Oklahoma Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

Looking for Oklahoma trivia? Try our list Oklahoma little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

At one time, what is now Oklahoma was claimed by both Spain and France. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado claimed the area for Spain in 1541. But Bernard de la Harpe claimed Oklahoma for France in 1719, and French traders began setting up trading posts and towns. In a treaty in 1762, France ceded the area to Spain, and Oklahoma remained under Spanish rule until an 1800 treaty returned it to France. Oklahoma finally came under the American flag with the Louisiana Purchase.

first appeared: 12/22/2002

Guthrie (pop. 9,925) claims the world’s first cowgirl, Lucille Mulhall, who was a top hand at her father’s ranch when he started a Wild West show. She became a star at trick riding and even roped competitively with men before appearing at Madison Square Garden in 1905. Her fans included President Theodore Roosevelt and Will Rogers.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

Several mummies can be found in the Egyptian collection at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, created in 1915 in Shawnee (pop. 28,692). The museum on the campus of St. Gregory’s University also features art from the early Renaissance period through the early 20th century, as well as medieval armor and artifacts from Babylon.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

A body of water near Jet (pop. 230) is one-third to one-half as salty as the water in the ocean. The Great Salt Plains Lake covers a natural salt plain, which accounts for the salty water in an inland state.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

A museum dedicated to the ancient sport of wrestling in all its forms can be found in Stillwater on the Oklahoma State University campus. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame showcases the history of the sport in its displays, which include sculptures, photographs and other wrestling memorabilia, and honors the country’s top wrestlers.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

Guthrie (pop. 9,925) was called “Magic City” because it began so quickly during the Land Run of 1889, when settlers were allowed to claim land in Oklahoma. By the end of the first day of the land run, Guthrie was a tent city of 15,000 people.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

As a child growing up in Oklahoma City, Ralph Ellison (1914-94) dreamed of becoming a musician, not a writer. He started playing trumpet at age 8 and attended Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama to study music. But after he moved to New York, writers Langston Hughes and Richard Wright encouraged him to develop his talent for creative writing. He became the first African-American to win The National Book Award, which was for his 1952 novel Invisible Man. The novel is considered one of the great books of the 20th century.

first appeared: 11/24/2002

The Glass Mountains near Woodward (pop. 11,853) are red buttes filled with selenite crystals that make the mountains sparkle in the sunlight.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

Jim Thorpe, the man declared the “Athlete of the Century” by sportswriters from around the country, got his start near Prague (pop. 2,138). Thorpe, the only person ever to win both the decathlon and pentathlon at the Olympics, was born on the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation. He won both events at the 1912 Olympic Games in Sweden.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

Oklahoma City residents can escape bad weather by traveling underground. The Metro Concourse is a network of tunnels linking buildings throughout the city’s downtown area, allowing pedestrians to avoid both winter’s cold and summer’s heat.

first appeared: 11/10/2002

Deputy U.S. Marshals Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, and Chris Madsen were known as “The Three Guardsmen” for tracking down and capturing many of the famous outlaws who hid out in Oklahoma. Tilghman single-handedly captured Bill Doolin, a member of the Dalton gang.

first appeared: 11/3/2002

The state’s highest point, at 4,973 feet, is Black Mesa plateau in the far northwest corner of the Panhandle.

first appeared: 11/3/2002

Residents have some interesting ways to say things in Oklahoma. A skift, for instance, means a dusting of snow. If an Oklahoman says he’s “fixin’” to do something, he is getting ready to do it.

first appeared: 10/27/2002

Thomas Nuttall’s A Journal of Travels in the Arkansas Territory, written after his 1819 expedition into Oklahoma and other frontier areas, is one of the first scientific records of Oklahoma’s wildlife and geology. The famous naturalist collected information about plants, animals, rocks, and minerals in the eastern part of the state.

first appeared: 10/20/2002

The world’s largest farm dedicated solely to the production of the cannas—a showy bloom that is easy to grow—and canna bulbs is found in Carnegie (pop. 1,637). The Horn Canna Farm produces 20 varieties of the flowers on more than 120 acres of land and ships its bulbs across the country.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

The life of Oklahoma’s sixth territorial governor, T.B. Ferguson, has many similarities to that of Yancey Cravat, the main character in Edna Ferber’s 1928 novel Cimarron. Ferguson founded the Watonga Republican newspaper in 1892 and served as Oklahoma’s territorial governor from 1901 to 1906. Ferber stayed at his home when she was preparing to write the novel. She interviewed his widow, Elva Shartel Ferguson, about the couple’s experiences starting a newspaper in the territory. The book was made into a movie in 1931.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

A huge cartoon in Pawnee (pop. 2,230) honors former resident Chester Gould, creator of the famous comic strip detective Dick Tracy. The mural of Tracy covers the outer wall of a two-story building.

first appeared: 10/6/2002

Silent western movie actor Tom Mix tended bar at the Blue Belle Saloon in Guthrie (pop. 9,925) before he became famous. Bartending at the saloon, which is still open for business, was one of several jobs he held in the early 1900s before launching his movie career in 1909.

first appeared: 9/29/2002

Everything cowboy is for sale or trade every spring and fall on Cowboy Trade Day in Claremore (pop. 15,873). People from around the country come to offer up items such as firearms, antique spurs and saddles, horses, and mules. The event also features cowboy poetry and Western songs.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

Bass Reeves, a lawman who roamed the Indian Territory that would later become Oklahoma, was the first African-American man to be appointed a deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi. Reeves, commissioned in 1875, served for 32 years as a deputy U.S. marshal before taking a job at the age of 83 as a patrolman in Muskogee (pop. 38,310).

first appeared: 9/15/2002

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