Before highways, section-line roads, and wheat fields, Washington Irving rode across country that would become Oklahoma. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales, Dave Deken follows the writer's 1832 journey through prairie, river country, and the stubborn Cross Timbers. The author known for Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow later turned the trip into A Tour on the Prairies. His account offers a visitor's view of a landscape already home to Native people—and a new way to consider familiar places around Payne County and central Oklahoma.
What would familiar Oklahoma country have looked like before the highways and fences? In October 1832, Washington Irving traveled through it on horseback and kept notes that became A Tour on the Prairies. On this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales, host Dave Deken follows the journey of the writer best known for Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Traveling with Henry Ellsworth, guides, companions, and U.S. Mounted Rangers, Irving encountered prairie wildlife, difficult timber, and the practical limits of an autumn expedition.
In this episode:
• How the journey connects Fort Gibson, the Tulsa area, and present-day Payne County.
• What Irving noticed in the landscape near Ripley and across the prairie.
• Why the Cross Timbers made travel slow and difficult.
• How colder weather and scarce food and forage wore down the party.
• How the journey became an 1835 book that introduced readers to this country.
Timestamped Rundown:
00:00:00 — Opening and the prairie landscape of 1832
00:01:03 — Native homelands, traveling companions, and the route west
00:01:40 — Ripley, the Cross Timbers, hard travel, and Irving's book
00:03:45 — A landscape on the edge of change
00:04:01 — Following pieces of the journey today
00:04:07 — Fort Gibson and Tulsa connections
00:04:13 — The Cimarron, Payne County, and familiar prairie
00:04:27 — History beneath everyday roads
00:04:33 — Where to learn more
00:04:42 — Weekend farewell and closing