#4: [21-Oct-07]

#3: [22-Mar-06]

#1: [07-Mar-01]

24-Aug-2004 -- The North Rover Oil Field confluence point is located north of the Canadian River in southern Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma (population 66,000, 793 square miles).

Directions: From the intersection with U. S. Highway 177 and state routes 3W & 59 at Asher, Oklahoma, go west 4.2 miles on state highway 39. Turn right on NS337 and go .9 miles. Turn right on EW139, go .1 mile, and turn right to park at gate with cattleguard.

Changes since 2001: Roads 337 and 139 have both been improved and now have all-weather gravel surfaces. EW139 is still very narrow [Photo 8], but once I left Highway 39, I encountered no traffic. The abandoned pumping equipment still remains, but the surrounding field has not been used for grazing for several seasons. From the CP, the pond about fifty yards to the south is partly obscured by the waist high brush.

Location history: Settled by Seminole, Creek, Citizen Band Pottawatomie, Absentee Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Sac and Fox Indian tribes, this area was opened to white settlement in the Land Run of September 22, 1891 and was designated County "B." the county name was changed by vote in 1892 to honor the Pottawatomie Indians and means "people of the place of fire."

Tecumseh, originally the county seat, soon lost to the fast growing community of Shawnee which was also in competition for the state capitol. City fathers even went so far as to build a proposed governor's mansion. The oil and railroad industries were vital to the development of some Pottawatomie County towns and the decline of others, but agriculture has remained a mainstay of the county's economy.

History comes to life in annual celebrations such as "Frontier Days" in Tecumseh, the Heritage Fest in Shawnee and the historic Santa Fe depot, built in 1903, still stands in Shawnee along with other early structures. Pottawatomie County is the site of the Shawnee Indian Reservation and has 63 "Ghost Towns."

Pottawatomie County has two institutions of higher education. Offices of the Shawnee, Pottawatomie, and Sac and Fox tribes are located in the county.

Two units of the National Park System are within a short drive of this CP: Chickasaw National Recreation Area and the Oklahoma City National Memorial.