Milestones Icon: Chief Niwot
Chief Niwot was a voice for peace during the turbulent early years of the Colorado gold rush.
Fluent in English, this Arapaho welcomed the first gold seekers and despite the wishes of his tribe permitted them to stay in the Boulder Valley.
Born in the mid-1820s, the chief got his name, as lore goes, from his mother when he reached for her with his left hand, niwot being the Arapaho word for left handed.
Niwot is credited with Niwot’s Curse, which has several versions. The most widely accepted is, “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”
In reality, it was the undoing of the chief.
Chief Niwot was killed on Nov. 29, 1864, along with 150 other Cheyennes and Arapahos at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado by U.S. volunteer troops.
Throughout Boulder County many places pay tribute to Chief Niwot and the Arapaho Tribe. The town of Niwot, Left Hand Canyon, Niwot Mountain and Niwot Ridge are all named for him. And a main thoroughfare through Boulder is Arapahoe Avenue.
Chief Niwot was a voice for peace during the turbulent early years of the Colorado gold rush.
Fluent in English, this Arapaho welcomed the first gold seekers and despite the wishes of his tribe permitted them to stay in the Boulder Valley.
Born in the mid-1820s, the chief got his name, as lore goes, from his mother when he reached for her with his left hand, niwot being the Arapaho word for left handed.
Niwot is credited with Niwot’s Curse, which has several versions. The most widely accepted is, “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying…
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