sk,$ding &k, Chrisman, the show's director, says for a constant stream of admirers from tkh d mkhhk like Jimq and Chh the event has other benefits than those small fry to retirees, all eager to shake his Houston and lven vauation literatun. directly attributable to boat and tackle hand and tell him "I sure like your i% 301 annual show b set for January sales. show." Houston accepts their comments 29-Fhry 2 at TuIw's Expo cenkr. "The show brings money into the and compliments with good humor and a Houn: Wdhdzy, 5-10 p.m.; X4un&, state through lodging, food and shopping perpetual grin, signing autographs and 2-10p-m.; F w p noon-lOp.m.; Solu&'* done by out-of-towners.And inevitably 10 a.m.-10p.m.; Sumby, noon-7 p.m. shaking hands. Along with the free ad- it generates money to the lake areas for Td,on sak at & door, d be U vice, fans can buy his latest recommend- forduband$l for di&iren 6-12. i%u+ many of the same nasons.,, ed fishing tackle and even a pair of the w7.. be Family Nite, d a sp&/jkmi4 For those who take in the event the famous Jimmy Houston sunglasses. The dmkion ptice 485. benefits are simple, yet obvious. The show is one of nearly 90 such personal To 4 Expo Squan from & Tulsa Boat Show is pmf positive that appearances Houston makes each year. Tumpde (I4), take & Yak txit nod; there's just no bad time in Oklahoma to Less spectacular, but no less fascinat- Ejcpo Square iat Zlst and Yak. go fishing. ing, is a space several aisles over belong- For mom infomdbn, call Frcd or M@ Kme I~Band won% in Taka; ing to Don Lively of Sand Springs. His R& Chhmn at (918)582-5438, or w* ~ifiuersho~IphotogapAerforh booth is 5 x 5, but he and his assistant P.O. Box 2992, Tuka, OK 74101. Taka Boat, S ' and TrmI Show.

Oklahoma TODAY of a summ sumhe

Is ccrpwred exquisneg. on our new art jwster,

photo91~- by DovM FifzgmUM

at WarLake In so-m OManOma, near Ihe Skyline Drha

Ke poster mwsuteb $8' x 24". ItIsp~os,

h-w-isht pcrper and vy~rnlshed,

MBham a 1imit6d numh of ftressb postsnr for sale at $3.95 prus $1 lor ShIRpIng. frame not Cncluded.

David Fi~zgeraM 'a David Fitzgerald is a native Oklahoman and owner of Fitzgerald Associates in Oklahoma City. During his 18-year career as a professional photographer, he has published two books--0Rkzhoma in 1979 and Dunh in 1981. His work has ap- II peared in national magazines, as well as in exhibitions across the country. MARGO WRIGHT

To order, use form between pages 18 and 19, or send $3.95 plus $1 for shipping and handling to: Oklahoma TODAY, PO Box 53384, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. If ordering by credit card, you may call 1-800-652-6552 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon.-Fri.

January-February '86 19 - , : z. --. - . -

I

20 Oklahoma TODAY By Jane Beckman Photographs by David Fiizgerald

he dancers aren't glamorous at 10:30on a T~ Tuesday morning. , Those shiny Lycra sweatpants have made a hundred trips to the washing machine. A gray sweatshirt has been scissored 3 inches down the back for more freedom of movement. Some of the weary leotards are held together with safety pins. No one has put a lot of effort into hair and make-up. The practice studio's wall of mirrors reflects the dancers' movements. Artistic director Edward Villella calls a halt. "You have to be more specific musically, folks," he says, and the music starts again. Ballet shoes squeak on the floor. The pianist at the black grand pounds out the chords, reading from sheet music labeled 'Y'uccompugne b dunre." Villella stops the dancers again. "I think the phrasing is not quite right," he says, and explains how it should be put right. The dance begins again. Muscles stretch and flex. By 10:45 sweat soaks the dancers' hair. When Villella stops the group to explain a movement, the dancers' breath is coming in pants. One bends forward, bracing her hands against her knees as she listens. A ballerina shakes off sweat the way a dog shakes off water. Then come the pirouettts. The company whirls and twirls around the room. Continued A balhina's task: Appearfragile and wi/- low and hawe hestamina ofa long-distance runner. Francoise Thouveny, Suze Chetwer andSuzy Strain, "Concerto Bamcco. "

r January-February '86 2 i At 11 Villella calls a break. The dancers to professional status. Rehearsals, like ministrative offices and a costume shop, applaud the director, then sprawl in an the classes of the School of Ballet Okla- was previously a boat showroom and anteroom gulping coffee and soft drinks. homa, are held in its functional, if not warehouse. This is rehearsal for the 17-member exactly elegant, headquarters on North But artistic director Villella is pleased Oklahoma City-based Ballet Oklahoma, Classen. The 8,500-square-foot build- with the facilities, which he calls "won- a 12-year-old company that has moved in ing, which houses the three rehearsal derful." The building was one of the the last few years from semi-professional studios, dressing rooms, a warren of ad- factors that prompted Villella, who was

,-- tomuLonjures the mapof “C'als,-Fantas~e, " with Suzy Strain andJames Cam~ron.-

Oklahoma TODAY for years a principal dancer with George Villella spends approximately 50 per- 1 Villella comes out and puts in what he Balanchine's New York City Ballet, to cent of the ballet season in Oklahoma calls the "inside understanding": the take over the direction of the young bal- City. He has a ballet master, Cherie No- musicaliv, snlistic approach, theatrical let company in June 1983. Another rea- ble, who teaches daily company classes or dramatic understanding and the tech- son, Villella says, was the Oklahoma and conducts daily rehearsals. The ballet nical aspects of the ballet. Symphony, which has a conductor who master gets a ballet up on its feet. Then Villella thinks this is a good system. "I understands ballet. at least two weeks before each series. think I am equally valuable to Ballet

Above. It's the sweat-and- strain discipline of daily deanak that puts the magic in bah. Be ba//et master gets the work on its feet; at /east mo weeks b&ra a performance, Edward Vi//eC/aputs in what he calk 'He inside understanding."

Far left. Artistic dimtor Edward Vi//e/h maka a fine point concerning "Minkus Pas de Tmis" to Mary St. Romain and Helen Rosentha/.

Left. Enhancing the dame: Vi//e//a wih Jimmy Gamonet.

January-February '86 23 Oklahoma in New York, where I have homa is a major cultural institution not constant contact with costume designers, only for Oklahoma City but for the state scenic designers, choreographers, com- as a whole, in helping to carry on the posers. I am also within the dancers' great vaditon that ballet has in Oklaho- market. The biggest market for dancers ma, going back to the Indian ballerinas and dance is New York City, and it is and the whole heritage that has evolved where the state of the art is." with Yvonne Chouteau and the Tall- Ideas on costumes are relayed upstairs chiefs, the Hightowers.. .that what this to Ballet Oklahoma's costume shop, a institution provides is an ongoing oppor- room that seems to have been designed tunity for the nurturing of Oklahoma for gnomes. There isn't much head talent. room, and foam padding on a pipe serves "As a whole, the regional ballet move- as a wall-to-wall pin cushion, at the same ment has been an important part of the time it keeps anyone taller than a midget entire decentralization of dance out of from putting a knot on his head as he New York City that started in the '70s crosses the room. One wall covered with and indeed back to the '60s. It's not mirrors reflects wires hung with pink tu- limited to ballet, either. The same is tus and white leotards, rods with satiny me in the original theater movement. soldiers' jackets sporting glittery epau- It's creating a very diverse vitality in the lets. Another wall is drawers with inuigu- "Ballet Oklahoma is. .. arts throughout the country. Rather than ing labels: Whik Scnaps, Rmade, Mak helping to camy on the gread emanating from a single point, it's now Tim,Dad Fa-, Chiffon. In this shop, radiating within us all." KO costume designer Thomas Augustine, tradition that baddet has in who came to Oklahoma from the cos- Oklahoma, going back to tht tume shop of the New York City Ballet, Indian ballerinas. " creates the ballet's costumes with the help of a wardrobe mistress and several seamstresses. While Augustine runs the costume juries, for instance. Ballet Oklahoma is a shop, the school of Ballet Oklahoma, relatively small company, and sometimes which offers a variety of classes for both a program will have to be changed be- children and adults, is under the direc- cause, with a performer or two out with tion of David Holladay, a featured danc- injuries, there will not be the required er with the company last season. A great dancers for a particular ballet. deal of the balance of running Ballet Then there is the high cost of ballet Oklahoma falls to the general manager. shoes. Even with only 17 members, Bal- Donovan Gray, who took on that title let Oklahoma's yearly shoe bills run with the 1985 season, thinks one of the $14,000 to $15,000, and probably only best things Ballet Oklahoma offers its $3,000 to $4,000 of that goes for men's patrons is the "DanceTalk" series con- shoes. Those wispy little ballerinas are ducted by Edward Villella. DanceTalk, incredibly hard on toe shoes, and indi- billed as "a special performance de- vidual dancers put different amounts of signed to illuminate and entertain," is wear and tear on their shoes. There are held in the small Stage Center theater some dancers who can't get through a and gives people a chance to learn about single performance with the pair. the technical aspects of ballet, as well as When asked what he thought was training, physicality and particular bal- most special about Ballet Oklahoma, lets. The audience can ask questions and Gray answered, "It's here. Ballet Okla- see things up close. The point is to be informal as well as educational-and to Jane Beckman putstar her m'n'ng cam have an entertaining evening. from her home town of Waiters, near Gray also thinks that the general pub- Lawton. DdFitzgeraki, whose most lic frequently isn't aware of some of the mmt book of photographs ~ tithi Ozarks, behind-the-scenes facts about ballet. In- iiv6 in Okkzhoma City.

24 Oklahoma TODAY Invitation to the Dance dward Villella is recognized as one of the es when one goes to the ballet!' I think there ., " E greatest dancers ever-the only American this perception that it is an elitist art form, and to be asked to dance an encore at the Bolshoi unless you are in dark suit or black tie or long Theater in Moscow. For 25 years Villella was a gown, you don't belong at the ballet. And it's member of Balanchine's New York City Ballet, just nonsense. I spent 25 years at the New achieving "principal" status in 1960. He York City Ballet and at Lincoln Center and danced "Stars and Stripes" for President Ken- New Theater, where you can indeed be sitting nedy's inaugural celebration and gave com- next to someone in black tie or long dress mand performances for presidents Johnson, sitting next to people in sneakers, dungarees Nixon and Ford. In 1975 he won an Emm! and a sweatshirt. So you really should go in a Award for his CBS-TV children's ballet, "Har way you are comfortable. lequin." In June 1983 he became artistic direc I grew up at a time when New York was1 tor for Ballet Oklahoma. Villella begins his all that sophisticated in terms of the approach comments about his work at Ballet Oklahoma to classical dance. Our tradition really starts by talking about his innovative DanceTalk from around 1940, when the first big formaliza- program: tion of dance occurred, which was the incep- I Just the word balkt itself is intimidating tion of American Ballet Theater that happened to a lot of people who've not either seen around '39, '40. The New York City Ballet ballet or been exposed to it in any form. And really didn't happen until '48 or '49. It's a very really what we are trying to do with DanceTalk short tradition.. .. is eliminate that intimidation and simply say, Now it took George Balanchine 50 years to 'Folks, there is nothing that you cannot enjoy.' build the New York City Ballet. So for me to It's not even a question of understanding, come here and say in 10 years' time I'm going because ballet is a form of entertainment. to make a New York City Ballet would be real Therein lies the public-relations pitch that we folly. But what I have said is that, over a 10- are basically entertainers, we are not dry educa- year period, we can within three years' time tors stuffing culture down the throats of unsus- get very solidly established and change every- pectins folk. We wish to demonstrate that this ' thing that was not positive from the past, re-do / is a basic human physical art form, and we play the administration and the approach to manag- our games on stage to music rather than doing ing a company, inform the board and illumi- our physicality in other arenas. nate the board in terms of what it means to get And there ti a sophistication to it. But isn't into a serious professional framework, to that what life is all about: improving the quality change the artistic direction and to improve the of your life, improving the quality of your ex- dancers and the choreographic level. posure? The hardest thing is to get people to Well, now to do that overnight is impossible. wme the first time. Generally our reaction to Three years is a very, very challenging frame- the DanceTalk has been that once people are work. But I think we are more or less on either dragged or come voluntarily, they say schedule with that. I think after those three almost in a uniform manner: 'I never knew it years, our next challenge will be in the next was like this. I never knew ballet could be two to three years to establish a regional pres- enjoyable. I didn't know what it was about. ence within a four- or five-state area. The next I've learned more in this hour and a half than I challenge over the next five or six years would have in 10 years being dragged by my wife and be to establish some kind of national visibility. my children to see ballet. Because I generally So that we are not just unto our own specific sit and look at something that I am, number area or region. one, intimidated about and, number two, That does not say that we are going to be a know nothing about; therefore I have my own New York City Ballet or an American Ballet built-in inhibitions in terms of my eyes and Theater. That takes enormous resources. The ears.' budget of the New York City Ballet is som So really what we are trying to do is elimi- where around $19 million. And you don't c- nate that barrier. And I think once we do that, that in 10 years. A genius took 50 years. So, I we can show that there is a great deal of plea- think what my purpose here is: to establish a sure out of going to the ballet. good, solid, highly professional, highly vision- I am stunned, but I am still asked from time ary artistic product that in 10 years' time has D time: 'Can you please tell us how one dress- some kind of national visibility. q1

