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1540 - Coronado Expedetion
1540 ~ Coronado Expedetion
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado leads Mexico's invasion of the north with an expeditionary force of 300 conquistadors and more than one thousand Indian "allies." When they reach Cibola, they find not the promised metropolis but "a little, crowded village, looking as if it had been crumpled all up together." This is the Zuni Pueblo of Hawikuh, whose warriors answer with arrows when Coronado demands that they swear loyalty to his King. Within an hour, the Spaniards have overrun the pueblo, and over the next few weeks, they conquer the other Zunis in the region. (Source: Grandfield Chamber of Commerce)
Left: "Coronado sets out to the north" — oil painting by Frederic Remington. Spanish Francisco Vázquez de Coronado Expedition (1540 - 1542), passing through Colonial New Mexico, to the Great Plains
Below: "La conquista del Colorado", by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition
1542 - The Mystery of the Spanish Friar's Tombstone
1542- Tombstone and Grave of Don Juan Valerez El Padre...
Traveling by compass north across the Texas and Oklahoma, Coronado and his men explore the region for a month, ranging as far north as the Smoky Hill River in central Kansas. In late August Coronado begins the long trek back to his camp on the upper Rio Grande, where he will spend the winter. Passing through the area that will eventually become Grandfield, a padre in the expedition dies. His grave is marked with a diamond shaped tombstone which reads "Don Juan Valerez, El Padre, Madrid Senor de la Bonito Senorito. The whereabouts of this landmark remains a mystery to this day? Help us find it?
1542- Tombstone and Grave of Don Juan Valerez El Padre...
Traveling by compass north across the Texas and Oklahoma, Coronado and his men explore the region for a month, ranging as far north as the Smoky Hill River in central Kansas. In late August Coronado begins the long trek back to his camp on the upper Rio Grande, where he will spend the winter. Passing through the area that will eventually become Grandfield, a padre in the expedition dies. His grave is marked with a diamond shaped tombstone which reads "Don Juan Valerez, El Padre, Madrid Senor de la Bonito Senorito. The whereabouts of this landmark remains a mystery to this day? Help us find it?
1830 - Outposts Establshed in the Territory
1824 -The U.S. army establishes outposts in present-day Oklahoma, at Fort Towson on the Red River (right) and at Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River (below), in preparation for the removal of the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes from the Southeast to the newly designated Indian Territory.
1800s - Cattle Barons
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The first cattle drive from Texas up the Chisholm Trail arrives at the rail yards of Abilene, Kansas. This cattle trail crosses through the big pasture area for the next several years. (Grandfield Chamber of Commerce)
John Chisolm
1800's - Large cattle barons use their influence to rent desirable land from the Comanche and Kiowa Indians. Most of the Big Pasture area was rented by W.T. Waggoner in the 1880's and 1890's. Because Indians would not accept paper money, cattlemen would load wagons with either gold or silver and travel to Fort Sill or Anadarko to pay their rent.
Black Beaver
Suck-tum-mah-kway
"A Few Texas Cattle Barons"
W.T. "Tom" Waggoner
Dan Waggoner
Captain Samuel "Burk" Burnett
Tom Burnett & Chief Quanah Parker
Thomas Loyd Burnett
Photos of Burk Burnett and Tom Burnett, courtesy of the 6666 Ranch, http://www.6666ranch.com/en/the-6666-story/burnett-family.html
An Iconic Image of Texas Cattle Barons: Certainly not lacking in Number or Propinquity
1867 - Medicine Lodge Treaty Signing
1867 - Medicine Lodge Treaty Signing
The United States and representatives of the Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other southern Plains tribes sign the Medicine Lodge Treaty, intended to remove Indians from the path of white settlement. The treaty marks the end of the era in which federal policymakers saw the Plains as "one big reservation" to be divided up among various tribes. Instead, the treaty establishes reservations for each tribe in the western part of present-day Oklahoma and requires them to give up their traditional lands elsewhere.
