NW Okie's Corner & Oklahoma's Story

Bayfield, Colorado - Just for the record, we have given our beloved Duchess of Weaselskin a few days, weeks off. That is why you do not see her column, Duchess of Weaselskin. We found an Oklahoma history book on Google books titled, The Oklahoma Red Book, which comes in two volumes that I know of right now.

According to the book, The Oklahoma Red Book, Vol. 1, Oklahoma and Indian Territory were originally a portion of that part of the Mississippi Valley, known as the Louisiana Territory. It was the Spanish, French and English who claimed the land, but in 1762 the territory was all ceded to Spain. The trouble arose between Spain and the United States about the navigation of the lower Mississippi and the US sought to buy a portion of Louisiana. Before the matter was closed, Napoleon of France secured the cession of the province to his country in 1800.

Monroe and Livingston (sent by President Thomas Jefferson) perfected the agreement by which the territory became a portion of the US domain for the sum of $15,000,000.

When a military post was established at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1817, a permanent civilization made its first appearance on the borders of Oklahoma, which followed the establishing of Fort Gibson near where the Grand or Neosho river empties into the Arkansas.

The Cherokees (with members of other tribes of the southern states) were dissatisfied with the encroachment of the whites on the east side of the Mississippi.

The name "Oklahoma" was made a household word by the work, efforts of David L. Payne to obtain its opening to settlement. Captain pain had a checkered career as soldier, legislator, scout, government employee and homesteader. He fawn Oklahoma when campaigning with Custer against the Cheyennes in 1868. It was during the next ten years that he became assistant doorkeeper of the House of Representatives at Washington, DC. ON his returning west he inaugurated his movement for the organization of a colony of settlers to force entry on the forbidden land. In the late 1800, pain made his first attempt, which he was arrested but never tried. Payne made is let attempt in the Summer of 1884, but was escorted back to the border by the troops.Later that fall he died suddenly at Wellington, Kansas.

It was on March 3rd, 1889, that President Cleveland signed the bill that authorized the opening of Oklahoma and "No Man's Land" to entry by homesteaders. Pursuant to this President Harrison made his first official proclamation and named twelve o'clock high noon, April 22nd, as the instant on which these lands should be ready for entry. Guthrie, a station on the Santa Fe railroad, was designated as the general Land office.

At the appointed time, settlers raced into the promised land from Kansas, Chickasaw Nation, and the Pottawomie, Kickapoo, Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservations. An organic act was passed by Congress providing for a territorial government. Seven counties were named and described. It was under this provisions of the organic act that a full complement of officers were provided for and President Harrison appointed George W. Steele as governor. Governor assumed the office May 22nd at Guthrie, the provisional capital.

All primary arrangements having been complied with, the Territory of Oklahoma was created by Congress on June 6, 1890, and this organization was maintained until 10 o'clock A.M., November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma became a state.



Good Day and Good Luck searching your ancestry and history! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History (June 6 & 13)

Let us take you back to this day in history with two dates in June. The first date is June 6, 1944 (67 years ago) when the D-Day invasion of Europe took place during World War II as Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. The headlines read that day: Hitler's Sea Wall Is Breached, Invaders Fighting Way Inland; New Allied Landings Are Made."

The Normandy Invasion began at twilight and for the 4th time during the day Allied heavy bomber attacked rail communications and bridges in the general battle area. There was also increased air opposition.

The article goes on to state, "Thousands of American, Canadian and British soldiers, under cover of the greatest air and sea bombardment of history, have broken through the impregnable perimeter of Germany's European fortress in the first phase of the invasion and liberation of the Continent."

On this Date (June 13)

• 1900 - China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted.
• On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Miranda vs. Arizona decision, ruling that criminal suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights prior to questioning by police. Read Article HERE.
• 1971 - The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers, a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.
• 1981 - A teen-ager fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II during a parade in London.
• 1983 - The U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system as it crossed the orbit of Neptune.
• 1994 - A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blamed recklessness by Exxon Corp. and Capt. Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the nation's worst oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
• 1996 - An 81-day standoff ended as 16 members of the anti-government Freemen group surrendered to the FBI and left their Montana ranch.
• 1997 - A jury voted unanimously to give Timothy McVeigh the death penalty for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Jydsk Telefon Adtieselskab

[The photo on the left is a photo that David acquired at a garage sale for $20. It did not have the gold logo with the Swedish flags, but only has the words, "Jydsk Telefon Adtieselskab.] If anyone has found any other information concerning this old antique phone, I would really love to hear from you. Does it date back to the the 1914 or 1920's.

