Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
Pushmataha County | |
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Coordinates: 34°25′N 95°22′W / 34.42°N 95.36°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Oklahoma |
Founded | 1907 |
Named for | Pushmataha |
Seat | Antlers |
Largest city | Antlers |
Area | |
• Total | 1,423 sq mi (3,690 km2) |
• Land | 1,396 sq mi (3,620 km2) |
• Water | 27 sq mi (70 km2) 1.9% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 10,812 |
• Density | 7.6/sq mi (2.9/km2) |
Congressional district | 2nd |
Pushmataha County is a
The county was created at statehood from part of the former territory of the
History
Administrative history
- Ca. 1000–1500: Caddoan Mississippian culture at Spiro Mounds
- 1492–1718: Spain
- 1718–1763: France
- 1763–1800: Spain
- 1800–1803: France
- 1803–present: United States (after Louisiana Purchase)
- 1824–1825: Miller County, Arkansas Territory (eastern portion of the county)
- 1825–1907: Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory
- 1907–present: State of Oklahoma[3]
Prehistory and exploration
During prehistoric times, Pushmataha County was part of the territory during the
North America's history changed after the arrival of Europeans in 1492 under Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean. In the 16th century, European explorers began to enter the North American interior, seeking fame, treasures, and conquests on behalf of their empires.
France's
The area that became Pushmataha County was bought by the United States from France as part of the large Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
The first American explorer to set foot in the modern county was Major
The
The Indian Territory
Pushmataha County's modern origins lie in the Choctaw Nation, during its time as a sovereign nation in the Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma statehood.
Political Organization
The Choctaw territory comprising the modern county was, until statehood in 1907, divided among two of the three administrative districts, or regions, comprising the nation – Pushmataha and Apukshunnubbee. Each of these districts was subdivided into counties. The modern county fell within
The American Civil War
During the
Although no battles were recorded as occurring within the present-day confines of Pushmataha County, the Battle of Perryville occurred just outside modern-day McAlester and the Battle of Middle Boggy Depot took place outside present-day Atoka. Numerous Choctaws left their homes in the present-day county to join the battalions and participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas, and at the Battle of Honey Springs in the Cherokee Nation, which pitted them against a Unionist faction of Cherokee Indians.
Contemporary accounts make mention of many refugees streaming through the Kiamichi River valley. The war itself finally ended with the surrender of the last Confederate army—Cherokee General Stand Watie's forces, who surrendered at Fort Towson in June 1865, over two months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia—and with it any chance of Confederate success.
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" | |
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Negro spiritual | |
Songwriter(s) | Wallace Willis |
Sometime before 1862 a Negro slave, Wallace Willis, composed the Negro spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". He was then working at Spencer Academy, a Choctaw Nation boarding school located at Spencervile, Indian Territory.[10][11] The site of the academy and old Spencerville was located less than 1,000 yards from the current southern border of Pushmataha County. Known as Uncle Wallace, Willis may have resided in Pushmataha County. He died in present-day Atoka County and is buried in an unmarked grave.[citation needed]
Railroads arrive
The Choctaw people were sedentary. Their lives were tied to their farms and small acreages. The Choctaw Nation was not home to industry of any sort. As a result, the territory comprising modern-day Pushmataha County was still virgin wilderness decades after the Choctaws’ arrival.
During the 1880s the
The Frisco's route traveled along the Kiamichi River valley, entering the present-day county near Albion and leaving the river only at Antlers, to skirt the massive bluff where it is located.
The railroad stimulated development of businesses and other ties to mainstream United States society. The
Logging companies opened operations immediately. Rough-and-tumble sawmill communities began growing up around the railroad station stops. Kosoma, a veritable boomtown, boasted several hotels, doctors’ offices, and general stores during its heyday.
During the next few decades, loggers harvested the entire region, using the railroad stations as transshipment points. These transshipment points developed into the present-day communities of Albion, Moyers, and Antlers. Other communities along the railroad between these points later vanished or are today only place names, such as Kellond, Stanley and Kiamichi.
