By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site
The Water Valley Schoolhouse almost moved to Eads, CO in the 1970s.
Fifty-one years ago, there were plans for the schoolhouse to move from its original location, at what was the Water Valley townsite, to Eads for restoration, according to the Kiowa County Press on March 14, 1975.
It’s not known why the schoolhouse did not get moved to Eads. It stayed at the townsite location until the 80s.
Chuck Bowen grew up admiring the schoolhouse and dreamed of one day moving it to the Bowen family ranch. His family drove by the Water Valley townsite when they took the longer route to the Chivington Friends Church.
“I was just a kid when I saw the derelict one-room schoolhouse on the edge of the road and was intrigued by it. I dreamed of moving it to our ranch. In the early 60s, I made a pictorial leather carving of it for a Chivington Indians 4-H Club project from a photo I had taken,” Chuck Bowen said (We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site).
The schoolhouse was the last remaining building to mark the townsite. It sat at the original location until the 80s when it was purchased by Clarence Woelk and used as part of a roadside history park in Sheridan Lake—it would stay there for about 30 years.
The Water Valley townsite and the schoolhouse play a crucial role in the discovery of the Lost Sand Creek Site.
It was falsely claimed by former National Park Service Sand Creek archaeologist, Doug Scott, and historian, Jerome Greene, that Chuck and Sheri Bowen found a townsite called New Chicago, and not the location of Black Kettle’s village and Sand Creek battle areas, after privately admitting in the Bowens’ home they indeed had found Sand Creek village and battle artifacts.
Fortunately, the July 7, 1887 issue of the Water Valley Clarion newspaper documented the location of Water Valley, and a 1917 issue of the Kiowa County Press documented New Chicago was two miles north of Water Valley. “The town was located on sections 4, 5, 8 and 9, township 18 south, range 45 west of 6th principal meridian, in Bent County, Colorado,” as stated in the Clarion. It also stated the townsite was about one mile east of Sand Creek. In 1887, Bent County was much bigger than it is today—this is explained more in our book in chapter eleven.
The former NPS historian and archaeologist placed an X on a map where they claimed New Chicago was located, on section 14 on the Bowen ranch. Sand Creek runs directly through the Bowen ranch, and per the Kiowa County Press and Clarion, the proposed townsite of New Chicago could not have existed on the ranch. The X on their map was off by three miles. You can see detailed maps and the full account in chapter eleven of our book.
The documentation from the Clarion and Kiowa County Press invalidates the claims made by the NPS historian and archaeologist. That location on the Bowen ranch was actually littered with artifacts that could only be from Sand Creek—the most important artifact of all. Learn about it in We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. Greene and Scott were off by three miles with their claim and New Chicago was only a plan on paper—the townsite never even came to fruition.
There is no documentation to back up the claims New Chicago would have existed on the Bowen ranch. The NPS simply placed an X on a map, making a false claim.
Doug Scott and Jerome Greene were both in the Bowens’ home in ‘99 on separate visits, where they viewed and identified hundreds of Sand Creek artifacts. See a video of Doug Scott identifying artifacts here: DougScott.
The Water Valley School House made another move in 2016–it now sits about a mile west of Sand Creek and is preserved and taken care of at the Bowen Meadow Ranch, in Cheyenne County.
There are certain things in life that can only be explained as being a divine appointment, which is something orchestrated by God. Moving the Water Valley School House to the Bowen Meadow Ranch not only accomplished a childhood dream, it connects the important townsite to the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battles areas, the Lost Sand Creek Site, and stands as a symbol of truth. The townsite documentation is proof that Bowen didn’t find a townsite location. He never found any artifacts from a townsite, but he found thousands of Sand Creek artifacts.
Check out our book to learn about the discovery of the most important artifact along with over 4,000 battle and village artifacts Bowen discovered that prove without any doubt the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battle areas. The idea the Indians were attacked as they awoke and came out of their tipis below the bluff at what is now the NPS Sand Creek site is easily debunked. We’re constantly told to trust the science—science is not on the side of the massacre claim.
No period artifacts have ever been found below that bluff, or any bluff.
We don’t have a dog in this fight—we are about telling the truth about the story the artifacts tell, which has been silenced, minimized and lied about. People have a right to know the truth.
What’s been passed down about Sand Creek is based on emotion and not fact. One of the claims is that the soldiers mutilated the dead Indians and that women and children were among the dead. Most accounts from eyewitnesses describe Sand Creek as a battle between warriors and soldiers.
Some soldiers testified to seeing Indians “all cut up” after the battle but didn’t see any soldiers mutilate dead Indians. Most of that was likely due to cannon fire. The cannons were fired before the sun came up and from about a half mile from the target—it would have been nearly impossible from that distance and with little light to see any noncombatants. There are civilian or noncombatant deaths in modern military operations and with modern technology. If any soldiers did mutilate dead Indians, it would have been the actions of a few—there were also mutilations in many Civil War battles, so if you want to brand Sand Creek as a massacre, then those same Civil War battles would need to be renamed as massacres.
It’s generally assumed when people hear the term “women and children,” it means noncombatants and that “children” means little kids. Indian male teenagers could have been warriors and some may have taken them as children.
There were over 70 soldier casualties. Sand Creek was a running battle between soldiers and warriors, per multiple eyewitnesses, including Major Anthony, who was the Commanding Officer at Fort Lyon. This information is provided at the end of our book from the hearings that took place after Sand Creek.
A lie told a thousand times is still a lie. Lies never become truth, but the truth has been silenced for over 160 years.
A good rule of thumb is when information is silenced, it’s to keep people from knowing the truth.
Artifacts do not lie—they are the objective source of information concerning the event. And it’s not just what artifacts were found, but where they were found. The massacre claim says the Indians were camped in a small congested area below a bluff and the soldiers surrounded the village and killed the Indians as they awoke and came out of their tipis. Bowen’s discovery of the Lost Sand Creek Site proves that the village started nearly two miles up the creek from that bluff and was over three miles long—the running battle areas started on the opposite side of the creek from the village and extended up and near the creek for several miles. The village and battle areas are separate locations.
See over 100 photos of artifacts and maps in our book detailing the artifacts and the locations they were found.
One-room schools were steadfast in teaching truth. We are steadfast in telling the truth about Sand Creek. The Water Valley School House stands as a beacon of truth among all of the lies about Sand Creek.
The discovery of the Lost Sand Creek Site doesn’t simply change the location, it corrects the massacre story. The massacre claim has never been verified by physical evidence or eyewitness testimony—the running battle claim by soldier Irving Howbert and other soldiers is verified by Bowen’s discovery.
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