“the river’s meandering ribbon ties together its more recent significance — as an engine for agriculture and, gradually, recreation — with a complicated history of westward expansion and native displacement from the water’s once heavily timbered banks that extended more than 60 miles west toward La Junta.” https://coloradosun.com/2025/11/02/arkansas-river-lamar-big-timbers-colorado-history/ via @coloradosun re: #BigTimbers #IndigenousLandscapes #WaterintheWest + more
The Arkansas River’s Big Timbers region reflects a complex history of Western expansion, Indigenous displacement

The waterway cuts through a tangled and tragic past in southeastern Colorado that still echoes Western expansion, Indigenous displacement.

The Colorado Sun