Sts. Roost Museum to receive Comanche arrow marker

The Quanah Parker Trail will officially come through Clarendon next Friday when an arrow sculpture is installed at the Saints’ Roost Museum.

The local marker is one of three coming to the Panhandle next week, courtesy of sculptor and artist Charles A. Smith of New Home, Texas. The Tri-County Tourism Gathering hosted by the Texas Panhandle Tourism Marketing Council (PTMC).

The first arrow will be installed in Panhandle on US Highway 60 at the east end of the Carson County Law Enforcement Center at approximately 9:30 a.m. The second arrow will be installed in Clarendon at the Saint’s Roost Museum at 11:30 a.m., and the third arrow will be installed in Goodnight at the Charles Goodnight House and Visitor’s Center at 2:00 p.m.

Smith, assisted by local volunteers, will install the outdoor sculptures to highlight the history and legacy of Comanche presence during the Red River Indian Wars of 1874-1875.

Saints’ Roost Museum officials welcome the arrow marker placement to highlight the historic relationship between Quanah Parker and Col. Charles Goodnight, and the Native American artifacts and Red River Wars exhibits in the Museum as well as memorializing the presence of native people in this area.

The Quanah Parker Trail honors historical landmarks, sites, events and artifacts in museums that link this region to the Native Americans who last roamed the Texas Panhandle Plains. It is named after Quanah Parker to recognize his role as the chief of the Comanche people, who were the most powerful Native American presence in the region.

A metal plate with an arrow number on the tip of the arrow will signify the order of placement in the 52-county Texas Plains Trail Region. The 340-pound arrows stand 22 feet tall; and ¼ inch in diameter steel rods, resembling the fletching of feathers, vibrate in the wind. Each arrow is painted in the Comanche colors of red, blue, and gold.

With the blessing of the great grandchildren of Quanah Parker, on May 17 the arrows will rise grandly and sing in the wind in Armstrong, Carson and Donley counties.

For more information, contact Holle Humphries, facilitator for the Quanah Parker Trail project, or Barbara Brannon, executive director, Texas Plains Trail Region, at 806.252.6554 or info@TexasPlainsTrail.com.