Pushmataha County, Sequoyah facts for kids
Pushmataha County was a name given to a planned area of land. This area was part of a bigger idea for a new U.S. state called the State of Sequoyah. Leaders met in Muskogee, Indian Territory in 1905. They planned how this new state would be set up.
The idea for Sequoyah came from the Five Civilized Tribes and other groups in the Indian Territory. They wanted their own state. They did not want to become part of an existing U.S. state. Even though their plan for Sequoyah did not work, their ideas were still helpful. Just two years later, in 1907, the people who created the State of Oklahoma used many of their plans.
Today, the borders of Choctaw, Pushmataha, and McCurtain counties in Oklahoma are very similar to what the Sequoyah leaders first planned.
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The First Pushmataha County Idea
The leaders who planned the State of Sequoyah wanted to honor important people. They named a county after Chief Pushmataha. He was a respected Choctaw warrior and leader. There was already a Pushmataha District in the Choctaw Nation.
Other counties were to be named after important officials. For example, Bixby County was named for Tams Bixby. It would have been next to what is now Atoka County, Oklahoma. Hitchcock County was named for Ethan Allan Hitchcock. It would have been next to today’s Choctaw County, Oklahoma.
How County Borders Were Chosen
The Sequoyah planners used a system called the Public Land Survey System. This system created a neat grid of land sections. It was good for a modern society. The old Choctaw Nation counties had borders based on natural landmarks. But these old counties would not work well financially after statehood. Some, like Cedar County, had no big towns. This meant they would not be able to collect enough local taxes.
Choosing a county seat was also very important. A county seat is the main town where the government offices are. Before and after Oklahoma became a state, towns often fought to be the county seat. For the proposed Pushmataha County in Sequoyah, leaders agreed on the most important town. They chose Antlers as the county seat.
Pushmataha County, Sequoyah, was planned to include parts of several old Choctaw Nation counties. These included Jack’s Fork County, Cedar County, Kiamitia County, and Wade County.
Challenges in the Southeast
The southeastern part of the planned State of Sequoyah had special challenges. This area, like today, has the Kiamichi Mountains. These mountains make it hard for many people to live close together. Pushmataha County, Sequoyah, was drawn so that Antlers, its main town, was in the southeastern corner. This was done to balance the needs of businesses in Antlers, Hugo, and Atoka. It also helped make sure the future county government would get enough money.
This setup was not perfect. Some people living far away would have to travel by train to reach their county seat. But no other plan seemed to work better. The town of Albion was placed outside this county's borders. It was grouped with other towns like Talihina and Wilburton in a nearby county called Wade County. Years later, when Oklahoma was created, Albion was added to what is now Pushmataha County, Oklahoma.
The Second Pushmataha County
The ideas from the Sequoyah Convention were very useful. In 1907, when Oklahoma was created, its planners used many of the same ideas. They kept the proposed borders for Pushmataha County, Hitchcock County, and McCurtain County. These became the modern-day Pushmataha County, Choctaw County, and McCurtain County.
The county seats stayed the same as planned by the Sequoyah leaders. The county borders also stayed mostly the same. For Pushmataha County, there were only two main changes:
- Albion and its surrounding areas were added.
- Daisy and its surrounding areas were removed.
The official notes from the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention's committee on counties have been lost. Because of this, we do not have more details about the proposed Pushmataha County.
