Johns Valley, Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
Johns Valley is a geographic feature
and place name located in the Kiamichi Mountains
in northwestern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
. The valley
is formally classified by geologists as a “basin” due to its complete encirclement by mountains.
. Using the Public Land Survey System
commonly in use in Oklahoma
it is located in Section 5, Township 1 South, Range 16 East. Its latitude
is N34.46510 and longitude
is W95.61359.
in Johns Valley was American Civil War
veteran Henry Amos Johns. Johns, a Choctaw
Indian who had fought in a Choctaw Indian battalion in the Confederate States Army
, moved to the valley after the war, establishing a church there in 1865.
At the time the valley was part of Jack’s Fork County of the Choctaw Nation
, in the Indian Territory
. Johns arrived there from San Bois County in the Choctaw Nation, which was north and east of present-day McAlester, Oklahoma
. Jack’s Fork County was a geographic behemoth—it was bounded by the Kiamichi River
on the east and Muddy Boggy River on the west, Beaver Creek (south of present-day Antlers, Oklahoma) on its south, and the mountains north of present-day Sardis Lake
on its north.
Johns named the valley Big Caney Valley, due to the thick stands of cane
he found there. Later white settlers called it Johns Valley, in deference to Amos Johns.
Johns and later Choctaw Indian settlers drove oxen teams to Fort Smith, Arkansas
to purchase groceries and other goods. The trip usually took one month. After the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad opened through the Kiamichi River valley in 1887 they traded at what are now the communities of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
and Kosoma, Oklahoma
.
The church founded by Johns was Presbyterian and came to be called Big Caney Presbyterian Church. It was the only church in the valley. Johns built it out of logs, and split logs formed its pews.
A school was also established for Johns Valley, and it met in the church. After statehood the valley was settled by white people, who built a new school of lumber. The school appears to have been intermittent, starting and stopping occasionally. It reopened again for the last time during the 1930s or 1940s, but has been closed for decades.
Logging
and cattle ranching were the valley’s first and only major industries. Timber companies logged the valley for its valuable hardwood and pine trees. After logging ceased the valley became home to the immense Basket Ranch, operated by the Basket family. Several other families lived in the valley and worked for the Baskets, some on a full time basis, and some periodically. Notable among these were the Rember and Pettijohn families. Regardless of family affiliation, all residents of the valley worked together for mutual benefit when a large labor force was needed such as when baling hay or rounding up cattle. When the Basket Family sold their property and moved from the valley, most of the other families followed. Johns Valley has had no permanent residents since the mid 1950s.
At the time of white settlement, Johns Valley was home to an array of wildlife
, much of which disappeared after the whites’ arrival due to their propensity to hunt. Early-day Choctaw settlers coexisted—sometimes peaceably and sometimes not—with a fairly large bear
population, and a great many panthers
. The bears troubled settlers to the extent they would kill livestock
, but were not considered rapacious. Panthers, however, occasionally became so troublesome that panther hunts were organized.
Rattlesnakes—an even less welcome form of wildlife—were everywhere. Amos Johns’ granddaughter, interviewed in the 1930s, recalled knowing at least four people killed by rattlesnakes. “It was very dangerous for anyone to step out at night”, she said, as “the valley was filled with big rattlers. You could see them at any time during the day.” By the time of her interview she believed the rattlesnakes to be far fewer in number than previously, and credited the valley's later white settlers with eradicating them.
A United States Post Office was established in Johns Valley and operated from September 28, 1912 to May 15, 1915. It was called Johns, Oklahoma. Despite its formal designation by the post office—which failed to include "Valley" in the formal name—the area has always been known as Johns Valley.
Johns Valley was and continues to be very isolated, with only one road of any note entering or leaving it. This road is not much better today than it was in 1927, when a team of geologists entered the valley to study its massive boulders. “The road into Johns Valley is not a good automobile
road. In fact, it is one of the worst automobile roads imaginable,” the chief geologist wrote.
Difficulties of another sort—with international repercussions—were experienced during World War II
, when the Moyers
and Johns Valley areas were the site of two lethal air crashes. British pilots operating from a Royal Air Force
base in Texas crashed into White Rock Mountain and Big Mountain, killing four crewmen.
