WHAT’S IN A NAME

One of the interesting things about the history of Arbuckle Mountain area is the naming of the communities.  The many obvious names and their source are Sulphur Springs, Buckhorn, Hickory, Oak Grove, Fairview and Sunshine.

We discussed some time ago about the naming of Henderson Flat in 1869, Henderson Ferry, Lou, Dresden, Berwyn and finally Gene Autry.  This community with six name changes has to be the champion in Oklahoma for name changes.

The area three miles upstream from Henderson Flat became known as Crusher because of the large rock crusher that was established by the Santa Fe RR in 1885-86 for the ballast and the grade.  The area later became known as Arbuckle as well as Big Canyon.  There have been post offices in this same location under all three names.

There is also another Arbuckle thirteen miles northwest of the afore mentioned Arbuckle.  It was at the location of old Ft. Arbuckle.  Ft. Arbuckle had a post office in 1853 but when the army built the new post that became Ft. Sill in 1870 the post office was closed.  The new post office was applied for and became Arbuckle in 1884.  Later the name was changed to Hoover to honor a local doctor.

Now if it isn’t bad enough to have two towns in two adjoining counties that had the same name, try two towns with the same name that were six miles apart.  This almost happened in the early 1890’s and would have if the Post Office Department hadn’t put a stop to it.

Chigley was a community located six miles northeast of Davis.  It had a school, gin, telegraph and most importantly a post office named “Chigley”.  The community was named after Nelson Chigley a prominent local Chickasaw rancher.

When the community of Davis came into being, the citizens applied for a post office and chose as the name on the application “Chigley”.  The site where Davis was located was in the middle of the Chigley Ranch.  It was Chigley himself that had the Santa Fe RR survey and plat the city.  To make sure that a town sprang up next to the RR siding Chigley had put in, he donated the land for an Indian school and a school for white children as well as a quarter city block for each church denomination in town.  A post office was applied for and the name chosen was “Chigley”.

The post office department said that there was no way they were going to have two Chigleys in the same relative location.  So, the local folks put their heads together and gave it another shot at naming the town.  After much thought it was decided to name the town after the first merchant and depot agent Samuel Davis.

Now I have heard all the wild stories about how Davis got it’s name and to tell you the truth I don’t believe any of them.  They make good stories but not much sense. 

The best story is that there was a sign painter hired by the Santa Fe RR to paint the name on the new depot.  The story goes that this sign painter couldn’t spell.  Now this sign painter had managed to get all the way up the RR line from Texas painting the correct name on depots until he got to Davis.  So what does he do?  He looks across the street and sees Sam Davis store with the sign on the front of the building and painted that name Davis on the depot. 

Well, I’ve seen a photo of that store and the sign said Sam Davis Mercantile.  Now if that story is true shouldn’t Davis be called “Mercantile” now?

Another thing to consider is that wouldn’t you just imagine that somebody was watching this guy?  Did he just paint the sign and disappear and nobody every noticed the mistake?  A sign painter that can’t spell is like a carpenter that can’t drive a nail straight.

Sorghum Flat was established by Nathan Price who is also the namesake of Price’s Falls.  The area was known for growing sorghum and the sorghum mill that Price established there.  Sorghum Flats never had a post office but one was established in 1884 by the name of “Price”.  This was most likely the same place just a more uptown name.

When the Santa Fe RR came through in 1886 the siding was located at the future site of Dougherty.  People began drifting to the new town and the community of Sorghum Flat or Price slowly faded away.

Now Dougherty has as many wild stories how it got its name as Davis does and I don’t believe most of them either.  But everybody you talk to is an authority on the subject of how it got its name so you pick your favorite.  Here are a few of the stories.

Dougherty was named for a Santa Fe RR man who stepped of a train and fell in a mud puddle.  Somebody remarked, “There lays Dougherty”.  Don’t like that one, how about this version.

The first buildings built in Dougherty were from loans of a Gainesville, Texas bank since there were no banks in this area.  The banker was named Dougherty so the town was named for this benefactor.  This is probably closer to the truth but not as much fun.

And here is one that makes about as much sense as any.  An Indian Pioneer Paper (IPP) I have said that while the town was being laid out and a fence built around it, a local rancher named Dougherty took a fall from the fence and died of the injuries.  The town was named in his honor.  I just don’t know for sure about any of these stories.  You be the judge.

Some even say that Strawberry Flats was the first name of Dougherty but that is simply not true.  In many of the IPP interviews, the pioneers stated they lived at Strawberry Flats, a couple of miles from Dougherty.  So it was obviously two different locations.  The writings on Mazeppa Turner indicated that he lived at Strawberry Flats, which was at the convergence of Rock Creek and the Washita River.  Rock Creek doesn’t run through Dougherty.

Some even say that Dougherty’s original name was Henderson Flat.  We now know that this is also a fallacy.  Henderson Flat, 1869, was the original name of Gene Autry as previously noted.  I suppose there could have been two Henderson Flats five miles apart on the Washita River but I seriously doubt it.

Let’s get back to Berwyn or Gene Autry for a minute.  When the railroad grade and track crew came through in 1885-86, they had to name the sidings something.  So the crews named them from what they knew, the railroads in Pennsylvania. 

If you get a map of Philadelphia and look at the towns going west from that city, you will find the towns of Ardmore, Berwyn, Wynnewood and Paoli.  Sound familiar?  Can’t tell me those railroad guys weren’t a bunch of original thinkers.

Pauls Valley was named for Smith Paul a rancher who settled near Ft. Arbuckle in the early 1850’s.  Ft. Arbuckle was a named for General Matthew Arbuckle who died a few months before the establishment of the post.  The Arbuckle Mountains were named for the old post.  In Lt. Rodney Glisan’s book, 1874, he referred to the Arbuckles as the Washita Mountains.  That must have been the name used by the locals before the army arrived.

Nebo was named for Mt. Nebo in the Bible.  The rancher that applied for the post office was a devout Christian and suggested the name.  The post office department shortened it to just Nebo.

Palmer was named for Bud Palmer a local rancher. Scullin was originally named Vaughn and was renamed for an engineer from the Frisco RR when it came through in 1901.

Hennepin was named for the town in Minnesota and Iona was named for the Isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland.

Washita, four miles north of Davis was named for the nearby river but the name was later changed to Wheeler Flats in honor of a local resident.  Joy was never a town or anything else.  It was just a school that was built in the 1923 to consolidate the Wheeler Flat, Carr Flat and Talley schools near Wynnewood.

Gilsonite was named for the oil/sand mineral (asphalt) that was mined in the area.  Goose Nest, located 3 1/2 miles south of Woodland School was named for the Goose Nest zinc mine located there.

Well, now you know where the town names came from or maybe not. 

Contributed by Dennis Muncrief, October 18, 2002