Eagletown’s downtown, McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Eagletown may be the oldest town in the southeastern part of the state. It may not look like much, but around the 1820s, this town was the first place the Choctaws came to during the initial removals from Mississippi to Indian Territory. To them, Eagletown is known as Osi Tamaha. There was always a mystery to me surrounding a name of a street in town – Mad Man Road. Who was this person, I’d wonder. Well, RRH readers solved the

Nicholas King’s map of the Freeman-Custis expedition of 1806, with the 1976 overlay by E.M. Parker. (LSU) In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson instructed Peter Custis and Thomas Freeman  to find the source of the Red River as part of a Corps of Discovery for the Louisiana Purchase. Spanish troops stopped them in today’s Bowie County (TX)/ McCurtain County (OK) at the Spanish Bluffs. That same year, Nicholas King drew a map of the expedition’s rather short journey, which was pu

The Grand Central Hotel (first class, no less!) in Terral, Jefferson County, Oklahoma was an imposing building at the turn of the century – it sported three chimneys and a balcony. The Clark Fire Insurance Map of 1900 for Terral depicts two hotels, both along Apache Street at the intersection of Second Street. Their outlines are not the same as the hotel pictured, however, and one is labeled as the “Cottage Hotel.” (Clark Fire Maps, OHS). Both hotels are long gone. A Google m

Paddle wheeler “Amy Hewes” on the Red River (no date), but most likely this picture was taken in the 1940s. The “Amy Hewes” was built in the 1920s for the Jeanerette Lumber Company, and was last owned by the May Brothers of Morgan, LA. This boat was mostly in service in the southern part of the Red River around the Atchafalaya River confluence, St. Mary’s Parish. It plied the waters of Bayou Teche. (Cattle Raiser’s Museum, Fort Worth.) #history #research #transportation

Drove to Henrietta, Clay County, Texas the other day to take some photos and came across this utilitarian, brick structure behind an adobe building (which may be a city-owned structure) and facing the old Clay County Jail (now the Clay County Jail 1890 Museum). What could this building be? This little building intrigued me, because it reminded me of a calaboose – a one room jail cell, often used as a drunk tank. But, I pondered, why would there be a calaboose next to a county

The northern portion of John Pope’s 1854 map to survey a possible transcontinental route through Texas marks the Cross Timbers between Gainesville and Preston on the Red River. In 1854, John Pope of the US Army (and a veteran of the Mexican American War) was tasked by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to plot out a transcontinental railroad route through Texas. Southern politicians worked very hard to convince the rest of Washington that a southern, not northern, transcontinen

An English cowboy paid to have his picture taking at Red River Station in Montague County, Texas before heading up the Abilene Trail through Indian Territory. (University of Texas Arlington, Special Collections) A lot of “to do”has been made over the years about the Chisholm Trail. And don’t the words, “Chisholm Trail,” just sound wonderfully exotic? That’s probably why Texas has made it its historical mission to promote its association with the trail, though technically, the

I often spend my evenings (as well as days, weekends, times when I should be grading papers…) perusing old maps. One of my particular interests is mapping the Chihuahua Trail. The Chihuahua Trial was a short-lived road blazed by merchants from Mexico and the U.S. In 1830, Mexican merchants traveled from Chihuahua to Fort Smith, Arkansas for trade. After the Texas Revolution, American merchants (in particular a Missourian named Henry Connelly) wanted to ensure a continued trad

I was snooping around the online archives of the Texas General Land Office and found this document. It’s for John Neely Bryan, the founder of the city of Dallas. Bryan came from Tennessee in the 1839 to establish an Indian trading post at a natural ford along the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. Here, he dealt with bison hides taken from the Grand Prairie. He enticed fellow Tennesseans and other settlers to follow him to this little hamlet, which became a much safer place for A

Tombstones, especially military ones, are great ways to trace histrory. And the history from the tombstone needn’t be a family member, either – sometimes, getting to know strangers from their past life is just as interesting. Plus, the dead don’t engage in awkward small talk, so there’s that. This tombstone for Alvin Reeves is located in the African American portion of a cemetery in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. Alvin Reeves served as the bugler for the 815th pioneer infantry

Note that the map’s cardinal directions are a bit different. From left to right is north to south. To see a larger image of this map, click here. According to this map filed by the Houston & Texas Railroad with the Texas General Land Office, their rail line was proposed to extend to the Red River in 1872. Their terminus would be an apparently large town called Red River City, which, according to the map, was even bigger than Denison (the city that the MKT built). Alas, Red Ri

In the 1890s, these unnamed men from Montague County, Texas posed for a photograph after filing claims against the U.S. government for suffering Indian depredations. (University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections). Since the southern Plains Indians were supposed to be under government supervision inside the post-Civil War reservations, any Indian activity (war, ambush, horse taking, hunting) was viewed as criminal, even if an ambush or attack was instigated by the sett

Boggy Depot Plan numbers Depot Muriel Wright 1927 1. Gov. Allen Wright’s residence. 2. John. Kingsbury residence. 3. House built by Mr. Lore (cobbler). 4-5. Wood shop and residence of A. J. Martin. 6. Dr. T. J. Bond’s residence. 7. Store of Reuben Wright—later store of Edward Dwight. 8. Temporary schoolhouse (hewed logs)—later Aunt Lou’s bakery, 9. Apothecary shop. 10. Joseph J. Phillips’ store. 11. Mr. Maurer’s blacksmith shop. 12. Mr. Maurer’s residence. 13. Miss Mary Chiff

Google Maps have been my constant companion since they were introduced back in the stone ages (okay, a few years ago). I can’t believe I ever did research without them, and I seriously pity the historians who came before me who didn’t have this kind of tool at their disposal. I should mention that I’ve been a map fiend from way back, and have always used them extensively… but! The satellite pictures on Google Maps (and Google Earth) truly help me understand the geographical c