Stories from the Road: An Early History of the Heart of the Old Fort Cobb Trail

In 1859, the United States Army blazed a trail from Fort Arbuckle in the Chickasaw Nation to Fort Cobb, the newest military outpost at the rugged edge of the Indian Territory frontier. Called the Fort Cobb Trail, this almost-forgotten military road was the first route through the heart of Oklahoma’s south-central Washita Valley. The old road gave passage to many of the sweeping historical events in the area and became home to the early-day villages of Erin Springs, Bradley, Alex and Old Fred. For the first time, many of trail’s earliest voices speak together as one to tell Stories from the Road.

Using a modern mapping technique known as geo-referencing, Stories from the Road follows the 100-mile route of the old Fort Cobb Trail. It describes early happenings along the road and at the military garrisons it connected, and also chronicles the development of some of the area’s oldest civilian settlements.