HISTORY OF ELLIS COUNTY
by Margaret Manuel Larason
Our Ellis County Heritage 1885 - 1974 Vol. 1 - 1974

     On Statehood Day, November 16, 1907, Ellis County was formed by uniting parts of two territorial counties, Day County and Woodward County, and was named for Albert H. Ellis, a vice-president of the Constitutional Convention. Both the northern and southern parts of Ellis County have distinctive historical pasts.

     Centuries before the county was established, the rolling plains were used by bands of Indians, following the great buffalo herds as they moved north in the spring and south in the fall.

     The first Europeans to enter this region were Spanish explorers Coronado crossed northwestern Oklahoma in 1541 during his search for the Gran Quivira. Most histonans think he traveled north through Oklahoma near its present western boundary. Juan de Onate, in 1601, followed the South Canadian River into Oklahoma, crossed it near the present Packsaddle crossing, and traveled north through Ellis County, crossing Wolf Creek near Shattuck. In 1629 a band of Spanish soldiers escorted a Catholic priest, Father Juan de Salas, to the Sierra Jumanos (Wichita Mountains) to establish a mission there. A description of the Antelope Hills was included in their account of the journey. In 1634 the expedition led by Alonzo Baca also turned north from the Canadian and crossed this area. In 1650 Don Diego Cortia traveled from Mexico City to the Sierra Jumanos and then north in search of lost gold taken by Comanches near the Antelope Hills. In 1717 a battle was fought by the Spansh with the Comanche Indians near the Antelope Hills. Seven hundred prisoners were taken and sent to the Queen of Spain.

     The area was claimed by Spain and France by right of exploration. and England entered a brief claim based on a grant made by Charles II. Conflicting claims were resolved by the Treaty of 1763 when the powers agreed that the area belonged to Spain. In 1800 the Treaty of San Ilde fonso transferred all the Spanish province of Louisiana to France

     The expansion of American population to the West brought an acute need for control of the Mississippi River, and in 1803 the United States purchased the province of Louisiana from France. At that time the boundaries with Spanish territory to the southwest were indefinite and remained so until 1819 when the terms of the Florida Purchase Treaty were agreed upon.

     By the terms of that treaty, the Red River and the 100th meridian were designated as part of the south and west boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase. Thus the south and west boundaries of the present state of Oklahoma were international boundaries—with Spain until 1821 when Mexico won its independence, then with Mexico until 1836 when Texas won its independence, and with the Republic of Texas until 1845 when Texas was admitted to the Union.

     Exact location of the 100th meridian was not finally fixed until 1930 when the last of five surveys placed the line at its present location. This controversial line affected people in Ellis County who owned land along the border between Oklahoma and Texas. Although the disputed area was only a few rods wide at the north end of the county, titles to property and liens on real estate made final settle ment important.

     The tides of emigration that began moving west after the American Revolution swept into the hunting grounds of the Five Civilized Tribes, who occupied the region between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River. In 1803 President Jefferson first suggested the removal of these Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. During the decade when treaties were being made with the eastern Indians, 1825-1835, government officials stated it was in the best interests of the tribes to remove to a section of the country where they could maintain their own tribal governments. This land set apart for the Indians was to be known as Indian Territory. It included all of the state of Oklahoma except the Panhandle. For many years after the first removals in the 1830’s, the history of Oklahoma centered around the settlement of the Five Civilized Tribes—the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees —and efforts to control the western Plains tribes who resented intrusion into their hunting grounds.

     In addition to seven million acres of land in the north. eastern part of the territory, the Cherokees were given a perpetual outlet west to their hunting grounds. The Cherokee Outlet, sometimes incorrectly called the Cherokee Strip, was a 56-mile wide strip which extended from the 96th meridian west to the 100th meridian. The north boundary of the Outlet was set at the 37th parallel when Kansas was admited to the Union. An error in an early boundary survey left a narrow strip of land, about two and one-half miles wide, extending the full length of the 37th parallel, within the state of Kansas. This land, properly called the Cherokee Strip, or the Neutral Strip, was held in trust for the benefit of the Cherokee Nation.

     No Man’s Land was not a part of the Cherokee Outlet. It was part of the area that first belonged to Spain, then Mexico, then Texas. Texas relinquished claim to the area after admission to the Union in 1845 as a slave state because t was north of 36-30', the dividing line between free and slave territory. The area was left unclaimed by any state or territory until 1890 when t was added to Oklahoma Territory by the Organic Act which provided for the organization of territorial governments. The south boundary of No Man’s Land, or the Panhandle, is the 36~30’ line which is also the dividing line between Townships Twenty-three and Twenty-four North across Ellis County and the state of Oklahoma.