I January-February '86 2 - Oklahoma TODAY HOCOLATE By Kathryn Jenson White F Photographs by Steve Sisney

f you think ambrosia and nectar are the only food and drink of the gods, you're culturally narrow. While Greek and Roman deities were supping and sipping on these, the higher ups were showing much better taste by indulging in the fruit of i7ieobmma cacao, the first part of which means literally "food of the gods." What "cacao" means you ought to know already; it's the Spanish word from which we get our "cocoa." Beobmma cacao is the scientific name for the tropical American trees that yield the per capita average of 9.1 pounds of chocolate Americans consume every year. They also produce the more than 5,000 tons of cocoa we purchase each year for home use. Aztec myth has it that their god Quetzalcoatl started a still-strong tradition by giving chocolate to his people as a gift of love. Since the Aztec word for chocolate, xoco/at/, translates to "bitter water," it may not Confcssedchocophi/eDan Davisjnt conceieedof a choco/atefes- sound like such a great gift. However, Montezuma, ha/as a wqto rakefunds for Norman's Fidouse Art Center. ''Inever met a choco/ateI didn't Me, "hesays. the Aztec emperor, quaffed 50 tankards daily of the

January-February '86 27 ground roasted bean mixed with wine or fermented corn- mash. After giving Montezuma the wherewithal to do so, Quetzalcoatl was tricked by a rival god and stripped of his powers. He sailed off into the sunset, swearing to return someday. In 1519, when Hemando Cortez blew in from Spain, the Aztecs understandably mistook him for their long-awaited god. They gave him gold, jewels and, of course, the cacao they thought he had given them in the first place. Hernando repaid their generosity by plunder- ing their empire, taking his beans and going home to Spain. From these appropriately mythical and dramatic roots come the most popular sweet food and drink in the world. Each year in Norman, a group of dedicated mortal chocophiles (some say "chocoholics") gather to make history by presenting a chocolate feast worthy of Quetzal- coat1 himself. They are members of the Firehouse Art Center, and their annual Chocolate Festival is a major fundraising event. This daylong binge is a delight to the Above. Mixed-media confections abound-like Laura Warnher's eyes as well as to the mouth. Both palettes and palates "Lady Codiwa," with listed ingredients of chocolate-coloredacrylic,gold are involved, becomes the inspiration for foil and a dqartmmt-store mannequin. Below. Camille Waller of Noman's Cookie Castlesmes up variations on the classic chocolate chip a*ists in the gallery and galley Using every medi- cookie. (The items with the pink hearts are called 'kookie pops.") urn imaginable, local creators cook up pieces of art with a chocolate theme. Using every ingredient necessary, local cooks create pieces of "culinary art" with a chocolate base. While the art in more traditional media like paint, metal, glass and wood will last for many years and that made of flour, sugar, vanilla and chocolate will disappear by the end of the day, the creators of both kinds insist they are equally art. Elyse Bogart, who displayed both edible and enamel earrings resting in pleated paper bon- bon cups, says, "It's just as satisfying to have someone eat something as look at something. Creation is creation, regardless of what happens eventually to what you cre- ate. Of course, if somebody stepped on a pair of my earrings, I'd be upset because they're not meant to be destroyed; they're meant to last. But if I make something that's meant to be eaten, that's OK." At the Third Annual Chocolate Festival in 1985, -- eating was more than OK; it was divine. As a happy crowd on the first floor strolled from exhibit to exhibit contemplating pieces of art, an even happier crowd up-

stairs strolled from exhibit to exhibit consuming."I ~ieces of chocolate roulage, mocha-filled crepes and chocolate- chip pizza. Each year, Norman restaurants and food shops supply all these goodies, sampled in hour-long sessions throughout the afternoon. Each hour is one of bliss, of course, but total nirvana is achieved in the evening session, called the "Chocolate Gala." During this heavenly time, the culinary creations are cut into with great fanfare and savored with even greater pleasure. Champagne pours from its bottles as

28 Oklahoma TODAY freely as the ooh and aah of delight pour from the mouths of the tasters. It's a good idea to get your art viewing out of the way earlier in the day if you choose to attend the evening session, because most of the eyes in the room roll heavenward at the first bite and stay there throughout the evening. All this cultural and culinary chocomania was the brainchild of Dr. Dan Davis, a Firehouse artist who works in stained glass and is also the associate dean of the College of Liberal Studies at OU. He insisted to a doubting board of directors that a Chocolate Festival would get a great response and strong community sup- port. Dan convinced the board to try in 1982, and they planned on 300 attending; about 500 people turned out. With no samples left, they sold non-tasting tickets good for satisfying only the eyes. "Right after the first festival," Dan remembers, "Jim Kenderdine, one of the board members, called me up and told me he was going to have chocolate crow for lunch." The next year organizers planned for 500; 900 came. Dr. Kenderdine, who teaches marketing at OU, Above. Visitors may say that creations like Buche de Noel and must have had chocolate turkey that year. During the chocolate hazelnut torte are too pretfy to eat, but thq're still quite willing to hold out their plates for samples. Below. Volunteer Belinda 1985 bash more than 1,000 chocolate lovers showed up, Armstrong shows of/ the aart of making fine candy by hand. and there's no doubt in anyone's mind that the crowd will increase again in 1986. Dan Davis knew of the power of chocolate from personal experience. He says, "I never met a chocolate I didn't like. On my last birthday, all my office staff wore brown. We had a chocolate cake, and they gave me a brass chocolate Hershey bar. I've got about 100 different chocolate memorabilia things, and on my first trip to Europe last summer I'd convert my change to chocolate at every border." Dan says he doesn't ever consider chocolate as a gift for someone else because it's just too hard to give it away. He confesses, "I don't think I'd want my wife to know exactly how much I spend on chocolate in a week. I try to have some each day, and I'll eat just about any kind. If there's no dessert in the house, I'll have a handful of chocolate chips and peanuts. " The question of financing a chocolate habit has become a much more interesting one in the last few years. While the 45-cent Hershey bar is still available, true chocolate aficionados hanker after melting morsels with names like Godiva and Neuhaus and prices in the $20- to $30-a-pound range. Chocolate has become chic, and Norman merchants set up booths at the Firehouse each year that offer the &e de la mhe of "chic-olates" to those willing to pay the price. Erika Ripley, a 9-year-old who likes chocolate a lot but would pick a hamburger as a snack if she had the choice, knows the difference between these luxury choc- olates and relatively inexpensive candy bars. Gesturing toward the booths of high-class stuff, she explains that ERIKA RIPLEY

January-February '86 "This chocolate is meitier. Plus it's a lot fresher." Erika These terms, the first an insult and the second a also explains rather impatiently the reason she can eat so compliment, are but two from the fairly extensive, spe- much chocolate and stay slim: "I'm a kid. I play soccer. " cialized vocabulary of chocolate connoisseurs. Others in- Even though she is a kid, Erika knows the two clude "character," any distinctive taste or aftertaste, and things that set excellent chocolate apart from the merely "cheesy," a desirable tangy kind of "character" that acceptable: mouth feel, or meltability, and freshness. A comes from aging milk chocolate. "Americanw-style luxury chocolate liquifies in your mouth as soon as it hits chocolates are those in which the filling is formed first the tongue. That's because cocoa butter melts at approxi- and then hand dipped or machine "enrobed" in choco- mately body temperature, and luxury chocolates contain late; those in the "European" style, on the other hand, lots of cocoa butter. The cheap stuff has little, and are made by molding two chocolate sections, then filling imitations, like the brown stuff that covers a Baby Ruth them. Since this method produces a thicker chocolate candy bar, contain none. The smoothness of the choco- coating, it's the one most true chocophiles prefer. late is also a result of how long it's been "conched," that Pam Clinton, one of those and an organizer of the is, smoothed between rollers. The longer the conching, festival, says, "I don't think we've ever figured out why which can go on for up to three days, the smoother and chocolate does what it does, but almost everybody likes more expensive the chocolate. some kind of it. Here, everyone is in a good mood. The As Erika also points out, the luxury chocolates are children are happy as they eat desserts Mom isn't fresher, too. Godiva claims that the cream that goes into screaming about, and the adults become almost childish. their candy has been out of the cow for no longer than They make sure they get every possible morsel of choco- three hours. Freshness has nothing to do with preserva- late they can. I've heard several people with two plates tives either, because the aristocrats of chocolates have explaining that a friend couldn't come, so they're taking none. They also don't have nearly as much sugar as do the extra ticket's worth of samples home to him or her." the plebeians, since it is a cheap bulking agent that tends The strong sensuous and even sensual pull of choco- to make the chocolate "grainy" rather than "creamy." late is a mystery, even though it seems that its wonderful flavor ought to be reason enough for its popularity. Some knowledge of chemistry as well as cuisine helps a bit. Chocolate is a complex substance with more than 300 identified compounds in it; its complexity explains why coming up with a believable synthetic chocolate has been impossible so far. The real stuff contains caffeine and theobromine, both mild stimulants, and phenylethyla- Getting mine, a chemical whose presence in the brain is associat- There ed with falling in love. This may explain why nefourth annual Chocolate Festival will be heki' at Montezuma always drank xocolad before visiting his har- Norman's Findouse Art Center on Febmary 8-not coinn'dental/ly, em and why he insisted that its members do likewise. the Saturdq before Valentine's Day. Approximate houn: 10 Although they've just about gotten all its compo- a.m.-5 p.m. and 7-10p.m. nents figured out, scientists still aren't sure what choco- Tickets to &e mtrmaganza are $5 for center memben, $7 for late does and doesn't do. They insist now that it does not thepublic, for any one of seven hour-longsasions duringthe daytime cause acne, and that it may not even be a major culprit in portion of thefestival. Once inside chocolate he-, you may stay tooth decay. It seems something in the cocoa bean inhib- as long as you wish. its placque-forming enzymes. Although it isn't non-fat- Ticket hoMm are entitled to 10 samples from 40 kind of tening, milk chocolate has only 150 calories an ounce, daocobte, including ice cream, chocolate-cmered strziwbmk and and some doctors suggest now that an ounce of chocolate men pn'cey Godiva confctions. Doon will close around 5 p.m. to pnpare for &e "Chocolate is worth a pound of anything else in a diet. It's so Gab," whid lastsfrom 7-10p.m. Ticketsare$20formembemand satisfying that it effectively kills the appetite. $25 for the pubkc. Gala-go& may indulge in unlimited chocolate While none of the above will totally erase the guilt samples, chmpaagne and tastes of chocolate &nary masterpieces. that comes from indulging in an hour or more of eating Mtsgo on sale Thanksgr'enng weekend at the center, 444 4. chocolate, who cares? The "sinfulness" of chocolate is at Flood, Nonnan, OK 73069, or call (405) 329-4523. least half the fun. And it's not every day that you can as To get to the Findouse Art Centerfrom 1-35, take the Nod successfully and pleasurably combine good taste with Campus m't,ako called State Hidway 77 South. Once in town, 77 something that tastes this good. becomes Flood Street. necenter is four blocks south of Main. Bob Kahryn White and Stme Stkney /he in Nonnan and completely immersed thme/v~~in chocohte /orefor his adc/e.

