Quanah Parker Trail
Honoring Texas’ Comanche heritage
Rising up from the vast, flat landscape of the Texas Plains, an enormous arrow is lodged in the earth as if shot by a giant bow. Soaring 23 feet skyward, it commemorates a nearby site of Comanche history — a story known from legend and misunderstood for generations, of a proud nomadic people who kept no written record of their own past.
For hundreds of years the Comanches, the “Lords of the Plains,” dominated the area now encompassed by the Texas Plains Trail Region. So profound was their influence that in 2010, when Plains Trail volunteers and friends traversed the region visiting museums and historic sites, fascinating bits of their history turned up in every corner of the region’s 52 counties. Everywhere, people knew the name of Quanah Parker, the tribe’s last war chief, son of a white captive and a Comanche warrior. And yet, volunteers discovered, only a small percentage of Texas historical markers noted the state’s rich Native American heritage.
NATIVE SON Chief Quanah Parker visited Quanah, Texas, his namesake city, on July 4, 1896.
The group began to craft a virtual “trail” linking the sites related to the Comanches and other Southern Plains Indians, starting with a simple website that provided historical information to entice travelers. The project took on new dimensions when metalsmith Charles A. Smith of Lynn County was recruited to mark a dozen or so locations with giant, rugged steel arrows decorated in Comanche colors.
As more communities uncovered evidence of their ties to native history, requests for arrows grew, and this grassroots project has become one of the largest public art installations in the nation. Today, more than 80 sites in the region are home to Quanah Parker Trail arrow markers. Part memorial, part public sculpture, part roadside icons, these majestic arrows and the accompanying granite markers comprise a story told on the land.
Travelers are welcome to visit and photograph the arrows at any time — almost all are accessible or visible from main roads. The Quanah Parker Trail invites visitors to envision the campsites and buffalo trails, the sites of battles and raids and trades, in the places where history happened. Geocachers enjoy following clues leading to arrow locations. Visitors may also plan to attend a Comanche cedar blessing of new arrow installations. Several events are scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 16–17 in Lubbock and surrounding areas.
