Okla-homey
11/16/2007, 06:49 AM
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/34264/2004631871019754580_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004631871019754580)
November 16, 1907, Oklahoma becomes a state!
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9531/222222222222675pxflagofna5.png (http://imageshack.us)
Oklahoma flag...1922 to present
On this day 100 years ago, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7571/222222222222cend54cspotyu9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Oklahoma, with a name derived from the Choctaw Indian words okla, meaning "people," and humma, meaning "red," has a history of human occupation dating back 15,000 years.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6126/2222222222222222oklahomjc7.png (http://imageshack.us)
State flag, 1911-1922. We got rid of it because in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, too many Okies thought it looked "Soviet." Seriously.
The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish explorers in the 16th century, and in the 18th century the Spanish and French struggled for control of the territory. The United States acquired Oklahoma from France in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. For that reason alone, Okies are indebted to the late President Thomas Jefferson who pushed the purchase from cash-strapped Napoleanic France. IOW, were it not for Jefferson, sacre bleu, we would be French.:eek:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7665/111oklahomastamp7hg.gif
From Arrows to Atoms...US postage stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of statehood.
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/35856/2001879496803718883_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001879496803718883)
Stamp celebrating 100 years of statehood. It depicts a scene on the Cimarron River. Unfortunately, flippin' postage went up shortly after the stamp was released so you can't use the stamp now without adding a two cent stamp.
After the War of 1812, the U.S. government decided to remove Indian tribes from their homelands in the southeastern United States and move them west to the relatively unsettled lands west of the Arkansas border and north of the Red River. In 1828, Congress reserved modern Oklahoma for Indians and in 1834 formally ceded it to the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole and Muscogee (Creek).
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9564/111okbfstatehood0pj.jpg
Many Cherokees refused to abandon their homes east of the Mississippi, and so the U.S. Army moved them west in a forced march known as the "Trail of Tears." The uprooted tribes joined the Osage that had long occupied the area, and Indian Nations with fixed boundaries and separate governments were established in the region.
http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/35146/2004614821691241891_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004614821691241891)
During the American Civil War, the Five Tribes in Indian Territory, just like the United States, were split into pro-South and pro-Union factions. Unfortunately for the Tribes, the largest factions backed the loser in the war. Thus, with the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, the territory was placed under U.S. military rule.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5364/22222222222222222222222mt7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
White cattlemen and settlers began to covet the virgin ranges of Oklahoma, and after the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s, illegal white incursion into Indian Territory flourished. Even the US Army was unable to staunch the flow of white "illegals" into the territory.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7640/22222222222222222111in2wz9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Even John Wayne hisself made a movie about early Oklahoma
Most of these illegal squatters were expelled, but pressure continued until the federal government agreed in 1889 to open two million acres in central Oklahoma for white settlement.
At noon on April 22, 1889, a pistol shot signaled the opening of the new land, and tens of thousands of people rushed to stake claims. The following year, the region was divided into Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. There would be four more "land runs" before they were done.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3374/2222222222222222222bt1sy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
1889 Land Run sculpture. Longer than a football field, its the world's longest.
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2628/22222222222222222206c20hu2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
In 1907, Congress decided to admit Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the Union as a single state, with all Indians in the state becoming U.S. citizens. Representatives of the two territories drafted a constitution, and on September 17, 1907, it was approved by voters of the two territories. On November 16, Oklahoma was welcomed into the United States by President Theodore Roosevelt.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/216/111statehoodproclamation7qf.jpg
Teddy signs the papers making Oklahoma the 46th state. He looks all jolly in the painting, but in truth, TR wasn't a big fan of statehood for Oklahoma because, as a Republican, he was dismayed the solidly Democrat region would put two Democrat senators in Washington immediately and would probably remain Democratic for the foreseeable future
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9070/111thmb320pxwm0387statehoodcer.jpg
The crowd waits in Guthrie for the word.
Oklahoma initially prospered as an agricultural state, but the drought years of the 1930s made the state part of the Dust Bowl. During the Depression, poor tenant farmers known as "Okies" were forced to travel west seeking better opportunities.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5678/1118b31764r6yk.jpg
Okie's camped outside of Fresno CA, during the Dust Bowl years just trying to make enough to buy something to eat to keep their families alive
In the 1940s, WWII brought prosperity back to Oklahoma because the war meant plenty of work. America needed oil, beef, pork, grain and labor willing to work hard, and Oklahoma delivered in fine style.
