Carleta and I explored the Oklahoma panhandle last weekend. It was a fun trip, even if half of it was spent in the rain. I'm working on uploading and cataloging all our pictures to Flickr. I've posted a few pictures from our trip on Facebook already. When I get all the pictures done I'll start doing the data entry to our Historic Places Database and post a write up about our trip.

Unofficial results of the Primary Election will be available here (www.ok.gov/elections/support/10pri.html) Tuesday, July 27, beginning shortly after the close of polling places statewide at 7 PM. Results will be updated continuously throughout the evening until all precincts have been reported.

Another historical marker has gone missing along Oklahoma's roadways. What makes this missing Cleveland County marker stand out is no one can't remember what marker was there. Even the Oklahoma Historical Society doesn't know.

South of Noble along Highway 77, a roadside sign tells drivers that a historical marker lies one mile ahead. But a mile ahead there is no marker, and no one in Noble can remember ever seeing one.

News9.com: Historic Marker Sign Leads Noble Residents to Disappointment

There is speculation it's for a Washington Irving or Nathan Boone camp site, or a marker commemorating the 1834 March of the Dragoons. No one knows for sure.

Whit Edwards, director of special projects at the Oklahoma Historical Society verified that Irving never went through Noble and maintains probably the marker went by the wayside during highway construction. He said removal of historical markers is typical of many markers in the state during highway work.

Norman Transcript: Historical marker a mystery

During our travels though out the state we often find, or not find as the case may be, missing markers. Most we found are missing due to road construction, theft, or just erased by the ravages of time.

Edwards said what the historical society would like to do is to have the GPS coordinates of all the markers in the state. Then, the historical society and the department of transportation or county commissioners would know where all the markers are, so when highway contracts are written, markers would be identified and the contractors would be required to replace markers after construction is completed.

Norman Transcript: Historical marker a mystery

Our mission here at BlogOklahoma.us is to have fun exploring the great state of Oklahoma, and to possibly learn a little something along the way. This mission lead us to create our Historic Places Database. We travel the state, find all of these historic places, and record them so you can find them too. Most of what we've recorded so far have GPS coordinates. We've even put up an experimantal Google Map showing you the location for each of them.

When I found out about this missing marker, via News9.com, I did a little reasearch on my own with no luck. I found it a little funny later when I read the Norman Transcript article that I used the same resources they did.

But that still doesn't solve the mystery of what the Noble marker commemorated. Edwards consulted his copy of "Mark of Heritage" by Muriel Wright, Kenny Franks and George Shirk, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1979. The book lists various historical sites and markers around the state, but the one in Noble was not listed.

The Oklahoma Historical Society’s website, www.okhistory.org under a section called Historical Sites, lists three markers in Cleveland County. One is the City of Norman/Cleveland County, another is the Birthplace of the University of Oklahoma, and the third is the Run of ’89 Southern Boundary.

Norman Transcript: Historical marker a mystery

To be honest here. The lack of information provided on the Oklahoma Historical Society’s website was another reason we started our Historic Places Database. What good is a generic list of markers that only tells what county they are in?

One resource, if anyone has time that is, is to dig into the "Chronicles of Oklahoma" archives. I'm betting you'll find a reference to this missing marker in there. Pay attention to any "Notes" sections. I've found several marker locations using it. That is of course assuming the Oklahoma Historical Society put up that marker. If it was placed by a county or civic historical society, it will be much harder to find. At that point you'll have to dig through local newspaper archives, something that can be quite daunting.

If you have any information about the former marker, please contact The Transcript or the Oklahoma Historical Society. Until then, the historical marker touted by a sign near Bell Creek will remain a mystery — and missing.

Norman Transcript: Historical marker a mystery

If you have any information regarding this or any other missing Oklahoma historical marker, please feel free to let us know. You can contact us on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment, or e-mail us.

Wikpedia: C. D. Foster. Foster's Comic History of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City: The Publisher's Press, 1916, page 69.

A cartoonist's rendering of Theodore Roosevelt's initial reaction to the Oklahoma Constitution.

While I was reading some information about Oklahoma's Constitution on Wikpedia, I found the above cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt. Knowing there was some history between President Theodore Roosevelt and early state leaders, I went looking for references regarding this cartoon. What I found was a complete copy of the book the cartoon came from at Archive.org.

