# THE SOUTHERN UTES > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Asouthern_ute%3A1396150e870441a4 ## Record - **Collection:** Tribal code - **Document type:** Tribal code ## Text THE SOUTHERN UTES A TRIBAL HISTORY THE SOUTHERN UTES HISTORY A TRIBAL Authors JAMES JEFFERSON ROBERT W. DELANEY GREGORY C. THOMPSON Edited by FLOYD A. O’'NEIL TRIBE SOUTHERN UTE IGNACIO, COLORADO From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Copyright 1972 Southern Ute Tribe Ignacio, Colorado Printed by the University of Utah Printing Service Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Editor’s Note In 1967, the University of Utah began working with the Southern Ute Tribe in the documentation of some of the memories of the oldest residents of the tribe. This pleasant relationship has blossomed into a full-blown effort to document the history of the Utes from their own point of view, using not only their own testimony but also gathering together a massive collection of documents relating to their history. In 1971, the Southern Ute Tribal Council applied to the Boettcher Foundation of Denver, Colorado, the Donner Foundation of New York City, and to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Research and Cultural Studies Development Section, for money to create a tribal history that would be of general interest, as well as a useable textbook for the schools serving the children of the Southern Utes. To write the history, the Southern Ute Tribal Council chose James Jefferson, a member of the tribe and their public relations director; Dr. Robert Delaney, of Fort Lewis College, a long time friend of the tribe and a scholar who has researched their history deeply; and Gregory C. Thompson, originally of Durango, Colorado, a Research Associate in American Indian History for the Center for the Studies of the American West at the University of Utah. I was chosen to coordinate the efforts of the group, to be responsible to report to the tribe, to assist in documentation, and to serve in an editorial capacity. I am grateful for the assignment given to me by Mr. Burch and the Tribal Council. Because Dr. Delaney and Mr. Thompson are not Indian, and are trained in the traditional disciplines of history, their writings are clearly separated from those of Mr. Jefferson who represents a more traditional tribal point of view. The first forty-five pages are the work of Delaney and Thompson. The following forty pages are the work of Mr. Jefferson. Within the section which begins with story telling on page 77, a group of sample stories illustrating the Ute Indian view of life is included. This collection of stories and legends is by no means to be considered complete or definitive, but is included as a sampling to show the spirit and type of material which forms the traditional body of Ute oral tradition. A series of maps are included to illustrate clearly and succinctly what has happened to the Southern Ute lands. The photoiii From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah graphs are from a wide variety of sources, and credit lines for photos indicate the wide research done in collecting the material for this volume. Proper thanks is extended to the members of the Southern Ute Tribe who willingly gave of their time and knowledge to create this book; to Dr. C. Gregory Crampton of the Duke Oral Indian History Project of the University of Utah for his assistance in collection; to the Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, and to Fort Lewis College generally for their aid and willing cooperation; to the National Archives, Social and Economic Branch and Mr. Robert M. Kvasnicka, Assistant Director; to the Federal Records Center at Denver, Colorado, Delbert Bishop, Director and Robert Svenningsen, Archivist; to the Museum of the American Indian, New York; to the Smithsonian Insti- tution, National Anthropological Library; to the Indian Rights Association of Philadelphia, Pa., and to the Pennsylvania Historical Society where the archives are housed; to Dr. Myra Ellen Jenkins of the New Mexico Records Center; to Dr. Ward Alan Minge; to Mr. Robert Morgan who drew the maps; to Mr. Russell Box, who designed the cover, and to the many others who contributed, our thanks is gratefully extended. The errors are those of the authors and the editor, and responsi- bility is taken by them. Froyp A. O’NEeIL Assistant Director, Center for the Study of the American West iv From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Maps and Illustrations Page Maps Changes in Ute Lands The Ute Domain ... Spanish Expeditions to Ute Country Spanish-Mexican Land Grants .. Rivers and Agencies in Southern Ute Land ... xi 24 Photographs Rainbow ... Yamapi Capote Braves Group Photograph about 1874 Uncompahgre Chiefs ....... Guero..... 25 Map Proposed Ute Reservations 1879, 1889 34 Photographs Group Photographs at Washington Negotiations, 1880 ............ Shavano, 1880 Tapuche Severo .. Ignacio 2 Buckskin Charlie ... Utes at Denver Exposition of 1882-83 40 43 Early Roads and Railroads, c. 1895 4“4 36 Map v From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Page Photographs Ute Women ... Buckskin Charlie with Members of his Band . 51 55 Map 63 Neighboring Tribes ..... Photographs Severo and his Family .__.... Cultural Adaptation among the Tribes Ignacio ... Consolidated Ute Headquarters Ignacio Indian Boarding School 87 88 88 Maps Western Southern Ute Reservation Eastern Southern Ute Reservation 89 90 vi From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Introduction Utes The oldest continuous residents of Colorado are the Ute Indians. It is not known exactly when the Utes came from the north and west and inhabited the mountainous areas of the present-day states of Colorado, Utah (which name comes from the Ute people), and New Mexico. We do know that the earliest Utes came into the present day United States along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Probably they found other groups of Indians inhabiting the Great Plains, and, therefore, had to live in the mountains where it was more difficult to hunt animals and gather food. It is possible that the coming of the Utes was the reason for the Anasazis to move into sandstone caves of the area. Possibly, too, the Utes displaced or replaced those carlier peoples who had developed in the region from the early Basketmaker stage through the Developmental Pueblo stage and into the classic Mesa Verde period. Ruins of the ancient culture of the Anasazi are to be found throughout the present reservation of the Southern Utes. If the Utes tried to leave their mountainous area and go other places to get food, they found other Indian groups already there who would fight them to drive them out. To the cast and northeast of the Utes were the Arapaho, Cheyennes, Kiowa, Apaches, Comanches, Sioux, and Pawnees. To the south were the Navajos and Apaches and only the Jicarilla band of Apaches were generally friendly to the Utes. To the west and northwest were the Shoshones, Snakes, Bannocks, Paiutes, and Goshutes. The language of the Utes is Shoshonean which is a branch or a dialect of the Uto-Aztecan language. It is believed that the people who speak Shoshonean separated from other Uto-Aztecan speaking groups about the time of the birth of Christ. Other Indian groups of the U.S. who speak Shoshonean are the Paiutes, Goshutes, Shoshones, Bannocks, and some tribes in California. Eventually, the Utes became concentrated into a loose confederation of seven bands. The names of the seven bands and the areas they lived in before the coming of the Europeans are as follows: 1. The Mouache band lived in southern Colorado and in New Mexico almost down to Santa Fe. vii From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 2. The Capote band inhabited the San Luis Valley in Colorado near the headwaters of the Rio Grande and in New Mexico especially around the region where the towns of Chama and Tierra Amarilla are now located. 