TIMELINE OF SULPHUR SPRINGS RESERVATION

The conception and development of a plan for the establishment of a federal reservation at Sulphur Springs is both complex and confusing. There were many parties involved with the efforts to get the parkland set aside before the allotments took place. Most of them spent more time fighting each other than they did the government in getting the park established.

We will make an effort here to simplify events as they happened in a timeline that is easily understood. Some information relies on a well-researched and impressive book by Wray and Roberts (2004). These authors made several trips to the National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington D.C. They explored all the archives of the Department of the Interior pertaining to the records and letters for the formation of Sulphur Springs Reservation.

1832 - The Pontotoc Treaty signed to remove the Chickasaws to the West.

1837 - The Treaty of Doaksville signed which allowed the Chickasaws to live in the Choctaw District. The Chickasaws paid the Choctaws $530,000 for the right to live there.

1842 - Fort Washita established for the protection of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nation from the "wild tribes".

1851 - Fort Arbuckle established thirteen miles west of the Springs to increase army patrols into the Comanche country. The establishment of the fort and its protection brings settlement to the western area of the Chickasaw Nation.

1855 - Chickasaw Constitution written and Chickasaw Nation established with defined boundaries and constitution.

1866 - The Civil War ends and a flood of immigrants, both black and white, begin arriving from the impoverished South. "Intruders" (non-Indians) have to pay $5 annual permit to live in the Nation. The Treaty of 1866 is written. The Chickasaws refuse to sign it because of issues with citizenship of the freedmen (ex-slaves).

1871 - Noah Lael, a white man, runs a mail route from Ft. Smith to Ft. Sill. The route runs through Old Mill Creek and Sulphur Springs.

1878 - Lael marries Lucy Harris, daughter of Governor Cyrus Harris, and establishes "Diamond Z" ranch at the Seven Springs under rights as intermarried citizen.

1882 - Lael sells the improvements of the Diamond Z ranch to Perry Froman for $350. Lael moves to Wynnewood and resumes ranching.

1887 - General Allotment Act passed to allow for the allotment of land to Indian citizens and sale of excess land to non-Indians. Five Civilized Tribes exempted because of legal questions concerning citizenship of blacks (freedmen) and intermarried whites.

1892 - White Sulphur Inn built by the Froman White Sulphur Springs Company.

1893 - Dawes Commission, later called the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, is established to register Indian citizens on tribal roles, allotments and other purposes.

1895 - A Post Office is established at Sulphur Springs, I.T.

1895 - June 7, ranch property of Perry Froman surveyed by surveyor J.M. Preston, assisted by P. Froman, R. A. Sneed, John T. Hill and Tom Ventress. This survey is the first survey to establish the boundary of the town of Sulphur Springs and will be later known as "The King Survey".

1895 - June 11, Perry Froman and wife sell, by quitclaim, 447-acre ranch to C. J. Grant, J. T. Hill and C. D. Carter, all three Chickasaw citizens. Selling price is $2,500. The old ranch house and a 150' x 200' lot are reserved for B. T. King as his private residence. Perry Froman moves to Pauls Valley. This agreement also gives B. T. King water rights to Hillside Springs. Hillside Springs takes the local name of "King Springs".

1897 - The Atoka Agreement is made in order to provide for town sites and appraisal of improvements in the towns, issues of citizenship for freedmen and for other purposes.

1898 - The Curtis Act agreed to for the purpose of surveying, platting and appraising of townsite and town lots so that settlers who developed them could have right to title, churches, schools, cemeteries, and for other purposes.

1898 - September 27, the Waples Painter Company holds a mortgage on the loan for the purchase of the Froman Ranch. J. D. Leeper is the principle stockholder of the Company and forecloses on the note. The Froman Company delivers the White Sulphur Inn and all unimproved lots to Leeper to secure payment of the note.

1900 - June 4, H. V. Hinkley of Sulphur is appointed supervising engineer and 10 to 12 field parties to re-survey Sulphur town boundaries for official plat to conform to provisions of the Curtis Act.

1901 - February 4, a letter from private citizen G. W. Robberson of Sulphur to the Secretary of the Interior is first effort by a citizen to get a federal reservation to protect the springs. Robberson ask the Secretary to deny the King Survey and have government surveyors re-survey the town of Sulphur.

1901 - March 26, Sulphur attorney E. E. White, representing a group of Sulphur citizens, writes a letter, to chief Indian Inspector George Wright in Muskogee, about the possibility of a federal reservation to protect the springs and creeks of the area. The letter asks that Sen. Orville H. Platt champion the cause since Platt is on the Committee on Territories and is familiar with the area. The letter is forwarded to Senator Platt.

1901 - June 11, Sen. Platt forwards the letter to the Secretary of the Interior requesting that the land around the springs be withheld from allotment and endorses the reservation.

1901 - June 19, Sen. Platt wrote to the Secretary of the Interior asking that a geological team be sent to Sulphur Springs to see if there is anything there that would be cause to create a federal reservation.

1901 - July, A survey team from the United States Geological Service headed by Joseph Taff arrived to look at the springs and creeks and submitted their report on November 20, 1901.

1901 - December 5, E. E. White and T. R. Cook write to the Secretary of the Interior stating that they have written two provisions that would establish the federal reservation and submitted them to Tams Bixby, the Commissioner for the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. They ask that it be attached to the Supplemental Agreement now before Congress. Tams Bixby is listed on Sulphur map as an owner of property in the city.

1902 - July 1, Supplemental Agreement to the Atoka Agreement passed with Section 64 establishing the authority and boundaries of the Sulphur Springs Reservation.

1902 - September 25, Chickasaw and Choctaw Councils ratify the Supplemental Agreement.

1902 - November 19, Sulphur Springs Reservation is proclaimed. C & C Nations ceded 629.33 acres and are paid $12,586.60 for the land.

1904 - Second acquisition of land made and Sulphur moves for the second time. Total cost of the two land acquisitions and payment for building improvements is $1,000,000.

1906 - Sulphur Springs Reservation named changed to Platt National Park.

1941 - Part of the G. W. Giles estate was condemned by the government and the last land was added to Platt National Park. The property consisted of 63.75 acres and became the Rock Creek Campground. Platt National Park now contained 912 acres.

1965 - February 1, Arbuckle National Recreation Area established.

1976 - March 17, Arbuckle NRA and Platt National Park merged to form the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Platt National Park ceases to exist.

© by Dennis Muncrief, 2007