Jutland Telephone Company (Jyllands Telefonselskaber). Many of their phones, although similar to Ericsson models, were made by Emil Mollers. Their logo is crossed Swedish flags in red and white with a gold shield.

We have not found anything substantial for dating this particular phone, but through a website, Museum of Technology, the Great War and WWII we found a similar phone dated to the 1920's, which included a logo of what seems to be crossed Swedish flags in red and white with a gold shield. It says it is a Jydsk Pillar telephone, 1920's. This model replaced the earlier skeleton style (A0031) and was probably manufactured by Telefonfeabrikker of Horsons. For Jydsk (Jutland). Telefon Aktieselskab marked on the front. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

A History of Kansas

Kansas - A History of Kansas, written by Anna Estelle Arnold, tells us that after four centuries had passed since Columbus discovered America. Kansas is a rectangle four hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide, in the center of of the United States. Kansas gradually slopes from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Its surface is cut by eastward flowing streams that lie level in the west but in the east curves into coutless hills and valleys.

In 1528a Spaniard, Narvaez, led an exploring expedition westward from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Through various misfortunes and hardships nearly all of the party perished. Cabeza de Vaca and three of his men were taken prisoners by the Indians and held in captivity nearly 6 years before making their excape. They fled westward in an adventurous journey of nearly two years reached a Spanish settlement near the western coast of New Spain (New Mexico). The exact route followed by Cabeza deVaca and his companions was never really known, but his accounts of their wanderings were largely the cause of the expedition of Coronado, the first white man known with certainty to have traveled across what is now Kansas. The Spanish explorers were in search for wealth. Cortez said to the Inidans, "We Spaniards are troubled with a disease of the heart for which we find gold, and gold only, a specific remedy."

There was a great preparation made for an expedition of an army of 300 hundred Spaniards and eight hundred friendly Indians who were gathered and placed under the command of Coronado. In the Spring of 1540 the long march into unexplored country began. After months of travel in a northerly and northeasterly direction, Coronado and his army reached the province of Cibola (probably in western part of New Mexico) and the "Seven Cities" proved to be ordinary adobe Indian villages.

The Indians were anxious to get rid of their unwelcome visitors, persuaded a "Quivira" Indian, whom they held as a prisoner, to tell the Spaniards tales of the wonderful land of Quivira in order to lead them off into the wilderness where they would die from lack of food and water. Coronado and his men listened to this Indian (called "Turk") and followed him as a guide for many days. Turk led them steadily toward the east and after a time they became convinced that they were being deceived and made him confess that "Quivira" was far to the northward. Because of Coronado and his men's being misled by Turk's stories, the Spaniard's put Turk to death. Coronado went back the main body of the army composed of footmen, while 30 horsemen started in a northward journey.

As nearly as can be learned, Coronado and his men entered Kansas abbot where Clark County now is, and went on northward, crossing the Arkansas River at or near the site of Dodge City. From this point they followed the river to Great Bend, and then continued in a northeasterly direction to the vicinity of Junction City. At the end of their journey they set up a cross bearing the inscription: "Francisco VAsqueth de Coronado, commander of the expedition, arrived at this place."

After all this weary journey they had reached Quivira and found it to be merely the home of a tribe of Indians, the Quiviras, later known as the Pawnees. Coronado wrote in a letter to the King of Spain:

• "The country itself is the best I have ever seen for producing all of the fruits of Spain, for, besides the land itself being very fat and black, and being very well watered by rivulets, springs, and rivers, I found prunes like those in Spain and nuts and very good sweet grapes and mulberries. I remained twenty-five days in this province of Quivira, both to see and explore the country, and to find out whether there was anything beyond which could be of service to your Majesty, because the guides who had brought me had given me an account other provinces beyond this. And what I am sure of is that there is not any gold or any other metal in all that country, and the other things of which they told me are noting but little villages, and in many of these they do not plant anything, and do not have any houses, except of skins and sticks, and they wander around with the cows. So that the account they gave me was false, because they wanted to get me to go there with the whole force, believing that as the way was through such uninhabitable deserts, and from lack of water they would get us where our horses and we would die of thirst. And the guides confessed this, and they said they did it by the advice of the natives of these provinces." [Taken from the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.]
  
  The following book, Don Coronado Through Kansas, 1541 then known as Quivira. A story of the Kansas, Osage, and the Pawnee Indians. Kansas Chief WAH-SHUN-GAH. By permission of George B. Cornish. ARkansas City, Kansas, this is published. Taken in 1908. The Pilgrims landed 79 years after Don Coronado went through Kansas. This book's dedication read: "In behalf of the millions of Foreigh born citizens, this work is dedicated to our dear old uncle sam, who gave us homes, liberty and prosperity, and for whom we will lay down our lives. And to our beloved State of Kansas, God bless her, and keep her the most Progressive State in these United States of America.
  
  View/Write Comments (count 1)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

  ---

  The Fair Valley Story

  Fair Valley, Oklahoma - Let us take you back this week to The Fair Valley Story, which was submitted to the OkieLegacy on a Thursday, 6 November 1997, compiled and written in 1997 by Wilma (Benson)Terrill, Alva, Oklahoma.
  
  The Fair Valley Story
  The beginning of Fair Valley dates back to 1893, when the country was wide open prairie. Only cow camps were located here and there, and the longhorns roamed the range. The first settlers were Mr. Gerloff and Henry & Frank Clifton and Marion Clothier.
  
  In their first attempt to come, they came to the state line and left their wagons and proceeded on horseback, but the first night they decided to go back and later in the fall they came again and stayed a month, hunted deer, quail and prairie chicken. They hunted south to the sand hills and west to Fort Supply, where they saw many Indians.
  
  They went back to Reno and Stafford Counties in Kansas, but came again in the Winter and filed on their claims. Mr. Gerloff filed on the land where Lynton Gerloff lives. Mr. Clifton filed on the land to the east and south, (the Clifton land is now owned by Lynton Gerloff). Mr. Clothier filed on Anderson Creek. They moved their families to Oklahoma in 1894.
  
  Mr. Clothier's first home was a big tent, followed by a log cabin and dugout, and later a frame house. The lumber for their home was hauled from a mill near Waynoka. Mr. Clothier started the Fair Valley Post Office in the log house in 1896. He had to promise to carry the mail one year free from the Whitehorse Post Office. Whitehorse was northeast of the present Whitehorse (or Teagarden). He carried the mail on horseback.
  
  Bunk Snapp told of his mail box which was a big rock by the side of the road. Mr. Clothier would put his mail under the rock. Bunk came to his homestead in 1895. His daughter (Helen) and grandson (Jim London) still own the land. Jim London, his wife (Deb) and two children (Levi and Randus) live on the home place. It was on the Snapp land that the White Cloud School stood.
  
  Mr. Dave Arndt who lived north of Whitehorse, said he remembered seeing Mr. Clothier going by his place with the mail. Mr. Livingston was the last carrier before the post office was moved to the railroad. He was the father of Arda Earnest.
  
  The country was beginning to settle quite thickly and the post office was moved to George All's in 1898. Mr. All lived at the Big Spring and had a grocery store in a dugout, but later built a two story rock and lumber house and had quite a store. Mr. Clothier had named the post office Fairvalley and while the post office had been discontinued, Fairvalley was known far and near.
  
  Mr. All sold to Mr. Eden, who lived south of Fairvalley. The All family have gone from the area. Mr. and Mrs. Eden raised a fine family of four -- the girls (school teachers) and the boys (Rudy and Ott) were farmers and ranchmen. The girls, Anna Wardell, Clara Knox, Emma Crouse and Lena Rockhold all lived in Alva.
  
  Mr. Hoyle lived north of Mr. All and also had a grocery store and a well of good water. Many hauled water for miles from this well or the Big Spring. What a contrast from the water barrels to now, turn a faucet and have plenty of water.
  
  Mr. and Mrs. Hoyle came from Illinois, most of their children were married. Their oldest daughter (May) and her husband, Herman Devine, had a fine family. Lewis Devine married Lillian Gerloff and they resided on the homestead of Mr. Stockwell. The girls, Ethel Schafer and Loretta Tregalis and a son John lived in Alva. Glen lived in Waynoka and Henry on the homestead.
  