30 Oklahoma TODAY OMohumans aiwuys seem wiiiing to take the time to chart OWhiie, no

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~kslwrewiltryouhem. - January-February '86 31 klahoma is second nationally (af- i "thousand cubic feet") of gas. Two- i moustache and most of his hair. All 0ter Texas) in the drilling- and com- : thirds of this amount left the state. : he had left, in fact, was a hirsute pletion of wells. Since the beginning of thunderbird perched over his ear. icU Blcorsr orL ws i the indusy in the state, operators have : 1927, -when we poured oil into i Surrounding the bird was baM. drilled more than 380,000. The typical i 227,775,000 barrels : To create this master hairpiece, oil well has a 28-vear life s~anand : i Laverne used both an electric and a produces an averaie of 6.1 barrels a i ~ ~ E m ~ i handN razor. SheG did the fine work day. The typical gas well produces for i The Wheat Belt town of Hennesse~ : around the outline of the bird with about the same time. In 1984, we had i takes place in this spelling bumble i Nair. Although Charles suffered 22,230 producing gas wells, with an : bee. With all good intentions, area i some mild sunburn on his denuded average production of 60,000 cubic feet i hdkiduals mned the after Pat i scalp, his pain was eased by an per day. 13s a lucrative business for the i Henness~,a cowboy and freight : abundance of Tootsie Pops and the state, even in these less-than-ideal eco- ! hauler who was killed in the area in i new nickname "Kojak." nomic times. Every minute of every : 1874. The town's name, though, : Although Charles has day, gross production taxes from oil and has something the man's name doesn't: i camouflaged the bird by letting his hair gas supply the state with $1,200-30 I an between the and J's The : grow south for the winter, he's percent of our tax base. : added e spelling is the one found on all i turning Laveme loose : monuments and markers in the i the clippers again next year. i town, including the local legend's : DYEPEST OIL WEIl MRDRILLED i tombstone. In 1985, however, : BIGGESTSPIDER In 1974, Lone Star Production : during the town's yearly Pat Hennessy i 'Those of you who guessed some drilled the #1 Bertha Rogers in i Days, the big banner on Main Street i kind of tarantula weren't even close. Washita County. Unfortunately, this i showed the "e-less" spelling. : The winner in this category stands well in the Anadarko Basin was a dry : Hennessev earns an E + for effort. 15 feet tall and has a beetle's body, a hole. Its depth was 31,441 feet. VoIkmagen Beetle. This giant i ~ S T W ~ structure north of Lexington on U.S. DEEPEST PRODUCING OIL WEU i Greater love hath no man for his 77 started out as an advertising The Tipton 2-29, which Mesa : square dance club than does Charles gimmick dreamed up by Lee Roy Petroleum drilled in 1982, went to i Winn of Norman, who, with his wife Wilson, owner of a Lexington 25,607 feet. Located in Beckham i Laverne, has belonged to the Volkswagen parts dealership. Growing County, this is the 12th deepest well : Thunderbird Square Dance Club for out from the sides of the spider's ever drilled in the state. i eight years. Beetle body are six legs made of more This immeasurable devotion BIGGEST PRODUCING 011 WEU i than 300 feet of pipe in three Comanche County is the location of : evidenced itself last August, while different diameters. the Seymour 1-9, which Kerr McGee i Charles and Laverne were brought in while drilling for natural BIG@ESTNX)TP#INTS gas. When they hit oil at 15,262 feet, Even before Wayman Tisdale left they were assigned the largest the state, the biggest footprints were "allowable" in state history. An not those found under his tennies. allowable, which is the quantity of That honor goes to prints left by a oil that a drilling company can remove stegosaur or two plodding through from a well, is figured on a depth Oklahoma during the 150-million-year and acreage grid chart. The Seymour 1- Mesozoic Era, which saw the rise 9 was so deep that it went off the and fall of the dinosaur. Each of the existing chart. The allowable finally prints located in Cooper's Arroyo on granted was 2,136 barrels a day for the northeast end of Black Mesa is 1,917 days. between 12 and 14 inches in diameter and about 2 to 3 inches deep. YEdRwmrMosroins : vacationing on Lake Texoma. Charles The tracks are in two sets, each AND OIL WEU COMHEllONS i told his wife that he'd like to have a containing about 12 prints. 1982, with 12,030 well completions i shorter haircut for swimming, and she Truman Tucker, the 80-year-old recorded : volunteered to help him out. Before unofficial historian of the area, found YEAR~MGGESToins~S i the end of this haircutting session, the prints when he was a young 1981, when Oklahoma sold i which took the better part of the man. He's found many more sets since 2,029,669,716 MCF (MCF stands for : morning, Charles was minus his beard, then, and continues to search for

32 Oklahoma TODAY them. The Panhandle and the far i many Mr. Tucker has found, and they i HrOnEST #)IMW M southeastern part of the state are the i are accessible to the public. Those i Black Mesa. The State Highway only areas with Mesozoic strata, so i who decide to go track tracking, : Department marker lists the height as dinosaurs didn't make tracks : however, are advised to gain i 4,973 feet, but the official height anywhere else in Oklahoma. i permission from land owners before : according to the U.S. Geological These prints are the best of the : making themselves to home. i Survey is 4,978.

PLLlCYFORAWORTHlM What better place to take a walk than one where there's as much room for the imagination to move around as there is for the body? Robber's Cave State Park, the readers' choice in this category, is such a place. Hikers here have plenty of local legend to feed their imaginations and a vista of ruggedly beautiful country on which to feast their eyes. Located about six miles north of Wilburton in southeastern Oklahoma, Robber's Cave State Park reputedly was once the hideout of a variety of outlaws, including the Doolins, the Younger Brothers, the Dalton and Rufus Buck gangs, Henry Starr, "Machine Gun" Kelly, "Pretty Boy" Floyd, Belle Starr and the James Brothers. The walls of the cave in which these wild bunches supposedly hid themselves are silent as to the truth or falsehood of the stories. "May have" seems to be as good as a definite "did," however, as modem folks shod in hiking rather than cowboy boots throng to the area. Kent Ruth reports that one colohl tale refuses to die. It holds that "Fiddlin' Jim," one who loved Belle Starr, was killed as he fiddled at the entrance to the cave. His murderer, the romantic legend continues, was a rival for this infamous beloved's hand. Some claim that on certain nights, especially when the harvest moon is shining just right, the haunting strains of Fiddlin' Jim's last song fill the crisp night air. Be that as the case may be, there's no denying that those who wish to hike can do so with pleasure at Robber's Cave. The cave trail, 100 feet up the side of a, literally, breathtakingly steep sandstone cliff, is only one of many exciting and eye-pleasing paths through the area. In fact, the park offers more than 12 miles of hiking and backpacking trails. With some 8,000 acres of land and three lakes, the area allows for a variety of walkways through the pine forests of eastern Oklahoma. One word of warning: The danger from outlaws and their ghosts may be questionable, but keep an eye up. This is also a favorite place for ;- rappellers. -~r.A. w. Brownlee, Tulsa. Black Mesa

: lOWCST~NTOYlAUD i A spot on the Little River in : McCurtain County, just before the i stream flows into Arkansas. The i official height, again according to the : U.S. Geological Survey, is 280 feet.

imnnurCAIE : Roosevelt Bridge, built over Lake i Texoma on State Highway 70 in the II early '40s. It's 4,900 feet long. : This one begins here but ends in Texas. It's the Willis Bridge that

January-February '86 33 crosses Red River on State Highway i was designated part of the famous i Los Angeles. By 1936, Route 66 had 99. It's 5,400 feet long. : highway shortly after the federal : become Rerouted 66, and this portion lOlNQYSTR#AD government declared in 1926 that i of it became a county section-line : Route 66 would run from Chicago to : road. State Highway 3, which runs from : border to border. Because of some : READERFAVORITW-J - fancy routing somewhere between -. - . - . -. Ada and Shawnee, it's a longer road i SCENIC YIEW going east than it is going west. From east to west, it runs 614.72 miles; i in the opposite direction it runs 606.81. FIRST Although many people would guess i the Santa Fe Trail as the oldest road in i the state, many people have often : been wrong. In this case, they certainly i are. Before the Santa Fe, the @Id i Texas Road felt the footprints of many : a pioneer moving to Texas through i Indian Territory. Records show that i the road was used as early as 1821. : Located in the Osage Trace on the i west side of the Grand River, this i path through the wilderness later : served as a point of reference for the i M-K-T pailroad, which built its tracks i almost ~arallelto it and. much later, : to tho; who plotted out Highway 69. i I It, too, runs almost parallel to the i road, about a mile or two west. Far and away the readers' favorite in this category was the Talimena Scenic Drive, on State Highway 1 east of Talihina. This 35.12-mile drive, more EARUEST WSnNOSECIWN OF familiar to most people as the "Skyline Drive," snakes its way along the crest 66 For three and one-half miles of of the Ouachita Mountains through the Ouachita National Forest. It's generally roadway beginning in Miami, a person i ' measured from the junction of U.S. 271 and S.H. 1 north of Talihina east to can still get his or her kicks on part : the Arkansas line. The frequent turnouts on the drive allow slow-driving of the original Route 66. This section, i motorists to stop and gasp at the brillantly colored hardwoods and pines that constructed sometime between 1919 i paint the area with such beauty during the leaf-turning months.--celvin Wiles. Panama and 1924 as part of State Highway 7, :

WYIlRSTTllWNWIlYCK Occurred in Kellyville when, on Sept. 28, 1917, two Frisco trains collided. Twenty-three people were killed and 80 were injured. FIRST MI- ENl€R STAW The Missouri-Kansas-Texas (M-K-T), in 1871 OULY MI- TUNNEL In 1887, consuuction was completed on the 1,180-foot-long Jenson Tunnel, which as an example of expert SWE SISNN : masonry consuuctibn has few equals.

