Ghostowns

Foraker, Oklahoma
Osage County

Foraker is located in Osage county, in Secs. 28/29, T28N, R7E, 13 miles north, 12 miles west of Pawhuska; 6 miles north, 5 miles east of Shidler. It was located in the northwestern part of the Osage Nation (now Osage County) in an area of rolling plains. It was settled in 1905 and was a government townsite platted under the supervision of the Department of the Interior. The Post Office was established February 13, 1903.

The town in 1908 advertised itself as "In the heart of this farmer's and stockman's paradise flourishes Foraker -- one of the best 'Little Towns' in the state."

Shortly after its settlement, Foraker became an agricultural boom town. By 1909 the population living within the incorporated city limits was estimated at five hundred, and the trade territory had a radius of approximately, twenty-five miles. The town was served by the Midland Valley Railroad (abandoned in 1968), and a second line had been surveyed through the area, crossing at Foraker. The second rail line was never built.

Corn and alfalfa were the principal crops in an area rich in natural pasture. It was bound to become one of the best hog and cattle producing sections in Oklahoma.

Though it was only four years old, Foraker resembled a much older place. Concrete sidewalks and been put down throughout the business district, and much building was in evidence. Already in operation were two banks, two drugstores, three hardware stores, six mercantile stores, two grocery stores, two lumberyards, two livery stables, two grain elevators, and other necessary retail establishments. There were also two "live" newspapers, two churches and active fraternal organizations.

The newspapers of Foraker were the Foraker Tribune, Foraker Free Press; Foraker Sun.

Two blocks had been designated for a public park, thirty thousand dollars in bonds had been voted for a light and water system, and a new twenty-thousand-dollar school building had been completed. Freight and passenger service into and out of Foraker had tripled within the year.

After a rapid beginning Foraker stagnated until about 1920, when oil was discovered in the Burbank area some fifteen miles to the south. Foraker became the shipping point nearest the new oil field... thus, the town had another boom period, when it became the center for the distribution of oil-field equipment and supplies. During the 1920s each block in Foraker had a least four houses.

A branch rail line (Osage Railway) was extended from Foraker into the oil-producing area for the shipment of tank cars of petroleum products. Population of the town jumped to over two thousand, and several new business buildings and homes were constructed. Because the oil was not found in the area immediately adjacent to Foraker, the town escaped and did not suffer the rough and lawless times of the true oil-field community.

With the decrease in oil production during the 1930s, Foraker declined rapidly. The developemnt of large ranches, the abandonment of the railroads (The Osage Railway was abandoned in 1953), the building of highways, and the use of large trucks to move livestock to market have resulted in the demise of the town. No businesses now operate, and only a few people live in the once thriving community. As one long-time resident still living in what remains of the town stated, "Stores gone, post office gone, train gone, school gone, oil gone, boys and girls gone -- only thing not gone is graveyard and it git bigger."

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