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Blockhouse on Signal Mountain (Oklahoma)

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Coordinates: 34°40′28″N 98°29′26″W / 34.67433°N 98.49058°W / 34.67433; -98.49058 (Blockhouse on Signal Mountain)
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Blockhouse on Signal Mountain
Blockhouse on Signal Mountain
Blockhouse on Signal Mountain (Oklahoma) is located in Oklahoma
Blockhouse on Signal Mountain (Oklahoma)
Nearest cityLawton, Oklahoma[1]
Coordinates34°40′28″N 98°29′26″W / 34.67433°N 98.49058°W / 34.67433; -98.49058 (Blockhouse on Signal Mountain)
Area15 acres (6.1 ha)
Built1871 (1871)
Part ofFort Sill, Oklahoma (ID66000629)
NRHP reference No.78002228
Added to NRHPNovember 29, 1978

Blockhouse on Signal Mountain is within the Fort Sill Military Reservation, north of Lawton, Oklahoma.[2][3] The rock architecture is located along Mackenzie Hill Road at the summit of Signal Mountain within the Fort Sill West Range being the Oklahoma administrative division of Comanche County.[4]

Medicine Bluffs, ca. 1895

In May 1868, the United States Cavalry reservation was entitled Camp Wichita as situated within the mixed grass prairie meadow of Medicine Bluffs.[5][6][7][8] The blockhouse was established in 1871 pursuant to the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 cordially looming over the course of time as the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Opening of 1901.[9][10][11]

The stone structure was constructed on the summit of Wichita Mountain's Signal Mountain encompassing a terrestrial elevation of 1,750 feet (530 m).[12] The shelter has a dimension of 14 feet (4.3 m) by 16 feet (4.9 m) with a structural exterior consisting of native stone collected within the vicinity of the Wichita Mountains. The four wall dwelling was erected as some of the first limestone architecture as part of Fort Sill's Old Post Corral or United States Army Quartermaster Corps fortification foraged during the American Indian Wars on the American frontier.[13]

The observation post was settled as a meteorological observatory and signal station.[14] The elevated station provided support for military communications between Signal Mountain, Medicine Bluffs, Mountain Scott, and Fort Reno geographically positioned north of the Canadian River within the Great Plains.[15][16] The Fort Sill, Indian Territory signal station officially commenced atmospheric observations and telegraphic communications on June 23, 1875 with meteorological reports beginning on September 9, 1875.[17][18]

The Army Signal Corps employed flag semaphore, heliograph, and signal lamp before implementing the signal field wire lines enabling electric telegraphic communications. The optical communication applied visible light along a visual topographical line of sight for distant information exchange. The semaphore communications served as an intelligence assessment of the Wichita Mountains cadastre while safeguarding the transcontinental railroad and territorial prairie trails as an integration of the Westward Expansion Trails.[19][20]

The mountainous altitude served as an observation of the Plains Indians equine flights disrupting the manifest destiny of westbound wagon trains ostracizing the Reconstruction era at the crest of the progressive Gilded Age. The high ground outpost continually anticipated the spontaneous mobilization of the Old Post Redoubt troops into the rugged terrain of southwestern Indian Territory.[21][22][23]

The geology of Oklahoma elevation features an area reconnaissance potentially revealing the disturbance of the prairie by American Indian horse herds and bison hunting.[24][25] The disquietude of the plains territory is reciprocative to the Oklahoma red beds and the shortgrass prairie of the Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa lands within Southwestern Oklahoma.[26][27]

Native raids on southern prairie plains

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Map
Signal Mountain on Fort Sill West Range

The stone lookout station was decisively undisputed at the Fort Sill outpost after Sheridan's campaign during the winter of 1868 to 1869 and the realization of cultural assimilation of Native Americans.[28][29][30]

The 1870s were seasons of significant transformation in light of the Buffalo Hunters' War and Red River War. The native disaccord developed as the United States American Indian laws and policy bewildered the Plains Indians way of life. The transgressions waged in opposition to the American Indian frontier culture culminated into a 1875 United States Supreme Court case known as Lobenstein v. United States, 91 U.S. 324.[31][32][33][34][35]

