Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory
Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory

Lucky Springs, Cherokee County

Lucky Springs Natural Area is rich biologically as well as historically. One of the rare elements found at this site is the Plains topminnow (Fundulus sciadicus). This small fish was historically found in abundance in the Platte River of Nebraska, parts of the Missouri River, and in smaller numbers in the Neosho River. The populations in the Neosho River have dramatically declined in recent years.

Clear, spring-feed pools are habitat for the Plains topminnow, a state rare species.

 The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service studies indicate that these populations might be genetically and ecologically distinct from populations in the Platte and Missouri Rivers. We, at the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory, rank this fish species as an S1, which means that this species is critically imperiled within the state. The Plains topminnow is able to survive at Lucky Springs because of several springs that feed into nearby Spring Creek.

The Lucky School was one of many "statehood" schools in the Peggs area.

Spring water drips over this rock ledge during the wet season at Lucky Springs Natural Area.
The Lucky Springs site also has interesting historic elements. An old log cabin and school house can be found near the county road. Students grade 1-8 attended the Lucky School until the 1950s. In fact, several current residents of Peggs attended Lucky School!

OK Biological Survey, 111 East Chesapeake St., Norman, OK 73019, 405-325-4034
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Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service The Nature Conservancy

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