[3] The river bisects the heart of the Anadarko Basin, the fifth-largest natural gas formation area in the United States.

The Washita's river bed is made up of unstable mud and sand, and its banks are composed of steeply incised and erosive red earth.

[5] In 1842, General and future President Zachary Taylor established Fort Washita near the lower end of the river to protect resettled citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, who had been removed from the Southeastern United States, from the Plains Indians inhabiting the area.

The fort was about 19 miles (31 km) above the confluence of the Washita and Red rivers.

Wyllys Lyman's wagon train was besieged by Indians near the Washita in Hemphill County on September 9–14, 1874.