3. The Weeminuche occupied the valley of the San Juan River and its northern tributaries in Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. 4. The Tabeguache (also called Uncompahgre) lived in the valleys of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers in Colorado. 5. The Grand River Utes (also called Parianuc) lived along that river in Colorado and Utah. 6. The Yampa band adjacent land. inhabited the Yampa River Valley and 7. The Uintah Utes inhabited the Uintah Basin, especially the western portion. Of the bands mentioned above, the first two (Motuache and Capote) make up the present day Southern Utes with headquarters at Ignacio, Colorado. The Weeminuches are now called the Ute Mountain Utes with headquarters at Towaoc, Colorado. The last four mentioned (Tabeguache, Grand, Yampa, and Uintah) now comprise the Northern Utes on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation with headquarters at the town of Fort Duchesne, Utah. A long time ago, these seven groups of Utes were broken up into small family units for a large portion of each year. It was necessary to do this because food was scarce and it took a large area in the mountains to support a small number of people. Fach family unit had to have a great deal of room since food-gathering couldn’t be done so well in large groups. From carly spring until late in the fall, these family units of Utes would hunt for deer, clk, antelope, and other animals; they would gather seeds of grasses, wild berries and fruits; occasionally they would plant corn, beans, and squash in mountain meadows and harvest them in the autumn. At that time, they did not have horses which would have made the hunting easier, nor did they have any tools except those made of stone. Each family unit used to follow a regular circuit during most of the year, going to places where they knew they could gather food for the winter. viii From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Late in the fall, the family units would begin to move out of the mountains into sheltered areas for the winter months. Generally, the family units of a particular band of Utes would live close together during the winter. The Capotes, Mouache, and Weeminuche would each live through the winter some place in northwestern New Mexico or northeastern Arizona. The Tabeguache or Uncompahgre would select some place between Montrose and Grand Junction. The Northern Utes would live at some place along the White, the Green, or the Colorado rivers. The winters were great social occasions for the different bands. There would be much visiting and many festivities. This was also the time when marriages would be contracted. For four days in early spring, the band would hold the Bear Dance, the most ancient and typical of all the Ute dances. Then each family unit would prepare to go its separate way until the next winter time. They would follow the migrating deer, antelope, and elk for food until seeds and berries began to ripen in the mountains. This way of life was to change for the Utes when the Spaniards colonized and occupied New Mexico at the end of the sixteenth century. The reason for this change is that although the Europeans didn’t have many of the plants of the Americas, they had livestock and it is livestock, especially the horse, which changed the life style. The Southern Utes made contact with the Spanish in New Mexico in the 1630’s and 40’s. At first there were peaceful relations between the two peoples and some trade was carried on. The Utes had dried meat and hides which they traded for knives and other metal utensils and agricultural products raised by the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish. Much of this trading was done at the annual fairs held at Pecos and Taos. The Utes, however, became much more interested in trading for horses. Horses were very expensive in those days and the Utes would trade even children to the Spanish for horses. (The Spanish generally trained those children to be excellent herders.) Possession of horses allowed the Utes to begin buffalo hunting on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the buffalo soon became one of their main resources, because it would provide them with many useful products: e.g., meat for food (one wouldn’t have to work so hard gathering food); hides for tepee covers, blankets, clothing, moccasins, and bags of all kinds; sinew thread for sewing and for bowstrings; horn and hoof glue for many purposes. And with the horse, the Utes could more easily evade their enemies, transport their goods to a central camp ix From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah where the women and children were protected, and range farther to hunt for food. So the Utes no longer needed to spread out thinly in family units. They could live in larger numbers under a more powerful leader. The family unit continued to be the basic unit of society but the leader directed camp movements, hunts, raids, and war parties. In hunting the buffalo the Utes came into frequent contact with the Arapahos, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Sioux, and Comanche who had many more horses than the Utes. The Utes needed more horses. So they became aggressive and warlike. Also, it was much easier to raid for livestock (sheep, goats, cattle) in New Mexico than to hunt deer and other animals, or to buy livestock. So the Utes became raiders, moving out of their mountain fortresses to raid other Indian groups or towns and villages to the south. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 2,6l 31N 310 OLLVANIS 38 59815 Avin Q3HSI8YLS3 NVIONI SNOLWAY3S3Y AMOLIY3L g R4S €/81 )WA, v AYOLIMY3L 1\ NVIONI saNnows ONLINAH 31N O'Neil, University of Utah From the collection of FloydA 310 NY3HLNOS 898l @98l Q3HsEYLS3 NOILVAYZS 3. ST, NG3HIN0S 7 IYOHVIWOONN A xi The Spanish Period The first European people to invade the Ute lands were the Spanish. With the arrival of the Spanish came the horse and a change of life style for the Ute people. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish and the horse, the cultural level of the Utes was considered low by the Plains Indians and those people located to the south of the Ute domain. The Spanish helped to change the view of the Utes that other Indian tribes held. In a short time after Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean Isles in 1492, the Spanish explored that region, sailed along the eastern shores of the North and South Americas, discovered the Pacific, navigated the Gulf of Mexico, located the mouth of the Mississippi River, landed in Florida and conquered Mexico. All of this had been accomplished by 1530, only forty years after Europe had discovered the American continent. Ten years later Francisco Vasquez de Coronado extended the invasion of the Spanish into northern New Spain, now northern Mexico and southwestern United States. The desire for wealth had brought the Spanish to the American continent and Coronado to the Southwest. The Indians had told the Spanish stories of the rich cities of Cibola lying to the north. Coronado and his men were looking for these seven cities of Cibola when they came upon the Zuni pueblo and later discovered the Grand Canyon. Coronado’s expedition failed to find the great wealth told of in the stories, but they did explore a large portion of the Southwest and Plains regions of the United States. While crossing the plains of northeastern New Mexico, Coronado may have encountered a group of Utes. By the time of Coronado the Utes were trading with the Plains Indians for products that could then be taken to the trading centers of Taos and Pecos in New Mexico. Buffalo hides and meat were important parts of these trading relations; consequently, the Utes were called “buffalo eaters” or Querechos by the Spanish. The stories of riches to the north continued to bring more Spanish explorers or conquistadores into New Mexico. One of these stories talked of the rich lands of Copala, an area far to the north of Mexico. 