During the commencement of 1870s, the Southern Plains tribes organized native raids on Indian Territory forts and military supply trains exemplifying the prairie plains as treacherous grounds for American frontier expeditions.[36][37][38][39] The Army on the Frontier chartered a defense line of forts throughout Indian Territory and Texas as a deterrence for the safeguard of American pioneer, homesteading, and Territorial evolution of the United States.[40][41][42]

Camp Supply Conflict of 1870

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Comanche and Kiowa conduct a skirmish at Camp Supply on June 11, 1870 in the Indian Territory often referred to as the Cherokee Outlet.[43][44][45]

Henry Warren Wagon Train of 1871

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Comanche and Kiowa conduct a skirmish known as the Warren Wagon Train raid occurring on May 18, 1871 in Young County, Texas.[46] The Texas native raids cultivated into what is known today as the Comanche Wars and Texas–Indian wars.[47]

Wyllys Lyman's Wagon Train of 1874

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During September 1874, Captain Wyllys Lyman guided a provisions train grouped as thirty-six empty wagons to Camp Supply for the replenishment of supply provisions.[48][49] The wagon train was to collect provisions at Camp Supply and return to Nelson Miles Headquarters Dugout.[50][51] The frontier range was located near the Washita River with the North Fork Red River situated approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of the headquarters dugout encampment.[52] On September 9, 1874, Lyman's wagon train commenced the return by prairie trail when the double column train with sixty soldiers encountered a skirmish with tribal bands of Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa consequently regressing into a battle from September 9 to September 14, 1874.[53]

The five day siege is often referred to as the Battle of the Upper Washita River transpiring in the Texas Panhandle within the proximity of Fort Elliott and the east coordinate of Roger Mills County, Oklahoma.[54][55] The Plains Indians conflict was the third major battle of the Red River War occurring along the Historic Trails of the Southern Great Plains.[56][57][58]

American Indian reverence and North American bison

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The Bison antiquus was a big game species pursued by the Paleo-Indians during the Common Era or to a greater extent the folsom tradition and Upper Paleolithic period.[59][60] During the 1990s, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey conducted a field survey within the northwest sector of the state of Oklahoma factually substantiating by radiocarbon dating the perception of the great bison belt, Peopling of the Americas, and precontact Oklahoma.[61] The archaeological site located near the vicinity of Fort Supply, Oklahoma became known as the Cooper Bison Kill Site.[62]

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the North American bison was aggressively hunted by frontiersmen and ridgerunners destructively devastating the population of the North American bison. The decimation of the Great Plains bison and the westward expansion of the American railroad propelled the lucrative economics of the buffalo bone business. The accretion, commerce, and trade of the bison remains flourished from 1870 to 1937.[63][64]

The Buffalo rifle, including the Remington Rolling Block rifle, Springfield model 1873, Sharps rifle, and Winchester model 1876, was a prized provision on the Great Plains from 1870 to 1890.[65][66]

Custer Era Springfield U.S. Model .50 caliber trapdoor carbine ca. 1875 [67]

Fort Sill and American Indian prisoners of war

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For broader coverage of this topic, see Fort Sill Apache Tribe and Geronimo Surrender Site.

By Acts of Congress and Department of War appropriations in 1894, the Fort Sill military reservation was pledged as a resettlement dominion for the American Indian prisoners of war confined at Mount Vernon Barracks within the vicinity of Mount Vernon, Alabama.[68][69][70]

U.S. Statutes for Relief of American Indian Prisoners of War
Date of Enactment Public Law No. Statute Citation U.S. Presidential Administration
August 6, 1894 P.L. 53-228 28 Stat. 233, Chap. 228 Grover Cleveland
February 12, 1895 P.L. 53-83 28 Stat. 654, Chap. 83 Grover Cleveland
June 28, 1902 P.L. 57-182 32 Stat. 419, Chap. 1301 Theodore Roosevelt
February 18, 1904 P.L. 58-22 33 Stat. 15, Chap. 160 Theodore Roosevelt
August 24, 1912 P.L. 62-335 37 Stat. 518, Chap. 388 William H. Taft

