Quanah

Understand

Quanah was named after Quanah Parker, known as the last chief of the Comanches. His mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, was captured in 1820 by the Comanches. She became assimilated into the group, marrying a Comanche and having children, of whom Quanah was the first. She was later "rescued" by the white settlers in a location near Copper Breaks south of town, and never allowed contact with her husband or children again, starving herself to death two years later. Quanah went on to lead a large band of Comanches in attacks against hunters and the US Army in an effort to retain tribal lands and save the great buffalo herds, which the whites were mercilessly and wastefully killing off at an alarming rate. He participated in many famous battles throughout the Panhandle, including the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, near modern-day Borger. When finally cornered at Palo Duro Canyon in 1875, Quanah's band was the last group of free Plains Indians to be forced onto a reservation, bringing an end to the Red River War. Quanah subsequently became something of an advocate for westernization, quickly learning English and Spanish and converting to a form of Christianity. He was eventually named chief of all the Comanche people. By 1905 he was parading with Geronimo in the inaugural parade for Theodore Roosevelt, with whom he went on occasional hunting trips. Quanah Parker is now buried at Fort Sills in Oklahoma.

Get in

By car, Quanah is most easily accessible by US Route 287, halfway between Childress and Vernon. The second option is by Texas Route 6 which connects the city with Eldorado, Oklahoma to the north, and Copper Breaks State Park to the south.

The nearest commercial airport is in Wichita Falls (SPS).

Get around

A car is the best option. Almost everything lies along the main strip of US 287.

Go next

• Copper Breaks State Park is just south on Texas Route 6, offering camping, hiking and a couple of lakes.
• Medicine Mound Museum, about 4 miles south on farm road 1167 east of town. Medicine Mound, a Texas ghost town located east of the mounds themselves, saw its last residents in the 1950s but has an interesting museum housed in one of the original buildings.