Editing Bokoshe, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Main street. Bokoshe, Le Flore County, Oklahoma. - NARA - 540661.jpg|thumb|right|Main Street in Bokoshe (1946)]]
Bokoshe was a Choctaw settlement in 1886, when a post office was established, with William A. Sanner serving as the first Postmaster.<ref>''First Post Offices within the Boundaries of Oklahoma'' by George H. Shirk;  {{cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v026/v026p179.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=October 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523215946/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v026/v026p179.pdf |archivedate=May 23, 2011 }}</ref> At the time of its founding, Bokoshe was located in the [[Moshulatubbee District]] of the Choctaw Nation.<ref>Morris, John W. ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1986), plate 38.</ref>  The principal business was a coal mine that employed 10 miners. By 1900, the population was 153. The [[Fort Smith and Western Railway]] built tracks in 1901 to this area to ship the coal elsewhere. The [[Midland Valley Railroad]] built its own line in 1903-1904. The town moved south from its initial location to the intersection of the two railroads. Two other coal mines soon opened nearby, and the population grew to 483 by 1910. By 1920, the census reported a population of 869.<ref name = "EOHC-Bokoshe"/>

Bokoshe's mines fared better during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] than those elsewhere in the state. By 1930, the population had declined to 690, and continued dropping to 431 in 1960. The coal industry recovered and the town's population rebounded to 588 in 1970, then fell again to 403 in 1990. The population was 450 in 2000 and 512 in 2010.<ref name = "EOHC-Bokoshe"/>

On February 1, 1958, the town was the location of a train collision on the Midland Valley Railroad. Westbound train 41 collided head-on with eastbound train 42 on the curve at Bokoshe. Four crew members died and seven were injured. This was the only serious accident in the history of the Midland Valley system.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://condrenrails.com/FSVB/Midland%20Valley/MV-Bokoshe-Wreck.htm |title= MV Wreck Bokoshe,OK 2/1/58|publisher=Condrenrails.com|accessdate=October 23, 2019}}</ref>