A Summer Moon Lights the Road to Palo Duro

The way through the Staked Plains to and from Palo Duro is a moonlit clash of civilizations.

In the Summer Moon of 1870, the Kiowas held a big sun dance on the North Fork of Red River. They invited the Commanches and Southern Cheyenne to come as guests, and during the ceremonies many disillusioned warriors talked of staying out on the Plains and living in plenty with buffalo instead of returning to the reservation for meager handouts…

As soon as the dancing was finished, many of the young men rode off to Texas to hunt buffalo and raid the Texans who had taken their lands. They were especially angry against white hunters who were coming down from Kansas to kill thousands of buffalo; the hunters took only the skins, leaving the bloody carcasses to rot on the Plains. To the Kiowas and Commanches the white men seemed to hate everything in nature.

Dee Brown
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
1970