One of the first people I met out here was an older man by the name of Henry Sackett. This was decades ago. He told me this story about his great-grandfather seeing smoke signals coming off Santa Anna Mountain. Sackett’s ancestor was carrying the payroll to Camp Colorado, and when he saw the signals, he knew he was in trouble. He urged his horse to a gallop with the Comanche close behind, barely making it safely to the fort. He dropped the payroll somewhere along the way, and it was never found. Since hearing that story, I’ve often imagined what it would have been like to see smoke signals rising from Santa Anna’s Peaks, which was once an important site for the Comanche civilization. We might get to find out soon.

I attended a meeting of the Penatuhkah Comanche Trails Partnership earlier this week, courtesy of Brownwood’s Frank Hilton who is involved with the project. The subject of reenacting the smoke signal communication once used by the tribe from peak to peak in our area was discussed. Anthropologist and author Linda Pelo, an expert in the history of the Comanche in Texas, spoke at the meeting via Zoom. Pelo said that Native American code talkers had preserved some of the smoke signal techniques used by the Comanche tribes. She hopes to locate more tribal members who are still familiar with the art in order to stage a realistic event. “Nonstop smoke signals from Santa Anna will signify the Comanche have returned,” Pelo stated.

Brownwood’s Eddie Gomez, a descendant of Penatuhkah Chief Muguara (also known as Mukewarrah or Mukewaka after whom nearby Mukewater Creek is called) presented the group with a horned buffalo skull and some pretty big bones, to be used to as an educational tool. Gomez is auditioning to take part in the upcoming movie Empire of the Summer Moon which depicts the Comanche’s war against Anglo settlers over ownership of West and Central Texas. “I’m the Indian that gets shot off his horse,” Gomez quipped. “It hurts more than you’d think.”

The Trails Partnership, which consists of local chambers of commerce, visitors bureaus, landowners and the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, exists to create a regional driving trail highlighting locations that were of significance to the Penatuhkah Comanche. After years of planning and coordination, the trail is expected to open sometime next spring, hopefully coordinated to match the wildflower blooms. The group hopes to celebrate the opening by sending up smoke signals from Santa Anna Mountain to christen the event. The Penatuhkah trail follows a loop from Santa Anna to Abilene, then down to Paint Rock, Menard, San Saba, De Leon, then back around to Brownwood.

Over the passage of years, people’s minds may forget the land of their ancestors, but I think something of it always remains in the soul. The land itself, in my opinion, does not forget either. It bears the memories of the scars and joys of those who have shared it, as we do. For hundreds of years, Comanche smoke signals blazed through the sky in our area–in warning, in celebration and as a call to gather together.

I don’t know how many times I’ve driven the back roads nearby, with Chief Santa Anna’s Mountains in the distance, imagining Henry Sackett’s great-grandfather barrelling through the brush, war whoops echoing behind him, while smoke billows off the high peak in giant circles. I hope we’ll see the signals next spring, a visual testimony to the fact that the Comanche have indeed returned to West Central Texas.

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Diane Adams is a local journalist whose columns appear Thursdays on BrownwoodNews.com