The range is a frontal belt[definition needed] of the Ouachita Mountains and is located in Haskell and Latimer counties.

According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers and foragers from about 10,000 to 8,000 BCE.

[clarification needed] The Choctaws, forced to leave their previous homeland in the southeastern U.S., started displacing other tribes in about 1830.

[2] The Poteau River drains the area, and one of its tributaries, Sans Bois Creek, was the namesake for the mountains.

Although the mountains have relatively light forests, they do have deposits of coal and natural gas, which provided the basis for economic development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.