Ketch Ranch House (Oklahoma)

Ketch Ranch House or Ketch Ranch was private property located in the Wichita Mountains of Southwestern Oklahoma.[1] The ranch was established as a working ranch and vacation home for Ada May Ketch and Frank Levant Ketch during the early 1920s. The Wichita Mountain ranch offered a guest house, barn, smokehouse, springhouse, and root cellar while providing outdoor experiences with horseback riding, boating, and fishing at Ketch Lake which was close proximity of 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Ketch Ranch House.[2]

Ketch Ranch House
Ketch Ranch House
Ketch Ranch in Oklahoma
Ketch Ranch House
Ketch Ranch House (the United States)
Alternative names
  • Circle K Ranch (1929)
  • Monte Vista Ranch (1932)
General information
TypeBungalow
Architectural styleAmerican Craftsman
Location
  • Comanche County, Oklahoma
  • Fort Sill Military Reservation
AddressRunning Deer Camp Road
Town or cityMedicine Park, Oklahoma
CountryUnited States of America
Coordinates34.7048714°N 98.5728528°W / 34.7048714; -98.5728528
GroundbreakingMay 1923
Completed1924
Cost$4500.00
Owner
  • Ada May Ketch
  • Frank Levant Ketch
Height
RoofShingle
Technical details
MaterialCobblestone
Floor countOne
Floor area2,146 square feet (199.4 m2)
Grounds5,145 acres (2,082 ha)
Known forCobblestone architecture
Other information
Number of roomsSix

Ada May Ketch purchased the Wichita Mountain acreage on May 8, 1923 from S.P. Thornhill through the property holdings of First National Bank of Lawton. The Ketch Ranch was developed during the economic prosperity years of the Roaring Twenties which simultaneously encompassed the creation of Oklahoma Senator Elmer Thomas's River Rock Resort better known as Medicine Park, Oklahoma.[3]

By 1932, the Ketch Ranch estate began to acknowledge the financial crisis coerced by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. In 1934, the estate was sold on a joint extension agreement to the Monte Vista Ranch enterprise whereas the Ketch family retained the Wichita Mountain ranch. On January 10, 1941, the United States government acquired the Monte Vista Ranch property through the provisions of Declaration of Taking Act authorizing a land expansion of the Fort Sill Military Reservation while protecting the United States national security at the commencement of World War II.

Case Law and Jake L. Hamon, Sr. Estate
See also: Mootness, Teapot Dome scandal, and Texas oil boom

Frank Ketch served as the business enterprise administrator for the Jake L. Hamon Sr. estate.[4][5][6] Mr. Hamon governed holdings and ownership of capitalist properties in the crude oil fields of Healdton, Oklahoma, Hewitt, Oklahoma, and Stephens County, North Texas exemplary of the 1920s economic opportunism and interwar period.[7][8][9][10]

Court Cases of Jake L. Hamon, Sr. Estate

  • Text of Hamon v. State, 67 Okla. 128, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1917) is available from:  Justia 
  • Text of Hamon v. Keyes, 99 Okla. 19, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1924) is available from:  Justia 
  • Text of Ketch v. Weaver Bros, 261 S.W. 380, (Texas Appeals 1924) is available from:  CourtListener  Casetext  Casemine 
  • Text of Ketch v. Cox, 105 Okla. 283, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1925) is available from:  CourtListener  Justia  Casemine 
  • Text of Apple v. Given, 117 Okla. 79, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1925) is available from:  CourtListener  Justia  Casemine 
  • Text of Apple v. Hert, 122 Okla. 153, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1927) is available from:  Justia 
  • Text of Apple v. McCain, 127 Okla. 147, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1927) is available from:  Justia 
  • Text of Ketch v. Smith, 131 Okla. 263, (Supreme Court of Oklahoma 1928) is available from:  Justia 

Pictorial Biography
  • Ketch Ranch House ~ Fort Sill Military Reservation
  • Cobblestone columns at driveway entrance
  • Cobblestone retaining wall at driveway entrance
  • Cobblestone architecture detail of Ketch Ranch House
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior structure near Medicine Park
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior structure near Medicine Park
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior structure near Medicine Park
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior structure near Medicine Park
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior structure near Medicine Park
  • Ketch Ranch House exterior of front porch structure
  • Ketch Ranch House interior of kitchen area
  • Ketch Ranch House interior of bedroom area

Native American Culture of Wichita Mountains

The Ketch Ranch estate was established approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Craterville Park, Oklahoma.[11][12][13]

1892 Oklahoma Territories Map

In 1924, the Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa tribes pledged the Craterville Park Covenant with Comanche County rancher Frank Rush.[14][15] The Wichita Mountains mixed grass prairie served for the local tribal pow wow events during the Craterville Park Indian Fair from 1924 to 1933.[16][17]

The Craterville Park Covenant

The object of this Fair will be to create self-confidence and to encourage leadership by the Indian for his people, to better his position, and to take his place on terms of equality with other races in the competitive pursuits of every day life, and a desire to accomplish the most possible for himself and his people.[18]

May 25, 1924

The Quanah Parker Star House was located directly west of Craterville Park on Oklahoma State Highway 115 approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Cache, Oklahoma or U.S. Route 62 in Oklahoma.[19] The Wichita Mountain's Native American culture cultivated a historical perspective for the last of the 19th century Native American tribal chiefs residing in the Great Plains of Southwestern Oklahoma.[20]

See Also
Causes of the Great Depression
Depression of 1920-21
Dust Bowl
Fort Sill
Indian Appropriations Act
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Historical Perspective for Exploration of Oil

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

Historical Video Archive

The Century: America's Time - American Broadcasting Company playlist on YouTube
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power - Daniel Yergin playlist on YouTube

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ketch Ranch
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ketch Lake
  3. Lott, David C. (June 14, 2010). Medicine Park: Oklahoma's First Resort. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 47–78. ISBN 978-0738577456. OCLC 646185401.
  4. Hamon's Estate Appraised at $3,143,903. National Petroleum News: NPN. XIII. Cleveland, Ohio: National Petroleum Publishing Company. February 16, 1921. p. 46.
  5. "Hamon, Jake L., Ardmore, Okla" [International Petroleum Register; A Yearly Directory of the Active Oil Companies of the World]. HaithTrust. New York City, New York: Oil Trade Journal. 1921. p. 313.
  6. Ketch Denies J.B. French Purchased the Hamon Holdings in North Texas. Oil Distribution News. IX. Kansas City, Missouri: Oil and Gas News Publishing Company. July 7, 1921. p. 3.
  7. "Healdton Field". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  8. "Hewitt Field". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  9. "JimKurn - The Newest Town in Texas" [Breckenridge American (Breckenridge, Tex), Vol. 1, No. 82, Ed. 1]. The Portal to Texas History. University of North Texas. October 2, 1920.
  10. "Ranger, Desdemona, and Breckenridge Oilfields". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  11. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Craterville Park
  12. "Springer Amendment". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  13. "Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Opening". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  14. "The Craterville Park Covenant". Museum of the Great Plains. Southwest Wilds & Waters. 1924.
  15. "Chief Brave Bear and Frank Rush of Craterville Park, Oklahoma". Tulsa, Oklahoma: Gilcrease Museum.
  16. "Craterville Park Indian Fair". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  17. "Pow Wows". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  18. "Craterville Park Pictorial Biography". Frank Rush Collection ~ Western History Collections. University of Oklahoma.
  19. "Quanah Parker (ca. 1852–1911)". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.
  20. "Native American Church". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.

Periodical Bibliography

Petroleum Industry Bibliography
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