Ute

By Joel C. Janetski and Teferi Abate Adem

Eutah, Utah, Utaw, Yuta

The Ute are an American Indian group located in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. “Ute” is a shortened version of “Eutah,” a term with uncertain origins. The name was likely borrowed by the Spanish from Ute neighbors who referred to the Ute as “Yu Tta Ci” (Southern Paiute), “Yota” (Hopi), and “Yu Hta” (Comanche). The meaning of “Utah” is likewise unclear. The Ute name for themselves is “Nu Ci,” meaning “person” or “Indian.” At the time of European contact in the 1600s and 1700s, the Ute occupied much of central and eastern Utah and all of western Colorado, as well as minor portions of northwestern New Mexico. For ease of discussion, the Colorado and New Mexico groups are often lumped together as Eastern and those from Utah are labeled Western Ute. Physiographically, this Ute homeland is diverse and includes the eastern fringe of the Great Basin, the northern Colorado Plateau, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and the east slopes of the Rockies and high plains of Colorado. Latitude and longitude of the region's center is approximately 39° N and 109° W.

In 1880, combined population figures for both Colorado and Utah Ute was some 3,975. Precontact levels were likely considerably higher than these historic figures.

By 1983 these numbers had increased modestly to 4,905. The U.S. 2000 Census lists 7,309 individuals who identify themselves as Ute alone and 10,385 individuals who identify as Ute alone or in combination with other identities.

The Ute speak Southern Numic, the easternmost of the Numic languages spoken by the majority of the Indians of the Great Basin-Plateau regions of the intermountain west. Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Some dialectical differences were present within Southern Numic, but no clear boundaries existed. [Editor’s note: Ethnologue (Gordon, 2005) calls the language Ute-Southern Paiute].

Linguistic and archaeological evidence argue for an arrival of Southern Numic-speakers in the eastern Great Basin and Plateau country about A.D. 1250-1350. At the time of European settlement in New Mexico in the 1600s and Utah in the late 1700s, the Ute were well established, but had developed along somewhat different trajectories. The Eastern Ute had converted to the horse-riding Plains life-style, and the Western Ute retained more traditional Great Basin patterns until the early 1800s when certain central Utah groups also adopted the horse and other Plains cultural trappings. Ute neighbors to the north, west, and east included other Numic-speakers, such as the Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, and Southern Paiute. Also to the south were the Pueblos, Navajo, and Apache. To the east were the Plains groups, such as the Wind River Shoshone (Numic-speakers), Arapaho, Comanche (Numic-speakers), and Southern Cheyenne. Relations were amicable with the Western Shoshone, but raids were common between the Ute and other neighbors, especially the Plains peoples, with the exception of the Comanche. The unmounted Southern Paiute to the south were routinely subjected to raids by all Utes to obtain slaves, especially women and children, to trade to the Spanish.

Mormon immigration to the Great Basin in 1847 marked the beginning of the end for the traditional Western Ute way of life. Serious conflicts began in 1849, when settlers moved into Utah Valley, an important center of Ute settlement. Following the Walker War of 1850s and the Black Hawk War in the 1860s, all Western Ute were displaced from the eastern Great Basin and relocated in the Uinta Basin of northern Utah. For the Eastern Ute the process was slower. Reduction of lands began in the 1850s owing to a series of treaty agreements and continued until the 1880s. The Meeker Massacre of 1879 resulted in most of the northern Colorado Utes being placed on the Uinta Basin reservation. Other Eastern Utes moved to the small Southern Ute and Elk Mountain reservations in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

The Ute are traditionally described in terms of geographically designated bands. Both the Eastern and Western groups consisted of five such bands. For the Eastern group they were the Muache, Capote, Uncompahgre, White River, and Weeminuche. The Western bands were the Uintah, Timpanogots, Sanpitch, Pahvant, and Moanunts. Throughout Ute territory settlements tended to consist of a winter and a summer camp. For the Western and other nonequestrian Ute, winter camps were located in the valley bottoms adjacent to lakes, marshes, or streams or, in some cases, in the piñon juniper woodlands of the lower foothills where fuel and shelter were available and close to food caches. Spring in the valleys along the eastern Great Basin was spawning season and a time for many Western Ute to hold festivities, dances, and games and to fish, especially in Utah Valley. In the summer people dispersed to gather ripening plant seeds and pursue individual hunting. In late summer and fall the Utes moved to the uplands for hunting, berry picking, and piñon nut gathering. The Eastern Ute spent summers and early fall on the plains hunting bison, and these events were generally the time of greatest aggregation for the year. Winter camps consisted of smaller residential units located in sheltered areas in the foothills or valleys. Modern reservation towns, such as Fort Duchesne and Roosevelt on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation, are centers of modern Ute community and commercial life and are very much in the pattern of western towns. Dispersed Ute communities, however, such as that seen at White Mesa in southeastern Utah, are also fairly typical.

