Osage County is located in north-central Oklahoma, similar in size to Osage County, Oklahoma Territory. Named for the Osage tribe of Indians, whose reservation comprised the area of the county.  The name is a corruption by the French of the tribal name Wah-Sha-She, the exact meaning of which appears lost.

OSAGE INDIAN TRIBE

There were three Osage core groups.  The northernmost group was the Little Osages who lived between Malta Bend and Glascow in Missouri.  The remaining Osages who had their permanent villages along the Osage River in Missouri, were the "mother group."  Prior to 1822, this group lived near the junction of the Little Osage and Osage Rivers.

Between 1775 and 1796, the third group consisted of random bands of Osage who tended to live on the headwaters of the Pomme de Terre, Niangua, Sac, and White Rivers in Missouri and Arkansas.  It was the random bands of the Osage, around Town Maker, also known as, Claremore II, in the late 1700's.

By 1800, they were known as the People of the Oaks, Claremore bands, and the Arkansas bands.  Their villages were located on the and the Arkansas bands. Their villages were located on the lower Neosho-Grand River and the Verdigris in Oklahoma.

EXPANSION: SOUTHWARD & WESTWARD ARKANSAS BAND
     Southward to Natchitoches, Louisiana
     Southwestward to Lawton, Oklahoma

     LITTLE OSAGE & OSAGE RIVER BAND
     Front Range in Colorado
     Texas Pan-handle

The war parties probed as far as they could.  They went as far southwest as to raid Sante Fe.  The expansion took place between 1700 and 1800.  By 1700, the Kansas part of the Neosha -Grand Valley belonged to the Osage.