Making a Pioneer Landscape in the Oklahoma Territory

A close-up study of how real people, not just the elite, attached themselves to the land, this essay looks at the creation of a pioneer landscape. The area of four square miles dealt with is near Guthrie, the capital of the Oklahoma Territory from 1889 to 1907. The locality included the Mount Hope Church and Mount Hope Cemetery and was immediately adjacent to the Coulter School, all key points in the community. The record is complete enough for a partial reconstruction of the early cultural landscape. The chief gap seems to be how dependable supplies of domestic water were obtained.