A Closer Look at Oklahoma, Native America

Out West

The epic American West lives on in Oklahoma. The state’s history is often hard: virtually all of Oklahoma belonged to Indian nations when cattle trails began to cross from Texas to Kansas by way of Indian Territory, ushering in the era of the cowboy.

The most famous cattle trail was the Chisholm, which ran along the track of present-day Highway 81 in western Oklahoma. Cattle still are driven along that route – in semi-trucks headed for the largest cattle auction in the United States, which gets underway in Stockyards City in Oklahoma City every Monday morning. Popular with tourists but true to its roots, Stockyards City offers visitors places to order a steak for breakfast, try on a pair of handmade boots, get a saddle repaired or buy a Stetson cowboy hat. Oklahoma City is also home to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, a treasure of Western and Native American art and artifacts.

One of the most outstanding Western art and Americana collections in the nation is found at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa. The Gilcrease is often referred to as the “Smithsonian of the West.”

Ranches sprawl across every corner of Oklahoma, from the high plains in the Panhandle to the Red River in the southwest to the tallgrass prairies in the northeast. The boundaries of one historic Osage County ranch now make up the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, a haven where bison graze in pastures that have

never been broken by a plow. More buffalo graze at Woolaroc outside of Bartlesville, a ranch and lodge once owned by oil man Frank Phillips and now home to a wildlife refuge and museum filled with intriguing and priceless Western art and artifacts. (The name “Woolaroc” stands for “Woods, Lakes and Rocks.)

Rodeo is more for show in Oklahoma. The cowboys who compete in events such as the Cattlemen’s Range Round-Up at the Lazy E Arena near Guthrie hone their skills all year long as part of their chosen profession. Woodward in northwest Oklahoma will hold its 69^th annual Elks Rodeo in July and lays claim to having the oldest rodeo in the state. August in Oklahoma is known as “Cowboy Christmas” because of the many rodeos scheduled throughout the state.

The West that belonged to the American Indian can be found here ,too – Oklahoma claims the second largest Native American population in the nation and nowhere in the United States is the beauty of their tribal heritage more evident. Four historic capitol buildings still stand – the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek – and many of the 39 tribes that make their headquarters here operate tribal museums. Towns like Muskogee and Tahlequah (the capitol of the Cherokee Nation) blend antique shops with Native American treasures and galleries along their Main Streets.

The sounds of Native American drums fill the summer night air during traditional dances with centuries – old histories. Most powwows are open to the public, including the Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival in June in Oklahoma City. Red Earth is the most spectacular gathering of Native American art and dancing in the country. Anadarko is known as the Indian Capitol of the Nation – seven tribes are headquartered there. The American Indian Exposition held in Anadarko in August is a week-long festival of dancing, foods, an all-Indian rodeo and historical pageant.

Native American galleries all across the state hold museum-worthy collections. Oklahoma was the birthplace of contemporary Native American painting and such luminaries as painter Jerome Tiger and Chiricahua-Apache sculptor Allan Houser. In addition to fine artists, the Native American tradition has created masters of pottery, basket-making, finger weaving, beading and textile art – master work is shown in museums, as well as sold in galleries and trading posts. Native American influence has also been strongly felt in the field of dance. Five Native American dancers, including Maria Tallchief and Yvonne Chouteau, have distinguished themselves in the international world of ballet. One of the five, Moscelyn Larkin, was co-founder of the critically acclaimed Tulsa Ballet Theatre.

The mythic American West lives on in places like the Pawnee Bill Ranch, where Gordon “Pawnee Bill” Lillie ran his Wild West Show. Pawnee residents enact the historical show on the grounds of the Pawnee Bill Museum and Buffalo Ranch

each summer. Oklahoma was home, too, to movie star cowboys like Tom Mix.

Visit the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey or stop by the Blue Belle Saloon in Guthrie, where Mix worked as a bartender before heading farther west – to Hollywood.

Outdoors

From mountains to mesas, the Panhandle plains to the hilly Ozarks, the sheer diversity of Oklahoma’s geography ensures a steady supply of outdoor adventure. (In fact, Oklahoma has 12 distinct eco-regions, more than any other state except for Texas, which also has a dozen.) Oklahoma’s 51 state parks offer a wide range of activities: boating, fishing, hiking, golf, swimming, camping, birding and much, much more.

Oklahoma’s national refuges and recreation areas offer a dramatic range of scenery and activities as well, from hang-gliding in the piney Ouachita National Forest to rappelling the faces of the ancient granite mountains of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, to hiking in the green glades of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Some top picks: Back-country hikers can tackle the trail up to the top of Black Mesa in the Panhandle or sections of the 46-mile-long Ouachita National Trail, from the state’s eastern border to Talihina State Park - the trail has an average eight percent grade (although some elevations reach 1,500 to 2,000 feet near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border). Or explore the 34 miles of trails in the 9,000-acre McGee Creek Wildlife Area. Non-motorized boats, horses and mountain bikes are permitted.

Mountain bikers will find plenty of challenge, too, along the logging roads in the Ouachita Mountains or on the miles of trails found in Oklahoma State Parks.

There’s golf galore, from championship courses to lesser-known gems, like the course at Boiling Springs State Park near Woodward. And there’s good fishing to be found all over the state. Fly fishermen are partial to the Lower Mountain Fork River at Beavers Bend Resort Park in southeastern Oklahoma, where the cold water is hospitable to brown trout.

Horseback riding is a natural in Oklahoma, where there are more horses per capita than in any other state - visitors can rent horses by the day or the hour at Robbers Cave State Park or camp with their own horses at the park’s equestrian campgrounds. There are 70 miles of switchback trails in the Ouachita Mountains at Cedar Lake Campground near Hodgen, which has stations, hitching posts and corrals available. And riders who sign up for guided horseback tours at Roman

Nose State Park are accompanied by wranglers dressed in 19^th- century cowboy gear. Hikers find quiet footpaths in Natural Falls State Park in eastern Oklahoma, while the 40-foot high sand dunes at Little Sahara State Park are traversed day and night by dune buggies – sign up for a guided ride or bring your own vehicle. Sand dunes at Beavers State Park in the Panhandle are smaller and much less trafficked – hikers can even luck into a little solitude.

With more than 200 lakes and more shoreline that the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined, Oklahoma is perfect for water sports and boating. The Illinois River near Tahlequah, and the Mountain Fork and Glover Rivers in southeastern Oklahoma are ideal for canoes and kayaks, while Oklahoma winds keep sails buoyed.

The only thing hard about planning a trip to Oklahoma is choosing among all the possibilities. For assistance, call the Oklahoma Travel and Tourism Division at 405/521-2406, (fax: 405/521-3992), or visit the Oklahoma tourism web site at http://www.travelok.com