     The south boundary of the Cherokee Outlet was established by a survey and treaty in 1833, defining the boundaries between the Cherokee lands to the north and the Creek and Seminole lands to the south. The southern boundary of Woodward County coincides with this line; t is also the dividing line between Townships Nineteen and Twenty North; U.        S. Highway 60 marks its approximate location across Ellis County. All that part of Ellis County north of this line was a part of the Cherokee Outlet.

     The southern part of the county was a part of that tract set apart by treaty in 1832 for the use and occupancy of the Creek and Seminole Indians. Terms of this treaty were not satisfactory to the two tribes, and in 1856 these lands were segregated from certain other lands and given to the Seminoles.

     Even though all this northwestern part of the state had been alloted to the Five Civilized Tribes, the western tribes still considered it their exclusive domain.

     Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians had roved freely over this area for centuries following the great buffalo herds. Local warfare broke out when the Cheyennes and Arapahoes began to encroach on their hunting grounds. They were attracted by the plentiful game in the area between the Beaver and the South Canadian, as well as the need for horses, which they obtained by raids on the Kiowas and Conanches, who in turn had raided settlements in Texas and Mexico.

     This warfare reached its height in 1837 and 1838 when the two groups of allies struggled for control of the buffalo range of northwestern Oklahoma and the choice camp sites along the creeks.

     In 1837 an invading party of forty Cheyenne warriors was annihilated by a Kiowa ambush. The next year a Cheyenne war party, bent on revenge, located the Kiowas at their camp site on Wolf Creek with their allies, the Comanches and Apaches, camped nearby. The map (Grinell: The Fighting Cheyennes) shows the camps scattered along the south bank of Wolf Creek for several miles between Shattuck and Fargo.

     The Cheyennes killed twelve Kiowa women who were gathering roots on the south bank and then charged the Kiowa village. With the help of their allies, the Kiowas drove off the intruders after a day-long battle in which many warriors were killed. This is known as the Battle of Wolf Creek.

     In 1840 the two groups of allies made peace in order to present a united front against the increasing encroachments of pioneer settlements and the growing east-west traffic through the plains to Santa Fe.

     As early as 1847 the United States government made some effort to control the Indian raids on Santa Fe traffic and outlying settlements.

     Texas also fought back at the marauding Indians, and one battle was fought in Ellis County, the Battle of Little Robe Creek. In May, 1858, an expedition of 102 Texas Rangers, commanded by Captain John “Old Rip” Ford, plus a hundred friendly Indians from the lower Brazos Reserve, crossed the Red River and moved northward along the 98th parallel until they reached the Washita Valley. Here they discovered an Indian travois trail leading toward the Antelope Hills. Following this trail, the Ranger-Indian force came to a Comanche village of 70 lodges at the mouth of Little Robe Creek, which enters the Canadian just northwest of the Antelope Hills. Ford and his men attacked the village, killing 76 Comanches and capturing over 300 head of horses.

     After the Civil War, new treaties were made by the United States with the Five Civilized Tribes in which they relinquished claim to certain lands in western Oklahoma to be used for the settlement of the western tribes and other tribes from Kansas, Nebraska, and elsewhere. As a result the Indian Territory became divided into two distinct parts: the eastern half occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, and the western half composed of numerous reservations of western Indians, together with several large areas entirely unoccupied. Later this western region became the Territory of Oklahoma, after which the term “Indian Territory" was applied to the eastern area.

     At the Medicine Lodge Council in 1867, leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Wichita. and Caddo tribes agreed to accept permanent reservation homes in the western section. At this time the south part of Ellis County became a part of the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservations.

     The failure of the Plains tribes to remain on their assigned reservations, their continued hunting through western Okla homa, and their bloody raids on settlements in Kansas Colorado, and Texas resulted in establishment of several military posts, including Camp Supply in northwest Oklahoma.

     These military camps and permanent posts made roads necessary and thus gave impetus to opening the areas to travelers and eventual white settlement. Several military roads crossed Ellis County.

