Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the
Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin
The Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin are Native Americans of the northern Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and upper Colorado River basin. The "Great Basin" is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural ...
. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
in the
Southwestern United States for many centuries until European settlers conquered their lands. The state of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
is named after the Ute tribe.
In addition to their ancestral lands within Colorado and Utah, their historic hunting grounds extended into current-day
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
,
Oklahoma,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
. The tribe also had sacred grounds outside their home domain that were visited seasonally.
There were 12 historic
bands of Utes. Although they generally operated in family groups for hunting and gathering, the communities came together for ceremonies and trading. Many Ute bands were culturally influenced by neighboring
Native American tribes and
Puebloans
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
, whom they traded with regularly.
After contact with early
European colonists, such as the Spanish, the Ute formed trading relationships. The theft and the
acquisition of horses from the Spanish changed their lifestyle dramatically, affecting mobility, hunting practices, and tribal organization. Once primarily defensive warriors, they became more like the Europeans as adept horsemen who used horses to raid other tribes. Certain prestige within the community was based upon a man's horsemanship (tested during horse races), as well as the number of horses a man owned.
As the
American West began to be invaded by white European
gold prospectors
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and settler colonialists in the mid-1800s, the Utes were increasingly pressured or killed and then eventually forced off their
ancestral lands. They entered into
treaties
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...
with the United States government to preserve their lives and some of their land, but were eventually
relocated to the government-created
reservations. A few of the key tribal land defensive conflicts during this period include the
Walker War
Walker or The Walker may refer to:
People
*Walker (given name)
*Walker (surname)
* Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer
Places
In the United States
*Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County
*Walker, Mono County, California
...
when the religious sect of
Mormons arrived (1853), the
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...
where other Native Americans went for treaty but were slaughtered by US forces (1865–72), and the
Meeker Massacre
Meeker Massacre, or Meeker Incident, White River War, Ute War, or the Ute Campaign), took place on September 29, 1879 in Colorado. Members of a band of Ute Indians ( Native Americans) attacked the Indian agency on their reservation, killing the ...
in which the Utes tried to regain control of their lands with warring tactics (1879).
Very few Ute people are left, and they now primarily live in Utah and Colorado, within three Ute tribal reservations:
Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members);
Southern Ute
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
in Colorado (1,500 members); and
Ute Mountain
Ute Mountain, also known as Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain (; Ute: ''Wisuv Káruv'', Navajo: ''Dził Naajiní''), is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of Colorado. It is on the northern edge o ...
which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). The majority of Ute live on these reservations with limited resources compared to their original lands, although some reside off-reservation.
Etymology
The origin of the word ''Ute'' is unknown; it is first attested as ''Yuta'' in Spanish documents. The Utes' self-designation is ''Núuchi-u'', meaning 'the people'.
History and culture
Numic language group
![Northern-UA-languages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Northern-UA-languages.png)
Ute people are from the Southern subdivision of the
Numic
Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic com ...
-speaking branch of the
Uto-Aztecan language family
Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...
, which are found almost entirely in the
Western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...
and Mexico.
The name of the language family was created to show that it includes both the
Colorado River Numic language
Colorado River Numic (also called Ute , Southern Paiute , Ute–Southern Paiute, or Ute-Chemehuevi ), of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, is a dialect chain that stretches from southeastern California to Colorado. Individual ...
(Uto) dialect chain that stretches from southeastern California, along the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
to Colorado and the
Nahuan languages
The Nahuan or Aztecan languages are those languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family that have undergone a sound change, known as Whorf's law, that changed an original *t to before *a. Subsequently, some Nahuan languages have changed this to ...
(Aztecan) of Mexico.
It is believed that this Numic group originated near the present-day border of Nevada and California, then spread North and East. By about 1000, there were hunters and gatherers in the
Great Basin of Uto-Aztecan ethnicity that are believed to have been the ancestors of the
Indigenous tribes of the Great Basin, including the Ute,
Shoshone,
Hopi,
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
, and
Chemehuevi peoples.
Some ethnologists postulate that the Southern Numic speakers, the Ute and
Southern Paiute, left the Numic homeland first, based on language changes, and that the Central and then the Western subgroups spread out toward the east and north, sometime later.
Shoshone,
Gosiute and
Comanche are Central Numic, and
Northern Paiute and
Bannock
Bannock may mean:
* Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle
* Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying
* Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...
are Western Numic. The Southern
Numic
Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic com ...
-speaking tribes—the Utes, Shoshone,
Southern Paiute, and
Chemehuevi— share many cultural, genetic and linguistic characteristics.
Ute ancestral lands and culture
Lands
![Old Spanish Trail - Early Exploration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Old_Spanish_Trail_-_Early_Exploration.png)
There were ancestral Utes in southwestern
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
and southeastern
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
by 1300, living a
hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
[''The Post-Pueblo Period: A.D. 1300 to Late 1700s.'']
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2018. The Ute occupied much of the present state of Colorado by the 1600s. The Comanches from the north joined them in eastern Colorado in the early 1700s. In the 19th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne moved southward into eastern Colorado.
The William E. Hewitt Institute for History and Social Science Education. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved June 16, 2018. Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation is a Federally Recognized Tribe of Indians in northeastern Utah, United States. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band ...
