The Historic Cookson Hills Dictionary

A study in linguistics, lifestyle, sociology, and history of our heritage.


"The Cookson Hills Dictionary" provides the reader an insight to the hard-working, God-fearing, ingenious, inventive, and adventurous pioneers, who built the foundation of the country we enjoy today.


Some of the terms we use now originated during Medieval times, over 600 years ago, and the source of terms are documented, where available.

Originally begun and intended as a small glossary in the back of Gary Courtney's book on the Cookson Hills history, the collection became a full-fledged book on its own, thanks to the contributions of local residents and Gary's Oklahoma roots.

Historical chapters pertain to the Cookson Hills, but the dictionary itself could apply to the language and pioneer lifestyle of all early America.

The Cookson Hills, on the Illinois River in northeast Oklahoma, were:

The site of a large population of ancient inhabitants (over 1,000 years ago),
The new home of the Cherokee Nation (1828-1839),
Sam Houston's home, before he left for Texas,
Levi Cookson's open range for thousands of head of cattle worked by 200 cowboys,
A favorite hideout of outlaws, such as: Belle Starr, Jesse James, and the Doolin and Dalton gangs (1880's), and Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Carl Janaway (1930's),
The site of many family farms taken for Camp Gruber, during World War II, and
Scene of the book and movie filming of "Where the Red Fern Grows".

The rugged limestone bluffs and crystal-clear, spring-fed streams are where Gary Courtney, a born adventurer, has walked, camped, fished and hunted, ridden horseback, SCUBA dived, and explored underground in caves, since childhood. The area is now a water sports, hunting, and trail riding Mecca, Intermingled with horse and cattle ranches and farms, the Cherokee Nation, and Northeastern State University.

His writings and two one-month-long museum exhibits at Northeastern State University on the Cookson Hills history and outlaw Carl Janaway, last surviving bank robber of the 1930's, have been the subjects of Gary Courtney's guest speaking engagements at local civic organizations and at the Sam Noble Museum at Oklahoma University.

Inspiration for the book came from Gary's grandmother, Cleva Pauline (York) Tillman and grandfather, James Grover Cleveland "Cleve" Tillman, who pioneered the homestead cotton fields of Hollis, Oklahoma, in the 1890's, and from the many good, hard-working people he grew up with, in Cleveland, Hominy, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. In living the ethic he learned from his father, a printer in a small town newspaper, Gary has worked as many as 120 hours in one week and accomplished "impossible" projects, while in the business world.

Contributions to "The Cookson Hills Dictionary" came from all walks of life and ages.

People from Jimmy Houston's Outdoor Store in Keys on Lake Tenkiller, to Braum's and Lucky's Caf in Tahlequah, and Tulsa, have submitted contributions. Sometimes, the submissions were wr...