Chronicles of Oklahoma Volume 6, No. 1 March, 1928 Editorials J. Y. Bryce 1 Early Post Offices In Oklahoma Grant Foreman 4 Fort Arbuckle W. B. Morrison 26 Ranching On the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation E. E. Dale 35 The Work Of the Early Choctaw Legislature W. J. Fessler 60 Five Hundred Million Dollars Chas. N. Gould 69 Matt Duhr’s Letter Mrs. A. E. Perry 75 Colonel Forbis LeFlore, Pioneer Statesman Sketch of B. N. O. Walker Mrs. C. C. Conlan 89 Necrology 94 Minutes Annual Meeting Oklahoma Historical Society 99 EDITORIAL Page 1 We have in the office of the Oklahoma Historical Society the original manuscript of an article prepared September 29, 1927, by Wm. H. Murray, formerly of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, now of Colonia Murray, El Palmar, El Gran Chaco, Bolivia, S. A. This story has to do with the birth of Oklahoma, and gives some very important accounts of the Sequoyah convention relative to the members of the convention, held in Muskogee the year 1905. Mr. Murray also gives the history of the Constitutional convention, held in Guthrie, specializing with reference to the important laws, and prominent men who were more or less responsible for the constitution as adopted. This article will be published in a future number of Chronicles; and the original copy, which is written in Mr. Murray’s own hand, will be preserved in the files of the society. The article as prepared by Mr. Murray, is written on both sides of the paper for the reason, he says, to save postage necessary to so long a voyage. J. Y. B. Honorable R. L. Williams, of the United States District Court, living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, is very anxious to have biographical sketches of members of the Constitutional Convention, along with that of similar sketches of other prominent men and women of the State and the territories prior to state-hood. Judge Williams is giving considerable attention to this matter in order to preserve for future years the history of our state. We suggest that you send to Judge R. L. Williams the necessary data concerning these characters indicated above, living or dead, so this matter can be properly attended to before it is lost. The state owes this much to the men who have done so much to make this country what it is; we also owe this much to the state and the future generations. These men are passing away, as you will see by referring to the list, as they appear in this copy of Chronicles and others that have been published, under the heading Necrology. J. Y. B. Page 2 AN APPRECIATION In this number of Chronicles appear some very interesting articles by prominent men of the State, men who are conversant with the past history of our country and people. The contributions as furnished by them are worth your time; especially is this true if you are interested in the men, women and events as they have had to do with the building of a great commonwealth. In the main the information given in these articles are made possible after considerable research and painstaking on the part of the contributors, which carries with it weariness of the flesh, expenditure of time and money, more or less seclusion from family and friends, in a word, a very strenuous life, in return for which they get not a red cent; on their part it is a labor of love. After you have read the articles, provided they meet your approval, and I am sure they will, drop them a card expressing your appreciation—it will do them good. They belong to that number of Oklahomans who are trying to make the magazine what it should be. We are doing our best to improve the material with each succeeding issue, endeavoring to make it a scholarly periodical, suitable for use as a text book in our schools and universities. The management takes this method of thanking the following named persons for their interest in getting valuable information ready for our columns: Mr. and Mrs. Grant Foreman, of Muskogee; Doctor W. B. Morrison, Southeastern State Teachers’ College; Doctor E. E. Dale, History Teacher, State University; and Prof. M. L. Wardell, of Oklahoma University. These with others have matter in the present number, and material for use in future issues, for all of which we are very thankful. J. Y. B. NEW QUARTERS It may be a matter of interest to the readers of Chronicles for us to say, editorially, that in the near future the Page 3 library of the Historical Society and the museum, will be given new quarters; the library on the second floor and the museum on the fourth floor of the State Capitol. The papers are to remain in the present quarters of the Society. Pursuant to this contemplated move, a contract has been made with the Steel Fixture Company of Wichita, Kansas, to furnish and install thirty-eight museum cases, two thousand two hundred feet of library shelving and two hundred seventy-five running feet of newspaper stacks. The contract with this company also calls for sufficient grill work to enclose the corridors on the floor mentioned above, thus insuring the quarters against intrusion. The contract price for this work is $10,911.00. It has been suggested when the move has been made, that an entertainment of two or three days’ duration be given, to which all the members of the Historical Society, and friends be invited. The plan is to make this an occasion of merit and worth-whileness, with a program not only entertaining, but instructive as well. It is the purpose of the entertainment committee to have some of the best speakers in the state, with some of the best out of the state, who are available at that time, thereby making it one of the most notable events in the history of the society. Notices as to date and program will be sent out in due time. Begin now to plan for this meeting, and do not let any thing keep you from attending. J. Y. B. EARLY POST OFFICES OF OKLAHOMA Grant Foreman Page 4 The early post offices of the United States are to be found in more than a score of huge volumes in the Post Office Department at Washigton where they were entered according to states in the approximate order in which they were created. In most of the states of the Union it was a comparatively easy matter to group the post offices according to the counties within which they were located. But not so with Oklahoma before Statehood. A number of the early Oklahoma post offices appear on the Post Office Department records as being in Arkansas because Indian Territory was then part of Arkansas Territory. After the somewhat indifinite division of the country among the Indian tribes, for want of county limits the Department located the post offices with reference to the tribal boundaries. As the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations divided their countries into counties, post offices were located with reference to these county lines in lieu of tribal boundaries. There were many other opportunities for confusion; the records of post offices located in Greer County, Texas, were arbitrarily changed to show them in Greer County, Oklahoma, before the sovereignty of that country was determined. For many years it is doubtful if any one understood the geography and divisions of Indian Territory and it is surprising that the clerks in the Post Office Department were able to locate the post offices as well as they did. At best the records are confusing and the task of making a correct transcript of them to show the name, location and beginning of each post office together with the first postmaster has been no slight undertaking. Errors will probably be discovered; the compiler has undertaken to correct some of the more obvious ones of which he found many, such as the location of Fort Sill in the Choctaw Nation; but while having some essential knowledge of early Oklahoma, he has thought it wise not to vary too much from the original, even though he does not correct the location of Pryor's Creek in the Choctaw Nation which he does not pretend to understand. The headings employed are from the original records; rearrangement was used to place the lists in convenient form Page 5 for reference without taking too much liberty with the records and their recitals. The compiler wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of the officials of the Post Office Department in giving him access to the records and an opportunity for a copyist to transcribe them. GRANT FOREMAN January 5, 1928. CHOCTAW NATION Indian Territory Date of Post Office First Postmaster Appointment September 5, Miller Court House J. H. Fowler 1824 September 7, Fort Towson George C. Gooding 1832 (Changed to Doaksville Nov. 11, 1847) Choctaw Agency F. W. Armstrong June 26, 1833 (Changed to Scullyville August 16, 1860) Eagle Town Loring S. Williams July 1, 1834 Fort Coffee James O. Scott April 20, 1835 Spencer Academy William Wilson January 22, 1844 Mayhew Charles F. Stewart February 5, 1845 (Discontinued March 29, 1892) Wheelock Henry K. Copeland March 21, 1845 November 11, Doaksville Joseph R. Berthelet 1847 (Late Fort Towson) November 5, Boggy Depot William R. Guy 1849 (Changed to Council House Feb. 6, 1872) Gaines Creek Henry Harder January 7, 1850 November 19, Armstrong Academy Philip P. Brown 1850 February 14, Luk-fah tah Emilius G. Corder 1853 September 18, Toboxky Gray E. Scales 1857 (Discontinued March 22, 1878) Hochubbee Samuel M.