15, Lyman Tyler, “The Yuta Indians Before 1680,” Western Humanities Review, V (Spring, 1951), 157-58. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 2 The Southern Utes The Indians of Mexico and Central America believed that their ancestors had come from seven caves near the Lake of Copala. Other names for the lake included Lake Timpanogos and Utah Lake.* The land of Copala, or as it was sometimes called Teguayo, must have included the lands of the Ute Indians. Of the numerous explorers sent from Mexico to find the land and wealth of Copala, Juan de Ofiate was the most important. He left Mexico in February, 1598, and five months later settled at San Juan de los Caballeros, near the present site of the San Juan pueblo. By 1604 Ofiate had organized an expedition to search for the Lake of Copala. He failed to reach the area, but his efforts to settle New Mexico and to send expeditions to the northern areas helped others who came later to identify the land of Copala as the Ute land in Colorado and Utah. The description for going to the Lake of Copala was given by a group of Jémez Indians. They stated: To go straight to the Lake of Copala a guide was not necessary. One must follow the river Chama, and past the tribe of the Navajo Apaches there is a great river which flows to the lake, and with good grass and fields and that in the arca between the north and northwest the land was fertile, good and level, and that there are many nations, the province of Quazula, the Qusutas, and further inland another nation settled.? With these efforts to locate Copala and the trips onto the plains area, better descriptions and more knowledge of the Utes were gained. Vicente de Zaldivar described sceing a group of Ute tents: They were ... very bright red and white in color and bell shaped, with flags and openings, and built as skillfully as those of Italy and so large that in the most ordinary ones four different mattresses and beds were casily accommodated. The tanning is so fine that although it should rain bucketfulls it will not pass through nor stiffen the hide, but rather upon drying it remains as soft and pliable as before.* Zaldivar’s description of the men and the women of the Utes indicated that: Most of the men were said to go naked, probably with breechcloths, but the women wore sort of trousers of buckskin and ‘shoes and leggins, after #S. Lyman Tyler, “Before Escalante: An Early History of the Yuta Indians and Area North of New Mexico..." (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of History, University of Utah, 1951), pp. 58-9. 5 Ibid., p. 73. +Ibid., p. 66. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Spanish Period 3 their own fashion.” They would hold a piece of meat, almost raw, in one hand, and a picce of suet in the other. The suet was used as bread. They would take a bite of the meat and then one of the bread. On this diet they were said to grow very strong and courageous. As weapons they had a spear with a long thick point, and arrows tipped with flint which were ‘better than spears to kill cattle. They were said to be very skillful with the bow and arrow and were able to kill a buffalo with the first shot. These Indians would hide themselves in blinds of brush near watering places and ambush the buffalo as they came to drink.* After the attempts of Ofiate to find the land of Copala the Spanish had contact with the Utes only occasionally for the next few years. During this period, the first known Spanish conflict with the Utes in or near southern Colorado developed. It was caused by an unjust war waged against them by the governor of New Mexico, Luis de Rosas. The first of these encounters recorded was in 1637. About 80 “Utacas” (probably Mouache of the Upper Rio Grande) were captured and forced to labor in work shops established in Santa Fe:* The war on the Utes ended in 1641 with the naming of a new governor of New Mexico. During the next forty years, Spanish contact with the Utes was altered. Trade had existed between the Spanish and the Utes. After the Ute war this trade increased. Early reports indicate the trade was centered at Taos where the Utes were able to trade with both Spanish and Indians of the northern Pueblos. The items of trade for the Utes were those products derived from the buffalo hunts on the plains. Meat, hides, tallow, suet, and salt were all brought to the Taos pueblo for trading purposes. In the earlier stages of the trade with the Spanish the Utes used dogs as animals of burden to transport the goods to the trading locations. An account of this was recorded by Zaldivar. He wrote: It is a sight worth seeing and very laughable to see them travelling, the ends of the poles draging on the ground, nearly all of them snarling in their encounters, to load them the Indian women seize their heads between their knees and thus load them or adjust the load, which is seldom required, because they travel along at a steady gait as if they had been trained by means of a rein.’ In return for their goods the Utes received cotton blankets, pottery, corn and small green stones. Later, after the Utes had learned to 5 Ibid., pp. 66-67. ¢ Albert H. Schroeder, “A Brief History of the Southern Utes,” Southwestern Lore, XXX, No. 4 (1965), 53-78. 7 Tyler, “Before Escalante,” p. 66. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 4 The Southern use horses, they were also traded. Utes Captives taken in raids on other tribes were exchanged by the Utes for the horses. In the early 1700’s, the village of Espafiola (La Cafiada) became the main center for trading Spanish products with the Utes. Of course, they were regular participants at the yearly Taos fair where many different Indian groups met to exchange necessary products. To deny an Indian tribe the right to engage in trading activities at the yearly fair usually meant war. That trading at Pecos, Taos, Picuris, and other places had been carried on long before the arrival of the Spanish and was tremendously important to most Indian groups. Indians who lived close to the Pucblo Indians of New Mexico, including the Utes, constantly disrupted Spanish control of and arrangements with thosc Pucblos. Spanish officials always had to guard against any possible alliance between the Pueblos and the Utes or other frontier Indians for the safety of the Spanish population of New Mexico. The Spanish were generally successful, because the Utes and other tribes raided the Pueblos. Thus the Pucblos and the frontier tribes were not friendly, and the Spanish only occasionally fought with the frontier tribes. The period from 1640 until the Pucblo Revolt of 1680 was one marked by general peace between the Utes and the Spanish. This peace and the ability of Utes to move over larger areas of land due to their increased use of the horse, which made the Utes a much stronger group to reckon with, encouraged the Spanish to present a peace treaty to the Utes by the 1670’s. It was the first treaty made with the Utes by a European people. The peace treaty was apparently still in existence when the Pueblo Revolt broke out, for the Southern Ute bands did not join the northern Pucblo Indians in driving the Spanish out of New Mexico." During the twelve years the Spanish were gone from the northern pueblos, the Utes raided the puebios and other Indians located in the area. By the time of the return of the Spanish to Taos in 1692 the Utes had gained great respect among the tribes and pueblos of northern New Mexico. The great respect of these Indians was also held by the Spaniard who led the reconquest of New Mexico, Don Diego de Vargas. With the securing of northern New Mexico under Spanish rule, Vargas immediately renewed the contact with the Utes. They were invited to * Schroeder, “Brief History” pp. 54-56. