By Alexa Roberts

November 29 will mark the 139th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. For the last several years, the Cheyenne Tribes have marked this occasion with the conduct of a Spiritual Healing Run, much like the one held last month by the Northern Arapaho Tribe and members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

This year the plans for the run are even bigger than they have been in the past. In addition to holding a consultation meeting before the run, the Tribes would like to share a Thanksgiving dinner with the community. The day after Thanksgiving the runners will run from the Massacre Site to Denver and conclude the commemorative run with a rally at the State Capitol and memorial pow wow. Plans are beginning to shape up, so stay tuned for updates during the next few weeks.

Updates on the November activities and other news will continue to be posted in the Press and new efforts are being made to keep current information on both the Kiowa County website and soon on the National Park Service website.

The popularity of the Sand Creek pages of the Kiowa County website has grown even more since a recent tour of the portions of the Massacre Site on the Bowen's ranch by The Order of the Indian Wars. The tour generated much interest and discussion.

The National Park Service joins in the appreciation of the Bowen's willingness to accommodate the group and the County's assistance with the logistics, as the NPS is not able to facilitate any tours or visitation to the site until it is formally established.

To help with the efforts to inform visitors to the area who drive around looking for the National Historic Site, the NPS is planning to place a road sign at the truck pullout area at the junction of highways 96 and 287 ("three-mile corner") stating that the site is not yet open to the public. Identification of possible underground utilities is underway so the sign can be put up in the near future. These and other efforts will hopefully help keep the public informed of the status of the development of the National Historic Site. In the meantime, stay tuned for more information about the upcoming activities in November as plans shape up!