47:. The visitors were encamped at what the Arapaho considered to be a sacred site, Valmont Butte, some four miles to the north east of what is now central Boulder, Colorado. Niwot and his closest elder braves, Bear Head and Many Whips, rode out to the site where the new arrivals had decided to camp, near the place where Boulder Creek releases from the
81:, told the European erstwhile settlers the area was cursed. He is said to have told them the Curse of Boulder Valley is: "People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty." As the conversation heightened, he proceeded to threaten them with a visitation by War Party if they did not leave.
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After three tense days, the threat of battle remained in the air. Then, abruptly, Niwot rode into Aikins’ camp once more. He had come to tell them one of his
Arapaho shamans had received a dream from the Great Spirit the night before. In the dream, a flood covered the earth and swallowed the Arapaho
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While they were away, Aikins and his group took steps to avoid hostilities by focusing personal attention on Chief Niwot, plying him with canned beans and salt pork, and getting him drunk. As a result, when Bear Head and Many Whips and the War Party returned, Niwot was advocating peace with the gold
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people, while the whites survived. Niwot interpreted this to mean that gold seekers would flood his homeland, and he could do nothing to stop it. Peace with the whites, Niwot realized, was the only way his people would avoid being swept away by the flood.
105:, who had recently welcomed white settlers to the Denver gold camps, maintained their stance of peaceful coexistence with the newly arrived Europeans, at least for the time being. He was killed shortly thereafter in the notorious
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Aikins and his men refused to leave and prepared to do battle against the
Arapaho. At some point, Bear Head and Many Whips headed back to the Arapaho encampment to raise a War Party while the Chief lingered.
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Chief Niwot, it is said, as eloquent and capable as he was with the
English language learned from his brother-in-law, his sister's husband, the trapper
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OUR PEOPLE: Southern
Arapahos Are Part of Boulder's Spirit, by Judy Mattivi Morley, Ph.D. (Originally appeared in Boulder Magazine, 2005.) Now at:
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31:, who is said to have first stated it upon meeting the first white gold seekers to visit what is now known as the Boulder Valley in
55:. Some see the Curse as portentous of the settling of not only the Boulder Valley, but of the entire Western United States.
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People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.
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They had ridden from
Valmont Butte to greet them in peace, and to admonish them to leave.
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to meet
Sunshine Creek and flow onto the Great Plains, Niwot and his braves met them.
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In fall 1858, led by
Captain Thomas Aikins, a group of gold prospectors, part of the
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16:The beauty of Colorado valley will be its undoing
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85:Battle looms and a dream brings initial peace
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101:Starting then, Niwot and his fellow chief
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43:Niwot was the leader of the Southern
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164:Pre-statehood history of Colorado
59:Europeans come to Boulder Valley
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133:"Articles about Boulder"
33:Boulder County, Colorado
21:Curse of Boulder Valley
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107:Sand Creek massacre
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65:Colorado Gold Rush
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79:John Poisal
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29:Chief Niwot
158:Categories
143:2011-07-19
113:References
69:Nederland
51:onto the
45:Arapaho
169:Curses
19:The
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