This column tells the stories of the people whose faces appear on “A Colorado Panorama: A People’s History,” a two-block-long tile mural on the southeast side of the Colorado Convention Center. Inspired by Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking book, “A People’s History of the United States,” the mural was created by artist Barbara Jo Revelle in 1989 to celebrate those who rarely make it into the history books, but who have nonetheless had a profound impact on the history of our state. This week we’re featuring profiles of Towee and Kit Carson.
Towee, Wife of Ute Chief Buckskin Charley (Late 19th – Early 20th Century)
Towee was the wife of Chief “Buckskin Charley,” who is believed to have acquired the nickname when some Buffalo Soldiers happened upon him as he was tanning hides. He later took on “Buck” as his official last name, as did Towee, who came to be known by her American name, Emma Taylor Buck. Emma gave birth to two sons, Julian and Antonio. Sometime around the turn of the century, the Bucks were introduced to the peyote rituals of the Native American Church. Their son Tony later stated that it was an Arapaho medicine man who came to the Ute reservation near Ignacio several times, staying for extended periods to school the Bucks in the uses of peyote and the rites and rituals of the church. At the time, the Utes had to be secretive about their religious practices for fear that agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs might intervene.
Kit Carson, Trapper, Guide, Indian Agent, Frontier Legend, (1809-1868)
When he was 16, Kit Carson quit his apprenticeship to a Franklin, Missouri, saddle-maker and headed west on the Santa Fe Trail. In Taos he joined a party of beaver trappers and spent the next ten years trapping in the Rockies. In 1842, he chanced to meet explorer John C. Fremont on a Missouri steamboat. Fremont hired him as a guide for his expeditions, and his published reports soon made Carson a household name. Between expeditions, Carson spent his time in Taos where he met and married Josefa Jaramillo, who bore him seven children. In 1854, he was appointed Indian Agent, a position he held until the outbreak of the Civil War. As a colonel in the New Mexico Volunteers, he successfully fought to expel the Confederates from the territory. After the war, he was given command of Ft. Garland, Colorado. He later moved with his family to Boggsville, Colorado, where he farmed and ranched for the remainder of his life. A town and county in Colorado are named after him, as is the capital of Nevada, and a national forest in New Mexico. Fort Carson in Colorado Springs was named in his honor, and a statue of Carson astride a rearing horse sits atop the Pioneer Monument in Denver’s Civic Center Park.
Week One: Barney L. Ford and Agnes Smedley
Week Two: Benjamin Barr Lindsey and Anne Bassett
Week Three: William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Clara Brown
Week Four: William “Big Bill” Haywood and Anne Evans
Week Five: Buckskin Charley and “Babe” Didrikson-Zaharias
Week Six: Antonia Brico and Chief Black Kettle
Week Seven: Casimiro Barela and Daisy Anderson
Week Eight: Chogyam Trungpa and Ellen Elliot Jack
Week Nine: Elizabeth Hickok Robbins Stone and Chin Lin Sou
Week Ten: Emily Griffith and Dalton Trumbo
Week Eleven: Chipeta and Wallace Werner
Week Twelve: Eve Drewelowe and Davis Waite
Week Thirteen: Dr. Carl J. Johnson and Florence Sabin
Week Fourteen: Damon Runyon and Emma Langdon
