© 2025
In touch with the world ... at home on the High Plains
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KZNA-FM 90.5 serving northwest Kansas will be off the air starting the afternoon of Monday, October 20 through Friday as we replace its aging and unreliable transmitter. While we're off-air, you can keep listening to our digital stream directly above this alert or on the HPPR mobile app. This planned project is part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining free and convenient access to public radio service via FM radio to everyone in the listening area. For questions please contact station staff at (800) 678-7444 or by emailing hppr@hppr.org

Comanche Chief Quanah Parker Came to Big Bend Seeking Peyote

Daniel P. Sink of Vernon, Texas
/
Public Domain

According to historian Barry Scobee, Comanche Chief Quanah Parker once appeared in Big Bend seeking peyote. Glenn’s Texas History Blog reports that Parker arrived at the Lempert Hotel in Fort Davis in the waning years of the 19th century in search of the hallucinogenic cactus. It’s unclear when the Comanche first began using peyote in their shamanistic ceremonies, but anthropologist Omar C. Stewart has called Parker “the most important Comanche roadman in the early history of peyotism.”  The blog proposes that Quanah might have become a believer in the power of peyote during a visit to his brother John Parker in Chihuahua, around 1885.

Not long before Parker’s death, the legendary chief was observed conducting a peyote ceremony at his home outside Lawton, Oklahoma.  Quanah Parker died in 1911.