Route 66

BETWEEN LOS ANGELES AND CHICAGO

The romance of Route 66 continues to captivate people around the world. Running between Chicago and Los Angeles, “over two thousand miles all the way” in the words of the popular R&B anthem, this legendary old road passes through the heart of the United States on a diagonal trip that takes in some of the country’s most archetypal roadside scenes. If you’re looking for great displays of neon signs, rusty middle-of-nowhere truck stops, or kitschy Americana, do as the song says and “get your kicks on Route 66.”  But perhaps the most compelling reason to follow Route 66 is to experience the road’s ingrained time line of contemporary America. Before it was called Route 66, and long before it was even paved in 1926, this corridor was traversed by the National Old Trails Highway, one of the country’s first transcontinental highways. For three decades before and after World War II, Route 66 earned the title “Main Street of America” because it wound through small towns across the Midwest and Southwest, lined by hundreds of cafés, motels, gas stations, and tourist attractions. During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of farm families, displaced from the Dust Bowl, made their way west along Route 66 to California, following what John Steinbeck called “The Mother Road” in his vivid portrait, The Grapes of Wrath. After World War II, many thousands more expressed their upward mobility by leaving the industrial East, bound for good jobs in the suburban idyll of Southern California—again following Route 66, which came to embody the demographic shift from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt.  Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing gradually over the next 25 years, old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as the high-speed Interstate highways were completed. Finally, in 1984, when the last stretch of freeway was finished, Route 66 was officially decommissioned; the old route is now designated Historic Route 66.  Though it is no longer a main route across the country, Route 66 has retained its mystique in part due to the very same effective hype, hucksterism, and boosterism that animated it through its half-century heyday. It was a Route 66 sight, the marvelous Meramec Caverns, that gave the world the bumper sticker, and it was here that the American art of driving tour as first flourished. Billboards and giant statues along the highway still hawk a baffling array of roadside attractions, tempting passing travelers to swim alongside giant blue whales, to see live rattlesnakes and other wild creatures on display in roadside menageries, or to stay at “Tucumcari Tonight—2,000 Rooms.”  The same commercial know-how and shameless self-promotion has helped the towns along the old route stay alive. Diners and motels play up their Route 66 connections, and many bona fide Route 66 landmarks are kept in business by nostalgic travelers intent on experiencing a taste of this endlessly endangered American experience. That said, many quirky old motels and cafés hang on by a thread of hope, sit vacant, or survive in memory only—all for want of an Interstate exit. In fact, of all the roads covered in this book, Route 66 has perhaps been the most impacted by the modern Interstate world; for many stretches you’ll be forced to leave the old two-lane and follow the super slabs that have been built right on top of the old road.  Route 66 passes through a marvelous cross-section of American scenes, from the golden sands and sunshine of Los Angeles, past the Grand Canyon and the Native American communities of the desert Southwest, to the gritty streets of St. Louis and Chicago. Whether you are motivated by an interest in its history, feel a nostalgic yearning for the good old days the route has come to represent, or simply want to experience firsthand the amazing diversity of people and landscapes that line its path, Route 66 offers an unforgettable journey into America, then and now.http://www.roadtripusa.com/routes/route66/route66.htmlHistory of OklahomaThere is evidence—chiefly from the Spiro Mound in eastern Oklahoma, excavated in 1930—that an advanced Indian civilization inhabited the region around AD 900–1100. By the time the Spanish conquistadores, led by Hernando de Soto and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, arrived there in the 16th century, however, only a few scattered tribes remained. Two centuries later, French trappers moved up the rivers of Oklahoma.Except for the panhandle, which remained a no-man's-land until 1890, all of present-day Oklahoma became part of US territory with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Indian tribes from the southeastern US were resettled in what was then known as Indian Country. Although 4,000 Indians died along the "Trail of Tears" (from Georgia to Oklahoma) between the time of removal and the Civil War, the Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokees, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—prospered in the new land. The eastern region that they settled, comprising not quite half of modern Oklahoma and known as Indian Territory since the early 19th century (although not formally organized under that name until 1890), offered rich soil and luxurious vegetation. White settlers also came to farm the land, but their methods depleted the soil, preparing the way for the dust bowl of the 1930s. Meanwhile, the increasing movement of people and goods between Santa Fe and New Orleans spurred further growth in the region. Military posts such as Ft. Gibson, Ft. Supply, and Ft. Towson were established between 1824 and the 1880s, with settlements growing up around them.During the early Civil War period, the Five Civilized Tribes—some of whose members were slaveholders—allied with the Confederacy. After Union troops captured Ft. Gibson in 1863, the Union Army controlled one-half of Indian Territory. From the end of the Civil War to the 1880s, the federal government removed the eastern tribes from certain lands that were especially attractive to the railroads and to interested white settlers. Skirmishes between the Indians and the federal troops occurred, culminating in a massacre of Cheyenne Indians on 27 November 1868 by Colonel George Custer and his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Washita.Amid a clamor for Indian lands, Congress opened western Oklahoma—formerly reserved for the Cherokee, Cheyenne, Fox, and other tribes—to homesteaders in 1889. Present-day Oklahoma City, Norman, Guthrie, Edmond, and Stillwater represent the eastern boundary for the 1889 "run" on Oklahoma lands; eight more runs were to follow. The greatest was in 1893, when about 100,000 people stormed onto the newly opened Cherokee outlet. The drive to get a land claim was fierce, and thousands of "Sooners" staked their claims before the land was officially opened. The western region became Oklahoma Territory, governed by a territorial legislature and a federally appointed governor in 1890; Guthrie was named the capital. Most of eastern Oklahoma continued to be governed by the Five Civilized Tribes.Although an Oklahoma statehood bill was introduced in Congress as early as 1892, the Five Civilized Tribes resisted all efforts to unite Indian Territory until their attempt to form their own state was defeated in 1905. Congress passed an enabling act in June 1906, and Oklahoma became the 46th state on 16 November 1907 after a vote of the residents of both territories. Oklahoma City was named the state capital in 1910.http://www.city-data.com/states/Oklahoma-History.html

