USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I > Part 77
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Grady County. .
Grady county, except its westernmost tier of townships, was part of the Chicka- saw Nation until statehood. Its area is roll- ing prairie and fine farming country, but its development has practically begun since statehood. The population of the county at its last census was 23,420, the principal towns being as follows: Chickasha, 7,862; Minco, 725; Rush Springs, 588; Tuttle, 320; Verden, 312; Alex, 224; Ninnekah, 225; Bradley, 149. The population of Chickasha in 1900 was 3,209. This is one of the most enterprising cities of western Oklahoma, an important railroad center, and with vast tributary resources in the cot- ton and grain and stock raising country that surrounds it.
Chickasha was founded in the early nine- ties, when the main line of the Rock Island Railroad was built. The Rock Island has since extended its road west from this point to Mangum and also east toward Paul's Valley. The Lawton branch of the Frisco, and the completion (in 1908) of the Okla- homa Central to Chickasha, make this a center from which radiate lines of railroad in eight different directions.
Marshall County.
Ten years ago the country now comprised in the boundaries of Marshall county had no settlements and had not advanced in in- dustrial development and civilization suffi- ciently to call for any special notice. In 1900 the Frisco Railroad from Sapulpa to Denison was completed. Along the railway right of way the townsite of Madill was laid
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out, and the history of that thriving town is all contained within the present decade. The Frisco Railroad a year or so after the construction of the main line, built the southern Oklahoma branch from Ardmore east through the southern tier of counties to Arkansas. The two lines intersect at Madill, a circumstance which has increased the material advantages of this town.
The population of Marshall county at the recent census was 13,081, and of Madill, the county seat, 1,587. The other principal towns of the county are Kingston, 477; Oakland, 445; Woodville, 390. The county is nearly all adapted to agriculture, with corn and cotton as the principal crops.
Mayes County.
Mayes county was named in honor of one of the prominent families of the Cherokee Nation, Chief Samuel H. Mayes having been one of the most influential men of the nation during the years which saw the dis- integration of the nation and the merging of its people with an American state. The county has a good deal of rough area and forest lands, and its principal industries are farming and stock raising. The population in 1907 was 11,064, and that of the princi- pal towns was: Pryor Creek, 1,113; Chou- teau, 344; Adair, 340.
These towns are located on the M., K. & T. Railroad, which furnishes the only railroad facilities in the county. Pryor Creek, the county seat, has long been a trade center in this section of the Cherokee country.
Muskogee County.
The county of Muskogee was formed by the members of the constitutional conven- tion with very irregular boundaries, con- forming in few respects to any of the old national and natural limits. The territory
included in the county was formerly por- tions of both the Cherokee and Creek Na- tions.
The county has a varied wealth of re- sources. The abundant facilities of busi- ness, arising from the presence in the county of the second city of the state and of splendid railroad advantages, the rich agricultural possibilities of the county's soil, the magnitude of the mineral deposits, and other conditions conspire to give this county a foremost place in the economic and social progress of the different divisions of Okla- homa.
Muskogee county has a population (in 1907) of 38,341, the principal towns out- side of Muskogee being: Porum, 1,108; Fort Gibson, 1,063; Haskell, 720; Boyn- ton, 400; Webber Falls, 332; Bixby, 300.
The first railroad to reach the territory now included in Muskogee county, bringing with it inestimable advantages to the future growth and welfare of Muskogee city, was the M., K. & T., in 1872. In 1887 the Mis- souri Pacific built its line from Fort Smith up the Arkansas valley as far as Wagoner, and two years later extended the road on to Coffeyville, Kansas. This road was for- merly called the Kansas and Arkansas Val- ley, and for the past decade has been the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern. About 1902 was the time of the building of the next railroad line, and with the opening of the century began the great advance in all departments of affairs in Muskogee and vicinity. The Ozark and Cherokee Central (originally the Muskogee & West- ern), from Okmulgee into Arkansas, was the old name by which the present branch of the Frisco is known. Within recent years two other important lines have con- tributed to the progress of this section- the Midland Valley, and the Missouri, Ok- lahoma and Gulf.
