Mount
Antero

The peak's name first appears in an 1870 government survey, honoring Chief Antero of the Uintah Ute band. Known as Graceful Walker, and later White Eye after losing sight in one eye, Antero worked to keep peace between Ute bands and the growing tide of Colorado settlers and miners. He was among the signers of the 1873 Brunot Treaty, which ceded the San Juan Mountains to the United States. He sat for the photographers John K. Hillers and Alexander Gardner, whose portraits of him survive.

Aquamarine specimens from Antero reached Colorado's state geologist in 1882, and prospector Nelson Wanemaker sold crystals to collectors and mineralogists through 1893. Ed Over worked the mountain from 1928 to 1949, often with fellow collector Arthur Montgomery, supplying specimens to museums. A 1952 federal subsidy for beryllium drew John King and Grady Cardwell to stake claims; Cardwell's descendants still run the operation as Mt. Antero Treasures. Today the mountain ranks among the country's richest sources of aquamarine.