Saddle Mountain Oklahoma, on the Beautiful Wichita Mountains Scenic Byway

Be sure to stop at the old township of Saddle Mountain when you take the Wichita Mountains Scenic Byway in Oklahoma. Almost a ghost town now, the Oklahoma Historical Society recognizes the area’s rich cultural history.

Saddle Mountain takes its name from a nearby Wichita Mountain. The mountain has a distinctive peak on both the north and south ends.

The area was once part of the Indian lands of Oklahoma territory in the United States. The township is located 15 miles from Mountain View. The mountain itself is on the Kiowa County side of the Comanche County line and the west side of State Highway 115.

Saddle Mountain Store

Saddle Mountain Store and Saddle Mountain Post office operated from 1902 to 1955. During that era, a big coal heater warmed the shared building. A blacksmith shop and also a barber shop used to be a big part of life in this Oklahoma community and the local ranch scenes.

After those shops closed, the store functioned as headquarters for the Saddle Mountain Fire Association (one of the local fire departments). It also served as a museum of sorts- with a gallery of local pictures.

Most of the photographs are of school groups, farm work, old cars, famous people, and war heroes. The majority of pictures were from the 1930s and 1940s.

The Saddle Mountain Store provided a location for lots of afternoon domino games long after the old store closed.

Saddle Mountain Oklahoma Baptist Mission

Saddle Mountain Baptist Mission is also a vital part of the area’s history. An enterprise of the Oklahoma Indian Baptist Association, it started in 1896. It was an early-day Indian mission station formed by a Kiowa husband-wife team,

Mabel and Lucius Aitsan, along with a Canadian-born missionary, Isabel Crawford began the mission. Because Crawford was nearly deaf, with the help of Lucius Aitsan, a Kiowa man, she used a tribal-based sign language to teach about the “Jesus Road”.

Over time, Saddle Mountain Mission built a chapel. Like other Baptist missions in the area, they elected Kiowa deacons from among their own people.

The new church held worship, complete with administering communion. These were performed both with and without an ordained visiting pastor. The orderly practice of Baptist churches of the time required an ordained, male, white minister in order to conduct these rites.

In spite of the fact that the deacons of the Saddle Mountain Mission felt they were performing the administration of the Lord, the fact that their services differed led to problems. This eventually led to the denominational mission board making a decision to remove Isabel Crawford. Eventually, the church closed in 1963,

The Indian contributions were significant and the mission produced a large number of Kiowa missionaries and pastors. Some of those were Sherman Chaddlesone, Goleta McElhaney, and George Hunt.

After the church’s closing due to a dwindling congregation, the chapel was sold and moved to an amusement Park in Cache Oklahoma. Upon Isabel Crawford’s death, she was buried in the Saddle Mountain Cemetery.