RECONSTRUCTING THE CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA, 1894-1898: LANDSCAPE AND SETTLEMENT ON THE EVE OF ALLOTMENT By BRADLEY W. WATKINS Bachelor of Arts in Geography The University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 2000 Master of Arts in Geography The University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 2002 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY July, 2007 i RECONSTRUCTING THE CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA, 1894-1898: LANDSCAPE AND SETTLEMENT ON THE EVE OF ALLOTMENT Dissertation Approved: Allen Finchum Dissertation Advisor Bruce Hoagland Research Advisor Hongbo Yu Alyson Greiner L. G. Moses A. Gordon Emslie Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my mentor and friend, Dr. Bruce Hoagland, for his helpful comments through the years. He introduced me to the source materials on which this dissertation is based almost ten years ago. Bruce, you had me at GLO. I also wish to thank the members of my research committee, Dr. Allen Finchum, Dr. L. G. Moses, Dr. Alyson Greiner, and Dr. Hongbo Yu, for their many helpful comments through the various stages of this project. In addition, Dr. Richard Nostrand, Dr. Charles Gritzner, and Dr. Mark Miccozzi provided support for the topic. I have been lucky to have had extremely thoughtful friends in geography whom have given their opinions and support. In particular, my good friend Whit Durham listened to my incessant ramblings of all things Choctaw with a smile. Ranbir Kang, Jasper Dung, Dave Brockway, Aswin Subanthore, William Flynn, and Zok Pavlovic also provided extremely helpful ideas and support. Bruce Battles provided more than this share of technical support over the years, and Mike Larson always took the time to share his opinions on my maps. This dissertation would not have been completed without the love and support of my family. I learned the meaning of hard work from my parents. They have always understood my desire to learn. Finally, my wife, Jennifer, has been more than understanding my working long hours, late nights, and weekends iii through the years. It would have been impossible without her. My children, Gage and Logan, made it worthwhile. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................1 Introduction.................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem...........................................................................6 Research Questions...................................................................................9 Study Area................................................................................................13 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 25 Settlement Geography..............................................................................25 Choctaw History and Culture....................................................................38 A Framework for Historical Geography.....................................................42 Landscape Reconstruction and GIS.........................................................44 III. METHODS................................................................................................ 48 General Land Office Surveys....................................................................48 GIS for Historical Reconstruction..............................................................50 GIS Analyses............................................................................................53 GPS-GIS Integration.................................................................................55 Supplementary Sources ...........................................................................56 Historical Geography and Cultural Landscape Fieldwork .........................57 Limitations of Sources and Methods.........................................................58 IV. SETTLEMENT IN THE CHOCTAW NATION ...........................................61 Introduction...............................................................................................61 Early Choctaw Nation Settlements ...........................................................62 Settlement after the Civil War...................................................................65 Results .....................................................................................................67 Settlement Features and the General Land Office Surveys......................67 Settlement Patterns on Agricultural Lands................................................68 Nucleated Settlement Form.......................................................................74 Implications............................................................................................... 77 v Chapter Page Conclusions...............................................................................................79 V. TRANSPORTATION IN THE CHOCTAW NATION..................................97 Historic Transportation Routes .................................................................98 Choctaw Nation Railroads ......................................................................101 Results ...................................................................................................102 Transportation and the General Land Office Surveys.............................102 Network Density .....................................................................................103 Transportation and Natural Resources...................................................108 Urban vs. Rural Transportation Patterns ................................................110 Conclusion..............................................................................................113 VI. THE FENCED LANDSCAPE OF THE CHOCTAW NATION..................131 The Fence in the American Landscape...................................................132 Fences and the General Land Office Surveys........................................138 Other Historical Accounts .......................................................................139 Results.....................................................................................................141 Conclusion..............................................................................................147 VII. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................158 The Settlement Landscape.....................................................................160 The Transportation Landscape...............................................................162 The Fenced Landscape..........................................................................164 Future Research.....................................................................................165 NOTES ........................................................................................................168 REFERENCES ............................................................................................170 APPENDICES..............................................................................................182 Appendix A: Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning Terminology........................................................................183 Appendix B: Settlement Geography Definitions......................................185 Appendix C: Settlement Features in General Land Office Surveys ........186 Appendix D: Land Capability Class Definitions.......................................187 Appendix E: Nucleated Settlements in the Choctaw Nation, 1894-1898 ..........................................................................188 vi Chapter Page Appendix F: General Land Office Surveyors in the Choctaw Nation, 1894-1898 ..........................................................................190 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 4.1 Ethnic Makeup in the Choctaw Nation.....................................................94 4.2 Dispersed Settlement and Land Capability Class................................... 95 4.3 Cultivated Fields and Land Capability Class........................................... 96 5.1 Transportation Network Density Values by Geomorphic Province........ 126 5.2 Transportation Network Density Values by County............................... 127 5.3 Settlement Nucleations Possessing Transportation Grids.....................128 5.4 Settlement Nucleation Accessibility....................................................... 129 5.5 Accessibility in Proximity to Railroads................................................... 130 6.1 Fence Quantities in the Choctaw Nation............................................... 156 6.2 Cost of Fence Materials.........................................................................157 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 23 1.2 Choctaw Nation Boundaries and Topography........................................ 24 2.1 Choctaw Nation Political Districts........................................................... 46 2.2 Geomorphic Provinces........................................................................... 47 4.1 Early Settlements in the Choctaw Nation............................................... 81 4.2 Large Cultivated Fields .........................................................................