34 Oklahoma TODAY In addition to being our first and : pack here. Built in 1902-1903, the : County owns this beauty. The tree has only railroad tunnel, this one is the only i sandstonebuilding is a fine example of i a circumference of 43 inches, a one the U.S. ever built in a "foreign i Romanesque Revival architecture. i crown spread of 60 feet and 113 points. nation." When the tunnel was bored, it : Although several were built, this may-. : It stands 55 feet tall. was in the Choctaw Nation, in the i well be the only depot of this style southeastern comer of what is now the i to survive in the Southwest. The most : FIRST SHELliRBELT PIANIED Sooner State. Although its %-year- : impressive of its many striking : IN IIPA?lON old shape limits ability to accommodate i features is its crenellated tower. Today : One of the many programs begun by modem freight cars, the Jenson i the famous structure on Shawnee's . President Franklin Roosevelt, the Tunnel, located on a branch of the : Main Street is home to the : Prairie States Forestry Project, got Frisco line, is still in use. i Pottawatomie County Historical i its start right here in Oklahoma. On Society's museum. : March 18, 1935, an Austrian pine ~ ~ R A I L K ~ iD ~ W ~ ~ i that now stands more than 40 feet tall The Wewoka, of course. Located on i i was planted in Greer County north the north side of Wewoka, this '/z mile : : of Mangum on the Horace Curtis farm. of track with four cast-iron switch : '-3F i This was the first tree in the first stands has recently been nominated for i i shelterbelt. The program, designed to the National Register. When the : j reduce windcaused soil erosion, Rock Island built this sidetrack station, : went on to plant nearly 223 million it had no idea of its ultimate national : t i trees in 18,599 miles of field fame. : windbreaks during its eight-year During the Seminole Oil Field i -. i existence. In Oklahoma alone, boom of the 1920s, the idea of a : i 2,679 miles of shelterbelts on more railroad car "getting lost in the : than 5,000 firms held 20 million Wewoka Switch" became a popular i : trees. excuse for merchants who didn't . ------5: have what a customer wanted. In 1926, i i ~OESTTWE the Fixico No. 1 well came in, and ' : Between 1913 and 1936, East the area went crazy. Getting caught in : klahoma boasts three trees that i Qnual University at Ada waged a the Wewoka Switch became more qualify as the tallest of their type i fierce battle with the Srnithsonian than an inconvenience; it became a i in the nation. These national champs : Institution for some fragments of a nightmare. : are a red mulberry owned by the Clin- i petrified tree. ~~t this just The phrase was pushed far I ton Combs Estate that is 61 feet tall : gq handful of extra-hard w&. No, it beyond the town boundaries of I and 249 inches around, a blackjack oak was the largest emple of the oldest Wewoka or the state line of owned by E. M. Robinson that is 48 i tree ever found, a 250,000,000-year-old Oklahoma. When folks who've never : feet tall and 169 inches around and a : Caiir;CUhn, even been dose to the place find i soapberry owned by Richard i The tree chunks were uncovered themselves in a bind, they might well i Downe~that is 75 feet tall and 90 inch- i by-what else?-mting pigs. Their refer to it. : es around. Our in-state records are as : owner, a Chickasaw Indian, told i follows: FINEST RAIM : John Fitts, a local geologist, about what 0 i the pigs drug in, and Fitts called in i WrrSrm 8 : A sweetgum on the property of John i Dr. Davis White, head of the U.S. -2 i Shipp of Mdurtain County. This : Geological Survey in Washington, : lumberjack's dream measures in at i D.C. Although Oklahomans weren't : 135 feet tall. i too wild about the idea, Dr. White : mounted a full-scale effort to raise '"e 'Ieaa crraMFEmNCS i money to move the tree to the i Johnny- Carson, Zsa Zsa Gabor and : Smithsonian. He died before he could i Roone~w~~~~have room On i achieve his goal, however, and Fins : this sycamore to carve the names of i gave the uee to E~~~andin 1936. i a1 their spouses. It's 279 inches i To prove that the OK tree was : around, and is owned by Opal : OK left where it belonged, local folks i Domres of Tulsa County. i raised money enough to have the Shawnee's Santa Fe Depot, listed i BIGWST REDBUD, SKAE mE i fragments put together in the shape of on the National Register, leads the : Thad McFarland in McCurtain : a tree trunk. It sits on the Ada

January-February '86 35 campus today, a reminder that the big Although his teeth are once again "I'll wear red and white, of course. I've guys don't always beat the little all white, that color is only half the had the whole thing arranged for 20 guys. story in the rest of Cecil's life. "I years. My casket is red and white, and own only red and white clothes, I'll be posed with my index finger he Oklahoma Wildlife Depart- i except," he confesses, "for one pointing up for #1, the only way I've T ment kee~srecords on catches : black suit I wear to funerals. But I allowed myself to be photographed Oklahoma anglers report to them. Re- i won't wear it to my own." for years. I'm going to have red and cord holders range from a 1-pound-15- i Wearing red and white clothing white carnations and three flags ounce goldeye that Jerry Murphy i 365 days a year is a hard habit to break. flying: Old Glory, the Oklahoma State caught in Tom Steed Reservoir to the : So at his own funeral, Cecil says, flag and the OU flag. I want the following fish, so big that the anglers i didn't even need to lie about them. LAWEST FlSH CAUGHT BY ROD AND UNE Dean Owens dropped the water level of the Neosho River by at least an i inch on March 21, 1984, when he i caught a mammoth paddlefish. Also : known as a spoonbill, this fish weighed in at 100 pounds even. It was 55 inches long and had a girth of : 39/4 inches. FlSH CAUGHT BY OTHER LEGAL MZANS Red River gave UD, with glee,- . no i doubt, a 1%-pou~d-12-ouncealligator : gar to David Uhles in July of 1984. : B This mammoth representative of the : i .u. ugliest fish in thestate (perhaps the : 3 world) was 84 inches long and 33% : Y, inches around. READER FAVOR11 -ST RESERVOIR - Lake Eufaula, with 102,500 surface : acres FISHING HOLE Oklahoma is known for the beauty of its lakes and for the high-quality fishing BIGGEST W FAN of all sorts these jewels offer. However, while many lakes were called, none Wearing your heart on your sleeve is : one thing, but wearing your favorite i football team's name on your front : teeth is auite another. ~idahoma f Citian ~e'cilSamara, the undisputed i champion booster of the OU Sooners, i may have retired his chompers inlaid : with red enamel letters spelling Big i Rd-but he hasn't forgotten them. i He wore them for four years, and : didn't get to finish a meal in a restaurkt during the whole time. i restricting the cri- n "The last straw came," he teria for federal as- remembers, "when I was eating an i sistance in build- expensive steak at Applewoods. By the time I smiled and had mv ~icture: taken all the times I was askkd, my i steak was cold."

36 Oklahoma TODAY music to be the National Anthem, i and sitting in on classes. He recalls, : BIGGEST YCdR M C;ATIZE AND "Boomer Sooner" and "When the : "The professors would slip me i CCUWS IN- Roll is Called Up Yonder, 1'11 Be i paper and pencils and lend me books. : 1975, when this industry, the There." "There," Cecil continues, Without OU, I don't know where i biggest in the state, listed 6% million "is upstairs on the 50 yard line : I'd be today. Everything I've gained in i head of cattle and calves. watching OU play." i life, I've gained through OU." He : shares all he gains by turning his red- : ONLYOMAHOMAHORSETOWIN i KENlllcmDERBY(S0~ g! and-white mania into money for : The aptly named Black Gold, who 5 charitable organizations. His most i raced to win in the golden jubilee gi recent projeG is the Make-A-Wish Derby of 1924. His dam was a 'i program sponsored by local law- : "county-fair" sprinter named Useeit; ! enforcement groups. i his sire was the famous stallion 1.: -a WN ELNATOR i Black Toney. His owner was Rosa : Union Equity Co-operative : Hoots, an Osage. "The Indian colt" i Exchange owns the state's largest ! was a crowd pleaser who fooled the i elevator, built in the mid-'50s. It's i odds-makers. At first a 30-1 long : located in Enid and holds 16.3 million : shot, he went to the post at 2-1. : bushels of wheat, and that ain't hay. This giant among elevators can i Mosr HOlRSES MR HMO IN U.S. The extremes to which Cecil has accommodate 42 rail cars on one i We may lose out to our big-sister taken his fan-atic love of OU are meant side and 50 on the other. It can receive : states, California and Texas, in total to be amusing. The teeth, the "Big 13 rail cars per hour, with each car ! horse population, but when it comes Red Rockett" 1923 Model T Ford, the holding 3,300 bushels of grain. That : to number of horses per capita we win, red station wagon with the OU logo totals out to about 42,000 bushels of : heads up. The Hone Industry on each side are fun for Cecil and for wheat per hour, or more than 1 millon ! Directory allows us 308,000; other other fans. But seriously, folks, bushels a day. : estimates range upwards of 500,000. Cecil dotrr care for OU deeply. Too i If you take the lower figure, that's .09 poor to attend school past ;he third i BIOOEST YELIR i of a horse for every Sooner. grade, Cecil made up a lot of his : war -ON education reading at the OU library i 1982, with 228 million bushels i WNNlNoEsr HoRss IN : Eastex, an Ada-bred quarterhorse : owned by dentist H. D. Hall and his wife,. Pem-, - lo. In his racine career, i Eastex has won $1,836,179zand is ago, the SCS was assisting on between 2,000 and 3,000 ponds a year. (They'.. : still running. That makes him the now help only with ponds built to control erosion.) i leading money-earner among The average farm pond has a surface area of one acre; depths vary according : quarterhorses in the USA. (By the to terrain and the part of the state in which the pond is located. Western ponds must be deeper than eastern, for instance, so they won't dry up. Most, i way, in 1985 he nosed out another Ada i horse for this title-Mr Master Bug, however, are at least 8 to 10 feet deep at the dam. : For help with fish to put in that 8 to 10 feet of water once the pond is filled, owned by Marvin and Lela Barnes, the owner goes to the De~artmentof Wildlife Conservation. In the fall. thev i who's won $1,793,718.) a 4 give him oyher 500 bluegil and 100 catfish per surface acre, and in the spring i FIRST FlAG TO FLY OVER 100 bass. By the second year, the bluegill are up to 6 inches long, and by the : The Royal Standard of Spain was third the bass will weigh in at 2 to 2% pounds. i brought to Oklahoma by Coronado in If Eve hadn't eaten the apple, this perfectly stocked pond would remain in i 1541. After this first flag, Oklahoma the perfect balance this initial fish dump places it in. She did, however, and : saw 12 more before adopting our nothing remains perfect for long. Excited anglers tend to deplete the bass i official state flag in 1925. In order, population too rapidly, leaving too many bluegill in relation to the bass. The : those that came after the first and bluegill then eat bass eggs, and the bass population is soon zero. I: before the 14th and final are: The key to maintaining balance is to restrict greed. If those who fish farm Great Union flag of Great Britian ponds take out no more than 15 pounds of bass per acre per year, balance will Royal Flag of France Standard of the Empire of Spain reign. If anglers just can't stop themselves from overdoing it, the SCS will do a Standard of the French Republic balance check and recommend corrective measures. -B. DO^ Davis, a-01 The United States Flag, which had 15 stars and 15 stripes

January-February '86 37 The United States Flag, which had 20 stars and 13 stripes The Flag of Mexico The First Texas Flag The Lone Star Flag of Texas The Choctaw Flag The Confederate Battle Flag The first Oklahoma State Flag

