It was in 1858 that Tonkawa Indian Scouts named a fresh water spring near a crossing of Pease River "Eagle Spring," because of numerous eagles perched atop cottonwoods in a nearby flat.  The area of Eagle Spring and the cottonwood trees along the Pease River became known some years later as "Eagle Flat."

According to legend developed among Tonkawa Scouts employed at Fort Belknap (established in what is now Young County) the "gateway to the west" was at Eagle Spring, leading into Pease River Country, home of the dreaded Comanche.

When Captain Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross and Major Earl Van Dorn in 1858 advanced from Texas into Oklahoma, their command made use of the route via Eagle Spring on the Pease and the crossing on Red River, later known as Doan Crossing. 

In 1860 this route was again used by Ross to advance farther into the Pease  River Country, meeting the Comanche's in the battle on Pease River in Foard County on Dec 18, 1860.