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Thousands of years ago the first Americans hunted Ice Age fauna, particularly the mammoth, mastodon, and ancient bison. With the gradual extinction of these animals, the large herds of modern bison became the primary source of food.

The Plains Indian culture identified with this area developed largely in historic times, after European contact. The horse, extinct in North America until reintroduced from the Old World, defined Plains culture. The horse made the nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Indians possible. The Indians hunted the bison long before the arrival of the horse, but increased mobility substantially altered the pursuit.

Plains Indian culture transformed over the course of a century or more. The horse spread from Spanish settlements in northern Mexico and the present-day southwestern United States. Waldo Wedel, in a passage from his book, Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains, states "As early as 1640, the Indians of western Kansas are thought to have been mounted; and within one hundred years, the horse...reached the Blackfeet in Alberta. By 1800, practically all of the Plains tribes were supplied with horses...."

The first official contact between the United States and the Plains Indians occurred with the Dragoon Expedition of 1834. A U S Cavalry unit met the Kiowa and Comanche at a Wichita village in Devil's Canyon (near Quartz Mountain), north of present-day Altus. By the 1850's, there were military outposts at the eastern edge of this area as the government sought to confine the Kiowa and Comanche.

Of various Plains tribes, only the Wichita are considered native to Southwest Oklahoma. The Wichita were primarily farmers and traders. Their communities were few, semi-permanent and sometimes large. In the village near Quartz Mountain there were approximately 1500 people in 1834.

The Wichita are members of the Caddoan group. They were known to early French and Spanish explorers along the Red River. Unlike other Plains tribes, the Wichita did not follow the bison but hunted the buffalo as herds passed through the area.

The Wichita may be remotely connected to the Spiro culture in Oklahoma. The Spiro Indians of Oklahoma were part of the "Mississippian" or "Mound Builder" culture, so-named because of the large temple mounds common to their settlements.

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Until 1896, the area of Southwest Oklahoma was the much disputed Greer County, Texas. There were no reservations in Greer County.

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Last reviewed: 2004-Jan-21