For decades the Frisco constituted the greatest feat of engineering and manmade structure in Pushmataha County. Workers moved and shaped huge amounts of earth to form its elevated roadbed, and constructed numerous wooden trestles over creeks and rivers. Once in place the railroad attracted commerce and industry, where white men in the Indian Territory hoped to stake a claim.
Bid for self-determination
Although the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory opposed being incorporated within a United States state, by the turn of the 20th century, statehood of some sort appeared inevitable. A group of leaders from the Five Civilized Nations – Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole – met at Muskogee in an attempt to seize the initiative and fashion a state from the Indian Territory, a jurisdiction to be controlled by Native Americans. Their meeting, which came to be known as the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, established the proposed State of Sequoyah.[12]
The leaders meeting in Muskogee recognized that the counties of the Choctaw Nation, drawn to reflect easily recognizable natural landmarks such as mountain ranges and rivers, were not economically viable. Jack's Fork County, as example – in which Antlers was located – was a vast territory whose tiny county seat was Many Springs (modern-day Daisy, Oklahoma). But the only commercially successful town within its boundaries was Antlers, and it was situated in its far southeastern corner.
County boundaries for the new State of Sequoyah were crafted to take into account the existing towns and the range of their commercial interests. County seats were centered geographically within the populations of the areas they would govern.
The area comprising modern-day Pushmataha County proved a particular challenge. Huge areas of its eastern portion had few people. Its population was centered in towns along the railroad in the Kiamichi River valley. A county was eventually drawn with the crescent of the Kiamichi River valley forming its commercial heart, and it was to be called Pushmataha County, Sequoyah.[13]
Records of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention's committee on counties are lost, and no evidence remains to document the committee's deliberations. They wanted an area named after their Chief Pushmataha, and singled out the future Pushmataha County, Sequoyah for this honor.
Hugo's businesses served an area extending as far north as Kent, Speer, Hamden, and nearly to Rattan. As a result, the county boundary for the proposed Hitchcock County – with Hugo as county seat – was established along the line of the existing boundary between Choctaw and Pushmataha counties. Similar considerations governed the establishment of the county's northern, eastern and western borders.
The United States Congress failed to admit the proposed State of Sequoyah into the Union, preferring to await a possible federation of the Indian Territory and
Since statehood
Pushmataha County at statehood was considered an agricultural paradise. Local residents believed the soil to be fertile and the weather enviable and moderate; it seemed that almost any fruit or vegetable could be grown. Most residents at the time were farmers who lived off their land.
Cotton was king for the county's first few decades. It was grown throughout the Kiamichi River valley. Growers hauled it into Antlers, Clayton,
Many of the farmers or hired hands were African Americans, descendants of slaves of the Choctaw. After being emancipated following the American Civil War under an 1866 treaties that the United States made with each of the Five Civilized Tribes, African Americans who stayed with the Choctaw were called
The territory comprising Pushmataha County had been part of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. It was almost completely unimproved in the European-American sense. The Choctaw government owned land in "severalty", or common, controlling the communal land. The Choctaw had their own culture and did not need bridges, roads, or public works.[14]
Early business leaders at statehood immediately sought to fund public improvements by asking local voters to pass bonds. The state government did not invest in such infrastructure. Businessmen tried to pass bridge bonds, as example, to build bridges across the Kiamichi River and Jack Fork Creek. These uniformly failed to gain approval, slowing the county's business development. Choctaw County, by contrast, passed bonds almost immediately, causing bridges to be built throughout the county. This proved excellent for business and commerce, and after this point Hugo grew significantly faster than Antlers.
Pushmataha County began to develop as European Americans settled and founded communities throughout the county. Each community built its own school, and raised money with which to hire a teacher or teachers. Residents also founded churches, mostly of various Protestant denominations with which they were affiliated. Residents of some of the more significant towns, such as Jumbo, Moyers, Clayton and Albion, also established cultural leagues or institutions—poetry clubs, music groups, and
During World War I, county resident
Federal government programs developed by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the
The
Highways were paved and standardized in the 1950s, making travel easier and linking farms and countryside to the town markets, and the towns to one another. As people bought more automobiles, they stopped using the railroad. The Frisco ceased passenger operations in the late 1950s as unprofitable. Wholesale changes resulted from railroad restructuring in the later 20th century, and the Frisco ended freight operations in the early 1980s. At that time the trestle bridges were dismantled, rails removed and the roadbed was abandoned to nature.
