Early Life and Service
Arthur Owen Peterson, better known by his pen name Colorado Pete, was born on July 23, 1896, in Fosston, Minnesota. The son of Norwegian immigrants, Peterson grew up in Bagley, where his family ran a hardware store on Main Street. He was a gifted student and graduated from Bagley High School at age sixteen before attending Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
In 1918, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I and was deployed to France as a sergeant in the Fifty-Fourth Coast Artillery Corps. After the war, he returned home suffering from amoebic dysentery—an illness common among soldiers—that would eventually lead to long-term complications, including tuberculosis.
A Poet in the Desert
Peterson’s connection to Arizona began in the 1920s when his health necessitated long-term care in dry climates. He spent the winter of 1924–25 at the Whipple Veterans Hospital in Prescott, Arizona, a pivotal location in both his life and literary career. Surrounded by red rocks, desert skies, and the quiet solitude of recovery, Peterson began writing poetry under the pseudonym Colorado Pete. These poems captured not only his sharp wit but also the stark beauty and resilient spirit of the American Southwest.
Published in the Chicago Tribune
From his hospital bed, Colorado Pete’s words traveled far. Between 1923 and 1932, 111 of his poems were published in the Chicago Tribune, gaining a readership of over 700,000 at its peak. His debut poem, “The Dentist Intervenes,” appeared in September 1923 and marked the beginning of a prolific publishing journey. Though his work often carried a humorous tone, it also reflected deeper truths about life, nature, illness, and survival in the face of adversity.
Legacy in Arizona and Beyond
While his roots were in Minnesota, it was Arizona that helped shape Colorado Pete’s poetic legacy. His time in Prescott infused his poetry with a Southwestern sensibility—vivid landscapes, frontier wit, and moments of contemplative solitude. Despite his chronic illness, he continued to write until his final hospitalization at Fort Snelling, where he passed away on February 15, 1932, at the age of 35.
Upon his death, the Chicago Tribune honored him by writing, “Most of you … knew him only through his beautiful poems in the Line; but to those who knew Arthur Owen Peterson personally, he was, more even than a fine poet, a brave and gallant lad.”
Remembering Colorado Pete
Today, Colorado Pete stands as a voice of a generation touched by war and healed by the desert. His poems live on as a testament to the enduring power of humor, hope, and the transformative landscape of Arizona. AZPoetry.com proudly remembers him as one of Arizona’s early poetic voices whose work continues to echo through time.