The first annual Smoking River Pow Wow was held last weekend to start the healing process for Utes who were marched out of Colorado at gunpoint.

Ancestors of the Northern Ute Tribe were forced to leave Meeker in 1879 after a dispute with the local Indian agent. The tribe ended up in Utah and never fully recovered from the removal.

"It was scary to come over here. When I heard they wanted to have a powwow, I said, 'In Meeker? Oh no, I don't want to go there," retired teacher Loya Arrum told The Christian Science Monitor.

The tribe eventually hopes to have some of its land in Colorado restored.

Get the Story:
In Colorado, reconciliation for a displaced tribe (The Christian Science Monitor 7/31)