The Utes came to inhabit a large area including most of Utah,
western and central Colorado, and south into the
San Juan River watershed of New Mexico.
Some Ute bands stayed near their home domains, while others ranged further away seasonally.
Hunting grounds extended further into Utah and Colorado, as well as into Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
Winter camps were established along rivers near the present-day cities of
Provo and
Fort Duchesne in Utah and
Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
,
Fort Collins
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
,
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
of Colorado.
=Colorado
=
![Ute camp, Henry Chapman Ford, by 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Ute_camp%2C_Henry_Chapman_Ford%2C_by_1894.jpg)
Aside from their home domain, there were sacred places in present-day Colorado. The
Tabeguache
The Uncompahgre Ute () or ꞌAkaꞌ-páa-gharʉrʉ Núuchi (also: Ahkawa Pahgaha Nooch) is a band of the Ute, a Native American tribe located in the US states of Colorado and Utah. In the Ute language, means "rocks that make water red." The ban ...
Ute's name for
Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou S ...
is ''Tavakiev'', meaning sun mountain. Living a nomadic
hunter-gatherer lifestyle, summers were spent in the Pikes Peak area mountains, which was considered by other tribes to be the domain of the Utes.
Pikes Peak was a sacred ceremonial area for the band.
The
mineral springs at Manitou Springs were also sacred and Ute and other tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share
in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict."
[Manitou Springs Historic District Nomination Form](_blank)
History Colorado. Retrieved May 3, 2013.[''About.''](_blank)
Manitou Springs. Retrieved May 4, 2013. Artifacts found from the nearby Garden of the Gods, such as grinding stones, "suggest the groups would gather together after their hunt to complete the tanning of hides and processing of meat."
The old Ute Pass Trail went eastward from
Monument Creek (near
Roswell) to
Garden of the Gods
Garden of the Gods (Arapaho: ''Ho3o’uu Niitko’usi’i'') is a public park located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971.
Name
The area now known as Garden of the Gods was f ...
and
Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs is a home rule municipality located at the foot of Pikes Peak in western El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded for its natural mineral springs. The downtown area continues to be of interest to travelers ...
to the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
.
From Ute Pass, Utes journeyed eastward to hunt buffalo. They spent winters in mountain valleys where they were protected from the weather.
The North and Middle Parks of present-day Colorado were among favored hunting grounds, due to the abundance of game.
Cañon Pintado, or painted canyon, is a prehistoric site with rock art from
Fremont people (650 to 1200) and Utes. The Fremont art reflect an interest in agriculture, including corn stalks and use of light at different times of the year to show a planting calendar. Then there are images of figures holding shields, what appear to be battle victims, and spears. These were seen by the
Domínguez–Escalante expedition (1776). Utes left images of firearms and horses in the 1800s. The Crook's Brand Site depicts a horse with a brand from George Crook's regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s.
=Utah
=
Public land surrounding the
Bears Ears
The Bears Ears are a pair of buttes located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, United States. They are protected as part of and the namesake of the Bears Ears National Monument, managed by the Bureau of Land Management and United States ...
buttes in southeastern Utah became the
Bears Ears National Monument
Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument protects of public land su ...
in 2016 in recognition for its ancestral and cultural significance to several Native American tribes, including the Utes. Members of the
Ute Mountain Ute and
Uintah and Ouray Reservations sit on a five-tribe coalition to help co-manage the monument with the
Bureau of Land Management and
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
.
The Ute appeared to have hunted and camped in an ancient
Ancestral Puebloans and
Fremont people campsite in near what is now
Arches National Park
Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, ...
. At a site near natural springs, which may have held spiritual significance, the Ute left petroglyphs in rock along with rock art by the earlier peoples. Some of the images are estimated to be more than 900 years old. The Utes petroglyphs were made after the Utes acquired horses, because they show men hunting while on horseback.
Culture
The culture of the Utes was influenced by neighboring Native American tribes. The eastern Utes had many traits of Plain Indians, and they lived in
tepee
A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan, and in use in Dakhótiyapi, Lakȟó ...
s after the 17th century. The western Utes were similar to
Shoshones and
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
s, and they lived year-round in domed willow houses. Weeminuches lived in willow houses during the summer. The
Jicarilla Apache and
Puebloans
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
influenced the southeastern Utes. All groups also lived in structures 10–15 feet in diameter that were made of conical pole-frames and brush, and
sweat lodges were similarly built.
Lodging also included hide tepees and
ramadas, depending upon the area.
![UteHideArt3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/UteHideArt3.jpg)
People lived in extended family groups of about 20 to 100 people. They traveled to seasonally-specific camps.
In the spring and summer, family groups hunted and gathered food. The men hunted buffalo, antelope, elk, deer, bear, rabbit, sage hens, and beaver using arrows, spears and nets. They smoked and sun-dried the meat, and also ate it fresh.
They also fished in fresh water sources, like
Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...
. Women processed and stored the meat and gathered greens, berries, roots, yampa, pine nuts, yucca, and seeds.
The
Pahvant
Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be ...
were the only Utes to cultivate food.
Some western groups ate reptiles and lizards. Some southeastern groups planted corn and some encouraged the growth of wild tobacco.
