Cimarron County, Oklahoma
History Covering a total land and water area of 1,842.2 square miles,
Cimarron County is the farthest west of the three Oklahoma
Panhandle counties.
Black
Mesa, in
the northeastern corner
of
the county, is the highest
point in
Oklahoma, rising to
4,972.97
feet above sea level.
In the county's northern
portion the Cimarron
River flows eastward turning
north
into Kansas, while the
North
Canadian, or Beaver River,
traverses
the county's southern
section.
Cimarron is the
only county
in the United States
that touches
five states:
Kansas,
Colorado,
New Mexico, Texas, and its own,
Oklahoma.
Kenton, in the far
northwestern
corner, is the
only
Oklahoma
community on Mountain Time. The county
is
served by U.S. Highways 56/65/412
east and west and 287/385 north and
south. In the
Black Mesa
area
numerous dinosaur
tracks and
fossils have
been discovered, including
examples
of brontosaurus,
camptosaurus, stegosaurus,
and
ceratosaurus. The area's
paleontological history is
commemorated on State
Highway 325
east of Kenton, where a
replica of a
brontosaurus femur on a
pedestal sits outside a dinosaur
quarry. Also near Kenton, the Kenton Caves
contained
artifacts that represent
thousands of years of area occupation. A few
of the finds
include rock art,
projectile points,
potsherds, seeds,
storage
bags, cloth, shell jewelry,
the
desiccated body of a child, and
other items. One
of the
last
precontact groups to
live in the area would have been the
Antelope
Phase
Culture (between 1200
and 1500
A.D.). Francisco
Vasquez de
Coronado
may
have crossed the county on his
return trip from Quivira in Kansas. At Castle
Rock, a
publicly inaccessible,
controversial landmark, the explorer (or more
likely a
member of his party) may
have been the one who
inscribed
the
words
"Coronatto 1541" into the stone.
Autograph Rock, northwest of Boise City, is a
well-documented feature of the famed Cimarron Cutoff
of
the Santa Fe Trail,
which
transects Cimarron County. On
the rock face are more than
three
hundred
signatures
dating from
the early nineteenth
century into the twentieth century.
Cold Spring and
Inscription Rock Historic District
were
listed in the National
Register
of
Historic Places in
1994.
Prior to the Oklahoma
Organic Act of
May 2,
1890, there
was no law in No Man's
Land, also called the Public Land
Strip (now known
as the Oklahoma Panhandle), and
scant
population in what later
became
Cimarron County. Of the
inhabitants, some were felons
searching for
places to
avoid the
law, a few were sheep
ranchers from New Mexico Territory,
and several were
cattle
ranchers from surrounding states.
There were no
schools
in the county
and only one
post
office, Mineral City, before 1890.
In 1890
the
entire Public Land Strip
became
Beaver County, Oklahoma
Territory, and in
that year
the
United States conducted the first census.
Only two
communities in
the area, Carrizo
(just over the
line, in New Mexico Territory) and
Mineral
City, had
enough residents
to bother
enumerating. Carrizo claimed eighty-three
inhabitants and
Mineral City
ninety-eight. According to
that
census, the
two
earliest citizens,
John
Threldkell,
from Kentucky, and
Charles Grammar, a German
immigrant,
had been there since
1873. Earlier,
a prominent New Mexican
sheepherding
family, the Bacas, ran
sheep in the
county. A
few of their
pastores, including Juan Cruz Lujan,
continued sheep ranching in Cimarron County
into the
twentieth century. At 1907
statehood Cimarron County was created, and
within it were
twenty post offices
and fifty-six schools.
In 1908 the
Southwestern Immigration and Development
Company of Guthrie, Oklahoma, composed
of J. E. Stanley,
A. J. Kline, and
W. T. Douglas, established the town of Boise
City. Seven
communities fought for
the county seat
designation,
including Boise
City
(approximately
in the
center of the
county), Cimarron (three miles north
of
Boise City), Doby (five miles northwest of Boise
City),
Hurley (five miles
northeast
of Boise City), Willowbar
(twelve miles east of Boise
City),
and
Centerview
(location
unknown). Rail access
arrived relatively late. The Elkhart
and Santa Fe
Railway completed a line from Elkhart,
Kansas, into the
county in
1925 and
on into New
Mexico in
1932, but
service ended in
1942. The
same
corporation
completed tracks
from Colorado to
Boise City in 1931 and south to
Texas in
1937. Operated as part of
the
Atchison, Topeka
and Santa
Fe
Railway
system, by 2000 the
remaining line
was part of the Burlington-Northern Santa
Fe
system. Until
the county seat
election of June 11, 1908, Kenton, which had
previously
been named the temporary
county seat, held the
county
records. Boise
City won a
runoff
election over Doby
to capture
the designation. A Boise
City
contingent soon
confiscated the
county seat papers, prior to the end of the
mandatory
thirty-day waiting period,
creating a
controversy and a
local
legend
that Boise City stole the
courthouse. In 1907 the population stood at 5,927.
Census
counts have varied since
statehood, generally trending lower, with 4,553
in 1910,
3,436 in 1920, 5,408 in
1930, 4,589 in 1950,
4,145 in
1970,
3,301 in
1990 and 3,148 in 2000. In 1930
the
populations of the existing towns included
Boise City,
746, Keyes, 252, Felt,
136, and
Kenton, 96. During World War II 428
men and women
from Cimarron County
served their
country.
Historical and
natural points of
interest
attract tourists to Cimarron County. Traces of
the
Santa
Fe
Trail can be seen at
many
locations.
The remnants of Camp Nichols, a
historic
military site, is listed in
the
National Register
of
Historic
Places
(NR 66000628) and is a
National
Historic Landmark. Col. Christopher "Kit" Carson
established the camp in 1865 to protect the Cimarron
Cutoff. The lack of law
enforcement
in No Man's Land
attracted several outlaws, and one such
group, led
by
William Coe,
reportedly built
a rock
building on top of a strategically
situated mesa that
became known as
Robbers' Roost. Lake
Carl Etling, inside
the
Black Mesa
State Park, Rita
Blanca
National Grassland, and numerous
mesas
attract many hikers
and
outdoors enthusiasts to the
area. The Cimarron Heritage
House in Boise City
interprets
the county's history. Actor
Vera Miles
was born
in Boise City,
and western
movie hero
Jack Hoxie moved to Keyes after he
retired
from the film
industry.
The
Santa Fe Trail
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