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Spanish Period 5 Santa Fe to trade as they had before the revolt. Despite the Pueblo Revolt and the absence of the Spanish for twelve years, the peace treaty of 1670 with the Utes remained intact well into the 1700’s. Around 1700, the Utes and their kinsmen, the Comanches, began to raid the Pueblos for horses, agricultural products, and captives to be held for ransom. The full force of Ute and Comanche attacks were felt from 1696 to 1727 especially in the north central and northeastern portions of New Mexico. Spanish was broken. In 1719, the peace between the Utes and the Governor Valverde of New Mexico carried on an extensive campaign against them after a Council of War and opinions gathered from Spanish leaders in Santa Fe. That punitive expedition against the Utes and Comanches was largely unsuccessful and the Spanish turned to developing peace with the Jicarilla Apaches who would act as a buffer state. From about 1650 the Apaches had been encroaching on Ute lands and, by the time of the return of the Spanish, had settled in the Sierra Blancas north of Taos and in northeast New Mexico.” Because the Spanish offered some protection, the Utes were willing to form an alliance with them. But when this alliance broke down, the Utes and the Comanches began raiding the Jicarillas, burning rancherias and capturing women and children to sell for ransom. The Utes also formed an alliance with the Comanches, which lasted intermittently from 1700 to 1746, to help apply pressure against the encroaching Apache. So from about 1700 to 1750, relations among the Utes, Comanches, Apaches and Spanish were confused, shifting from warfare to alliance and back again. By the end of the UteComanche alliance, and one of the reasons for its ending, the Apaches had been driven out of northeastern New Mexico and into an area south and west of the Ute lands. By 1748 the Comanches had become strong enough to turn on their Ute allies and cause problems for the Spanish as well. To end this problem the governor of New Mexico, Joachin de Coadallos y Rabal, marched on both the Utes and Comanches and defeated them in a battle above Abiquiu, New Mexico. After this a series of battles between the Utes and the Spanish lasted for two years before the Utes came to Taos to sue for peace with the Spanish. The Utes were finding it too difficult to fight both the Spanish and the Comanches. They 9, Lyman Tyler, “The Spaniard and the Ute” Utah Historical Quarterly, XXII, No. 4 (1954), 346. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Southern Utes ., SONNCYO ONI NIVWOd N SNNOMO 3HL oniinnH 3Ln (S3HOVNO3EVL) FYOHVIWOONN SYINY ALHM SANNOYO ONILNNH O'Neil, University of Utah From the collection of FloydA The Spanish Period 7 also needed the trade in horses that the Spanish could provide. In 1750 peace between the Utes and the Spanish was obtained." Trading, trapping and exploration brought renewed interest in the land north of Taos. With the peace of 1750 the Spanish were able to re-establish Abiquiu as a point of departure to the north. From Abiquiu the Spanish were then able to send trading parties into the Ute country to trade for the soft deerskins that the Utes were able to provide. The Spanish also became interested in trapping the numerous rivers of the Ute nation for fur bearing animals, a product that was in great demand in Europe. Finally, the Spanish were still interested in the land of Copala and its potential wealth and locating an overland route through that area to the West Coast.™ Almost immediately after Abiquiu had been re-established, trading parties were sent to trade with the Utes. In 1765 Juan Maria de Rivera was sent across the San Juan River, below the southern end of the La Plata Mountains, up the Dolores River and along the Uncompahgre Plateau to the Gunnison River to trade and trap for furs. During the next ten years Rivera led three other expeditions into the Ute lands. Others who explored the region to the north of New Mexico were Nicolas de La Fora in 1766-67, Pedro Mora with Gregorio Sandoval and Andrés Muifiiz in 1775, and Fray Francisco Garcés in 1775-76. Garcés, first assigned as resident minister at San Xavier del Bac in 1768, traveled extensively for the next thirteen years in Sonora, Arizona, and California as a missionary to the Indians. During this time Garcés undertook five expeditions to the Indians, two to the Gila River and one to the Colorado River, another to California and the fifth, in 1775-76, from the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers to the mouth of the Colorado River and west to the San Gabriel mission in California through the land of the Mohaves and Chemehuevis. He then returned to San Xavier del Bac through the Tulare Valley back into the Mohave country to the Gila River.* The Indians Garcés encountered on this fifth expedition were mostly of the Yuman stock but these people had much to say about the tribes surrounding them, among whom were the Utes. Garcés brought 10 Schroeder, “Brief History,” p. 59. 11 Tyler, “Spaniard and the Ute,” p. 347. 12 Tyler, “Before Escalante,” pp. 187-193. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 8 The Southern Utes back to Santa Fe this information as well as the comment that more and more of the Utes were willing to trade with the Spanish. In addition to their interest in the Utes, the Spanish fathers were looking for a land route to the Pacific Ocean where the new capital of California had just been established at Monterey. A plan for locating the route was first conceived by Fray Silvestre Vélez de Escalante when he was visiting the Hopis in 1775, and Escalante was greatly encouraged to hear from Garcés that: It is possible to proceed through the Yutas [Utes] and seek the Rio de San Felipe, and down the banks of this will be found my road [to Cali- fornia]. I doubt not that there may open another, better, and shorter than that which I traced.™ Escalante and Fray Atanasio Dominguez, the expedition leader, chose the route through the Ute lands rather than risk encounters with the unfriendly Navajos. The route was well known to the Spanish, and guides were available who knew the Utes and their language and had seen parts of their country. Escalante’s trip into the interior of the Ute domain was the first one that extended into the mythical land of Copala. He found the area thought to be Copala poor and unproductive for the desires of the Spanish. Neither gold nor silver were located, and they did not find the route to Monterey. They did, however, explore much of the Ute domain. The route the expedition took led them up the valley of the Chama River past Abiquiu to the site of Tierra Amarilla, thence to the place where Pagosa Springs now stands. (Pagosa in Ute means hot water.) After crossing the Dolores River below the San Juan Mountains the party traveled to the Uncompahgre Platcau and down the Uncompahgre River to its confluence with the Gunnison. From this point their route took the expedition along the western slope of the Rockies to the White River in northern Colorado. At that point the group turned west across Utah just south of the Uinta mountains to Utah Lake. From there the group turned south through the southern Paiute lands, to Zuni and then on to Santa Fe. Escalante was convinced this route offered a shorter, better method for reaching Monterey." 1% bid., p. 190. * Ibid., pp. 198-200. