Following the slope of the land, the important streams flow from N.W. to S.E. The Arkansas river enters the state from the N. near the 97th meridian, and after following a general south-easterly course, leaves it near the centre of the eastern boundary. Its tributaries from the N. and E.-the Verdigris, Grand, or Neosho and Illinois-are small and unimportant; but from the S. and W. it receives the waters of much larger streams-the Salt Fork, the Cimarron and the Canadian, with its numerous tributaries. The extreme southern portion of the state is drained by the Red River, which forms the greater part of the southern boundary, and by its tributaries, the North Fork, the Washita and the Kiamichi. Fauna and Flora.-Of wild animals the most characteristic are the black bear, puma, prairie wolf, timber wolf, fox, deer, antelope, squirrel, rabbit and prairie dog. Hawks and turkey buzzards are common types of the larger birds, and the wild turkey, prairie chicken and quail ate the principal game birds. The total woodland area of the state was estimated in 1900 at 24,400 sq. m., or 34.8 % of the land area. The most densely wooded section is the extreme E.; among the prairies of the W. timber is seldom found beyond the banks of streams. The most common trees are the various specics of the oak and cedar. The pine is confined to the more mountainous sections of the E., and the black walnut is found among the river bottom lands. These four varieties are of commercial value. Other varieties, most of which are widely distributed, are the ash, pecan, cottonwood, sycamore, elm, maple, hickory, elder, gum, locust and river birch. The prairies are covered with valuable bunch, grama and dropseed grasses; in the extreme N.W. the cactus, sagebrush and yucca, types characteristic of more arid regions, are found. Climate. The climate of the state is of a continental-type, with great annual variations of temperature and a rainfall which, though generally sufficient for the needs of vegetation, is considerably less than that of the Atlantic Coast or the Mississippi Valley. The western and central portions of the state are in general cooler and dryer than the E., on account of their greater elevation and greater distance from the Gulf Coast. Thus at Beaver, in the extreme N.W., the mean annual temperature is 57° F. and the mean annual rainfall 18-9 in.; while at Lehigh, in the S.E., these figures are respectively 62 and 35.1 in. At Oklahoma City, in the centre of the state, the mean annual temperature is 59°; the mean for the summer (June, July and August) is 78°, with an extreme recorded of 104°; the mean for the winter (December, January and February) is 38°, with an extreme recorded of -17° At Mangum, in the S.W., the mean annual temperature is 61°; the mean for the summer is 81° and for the winter 41°, while the highest and lowest temperatures ever recorded are respectively 114° and -17°. The mean annual precipitation for the state is 317 in.; the variation between the E. and the W. being about 12 in.

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Soils. The prevailing type of soil is a deep dark-red loam, sometimes (especially in the east central part of the state) made up of a decomposed sandstone, and again (in the north central part) made up of shales and decomposed limestone. Not infrequently there are a belt of red sandy loam on uplands N. of a river, a rich deposit of black alluvium on valley bottom lands, a belt of red clay loam on uplands S. of a river, and a deposit of wind-blown loess on the water parting. Loess, often thin and always containing little humus, also covers large areas on the high, semi-arid plains in the western part of the state.

Agriculture and Stock-raising. For some time before the first opening to settlement by white men in 1899, the territory now embraced in Oklahoma was largely occupied by great herds of cattle driven in from Texas, and since then, although the opening was piccemeal, the agricultural development has been remarkably rapid. By 1900, 22,988,339 acres, or 52.1 %, of the total land surface was included in farms, and 8,574,187 acres, or 37.7 %, of the farm land was improved. The farm land was divided among 108,000 farms containing an average of 212.85 acres; 26,121 of them contained less than 50 acres, but the most usual size was 160 acres; and 48,983, or 45.35 %, contained from 100 to 174 acres. A considerable portion of the larger farms (there were 2390 containing 500 acres or more) were owned by Indians but leased to white men. Much land as late as 1900 was held in common by Indian tribes, but has since been allotted to the members of those tribes and most of it is leased to whites. In 1900, 59,367 (or a little more than one-half of all) farms were worked by owners or part owners, 33,347 were worked by share tenants, and 13,903 were worked by cash tenants. Indian corn, wheat, cotton, oats and hay are the principal crops, but the variety of farm and garden produce is great, and includes Kafir corn, broom corn, barley, rye, buckwheat, flax, tobacco, beans, castor beans, peanuts, pecans, sorghum cane, sugar cane, and nearly all the fruits and vegetables common to the temperate zone; stock-raising, too, is a very important industry. Of the total acreage of all crops in 1900, 4,431,819 acres, or 68.64 %, were of cereals; and of the cereal acreage 56-45 % was of Indian corn, 34:45 % was of wheat and 7.15% was of oats. The acreage of Indian corn increased from

1 The statistics in this article were obtained by adding to those for Oklahoma those for Indian Territory, which was combined with it in 1907.

