Alfalfa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,699. The county seat is Cherokee.

Alfalfa County was formed at statehood in 1907 from Woods County. The county is named after both the alfalfa crops grown there and William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, the president of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and ninth governor of Oklahoma. He was instrumental creating the county from the original, much larger Woods County.

History

Early history

Indigenous peoples inhabited and hunted in this area for thousands of years. By 1750, the Osage had become a dominant tribe in the area. About one third belonged to the band led by Chief Black Dog (Manka - Chonka). Before 1800 they made the Black Dog Trail starting east of Baxter Springs, Kansas and heading southwest to their summer hunting grounds at the Great Salt Plains in present-day Alfalfa County. The Osage stopped at the springs, which attracted migratory birds and varieties of wildlife, for its healing properties on their way to hunting on the plains. The Osage name for this fork of the Arkansas River was Nescatunga (big salt water), what European-Americans later called the Salt Fork. The Osage cleared the trail of brush and large rocks, and made ramps at the fords. Wide enough for eight men riding horses abreast, the trail was the first improved road in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Pre-statehood

The treaties of 1828 and 1835 placed what would later become Alfalfa County within the Cherokee Outlet, which was owned by the Cherokee Nation. Ranching became the primary economic activity from 1870 to 1890; cattle companies that belonged to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association leased grazing land from the Cherokee. Prominent rancher, Major Andrew Drumm operated the "U Ranch" here as early as 1870. Its headquarters were southeast of Driftwood on the Medicine Lodge and Salt Fork rivers. He promoted creation of this county.

Statehood years onward

The city of Cherokee was designated as the county seat after being chosen by voters in an election held in January 1909. Other towns receiving votes for the honor were Carmen, Ingersoll, and Jet.

Early railroad construction, from the Choctaw Northern line (1901), the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient (1901), the Arkansas Valley and Western (1904), and the Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad Company (1904), contributed greatly to the county's early prosperity and caused many small towns to flourish. They would compete as wheat-shipping points and agribusiness centers for many years thereafter. The USDA also listed the county as the state's seventh-largest producer of sorghum in 2015, at 702,000 bushels.

Alfalfa County remains a major producer of petroleum and natural gas. In 2012, it was second (surpassed only by neighboring Woods County) in production of natural gas for Oklahoma counties, with an output of 419,606,514 Mcf (thousand cubic feet). It is also a major producer of crude oil, with total output of 3,395,396 barrels in 2012, which was fifth among Oklahoma counties.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.7%) is water. The Great Salt Plains Lake, as well as the associated Great Salt Plains State Park and Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge lie within the county, approximately 12 miles east of Cherokee. The major waterways in the county are the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River and the Medicine Lodge River.

right|280px|thumb|Aerial view to the northwest of the Great Salt Plains Lake Dam on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Alfalfa County, OK. The dam was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

It is part of the Red Bed plains.

Major highways

  • 20px U.S. Highway 64
  • 20px State Highway 8
  • 20px State Highway 8B
  • 20px State Highway 11
  • 20px State Highway 38
  • 20px State Highway 45
  • 20px State Highway 58

| align-fn = center

| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census<br />1790-1960 1900-1990<br />1990-2000 2010

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 5,699. Of the residents, 20.0% were under the age of 18 and 18.5% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 44.6 years. For every 100 females there were 153.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 167.3 males.

The racial makeup of the county was 83.7% White, 4.2% Black or African American, 3.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Asian, 2.4% from some other race, and 6.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 4.9% of the population. In the 1980-2014 period, the average life expectancy in Alfalfa County for females increased by 1.1 years while male longevity increased by 3.5 years compared to the national average for the same period of an increased life expectancy of 4.0 years for women and 6.7 years for men.

In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked Alfalfa country as first among 77 counties in Oklahoma in "health outcomes," as measured by length and quality of life.

Notable people born in Alfalfa County

  • R. Orin Cornett (1913 – 2002), physicist, was born in Driftwood. He earned a doctorate of physics and applied mathematics from the University of Texas in 1940, and invented the communication system for the hearing impaired known as Cued Speech. He taught at Oklahoma Baptist University, Pennsylvania State University, and Harvard University. He also served as a vice president at Oklahoma Baptist and as the Vice President of Long Range Planning for Gallaudet University.
  • Beryl Clark (1917 – 2000), born in Cherokee. Clark was a football player with the Oklahoma Sooners who was selected as a second-team halfback on the 1939 College Football All-America Team. Clark was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the 1940 NFL draft and played for the Cardinals during the 1940 NFL season.
  • Harold Keith (1903 – 1998), born in Lambert. He earned a master's degree in history and became the University of Oklahoma's first sports publicist from 1930 to 1969. He was awarded the 1958 Newbery Medal for his historical novel Rifles for Watie, which is based on the interviews he did for his Master's thesis.
  • Harold G. Kiner (1924 – 1944), was born in Aline. As a private in the US Army during World War II, he received the U. S. military's highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his heroic actions.
  • Wallace "Wally" Parks (1913 – 2007) was born in Goltry. Parks was founder in 1951, chairman and president of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA. It helped establish drag racing as a legitimate amateur and professional motorsport. In 1948, he was named editor of Hot Rod magazine. Parks was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1993.

Politics

{| class=wikitable

! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of May 31, 2023

|-

! colspan = 2 | Party

! Number of Voters

! Percentage

|-

|

| Democratic

| align = center | 356

| align = center | 12.38%

|-

|

| Republican

| align = center | 2,290

| align = center | 77.83%

|-

|

| Others

| align = center | 296

| align = center | 10.06%

|-

! colspan = 2 | Total

! align = center | 2,942

! align = center | 100%

|}

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Communities

City

  • Cherokee (county seat)

Towns

  • Aline
  • Amorita
  • Burlington
  • Byron
  • Carmen
  • Goltry
  • Helena
  • Jet
  • Lambert

Census-designated place

  • Nescatunga

Other unincorporated places

  • Ashley
  • Driftwood
  • Ingersoll
  • Yewed

NRHP sites

The following sites in Alfalfa County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

{|

|----- valign="top"

|

  • Alfalfa County Courthouse, Cherokee
  • Aline IOOF Lodge No. 263, Aline
  • Carmen IOOF Home, Carmen
  • Carmen IOOF Lodge No. 84, Carmen
  • Cherokee Armory, Cherokee
  • Cherokee Friends Church, Cherokee

|

  • Cherokee IOOF Lodge No. 219, Cherokee
  • Farmers' Exchange Elevator, Goltry
  • Farmers' Federation Elevator, Cherokee
  • Hotel Cherokee, Cherokee
  • Ingersoll Tile Elevator, Ingersoll
  • Sod House, Cleo Springs

|}

References

  • Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Alfalfa County
  • Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
  • Railroads in Oklahoma in 1915 (including Alfalfa County Rail lines)