Many inventions and many forces led to the formation of the state of Oklahoma, but the strongest force of all was normal growth of a young nation.
Until the early 19th century Indians roamed freely throughout Oklahoma. Only rarely were they disturbed by trappers, traders and travelers. The Spanish explorer, Coronado, in search of gold, circled through what is now Oklahoma, in 1541, passing through or near the area of Woodward County and giving the Indians their first sight of horses. DeSoto, in 1541, and other explorers in 1601 and 1634, traveled through the area. Spain, England and France claimed this area at different times. The Louisiana Purchase in 1 803 made the Indian lands a part of the United States, and American explorers then crossed the territory. The land set apart for the Indians included all of what is now Oklahoma, except the Panhandle and was known as Indian Territory at that time.
About 1800 a movement began in the southern states to dispossess the largest Indian groups there, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles, so that their lands could be distributed among white settlers in Georgia and the Carolinas. Most of the removals of the Indians were completed by 1 842 and the Indian nations were re-established in the area that is now Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Outlet, given to the Cherokee tribe, was a piece of land beginning east of the Panhandle and extending east to what is now Garfield County and to the southern boundary of what is now Woodward County, bounded on the north by Kansas. It was a sixty mile wide strip from the 96th meridian west to the 100th meridan. It was left unassigned to any tribes in order that all tribes might use it, in connection with the Panhandle, known as "No Man's Land," as a thoroughfare on their trips to the Rocky Mountains to hunt.
Across the Kansas line, beyond the northern boundary of the Outlet, was a belt of land two and one-half miles wide, known as the Cherokee Strip, It was the result of an early survey, which later proved to have been incorrect. The land in the Strip was ceded to the United States by the Cherokees after the Civil War. Confusion about the name of the Strip arose in the public mind. Many people assumed that the Cherokee Strip and the Cherokee Outlet were two names for the same piece of land. Official documents and government land maps, however, show the difference very clearly.
Many people, today, continue to misunderstand the meaning of the two names. When the Civil War broke out a few Indian leaders supported the Confederacy. Some of the Indians were slave holders. The tribes were dividied in their loyalty, but many more Indians fought on the Union side than the Confederacy. At the end of the war all the Five Civilized Tribes were required to enter into treaties of peace, in 1866, with the United States. They were compelled, for a nominal consideration to surrender the western half of their domain as a penalty for their defection. The land thus ceded to the government was that which subsequently became Oklahoma Territory. The remainder, the eastern half, continued as Indian Territory and the permanent home of the Five Civilized Tribes. The western half was held by the government for the settlement of other friendly Indians, who were expected to be removed here as part of the plan of Indian consolidation in the west.
Fort Supply, the first landmark in Woodward County, was established in 1868 on lands which two years previously had been granted in treaty to the Cherokee Indians.
Cattle were driven to market across the Cherokee Outlet from Texas to Kansas. One of the cattle trails was the Great Western Trail, which crossed Woodward County.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad passed through the Outlet and played a large part in the runs for homesteads and location of town sites.
In May, 1890, Congress passed the Organic Act that created Oklahoma Territory out of the lands west of the Indian Territory occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes. It was set up with seven counties, six in Oklahoma proper and one in what is now the Panhandle. What is now Woodward County was called N County.
Though prohibited by law from entering Indian country, white people began filtering in. Finally, enough political influence was organized in Kansas to bring about action in Washington, ordering the opening to settlement of this land, then called Oklahoma Lands, and by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison, on March 23, 1889, the first area was thrown open to settlement. Other parts of western Oklahoma were opened to white settlement during the next fourteen years in a number of "runs."
The fourth Oklahoma land opening, the Cherokee Outlet, took place on Sept. 16, 1893. It was the largest and most spectacular of all. One hundred thousand settlers took part in it, although there were only 40,000 quarter sections of land.
Nov. 6, 1894, the new citizens voted to change the name of "N" County to Woodward County and to establish the town of Woodward as county seat.
On Nov. 16, 1907, Statehood Day, the counties of the state were divided and Woodward County was partitioned into present Woodward, Harper, the western part of Woods, and the northern part of Ellis Counties.
At the time of statehood in 1907 Woodward County had a population of 3,116, personal property valued at $1,546,863, real estate at $1,463,539, and a total valuation of $3,010,402.
For a deeper study of the story of Woodward County after the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, read the following pages of this book.
Bibliography:
Edwin C. McReynolds, Alice Marriott and Estelle Faulconer.
Oklahoma: The Story of Its Past and Present
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman
Ralph E. Randall, "The Homesteader and the Development of Woodward County,"
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