Introduction to History of Oklahoma
As early as 10,000 years ago, Oklahoma was the hunting ground for various nomadic and seminomadic Indian tribes. Around 4,000 years ago, agriculture was introduced. When European explorers arrived in the 16th century, the region was occupied by several nomadic Plains tribes—notably Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians—and a number of village-dwelling tribes, including the Caddo, Wichita, and Pawnee.
The first Europeans to enter what is now Oklahoma were Spanish explorers—Coronado to the west in 1541 and De Soto to the east in 1542. In 1682 La Salle claimed the area for France, and, except for the Panhandle, it became part of Louisiana, which passed to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The western limits of the area, settled by treaty in 1819, left the Panhandle in the possession of Spain, which controlled the area to the south and west of Oklahoma.
The Fur Traders
The Chouteau family of St. Louis, engaged in fur trade along the Missouri River, persuaded the Osage Indians to move to the Arkansas River. Soon there developed a prosperous fur trade in the Arkansas Valley, and in 1817 Auguste Pierre Chouteau settled on the Grand (Neosho) River at the site of Salina, Oklahoma. In 1824 two military posts were built—Fort Gibson on the Grand near Chouteau's, and Fort Towson south of it on the Red River.
Indian Territory
The first land assignment in what is now Oklahoma was made to the Choctaw Indians in a treaty in 1820. In 1830 Congress authorized the President to set aside lands west of the Mississippi not included in any state or territory for the use of Indians from states east of the Mississippi. An act of 1834 attached the area north of the Platte River to the Territory of Michigan, leaving a tract about three times the size of present Oklahoma, which was commonly called Indian Territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 reduced Indian Territory to present Oklahoma without the Panhandle.
From the 1820's to the 1840's, the region was settled by the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. These tribes signed treaties exchanging their lands in the Southeast for lands west of the Mississippi River and were removed to the Indian Territory by the federal government. The five tribes set up their own governments in the Territory and became known as the Five Civilized Tribes. Hunting rights in the west were retained by Comanches, Wichitas, Kiowas, and Kiowa-Apaches, original inhabitants of the territory, confining the Five Civilized Tribes to the eastern half.
A few small tribes from the North and East were settled in the northeastern corner of Indian Territory. Other tribes that had been moved to Kansas were resettled in Oklahoma by agreement with the Five Civilized Tribes. Later many tribes from west of the Mississippi were moved into Indian Territory.
During the Civil War the Five Civilized Tribes were much divided. Some had brought slaves from the Southeast, and many fought for the Confederacy. Stand Watie, a Cherokee, became a Confederate brigadier general. Other large factions supported the Union.
Land Runs
Although Indian Territory was closed by law to white settlers, many white persons were actually there legitimately—as government agents, licensed traders, missionaries, teachers, and so on. The Panhandle, a strip of public lands belonging to no state or territory, became a refuge for outlaws and was called No Man's Land. It was used by cattlemen, who also leased grazing rights from Indians in the western part of the territory. Farmers from Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas who demanded the right to settle on unoccupied lands became known as boomers.
In the center of the territory a tract of 1,920,000 acres (777,000 hectares) had never been assigned to any Indian tribe. These unassigned lands, called the Oklahoma District, were opened to settlement on April 22, 1889. It was estimated that at least 20,000, and perhaps as many as 60,000, boomers were waiting at the border when the trumpet signal was given to start the run. Some managed to enter the tract and stake their claims before the signal; they were called “sooners," giving the state its nickname. Guthrie, Norman, and Oklahoma City became large towns in the period of one day.
The next year the settled tract and the Panhandle were organized as Oklahoma Territory, with Guthrie as capital. As other tracts were opened to settlement, they were added to Oklahoma Territory.
Additional portions of the western lands were bought from the Indians by the United States and opened by land runs in 1891, 1892, 1893, and 1895. (The most spectacular was that of 1893, when about 100,000 people sought land in the Cherokee Strip, or Cherokee Outlet, the largest tract opened at one time.) The remaining portion of the western Indian land and the southwestern corner of the present state, claimed by Texas until an 1896 court decision, were distributed to settlers by lottery in 1901 and by auction sale in 1906. Indian Territory was reduced to the holdings of the Five Civilized Tribes and other Eastern Indians, who were granted United States citizenship in 1901.
In 1907 the two territories—Oklahoma Territory in the west and Indian Territory in the east—united and were admitted to the Union as the 46th state, November 16, 1907. Oklahoma City replaced Guthrie as the capital in 1910.
Oil and Dust
Oklahoma's first oil well was a small one drilled in 1889 in the northeast, near Chelsea. The first large oil field discovered was the Glenn Pool in 1905. Other major discoveries were the Cushing field in 1912, the Osage County field in 1920, and the Oklahoma City field in 1928. The Osage Indians as a tribe became immensely wealthy from their oil wells, as did many individuals and the state itself.
The oil wealth gave no solace to tenant farmers, however, when northwest Oklahoma became part of the Dust Bowl that developed in the 1930's. Several years of drought parched the fields and blanketed the state with drifting dust. Farms were abandoned by the thousands, and “Okies” became a term meaning destitute migrants seeking a livelihood in the West.
Mid-20th Century
The return of normal rainfall and the heavy demand for food during World War II helped to revive agriculture The war also increased the demand for petroleum products and helped to build up a great industry based on oil. In 1959 a helium-extraction plant was opened at Keyes. Several dam-reservoir projects were begun before the war. The Grand River, or Pensacola, Dam was completed in 1941; the Denison Dam on the Red River in 1944. Many more were constructed in the postwar period.
Work on the Arkansas River Navigation System, an inland waterway system providing barge transportation from Tulsa to the Gulf of Mexico, was completed in 1971. Major Oklahoma dams that are part of this project are Eufaula, on the Canadian River; Oologah, on the Verdigris; and Robert S. Kerr, on the Arkansas. The project brought many benefits to northeastern Oklahoma, including increased hydroelectric power and recreational facilities.
Political scandals rocked the state in the 1970's and 1980's. Several high-ranking state and local officials, including Governor David Hall, were convicted of crimes. In the 1980's, the economy suffered from a recession in the oil industry and depressed farm prices. By the early 1990's, the economy had stabilized, with less dependence on agricultural and oil production. In 1995 right-wing extremists bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 persons.