Uncompahgre Valley Chapter Dedicates
Bronze Plaque at Ute Indian Museum

Written by: Erin Smith Berge (Mrs. Patrick)
Regent and Public Relations Chair
Uncompahgre Valley Chapter NSDAR

A new bronze plaque commemorating the 1924 land acquisition effort by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Uncompahgre Chapter for the establishment of the Ute Indian Museum and park was dedicated on Saturday, November 21, 2009.

The dedication took place in front of a concrete tepee, which rests over a natural spring, and will replace a painted inscription inside the teepee’s walls with a new solid bronze marker permanently mounted to a large boulder.

The local DAR chapter, which was re-chartered in 1993 and re-named “Uncompahgre Valley Chapter,” felt the original marker should be replaced due to its age and concern that it could be potentially painted over. The idea of a more permanent fixture appealed to the members who desired to preserve this historic land for future generations and forever honor the Ute Chief Ouray and his peace-loving wife, Chipeta. Several chapter members spent four years gaining approval for the new bronze marker from the national office in Washington D.C.

The inscription on the commemorative plaque reads:

In Memory of Chipeta, Wife of Chief Ouray. Teepee erected over Ouray and Chipeta’s Spring 1924 by the DAR. Permanent Marker placed by Uncompaghre Valley Chapter, NSDAR 2009.

In 1945, the land purchased by the original DAR chapter was deeded to the Colorado Historical Society. This was the beginning of the Ute Indian Museum, which now serves as a central cultural base for Ute Indians throughout the southwest and attracts thousands of tourists each year.

The plaque dedication was one part of a day-long National American Indian Heritage Month celebration, which included several other museum events and presentations sponsored by the Ute Indian Museum.

Colorado State Regent Charlotte Hubbs, Honorary State Regent Linda Sandlin, and Colorado State Historian Chris Ruth were in attendance. Mrs. Sandlin and Jane Murphy, the chapter’s current regent, were instrumental in assisting the local DAR chapter in obtaining national DAR permission to replace the memorial.

Shirley Sutphen, DAR past chapter regent and genealogy research specialist, C.J. Brafford, Ute Indian Museum Director, and Linda Smith Sandlin, Honorary State Regent, provided dedication messages. Roland McCook, second great grandson of Chipeta, President of Friends of the Ute Indian Museum, and Vice-Chairman of the Smithsonian Institution’s Native American Repatriation Review Committee, gave a special presentation.

In Mrs. Sutphen’s address, she said, “We owe these ladies [of the original chapter] dearly for their foresight, their fortitude, and their commitment.” She explained that when the local chapter was re-chartered in 1993, members began to study the projects of the original chapter, and it soon became apparent this one particular project felt unfinished and should be completed in proper fashion.

“While we truly appreciate the work of those who upgrade and paint this tepee, we feared that the inside acknowledgement could some day be covered over when painting was done to the inside of the tepee,” she said.

During the gold rush in the San Juan Mountains in the late 1800s, Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify at land hearings. Treaty negotiations stalled after Chief Ouray died in August of 1880 and by September of 1881 the Ute Indians had lost the battle and were sent to the desert of Eastern Utah, where Chipeta died in 1924.

The following year, her body was removed and returned to Montrose, where the local chapter of the DAR purchased 8.65 acres from Ouray’s original homestead and erected a tomb for “Queen” Chipeta. This is now the site of the Ute Indian Museum and memorial park. Chipeta’s brother John McCook returned to Montrose with her body and at his death was laid to rest beside her, his grave marked by a white cross.