BIXBY

    þ Continue west on 131st Street to Memorial Avenue and turn left/south.
    þ   Travel south to Washington Irving Park.
    þ   Turn to the right/west into the park just before you reach the Arkansas River.

At noon the morning of October 12, 1832, the bugle sounded to horse and the Tourists were on the march to their campsite north of Bixby. They passed an Osage village. Earlier Irving described the Osages.

. . . their dress . . . (consisted) of blankets, leggings, and moccasons. . . . their hair was cropped close, excepting a bristling ridge on top, like the crest of a helmet, with a long scalp lock hanging behind. They had fine Roman countenances, and broad deep chests . . . WI 21

It was in this village that Count Pourtalès purchased some real necessities. Commissioner Ellsworth certainly gave him credit for that.

. . . we started without a single dish, or plate, and thus far, eat out of the top part of a tin kettle. M. Pourteles, purchased three Osage bowls, made out of knots of a tree-the largest hold 4 quarts, & the smallest 3 pints-- . . . The bowls were distributed, as follows. The middle size one, to M Irving & myself, the Largest, to M Latrobe, Pourteles, & Brailey, & the other, to our 3 servants. HLE 21 22

The party pushed on passing Creek villages and farmhouses.

(The Creek men wore) . . . calico hunting shirts of various brilliant colors, decorated with bright fringes, and belted with broad girdles, embroidered with beads . . . WI 22

It was twilight when weariness overtook them. The Rangers were still ahead. . . . hoping to reach the camp of the rangers before nightfall, we pushed on until twilight, when we were obliged to halt on the borders of a ravine. The rangers bivouacked under trees, at the bottom of the dell, while we pitched out tent on a rocky knoll near a running stream. WI 42

They spent the night across the Arkansas River from Bixby, a community named for Tams Bixby, Indian agent in the early days. Washington Irving Park is north of the Arkansas River to the south of 131st Street on Memorial. It is on the west side of Memorial. The actual campsite was perhaps closer to Mingo, but this park is a poetic place to start. As Irving and party settled in to sleep that night, some Osages were mingled among them and their ranger escorts. The young Osage men enjoyed a meal and coffee. Then they lay, side by side, before the campfire.

(They) . . . began a low nasal chant, drumming with their hands upon their breasts, by way of accompaniment. Their chant seemed to consist of regular staves, every one terminating, not in melodious cadence, but in the abrupt interjection huh! Uttered almost like a hiccup. . . . they spoke of the young Count, whose animated character and eagerness for Indian enterprise had struck their fancy, and they indulged in some waggery about him and the young Indian beauties that produced great merriment. . . WI 43 The young Count had something to say about this 1832 rap session. . . . they treated us to a half dozen erotic songs which sounded like the far-off howling of wolves on a winter night. Then they lay on their backs, tapped their stomachs to give a very pleasant tremolo wound to their voices, and groaned several arias in which even the most expert ear could not have found the slightest melody, although the tremolo marked the measure quite clearly . . . After the song session and several libations made to the god of tobacco, they rolled up in their blankets, as we did, and slept soundly. CP 48

Irving saw the Indians they met as full human characters, not just stoic.

(I) have occasionally noticed . . . Osages sitting around a fire . . . in the most animated and lively conversation . . . making the woods resound with peals of laughter . . . No one weeps more bitterly or profusely at the death of a relative . . . the Indian of poetical fiction is . . . personification of imaginary attributes. WI 44

All day on the 12th the tourists had traveled hard and fast. They were so weary they slept through a persistent rain shower that lasted the night.

Washington Irving Park
     In Bixby
          At 13700 South Memorial Drive

1825 Osage Land Ceded to Muscogee Creeks.
1832 Commissioner Ellsworth passed through.
1897 Tams Bixby of the Dawes Commission came to Indian Territory.
1899 Bixby Post Office was established. A street was named Dawes.
2002 World Trade Center Memorial was dedicated.
2005 Washington Irving’s Sunnyside is the backdrop for a new amphitheater.

As you enter the park, you will see a distorted sculpture that brings 2001 crashing down on the tranquility of 1832. A portion of the World Trade Center sits between the blustering noise of the highway and the forested park.

WORLD TRADE CENTER
MEMORIAL
DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 11, 2002
This steel beam is
From the September 11, 200l,
World Trade Center terrorist attack.
This memorial is dedicated
to the innocent victims who lost their lives.

Beyond the 9-11-01 Memorial is the plaque honoring Washington Irving and the tour. Get out and look at the plaque that describes the site. It reads:

In A Tour on the Prairies
the great writer Washington Irving
describes his tour on the prairies
on horseback in Oklahoma
with the U.S. Rangers from Fort Gibson.
Irving camped on the creek near here on
October 12, 1832.

Another plaque lists the modern tourist the park’s benefactors.

PARKING LOT & PARK TRAILS PROJECT
BIXBY MADE POSSIBLE BY PARTNERSHIPS WITH
THE NATIONAL
RECREATIONAL TRAILS FUND PROGRAM
THE OKLAHOMA
TOURISM & RECREATION DEPARTMENT
AND
THE FRIENDS OF IRVING FOUNDATION

Look north into the park. In a straight line from the park gate is a mighty elm that could prove a lovely refuge. Walk around and experience native Oklahoma plants. Walk back into the park to see Irving’s Sunnyside and the amphitheater. Irving camped at the park or near it on October 12.

 

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