NewsState News

Actions

Panel OKs changing Colorado mountain name tied to massacre

Mount Evans
Posted at 10:30 PM, Nov 17, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-18 00:30:55-05

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado state panel has recommended that Mount Evans, a prominent peak near Denver, be renamed Mount Blue Sky.

The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board voted unanimously Thursday for the change at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.

RELATED: Looking to the sky: Potential renaming of Mount Evans sparks conversation

The Arapaho were known as the Blue Sky People, and the Cheyenne hold an annual ceremony called Blue Sky.

The name still must get approval from the governor before it can be considered by a federal panel.

The peak is named after John Evans, Colorado's second territorial governor. He resigned after an 1864 U.S. cavalry massacre of more than 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people.