| Oklahoma
. . .
The official state flag of
Oklahoma was adopted on April
2, 1925. The flag honors more
than 60 groups of Native Americans
and their ancestors. The blue
field comes from a flag carried
by Choctaw soldiers during the
civil war. The center shield
is the battle shield of an Osage
warrior. It is made of buffalo
hide and decorated with eagle
feathers. Two symbols of peace
lie across the shield. One is
the calumet, or peace pipe.
The other is an olive branch.
Crosses on the shield are Native
American signs for stars, representing
high ideals.
Oklahoma was admitted as the
46th state in 1907. It is located
in the south central United
States. Oklahoma borders Kansas
and Colorado on the north and
New Mexico on the west and the
Texas Panhandle. On the south
the Red River separates Oklahoma
from Texas. Arkansas and Missouri
are to the east. The state capital
and largest city is Oklahoma
City. Oklahoma is primarily
a plains state but there are
some mountainous areas in the
south and the far northwest
corner of the state.
Oklahoma has a pleasant climate
and has a warm, somewhat dry
climate. Oklahoma is in America's
Tornado Alley and is known for
having very strong thunderstorms
with frequent tornadoes in the
summer. The summers are generally
hot, humid and windy with average
temperatures in the 80's. In
the winter northern cold fronts
bering cold temperatures and
often heavy snow storms. January
is the coldest month, with average
high temperatures near 40 degrees.
Hotter summers and colder winters,
with a lot of snow are not uncommon.
Annual precipitation amounts
range from 20 - 30 inches central
and west, while in the east,
40 - 50 inches are normal.
Oklahoma’s fertile soil
and mineral wealth are some
of its greatest resources. There
is a lot of petroleum throughout
the state and in the central
and northeastern parts of the
state coal is mined. In northeastern
Oklahoma zinc and lead are produced
and some other important minerals
are cement, sand and gravel,
stone, gypsum, and clay. Oklahoma’s
rich grazing land and an excellent
climate that are ideal for livestock.
Economy: Agriculture: Cattle,
wheat, milk, poultry, cotton.
Industry: Transportation equipment,
machinery, electric products,
rubber and plastic products,
food processing.
Oklahoma has 77 counties:
Adair Alfalfa
Atoka Beaver Beckham Blaine
Bryan Caddo Canadian Carter
Cherokee Choctaw Cimarron Cleveland
Coal Comanche Cotton Craig Creek
Custer Delaware Dewey Ellis
Garfield Garvin Grady Grant
Greer Harmon Harper Haskell
Hughes Jackson Jefferson Johnston
Kay Kingfisher Kiowa Latimer
Le Flore Lincoln Logan Love
McClain McCurtain McIntosh Major
Marshall Mayes Murray Muskogee
Noble Nowata Okfuskee Oklahoma
Okmulgee Osage Ottawa Pawnee
Payne Pittsburg Pontotoc Pottawatomie
Pushmataha Roger Mills Rogers
Seminole Sequoyah Stephens Texas
Tillman Tulsa Wagoner Washington
Washita Woods Woodward
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state - Oklahoma