How are you liking Oklahoma? Part 1

This is a question I get all the time that I will break down into parts. Part 1:

Scratch the surface of Oklahoma and you will find red dirt. There were places in Tennessee that had some red dirt but I'll tell you Oklahoma bleeds with it. It is a clay like soil and when it gets wet is very heavy. A little grass cover is not going to help with erosion-let's put it that way. A brief history of this state is it started with a gun shot. Literally. That is also why it is called "The Sooner State". People lined up around the boarders and when the gun went off they made a dash to claim land with their little flags in hand. Some of the unscrupulous ones got out there "sooner" than they were supposed to. It was originally intended to be a "black" state. They were going to ship the southern black people here they way they did with the native american tribes (this is the end of the trail of tears - more about that later). But another black substance changed all that (also will talk about that later).

With tried and true methods of cultivation these homesteaders began to grow crops. During the depression it was obvious that something was wrong. Farmers all over the northwestern part of the state had plowed up all of the native grasses. Everyone plows their fields at the same time and there was nothing holding the dirt in place. One of the seriously under utilized natural resources that Oklahoma should be the lead in developing is wind. The wind picked up and carried all of the surface level of Oklahoma to the doorstep of congress (see references to 'Black Sunday' if you search Dust Bowl).

Some of what I do at work is to help promote programs that help farmers to use farming techniques that prevent this from happening again. There are more deciduous trees in Oklahoma. The ones they plant are generally ones that grow big roots and instead of finding them in groves or blankets of forest, you generally find them in rows along fence lines. If you are paying attention you'll realize this is as a wind break to help keep the fertile soil from blowing away. Not everyone does this kind of preventative maintenance (a tornado will rip one of those trees out and send it through your window) so you get a flat view almost all the way to Iowa. I used to tell people I could hit a live shot from Dallas if I had to because it is so flat. People who don't work in tv don't understand that reference but just know, that is flat.

When you ask a person from the Northwest how they are liking Oklahoma there is a one word answer that is very loaded and that is "flat". Which also means red dusty, hot, and lacking shade.

I don't know how many parts of this there will be so please stay tuned . . .