G. Eldon Smith, Author
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My Colorado Thoughts

10/8/2023

 
Quote
"Native American isn't blood. It is what is in the heart. The love for the land, the respect for it, those who inhabit it, and the respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and elders. That is what it is to be Indian."


Amanche Onichee Prowers
John Wesley Prowers was one of the early Colorado ranchers who let their cattle roam at will on the open range in the winter. In the Spring the ranchers in the area went out to separate.their cattle from the other cattle. That is where the term "Round Up" came from.

Prowers was a successful businessman in many fields. He founded a bank, ran stores, and shipping  operations. In addition he was in the state legislature. When a county was created in his part of the state,  it was named Prowers County after him.

He was first and foremost a rancher, who owned 400,000 acres along the Arkansas River. A good part of it belonged to Amachi-his wife, her mother-in-law and her two daughters..This land was given to them as reparations for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Amache's father, Lone Bear, was killed in the massacre.

Amachi Onichee was full blooded Southern Cheyenne, daughter of a chief. She broke tradition by marrying outside of her tribe. At the age of 15 she  married a white man, Prowers.

As an active participant in her family’s cattle-ranching business and a leader in her community, Ms. Prowers’ life exemplifies the essential role played by Native American women in shaping our state. She bridged the diverse cultural traditions of the Native American, Euro-American, and Mexican people who resided in Colorado’s southeastern plains.

Picture
Amache Prowers, born in the plains of Colorado in 1846. Elected to the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in the class of 2018.


Picture
                  Aspen in Rocky Mountain National Park
 
Another Quote
I do not wish to be shut up in a corral. All agency Indians I have seen are worthless. They are neither red warriors nor white farmers. They are neither wolf nor dog."  Sitting Bull



                   

























                                              


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    G. Eldon Smith author/blogger
    I write historical mysteries set in Colorado in 1890s.

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