2,501.945 acres in 1900 to 5,950,000 acres in 1909; between 1899 and 1909 the yield increased from 68,949.300 bushels to 101,150,000 bushels. The acreage of wheat decreased during this period from 1,704,909 acres to 1,225,000 acres, and the yield from 20,328,300 bushels to 15,680,000 bushels. The acreage of oats increased from 317,076 acres to 550,000 acres, and the yield increased from 9:511.340 bushels to 15,950,000 bushels. The hay crop of 1899 was grown on 1,095,706 acres and amounted to 1,617,905 tons, but nearly one-half of this was made from wild grasses; since then the amounts of fodder obtained from alfalfa, Kafir corn, sorghum cane and timothy have much increased, and that obtained from wild grasses has decreased; in 1909 the acreage was 900,000 and the crop 810,000 tons. Except in the W. section, where there is good grazing but generally an insufficient rainfall for growing crops, cattle-raising on the range has in considerable measure given way to stock-raising on the farm, and nearly everywhere the quality of the cattle has been greatly improved. The total number of cattle decreased from 3,236,008 in 1900 to 1,992,000 in 1910, but at the same time the number of dairy cows increased from 276,539 to 355,000. The number of horses increased from 557.153 in 1900 to 804,000 in 1910; of mules from 117,562 to 191,000; of swine from 1,265,189 to 1,302,000; and of sheep from 88,741 to 108,000.. Winter wheat is used extensively for pasturage during the winter months with little or no damage to the crop. No other branch of agriculture in Oklahoma has advanced so rapidly as the production of cotton; the culture of this fibre was introduced in 1890, and the acreage increased from 682,743 acres in 1899 to 2,037,000 acres in 1909, and the yield increased from 227,741 bales to 617,000 bales (in 1907 it was 862,383 bales). There was only a very small crop of broom corn in 1889, but in 1899 the crop was 3.565,510 lb. The state has risen to high rank in the production of sorghum cane and castor beans also; in 1899 16,477 acres of the cane yielded 40,259 tons, and 14,070 acres of castor beans yielded 77,409 bushels. Two crops of potatoes may be grown on the same ground in one year, and the acreage of potatoes increased from 15,360 acres in 1899 to 27,000 acres in 1909, and the yield from 1,191,997 bushels to 1,890,000 bushels. Oklahoma is already producing large crops of apples, peaches, grapes, water-melons and musk-melons, and many large apple and peach orchards and vineyards have been planted. Pears, plums, apricots, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, cabbages, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers are grown in considerable quantities. The cereals and most of the fruits and vegetables are grown throughout the greater portion of the middle and E. parts of the state, although the soil of the N. middle section yields the best crops of wheat. Kafir corn and sorghum cane are the most common in the W. sections, where the climate is too dry for other crops. Some cotton is grown N. of the middle of the state, but the S.E. quarter takes in most of the cotton belt. Broom corn grows best in Woods county on the N. border, and castor beans in the central and N. central sections. About 3000 acres (nearly one-half in the narrow extension in the N.W.) were already irrigated in 1909, and surveys had been made by the Federal Reclamation Service with a view to irrigating about 100,000 acres more-10,000 to 14,000 acres in Beaver and Woodward counties, under the Cimarron project, and 80,000 to 100,000 acres in Kiowa and Comanche counties, under the Red River project.

Lumber and Timber Products.-The merchantable timber is mostly in that part of the state which formerly constituted Indian Territory, and consists largely of black walnut and other valuable hard woods in the bottom lands, of black jack and post oak on the uplands and of pine on the higher elevations S. of the Arkansas river. The manufactured forest products of Indian Territory increased in value from $189,373 in 1900 to $588,078 in 1905, or 205.78 %.

