Wyoming
Opinion: From Colorado lands smeared with my ancestors blood to a Wyoming sacred hot springs stolen from us, the dispossession continues
If only the cottonwood trees throughout our sacred homelands — stretching from the Sand Creek Massacre Site to the sacred waters of Hot Springs State Park to the Little Bighorn National Monument, could tell the stories of our peoples.
There is a reason the National Parks Service refers to them as witness trees. This spring when I traveled to the Massacre Site, in what is today called Colorado, to commemorate my Arapaho and Cheyenne ancestors killed there and those who barely escaped with their lives, the cottonwood trees had a ghostly appearance. It sounded like they sang with me as the wind picked up when I prayed there.
From there I traveled north, along the Sand Creek Massacre Trail that my ancestors followed to escape to one of their safe heavens: the sacred source of the hot water at what is now referred to as Hot Springs State Park, in Cheyenne. We call it tsexhoeomotometo mahpe, where the breath of life comes out of the water.
From there, I traveled all the way back to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in what is today called Montana, past the Little Bighorn Battlefield, to the place where our ancestors sundanced to pray for guidance before the battle in 1876.
My journey through the Arapaho and Cheyenne homelands — from Sand Creek, to Hot Springs, to Little Big Horn — marked a trail of dispossession of our peoples.
We were effectively driven from the state of Colorado by genocide. A recent study found that the state of Colorado alone benefitted over $1.7 trillion from the dispossession of land of Indigenous Peoples.
The dispossession continues to this day.
The state of Wyoming tried to unilaterally proceed with major changes at what they designated in as Hot Springs State Park. These hot springs have always been sacred to our people, our ancestors went there for healing, including after the Sand Creek Massacre.
But the springs and 100 acres of land surrounding it was taken from the Wind River Reservation
and the compensation was not just nor fair. The federal government turned around and gave the
land to the state since settlers had been pushing into the area.
In a recent letter to me, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon recognized this, he stated: “I fully acknowledge that the trauma of these events strongly impacts Tribal members even now, and that the wounds are still deep and fresh. While it may seem to some that the days of forced relocation and violent conflict are far behind us, that brutal history is all too recent for many, sometimes only removed by one or two generations as noted in your letter.”
He then proceeded to describe what I consider a continuation of the same: the unilateral state decision-making process that started with a Master Plan almost 10 years ago for the development of the springs and continues with the current decisions handing facilities over to out-of-state operators aiming at the further commercialization of our sacred waters.
This does not meet the standards of consultation with Indigenous Peoples necessary under U.S. law, let alone the requirement of prior informed consent of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Peoples under international law, including under the United Nations (U.N.) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the United States government has committed to implementing.
This single largest source of sacred hot springs in the world is a sacred site to our people. My grandparents and parents taught me to always make offerings there and they took me to the privately owned Star Plunge pool to swim as a child. I have since taken my children and most recently my 3-week-old grandson there to swim at this place that continues to facilitate intergenerational Indigenous and local access, which stands to be forever changed, without our peoples’ necessary input and consent.
The state points to the publicly owned bathhouse, which it considers as a fulfillment of the promise to give the Indigenous Peoples free access, in the past elders and people with disabilities could easily access individual pools there, which is no longer the case, and access is limited to 20 minutes. The waters there are also too hot for little children, so the Star Plunge is the main place where our people have been coming together in 3+ generations for collective healing.
Most recently the local family that has been operating the Star Plunge for three generations and stands to be expropriated organized a free swim for the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne and more than 700 of our people came and around the beginning of August the Eastern Shoshone will also be joining in. This is an example of benefit-sharing with the main obligations falling to the state. What the state has to understand is that when we as Indigenous Peoples talk about access and benefit-sharing it connects to the requirement of FPIC, which requires dealing with us as decision-makers regarding access to our lands and waters, and the site of Hot Springs State Park.
In order to truly address the intergenerational effects of genocide, access and benefit-sharing regarding the Hot Springs State Park have to be implemented with the Arapaho and Cheyenne people right now.
But the dispossession doesn’t stop at the Wyoming border.
