100 Meridian West OK/TX Border

Welcome to James and Yiren's land walk! The purpose of this journey is to introduce the border of Texas and Oklahoma. We are attempting to adopt this borderline as a National Monument and commence a great circle of uninterrupted natural path around the globe called the Greenbelt Meridian.

We will mark four segments of the state line, and use interviews, photographs and moving images to define our mission. Meanwhile we will give firsthand impressions of marginal farmland, isolated communities, and local histories that have been able to stay off the radar from the rest of the world. This OK/ TX border would appear less than perfect for a Greenbelt Meridian, yet it is in reality tailor made for our project. We are dedicated to putting back a continuous path around the globe ... No roads, no fences, No Man's Land, No Shoes Land as a symbol of hope for the Earth carried forever into the future.

Date: Nov 26-28, 2014
Where: Erick, Texola, Sweetwater, Cheynne, Reydon, and Elk City in Oklahoma

Map of  100 meridian west (OK/TX border).

compass reading

Our coordinates were not exact enough to pinpoint the 100 meridian at this location. The road intersected our proposed Meridian at sharp angle, which was disorienting from our perspective. We started to map a line across the street  from north to south .

Eyes are the most valuable tools for alignment along our 100 degrees longitude.  

Eventually a truck travelling quite fast tore apart the line marking the greenbelt meridian, but the road was not well traveled. As with  other stops we made in our two days travelling, we collected visual data and were tolerated by the traffic.

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Petitioning Department of the Interior, Barack Obama, President of the United States to designate the 100th Meridian at the Oklahoma and Texas border as a national monument and the first section of a global Greenbelt Meridian.

The only spot we found that had a sign posted for travelers coming into Oklahoma. This is considered part of the Black Kettle National Grassland, on the map.

A single point on the Meridian, near Reydon, OK.

A family coming to visit a brother in Reydon, OK for Thanksgiving all stopped at the stateline for pictures. They kindly obliged us a photograph on the Greenbelt Meridian, to define an otherwise featureless segment.

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Life Along the 100th Meridian

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The Indian Meridian Monument

The Indian Meridian Monument in Langston , Oklahoma

Washington  Irving was here!

Walk on the Indian Meridian Road in Meridian, Oklahoma

Searching for the Initial Point

Where: Hennepin, Oklahoma

The most important rock in Oklahoma: The Initial Point, is located in one of the least known spots in the state. This sandstone is located on the Murray and Garvin County line, seven miles west of Davis, Oklahoma. It is also about a mile and a half south of historic Fort Arbuckle.
In 1866, the Reconstruction treaties required the Chickasaws and Choctaws to survey and subdivide their land east of the 98th meridian. by 1870, preparations were made for the subdivision of the Indian lands into congressional townships and sections. Indian territory was so remote from any other established base lines and meridians that the surveyors decided to establish a fictitious base line and meridian. A point near Fort Arbuckle was selected as the starting or initial point, and a line that was surveyed north and south from that point was name the Indian Meridian. The Indian Base Line was placed about thirty-six miles north of the thirty-fourth parallel of latitude, and the intersection of these two lines was established as the Initial Point in Oklahoma.
( from Dr. Mark Micozzi's notes, Department of Cartography & Geography, East Central University)

James and I determined to find this most important rock in Oklahoma. We traveled through Altus, Lawton, Duncan and stopped at Hennepin. We asked the people in a cafe there and learned that the Initial point is on private land, " before Indian Meridian, Lazy S Ranch, you won't miss it". With fences everywhere and no way to contact anyone from the Ranch. As the sun set, we gave up finding the rock. We took the Indian Meridian Road north to Pauls Valley where it ended in front of a new Chickasaw casino, prematurely ending our adventure. We hit the highway and made it back to Tulsa without a hitch.

Wounded Autumn

Date: Nov 27, 2014
Where:Cheyenne, Oklahoma

Last year, our China Exchange Program teachers from China went on the trip of a lifetime to Yellowstone National Park only to find out the Park was closed due to the government shot down. What a luck! I, too, want to see Yellowstone. One of our inspirations for Greenbelt Meridian, in fact is a grey wolf from Yellowstone.  However, when we decided to pay Yellowstone National Park a visit, we were informed most of the parks facilities, roads, and services are shut down by November. James and I started looking at our options for visiting the Greenbelt Meridian sites.in far western of OK. There was a National Park there, on the map, the Washita Battlefield in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. It also felt worthwhile to spend Thanksgiving with the spirits of Native Americans.

The surprise attack on a Southern Cheyenne village by Lt. Col. George A. Custer killed Peace Chief Black Kettle and  his wife  along with women, children and more than 600 horses on November 27, 1858 made Washita a sacred site  . These grounds now stand as mute testimony to those who fought and died there for their way of life.

This year, November 27 , the memorial date happened to also be Thanksgiving day. The Visitor Center at the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site was open and when we called we found out there would be a candle light vigil on  Thanksgiving Day evening!

A mural portraits a peaceful day before the attack.

Walking toward the dry-out Washita River 

A line that divides

Welcome to James and Yiren's land walk! The purpose of this journey is to introduce the border of Texas and Oklahoma. We are attempting to adopt this borderline as a National Monument and commence a  great circle of uninterrupted natural path around the globe called the Greenbelt Meridian.

We will mark four segments of the state line, and use interviews, photographs and moving images to define our mission. Meanwhile we will give firsthand impressions of marginal farmland, isolated communities, and local histories that have been able to stay off the radar from the rest of the world. This OK/ TX border would appear less than perfect for a Greenbelt Meridian, yet it is in reality tailor made for our project. We are dedicated to putting back a continuous path around the globe ... No roads, no fences, No Man's Land, No Shoes Land as a symbol of hope for the Earth carried forever into the future.

map of  100 meridian west (TX/OK border).

In Erick the first building that will make you take notice of it is on the corner coming to town. It is wild. We are informed of the owners unique flair for living, which they freely shared. The couple who owned this store made everyone feel connected. Sadly two weeks before our arrival the wife of this colorful team passed away after a long illness.

100 Meridian Museum in Erick, OK

It museum was closed when we visited Erick but I feel it will be open in the future. The proposed Greenbelt Meridian lies west of the town on old rt 66.  Roads that cross state lines present a problem that can be addressed with an overpass.

Old Route 66

Aligned path, Oklahoma side of proposed Greenbelt Meridian