Big Mountain
is generally accepted as the southern geographical limit of Johns Valley.
Two planes were destroyed. A third plane crash-landed successfully at Jumbo
. On February 20, 2000, the AT6 Monument
was dedicated in the fliers' honor at the crash site on Big Mountain. Over 1,000 people attended the ceremony, and the story was carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation and many newspapers around the world.
More information on Johns Valley and the surrounding Kiamichi Mountains may be found in the Pushmataha County Historical Society
.
The valley is geographically isolated by formidable mountains. To its east are the lofty Pine Creek (1,460 ft.), Wildhorse (1,260 ft.) and Bull Creek (1,060 ft.) mountains. To its west is Buck Creek Mountain (1,184 ft.). Its northern limit is generally defined as Big Caney Mountain (1,467 ft.), and its southern limit as Big Mountain
(1,145 ft.).
The distant geological past is immediately present in Johns Valley. A formation of massive boulders littering the tops of mountains, called Rock Town, is thought to be the “largest transported masses of rock on the North American continent”, according to one geological study. These boulders contain fossils identifying them as dating from the Ordovician
age—very much older than the Caney shale
formations on top of which they presently sit.
The boulders range in size from small pebbles
the size of marbles up to and including great masses of limestone
, the largest of which measures 370 ft. long, 65 ft. wide and 20 ft. thick. Several measure over one hundred feet in length. The largest weigh over 50,000 tons.
Although the boulders by themselves are of great interest, the story of how they came to rest there formed a mystery which geologists spent decades unraveling.
During prehistoric times Johns Valley was on the floor of an ocean
. The nearby—and no longer extant—Wichita-Criner Mountains, Red River Mountains and Amarillo Mountains (now buried) lay to the southwest. They are thought to have towered several thousand feet above sea level. Geologists believe that during an ancient glacial era ocean currents carried icebergs or glaciers containing these boulders northeast from these mountain ranges, dropping the massive boulders to sink to the ocean floor.
Additional groupings of transported boulders in the Johns Valley region are known as the McKinley Rocks. These are located across the Kiamichi River
valley, atop the mountains south of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
and east of Clayton, Oklahoma
. The only larger known formation of transported rocks in the world is found in Sweden
.
Geographic feature
Geographical features are the components of the Earth. There are two types of geographical features, namely natural geographical features and artificial geographical features. Natural geographical features include but are not limited to landforms and ecosystems...
and place name located in the Kiamichi Mountains
Kiamichi Mountains
The Kiamichi Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern Oklahoma. A subrange within the larger Ouachita Mountains that extend from Oklahoma to western Arkansas, the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Le Flore, Pushmataha, and McCurtain counties near the towns of Poteau and Albion...
in northwestern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
-Administrative History:* Ca. 1000-1500: Caddoan Mississippian civilization at Spiro Mounds* 1492-1718: Spain* 1718-1763: France* 1763-1800: Spain* 1800-1803: France* 1803–present: United States...
. The valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
is formally classified by geologists as a “basin” due to its complete encirclement by mountains.
Location
The valley is approximately 22 miles north of Antlers, OklahomaAntlers, Oklahoma
Antlers is a city in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. The population was 2,552 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pushmataha County.-Geography:Antlers is located at...
. Using the Public Land Survey System
Public Land Survey System
The Public Land Survey System is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system,...
commonly in use in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
it is located in Section 5, Township 1 South, Range 16 East. Its latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
is N34.46510 and longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
is W95.61359.
History
The first settlerSettler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
in Johns Valley was American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
veteran Henry Amos Johns. Johns, a Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
Indian who had fought in a Choctaw Indian battalion in the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
, moved to the valley after the war, establishing a church there in 1865.
At the time the valley was part of Jack’s Fork County of the Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
, in the Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
. Johns arrived there from San Bois County in the Choctaw Nation, which was north and east of present-day McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester is a city in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 17,783 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pittsburg County. It is currently the largest city in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, followed by Durant....
