Process For Renaming Mount Evans Inching Closer To Final Decision

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The list of potential names for one of Colorado's famed 14ers is shortening. The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes submitted their recommendations for Mount Blue Sky to replace Mount Evans, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources.

"Ultimately the Bureau of Geographic Names determines it," Clear Creek County Commissioner Randy Wheelock previously told CBS4. "It seeks state government and local jurisdiction input. They also send out info to all 534 Native American tribes to see if they have comments or objections."

The county will then send their decision to the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board and U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

The county solicited input and recommendations from Native American tribes including the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.

Mount Evans, Colorado's fifth highest peak, is named after Territorial Governor John Evans, who is responsible for conducting the strategy during the Sand Creek Massacre. In 1864, U.S. Army Colonel John Chivington and the 3rd Colorado Cavalry attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado. Chivington was appointed by Evans.