Woodward County

By: Ian D. Swart

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Synopsis: The first settlement in what would become Woodward County was Camp Supply, a military post that had been established in 1868 during the Indian Wars on the American frontier. In 1887, a provisioning point for the post on the Southern Kansas Railway was created and named Woodward. It was not until six years later that the area known as the Cherokee Outlet would be opened to nonnative settlement. At high noon on September 16, 1893, thousands of hopeful settlers rushed into the territory to stake their claims in this new land. On a sunny day in 1907, William Jennings Bryan spoke to a crowd of 20,000 people in the county seat, urging the ratification of the new Oklahoma Constitution. During the late 20th century, Woodward County's extensive deposits of oil led to a booming economy. In Woodward County, the lives of cowboys, lawyers, gunfighters, brothel madams, and everyday farmers intersect as a civilization rises from the open prairie.