John Wesley Prowers (January 29, 1838 – February 14, 1884) was an American trader, cattle rancher, legislator, and businessman in the territory and state of Colorado. Married to Amache Prowers, a Cheyenne woman, his father-in-law was a Cheyenne chief who negotiated for peace and was killed during the Sand Creek massacre. He began his career as a trader when he was eighteen years of age. After several years, he began buying cattle, the first man to drive cattle westward to Colorado. He was among the first white men to settle in southeastern Colorado. Known as the cattle baron of the Arkansas (River Valley), he was the first known person to introduce Hereford cattle to Colorado and the first cattle rancher in the area. He raised horses and sheep and operated a farm, which supplied Fort Lyon. The Prowers House operated as a stagecoach station, general store, school, county office, and hotel. After the railroads came to the area, he moved to Las Animas and established a store, helped found a bank, and, with Charles Goodnight, co-founded a meat packing plant.
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