Ottawa County, Oklahoma: History
Archaeological studies indicate this area was inhabited for thousands of years by succeeding cultures of prehistoric indigenous peoples. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, at the start of the 20th century, eight Archaic sites (6000 BC to 1 AD), 16 Woodland sites (1 to 1000 AD), and six Plains Village sites (1000 to 1500 A D) were known.
The Osage Nation had moved into the area from Missouri and Kansas by the 19th century, under pressure from European-American encroachment on their lands. They ceded this land to the federal government in exchange for another area farther west in Indian Territory. In 1828, the Western Cherokee, the first group of this nation to relocate west of the Mississippi River, ceded their land in Western Arkansas to the government in exchange for some of the land just vacated by the Osage.
In 1831, the federal government reacquired part of what would eventually become Ottawa County to forcibly relocate several other tribal nations that had been systematically displaced from the Midwest under its Indian Removal program. These included two tribes of Iroquois, Shawnee, Quapaw, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Miami, Ottawa and Wyandotte. The Neosho Agency administered the affairs of these tribes from 1837 until 1871. In that year, it was renamed as the Quapaw Agency, serving only the tribes in Indian Territory.
The Modoc band led by Captain Jack in northern California was exiled and relocated here in 1873, after being taken as prisoner following their defeat in the Modoc War. The 153 members were settled at the Quapaw Agency. After regaining federally recognized status in 1978 as the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, they were given land of their own under federal trust in this county. Native Americans make up nearly 17% of the population in the county.
This county is part of the Tri-State district, a center of lead and zinc mining through the first half of the 20th century. Unrestricted mining resulted in severe environmental degradation, and mining centers such as Picher, Oklahoma, in the county were included within the Tar Creek Superfund Site in 1980. In 1996, the government found that 34% of the children of Picher had lead poisoning due to groundwater, air, and dust effects. Environmental remediation was conducted, but the state and federal governments have since closed Picher as a city and relocated nearly all its residents since the early 21st century.