Hi, my name is bill mercer, and i am the associate director of Curatorial Affairs at the panhandle Plains Historical museum. I would like to share about the history of native americans and the culture of native americans in texas. Its very appropriate to begin with the contemporary. Im standing here next to a beautiful piece of sculpture by the noted artist alan houser, who was apache. He was born in oklahoma. He was a descendent of a band removed to oklahoma after his band was captured and later became a terrific artist. As you can see, one of the main foci of this particular piece is a native american on horseback and thats truly the story. Thats the story of native americans in the Southern Plains region and the panhandle especially. What once horses became available to them in the 1600s, particularly the comanches their people, they were able to obtain horses from the traders in santa fe. They were able to utilize the environment much more. I could cover much longer distances. The