The Anadarko Basin Museum of Natural History covers the geology and paleontology of the Anadarko Basin, one of the deepest sedimentary basins in North America and the source of most of the oil and natural gas that has driven western Oklahoma's economy for a century. The basin reaches depths of over 40,000 feet, and the fossil record preserved in its layers spans hundreds of millions of years.
The museum has fossil displays, geological core samples, and exhibits explaining how the oil and gas deposits formed and how they are extracted. For travellers, it provides context for the pump jacks visible across the landscape — the industry that built Elk City and dozens of other towns like it across the Oklahoma panhandle. It's a more interesting museum than it sounds, particularly if you're curious about why this part of the world looks and works the way it does.