Russell Ferrell

Join us for an afternoon with Oklahoma author, Russell Ferrell as we discuss his book, The Bone War of McCurtain County.

Cephis Hall knew the back roads and back lands of McCurtain County. When people came looking for natural phenomena of an earthly genre they turned to Cephis for guidance and direction. A classic, old-timey naturalist, he entertained school children and adults with the stories, legend, and magic of the natural world. He and his partner Sid Love were of a vanishing class of American explorers, dinosaurs like the ones they sought buried in the earth.

Hall had always dreamed of finding a rare, world-class dinosaur specimen and make his mark on the scientific world. He searched for a box of buried Confederate gold coins at Pine Knot Crossing where the old military trail crosses the Little River in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Although he didn’t find Confederate gold, he did find naturally occurring gold in a nearby limestone deposit, which fed into a myriad of legends already circulating around southeastern Oklahoma, including Big Foot.

In 1983 things started to change and troubles began. Hall and Love would find themselves at the crossroads of science, politics, and religion. A dream, and a will to pursue it, can result in war. Their discovery would not just change them, it would also change McCurtain County.

Copies of The Bone War of McCurtain County are currently available at Magic City Books.