Ordering the elements: An environmental history of west central Oklahoma, 1889-1914

This study, an environmental history of west-central Oklahoma between the first land run in 1889 and World War I, explores the dramatic transformation of a mixed grass prairie to an industrial-agricultural landscape. Unlike more traditional agricultural histories that focus on technological changes or market influences, this study considers how the ecology of the region and the cultural practices of different peoples responded to one another and formed a framework for agriculture far into the future.; The ecology of west-central Oklahoma, including numerous Indian peoples, traders and cattle drovers, variously limited and supported the efforts of farmers after 1889.{09}The seeds of success or failure for different agricultural strategies in the period leading up to World War I in Oklahoma were planted long before the first land runs. The different expectations and experiences of Euro-Americans, African Americans and Kiowa Indian in negotiating with the Oklahoma landscape after 1889, and the ecological consequences of their different settlement patterns, are the core of this study.; In addition, these different groups constantly interacted. The story of Oklahoma settlement cannot be told without an exploration of the perceived notions each group held of one another and how those perceptions were translated into daily social behavior, economic networks and legal boundaries. The influence of the USDA's Experiment Station and Extension Service and its focus on scientific agriculture and mechanization is also considered in this context. The historically unique combinations of culture, ecology and economics best explains the degree that by 1914 Kiowa, African American and Euro-American farmers achieved their goals.