Ute Mountain Ute

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe 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 reservation is headquartered at Towaoc, Colorado on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and small sections of Utah.Ute Native Americans, 1878, Arizona Historical SocietyUte wickiup used in the western regionsTipis painted by George Catlin who visited a number of tribes in the 1830s and recorded Native American daily lifeDomínguez and Escalante route, 1776Mural of Fathers Dominguez and Escalante, Utah State capital buildingOld Spanish Trail (trade route)Colorado Mineral BeltFrom left to right: Chief Ignacio of the Southern Utes, Carl Shurz, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta. Woretsiz and General Charles Adams (Colorado) are standing. Taken in Washington, D.C. in 1880 when a Ute Indian delegation negotiated a treaty with the U.S. government. Photograph by Mathew Brady.Chief Ignacio, 1904 The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe 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 reservation is headquartered at Towaoc, Colorado on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and small sections of Utah. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are descendants of the Weeminuche band (Weminuche, Weemeenooch, Wiminuc, Guiguinuches) lived west of the Great Divide along the Dolores River of western Colorado, in the Abajo Mountains, in the Valley of the San Juan River and its northern tributaries and in the San Juan Mountains including eastern Utah. They moved to the Southern Ute reservation in 1897. Two thousand years ago, the Utes lived and ranged in the mountains and desert over much of the Colorado Plateau: much of present-day eastern Utah, western Colorado, northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. The use of lands in the Four Corners area, where the Ute Mountain Ute tribe now live, though, came later. Most anthropologists agree that Utes were established in the Four Corners area by 1500 C.E. The Ute people were hunters and gatherers who moved on foot to hunting grounds and gathering land based upon the season. The men hunted animals, including deer, antelope, buffalo, rabbits, and other small mammals and birds. Women gathered grasses, nuts, berries, roots, and greens in woven baskets; They also processed and stored meat and plant materials for winter use. Ute in the western part of their territory lived in wickiups and ramadas; Hide tipis were used in the eastern reaches of their territory. As a result of American westward expansion, the Utes now possess only a small fraction of the land that they once traveled seasonally. The Ute people consist of three populations of people: The Mesa Verde Region, the present day area containing the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe reservation and the Mesa Verde National Park, was the northern most edge of the colonial territory of Spain. Initial exploration of the American Southwest by the Spanish occurred in 1540, but Spaniards didn't settle into present day New Mexico until 1598. They established their first capital near the pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh, which they renamed San Juan de los Caballeros. In 1626 an account was taken of the Utes by a Spanish scribe in New Mexico. About 1640 the Utes began trading with the Spanish for horses. Spanish traders followed trails to Ute villages and Utes traveled to New Mexican towns. The Utes brought buckskin, dried meats, furs, and slaves to exchange for horses, knives, and blankets. Spanish officials negotiate the first peace treaty with the Utes in 1670. In search of gold, Juan de Rivera made three expeditions between 1761 and 1765 from Taos through southwestern Colorado to the Gunnison River. He did not return with gold, but did establish trade with Utes and other Native Americans along the Gunnison River. On July 29, 1776 two Franciscan priests, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and eight men left Santa Fe to conduct an expedition through Ute territory to find a route to Spanish missions in California. They traveled through western Colorado and Utah, documenting the 'lush, mountainous land filled with game and timber, strange ruins of stone cities and villages, and rivers showing signs of precious metals.' Beset by hunger and illness, the men turned back at Salt Lake Valley and returned to Santa Fe. The maps and information provided from the expedition provided useful information for future travel and their route from Santa Fe to the Salt Lake Valley became known as the Old Spanish Trail. The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 established an official boundary line between Spanish and United States possessions in the southwest. Spanish territory included the southern plains, a large part of the western Rocky Mountains, and the entire western plateau region of Colorado. Even with the boundary, the Spanish did little to maintain their northern borders. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the Spanish lands became Mexican land. American fur trappers headed into the western frontier in 1811 and encountered the Utes. The Santa Fe Trail was opened in 1821 by William Bucknell; passage of goods through Ute territory became common. William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain complete Bent's Fort in 1834 on the Arkansas River, a trading stop along the Santa Fe trail.