Utes have lived in the Great Basin in the northwestern Utah region for over 10,000 years. From 3000 BCE to around 500 BCE, they lived along the Gila River in Arizona. People of the Fremont culture lived to the north in western Colorado, but when drought struck in the 13th century, they joined the Utes in San Luis Valley, Colorado. The Ute people are the oldest residents of Colorado, inhabiting the mountains & vast areas of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Northern New Mexico & Arizona.
The language of the Utes is Shoshonean, a dialect of that Uto-Aztecan language. It is believed that the people who speak Shoshonean separated from other Ute-Aztecan speaking groups, such as the Paiute, Goshute, Shoshone Bannock, Comanche, Chemehuevi & some tribes in California. The Utes were a large tribe occupying the great basin area, encompassing the Numic speaking territories of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Eastern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado & Northern Arizona & New Mexico. Tribes living in this area, ancestors of the Utes were the Uto-Aztecs, who spoke one common language; they possessed a set of central values, & had a highly developed society. Traits commonly attributed to people possessing a civilization. The Ute civilization spoke the same language, shared values, observed the same social & political practices, in addition to inhabiting & holding a set territory.
The Utes settled around the lake areas of Utah, some of which became the Paiute, other groups spread north & east & separated into the Shoshone & Comanche people, & some traveled south becoming the Chemehuevi & Kawaiisus. The remaining Ute people became a loose confederation of tribal units called bands.
Prior to acquiring the horse, the Utes would travel & camp in familiar sites & use well established routes such as the Ute Trail that can still be seen in the forests of the Grand Mesa. As the Utes traveled the vast area of the Great Basin, large bands would breakup into smaller family units that were much more mobile. Camps could be broken down faster making travel from one location to another a more efficient process. Because food gathering was an immense task, the people learned that by alternating hunting & food gathering sites the environment would have time to replenish. The Nuche only took what they required, never over harvesting game or wild plants. These principles were closely adhered to in order for the people to survive. In early spring & into the late fall, men would hunt for large game such as elk, deer, & antelope; the women would trap smaller game animals in addition to gathering wild plants such as berries & fruits. Wild plants such as the amaranth, wild onion, rice grass, & dandelion supplemented their diet. Some Ute bands specialized in the medicinal properties of plants & became expert in their use, a few bands planted domestic plants.
Before they acquired the horse, the Utes used basic tools & weapons which were made of stone & wood. These tools included digging sticks, weed beaters, baskets, bows & arrows, flint knives, arrow heads, throwing sticks, matates & manos for food preparation. They traded with the Puebloans for pottery to use for food & water storage & transport. They became very skilled at basket weaving, making coiled containers sealed with pitch for water storage. As expert hunters they used all parts of the animal. Elk & deer hides were used for shelter covers, clothing & moccasins. The hides the Utes tanned were prized & a sought after trade item. The Ute women became known for their beautiful quill work, which decorated their buckskin dresses, leggings, moccasins, & cradleboards.
Late in the fall, family units would begin to move out of the mountains into sheltered areas for the cold winter. Generally, the family units of a particular Ute band would live close together. The family units could acquire more fuel for heating & cooking. The increased family units would also allow for a better line of defense form enemy tribes seeking supplies for the harsh winter weather. The Caputa, Mouache & Weenuchiu wintered in northwestern New Mexico; the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) camped near Montrose & Grand Junction; the Northern Utes would make their winter camps along the White, Green & Colorado Rivers. Winter was a time of rejuvenation & the Utes would gather around their evening fires visiting & exchanging stories about their travels, social, & religious events. This was a time to reinforce tribal custom, as well as repairing tools, weapons & making new garments for the summer.
A primary event that marked the beginning of spring was the annual Bear Dance. The Bear Dance is still considered a time of rejuvenation by the tribe. It is in essence, the Tribes’ New Year, when Mother Earth begins a new cycle, plants begin to blossom, animals come out of their dens after a long cold winter. The Bear awakens from his winter’s sleep & celebrates by dancing to welcome the spring. This dance was given to the Ute people by the bear. The Bear Dance is the most ancient dance of the Ute people & continues to be observed by all Ute bands. When many of the various bands gathered for the Bear Dance it allowed relatives to socialize, while at the same time providing an opportunity for the young people to meet & for marriages to be negotiated. On the last day of the Bear Dance, the Sundance Chief would announce dates of the Sundance.
They obtained soap from the root of the yucca plant. The yucca was used to make rope, baskets, shoes, sleeping mats, & a variety of household items. The three leaf sumac & willow were used to weave baskets for food & water storage. They learned how to apply pitch to ensure their containers were water-tight. They made baskets, bows, arrows, other domestic tools, & reinforcements for shade houses. Chokecherry, wild raspberry, gooseberry, & buffalo berry were gathered & eaten raw. Occasionally juice was extracted to drink & the pulp was made into cakes or added to dried seed meal and eaten as a paste or cooked into a mush. Ute women would use seeds from various flowers or grasses and add them to soup. The three leaf sumac would be used in tea for special events. The people would harvest roots with a tool called a digging stick. The digging stick was pointed and about three to four feet long. Roots collected were the sego (mariposa) lily, yellow pond lily, yampa or Indian carrot. The amaranth plant was gathered and the seeds were obtained with a tool called a seed beater, similar to winnowing. Amaranth seeds were often eaten raw, the Indian potato (Orogenia linearifolia) and wild onion were used in soups or eaten raw. They could be dried for later use or ground into a flour to make stews thicker. Utes would use earthen ovens to cook food. They would prepare the food items and place them into a four-foot deep hole lined with stones. A fire was built on top of the stones and the food was placed in layers of damp grass & heated rocks. These items would then be covered with dirt to cook over night. The prickly pear cactus was another food source. The flower & fruit were either eaten raw or boiled or roasted. The inner bark of the tree is very nutritious & was yet another food source for the people. The Utes harvested the inner bark of the ponderosa pine for making healing compresses, tea & for healing. The scarred ponderosa trees are still visible in Colorado forests. The healing trees are evidence of the Utes early presence in the land & their close relationship to their ecosystem.
