Bryan County was created from surplus Choctaw lands when the reservation was divided into individual parcels of land allotted to individual members of the tribe. The allotment process was carried out by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, often called the Dawes Commission, starting as early as 1902.

Federal land records are grouped into four main categories: Field notes and survey plats, Tract books, Patent records, and Case files. The original documents of the first three groups are located at the Bureau of Land management in Springfield, Virginia, and the case files are located at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. There are Federal land records for the following 30 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,...

The index gives name of homesteader, location of land (section, township and range) and file number. The records themselves are arranged by file number. The file numbering originally included homesteaders in all provinces; hence, there are many gaps in numbering. The homestead records for Saskatchewan were microfilmed to a certain point (1904) with all the information from the file folders. It was then decided to microfilm only part of the information...

The following abbreviations are used for tract books: T.= tract R.= range. Includes are records from the following land offices: Vancouver, Spokane, Olympia, Seattle, Colfax, Spokane Falls, Walla Walla, Waterville, and several Indian reservations.