Sans Bois County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state.
[i] The county served as an election district for members of the National Council, and as a unit of local administration.
Constitutional officers, all of whom served for two-year terms and were elected by the voters, included the county judge, sheriff, and a ranger.
The sheriff collected taxes, monitored unlawful intrusion by intruders (usually white Americans from the United States), and conducted the census.
[ii] Almost none of this proposition was borrowed two years later by Oklahoma's framers, who adopted a very different county structure for the region.