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Exploring Farther

6/23/2021

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Stephen Harriman Long, early American explorer of present-day Oklahoma.

Stephen Long Explores Oklahoma Region

Neither cold nor heat, drought nor flood, dangerous Indians nor hostile Spaniards could stem the surge of American merchants, scientists, adventurers, missionaries, and soldiers who persevered across the rivers, then the lands of present-day Oklahoma. While the imperial powers of Europe drained each other’s blood and treasure, or sank into non-productive lassitude, the young American nation born of them vibrated with energy and ambition. Indeed, many people would have many ideas for Indian Territory.
Scores of daring American entrepreneurs yearned to reach the bountiful trading hub of Santa Fe to the west of Texas, but well-armed Spanish troops under orders from their distant government prevented that, at the point of the bayonet when necessary. It was no place for the faint of heart or the uncertain of aim. Many of the keenest observations and most notable discoveries by Americans were accomplished by private citizens such as scientists or merchants, rather than those in government service.
One of the most intrepid American explorers of early Oklahoma, though, was U.S. Army Engineer Stephen Long. As the Osage-Cherokee war raged in 1817, the War Department commissioned him to choose a location on the Arkansas River for a fort to help calm that vicious feud, as well as to protect the American settlers beginning to enter the area. Long established Fort Smith, later one of the largest cities in Arkansas.
Then, encouraged by the Adams-Onis Treaty signed between the United States and Spain, a series of important American explorations trekked through present-day Oklahoma in the late 1810s and early 1820s. Natural and manmade dangers alike lurked in every direction throughout the rough country.
Long’s Epic Journey Two years after his first Oklahoma adventure, esteeming his toughness and coolness of mind in dangerous situations, the War Department sent Long west on an even more daunting mission: finding the elusive headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers. Numerous previous American expeditions had failed to do so. Also plagued throughout the expedition by supply shortages due to the financial Panic of 1819, Long trekked across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, then in the summer of 1820 detached Captain John H. Bell and a dozen men to follow the Arkansas back to Fort Smith.
This group, which included the father of American zoology, Thomas Say, faced its own desperate odyssey, braving thirst and scorching heat before reaching their destination. Say suffered additional heartache as deserting soldiers stole five journals in which he had painstakingly compiled vast amounts of eyewitness data about newly christened Indian Territory’s people, plants, animals, geography, and minerals. Forging on from memory and the remnants of his expedition writings, he managed to publish a book chronicling the Bell expedition.

Stephen Long’s great 1820 expedition through present-day Oklahoma continued his preceding year’s exploration of the Missouri River. The remarkable pathfinder seemed to find a way to answer every one of the many formidable challenges that arose with ingenuity and resourcefulness.


Read the entire Oklahoma story in John J. Dwyer's
The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People
volume 1 of a 2-part series on the 46th state and the people who make this state very special.
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    author John J Dwyer

    John Dwyer's   Oklahoma History

    Author John Dwyer takes us on a voyage through time, to discover Oklahoma is ways we've never fully understood.

     The hardbound pictorial of volume 1 is available for a limited time at up to 40% off, using this link.

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      Novelist and Oklahoma native Ralph Ellison said, "You have to leave home to find home", an apt description of the journey of John Dwyer, author and general editor of The Oklahomans. The Dwyer family roots were firmly transplanted from Ireland to Oklahoma by John's great-grandfather and grandfather, the latter who settled in Oklahoma City in 1909, just two years after Oklahoma achieved statehood. Although born in Dallas, TX, John was relocated to Oklahoma when his widowed mother returned to her home when he was two years old.
      It would be on Oklahoma soil that his mother instilled in him his love for history, and coupled with his unusually creative imagination, it soon became apparent that John not only liked to hear great stories of legend and history, but to make up his own as well. It would be out of a sense of divine purpose that he would use that creativity in response to a higher calling in the years to come.
      John began a career in journalism during his high school days when he served in a variety of roles, including news and sports reporter, for the Duncan Banner, a daily newspaper in his small Oklahoma hometown. He was the youngest sports editor in the newspaper's history by the time he attended the University of Oklahoma on a journalism scholarship. He graduated in 1978 with a bachelor of arts and sciences degree in journalism.
      Dwyer further developed his journalistic skills in radio as a play‐by‐play football and basketball announcer for several radio stations. He won the coveted position of sports director for the University of Oklahoma's 100,000 watt KGOU‐FM radio station. For seven years, he provided live, on‐air reports to America's largest radio networks of University of Oklahoma college football games.
      Except for a year in England during 6th grade, John lived in the Sooner State for 28 years before returning to Dallas in 1986 to attend Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned his Master of Biblical Studies. While there, Dwyer worked part time on the sports staff of The Dallas Times Herald, which at the time owned one of the five largest circulations of any daily newspaper in Texas. It was in Texas that he also met and married his wife Grace in 1988 and settled down to start his family.
      In the spring of 1992, Dwyer and his wife founded the Dallas‐Fort Worth Heritage newspaper, which would grow to a circulation of 50,000 per month at the time of its sale, after nearly a decade, to new owners. The Heritage pioneered innovative features such as full color photography and graphics, an expansive web site, a cluster of informative daily radio programs, and an aggressive, uncompromising brand of investigative news reporting unprecedented for contemporary news publications holding an
    orthodox Christian worldview.
      In 2006, at the urging of his family and the Oklahoma Historical Society, John returned to Oklahoma to tackle the colossal task of writing "The Oklahomans," which was endorsed as an official project of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission. He has completed volume 1 (Ancient‐Statehood) and a portion of volume 2 (Statehood‐Present), which releases in November 2018.
      He is now an Adjunct Professor of History and Ethics at Southern Nazarene University. He is former history chair at Coram Deo Academy, near Dallas, Texas. His books include the non‐fiction historical narrative "The War Between the States: America's Uncivil War" (Western Conservatory), the novel "When the Bluebonnets Come" (Bluebonnet Press), the historical novels "Stonewall" and "Robert E. Lee" (Broadman & Holman Publishers), and the upcoming historical novels "Shortgrass" and "Mustang" (Oghma Creative Media).
      John and Grace have one daughter and one grandson and live in Norman, Oklahoma. They are members of the First Baptist  Church of Norman, where they serve in a variety of teaching, mission, and other ministry roles.

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