The Antelope Hills are a series of low hills in the bend of the
Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Roger Mills County, Oklahoma
Roger Mills County is a County (United States), county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 3,442, making it the fourth-least populous county in Oklahoma ...
, near the border between western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. They were a major landmark for the
Plains Indians
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...
and travelers on what is now the western plains of
Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. The area was part of the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation until the
Land Run of 1892
The Land Run of 1892 was the opening of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation to settlement in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. One of seven in Oklahoma, it occurred on April 19, 1892, and opened up land that would become Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Washita ...
opened it to non-Indian settlement. The hills are on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
History
According to the ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,'' there is some evidence that prehistoric humans used this area as a hunting ground. Spanish explorer
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Meaning of the name Francisco
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...
first mentioned these hills in 1541. In 1682, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the area for Spain, which ceded it to France in 1800. It became part of the United States in 1803, through the
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...
.Pittman, J. Josh and Richard A. Marston. "Antelope Hills." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,'' Accessed August 16, 2016 The region was included in
Indian Territory
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 States, ...
until Oklahoma Territory was formed in 1890, and had become the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation in 1867. The Land Run of 1892 opened the area to non-Indian settlement, when it became part of County F. It became part of Roger Mills County after Oklahoma became a state in 1907.
Before the American Civil War, this area was part of
Comancheria
The Comancheria (Comanche: Nʉmʉnʉʉ Sookobitʉ, 'Comanche land'; Spanish: ''Comanchería''), also known as the Comancherian Empire, was a historic region covering modern New Mexico, West Texas, and nearby areas that was occupied by the Comanch ...
, because the Comanche tribe regarded the land as their hunting ground and cattle grazing land. They vigorously opposed settlements by white immigrants and non-indigenous Native Americans, leading to much destruction and bloodshed. The U. S. military was ineffective in stopping Comanche raids into Texas and Mexico. Finally, the Texas Rangers and some Native American allies began a campaign in 1858 to eliminate the problem. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Little Robe Creek on May 12, 1858.
After gold was discovered in California in 1848, the large number of people traveling west created a need for a wagon road. Captain Randolph B. Marcy was commissioned to lead a party to survey the route for such a road from Fort Smith to California. This became known as the
California Road
The California Road was a route which ran through present-day Oklahoma (then known only as Indian Territory), along the Canadian River, at the time of the California Gold Rush. It was the southerly counterpart to the California Trail.National Register of Historic Places - Inventory-Nomination Form. "Antelope Hills." December 14, 1978. Accessed August 16, 2016.
The Antelope Hills area was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 1978.
This area is sparsely populated. The main economic activities are agriculture and petroleum production, because it lies atop the
Ogallala Aquifer
The Ogallala Aquifer () is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States.
As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately in po ...
and the
Anadarko Basin
The Anadarko Basin is a geologic depositional and structural basin centered in the western part of the state of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and extending into southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. The basin covers an area of . By t ...
.
Physical description
The surface was originally formed by sediments (sand, clay and
caliche
Caliche () is a soil accumulation of soluble calcium carbonate at depth, where it precipitates and binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or se ...
) carried down by streams from the Rocky Mountains. These eventually formed sandy, loam soils. Native plants are mostly prairie grasses and a few broadleaf trees, Wooded areas are mostly composed of cottonwood, willow, mesquite and eastern red cedar trees. Wildlife is mostly
mule deer
The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.
Unlike the related whit ...
,
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...
rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
. Avian species include
bobwhite quail
The northern bobwhite (''Colinus virginianus''), also known as the Virginia quail or (in its home range) bobwhite quail, is a ground-dwelling bird native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, with introduced populations elsewhere in th ...
ring-necked pheasant
The common pheasant (''Phasianus colchicus''), ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin ''phasianus'' 'pheasant'. The species name ''colchicus'' is Latin for ...
.
NRHP listing data
The Antelope Hills site (NRIS #78002259) was listed in 1978. The nearest community is Durham, Oklahoma.National Register of Historic Places. Accessed August 16, 2016.
* Historic Significance: Event
* Area of Significance: Exploration/Settlement, Agriculture, Military, Social History
* Period of Significance: 1900-1924, 1875-1899, 1850-1874, 1825-1849, 1800-1824
* Owner: Private
* Historic Function: Landscape
* Historic Sub-function: Conservation Area
* Current Function: Landscape
* Current Sub-function: Conservation Area