  A son of Sam Hoyle also had a claim. his son (Will) lived near Dacoma. Louisa and John Icke lived just west of the Hoyles and a picture of their dugout and family was in the Woods County News at one time. Louisa often had men for dinner that helped pull broom corn. On the stove would be a big pan of pie mellon butter.
  
  Hattie married Joe Love and sold to Mr. Clothier. Hattie lived near Dacoma. Mr. and Mrs. Icke came with the Hoyles and settled on Anderson Creek. Mrs. Icke and Mrs. Hoyle were sisters. One of the Icke family, Rosa Jones, lived in Missouri.
  
  Then there was Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bickford. Joe was a carpenter and was kept very busy. Sometimes he would be gone two weeks at a time. Auntie Bick (nickname for Mrs. Bickford) helped the little boys with the farming and kept the home fires burning. The boys were fine men. Carl lived on the homestead. Cecil and Otis lived in Freedom and Lester (a minister) in Arkansas.
  
  To the north you would find the Morelands. Another good family. One daughter (Laura who married Will Murray) resided on the homestead and also owned her father's homestead. Three boys (Archie, Sam and Floyd) resided in Freedom, Fern resided in Alva and Ina was in Colorado.
  
  Mr. and Mrs. Melton lived on their claim until the children were grown and began to scatter and go on their own. May, Hattie, and Julia in Colorado. All the boys lived in Colorado except Henry who lived in Alva. They all come back to visit. Mr. and Mrs. Melton lived to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
  
  Wiley Shorter, with his good wife, both proved up claims; also Millie Newell, a sister of Mr. Shorter.
  
  On up the creek was the Culvers. They too scattered, Jim to Alva, Clarence and Jennie operated Jennie's Grill at Camp Houston. The Graves family lived east of Fairvalley. Boyd lived in Alva and Myrtle, who married Carl Bickford lived on the Bickford homestead. A sister lived in California and Floyd in Colorado. The homestead is still owned by some of the children.
  
  Jimmie Morris' homestead is still owned by the girls who live in Arkansas. Mr. Wheat and sons had claims north and east. The grandchildren are all that are left. Lois Davidson lived in Alva. Their place is owned by Coy Phillips.
  
  Mart Benson was an old timer who worked for Wiley Cowan and followed the trail a long time. At one time he wintered on Anderson Creek, then he homesteaded where Iva and Virgil Murrow lived. Mary (the widow of Ralph Benson) lived in Alva. Young Mart lives in Alva, also.
  
  South to the sand hills lived Mr. and Mrs. Badger. Mrs. Badger passed away in 1903. The family did not stay long. Mr. Badger was a musician and lived in Alva. The son (Harry) lived in Denver and Ethel lived in California. Down on Red Horse Creek you would find Mr. Pine (a brother of Mrs. Miles). He too had a grocery store. The trail to the Red Horse crossing on the river led by his place. They moved to idaho.
  
  Mr. Cooper had a claim and when he passed on Mrs. Cooper proved up the 40 acres and sold to Mr. Miles. The boy (Claude) lived in California. Mr. and Mrs. Knox filed on Wild Cat and later bought the Muchler and the Dora Elder place. The land now belongs to Coy Phillips. The family consisted of Charlie of Orange, Texas; John of Kansas; and Clarence of Freedom. The Earnest lived on the place now owned by a grandson (Gene Earnest) whose son (Gary Earnest) lives there now. The daughter (Lena Selman) lived in Woodward and Elbert in Missouri.
  
  Ed Buckland was an early day settler. The homestead is still owned by Mrs. Buckland. Josie as everyone called her, lived in Waynoka. Two sons are still close to Waynoka and Vera lived in Alva.
  
  The Schoonmaker place belonged to Lloyd Rockhold. The Cornish family have all passed on. The grandchildren are left to represent a good family -- Percy in Houston, Texas; Gene in Enid, Oklahoma and Albert in Texas. Mart Fulton worked on the range and homesteaded where his son Mart lived. Mart followed his father's footsteps and was one of the leading cowhands in this area.
  
