Le Flore County is a county along the eastern border of the U.S state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,129. Its county seat is Poteau. The county is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area and the name honors a Choctaw family named LeFlore. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma is the federal district court with jurisdiction in LeFlore County.
Latimer County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its county seat is Wilburton. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,444. The county was created at statehood in 1907 and named for James L. Latimer, a delegate from Wilburton to the 1906 state Constitutional Convention. Prior to statehood, it had been for several decades part of Gaines County, Sugar Loaf County, and Wade County in the Choctaw Nation.
Heavener is a city in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,414 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.7 percent from 3,201 at the 2000 census. Heavener is notable for the Heavener Runestone just outside the city limits.
Poteau is a city in, and county seat of, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 8,520 as of the 2010 census.
Shady Point, sometimes referred to as Shadypoint, is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,026 at the 2010 census, a 21.0 percent increase over the figure of 848 recorded in 2000.
Talihina is a town in LeFlore County, Oklahoma, United States, its name originating from two Choctaw words, tully and hena, meaning iron road. Iron road is reference to the railroad that the town was built around. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 925 at the time of the 2020 Census.
Wister is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The population was 1,102 at the 2010 census. Wister is named for Gutman G. Wister, an official with the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad.
Antlers is a city in and the county seat of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,453 at the 2010 census, a 3.9 percent decline from 2,552 in 2000. The town was named for a kind of tree that becomes festooned with antlers shed by deer, and is taken as a sign of the location of a spring frequented by deer.
Cavanal Hill, located near Poteau, Oklahoma, is described by a sign at its base as the "'World's Highest Hill' – Elevation: 1,999 feet". The actual summit elevation is 2,385 feet (727 m) above sea level; the difference in elevation between the summit and the Poteau River 3 miles (5 km) to the north is 1,960 feet (600 m).
The Poteau River is a 141-mile (227 km) long river located in the U.S. states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is the only river in Oklahoma that flows north and is the seventh largest river in the state. It is a tributary of the Arkansas River, which itself is a tributary of the Mississippi River. During the Indian Territory period prior to Oklahoma's statehood (1838-1906), the stream served as the boundary between Skullyville County and Sugar Loaf County, two of the counties making up the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.
The Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory was part of the overall Butterfield Overland Mail service (1857–1861) created by Congress March 3, 1857. The route crossed Indian Territory from Colbert's Ferry to Fort Smith, Arkansas which was the Center for the Overland Mail's' 7th Division. Fort Smith was also the junction point of the south bound coaches with the Memphis mail and its passengers. From Fort Smith the 7th Division route crossed the Poteau River into Indian Territory into the Choctaw Nation at Skullyville and left the Chickasaw Nation at Colbert's Ferry into Texas. There were 12 stage stations in Indian Territory, located from 13 to 19 miles (31 km) apart. The total length of the route across the territory was approximately 197 miles (317 km). The Butterfield route met with the Texas Road near Geary's Station and followed it southward to the Red River.
Fourche Maline is a 70.0-mile-long (112.7 km) tributary of the Poteau River in Oklahoma. The headwaters of Fourche Maline are in the Sans Bois Mountains in northwest Latimer County. It flows southwestward through Robbers Cave State Park, then southeastward past Wilburton before turning eastward until it reaches the Poteau River in Le Flore County. Fourche Maline's confluence with the Poteau River is now submerged in Lake Wister, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the confluence. The distance from origin to confluence is about 37 miles (60 km) Oklahoma Historian Muriel Wright translated the French name as meaning "treacherous fork" in English. During the days of the Indian Territory, Fourche Maline served as the boundary between Skullyville County and Sugar Loaf County, two of the constituent counties making up the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.
Lake Wister is a reservoir in Le Flore County, in southeast Oklahoma. The lake is created by the Poteau River and the Fourche Maline creek. Wister Lake was authorized for flood control and conservation by the Flood Control Act of 1938. The project was designed and built by the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers. Construction began in April 1946, and the project was placed in full flood control operation in December 1949.
U.S. Highway 59 (US-59) heads along the eastern portion of the state of Oklahoma. US-59's 216.47-mile (348.37 km) route through Oklahoma takes it through the mountainous terrain of the eastern Oklahoma Ouachitas and Ozarks. US-59 serves several lakes and towns through Oklahoma's Green Country, including Grand Lake, a major recreation center. The route enters the state from Arkansas near Fogel, Arkansas, and ends at the Kansas state line south of Chetopa, Kansas.
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, Albion and Smithville. The foothills of the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Haskell County, Northern Latimer County and Northern Pittsburg County. Its peaks, which line up south of the Kiamichi River, reach 2,500 feet in elevation. The range was the namesake of Kiamichi Country, the official tourism designation for southeastern Oklahoma, until the designation was changed to Choctaw Country.
Oklahoma State Highway 83 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The route, which lies entirely within Le Flore County, connects US-59 between Howe and Poteau to the Arkansas state line. Along the way, SH-83 serves the town of Monroe. Its total length is 11.36 miles (18.28 km). The highway has no lettered spur routes.
Petros is an unincorporated community in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located approximately two miles south of Heavener, Oklahoma and one mile north of the Poteau River.
Sugar Loaf County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Moshulatubbee District, or First District, one of three administrative super-regions.
The Poteau Valley Railroad was a shortline running from Calhoun, Oklahoma to Shady Point, Oklahoma, encompassing 7.883 mi (12.686 km) of track. It began in 1900 and was abandoned in 1926.
Calhoun, originally called Sutter, is an unincorporated community in Le Flore County in the State of Oklahoma, approximately 7 miles northwest of Poteau, the county seat. Located about 6.5 driving miles west-southwest of Shady Point, Oklahoma, Calhoun can be reached off of US Route 59 at Shady Point by heading west on County Road D1310, then County Road 90. The town is just northwest of Cavanal Hill, which makes the eccentric boast of being the “world’s highest hill.”
