This description ("11 north range 15 east north of North Fork River") makes more sense if we understand the grid system used for "public lands"; it refers back to the government survey of the land. The township is 11 north & the range is 15 east. (They've just left out the word "township" -- it seemed obvious back then.) Each "township" is/was, not necessarily a town, but a square of sections, each section being one square mile (& also numbered). Sometimes, townships also got names as well as numbers, but this one apparently didn't. If you look at a plat map of the area, where "Twp 11N, R15E" is should be pretty clear and "north of North Fork River" is an additional locator. Where there aren't really towns or street addresses, the grid system gives as good a description of what area is included as it is possible to get. My guess is that there are current maps of Creek County with the townships & ranges plotted; these haven't changed. More land descriptions: Deeds in public land states often have cryptic descriptions, like "SW/4 NE/4 S13 T11N R15E". This translates to the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 13, township 11 north, range 15 east. Since a section has 640 acres and this is 1/16 of a section (1/4 of 1/4), this describes a parcel of 40 acres. But, the above is a lot easier to to trace than a "metes & bounds" description, which often references trees that have long been gone. And, for a public lands description, you don't have to decipher the neighbors' property lines, also often referenced in metes & bounds. -ralph ----- Original Message ----- > > Message Board Post: > , now if you will look at this url: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~itgenweb/itprojects/census/1900-it-eds.htm > > I looked at the top of the 1900 census you were talking about and it showed the description of the area as: > Indian Territory > Creek Nation > 11 north range 15 east north of North Fork River > > I tried to figure out where this was but had a little difficulty. You might contact the coordinator of this page and she may be ablet o help you figure out exactly where they were. > > > > ==== OKCREEK Mailing List ==== > Have you visited our Creek Co. PhotoGallery? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~okcreek/photos/ > Have one you'd like to share?? email me creek_co@yahoo.com >