America was being born, but present-day Oklahoma was still Native land, open prairie and river country
In 1776, the United States was declaring its independence, but Oklahoma was not yet Oklahoma.
There was no Oklahoma City, no Tulsa, no Cushing, no Yale, no Drumright and no Mannford. There were no county lines, no state Capitol, no Sooners, no Cowboys and no Land Run.
Instead, the land that wo…