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I grew up in that area before there was a Broken Bow Lake, Pine Creek Lake or Hugo Lake. Our cattle 'free-ranged on Dierks timber and all the locals would round-up the
cattle in big sorting pens and beside Bear Mountain Tower or up at Cloudy Flats and then take your cattle the rest of the way home.
We didn't take Easter or Spring break to go to Florida, we knew we would be in the hills on horseback bringing down the cows.
Grandpa had an Ol' International pickup that would go anywhere and Uncle William would take his tractor. I grew hunting and fishing the area and didn't worry about fences
because the only fences were at someone's house around their barn and paddock areas and you knew everybody and where they lived.
My Grandpaw was mad as ever when they started building the dam on Mountain Fork River to build Broken Bow Lake. So much of that land was Choctaw land and the
government (Corp of Engineers) just took it. Yes, it is beautiful but it was so much more prestine before they put the lake and dam in on the river.
Hi-Jacker
Man, I remember when the Kiamichi was free flowing. I have a sister-in-law that was born on the west bank of that river about 1/2 mile south of the bridge. I also remember going to boat and tackle shows and what-not and hearing the professional fishermen talk about how much better it will be when the Pine Creek Res. is full. That's a lake I feel like we could really live without.
I remember "volunteering" to help gather cattle too. Once we had a small herd, maybe 20 head, that I couldn't drive out of Bear Canyon, up to the road. So I took it on myself to drive them down the canyon and across the river to a pen on Iron Springs road. I hated those cows, and that horse, and everyone who thought that owning either was a good idea.
-Stimp-
After I got back from Iraq in 04 I went up to Iron Tree corral on the South Fork of the Glover ( west of the Pow-Wow tree). That thing is still standing. As kids, my cousin and I got caught in a bad storm and we weathered it out at the old corral shed. We didn't think we would live through out the night but we fell asleep and woke up next morning to have to move cattle home.
The old "Round Hole" on the Kiamichi was the best fishing hole for a hundred mile around. Grandpa put his foot thru the bottom of his home-made wooden flat bottom and nearly drown when it capsized. His leg was caught in the bottom and he was under water for an eternity before he got freed.
I wrote a short story about my Grandpa when I was a kid growing up if you ever care to read it.