Fort Sill's Post Guardhouse

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Fort Sill's Post Guardhouse was established from 1872 to 1873 as Cavalry barracks subsequently provisioned for a military stockade.[71] The limestone structure is illustrative of the late 19th century confinement and relief formalities for hostile tribal leaders and Indian prisoners of war at the Fort Sill military camp.[72][73][74] The domestic stone framework serves with historical significance considering the calendar span of the American Indian assimilation commencing in the late nineteenth century.[75]

Vicinity of Old Post Guardhouse
Map
Old Post Guardhouse at Fort Sill Military Reservation

Listing on National Register of Historic Places

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Blockhouse on Signal Mountain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the National Park Service on November 29, 1978.[76][77]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 30, 1979). "Historic Blockhouse Named to Register". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 77, No. 127, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 30, 1979. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution.
  2. ^ "Old Post" [Fort Sill in Comanche County, Oklahoma — The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  3. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 5, 1969). "Key Early-Day Events . . . A Chronology". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1969. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution. p. 3F.
  4. ^ "Signal Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  5. ^ Dinges, Bruce J. "Camp Wichita". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  6. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 5, 1969). "Fort Sill in the 1870's - A New Post in the Indian Land". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1969. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution. p. 2F.
  7. ^ Vaupel, Barbara. "Medicine Bluff at Ft. Sill 1870's" [40" x 30" Oil on Canvas Artist Painting with Narrative]. Oklahoma Senate Artwork. Oklahoma Senate.
  8. ^ "Medicine Bluffs ~ Fort Sill, Oklahoma" [Medicine Bluff Creek ~ Comanche County, Oklahoma]. NPGallery Digital Asset Management System ~ U.S. National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. December 31, 1974.
  9. ^ Rand, Jacki Thompson. "Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867)". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  10. ^ Kracht, Benjamin R. "Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Opening". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  11. ^ "Treaty between the United States of America and the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Tribes of Indians" [The Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States Of America ~ December 1867 - March 1869, 40th Congress (1867-1869) Vol. XV]. HathiTrust Digital Library. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown, and Company. October 21, 1867. pp. 581–592. hdl:2027/hvd.32044103137097. OCLC 15280229.
  12. ^ Signal Mountain in Geonames.org (cc-by)
  13. ^ Hughes, Michael A. "Military, Nineteenth Century". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  14. ^ "Meteorological Observations at Military Stations ~ Public Resolution No. 12" (PDF). USLaw.Link. 41st Congress, Session II ~ 16 Stat. 369. United States Government Publishing Office. February 9, 1870.
  15. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 5, 1969). "Blockhouse on Signal Mountain Served as Heliograph Station, Linking Post to Fort Reno". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1969. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution. p. 13F.
  16. ^ "Medicine Bluffs". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  17. ^ Chief Signal Officer of the Army (November 1, 1876). "Fort Sill, Indian Territory" [Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer to the Secretary of War for the Year 1876]. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. 89 – via HathiTrust Digital Library.
  18. ^ A Manual of Military Telegraphy for the Signal Service, United States Army at the HathiTrust Digital Library
  19. ^ Veenendaal, Jr., Augustus J. "Railroads". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  20. ^ "Capt. Randolph Marcy's Exploration Route through Collingsworth County ~ Texas Historic Marker: 13474" [Near Wellington in Collingsworth County, Texas - The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database. 2006.
