Pushmataha County, Sequoyah

The boundaries of modern-day Choctaw, Pushmataha and McCurtain counties in Oklahoma are derived largely from the work of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention.

Sequoyah’s framers drew county boundaries to respond to the Public Land Survey System established by the American government for the Indian Territory.

Prior to and after Oklahoma’s statehood in 1907 the issue would consume several counties, mostly in the western part of the state, in which leading towns battled for legal supremacy.

In the case of the proposed Pushmataha County, Sequoyah however, its future leaders agreed to designate the area’s most important and promising town as seat of government.

This was necessary to balance the competing needs of merchants in Antlers, Hugo, Atoka and other towns, as well as revenues projected to be obtained by the future county governments.