Guthrie, Oklahoma

 

I am developing a fondness for Oklahoma, so much so that I nearly bought a refrigerator magnet of the state in the gift shop of the Oklahoma Territorial Museum, formerly the Carnegie Library in Guthrie.  All day long I see the outline of the state on road signs and businesses and billboards and other objects, even the plaque in front of the domed Carnegie in Guthrie, which gave the faulty information that it was the first in the state, as one in Oklahoma City preceded it.  

The site of the state’s contour is a continual reminder of where I am.  It’s been unimaginably pleasant and unlikely to be spending February bicycling around this state thanks to the Cyclcocross World Championships drawing me to Arkansas next door.  I don’t recall being in a state that made such an emblem of its shape. Besides refrigerator magnets, the museum gift shop had countless other souvenirs in the shape of the state.  It had neckerchiefs for sale too, as modeled by a mannequin at its entrance. 

But a neckerchief is the last thing I need, though I have yet to find any to add to my vast collection.  The roadside pickings have been slim, maybe due to it being a colder month and people less inclined to be driving.  Roadkill has been virtually nonexistent.  The only license plate I’ve come upon was early on  in Arkansas and it was Texas-branded off a trailer.  The best find has been two one dollar bills stuck in the snow several hundred feet apart.  I was hoping they’d continue, perhaps dribbling out of some satchel stuffed with loot from a recent robbery, but that was it.

There have been bungee cords, but none in pristine enough shape to stop for.  The most common site in the gathering zone along the road has been the sand spread during the recent snowfall, rather than salt, particularly on the bridges, they ice up first you know.  The sand can be thick enough in stretches that I’m leery of swerving off into it and wiping out or puncturing from a prickly pebble. 

 

Though Oklahoma is known by some as the Panhandle State, it is not the only state with a panhandle.  Florida has a noteworthy one of its own and West Virginia can actually lay claim to two, one to its east and another smaller one to its north.  The nob atop Texas jutting into Oklahoma is also considered a panhandle and Alaska, Idaho and Maryland have features that qualify as panhandles as well. I didn’t come upon anything in the Territorial Museum raising the issue of its panhandle being more noteworthy than all the others, but its position near the center of the country makes it more prominent than all the others. And there is an Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell in the panhandle.

The museum gave Carnegie full due with his portrait propped up on a desk under the dome and several panels recounting his largess.  The facade of the building is graced with nothing more than “Carnegie Library.”  It was built in 1902 five years before Oklahoma gained statehood as the 46th state, preceding Arizona and New Mexico by five years.  Hawaii and Alaska brought the number of stars on the flag to fifty in 1959.  The library was a building of such prominence that it served as the setting for the inauguration of the state’s first governor. 

The Carnegie in Perry, forty miles to the north, didn’t have a dome, but it was an equally striking building and still served as a library.  It was located in a large square in the city center and had an addition hidden behind it.  To celebrate its centenary in 2010 a statue was erected of a young girl reading “Tom Sawyer” with a boy looking over her shoulder, both modeled on local citizens.   A plaque referred to Carnegie as “Scottish born, American made, who attained great wealth in steel production.”

The plaque gave full credit to a women’s organization for acquiring the library.  One of Carnegie’s stipulations was that the building be used exclusively as a library.  When it was completed the town mayor and city council tried to appropriate a portion of it for city offices, but the women would have none of it.  The men refused to back down and changed the locks on the building before the women relented. The young woman appointed librarian snuck in through a window, “against her father’s wishes,” and distributed books through a window.  The women filed suit against the men to regain the library.  It was left to the state’s Supreme Court to settle the issue siding in favor of the women, ruling that the building was only to be used as a library.

There aren’t any Carnegies out in the panhandle.  The nearest is in Woodward, shortly before the panhandle begins, 120 miles west of Perry. I had the option of going to Woodward from Perry, or angle up to Woodward later from Oklahoma City.  Since there was a strong wind from the west I opted to go south first and come back for it in a few days.  The number of miles in my circuit of the remaining eleven Carnegies on my itinerary would actually be a few less by postponing Woodward.  

One advantage of going directly to Woodward if the wind had not been adversarial was a state park where I could camp between Woodward and Perry. The camping has been not as easy as elsewhere with the majority of the land fenced.  I had to circumvent a fence one night to reach a cluster of trees.  I noticed a loop of barbed wire on a gate even though the opposite side of the gate had a lock.  It was an odd gate that could be opened on both sides and I was able to slip in.  I had no worries of anyone coming during the night as the dirt road was well overgrown with weeds.