  21. ^ "Old Redoubt" [Fort Sill in Comanche County, Oklahoma — The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  22. ^ "Enchanted Rock - Fredericksburg - Gillespie County ~ Marker Number: 10035" [1936 Texas Centennial - Historical Marker - Bronze Plaque]. Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1936.
  23. ^ Kohout, Martin Donell. "Enchanted Rock Legends". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  24. ^ "Comanches and Horses". National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior.
  25. ^ Catlin, George (1834). "Comanche Feats of Horsemanship". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smithsonian Institution.
  26. ^ "Apaches (1450 AD to 1700 AD)". U.S. National Park Service ~ Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  27. ^ "Comanches (1700 AD to 1874 AD)". U.S. National Park Service ~ Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  28. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 5, 1969). "Fort Sill Founded During Bitter Winter of 1868-'69 to Control Warring Indians". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1969. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution. p. 8F.
  29. ^ Taylor, Morris F. (1973). "The Carr-Penrose Expedition: General Sheridan's Winter Campaign, 1868-1869". The Chronicles of Oklahoma. 51 (2 - Summer 1973). Oklahoma Historical Society: 159–176. LCCN 23027299. OCLC 655582328.
  30. ^ Motes, Kevin D. (2013). ""The Indian Character": Cross-cultural Relations in Indian Territory after the Civil War". The Chronicles of Oklahoma. 91 (3 - Fall 2013). Oklahoma Historical Society: 296–315. LCCN 23027299. OCLC 655582328.
  31. ^ Text of Lobenstein v. United States, 91 U.S. 324 (1875) is available from: CourtListener Justia Casemine
  32. ^ "Indian Department and Treaty Stipulations Appropriations of 1870 ~ P.L. 41-16" (PDF). USLaw.Link. 16 Stat. 13, Chapter XVI ~ House Bill 123. United States Government Publishing Office. April 10, 1869. pp. 14–15, 36.
  33. ^ "The Best and Shortest Cattle Trails From Texas" [Kansas Pacific Railway by Levison & Blythe]. The Portal to Texas History. Hardin-Simmons University Library ~ University of North Texas Libraries.
  34. ^ "1868 Kansas Buffalo Robe Dealer - Letter, Letterhead" [Brief note, October 5, 1868, to T.P. Howell, Newark, New Jersey from Leavenworth, Kansas, May 25, 1868, signed, "W.C. Lobenstein"]. Worthopedia. WorthPoint Corporation.
  35. ^ "Elm Street in Dallas, Texas in 1874" [Visible businesses include W.C. Lobenstein, Central House, and Studebaker]. DeGolyer Library ~ Southern Methodist University. Dallas, Dallas County, Texas: The Dallas Morning News.
  36. ^ "The Most Dangerous Prairie in Texas" [Fort Griffin and the Prairie-Plains Frontier]. Frontier Forts Main ~ Texas Beyond History. University of Texas at Austin.
  37. ^ King, Steve M. "Salt Creek Prairie". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  38. ^ "Protection of the Frontier of Texas" [H.R. Rep. No. 61, 43d Cong., 1st Sess. (1874)]. University of Oklahoma College of Law. American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817 - 1899. United States Publishing Office. January 30, 1874.
  39. ^ "Protection of Frontier Settlements of Texas, 1874 ~ P.L. 43-205" (PDF). USLaw.Link. 18 Stat. 51, Chapter CCV ~ House Bill 1590. United States Government Publishing Office. June 3, 1874.
  40. ^ "Texas Frontier Forts". Frontier Forts Main ~ Texas Beyond History. University of Texas at Austin.
  41. ^ "Federal Forts in Texas 1848-1861". Historical Maps of Texas ~ Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. The University of Texas at Austin.
  42. ^ "Federal Forts in Texas 1866-1890". Historical Maps of Texas ~ Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. The University of Texas at Austin.
  43. ^ "Battle of Camp Supply ~ June 11, 1870". Fort Supply Historic Site. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  44. ^ Rea, Bob. "Fort Supply" [Fort Supply (fort)]. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  45. ^ "Camp Supply, Indian Territory" [Military stockade near Beaver River and Wolf Creek (north fork of Canadian River)]. Photo, Print, Drawing ~ Prints and Photographs Division. U.S. Library of Congress. 1869. LCCN 95502931.
  46. ^ "Warren Wagon Train Massacre - Graham ~ Marker Number: 5721". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1977.
  47. ^ Dickerson, W. E .S. "American Indian Relations". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  48. ^ "Captain Wyllys Lyman". Texas Beyond History ~ Battles of the Red River War. University of Texas at Austin.
