Webbers Falls is a town in southeastern Muskogee County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 616 at the 2010 census, a decline of 14.9 percent from the figure of 724 recorded in 2000. The name comes from a seven-foot waterfall in the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

named in honor of Walter Webber, a

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

chief who established a trading post here in 1818. He was a leader among the Western Cherokee, also called "Old Settlers". They had a treaty with the United States government by 1828, which helped settle some conflicts with the

Osage people The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern United States, Midwestern Native Americans in the United States, Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio River, Ohio and Mississippi River, Mississippi river valleys arou ...

, who had been forced to give up land to the Cherokee. In the late 1830s and 1840, the mass of thousands of Cherokee from the Southeast were forcibly moved into

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, ...

as a result of the US policy of Indian Removal.Foreman, Carolyn H
"Early History of Muskogee Falls"
, '' The Chronicles of Oklahoma''

History

Webber had settled here with some of the first Cherokee to go to

west of the Mississippi River; it was then considered part of Arkansas Territory. Having acquired a small fleet of

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

s, he was able to stock the post with goods from other parts of the United States, so he opened a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

and a portage service, as well as building a house. Of mixed-race Cherokee-European descent, Webber was married to a full-blood Cherokee. They had adopted many American ways and outfitted their house in European-American style. When English-speaking visitors came, one of their African-American slaves and domestic servants would translate. Webber also built a salt works, leasing the land for the latter from the Cherokee government, which held it communally as a tribe. In the early years when Webber was in the territory, there was considerable conflict with the

, who were forced by the United States government to give up some of their territory to the Cherokee, in a Treaty of 1828. Webber was among the early leaders of the Cherokee in this area, one of their representatives when meeting with US agents and going to Washington, DC for meetings. The Western Cherokee resisted sharing their territory with immigrants to be resettled from the Southeast, as the US government proposed in 1834. They finally agreed that year, in exchange for an increased amount of land and annuities. In the late 1830s and 1840, the mass of thousands of Cherokee from the Southeast were forcibly moved into

as a result of the US policy of Indian Removal. According to the Webbers Falls Historical Museum, this is the second-oldest town in the former

Joseph Vann Joseph H. Vann (11 February 1798 – 23 October 1844) was a Cherokee leader, a businessman and planter in Georgia, Tennessee and Indian Territory. He owned plantations, many slaves, taverns, and steamboats. In 1837, he moved with several h ...

, a/k/a "Rich Joe" Vann, was among the thousands of Cherokee emigrants forced from Georgia during Indian Removal. He settled nearby and established a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

, where he worked some of his more than 200 slaves he brought with him.Tiya Miles, ''Ties that Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom''
, University of California Press, 2005, pp. 170-173 At his direction, slaves built a house here that was a replica of his former antebellum mansion in Georgia, the Chief Vann House.Linda Mayes Miller, "Webbers Falls," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''
, Retrieved March 16, 2012 This area was within the reservation of the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

. A post office opened at Webbers Falls in 1856."History of Webbers Falls Lock and Dam."
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District. Retrieved July 9, 2014.

1842 Slave Revolt

On November 15, 1842, more than 25 slaves revolted in the largest action and escape in Cherokee territory. Mostly from Joseph Vann's and his father's plantations, the slaves locked masters and overseers in houses and cabins, stole guns and ammunition, horses and mules, food, and other supplies, then started traveling south. Their goal was to reach Mexico, where they knew slavery had been abolished. They picked up about 10 slaves in Creek territory along the way, and later freed a family of eight slaves from two slavecatchers, killing the latter. After the first pursuers returned for reinforcements, the Cherokee National Council ordered about 87 men of the Cherokee Militia, under Captain John Drew, to apprehend the fugitives. The militia caught up with the fleeing slaves north of the Red River on November 28. The militia returned the fugitives to Tahlequah on December 8. Five were executed for having killed two slavecatchers they encountered to free a fugitive slave family from the Choctaw reservation. Vann put his surviving slaves to work as laborers and coal stokers on his steamboats.Burton, Art T. "Slave Revolt of 1842"
, ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,'' Retrieved May 25, 2020

Civil War

Cherokee Confederate General Stand Watie established a headquarters at Webbers Falls during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. In 1863, Union troops tried to capture Watie, but failed. Before leaving, they burned the town, including Vann's antebellum home.

20th century

In 1907, Brewer's Academy opened as the first school. Named for Oliver Hazard Perry Brewer, a local politician who had served as the Cherokee Nation's Superintendent of Education in 1870 and 1876, and as the Board of Education President in 1881. The town suffered a major fire that destroyed much of the business district in 1911. It was rebuilt in the following year, with the new structures mostly constructed of brick. These still stand. The town got a rail line to Warner, Oklahoma in 1911 courtesy of the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad. That railway, which connected to the Midland Valley Railroad at Warner, ceased operations in 1914, was reorganized as the Webbers Falls Railroad in 1916, but was dismantled by 1918. Construction in 1970 of the Webbers Falls Lock and Dam created Webbers Falls Reservoir and Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam, created the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, both part of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS), operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It has boosted the local economy by attracting outdoor enthusiasts for recreation opportunities. The town population increased 57 percent between 1980 and 2000, from 461 to 726. However, the population declined significantly by 2010.

21st century

The I-40 Bridge Disaster happened on May 26, 2002; a barge collided with a bridge support near Webbers Falls, causing a 580-foot section of the I-40 bridge to plunge into the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir on the

. Automobiles and semi-trucks fell into the water, killing 14 people (including a three-year-old girl) and two horses. The bridge was repaired within two months, and reopened to traffic on July 29, 2002. On May 22, 2019, two barges loaded with fertilizer broke loose from Muskogee County and were heading to Webbers Falls Lake. They were part of a tow that had been docked along the river because of the extremely high water level and the speed of the current. On the morning of May 23, 2019, the barges got stuck on some rocks and were later secured but, at around 10:40 AM the barges were on the loose after a helicopter attempted to safely secure the barges and around noon that same day hit the dam, which caused minor damage to the structure, but destroyed flood gates 7, 8, and 9. The barges suffered major damage as they overturned and dumped their cargo into the flood, then sank to the base of the dam. Since the lake level had to be lowered significantly before the mangled barges could be removed, the flood gates could not be safely removed and the damaged gates repaired. This restricted traffic through the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System until late October 2019.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and 0.26% is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 726 people, 288 households, and 209 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 364 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 69.56%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.28%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 24.79% Native American, 1.38% from other races, and 3.99% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.48% of the population. There were 288 households, out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.4% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.89. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $19,300, and the median income for a family was $22,955. Males had a median income of $22,813 versus $17,031 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $10,684. About 22.0% of families and 26.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 40.9% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Stand Watie, Confederate General, retired here after the Civil War until his death in 1870. * Joseph "Rich Joe" Vann, (1798-1844) early Cherokee settler and operator of a steamboat business, who died in 1844 when his steamboat, ''Lucy Walker'', exploded on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

Notes

References

External links

The I-40 Bridge Disaster
* http://www.city-data.com/city/Webbers-Falls-Oklahoma.html * https://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.8431 Webbers Falls Historical Museum {{Authority control Towns in Muskogee County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma Populated places within the Cherokee Nation reservation Oklahoma populated places on the Arkansas River Populated places established in 1818