This blog is dedicated to the memory of my Father, Mother and Grandparents whose fortitude and perseverance helped lay  the foundation for the great state of Oklahoma.

For 160 acres of raw, undeveloped prairie land, they were willing to wager three years of their life that they might own part of their country.   Red Moon Indian Agency and Strong City were part of Roger Mills County, OK.,  the pioneers said it was where the west begins.  Also distinguished as being one of the largest counties in Oklahoma.  As a youngster my cousins and I would spend part of our summers on Granddad Guernseys ranch near Strong City.  The house had no electricity, no running water, cooked on a wood burning stove, no bathroom except for the outdoor “2 holer”.  We had fun riding horses, gathering eggs (one day we buried several eggs to see if they would hatch) , feeding the hogs and not having to bath every day.  Looking back it  gave me a great respect for the hardy, honest God loving folks that survived the drouth, floods, dust bowl and other calamities to make western Oklahoma their home.  

To follow the history* of Roger Mills, County,  OK,  I offer the following:

1541    The first recording was when the Spanish explorer Coronado mentioned the Antelope Buttes, better known as the Antelope Hills of Roger Mills, County.

1763   Spain ceded the territory of which the future Roger Mills County was part of to France.

1803  The territory came into the possession of the United States through the purchase of the Louisiana Purchase from France.

1858  The area consisted chiefly of the Comanche and other Plains Indians.  The prairies swarmed with buffalo, deer, antelope and other wild animals.  It was from the large  numbers of antelope that grazed over and around them that the Antelope Hills had been named.

1848  Captain Randolph B. Marcey, U.S. Army Engineers,was commissioned to survey and layout a trail from Ft. Smith,  Arkansas and ending in Santa Fe, NM. The  trail went through the area of the future Roger Mills, County.

1868  The Battle of the Washita (near Red Moon), occurred on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1868.  Just before break of day, Colonel Custer’s men formed a line against Chief  Black Kettle Cheyenne Indians and staged the greatest Indian Battle ever fought on Oklahoma Soil.

1892  Roger Mills County remained an unorganized territory until its incorporation int0 Oklahoma Territory on April 19, 1892.

1894  Great Grandfather Albert J. Anderson, his wife Nancy, along with Grandfather William H. Anderson, his wife Tommie Lee, brought their families to Rush Creek, near the Red Moon Indian Agency, in Oklahoma Territory.

1902  William H. Anderson filed for his homestead 160 acres  near Red Moon, Oklahoma Territory.

1911   The Clinton and Western Railroad was built from Clinton northwest through Hammon and up the Washita River to Snakey Bend.  The towns of Herring and Strong City were laid out.  Strong City was incorporated the same year.

1915  Cheyenne,  Oklahoma was the county seat for Roger  Mills.  Since Strong City had a railroad and Cheyenne had none, a group of  Strong City business men  thought the county seat should be moved to their city, so the fight was on.  The Cheyenne business men conceived the idea of building a short line of a railroad from Cheyenne to Strong City.  The rolling stock consisted of one obsolete freight engine, one old freight car and one caboose.  The train ran forward to strong City and reversed to Cheyenne.  Primitive as it was, it saved the day and the county seat remained at Cheyenne.

1916  Grandfather William H. Anderson left his homestead at Red Moon and moved his family to Strong City, OK.  He became the Deputy Sheriff of Roger Mills County.          

*Much of this information taken from A BRIEF HISTORY OF ROGER MILLS COUNTY by Nat M. Taylor.