Renaming of Colorado’s Mount Evans Delayed

By RICK SALLINGER

MOUNT EVANS, Colorado (KCNC) – By now Mount Evans was expected to be renamed Mount Blue Sky, but the Northern Cheyenne tribe has objected to the process.

“That’s their prerogative that’s their right as a sovereign nation,” said Fred Mosqueda of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes.

The name of the mountain should be changed to “Cheyenne Arapaho” according to the dissenting tribe’s administrator William Walksalong, who spoke exclusively with CBS News Colorado. He is originally from Montana.

Reggie Wassana, the governor of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes, says he is not dismayed by the delay.

“The tribe had a vision, I guess and they felt that the consultation process didn’t meet their needs,” he said.

The Colorado History Museum was filled with Native Americans as there is widespread agreement among them that the name associated with Gov. John Evans had to go because he instigated the Sand Creek Massacre.

“We were outed and unfortunately attacked and killed and murdered in those cases we were almost running out of Colorado,” Wassana explained.

The renaming is now in the hands of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, but Mosqueda is still remaining optimistic.

“It’s a delay it’s still going to be named Mount Blue Sky,” he said.

The administrator for the Northern Cheyenne tribe told CBS News Colorado they wrote to Gov. Jared Polis, but did not hear back.

A spokesman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources says the Northern Cheyenne gave a presentation and answered questions at one of the two public meetings.

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