The book Foster's Comic History of Oklahoma was written by C. D. Foster with illustrations by Merle St. Leon. It was published by The Publishers Press in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1916. It's a humorous look at Oklahoma’s history from the point of view of Oklahoma's first decade.

I probably should add this disclaimer. Please keep in mind this book was written 1916 and the illustrations and wording reflect that time. The artist used racial caricatures in some of his cartoons that some may find offensive in this day and age.

Besides being able to read the entire book online, Archive.org has provided the publication several different formats including PDF, EPUB, and Kindle. So you can download it and upload it to the reader of your choice. Besides adding it to my iPhone’s iBook (I’m about half way through it at the time I’m posting this.), I went ahead and printed the out the 150 page document so I can share it with a few people.

I hadn't thought of digging through Archive.org for old history books until I stumbled upon this one illustration at Wikipeida. Now I'm going to have to make some time to dig through their archives to see what else of Oklahoma history is in there.

Flickr is rolling out a new design for their photo pages. Since we use Flickr quite a bit here at BlogOklahoma.us, I thought I'd look around and see where they've moved a couple of thing we use regularly.

The first one is where they've moved the embed code.

Click on the "Share This" button above the picture, click "Grab the HTML", and select which size from the drop down list.

The "All Sizes" page link has moved also. It's now under the "Actions" menu.

The "All Sizes" page is like the old one, only the embed code is now on the photo page (as show above).

I really like they've added one more sizing option (example): Square (75 x 75), Thumbnail (100 x 75), Small (240 x 180), Medium 500 (500 x 375), Medium 640 (640 x 480), Large (1024 x 768), and Original (1600 x 1200). The new Medium 500 size fits nicely in many of the blogs I post to.

For more information on Flickr's new pages, click here.

During our Memorial weekend trip we stopped by to check on the progress of the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum in Oklahoma City.

To learn more about the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum visit their website at www.aiccm.org.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation provides a map of Tribal Jurisdictions. Handy when looking for tribal historic locations.

We have a link to this in our Library section.

Fifty-nine years ago on June 8, 1951, a tornado hit the small town of Corn in Washita County, and the world saw one of the first displays of nature's power on film.

The tornado destroyed the south side of Corn, and one man was killed by lightning.

Corn resident John Gossen grabbed his motion picture camera that day and became one of the first people ever to capture a tornado on motion pictures. His daughter, Joan Franz, still lives in Corn with her husband Archie. Before today she had never seen her father's tornado footage, which is available on YouTube.

"We lived six miles south of corn, and my dad ran for his movie camera, and we videoed that," Joan Franz said.

The next month the Corn tornado was featured in the Saturday Evening Post, but it was that early footage shot by Gossen that makes the tornado famous.

The National Weather Service says Gossen was the first person in the United States to capture a tornado on moving pictures. The first motion pictures of a tornado in the world were shot in Cuba in the 1930s, which is also available on YouTube.

News9.com: Corn Resident One of First to Capture Tornado on Motion Pictures 59 Years Ago

Bell's Amusement Park could return!

COWETA, OK -- More than three years after it lost its lease with Tulsa County, Bell's Amusement Park has signed a new lease with Wagoner County.

Robby Bell, the grandson of the park's founder, signed a 50-year lease with Wagoner County Monday morning at the regular meeting of the Wagoner County Commission.

The deal is contingent on Wagoner County voters approving a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the July 27th ballot.

Wagoner County would use the money generated by the tax to acquire property where it would locate the amusement park, an expo center and other attractions. ...

Read the rest at newson6.com

Bell's Amusement Park was a small amusement park located in Tulsa's Expo Square, part of the Tulsa County Fairground in Oklahoma. The park was founded in 1951 by Robert Bell with a small collection of rides and amusements including a three car choo-choo train and a Shetland pony ride. This would later grow into third generation controlled family amusement tradition with over 50 rides and attractions. The park was forced to relinquish its position at the Square at the end of the 2006 season when the county did not renew its lease. (More at Wikipedia)

The entrance gate to Bell's in 2007 (newson6.com)

Some 1980's TV ads for Bell's Amusement Park