Less than fifty steps, from the third house up the block, lays this field where growth of wheat lies, between town, and the sprawling bones of Oklahoma.
By stepping out into the street and looking south, across this field to the trees that underline the mountain range, just north and west of the Wichita Mountains, it only makes the barest sense how Mountain View got its name.
In 1899, The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ran up to the apex of the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Reservations and made a stop at Mountain View, to let the cattle feed across the plains of the reservations.
In 1903, the town literally picked up its coat tails, and in a year, moved to where the railroad was and the town spilled out and surrounded the tracks, and it was named Mountain View.
Eight hundred and eighty five people were there then, and seven hundred thirty five are there now.
There are those that have come and gone, and the cemetery is full of family, friends, and is the only place on a struggling little hill, where if you look south, you’ll have the mountain view.
Ralph Peck
Photo by Ralph Peck
Mountain View, Oklahoma
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