'We're home': 140 years after forced exile, the Tonkawa reclaim a sacred part of Texas

GAUSE, Texas — Almost 140 years after the Tonkawa were expelled from Texas, they have returned to purchase Sugarloaf Mountain, a sacred site in Milam County, northeast of Austin, that plays a key role in the tribe's creation story.

"We're home," Tonkawa President Russ Martin said at a small Dec. 12 ceremony honoring the recovery of 60 acres of the tribe's ancestral lands in Central Texas. "The first time I got to the top of the mountain, I was overwhelmed. I'm not that spiritual a person, but that experience was spiritual. We're glad to be home in Texas."

The purchase of the land for a historical park is part of a larger movement, especially among Texas tribes that were expelled — or nearly exterminated — during the 19th century, to reclaim their legacies here.