Fourche Maline (Oklahoma stream)

View of Fourche Maline

Fourche Maline (pronounced foosh-ma-lean) (Bad Fork, French) is a 70.0-mile-long (112.7 km)[1] tributary of the Poteau River in Oklahoma.[a] The headwaters of Fourche Maline are in the Sans Bois Mountains in northwest Latimer County. It flows southwestward through Robbers Cave State Park, then southeastward past Wilburton before turning eastward until it reaches the Poteau River in Le Flore County. Fourche Maline's confluence with the Poteau River is now submerged in Lake Wister, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the confluence. The distance from origin to confluence is about 37 miles (60 km)[3] Oklahoma Historian Muriel Wright translated the French name as meaning "treacherous fork" in English.[4] During the days of the Indian Territory, Fourche Maline served as the boundary between Skullyville County and Sugar Loaf County, two of the constituent counties making up the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 3, 2011
  2. ^ "Fourche Maline Fishing near Wister, Oklahoma." Hook and Bullet. Accessed November 15, 2016.
  3. ^ Wister Lake O & M Program, Poteau River: Environmental Impact Statement. June 2002. p. 3. Accessed November 15, 2016.
  4. ^ Wright, Muriel. "Some Geographic Names of French Origin in Oklahoma." Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 7, No. 2, June 1929. Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Accessed November 14, 2016.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).