Little Dixie

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Dixie_%28Oklahoma%29

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Historical mumbojumbo. Skip through this, head for the "Startling Facts".

The area was acquired by the United States through the Louisiana Purchase and became part of the new Arkansas Territory. On April 1, 1820, Arkansas created Miller County which included most of the land that would become Little Dixie. A post office at Miller Courthouse was established on September 7, 1824. Per a treaty signed on January 20, 1825, the land west of a line "one hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and running thence, due south, to Red river" was ceded to the Choctaw Indians. The residents west of the line made a futile attempt to be exempted from the treaty but failed. They burned the courthouse and most of the records before they left.

Some Choctaws had been moving into the region from Mississippi since the Treaty of Doak Stand in 1820, but following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the government began their forced removal. By 1834, nearly 8,000 Choctaws had arrived in their new land over the "trail of tears and death". At Ninih Waiya, near the present Tuskahoma Council House, they established a capitol and adopted the first constitution ever written in what is now Oklahoma. The Choctaws actively supported the Confederacy during the Civil War and but were allowed to keep most of their land in eastern Indian Territory. In 1898, after pressure from Washington, they agreed to an allotment plan administered by the Dawes Commission. Their excess lands and those of the allied Chickasaw were opened to settlement by non-Indians.

Reconstruction following the Civil War left the South financially ruined and many of its citizens dispossessed. When the Indian lands were opened, these dispossessed Southerners flocked to the Indian Nations for a new start, especially to the old Choctaw reserve. So many homesteaded in the area that they markedly influenced the politics and culture of the region. In the decades that followed, it became known as Little Dixie. Many of the residents still refer to themselves as Southerners. Many people are split over whther or not to call Oklahoma Southern or Western.

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Startling Facts.

Little Dixie, an area contained within Southeastern Oklahoma, and is home to 305,395 people. The median per capita income is $13,948, almost $10,000 less than the state average of $23,517, which would obviously be much higher w/o Little Dixie. The region is 80% democratic, and while all but one county voted for Bush in the recent elections, Pushmataha County voted nearly 90% for John Kerry. Many of the citizens proudly refer to themselves as yellow-dog Democrats for Pete's sakes! The US House District that includes most of the region kept Democrat Carl Albert elected for thirty year, the last six as Speaker of the House. Up until the latter part of the 20th Century, only one Republican managed to carry the region, it was Wes Watkins. Who, actually joined the Democratic party just for the election, but when he was forced to rejoin the GOP, he still won by an overwhelming margin is 1991. I really believe this is the part of Oklahoma most people think of, a losuy, poor, blue collar, union section of Oklahoma, with less than 10 percent of the state's population.

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Mountains.

The Ouachita Mountains alone cover nearly 80% of Little Dixie. Some of it's ranges include the Jack Fork Mountains, the Winding Stair Mountians, and the sans Bois Range. Talimena Drive, well known for it's beatiful panoramic views of the Ouachita Mountians, is a popular tourist destination. The area also offers up Skyline Drive, another version of Talimena Drive.

[HoustonianInColorado]

Nice photo. Lots of memories for me in that area. When my grandfather was alive, he had a small farm in Pushmataha County, just NE of the town of Snow, OK.

[RedScare]

What is so startling about a group of people so poor that their per capita income is less than 60% of the state average (Oklahoma itself being only 43rd out of 50 states), not voting for a president that lowers taxes on the rich, while cutting services to the poor?

Startling would be if they actually had voted FOR him.

[editor]

not voting for a president that lowers taxes on the rich, while cutting services to the poor?

Glad to see you've got the Democratic party line memorized. It must save you the trouble of thinking for yourself.

[LTAWACS]

oik

[Houston19514]

Wikipedia has its facts wrong. Pushmataha County did NOT vote 90% for Kerry. In fact, it voted for Bush, 60%-40%. I also think they got that bit about Wes Watkins joining the Democratic Party just for the election and then joining the GOP completely screwed up.

[RedScare]

Glad to see you've got the Democratic party line memorized.  It must save you the trouble of thinking for yourself.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Since this is not a political thread, I won't go there, but editor, I am most surprised at your attempt at starting a flame war, since this is your forum. Believe me, when it comes to this president, I can easily hold my own. And I don't get my material from Democrats.