Naturalist Begins in Okay Area
A party of men arrived at Fort Gibson in June of 1849 at the request of Benjamin Marshall. Marshall was the Second Chief of the Creek Indians. He wanted the east and north boundaries between the Creeks and Cherokees surveyed. Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves led the Corps of Topographical Engineers party.
The US government sent additional men with the surveyors. Samuel Washington Woodhouse went along as the naturalist. He was a 27-year-old medical doctor with responsibilities for the physical health of the men. In the field, most of his time was spent in gathering and identifying birds, animals, insects and plants he believed were new to science. His work with the Academy of Natural Sciences prepared him well for this work. Woodhouse and some of the men arrived the first week of June aboard the "Alert No. 2" steamboat.
Another member of the party was William Mayhew. Mayhew brought a camera with him and quickly began learning how to make daguerreotype images. He was unsuccessful in his early efforts. His photographs the following year are believed to be the first taken in the future state of Oklahoma.
The party finally obtained sufficient supplies from the post quartermaster at Fort Gibson to permit the party to begin. In the afternoon of June 20, 1849, the wagons, pack animals and men left the fort and forded the Neosho River.
Their first camp was atop a bluff overlooking the Verdigris River. Nearby, there was a ford across the Verdigris that led to the Creek Agency maintained by the US government. The ford was downstream from the Falls of the Verdigris. It was a natural feature now submerged by the Kerr-McClellan Waterway. Woodhouse described the falls as being caused by a ledge of sandstone running across the riverbed.
The second day, the caravan moved to their second campsite. It was located one mile south of the present town of Okay, Oklahoma. It was on the Texas Road above the ferry. Woodhouse also wrote his observations of Indian life in his journal. He noted that they raised corn, hogs and livestock.
He began immediately making observations of birds and wildlife near present-day Okay, Oklahoma. That is, he did when it was not raining. Out of the next three weeks, it rained thirteen days. The men spent most of the first week in this camp because of the inclement weather. When storm clouds cleared away, Woodhouse searched for natural history specimens. He complained in his journals of his most frequent finds, ticks!
Jacob McToy came down with cholera while the surveyors were still at Fort Gibson. Captain Sitgreaves hired McToy, who was Cherokee, to help the surveyors. Woodhouse, in those medically primitive days, prescribed quinine most often used for malaria. McToy survived, but another member of the party later died from cholera.
The surveyors began their boundary line at the Arkansas River and headed north. All too soon, the surveying progress forced the shifting of the campsite. The move was the next of many moves over the next year.
Woodhouse continued his dual duties as naturalist and physician. Following this expedition, he would go into the American southwest on yet another exploration as a contract naturalist and doctor. His discoveries enriched major collections back east. He had the honor of having a bird and a toad named for his contributions to American natural history. Just think, he began in the Okay area.
The US government sent additional men with the surveyors. Samuel Washington Woodhouse went along as the naturalist. He was a 27-year-old medical doctor with responsibilities for the physical health of the men. In the field, most of his time was spent in gathering and identifying birds, animals, insects and plants he believed were new to science. His work with the Academy of Natural Sciences prepared him well for this work. Woodhouse and some of the men arrived the first week of June aboard the "Alert No. 2" steamboat.
Another member of the party was William Mayhew. Mayhew brought a camera with him and quickly began learning how to make daguerreotype images. He was unsuccessful in his early efforts. His photographs the following year are believed to be the first taken in the future state of Oklahoma.
The party finally obtained sufficient supplies from the post quartermaster at Fort Gibson to permit the party to begin. In the afternoon of June 20, 1849, the wagons, pack animals and men left the fort and forded the Neosho River.
Their first camp was atop a bluff overlooking the Verdigris River. Nearby, there was a ford across the Verdigris that led to the Creek Agency maintained by the US government. The ford was downstream from the Falls of the Verdigris. It was a natural feature now submerged by the Kerr-McClellan Waterway. Woodhouse described the falls as being caused by a ledge of sandstone running across the riverbed.
The second day, the caravan moved to their second campsite. It was located one mile south of the present town of Okay, Oklahoma. It was on the Texas Road above the ferry. Woodhouse also wrote his observations of Indian life in his journal. He noted that they raised corn, hogs and livestock.
He began immediately making observations of birds and wildlife near present-day Okay, Oklahoma. That is, he did when it was not raining. Out of the next three weeks, it rained thirteen days. The men spent most of the first week in this camp because of the inclement weather. When storm clouds cleared away, Woodhouse searched for natural history specimens. He complained in his journals of his most frequent finds, ticks!
Jacob McToy came down with cholera while the surveyors were still at Fort Gibson. Captain Sitgreaves hired McToy, who was Cherokee, to help the surveyors. Woodhouse, in those medically primitive days, prescribed quinine most often used for malaria. McToy survived, but another member of the party later died from cholera.
The surveyors began their boundary line at the Arkansas River and headed north. All too soon, the surveying progress forced the shifting of the campsite. The move was the next of many moves over the next year.
Woodhouse continued his dual duties as naturalist and physician. Following this expedition, he would go into the American southwest on yet another exploration as a contract naturalist and doctor. His discoveries enriched major collections back east. He had the honor of having a bird and a toad named for his contributions to American natural history. Just think, he began in the Okay area.
Labels: Alert No. 2 Steamboat, Benjamin Marshall, Jacob McToy, Lorenzo Sitgreaves, Samuel W. Woodhouse, William Mayhew
posted by Wally Waits at
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