In exchange, the government pledges to establish reservation schools and to provide resident farmers who will teach the Indians agriculture. This same principle of restricting the Plains tribes to reservations will help shape the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. In both cases, the tribes' refusal to give up their free-ranging traditions and remain confined within the territory assigned to them leads to devastating warfare.
(Source: Grandfield Chamber of Commerce)
To learn of the travesty of Americans whose only crime was being here first, please visit our hard work by clicking this link or just go to the "Treaties" page in this website, or
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Ft. Auger Established
1871 - 1875 Ft. Auger Established
Buffalo hunters begin moving onto the plains, brought there by the expanding railroads and the growing market for hides and meat back east. In little more than a decade, they reduce the once numberless herd to an endangered species. By 1890, experts at the US Dept of the Interior estimated there were only 2,000 head of North American Bison remaining
As buffalo herds are decimated by white thrill seekers, Native American tribes begin raiding white communities and ranches along the Red River in search of food. To help stop the attacks, the U.S. army establishes Camp Auger southwest of present day Grandfield. The camp, named after Brigadier General C.C. Augur, was occupied by the Tenth Calvary (buffalo soldiers) and frequently attacked by Indians, however only one death was ever recorded.
Buffalo hunters gather on the northern Plains for the last large buffalo kill, among them a Harvard-educated New York assemblyman named Theodore Roosevelt, who hopes to bag a trophy before the species disappears. Hunters have already destroyed the southern herd, and by 1884, except for small domestic herds kept by sentimental ranchers, there are only scattered remnants of the animal that more than any other symbolizes the American West. (Source: Chamber, IBID)
1885 - Death of Chief Yellow Bear
1885 ~ Death of Yellow Bear
Yellow Bear and Quanah Parker made a trip to Fort Worth to speak with cattlemen about the pasture land. They spent the night at Fort Worth in a hotel that was using gas lights. Neither Yellow Bear nor Quanah Parker had ever used this type of lighting, and they blew the lights out just as they would have blown out a candle or an oil lamp. This mistake was fatal to Yellow Bear and near fatal for Quanah Parker.
It is said that Quanah Parker either raised a window or managed to get of bed and get near a raised window. This enabled him to get sufficient air until he was found the following morning. Yellow Bear was already dead when the two were found. The dead chief's body was shipped back to Harrold, Texas, just across the river from the indian pasture land. A number of Indian mourners met the train, put the body in a wagon, and brought it across the river to Curtis Mound for burial.
Yellow Bear- While it remains a matter of contention if the "Yellow Bear" who signed eh Medicine Lodge Treaty and the Yellow Bear who died with Quanah Parker in Ft. Worth were one-and-the-same it is historical fact Yellow Bear did sign the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867.
1885 - Chief Yellow Bear is Burried at Curtis Mound
A traditional Indian funeral was conducted for Yellow Bear by those present. The Wives of Yellow Bear, said to number four, cut off their hair during the ceremony. Even the horses belonging to Yellow Bear were killed and pulled over to the grave where the blood was allowed to run down over the body. The rest of his possessions were burned and the ashes strewn over the grave. There on Curtis Mound, where the mourners believed their loved one would be nearer the spirit world, they fasted and mourned for days.
Southern Arapaho Chief Yellow Bear (above and below)
1893 - Cherokee Land Run
1893 - Cherokee Land Run
On September 16, 1893, more than 115,000 people raced to claim one of 42,000 parcels of land in the largest, most spectacular, and last land run in American history.The land had originally been given to the Cherokee Nation. It was originally called the Cherokee Outlet because it was the Cherokee's outlet to their hunting grounds in the Rocky Mountains. The "Strip" was originally a strip of the Outlet that extended north of the Kansas/Oklahoma border. Because of two different surveys, Kansas, the U.S. government and the Cherokee were unsure who owned the "Strip." The "Strip" that was finally purchased from the Cherokee included a part of Kansas, and the Cherokee Outlet was renamed the Cherokee Strip.
