Delay puts renaming of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky on hold

There has been a delay in the renaming of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names put its vote on hold Thursday after receiving a request from a tribal government for a consultation. 

Last week, Gov. Jared Polis endorsed the proposal to change the name of Mount Evans in a letter to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. The letter is the last piece of information from Colorado that is being collected as the U.S. Board of Geographic Names considers a change. The board only rarely opposes states on name changes.

The endorsement by Colorado's governor follows the unanimous approval by the 15 members of Colorado's Geographic Naming Board of changing the name to Mount Blue Sky.

Randy Wheelock, Clear Creek County Commissioner, explained making the recommendation for the name came after careful consideration and a lot of public input, especially from tribal nations. 

"We got where we are in history whether benevolently or malevolently by people who looked like me making decisions for other people and this is one of those kinds of cases," Wheelock said. "I felt some level of discomfort with that, but it was our job with the federal government to do that and choose. We made a choice rather than make no choice. "

"How do you think we feel? We're frustrated," Arapaho Cultural Leader Fred Mosqueda said. "This has been years in the making, but we are going to see it through."

There's no timeline for when the decision will be pushed to, but Clear Creek County Commissioners said they will stick with their recommendation for Mount Blue Sky unless there's a new consensus from the indigenous people. 

"They are the people who suffered the generational trauma that has led to this name change and we should support that and let the people know their own history and lead us."

Mount Evans, which towers over the Denver metro area, is widely ranked as Colorado's 14th-highest mountain at 14.265 feet. 

The idea of the name change arose several years ago from those who wished that the mountain would no longer carry the name of former territorial governor John Evans. Evans was eventually pushed out of office over his connection to the Sand Creek Massacre of approximately 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho people. While there were several possible names suggested, the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes backed the idea of Mount Blue Sky, named for the Arapaho people.

The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes released a statement last week, including a message from Mosqueda: "Since 1895 when this majestic mountain was named after the second territorial Governor, John Evans, Cheyenne and Arapaho people have had a constant reminder of a dark segment of our tribal history. A reminder of what one person had accomplished by his reluctance to do the duty of his post. Genocide and removal of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people from their homelands. Now we have a Governor who has taken the initiative to do his duty and recommend the renaming of this fabled mountain on the front range of the Rockies, homelands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Thank you, Governor Polis, for your recommendation on the renaming to Mount Blue Sky. A name that brings joy and honor to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people, of a ceremony for all living things, and a name of the people whose homelands this mountain overlooks. Mount Blue Sky is for everyone."  

In the governor's letter, he wrote of Evans and name change: "After decades of examination with respect to his role and exhaustive reports by both the University of Denver and Northwestern University, then Territorial Governor John Evans' culpability tacit or explicit for the Sand Creek Massacre is without question. In August of 2021, I formally rescinded the bigoted, inhumane, and legally questionable proclamations made by then Territorial Governor Evans that led to the Sand Creek Massacre, the deadliest day in Colorado history." 

Nearby Squaw Mountain and Squaw Pass already had a name change to Mestaa'ėhehe Mountain in late 2021 after concerns from tribes that the squaw term is derogatory.

In addition to the endorsement of change for Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky the governor backed the change of Negro Creek and Negro Mesas in Delta County to Clay Creek and Clay Mesa, suggested by students at Cedaredge High School and the wider community. Those changes were approved.