When I first moved here I thought Oklahoma would be dry and yellow looking like California. But it is full of leafy trees here in the city. All I knew about Oklahoma was the stories of the depression and the dust bowl days back in the 30s when there was a huge drought and many small farmers had to leave, their crop land turned to dust and blew away. It was a horrible time in America but especially hard on Oklahoma farmers.
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The core of the Dust Bowl region was the west half of Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and most of the Texas Panhandle. I grew up in the Dust Bowl part of Kansas. We had folklore and history classes in high school, but never covered more than the 1 column in the history book about the Dust Bowl Days. And there were plenty of old folks, still driving their 1940s sedans, who lived through those days. And nobody ever talked about it. Except to admire the shelterbelts out in the farm country. It wasn't until I read the book, "The Worst Hard Time", that I understood what had happened there. It's an amazing combination of land speculation, global crop markets, and climate. That dust covered a huge area farther east, including Tulsa. But Tulsa has enough rain for trees, lol -- a veritable paradise! Here's to better land management and good rain!
And to enjoyable walks in your rich, rich town. I can't even imagine how much oil money has gone through Tulsa! Those houses sure are different than in Eugene, OR that you know well. Eugene was for the loggers and mill workers. The rich timber barons were up in Albany and other towns, not Eugene. Towns sure have interesting history.
The Dustbowl days sound like an it would be an interesting article to write about land mismanagement. I see another dustbowl coming up with the use of herbicide and pesticides sterilizing our soil to the point nothing will grow because the micro biome has been killed. Just like our gut plants need nutrients broken down by the flora and fauna found in our soil, the roots can then absorb the refined nutrients. They all have a interconnected relationship and this relationship is connected to all life on earth.
Boy this town is rich....It's a good place to practice letting go of my envy....hahaha
Thank you @haphazard-hstead, I miss Eugene and my down-to-earth friends.