# J. J. McAlester

James Jackson McAlester (October 1, 1842 – September 21, 1920) was an American coal baron and politician active in Indian Territory and later Oklahoma. He served as a United States Marshal for Indian Territory from 1893 to 1897, one of three members of the first Oklahoma Corporation Commission from 1907 to 1911, and as the second lieutenant governor of Oklahoma from 1911 to 1915.
McAlester was born in Arkansas in 1842, and enlisted in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he received a detailed survey of coal deposits within the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory and traveled there to work as a trader. He later married Rebecca Burney, sister of Chickasaw Governor Benjamin Burney, which granted him citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation. He used his tribal citizenship to claim lands that contained valuable coal deposits, allowing him to become incredibly wealthy and influential in the territory.
He owned a general store in an area that eventually grew into the town of McAlester, Oklahoma, named after J. J., and he owned substantial interests in coal mining operation in the area, leading him into conflict with the Choctaw Nation's government. Chief Coleman Cole ordered McAlester's execution for violating tribal law preventing the sale of "part of the land" during his tenure, but McAlester was able to escape his sentence and resumed his activities after Cole's term. He built the McAlester House, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
In the lead up to Oklahoma statehood McAlester was elected to the first Oklahoma Corporation Commission and in 1910 he was elected lieutenant governor of Oklahoma and he served until 1915. He died in 1920.

## Early life, military career, and family

McAlester was born in Sebastian County, Arkansas, on October 1, 1842, and grew up in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He joined the Confederate States Army at the start of the war and reached the rank of captain. He fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge. After the defeat of the Confederacy he returned to Ft. Smith where he met engineer Oliver Weldon who gave him details of the location of coal deposits in Indian Territory (near now-McAlester, Oklahoma). In 1866 he moved to the Choctaw Nation and worked for the trading companies "Harlan and Rooks" and "Reynolds and Hannaford," before buying out the later.
On August 22, 1872, he married Rebecca Burney (born 1841 in Mississippi - died May 5, 1919, in Oklahoma) a member of the Chickasaw Nation and they had five children. Burney was the sister of Chickasaw Governor Benjamin Burney. This made it possible for him to gain citizenship in and the right to own property in both the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations.

## Business Career and founding McAlester

By 1870, McAlester was running his own business at the "Crossroads" in Indian Territory, which later became McAlester, Oklahoma. He sold everyday goods and tools, and provided a stable supply of imported manufactured goods to Choctaw people in the area. He lobbied Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad to bring the railroad through the Crossroads with trains first arriving in 1872. His role in bringing the railroads to the area led to the first post office for the area being dubbed "McAlester."
Using the knowledge he had gotten from Weldon, McAlester was able to make many lucrative coal claims in the area and to establish what eventually became McAlester Coal Mining Co. Since there was not enough labor in the Choctaw Nation to support the growing coal industry, immigrant workers from the United States and Europe were recruited to work in the mines, including a large Carpatho-Russian community.
His trading company, J. J. McAlester Mercantile Company, was the unofficial company store for some miners since portions of their pay was issued in the form of scrip redeemable only at the store. Some miners pay was also directly paid from the company to McAlester to cover debts or as store credit. A review of his stores sale logs show price discrepancies between customers purchasing the same item, indicating some price discrimination, but no clear pattern of discrimination was determined.
McAlester's selling of coal caused conflict with Choctaw Nation Chief Coleman Cole. Under Choctaw law, any tribal citizen who sold "part of the land" was to be sentenced to death and Cole interpreted the coal sales as a violation of the law. After McAlester was arrest by Choctaw Lighthorse alongside two other intermarried whites, the three men escaped. McAlester claimed he later messaged Cole and settled the dispute, while other accounts say he lived in exile in the Muscogee Nation until the end of Cole's term in 1878. In the 1880s, Green McCurtain led an unsuccessful effort to nationalize the Choctaw Nation's coal deposits.

## U.S. Marshall and Oklahoma Corporation Commission

On April 6, 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed McAlester U.S. Marshal for Indian Territory and he served until March 1, 1895, when he became the U.S. Marshall for Indian Territory's Central District until April 19, 1897. He was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and took office in 1907. He did not run for reelection in 1910, instead running for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma.

## Lt. Governor of Oklahoma and death

As a member of the Democratic Party he was elected as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma with 118,544 votes (49.3%), winning against Republican candidate and former Choctaw chief Gilbert Dukes with 94,621 votes (39.4%), with Socialist candidate John G. Wills reaching nearly 10%. During his tenure McAlester had the occasion to serve as acting governor of Oklahoma, during the absence of Governor Lee Cruce from the state, as evidenced by a pardon he issued in 1915 in the case of Sibenaler v. State (1915 OK CR 45).
He died on September 21, 1920, in McAlester. He is buried in the Masonic Section of Oak Hill Cemetery.

## Legacy

McAlester House, J. J. McAlester's home in McAlester, Oklahoma, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma in 1980. One of his daughter's, Sudie McAlester, married Choctaw Chief Victor Locke Jr. A 2.5 ton chunk of coal sits from McAlester's mines was displayed at the 1921 World's fair, left in his yard for several years, and then given to McAlester High School where its been displayed outdoors since the mid-1980s.

### Analysis by historians

Historians' opinions of McAlester have shifted over time. Early to mid-twentieth century scholarship on his legacy was more likely to view him as a frontier businessman bringing civilization to Indian Territory, while later scholarship is more critical of his exploitation of Choctaw law and the effects of his business on the Choctaw Nation. Historian Linda English described him as an "ambitious man who continually demonstrated his commitment to progress."

### In popular culture

J. J. McAlester's store served as the basis for the store visited by U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in the 1968 novel True Grit by Charles Portis (and the subsequent 1969 and 2010 feature film versions).

## Electoral history

1907 Oklahoma Corporation Commission elections :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Democratic | J.J. McAlester | 132,373 | 54.7 | New |
| Republican | Patrick J. Dore | 99,547 | 41.2 | New |
| Socialist | A.T. Reeves | 9,639 | 3.9 | New |
| Democratic gain from | Democratic gain from | Swing | N/A | |
Oklahoma lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary (August 2, 1910) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | J.J. McAlester | 33,064 | 30.2% |
| | Democratic | Frank P. Davis | 24,104 | 22.0% |
| | Democratic | J. M. Postelle | 14,747 | 13.4% |
| | Democratic | P. P. Duffy. | 13,388 | 12.2% |
| | Democratic | P. J. Yeager | 10,524 | 9.6% |
| | Democratic | Albert H. Ellis | 9,699 | 8.8% |
| | Democratic | Robert L. Notson | 3,870 | 3.5% |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 109,396 | |
1910 Oklahoma lieutenant gubernatorial election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Democratic | J.J. McAlester | 118,544 | 49.3% | −5.4% |
| Republican | Gilbert Dukes | 94,621 | 39.3% | −2.0% |
| Socialist | John G. Wills | 23,974 | 9.9% | +6.0% |
| Prohibition | I.A. Briggs | 3,136 | 1.3% | New |
| Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Swing | | |