Ghost Towns of Oklahoma

INDIAN TERRITORY GHOST TOWNS
By A. C Townsend

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    A peculiar state of affairs existed late in the last century in the present state of Oklahoma. There was an officially created Oklahoma Territory, but it refused almost without exception f use a "Terr." on its postmark The postmarks read "Oklahoma" with but just four known exceptions out of the hundreds of towns and cities. And there was no officially declared Indian Territory by the Post Office Department until 1889-but without any exceptions locally every town in the Indian Territory had been using postmarks reading "Indian Territory" in one form or another for a period of fifty years.
    By the Act of May 2, 1890, the official boundaries of both Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were defined, thus two territories were designated where only one had formerly been specifically designated.
    Just to complete the record, the two territories were united and combined into the State of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907, and the old Indian Territory postmarks then became extinct. California and Nevada have no cause to brag of their "ghost towns," at least so far as numbers are concerned. We have a record now of 359 towns that used stamped postmarks, and of that number the Postal Guide shows that 132 of them are among the things that were. Over one third of them gone!

The first five Indian postmarks read :
Miller Court H o w , Choctaw Nation, 1824.
Cantonment Gibson, Cherokee Nation, 1827.
Nicksville, Cherokee Nation, 1828.
Fort Towson, Choctaw Nation, 1832.
Eagle Town, Choctaw Agency, 1834.

    All but Fort Towson and Eagle Town are ghost towns now and covers with these postmarks are exceedingly scarce. The remaining two are pretty small; Fort Towson has less than 500 inhabitants and Eagletown (as the postmark now reads) is but what we "a wide spot in the road."
    Consider some of the names of the dear departed: Bald Hill, Badland, Cary's Ferry, Goody's Bluff, Echo, Frogville, Erin Springs (sentiment there! ) , Legal, Lyceum, Owl, Panther, Quarz (not gold, just quartz), Starville. Some of them the names of settlers who came to see and to conquer the wilderness and build cities. And their dreams crumbled to dust and their houses and towns crumbled to dust, and in many instances there is not a trace left.
    Some of the Army names naturally faded away, but what tales of Apache raids and other thrilling events could we shiver over if the old sites had a voice? Camp Supply, Cantonment, Fort Washita. And what became of the Irishmen who founded Erin Springs,McKey, McLain, Mckuskey, Reagan? They to are but ghost towns.
    But it was not alone the white man whose dreams faded and whose homes disappeared. Look at the Indian towns: Catale, Choska, Cooyah, Econtuchka, Juanita, Lukfata,Monido, Oconee, Oowala, Sageeyah, Sawokla, Wauhilla.

Classification

Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted back to pasture land or empty fields. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a sizable, though small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

To view a map of all ghost towns in Oklahoma sorted by classification, visit Oklahoma's Ghost Town Map

Barren site - B

Sites no longer in existence
Sites that have been destroyed
Deserted
Covered with water
Barren site
Reverted to pasture
May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Semi-abandoned site - S

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses largely abandoned
few residents
many abandoned buildings
Small population

Neglected site - N

Only rubble left
Roofless building ruins
Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Historic community - H

Building or houses still standing
Still a busy community
Smaller than its boom years
Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

Abandoned site - A

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses all abandoned
No population, except caretaker
Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store