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Spanish Period 9 Although Escalante failed to find the riches of the land of Copala, his expedition was important for the exploration of country unknown to the Spanish and for the locating of the Indian groups that lived in the present day states of Colorado and Utah. This penetration into Ute land marked the beginning of a new ecra for the Utes. No longer was their land considered an unknown area. Now people would journey from Sante Fe far into the interior of the Ute domain to trade. The Spanish felt a stronger tie to the Utes after Escalante’s expedition and continued to cultivate their friendship and alliance. In 1779, 200 Mouache Utes and Jicarilla Apaches joined Governor Juan Bautista de Anza in a campaign against the Comanche who had been raiding the settlements of New Mexico. A peace between the groups was not established until 1786 when the Utes, the Comanches and the Spanish met at Pecos. This alliance and past experiences caused the Spanish to look to the Utes for assistance when either the Comanches or the Navajos raided the Spanish settlements. In support of these alliances a second peace treaty between the Utes and the Spanish was signed in 1789. The Navajos had caused trouble for both the Spanish and the Utes for many years. Ute-Navajo relations varied according to the need of both groups for protection from outside raiding groups. If cither tribe was threatened by a group of Plains Indians an alliance was struck. When this outside threat was not great, the two groups would raid one another and compete for the land that was common to both tribes. During these periods the Navajos often formed an alliance with the Apaches or with a Pueblo tribe to raid the Utes, and the Utes banded together with Plains groups such as the Comanche. At other times the Spanish would form an alliance with the tes against the Navajo to defend the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. The treaty of 1789 was made by the Spanish with the Utes to insure this alliance against the Navajos. At the same time, the Navajos and the Utes were oying a period of good relations. It wasn’t until 1804 that history records a campaign of an alliance of Mouache Utes, Jicarilla Apaches and Spanish against the Navajos. As in the past the Utes remained friendly to the Spaniards and acted as a check against raids by the Navajo, Comanches, and Apaches.” 13 Schroeder, “Brief History,” pp. 61-63. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 10 The Southern Utes Two years after the 1804 alliance, the first known citizen of the newly created country of the United States of America arrived in San Luis Valley, in the heart of Ute country. Zebulon Montgomery Pike’s appearance marked the beginning of a new era for the Ute Indians. Soon the Spanish with their trading expeditions sent into the Ute domain would be replaced, first by Mexican traders and then by American traders and trappers and later American settlers coming to occupy the land. The transition from Spanish to Mexican control of the Ute lands went almost unnoticed by the Ute Indians. The pattern of trading established by the Spanish and the amount of contact between the two groups continued as before. The Spanish had been very careful to create peaceful relations with the powerful Ute nation and the Mexicans continued the practice. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Mexican Period: 1821-1848 The Mexican government was anxious to continue and even increase the trading with the Ute Indians. To encourage peace, the Mexicans gave the Utes gifts throughout the 1820’s. This policy paid off with the opening of the “Old Spanish Trail” which went through much of the Ute domain. Mule trains were able to depart from Abiquiu, move up the Chama River to the San Juan River in Capote land, and down the San Juan to Utah and on to Los Angeles without being disturbed by the Utes. The peacefulness of the 1820’s fell apart during the 1830’s, however, as the Southern Utes began to feel the pressure of the Mexicans. Trading expeditions into the area had attracted people to the region, and the Tierra Amarilla land grant was allotted in July, 1832. It covered the region from the Rio Nutrias, an eastern tributary of the Chama River, north to the Navajo River on the upper San Juan. Later attempts were made to settle in the Conejos Valley, but a war with the Navajos forced the settlers to withdraw. Again, in 1842 or 1843, another settlement attempt was made in the same valley but the Mouache band drove the Mexicans off. As the Mexicans encroached on Ute land, the Utes strengthened their alliance with the Navajos against the Mexicans and other Indian tribes who were being pushed off the plains into the Ute hunting grounds. Both Utes and Navajos were raiding Mexican settlements in northern New Mexico during the 1830’s and the 1840’s. As the rule of the Mexican government came to an end in New Mexico, the northern regions of that area experienced raids from all directions. To the north the Mouache band was attacking on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and the Capote band with the aid of the Navajos was raiding in the Rio Arriba area.' These raids worried the American officers who were occupying New Mexico during the Mexican War. To end this worry a treaty was signed between a band of Mouache Utes and the Americans. Signed in 1846 the treaty offered protection for that area which lay east and north of Taos, the area where these Utes lived. The treaty however did little to stop the Ute raiding on other New Mexico settlements. 1 Albert H. Schroeder, “A Brief History of the Southern Utes,” Southwestern Lore, XXX, No. 4 (1965), 63. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 12 The Southern Utes For several years after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) which gave New Mexico and part of Colorado to the United States, the raids continued, much to the distress of the Americans. During the Mexican period the Utes experienced little change from the way the Spanish had treated them. Of the major events, the opening of the Old Spanish Trail as a regular trading route was foremost. For the most part the Southern Ute bands were able to resist the efforts of the Mexicans to settle their region. This was not to be the experience with the new invaders. The Americans, already having explored the region while fur trapping, were soon to come in increasing numbers and not leave as had both the Spanish and the Mexicans. CoLoRAO NEW MEXCO —_— e [—— anza 4 ESCALANTE -0OMINGUEZ — ARZE-GARCA SOME SPANISH EXPEDITIONS TO UTE COUNTRY From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers The Utes learned of the inhabitants of the United States in the first half of the 19th century largely through the activities of the socalled mountain men or fur trappers. During that period, furs were extremely valuable for making the felt hat which was fashionable for gentlemen in the United States and Europe. The area occupied by the Utes was very rich in beaver and those mountain men began to trap every place where beaver “sign” occurred. Often called the “pathfinders” of the West, the mountain men were actually following game trails and trails which had been known to the Utes for generations. The first entrance of Anglo-Americans into Ute territory occurred in 1806 when Lt. Zebulon Pike entered the San Luis Valley and built a stockade on the Conejos River before being arrested by Spanish authorities." In 1811, Ezekiel Williams was trapping for beaver pelts in southwestern Colorado and the following year Robert McKnight was in the same region. In 1816 and 1817, Auguste Pierre Chouteau and Julius DeMunn moved into southwestern Colorado for the same purpose. In 1821, control of the southwestern portion of present day United States passed from Spanish hands into the hands of authorities of Mexico. Anglo-Americans found it much easier to deal with Mexican authorities than with Spanish officials, because of the inflexibility of Spanish law in an area so far removed from the seat of authority. So in 1821 also, there began the famous Santa Fe trade between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and increased activity in trapping throughout Ute territory. In the same year, Col. Hugh Glenn and Jacob Fowler led a trapping expedition into the San Luis Valley and possibly even into present Archuleta and Mineral counties.