American Bison History
The American Bison - "At one point there were less than 1,000 bison left in North America!" (History and Facts, n.d. https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/oklahoma/stories-in-oklahoma/bison-history/)
​Great herds of bison once roamed North America between the Appalachian Mountains on the east and the Rockies on the west. It is estimated that around 30 million bison roamed the continent when Columbus landed. The herds were so large that the bison became a symbol of the seemingly endless resources of the continent.
In the late 1800s, the bison were almost entirely eliminated, with less than 1,000 individuals left at the lowest point. A 1905 a census indicated there were 835 wild bison and 256 bison in captivity at that time. Sanctuaries, zoos, and parks were safe havens for bison and helped to increase their numbers. The first national preserve for bison was founded in 1907 near Cache, OK and later became the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Reserve. Subsequent game laws and other protective measures allowed the surviving bison to live and multiply.
Buffalo Soldiers - While stationed in Indian Territory, Buffalo Soldiers had a number of responsibilities: they kept out unwanted intruders from the Indian lands, they watched over the Indians on the reservations, and they maintained general law and order throughout the territory. The infantry built and maintained roads, telegraph lines, and forts. They also assisted the cavalry in military actions. Among their duties, black soldiers removed the "Boomers" from Indian Territory.
Buffalo Soldiers and Camp Augur
(cont'd from left) As early as 1870 Tenth Cavalry officers found it necessary to keep patrols on the lookout for intruders and two years later moved the headquarters from Fort Sill to Fort Gibson, partly in response to growing intruder activity in that vicinity. In the spring of 1878 three companies of the Tenth were sent back to Fort Sill, where they watched the reservation Indians, skirmished verbally with Texas Rangers, and removed Boomers. (By 1879 the intruders crossed the Kansas line in sufficient numbers to occupy virtually the full attention of a battalion of Buffalo Soldiers. Among the 1879 Boomers were one to two hundred African Americans, thus further magnifying the problems and responsibilities of the black troops. In June 1880 the Tenth Cavalry was sent to West Texas; however, increased Boomer actions later in the summer (1880) led six companies of the Tenth to be transferred temporarily to Indian Territory. Oklahoma Historical Society, Tillman County, ibid)
In 1803 the United States purchased from France the Louisiana Purchase, which included the future state of Oklahoma. Expeditions were formed to explore the area. In southwestern Oklahoma, in 1852 Randolph B. Marcy headed one of those excursions in search of the headwaters of the Red River. Due to American Indian unrest in the area, Camps Radziminski and Augur were established in 1858 and 1871, respectively. In 1867 the Medicine Lodge Treaty created a reservation for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache (KCA) in southwestern Indian Territory. By the 1880s prominent Texas ranchers Daniel and William Thomas Waggoner and Samuel Burk Burnett leased grazing lands from those tribes.
Among other feats, Buffalo Soldiers in Indian Territory assisted local authorities and federal marshals, escorted civilians, stagecoaches, and freighters, guarded railroad construction workers and mail carriers, forestalled Boomers, chased robbers, horse thieves, and cattle rustlers, attempted pacification of Indians, and provided protection for Indians in Indian Territory.
(Bruce A. Glasrud, Oklahoma Historical Society, Buffalo Soldiers, ibid)
1901 - First Lottery for Land in Tillman County
1901 - First Lotery Held for Land in Tillman County
Thousands of pioneers flock to southwest Oklahoma as Indian grazing lands are opened to settlement. Over 100,000 bids were received for land parcels in the Big Pasture area. Those awarded land had to live and improve upon the land for five years.
By 1905, only five towns are legally charted by the government for establishment in the Big Pasture: Eschiti, Randlett, Apheatone, Quanah and Isadore. Eschiti becomes the largest with an overnight population of 1,100. Dozens of illegal towns sprout across the area as well. The most prominent being Kell, a railroad town built one mile west of Eschiti and named after one of the owners of the the railroad, Frank Kell. A bitter feud between the two communities begins.
1905 - Teddy Roosevelt Visits to Hunt
1905 ~ Teddy Roosevelt Visits to go Hunting Wolves
President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Big Pasture at the invitation of several large land holders. They hoped to influence the president to consider statehood for the Oklahoma Territory. Knowing of his love for the great outdoors, Roosevelt was offered an opportunity to hunt wolves and coyotes with Jack (Catch 'em Alive) Abernathy. After returning to the nation's Capitol, At the request of Quanah Parker, President Roosevelt was influential in creating the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge and returning buffalo to the area.
c. 1905 - Kemp and Kell for Kell City on their Railroad EasementRailroad
c. 1905 ~ Railroad Tycoons Kemp and Kell form "Kell City"
By 1905, only five towns are legally charted by the government for establishment in the Big Pasture: Eschiti, Randlett, Apheatone, Quanah and Isadore. Eschiti becomes the largest with an overnight population of 1,100. Dozens of illegal towns sprout across the area as well. The most prominent being Kell, a railroad town built one mile west of Eschiti and named after one of the owners of the the railroad, Frank Kell. A bitter feud between the two communities begins.
Eschiti v Kell City...
Rivalry among town promoters caused the demise of several Oklahoma towns. In southwest Oklahoma in Tillman County, Eschiti was platted in 1907 by the U.S. Department of Interior. When the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railroad extended its line from Texas into Oklahoma, Frank Kell, a townsite promoter, and others had secured the right-of-way from the federal government. Thus, Kell routed the rail line two miles southwest of Eschiti and established Kell City. While the two towns feuded, Rev. A. J. Tant platted a town on part of his land, which was located between Eschiti and Kell City. Soon citizens were moving from those two towns to the new town of Grandfield. By 1909 the former towns disappeared.
Kell becomes a more promising place to locate as the new railroad runs through the town. Infuriated the railroad would not build a depot in their town as planned, the residents of Eschiti begin legal actions against the illegally established Kell. Kell, on the other hand, was furious because the government refused to establish a post office to an illegal town site.
Disturbed by the two feuding communities, Rev. A.J. Tant, whose farm settlement bordered Kell to the south, offered free lots to anyone who was willing to move their business to his town site. Many residents and businesses from both Kell and Eschiti quickly moved to the new town. However, the town was still called Kell (much to the chagrin of relocated Eschiti residents) and had no post office.
One moonless night In October of 1908, a few residents of the new town stole the Eschiti post off building and moved it to the new town site. They worked so stealthily that the sleeping postal clerk inside the building did not know it had been moved nearly two miles until the next day when he awoke. The post office remained in the new town only one day, however as two U.S. deputy marshals began asking question about who was involved in the move. The post office reappeared in Eschiti the next night as quickly as it had disappeared.
Without a post office and a name for their town, a committee of residents approached the U.S. government for assistance. With the considerable help from the Third Assistant Post Master General, C.P. Grandfield, the new town was awarded their post office in November. In recognition of Grandfield's help, the city also had a new name.
1906 - Last Land Auction in Oklahoma - The Big Pasture
1906 ~ The Last Land Auction in Oklahoma - Selling the Big Pasture
1907 - Oklahoma Statehood
1907 - Oklahoma Statehood
Oklahoma entered the Union as the forty-sixth state on November 16, 1907. Derived from the Choctaw Indian words "okla," meaning people, and "humma," meaning red, Oklahoma was designated Indian Territory in 1828. By 1880, sixty tribes, forced by European immigration and the U.S. government to relocate, had moved to Oklahoma.
1908 - Grandfield Becomes a Town
1908 - Grandfield Is Born and the West Will Never Be the Same
Families, the awesome good people of this amazing town, have together survived the Spanish Flu, our own Civil War, Two World Wars, The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, Wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Nixon, Carrie Nation, Prohibition, Woodstock, the Sixties, Disco, and countless other crises and debacles that would have left any other nation in history smouldering rubble, and we still, no mater what love one another, unconditionally...and we are happy!
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