The story of Chief Friday is very interesting. Chief Friday, of the Southern Arapaho Tribe, was a very influential person among his people and in their dealings with the white settlers. Larimer County is located in their traditional hunting area.
In 1831 Thomas Fitzpatrick found a starving young boy on the prairie. He took him to St. Louis, where he adopted him and placed him in a Catholic school. While at school, the boy became fluent in English. Fitzpatrick named the boy Friday, because that was the day he found him. During talks between the Army and the Arapaho in 1857, Chief Friday was acting as interpreter. A soldier described him as “a tall noble looking man, well dressed in skins and with good buffalo robes as blankets”. Friday was never a Head Chief, but due to his constant efforts to maintain good relations with the whites he was recognized as a Peace Chief. He died on May 13, 1881 from a heart ailment, at the approximate age of 59.
The DAR Chapter in Windsor, Colorado is named, in part, for Chief Friday. There is a bronze sculpture of him at the Poudre Plaza at Shields and Horsetooth in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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