November is Native American Heritage Month, which honors the history, culture and contributions of American Indians.

Before white settlers arrived in Grand County, it was home to the Ute and Arapaho tribes. According to the Grand County Historical Association, the White River Utes were the main tribe inhabiting this area. The Utes traditionally camped near the shores of Grand Lake during the warm months.

However, there were disputes between Utes and Arapaho tribes that culminated into a terrible battle at Grand Lake. The story of the battle eventually became a local legendary tale.

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It began when an Arapaho and Cheyenne war party attacked the Utes at their summer camping ground. The war party snuck past the Ute’s lookout stations and the peaceful camp became a battleground, according to local historians.

Firsthand accounts that were allegedly passed on to early settlers say that Ute women and children were put on a raft and paddled into the middle of the lake to seek safety during the bloody battle. But a mysterious thunderstorm began, causing the raft to break apart. The women and children drowned, and many warriors died in battle.

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Eventually the Utes defeated the Arapaho. The Utes then named the lake “Spirit Lake,” believing that the souls of the women and children lost continued to haunt the waters. In the early morning hours, a foggy mist can often be seen rising over the lake, said to be the spirits of the women and children who passed.

Grand Lake’s first white settler chronicles the battle

Joseph Wescott arrived in Grand Lake in 1867; he was the area’s first white settler. According to local historians, he met a lone American Indian on the lakeshore who told him about the battle of Spirit Lake.

Wescott, who was a creative writer, turned the spoken tale into an epic poem. It was titled “The Legend of Grand Lake.” A prospector named John Barbee helped Wescott compose the dark poem.

Barbee was the editor of the Grand Lake Prospector newspaper, which printed first edition of the 622-line poem on July 29, 1882. The poem was eventually printed in the Middle Park Times in 1922.

Wescott writes in the poem that a chief described how the tragic attack began and ended.

Grand Lake residents reenact the attack in 1950s

In July 1959, the poem was reprinted in the Sky-Hi News “for the Grand Lake Woman’s Club, commemorating Colorado’s Centennial Rush to the Rockies,” according to the Society of Stukely Westcott Descendants of America.

Chief Adam Trujillo traveled from the Taos Pueblos of New Mexico to Grand Lake to perform in “The Legend of the Lake” in several roles. According to the 1959 article in Sky-Hi News, Trujillo was famous for many powwows and reenactments, including one in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The poem was reprinted in Sky-Hi News partly to advertise the town’s reenactment of the bloody battle. Grand Lake residents hosted the reenactment in the town square on July 29, 1959, exactly 77 years after Wescott first published his poem.

“The Legend of Grand Lake” poem

“White man, pause and gaze around,
For we tread now on haunted ground!”
So said a chief to me one day,
As along the shore we wound our way.

“Tell me, chieftain,” then I said,
“About this fight so fierce and red:
For I have often heard before
Of a desperate fight in the days of yore.”
Silent awhile the chieftain stood,
He gazed awhile on lake and wood,
And then the deep stillness was broke,
And in mild tones these words he spoke:

“On the same ground where now we stand,
Once were encamped a happy band:
One hundred warriors as true and brave
As ever slept in a warrior’s grave.
Squaws and papooses, eight score or more,
Were with us here on the sandy shore,
Thirty-four years have sped away,
Since the close of that fatal day.
The noble leader of our band –
Bold Chief Chekiwow.
To man no braver heart was given;
No better soul ever reached heaven.
Many bright days we’d been camped here,
Without a thought of trouble or fear,
But the dark hour was near at hand –
The annihilation of our band.
When dark and dismal night set in,
There would arise a horrid din,
Ghosts and goblins gathered round,
And made night hideous with their sound.

Read the full version of the poem by visiting Grand Lake Historical Society.