Implements were made of wood, stone, and bone. Skin bags and baskets were used to carry goods.
There is evidence that pottery was made by the Utes as early as the 16th century.
Men and women wore woven and leather clothing and rabbit skin robes. They wore their hair long or in braids.
Parents provided some input, but people decided who they would take as spouses. Men could have multiple wives, and divorce was common and easy. There were restrictions for menstruating women and couples who were pregnant. Children were encouraged to be industrious through several rituals. When someone died, that person was buried in their best clothes with their head facing east. Their possessions were generally destroyed and their horses either had their hair cut or they were killed.
Occasionally members of Ute bands met up to trade, intermarry, and practice ceremonies, like the annual spring Bear Dance.
Historic Ute bands
The Ute were divided into several nomadic and closely associated bands, which today mostly are organized as the Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes.
Hunting and gathering groups of extended families were led by older members by the mid-17th century. Activities, like hunting buffalo and trading, may have been organized by band members. Chiefs led bands when structure was required with the introduction of horses to plan for defense, buffalo hunting, and raiding. Bands came together for tribal activities by the 18th century.
Multiple bands of Utes that were classified as Uintahs by the U.S. government when they were relocated to the
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation is a Federally Recognized Tribe of Indians in northeastern Utah, United States. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band ...
.
The bands included the
San Pitch,
Pahvant
Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be ...
, Seuvartis,
Timpanogos
The Timpanogos (Timpanog, Utahs or Utah Indians) were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited a large part of central Utah, in particular, the area from Utah Lake east to the Uinta Mountains and south into present-day Sanpete County.
Most Tim ...
and
Cumumba Utes. The Southern Ute Tribes include the
Muache
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
,
Capote, and the
Weeminuche, the latter of which are at
Ute Mountain
Ute Mountain, also known as Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain (; Ute: ''Wisuv Káruv'', Navajo: ''Dził Naajiní''), is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of Colorado. It is on the northern edge o ...
.
This is also a half-Shoshone, half-Ute band of
Cumumbas who lived above
Great Salt Lake, near what is now
Ogden, Utah. There are also other half-Ute bands, some of whom migrated seasonally far from their home domain.
Relationships with other First Nations
The Utes traded with
Puebloans
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...
of the
Rio Grande River
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
valley at annual trade fairs or ''rescates'' held in at the
Taos
Taos or TAOS may refer to:
Places
* Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States
* Taos County, New Mexico, United States
** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico
*** Taos art colony, an art colo ...
,
Santa Clara,
Pecos and other pueblos.
They traded with the
Navajo,
Havasupai
The Havasupai people (Havasupai: ''Havsuw' Baaja'') are an American Indian tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. ''Havasu'' means "blue-green water" and ''pai'' "people".
Located primarily in an area know ...
and
Hopi peoples for woven blankets. The Utes were close allies with the
Jicarilla Apache who shared much of the same territory and intermarried. They also intermarried with
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
,
Bannock
Bannock may mean:
* Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle
* Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying
* Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...
and Western Shoshone peoples.
There was so much intermarriage with the Paiute, that territorial borders of the Utes and the Southern Paiutes are difficult to ascertain in southeast Utah.
Until the Ute acquired horses, any conflict with other tribes was usually defensive. They had generally poor relations with Northern and Eastern Shoshone.
Contact with the Spanish
The first encounter between the Utes and the Spanish occurred before 1620, perhaps as early as 1581 when they knew about the high quality deerskin produced by the Utes. They traded with the Spanish in the
San Luis Valley beginning in the 1670s, in northern New Mexico beginning in the early 1700s, and in Ute villages in what is now western Colorado and eastern Utah. The Utes, the main trading partners of the Spanish residents of New Mexico, were known for their soft, high quality tanned deer skins, or chamois, and they also traded meat, buffalo robes and Indian and Spanish captives taken by the Comanche. The Utes traded their goods for cloth, blankets, guns, horses, maize, flour, and ornaments. A number of Ute learned Spanish through trading. The Spanish "seriously guarded" trade with the Utes, limiting it to annual caravans, but by 1750 they were reliant on the trade with the Utes, their deerskin being a highly sought commodity. The Utes also traded in slaves, women and children captives from Apache, Comanche, Paiute and Navajo tribes.
In 1637, the Spanish fought with the Utes, 80 of whom were captured and enslaved. Three people escaped with horses.
Their lifestyle changed with the acquisition of horses by 1680. They became more mobile, more able to trade, and better able to hunt large game. Ute culture changed dramatically in ways that paralleled the
Plains Indian
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...
cultures of the
Great Plains. They also became involved in the horse and slave trades and respected warriors.
Horse ownership and warrior skills developed while riding became the primary status symbol within the tribe and horse racing became common. With greater mobility, there was increased need for political leadership.
During this time, few people entered Ute territory. Exceptions to this include the
Dominguez–Escalante expedition of 1776 and French trappers passing through the area or establishing trading posts beginning in the 1810s.
The French expedition recorded meeting members of the
Moanunts
The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah is a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiute and Ute Indians in southwestern Utah.
Reservation
The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (PITU) has a reservation composed of ten separate parcels of land, located in fo ...
and
Pahvant
Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be ...
bands.
