Washington Irving's Camp

Irving's companions went on to larger lives. Henry L. Ellsworth, the Indian commissioner who invited the others west, became the first Commissioner of Patents, encouraging the inventors Samuel F. B. Morse and Samuel Colt. Charles J. La Trobe, the English writer, became superintendent of the Port Phillip District in 1839 and in 1851 the first lieutenant-governor of the new colony of Victoria in Australia. Count Albert-Alexandre de Pourtales, born in 1812, was about twenty on the ride. Irving himself had just come home from seventeen years in Europe.

What the plaque says

Washington Irving's Camp Near here, 1832, Washington Irv- ing hunted wild horses, an excit- ing event described in his book on his Oklahoma tour as "Ringing the Wild Horse." In party were H.L. Ellsworth, U.S. Comm., Chas. J. Latrobe, English writer, and Swiss Count, Albert de Portales. Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1949

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library — 16 mi
  The 1902 Carnegie Library in Guthrie where Oklahoma's statehood was proclaimed in 1907, saved from demolition in 1972 by adding a museum of the seventeen territorial years beside it.
• First Americans Museum — 17 mi
  The museum of the 39 First American nations in Oklahoma today, on the Oklahoma River, with galleries shaped by each nation, Smithsonian objects brought home and a 90-foot mound.
• Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum — 17 mi
  The outdoor memorial and museum on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people were killed at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, shaped by the families and survivors.

More markers nearby

• Route 66 — 0.5 mi
• Run of '89 East Boundary — 3.9 mi
• Central State College — 9.0 mi
• Oklahoma's First Television Station Channel 4 — 13 mi