     Another change came with the great cattle drives from Texas to the railway terminals in Kansas. One of the most famous of these trails was the Western or Dodge City Trail, which crossed the South Canadian River near Camargo and crossed Wolf Creek north of Fargo. Six million cattle were driven over this trail between 1866 and 1885.
Leasing of western Indian lands to ranchers began in the 1880’s. The Cherokee Strip Livestock Association was or ganized in 1880, and in 1883 leased the entire Outlet for a period of five years with an annual payment of $100,000, and then sublet it to individual ranchers or cattle companies to whom definite ranges were assigned. This lease was re newed in 1888 for $200,000 a year. The north part of Ellis County was a part of the Dominion Cattle Company lease (the Box T Ranch). This lease was terminated in 1890 when President Harrison ordered all cattle removed from the ranges.

     To the south, cattlemen had driven herds to the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation as early as 1878 and held them there under arrangements made with small bands of Indians. In 1882 a Cheyenne and Arapaho council requested official permission to lease their grazing lands. Without waiting for a reply from Washington, agreements were made with seven ranchmen who were to receive exclusive use of more than three million acres for a term of ten years for an annul rental of two cents an acre. This action brought forth strong protests from cattlemen who had been pasturing herds on the reservation, or who wished to do so but had not been included in the negotiations. Ranchers and their employees armed themselves in efforts to protest their property. Also contributing to the trouble were Indians who were not agreeable to the leasing of their lands. A state of war existed with fences cut, riders shot, hay stacks and pastures set on fire, and constant raids on cattle herds.

     General Sheridan was sent to the reservation in July. 1885, with orders to take charge of the situation. However. before he was able to make a report, President Cleveland issued a proclamation declaring all leases void and ordering all cattle removed within forty days. This was a staggering blow to the ranchers as they had no time to make provisions for the 210,000 cattle on the range. These cattle were thrown on already over-stocked ranges in Texas and Kansas. That winter of 1885-6 was very severe and cattle died by the thousands. The south part of Ellis County was included in the Fenlon lease.

        The government was rapidly moving toward the policy of cpening the western half of Indian Territory to white settlement. It is necessary to review some of the steps leading up to this action.

     During the 1810’s, almost all of the western part of the state had been surveyed and divided into townships, ranges sections, and quarter sections. Then in February, 1887 Congress passed the Dawes Act authorizing allotment oof Indian lands to individual members of the tribes. This changed ownership from tribal collective ownership to in dividual ownership and left surplus lands which were opene to white settlement.

     In the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation, after the indiviudal allotments had been made and lands set aside as school lands and reserved for Indian agencies and military use, three and a half million acres were left fo settlement. No Indian allotments were made in present Ellis County. Six counties were formed and designated by the letters C, D, E, F, G, and H. Later these became Blaine Dewey, Day, Roger Mills, Custer, and Washita counties of Oklahoma Territory, respectively.

     It was estimated that 25,000 persons came in at the time of the Run on April 19, 1892, but all of them did not stay. The eastern half of the tract filled promptly, but much the western half continued as grazing land for cattlemen. Some claims were bypassed because they were too far from a town or prospective railroad, others because of gullies anc canyons. or lack of a good water supply. Many quarter sections remained vacant until 1901 and some as late as
1905.

     The Cherokee Outlet, with its six million acres, was opened for settlement on September 16, 1893. County seat townsites were chosen in advance. Land offices were established at Perry, Enid, Alva, and Woodward. Seven counties were organized and designated K, L, M, N, 0, P and Q. Later these became, respectively, the counties of Kay. Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee. The largest of these was Woodward County which remained undivided until statehood when it was partitioned into present Woodward, Harper, the western part of Woods, and the northern part of Ellis counties.

     Between 100,000 and 150,000 persons participated in the Cherokee Outlet race, making it the greatest land run in history. An estimated 5,000 homeseekers rushed into Woodward County on September 16, but not much of the land was claimed. Many believed the region was too dry for farming, thus ranchmen were able to hold on to Woodward County. Even as late as 1901, several large ranches were operating in Woodward County. Many pioneers, who came in at the time of the Run, abandoned their claims. In 1894 the county population was 2,241, but it steadily decreased until 1898 when a new wave of migration began.

     The second great immigrant rush came between 1898 and 1902. The public-domain claims that had been abandoned or avoided by homesteaders in the 1892 and 1893 land openings were filed on. By 1903 all homesteads in Woodward County had been taken, and by 1905, all those in Day County had been claimed.

