Author Description

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gazed across the Great Plains looking for "Gran Quivira," where the natives ate from golden bowls and walked through silver-paved streets. On April 22, 1889, 350 years after Coronado's quest, 60,000 land-hungry boomers stood at the borders of the Oklahoma Territory, waiting anxiously for the land run to begin. Some gazed across the same plains as Coronado-dreaming, as he did, of wealth and opportunity. Oklahoma: A Rich Heritage by Odie B. Faulk and William D. Welge is the colorful history of Oklahoma's early pioneers: cowboys and outlaws, soldiers and Indians, ranchers and politicians, are just a few of the history-makers depicted. Among the cast of characters is Judge Isaac C. Parker, "the law west of Fort Smith," who reduced lawlessness in post-Civil War Oklahoma; Tom Slick, who boasted that he could smell oil-laden sand before a drill bit touched the earth: and Kate Branden, who courageously fought for reforms in the state's early government.