Warrior culture
![Utes along White River - Jack Hillers - 1873](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Utes_along_White_River_-_Jack_Hillers_-_1873.jpg)
After the Utes acquired horses, they started to raid other Native American tribes. While their close relatives, the
Comanches
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...
, moved out from the mountains and became
Plains Indians as did others including the
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
,
Arapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
,
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
, and
Plains Apache, the Utes remained close to their ancestral homeland.
The south and eastern Utes also raided Native Americans in New Mexico, Southern Paiutes and Western Shoshones, capturing women and children and selling them as slaves in exchange for Spanish goods. They fought with
Plains Indians, including the Comanche who had previously been allies. The name "Comanche" is from the Ute word for them, ''kɨmantsi'', meaning enemy. The
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska ...
,
Osage and
Navajo also became enemies of the Plains Indians by about 1840. Some Ute bands fought against the Spanish and Pueblos with the Jicarilla Apache and the Comanche. The Ute were sometimes friendly but sometimes hostile to the Navajo.
The Utes were skilled warriors who specialized in horse mounted combat. War with neighboring tribes was mostly fought for gaining prestige, stealing horses, and revenge. Men would organize themselves into war parties made up of warriors, medicine men, and a war chief who led the party. To prepare themselves for battle Ute warriors would often fast, participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, and paint their faces and horses for special symbolic meanings. The Utes were master horsemen and could execute daring maneuvers on horseback while in battle. Most plains Indians had warrior societies, but the Ute generally did not - the Southern Utes developed such societies late, and soon lost them in reservation life. Warriors were exclusively men but women often followed behind war parties to help gather loot and sing songs. Women also performed the Lame Dance to symbolize having to pull or carry heavy loads of loot after a raid. The Utes used a variety of weapons including bows, spears and buffalo-skin shields,
as well as rifles, shotguns and pistols which were obtained through raiding or trading.
Contact with other European settlers
The Ute people traded with Europeans by the early 19th century including at encampments in the
San Luis Valley,
Wet Mountains
The Wet Mountains are a small mountain range in southern Colorado, named for the amount of snow they receive in the winter as compared to the dried Great Plains to the east. They are a sub-range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the southern R ...
, and the Upper Arkansas Valley and at the annual
Rocky Mountain Rendezvous
The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous was an annual rendezvous, held between 1825 to 1840 at various locations, organized by a fur trading company at which trappers and mountain men sold their furs and hides and replenished their supplies. The fur compa ...
. Native Americans also traded at annual trade fairs in New Mexico, which were also ceremonial and social events lasting up to ten days or more. They involved the trading of skins, furs, foods, pottery, horses, clothing, and blankets.
In Utah, Utes began to be impacted by European-American contact with the 1847 arrival of
Mormon settlers. After initial settlement by the Mormons, as they moved south to the Wasatch Front, Utes were pushed off their land.
Wars with settlers began about the 1850s when Ute children were captured in New Mexico and Utah by Anglo-American traders and sold in New Mexico and California.
The rush of Euro-American settlers and prospectors into Ute country began with
an 1858 gold strike. The Ute allied with the United States and Mexico in its war with the Navajo during the same period.
There was continued pressure by the Mormons to push the Utah Utes off their land.
This resulted in the
Walker War
Walker or The Walker may refer to:
People
*Walker (given name)
*Walker (surname)
* Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer
Places
In the United States
*Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County
*Walker, Mono County, California
...
(1853–54).
By the mid-1870s, the Utes had been moved onto a reservation, less than 9% of its former land.
The Utes found it to be very inhospitable and they tried to continue hunting and gathering off the reservation.
In the meantime, the
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...
(1865–72) occurred in Utah.
A reservation was also established in 1868 in Colorado.
Indian agents tried to get the Utes to farm, which would be a change in lifestyle and what they believed would lead to certain starvation due to evidence of previous crop failures.
Their lands were whittled away until only the modern reservations were left: a large cession of land in 1873 transferred the gold-rich San Juan area, which was followed in 1879 by the loss of most of the remaining land after the "
Meeker Massacre
Meeker Massacre, or Meeker Incident, White River War, Ute War, or the Ute Campaign), took place on September 29, 1879 in Colorado. Members of a band of Ute Indians ( Native Americans) attacked the Indian agency on their reservation, killing the ...
".
Utes were later put on a reservation in Utah,
Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation
The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe ( Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Trib ...
,
as well as two reservations in Colorado,
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe ( Ute dialect: Wʉgama Núuchi) is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute Nation, and are mostly descendants of the historic Weeminuche Band who moved to the Southern Ute reservation in 1897. Their reserv ...
and
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
.
Treaties between the United States and the Utes
![Territori Ute 1868](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Territori_Ute_1868.PNG)
![Mapa Utes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Mapa_Utes.png)
Following acquisition of Ute territory from Mexico by the
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848, the United States made a series of treaties with the Ute and executive orders that ultimately culminated with relocation to reservations:
*On December 30, 1849, Quixiachigiate and 27 other chiefs of the
Capote and
Mouache Utes and signed the Peace Treaty of Abiquiú
at
Abiquiú (New Mexico) with new U.S. Indian Commissioner
James S. Calhoun.
*On October 3, 1861,
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
signed an executive order reserving the
Uinta River Valley in the
Territory of Utah
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...
for
American Indians.
