GAUSE, Texas — Don Patterson is 85-years-old, and he's never seen his tribe—the Tonkawa tribe—on the land they originated until now.
They finalized the purchased of Sugarloaf Mountain Tuesday afternoon at a ceremony.
But getting the land back wasn't easy.
The Tonkawa tribe roamed the Central Texas plains for hundreds of years, protecting their sacred lands and serving as scouts with the Texas Rangers during the Indian Wars.
The mountain served as their home, part of the El Camino Real or The King's Highway until 1790 and as a pathway for escaped slaves.
But the Tonkawa were forced to leave their land as more American settlers moved west in an event known as the "Trail of Tears."
They settled in northern Oklahoma and were promised a piece of their land by Governor J.W. Throckmorton in 1866—but they never received it.
In their new home, they continued their traditions, performing traditional "Wolf Dances" and telling stories about their origin.
In the early 1980s, Patterson rediscovered the mountain and planted the initial seed toward the purchase.
"In the Tonkawa legend, they say this is where creation began and the Tonkawa people were the very first, so the Tonkawa tribe inhabited this land for a millennium," Patterson said.
Meanwhile in Gause, resident Dave Cunningham advocated for the mountain's preservation since 1995, but he couldn't convince Texas Parks and Wildlife to buy the site.
Therefore, he sought help from landowners Leon and Kay Herzog who bought the land surrounding the mountain.
A documentary team in Austin, who began filming the tribe in 2021, learned about the efforts and connected Tonkawa Tribal Chief Russell Martin with the couple who negotiated a deal to purchase 60 acres of the property.
"Like any other land purchase, it's a lot of paperwork and negotiation, so it took several months before it became a reality," Patterson said.
To this day, there are at least 900 members of the tribe still in Oklahoma.
But Sugarloaf Mountain, what they call "Natan Samox" or "Red Mountain" will always be home.
With help from non-profit organization, El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, they are planning to dig for artifacts and transform the land into a historical park in years to come.
Steven Gonzales, executive director of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, said this purchase is the first of its kind in Texas.
"It's a place where all of these people have known about it for years and have different kinds of history with and for the first time ever it will be fully-accessible to the community," Gonzales said.
He said now the tribe can share its history and preserve the land permanently.
Gonzales announced the plan at the ceremony where Milam County commissioners, Milam County Historical Commission leaders, tribal leaders, and community members attended.
But the ceremony didn't mean much to Patterson.
He just knows the land of his ancestors is back where it belongs.
"Basically, we're reclaiming what we believed was ours to begin with," Patterson said.