BUILDING THE NEW SULPHUR SPRINGS

In August of 1903, the inhabitants of Sulphur Springs were officially asked to leave the reservation. Owners of buildings were paid for their improvements or they could move them. If the owners refused to take the payment or move the buildings, it made little difference since all the buildings remaining were to be razed.

The now thoroughly disgruntled citizens needed a new townsite and they needed a plat of the new town. The Curtis Act of 1898 directed that all towns of over 200 population be surveyed and platted. Although the town had been platted before the establishment of the preserve, the town had moved twice and had to be re-platted.

Disputes quickly arose of which direction the town should grow. Some wanted to move south while others wanted to move east. Still others wanted to expand the town north and west. People began building houses and business and land speculators were having a field day. Each of the groups wanted the government to side with their cause.

Unfortunately, the government was concerned about the continued encroachment on the springs and creeks. It was decided that additional land was needed. The Indian Appropriation Act of April 21, 1904 provided additional funds to buy 218.89 acres at a cost of $60 per acre.

The new land included a parcel to the north on Rock Creek but most of it was to the southeast where the Wilson Springs group was now included in the reservation. The townspeople, who had moved south, out of the reservation, were again forced to move for the second time in two years.

A second round of appraisals was held for the newly acquired land and buildings. Most of the buildings this time just sat vacant. In 1904 a building survey revealed that 101 houses and 11 stores now sat empty. Most of these were in the newly acquired land as 42 structures had already been removed from the original reservation in 1903.

In 1905 a series of sales for the surplus buildings were held to completely remove all the remaining buildings from the reservation. The larger buildings took time to tear down and remove. The large brick Bland Hotel, built by speculators, was not completely torn down until 1908.

One area that seemed to bother Supt. Swords was Block 201 in new Sulphur. There was a cemetery located on the block along with the Chickasaw National Girls School operated by former Chickasaw Governor William Guy.

The cemetery had been used from 1894 to 1903 and there were 115 resting souls. Seven had died in 1901 of "malignant smallpox". Swords wanted the block, although non-contiguous with the reservation, reserved from allotment and put under federal control because he felt that it was "unsanitary and a desecration" to move the graves. The Chickasaws and towns people did not agree. This is now where the Murray County courthouse stands in Sulphur.

Sewage was one of the primary reasons the Chickasaws agreed for the U.S. Government to take possession of the spring's area and the creeks and create a Park. It was always a problem and the waters were in imminent danger of being irrevocably polluted.

The Secretary of the Interior suggested that the new town of Sulphur have a terminus for their new sewer line near Coney Island, a large island in Rock Creek just below where today's Low Water Bridge is located.

Superintendent Greene was appalled at the suggestion that the raw sewage should be dumped in the middle of the Park. The raw sewage would be a detriment to the residents of Sulphur as well as the Park visitors. It would be good for the East Side of town but the West Side was below grade for that location. Greene requested that the Secretary consider the terminus must be one thousand feet below the southern Park boundary.

When Rock Creek got out of its banks during rainy weather, it would often be three or four days before it could be crossed. The citizens of Sulphur offered to build a bridge across Rock Creek on Baseline Road (Broadway) and give it to the government if they were allowed to build the bridge. The Secretary of the Interior agreed and a timber frame bridge was built at a cost of $1,000 and presented to Supt. Swords on Feb. 22, 1904. This being George Washington's birthday, the bridge was named the Washington Bridge.

© Contributed by Dennis Muncrief, October 2006.