Editing Catoosa, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The [[Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)|Cherokee Nation]] controlled the region during the 19th century.<ref name="odell">[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CA074 Larry O'Dell, "Catoosa," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.] Accessed May 30, 2010.</ref> After the [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]] laid tracks in the early 1880s, the community became a cow town, with the establishment of William Halsell's Bird Creek Ranch. In 1883, the Federal Government opened a post office here.<ref name="odell"/>

The name of the city is derived from the Cherokee language, phonetically pronounced "Ga-du-si" or "Ga-tu-si". Various interpretations of this word exist, including: "between two hills", "on the hill", "into the hills", and possibly signifying a prominent hill or place thereon.

Catoosa was home to [[Blue Duck (outlaw)|Bluford "Blue" Duck]], the infamous outlaw depicted in ''[[Lonesome Dove]]''. He is buried in Dick Duck Cemetery located at the intersection of 193rd and Pine street.

The town grew from a population of 241 in 1900 to 410 by 1910. The local economy included a grain elevator, a cotton gin and mill, a marble works and some coal mines.<ref name="odell"/> By 1930, the population was back down to 264, but by 1960, was up to 638.<ref name="odell"/>

In 1971, the [[Tulsa Port of Catoosa]] opened and gave the town an economic boom.<ref name="odell"/> The port's {{convert|2000|acre|km2|adj=on}} industrial park provided jobs for over 2,600 workers by the 21st century.<ref name="odell"/> {{as of|December 2013}}, it had 70 businesses with over 4,000 workers. The port connects to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico via the [[McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/employment/tulsa-port-of-catoosa-job-cargo-numbers-near-record-highs/article_f3f118a8-1381-5684-991b-737afd178d1f.html|title=Tulsa Port of Catoosa job, cargo numbers near record highs|last=Arnold|first=Kyle|date=February 27, 2014|work=[[Tulsa World]]|access-date=July 5, 2015}}</ref>

On the evening of April&nbsp;24, 1993, the town was struck by an [[Fujita scale|F4]] tornado. Seven people were left dead in the tornado's wake, with six of the fatalities at a truck stop and one in a trailer park. In the aftermath of the tornado, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damage,<ref>{{cite web|title=Killer Tornadoes in Oklahoma (1950-Present)|url=https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-ok-killer|publisher=National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma|access-date=October 3, 2017}}</ref> 100 National Guard troops were deployed by Governor [[David Walters]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tornado Demolishes Oklahoma Town|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/26/us/tornado-demolishes-oklahoma-town.html|newspaper=The New York Times|last=Hayes|first=Thomas C.|date=April 26, 1993|access-date=October 3, 2017}}</ref>