The Cave Near Muskogee OK

[lgadbois]

I found this story very interesting. I did a little research on the subject:

Jim Bullet was a leader of the Creek Nation. He built his home South of Oktaha, and it may have been near Butler Creek. The Creek had a meeting house there. The New Hope Church and cemetery was nearby, and the old tribal cemetery across the road.

The story would lead a person to believe that the chase after the baby was on a trail that was near his home. The trail apparently leads to a nearby hill that was called Saddleback. There are no hills in the area that are identified with this name, but if this place exists, it is probably located South of Oktaha.

Chimney Mountain is West, but it is quite a ways away. Chimney is steep and would be difficult to climb. The first skirmish of the Battle of Honey Spring was near Chimney Mountain. The Confederate Camp was located much further South on North side of Turkey Creek. It was strategically located close to the Texas Trail.

The cache may not have been made by either army. It could have been a collection of clothing and weapons made by the locals after the Battle. The Confederate Camp was too far from either Chimney Mountain or Oktaha, for them to use a local cave for storage at these locations. Maybe the "mountain" or hill was located near the Camp on Turkey Creek.

Certainly, there are old timers in Oktaha that could pinpoint the location of the Bullet cabin.

 

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[Merlyn555]

You are one hundred percent correct with your research lgadbois....

From what I remember when you stood at the sight of the cabin and looked across the road toward the graveyard just to the right of it you could clearly see Saddleback Mountain. The fact that the field is cleared and obstruction free now helps quite a bit. It is a distance away but no more that ten miles tops as the terrain down there at that point does not allow you to see too far.

Jim Bullet chased the creature threw the cemetery all the way to the base of the mountain before he lost the trail. It was then he went and raised a posse from Muskogee and they searched for three days and found nothing. I am positive that a search of local newspapers of the time would reveal the details but I have so far not found any in my own research, this does not mean the story is not true only that I have not been able to verify it.

 

[lgadbois]

After a study of some old and new maps, I have some additional information.

Butler Creek runs to the East of Oktaha. It then turns in a SE direction at the base of a ridge that is the northern end of Rattlesnake Mountain. The New Hope Cemetery is just East of Butler Creek, and the New Hope Church is down the road. There are some other cemeteries nearby, though the Creek burial ground may be next to or near the New Hope Cemetery.

The Honey Springs battleground is along the Texas Road just West of Rattlesnake. Rattlesnake Mountain must be the new name for Saddleback Mountain. The slopes to the West of Jim Bullet's cabin near Butler Creek head right onto the mountain. A topo map shows the ridge is quite steep near the summit in many places.

If I lived in the area, I think I would be inclined to hike and explore the slopes of Rattlesnake. The cache, if it exists, would be a great find!

 

[Merlyn555]

Here is some more facts about the graveyard. It is totally overgrown with mature trees and scrub brush that encompasses the entire cemetery. I doubt if Satalite photography would be able to penetrate the dense over cover, we had a hard time walking through it to find Jim's grave but his marker is a huge stone that was designed to lie flat on the ground. Only the graves closest to the road are marked, there are many more Native American graves and one white family that has an iron railing around their plot.

the bushes and trees come right out to the edge of the dirt road, the gate to the graveyard is almost totally hidden and sits back about 15 to 20 feet from the road, it is a newer metal gate but is all rusted and blends in well with the foliage.

the site across the road, Jim Bullets cabin site, is now a pasture and all signs of the cabin have either disappeared or been removed over the years. You can not see even the remains of the well.

As I said before I would only be guessing but I think you are pretty close.

 

[lgadbois]

Here is a topo of the area:

 

[ammo_u]

How odd, you do a little e-searching and find something you that fits with your personal experiences. I grew up in this general area, South of Muskogee actually.

My parents owned a liquor store and an older gentlemen they called Catfish Jim (or something like that) who was known as an avid treasure hunter would come in every year in the spring to continue his search for a lost Spanish horde and several robbery caches in the area. It really got me going so I decided to hit the woods and look around. I found something very neat. What I found was an old small settlement. I identified the foundations of 3 old cabins...one of which still had the rock cooking pit intact outside the foundation. East of the cabins was an old small cemetery that was defiantly a transitional site. All the headstones were sandstone but one. Several had crude crosses etched in them and very few had dates and names. Several were of a traditional indian styles. One reminded me of the creek with the soul houses (cant remember that lesson) and some looked like something we see here form the Osage of a round rock mound. One day I want to go back there and check this place out again with adult eyes this time arround.... I was 12 when I ran into this place. Never seen anything like it before or since. It is on the Kiamichi (slaughtered the spelling I know) Mountain chain not far from Muskogee.

 

[DocLes]

Any one interested in a search for this cave please contact me. I know the exact spot Jim and Lucy were buried.
[email protected]

 

[Gooner]

Wonderful story, very intriguing. Research and comparison reveals that when young most Yeti, Sasquatch, (call them what you will,) have red or reddish-brown hair, and the hair color darkens with age. They have their own language and dialects, and some can speak broken English. Why one would take a human child I do not know. I also wonder could it be a cache from the end of the civil war, by the elusive Knights of the Golden Circle? Sounds like an excellent idea to commit any searches during the dry part of the winter months and early springtime.