The
Geography
Pushmataha County's location in southeastern Oklahoma places it in a 10-county area designated for tourism purposes by the
Most of Pushmataha County is mountainous, with the exception of a relatively flat agricultural belt along the county's southern border. The Kiamichi River valley forms a crescent through the county from northeast to southwest. As was typical in prehistoric times, most human habitation has continued to be along this crescent.
The Kiamichi Mountains, a sub-range of the Ouachita Mountains, occupy most of the land in the county. This mountain chain has never been formally defined, nor have its neighboring mountain chains, such as the Winding Stair Mountains to the county's north or the Bok Tuklo Mountains to its east. The Kiamichi Mountains range to a height of approximately 1,650 feet (500 m) in the county. Many of its summits are in the shape of long furrows. The mountains are difficult to penetrate with road construction and large areas of the county are virtually empty of population.
Two rivers, the Kiamichi and
Major tributaries of the Kiamichi River include Jack Fork Creek, Buck Creek, and Ten Mile Creek. Black Fork Creek and Pine Creek are the most significant tributaries of Little River.
A very small portion of the southwest corner of Pushmataha County features Lamey Slash, an area of wetlands which drains into Muddy Boggy Creek. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "slash" is a noun which refers to a swamp.[18] This is the only portion of the county not falling within the Kiamichi or Little River watersheds.
Interesting geographical features in the county include Rock Town, a small region of distinctive boulders in Johns Valley; Umbrella Rock near Clayton; McKinley Rocks near Tuskahoma; and the Potato Hills—unusually serrated landforms near Tuskahoma.
Adjacent counties
- Latimer County (north)
- Le Flore County(northeast)
- McCurtain County (east)
- Choctaw County (south)
- Atoka County (west)
- Pittsburg County (northwest)
Major highways
- Indian Nation Turnpike
- Oklahoma State Highway 2
- Oklahoma State Highway 3
- Oklahoma State Highway 43
- Oklahoma State Highway 93
- Oklahoma State Highway 144
- U.S. Highway 271
Wildlife management areas
Three areas designated for
Climate
Pushmataha County, located at the heart of "Tornado Alley", has a sometimes turbulent and often capricious climate.
High temperatures range during summer as high as 100 °F., often for several or more days in a row. Low temperatures during the winter can range as far as the single digits, but these "cold snaps" are rare and short-lived.
Rainfall varies across the county. Its easternmost area, in the vicinity of Honobia and north of Cloudy, receives approximately 52 inches of rain per year. Its western portions receive approximately 46 inches per year.[21]
Snow is a rare event, and is almost never deeper than one inch. What snow falls generally melts within a day. Ice is a more frequent occurrence, sometimes breaking tree branches and downing power lines.[22]
During recent decades the county has experienced unstable weather patterns. It is currently in the midst of a multi-year drought, at least as measured by local standards. Rainfall has been much below average during this time.