It is important to acknowledge that our people were deliberately targeted by genocidal strategies, first by the U.S. Army and militias like the Colorado volunteers; followed by an even more devious strategy to go after our children, through the so-called boarding school system. It really had nothing to do with education; it exploited our children as forced labor, while assimilating them by literally beating our indigenous languages and ways of thinking out of them.
Many died and were buried on the grounds of these institutions, too often in unmarked graves. The forceful removal of Indigenous children meets the international definition of genocide under Article 2(e) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In 2020, Colorado lawmakers passed a bill titled “Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Public Schools” (House Bill 1336), which requires completion of such a course as a condition of high school graduation.
Yet the Colorado Boarding School system was not included in this recent statute, not even after the Colorado Legislature commissioned House Bill 1327 and was presented with a study into how these boarding schools were genocidal. What is almost more shocking is that the Sand Creek Massacre is not explicitly listed for study in the bill, although the then-governor of Colorado Hickenlooper presented an official apology on the 150th anniversary which makes it come up on its 10-year mark this year.
Actually, the only two genocides explicitly mentioned are the “holocaust meaning the systemic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews and five million individuals targeted for their religion, disability, or identity by the Nazi Regime” and the Armenian Genocide. As William Zessar, who lost many of his relatives to the Holocaust, and has been advocating to amend the statute said: “To fail to recognize the genocides that happened in the very land where we sought refuge, means to diminish all other genocides.”
As a fellow intergenerational survivor of genocide, I wholeheartedly agree, there can be no competition or for that matter comparison between genocides: We have to condemn them all; they are cumulative on the soul of humanity. What signal does the Colorado legislature send by not explicitly listing the Sand Creek Massacre and the Colorado Boarding School system, when they constitute incidents of genocide in the state?
Some might point to the discretion passed on to the Colorado State Board of Education to set the standards for the teaching of the course and that they can add and for that matter also remove genocides by way of a simple majority vote. They have to date added eight more genocides, among them the Sand Creek Massacre, although it remains the only one among them that does not have educational materials attached to it, that facilitate the teaching of the respective content.
And they have not added the Colorado Indian Boarding School system, contributing to the lack of education on this incident of genocide in the state. There is no doubt that a simple vote at the State Board of Education, does not equal the standard and protection of having incidents of genocide directly listed in the statute, and that is why as a direct descendant of families impacted by the Sand Creek Massacre and the Indian Boarding School system, I urge the amendment of the Colorado Holocaust and Genocide Studies Statute to explicitly list “genocides of Native American Peoples, including the Sand Creek Massacre and the Colorado Indian Boarding School system,” to ensure that they are taught to all students in public high schools.
There is no better way to commemorate the upcoming 160th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, than for legislators to make a commitment to do this. Public education about this topic is key in the lead-up to the 150th anniversary of Colorado becoming a state in two years. I call on the Colorado 150/America 250 Commission to champion this.
In Montana, we will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn at the same time, when our ancestors took a stand for our way of life, which includes our Indigenous languages, way of thinking, our identities and our spiritual connection to the land, all things that the Indian Boarding school system tried to sever.
And 2026 will also mark the 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States, with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Pennsylvania.
Too many U.S. citizens do not know that Pennsylvania hosted a crucial institution in the Indian boarding school system in the United States: The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was set up by the U.S. Army in 1879, within 3 years of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, targeting especially children of leaders of Plains Indian Tribes. While a number of my great-grandparents had been at the Sand Creek Massacre and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, they saw their children, my grandparents, targeted to attend first the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the next generations Indian Boarding Schools in other states.
The systemic genocidal intent is clear, and as their descendants, we carry the intergenerational effects. Thankfully our Indigenous teachings passed on from generation to generation also carry many counter-remedies that the world needs now more than ever, and we would be ready to share these as part of learning about genocide.
Northern Cheyenne traditional Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr, Heoveve’keso (Yellowbird), comes from long lines of chiefs and works with Indigenous Peoples across North America. He has developed his own teaching model based on ancestral wisdom and his life experience to counter the intergenerational effects of genocide with indigenous teachings. More information can be found at: phillipwhitemanjr.org
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As your state representative for House District 38, I feel compelled to address recent attacks on my stance regarding women’s sports.
