Oklahoma Has Mountains!

It’s always dangerous to assume stereotypes are true or, at the very least, absolute.

The states in the Great Plains have earned reputations as flat, featureless bread baskets.

In some ways, this standing is accurate. The majority of agriculture in the United States comes from this region. However, digging into the statistics reveals some interesting nuances. The top state for agricultural production lies nowhere near the Great Plains. California is number one! Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, and Illinois round out the Top 5.

Nestled just north of Texas and south of the juggernaut duo of Nebraska and Kansas (rated number seven), Oklahoma would seem to have all the attributes to form a continuous string of ag-all-stars. Instead, according to the USDA, the Sooner State ranks just 22nd in agricultural commodity output, despite three-quarters of the land being used for farms and racnhes! Not that they are total slouches, Oklahoma does place fifth in both cattle production and wheat production.

How does this prime real estate fall so far behind its neighbors?

Part of the answer might arise in the state’s terrain, which is not so plain-ish after all.

Consider Oklahoma’s High Point, Black Mesa.

Like most of the Great Plains states, Oklahoma’s elevation slopes from highest in the west, butting up against the Rockies, to lowest in the east, as the land moves toward the Mississippi River. Black Mesa rests in the panhandle, near the tri-point with Nevada and Colorado.

Though most wouldn’t deem the tabletop a proper mountain, it’s easy to see why wheat and corn aren’t popping from Black Mesa.

This rugged terrain isn’t rare in Oklahoma by any stretch, but it’s not the only type of terrain providing relief. If one wanted to get really crazy, one could label Oklahoma a “mountain” state!

Though the raw elevations of these mountains won’t set imaginations ablaze – Black Mesa doesn’t hit 5,000 feet above sea level, and the peaks pictured above are in the 2,000s – they do rise significantly around their respective landscapes.

Oklahoma is a fantastic example of a concept we’ve examined before: elevation isn’t necessarily the most important factor when it comes to a peak’s impressiveness. Black Mesa benefits from being closer to the uplifted Colorado Plateau, but most people would likely find Mount Scott, which rises 2,464 feet above sea level, more awe-inspiring.

The state touts an impressive number of ranges for a place in the Great Plains region. At least four major conglomerations populate different parts of Oklahoma.

Pieces of the Boston Mountains, a subset of the Ozarks, stretch into the northeastern portion of Oklahoma. In the southeast, the Ouachitas peek in from Arkansas. South of Oklahoma City rise the Arbuckle Mountains. And the impressive Wichita Range produces craggy vistas in the southwestern zone.

The Ouachita and Wichita Mountains feature interesting geological origins.

Unlike many major mountain chains, such as the Appalachians and Rockies, the Ouachitas did not have a volcanic core. Instead, their sedimentary layers were deformed and uplifted due to tectonics. As the South American plate crashed into the North American plate about 300 million years ago, the rocks, unlikely to ever become mountains, suddenly shot upward. Another curious snippet: most ranges in North America run north-south, but the Ouachitas trend east-west.

The Wichita peaks are the result of a “failed continental rift.” They first formed about 500 million years ago, thanks to magmatic activity along the boundary of a zone that “tried” to separate. If the land had rent, an ocean would have formed; instead, the activity fizzled, but the igneous rocks remained. Over time, these rocks were buried by sandstones and carbonates, before being raised in the same event that created the Ouachitas and the Arbuckles. Geologists believe the orogeny might have lifted these peaks over 20,000 feet!

Since then, the great chiseling force known as erosion whittled them to their current height.

We might owe Oklahoma a reputational apology.

The envisioned expanse of even plains might be true in some areas, but the mountain trekker shouldn’t shrug at its peaks!