Page Contents for Thomas, Oklahoma

Statistics & Facts

Location

Historical Events

Miscellany

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Statistics & Facts

The Oklahoma state capital is Oklahoma City.
The population of Thomas is approximately 1,162 (2004), 1181 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 638 (1990), 467 (2010).
The amount of land area in Thomas is 3.085 sq. kilometers.
The amount of land area in Thomas is 1.2 sq. miles.
The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers.
The distance from Thomas to Washington DC is 1251 miles.
The distance to the Oklahoma state capital is 72 miles. (as the crow flies)
Thomas is positioned 35.74 degrees north of the equator and 98.74 degrees west of the prime meridian.
Thomas elevation is 1,740 feet above sea level.
Thomas median income is $ 30,083 (2000).
The Thomas median home price is $ 42,400 (2000).

Location

in south-central Oklahoma. Other nearby communities include Custer City, Oakwood, Weatherford, Putnam, Hydro, Arapaho, Clinton and Canton.
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Thomas Historical Events

1874 - 1888
The WESTERN CATTLE TRAIL, also called the TEXAS CATTLE TRAIL, the DODGE CITY TRAIL, the ABILENE AND FT. DODGE TRAIL, the FT. GRIFFIN-FT. DODGE TRAIL, and DODGE CITY TRAIL, crossed the Washita River 10 miles west of Thomas.

As far as can be ascertained, the first herd to move up the Western, or Dodge City Trail was in 1874. Four years later, C. F. Doan, a former Ohio Citizen and trader at Fort Sill, established a store near the point where the Trail crossed the Red River from Texas into Oklahoma Territory. In crossing Oklahoma from south to north after leaving Doan's Crossing, the Trail went a few miles east of present day Altus, west of Hobart, east of Elk City, west of Woodward, and west of Buffalo.

Probably the peak year for moving cattle up this trail was in 1881, when 301,000 head crossed the Oklahoma prairies in about 100 herds. Each herd averaged about 3,000 cattle. It took 10 men to handle such a herd and each cowboy required about 7 horses. This meant in a year's time about 300,000 head of cattle, 7,000 horses, and 1,000 men traversed the Great Plains of Oklahoma as they moved from the Texas ranges and ranches to the railroad at Dodge City.

Land openings and range fencing in Oklahoma, along with the building of railroads into Texas, caused the great WESTERN CATTLE TRAIL to cease to exist about 1888.

In the nineteen or twenty years of the Trail's existence, more than seven million cattle moving north waded or swam the Red River at Doan's Crossing, and waded or swam the Washita River near present day Thomas and the South and North Canadian Rivers farther north. This was more than traversed the fabled Chisholm Trail 100 miles to the east. Thomas

Miscellany

The population of Thomas was:
1990 - 1,246
2000 - 1,238
2004 - 1,162