Cheyenne-Arapaho Cattle Ranch (Hodge Site)

The ranch began as a lease, and its terms were struck with the Cheyenne and Arapaho (Tsistsistas and Hinono'ei). Texas herds crossing the reservation had brought demands for beef as a toll, rustling charges and threats. Agent John D. Miles asked Washington in 1881 for permission to lease to cattlemen and was refused. In December 1882 he brought fifteen Cheyenne and Arapaho headmen together with Edward Fenton, whose company became this ranch: two cents an acre, paid in advance every six months, for ten years. Miles sent the leases to Interior as a done deal, and resigned in 1884.

What the plaque says

Cheyenne-Arapaho Cattle Ranch (Hodge Site) Cheyenne-Arapaho Cattle Ranch, Western Oklahoma's million acre cattle ranch, was established in 1882, The Main Headquarters were located on the Washita River at the mouth of Quartermaster Creek. Also known as the "Apple Ranch"; and the C&A Ranch, the ranch is listed as the Hodge Site on the Historic Places National Register.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Elk City Museum Complex — 17 mi
  Elk City's museums on old 66: the National Route 66 and Transportation Museum's drive through all eight states, a pioneer Old Town, a farm and ranch hall and a blacksmith shop.
• Washita Battlefield National Historic Site — 21 mi
  The bend of the Washita where the 7th Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Cheyenne village at dawn on November 27, 1868, kept by the Park Service with a trail to the village site.
• Oklahoma Route 66 Museum — 21 mi
  The Oklahoma Historical Society's museum of the road in Clinton, decade by decade from the 1926 designation through the Dust Bowl and the war to the 1950s diner.
• Beckham County Courthouse — 30 mi
  Sayre's domed 1911 courthouse, built to impress people stepping off the train and filmed by John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath once Route 66 came through the square.

More markers nearby

• Canute — 15 mi
• Battle of the Washita — 20 mi
• Sandstone Creek Area — 22 mi
• California Road — 25 mi