The US Board of Geographical Names today approved changing the name of Squaw Mountain to Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain. (Pronounced Mus-TAH-heh) to remember a Native American woman well known in Colorado's early days from a name considered by some to have insulting origins. The federal government will start changing the signs. It's one of the geographic locations in Colorado where names are being looked at for change, including Mt. Evans. But it's earlier in the process for Mt. Evans, which some have suggested should have it's name changed to Mount Cheyenne-Arapahoe or Mount Blue Sky.
Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain, located in Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, is now named after a prominent Native woman in Colorado history: Mestaa’ėhehe, also known as Owl Woman in the Cheyenne language.
According to the coalition, Mestaa’ėhehe was “the daughter of White Thunder (a well-respected Cheyenne tribal leader, known as the 'Keeper of the Arrows') and Tail Woman, sister of Yellow Woman and Island.” She was also the wife of Colonel William Bent, with whom she had four children, and had a significant part in the successful relationship between the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and European settlers before her death. For this reason, she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
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