* In 1824, William Becknell, “The Father of the Santa Fe Trade,” led a party of trappers to the Green River and William Huddart headed an expedition of fourteen men from Taos to the same area. Probably * For a_ thorough explanation of this expedition led by Pike, with letters and related documents, see Donald Jackson, ed., The Journals of Zebulon Pike, 2 vols., (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1966) ; also, Elliott Coves, ed., The Expeditions of Zebulon Pike, 3 vols., (New York: Francis P. Harper, 1895). A more readable and recent account is W. Eugene Hollon, The Lost Pathfinder: Zebulon Montgomery Pike, (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma, Press, 1949). 2D, H. Cummins, “Social and Economic History of Southwestern Colorado,” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation in History, University of Texas, 1951), p. 188 From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Southern Utes 14 both expeditions traveled along the western slope of the Rockies through Ute country. At about the same time, Kit Carson and Jason Lee left New Mexico and went to the Uinta River in Utah, where In 1826, James Ohio Pattie passed they met Antoine Robidoux. through the present site of Grand Junction in Mesa County after departing from Santa Fe, going south to the Gila River and following that river to the Colorado River and then ascending that river into Ute territory.” In the 1830’s, beaver pelts became even more valuable and many more fur trappers and traders entered Colorado and Utah. In 1830, the “Old Spanish Trail” was established between Santa Fe and San Gabriel, California. Mexicans from Santa Fe used this trail for several years and came into contact with most of the bands of the Utes, whom they traded with for slaves and many articles which the Utes possessed. In 1832, Antoine Robidoux, a fur trader from St. Louis, Missouri, established Fort Uncompahgre, a fort and fur trading post just below the junction of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers near the present site of Delta, Colorado; and he later established a similar out- fitting and trading post on the Uinta River in Utah." Philip Thompson and William Craig founded Fort Davy Crockett on the Green River in 1837. None of these trading posts in Ute country prospered. The Utes burned Fort Uncompahgre and about 1840 Fort Davy Crockett was abandoned right after Kit Carson and James Baker had headquartered there through the fall and winter of 1839-40. In 1842 Rufus Sage left Taos, passed through southwestern Colorado to the post on the Uinta, probably passing along the old Ute trail through Archuleta and LaPlata counties. Thus the whole country of the Utes became known to AngloAmericans and the Utes became acquainted with their products. The fur trappers and traders from the United States were generally on very friendly terms with the Ute people. The Indians were willing to trade buffalo robes and beaver pelts for flour, cloth, tobacco, trinkets, and pp. 188-90, 4Floyd A. O'Neil and John D. Sylvester, eds., Ute People, An Historical Study (Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press, 1970), p. 7; John B. Lloyd, ““The Uncompahgre Utes,” (unpublished Master’s thesis, Western State College of Colorado, 1932), pp. 2-3. ©LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, eds., Rufus Sage: His Letters and Papers, 1836-1847, Vols. V and VI of the Far West and the Rockies Historical Series, (15 vols. Clendale Arthur H. Clarke Co., 1995-61), V. 89-90; Cummins, “Social and Economic istory,” p. 191 From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers 15 even illegal whiskey. Buffalo robes and beaver pelts were readily sold in the eastern part of the United States and in Europe. Most of the trappers and traders had lived for long periods of time with Indian groups and they were diplomats who could barter successfully, and generally fairly, with the Utes. The Utes welcomed them into their territory because they knew that they were not permanent settlers. The take-over by the United States of all Ute lands occurred at the same time as a drastic reduction in the value of furs because the French silk hat replaced the felt hat formerly worn by gentlemen, and ladies began to prefer sealskin coats to fur coats that the Rocky Mountains could supply. Many of the trappers and traders, therefore, soon took employment as scouts for the United States Army and they were to prove invaluable in dealing with the Indians of the West. This is true partly because not the least of the contributions of the Utes was the sharing of their knowledge regarding the topography of the mountainous region they inhabited. After years as a food-gathering people, the Utes had thoroughly learned the paths of least resistance to travel — the lowest passes in the many chains of mountains and the ridges which were easiest to cross. The friction of their feet over centuries had cut deep trails along the most important routes of travel. Where trails intersected or became difficult to follow in the rocky terrain, the Utes were accustomed to build stone monuments in prominent places eight to ten feet high with a stone on top pointing out the right direction. Pioneers, road builders, and railroad builders used these to a great advantage. A look at any map showing the transportation routes in Ute country will indicate to the casual observer the trails formerly used extensively by the Utes in their travels. In the late Mexican period, relations between the settlers in New Mexico and the Utes were often unsettled and unfriendly. The Utes, seeing their land holdings diminishing because of increased ranching and farming periodically raided the scttlements for livestock and other articles. A rising level of anger impelled the Utes to more and more depredations. In 1846, the United States entered into a war against Mexico, the result of which was going to be the incorporation of all Ute territory into the United States. Thus the United States had to begin dealing with the Utes as the Spanish and Mexican governments had to do before. Only two years before, Utes had created a sensation in Santa Fe by threatening the governor of New Mexico in the Palace of the Governors, an event well known to the Anglo AmeriFrom the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 16 The Southern Utes cans. From then until the American take-over in 1846, the Mexican government at Santa Fe generally was at war with the Utes, who, mounted on good horses and with fircarms, raided the Taos Valley and the frontier around Abiquiu.” The military leaders of the United States, realizing that the Utes might possibly present a threat to their lines of supply and communication, sent William Gilpin to confer with the Utes in August, 1846, within a month after the conquest of New Mexico. Gilpin encouraged sixty. Ute leaders to accompany him to Santa Fe to confer with the military authorities there. These Ute leaders were mainly from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, especially from the San Luis Valley, and after a conference with Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, they agreed to remain peaceful.” On December 30, 1849, the first treaty between the Utes and the United States was signed at Abiquiu, the frontier town on the Chama River north of the town of Espanola. This treaty was arranged largely by the great Indian agent, James S. Calhoun.* The Utes recognized the sovereignty of the United States and agreed not to depart from their accustomed territory without permission. The Utes also agreed to perpetual peace and friendship with the United States, to abide by United States law, and to permit citizens of the United States government to establish military posts and agencies in their country. Quiziachigiate signed as principal chief and twenty-seven other Utes signed as subordinate chiefs. After the twenty-cight Ute leaders expressed an “utter aversion to labor,” Agent Calhoun promised that the United States would help take care of the Utes to the amount of $5,000 per year. No boundaries of the Ute territory were defined in this treaty.” The following year (1850) the United States government opened an agency for the Utes at Taos, New Mexico. John Greiner was the first agent (1851-53), but the United States failed to provide the necessary money and the agency had to close. It was reopened in December, © Paul Horgan, Great River, 2 vols., (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1954), II, 717. 