OKLAHOMA 



4359 



OKLAHOMA 



inhabitants is decreasing as a result of the con- 

 stant immigration of whites from other states. 

 Among the whites of foreign birth, the Germans 

 are most numerous. In 1916 Oklahoma had the 

 largest number of Indians of any of the states ; 

 they totaled 118,996. Only about one-fourth 

 of these are of full blood; a large proportion 

 are one-half or more white, and the Creeks and 

 some other tribes have some negro blood. The 

 Kiowa and Comanche Indians are the only 

 tribes native to the state. Less than two-fifths 

 of the total population are church members. 

 Of these the Methodists are .most numerous, 

 followed by the Baptists, in almost equal num- 

 bers; next in order are Roman Catholics. I). - 

 ciples of Christ, Presbyterians and Episc 

 lians, ranking in the order named. 



Three years after the state was admitted to 

 the Union there were eight cities having over 

 10,000 inhabitants ; namely, Oklahoma City, the 

 capital; Muskogee, Tulsa, Enid, McAlester, 

 Shawnee, Guthrie and Chickasha. 



Education. Oklahoma's educational system 

 is administered by a superintendent of public 

 instruction and a state board of education. 

 Public education is supported by taxation and 

 a state school fund. Industrial subjects, in- 

 cluding agriculture, stock raising and domestic 

 science, are taught in the public schools. There 

 are high schools in all counties having 6,000 or 

 more inhabitants and in all towns and cities. 

 Separate schools with equal advantages are 

 maintained for the negroes. The education of 

 the Indians, which was formerly in the hands 

 of tin- civilized tribes and missionaries, is now 

 included in the state system. There are a num- 

 ber of academic institutions for Indians which 

 preparation for the Eastern colleges. 

 - is a compulsory education law, and about 

 four-fifths of tin- total population of school age 

 is enroled in schools. The illiteracy, averaging 

 5.6 per cent, is less than that of any of the 

 southern or other south-central states. 



The state maintains normal schools at Ed- 

 mond, Alva, Weatherford, Ada, Tahlequah and 



Durant, and many institutions of higher educa- 

 tion, including the state university at Norman; 

 a school of mines and metallurgy at Wilburton ; 

 a woman's college at Chickasha ; an agricultural 

 and normal university for the colored at Langs- 

 ton; Kingfisher College at Kingfisher, and 

 Henry Kendall College at Tulsa. The state 

 board of agriculture controls the agricultural 



ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, STATE 

 UNIVERSITY 



and mechanical college at Stillwater, and the 

 district agricultural colleges at Goodwell, 

 Broken Arrow, Tishomingo, Warner, Helena 

 and Lawton. The Methodist University at 

 Guthrie and the Christian University at Enid 

 are the most prominent denominational schools 

 of the state. 



There is a state department for the adminis- 

 tration of institutions of charity and correction. 

 These include a state h^^ie at Pryor; schools 

 for the blind at Muskogee and Fort Gibson; 

 an institution for the feeble-minded at Enid; 

 a school for the deaf at Sulphur; a sanitarium 

 at Norman ; an industrial school for the colored 

 deaf, blind and orphaned and a Confederate 

 soldiers' home at Ardmore; a reformatory at 

 Granite ; the penitentiary at McAlester. Among 

 the unusual powers of the commissioner of 

 charities and corrections is the authority to 

 appear before probate courts in behalf of 

 minors, orphans, defectives and dependents in 

 public institutions. The department also has 

 a public defender who appears in cases for 

 orphans and minors. 



Physical Features and Resources 



The Land. Oklahoma is a vast, elevated 

 plain, tilted toward the south and southeast and 

 broken by low mountains. The Oxarks of 

 southwestern Missouri extend irfto the north- 

 east section of the state, forming a wooded 

 table-land, carved by the deep valleys of streams 

 but having no high peaks. Along the eastern 

 border, long, narrow, heavily-timbered ridges 



rise from the prairies. The Arbucklc Moun- 

 tains, a region of beautiful woods and streams, 

 rises 600 or 700 feet above the surrounding 

 country in tin- south-central part of the state, 

 and the Chautauqua Mountains break the mo- 

 notony of the grassy plains in the west-central 

 section. The Wichita Mountains, a straggling 

 range of rough granite peaks, rise abruptly from 



