Ute History Timeline

In 1637, the Spanish fought with the Utes, capturing and enslaving 80 Utes.

During the 18th century, Utes traded with other tribes involved in the deerskin and fur trade with Spanish New Mexico.

The Utes' first contact with Europeans occurred with the Spanish in the 18th century.

Although the Spanish seriously guarded trade with the Utes and limited it to annual caravans, by 1750 Spanish authorities relied on the trade, especially because Ute deerskins were highly sought after.

The Utes had direct trade with the Spanish by at least 1765, and possibly earlier.

The Spanish Domínguez–Escalante expedition traveled through the region in 1776 and saw the prehistoric and Ute cultural landscape, including sites such as Cañon Pintado.

Image source: Domínguez–Escalante expedition

By the early 19th century, Utes traded with Europeans at encampments in the San Luis Valley, Wet Mountains, Upper Arkansas Valley, and the annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous.

In the 19th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne invaded southward into eastern Colorado, intensifying regional competition and conflict.

By about 1840, the Pawnee, Osage, and Navajo had also become enemies of Plains Indians, contributing to the wider conflicts affecting the Utes.

Sustained contact with Euro-Americans began in 1847 when Mormons arrived in the American West. In Utah, Mormon settlement began to affect Ute communities and their homelands.

Quixiachigiate and 27 other Capote and Mouache Ute chiefs signed the Peace Treaty of Abiquiú at Abiquiú, New Mexico, with new U.S. Indian Commissioner James S. Calhoun.

Continued Mormon pressure on Utah Ute homelands escalated into the Walker War of 1853–54.

A gold strike in 1858 began a rush of Euro-American settlers and prospectors into Ute country.

Image source: Pike's Peak gold rush

President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order reserving the Uinta River Valley in the Territory of Utah for American Indians.

Leaders of the Tabeguache Utes signed the Tabeguache Treaty at the Tabaquache Agency at Conejos in the San Luis Valley.

President Lincoln signed an act directing the removal of all Indians in Utah Territory to the Uinta Valley Reservation, unilaterally imposing a major relocation on Utah's Native peoples.

The Black Hawk War occurred in Utah from 1865 to 1872 as Utes and their allies resisted expanding settlement and the loss of their lands. Black Hawk, son of Chief San-Pitch, was a noted war leader.

President Lincoln signed an act extinguishing Indian title to lands in Utah Territory outside the Uinta Valley Reservation that were considered suitable for agriculture and mineral development.

In 1868, the U.S. federal government established a reservation in Colorado; that year, reports counted 5,000 Utes living on the Colorado reservation.

Leaders of the seven Ute bands signed the Ute Treaty of 1868 in Washington, D.C. The treaty removed the Utes to the Consolidated Ute Reservation in western Colorado and the Uinta Valley Reservation in Utah Territory.

Leaders of the seven Ute bands signed the Brunot Treaty in Washington, D.C. The Utes relinquished land in the San Juan Mountains sought by miners.

Leaders of the Capote, Mouache, and Weeminuche Utes signed an agreement at Pagosa Springs, Colorado, establishing the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and relinquishing all other land in Colorado.

After the 1873 cession of the gold-rich San Juan area, the Utes lost most of their remaining land in 1879 following the Meeker Massacre.

Leaders of the seven Ute bands signed the Ute Agreement of 1880 in Washington, D.C. It called for the Tabeguache to move to Colorado's Grand Valley and the Parianuche and Yamparica to move to the Uintah Reservation in Utah Territory.

President Chester A. Arthur signed an executive order removing the Tabeguache Utes to the new Uncompahgre Indian Reservation in Utah Territory.

President Arthur signed an act expropriating lands in Colorado lately occupied by the Uncompahgre and White River Ute Indians, including lands of the Parianuche, Tabeguache, and Yamparica.

Estimates placed the Ute population at 6,000 in New Mexico in 1846, 6,000 in 1854, 7,000 in Colorado in 1866, and 13,050 in Utah in 1867, for roughly 26,050 Utes in the mid-19th century.

The 1890 census counted 2,839 Utes, including 1,854 in Utah and 985 in Colorado. Indian Affairs reported 2,694 in 1900, and about 2,658 in 1910, including Utes in Utah, Colorado, and South Dakota.

The Ute Mountain Utes are descendants of the Weeminuche band, which moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897.

The Ute population fell sharply after relocation to reservations. From about 8,000 Utes in the early 19th century, only about 1,800 tribal members remained in 1920.

Utes have exercised self-government since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

Image source: Indian Reorganization Act

The Weeminuche Utes separated from the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and became the Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation.

Although relocation to reservations caused a significant population reduction, the Ute population began to increase in the mid-20th century.

Under the 1954 Ute Partition and Termination Act, members of the Ute Indian Tribe classified as mixed-blood were separated from the federally recognized tribal structure.

Since the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, Utes have controlled police, courts, credit management, and schools.

By 1990, there were about 7,800 Utes, including approximately 2,800 living in cities and towns and 5,000 living on reservations.

The age expectancy in the Ute community was reported as 40 years in 2000.

Public land surrounding the Bears Ears buttes in southeastern Utah became Bears Ears National Monument in 2016, recognizing its ancestral and cultural significance to several Native American tribes, including the Utes.

The Ute population continued to increase in the 20th and 21st centuries. The 2020 census counted 15,119 people who identified as Ute.