SMUSTCOUm Marshall, with 360 square miles URGESTCOUm Osage, with 2,293 square miles M Y CWMY IN UNmD SWFS BBREDBY FNE STmS Cimarron County, which is touched by parts of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and, of course, ~klahoma FIRST WHm mMENT Ferdinandia, near what is now Newkirk. A trading post was .W established there in the 1720s. At present, the site is on private property : and not open to the public. i liquor, was a deadly one. The fort's i 72 hours). Muskogee War Memorial OLDESTSSlTLEMENTSnU UOSnNo .: residents had a reputation for : Park, where the Ba@h is docked, Salina, which Major Jean Pierre : intemperance, and desertions were i was formally dedicated on Memorial Chouteau first visited in 1796, became i commonplace. Punishment was often i Day, 1973. an established trading post in the i meted out in the still-standing : FIRST RLEPHONE COHMRSAMm early 1800s. : stocks, a favorite of tourists today. : -ME- FIRSTSiCH001, pRINnNe MESS i Tourists can also see the log : This tale comes from Only in AND MOI€STANT MI- i stockade with the enlisted men's and : Ok]a,ijoma, by C. W. u ~ west:~ y Union Mission, opened in i ~fficers' quarters, the guardhouse, : 1t ,ms that a 16-year-old September 1821 to minister to the : OUO and : Cherokee named Ed Hicks brought Osages. The site is five miles east of widethe are i the first commercial phone to what Mazie in Mayes County. i many more buildings and ruins. The : was not then the Sooner State in 1886. : fort is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., OLDEST MIWARY P#ST i Starting in Tahlequah and stringing Fort Gibson, in Muskogee Coun~, : Monday through Saturday, and from 1 i lines as they went, Hicks and his crew i to 7 on Sunday dudng blight : reached Fort Gibson on Aug. 6, was in This OutPost was a i Savings Time. It closes at 5 when we 1 1886. One of the workmen men popular embarkation point for : revert to Standard Time. exploratory expeditions into Indian i i J. Stapler, Hicks' uncle, waiting in Tahlequah. The workman said, country and the site of many treaty : ONLY SZIBWRINE BER~HED i signings. It was briefly abandoned in i IN : "Hello. Who is this?" Stapler 1857, taken over for a short time by i Two tow boats and six flotilla barges i replied, "This is the devil, and I'm : coming after you." the Confederates during the Civil War : brought this submarine through 15 : and later reoccupied by Federal i locks of the McClellan-Kerr : rOWN MOST BEHIND HE ME troops. In 1890, it was permanently i Navigation System to its current home i Truman Tucker, a lifelong resident abandoned. : near the Port of Muskogee. The i of the Panhandle, says of Kenton, "If Fort Gibson earned the nickname i U.S.S. Ba@h, a 323-foot vessel with : you want to get confused, just ask "Graveyard of the Army" when in its i 1,800 tons of displacement, i what time it is." He's right, because first 11% years 570 men died there. : travelled 1,350 miles from Port Orange, i Kenton is the only town in It seems that the combination of hard i Texas. The Bafih holds the record : Oklahoma not on Central Time. labor and poor living conditions, i for sinking the most enemy subs in a i Truman thinks local businessmen moistened by easily obtainable bad : single patrol during WWII (three in i decided to count the minutes with

38 Oklahoma TODAY those on Mountain Time in the late : of its large number of drunken i for items with "I'm slap out of that '20s. Since most locals shop in New : brawls and killings. - : today." Mexico and watch television shows i 9' : MOST-mWNNAM€S that originate in Colorado, both .::." lp -1: Perdue, Veto and Vamoosa, all of '" Mountain Time states, that works which no longer exist. Given the state out OK. However, school kids living in :L of the world today, Reason, which is Kenton attend classes in Boise City, :?" also no longer in existence, is a close which is on Central Time, so runner-up here. households where they live set their : clocks in time with the rest of Oklahoma. : 1 Needmore. This was the original d : name of Bernice, but residents Galen R. Smith, pastor of the : changed it in 1913. It means exactly Wheeless Baptist Church, may have it i what it says: Folks were poor there. toughest of all. Every Sunday he I\ m drives 20 minutes from his home in : Kenton to preach a 10:30-11:30 i FUNNIEST TOWN NAME i No doubt about it. The fiberglass service at his church. He then drives 20 : Slapout. One story with several : beaver that sits atop its own trailer in its minutes home and preaches a i variations explains the origins of this i own little niche on Main Street of second service in Kenton at 11. Either i name. The basic plotline has a : Beaver wins, tails down. This 600- he's aging twice as fast as most of us, : storekeeper answering most requests : pound, 14-foot-tall beauty came to or he'll never get an hour older.- i SIEHST rnNAME Moral. Brooks Walker named this awu 7vWN town for his success in preventing Guthrie may not have held onto its right to be the state's capital, but it's won saloons at the townsite. our readers' hearts as the best small town the state has to offer. This may well be because with its famous restoration, Guthrie has made itself look like the hometown many of us remember, no matter what its name. Guthrie began as the territorial capital, and consisted of nothing more than a collection of tents and rough-hewn wooden buildings. With time, however, it grew to be a beautiful Victorian city. With more time, progress began to run the past out of town. Before it was too late, residents decided to restore and renovate. They found 60 of the central buildings had survived the ravages of moderni- ty; only five were lost. With millions of dollars in private money and support from public programs, Guthrie was born again. Today, the 1910 Pollard Theatre, the State Capital Printing Co. building and iust about all of downtown Guthrie play host to -those who enjoy seeing& dast living in the present. One of the highpoints of a tour of the town is a visit to the Oklahoma Territorial Museum, which presents exhibits on all phases of life in territo- rial times. Many works by favorite- son artist Frederick Olds are also on display. The museum is attached to the Carnegie Library, which may be the only one built with a gymnasium and a music conservatory. Tom Mix was the first gymnastics teacher when FUNNIEST SENENCE W E the library was completed in 1902. FROM TOWN NAMES Another of the most famous sights Sallisaw Henryetta Wagoner Catoosa. i and sites in the city is the Scottish LOOSYST row NAME Row, as in fight. Colcord since 1930, i this town earned its first name because :

January-February '86 39 Beaver in 1976 from a manufacturer in i over the activities with a cow chip at Wisconsin. The town raised the : least 2 feet in diameter rather than a . money through donations, change cans i scepter clutched in his two front in local stores and projects dreamed i paws. That's right. The 14-foot up by school children. : fiberglass beaver is standing on its i During Beaver's famous annual i hind legs and holding a 2-foot fiberglass : Cow Chip Throw, this big guy reigns : cowchip. Some unsuspecting visitors i 1 READER FAVORITE i;l PJlCJVIC SPOT Readers obviously see red when asked to choose a winner in this area; Red Rock Canyon takes the honors here. This very rugged, very red valley almost hidden by the green rolling plains around it is located '/z mile south of Hinton on U.S. 281. The state park covers about 310 acres, and it includes a small lake, a swimming pool, hiking trails, fishing areas, playgrounds and tent and RV camping areas for those who want to have another picnic tomorrow. As they chew their lunch, picnickers can ruminate on the fact that during the mid-1800s, the California Road, a major wagon trail, passed through the canyon. Ruts carved by the wagons' wheels are still to be seen in the sandstone. They can also try to digest the fact that similar canyons occur in Caddo and i to the town have been known to ask in Canadian counties, and that all have been cut in the Whitehorse formation, a i all innocence why the town decided soft, massive red sandstone of the Permian xed beds. The Whitehorse was i to have their mascot hold a honeybun. ' formed about 200 million years ago. The canyons range up to several miles long and 100 to 200 feet deep. Red Rock itself is about 1% miles long and 80 to 90 he famous "If you don't like feet deep at its deepest point. the weather in Oklahoma, wait a As they down their iced tea and colas, visitors can also drink in the beauty of : minute" is a comment based more the forest of sugar maples that line the bottom of Red Rock. These Caddo i on fact than fancy. Those fearless . maples occur 175 miles farther west than the usual range of sugar maples, and i individuals who never blink for fear many of them reach 75 feet in height. -Karen Donyai, OKC : they'll miss a major weather

i WlEmSTw : 1957, when the Kiamichi Tower in i LeFlore County recorded 84.47 inches i of water that fell from the sky : DRIEST YEAR i 1972, in Eva town. Less than an i inch of rain, .34 to be exact, fell. : COLDESTMr ! We've never had a colder dav than I I -27 degrees Fahrenheit, and ke've hit 1 Ii that toGfrostine; level only twice: : Feb. 13, 1905,~inVinita, -and Jan. 18, II:: 1930, in Watts. : Actually, this honor, if you want to : call it that, goes to several locations on

Oklahoma TODAY several days. However, all but one of the readings occurred in one year, f PUCE TO TAKE A RIDE ON HORSEBACK 1936. July 18 and 19 of that year saw f Lake Murray is the equestrians' choice for a long canter. The riding stables the mercury hit 120 degrees in Alva : there are open year-round, offering trail rides and hayrides as well as plain old and Altus, respectively. On August f horse rental for individuals. Moonlight rides, beginning at dusk and lasting 1'/r 1, Poteau felt the same sizzle, and on hours, are a popular variation, with night riders in groups of 10 or more picking August 10 Altus joined the : their way along trails transformed by moonlight. simmering crowd. It wasn't until July f For those who want a night out of the town, overnight campouts are 26, 1943, that Tishomingo entered i available. For these the minimum is 16 people, and the per-person charge for this Hell of Fame. : the trip includes an evening steak dinner and breakfast the next morning. This i ride leaves at noon and returns at the same time the following day. -Vinson H. Shields, Sherman, Texas i maximum width was two miles, and i "Dewey," both of which are towns in the : the length of its path was 221 miles. : state, and "Enid" spelled backward is i Although it destroyed the measuring i "Dine." Dine is not a town in the state, but : devices it passed over, experts estimate : it's at the base of one of two theories were 200 to 250 : about how Enid got its name. The fdncier : that its wind speeds : theory is that a Rock Island official f miles per hour. The good Come 1 out of this waste-laying whirlwind : named it after a chamer in Tennyson's 14/h King. However, Others : was a change in thinking about : believe that a group of cattle drovers turned i preparation for such storms. New i the "Dine" sign on a cmktent backward i attitudes and procedures, along with : ,so that it spelled Enid. Those drovers were : advances in technology, have made : such rogues! (Ruth King Gray, Vita) i it possible today to reduce tornado i : fatalities considerably. : +Geronimo died at Fort Sill in 1907. : ODDESTGWAGE : (Dr.and Mrs. Homer A. Brown) How odd is it? Odd enough to make , +Cockleburrs were called "Alfalfd Bill F:" it into a "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" campaign buttons." FE . column, and that's pretty odd. This (Dan and Emma Moore, Vita) $ Grandfield structure located on U.S. 70 2 i was the creation of the late Floyd +Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were : Svlvester. In the earlv '30s. Mr. married near Davis. (c.A. Lawrence) ~ilvester,an employee of the Bell wr)RsT- Oil and Gas Refinery, built the +Cherokee Stand Watie was the last It roared into Oklahoma due west of Confederate general to surrender. Arnett along State Highway 51 and building, which measured 24 by 12 roared out again along State feet, out of cement and quart oil cans, (Mie Hutton, Norman) Highway 281 north of Alva. Ground the latter of which were made of FIRSIS AND FORE- AT W and aerial surveys strongly suggest steel at that time. This garage, built Since OSU began to get the nation's that for this entire path of about 90 when economic times were tough, is attention on the football field, the miles, it didn't leave the ground. a great example of Oklahoma makin' name "Aggie" has become less the This devastating weather event, do and, more precisely, can do. punchline for tired jokes and more a commonly recaced as "the one'that label betokening respect. Long blew Woodward away," hit Oklahoma before Pat Jones began to stalk the on April 9, 1947. It also damaged sidelines with his now famous Texas and Kansas, killing 185 people, "Oklahoma Aggies" sweater, however, injuring more than 1,000 and OSU deserved that respect. While destroying more than $10 million worth fools were wasting their time of property. In Woodward alone, it developing Aggie jokes, the Aggies killed 105 and injured 720; dollar were spending theirs wisely damages in Oklahoma were fixed at developing, among other things, the $8.1 million. The storm capable of following: causing such devastation ra;lks : BRSWmwmmmW f +The first and still only vaccine among the top 10 of all time. Its : +"Yewed" spelled backward is : against anaplasmosis, a disease that once

