As a Democrat, he initiated a "Little Deal" in Oklahoma during the Great Depression of the 1930s, working to relieve the distress of unemployed people and the economic hardships affecting the state and nation-wide and to build infrastructure as investment for the future.

Marland made his earlier fortunes in oil in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s and more later in Oklahoma during the 1920s, and lost each in the volatility of the industry and the times.

To share their wealth and help her sister Margaret Roberts and her family, in 1916 they adopted their two children, nephew and niece George and Lydie, who were then 19 and 16 years old.

[citation needed] They decided to move west to Oklahoma, where they found renewed success in its subsequent discoveries and drilling oil boom.

The front-page notice was followed by an adjacent news item reporting the reaction by Miss Roberts' mother, "who broke down and wept when she learned of the engagement.

Hoping to start their lives over, Marland and Virginia moved west to the new 46th state of Oklahoma, admitted to the federal Union in 1907.

That year he founded the Marland Oil Company in Ponca City (it was incorporated in Delaware on October 8, 1920) and served as its president.

He declined reelection after entering the Democratic primary election to succeed ninth Governor William H. Murray.

Marland won both the Democratic nomination and the general election in November 1934 to serve as the tenth governor of the state.

Despite Marland's efforts, most Oklahoman politicians never fully embraced the New Deal agenda of President Roosevelt,more popular elsewhere in America.

Marland introduced legislation to appropriate funds raised by the sales tax for aid to the handicapped, the elderly, and dependent children.

[8] Marland asked the Fifteenth Legislature for a board to craft policy to develop the physical infrastructure of the state with investments to create a more diverse economy.

Through the Compact, six oil-producing states in the U.S.A. agreed to practice oil conservation and establish a fair price for petroleum.

In 1940, ex-Governor Marland ran again for the United States House of Representatives in Congress but was unsuccessful against another Republican candidate.

In the early 1920s while enjoying his great oil wealth, Marland decided to commission a statue, the Pioneer Woman, for installation in Ponca City.

[9] Marland was asked, "E. W., why don't you have sculptor Jo Davidson make a statue to the vanishing American, a Ponca, Otoe, or an Osage – a monument of great size?

[10] The twelve submissions included Confident by Bryant Baker; Self-Reliant by Alexander Stirling Calder; Trusting by Jo Davidson; Affectionate by James E. Fraser; Protective by John Gregory; Adventurous by F. Lynn Jenkins; Heroic by Mario Korbel; Faithful by Arthur Lee; Challenging by Hermon Atkins MacNeil; Determined by Maurice Sterne; Fearless by Wheeler Williams; and Sturdy by Mahonri Young.

[13] The Times reported that "Baker not only won first honors, but was the last man to enter the contest having no more than a month to prepare his model and obtain a casting.

[14] The New York Times reported on March 27, 1927, that among the visitors was 91‑year‑old Betty Wollman, who as a young bride had journeyed from St. Louis, Missouri, to Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1855.

[14] Wollman spoke about women's role during pioneer days in the Old West and congratulated Marland for his proposal to erect a statue in her honor.

[14] The winning statue nationwide was Confident, which featured a woman and her son, by the British-born American sculptor Bryant Baker.