A medicinal plant used by the Utes is Bear root (Ligusticum portieri) also commonly known as osha. Bear root grows throughout the Rocky Mountains, in elevations over 7,000 feet. The plant has antibacterial & antiviral powers & continues to be used to treat colds & upper respiratory ailments. It can be chewed or brewed into teas. It can be used topically, in baths, compresses, & ointments to treat indigestion, infections, wounds & arthritis. Some southwest tribes use it before going into the desert areas to deter rattlesnakes. The Utes have a special relationship with the plant & treat it with great respect, harvesting only what they need & always giving prayers before they harvest. Ute elders knew which plants should be gathered & which plants were dangerous. One has to be very careful when harvesting wild plants as many toxic plants can be mistaken for wild onion or bear root. Poison hemlock (Conium macalatum) appears much the same as the bear root but is dangerous. Peppermint & wild tobacco were collected & used in many important ceremonies.
The routes the Utes established were used by other Native American tribes & Europeans. The Ute Trail became known as the Spanish Trail used by Spanish explorers as early as the fifteenth century when Alvar Nunez Caveza de Vaca (1488-1558) & Juan de Onate (1550-1630) were sent from Spain to explore the uninhabited areas of Texas & New Mexico, claiming vast lands for their Spanish rulers. During the sixteenth century Spaniards began to colonize New Mexico, establishing their domination wherever possible. As the Spanish advanced northward into Ute territory, the customs, livestock, & language they brought began to influence the Ute’s way of life. These changes were to have far reaching impacts upon the Ute people. Not only did the European bring livestock & tools, they also brought small pox, cholera & other diseases that would decimate the population of the Ute people. The European’s never-ending quest for land was in direct contrast to the Native American’s reverence for Mother Earth. The Utes believed that they didn’t own the land, but that the land owned them. Contact with the European was to end a way of life the people had known for centuries. Contact between the Southern Utes & the Spanish continued, with trade soon developing. Utes were known for their tanned elk & deer hides which they traded along with dried meat tools & weapons. However, as the Spanish became more aggressive conflicts began to arise. When Santa Fe was established as the northern capital of the Spanish colonists they captured Utes & other Native Americans as slave laborers to work in their fields & homes. Around 1637 Ute captives escaping from the Spanish in Santa Fe fled, taking with them Spanish horses, thus making the Utes one of the first Native American tribes to acquire the horse. However, tribal historians tell of the Utes acquiring the horse as early as the 1580s. Already skilled hunters, the Utes used the horse to become expert big game hunters. They began to roam further away from their home camps to hunt buffalo that migrated over the vast prairies east of their mountain homes, & explore the distant lands. The Utes began to depend upon the buffalo as a source for much of their items. It took only one buffalo to feed several families, & fewer hides were required to make structures & clothing.
The Utes already had a reputation as defenders of their territories now became even fiercer warriors. Women & children were also fierce & were known to pick up a lance & defend their camps from attacking enemies. Ute men were described by the Spanish as having fine physiques, able to withstand the harsh climate, & live off the land in sharp contrast to the European who often had to depend upon Native Americans & their knowledge about plants, animals & the environment. They became adept raiders preying upon neighboring tribes such as the Apache, Pueblos & Navajo. Items obtained from their raids were used to trade for household items, weapons, horses & captives. Owning horses increased one’s status in the tribe.
Encounters with the Spanish began to occur more frequently, & trade increased to include Spanish items such as metal tools & weapons, cloth, beads & even guns. The bounty collected from raiding expeditions was used to trade for horses, which were considered a valuable commodity. Captives from raids were also used as barter items. In November 1806 Zebulon Pike entered the eastern boundaries of Ute lands proclaiming one of the Ute’s most sacred sites as “Grand Peak”, now known as Pike’s Peak. Prior to this, Ute territory had not been explored on a large scale because of the rugged terrain & high mountain passes. Europeans began to take notice of the land’s bounty, timber, wildlife & abundant water. What they did not take into account was that the land was already inhabited by the Ute people, who considered the land their home. As westward expansion increased & eastern tribes were displaced & relocated to barren lands in the west, pioneers began to travel west. Gold & silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains & the Utes soon found themselves in a losing battle to retain their homelands. In the 1700s the Ute & Comanche tribes began peace negotiations to ensure peace between two powerful tribal allies that reigned over the southwestern plains, however, peace talks were interrupted & a fifty-year war followed. On December 30, 1849 a peace treaty was signed between the United States & the Utes at Abiquiu, New Mexico. The treaty forced the Utes to officially recognize the sovereignty of the United Sates & established boundaries between the U.S. & the Ute nation.
