Snow Community News • By Shirley Taylor

Snow Community News Jan 18st Article

Another short reminder that it is time to pay for the yearly Finley Volunteer Department. A check in the amount of $25.00 should b sent to Finley Volunteer Dept. PO Box 9, Finley , Oklahoma 74543. Antlers will respond but Finley Volunteer is so much faster. They are all volunteers and work very hard for our community. Many of our towns and cities are protected by firefighters like your and mine; they provide fire protection and other emergency services to the local citizens and do so not for a paycheck, but for a sense of community. Although many view the fire department as a necessity, not all municipalities can afford to pay for this service. Across the U.S. and even the world, many communities rely on volunteer firefighters.

Statistics from the National Fire Protection Association show that 71% of firefighters in the United States are on a complete or partial volunteer basis.

In the country of Chile, for example, firefighting forces are completely on a volunteer basis.

The first known, documented organized group of volunteer firefighters dates back to 6 A.D. in Rome. In the U.S., early Jamestown citizens formed social clubs that trained and fought fires together as volunteers.

The first official volunteer local fire department however, was created by Benjamin Franklin in 1736 to protect the city of Philadelphia against fires. Many of his early volunteers included famous names such as George

Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin himself.

The January Potluck will be held on Saturday the 21st of January at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited for food, fun and festivities. There are still a few Snow Community Cookbooks available. Please come get your copy while supplies last. Many of our residents have listed some of their favorite dishes.

There has been history written down for our small town of Snow. But some of the newer folks might not know the complete history. Snow is an unincorporated community in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States, 18 miles northeast of Antlers. Snow is located 34°23′45″N 95°24′46″W.

A United States Post Office was established here on July 21, 1930 and was named for George Snow, local resident and merchant.

Located in the Kiamichi Mountains, Snow was very isolated until construction and paving of U.S. Highway 271 during the 1950s, connecting the area to Nashoba and Clayton to the north and Antlers to the south. Choctaw Country is the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation’s official tourism designation for Southeastern Oklahoma.[1] The name was previously Kiamichi Country until changed in honor of the Choctaw Nation headquartered

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65-75 40-64 70-104 NT 250-352 there. The current definition of Choctaw Country includes ten counties, being Coal, Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, McCurtain, Pushmataha, Le Flore, Latimer, Haskell, and Pittsburg counties. The department created the term as one of six designated travel regions within the state. However, other definitions of Southeastern Oklahoma may include additional counties. The original name of Kiamichi was applied by French explorers who came to the area in the early 18th century. They discovered, among other things, a very large, noisy woodpecker that they called Kiamichi, their word for “raucous bird.” This name was also applied to the Kiamichi Mountains (Choctaw: Nʋnih Chaha Kiamitia), a subset of the Ouachita Mountains.

Due to an influx of southerners seeking less expensive frontier lands during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, Choctaw Country developed a culture that is more southern than the rest of the state. This region 115-214 120-208 140-200 138-206 117-165 has also been called “Little Dixie”.

Lightly populated, heavily mountainous and forested, the region is popular for outdoor recreation. It supports water sports, mountain biking, hiking, hunting, horse back riding, fishing, and national scenic drives. The area of jurisdiction of the Choctaw Nation covers much of this territory.

Snow is located along the upper reaches of Big Cedar Creek, which is almost always well watered and experiences reliable flow regardless of season.

Although Snow once supported a school, churches and more than one general store, it never developed into a commercial or trading center. Today, it no longer has a store but currently still has a post office. Its school children attend public school in Antlers.

During recent years, Snow School has been recognized as being of historical and architectural significance, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

More information on Snow may be found in the Pushmataha County Historical Society.

There are still residents living in the area that went to Snow School when they were younger a couple that you might know are: Jim O’Brien, Todd Joslin and Jay Kirk. Royse Battles that lives in Antlers now, was a star basketball player at the school in her time. I’m sure there are others that would have great stories from back in the day. There was a boys and girls outhouse, but thankfully has been tore down. So much for the good ole days right? A lunch was brought to the school by the students. There wasn’t a cafeteria available for the young ones to complain about the food. You brought your own, sandwich and more than likely you drank from the water pump outside. Back to the good ole days.

Please keep your loved ones in your prayers always. Time is just a fleeting thing. Thanks to everyone that has been helping keep the land around the community building nice and clean. Also, the Finley Community normally has a lunch on each Friday at noon. Days Finley are not open or only doing take outs will be posted on their Facebook page. Drive safe and watch out for unsuspected visitors that might just want to be a new hood ornament for your vehicle.

Anyone wanting to add to the article please turn them in before Friday at 5 p.m. Additions can be emailed to me at: freylake123@yahoo.com or call me at 580-208-0870, Have a blessed week.