Paula Noonan
Summer, where life is not easy. The winds blow and the earth turns brown. That rewrite of George and Ira Gershwin’s most famous tune describes the big picture of southeastern Colorado this time of year.
Still, a trip across the high plains of the southern part of our square state provides many insights into our history. The Santa Fe Trail, 19th century military forts, the site of the Sand Creek massacre, the Amache internment camp, towns such as Eads, Granada, Pritchett and Kim, the large city of Trinidad and the Ludlow site where the state labor struggle ended with many deaths. All of these make up our Colorado legacy.
From the metropolitan area, your historic tour should head east on Interstate 70 and then take a diagonal south on Highway 40 in Limón to travel through Hugo to Eads. Eads is the county seat of Kiowa County with 657 residents, a yellow brick county building containing the local library (no weapons allowed), courthouse, sheriff’s office, and public restrooms. Eads is the location of the Sand Creek Massacre Museum which tells the story of the Arapaho and Cheyenne people who sought refuge from the war in a bend of Big Sandy Creek in November 1864.
Stay up to date: Sign up to receive daily insights delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday
It was a wintry November 29 when Colonel John Chivington and his 600 soldiers completed their long, cold trek from Denver through Booneville, near Pueblo, to the remote site of Big Sandy Creek where Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle and many other leaders The Cheyenne and Arapaho gathered their people based on a declaration by Governor John Evans to ensure security at the former Fort Lyon in Otero County, near La Junta. Today, from the site gate, the landscape shows the elevation to the west that allowed the soldiers to see the tipis along the creek and the Indian ponies to the west.
Black Kettle stood in front of his lodge with an American flag and a white flag to represent the protection he was supposed to receive from the American military based on a negotiation with Edward Wynkoop, commander of Fort Lyon. Even so, Chivington’s troops fired on the Indian camp while some of the cavalry dispersed the Indians’ ponies to prevent their escape. Over nine hours, at least 163 Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women and children were killed. When news of the massacre reached beyond Denver, the United States government responded with an investigation, but none of the American leaders were prosecuted.
Chivington is buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. Chief Black Kettle died in November 1868, killed by the US cavalry unit led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer as the chief fled with his wife across the Washita River during the Battle of Washita in Oklahoma. Edward Wynkoop of the Wynkoop Street of the same name in downtown Denver, died in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is buried in the national cemetery there.
The most recent result of the massacre is the renaming of Mount Evans. Governor John Evans, who died at age 83 in 1897 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Commerce City, lost recognition because he authorized Chivington’s action. Mount Blue Sky now honors the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The Arapaho are known as “Blue Sky People” and the Cheyenne have an annual ceremony known as Blue Sky.
From the Big Sandy Creek site, travelers should head to Lamar, then south on Highway 287 to Granada, the site of the Granada Relocation Center, also known as Amache Internment Camp, named after a Cheyenne who married John Prowers, the rancher for whom the county is named.
Amache was saved for history through the efforts of the Amache Preservation Society and the students of Granada High School who operate the comprehensive Amache Museum in the city. These students also conduct archeology work in collaboration with the University of Denver to help the public understand how more than 7,600 Japanese and Japanese Americans were interned under U.S. Executive Order 9066 during World War II.
The camp internees, mostly from California and Washington state, landed on the windswept high plains of Grenada, far from the vegetable and fruit farms they owned in California’s Central Valley or their homes in cities like Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento. The barbed wire camp is marked today by its original water tower and one of eight watchtowers that dominated the one-square-mile “city.”
The camp was much larger than Lamar or Granada in population. Many internees worked on the 16-square-mile agricultural farm. Others worked as doctors, teachers, cooks, etc. to provide service to the field. It had a 150-bed hospital, a primary school and a secondary school. The highlight for camp residents was the high school football game between the Holly and Amache players. Governor Roy Romer was on the Holly team that lost.
American-style cafeteria food was unknown to many inmates and the lack of privacy for everything from sleeping to toilets made life extremely hard. Among those who died in the cemetery were an adult who died on Christmas Day 1943 and a four-year-old child who died a day later. Families abandoned their properties in their home countries and were rarely recovered. In 1988, the United States Congress appropriated $20,000 paid only to living former internees. A guest book at the museum shows that people from all over the country visit the site.
Heading south and west from Amache, travelers can imagine the harsh life on the plains. The air is dry, warm and windy. There are no buffaloes roaming around. Even cows are rare along Highway 287 from Grenada, to Springfield, to Kim across the Comanche prairies and to Trinidad, where the Rocky Mountains miraculously rise.
Nestled next to the mountains, Trinidad has renovated its many early 20th century buildings and cobblestone streets. It is home to the oldest synagogue west of the Rocky Mountains and tells the story of miners from around the world who brought coal from the mountains. The Ludlow Massacre Historical Monument, just north of Trinidad on I-25, marks the spot where striking United Mine Worker (UMW) coal miners and their families were attacked by private security and the National Guard. Colorado on April 20, 1914. At least 21 people were killed, 12 of whom were young children, as depicted on the monument.
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr. at the time of the strike, was the dominant corporate player in the region. Railroads that transported coal from north to south provided protection for mine owners. When negotiations did not progress, the strikers were expelled from the company cities. The UMW set up tents in the windy, brushy landscape of the plains rising to the mines. The strikebreakers used an armored vehicle called the “Death Special,” courtesy of Rockefeller’s company, to fire on the camp.
Ironically, the miners and guards played a baseball game to celebrate Orthodox Easter the day before the shooting began. The battle began in the morning and lasted all day. Four women and 11 children died in a pit under a tent that was burned to the ground by a fire set by guards.
The strike ended on December 10, 1914 with no UMW victories. But the legacy turned out differently. This action in labor history led to many reforms, including the 40-hour work week, better living and working conditions for miners, and the beginning of the right to form unions to negotiate workers’ rights. The current family leave law in Colorado, fortunately passed through the legislature, provides a current example of this progression of workplace rights.
The historic tour of the Southeast eventually heads north on I-25 through Pueblo, with its spectacular river ride along the Arkansas River, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock and back to the metropolitan area. This drive is the tip of the Plains in terms of eastern Colorado’s contribution to the state’s history. Next spring or summer, the trip will head to central and northeastern Colorado to investigate what’s there.
Paula Noonan is the owner of Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s leading legislature monitoring platform.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.