Calhoun, originally called Sutter, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Le Flore County LeFlore County is a county along the eastern border of the U.S state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 50,384. Its county seat is Poteau. The county is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area and the name honors a Choct ...

in the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

, approximately 7 miles northwest of Poteau, the county seat. Located about 6.5 driving miles west-southwest of Shady Point, Oklahoma, Calhoun can be reached off of

US Route 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway Sy ...

at Shady Point by heading west on County Road D1310, then County Road 90. The town is just northwest of

Cavanal Hill Cavanal Hill (officially Cavanal Mountain), located near Poteau, Oklahoma, is described by a sign at its base as the "'World's Highest Hill' – Elevation: 1,999 feet". The actual summit elevation is above sea level; the difference in elevation be ...

, which makes the eccentric boast of being the “world’s highest hill.” For a while a coal mining boomtown, Calhoun later waned along with the industry.

History

The settlement began existence under the name of Sutter. When the nearby town of Shady Point got a railroad connection during 1895-1896 courtesy of the

Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad was a railway company that began operations in the 1890s and owned a main-line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas. It was led by Arthur Stilwell before being thrown into receivership ...

, later the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...

(“KCS”), Sutter coal began to flow through Shady Point primarily for the railroad's own use. Transportation between the two points was improved in the 1900-1901 timeframe when the Choctaw Coal & Mining Company incorporated its own railway, the Poteau Valley Railroad (“PVR”), on October 19, 1900, which built a 6.6 mile line from a connection with the KCS at Shady Point directly to the mines at Sutter. Sequoyah Coal Mining Company succeeded to the ownership of the PVR by 1905. In 1910, Sequoyah Coal Mining was shipping six to ten carloads of coal out of Sutter each day. The town had three substantial mercantile firms, a cotton gin, a grist mill, a Baptist church, and a public school. The KCS took over the PVR on March 2, 1912, but the line continued to operate separately. In 1914, the town changed names and became Calhoun. By 1921, KCS was losing money on providing passenger trains to Calhoun, and attempted to reduce the two passenger trains which ran in each direction every day except Sunday down to one. Such trains were timed to make a connection with the KCS train to or from Poteau. But the attempt was blocked by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and passenger service to the town continued as before. At that time, the town had about 1500 residents, 300 of whom were directly employed as miners. Calhoun had eleven various retail stores, with the largest mercantile in town owned by mining company Central Coal & Lumber. The town had no hospital, the nearest being in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. About 90% of banking transactions by residents were done in Poteau. As the coal industry waned, so did the town. Rail service to Calhoun was finally abandoned altogether in 1926. By the time of the Thirty-sixth annual report of the Department of Mines and Minerals in 1943, no production at all was shown from Calhoun in Le Flore County.

References

{{coord, 35, 06, 13, N, 94, 44, 46, W, type:city_region:US-OK_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Unincorporated communities in Le Flore County, Oklahoma Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma