Chief Left Hand Monument

Born in the 1840s somewhere west of present Fort Supply, Left Hand (“Niwat,” also “Nawathit”) became principal chief of the southern Arapahoes on the death of Little Raven in 1889. A noted buffalo hunter and warrior, he survived the Battle of Sand Creek in 1864. In 1867 he signed the treaty of Medicine Lodge, moving the Cheyennes and Arapahoes to Oklahoma and he and his people were at peace with the whites. Believing the Great Spirit would bring back the buffalo and return the land to the Indians, Left Hand became deeply involved in the Ghost Dance Movement in 1889. However in 1890 he actively backed the agreement to open their reservation to settlement.

He died in 1911 and was buried nearby on this land which was his allotment. The springs bear his name, Left Hand Springs.