On a bitterly cold night in November of 1868, more than one hundred Indians lie in tangled heaps of death across a frozen battlefield. One could not discriminate between the dead men, women, and children that lie on the plains; the white man’s army cared not for such things. This is the story of the Washita […]
A History of Woolaroc: Frank Phillips’s Ranch on the Range
Woolaroc Ranch was a haven not only for Frank Phillips but also for bandits, outlaws, and other breeds of notorious criminals. Though it has since become something very different, at one time, the Woolaroc Ranch was a thriving retreat for those famous enough to get invited. Over the 25 years that Frank Phillips lived here, […]
Engaging Life: A personal narrative of hope and change
Within everyone, there is a wild, untamed soul. It threatens to burst free of the confines that our bodies place on it. It hammers away in our minds. It infiltrates all that we do, constantly yearning for that moment when those binding chains shatter. Without it, we would be as a foreign desert. Our lives […]
Oklahoma Treasure: The Miners Loot at Black Dog Trail Crossing
“Boys I believe I have found a gold mine!” All it took was these simple words to set in motion a global cascade of events that forever changed the American West. It was in 1848 when an obscure New Jersey carpenter and mechanic named James W. Marshall uttered these words. By 1849, gold passion was […]
Talimena Scenic Drive
About The Talimena Scenic Drive Winding through eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, the Talimena Scenic Drive is one of the most beautiful road trips one can take through Oklahoma. The Talimena Scenic Drive stretches over fifty-four miles and passes along the tops of the Ouachita (pronounced wash-i-ta), Winding Stair, and Rich Mountains. There are many various overlooks […]
Judge Isaac Parker: The Hanging Judge of Indian Territory
Post-Civil War Lawlessness He was only one man, but this one man wielded his power like a razor-sharp sword. It had been ten years since the end of the American Civil War. Ten years for lawlessness to spread across Indian Territory like an inferno. The territory had been set aside in 1834 as a refuge […]
A Writers Ramblings: About Urbane Chaos
The Dawn of Realization It was just another hot and sultry Sunday. The soft creaking of the Brazilian hammock nearly lulled me to sleep as I idly leafed through an old copy of The Old Man and the Sea. I could almost feel myself on the small boat as the marlin pulled me across the […]
Unusual Tulsa Restaurants – 5 Outlandish Places to Eat
Odd Restaurants While Tulsa has some of the most outstanding restaurants in the state, there are none more unusual than the five Tulsa restaurants listed below. These unusual restaurants range from the whimsical to the magical, from Old Mexico to Asia, and across space and time. If you’re looking for some unusual restaurants to eat […]
Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park in Foyil, Oklahoma
A Tribute to Native America Ed Galloway was an unusual man. Then again, anyone who spent 11 years constructing a 90-foot-tall totem pole would be considered slightly unusual. Not only did he construct such a massive totem pole, but he also created other equally bizarre sculptures of a lesser magnitude. An Indian arrowhead juts up […]
The Submarine Killer: USS Batfish in Muskogee, Oklahoma
U.S.S. Batfish: January 19, 1944 The submarine rode in the water like a mechanical bull, creaking and groaning as she made her way across the southern Pacific. It had been two years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when the U.S.S. Batfish began her first war patrol. Heavy seas and malfunctions plagued the sub during the […]