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City of Muskogee.
Muskogee, the second city in the state of Oklahoma, originated as a commercial cen- ter in the building of the M., K. & T. Rail- road in 1871. But the proximity of Fort Gibson and the Union agency, the latter at Fern Hill only three miles from this city, gives Muskogee historical associations that go back to the very beginning of the his- tory of Indian Territory and Oklahoma.
Throughout the official existence of the Dawes Commission its headquarters and offices were in Muskogee. The business of this, the greatest probate court in the world, was one of the factors which conferred dis- tinction on this city. Muskogee is also noted as the site of the first United States court in Oklahoma. A court of minor jurisdic- tion was established here consequent to the act of March 1, 1889, and was the first fed- eral court in the territory and the only court of resort for the first settlers of Okla- homa. At Muskogee, also, the convention assembled in 1905 to draft the constitution of the proposed "State of Sequoyah." The first governor of the new state comes from Muskogee, and many other facts might be mentioned to show the close connection of Muskogee with the history of Oklahoma in general.
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At the building of the railroad in 1871, Muskogee station was located at a point about a mile north of the present loca- tion. The uneven character of the ground caused its subsequent removal. A little frame house, erected in the fall of 1871 by J. S. Atkinson and A. W. Robb, general merchants, was the first of a great succes- sion of business structures which in later years have risen many stories in height and in solid brick and stone blocks that shut in long streets. "The Red Front" store of Joshua Ross was also one of the pioneer
business enterprises. One of the first resi- dents of Muskogee was Major John A. Foreman. He imported by the railway and erected a windmill, connecting the power to grinding machinery. Some days the grist was ground, but many days not, for the wind blew when it listed. Custom increased and became too impatient to wait both for the slow grinding and the fickleness of the wind, so the Major brought in a steam grist mill and cotton gin, said to be the first of their kind in the Indian Territory. In- credible though the story seems, it is stated that cotton was transported from Paul's Valley to be ginned at this mill.
On the townsite which had been occupied by the settlers, but to which no legal title could be obtained under the laws governing Indian lands, a population of several thou- sand people had located by the close of the century. The Curtis act of 1898 made pro- visions for the incorporation of townsites and the regular sale of town lots in Indian Territory. Before that time no municipal government in the ordinary sense of the term existed. The first set of city officials, elected in 1898, were: P. J. Byrne, mayor ; W. R. Shackleford, recorder ; J. G. Lieber, attorney ; George H. Williams, treasurer; P. N. Blackstone, W. S. Harsha, A. W. Robb, F. B. Seavers, C. W. Turner, coun- cilmen. The city government soon after- ward set about to organize a fire depart- ment, establish sanitary and police regula- tions, and provide for public improvement in keeping with the commercial progress of the town.
The progress of Muskogee to its present municipal status has occurred largely dur- ing the present decade. With a population of about 4,500, and one railroad, Muskogee at the beginning of the century was a pros- perous town and well advanced considering its opportunities, but with few points of ex-
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cellence as a municipal organism. Schools and churches had been established soon after the founding of the town, the Presby- terians and Methodists having organized in the seventies, and the Catholics having built their first church in 1890. Several col- leges had been built, so that Muskogee was better known as an educational center than as a business city. The first newspaper had been published in 1875, the first national bank in the entire Territory had been es- tablished at this point in August, 1890 (R. L. Owen was president), and the bar and courts and other institutions had made the town important throughout eastern Indian Territory.
Since the beginning of the century, how- ever, Muskogee had advanced to be a city of about fifteen thousand inhabitants, with several miles of brick-paved streets, with water, electric light and sewerage systems, with a paid fire department, street railways, and modern schools and buildings. It is said that in the two years before 1908 Mus- kogee spent a million dollars for municipal buildings. Municipal improvement, rapid as it has been, has hardly kept pace with the commercial development. For Musko- gee has become a wholesale and retail mer- cantile city, is one of the chief railroad cen- ters of the state, and has its sources of growth and permanent greatness in the rich mining and oil regions and the fruitful agri- cultural areas that surround the city.
