Historical Marker Program

George C. Sibley Expedition

Alfalfa County
Location: 1/2 mile east of junction of OK-8 and OK-11, north of Cherokee
Coordinates: 36.805565, -98.245647
Material: Stone with bronze plaque
Topics: American Indians; Environmental/Cultural Ecology; Government; Settlement Patterns

Sibley, an Osage Indian agent, and two others were believed to be the first whites to view the Great Salt Plains on an expedition to the area in the summer of 1811. Sibley called the geological phenomenon "a perfect level plain covered in dry hot weather from two to six inches deep with a beautiful clean white salt.

Sod House

Alfalfa County
Location: on OK-8, five miles north of Cleo Springs at Sod House Museum
Coordinates: 36.472189, -98.425992
Material: Granite
Topics: Agriculture; Environmental/Cultural Ecology; Land Openings; Settlement Patterns; Territorial Period, 1861–1907

This is the only complete, restored, and intact sod house remaining in Oklahoma. As Oklahoma was settled, homesteaders cut long furrows of sod into blocks and stacked them to form walls. Openings were left for windows and doors. Thousands of sod houses once dotted the prairie but eventually were destroyed by the harsh climate of the Great Plains. This house, constructed by Marshall McCully, was protected by trees and a frame building.

Stella Friends Academy

Alfalfa County
Location: on OK-11, two miles east of junction with US-64, north of Cherokee
Coordinates: 36.797050, -98.324543
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Education; Religion/Philosophy; Settlement Patterns; Territorial Period, 1861–1907; Transportation

Buildings near here from 1897. Under auspices of Friends Church, the Academy was noted for high moral, spiritual and scholastic standards. Closed 1922. Named for the teacher of first school (1893) in this vicinity, a sod house near Stella Church in Cherokee Strip.