Salado Lodge # 551 (1965 – 1977)

Salado Lodge # 551 was a successor Lodge to Na-Ko-Na Lodge # 551.

The Lodge was named after the Salado Culture which existed between the 11th and 15th centuries in present-day Central to Southeast Arizona.

Salado Lodge was started by first Lodge Chief, Fred Turner. He had been a member of Papago Lodge, headquartered out of Tucson. He started a Graham Chapter in Papago, which became the basis for starting a local Lodge.

Living in Lone Star, Arizona, just outside of Safford, he secured permission from Council Executive Hal Greer to start a new Lodge in the Copper Council. The first Ordeal as a Lodge was held in 1966, and their first NOAC contingent went in 1967.

Salado Lodge was known as the “50th Anniversary Lodge” due to their founding in 1965, 50 years after the Order’s founding in 1915. This terminology is included as a cloth piece at their bottom of their S1 pocket flap.

In 1977, the Lodge was absorbed by Wipala Wiki Lodge # 432.