Week Fifteen: Ellison Onizuka and Golda Meir
Week Sixteen: John Lewis Dyer and Helen Hunt Jackson
Week Seventeen: Edward Berthoud and Frances Wisebart Jacobs
Week Eighteen: Hattie McDaniel and Enos Mills
Week Nineteen: Isabella Bird and Francis Schlatter
Week Twenty: Laura Gilpin and Henry O. Wagoner
Week Twenty-One: Justina Ford and George Norlin
Week Twenty-Two: George Bent and Julia Archibald Holmes
Week Twenty-Three: Herbert Bayer and Mabel Barbee Lee
Week Twenty-Four: Martha Maxwell and Chief Ignacio
Week Twenty-Five: Isom Dart and Marvel Crosson
Week Twenty-Six: Jack Dempsey and Mary Long
Week Twenty-Seven: Mary Lathrop and James Beckwourth
Week Twenty-Eight: John Otto and Mina Loy
Week Twenty-Nine: Mary Rippon and Joseph Henry Stuart
Week Thirty: Lauren Watson and Molly Brown
Week Thirty-One: Mary “Mother” Jones and Chief Little Bear
Week Thirty-Two: Chief Little Raven and Neva Romero
Week Thirty-Three: Olga Little and Louis Tikas
Week Thirty-Four: Lowell Thomas and Poker Alice Ivers
Week Thirty-Five: Mariano Medina and Dr. Portia Lubchenko McKnight
Week Thirty-Six: Tsianina Redfeather and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez
Week Thirty-Seven: Minoru Yasui and Ruth Cave Flowers
Week Thirty-Eight: Sadie Likens and Neal Cassady
Week Thirty-Nine: Nikola Tesla and Rose Marie Tabor
Week Forty: Oliver Toussaint Jackson and Sarah Platt-Decker
Week Forty-One: Portia Mansfield and Luis Junior Martinez
Week Forty-Two: Chief Ouray and Anne Ellis
Week Forty-Three: Stan Brakhage and Shawsheen
Week Forty-Four: Mary “Grandma” Shelton and Thomas Ferril
Week Forty-Five: Silver Heels and Oliver E. Aultman
Week Forty-Six: Louella Gooding and Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith
Week Forty-Seven: Silas Soule and Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bates
Week Forty-Eight: Tim Flores and Irene Elizabeth Jerome Hood
Week Forty-Nine: Marcella Lucero Trujillo and William N. Byers
Week Fifty: Virginia Neal Blue and William Henry Jackson
Week Fifty-One: George Morrison and Elizabeth Beranek
Week Fifty-Two: William “Billy” Adams and Mother Pancratia Bonfils
Week Fifty-Three: Elizabeth Byers and Frederick Douglass Jr.
Week Fifty-Four: Annie Maria Green and Ralph L. Carr
Week Fifty-Five: Josephine Roche and Gerald Webb
Week Fifty-Six: Yuriko Noda and Jim Reynolds
Week Fifty-Seven: Sunshine Cloud Smith and Michael Livoda
Week Fifty-Eight: Rabbi William Friedman and Theresa Garcia
Week Fifty-Nine: James Ryan Morris and Margaret Duncan Brown
Week Sixty: Delno Louise Polk and Lewis Price
Week Sixty-One: Susan Anderson and Otto Mears
Week Sixty-Two: Pete Grgich and Ya Na Ha Na Bah Moss
Week Sixty-Three: Svea Magee and Robert Trujillo
Week Sixty-Four: Jacob Lopez and Celedonia Rebolloso
Week Sixty-Five: Senon Martinez and Naomi Grothjan
Week Sixty-Six: Carmen Prado and Richard Falcon
Week Sixty-Seven: Chief Shavano and Josephine Speer
Week Sixty-Eight: Blanche Venettucci Pinello and Henry Wenge
Week Sixty-Nine: Dorothy Brown and Oski Taniwaki
Week Seventy: Sam Sandos and Dorothy McRae
Week Seventy-One: Rafael Perez Vargas and Chana de Gabbiteh Millstein
Week Seventy-Two: Marguerite Mayer and Juan Carson
Week Seventy-Three: George Sandoval and Dr. Edna-Jean Hershey
Week Seventy-Four: Hazel Rhoads Gates and Pete Fotinos
Week Seventy-Five: “Harry” Hokazono and Thyra Adams
Week Seventy-Six: Susan M. Lovelace and Dr. Leonce Evans
Week Seventy-Seven: Gavin Knox Lodge and Rumalda Martinez Atencio