  Lige Gaskill lived on upper Red Horse. Lige at one time was a saddle maker but decided the range was better. Mrs. Gaskill lived in Oklahoma City, a son (Ed) had the ranch and another son (Lytle) lived in Illinois.
  
  Down the creek lived Alpha Updegraff and family. They lived on a piece of Margaret Armstrong's place. Mr. Updegraff represented Woods County in the State Senate two terms. Alpha was a great man. He lived in western Kansas where the buffalo roamed then he worked for Major Drummas as foreman. He had a homestead near Carmen. He liked the longhorns better than farming. Aunt Mate Updegraff had a claim and at one time they had a good General Store at Fairvalley. Alpha also had a brother-in-law, Nick Roberts. Nick was quite a sport. He didn't like work but loved race horses. He went back to Illinois.
  
  Mr. and Mrs. McCammon came in 1904. He was a shoemaker and also a good carpenter. Willard and Wilford were the first boy twins to represent Fairvalley. The Vincents had a fine family. Ray married Goldie Clothier and lived in Alva . John in Lakin, Kansas. Mrs. Clothier lived with Goldie. Virgil Russell and his wife Helen live south of Fairvalley. They represent his father (Rev. Russell) who lived at Cement, Oklahoma. To the East Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Piper had quite an acreage and a lovely home which is now owned by their son and his wife, English and Marceline Piper. Price Fulton was a barber and at the end of five years he moved to Alva. His daughter, Mrs. Margaret Julian lived in Alva.
  
  When you think back to how these families came to these wide open spaces with their belongings, how they left their footprints in the sands of time, you should think of the three first families, the Clothiers, the Cliftons and the Gerloffs. Their first thought was a home, then a school and the church.
  
  The first school was in a dugout on the banks of Red Horse Creek in 1898. Leta Sniggs of Alva was the first teacher. Her term was finished by Malcom Keith and then Iva Temple the next year.
  
  By this time the country was well settled and a new school house built. F. A. Hayes was the teacher with an enrollment of forty pupils. In 1947 this school was destroyed by a tornado and was not rebuilt. There were five students. Four of the students (John Devine, Naoma Devine, Walter Lee Hill and Hugh Leon Martin) were bussed to Freedom. One of the students, Lena Faye Bickford, who had been attending Farry for quite some time was transferred to Farry.
  
  Jesse Clifton who lived in Enid wrote of the early days. "Sometimes strangers would stop for a meal, who they were they never knew. The Cliftons asked no questions and the strangers told nothing. Mrs. Clifton always fixed a good meal." Jesse's only comment was that he always had o run a chicken down. When the strangers left there was always a $20.00 gold piece for Mrs. Clifton.
  
  On a bright sunny morning on Sunday as you neared the school house, which was used as a church, you would see Mr. Clothier with his family in a wagon going to Sunday School and Church. Approaching the school house you would see people coming from all directions, some horse back and some a foot. Mr. Clothier was agood speaker and preached many sermons in different localities.
  
  Many early settlers just stayed the alloted time which is true of all new settlements. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison sold to Joe Bickford. There were the Selby, Cains, Ryans in the Miles domain. The Mapes, Mocks, Muchlers, Bairds, Fairies, Downs, Thomas, Rupes, Guys, Brysons, McCorkles, Stevens and Wardells. Mr. Cooley at the mouth of Anderson creek and before Mr. Cooley there was Mr. Gray that raised sheep. The Longs were where Freedom now stands. They were followed by the Downs. Mr. Carson also had a claim. Mr. Haines sold and went to Kansas. Mr. Farris also lived in this vicinity and farmed. Lee Fairies was there in the year 1912. Lee last lived in eastern Kansas.
  
  There was also a Mr. and Mrs. Ritchey, a couple called Aunt Pete and Uncle Pete. Of the Gays, Lizzie lived in Arkansas. Joe Wadkins helped at the Fairvalley store a long time. Jim Morris came in 1901. Charley Morris' people came in 1910.
  
  In 1919 a new era was ushered in. The ribbons of steel of the Buffalo Northwestern Railway were laid up the broad valley of the Cimarron. After the rails had passed New Fairvalley the town began to prosper. New buildings were erected. There was a store, post office, school, garage, elevator, depot and section house. The railroad employed many men. There was also live stock loading pens for shipping cattle.
  
