Osage Hills
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Osage Hills are a small range of hills in Mayes County, Oklahoma, west of Pryor. The Osage Hills, or commonly just The Osage, also refers to the broader rolling open tallgrass prairie and Cross Timbers encompassing Osage County and surrounding areas.
Contents |
[edit] The Osage
The Osage contains some of the largest remaining remnants of the tallgrass prairie that covered much of the Great Plains (see Tallgrass Prairie Preserve). Kansans generally refer to the northern portion of this same prairie system as the Flint Hills.
Historically, most of this area was the last reserve of the Osage Indians and its rugged environs hid outlaws and illicit activity well past the middle of the twentieth century. The Nellie Johnstone No. 1, drilled near present-day Bartlesville, struck oil on April 15, 1897, and became the first of thousands of commercial oil wells in Oklahoma. The Osage Indians had wisely held on to their mineral rights following the dissolution of the reservation systemr[1] and the royalties from the oil underneath the hills made them one of the richest tribes in the nation.
Several enterprises in the area use Osage Hills to identify themselves with the area; including Osage Hills Public Schools in Bartlesville and Osage Hills State Park west of Bartlesville.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Kappler, Indian Affairs; "An act for the division of the lands and funds of the Osage Indians etc.": "That the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals covered by the lands for the selection and division of which provision is herein made are hereby reserved to the Osage tribe for a period of twenty-five years from and after the eighth day of April, nineteen hundred and six; ..."
[edit] Bibliography
- Kappler, Charles (Ed.). "PART III.—ACTS OF FIFTY–NINTH CONGRESS—FIRST SESSION, 1906 (Chapter 3572, June 28, 1906 [H.R. 15333] - [Public, No. 321] 34 Stat., 539. "An act for the division of the lands and funds of the Osage Indians etc." Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913. 3:252-258 (accessed September 25, 2006).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Osage Hills State Park
- Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
