Railroads represent the major
entity that crossed Oklahoma. They left significant records of
their crossing, including receipts for payments to the Choctaw
Nation and letters with the Department of the Interior about gaining more land.
This first document from 1904 cites all of the business entities that paid for the right to cross the Choctaw Nation including fifteen railroads, nine telephone
companies, two telegraph companies and one "traction" company (an electric inter-urban railway).
As this website grows, more
documents like these will be added and indexed to reveal any patterns
or trends in the crossing of Choctaw Lands. Use the timeline to see how documents overlap in their application.
Start here to view the text of the document. Use these links to see the images of the text. Page 1 and Page 2.