The Ute
Great Basin
Recorded and Edited by Willard Rhodes
Music Of The American Indians From the Archive of Folk Culture AFS L38
The Indian tribes that inhabited this vast geographic area have been described by Dr. Ruth Underhill in her book Red Man's America as "those who had little to lose." The Great Basin is an intermountain desert country, bound on the east by the Rockies and on the west by the Sierras and Cascades. The ecology of the desert provided a hard and meager living, and the small seminomadic family groups were kept moving in their ceaseless quest for food.
Women dug for edible roots and gathered seeds and nuts. Grasshoppers were driven into trenches, roasted alive, then ground into flour. Men hunted for rats, lizards, and small game, and with nets made of hemp, they snared rabbits and birds. The wikiup, a dome-shaped arbor of poles and reeds, was their shelter from the heat of the day and the cold of the night. It was a hard life, and one wonders how the people were able to survive in this hostile environment.
Great Basin Indian culture was determined to a large extent by the land. Living in small family groups, they had no need for a formal social organization, and the physical demands of keeping alive left little time for the development of religion and the arts. Their lack of contact with other tribes and the stimulus that results from such contacts may be regarded as impeding the technological development of these people to whom the derogatory name "Diggers" was applied by some whites who regarded them as living no better than animals.
THE UTE
When first discovered, the Utes were living in the mountain regions of present-day Colorado, Northern New Mexico, and Eastern Utah. Like other tribes, they probably were part of a great migration of Indians from Western Canada and Alaska sometime during the 1300s A.D. Eventually they became a loose federation of seven bands, of which the Mouache and Capote constitute the Southern Ute with headquarters at Ignacio, Colorado.
The Weeminuches, now known as the Ute Mountain Ute, have headquarters at Towaoc, Colorado. The four remaining bands comprise the Northern Utes with headquarters at fort Duchesne, Utah.
The ecology of the land made it necessary for the bands to break up into small family units in their quest for food. Seeds, wild berries and fruits were gathered, and corn, beans, and squash were occasionally planted. From early spring to late fall the, men hunted for deer, elk, antelope, and other animals.
colonization of New Mexico at the end of the sixteenth century was important in changing the life of the Utes. From the Spaniards they acquired horses, and with horses the Utes became aggressive and warlike and engaged in raids on other Indian tribes for captives whom they exchanged for more horses. The possession of horses also enabled the Utes to become buffalo hunters and extend the area of their activities.
The Spanish periord of influence was followed by a Mexican period (1821-48) when, at the close of the Mexican War, the United States took possession and the responsibility for the administration of this vast western area.
The nineteenth century was marked by raids, warfare, and broken alliances between tribes. The Mouaches and Capotes were given individual allotments of 160 acres, a reservation was established for the Weeminuches, and the remaining lands (523,079 acres of the old reservation) were opened to Anglo settlement at a minimum of $1.25 per acre. The leadership and example of Buckskin Charlie (d. 1936) has been recognized as the major influence in facilitating the change from food-gathering and hunting to an agricultural economy.
On July 13, 1950, the United States Court of Claims adjudged that land had been taken illegally from the Utes from 1891 to 1938, and that, therefore, the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians were entitled to $31,761,207.62. These trust funds were allocated to the several reservations. The Southern Utes, consisting of the Southern Utes of the Southern Ute Reservation and the Ute Mountain tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, received approximately $6 million. Under a constitution and bylaws ratified November 4, 1936, a chairman and a council of six members conduct tribal affairs.
Women dug for edible roots and gathered seeds and nuts. Grasshoppers were driven into trenches, roasted alive, then ground into flour. Men hunted for rats, lizards, and small game, and with nets made of hemp, they snared rabbits and birds. The wikiup, a dome-shaped arbor of poles and reeds, was their shelter from the heat of the day and the cold of the night. It was a hard life, and one wonders how the people were able to survive in this hostile environment.
Great Basin Indian culture was determined to a large extent by the land. Living in small family groups, they had no need for a formal social organization, and the physical demands of keeping alive left little time for the development of religion and the arts. Their lack of contact with other tribes and the stimulus that results from such contacts may be regarded as impeding the technological development of these people to whom the derogatory name "Diggers" was applied by some whites who regarded them as living no better than animals.
THE UTE
When first discovered, the Utes were living in the mountain regions of present-day Colorado, Northern New Mexico, and Eastern Utah. Like other tribes, they probably were part of a great migration of Indians from Western Canada and Alaska sometime during the 1300s A.D. Eventually they became a loose federation of seven bands, of which the Mouache and Capote constitute the Southern Ute with headquarters at Ignacio, Colorado.
The Weeminuches, now known as the Ute Mountain Ute, have headquarters at Towaoc, Colorado. The four remaining bands comprise the Northern Utes with headquarters at fort Duchesne, Utah.
The ecology of the land made it necessary for the bands to break up into small family units in their quest for food. Seeds, wild berries and fruits were gathered, and corn, beans, and squash were occasionally planted. From early spring to late fall the, men hunted for deer, elk, antelope, and other animals.
colonization of New Mexico at the end of the sixteenth century was important in changing the life of the Utes. From the Spaniards they acquired horses, and with horses the Utes became aggressive and warlike and engaged in raids on other Indian tribes for captives whom they exchanged for more horses. The possession of horses also enabled the Utes to become buffalo hunters and extend the area of their activities.
The Spanish periord of influence was followed by a Mexican period (1821-48) when, at the close of the Mexican War, the United States took possession and the responsibility for the administration of this vast western area.
The nineteenth century was marked by raids, warfare, and broken alliances between tribes. The Mouaches and Capotes were given individual allotments of 160 acres, a reservation was established for the Weeminuches, and the remaining lands (523,079 acres of the old reservation) were opened to Anglo settlement at a minimum of $1.25 per acre. The leadership and example of Buckskin Charlie (d. 1936) has been recognized as the major influence in facilitating the change from food-gathering and hunting to an agricultural economy.
On July 13, 1950, the United States Court of Claims adjudged that land had been taken illegally from the Utes from 1891 to 1938, and that, therefore, the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians were entitled to $31,761,207.62. These trust funds were allocated to the several reservations. The Southern Utes, consisting of the Southern Utes of the Southern Ute Reservation and the Ute Mountain tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, received approximately $6 million. Under a constitution and bylaws ratified November 4, 1936, a chairman and a council of six members conduct tribal affairs.