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Published: March 24th 2008
Obfuscator writes: After a much more peaceful and restful night at Thunderbird Lake, we left for Oklahoma City, to see the state capitol. It's an interesting one to see, if only because it has changed so much in its relatively short life. The building was only completed sometime in the late 20s or early 30s, but only got its big shiny dome (which was in the original plans) in 2002. They ran out of money in the initial construction, and so it just never happened, I guess.
It's also an interesting capitol because until fairly recently its grounds were dotted with oil rigs. Though some might think of them as an eyesore, they gave the building great character and uniqueness. I should have liked to see it that way, and it certainly seemed like some of the locals were sad to see them go. Now there's just two left, and they stand like lonely sentinels, a sort of sad reminder that oil rigs once dominated the countryside, until they were decimated by the white man's lack of greed.
The building itself is nice enough. Like the National Weather Center, it has more floors than it lets on. The original
bill authorizing its construction only allowed for a three story structure, but they wanted about three more, so they designated it a three story building with a sub-basement and two mezzanine levels. A rather clever work around, I guess. The dome is pretty nice, and the legislative chambers are spacious and dignified without being extravagant in any way. There's some pretty cool art scattered around the building, including a nice gallery of Oklahoma artists. There's also lots of convicts in snappy uniforms wandering the halls doing janitorial work. (Onaxthiel adds: state of AX MURDERERS!)
We headed out from OKC after that, and drove significantly east. After some driving around dams and lakes and rivers, we finally stopped for a time at historic Fort Gibson. Apparently Fort Gibson was established to protect Indians and settlers from each other, but grew to be a bustling place with a few thousand troops. It served throughout the Mexican-American War, and then people lost interest in it until the Civil War, when its strategic location was again valuable. Somewhere in there, the whole fort was moved from its swampy original location, up to the top of a nearby hill. This helped decrease the number
of disease related deaths immensely, a good thing since someone was dying about every three days on the fort from one illness or another while the post was in the swamp. The fort became a real stronghold during the Civil War, from which Union troops could pin down the whole area, helping to lead to the ultimate control of Oklahoma by the Union.
During the New Deal, a replica of the original wooden fort was built to 1:3 scale, which tells you just how huge the fort was. Still, the replica is interesting, and some of the Civil War era buildings still stand on the hill, which is pretty neat.
We checked out a campground at a nearby dam, since it looked like a good site, but found that the bathrooms were closed for repair. Instead we drove south to Greenleaf State Park, which turned out to be quite nice. We cooked our dinner, watched some Star Trek, and went to sleep.
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