ABSTRACT
Approaching the Oklahoma border from Paris, Texas, travelers are often startled by the abrupt change between the dry, brush-covered plains of northern Texas and the green wall of trees that suddenly rises on the Oklahoma side of the Red River. Serving as the present boundary between Oklahoma and Texas, the Red River was the southern border of the Choctaw Nation, and it was used by Choctaw planters to ship cotton down to New Orleans. To the North, the Canadian River divided the Nation from the Cherokees, and the eastern and western borders separated the Choctaws from Arkansas and the Chickasaw District.
