Quanah Parker, the last Comanche chief, was born in Elk Creek just below the Wichita Mountains circa 1850. The son of Petah Nocony and Cynthia Ann Parker, who was captured by the Comanches, he became a fierce warrior and skillfully defended Comancheria against all invaders. Colonel Ranald McKenzie pursued him for years but never captured or defeated him. The destruction of the buffalo forced Quanah to lead the Comanche down this trail to Fort Sill in June 1875. As both a war chief and later a civil chief, he bridged the gap between the old world and the new life without losing his Comanche identity. A prominent and influential figure, he made numerous trips to Washington to negotiate political and economic issues. In 1889, he built Star House, a ten room two-story home ten miles northeast of this site for his wives, children, and anyone seeking help. He was buried in 1911 at Post Oak Mission, seven miles northeast, and reburied in 1957 at Fort Sill. Comancheria, the domain of the Comanches from the early 1700s to the mid 1800s, stretched from the foothills of the Rockies to New Mexico, eastward to the cross timbers of Texas and Oklahoma, and from the Arkansas River in Kansas south to the Texas Pecos River-Rio Grande area. The nation extended 600 miles from north to south and 400 miles from east to west. Among the first Plains Indians to acquire horses from Spanish settlers, the Comanches became legendary horsemen, seized control of Comancheria, and secured their land of waving grass and buffaloes from intruders. The ancient Wichita Mountains stood at the heart of Comancheria and were sacred to the Comanches, and the aged cedars used in ceremonials for centuries still stand guard.