*On October 7, 1863, leaders of the
Tabeguache Utes signed the Tabeguache Treaty
at the
Tabaquache Agency at Conejos in
San Luis Valley. The Tabeguache relinquished all land east of the
Continental Divide and
Middle Park. Unfortunately, this included land occupied by the Capote Utes.
*On May 5, 1864, President Lincoln signed "An Act to vacate and sell the present Indian Reservations in Utah Territory, and to settle the Indians of said Territory in the Uinta Valley",
unilaterally removing all Indians in the
Territory of Utah
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...
to the
Uinta Valley Reservation. On February 23, 1865, President Lincoln signed "An Act to extinguish the Indian Title to Lands in the Territory of Utah suitable for agricultural and mineral Purposes",
expropriating Indian lands in the Territory of Utah outside of the Uinta Valley Reservation.
*On March 2, 1868, leaders of the seven bands of the
Ute Nation
Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
signed the Ute Treaty of 1868
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The Utes were removed to the
Consolidated Ute Reservation in the western portion of the Territory of Colorado and the
Uinta Valley Reservation in the Territory of Utah.
*On September 13, 1873, leaders of the seven bands of the
Ute Nation
Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...
signed the Brunot Treaty
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The Utes relinquished land in the
San Juan Mountains
The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...
desired by miners.
*On November 9, 1878, leaders of the
Capote,
Mouache, and
Weeminuche Utes signed an agreement at
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
The Town of Pagosa Springs (Ute dialect, Ute language: Pagwöösa, Navajo language: Tó Sido Háálį́) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat, the most populous community ...
, establishing the
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
and relinquishing all other land in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
.
*On March 6, 1880, leaders of the seven bands of the Ute Nation signed the Ute Agreement of 1880
at Washington, D.C. The Agreement called for the
Tabeguache Utes to remove to the
Grand Valley of Colorado and
Parianuche
White River Utes are a Native American band, made of two earlier bands, the Yampa from the Yampa River Valley and the Parianuche Utes who lived along the Grand Valley in Colorado and Utah.
Historic bands Yampa
The Yampa (''Yapudttka'', ''Yampa ...
and
Yamparica Utes to remove to the
Uintah Reservation
The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe (Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Tribe ...
in the Territory of Utah.
*On January 5, 1882, President
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
signed an executive order to remove the
Tabeguache Utes to the new
Uncompahgre Indian Reservation in the Territory of Utah.
*On July 28, 1882, President Arthur signed
An act relating to lands in Colorado lately occupied by the Uncompahgre and White River Ute Indians,
expropriating the lands of the Parianuche, Tabeguache, and Yamparica Utes in Colorado.
*On June 6, 1940, the
Weeminuche Utes separated from the
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
as the
Ute Mountain Tribe of the
Ute Mountain Reservation.
Reservations
Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation
The
Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second-largest
Indian Reservation in the US – covering over of land.
Tribal owned lands only cover approximately of surface land and of mineral-owned land within the reservation area.
Founded in 1861, it is located in
Carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...
,
Duchesne Duchesne is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Joseph Duchesne (c. 1544–1609), French physician and chemist. Physician-in-ordinary to King Henry IV
* André Duchesne (1584–1640), French historian
* François Duchesne (1616 ...
,
Grand
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and c ...
,
Uintah,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, and
Wasatch Counties in Utah.
[Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. p. 245. .] Raising stock and oil and gas leases are important revenue streams for the reservation. The tribe is a member of the
Council of Energy Resource Tribes The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) is a consortium of Native American tribes in the United States established to increase tribal control over natural resources. It was founded in September 1975Smith, Theodore Reynolds (1979) "Council of ...
.
Northern Ute Tribe
The
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation is a Federally Recognized Tribe of Indians in northeastern Utah, United States. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band ...
(Northern Ute Tribe) consists of the following groups of people:
*
Uintah tribe Uinta or Uintah may refer to:
People
*Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah
Places
* High Uintas Wilderness
* Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, Utah
* Uintah County, Utah
* Uinta County, Wyoming
* Uinta Mountains, in the ...
, which is larger than its historical band since the U.S. government classified the following bands as Uintah when they were relocated to the reservation:
Sanpits (San Pitch),
Pahvant
Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be ...
that were not assimilated into the
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
,
Timpanogos
The Timpanogos (Timpanog, Utahs or Utah Indians) were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited a large part of central Utah, in particular, the area from Utah Lake east to the Uinta Mountains and south into present-day Sanpete County.
Most Tim ...
, and Seuvarits.
*
White River Utes
White River Utes are a Native American band, made of two earlier bands, the Yampa from the Yampa River Valley and the Parianuche Ute people, Utes who lived along the Grand Valley (Colorado-Utah), Grand Valley in Colorado and Utah.
Historic bands ...
consists of
Yampa and
Parianuche
White River Utes are a Native American band, made of two earlier bands, the Yampa from the Yampa River Valley and the Parianuche Utes who lived along the Grand Valley in Colorado and Utah.
Historic bands Yampa
The Yampa (''Yapudttka'', ''Yampa ...
Utes.
*
Uncompahgre, formerly called the Tabeguache Utes.
