Sand Creek as Camp Site

In the 1800's, Plains tribes such as the Cheyenne and Arapaho moved their camps with travois made by securing lodge poles to a horse, and the dragging ends created prairie routes known as lodge pole trails. When traveling to a new camp, they typically went from one water source to the next within about a day's walking distance, so rivers, creeks, small lakes, and springs became favored camping places. The Smoky Hill Lodge Pole Trail included many such places, among them Sand Creek, and the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other Plains tribes used these trails and camped by nearby water sources. In October 1864, the Cheyenne and Arapaho chose Sand Creek as their camp site while awaiting news on peace talks. Sand Creek offered practical advantages: even when the creek had no visible water, digging a trench in the creek bed could produce pooled water for livestock, and nearby fresh water springs supplied drinking and cooking water. George Bent recalled that a lodge trail ran from near Fort Lyon northeast to the head of the Smoky Hill, that the camp stood where this trail crossed Sand Creek, and that the place was long known to the Cheyennes and Arapahos as a camping ground they had used for many years.

Brandon, Colorado · United States