In Pre-Colombian time, the Caney area was more or less the division line between the Woodlands and Plains Indians.  In the late 1700's, the Osage Indians by government treaty took possession of the area, including Missouri, Eastern Kansas, and Northeastern Oklahoma.  It was during this time that The Black Dog (Buffalo Hunting) Trail was established

By the year 1828, their land in Oklahoma had been ceded to the Five Civilized Tribes and they were restricted to a diminished reservation in Southern Kansas.

With the start of the Civil War, there was much unrest in the entire area.  The first Civil War battle occurred in December 1861 at Round Mountain near Tulsa, Oklahoma between loyal Indians and Opothle Yahola and the Confederate Indian Army.

The first white settlers reached the Caney Valley in 1869 and a year later the Osage moved to Osage County, Oklahoma.  Farming and ranching was the hub industry in the formation of the Caney community.  A few years after the turn of the century, oil and gas discoveries were made in Southeast Kansas resulting in the largest industrial boom to ever occure in the world.  By 1915, Caney boasted three brick plants, a smelter, three glass plants, a refinery, and the largest crude oil terminal in the world.