     Several factors launched this second land rush into northwestern Oklahoma: land was still available here while all that to the east had been taken; the Santa Fe railroad through the county had been completed in 1886 and 1887; the Free Homes Bill had been passed which eliminated the cash payments for homesteads; and several cash crops had proved suitable to the area.

     After the Cheyenne and Arapaho opening in 1892, the south part of Ellis County was a part of County E. At the first election after the opening, the county was named Day and the county seat was located at bland. This location did not prove satisfactory, and the county seat was moved from bland to Grand on November 13, 1893.

     Grand was in the midst of a beautiful grove, fed by a spring called Robinson Springs, famous for its fine water. There were two general stores, two saloons, a court house, a post office, a hotel, a blacksmith shop, and a newspaper, The Day County Progress, which was published at Grand for twelve years. There were six Star mail routes out of Grand, and by statehood the town had a doctor and four law offices with six resident lawyers.

     The demand for statehood for the “Twin Territories” was answered in 1906 when Congress passed the Enabling Act which provided that Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory be admitted into the Union as a single state to be named Oklahoma. The Act also provided for the election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention which would write the basic law for the forty-sixth state.

     Delegates to the Constitutional Convention from this county were H. P. Covey, Fargo, District 4, one of three delegates representing Woodward County, and David Hogg, Grand, District 43, the only aelegate from Day County.

     The Oklahoma Constitutional Convention decreed that Day County should cease to exist on November 16, 1907, and that a new county, to be named Ellis County, should be formed. Day County was to be divided at the South Canadian River with that part lying south of the river to become a part of Roger Mills County, and that part lying north of the river to become a part of new Ellis County. Also included in Ellis County were Townships Twenty through Twenty-four North and Ranges Twenty-three through Twenty-six West, an area that had previously been included in Woodward County. Grand was named the temporary county seat, but the location was changed to Arnett by vote of the people and moved October 1, 1908.

        Ellis County now is a prosperous county with four towns —Arnett, Shattuck, Gage, and Fargo. According to the 1970 census, the county has 5,129 inhabitants. It has a fine hospital, good schools, good churches, good roads, and good people. Still primarily an agricultural area, within the last ten years it has emerged as one of the leading counties in the dairy industry and as a major irrigation area. lt has also become a major producer of oil and natural gas.
The full story of the development of Ellis County since statehood can be told best by the words of the homesteaders themselves and by their stories as told by their descendants in this volume of history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Books

1. Dawson, E. Lomax. The Cheyenne-Arapahoe Country. New York: Canton Press, Inc., 1968.
   
2. Edward Everett, The Range Cattle Industry. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1930.
   
3. Gibson, Arrel M. Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries. Norman: Harlow Publishing Corporation, 1965.
   
4. Grinnell, George Bird. The Fighting Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.
   
5. Hurst, Irvin. The 46th Star. Oklahoma City: Semco Color Press, 1957.
6. Morris, John W. and Edwin C. Reynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
   
7. Seger, John H. Early Days Among the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians. Norman:University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.
   
8. Thoburn, Joseph B., and Muriel H. Wright. Oklahoma, a History of the State and Its People, Vols. I and II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1929.
   

B. Magazines, Newspapers, Pamphlets and Documents

1. Debo, Angie. “Albert H. Ellis,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol XXVIII, Winter 1950-1951.
   
2. Gibson, Arrell M. “History of Woodward County,” Alabaster Cavern and Woodward County, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Geological Survey Guide Book XV. Norman:Oklahoma Geological Survey.
   
3. Hoig, Stanley. “History of Gage, Oklahoma, and Vicinity,” Gage Record, September and October, 1966.
   
4. Lentz, Mrs. Owen. Unpublished documents.
   
5. Milam, Joe B. “The Opening of the Cherokee Outlet,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol IX, September 1931 and December 1931.
   
6. Peery, Dan W. “Old Day County, Oklahoma Territory,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XIII, June, 1935.
   
7. Ranck, M. A. “Some Remnants of Frontier Journalism,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol VIII, December 1930.
   
8. Randels, Ralph E. “The Homesteader and the Development of Woodward County,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XVII, September 1939.
   
9. Records, Ralph H. “Recollections of April 19, 1892,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol XXI, March 1943.
   
10. Richards, 0. H. “Early Days in Day County,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XXVI, Autumn 1948.
    
11. F. P. “Early History of Catesby and Vicinity,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XXIX, Summer 1951.
    
12. Squire, C. A. “Old Grand, Ghost Town,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XXVIII Winter 1950-1951.