Appendix Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Chapter 8 Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Chapter 1
 
File:Flag of Oklahoma.svg OKLAHOMA!
The Sooner State


Consolidated Rural School in Caddo County
title page
DEDICATION
TO THE YOUTH OF OKLAHOMA, WHOSE BETTERMENT IS
THE INSPIRATION OF THIS STORY, AND UPON
WHOM MUST SOON DEVOLVE THE DUTIES
AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF ITS CITI-
ZENSHIP, THIS VOLUME IS
DEDICATED.
PREFATORY
FIRST EDITION
The purpose of this volume is to place before the student an accurate story of Oklahoma’s development, told in simple language. “History is a record of the past.” The history of Oklahoma is a record that should bring a feeling of pride to the bosom of every citizen. It is a story we should know. We love best when we know what we love and why. It is our hope that when the story of Oklahoma is told to her citizens, the blood may mount to the cheek, the heart throb more quickly, the eye flash with patriotic fire and love. There is no surer way to bring this about than to teach the youth the magnificent history of our new state. If this little book accomplishes no more, its mission will have been fulfilled and the authors satisfied.
Oklahoma City, 1908.
SECOND EDITION
In submitting a revised edition of the History of Oklahoma, the general plan of the work has been retained, while many changes have been made in detail. Subsequent research has made possible many improvements in the way of accuracy and completeness. Although some new matter has been included, the total amount of text has been materially condensed.
The helpful criticisms of many teachers and other interested persons have resulted in numerous minor changes and additions which will aid both teacher and pupil in getting the most out of the subject. The pronunciation of difficult proper names as indicated diacritically in the text.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors desire to thank many friends, not only in Oklahoma but also in other states, for most helpful assistance and co-operation. Without such help some of the data and material for the book would have been difficult, if not impossible, to secure. Especially helpful has been the ready co-operation offered by the officials in charge of the Kansas State Historical Society, of Topeka, the Missouri Historical Society, of St. Louis, the Oklahoma Historical Society, of Oklahoma City, and the Bureau of American Ethnology, of Washington, D. C. The publications of the Texas Historical Society have been of material assistance as have the writings of the late W. J. Weaver, of Ft. Smith. Dr. Emmet Starr, of the Northeastern State Normal School, has not only placed his splendid collections at the disposal of the writers, but has also kindly read the proofs. It would be a pleasure to mention by name all who have contributed to the interest and completeness of the work were it not that the enumeration of so many names would scarcely convey the distinction which is deserved. Their kindness is appreciated, and it is hoped that their helpfulness has been justified by the work of the authors.
TO TEACHERS
On account of the demand for condensation, but little supplemental matter has been included in this edition. An unabridged teachers’ edition, with copious supplemental notes and numerous illustrations will not only enable the teacher to gain a much more comprehensive grasp of the subject but will also make possible considerable variation in class-room work.
The suggestive questions presented at the end of the text for each period are not all that should be asked. Others equally as pertinent will suggest themselves to the mind of the teacher.
In many communities teachers will find it possible to quicken the interest of their pupils in the study of history by inducing them to undertake to do some first-hand research work in the way of gathering data concerning the local history of the town or neighborhood, its earliest settlers, development of its institutions, and other matters of like interest.
Contents Page
LAND OF MY DREAMING
Land of the mistletoe, smiling in splendor,
Out from the borderland, mystic and old,
Sweet are the memories, precious and tender.
Linked with thy summers of azure and gold.

O, Oklahoma, dear land of my dreaming,
Land of the lover, the loved and the lost;
Cherish thy legends with tragedy teeming,
Legends where love reckoned not of the cost.

Land of Sequoyah, my heart’s in thy keeping,
0, Tulladega, how can I forget!
Calm are thy vales where the silences sleeping.
Wake into melodies tinged with regret.

Let the deep chorus of life’s music throbbing,
Swell to full harmony born of the years;
Or for the loved and lost, tenderly sobbing;
Drop to that cadence that whispers of tears.

Land of the mistletoe, here’s to thy glory!
Here’s to thy daughters as fair as the dawn!
Here’s to thy pioneer sons, in whose story
Valor and love shall live endlessly on!
—GEORGE RTLEY HALL
History of Oklahoma
INTRODUCTORY.
Unlike many of the older states of the American Union, the history of Oklahoma does not begin with the planting of a single colony. No invading conqueror ever swept across its borders, yet Oklahoma is a land of many peoples. Although the greater part of its history has been made within the last fifty years, it has much history in common with that of other states. Within its limits live the remnants or descendants of not less than fifty different tribes and nations of Indians, the former homes of whose people were scattered over not less than thirty different states. Likewise, practically every state in the Union is represented by the white people who settled in Oklahoma.
The people of Oklahoma trace descent from the Puritans of New England, from the Cavaliers of Virginia, from the Dutch Patroons of the Hudson Valley, from the French Huguenots of the Carolinas, from the Scotch-Irish of the Appalachian Highlands and from numerous tribes of American Indians.
The history of Oklahoma is remarkable in many ways. In the short space of a third of a century the savage huntsman gwe place to the herdsman. He in turn retired before the husbandman, and a mighty state has been founded and builded in what had been a wilderness.
The Indian has played a pathetic part in the earlier history of nearly every state of the American Union, but in Oklahoma alone has his race played an important part in the building of a state. In Oklahoma, the Indian appears not only in the earlier history of the state, but remains to bear his part in its present and future history.
The history of Oklahoma is unlike that of any other state. The real building of the state covered a period of less than twenty years, yet those years were full of achievement. As her past has been filled with achievement and as her present is laden with opportunity, so must the future of Oklahoma be a challenge to all to rise to the possibilities that await honest effort. Those who carefully study the story of Oklahoma will gain, not only a knowledge of its origin and history and of the development of its institutions, but a measure of that intelligence and true devotion which are at once the inspiration and power of an ideal citizenship.