These attacks, fueled by out-of-state dark money, have grossly misconstrued my position on an issue of profound importance.
As your neighbor, you know I’ve been a part of this community my entire life. I’ve grown up here, was married here, I ranch here, and go to church here. I care deeply about our shared values and the well-being of every resident.
Our state has a proud history of championing women’s rights. We were the first state to grant women the right to vote, earning us the title of the Equality State. This legacy is not just a point of pride; it’s a commitment that we must uphold with every decision we make.
The identity of a woman is fundamental and irreplaceable. It encompasses a unique journey, filled with challenges and triumphs that shape who she is. Our state has always recognized and celebrated this truth, and we must continue to honor it in all aspects of our society.
On a personal note, I watched two of my sisters thrive as athletes in high school and college.
Their dedication and hard work led to remarkable achievements, and I would never want to see their success undermined or taken away.
They competed with integrity, knowing that they were part of a fair and just system that recognized their abilities and efforts.
Additionally, the safety and privacy of women in locker rooms and restrooms are paramount concerns that cannot be overlooked.
Every woman and girl deserves to feel secure in spaces designated for them, free from any undue risks or discomfort. I firmly believe that ensuring these safe spaces is a fundamental part of respecting and valuing the identity of women.
I vow to protect the opportunities and rights of our Wyoming girls. Ensuring a level playing field in sports is not just about fairness; it’s about preserving the integrity of women’s sports and respecting the unique identity and contributions of women.
As your representative, I will stand firm against any attempts to blur the lines and diminish the accomplishments of female athletes.
Let’s remain committed to our values and the legacy of equality that defines Wyoming. Together, we can ensure that every girl and woman in our state has the chance to succeed and be celebrated for who she truly is.
We can’t let out-of-state attack ads from those desperately seeking power cause divisiveness within the conservative movement. I am a proud, committed, Wyoming conservative. I will always fight back against the radical left and stand firm in defending our Wyoming way of life.
If you need to reach me on this issue or any other, please call (307-265-8935), email (tom.walters@reagan.com) or visit https://waltershd38.com/ directly. Thank you for your continued trust and support
Tom Walters
State Representative, House District 38
Once upon a time, the Wyoming Republican Party Organization had integrity. These days, not so much.
For example, the Crook County Republican Party Organization donated the whopping sum of $25,000 dollars to the Wyoming Freedom PAC.
This donation was made despite the fact that Wyoming Statute §22-25-104 says “No political party funds shall be expended directly or indirectly in the aid of the nomination of any one person as against another person of the same political party running in the primary election.”
When a Crook County Republican Official was asked about the donation, Sherry Davis, a Crook County State Committeewoman said, “A PAC is not a candidate.” As a result, the donation was legal.
Everyone in the world knows what candidates the Wyoming Freedom PAC supports. If donations are made to the Wyoming Freedom PAC, they will go to support candidates in the primary who are running against other Republican Candidates.
How this is not “indirect” support of one person against another person in a primary is hard to comprehend. Even if the strained interpretation of the statutory language made sense, a party organization with integrity would have followed the spirit of the law.
What was the reaction of the ultra-conservative Wyoming Freedom PAC, who argues on their website they want to uphold the “rule of law”? Of course, they took the money.
Why? One could assume that obtaining power by any means is more important than following the law. For the Wyoming Freedom PAC, it appears the rule of law is negotiable depending on who benefits.
What was the reaction of the Wyoming State Republican Party Central Committee – the organization responsible for governing the county parties to this donation? By all accounts – crickets. Why? One could argue the Wyoming Republican Party does not care about the spirit of the law.
The State Republican Party has their own issues with complying with this law. Let’s examine just one example.
Kathy Russell is paid the Executive Director of the Wyoming Republican Party. She is in charge of the day-to-day administration of the Wyoming Republican Party.