Climate of Oklahoma

Oklahoma has a continental climate with cold winters and hot summers. Normal daily mean temperatures in Oklahoma City range from 37°F (3°C) in January to 82°F (28°C) in July. The record low temperature of –27°F (–33°C) was set at Watts on 18 January 1930; the record high, 120°F (49°C), occurred at Tipton on 27 June 1994.
Dry, sunny weather generally prevails throughout the state. Precipitation varies from an average of 15 in (38 cm) annually in the panhandle to over 50 in (127 cm) in the southeast. Average annual precipitation in Oklahoma City (1971–2000) was 35.9 in (91.2 cm). Snowfall averages 9 in (23 cm) a year in Oklahoma City, which is also one of the windiest cities in the US, with an average annual wind speed of 12.3 mph (19.8 km/hr).
Oklahoma is tornado-prone. One of the most destructive windstorms was the tornado that tore through Ellis, Woods, and Woodward counties on 9 April 1947, killing 101 people and injuring 782 others.

Great Depression

       Although Oklahoma agriculture had been in the doldrums for a decade, signs of the Great Depression emerged only in 1930 as a drought hit the region. This coincided with the opening of the East Texas oil field, which created a petroleum glut and caused rapidly falling oil prices and extensive layoffs. By the end of 1930 Tulsa and Oklahoma City formed unemployment committees. The economy reached bottom in the winter of 1932 33. Joblessness probably exceeded three hundred thousand, out of an urban population of around eight hundred thousand. Rural Oklahomans, who numbered 1.5 million, saw farm income fall 64 percent in the 1930s. Tenant farmers made up more than 60 percent of the farming population.
         Prior to the New Deal, because neither a tradition nor a system of public welfare existed, local unemployment relief was scanty. Communities reluctantly met needs through charity and innovation. Will Rogers (noted humorist) gave benefit performances that raised $100,000, while the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other community fund agencies intensified their appeals. Oklahoma City accelerated public works and built a "Hooverville" community camp along the North Canadian River to provide a modestly upgraded settlement for the homeless, who had been residing in tents, shacks, and caves; Tulsa had its "Hooverville" as well. Chickasha restaurants distributed table scraps for a short time. Tulsa's plan of issuing scrip to the unemployed for redemption at a central commissary was nationally acclaimed and was echoed in Shawnee and Boise City. Despite city fathers' concern that soup lines would attract transients, Gov. William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray ordered Oklahoma City's St. Anthony Hospital to keep its soup line open. Murray also proclaimed martial law to halt farm foreclosures and to suspend oil production to boost petroleum prices.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/g/gr014.html
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/ok/es_ok_dustbowl_1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl