Three Forks Oklahoma is an imprecisely defined area of what is now eastern

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, around the confluence of the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Verdigris Verdigris is the common name for blue-green, copper-based pigments that form a patina on copper, bronze, and brass. The technical literature is ambiguous as to its chemical composition. Some sources refer to "neutral verdigris" as copper(II) ac ...

, and Grand Rivers. The term, "Three Forks," was apparently used to designate this area as early as 1719, when the French trader

Bernard de la Harpe Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

traveled through the area, meeting and trading with members of the

Wichita tribe The Wichita people or Kitikiti'sh are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita language and Kichai language, both Caddoan languages. They are indigenous to Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. Tod ...

at a place on the Arkansas River immediately south of the present city of Tulsa.Goins, Charles Robert; Danney Goble and James H. Anderson. ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma''
Fourth edition. .

University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established i ...

. 2006. Available on Google Books. Located in a transition between the

Ozark Mountains The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

on the east and the Cross Timbers/Sandstone Hills on the West, this area is the wettest part of Oklahoma, commonly receiving at least of precipitation per year. Bison and other fur-bearing animals were plentiful, making this a prime hunting area for centuries. Archaeologists have found evidence of human settlements dating back to at least 5000 B.C.Hurt, Douglas A. "Three Forks Area." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.
Accessed September 27, 2017. According to Oklahoma historian Grant Foreman, it was the Spanish government who in 1802, granted a monopoly on trading with the

Osage Indians The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC alon ...

, who then claimed control over the area, to Manuel Lisa, Charles Sanguinet, Francis M. Benoit and Gregoire Sarpy. This effectively undercut

Pierre Chouteau Chouteau was the name of a highly successful, ethnically French fur-trading family based in Saint Louis, Missouri, which they helped found. Their ancestors Chouteau and Laclède initially settled in New Orleans. They then moved-up the Mississipp ...

, a Frenchman and resident of St. Louis, who enjoyed such a monopoly for the previous twenty years. Chouteau had acquired much influence with the Osage, and refused to take this situation lying down. He persuaded about two thousand of their number to pick a new chief named ''Cashesegra'', or Big Track and move from their homes on the Missouri River to the Three Forks, where the

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

and

Rivers joined. This area was under at least nominal control of the French government, rather than the Spanish, so Chouteau was legally free to trade with these Osage.Foreman, Grant. "The Three Forks." ''Chronicles of Oklahoma''. Volume 2, Number 1. March, 1924
Accessed September 24, 2017. Foreman also wrote that after the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

became a reality, the Osages were notified by an official letter. The Osage, by then led by Chief Clermont, simply threw the letter into a fire. They refused to accept that their friends, the French, would sell their land, and that they must swear loyalty to the United States. According to Foreman, this response was given to Lewis and Clark while their expedition was encamped on the Osage River on May 31, 1804.Foreman, p. 38. The Osages who moved to the Three Forks fared well. Temperamental and warlike, they soon pushed out the Washitas and intimidated smaller tribes who already lived in the area. Then they dominated the fur trade with the French who came to Chouteau's trading post. It was not long before Cherokees who had already left their ancestral homes in the Southeastern states to settle in the Arkansas Territory began to encroach on the Osage's newly acquired hunting ground. One source claims that between 1790 and 1820, around 5,000 Cherokee settlers built farms and ranches on land they now claimed as their tribe's territory. These two tribes engaged in a 10-year war, in which neither would submit to the other, but the Osage finally realized they could not win. A settlement was reached whereby the Osage accepted a large reservation elsewhere.DuVal, Kathleen. ''The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent''. Available on Google Books. pp. 196-198. 2006. The University of Pennsylvania Press.
. Accessed September 27, 2017. Three Forks is still used in the 21st Century in reference to the same geographic area, now covering at least part of present-day

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, Muskogee and Wagoner Counties. When the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System became operational in 1971, an important segment of the

Port of Muskogee The Port of Muskogee, rebranded as Port Muskogee in January of 2023, is a regional inland port located on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, in the United States. It is a multi-modal local hub for t ...

was formally named Three Forks Port.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma Geography of Oklahoma