Chickasaw National Recreation Area and Turner Falls - Oklahoma
Oklahoma - derives its name from one of the 5 civilized tribes, the Choctaw language - okla meaning "people" and humma meaning "red". In 1907 it became the 46th state (Sooner) of the USA. State symbols of Oklahoma include: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (bird) - Black Swallowtail (butterfly) - Bullfrog (amphibian) - Honeybee (insect) - Eastern Collared Lizard (reptile) - Red Bud (tree) - and Indian Blanket or Firewheel (wildflower)
1. Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Travertine District) - lies in a transition zone where the Eastern deciduous forest and the Western prairies meet, adjacent to the town of Sulphur. Named to honor the Chickasaw Indian Nation, who were relocated (Trail of Tears) to the area from the Southeastern United States (AL, KY, MS, TN) during the 1830s (and who later sold the original 640 acres of land for the park to the Federal government). Established as Sulphur Springs Reservation in 1902; renamed and redesignated Platt National Park in 1906; combined with the Arbuckle Recreation Area and additional lands and renamed and redesignated in 1976. The park contains many fine examples of 1930's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) stone architecture. A couple of natural fresh water springs (Antelope and Buffalo) in the park, provide the feed water for Travertine Creek. Another natural spring, called Pavilion Spring, that flows into Travertine Creek produces a potable mineral water that is rich in potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium.
2. Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge - established in 1901 as a Forest Preserve. President Theodore Roosevelt established the National Wildlife System in 1903. In 1905 the Wichitas were made a Forest Reserve and Game Preserve and in 1907 were renamed a Forest and Game Preserve. In 1935 the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was added to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is the oldest managed wildlife facility in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife system (Department of Interior), which consists of more than 500 refuges throughout the United States. The 59,020 acre Refuge hosts a rare piece of the past - a remnant mixed grass prairie. Located in the refuge are the Wichita Mountains - a northwest-southeast trending series of rocky promontories and rounded hills made of red and black igneous rocks, light-colored sedimentary rocks, and boulder conglomerates. Mount Scott at 2,463 ft. (751 m) and Elk Mountain 2,270 ft. (692 m), are 2 of the prominent peaks located in the refuge. The American Bison and Blacktail Prairie Dog are found in the refuge.
3. Turner Falls Park - is the oldest park in Oklahoma. The recreational area came under the ownership of the city of Davis in 1919, who operated the park until 1950, and then leased it out until 1978, when they resumed management of the area. Turner Falls measures 77 ft. (23 m) in height, and holds the distinction with Dripping Spring Falls located in Natural Falls State Park, in the Ozark Mountains, as being the tallest waterfall in the state of Oklahoma. Turner Falls Park is located in the heart of the Arbuckle Mountains, an elongate anticline structure with an orientation or strike of west-northwest. The core consists of extrusive and intrusive igneous rhyolite and granite rocks, which are overlain and flanked by sedimentary limestones and sandstones which are very steeply dipping to near vertical in orientation. Conglomerates were deposited after the orogenic buckling had uplifted and deformed the older strata. Underlying the Arbuckle Mountains is the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer that provides the source water to Honey Creek which flows over Turner Falls.
Read More1. Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Travertine District) - lies in a transition zone where the Eastern deciduous forest and the Western prairies meet, adjacent to the town of Sulphur. Named to honor the Chickasaw Indian Nation, who were relocated (Trail of Tears) to the area from the Southeastern United States (AL, KY, MS, TN) during the 1830s (and who later sold the original 640 acres of land for the park to the Federal government). Established as Sulphur Springs Reservation in 1902; renamed and redesignated Platt National Park in 1906; combined with the Arbuckle Recreation Area and additional lands and renamed and redesignated in 1976. The park contains many fine examples of 1930's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) stone architecture. A couple of natural fresh water springs (Antelope and Buffalo) in the park, provide the feed water for Travertine Creek. Another natural spring, called Pavilion Spring, that flows into Travertine Creek produces a potable mineral water that is rich in potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium.
2. Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge - established in 1901 as a Forest Preserve. President Theodore Roosevelt established the National Wildlife System in 1903. In 1905 the Wichitas were made a Forest Reserve and Game Preserve and in 1907 were renamed a Forest and Game Preserve. In 1935 the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was added to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is the oldest managed wildlife facility in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife system (Department of Interior), which consists of more than 500 refuges throughout the United States. The 59,020 acre Refuge hosts a rare piece of the past - a remnant mixed grass prairie. Located in the refuge are the Wichita Mountains - a northwest-southeast trending series of rocky promontories and rounded hills made of red and black igneous rocks, light-colored sedimentary rocks, and boulder conglomerates. Mount Scott at 2,463 ft. (751 m) and Elk Mountain 2,270 ft. (692 m), are 2 of the prominent peaks located in the refuge. The American Bison and Blacktail Prairie Dog are found in the refuge.
3. Turner Falls Park - is the oldest park in Oklahoma. The recreational area came under the ownership of the city of Davis in 1919, who operated the park until 1950, and then leased it out until 1978, when they resumed management of the area. Turner Falls measures 77 ft. (23 m) in height, and holds the distinction with Dripping Spring Falls located in Natural Falls State Park, in the Ozark Mountains, as being the tallest waterfall in the state of Oklahoma. Turner Falls Park is located in the heart of the Arbuckle Mountains, an elongate anticline structure with an orientation or strike of west-northwest. The core consists of extrusive and intrusive igneous rhyolite and granite rocks, which are overlain and flanked by sedimentary limestones and sandstones which are very steeply dipping to near vertical in orientation. Conglomerates were deposited after the orogenic buckling had uplifted and deformed the older strata. Underlying the Arbuckle Mountains is the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer that provides the source water to Honey Creek which flows over Turner Falls.
Antelope Springs (Issibulba Kulli) - flows from the 500 sq. mi. (1,295 sq. km) Arbuckle Aquifer - its water is highly charged with dissolved calcium carbonate that upon exposure to air, much of the mineral will precipitate to form a buff-colored porous deposit, called travertine rock, along its short water course before flowing into Rock Creek - Chickasaw National Recreation Area - Murray county - south/central Oklahoma.
