Sallisaw, Ok, On "Grapes of Wrath" Trail

From LASR home--  Sallisaw, Oklahoma.

Sallisaw is the county seat of Sequoyah County at the edge of the famed Cookson Hills to the north and the navigation channel of the Arkansas River to the south.  Its name comes from the French "salaisiau" meaning "salt provision."  Indians, explorers, early settlers and trappers were very familiar with the natural salt deposits found on many nearby streams.

"Grapes of Wrath" author John Steinbeck used Sallisaw as the starting point of the Okie Joad family fleeing to California to escape the Dust Bowl drought days.  Actually eastern Oklahoma has always been wooded and picturesque.  The Oklahoma Steinbeck that was his hard by the Dust Bowl was in western part of the state.

Whereas the Joads were not from Sallisaw, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd and other notorious outlaws from the 1930s did make Cookson Hills their hideouts.

--RoadDog