7 Wilson Rockwell, The Utes: A Forgotten People, (Denver: Sage Books, 1956), p. 64. © James W. Covington, “Relations Between the Ute Indians and the United States Government, 1848-1900" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation in History, University of Oklahoma, 1949), pp. 25-6 passim. 9 For a complete treatment of Agent Calhoun, sec Annie Heloise Abel, The Official Correspondence of James S. Calhoun, while Indian Agent at Santa Fe anded.,Superintendent of Indians Affaiis in New Mexico (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915). For the texts of treaties with In Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs; Laws and Treaties, (2 vols.; Washington: G Office, 1903738) ; the Treaty of 1849 with the Utes is in I1, 585-86. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers 17 1853, largely to serve the Capote band of Utes, and Kit Carson, the famous trapper, mountain man and trader, who was a friend to the Utes, was named agent."” He served in that capacity until 1859. The Mouache band of Utes was also served at the Taos agency during the time, but members of the Weeminuche band came there infrequently. The Tabeguache band of Utes heard of rations being allotted to their relatives and went to Taos in 1856. Kit Carson recommended that an agency for the Tabeguache be set up closer to their country but his request was not acted on by the United States for several years. Kit Carson (1809-1868) was the best known of the fur trappers and traders who had entered Ute territory. While a young man, he had trapped for cight years in South Park and had become familiar with practically every Ute trail and every pass in the mountains. He was modest and amiable and the Indians generally considered him a worthwhile friend, especially since he had married Singing Grass, an Arapaho, while very young, and at Taos, in 1843, had married Josefa Jaramillo. During the time that southern Colorado was claimed by Spain (1598-1821) and by Mexico (1821-48), several land grants had been awarded to Spanish or Mexican citizens in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in the traditional lands of the Utes. The United States agreed to respect these land grants by terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) which ended the war with Mexico. They had been granted by the Spanish and Mexican governments to petitioners who agreed to develop the land and to protect the frontier. Many of the land grants adversely affected different bands of Utes. For example, the very large and famous Maxwell Land Grant of over one and one-half million acres in the northeastern portion of New Mexico and southeastern Colorado included some former Ute holdings; the San Joaquin del Cafion del Rio de Chama Grant had given land to settlers near Abiquiu, as did the Cafion de San Miguel (Pedernales) Grant; in the arca of present day Colorado, the Las Animas Grant embraced the land south of the Arkansas River to the Sangre de Cristos between the Huerfano and Purgatory Rivers (Ceran St. Vrain and Cornelio Vigil) ; the Sangre de Cristo Grant covered a large area in the lower San Luis Valley; the Conejos Grant took away from the Utes the western portion of the San Luis Valley; and the Tierra 10 Covington, “The Ute Indians and the United States,” pp. 29-33. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Southern Utes 18 Luis Maria Baca Vigil & St. Vrain Sangre de NEW MEXICO Tierra Amarilla ¢ F Fe oSanta Las Vegas SPANISH-MEXICAN LAND GRANTS From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers 19 Amarilla Grant extended from that town into southern Colorado. Although never heavily populated by Europeans, these grants by the Spanish and Mexican governments began the crosion of the land base of the Utes and led to continuous friction.” Between 1851 and 1853, towns were founded in the San Luis Val- ley (San Luis, San Pedro, and San Acacia) by former Mexican citizens.”® As usual with the influx of settlers, livestock was introduced and the supply of game animals began to diminish or to move to more inaccessible places in the mountains. Also it was much easier for the Utes to raid for livestock than to hunt game in those higher altitudes. Bad blood increased between the Utes and the settlers and the usual pattern of raid followed by punitive expedition was established in southern Colorado. To safeguard the settlers and to keep the Utes from raiding, the United States government established Fort Massachusetts on Ute Creek near the base of Mt. Blanca. (Six years later that military post was moved six miles south and renamed Fort Garland.)* The Utes did not like either the military post in the midst of their territory or the presence of the settlers, whose farming and ranching began to drive out the game upon which the Utes depended for part of their food supply. Their resentment flared in the Ute War of 1854-55. On Christmas day of 1854, the Utes attacked Fort Pueblo on the Arkansas River and killed all of the inhabitants." Then they began attacking the settlements in the San Luis Valley. Several settlers were killed and their livestock driven away. Fort Massachusetts was severely threatened. General Garland at Santa Fe was notified and he quickly organized six companies of mounted volunteers from New Mexico plus some units of regular troops and sent them to Fort Massachusetts to put down the Ute revolt. Col. Thomas T. Fauntleroy was placed in command and Kit Carson accompanied the expedition as head scout. The leader of the Utes was Chief Tierra Blanca who was easily recognized because of the red shirt which he wore. The United States troops made their first contact with the Utes near the present town of Salida, in the Saguache Valley, in the middle of March, 1855. The Utes, recognizing the superior fire power of the United States troops, 11 Cummins, “Social and Economic History,” pp. 186-87; LeRoy R. Hafen, “Mexican Land Grants in Colorado,” Colorado Magazine, 1V, No. 3 (1927), 81-93, 12 Cummins, “Social and Economic History,” p. 187; Rockwell, The Utes, p. 65. 1 Cummins, “Social and Economic History,” p. 187 14 Lloyd, “The Uncompaghre Utes,” p. 7. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah The Southern Utes 20 retreated in a running fight toward Cochetopa Pass and most of that band escaped. However, another band of Utes was surprised near Salida. About forty of them were killed and some livestock recovered on April 19, 1855. Throughout the remainder of April and for the next two months, running battles and skirmishes occurred, but the Utes recognized that they could not continue to fight the forces of the United States and asked for peace. A meeting was held at Abiquiu, mainly with the Capote Utes, and a treaty of pcace was arranged in the fall of 1855.° Also in 1855, a treaty was negotiated with the Mouaches at Abiquiu. Had that treaty been ratified by the United States Senate, the Mouaches would have been placed on a reservation of 1000 square miles in the extreme northern part of the Territory of New Mexico with the Rio Grande as the castern boundary and the mountains between the drainages of the Rio Grande and the San Juan River as the western boundary.