Black Beaver

Who was Black Beaver?

Black Beaver or Suck-tum-mah-kway was a Delaware trapper, scout, and interpreter who became a chief, and later a wealthy rancher in present-day Anadarko, Oklahoma. He is credited with establishing the California and Chisholm trails. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he guided hundreds of Union troops and a long wagon train to escape much larger Confederate forces, and over 500 miles of Indian Territory to safety in Kansas. None of the party or their animals or wagons were lost.