She is running against Bob Nicholas, the Republican incumbent in House District 7.
There was a time, when a party with integrity would have asked Ms. Russell to step down from her job to run for office. She still has her job.
One wonders, hypothetically, if Ms. Russell is using her knowledge, position of power and influence within the party to advance her campaign, while never missing a paycheck from the Wyoming Republican Party.
Doug Gerard, for example, was chair of the Campbell County Republican Party. He stepped down from that position to run for Wyoming House. Doug Gerard demonstrated integrity.
Was there any action taken regarding this conflict of interest in advancing the interests of all Republican candidates? None to my knowledge.
What if a Republican wanted to complain to the party about any of the Party’s actions or non-actions in these matters? What recourse would they have?
The Wyoming Republican Party developed their own secret court system to manage disputes between Republican persons or entities.
Look it up. You can find the party bylaws on the Wyoming Republican Party website. It’s frightening. Article II Section 2 of the Wyoming Republican Party Bylaws creates their own private secret court system.
A committee of not less than 5 nor more than 9 members of the State Central Committee are appointed by the Chairman of the Party, Frank Eathorne.
These rules purport to bind every Republican. They meet in secret. They have no rules of evidence or procedure.
They get to hire an attorney. They get to choose who your attorney can be. They can render a money judgement and take your property.
I personally do not submit to this process. You should tell them the same thing.
What could possibly go wrong with this process?
When the top-secret arbitration panel is made up of party insiders, selected by the Chairman of the Party and allowed to meet in secret, the result is a fait accompli. Whatever the party insiders want, they get.
Another avenue for complaints for these violations should be to the State’s Chief Election Officer, the Secretary of State, Chuck Gray, to enforce the integrity of the election. He has his problems, too.
Tons of black money are funneling into the state, with campaign mailers that say, “Representative So and So, voted with the Radical Left to remove President Trump from the ballot.”
What really happened was Representative So and So voted not authorize Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s slush fund to litigate matters in other states. So, apparently, opposing a slush fund for the Secretary of State is tantamount to opposing Donald Trump.
Legislators are being punished for opposing Secretary of State Gray’s slush fund with deceptive mailers, and some have even filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the deceptive mailers.
What has Secretary of State Gray’s response been to the black money mailers? Crickets.
It used to be the party, and party officials had integrity. Not so much anymore. All we see is the unbridled pursuit of power – power over our daily lives. And who is worse to wield power over our daily lives than those who lack integrity?
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2005 – 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House.
He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus is a fraternal organization founded in the 1800s, in part as a mockery of other societies of the day. The way music artists today consider they’ve “made it” when Weird Al parodies their songs, being lampooned by the Order of E Clampus has evolved into a badge of honor.
There’s a method to the madness of these self-described “Clampers,” who also are dedicated to the study and preservation of the heritage of the American West. The group itself says it’s not sure if it’s a “historical drinking society” or a “drinking historical society.”
Whatever they’re drinking, the Lander-based Wyoming chapter of the organization — South Pass 1867 — will do something entirely serious Saturday when it dedicates the cemetery at the historic ghost town of Gebo. Many of those graves hold children who died in the coal mining town.
While dedicated to rejecting rational thought, the Clampers’ mission to preserve history is a serious one, said local Vice President Ben Jackson.
“We really want to highlight and preserve to the best of our ability the sites of historical significance throughout the state of Wyoming,” Jackson said. “In this way, no matter what the condition of the sites may be as the years progress, there’s at least some type of marker that talks about what happened at these sites.”
The ’67ers, as they call themselves, do not want future generations to forget what the hard-working men and women went through in Wyoming’s early decades.
When people visit sites the society dedicates, the plaques highlight the trials and tribulations these early pioneers endured and overcome, such as the people of the coal mining town of Gebo.
Gebo, A Distant Memory
Gebo was once a thriving coal camp in the sagebrush with more than 2,000 miners and their families.
Located north of Thermopolis, this town was built by the Owl Creek Coal Co., and its heyday was in the 1910s and 1920s. It had a hospital, the largest high school in the region, a tennis court, company store, boarding houses, paved streets, sidewalks and company housing.
