Medicine Springs & Blackjack Mountain
In the rugged heart of southeastern Oklahoma lies Blackjack Mountain, a place steeped in legend and history. At its base flows Medicine Springs, long known by Native people for its healing waters. Generations before settlers arrived, the Choctaw and other tribes believed these springs held restorative powers, a gift from the land itself.
Travelers came for its waters believed to heal and restore becoming a gathering place. In the late 1800s, a grand hotel was built near the springs, welcoming visitors who traveled long distances to drink the mineral-rich water and soak in its healing water. For a while the springs and hotel brought hustle and bustle to the quiet mountain, turning it into a destination of hope.
Blackjack Mountain, named for the tough little oak trees that covered its sloped, became more than just a landmark. It was once home to bands of Spanish Mustangs, descendants of horses brought to the New World by early Spanish explorers.
If you stand at the base of Blackjack Mountain today, you can still hear it. The steady drip of water at Medicine Springs, and if you listen even closer, you can hear the echo of hooves that once thundered across these ridges.
Long before fences and highways, Spanish Mustangs roamed there. Descendants of those first brought to the Americas by Spanish Explorers these Mustangs are unique. These hardy horses, with their sure-footedness and endurance, thrived among the timber and hills. For decades they ran free across Blackjack’s ridges, a link to the earliest days of the American West.
Stories heard over the years tell of herds of Mustangs moving like shadows through he Blackjack timber. Cowboys, ranchers, and horsemen spoke of their toughness and spirit, many still do today. Blackjack Mountain and Medicine Springs became synonymous with the Spanish Mustang, a symbol of freedom, survival, and Oklahoma’s untamed past.
Today, much has changed. The bands no longer run as they once did, their hoofbeats now only a memory. But when you visit Blackjack Mountain today, you can feel their presence in the stillness.
The legacy of the Spanish Mustangs that once called Blackjack Mountain and Medicine Springs home remains tied to the mountain and its history.
Medicine Springs is now privately owned with a gate at each end. The clanging of round pen gates and sounds of chains being locked into place have become quiet.
We believe that both Blackjack Mountain and Medicine Springs remain a place of the untamed spirit of the Spanish Mustangs.
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Contact Us:
- (580) 579-3467
- ssma1977@aol.com
- PO Box 329, Hugo, OK 74743
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