The

Minerals. The coal-fields extend from Kansas on the N. to Arkansas on the E., and have an area of about 20,000 sq. m. principal mining centres are McAlester, Wilburton, Hartshorn, Coalgate and Phillips. In quality the coal varies from a low grade to a high grade bituminous, and some of the latter is good for coking. The output increased from 446,429 short tons in 1885 to 1,922,298 short tons in 1900, and to 2,948,116 short tons in 1908, the output for the last-named year being much less than for 1906 or 1907, when it was over 3,500,000 tons. The range of hills extending from the centre of the state N.W. to and beyond the Kansas border are composed chiefly of great deposits of rock gypsum. A similar but minor range extends parallel with it 40 to 50 m. S.W. There are also deposits in Greer county in the S.W. corner, and some gypsite in Kay county on the N. middle border. For working these extensive deposits there are, however, few mills; these are in Kay, Canadian and Blaine counties. Some petroleum was discovered in the N. part of Indian Territory near the Oklahoma border as early as 1890, but there was little development until 1903, when several wells were drilled in the vicinity of Bartlesville. Then wells were drilled to the W. on the Osage Reservation, and to the S., until in 1905 about 110 wells were drilled into the famous Glen Pool near Sapulpa. One of these wells has a flow of about 1000 barrels a day, and the total product from the Oklahoma oil-field (which includes wells in

The agricultural statistics for 1909 are taken from the Year-Book of the United States Department of Agriculture.

what was Indian Territory) increased from 10,000 barrels in 1901 to 138,911 in 1903, 1,366,748 in 1904 and 45,798,765 in 1908, when it was valued at $17,694,843. Natural gas abounds in the same region, and several strong wells were developed in 1906, and immediately afterwards gas began to be used largely for industrial purposes for which in 1908 the price was from 1 to 15 cents per 1000 ft. Pipe lines have been constructed. The value of the output increased from $360 in 1902 to $130,137 in 1905 and to $860,159 in 1908. In the central part of the state S. of the Canadian river are extensive deposits of asphaltum, but their development has been undertaken only on a small scale: in 1908, 2402 short tons were put on the market, the value being $23,820. Lead and zinc are found in the Miami district, the Peoria district and the Quapaw district; and in 1908 the lead (1409 tons) was valued at $118,356 and the zinc (2235 tons) at $210,090. The total value of the mineral products in 1908 was $26,586,751. Manufactures.-The manufactures in 1905 were still largely such as are closely related to agriculture. Measured by the value of the products, 61.8% were represented by flour and grist mill products and cottonseed oil and cake. Among the manufacturing centres are Oklahoma City and Guthrie, and the combined value of their factory products increased from $1,493,998 in 1900 to $4,871,392 in 1905. Transportation and Commerce.-The navigable waters in Oklahoma are of little importance, and the state is almost wholly dependent on railways as a means of transportation. The first railway was that of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, which completed a line across the territory to Denison, Texas, in 1872. The railway mileage was slowly increased to 1260 m. in 1890, and on the 1st of January 1909 was 5829 m. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway crosses the E. part of the state, and somewhat parallel with this to the westward are the St Louis & San Francisco, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, two lines of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient railways. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific also crosses the middle of the state from E. to W. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé and the Chicago, Rock Island & Gulf cross the N.W. part. The St Louis & San Francisco cresses the S.E. quarter. A line of the Frisco system extends along the S. border from the Arkansas line to the middle of the state, and with these main lines

numerous branches form an extensive network.

