Kiamitia County, also known as Kiamichi 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 ...

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

Pushmataha District Pushmataha District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the Third District, it encompassed the southwestern one-third of the nation. The Pushmataha District was na ...

, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions. Kiamitia County was formed in 1850 by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation. It was one of 19 counties established. The county took its name from 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, ...

. Historians debate the origin and correct spelling of this word, but most have concluded that it was derived from the French word ''kamichi'', meaning "horned-screamer," a species of water bird. They say it was named by French explorers during the 1700s. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Kiamitia County was Goodland. The original Choctaw settlement of Goodland was four miles north of present-day

Hugo, Oklahoma Hugo is a city in and the county seat of Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in southeastern Oklahoma, approximately north of the Texas state line. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,310. The city was founded i ...

. A

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

operated at Goodland, Indian Territory from August 21, 1871, to February 28, 1902. The community centered at the county seat no longer exists. Modern Goodland is located three miles south of Hugo. A post office called "Goodland, Oklahoma," located in the building of the Goodland Indian Orphanage, operated there from April 5, 1915, to July 31, 1944.

Etymology

The spelling and rendering of the county's official name appears to have been Kiamitia, reflecting the fact that the

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...

of the

—for which it was named—was not standardized as such until the 20th century. The Choctaw Nation labeled the county as "Kiamitia," as did

Angie Debo Angie Elbertha Debo (January 30, 1890 – February 21, 1988),

, the Nation's preeminent

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. She used the term Kiamitia County in her epic history, ''The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic'' (1934). Edwin C. McReynolds, in his landmark ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (1965), renders the spelling of the county as "Kiamichi".

Boundaries

Kiamitia County's boundaries were designated according to easily recognizable 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 ...

, as was done for all the Choctaw counties. Much of its northern boundary, south of Antlers, was formed by Beaver Creek. Much of its western boundary was

Muddy Boggy Creek Muddy Boggy Creek, also known as the Muddy Boggy River, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 river in south central Oklahoma. The stream headwaters arise jus ...

. Its eastern boundary, in part, was formed by the Kiamichi River, and its southern boundary was the

Red River of the South The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major river in the Southern United States. It was named for its reddish water color from passing through red-bed country in its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name ...

Establishment

As Oklahoma's admission to statehood approached, its representatives participating in the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and laying out the future state's counties, realized that Kiamitia County could not exist as an economically viable political subdivision. By the time of Oklahoma's statehood in 1907, its

existed as the site to hold

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

, as well as for educational and religious purposes, but it had not developed as a population center.

Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...

, although by then the area's largest town, was until statehood cut off from some of its natural economic

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

. This area fell within neighboring Red River and

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

counties of the Choctaw Nation. Framers of the proposed State of Sequoyah, who met in 1905 to propose statehood for the Indian Territory, also recognized the difficulties with some of the Choctaw counties. As proposed by the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, the State of Seqyoyan would abolish the Choctaw county boundaries and establish new ones. In this case, Kiamitia County was generally retained as a jurisdiction, but was to be expanded to the east and west; it was renamed as Hitchcock County, and the proposed county seat was the population center - Hugo. Oklahoma's framers largely adopted the proposed boundaries for Hitchcock County but called it

Choctaw County, Oklahoma Choctaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,205. Its county seat is Hugo. Formerly part of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, this county was reorganized and redefined ...

, and designated Hugo as its county seat. Like all Choctaw counties, Kiamitia 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

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 ...

that was collected after straying from its owner's territory.Angie Debo, ''Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic'', p. 152.

References

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Indian Territory Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma