Cedar County was a political subdivision of the

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation ( Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

in the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

. The county formed part of the nation’s

Apukshunnubbee District Apukshunnubbee District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. Also called the Second District, it encompassed the southeastern one-third of the nation. The Apukshunnubbee District ...

, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions. The word for "Cedar" in the

Choctaw language The Choctaw language (Choctaw: ), spoken by the Choctaw, an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, is part of the Muskogean language family. Chickasaw is separate but closely related language to Choctaw. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahom ...

is ''Chuala''. The county was often referred to as Chuala County. Cedar County was established by the Choctaw Nation’s Doaksville Constitution of 1860. It ceased to exist on November 16, 1907, along with the Choctaw Nation and the Indian Territory, upon the advent of Oklahoma’s statehood. The territory comprising the former county is now included in the Pushmataha County and

McCurtain County McCurtain County is in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,151. Its county seat is Idabel. It was formed at statehood from part of the earlier Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory ...

in Oklahoma. The county seat of Cedar County was

Sulphur Springs Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage under ...

, located near present-day

Rattan, Oklahoma Rattan is a town in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 276 at the 2020 census. Geography Rattan is located in southern Pushmataha County at the intersection of Oklahoma routes 3 and 93. Rock Creek flows past just ...

in Pushmataha County. Like all Choctaw

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, Cedar County served as an election district for members of the National Council, and as a unit of local administration. Constitutional officers, all of whom served for two-year terms and were elected by the voters, included the

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

, and a ranger. The judge’s duties included oversight of overall county administration. The sheriff collected taxes, monitored unlawful intrusion by intruders (usually white Americans from the United States), and conducted the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. The county ranger advertised and sold strayed

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. Choctaw political subdivisions were drawn according to easily recognizable or popular natural

landmarks A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

, such as

mountain ranges A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s or streams. Cedar County’s boundaries were determined likewise—its western boundary was the

Kiamichi River The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma, United States of America. A tributary of the Red River of the South, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border. From its source in Polk County, ...

and its eastern boundary was

Little River (Red River) The Little River is a tributary of the Red River, with a total length of , within the Choctaw Indian Reservation in southeastern Oklahoma and in southwestern Arkansas in the United States. Via the Red, it is part of the watershed of the Mis ...

. Its northern border ran along the top of the

Kiamichi Mountains The Kiamichi Mountains (Choctaw: ''Nʋnih Chaha Kiamitia'') are a mountain range in southeastern Oklahoma. A subrange within the larger Ouachita Mountains that extend from Oklahoma to western Arkansas, the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Le Flore, ...

south of Tuskahoma. The county took its name from Cedar Creek—today known as Big Cedar Creek—which in turn lent its name to Old Cedar Church, a

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

Indian Methodist congregation around which the present-day settlement of

Finley, Oklahoma Finley is an unincorporated community in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, 10 miles northeast of Antlers. A United States Post Office was established at Finley, Indian Territory on April 30, 1903, and was named for Sidney W. Finley (1869-1914), local me ...

was established. Cedar County was large, scenic and mountainous. Due to the rough terrain imposed by the Kiamichi Mountains the county was not home to any towns, only isolated settlements and encampments. After the Choctaw Nation’s settlement by whites in the 1880s and 1890s the county became known for its

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

opportunities, and

tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

from

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

and elsewhere took the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway to

Antlers, Oklahoma Antlers is a city in and the county seat of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,453 at the 2010 census, a 3.9 percent decline from 2,552 in 2000. The town was named for a kind of tree that becomes festooned with antl ...

from which they traveled east to Cedar County for hunting and fishing expeditions lasting for several days or more.Many accounts were published by the ''Antlers Democrat'', ''Antlers News'', ''Antlers News Record'', and ''Antlers American'' newspapers.

References

Choctaw Indian Territory 1860 establishments 1907 disestablishments Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma