Nathaniel Pryor and Sam Houston at Three Forks

by Mike Wimmer

Nathaniel Pryor and Sam Houston conducted trade on a flatboat along the Three Forks, where the Neosho (Grand), Verdigris and Arkansas Rivers flow together. Known for many years as a trading place, Three Forks gained popularity as a riverboat and trade destination. This region became an early hub for traffic west of the Mississippi. The rivers were important for the export of furs, salt and tobacco which were traded at St. Louis, Arkansas Post and New Orleans.

Nathaniel Pryor (1775-1831) was an explorer, soldier, trader and Indian agent. He served as a sergeant in the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1803. During the War of 1812, Pryor served as captain under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Upon his discharge from the army, Pryor settled along the Arkansas River, where he bartered with the region’s Indians. In 1819, he received a license to trade with the Osage at Three Forks, located about four miles northeast of present-day Muskogee. There, on the Verdigris, about two miles above its confluence with the Arkansas, located southeast of present-day Pryor in Mayes County, Oklahoma, Pryor established a trading post. General William Clark of Missouri Territory appointed him acting Osage sub-agent in 1827. Captain Nathaniel Pryor died at the Osage sub-agency, and that community and nearby Pryor Creek, bear his name.

Sam Houston was born in 1793. He left home in his early teens and lived with the Cherokees during his formative years and was adopted into the tribe by the Chief. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1827, but resigned in 1829 amid scandal of a failed marriage. Houston took refuge among his old friends, the Cherokees, in lands along the Arkansas River. He adopted Cherokee dress and proclaimed himself a citizen of the Cherokee nation. He took a Cherokee wife, Tiana Rogers, whose family became an important part of the native-American heritage. Tiana’s nephew, several generations removed, was Will Rogers. Sam Houston built a large log house in eastern Oklahoma, which became known as “Wigwam Neosho.” It was located near the Neosho River, a little above Cantonment Gibson, and thirty miles from the lodge of Oo-loo-te-ka (the Cherokee father of his youth). Here he engaged in trading, entertained friends, and planted an apple orchard.

Houston later left to liberate the Republic of Texas. He led the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution against Mexico. Houston served as the first President of the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1838 and from 1841 to 1844. He served as Senator for Texas from 1846 to 1859 after Texas had been admitted to the Union and was elected as Governor of Texas in 1859. He was removed as Governor when he refused to take an oath of allegiance when Texas voted to secede from the Union. He retired to the town of Huntsville, where he died in 1863.

Nathaniel Pryor and Sam Houston at Three Forks by Mike Wimmer was dedicated on May 20, 2003. The commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The painting is located inside the Oklahoma State Senate Chamber lobby on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30.

The Artist

Born and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mike Wimmer began his career as an artist during the seventh grade. He earned his B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma, where he met Don Ivan Punchatz. Wimmer later moved to Arlington, Texas to be Punchatz apprentice at Punchatz famous Sketch Pad Studio.  Wimmer learned valuable knowledge regarding the business aspect of illustrating as well as various painting techniques and the working methods of the local Dallas illustrators. After his two and a half year apprenticeship, he moved back to Norman, Oklahoma and set up his own studio using all that he had learned in Texas. Since then Wimmer has become very successful illustrating children’s books such as “Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh” by Robert Burliegh which was the winner of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children in 1990. He also illustrated “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan which was published in 1994 and won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Illustrated Children’s Book 1995. Wimmer’s latest book, “Will Rogers” by Former Governor Frank Keating, was published in 2002 and has won the 2003 Spur Award from the Western Writers Association of America. Even though Wimmer has worked for some of the largest corporations in the world including Disney and Procter and Gamble, Wimmer finds the greatest artistic pleasure within his creation of fine art.