Volume 11 , Issue 3

Kiamichi Country of Oklahoma

Submitted by Homer Hawkins -- "Kiamichi Country is a wilderness area saturated with hardwoods and pine, blue-smoke mountains, clear lakes, outlaw caves, and waterfalls. It is an exciting place to be, kind of like a roller coaster with pit-stops where you can get out to meet the most fascinating people you ever saw.

"In the high country winters can suddenly bring heavy snow. Off the beaten paths things haven't changed much since Jesse James, the Daltons, Belle Starr and others, found this scrambled-egg area such a convenient retreat. This country bills itself as the land where Oklahoma's day begins because it is a tad farther east than the other countries.

"Kiamichi is kind of square except for a handle reaching down from Green Country? There are scenic roads almost all the way around the edges of that square. From the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area you can catch State Highway 9 for a leisurely drive across the top of Kiamichi country, through Keota which started in 1903 as a tent town-trading post. Some say the name comes from the Indian word "Keota" meaning "fire gone out" but the fire is still there, burning as school spirit. After passing throughStigler to Eufaula Lake.

"Highway 9 connects with U.S 69 heading south right along Arrowhead State Park. A tad more than half of this 102,000 acre lake resort is in Green Countrybut Kiamichi Country has the best part. You'll connect with U.S. 75 which comes down from Indianola just after you pass McAlester in Pittsburg County between the shores of Eufaula Lake and the foothills of the Pine and Jackfork Mountains."
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