Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

Alfalfa County, Oklahoma
Alfalfa County Courthouse Cherokee, Oklahoma Built in 1921
Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Named for	William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray
Seat	Cherokee
Largest city	Cherokee
Area
• Total	881 sq mi (2,282 km2)
• Land	866 sq mi (2,243 km2)
• Water	15 sq mi (39 km2), 1.7%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	5,868[1]
• Density	6.5/sq mi (3/km²)
Congressional district	3rd
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5

Alfalfa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,642.^[2] The county seat is Cherokee.^[3]

Alfalfa County was formed at statehood in 1907 from Woods County. The county is named after William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, the president of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and ninth governor of Oklahoma, who was instrumental in carving out the county from the original much larger Woods county.^[4][5]

History

Early history

Indigenous peoples inhabited and hunted in this area for thousands of years. By 1750, the Osage had become a dominant tribe in the area. About one third belonged to the band led by Chief Black Dog (Manka - Chonka). Before 1800 they made the Black Dog Trail starting east of Baxter Springs, Kansas and heading southwest to their summer hunting grounds at the Great Salt Plains in present-day Alfalfa County.^[6][7] The Osage stopped at the springs for its healing properties on their way to hunting at the plains, which attracted migratory birds and varieties of wildlife. The Osage name for this fork of the Arkansas River was Nescatunga (big salt water), what European-Americans later called the Salt Fork.^[8] The Osage cleared the trail of brush and large rocks, and made ramps at the fords. Wide enough for eight men riding horses abreast, the trail was the first improved road in Kansas and Oklahoma.^[9]

Pre-statehood

The treaties of 1828 and 1835 placed what would later become Alfalfa County within the Cherokee Outlet, which was owned by the Cherokee Nation. Ranching became the primary economic activity from 1870 to 1890 as cattle companies which were part of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association leased grazing land from the Cherokee. Prominent rancher, Major Andrew Drumm operated the "U Ranch" here as early as 1870. Its headquarters were southeast of Driftwood on the Medicine Lodge and Salt Fork rivers.^[4]

The Cherokee Outlet (1885)

An Oklahoma Land Rush (1889)

Alfalfa County was originally part of the much larger Woods County, which was created in September 1893 with the opening of the Cherokee Outlet with the Cherokee Strip Land Run. Alfalfa County itself was created in 1907, as part of statehood.^[4] The county was named after William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, who served as the president of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and would later be elected as the ninth governor of Oklahoma.^[4][5][10]

Statehood years onward

The city of Cherokee, became the county seat through an election held in January 1909. Other towns receiving votes for the honor were Carmen, Ingersoll, and Jet.^[4]

Alfalfa County's population was primarily of European origins. European immigrants and their children were numerous in early 1900s. Germans from Russia (ethnic Germans who immigrated to American from Russia), many of whom were Mennonites, settled near Ingersoll, Driftwood, Cherokee, and Goltry. Early censuses also reveal a considerable number of Bohemians (also Germans). At the turn of the twenty-first century nearly 17 percent of county residents claimed German ancestry.^[4] One Mennonite church (in Goltry) remained as of 2006.^[11]

Early railroad construction, from the Choctaw Northern line (1901), the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient (1901), the Arkansas Valley and Western (1904), and the Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad Company (1904), contributed greatly to the county's early prosperity and caused many small towns to flourish. They would compete as wheat-shipping points and agribusiness centers for many years thereafter.^[4] However, by 2000 only one rail line, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, served the county.^[4]

Petroleum exploration and production has been an contributor to Alfalfa County's economy since the time of statehood. Agricultural pursuits, including wheat farming and livestock raising were major contributors to Alfalfa County's economy during the twentieth century. Small-scale agriculture in its early years made possible dozens of towns and dispersed rural communities, many of which no longer exist. Towns bypassed by rail service, such as Carroll, Carwile, Keith, and Timberlake, did not long prosper. Others, Ingersoll and Driftwood for example, remained incorporated for decades, but after the abandoning of their rail lines, saw a declining population which made it difficult to sustain educational and city services. Ingersoll (founded 1901) peaked in 1910 with 253 inhabitants and Driftwood (founded 1898) in 1930 with 71. By 1980, neither of these towns were still incorporated. Aline, Amorita, Burlington, Byron, Carmen, Cherokee, Goltry, Helena, Jet, and Lambert remained incorporated as of 2000.^[4]

Economy

The largely rural Alfalfa county's economy centers around agricultural and energy production. The county is the second largest producer of winter wheat among all the counties in Oklahoma. The USDA estimated the county's winter wheat production at 5,957,000 bushels for 2015.^[12] The USDA also listed the county as the state's seventh largest producer of sorghum in 2015, at 702,000 bushels.^[13]

Alfalfa county remains a major producer of petroleum and natural gas. In 2012, it was second (surpassed only by neighboring Woods County) in production of natural gas for Oklahoma counties, with an output of 419,606,514 Mcf (thousand cubic feet). It is also a major producer of crude oil, with total output of 3,395,396 barrels in 2012, which was fifth among Oklahoma counties.^[14][15][16]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 881 square miles (2,280 km²), of which 866 square miles (2,240 km²) is land and 15 square miles (39 km²) (1.7%) is water.^[17] The Great Salt Plains Lake, as well as the associated Great Salt Plains State Park and Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge lie within the county, approximately 12 miles east of Cherokee.^[18] The major waterways in the county are the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River and the Medicine Lodge River.^[19]

Aerial view to the northwest of the Great Salt Plains Lake Dam on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Alfalfa County, OK. The dam was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

It is part of the Red Bed plains.