January-February '86 4 1 wiped out whole herds of cattle. The : store that people bought only as much vaccine, which was released in 1965, cost i as they could carry, Goldman $750,000 to develop; in this first year of decided to make it possible for them to use, it saved U.S. cattlemen $35 million. i carry a lot. In 1935 he introduced +The first red crepe myrtle bush. : the first model. +The ktest growing tree, a i Norman sculptor Lena Beth cottonwood, for pulp-wood production. In i Frazier has just completed a bronze just three years, the OSU tree will gmw : sculpture commemorating this boon 6 inches thick at the trunk. i to comfortable consumerism. i Goldman's sons, Alfred D. and +A cattle ear tag that repels insects. : Monte H. Goldman, commissioned the Working like a dog's flea collar, this tag i work. It shows the late Mr. protects its bovine bearer from ticks and certain flies. : Goldman standing with one hand on i No one has anything bad to say i the 1955 model of his invention. +A water additive that protects i about our last first; it's the shopping i The subject himself dictated the cart's chickens from heat and humidity. In 1980, : cart, and the world has Oklahoman i contents: a loaf of bread, a carton of 20 million broiler chickens died from i Sylvan N. Goldman to thank for it. : eggs, a carton of milk, a box of cereal these two causes; OSU estimates that if the i Observing in his Ardmore grocery hapless hens had been given water laced : and a stalk of celery. The sculpture with this additive, 16 million of them would have made it. i RElWR FAVORITE! +Short sorghum. Sorghum used to : SWIMMING HOLE stand much taller than a man and to have Whether you're a toe-tester or a belly-flopper, you're best off immersing drooping heads. OSU developed shorter i varieties and bred strength into the stems to i yourself in Turner Falls according to our reader pool. Turner Falls Park, in the hold the heads up straight. Because of : heart of the Arbuckle Mountains, is the oldest park in Oklahoma. Springs that these improvements, irmers were able to flow down from the mountains form Honey Creek, which cascades down a 77- replace expensive hand harvesting with f foot waterfall into a beautiful swimming area. mechanical. : A Tourism and Recreation Department brochure once described Turner Falls as one of three geological windows into our past. (The Grand Canyon and +In addition to all these, OSU also claims the first building constructed in i the Black Hills of South Dakota are the other two.) Relatively recent history Oklahoma for higher education. The : shows that by as early as 1868 this was a popular recreation area. The City of recently restored Old Central building, i Davis operates the 720-acre park. -Dr. Gene L. Muse, OKC which is now a museum, was erected in : ONE-MYADYZNIURE 1894. i With one day to spend doing anything they wanted, readers chose to pack up FIRSlSINOMAClOlklAAMDl?fEhWKm i all their cares and woes, head out to the Illinois River and jump into a canoe. Although environmentalists tell us : The top stretch of this beautiful waterway, called the Upper Illinois, runs for now that it's no good for the ozone, the i 70 miles above Lake Tenkiller; the lower Illinois continues for 12 more miles aerosol can revolutionized liquid : below Tenkiller Dam. Both sections have many commercial canoe float ser- product packaging and marketing when i vices available, all of which supply canoes, paddles, life preservers and shuttle it was introduced in 1942. A i service to launching points. Those who like to paddle their own canoes can set Bartlesville resident, Lyle Goodhue, : in at several public-access points. put the pssust in the cans. i The Upper Illinois has an abundance of small-mouth bass, fishing for which This next Oklahoma first gets i can easily while away an afternoon's time. During early spring, the annual sand mixed reactions, with the majority on : bass spawning run attracts avid anglers from all over the state. The Lower the negative side. Carl Magee of i Illinois is the state's only year-round designated trout fishing stream, and the Oklahoma City unveiled the first i state stocks it with 98,000 new trout each year. parking meter on July 16, 1935. It : If you'd rather just float along than fish, that's fine, too. The easy-flowing wasn't all his fault, though. It seems a i Illinois offers long stretches of peaceful water interrupted with mild rapids. member of the Chamber of i Canoers can choose to spend anywhere from a half hour to five days on the Commerce Trafiic Committee asked : water, traveling from one to 70 miles. The Cookson Hills, which surround the him in 1933 to help solve the i river, offer beautiful flats and high cliffs; they're at their best in the Sparrow parking problem downtown. Under i Hawk Mountain area, where huge bluffs suggest that civilization is much cover of night on July 15, 1935, : farther away than it actually is. -David HUE,Killeen, Texas workmen installed 180 "Park-o-Meters."

Oklahoma TODAY will remain as a permanent exhibit in : FIRST CCUlRlWUS TO BE : began construction on this one of only front of the Sylvan N. Goldman BUILT AmR SlAl€= i three round barns in the state. The Room at Oklahoma City's Kirkpatrick i The Love County Courthouse in i barn is 60 feet in diameter and 43 feet Center. Marietta was begun in 1907 and : in height. It took six months to became a functioning seat of county i build from the time oxen began to clear FIRST DEOREE IN CCUlNIRY business in 1910. Listed on the & mRNMUSK: i the ground for it. To shape Rogers State College in Claremore National Register, this building of : the rafters, Odor soaked green burr- i Georgian design with Gothic and was the first in our state to take country i : oak timber in water until it was soft and Western music out of the Victorian features is famous for its i enough to bend into a specially barroom and put it in the classroom Corinthian columns and rounded : designed form. The joists, studs and i tower. It's one of only two in the when they began offering associate i i other dimension lumber are of oak degrees in the field in the mid-'70s. : state with working clocks in their clock i 'that came from the farm. It's hirly Right now they have some 17 towers. : dilapidated at present, but the majors, who take courses like "Country i OLDBTROUNDMRN : Arcadia round barn is enshrined forever Harmony I & 11" and "Progressive In 1898, William Harrison Odor i on the National Register. Country Band"; the latter course takes : : OIVLY-FOLKART C&W out of the classroom and puts i : ENWRONMENT SnU EX7Sl7NG IN SWE it back in the barroom. Actually, the : i Four and one-half miles east of Foyil students perform at banquets, fairs, i : on State Highway 28-A is a one-acre rodeos and a variety of other places all i i site known as Ed Galloway Park. In around the U.S. I i it stand several of the most unusual The Hank Thompson School of : structures in our state. Although Country Music allows aspiring mangers i 8 i specific dates are available for only a and plunkers to play around with :E : few, Ed Galloway completed all of the likes of Leon McAuliffe and Eldon i ' Shamblin, and to fiddle around with i READER FAVORITE Jana Jae. The Great Southwest is only : SklAU MUSEUM one of several musical groups that i If you combine woods, lakes and rocks, what do you get? If your answer is allow the students to learn by doing as i ORMoma, you're wrong. The state may have all of the above, but only a small they travel and peform. part of it has the right combination. Woolaroc, whose name comes from the 01' Hank may not have done it i first letters of the three Oklahoma staples, is the right answer to this question quite thisaway, but the school has i supplied Roy Clark with a couple of : and the favorite small museum of many of our readers. Frank Phillips dreamed of a place that would show the development of man band members and Me1 McDaniels i with a lead guitarist. Other in the southwestern U.S., and Woolaroc is the realization of that dream. The graduates are actively performing in : museum building sits amid 4,000 acres of wilderness with more than 1,000wild animals roaming through it. In the museum are more than 55,000 exhibits. various capa ' 'es in the field. The building housing this treasure trove, which is located 14 miles south- Y. west of Bartlesville, is constructed of native sandstone cut from cliffs on the 3 2: original ranch. Inside, the rooms are arranged chronologically from earliest man I in the New World to the present. 11 !!;$: Among the most interesting of the holdings is the group of all 12 models that m. were submitted as possibles for Ponca City's Pioneer Woman Statue. After passing by a large. . selection of Remingtons, Russells and Leighs in the five

an amalgamation of everything from an early tractor to priceless Chinese artifacts to a stuffed and mounted bongo, the rarest of African antelopes. The museum is open Tues- day through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5

p.m. -0. Duane Chancellor, Shawnee - them before 1962. They include, : descriptions of most Oklahoma among others, an 11-sided, single- i property are determined. Its full, story fiddle house with interior and i legal name is "The Indian Base Line exterior walls extensively carved and : and Meridian," and it was set in painted with landscape scenes; a i 1870. carved and painted tree; a carved 12- i From this point, where the east- foot arrowhead. : west Base Line intersects the north- The pike de htaance, however, is : south Indian Meridian, a grid of a 60-foot-tall totem pole with five : some 2,000 36-square-mile townships floors, the interior and exterior of ':I spreads out to include all the state which are carved and painted. Built in ! except the Panhandle. -~iw- OKC an elongated tipi shape, the totem pole is 30 feet in circumference at the each ceilingMoor, are plastered and FIRST EAWS -ED base. Bas-relief carvings of flora, painted but not carved. FOR RE- IN SUE In a project that's a national as well fauna and Indian heads in profile MOSTIMPO@lWTROCJY wearing full headdresses cover the The winner of this title is set in a as a state first, the Oklahoma exterior. The interior walls of the first pasture about six miles west of Davis. Department of Wildlife It's a 54 x 18-x 18-inch sandstone Conservation successfully hatched 13 floor are plastered and painted with of 18 eagle eggs removed from nests landscape scenes, and circling the wall slab set in a pile of stones 6 feet in at waist level are carved medallions diameter and 3 feet high. Carved on in the wilds of Florida. Working in shaped like shields. The walls of the its west side are the letters 1.P. Carved cooperation with the George Miksch other four levels, which are on its east side are Id. Mer. and on Sutton Avian Research Center and accessible by a ladder that extends its north, 1870. From this rock, called OSU, the conservationists placed six "Initial Point," the legal eaglets in the Sequoyah National through openings in the center of Wildlife Refuge in late March of KLAPER FAVORITE 1 i 1985when thesix were about 10 weeks m : old. The point of this project is to PLACE FOR BIRDWATCHING i encourage nesting in the state. We Although the state offers several acclaimed nature centers, readers, like Doro- i won't know if the six will return to thy in lie Wizard of Oz, believe "There's no place like home." That's right. : Oklahoma to nest for about four or five The favorite place for noticing a northern cardinal or for peeking at a pine i years, since they won't reach sexual siskin seems to be in your own backyards. i maturity until then. The 1985 count of Recognizing this before our poll, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife : bald eagles showed 600, down from Conservation's Non-game Wildlife Program has produced a booklet entitled : a record of 794 the year before. "Attracting Birds" that tells you exactly how to make your backyard a friendly i However, none of them nests here. "island of habitat" in a hostile urban sea. : The six born and bred as Okies will, The booklet explains how to provide the three basic requirements for i we hope, change all that. survival that will convince those just passing over to drop in. The proper combination of food, cover and water will do the trick. With only a short time : IWSTUNlBUt mFESlMAL invested in reading, you can find out that the juncos are fond of seeds, while i Gate draws this honor, metacarpals the woodpeckers lean more toward suet. By following the guidelines for : down. Annually since 1976, this landscaping and building shelters, you can create your own backyard aviary in i Panhandle town has sponsored a no time. i Bone Pickin' Festival, complete with a For the interested, the following are the most common backyard birds in : bone pickin' competition. In this, Oklahoma: -~m.Gladys C. inc cede, CIaremore :' contestants line up about 50 feet from a red-bellied woodpecker American goldfinch' i big line of cattle bones gathered blue jay* : from local pastures. When the clock CamLa chickadee i starts, participants race to gather up Mted titmouse white-breasted nuthatch i an armload of bones, suiving to get as northern cardinal* : close to 10 pounds as possible. Each Harris sparrow# i must gather up at least that much to dark-eyed junco purple finch i qualify. Time is a hctor, since each : second involved in getting the armload *Most common of all #Winter only fSummer only i counts as an ounce. So, if someone I: gathers up 10 pounds and 3 ounces of