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
The
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
is located in southwestern Colorado, with its capital at
Ignacio
Ignacio is a male Spanish and Galician name originating either from the Roman family name Egnatius, meaning born from the fire, of Etruscan origin, or from the Latin name "Ignatius" from the word "Ignis" meaning "fire". This was the name of sev ...
. The area around the Southern Ute Indian reservation are the hills of
Bayfield and Ignacio, Colorado.
The Southern Ute are the wealthiest of the tribes and claim financial assets approaching $2 billion. Gambling, tourism, oil & gas, and real estate leases, plus various off-reservation financial and business investments, have contributed to their success. The tribe owns the Red Cedar Gathering Company, which owns and operates natural gas pipelines in and near the reservation. The tribe also owns the Red Willow Production Company, which began as a natural gas production company on the reservation. It has expanded to explore for and produce oil and natural gas in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Red Willow has offices in
Ignacio, Colorado
The Town of Ignacio ( Ute language: Piinuu) is a Statutory Town in La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The population was 697 at the 2010 United States Census. It is the headquarters of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.
Geography
Ign ...
and
Houston, Texas. The Sky Ute Casino and its associated entertainment and tourist facilities, together with tribally operated Lake Capote, draw tourists. It hosts the Four Corners Motorcycle Rally each year. The Ute operate KSUT, the major public radio station serving southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners.
Southern Ute Tribe
The Southern Ute Tribes include the
Muache
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation (Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) is a Native American reservation in southwestern Colorado near the northern New Mexico state line. Its territory consists of land from three counties; in descendin ...
,
Capote, and the
Weeminuche, the latter of which are at
Ute Mountain
Ute Mountain, also known as Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain (; Ute: ''Wisuv Káruv'', Navajo: ''Dził Naajiní''), is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of Colorado. It is on the northern edge o ...
.
Ute Mountain Reservation
The
Ute Mountain Reservation is located near
Towaoc, Colorado
Towaoc is a Census-designated place (CDP), a post office, and the capital of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe located on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The Towaoc post office has the ZIP Code 81334 ( p ...
in the
Four Corners region. Twelve ranches are held by tribal land trusts rather than family allotments. The tribe holds fee patent on 40,922.24 acres in Utah and Colorado. The 553,008 acre reservation borders the
Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park is an American national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United States.
Established ...
,
Navajo Reservation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
, and the Southern Ute Reservation.
The Ute Mountain Tribal Park abuts
Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park is an American national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United States.
Established ...
and includes many
Ancestral Puebloan
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...
ruins. Their land includes the sacred
Ute Mountain
Ute Mountain, also known as Ute Peak or Sleeping Ute Mountain (; Ute: ''Wisuv Káruv'', Navajo: ''Dził Naajiní''), is a peak within the Ute Mountains, a small mountain range in the southwestern corner of Colorado. It is on the northern edge o ...
.
The White Mesa Community of Utah (near Blanding) is part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe but is largely autonomous.
The
Ute Mountain Utes are descendants of the Weeminuche band,
who moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897. (They were led by
Chief Ignacio
Chief Ignacio (1828–1913) was a chief of the Weeminuche band of the Ute tribe of American Indians, also called the Southern Utes, located in present-day Colorado north of the San Juan River.
He led the band through many difficult years in th ...
, for whom the eastern capital is named).
Cultural and lifestyle changes on the reservations
Prior to living on reservations, Utes shared land with other tribal members according to a traditional societal property system. Instead of recognizing this lifestyle, the U.S. government provided allotments of land, which was larger for families than for single men. The Utes were intended to farm the land, which also was a forced vocational change. Some tribes, like the Uintah and Uncompahgre were given arable land, while others were allocated land that was not suited to farming and they resisted being forced to farm. The White River Utes were the most resentful and protested in Washington, D.C. The Weeminuches successfully implemented a shared property system from their allotted land.
Utes were forced to perform manual labor, relinquish their horses, and send their children to
American Indian boarding schools
American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Na ...
.
Almost half of the children sent to boarding school in Albuquerque died in the mid-1880s,
due to
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
or other diseases.
There was a dramatic reduction in the Ute population, partly attributed to Utes moving off the reservation or resisting being counted.
In the early 19th century, there were about 8,000 Utes, and there were only about 1,800 tribe members in 1920.
Although there was a significant reduction in the number of Utes after they were relocated to reservations, in the mid-20th century the population began to increase. This is partly because many people have returned to reservations, including those who left to attain college educations and careers.
By 1990, there were about 7,800 Utes, with 2,800 living in cities and towns and 5,000 on reservations.
Utes have self-governed since the
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Elections are held to select tribal council members.
The Northern, Southern, and Ute Mountain Utes received a total of $31 million in a land claims settlement. The Ute Mountain Tribe used their money, including what they earned from mineral leases, to invest in tourist related and other enterprises in the 1950s. In 1954, a group of mixed blood Utes were legally separated from the Northern Utes and called the Affiliated Ute Citizens.
Since the
, the Utes control the police, courts, credit management, and schools.
Modern life
All Ute reservations are involved in oil and gas leases and are members of the
Council of Energy Resource Tribes The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) is a consortium of Native American tribes in the United States established to increase tribal control over natural resources. It was founded in September 1975Smith, Theodore Reynolds (1979) "Council of ...
