John Wesley Prowers

A sketch of Bent's New Fort made in 1859 by Daniel Jenks who traveled to Colorado Territory in search of gold. Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Department.

When he was eighteen years of age, he was hired by Robert Miller who was an agent for Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowas, Comanche, and Apache tribes of the upper Arkansas area. They traveled from Westport, Missouri to Bent's Fort in what is now Colorado. Their wagon contained annuity goods—sugar, oatmeal, bacon, salt, beans, coffee, cornmeal, and other goods—which Miller and Prowers passed out to Native Americans who came to the fort.[1][lower-alpha 2] Bent's Fort was a trading post where Native Americans traded buffalo robes and mountain men traded beaver skins for goods. Their customers included French-Canadians and Mexicans.[1] He worked at Bent's Fort for seven years, from 1856 to 1863, as a trader who led wagon trains to and from Missouri, returning with supplies for Bent's Fort. From 1865 to 1871, he delivered government supplies from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Union. He also delivered supplies to Fort Laramie.[1][4] He learned the Cheyenne language and was sometimes called upon to act as an interpreter. Respected by Native Americans and whites, he often provided background information about the lifestyle and issues of the indigenous people of Colorado to help whites understand their perspectives.[5]

When Prowers began to settle in what is now southeastern Colorado, there were very few white settlers and they were isolated from one another.[1] Albert G. Boone, the grandson of Daniel Boone and an Indian agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, lived 80 miles west of Fort Lyon and helped negotiate the Treaty of Fort Wise (later renamed Fort Lyon) in 1861.[1][6] William Bent's Bent's Old Fort, established in 1833, was a stagecoach station, trading post, and a meeting place for people of Mexican, Native American, and European-American descent.[1] Robison Malory Moore, husband of William Bent's daughter, Mary, settled at the mouth of the Purgatoire River in 1860.[1][7]

Delegation Of Cheyenne and Arapaho Chiefs at Camp Weld on September 28, 1864

Over time, as more white people moved into what is now Colorado, relations between the Plains Indians and the whites became increasingly hostile. Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders did not understand the cultural ways and perspectives of the whites.[1] In 1864, Chief Black Kettle and Chief Ochinee (One-Eye) met with Governor John Evans and Colonel John Chivington. Although they did not have a formal treaty, they believed that they had an agreement for peace and complied with their requirements for peace, including arriving at Fort Lyon to enter into discussion with Major Wynkoop, who was replaced by the time they arrived by Major Anthony. Anthony supported their goal for peace and the Cheyenne leaders explained that the young men were planning on leaving on a buffalo hunt. The Cheyenne were told that they would be safe if they stayed at their Sand Creek encampment.[1] Soldiers from the fort arrived at the Prowers home and held the family and ranch hands hostages for 2 and a half days before the Sand Creek massacre on November 29, 1864,[1] in which Chief Ochinee and 160 people from the village, mostly women and children, died that day.[8]

Hereford cattle

The first man to drive cattle to the west,[3] Prowers began purchasing cattle in 1861, first shorthorn cattle and then Hereford cattle, who better survived the Colorado winters. He drove them to Colorado during his wagon train trips.[1][lower-alpha 3] He was considered the first[9] and largest rancher in the area.[10] In 1863, he increased his land holdings when he bought land across from Fort Lyons.[5] Prowers' wife Amache, their two oldest daughters, and Amache's mother each received reparations by the United States government in the form of 640 acres of land along the Arkansas River. Amache used her land to expand her family's cattle ranch.[8][11][12][lower-alpha 4] He purchased some of his land for his cattle ranching from the half-Native American children who received war reparations following the Sand Creek massacre (1864) and from local whites.[13]

The Prowers also raised sheep and horses and operated a farm. Fort Lyon bought nearly all the produce that the farm produced.[14] Tarbox Ditch, a seven-mile irrigation ditch that served 1,000 acres, was utilized by the Prowers farm, as well as the Boggs and Robert Bent farms.[14] Due to the irrigation, the three farms grew potatoes, corn, wheat,[15] alfalfa, and vegetables.[2] He contracted with the United States government to provide large quantities of hay.[3]

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) came to Colorado in 1873 and its tracks ran along a border of the Prowers ranch. A train station was established at Granada, Colorado. Cattle was then shipped via train, rather than having to be driven to stockyards.[13] By 1876, Prowers, known as the cattle baron of the Arkansas (Arkansas River Valley), and Charles Goodnight established a meatpacking plant in Las Animas.[16] The Prowers had 15,000 head of cattle and had acquired more land so that they had 30 miles of waterfront alongside the Arkansas River by 1881.[13][lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6] They had 70,000 head of cattle at one fall roundup.[2]

Historical trails of Colorado

Trails
Cherokee Trail Goodnight–Loving Trail Old Spanish Trail Overland Trail Santa Fe Trail Smoky Hill Trail South Platte Trail Taos Mountain Trail Trapper's Trail Ute Pass Wagon Road

After living first at Bent's Fort, John and his wife operated a stagecoach station at their home in Caddoa, Colorado.[14] During the winter, they boarded mules and horses for Fort Lyon and in the summer grew vegetables for the military. They also sold horses and livestock to the fort. In the spring of 1867, a flood of the Arkansas River nearly destroyed the fort. It was moved 20 miles west and the Prowers moved to be closer to the new location.[2]

In 1867, the Prowers family established a two-story, 14-room house in Boggsville, Colorado.[2][14] The U-shaped building was the site of a stagecoach station, school, and general store. They raised cattle there.[3][14] After 1870, Bent County's county office was located in the Prowers house, which served as Boggsville's town center. About that time, a school was established near the Prowers house.[14] Established in 1869 with 21 students, it was the first public school in southeastern Colorado.[2] Kit Carson was a neighbor there.[14]

Prowers House in Boggsville, Colorado

Located on the Purgatory branch of the Santa Fe Trail, the stagecoach station provided meals for travelers, while the stagecoach horses were traded for fresh horses. Officers at For Lyon were guests at the Prowers House.[2] Parties and dances were held in Boggsville, which drew settlers and cowboys from a 50-mile radius.[2] The Prowers house became a property on the Boggsville Historic Site in 1985,[14] and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places the following year.[2] It is a certified site of the Santa Fe Trail.[18]

After the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and the Kansas Pacific Railway established rail service into southeastern Colorado in 1873,[2] The Prowers moved to the new town of Las Animas, Colorado, in 1873[2][14] or 1874,[3] where they lived and operated a large general store. John helped found the Bent County Bank and established the commission house of Prowers & Hough,[2][14] which received goods delivered to him in Las Animas and he had delivered to merchants in southeastern Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona—until railroad service extended deeper into Colorado.[1]

Bent County became a county within Colorado in February 1870 and Las Animas was the county seat. Prowers was elected the first county commissioner and Boggsville was made the county seat in November.[1] A Democrat,[3] Prowers served in the territorial legislature in 1873 and the state legislature in 1880;[13][4] Colorado became a state in 1876.[9] He was defeated when he ran for lieutenant governor, with Hon. J.B. Grant on the ticket for governor.[3]