Longhorn Mountain
Longhorn Mountain is located fifteen miles Southwest of Mountain View, Oklahoma in Kiowa County. The mountain was named after a Spanish boy who was captured by the Comanches and later given to a Kiowa Indian Family who raised him. He married Pai-ah-tay the daughter of noted Kiowa Chief Satanta. He was allotted one full half of the Southwest side of the mountain where he resided. The mountain was named after him. That land was allotted to him by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and approved by the Secretary of the Interior where it appears under the provisions of the 6th Section of the act of Congress and was approved June 6th 1900 which has the red seal of an eagle that says United States General Land office and signed by President William Mc Kinley.

Longhorn Mountain is used by the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache and other surrounding Plains Indian tribes for prayer, the vision quest and events of other religious significance. Native people also go to pray for their families in times of illness and death. Native people fast for four days and nights upon Longhorn with only a blanket to shield them from the elements. They pray continually during this time with no food or water.

Descendants of the Longhorn family still have a special bond to Longhorn Mountain. Longhorn was also a tourist attraction at one time. People would climb the mountain to see where the Kiowa tribal members went for their vision quest and to view Saddle Mountain, Rainy Mountain and the surrounding area. Both of these mountains have historical significance

Missionaries built a church near Longhorn Mountain to convert the Kiowa people to Christianity. The church was later abandoned in the 1950’s

Cedar from Longhorn Mountain is cut from the trees and dried to be used in the religious ceremonies or in homes for purification. Longhorn cedar is used today in every traditional Kiowa home. The cedar is dried and then prayed over before being used. Tribes all over the United States use the cedar from Longhorn Mountain. And some travel great distances to gather Longhorn Cedar.

Longhorn Mountain will always be a monument to our Kiowa ancestors. Longhorn Mountain was once the playground for the late “Alfred Jack Quoetone”, deceased June 11, 1991. Jack is the son of Mable Longhorn Quoetone. He is the grandson of Longhorn and Pai-ah-tay, the daughter of Kiowa Chief “Satanta” from 1830 to 1878.

Longhorn Mountain has tremendous spiritual significance and is considered to be the most sacred of all sites by the Kiowa people of Oklahoma and is still used for the vision quest. Longhorn Mountain is currently facing a serious threat. The farmers that currently own the western half of the mountain have leased the land to a company that intends to strip mine the mountain, turning it into the gravel that is used to make our highways. The destruction of Longhorn Mountain would be a tragic loss and an act of cultural genocide perpetrated against the Kiowa people and all traditional Native Americans.

Written by Nancy Gomez, daughter of Alfred “Jack” Quoetone
Carnegie, Oklahoma