A rare collection of accounts of incidents and legends throughout the state - intriguing bits of the past generally not found in conventional works of history. Used in some schools as a teaching aid. Included in the 26 chapters are descriptions of a crucial battle between Indians and Spaniards in 1759; a place where "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed; the wild and woolly past of a town called Navajoe; a whiskey-smuggling scheme that set a train depot on fire; a young man who left the oil fields for Hollywood; a scary light that has haunted a lonely road for years; and where once a strange but lively party took place in a moonlit cemetery.

Lists 130 ghost towns in alphabetical order and includes descriptions of each.

The history of Oklahoma runs through the thousands of towns that sprang up in the wake of statehood and even before then—readable in the traces of bygone days, if you know what to look for. In Here Today, Jeffrey B. Schmidt conducts readers, armchair travelers and adventurers alike, through places that tell Oklahoma’s story: towns all but disappeared, waning, or persisting despite the odds. Part travelogue, part field guide, part history, the book—replete with photos, maps, and GPS coordinates—documents the rise and fall of one hundred of these towns, from the arrival of pioneers and settlers to the rise of buildings and businesses to the decline that came with natural disasters, manmade crises, and cultural change. Schmidt provides an enlightening look at what has made these towns work—the role of roads and railways, public schools and churches, community building and commerce, and, perhaps most significant, the official recognition that a post office conferred. He notes the oil strikes, coal mines, intriguing crimes, violent weather, and twists of fortune that played into the fate of each; points out the landmarks that still stand and the shadows of those that have succumbed to indifference, destruction, or the passage of time; and puts the story these towns tell into the larger context of westward expansion, Native American history, and, in the case of the many all-Black towns, discrimination and segregation. Whether visiting ghost towns or small towns that still draw on the power of rural resilience to survive and even thrive, Here Today offers a rare chance to travel through the state’s history before its remnants may be gone tomorrow. Representing the extraordinary extent of Schmidt’s research, legwork, and mining of archives and data sources, the book preserves for all time a vanishing vision of Oklahoma.

The history of Oklahoma runs through the thousands of towns that sprang up in the wake of statehood and even before then—readable in the traces of bygone days, if you know what to look for. In Here Today, Jeffrey B. Schmidt conducts readers, armchair travelers and adventurers alike, through places that tell Oklahoma’s story: towns all but disappeared, waning, or persisting despite the odds. Part travelogue, part field guide, part history, the book—replete with photos, maps, and GPS coordinates—documents the rise and fall of one hundred of these towns, from the arrival of pioneers and settlers to the rise of buildings and businesses to the decline that came with natural disasters, manmade crises, and cultural change. Schmidt provides an enlightening look at what has made these towns work—the role of roads and railways, public schools and churches, community building and commerce, and, perhaps most significant, the official recognition that a post office conferred. He notes the oil strikes, coal mines, intriguing crimes, violent weather, and twists of fortune that played into the fate of each; points out the landmarks that still stand and the shadows of those that have succumbed to indifference, destruction, or the passage of time; and puts the story these towns tell into the larger context of westward expansion, Native American history, and, in the case of the many all-Black towns, discrimination and segregation. Whether visiting ghost towns or small towns that still draw on the power of rural resilience to survive and even thrive, Here Today offers a rare chance to travel through the state’s history before its remnants may be gone tomorrow. Representing the extraordinary extent of Schmidt’s research, legwork, and mining of archives and data sources, the book preserves for all time a vanishing vision of Oklahoma.

Contains stories; some true, some legendary, about caches of lost treasure.

Ghost Towns In Oklahoma - Washington County is the first book in a series covering over 300 towns in Oklahoma that have been identified as Ghost Towns. This first book will cover places like Ringo, Owen, Silver Lake, Oglesby, Hillside, Enosville, and brief information on some of the smaller settlements that were identified. Ghost Towns are locations (towns, settlements, trading posts, etc.) that existed in Oklahoma in its early years. Some still exist and some are long gone and only exist in the memories and accountings from people that lived there.