44 Oklahoma TODAY , in his television commercial for pizza, RHNIC FErnAL OR POW wow most people still don't know that By a wide margin the American Indian Exposition held every August in Oklahoma i the cultural center of the Anadarko took this category. It's no wonder, because it's the biggest and universe. Theatre Tulsa, a national most colorful party thrown by any ethnic group in the state. This August will award winning group, has been around see the 55th exposition at the Caddo County Fairgrounds, and like all the for 63 years. T-Town also boasts the others this one will draw participants and observers from all over the U. S. : Tulsa Opera and the Tulsa Ballet Approximately 10,000 Plains Indians from 14 different tribes travel from i Theatre, the latter of which made a all over the country to attend. The tribes represented are the Apache, i successful New York City debut in Arapaho, Caddo, Cheyenne, Comanche, Delaware, Fort Sill Apache, Iowa, : 1983. In Oklahoma City, there's the Kiowa, Osage, Otoe Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca and Wichita. i Oklahoma Symphony, one of the finest Although the American Indian Exposition began in 1931, it wasn't i orchestras in the Southwest, and officially called that until 1935. What began as a general fair and farming : both the Lyric Theater and the exhibition has grown now to a beautiful renewal of tribal customs and i Oklahoma Theater Center offer up rituals, which non-Indians are privileged to see. The highlight of the a variety of high-class productions each exposition is the World Championship Fancy War Dance Finals, but for six : year. In addition, Ballet Oklahoma days all kinds of goings-on make a visit well worth your while. i in OKC is growing rapidly under the An annual pageant presenting the history of the Plains Indian, horse and i artistic direction of Edward Villella. greyhound racing, a carnival midway with rides and arts and crafts exhibits : We also have much to brag on in many presenting the finest in Indian jewelry, featherwork, sculpture and painting i of our smaller towns and cities; are all available. In addition, visitors can watch war dances, the Apache fire i Bartlesville and Enid, for example, dance, the Plains Friendships Dance and the Kiowa Eagle Dance. : both have their own highly For 1986 exposition dates and a schedule of events call the Oklahoma i respected symphonies. Tourism and Recreation Department Literature Distribution Center at : Gaining fame rapidly, too, is the (405) 521-2409 Or toll free at 1-800-652-6552. -Fred Schmidt, Brooklyn, New York i Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, i which brings nationally known : professional artists in all areas to Quartz i Mountain every summer. Amid a i starkly beautiful setting, they teach : approximately 200 teen-agers who i have won the honor through i competitive audition. In the fill, the bones and takes 20 seconds to do it, i homesteaders who made a living in : institute offers the same calibre of his or her total would be 11 pounds and : No Man's Land by taking a wagonload i instruction to adults. Because of all 7 ounces. The 20 seconds would of cattle and buffalo bones to Dodge i this activity and much more, the translate to 1 pound and 4 ounces, you i City and selling them to buy food. i National Endowment for the Arts see. Enthusiastic townspeople are : When times were tough, bone : has awarded the State Arts Council of trying now to find another town to i selling provided the only income for i Oklahoma a challenge grant of compete against. i many in the area. i $200,000. To receive such a grant, the This sounds real.!^ bizarre until : : organization must "demonsaate a you understand why Gate does it; then i i high level of artistic excellence that it sounds just sliQt4 bizarre. The : BESWEP~SECRET : reaches out to a regional or national event is meant to honor the : Even though Hoyt Axton blabbed it i audience." Oklahoma's doing both.

I;Se namu that appear 0th end of some stdo., Jlubine, vicc president of corporate wmmunicacior- assistant planning director, Depr of Transportation; anick acRnowkd& maah h and business development, Union Equity Cooperative Henryk Orlowski, urban forester, Dept of Agriculture; of hii who sent Exchange; John Cochrane, state statistician, Dept. of Hamld Plam, assistant bridge engineer. Dept. of Trans- hh in. In swa/ instoma, mom &+an one Agriculfun, Rick Conner, manager, Statistical Dept. of portation; Laura PoUard, Non-game Wddlife Pmgram, &sent in desame &; defint &who Oil & Gas Conservation; EUen Cooter, Oklahoma Cli- Depr of Wildlife Conservation; Jan D. Rogers. public matological Survey; Don Driscoll, Depr of Wnldlife information director, State Am Cwncil of Oklahoma; wmk? in ii I&&. Conservation; Mary M. Evans, reference librarian, Jim Rogers, assistant pmfessor of geology, CSU; Kent ECU; Connie Golden, publisher, and Linda Dunning, Ruth, author, 0,Moma TmIHanhak, Widms on lrL rcscarch editor, S'asc magazine; Joan Graham, Past; Gcorge Shirk's 0)MomaPkNamu: Mrs. Galen ~)MOIMZUDN would like m howledge the fol- Depr of Wddlife Conservation; Ma~yGrimm, McAles- R. Smith and Ttuman Tucker, Kenton: Mark Teders, lowing m sfor their help with Fmts, Bests & Favor- ter, Mehrina Hirsh, Oklahoma Historical Society; Jack naturalist, Lake Murray; Billy Tels, state biologist, Soil ites: KayL. Bmwn, author, lie Itok in 0kMom.z; Jungmth, Wahoma Horse Council; Guy Logsdon, Uni- Conservation Service; Blym Todd, park manager, Lake Don Burgess. Severr Storms Center, Nanq Calhoon, versity of Tulsa; hmlMagee, director, Hank Thomp Murray Resort; C. W. "Dub" West, author, Omb in executive director, Beaver Chamber of Commerce; Fnd son School of Country Music, Rogers State College; Okhhoma; Carl W~lkins,National Weather Service; Mel- Causky. Agriculture Information Center, OSU; IM~ Ematine Maphet, postmistress, Gate, OK; Carl Miller, ba Wyatt, correspondent, Wioiba Fak hrd@ 7imu.

January-February '86 45 In Oklahoma, there's more to winter than sleet and snow. The colors of the season shade from the white of window frost to the greens of pasture cedars and winter wheat, from the grays in Illinois River bluffs to the crimson in cliffs WINTER FCLIO at Red Rock Canyon, from the shaggy browns of a buffa- lo's hide to the rainbow sheen of a mallard's feathers. From a rich collection sent in by many of our favorite photographers, we've chosen images that show off the shapes and colors of an Oklahoma winter.

J R Toland Skylne Drive vista

46 Oklahoma TODAY January-February '86 47 BELOW Syh.ia and Lloyd Brockus Mallard Great SaIf Wains

- 48 Oklahoma TODAY ABOVE. Joseph Grzybowski Mnter tree, Grady Counfy

January-February '86 49 50 Oklahoma TODAY Larry D. Brown Dee< Boiling Springs gate Pcrrk

ommPAGE S@a and Lloyd Brockus cedar waxwing, AIva

--'adiner, tho Metm A BOOK EXCERPT HERE WE REST

By Kent Ruth Photographs by Jim Argo

54 Oklahoma TODAY agpily, the appmnt trend in marker Sulphur offers rhe long-time &- this country toward d- ~hawman whose stone carries the cb H in cem&es has not yet ap- eled likeness of-what else?-a pmhed &E chmal degree d'emaaded &phone. Aad Lee Way mker EI-ay- in Sweden. Thew, offidly mated lo- den M. Smdiier, his IXUIE inscribed in dfma&naw~i&m~iachthe an open book and doves on hand to dm and a0;bioaing d gcavestones. Yes, guard the course af fris Lee Way rig, is and those same officials determine the JUST ON ANOYKER 7W.P. decomtive touches and even epitaphs to In ComeNille Cemeteryv in Johnston be &wed thereon. Doves were mm~d But Whomams ~leednot be sold aunty, a poem &ph rhe image. It down ia we case because &at ditional short. They showed imagination and in- lack a bit of die uninhibited punch Chdib symbol was "too mcimend genuity, as Sooners, ellee many of them of some New England tombsmne verse: aard sweet." Hm Rdaw O.A. (the cho- would never have been sucoessfuI in get- sea epitaph of hud '&I Andemm) ting a daim or in making a living an it was &bed, presumably as wo frivobus, after ahey did. And those metdrs are in d4wa of more p&c Him fie3 ohn ~fidin what might be called, O.A. for lack of a better term3 "tomlsstone Still, W&om acquired formal Gem- art." At least k has an earthy, eastern flavor: dmat least a cearug too late to be Many Oklahomans have, for instance, ahk to dfer latterday visiws the free- ukcn their jobs with them to heir gm- wheelins Wdiv'iduality of New England's sites. Consider the massive granite m y ancient not to say quaint, burying bench in Guthrie's Summix-View Gem- punds. Ak, nowheze can we hiid the teqr memorializing Charles O. Smith, dedftgmllmess d chis 1837 stone in Oklahoma jurist. For another vocational

Ahye. An eieof a hmd mder, &it ow &orated 9pmdnp $rn@lI Hwiiq, &rraram~rb&~~~gclrsmQ& stojus into aggt cmwt, pats found in && ooerlh@mesi$~bas~fbfcO~ Gary Gemmy in Bbi~eCa~ne. *. 222 tfoblmirg sdpzum m kd- wmcd pwf of dkr O~~g.%bnna&r amtors-mrd of rib &J moaq 1czt pound in Ltfng & 2920s. stone is etched widl a p~rryh scene hers are a pbwith old-bhid stoall posed ta have replied: 'When your and this tender ~riadmibum antique phonopph, ald clack and a , white man awakens to smell his spitssling wh@d. flowm." As hyage, these sbg44 A Farmer Still in Fairlam Philip Lelan Hdey shelfem Hl inu, pictuque nth. In ht+ seems ut ham had two primary loves, m er years hyhe hen replaced by Now give him to de cad, judge from the tombstone art on his mate bag-lasting, but less eye-pleasing, Wid whom he was most grave marker: his pickup ttuek and his conmete shdm* cemplets with metal intimaks banjo. And vocah blends with mas- ventilator grilles. Lay his tired body in de Smith's soil tion, one suspects, on Joe F. But gmesmw art is liimifed only by He kntw so well in /$e. somber stone: a saddled, ridedm hae the imaginaion of he deceased or his tied to 8 hitching past and the deaxds next of kin-or hy their fl& re umdorned 7wtde brand. Then &efeP'e's sources. Handsom am the lllamive buri- Avmaiam are ofken refbmd as well. the HamCounry grave eer~f & al vaults with their etmic ml-, brass Qn his smne in Cbrnanche"~Faitiawn Sifdlong 0031- of pe~fledwd- doom, st-ahed~ass windows and ather GmSFix& Bowen is idbntifkd ss adorned wih his coh~o~ esnbeIlibna dnat only money an BIRD HUNTER. And the elaborawly Culd hdra&ie plays a &, m. pdde. But aften he most poignant carved hunting aneikams flushed Grave houses are srill ta be found in gixlw mkws am thase designed sad bircls and his bid dog emsing a stream Chrnootw ad Creek Indian mm af east- &brimred by griednt yet obviously Im- CM~.a log. PJdy is the equally: impres- ern OWoma. TmditbnaUy, they shel- puIliotls, laved ones. she double stone of Jaek H. Miller and tered food, pips, tobcw and other Rare indeed is the cemetery &at does his wife, Wanda. Scenes on the back d iterrrs desigwd a make the deceased not eonah sne ar more of the cY~Ilt wh1-e na doubt as to hirinmres6s. pemm'3 journey into the byond mo~e ma'markets. Zn Fm,it's a strikingly R8d and mel, a pond, trees, quail? a gun enjoyable. To the brash question as to eded chunk of limestone on which a leaning agwinst a feace, along with a whm rke d-aed might awaken m name plate kas been bolted. h Geary, ir windmill ada buIldmrj adom his. On smoke his pipe, the old Indm is sup- is a we~l-formeddab ~f com6gncree into

!if3 OWehomi TODAY which, before it hardened, colorful stone palm leaves and fern fronds; the scroll, mendous oil wealth of the 1920s that and bits of glass were pressed for decora- representing eternal life; potted plants, allowed them to express that respect so tion. Often the inscription is "written" symbolizing rebirth; and doves for peace magnificently. with bits of stone or rock in wet and innocence. Styles in "tombstone art" do indeed concrete. More symbolic than decorative is the change. Yet it is not so much change as a Most poignant of all, perhaps, are cut-off tree trunk to represent untimely coming in, going out and coming in those home made markers where sim- death-as if any death were timely. But again. Plus ca change, plu c'at kz meme plicity of materials and crudity of design it was adopted, not invented, by the chose-the more these styles change, the are combined with the still-to-be- Woodmen of the World. Almost as com- more they remain essentially the same. achieved literacy of an emigrant family. mon is the lamb, nearly always on older Grief and sorrow do not change. Nor do Like the inscription stenciled into the gravestones. Today medical science is confidence and hope. The massive crypt still-soft concrete of a hand-crafted mark- reducing infant mortality drastically and, has FAREWELL carved above its door- er in the Czechoslovakian National with it, the need for this most touching way. Beside it the tiny lamb-topped Cemetery in Oklahoma City: AT REST symbol of untimely death. stone gets by with the simple piety: Bud- OUR MOTHER ANNA RUBIS B 7 24 Then there are angels, fittingly small didon Ear& to Bloom in Hem. But both 1848 DIED 7 16 1933 OK CITY CON angels hovering over the grave of the reflect the same sense of loss that death BUT NOT COTON. infant Mary Keen in Newkirk Cemetery, brings, and the same assurance that what Decorative motifs display bewildering and heroic angels soaring over the ornate follows will somehow make it right. Bl variety. Most of them are stylized, highly monuments of proud Osages in Hom- symbolic. Among the more traditional, iny's Albert Joseph Powell Cemetery. Of Kent Ruth's and Jim Aqo's most recent and found in most cemeteries, are: the fine Carrara marble, well sculpted in a collaboration h Here We Rest, a guide to open Bible; gates ajar; hands, often fold- variety of poses and well-nigh overpow- famous-or just fascinating-Oklahoma ed in prayer, sometimes pointing upward ering to the first-time visitor, they attest budsita. Thz? am'cle z? adaptedfrom that to a crown and at times in a firm hand- to the great respect with which the Osag- book, which is being published $ the shake as if with a welcoming St. Peter; es regard their ancestors and to the tre- Oklahoma Hhtorical Sociery .

