CREEK AGENCY

NAME: Creek Agency COUNTY: Muskogee ROADS: 2WD GRID: 3 CLIMATE: Cold winters, hot summers. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Any time, but it is all privately owned land.

COMMENTS: Current residents consist largely of descendants of the Rev. John Bemo. None of the original roads exist, but you can get to this location by traveling on Fern Mountain Road northwest of Muskogee. REMAINS: No visible remains of the city. The grave of Rev. John Bemo has been recently located.

Prior to 1850 there were very few towns in the Three Forks area. Besides Fort Gibson, the earliest settlement in the vicinity was Creek Agency. Around 1828, A.P. Chouteau sold his trading post on the east bank of the Verdigris River near present day Okay to David Brearley, the newly appointed Creek agent. Brearley had been put in charge of overseeing the Creek removal from their lands in the southeastern United States to Indian Territory. The first Creek emigrants arrived at this site in February 1828, on the steamboat Facility. This was the first steamboat to travel up the Verdigris River. Over the next few years, several more steamboats arrived carrying the Creeks to their new home. In New Orleans, steamship companies began advertising Creek Agency as one of their destination points west of the Mississippi. In 1833, a severe flood wiped out the Agency building and most of the little community of trading posts and cabins located at Three Forks. At this time, Creek Agency moved further west to the property of Creek Chief Chilly McIntosh. It was here that Creek Agency gained a post office in 1843. From this location, the Creek Agency made another move around 1851 to the south side of the Arkansas River at the base of Fern Mountain. Early fur traders had already been established in this area for a number of years. A map sketched by a very early settler named T.F. Meagher shows the Creek Agency community just before Muscogee came into being. The Creek Agency was in the center of a group of homes and businesses and the Creek courthouse was located southeast of the agency. The per capita payments by the government to the Creeks were made at the courthouse. A Creek schoolhouse sat to the northeast. Across the road from the Agency building was the store of George Stidham for whom the town of Stidham was named. Later James A. Patterson operated his mercantile in this same building. The Parkinson store was northeast of the agency building and a nearby group of cabins made up Aunt Minerva’s Boarding House, most probably where the Indians stayed when visiting the Agency or coming to trade their furs. A blacksmith shop was another business located nearby. T.F. Meagher’s home was due north of the agency and a number of other cabins were scattered throughout the vicinity. One cabin where Charles Foster lived was known as the Gingerbread Cabin because his wife Nancy Lott baked and sold gingerbread here. Rev. John Bemo, an Indian preacher had a large homestead nearby. According to Meagher’s notations on his map a Civil War battle between Confederate Creek and Cherokee forces and Union Creek, Cherokee and Osage forces occurred near the Agency. He also marked the location of graves of Civil War soldiers, most likely those who were killed in this battle. The Wealaka Road, Tullahassee Road and Hitchita Trail all passed near the Agency. Creek Agency continued as a town until the Missouri-Kansas & Texas Railroad built through the area in 1872. Then the businesses and eventually the agency itself moved into the new town of Muskogee to be closer to the rail line, and the town of Creek Agency eventually ceased to exist. This information was provided by Jonita Mullins. A map of the old town is available for viewing, please contact Amanda Real, 918-781-9023. Submitted by: Amanda Real

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