  49. ^ "Lyman Wagon Train". Kiowas Besiege Wagon Train. Fort Tours Systems.
  50. ^ "Gen. Nelson Miles Expedition (Headquarters Dugout) - Canadian ~ Marker Number: 2138". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1967.
  51. ^ "Gen. Nelson Miles Expedition (Headquarters Dugout)" [Near Canadian in Hemphill County, Texas - The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  52. ^ Kelly, G.A. "Map of the Camp Supply Trail". The Gateway to Oklahoma History. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  53. ^ Anderson, H. Allen. "Lyman's Wagontrain". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  54. ^ "Site of Lyman's Wagon Train Battle - Canadian - Hemphill County ~ Marker Number: 4826". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1967.
  55. ^ "Site of Lyman's Wagon Train Battle" [Canadian in Hemphill County, Texas - The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  56. ^ "Major Battles of the Red River War". Texas Beyond History ~ Battles of the Red River War. University of Texas at Austin.
  57. ^ "50 Yards West to Routes of Historic Trails - Canadian ~ Marker Number: 41". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1969.
  58. ^ "Historic Trails" [Near Canadian in Hemphill County, Texas - The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  59. ^ "Paleo Indians (9500 BC to 6000 BC)". U.S. National Park Service ~ Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  60. ^ Butkus, Edmund A. (July 2004). "How Extensive was the Folsom Tradition in North America". Central States Archaeological Journal. 51 (3). Central States Archaeological Societies, Inc.: 171–175. JSTOR 43142386.
  61. ^ Brooks, Robert L. "Oklahoma Archeological Survey". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  62. ^ Bement, Leland C. "Cooper Site". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  63. ^ Smith, Ralph A. "Bone Business". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  64. ^ McCreight, Major Israel (1939). "Buffalo Bone Days" [A Short History of the Buffalo Bone Trade ~ A Sketch of Forgotten Romance of Frontier Times ~ The Story of a Forty Million Dollar Business from Two Million Tons of Bones]. HathiTrust Digital Library. Sykesville, Pennsylvania: Nupp Printing Co. hdl:2027/uc1.31822042768432. OCLC 793507468.
  65. ^ McClure, Nancy (April 26, 2015). "What Makes It a "Buffalo Gun"?". CenteroftheWest.org. Points West magazine Spring 1995. Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
  66. ^ Peace, W.S. "Sharps Buffalo Rifle". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  67. ^ "Guns on Horseback: Trading for War". Return of the Horse Nation. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
  68. ^ "Post Apache Wars". Chiricahua National Monument Arizona ~ National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  69. ^ Fly, Camillus Sidney (1886). "Council between Geronimo and General Crook". Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. U.S. Library of Congress.
  70. ^ "Apache Incarceration". Castillo de San Marcos National Monument Florida ~ National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.
  71. ^ "Post Guardhouse" [Fort Sill in Comanche County, Oklahoma — The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database.
  72. ^ "Geronimo's Guard House". The Gateway to Oklahoma History. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  73. ^ "Old Guard House". The Gateway to Oklahoma History. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  74. ^ Bentley, Bill F. (January 5, 1969). "Geronimo, Fierce Apache, Spent Last 15 Years as POW at Fort Sill". The Lawton Constitution, Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 5, 1969. Lawton, Oklahoma: The Lawton Constitution. p. 19F.
  75. ^ Tatro, M. Kaye. "Curtis Act (1898)". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Curtis Act of 1898. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  76. ^ "Blockhouse on Signal Mountain ~ 78002228". National Register Digital Assets. National Park Service. November 29, 1978.
  77. ^ "Blockhouse on Signal Mountain ~ 78002228" [National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form for Federal Properties] (PDF). NPGallery HRHP PDF. National Park Service. November 29, 1978.

Bibliography

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Further reading about American Frontier and Plains Prairies

Video media archive

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American Indians of Southwestern Oklahoma

American Bison and Preservation of Great Plains Species

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