Riddle's Station was a stage stand on the old

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

route in

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

. It was located on the west side of the Forche Maline in what is now Latimer County. The station was named for Captain John Riddle, the operator. Riddle was a mixed-blood Choctaw and a prominent member of the Nation. He served many terms on the Choctaw Council. In 1858, the Council granted Riddle the right to build a bridge and tollbooth across the Forche Maline near his station. Riddle's Station was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1972. "Riddle's Station is one of the more important of the even dozen such stands serving the Butterfield Overland Mail 1858-1861 along its 192-mile route across Indian Territory from Fort Smith to Colbert's Ferry on Red River. Unlike some of the other stands, however, it played a significant role in the development of the area for many years after the Civil War put an end to the service itself." The bridge there was asserted to be the first in the Butterfield route. With

Notes

Sources

*Shirk, George H. ''Oklahoma Place Names''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987: . *Wright, Murial H.; George H. Shirk; Kenny A. Franks. ''Mark of Heritage''. Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Historical Society, 1976. *Wright, Muriel H
"The Butterfield Overland Mail One Hundred Years Ago"
''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 35:1 (January 1957) 55-71 (accessed August 23, 2006). Buildings and structures in Latimer County, Oklahoma Stagecoach stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Butterfield Overland Mail in Indian Territory National Register of Historic Places in Latimer County, Oklahoma Stagecoach stations in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-NRHP-stub