![]() Half of this 20,800-acre refuge is made up of a deep open-water reservoir, riverine, oxbow lakes, wetlands or wooded sloughs the remaining portion is divided between agricultural lands, river bluffs and shrub-scrub grasslands. The Sequoyah National Wildlife Reserve was established in 1970 to maintain a vastly different view of Oklahoma’s environment. It is classified as the "largest such saline flat in the central lowlands of North America." Visitors to this area often enjoy digging for selenite crystals in the ground beneath the crusty layer of salt. The 11,000-acre barren area is near perfectly flat with a wafer thin salt crust. Created by the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River, the salt plains are a unique geological area. In addition to serving as one of only 17 shorebird reserves in the Western Hemisphere, the reserve maintains the remarkably unusual terrain of the Great Salt Plains. This refuge, another unique feature of Oklahoma’s landscape, has been identified as a Globally Important Bird Area and is a member of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. ![]() Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge Many miles of unpaved forest roads also provide dirt bike and four-wheel drive enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy some of Oklahoma's most scenic and rugged terrain. Historic sites found along the Talimena Scenic Drive include Horsethief Springs and the Old Military Road. Four public campgrounds provide opportunities for a range of campers, from the biggest RVs to a two-man tent. This recreation area, stretching across southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, offers more than 352,000 acres of scenic vistas, hiking and mountain biking trails, hang gliding opportunities, an equestrian camp and trails, hunting and fishing opportunities. The Ouachita National Forest was incorporated into the national forest system in 1907. Fairview is home to the breathtaking Gloss Mountain State Park’s geological wonders.įrom the onset of the national efforts to preserve America’s natural beauty, Oklahoma has been recognized as a place worth saving. If you’re more into scenic views and rolling hills, the Ouachita Mountains of Southeastern Oklahoma’s Talimena State Park are for you. In northwestern Oklahoma, you can race buggies on the vast dunes of Little Sahara State Park. The Oklahoma State park system offers a vacation landscape more diverse than any other state. Through a state park system encompassing 50 parks, nine national wildlife refuges, one national recreation area and many privately owned nature reserves, Oklahoma’s beauty will be around for years to come. Preserving Oklahoma’s natural side has become of paramount importance to many of the state’s residents. In recounting lively anecdotes, and by focusing on tourist perceptions of everyday life in western cities, Gruen shows how these cities developed the economy of tourism to eventually encompass both the urban and the natural West.The unique terrain of Oklahoma has mystified and mesmerized visitors for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Western cities did not always live up to the marketing strategies of guidebooks, but the western cities’ fast pace and many novelties held extraordinary appeal to visitors from the East Coast and abroad. They thrust themselves into the noise, danger, and cacophony. Visitors relished the cities’ unfamiliar storefronts and advertising, public transit systems, ethnic diversity, and multiple dwellings in all their urban messiness. But Gruen’s research in diaries, letters, and traveler narratives shows that tourists were interested-as tourists usually are-in the unexpected encounters that characterize city life. Guidebooks made Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco seem like picturesque environments sprinkled with civilized buildings and refined people. Gruen pays particular attention to the contrast between the way these cities were promoted and the way visitors actually experienced them. Philip Gruen examines the ways in which tourists experienced Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco between 18, a period of rapid urbanization and accelerated modernity. Yet as people flocked to western cities, it was the everyday life that captured their interest-the new technologies, incessant clatter, and all the upheaval of modern metropolises. Contemporary travel brochures and guidebooks of the 1870s sold tourists on the spectacular scenery of the West, and depicted its cities as extensions of the natural landscape-as well as places where efficient business operations and architectural grandeur prevailed-all now easily accessible thanks to the relative comfort of transcontinental rail travel. Tourists started visiting the American West in sizable numbers after the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads were completed in 1869.
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