The Legend of Deerface

The Legend of Deerface

The following story is one that we have never heard before. Like most legends, this story is a little hard to believe. But, it wouldn't be a good legend unless it was totally unbelievable.

Col. R. A. Sneed was the superintendent of Platt National Park, OK from 1914 until 1919. He testified in Federal Court in Ardmore, OK some years ago about the depredations of the Comanche and Kiowa in the Chickasaw Nation. He later wrote of this hearing as well as the testimony of an old Negro freedman's experiences and the story of the Delaware Indian maiden named Deerface.

With the coming of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the Comanches and Kiowas were pushed farther west in the Indian Territory. Settlement west of the Washita River was very sparse among the Choctaws and Chickasaws as they were afraid of the raids of the western bands of wild Indians.

There are many stories of the Chickasaws perusing the raiders to the Wichita Mountains to retrieve their stolen cattle and horses.

When the white settlers arrived in the area in the 1860's and 1870's, they endured the same raids as the Chickasaws. The area around the Arbuckles became known as the Chimney Hills. This name came about as a result of the habit of the Comanches and Kiowas marking water holes.

The old freedman related that on many occasions, the Comanches raided near Big Sulphur Springs. His master lived just west of Rock Creek and that every hill in their pasture had a Comanche chimney on it and his master would not disturb them for fear of making the Comanches mad.

These two tribes would stack flat rocks high enough so they could be seen for some distance away. A single tall stack of rocks meant that water was available at that same hill. Two short stacks meant that water was available a short distance away from that hill.

About 1840, a band of Delaware arrived in Indian Territory from Arkansas. They wondered about the Territory until they arrived in the Chickasaw Nation where they settled.

Now, it is well documented that the chief of this band of Delaware was named Black Beaver. He was known as one of the best guides and interpreters in the west.

Black Beaver and his band lived at old Camp Arbuckle near Byers, OK and at Ft. Arbuckle west of Davis, OK. After the Civil War he moved to the Wichita Agency near present day Anadarko, OK and lived there until his death in 1880 at the age of seventy-four years.

The legend of Deerface states that her father was the Delaware chief named Wahpanucka. The word wapanucka in the Delaware language means "eastern people". A through search of the Internet failed to turn up a single response to any Delaware chief named Wahpanucka.

There is a town called Wapanucka and there was also a school in the Chickasaw Nation called the Wapanucka Institute. So, here is the legend of Deerface in Col. Sneed's own words.

"Old Chief Wahpanucka had a beautiful daughter whose name was Deerface; two of the Delaware braves were much in love with her, but Deerface could not decide which one of these warriors she should take to become Chief after the death of Wahpanucka."

"Chief Wahpanucka called the two warriors before him and a powwow was agreed upon. The council was held around the Council Rocks (which is now a point of interest within the Platt National Park), and a decision was reached to the effect that at a certain designated time the Delawares should all assemble on the top of the Bromide Cliff, at the foot of which flow the now famous Bromide and Medicine Springs, and that the two braves should ride their Indian ponies to the edge of the cliff, which was at that time known as Medicine Bluff, and jump off to the bed of the creek about two hundred feet below. The one who survived was to marry Deerface, and succeed Wahpanucka as Chief of the Delawares."

"The race was run and both Indian braves made the jump from the bluff, but both were killed. When Deerface saw this she threw herself from the bluff and died at the foot of the cliff where her lovers had met their death."

"Today her image may be seen indelibly fixed on one of the rocks of the cliff where she fell, and the water of the Medicine Spring is supposed to be the briny tears of the old Chief when he saw the havoc his decision had wrought. These tears, filtering down through the cliff where the old Chief stood, are credited with being so purified that the water of the spring which they form is possessed with remedial qualities which make it a cure for all human ailments."