Oklahoma Jim

A cowboy who shoots faster than his own shadow, his sarcastic horse, a quartet of incredibly stupid bandits - this is the Old West at its funniest. The 76th adventure of the Lonesome Cowboy!

Even among iconic frontiersmen like John C. Frémont, Kit Carson, and Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger stands out. A mountain man of the American West, straddling the fur trade era and the age of exploration, he lived the life legends are made of. His adventures are fit for remaking into the tall tales Bridger himself liked to tell. Here, in a biography that finally gives this outsize character his due, Jerry Enzler takes this frontiersman’s full measure for the first time—and tells a story that would do Jim Bridger proud. Born in 1804 and orphaned at thirteen, Bridger made his first western foray in 1822, traveling up the Missouri River with Mike Fink and a hundred enterprising young men to trap beaver. At twenty he “discovered” the Great Salt Lake. At twenty-one he was the first to paddle the Bighorn River’s Bad Pass. At twenty-two he explored the wonders of Yellowstone. In the following years, he led trapping brigades into Blackfeet territory; guided expeditions of Smithsonian scientists, topographical engineers, and army leaders; and, though he could neither read nor write, mapped the tribal boundaries for the Great Indian Treaty of 1851. Enzler charts Bridger’s path from the fort he built on the Oregon Trail to the route he blazed for Montana gold miners to avert war with Red Cloud and his Lakota coalition. Along the way he married into the Flathead, Ute, and Shoshone tribes and produced seven children. Tapping sources uncovered in the six decades since the last documented Bridger biography, Enzler’s book fully conveys the drama and details of the larger-than-life history of the “King of the Mountain Men.” This is the definitive story of an extraordinary life.

One-Eyed Mack, the lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, is assigned to solve a mystery.

In the Twin Territories, as Oklahoma was known before statehood, renegades roamed, and attempted to rule, the land. Famous lawmen, including Bill Tilghman, Heck Thomas, and Chris Madsen, and infamous outlaws, including the Dalton and Bill Cook gangs, have been the topics of many books, documentaries, and magazine articles. Other, lesser-known characters from Oklahoma's past have received little, if any attention . . . until now. Now, the story of Bert Casey and his gang can be told. Casey was the fiercely violent leader of a band of outlaws that terrorized the people of Oklahoma. While not as well known or as organized as the larger groups of villains, the Casey gang and its exploits captured the attention of the citizens of Oklahoma, and of the law, for many years. Others mentioned include doctor-turned-deputy Zeno Beemblossom and the flamboyant, volatile defense attorney Moman Pruiett. Train robberies, murders, showdowns, and hangings were part of everyday life in the Twin Territories, and they are all featured in Oklahoma Renegades: Their Deeds and Misdeeds . What began as research for a short article for author Ken Butler quickly turned into five years of work, resulting in his first book. Ken Butler is a lifetime member of the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History and a charter member of the Association for the Preservation of Lawman and Outlaw History of Oklahoma (Oklahombres).

Jack White's intentions were to weave a story of a strong hearted people in a Territory of Greatness. From the discovery of golden fields of tall grass in 1541 by Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado until the United States' Congress made Oklahoma the 46th state in November 1907. Moving from family to family to transport the story from one generation to the next Jack intertwined enough mystery and intrigue to make the book a page-turner. This is definitely not a historical novel filled only with boring dates and unimaginative facts. The story flows and meanders like a winding stream until President Teddy Roosevelt witnesses John Abernathy, an Oklahoman, grabbing angry Lobo wolves with his bare hands. Jack White's goal from the first word typed was to put on paper a record of the history of the most interesting Territory in the greater United States. "Run Oklahoma Run" is a book you will pass down to your great grandchildren.

The story of banking in twentieth-century Oklahoma is also the story of the Sooner State’s first hundred years, as Michael J. Hightower’s new book demonstrates. Oklahoma statehood coincided with the Panic of 1907, and both events signaled seismic shifts in state banking practices. Much as Oklahoma banks shed their frontier persona to become more tightly integrated in the national economy, so too was decentralized banking revealed as an anachronism, utterly unsuited to an increasingly global economy. With creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 and subsequent choice of Oklahoma City as the location for a branch bank, frontier banking began yielding to systems commensurate with the needs of the new century. Through meticulous research and personal interviews with bankers statewide, Hightower has crafted a compelling narrative of Oklahoma banking in the twentieth century. One of the first acts of the new state legislature was to guarantee that depositors in state-chartered banks would never lose a penny. Meanwhile, land and oil speculators and the bankers who funded their dreams were elevating get-rich-quick (and often get-poor-quick) schemes to an art form. In defense of country banks, the Oklahoma Bankers Association dispatched armed vigilantes to stop robbers in their tracks. Subsequent developments in Oklahoma banking include adaptation to regulations spawned by the Great Depression, the post–World War II boom, the 1980s depression in the oil patch, and changes fostered by rapid-fire advances in technology and communication. The demise of Penn Square Bank offers one of history’s few unambiguous lessons, and it warrants two chapters—one on the rise, and one on the fall. Increasing regulation of the banking industry, the survival of family banks, and the resilience of community banking are consistent themes in a state that is only a few generations removed from the frontier.

With pep talks, records, and Sooners lore, this lively, detailed book explores the personalities, events, and facts every Oklahoma fan should know. It contains crucial information such as important dates, player nicknames, memorable moments, and outstanding achievements by singular players. This guide to all things Oklahoma covers each position's best players in Sooners history, the "game of the century," and Sooner Schooner's first appearance. Now updated through the 2013 season, this book includes additional chapters covering developments of the last few seasons, such as the 2010 draft which saw the most players taken from one school in the first four picks of the draft and Oklahoma's January 2014 win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.