. Jack’s Fork County was a geographic behemoth—it was bounded by the Kiamichi River
Kiamichi River
The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma. A tributary of the Red River, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border...
on the east and Muddy Boggy River on the west, Beaver Creek (south of present-day Antlers, Oklahoma) on its south, and the mountains north of present-day Sardis Lake
Sardis Lake (Oklahoma)
Sardis Lake is a reservoir in Pushmataha County and Latimer County in Oklahoma, USA. The dam impounding the lake is located approximately north of Clayton. The lake covers with of shoreline. The lake is an impoundment of Jackfork Creek, a tributary of the Kiamichi River.The lake's normal pool...
on its north.
Johns named the valley Big Caney Valley, due to the thick stands of cane
Cane
Cane are either of two genera of tall, perennial grasses with flexible, woody stalks from the family Poaceae that grow throughout the world in wet soils. They are related to and may include species of bamboo. The genus Arundo is native from the Mediterranean region to the Far East. Arundinaria...
he found there. Later white settlers called it Johns Valley, in deference to Amos Johns.
Johns and later Choctaw Indian settlers drove oxen teams to Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
to purchase groceries and other goods. The trip usually took one month. After the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad opened through the Kiamichi River valley in 1887 they traded at what are now the communities of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
Tuskahoma is a community in northern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, four miles east of Clayton, Oklahoma.-History:A United States Post Office was established at Tushka Homma, Indian Territory on February 27, 1884. On October 28, 1891, the spelling changed to Tushkahomma. On December 6, 1910 the...
and Kosoma, Oklahoma
Kosoma, Oklahoma
Kosoma is a settlement and former railroad station in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located just off Oklahoma State Highway 2, about north of Antlers.-Geography:...
.
The church founded by Johns was Presbyterian and came to be called Big Caney Presbyterian Church. It was the only church in the valley. Johns built it out of logs, and split logs formed its pews.
A school was also established for Johns Valley, and it met in the church. After statehood the valley was settled by white people, who built a new school of lumber. The school appears to have been intermittent, starting and stopping occasionally. It reopened again for the last time during the 1930s or 1940s, but has been closed for decades.
Logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
and cattle ranching were the valley’s first and only major industries. Timber companies logged the valley for its valuable hardwood and pine trees. After logging ceased the valley became home to the immense Basket Ranch, operated by the Basket family. Several other families lived in the valley and worked for the Baskets, some on a full time basis, and some periodically. Notable among these were the Rember and Pettijohn families. Regardless of family affiliation, all residents of the valley worked together for mutual benefit when a large labor force was needed such as when baling hay or rounding up cattle. When the Basket Family sold their property and moved from the valley, most of the other families followed. Johns Valley has had no permanent residents since the mid 1950s.
At the time of white settlement, Johns Valley was home to an array of wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
, much of which disappeared after the whites’ arrival due to their propensity to hunt. Early-day Choctaw settlers coexisted—sometimes peaceably and sometimes not—with a fairly large bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
population, and a great many panthers
Panthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
. The bears troubled settlers to the extent they would kill livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
, but were not considered rapacious. Panthers, however, occasionally became so troublesome that panther hunts were organized.
Rattlesnakes—an even less welcome form of wildlife—were everywhere. Amos Johns’ granddaughter, interviewed in the 1930s, recalled knowing at least four people killed by rattlesnakes. “It was very dangerous for anyone to step out at night”, she said, as “the valley was filled with big rattlers. You could see them at any time during the day.” By the time of her interview she believed the rattlesnakes to be far fewer in number than previously, and credited the valley's later white settlers with eradicating them.
A United States Post Office was established in Johns Valley and operated from September 28, 1912 to May 15, 1915. It was called Johns, Oklahoma. Despite its formal designation by the post office—which failed to include "Valley" in the formal name—the area has always been known as Johns Valley.
Johns Valley was and continues to be very isolated, with only one road of any note entering or leaving it. This road is not much better today than it was in 1927, when a team of geologists entered the valley to study its massive boulders. “The road into Johns Valley is not a good automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
road. In fact, it is one of the worst automobile roads imaginable,” the chief geologist wrote.
Difficulties of another sort—with international repercussions—were experienced during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the Moyers
Moyers, Oklahoma
- History :A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s.During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris,...
and Johns Valley areas were the site of two lethal air crashes. British pilots operating from a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
base in Texas crashed into White Rock Mountain and Big Mountain, killing four crewmen.
