THE WILDEST TOWN IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA'S EARLY YEARS AS A FRONTIER OUTPOST WERE VIOLENT, DANGEROUS AND UNPREDICTABLE.

- ART T. BURTON

Welcome to Muskogee, the rip-roaring and most dangerous locale west of the Mississippi River. Over the years I have read about Deadwood, Dodge City, El Paso, Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory and Tombstone, Arizona Territory. These towns were wild for four or five years; Muskogee of the Indian Territory was wild for over 40 years. There were over 130 deputy U.S. marshals killed in the Indian and Oklahoma territories during the frontier era, and most were killed within a 50-mile radius of Muskogee. There were also commissioned United States Indian policemen killed in the line of duty in the same locale. Muskogee and the surrounding counties saw more murders of federal lawmen than anywhere else on the Western frontier.

Muskogee was originally spelled Muscogee but was changed permanently as time went on. The town was situated near the locale known as "The Three Forks" of the Arkansas, Verdigris and Grand rivers, near the borders of the Cherokee and Creek Indian nations. The original inhabitants were principally former enslaved Blacks of the Cherokee and Creek nations who lived near the river bottoms. The town itself took shape in 1872 with the arrival of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, called "The Katy" by locals along the rail line. Muskogee was a terminus or end-of-rail town, as they were called.

A Wicked Little Town