Thirty years later, oil production brought another major economic boom in the 1970s. I remember it pretty much dried-up by the early 80's when you used to see "Dear Lord, Let It Hit Forty Dollars a Barrel Again and This Time, I Won't Pizz It All Away" Now, we're more about natural gas than oil. With around 1700 producing wells in Oklahoma, only about 300 are producing the black stuff. The rest are gas wells. The money has helped re-invigorate our economy and we have practically no un-employment as a result.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1699/222222222222222oklahomatl4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
We're a great state and a great people. We've been droughted, tornadoed all to hell and back, bombed, hailed on, foreclosed on, iced-up, robbed by bandits, shot at and missed, sh*t at and hit, been broker than a guy trying to sell refrigerators to the eskimoes and richer than a Rockefeller, but when its all said and done...WE'VE SURVIVED AND THRIVED!
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/558/22222222222222centenniapa4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
So, celebrate statehood this weekend. Include your family too.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1781/111braumsmilkbottl1yh.jpg
You can go to an Oklahoma institution and buy a banana split.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9571/22222222222222capitaldp4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Go visit the superb Oklahoma History Center next door to the capitol in OKC
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8218/111oklahoma39jv.jpg
You can go to the Arbuckles and get licked by a camel at "Arbuckle Wilderness"
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9135/111cowboy20hall20of20fame20okl.jpg
You can roll to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in OKC (I know they changed the name of the place to something more impressive sounding, but it'll always be the Cowboy Hall of Fame to me.)
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/33654/2004688290405052645_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004688290405052645)
Have a 3.2 beer.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9867/1111untitled9fe.png
Watch "Oklahoma" on DVD or listen to the soundtrack.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/754/111oklahomaroadsign6hd.jpg
Get your kicks on Route 66.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9862/22222222222222222bc7513es6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Pay tribute to the greatest Okie in Claremore
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9826/111oklahoma0ds.jpg
Drill for oil in Green Country
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8716/2222222222222222222gbrorq8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On the way back, stop by Garth and Trisha's place outside Owasso and say "hi"
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4750/222222222222222sonicvp4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Eat tater tots from Sonic...founded in Oklahoma
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3581/222222222222222catfish1lc2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Catch a catfish in Lake Texoma
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7949/1111oklahoma86204wm.jpg
Watch the Sooners play football this Saturday in Lubbock, texass.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8965/222222222222222222222arcl3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Have an Arby's sammich...founded in Oklahoma
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8183/111hoops468ol.gif
You could even go watch the pokies play hoops in Stoolwater.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7261/111stoklahoma0sk.jpg
Buy a piece of Oklahoma "artwork"
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6976/2222222222222222222800ptt6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Go visit OUr state Capitol
Whatever you do, be proud you're an Okie and be proud of Oklahoma, the 46th State!
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/8805/insane7zo0st.jpg
November 16, 1907, Oklahoma becomes a state!
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9531/222222222222675pxflagofna5.png (http://imageshack.us)
Oklahoma flag...1922 to present
On this day 100 years ago, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively enter the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7571/222222222222cend54cspotyu9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Oklahoma, with a name derived from the Choctaw Indian words okla, meaning "people," and humma, meaning "red," has a history of human occupation dating back 15,000 years.
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6126/2222222222222222oklahomjc7.png (http://imageshack.us)
State flag, 1911-1922. We got rid of it because in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, too many Okies thought it looked "Soviet." Seriously.
The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish explorers in the 16th century, and in the 18th century the Spanish and French struggled for control of the territory. The United States acquired Oklahoma from France in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. For that reason alone, Okies are indebted to the late President Thomas Jefferson who pushed the purchase from cash-strapped Napoleanic France. IOW, were it not for Jefferson, sacre bleu, we would be French.:eek:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7665/111oklahomastamp7hg.gif
From Arrows to Atoms...US postage stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of statehood.
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/35856/2001879496803718883_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001879496803718883)
Stamp celebrating 100 years of statehood. It depicts a scene on the Cimarron River. Unfortunately, flippin' postage went up shortly after the stamp was released so you can't use the stamp now without adding a two cent stamp.
After the War of 1812, the U.S. government decided to remove Indian tribes from their homelands in the southeastern United States and move them west to the relatively unsettled lands west of the Arkansas border and north of the Red River. In 1828, Congress reserved modern Oklahoma for Indians and in 1834 formally ceded it to the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole and Muscogee (Creek).
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9564/111okbfstatehood0pj.jpg
Many Cherokees refused to abandon their homes east of the Mississippi, and so the U.S. Army moved them west in a forced march known as the "Trail of Tears." The uprooted tribes joined the Osage that had long occupied the area, and Indian Nations with fixed boundaries and separate governments were established in the region.
http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/35146/2004614821691241891_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004614821691241891)
During the American Civil War, the Five Tribes in Indian Territory, just like the United States, were split into pro-South and pro-Union factions. Unfortunately for the Tribes, the largest factions backed the loser in the war. Thus, with the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, the territory was placed under U.S. military rule.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5364/22222222222222222222222mt7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
White cattlemen and settlers began to covet the virgin ranges of Oklahoma, and after the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s, illegal white incursion into Indian Territory flourished. Even the US Army was unable to staunch the flow of white "illegals" into the territory.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7640/22222222222222222111in2wz9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Even John Wayne hisself made a movie about early Oklahoma
Most of these illegal squatters were expelled, but pressure continued until the federal government agreed in 1889 to open two million acres in central Oklahoma for white settlement.
