The Cheyenne
and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma filed a claim Wednesday for 27
million acres given to the tribes in a 19th century treaty but
said they would settle for 500 acres to build a casino in a
symbolic return to Colorado.
The petition, filed with the Department of Interior, covers
northeastern Colorado and about 40 percent of the state. The
land claims include water rights on the Platte and Arkansas
rivers that predate those of many water users today.
"The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes are originally
from what is now known as the state of Colorado," said Bill
Blind, interim chairman of the Cheyenne and Arapaho business
committee, during a news conference here. "In the late
1800s, we were forcibly removed from Colorado by the U.S.
government and relocated here in Oklahoma.
"We left behind some very important spiritual and
cultural connections to the vast area we still refer to as our
homeland."
Blind said the land claims would compensate the tribes for
the federal and state policy of Indian genocide, as outlined by
Colorado's then-Gov. John Evans, as well as a series of broken
treaties and the tribes' unjust removal from Colorado.
Blind said the tribes want 500 acres, in either Central City
or in another unspecified area, to build a $100 million casino,
cultural center and travel facility.
The loss of the Colorado homelands and exile to Oklahoma
destroyed the tribes' sovereignty and economic future, he said.
But the proposed facilities would create economic development
and benefit the tribes and Colorado, he added.
Steve Hillard, a Longmont venture capitalist who pulled
together investors for the plan, dubbed the "Homecoming
Project," said the unresolved settlement claims
could tie up land and water sales in northeastern Colorado until
an agreement is reached.
Hillard said similar claims in Hawaii, New York,
South Carolina and Texas have slowed real estate sales.
And, he said, the Cheyenne and Arapaho claims were stronger than
tribal claims in those states because of the well-documented
state and federal policy of Indian genocide.
That includes the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre, in which Colonel
John Chivington, acting on orders from Evans, ordered 700
soldiers to attack a sleeping camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho. The
American flag and a white flag of peace flew over the camp.
About 150 Indians, mostly women, children and the elderly,
were killed. The soldiers mutilated the bodies and paraded body
parts through Denver.
The Homecoming Project does not seek the reparations for Sand
Creek that Congress promised in 1865, but has never paid.
Clara Bushyhead, a spokeswoman for the tribes' business
committee, said the site for the proposed Colorado casino has
not been selected, but the tribes have received many
invitations, including letters from Denver-area elementary
school students that welcomed the tribes back.
"We want a fair settlement," said Bushyhead,
explaining the tribes weren't threatening to shut down land and
water sales in the claims process.
"I wouldn't call it a threat," she said. "The
Cheyenne and Arapaho do have legal claim. The elders say
Colorado is their home."
Along the side of the room was an early picture of the
Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs during an 1868 meeting in Denver and
a drawing of the tribes camped on the South Platte River in
Denver in 1858.
Eugene Black Bear, a tribal elder, opened the meeting with a
prayer and made the only critical comments. Black Bear, a former
business council member, referred to a settlement of land claims
in the 1960s in which the tribes received $15 million.
"We were paid 3 cents per acre," said Bushyhead.
"The laws have changed to allow us to come back and ask for
what is fair."
Governor Bill Owens opposes any more gaming in the state, but
is less opposed to an Indian casino in Central City, which
already has gaming, said Dan Hopkins, Owens' spokesman.
"But he'd still want to look at any proposal very
closely before he agreed," said Hopkins.
Federal law gives the governor and the U.S. Secretary
of Interior authority to reject or approve casino agreements.
Hillard said many Indian land claims across the country,
including several in California, have been settled by letting
tribes build a casino on a smaller amount of land.