Opposite page. Creek burial houses like these near Wetumka trdtonal/y Some men wish to be mcalledfof the jobs the?r did-just contained food and tobacco to comfort the spirit of the dtpaaed. like jurist Charles 0. Smith and trucker Hayden Standife.

1 January-February '86 30-31, Feb. 1, 7-8, "Inherit the Wind," Gaslight Theatre, Enid 14-15 ART EXHIBITS 31-Feb. 15 "Strange Snow," American Theatre Co., Brook 'f Theatre, OKC FEBRUARY 6 "Great Expectations," Guthrie Theatre of JANUARY 1-5 Holidays at Gilcrease, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Minneapolis, Seretean Center. OSU, Stillwater 1-28 Paintings by Scott Tigert, Pottery by Paul 6-9 "Come Blow Your Horn," Shortgrass Playhouse, Rodgers, Kirkpatrick Gallery for Oklahoma Artists, Hobart Kirkpatrick Center, OKC 6-9.13-16 "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You," 1-31 Western Art Show, Pioneer Museum &Art Center, The Mummers of OKC, Stage Center, OKC Woodward 7-15 "Uncle Vanya," Tulsa Alliance for Classical I-Feb 28 Paintings by Shamn Ahtone-Hajo, Kiowa Tribal Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Tulsa Museum, Carnegie /-March "Mary, Mary," Gaslight Dinner Theatre, Tulsa 3-31 Selections from the Mabee-Gerrer Collection 8 12-16 "El Grande de Coca Cola," OU School of Drama, Storeroom, Mabee-Gerrer Museum, Shawnee Studio Theatre, OU, Norman 5-Feb. 16 The Lamar Series: Paintings by Don Coen, 13-16 "Last of the Red Hot Lovers," Theatre Norman, Battlett Center, OSU, Stillwater Sheraton Norman Horel-Dinner Theatre, Norman 5-Feb. 23 Paintings by Joseph Fleck, OK Art Center, OKC 13-22 "Foxfire," Shawnee Little Theatre, Shawnee 8 Great Bronze Age of China, OCCC, OKC 13-15,20-22 "An Evening with Noel Coward," Muskogee 9-Feb. 5 "Watercolor USA 1984," Student Union, OSU, Little Theatre, Muskogee Stillwater 13-16,20-22 "Gypsy," Southwest Playhouse, Clinton 12-Feb. 16 'James Surls' Visions: 1974-1984", Museum of 13-16,19-23 "Crimes of the Heart," Town & Gown Theatre, Art, OU, Norman Stillwater 12- "The Beaded Picture Show," narrative beadwork, Feb.19 Southern Plains Indian Museum, Anadarko 13-16,20-23,27-28 ''The Wizard of 02," Cabaret Supper Theatre, Fort Sill 26-March 9 "Grant Wood & Marvin Cone: An American Tradition," Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa 14-22 " Fifth of July," TU, Chapman Theatre, Tulsa 29-March 12 Paintings by Brunel Fams, Kirkpatrick Gallery for 14-23 "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Theatre Tulsa, OK Artists, Kirkpatrick Center, OKC Delaware Playhouse, Tulsa 14-15,21-23 "Night Watch," Guymon Community Theatre, FEBRUARY 3-23 "Shogun," Japanese Art Exhibition, OCCC, OKC Guymon 3-27 Four Oklahoma Potters: Hoke, Sweeney, 14-March 2 "Pump Boys and Dinettes," Carpenter Square Lovelace & Briscoe, Mabee-Cerrer Museum, Theatre, OKC Shawnee 17-22 "Carousel," Ardmore Little Theatre, Ardmore 19-23 "Amadeus," OU School of Drama, Rupel Jones Theatre, OU, Norman DRAMA 20-22 "The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wilde," SEOSU, Durant 20-22 "Something's Afoot," NSU, Tahlequah JANUARY 10-26 '"The Ria," Carpenter Square Theatre, OKC 20-22 "Foxfire," Woodward Community Theatre, 10-Feb. 1 "ButteAies Are Free," Gaslight Dinner Theatre, Woodward Tulsa 20-March 9 "Godspell," Jewel Box Theatre, OKC 17-19, 24-25 "Lion in Winter," Ponca Playhouse, Ponca City 20-23,27, March 1 "HMS Pinafore," Cameron U. Theatre, Lawn 17-26 "A Thousand Clowns," Theatre Tulsa, Delaware 21-22,27-28, "The Miss Firecracker Contest," Playhouse, Tulsa March 1, 6-8 Actors Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Tulsa 18,19,25,26 "Step on a Crack," Children's Theatre, Stage 22.23, March "Beauty and B. East," Stage Center, Arena Feb. 1.2 Center, OKC 1,2,8,9,15,16 Theatre, OKC 28-Feb. 1 "Lil' Abner," American Indian Theater Co., 26-March 2 "Henrietta," OU School of Drama, Studio Williams Theatre, Performing Arts Center, Tulsa Theatre, OU, Norman 30-Feb. 1 'Ten Nights in a Barmm," Bartlesville Theatre 26-March 2 "Extra," OU School of Drama, Rupel Jones Guild, Community Center, Bartlesville Theatre, Norman

58 Oklahoma TODAY 27-March 1 "HMS Pinafore," Theatre Arts, Cameron U., 8 Phillips-Enid Symphony, Phillips U., Enid Lawton 8-9 "Paganini," Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Performing Arts 27-March 1 "The Lady's Not for Burning," University Center, Tulsa Theatre, Burg Theatre, OCU, OKC 9 Haydn TrioNienna, Williams Theatre, Performing 27-March 2 "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," Seretean Arts Center, Tulsa Center, OSU, Stillwater 9-11 OK Symphony with Amanda McLaq, violinist. 28-March 1 "A Murder Has Been Arranged," Tahlequah Civic Center, OKC Community Playhouse, Tahlequah 14 Candice Earley, OK Sinfonia, Brady Theatre, Tulsa 14-15 Neil Sedaka, OK Symphony, Civic Center, OKC 1416 "The Marriage of Figaro," OK Opera & Music Theatre Co., OCU, OKC 15 Recreation of Paul Whiteman's 1924 Orchestra, JANUARY 16-18 Winter Bluegrass Festival, Western Hills Guest Union Performing Arts Center, Tulsa Ranch, Wagoner 15 Lawton Philharmonic, McMahon Aud., Lawton 31-Feb. 1 "Wintertales," Storytelling Festival, Stage Center, 16 OSU Brass Band Concert, Seretean Center, OSU, OKC Stillwater FEBRUARY 8 Chocolate Festival, Firehouse Art Center, Norman 18 Zagreb Philharmonic, Seretean Center, OSU, 25 Annual Green Counuy Jazz Festival, NSU, Stillwater 20 Ida Kavafian, Tulsa Philharmonic, Performing Arts Center, Tulsa 21 Los Angeles Piano Quartet, Fee Theatre, Casady School, OKC 21,22 Alvin Ailey American Dance Co., Performing Arts Center, Tulsa JANUARY 9 Liona Boyd, classical guitarist, Stage Center, OKC 22-23 "Reflections of Romanticism," Ballet OK & the 10 Liona Boyd, Performing Arts Center, Tulsa OK Symphony, Civic Center, OKC 11 The New American Ragtime Ensemble, Phillips 25 OSU Symphony, Seretean Center, OSU, Stillwater U., Enid 28 Los Angeles Piano Quartet, Charles B. Goddard 11 Lawton Philharmonic, Alois Hochstrasser guest Center, Ardmore conductor, McMahon Aud., Lawton 11-12 1986 Children's Show, Prairie Dance Theatre, - Stage Center, OKC RODEO 12,14 OK Symphony with pianist Jorg Demus & English HORSE EVENTS hornist Helen Baumganner, Civic Center, OKC 17 Natalie Hinderas, pianist, Union Performing Arts Center, Tulsa JANUARY 16-19 International Finals Rodeo, Convention Center, Tulsa 17 Celtic Music Group Scartaglen, Williams Theatre, Performing Arts Center, Tulsa 18-21 Cinderella Classic Appaloosa Horse Show, Expo 17-18 Roberta Flack, OK Symphony, Civic Center, OKC Square, Shawnee 18 "Hansel & Gretel," Cimarron Circuit Opera, Stage Center. OKC 18 Me1 Tome, Banlesville Symphony, Community Center, Bartlesville 18 Tulsa Ballet, Charles B. Goddard Center, Ardmore 19 Musical Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., JANUARY 4,11,18 Muzzle Loading Rifle Workshop, J. M. Davis Gun Oral Roberts U. Music Department, Brady Museum, Claremore Theatre, Tulsa 7-11 Shrine Classic Basketball Tournament, Civic 20 Issac Stem, Holmberg Hall, OU, Norman Center Arena, Muskogee 24 Foggy Mountain Boys, Civic Center, Muskogee 11-April 30 "Return of Halley's Comet 11," Kirkpatrick 24-25 DanceTalk with Edward Villella, ''The Romantic Planetarium, OKC Ballet," Ballet OK, Stage Center, OKC 26-31 Midwest Boat Show, State Fairgrounds OKC 26,28 OK Symphony Classics Concert, Civic Center, 29-Feb. 2 Tulsa Boat, Sport & Travel Show, Exposition OKC Center, Tulsa 29,31, Prairie Dance Theatre's Children's Shows, FEBRUARY 1-15 "Flowers for Valentine's Day," Green Arcade ~eb.5,7,21 Kirkpatrick Center Theatre, OKC Greenhouse, Kirkpatrick Center, OKC 31 OK Symphony Cabaret Concert with Irv Wagner & 3-7 Black American Heritage Week, OCCC, OKC Floyd "Red" Rice, Myriad, OKC 14-16 Divison 11, Region VIII, Championship Swim FEBRUARY 1 Peter Nero & Trio, Tulsa Philharmonic, Meet, YMCA, Stillwater Performing Arts Center, Tulsa 22-23 African Violet Society of Greater Tulsa Show & 1 OK Symphony & Ambassadors Concert Choir, Sale, Tulsa Garden Center, Tulsa "American Salute 11," St. John Missionary Baptist 27 14th Annual Symposium on the American Indian, Church, OKC NSU, Tahlequah 7-9 Scenes from Great Operas, OU School of Music, 27-March 1 OSSAA Regional Basketball Tournament, Civic Holmberg Hall, OU, Norman Center Arena, Muskogee

January-February '86