™ Even before the Ute War, some Anglo-Americans were active in the lands of the Utes. In 1848, John C. Fremont attempted to cross the San Juan Mountains to find a suitable route for a transcontinental railroad. Many of his party met disaster near La Garita before being rescued by former mountain men from Taos. In 1853, Captain John W. Gunnison was ordered by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to survey the most practicable route for a transcontinental railroad. The huge party which accompanied Captain Gunnison explored and mapped Ute territory to a greater extent than ever before. Captain Gunnison was killed by the Utes in western Utah, but Lt. E. G. Beckwith continued in command and wrote an account of the expedition. Both Captain Gunnison and Lt. Beckwith were of the opinion that the Ute lands west of San Luis Valley were of no value for settlement of Anglo-Americans.”’ However, less than five years later, gold was discovered near the present location of Denver and the “Rush to the Rockies” was on. Thousands of Anglo-Americans from the Missouri and the Mississippi Valleys with “Pike’s Peak or Bust” painted on the canvas of their wagons poured into the area of Colorado. Many re- 67-8; Covington, 15 Rockwell, The Utes, pp. 65-6; Schroeder, “Brief History,” pp. “The Fort Pueblo “The Ute Indians and the United States,” pp. 35-42; LeRoy R. Hafen, Massacre and the Punitive Expedition Against the Utes,” Colorado Magazine, IV, (March 1927), 49-58. 36 Cummins, “Social and Economic History,” pp. 311-12. 17 Rockwell, The Utes, pp. 66-68. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers 21 turned with “Busted by God” on their wagons, but enough remained to organize the Territory of Colorado in 1861. The governor of the territory, William Gilpin, appointed by the president, was named to be Superintendent of Indian Affairs within the territory. Thus, by 1861, the Utes came under the control of the governors of the territories of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. In 1861, an agency was opened at Conejos, Colorado, under Agent Lafayette Head for the Tabeguache Utes, but he was hampered by lack of funds.” The agency at Taos continued to operate for the Capotes, Mouaches, and Weeminuches, and by 1863, the Hot Sulphur Springs agency was opened to serve the Northern Utes. As throughout the history of the United States, the migration of miners and settlers into a new region caused trouble between them and the Indians accustomed to hunt and gather food. The white scttlers could not understand why the Indians should need so much land, and the Indians regarded the newcomers as interlopers and trespassers. Because of the friction which was developing in Colorado, a conference was held at the agency in Conejos on October 1, 1863. The representatives of all the Ute bands were to have been at the conference. However, the Northern Utes sent insufficient representation. The United States was represented at the conference by Simeon Whiteley, agent for the Northern Utes from Hot Sulphur Springs; Lafayette Head, agent for the Tabeguaches at Conejos; Michael Steck, superintendent of the Southern Ute agency at Taos; John Evans, governor of the Territory of Colorado; and John Nicolay, secretary to President Abraham Lincoln, from Washington, D.C. Mr. Nicolay served as secretary of this commission, whose aim was to move the Utes out of the path of the miners and settlers. Since the Northern Utes were not well represented, the commission dealt only with the Tabeguache Utes and the Mouache band of Southern Utes. The Tabeguache refused to be moved to a new location but did agree to a treaty which defined the boundaries of a reservation for them and the Mouaches. Ten Tabeguache leaders, including Ouray, signed this treaty by which they gave up claim to much land already occupied by white settlers in return for promises of livestock and goods for the next ten years."” 18 Ibid., pp. 68-9. 19 Ibid. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 22 The Southern Utes The United States government failed to provide the Tabeguache with any of the goods promised in the treaty and the Tabeguache continued to live in their accustomed places. In 1864, heavy snows prevented them from hunting buffalo in the plains and foothills for their winter supply of meat, and the Tabeguaches were reduced to begging around Colorado City. This caused friction with the white people, and more developed in the San Luis Valley between the Utes and the settlers there. The United States government determined to settle the Ute question and remove them, esepecially from the San Luis Valley. To accomplish this, a treaty was negotiated on March 2, 1868, at Washington, D.C. The United States was represented by Governor A. C. Hunt for the Territory of Colorado, N. G. Taylor, and Kit Carson. The seven bands of Utes who sent representatives were the Tabeguache, Mouache, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River and Uintah.* By this treaty, a single reservation was provided for all the Ute bands and the area comprised roughly the western one-third of Colorado. An agency for the three bands of Northern Utes was to be established on the White River near the present town of Meeker, Colorado. Another agency was to be established on the Los Pinos River for the Tabeguaches, Mouaches, Capotes, and Weeminuches. Education, clothing, and rations were to be provided by the United States until the Utes should be capable of supporting themselves. The Utes were assured that this reservation would forever be theirs and they would be protected from white trespassers. This treaty was signed by the ten Ute leaders and it was at this time that Ouray was selected by the United States to be spokesman for the Utes instead of Colorow or another headsman whom the Northern Utes preferred. It appeared that the Treaty of 1868 would settle the “Ute problem,” but such was not the case. The Tabeguache band started to go to the Los Pinos River, but they refused to go further when they arrived at a branch of Cochetopa Creck about sixty miles to the north and about fifty-five miles west of Saguache, Colorado.”” This spot was not even on the specified reservation but the United States set up the Los Pinos agency there, naming the tributary of Cochetopa Creek “Los Pinos” to comply with the letter of the treaty, which had meant the 0 The Ute Treaty of 1868 is in Kappler, Latws and Treaties, 11, p. 990; Rockwell, pp. 72-82. Utes, The #1 Rockwell, The Utes, pp. 71-81. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah Mountain Men and Fur Trappers 23 Rio de Los Pinos, the tributary of Las Animas River in present day La Plata County, named by the Spaniards in the eighteenth century. Also, almost immediately after the treaty was negotiated, it was discovered that the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado held huge treasures of rich minerals.* Actually, a third agency was maintained at Denver from 1871 to 1876 for the Utes of that area. During those years, the Utes still hunted buffalo there for the winter supply of meat and sold hides and other products to merchants. By the time that Colorado became a state of the Union in 1876, the huge herds of buffalo had been largely eliminated from the plains and the Utes around Denver had no products to sell and no more money to buy goods from the merchants. Soon their presence in the capital city became a source of friction and trouble.” By the Act of April 10, 1869, Congress paved the way for President Grant to end all troubles with Indians by settling the remaining Indians on reservations deemed large enough to support them if they engaged in agriculture. 22 Robert W. Delaney, “The Southern Utes a Century Ago,” Utah Historical Quarterly, XXXIX, No. 2 (1971), 124, citing the report of W. F. M. Arny of 1870. #3 Ibid.,p. 81. From the collection of FloydA O'Neil, University of Utah 24 The Southern Uses Los_pinos @) '— NY3ILSIM M () NOILVAY3S3Y @ ot ODIX3IW_M3N 0aVI010D . a @ @ 31N % 7/ g oo NY3HLNOS B 2, ? W &N %@ o O'Neil, University of Utah From the collection of FloydA The Southern Utes 90 SININIOTIV SANVT Tvadl NOILVAY3S3Y NVIANI 31N NY3LSVv3 @ o _M3N ._on_