Dewey County Oklahoma History - presented by Genealogy Trails

Dewey County, Oklahoma History

Named for Adm. George Dewey, the county was formerly part of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation. Dewey County is comprised of 1,008.26 square miles of land and water. Drained by the Canadian and North Canadian rivers it lies mostly in the Gypsum Hills physiographic region. The western one-fourth of the county is situated in the High Plains region. At the turn of the twenty-first century incorporated towns included Camargo, Leedey, Oakwood, Putnam, Seiling, Vici, and Taloga, the county seat. In 1820 Maj. Stephen H. Long headed an expedition that followed the Canadian River from western Oklahoma to Fort Smith, Arkansas. During the 1830s and 1840s other explorers and traders such as Josiah Gregg, Nathan Boone, and Randolph B. Marcy passed through present Dewey County. Upon their removal from the East in the early 1830s the Choctaw located between the Canadian and Red rivers in Indian Territory. The Creek and Seminole received land between the Cimarron and Canadian rivers. Each of those areas extended into present Dewey County. As specified in the Reconstruction Treaties of 1866 the Choctaw and Chickasaw ceded their western domain to the United States. Known as the Leased District, part of the area became the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation. On April 19, 1892, the reservation was opened to non-Indian settlers. Designated as D County by Congress, the county was renamed Dewey County in the general election held in November 1898. Initially, county commissioners rented space in a two-story brick structure. In 1909 a wood-frame building at Main and Broadway offered space for county offices until a modern courthouse was completed in 1926. Early transportation routes followed the waterways and American Indian trails. In 1849 the California Road developed across Indian Territory and passed through present Dewey County. In the 1860s and 1870s military roads connected Camp Supply to Fort Sill and Fort Reno. Cattle drives from Texas to Kansas followed the Western Trail, which passed through Camargo and Trail. Trail, a stopping point on the Western Trail, received its name from the Trail Store and had a post office from 1898 to 1929. In 1902 the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway built a line that passed through Oakwood. In 1911-12 the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (later part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway ) connected Leedey, Camargo, and Vici with outside markets. Modern motorists are served by State Highways 3, 34, 47, 51, and U.S. Highways 60, 183, 270, and 281. At the turn of the twenty-first century air parks were located at Leedey, Vici, and Seiling. At 1907 statehood Dewey County had 13,329 residents. Its population declined after it peaked at 14,132 in 1910. The census indicated 13,250 and 11,981 in 1930 and 1940, respectively. Since World War II numbers have dropped from 8,789 in 1950 to 5,922 in 1980. At the turn of the twenty-first century the county had 4,743 inhabitants, of whom 92.2 percent were white, 4.7 percent were American Indian, and 2.6 percent were Hispanic.