.
The Southern Ute Tribe is financially successful, having a casino for revenue generation. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe generates revenues through gas and oil, mineral sales, casinos, stock raising, and a pottery industry. The tribes make some money on tourism and timber sales. Artistic endeavors include basketry and beadwork. The annual household income is well below that of their non-Native neighbors. Unemployment is high on the reservation, in large part due to discrimination, and half of the tribal members work for the government of the United States or the tribe.
The Ute language is still spoken on the reservation. Housing is generally adequate and modern. There are annual performance of the Bear and Sun dances. All tribes have scholarship programs for college educations. Alcoholism is a significant problem at Ute Mountain, affecting nearly 80% of the population. The age expectancy there was 40 years of age as of 2000.
Spirituality and religion
Utes have believed that all living things possess supernatural power. A medicine person (the term shaman was not used among Native people in North America, it being a Siberian term), people of any gender receive power from dreams and some take
vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. It is usually only undertaken by young males entering adulthood.
Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English ...
s.
Traditionally, Utes relied on medicine men for their physical and spiritual health, but it has become a dying occupation. Spiritual leaders have emerged that perform ceremonies previously performed by medicine men, like sweat ceremonies, one of the oldest spiritual ceremonies of the Utes, performed in a
sweat lodge.
The annual fasting and purification ceremony
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individua ...
is an important traditional spiritual event, feast, and means of asserting their Native American identity.
It is held mid-summer. Each spring the Ute (Northern and Southern) hold their traditional
Bear Dance
Bear Dance is a Native American ceremonial dance that occurs in the spring. It is a ten-day event to strengthen social ties within the community, encourage courtship, and mark the end of puberty for girls.
For the Utes, it is a ten-day event of da ...
, which was used to strengthen social ties and for courtship. It is one of the oldest Ute ceremonies.
The
Native American Church
The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The ...
is another source of spiritual life for some Ute, where followers believe that "God reveals Himself in
Peyote."
The church integrates Native American rituals with Christianity beliefs. One of the followers was
Sapiah ("Buckskin Charley"), chief of the Southern Ute Tribe.
Christianity was picked up by some Ute from missionaries of the Presbyterian and Catholic churches.
Some Northern Utes accepted
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of ...
.
It is common for people to see Christianity and Native American spirituality as complementary beliefs, rather that believing that they have to pick either Christianity or Native American spirituality.
Ceremonial objects
Utes produced beadwork over centuries. They obtained glass beads and other trade items from early trading contact with Europeans and rapidly incorporated their use into their objects.
Native Americans have been using ceremonial pipes for thousands and years, and the traditional pipes have been used in sacred Ute ceremonies that are conducted by a medicine person or spiritual leader. The pipe symbolizes the Ute's connection to the creator and their existence on Earth. They conduct pipe ceremonies during events were different people come together. For instance, they conducted a pipe ceremony at an Interfaith event in
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
.
The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to use the effect of
mechanoluminescence Mechanoluminescence is light emission resulting from any mechanical action on a solid. It can be produced through ultrasound, or through other means.
* Fractoluminescence is caused by stress that results in the formation of fractures.
* Piezolum ...
. They used
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from
buffalo rawhide, which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals banging together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.
Image:UteBeadwork1.jpg, A Northern Ute Beaded Pipebag. This pipebag— made from brain-tanned mule-deer hide, glass trade beads, and eagle bone—incorporates the sacred symbols of the Ute: the blue fire, the yellow fire, the green of the earth, and the hail of the thunder beings; motifs of the turtle (earth) and moccasin (home), and the symbol of the red fire and the bear, sacred animal of the Ute.
Image:UteBeadworkHorseBag.jpg, An early 1900s Uncompahgre Ute
The Uncompahgre Ute () or ꞌAkaꞌ-páa-gharʉrʉ Núuchi (also: Ahkawa Pahgaha Nooch) is a band of the Ute, a Native American tribe located in the US states of Colorado and Utah. In the Ute language, means "rocks that make water red." The ban ...
beaded horse bag, which has been used to hold sacred religious totems, pipes, and carvings, sometimes an effigy of a medicine horse or medicine buffalo, or some other totem
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the ...
of power. The objects were associated and used in private prayer and family rituals.
Image:UteCeremonialKnife.jpg, A Northern Ute ceremonial knife made from white quartz and Western cedar wood. These knives were used to cut the umbilical cord of a newborn infant or to harvest sweetgrass and other sacred herbs for ceremonies.
Image:UteQuartzRattle.jpg, An Uncompahgre Ute Buffalo rawhide ceremonial rattle filled with quartz crystals. The rattle produces flashes of light (mechanoluminescence Mechanoluminescence is light emission resulting from any mechanical action on a solid. It can be produced through ultrasound, or through other means.
* Fractoluminescence is caused by stress that results in the formation of fractures.
* Piezolum ...
) created when quartz crystals are subjected to mechanical stress when the rattle is shaken in darkness.
Image:UtePipe3.jpg, Uncompahgre Ute Salmon Alabaster Ceremonial Pipe. Ute pipe styles are similar to those of the Plains Indians, with notable differences. Ute pipes are thicker and use shorter pipestems than the Plains style, and more closely resemble the pipe styles of their Northern neighbors, the Shoshone.