  The last family to live at Fairvalley were Donald J. Terrill, his wife (Wilma) and daughter (Carol Ann). In 1955 the AT&SF Railroad decided to tear down the bunk house and the Terrill family was forced to move. Donald J. was an employee of the AT&SF Railroad and the family lived in the bunkhouse. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

  ---

  Captain Nathan Boone's Journal

  Oklahoma - Wes Devine thought this may be of interest to some concerning Captain Nathan Boone's Journal. Wes found the following link over at Chronicles of Oklahoma. This Web site tells of some of Nathanial Boone's exploration of Oklahoma and Kansas in 1941. He later completed another trip in 1943. He traveled through Northwest Oklahoma and camped along the Canadian River.
  
  Nathan Boone was the youngest child of DAniel Boone. It was in 1796 that Daniel Boone moved his family westward into the present borders of Missouri. NAthan was commissioned a captain of a company of Missouri volunteers by President Madison during the War of 1812.
  
  Nathan Boone was elected delegate tot he state constitutional convention when Missouri was admitted to statehood in the union in 1820. Nathan soon afterwards returned to active military life as a captain in the 1st Regiment of the United States Dragoons.
  
  Nathan Boone spent much of his time afterwards on the border of Missouri and in the Indian country during that time. Nathan's journal describes his first contact with present day Oklahoma, when Fort Wayne was established in 1838, on Spavinaw Creek in Eastern Oklahoma. Nathan was the first commander and he retired with the rank of Lieutenant-colonel after spending 20 years in the service of the Dragoons. Nathan Boone died in 1857 at his Missouri farm where he had the first stone house ever built in that state. Click the link above to read more of Nathan Boone's Journal. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

  ---

  WWI Underground

  Have you read anything about the Battle of Messines in 1917 where 455 tons of explosive place in 21 tunnels had taken more than a year to prepare created a huge explosion that killed an estimated 10,000 Germans?
  
  The tunneling was done by professional miners, sent from the collieries of Britain to the Western Front. It happened at La Boisselle in 1915-16 and was a classic example of mining and counter-mining, with both sides struggling desperately to locate and destroy each other's tunnels. It was on 22 November 1915, when a German mine exploded, which in turn detonated a british charge of 5900lb.
  
  La Boisselle stood on the main axis of the attack of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, when the British launched this bloody battle.
  
  Timeline of Events:
  La Boisselle: A Village Under Siege
  

  • 28 Sep 1914 - German advance on Amiens halted by French forces. Fierce fighting over the cemetery and farm buildings
  • Dec 1914 - French begin mining to retake the farm. Intense struggle above and below ground
  • Aug 1915 - British take over the sector from the French with tunnels now at a depth of 40ft (12m)
  • 1 July 1916 - British launch disastrous Battle of Somme with village on main axis of attack. Two huge mines - Y Sap and Lochnagar - create massive craters, one 270ft (82m) wide by 70ft (21m) deep
  • 4 July 1916 - British capture village after further heavy fighting
  • March 1918 - German troops overrun trenches in the village during Operation Michael, part of the huge Kaiserschlacht offensive
  • Aug 1918 - Welsh troops liberate La Boisselle
  
  READ MORE at BBC News - WWI Underground: Unearthing the Hidden Tunnel War. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

  ---

  Oklahoma's Little Dixie

  Oklahoma - According to the Chronicles of Oklahoma and the Historical Society, a portion of Oklahoma in southeastern Oklahoma, was known by many as "Little Dixie" because of its close social, cultural and political connections to the American South. This Third Congressional District first elected Carl Albert to Congress in 1946 and composes the heart of the Little Dixie region. Little Dixie became known as a Democratic Stronghold.
  
  This district is made up of Atoka, Bryan, CArter, Choctaw, Johnston, Latimer, LeFlore, Love, McCurtain, Marshall, Murray, Pittsburg and Pushmataha counties. Redistricting in 1966 added Coal, Cotton, Garvin, Haskell, Hughes, Jefferson, Pontotoc, Seminole and Stephens counties to the Third District. These nine are considered the outlying counties of Little Dixie.
  
  The Oklahoma Historical Society states that the character of the region began to emerge in the mid-1830's with the arrival of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in southeastern Oklahoma (known as Indian Territory). View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

  ---