Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

Frederic Remington’s The Stampede. Cowboying was not the glamorous profession depicted in the movies. The hours were long and hard, and the work was dangerous. A hard fall, especially
during a stampede, or “stompedes” as the cowboys called them, usually resulted in serious injury or death. Many stampedes were caused by the spring storms that periodically swept over the
plains; however, according to old-time drovers, lightning killed more cowboys. During electrical storms many cowboys would throw away their knives, spurs, or anything else made of metal in
the belief that the items attracted lightning. Others put beeswax inside their hats in the belief that the beeswax would not conduct electricity.
COURTESY OF THE GILCREASE MUSEUM.
William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, Oklahoma’s
most colorful political leader, chaired the
Constitutional Convention that produced a
populist state constitution that was the
longest in the nation. The people of
Oklahoma and Indian territories approved
the constitution and elected Oklahoma’s
first statewide officials. Charles Haskell was
elected the first governor and Kate Barnard
was elected Commissioner of Charities and
Corrections. She was the first woman elected
to statewide office in the nation.
A mock wedding between an American
Indian maiden and a gentleman symbolized
the combining of the two territories. The
dream of statehood became a reality on
November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma became
the forty-sixth state of the Union.
O K L A H O M A : A S t o r y T h r o u g h H e r P e o p l e
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