Editing Comanche County, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Big Pasture 1905.png|right|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of Comanche County in 1905]]

The land that is present day Oklahoma was first settled by prehistoric American Indians including the [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] 11500 [[Common Era|BCE]], [[Folsom tradition|Folsom]] 10600 BCE and [[Plano cultures|Plainview]] 10000 BCE cultures. Western explorers came to the region in the 16th century with Spanish explorer [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado]] visiting in 1541. Most of the region during this time was settled by the [[Wichita people|Wichita]] and [[Caddo]] people. Around the 1700s, two tribes from the North, the Comanches and Kiowas, migrated to the Oklahoma and Texas region.<ref name="okhistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/14-histry.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218215829/http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/14-histry.pdf |archive-date=February 18, 2006 |url-status=live |author=Oklahoma Department of Libraries |title=Oklahoma Almanac 2005 - Oklahoma History |pages=687–691| access-date=April 25, 2011}}</ref>

For most of the 18th century, the Oklahoma region was under French control as [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]]. In 1803, the [[Louisiana Purchase]] by [[Thomas Jefferson]] brought the area under United States control. In 1830, Congress passed the [[Indian Removal Act]], which removed American Indian tribes and relocated them to [[Indian Territory]]. The southern part of the territory was originally assigned to the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]] until 1867 when the [[Medicine Lodge Treaty]] allotted the southwest portion of the Choctaw and Chickasaw's lands to the [[Comanche]], [[Kiowa]], and [[Fort Sill Apache Tribe|Apache]] tribes.<ref name="okhistory" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Kappler |first=Charles|title=Indian Affairs: Laws and treaties, Volume 2|publisher=Government Printing Office |page=755| location=Washington D.C.|year=1903|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GdEUAAAAYAAJ&q=lodge&pg=PA755}}</ref>

[[Fort Sill]] was established in 1869 by Major General [[Philip Sheridan]] who was leading a campaign in Indian Territory to stop raids into Texas by American Indian tribes.<ref name="sill history">[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-sill.htm Fort Sill], [http://www.globalsecurity.org Globalsecurity.org] (accessed May 23, 2010).</ref> In 1874, the [[Red River War]] broke out in the region when the Comanche, Kiowa and Southern Cheyenne left their Indian Territory reservation. Attrition and skirmishes by the US Army finally forced the return of the tribes back to Indian Territory in June 1875.<ref name="sill history"/>

In 1891, the United States Congress appointed a commission to meet with the tribal leaders and come to an agreement allowing white settlement in the region. Years of controversy and legal maneuvering ensued before President [[William McKinley]] issued a proclamation on July 4, 1901, that gave the federal government control over {{convert|2000000|acre|km2}} of surplus Indian land.<ref>''[[Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock]]'', 187 U.S. 553 (1903).</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kappler |first=Charles|title=Indian Affairs: Laws and treaties, Volume 1|publisher=Government Printing Office |page=1012| location=Washington D.C.|year=1904|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4UTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1012}}</ref>

Three {{convert|320|acre|km2|adj=on}} sites in [[Kiowa County, Oklahoma|Kiowa]], [[Caddo County, Oklahoma|Caddo]] and Comanche Counties were selected for county seats with Lawton designated as the Comanche County seat. Non-Indian settlement was opened through an auction of lots beginning on August 6, 1901.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kutchta |first=Howard | title=Lawton, a centennial history, 1901-2001 |publisher=Bell Books |year=2001|page=7,8}}</ref> In December 1906, the south regions of the county reserved for grazing land reserved for American Indian livestock, [[Big Pasture]], were open for settlement.<ref name="EOHC-ComancheCo"/><ref name="okhistorical">{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CO035.html|author=Oklahoma Historical Society|title=Comanche County|access-date=September 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927200818/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CO035.html|archive-date=September 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1910, the western portion of Comanche County and southern part of Kiowa County were used to create the short lived county of [[Swanson County, Oklahoma|Swanson]]. After a lawsuit brought by Comanche County, Swanson County was dissolved by the Supreme Court on June 27, 1911.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v009/v009p412.html|title=Chronicles of Oklahoma Swanson County|access-date=September 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629165344/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v009/v009p412.html|archive-date=June 29, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1912, the southern portion of Comanche County, which at the time extended to the Red River, were used to create the new county of Cotton County.<ref name="okhistorical"/>