Alfalfa County, Oklahoma

Alfalfa County, Oklahoma
Alfalfa County Courthouse Cherokee, Oklahoma Built in 1921
Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Named for	William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray
Seat	Cherokee
Largest city	Cherokee
Area
• Total	881 sq mi (2,282 km2)
• Land	866 sq mi (2,243 km2)
• Water	15 sq mi (39 km2), 1.7%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	5,868
• Density	6.5/sq mi (3/km²)
Congressional district	3rd
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5

Alfalfa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,642. The county seat is Cherokee.

Alfalfa County was formed at statehood in 1907 from Woods County. The county is named after William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, the president of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and ninth governor of Oklahoma, who was instrumental in carving out the county from the original much larger Woods county.

Indigenous peoples inhabited and hunted in this area for thousands of years. By 1750, the Osage had become a dominant tribe in the area. About one third belonged to the band led by Chief Black Dog (Manka - Chonka). Before 1800 they made the Black Dog Trail starting east of Baxter Springs, Kansas and heading southwest to their summer hunting grounds at the Great Salt Plains in present-day Alfalfa County. The Osage stopped at the springs for its healing properties on their way to hunting at the plains, which attracted migratory birds and varieties of wildlife. The Osage name for this fork of the Arkansas River was Nescatunga (big salt water), what European-Americans later called the Salt Fork. The Osage cleared the trail of brush and large rocks, and made ramps at the fords. Wide enough for eight men riding horses abreast, the trail was the first improved road in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The treaties of 1828 and 1835 placed what would later become Alfalfa County within the Cherokee Outlet, which was owned by the Cherokee Nation. Ranching became the primary economic activity from 1870 to 1890 as cattle companies which were part of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association leased grazing land from the Cherokee. Prominent rancher, Major Andrew Drumm operated the "U Ranch" here as early as 1870. Its headquarters were southeast of Driftwood on the Medicine Lodge and Salt Fork rivers.