The greatest factor in this growth has, no doubt, been the building of railroads. In 1900 the M., K. & T. was the only line connecting this city with the outer world. At the present time the Midland Valley connects Muskogee with other towns along the Arkansas valley, and its railway shops at this point are an institution that supports a considerable population. The Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf operates trains through
Muskogee, though as a link in an important railroad system this line is not yet complete. The Frisco also has a branch reaching Mus- kogee. These roads give transportation fa- cilities in every direction. Recently there * was held a water-way celebration at Mus- kogee, presaging the improvement of the Arkansas river as a navigable highway, and it is also proposed to develop by means of a dam sufficient water power at this point to give Muskogee enviable prominence as a manufacturing center.
Murray County.
Murray county is noted for its scenic attractions, the Platt National Park, and the beauties of the Arbuckle mountains and the Washita valley. The mineral resources of the county have been exploited to some extent, there being asphalt mines at Gil- sonite.
The building of the main line of the Santa Fe in 1887 brought the attractions and resources of this region within reach of the world, and soon afterward the town of Davis was started near the railroad. For some years visitors to the Sulphur Springs traveled from Davis by highroad to that resort, until both the Santa Fe and the Frisco extended short spurs to reach Sul- phur. Since the establishment of the na- tional park and the building of the railroads, Sulphur has become a prosperous town, with trade and industrial resources in addi- tion to its advantages as one of the best watering places of the southwest.
Nowata County.
Nowata county comprises an area of about sixteen congressional townships about the headwaters of the Verdigris river. The county lies in the oil and gas territory of the Mid-Continent field, and the develop- ment work carried on by several companies
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and individuals has returned some gratify- ing rewards. The greatest resource of the county, however, consists in its rich agri- cultural lands, and the large crops of corn and wheat.
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During the past twenty years the country comprised in this county has been subject to a general improvement in civilization and industrial advancement. The Missouri Pacific Railway (Iron Mountain) was con- structed up the valley of the Verdigris in 1889. Railroad transportation for this re- gion at once acted as a spur of progress, and both the citizen population and the white non-citizens proceeded with the im- provement of the country and the building up of town communities. Nowata soon became the chief settlement between Clare- more and the Kansas line, and has since retained that distinction in the county of which it is the capital. Nowata had a pop- ulation of 2,223 at the statehood census. A rich agricultural area and the oil and gas industry contribute to its permanent wel- fare and growth. It is the commercial cen- ter for the county and also the seat of about a quarter of the county's population.
About 1901 a branch of the M., K. & T. was extended from Coffeyville to Bartles- ville, across the northwest corner of what is Nowata county. On this railroad is the little town of Wann, with a population of 201, near the west line of the county. Lena- pah, second in size in the county, has a population of 331, and Delaware a popula- tion of 108. The population of the entire county in 1907 was 10,453.
Okfuskee County.
Okfuskee county lies on the western line of the old Creek Nation. Up to the begin- ning of the present decade its territory was entirely without railroad, and its settlements were little communities about the missions
or the one or two postoffices. In 1900 the Frisco Railroad passed through the south- east corner of the present county, and at once gave an impetus to the village of We- leetka, near the old Indian town of Ala- bama. In recent years the Fort Smith and Western Railroad has connected with the Frisco at Weleetka, increasing the commer- cial and shipping advantages of that place, and has continued on through the county in the direction of Guthrie. In this way Oke- mah became a railroad station, and was chosen the county seat of the new county.
The population of the principal towns of the county at the census of 1907 was : Oke- mah, 1,027; Weleetka, 1,020; Boley, 824; Paden, 253.
Boley is one of the interesting communi- ties known as "colored towns," populated entirely by negroes, where the presence of white men is not desired. Other towns of the southwest long ago established the rule that the colored people should be ex- cluded, and Boley is an example of the re- versal of the rule. When the Fort Smith and Western Railway was being constructed through this region in 1903, the site of the new negro town was established, and named after the man who built that section of the railroad. Colored people run the town, and it is one of the examples of self-government and independent town existence which have received the attention of students of the negro problem in its relation to the nation at large. Boley in 1908 had two banks, two cotton gins, a newspaper, a hotel, and the Creek-Seminole College and Agricultural Institute.