At noon on April 22, 1889, a pistol shot signaled the opening of the new land, and tens of thousands of people rushed to stake claims. The following year, the region was divided into Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. There would be four more "land runs" before they were done.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3374/2222222222222222222bt1sy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
1889 Land Run sculpture. Longer than a football field, its the world's longest.
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2628/22222222222222222206c20hu2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
In 1907, Congress decided to admit Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the Union as a single state, with all Indians in the state becoming U.S. citizens. Representatives of the two territories drafted a constitution, and on September 17, 1907, it was approved by voters of the two territories. On November 16, Oklahoma was welcomed into the United States by President Theodore Roosevelt.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/216/111statehoodproclamation7qf.jpg
Teddy signs the papers making Oklahoma the 46th state. He looks all jolly in the painting, but in truth, TR wasn't a big fan of statehood for Oklahoma because, as a Republican, he was dismayed the solidly Democrat region would put two Democrat senators in Washington immediately and would probably remain Democratic for the foreseeable future
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9070/111thmb320pxwm0387statehoodcer.jpg
The crowd waits in Guthrie for the word.
Oklahoma initially prospered as an agricultural state, but the drought years of the 1930s made the state part of the Dust Bowl. During the Depression, poor tenant farmers known as "Okies" were forced to travel west seeking better opportunities.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5678/1118b31764r6yk.jpg
Okie's camped outside of Fresno CA, during the Dust Bowl years just trying to make enough to buy something to eat to keep their families alive
In the 1940s, WWII brought prosperity back to Oklahoma because the war meant plenty of work. America needed oil, beef, pork, grain and labor willing to work hard, and Oklahoma delivered in fine style.
Thirty years later, oil production brought another major economic boom in the 1970s. I remember it pretty much dried-up by the early 80's when you used to see "Dear Lord, Let It Hit Forty Dollars a Barrel Again and This Time, I Won't Pizz It All Away" Now, we're more about natural gas than oil. With around 1700 producing wells in Oklahoma, only about 300 are producing the black stuff. The rest are gas wells. The money has helped re-invigorate our economy and we have practically no un-employment as a result.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1699/222222222222222oklahomatl4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
We're a great state and a great people. We've been droughted, tornadoed all to hell and back, bombed, hailed on, foreclosed on, iced-up, robbed by bandits, shot at and missed, sh*t at and hit, been broker than a guy trying to sell refrigerators to the eskimoes and richer than a Rockefeller, but when its all said and done...WE'VE SURVIVED AND THRIVED!
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/558/22222222222222centenniapa4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
So, celebrate statehood this weekend. Include your family too.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1781/111braumsmilkbottl1yh.jpg
You can go to an Oklahoma institution and buy a banana split.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9571/22222222222222capitaldp4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Go visit the superb Oklahoma History Center next door to the capitol in OKC
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8218/111oklahoma39jv.jpg
You can go to the Arbuckles and get licked by a camel at "Arbuckle Wilderness"
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9135/111cowboy20hall20of20fame20okl.jpg
You can roll to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in OKC (I know they changed the name of the place to something more impressive sounding, but it'll always be the Cowboy Hall of Fame to me.)
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/33654/2004688290405052645_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004688290405052645)
Have a 3.2 beer.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9867/1111untitled9fe.png
Watch "Oklahoma" on DVD or listen to the soundtrack.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/754/111oklahomaroadsign6hd.jpg
Get your kicks on Route 66.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9862/22222222222222222bc7513es6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Pay tribute to the greatest Okie in Claremore
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9826/111oklahoma0ds.jpg
Drill for oil in Green Country
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8716/2222222222222222222gbrorq8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On the way back, stop by Garth and Trisha's place outside Owasso and say "hi"
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4750/222222222222222sonicvp4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Eat tater tots from Sonic...founded in Oklahoma
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3581/222222222222222catfish1lc2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Catch a catfish in Lake Texoma
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7949/1111oklahoma86204wm.jpg
Watch the Sooners play football this Saturday in Lubbock, texass.
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8965/222222222222222222222arcl3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Have an Arby's sammich...founded in Oklahoma
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8183/111hoops468ol.gif
You could even go watch the pokies play hoops in Stoolwater.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7261/111stoklahoma0sk.jpg
Buy a piece of Oklahoma "artwork"
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6976/2222222222222222222800ptt6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Go visit OUr state Capitol
Whatever you do, be proud you're an Okie and be proud of Oklahoma, the 46th State!
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/8805/insane7zo0st.jpg