Museum tour

Quanah the Statesman

An inexplicable change occurred with Quanah on the reservation. At public events he wore white man's clthing and encouraged the tribe to learn english. Quanah's war horse was a Model A Ford. Quanah took on his mother's last name and was called Quanah Parker. He was able to accumulate substantial wealth from trading cattle and collecting a penny a head on cattle drives across the 80,000 acres of land on the reservation he owned. Quanah parker was not looking for personal gain. He fed any member of the tribes who needed food. He provided housing for those who had none. As an old man, he was virtually penniless as the tribe came first.

All was not bad. Quanah Parker was a trusted leader and was given the title Principle Chief of the Comanche Nation. General Mackenzie event sent him on missions to convince renegade Comanches to return to the reservation. He arrived on the reservation with two wives and in his later reservation life, he had seven wives and fathered 24 children. The baptist agents tried unsuccessfully to make Quanah Parker more "Civilized" and only have one wife. There are many stories about his answer, but he retained all seven. He built "star house" just north of present day Cash, Oklahoma. General Mackenzie, who slaughtered his horses and forced Quanah on the reservation, became a close friend and was often a  guest at the star house. Other notable guests of Quanah Parker at the star house included Charles Goodnight and Theodore Roosevelt.

Copper Breaks State Park Museum Tour
  1. Bison
  2. Copper Mine
  3. Comanche History
  4. The Medicine Man
  5. The Bison and the Comanche
  6. The Parker Story
  7. The Battle of Pease River
  8. Comanche Clothing
  9. Quanah the Warrior
  10. Quanah the Statesman
  11. The Cowboy
  12. The Chuck Wagon
  13. Early Towns
  14. The end of the open range and the R2
  15. The Waggoner Ranch