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1910 | 10,118 | — | |
1920 | 17,514 | 73.1% | |
1930 | 14,744 | −15.8% | |
1940 | 19,466 | 32.0% | |
1950 | 12,001 | −38.3% | |
1960 | 9,088 | −24.3% | |
1970 | 9,385 | 3.3% | |
1980 | 11,773 | 25.4% | |
1990 | 10,997 | −6.6% | |
2000 | 11,667 | 6.1% | |
2010 | 11,572 | −0.8% | |
2020 | 10,812 | −6.6% | |
U.S. Decennial Census[24] 1790–1960[25] 1900–1990[26] 1990–2000[27] 2010[28] |
As of the census of 2010,
There were 4,809 households, of which half (50.9%) were married couples living together and a third (32.5%) were non-families, while the remainder were either a female or male householder with no spouse present. A third of households (29.2%) included children under the age of 18. Individuals living alone accounted for a third of households (28.4%) and solitary accounted for 14% of households. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.52.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 21% from 25 to 44, 28.9% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.3 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $29,053, and the median income for a family was $36,887. Males had a median income of $25,509 versus $17,473 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,583. Eighteen percent of families and 27.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including half (45.3%) of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of June 30, 2023[30] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Number of Voters | Percentage | |||
Democratic | 2,387 | 35.74% | |||
Republican | 3,440 | 51.50% | |||
Others | 852 | 12.76% | |||
Total | 6,679 | 100% |
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 4,016 | 84.74% | 668 | 14.10% | 55 | 1.16% |
2016 | 3,581 | 79.88% | 748 | 16.69% | 154 | 3.44% |
2012 | 3,087 | 74.75% | 1,043 | 25.25% | 0 | 0.00% |
2008 | 3,208 | 71.72% | 1,265 | 28.28% | 0 | 0.00% |
2004 | 2,863 | 59.68% | 1,934 | 40.32% | 0 | 0.00% |
2000 | 2,331 | 53.61% | 1,969 | 45.29% | 48 | 1.10% |
1996 | 1,458 | 33.59% | 2,270 | 52.29% | 613 | 14.12% |
1992 | 1,319 | 26.93% | 2,553 | 52.13% | 1,025 | 20.93% |
1988 | 1,841 | 42.80% | 2,430 | 56.50% | 30 | 0.70% |
1984 | 2,499 | 54.16% | 2,079 | 45.06% | 36 | 0.78% |
1980 | 1,989 | 41.65% | 2,666 | 55.83% | 120 | 2.51% |
1976 | 1,360 | 31.08% | 2,987 | 68.26% | 29 | 0.66% |
1972 | 2,456 | 68.24% | 1,016 | 28.23% | 127 | 3.53% |
1968 | 1,225 | 32.72% | 1,232 | 32.91% | 1,287 | 34.38% |
1964 | 1,332 | 34.20% | 2,563 | 65.80% | 0 | 0.00% |
1960 | 1,728 | 51.46% | 1,630 | 48.54% | 0 | 0.00% |
1956 | 1,499 | 39.74% | 2,273 | 60.26% | 0 | 0.00% |
1952 | 1,640 | 38.88% | 2,578 | 61.12% | 0 | 0.00% |
1948 | 789 | 20.95% | 2,977 | 79.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
1944 | 1,181 | 29.23% | 2,848 | 70.50% | 11 | 0.27% |
1940 | 1,709 | 30.14% | 3,952 | 69.70% | 9 | 0.16% |
1936 | 1,097 | 24.35% | 3,389 | 75.23% | 19 | 0.42% |
1932 | 490 | 12.54% | 3,419 | 87.46% | 0 | 0.00% |
1928 | 1,616 | 52.88% | 1,384 | 45.29% | 56 | 1.83% |
1924 | 1,084 | 36.06% | 1,647 | 54.79% | 275 | 9.15% |
1920 | 1,864 | 53.32% | 1,365 | 39.04% | 267 | 7.64% |
1916 | 645 | 29.90% | 1,059 | 49.10% | 453 | 21.00% |
1912 | 479 | 27.90% | 747 | 43.51% | 491 | 28.60% |
Economy
Pushmataha County has always been separated economically from the rest of Oklahoma by what the economists call the "Ouachita barrier". The Kiamichi Mountains and the mountains to the north of them, all subranges of the Ouachita Mountains, cause commerce with points to their north to be difficult. McAlester, Oklahoma, instead of being a regional trading center for Pushmataha County, instead seems very remote from it.[32]
Natural resources have always been the lifeblood of Pushmataha County.
The county is one of the few in Oklahoma in which the petroleum industry does not, and has never had, a major presence drilling for oil. During recent years extraction companies have drilled successfully for natural gas, and this is increasingly common.
During the later days of the Indian Territory and early statehood asphalt was mined at two locations: Jumbo and Sardis. For a time these were economically successful, even at Jumbo, which experienced a catastrophic mine explosion in 1910 which killed numerous miners.
Timber is an economic mainstay. Lumber companies own large swaths of the county and operate vast tree plantations. Fast-growing
During the Twentieth Century a rapidly improving transportation network enabled Pushmataha County to advance economically. At this writing one federal highway and several state highways are in operation. In addition, the Indian Nation Turnpike, a four-lane turnpike constructed to national interstate highway standards, is in operation with interchanges at Antlers and Daisy.