Big Mountain
Big Mountain (Oklahoma)
Big Mountain is a mountain in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. It is part of the Kiamichi Mountains, a subrange of the Ouachita Mountains.- Geology :...
is generally accepted as the southern geographical limit of Johns Valley.
Two planes were destroyed. A third plane crash-landed successfully at Jumbo
Jumbo, Oklahoma
Jumbo is a community in western Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, 10 miles north of Miller, Oklahoma.- History :A United States Post Office was established for Jumbo, Indian Territory on November 8, 1906...
. On February 20, 2000, the AT6 Monument
AT6 Monument
The AT6 Monument is a granite memorial to Royal Air Force cadets who were killed while on a training flight during World War II. It stands on Big Mountain, north of Moyers, Oklahoma, and was dedicated on February 20, 2000—the 58th anniversary of the deadly crashes.- Background :The United Kingdom...
was dedicated in the fliers' honor at the crash site on Big Mountain. Over 1,000 people attended the ceremony, and the story was carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation and many newspapers around the world.
More information on Johns Valley and the surrounding Kiamichi Mountains may be found in the Pushmataha County Historical Society
Pushmataha County Historical Society
The Pushmataha County Historical Society is a historical society devoted to collecting and preserving the history of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma...
.
Geology
Johns Valley is an oval-shaped basin, four miles long and three miles wide.The valley is geographically isolated by formidable mountains. To its east are the lofty Pine Creek (1,460 ft.), Wildhorse (1,260 ft.) and Bull Creek (1,060 ft.) mountains. To its west is Buck Creek Mountain (1,184 ft.). Its northern limit is generally defined as Big Caney Mountain (1,467 ft.), and its southern limit as Big Mountain
Big Mountain (Oklahoma)
Big Mountain is a mountain in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma. It is part of the Kiamichi Mountains, a subrange of the Ouachita Mountains.- Geology :...
(1,145 ft.).
The distant geological past is immediately present in Johns Valley. A formation of massive boulders littering the tops of mountains, called Rock Town, is thought to be the “largest transported masses of rock on the North American continent”, according to one geological study. These boulders contain fossils identifying them as dating from the Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
age—very much older than the Caney shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
formations on top of which they presently sit.
The boulders range in size from small pebbles
Pebbles
Pebbles may refer to:* Pebbles, small rocks* Pebbles , Boston-area radio DJ* Pebbles , British-trained thoroughbred racehorse of the 1980s* Pebbles Flintstone, a character in The Flintstones animated television show...
the size of marbles up to and including great masses of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, the largest of which measures 370 ft. long, 65 ft. wide and 20 ft. thick. Several measure over one hundred feet in length. The largest weigh over 50,000 tons.
Although the boulders by themselves are of great interest, the story of how they came to rest there formed a mystery which geologists spent decades unraveling.
During prehistoric times Johns Valley was on the floor of an ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
. The nearby—and no longer extant—Wichita-Criner Mountains, Red River Mountains and Amarillo Mountains (now buried) lay to the southwest. They are thought to have towered several thousand feet above sea level. Geologists believe that during an ancient glacial era ocean currents carried icebergs or glaciers containing these boulders northeast from these mountain ranges, dropping the massive boulders to sink to the ocean floor.
Additional groupings of transported boulders in the Johns Valley region are known as the McKinley Rocks. These are located across the Kiamichi River
Kiamichi River
The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma. A tributary of the Red River, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border...
valley, atop the mountains south of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
Tuskahoma, Oklahoma
Tuskahoma is a community in northern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, four miles east of Clayton, Oklahoma.-History:A United States Post Office was established at Tushka Homma, Indian Territory on February 27, 1884. On October 28, 1891, the spelling changed to Tushkahomma. On December 6, 1910 the...
and east of Clayton, Oklahoma
Clayton, Oklahoma
Clayton is a town in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 719 at the 2000 census.- History :Clayton was formerly known as Dexter. A United States Post Office was established at Dexter, Indian Territory on March 31, 1894...
. The only larger known formation of transported rocks in the world is found in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.