The coal miners formed bands, baseball teams and held boxing matches. Its popular Labor Day celebrations were attended by thousands of people from around the Big Horn Basin.
As the coal mines closed, the miners and their families scattered across America. Some found work in mines in other states such as Virginia while others couldn’t bear to leave Wyoming.
They moved their families into neighboring towns of Lucerne, Worland and Thermopolis. The company homes were sold and moved out of Gebo, the mines closed up and only a handful of families remained until the last person moved out in the 1980s.
In the 1970s, the BLM bulldozed the remaining abandoned buildings, leaving behind foundations, relics of the mine and a small cemetery.
E Clampus Vitus will host its public dedication at this cemetery. Many of the small graves holding children have captured their imagination and hearts.
“You go out there and you look at these headstones and you see these infants that died very close to the day they were born,” Jackson said. “It makes you wonder, ‘My God, what happened to these babies?’ Then you find out that it was either the Spanish flu or the diphtheria that ran through there like wildfire, and there’s nothing out there that talks about that. Their story will be lost if we don’t do something.”
When Jackson first proposed the site as an E Clampus project, many of the members, most based in Fremont County, had not even heard of Gebo. He took them to the deserted mining town in March and showed them around.
Once they stepped back into time, touring the sage and hills that once teemed with people, the members didn’t need any more convincing. The Clampers were determined to put up a marker in memory of the town and the people who once eked out their livings underground.
Remember All Of Wyoming
It’s part of the Wyoming chapter’s goal to branch out to put up markers around the state.
“We’ve done a tremendous amount of work up in the South Pass and Atlantic City area,” Jackson said. “But now we’re looking to branch out into other areas of the state. Next year, we are planning on dedicating the Irma Hotel at Cody.”
The chapter also wants to expand membership and open new chapters throughout the Cowboy State. The goal is to continue preserving the history of Wyoming.
“We were originally started by miners for miners and to take care of the widows and orphans of miners that died in the mines, whether it be the gold mines or the coal mines,” Jackson said. “Obviously, that has gone by the wayside. We are now a fraternal order that’s dedicated to the preservation of sites of historical significance that is predominantly centered around the Gold Rush era.”
E Clampus Vitus was founded in the 1800s in West Virginia and brought to California during the Gold Rush. It exploded in the mining camps and brought levity into the lives of those hard-working miners.
“It was started by miners who couldn’t get into the other fraternal orders of the day such as the Freemasons and the Odd Fellows due to their social status,” Jackson said. “Those guys would look down their noses at the miners due to their rowdy nature. So, the minors wanted to start their own order and social club, if you will. E Clampus Vitus was born out of that, and they had a lot of fun with it.”
The miners would mock the other orders by making up strange rules and over-exaggerating their traditions. Members of this new society of fun-loving miners had been known to pull such antics as pinning can lids to their vests and walking in town parades.
They would march alongside the other societies that would be decked out in all their fancy regalia.
In an ironic twist, as the order became more popular, the movers and shakers of the 1800s decided to join to get the votes of the miners. E Clampus Vitus grew to include governors, doctors, lawyers and senators. Famous Clampers include Ronald Reagan and Samuel Clemens.
“Mark Twain actually heard of the famous frog jump of Calaveras County at a ECV meeting,” Jackson said. “There’s just a lot of history and accomplishments in our society. Another example is that the first mention of the gold strike in California was from a telegram written by a brother clamper.”
As Jackson and his fellow clampers continue to preserve Wyoming’s history, you can bet they will be doing it with a smile and lots of humor.
The public presentation of the Gebo coal camp new marker begins at 11a.m. Saturday at the Gebo Cemetery.
To reach the ghost town and cemetery, drive south from Worland or north from Thermopolis on U.S. Highway 20 until you hit the town of Kirby.
Turn west onto Sand Draw Road (Hot Springs County Road 18). When you hit a Y in the road after about 1.3 miles, bear left onto Hot Springs County Road 30.
Continue for another 1.3 miles until you hit the cemetery.
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
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