Population. The population of the territory now embraced within the state increased from 258,657 in 1890, when the first census was taken, to 790,391 in 1900, or 205.6%, to 1,414,177 in 1907. and to 1,657,155 in 1910. Of the total population in 1900 769,853, or 97.4%, were native-born. The white population increased from 172,554 in 1890 to 1,054,376 in 1907, or 611%, the negro population during the same period from 21,609 to 112,160, or 419%, and the Indian population from 64,456 to 75,012, or 16.3%. In 1890 the Indians and negroes constituted 33.3% of the total population, but in 1907 they (with the Mongolians, who numbered 75) constituted only 13.2% of the total. The only Indians who are natives of this region are a few members of the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache tribes. The others are the remnants of a number of tribes collected here from various parts of the country: Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Osages, Kaws, Poncas, Otoes, Cheyennes, Iowas, Kickapoos, Sauk and Foxes, Sioux, Miamis, Shawnees, Pawnees, Ottawas and several others. Until 1906 the Osages lived on a reservation touching Kansas on the N. and the Arkansas river on the W. (since then almost all allotted); but to the greater portion of the Indians the government has made individual allotments. Only about one-fourth of the socalled Indians are full bloods. A large portion are one-half or more white blood and the Creeks and some others have more or less negro blood. In 1906 there were 257,100 communicants of various churches in Oklahoma and Indian Territory, the Methodist Episcopalians being the most numerous, and next to them the Baptists. The population in places having 4000 inhabitants or more increased from 29,978 in 1900 to 140,579 in 1907, or 368.9%, while the population outside of such places increased from 760,413 to 1,273,598, or only 67.5%. The principal cities in 1907 were Oklahoma City, Muskogee, Guthrie (the capital), Shawnee, Enid, Ardmore, McAlester and Chickasha, Administration.-The constitution now in operation was adopted in September 1907, and is that with which the state was admitted into the Union in November of the same year. Amendments may be submitted through a majority of the members elected to both houses of the legislature or through a petition signed by 15% of the electorate, and a proposed amendment becomes a part of the constitution if the majority

legislature may also at any time propose a convention for of the votes cast at a popular election are in favour of it. The amending or revising the constitution, but no such convention can be called without first obtaining the approval of the elector ate. An elector must be able to read or write (unless he or an ancestor was a voter in 1866 or then lived in some foreign nation) and must be 21 years old, and a resident of the state for one year, in the county six months, and in the election precinct 30 days; and women have the privilege of voting at school meetings. General elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in odd-numbered years and party candidates for state, district, county and municipal offices and for the United States Senate are chosen at primary The Massaelections held on the first Tuesday in August. chusetts ballot which had been in use in 1897-1899 was again adopted in 1909. Oklahoma has put into its constitution many things which in the older states were left to legislative enactment.

The governor is elected for a term of four years but is ineligible for the next succeeding term. The number of officers whom he appoints is rather limited and for most of his appointments the confirmation of the Senate is required. He is not permitted to pardon a criminal until he has obtained the advice of the board of pardons which is composed of the state superintendent of public instruction, the president of the board of agriculture and the state auditor. He is a member of some important administrative boards, his veto power extends to items in appropriation bills, and to pass a bill over his veto a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house is required. A lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, examiner, and inspector, commissioner of labour, commissioner of insurance, chief mine inspector, commissioner of charities and corrections, and president of the board of agriculture are elected each for a term of four years, and the secretary of state, auditor and treasurer are, like the governor, ineligible for the next succeeding term.

The law-making bodies are a Senate and a House of Representatives. One-half the senators and all the representatives are elected every two years, senators by districts and representatives by counties. Sessions are held biennially in evennumbered years and begin the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January. The constitution reserves to the people the privilege of rejecting any act or any item of any act whenever 5% of the legal voters ask that the matter be voted upon at a general election; and the people may initiate legislation by a petition signed by 8% of the electorate.

For the administration of justice there have been established a supreme court composed of six justices elected for a term of six years; a criminal court of appeals composed of three justices appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate; twenty-one district courts each with one or more justices elected for a term of four years; a county court in each county with one justice elected for a term of two years; a court of a justice of the peace, elected for a term of two years, in each of six districts of each county, and police courts in the cities. The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases, but its original jurisdiction is restricted to a general control of the lower courts. The criminal court of appeals has jurisdiction in all criminal cases appealed from the district and county courts. The district courts have exclusive jurisdiction in civil actions for sums exceeding $1000, concurrent jurisdiction with the county courts in civil actions for sums greater than $500 and not exceeding $1000, and original or appellate in criminal cases. The county courts have, besides the concurrent jurisdiction above stated, original jurisdiction in all probate matters, original jurisdiction in civil actions for sums greater than $200 and not exceeding $500, concurrent jurisdiction with the justices of the peace in misdemeanour cases, and appellate jurisdiction in all cases brought from a justice of the peace or a police court.

Local Government.-The general management of county affairs is intrusted to three commissioners elected by districts, but these commissioners are not permitted to incur extraordinary expenses or levy a tax exceeding five mills on a dollar without first obtaining the consent of the people at a general or special election. The