Searching for the Indian Base Line
This is one of a series of articles written by Gail Loafman for The
Duncan Banner. The series is sponsored by the Stephens County Historical Museum.(Reprinted with permission, Copyright © Duncan Banner)
Initial Point Cultural Hertiage Site of the MonthHistoric Places Mentioned In Article
Indian Base Line Monument Stands in Fuqua Park.
By Gail Loafman
Nearly two years have passed since the Stephens County Historical Museum board voted to bring these articles to the Stephens County public in order to make you more aware of our approaching Oklahoma State Centennial.
Arrive, it has! Thrust off like a rocket from a launch pad, the Tulsa area kicked off the Oklahoma Centennial with a bang, starting on Nov. 16. Now, smaller towns across the state will be holding their own celebrations or commemorations of our first 100 years as a state. There will be re-enactments, parades, events and programs being presented throughout the next 365 days, everywhere you go.
Our state Centennial has been designated the No. 1 most important event in 2007 across the entire United States by the American Bus Association. It has also been acclaimed as the biggest and best event ever produced by any state in the union in commemoration of their centennial. So look out folks, here we come!
That makes me want to get out and clean up all the curbs, sweep the streets, and put out the welcome signs - How about you? Coming home after Thanksgiving Day, via the Taovayas Bridge across the Red River, I was reminded of Oklahoma's days gone by. Riding through the Red River Valley was serene, and "lazy" along the state roads, with all the grazing cattle and huge fields unbroken for miles. The sunlight as it was beginning to set had the beautiful hues that one thinks about when singing the lyrics to "Oklahoma!"
As we drove that Friday afternoon, we passed several markers alongside the road, then passed an Oklahoma Centennial sign (Does Duncan have any up yet?) Then the thought passed my mind about Initial Point. Right away, I knew something I wanted to tell each of you about ... just in case you don't already know - the Indian Base Line Monument. How many of you know about the Indian Base Line Monument? How many know that it is a monument within the city limits of Duncan? Do you know what it represents? Do you know where it is?
I didn't know of it until about eight or nine years ago. I have lived here all but 18 months of my life, and I never even knew about it. I'd learned a little about the Indian Base Line in grade school, but I knew nothing of the monument. In 1999, I was appointed historical marker chairman for my local Daughters of the American Revolution group, and was responsible for finding out more about the marker so it could be recorded in a book later published by DAR, called "Historical Markers placed by the Oklahoma Society Daughters of the American Revolution." Recently, I found this information. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Historical Society, found under Historic Places under Blog Oklahoma on the Internet, we read: "Indian Meridian (Indian Meridian and Indian Base Line) located approximately 12 miles west of the 97th meridian. As provided in treaties between the U.S. Government and the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations in 1866, Indian land east of the 98th Meridian was surveyed according to the public land survey system of the General Land Office." The blog goes on to give information I know to be true, from my research, but which I have not located in my "piles of piles" today. Therefore, I will repeat it as it was worded in the blog.
"Initial Point high on the top of the Arbuckle Mountains is an important U.S. Geodetic survey mark for all of Oklahoma except the Panhandle. It is used as far away as South Dakota and by Southwest states."
This Indian Base Line Monument is built close by the Indian Base Line which forms one of the streets in Duncan. It is constructed of native Reagan sandstone and Sycamore limestone taken from Initial Point. At the close of the Civil War, the Five Civilized Tribes owned all of Oklahoma. In the joint reconstruction Chickasaw and Choctaw Treaty of 1866 was this provision for the survey and subdivision of all Chickasaw lands east of the 98th Meridian because it required that each free man be given 40 acres of land. Also in this treaty was the word "Oklahoma," meaning "Red People," officially used for the first time. The U.S. Land Office instructed its surveyor to "select suitable Initial Point" in the center of Chickasaw Nation and perpetuate it by a suitable monument, and from that point establish a meridian and base line to be known by the designation of the Initial Base Line and Meridian. The point was established, the land was divided into townships north and south and ranges east and west.
High on this Arbuckle Mountain top stands this survey Landmark, a weathered sandstone on a 16-inch slab set in a mound of stones that came out of the upheaval millions of years ago that is known as the Arbuckles.
Initials "IP" for Initial Point are deeply carved on the west side of the stone. On the east side are "IM" for Indian Meridian. On the north is the date, 1870, when Initial Point was established. For those who don't already know, the Indian Base Line Monument sits in Fuqua Park along U.S. Highway 81, just south of the park fountain and north of Beech Street, in a small three- to four-car parking lot, under a redbud tree. It was placed there through the diligent efforts of Daughters of the American Revolution back in 1974, as Duncan was preparing to celebrate its Bicentennial.
As you approach the monument, you find it made of 4,000 pounds of rock, hand-collected from the hill where the original marker stands in the Arbuckle Mountains. Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Dunlap and Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Pittman were largely responsible for the monument. It was developed as a Bicentennial project by the Duncan DAR chapter, with Mrs. Dunlap as chairman and serving as the chapter regent at that time.
The wording on the bronze plaque in the stone monument reads:
"Initial Point was established by the U. S. government in 1870. All Oklahoma except the Panhandle was then divided into townships, north & south and east and west of Initial Point. The Indian Base Line is two-tenths of a mile south of this point on Beech Road. Duncan is 41 miles west of Initial Point. Placed by Duncan Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution as a Bicentennial Project. February 22, 1974."
At the foot of the structure is a marble marker that reads: "Dedicated to Oklahoma Pioneers and our Revolutionary Ancestors." To the left, on the south side of the structure, is a pedestal holding a plaque that gives details of the erection of the monument. It is 4 feet wide, 5 1/2 feet tall, 2 feet thick, with a bronze plaque 24 inches wide by 30 inches tall. The plaque was made by Newmann Brothers of Cincinnati, Ohio.
After the dedication ceremony, it was decided that more information needed to be shown, so Stuart Dunlap made a glass case marker with more information. The glass did not survive the passage of time, so Bill Crowdis of Jones Monument Co. took a slab of black granite and etched a description and two photographs of Initial Point on it. Then, Dan Slifer, parks director for the city, had the marker set beside the large DAR marker on June 1, 1995.
Drop down by the park and read the marker sometime - on a fair-weather day. Realize that because of the Initial Point, we all have "legal descriptions" for the land we own in this area that used to be Indian Territory, and was uncharted less than 100 years ago.