Unbroken Spirits
Some might even call them “losers.” Each of these very special women played an important role in a famous Colorado conflict. Chipeta, wife of famous Ute Chief Ouray, was an orphan but became famous among the whites as “Queen of the Utes.”
- Published
- 2001
- Category
- Biographies
- Place
- Ouray
- Listed at
- $20.45
Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer.
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About this book
Unbroken Spirits is a book of biography about women who played a part in famous Colorado conflicts. Our catalogue description opens by saying some might even call them losers, then introduces Chipeta, the wife of Ute Chief Ouray, who was an orphan but became known among whites as Queen of the Utes.
A bookseller listing from the Uintah museum store gives the full title as Unbroken Spirits: Three Extraordinary Southern Colorado Women and names Kay Beth Avery as author. It says the three women endured hardship with patience and dignity rather than gaining wealth or power. Besides Chipeta they are Marion Sloan Russell, known for Land of Enchantment about her trip along the Santa Fe Trail, and Mary Pearl Waters Jolly, a trained nurse who married a coal miner.
The same listing says Russell was central to a twenty year struggle against the Maxwell Land Grant Company, and that Jolly became involved in the Ludlow Massacre with other women. Wikipedia dates that massacre to April 20, 1914, at a tent colony of striking coal miners near Ludlow, Colorado.
Who it is for
The record points to readers of Colorado women's history, the Ute story, the Santa Fe Trail and the coal strikes of southern Colorado. Each woman is tied to a conflict, so the book touches several regions.
Ways to use this book
Visiting Chipeta's grave in Montrose
Plan a day around the Ute Indian Museum, which History Colorado says it develops with representatives of three Ute tribes. Check the museum's website for current hours before driving out, and give the grounds and the memorial park time alongside the exhibits.
Following the Ludlow story on the ground
The tent colony site sits off Interstate 25 north of Trinidad. Read the University of Denver account first so the empty ground makes sense, then check with the Trinidad History Museum about what to see in town.
Reading about women of the Santa Fe Trail
Marion Sloan Russell's Santa Fe Trail travels are part of the story, and the Trinidad History Museum began as a Santa Fe Trail Museum, per its website. Ask there about trail sites nearby, then browse our Biographies and History categories.
Go deeper
The women in this book are tied to Ute country, the Santa Fe Trail and the Ludlow coal strike. These sources let you read about each story first, or visit where it happened.
Ute Indian Museum
Run by History Colorado in Montrose, it sits near the former ranch of Chief Ouray and Chipeta, and its grounds include the grave where she was buried in 1924, according to its website.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Chipeta
This article follows Chipeta from her adoption by a Ute leader through her role on the Ute council and her later years, and it notes where the sources disagree.
Ludlow Massacre Archaeological Project
The University of Denver describes two decades of archaeology at the Ludlow tent colony, where striking coal miners and their families lived during the strike.
Good to know
Which women does the book cover?
Who is the author?
What conflicts are involved?
When was it published?
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