Robbers Cave State Park in the Sans Bois Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma grew from a landscape used for centuries as a hunting ground into one of the state’s most distinctive recreation areas. Archaeological evidence connects early inhabitants to the builders of the Spiro Mounds, and later the Osage, Caddo, French travelers, and the Choctaw Nation all shaped its history. After the Civil War, the area became linked to outlaw lore, especially Jesse James and Belle Starr. The modern park took shape from 1929 through the 1930s, when donations and Civilian Conservation Corps work created its facilities and Lake Carlton, and it later gained added significance as the site of the 1954 Robber’s Cave study.