Okmulgee County.
Okmulgee county is at the heart of the old Creek Nation. Here were for years the council grounds of the tribe, and only dur- ing the present century have railroads and
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white immigration produced noteworthy changes in the life and customs of town and country. At the recent census Okmulgee county had a population of 14,362. A con- siderable part of the county is hill region, formerly the favorite resort of outlaws. The principal farm products are corn and cotton, but this county is within the coal and oil districts of the state and the output of coal and oil from Okmulgee county is the county's largest single resource.
Okmulgee's relation with the political de- velopment of the old Indian Territory has been described in other chapters. As capi- tal of the Creek Nation, it was the scene of many of the important events which form the annals of the nation. Though the Creek councils met in this vicinity after the war, it was in 1869 that the council house was built at Okmulgee, and in it for some years assembled the inter-tribal councils which drew up the "Okmulgee constitution," the first practical plan for the government of the Indian Territory. The first council house, it is said, was a double log structure, two stories, with six rooms for business purposes, and with two stone chimneys with fireplaces on each floor. The brick and stone capitol in which the last council of the Creeks met before statehood is now the principal public building in Okmulgee.
The Severs block, recently completed, is the finest business structure in Okmulgee, and is a monument to the merchant pioneer of this vicinity. A portion of the walls of the new Severs block was built in 1878, forming part of the first two-story stone building in town. Captain F. B. Severs, the builder of both these blocks, established a store about three miles northwest of the present site of Okmulgee in 1868. This spot (called Shieldsville) was the central point and trading center until after the removal of the capitol building, and Captain Severs
and Columbus Belcher conducted large stores there for several years. The first cotton gin and mill was established at Ok- mulgee in 1880, by Captain Severs.
The building of the Frisco Railroad in 1900 has made a new city of Okmulgee. The census of that year showed less than two hundred white inhabitants at Okmul- gee. The population according to the state- hood census is 2,322. There were over fifty retail stores, and the business of this town has been increased many times during the present decade as a result of the building of railroads and the development of the natural resources in the vicinity. A public school building that cost twenty thousand dollars is an evidence of the interest of the people in education.
About two years after the construction of the Frisco Railroad, the Okmulgee and Cherokee Central was built, between Ok- mulgee and Muskogee and Fort Gibson. This is now a branch of the Frisco System. Recently the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf has put in operation its line through the southern part of Okmulgee county, Henry- etta being a junction point between this road and the Frisco.
The principal towns of the county out- side of the county seat are Henryetta, whose population in 1907 was 1,051 ; Beggs, 720; Morris, 387. Morris was platted at the time the railroad was built, and has at- tained considerable importance as a center for a rich agricultural community and for the oil and gas development which has re- cently taken place.
Osage County.
Osage county has the same area and limits as the Osage National reservation. The state constitution expressly stated that the nation should constitute a single coun- ty until all the lands were allotted, after
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which the legislature might subdivide it. As it now stands, Osage county is the larg- est civil division in the state.
The history of the Osage tribe and the manner in which this reservation was as- signed to them will be found in the general history. The Osages have been described as the richest people in the world. Only about two thousand citizens have a share in the great domain which is now being allotted. Each member of the tribe will have over six hundred acres of land; a trust fund of about nine million dollars is held for their benefit by the government; and the recent development of the oil and gas fields of the nation will add millions of dollars to the national and individual wealth of this people.
The population of this immense county by the statehood census was 15,332, the principal towns being-Pawhuska, 2,407; Fairfax, 470; Hominy, 468; Foraker, 237.
In 1903 not a railroad line was in opera- tion within the limits of the Osage Nation. Pawhuska, the capital of the nation and the principal town, was credited with a pop- ulation in 1900 of 116. Hominy and Gray Horse were almost the only other settle- ments worthy of mention.