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 64
• State Highway 8
• State Highway 8B
• State Highway 11
• State Highway 38
• State Highway 45
• State Highway 58^[19]

Adjacent counties

• Harper County, Kansas (northeast)
• Grant County (east)
• Garfield County (southeast)
• Major County (south)
• Woods County (west)
• Barber County, Kansas (northwest)

National protected area

• Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge

State Park

• Great Salt Plains State Park

Demographics

Age pyramid for Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, based on census 2000 data.

As of the 2010 census, Alfalfa County had a population of 5,642 people, down from 6,105 people in 2000. Most of the population (89.1%) self-identified as white. Black or African American individuals made up 4.7% of the population and Native Americans made up 2.9% of the population. Less than 1% of the population was Asian.^[2]

The median age of the population was 46 years and 18% of the county's population was under the age of 18. Individuals 65 years of age or older accounted for 20.2% of the population.^[2]

There were a total of 2,022 households and 1,333 families in the county in 2010. There were 2,763 housing units. Of the 2,022 households, 23.4 percent included children under the age of 18 and slightly more than half (56.3%) included married couples living together. Non-family households accounted for 34.1% of households. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.81.^[2]

The median income for a household in the county was $42,730, and the median income for a family was $56,444. The per capita income for the county was $24,080. About 7 percent of families and 11 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.4 percent of those age 65 or over.^[2]

Notable people born in Alfalfa county

• R. Orin Cornett (1913 – 2002) was born in Driftwood, in northern Alfalfa county, on November 14, 1913. Cornett, who earned a doctorate of physics and applied mathematics from the University of Texas in 1940, was the inventor of the communication system for the hearing impaired known as Cued Speech. He taught at Oklahoma Baptist University, Penn State, and Harvard University. He also served as a vice president at Oklahoma Baptist and as the Vice President of Long Range Planning for Gallaudet University. Cornett died on December 17, 2002, in Laurel, Maryland, at the age of 89.^[25][26]
• Beryl Clark (1917 – 2000) was born in Cherokee on October 13, 1917. Clark was a football player with the Oklahoma Sooners who was selected as a second-team halfback on the 1939 College Football All-America Team.^[27] Clark was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the 1940 NFL Draft and played for the Cardinals during the 1940 NFL season.^[28]
• Harold Keith (1903 – 1998) was born on April 8, 1903 in Lambert, Oklahoma Territory.^[29] He earned a master's degree in history from the University of Oklahoma. Keith went on to serve as the University of Oklahoma's first sports publicist from 1930 to 1969.^[30] He was awarded the 1958 Newbery Medal for his historical novel Rifles for Watie, which is based on the interviews he did for his Master's thesis.^[29] Keith was an 1987 inductee into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.^[31]

• Harold G. Kiner (1924 – 1944) was born in Aline, Oklahoma on April 14, 1924. Kiner was a private in the United States Army who is a recipient of the U. S. military's highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his heroic actions while serving in World War II.
• Wallace "Wally" Parks (1913 – 2007) was born in Goltry, Oklahoma on January 23, 1913. Parks was the chairman and president of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA, which he founded in 1951. It was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a legitimate and safe amateur and professional motorsport. In 1948, he was named editor of Hot Rod magazine, which his friend Robert Petersen had started, later becoming the editorial director of various automotive publications in the Petersen chain. Parks was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1993. Parks died September 28, 2007 at the age of 94.^[32]

Politics

Communities

NRHP sites

The following sites in Alfalfa County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Alfalfa County
• Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
• Railroads in Oklahoma in 1915 (including Alfalfa County Rail lines)

References

	Barber County, Kansas		Harper County, Kansas
	Woods County		Grant County
		Alfalfa County
	Major County		Garfield County

Municipalities and communities of Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, United States
County seat: Cherokee
City	Cherokee
Towns	Aline Amorita Burlington Byron Carmen Goltry Helena Jet Lambert
CDP	Nescatunga
Other unincorporated communities	Augusta Driftwood Ingersoll McWillie Vining Yewed

National Register of Historic Places in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma
Aline	Aline IOOF Lodge No. 263
Carmen	Carmen IOOF Lodge No. 84 Carmen IOOF Home
Cherokee	Alfalfa County Courthouse Cherokee Armory Cherokee Friends Church Cherokee IOOF Lodge No. 219 Farmers' Federation Elevator Hotel Cherokee
Cleo Springs	Sod House
Goltry	Farmers' Exchange Elevator
Ingersoll	Ingersoll Tile Elevator
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma and List of National Historic Landmarks in Oklahoma

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Coordinates: 36°44′N 98°19′W / 36.73°N 98.32°W / 36.73; -98.32