![]() This area was within the reservation of the Cherokee Nation.Ī post office opened at Webbers Falls in 1856. At his direction, slaves built a house here that was a replica of his former antebellum mansion in Georgia, the Chief Vann House. He settled nearby and established a plantation, where he worked some of his more than 200 slaves he brought with him. Joseph Vann, a/k/a "Rich Joe" Vann, was among the thousands of Cherokee emigrants forced from Georgia during Indian Removal. According to the Webbers Falls Historical Museum, this is the second-oldest town in the former Indian Territory. In the late 1830s and 1840, the mass of thousands of Cherokee from the Southeast were forcibly moved into Indian Territory as a result of the US policy of Indian Removal. They finally agreed that year, in exchange for an increased amount of land and annuities. The Western Cherokee resisted sharing their territory with immigrants to be resettled from the Southeast, as the US government proposed in 1834. Webber was among the early leaders of the Cherokee in this area, one of their representatives when meeting with US agents and going to Washington, DC for meetings. In the early years when Webber was in the territory, there was considerable conflict with the Osage people, who were forced by the United States government to give up some of their territory to the Cherokee, in a Treaty of 1828. Webber also built a salt works, leasing the land for the latter from the Cherokee government, which held it communally as a tribe. When English-speaking visitors came, one of their African-American slaves and domestic servants would translate. They had adopted many American ways and outfitted their house in European-American style. Of mixed-race Cherokee-European descent, Webber was married to a full-blood Cherokee. Having acquired a small fleet of keelboats, he was able to stock the post with goods from other parts of the United States, so he opened a trading post and a portage service, as well as building a house. She spoke at the ceremony Monday.Webber had settled here with some of the first Cherokee to go to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River it was then considered part of Arkansas Territory. Terri Angier, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation when the bridge collapsed. ![]() 'Very surreal, tragic time': ODOT spokeswoman remembers 2002 Webbers Falls bridge collapse I think if I had not went out there there would have been a lot more off in there," Pollard said.įormer Oklahoma Highway Patrol public information officer Chris West, who is the Canadian County, Oklahoma Sheriff today, remembered responding to the bridge disaster 20 years ago. I went out to one side of the bridge to try to keep more people from going off in it. "I was on duty that morning and I got a call right after it happened. He saved lives by stopping traffic on the west side of the bridge on I-40. Pollard was on duty as a police officer in Webbers Falls when the bridge collapse. "We haven't decided for sure yet," Pollard said. "I don't know if we will do this any more after this 20th anniversary," Pollard said. ‘A helpless feeling’: Webbers Falls bridge collapse witness still thinks of those lost I-40 bridge disaster: How this Oklahoma reporter navigated tragedy and uncertainty to cover I-40 bridge disaster Pollard spoke at the ceremony Monday, to remember the 14 victims who died. Webbers Falls, Oklahoma Mayor John Pollard was a police officer when the Interstate 40 bridge collapsed May 26, 2002. Janette Barlow of Wimberley, Texas traveled to Webbers Falls Sunday to remember victim Gail Shanahan. Watching my kids grow up and knowing that Shae was just a year and a half difference from my youngest daughter," Billie Eppler said. It's holidays with my children, things like that. She said holidays are difficult, even two decades later. We didn't find out for sure until Tuesday evening," Eppler recalls. We were trying to catch them on their cellphones, (James and Misty Johnson) and just the unknown. "It was a phone call from my mom asking me if I was okay. 'I was shocked': First trooper to arrive at Webbers Falls bridge disaster recalls scene Gone but not forgotten: Former mayor to host memorial in honor of Webbers Falls bridge tragedy Everybody loved Jim," Eppler said.īillie Eppler said she remembers, "disbelief," when she answered a telephone call from her mother 20 years ago about the tragedy at Webbers Falls. He was just a great person in our area in our community. She talked about her late brother at Webbers Falls Monday. She said she lives with the memories of losing three family members among the 14 people who died. ![]() Billie Eppler of Alma is the sister of James Johnson who was at Webbers Falls Monday. ![]()
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