 

[DocLes]

Well tomorrow is the day. I am about 45 min away from this spot, and am going to take a look in the A.M.
I have done a lot of research on this treasure lead, and now it all comes together. Will take a bunch of pic,s
and post them and my finds on the site, along with some very interesting information as soon as I can.

 

[mile-ender]

 

[Gooner]

Well tomorrow is the day. I am about 45 min away from this spot, and am going to take a look in the A.M.
I have done a lot of research on this treasure lead, and now it all comes together. Will take a bunch of pic,s
and post them and my finds on the site, along with some very interesting information as soon as I can.

Looking forward to the pics. Good luck and stay safe.

 

[Gooner]

Well tomorrow is the day. I am about 45 min away from this spot, and am going to take a look in the A.M.
I have done a lot of research on this treasure lead, and now it all comes together. Will take a bunch of pic,s
and post them and my finds on the site, along with some very interesting information as soon as I can.

Looking forward to the pics. Good luck and stay safe.

Came back here kinda looking for those pics. Hope DocLes is okay and the snowsnakes didn't get him.

 

[Roland58]

Just happened to cross this thread. As a note, I believe the mountains that are referred to are the "Ouachita Mountains", not, "Whachita", although pronounced about the same.

EDIT: I originally posted "Wa--sh--i--ta".....without the dashes and some of the letters got deleted, .

EDIT:<My sincere apologies for the misspelling of the OP's reference, however, it was not intentional.> I guess it was the computer that automatically "deleted" the improper sound in the middle of the mountain name by virtue of the letter combination, . That makes me wonder if one were to use a legitimate term with that combination of letters, would it get deleted? Let us see......This is from the Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mi--deleted--s

mi--deleted-- / Sport
n [ˈmɪsˌhɪt]
(General Sporting Terms) a faulty shot or stroke
vb [ˌmɪsˈhɪt] -hits, -hitting, -hit
(General Sporting Terms) to hit (a ball) with a faulty stroke


Another EDIT: Yep, by golly, it does......that'll learn me. For those of you with dirty minds, you have surely figured it out......the rest of you just be careful of how you spell things,

 

[Gooner]

Wah-shi-tah, the short "I" sound. I thought he said Kiamichi, Still hoping he made it there and back again safely. Looking forward to those pics.
I wonder if that applies as well to the Japanese name Yamashita.

 

[Roland58]

Wah-shi-tah, the short "I" sound. I thought he said Kiamichi, Still hoping he made it there and back again safely. Looking forward to those pics.

Yeah, me too. I'm looking forward to the pics and what he found. Just hope the "boogers" didn't get him!! (is it okay to say 'boogers?')

 

[Gooner]

Wah-shi-tah, the short "I" sound. I thought he said Kiamichi, Still hoping he made it there and back again safely. Looking forward to those pics.

Yeah, me too. I'm looking forward to the pics and what he found. Just hope the "boogers" didn't get him!! (is it okay to say 'boogers?')

Yes, unless you are talking about the nasal variety. I don't think we can say "spooks" and "haints" unless we refrain from using them as nouns. You know, I've never had any problems on this forum, nothing here spooks me and never a booger has hainted me.Lead by example. When I was in the BoyScouts we went to a summer camp on Grand Lake, Camp Washita. I wonder if it is tribally connected by name to Ouichita. Anyone know the meaning of the word?

 

[Roland58]

Wah-shi-tah, the short "I" sound. I thought he said Kiamichi, Still hoping he made it there and back again safely. Looking forward to those pics.

Yeah, me too. I'm looking forward to the pics and what he found. Just hope the "boogers" didn't get him!! (is it okay to say 'boogers?')

Yes, unless you are talking about the nasal variety. I don't think we can say "spooks" and "haints" unless we refrain from using them as nouns. You know, I've never had any problems on this forum, nothing here spooks me and never a booger has hainted me.Lead by example. When I was in the BoyScouts we went to a summer camp on Grand Lake, Camp Wa--deleted--a. I wonder if it is tribally connected by name to Ouichita. Anyone know the meaning of the word?

Its Choctaw meaning is "Big Hunt­ing Ground," but it also means, "sil­ver water." The latter meaning being in reference to the Neosho River.

 

[DocLes]

I just made it back home to Phoenix. Had a great time! Picks will be posted soon. Plus it exposed a lot of answers, but it also created a lot more questions.

 

[Roland58]

I just made it back home to Phoenix. Had a great time! Picks will be posted soon. Plus it exposed a lot of answers, but it also created a lot more questions.

Glad you made it back safely. Apparently, you didn't have to rent a U-Haul to bring back the hoard of goodies, ?

 

[k10silv]

I just made it back home to Phoenix. Had a great time! Picks will be posted soon. Plus it exposed a lot of answers, but it also created a lot more questions.

Still waiting on an update