Ethnobotany
![Abroniafragrans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Abroniafragrans.JPG)
Medicine women used up to 300 plants to treat ailments. Pine pitch or split cactus was used to treat sores or wounds. Sage leaves were used for colds. Sage tea and powdered obsidian for sore eyes. Teas were made from various plants to treat stomachaches. Grass was used to stop bleeding. The Ute use the roots and flowers of ''
Abronia fragrans
''Abronia fragrans'', the sweet sand-verbena, snowball sand-verbena, prairie snowball or fragrant verbena,[Yarrow
''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal.
The ...]
was also used as a medicine by the Utes. There were many plants found in
Provo Canyon
Provo Canyon is located in unincorporated Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah. Provo Canyon runs between Mount Timpanogos on the north and Mount Cascade on the south. The canyon extends from Orem on the west end to Heber City on the east. Provo ...
that were used by Utes as medicine.
In popular culture
* ''
When the Legends Die
''When The Legends Die'' is a 1963 American novel, written by Hal Borland; and a 1972 American Western film released in DeLuxe Color by Twentieth Century-Fox.
Novel
The novel, about the life of a Ute Indian young man, was written in 1963 by ...
'' (1963), a book by
Hal Borland Harold "Hal" Glen Borland (May 14, 1900 – February 22, 1978) was an American writer, journalist and naturalist. In addition to writing many non-fiction and fiction books about the outdoors, he was a staff writer and editorialist for '' The New Yor ...
, is a story about a Ute boy growing up on a reservation after his parents die, and becoming a rodeo sensation. A film adaptation by the same name was released in 1972.
* The
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
's athletic teams are known as the
Utes and have received explicit permission from the Ute tribe to continue using the name.
* In
the television series ''Resident Alien'', based on the
comics of the same name, health center assistant Asta Twelvetrees (played by Sara Tomko) is a member of the Ute Nation.
* In ''
Cold Pursuit
''Cold Pursuit'' is a 2019 action thriller film directed by Hans Petter Moland from a screenplay by Frank Baldwin. A co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and France, the film stars Liam Neeson, Tom Bateman, Tom Ja ...
'' (2019), a gang formed by Utes play a prominent role in the film as a rival cartel to the main antagonists.
Notable people
*
Black Hawk, son of Chief San-Pitch and noted War leader during the Utah
Black Hawk War (1865–72)
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed ...
.
*
Chipeta
Chipeta or White Singing Bird (1843 or 1844 – August 1924) was a Native American woman, and the second wife of Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute tribe. Born a Kiowa Apache, she was raised by the Utes in what is now Conejos, Colorado. An ad ...
, Ouray's wife and Ute delegate to negotiations with federal government
*
R. Carlos Nakai, Native American flutist
*
Ouray, leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe
*
Polk
Polk may refer to:
People
* James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States
* Polk (name), other people with the name
Places
* Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois
* Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Polk, Missou ...
, Ute-Paiute chief
*
Posey, Ute-Paiute chief
*
Joseph Rael, (b. 1935), dancer, author, and spiritualist
*
Sanpitch, chief of the Sanpete tribe, and brother of
Chief Walkara.
Sanpete County is named for him.
*
Raoul Trujillo
Raoul Maximiano Trujillo de Chauvelon (born May 8, 1955) is an American and Canadian actor, dancer, choreographer, and theatre director. A former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, he is the original choreographer and co-director for the ...
, dancer, choreographer, and actor
*
Chief Walkara, also called Chief Walker, the most prominent Chief in the Utah area when the
Mormon Pioneers arrived and leader during the Walker War.
See also
*
List of Indian reservations in the United States
This is a list of Indian reservations and other tribal homelands in the United States. In Canada, the Indian reserve is a similar institution.
Federally recognized reservations
There are 326 Indian Reservations in the United States. Most of ...
*
Pinhook Draw fight
*
Ute Indian Museum
*
Ute music
Ute music constitutes the music of the Indigenous Ute people, Northern American Ute tribe. Much of this music has been recorded and preserved. Each song of the Ute tribe has a meaning or is based on an experience. These experiences may be social, r ...
*
Ute mythology
References
Further reading
* Jones, Sondra (2019). ''Being and Becoming Ute: The Story of an American Indian People''. Salt Lake City:
University of Utah Press
The University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah. The mission of the ...
. .
* McPherson, Robert S. (2011). ''As If the Land Owned Us: An Ethnohistory of the White Mesa Utes''. .
* Silbernagel, Robert. (2011). ''Troubled Trails: The Meeker Affair and the Expulsion of Utes from Colorado''. .
External links
Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Agency (Northern Ute Tribe)Southern Ute Indian TribeUte Mountain Ute TribeUte Tribe Education Department ''Encyclopedia of North American Indians''
Removing Classrooms from the Battlefield: Liberty, Paternalism, and the Redemptive Promise of Educational Choice, 2008 BYU Law Review 377 The Utes and Richard Henry PrattFour Corners Motorcycle RallyUtah History to Go
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ute people
Native American tribes in Colorado
Native American tribes in Nevada
Native American tribes in New Mexico
Native American tribes in Utah