Communities
City
- Antlers (county seat)
Towns
Census-designated place
Unincorporated communities
Ghost towns
NRHP sites
The following sites in Pushmataha County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
- Albion State Bank, Albion
- Antlers Frisco Depot and Antlers Spring, Antlers
- Choctaw Capitol Building, Tuskahoma
- Clayton High School Auditorium, Clayton
- Fewell School, Nashoba
- Mato Kosyk House, Albion
- Snow School, Snow
In 1984 a growing awareness of the county's rich history—encompassed by these and other historic sites—and the fact its legacy was becoming endangered—prompted a group of Antlers residents to found the Pushmataha County Historical Society. The society's first project was a successful initiative to obtain and preserve the Antlers Frisco Depot. It later completed a large-scale inventory of county cemeteries, and has undertaken numerous other projects since.[33]
A significant historical site is also located atop Big Mountain, north of Moyers and east of Kosoma. During World War II two aircraft flown by British pilots from a Royal Air Force base in Texas crashed in poor weather into White Rock Mountain and Big Mountain, killing four crewmen. In 2000 the AT6 Monument was dedicated in their memory at the crash site on Big Mountain, to international acclaim.
Notable residents
- Nicole DeHuff – actress
- Tobias W. Frazier – Choctaw Code Talker
- Mato Kosyk– poet
- Anna Lewis (historian)– historian, writer and professor retired to home she built in Pushmataha County
- Charles C. Stephenson Jr. – energy company CEO
- Kings of Leon, rock band
References
- ^ "Pushmataha County, Oklahoma". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
- ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ John W. Morris, Boundaries of Oklahoma, pp. 4 & 14
- ^ Claudette Marie Gilbert and Robert L. Brooks, From Mounds to Mammoths—A Field Guide to Oklahoma Prehistory, page 74.
- ^ Goins, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, p. 13; William H. Goetzmann and Glyndwr Williams, Atlas of North American Exploration, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Thomas Nuttall, A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819, pp. 163–177; Goins, Historical Atlas, p. 16.
- ^ John W. Morris, Boundaries of Oklahoma, p. 27.
- ^ Odie B. Faulk, Kenny A. Franks, and Paul F. Lambert, Early Military Forts and Posts in Oklahoma, pp. 3, 9–11.
- ^ Morris, John, Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, plate 38. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
- ^ "Story behind spiritual 'Swing Chariot' emerges". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
- ^ "Michael Overall, How an Oklahoma slave came to write one of the world's most famous songs". Tulsa World, January 28, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
- ^ Amos D. Maxwell, The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, pp. 60–61; Plate 56, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma.
- ^ Morris, Historical Atlas, Plate 56.
- ^ Angie Debo, Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, p. 222.
- ^ "Choctaw Code Talkers", Oklahoma Today, July–August 1988; "Choctaw Tongue Proved Too Tough for Germans", Antlers American, March 5, 1966. For full information on the Code Talkers see the unpublished compilation of research by the school students of Rattan, Oklahoma, on file in the school library and the Pushmataha County Historical Society.
- ^ "Counties & Regions". Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department (Travel Promotion Division). Retrieved February 5, 2019.
- ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "Slash, n. 3". Oxford English Dictionary. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/181390?rskey=t25Amy&result=3. Accessed on April 12, 2023.
- ^ "Honobia Creek (WMA)". Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Steve Burge, "Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area", Outdoor Oklahoma, May–June 2006, pp. 38–41.
- ^ Morris, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, Plate 7.
- ^ Howard L. Johnson and Claude E. Duchon, Atlas of Oklahoma Climate. p. 24.
- ^ Thomas P. Grazulis. Tornado—Nature's Ultimate Windstorm, p. 292.
- ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ Forstall, Richard L., ed. (March 27, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
- ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ "Oklahoma Registration Statistics by County" (PDF). OK.gov. January 15, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
- ^ William T. Chambers, "Shopping Areas of the Near Southwest", Economic Geography, April 1941, p. 128.
- ^ Unpublished history of the Pushmataha County Historical Society, on file in the society.
External links
Media related to Pushmataha County, Oklahoma at Wikimedia Commons