The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation is a

Federally Recognized Tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

of Indians in northeastern

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band. The Tribe has a membership of more than three thousand individuals, with over half living on the

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 Tribe ...

. The Ute Indian Tribe operates its own tribal government and oversees approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land which contains significant oil and gas deposits.

Historic bands

The Northern Ute tribe, which was moved to the Uintah Ouray Reservation, is composed of a number of bands. The tribes at the reservation include the following groups: *

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 s ...

, 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: :* The

San Pitch Utes The San Pitch Utes (''Sahpeech'', ''Sanpeech'', ''Sanpits'', ''San-pitch'') were members of a band of Ute people that lived in the Sanpete Valley and Sevier River Valley and along the San Pitch River. They may have originally been Shoshonean, and ...

of central Utah lived in the

Sanpete Valley Sanpete County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 27,822. Its county seat is Manti, and its largest city is Ephraim. The county was created in 1850. History The Sanpete Valley ma ...

, Sevier River Valley, and along the

San Pitch River The San Pitch River, extending , is the primary watercourse of the Sanpete Valley and drains into the Sevier River in southwestern Sanpete. The river is named for the Ute chief Sanpitch, who also gives his name to the San Pitch Mountains and San ...

. :* Uintah lived in northeastern Utah from

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 La ...

to the

Uintah Basin The Uinta Basin (also known as the Uintah Basin) is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in e ...

of the Tavaputs Plateau near the Grand-

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 drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

-system. :* The

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 Ti ...

lived in the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

around

Mount Timpanogos Mount Timpanogos, often referred to as Timp, is the second-highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timpanogos rises to an elevation of above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. With of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is ...

, along the southern and eastern shores of

of the

Utah Valley 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 its ...

, and in Heber Valley,

Uinta Basin The Uinta Basin (also known as the Uintah Basin) is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in ...

and Sanpete Valley. :* The Seuvarits band was from the

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

area. *

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 ...

:* The

Yampa Yampa is a Colorado municipalities#Statutory town, statutory town in Routt County, Colorado, Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 429 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. City name is the Ute dialect, Northern U ...

from the

Yampa River The Yampa River flows through northwestern Colorado in the United States. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, it is a tributary of the Green River (Colorado River), Green River and a major part of the Colorado River system. The Yampa is one of the f ...

Valley area and the

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 ...

, who lived in the

valley (previously called the Grand River) of western Colorado and eastern Utah. The two bands are now called the

. The Sabuagana were of the same relative area as the

. * 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 ...

, also called the Uncompahgre, lived in the Gunnison and

Uncompahgre River The Uncompahgre River is a tributary of the Gunnison River, approximately 75 mi (121 km) long, in southwestern Colorado in the United States. Lake Como at 12,215 ft (3723m) in northern San Juan County, in the Uncompahgre National ...

valleys of Colorado and Utah.

History

Utes have lived in the Great Basin region for over 10,000 years. From 3000 BCE to around 500 BCE, they lived along the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

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 ...

. People of the

Fremont culture The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah, where the culture's sites were discovered by local indigenous peoples like the Navajo and Ute ...

lived to the north in western Colorado, but when drought struck in the 13th century, they joined the Utes in

San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of t ...

. Utes were one of the first tribes to obtain horses from escaped Spanish stock. Spanish explorers traveled through Ute land in 1776. They were followed by an ever-increasing number of non-Natives. The

Colorado Gold Rush The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 a ...

of the 1850s flooded Ute lands with prospectors.

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

fought the Utes from the 1840s to 1870s. In the 1860s the US federal government created the Uintah Reservation.

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

, including the

or Timpanog tribe from Central Utah, settled there in 1864, and were joined in 1882 by eight bands of Northern Utes. The US government tried to force the Utes to farm, despite the lack of water and unfavorable growing conditions on their reservation. Irrigation projects of the early 20th century put water in non-tribal hands. Ute children were forced to attend

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 Nat ...

in the 1880s and half of the Ute children at the

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

Indian School died.Pritzker, 243

Government

The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the Tribe and is located in

Fort Duchesne, Utah Fort Duchesne is a census-designated place (CDP) in Uintah County, Utah, United States. The population was 714 at the 2010 census, an increase from the 2000 figure of 621. Fort Duchesne was originally a fort, established by the United States ...

Reservation

The Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second-largest

Indian Reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

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 In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

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 commu ...

, Uintah,

, and Wasatch Counties in Utah. 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 Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American tribes in the United States established to increase tribal control over natural resources. It was founded in September 1975Smith, Th ...

. The Tribe holds a 5% stake in the proposed

Uinta Basin Rail The Uinta Basin Rail project is a proposed rail line to connect the shale oil rich Uinta Basin region of eastern Utah to the national rail network. Numerous proposals have been made, some as far back as 1902, that are still under consideration ...

Language

The

Ute language Ute Givón, T. ''Ute Reference Grammar''. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011 is a dialect of the Colorado River Numic language, spoken by the Ute people. Speakers primarily live on three reservations: Uintah-Ouray (or Northern Ute) in nort ...

is a Proto-

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 ...

language within the

Uto-Aztecan language 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 ...

family.Pritzker, 242 The language is still widely spoken. In 1984, the tribe declared the Ute language to be the official language of their reservation, and the Ute Language, Culture and Traditions Committee provides language education materials."Ute Language Policy."
''Cultural Survival.'' Issue 9.2, Summer 1985 (retrieved 5 May 2010)

Notes

References

* D'Azevedo, Warren L., Volume Editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986. . * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .
Ute Indian Tape Recordings Collection
MSS 855; 20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
The Ute
MSS SC 1162; Newsletters of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Agency (1937-1941); 20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

External links

Ute Indian Tribe Website
{{authority control Ute tribe American Indian reservations in Utah Native American tribes in Utah Federally recognized tribes in the United States Geography of Carbon County, Utah Geography of Duchesne County, Utah Geography of Grand County, Utah Geography of Uintah County, Utah Geography of Utah County, Utah Geography of Wasatch County, Utah