Canute

Canute. . Early inhabitants of the area were plains Indians who followed and hunted the roaming herds of buffalo that grazed the rich grasslands of this area. evidence of several Indian encampments have been located on Trail Elk, Turkey and Oak Creeks as well as Indian Springs. , In 1541, Spanish explorer Coronado crossed Western Oklahoma in search of fabled cities of gold. For the next 350 years Spaniards, Mexicans and Americans searched for gold in the Canute area. Somewhere along Turkey Creek may have once thrived the fabled Mexican gold mining town of Cascorillo. The wealth they sought in vain was found by later residents in the form of wheat, cattle, oil and natural gas. , Texas cattle moved through the area after the Civil War to the railhead and markets in Kansas. The Great Western Trail crossed present day I-40 approximately one and one half miles east of present day Canute. , Farmers and ranchers arrived in the Land Run of 1892 with the opening of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Territory. The final location of Canute was settled in 1902 by lottery. The winner paid $10.00 for a lot. The Canute Bank is the oldest state chartered bank still in operation. , Another major source of the area's prosperity was the discovery of oil in the early 1900's and later natural gas. The first well drilled in Western Oklahoma was on the C. H. Wilcox farm one mile northeast of Canute in 1917 the deepest well in the world at the time was drilled to 31441 feet and was located approximately 10 miles southeast of Canute.