During the past five years the founda- tions have been laid for a wonderful devel- opment of this country, which in a few years will rank among the most productive. and most advanced portions of the state. The building of the M., K. & T. Railroad from Bartlesville across the nation in 1904 was the first important step in this direc- tion. About the same time the branch of the Santa Fe from Newkirk to Pawnee gave the western side of the nation rail- road facilities. Then within the last two or three years the Midland Valley has been built from Tulsa through the Osage coun- try toward Arkansas City. Along the Ar-
kansas valley a branch of the M., K. & T. runs from Osage junction to Tulsa. This rapid building of railroads, with the accom- panying development of the natural re- sources of this country, has quite changed the conditions that formerly prevailed here.
Pawhuska, the capital city, has been spe- cially affected by these new facilities and developments. The government first pro- vided for a sale of town lots here in 1906, and the improvement of the town on a per- manent basis has taken place since that time.
Ottawa County.
Ottawa county embraces within its area the little reservations which on the old maps of Indian Territory were designated with the names of the Quapaws, Peorias, Otta- was, Modocs, Shawnees and Wyandottes; also part of the former Seneca reservation is included in this county. The county con- tains some of the best agricultural lands of the state, and the timber areas have also been one of the important resources of the inhabitants for a number of years. In the allotment of lands to the Indian citizens of the tribes mentioned, no surplus remained, and only a small portion of the lands has been permitted to go into the general mar- ket.
The original line of the Frisco railroad enters Oklahoma through this county. About 1901 the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis was built from the Kansas line to Miami, and thence to a junction with the Frisco at Afton. This road is the Kan- sas City branch of the Frisco.
Miami was the old government town of the Quapaw agency, where the federal court was located, and is the county seat and metropolis of the county. Quapaw and Wyandotte were the seats of Indian schools. Afton because of its railroad
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facilities has gained much prominence as a built north to Ralston. With the exception trade center, and has a population of more than a thousand. Fairland and Peoria are other towns in the county.
Pawnee County.
Pawnee county was so named for the tribe of Indians who formerly owned sev- enteen whole and fractional townships south of the Arkansas river, situated large- ly in the present county. The Pawnees relinquished their title and agreed to allot- ment in November, 1892, and their surplus lands were opened at the same time with the Cherokee Strip opening of September, 1893 (Vol. I, p. 298). Pawnee county in the first division of the territory comprised in the Strip was called county "Q," and during the territorial period of Oklahoma was smaller by about two townships than at the present time. This county was set- tled on September 16, 1893, the opening day of the Strip, and the county seat town of Pawnee was laid out and populated that day.
Pawnee county by the 1907 census had a population of 17,112, the larger part of the inhabitants being distributed through the country, engaged in the profitable occu- pations of farming and stock raising, and also in the oil and gas fields, which have recently become sources of wealth in this county. The population of the principal towns of the county is as follows: Pawnee, 1,943; Cleveland, 1,441 ; Ralston, 587; Jen- nings, 380; Blackburn, 330; Skedee, 277; Keystone, 229; Maremec, 272.
At the present time the county has about two hundred miles of railroad lines, prac- tically all of which has been built during the past ten years. In 1901 a branch of the Santa Fe ran from Guthrie through Stillwater to Pawnee, which was the termi- nus. Two years later this road had been
of this short line, the railroad mileage of the county has been laid during the last five years, or since 1903. The construction of the M., K. & T. through Cleveland and Jennings occurred about 1904.
Pittsburg County.
Pittsburg county is in area one of the largest in the new state, having an area of 1,368 square miles. The region bounded by the county lines has many other points of distinction. At McAlester coal was first mined in commercial quantities, and this vicinity has ever since been the center of the immense coal industry of the Indian Territory. In the production of coal the mines of Pittsburg county led those of all other counties, the rank according to aggre- gate output for the year 1906 being in the following order: Pittsburg county, I,- 186,575 tons; Coal county, 643,222 tons; and then come Latimer, Le Flore, Haskell, Okmulgee and Tulsa counties.
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