Episode 7: The Sam Davis Problem.

A chat with J.D. Colbert and an investigation into a suspicious death on the Naharkey lands

To understand how the Tulsa neighborhood where I live went from a land patented to the Muscogee Nation to urban plats owned by white developers, I needed to understand the life of a man named Samuel C. Davis. Davis was the go-between for a series of transactions that moved land in Riverview from the estate of Wehiley Naharkey to her son, Moses, and then to a series of oilmen and real estate developers. If you’re sensing that something ain’t quite right, read on.

In 1904, developers were already looking south of the platted city of Tulsa to expand. An early businessman named George Barnes wanted to buy Wehiley’s allotment, but–as mentioned before–it was restricted. Wehiley had been a full-blood Creek Indian, meaning that her property could not be sold on the open market. There had been some debate in Washington as to whether the restrictions should be lifted upon death, but the implications of such a move would have been horrendous. Lifting restrictions on estates would have incentiviz…