All Utes at the time of European contact were hunters and gatherers, although the subsistence focus varied considerably from east to west. In general, Eastern Ute were more committed to a hunting economy, especially bison, whereas Western Ute diets were broader with more emphasis on smaller animals and fish. Important plant foods included piñon nuts, various small seeds, such as grass and bulrush, and roots. With the withdrawal of traditional foraging areas, the Ute turned to subsistence farming following the European pattern.

Commercial farming has not been successful, and most employment is (as of the 1990s) in the energy-related fields or service jobs, especially with the federal government. At the turn of the 21st century, Ute tribal commercial enterprises include construction and manufacturing, technology, cattle ranches, and water systems, as well as tourist and recreation businesses including a casino, super market, bowling alley, and a lodge.  The tribe also works with governmental agencies to obtain grants for upgrading sanitation facilities and has been successful in working with local banks in arranging housing loans for tribal members.

 INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Traditional crafts such as basketry, weaving, and hide working persisted into the twentieth century. Beadwork on tanned leather or other materials continues to be produced, especially for the tourist market, but basketry and weaving have largely died out. Pottery was made prehistorically, but was not a well-developed craft.

Prehistoric trade is not well documented for the Ute. Obsidian and probably marine shells were likely traded, but the mechanisms are unknown. Following the arrival of European markets, such as the Spanish in New Mexico, the Utes were active in the fur trade and exchanged skins, furs, and slaves for horses, metal tools, beads, and other European goods. This commerce was active into the mid-1800s.

Traditionally, economic tasks were segregated by sex. As a general rule, men hunted larger game and fished, and made weapons and tools related to hunting (bows and arrows, various portable traps, drive lines, and catch corrals). Women gathered plant foods and made the items necessary for those activities, especially baskets. Numerous food-related efforts involved both sexes, however, especially with the Western Ute. For example, women made cordage of plant fibers with which the men wove the nets that were used in rabbit or waterfowl drives. Both men and women participated in these drives. Fishing was generally a male activity, but women made some fishing gear such as basketry traps. Women prepared and cooked food, built houses, made clothing, prepared skins, and made pottery. Some blurring of these divisions was common, also. Both men and women participated in shamanistic rituals. Historic employment trends are generally parallel with national patterns with both sexes working, but with more men employed than women. Women usually remain at home, and some pursue craft production for the tourist trade.

Aboriginal land ownership was limited to usufruct rights to hunting and gathering for a family. Individual land ownership was apparently unknown. A degree of territoriality was present to the extent that non-Utes (for example, Shoshone) had no access to important resource areas such as the Utah Lake fishery. Anglo settlement and agricultural pursuits removed the more productive lands from Ute use. The Ute were eventually forcibly removed to reservation lands in Colorado and Utah. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 further reduced Indian-owned lands and eventually opened Ute lands to Anglo homesteaders. The impact of this bill was reversed by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which allowed for consolidation of Indian properties and acquisition of other lands as well. In 1988 a legal suit brought by the Ute Tribe against counties and cities of the Uinta Basin returned significant portions of Ute lands in Utah, bringing the total held by that group to 4 million acres.

No clans or other formal social units are known for the Ute. Residential units tended toward unranked matridemes. These units, which consisted of several related families, were exogamous. Status within residential units was based on age, sex, and generation.

Ute kin terms followed a skewed bifurcate collateral pattern.

Marriages were often arranged by parents and relatives. Marriage to blood relatives (extended to first and second cousins) was forbidden. Wedding ceremonies were informal, and premarital intercourse at the girl's residence was considered marriage. Band exogamy was generally preferred. Polygyny existed and both the levirate and sororate were practiced; however, monogamy was the norm with less than 10 percent practicing polygamy. Divorce for reasons of sterility, infidelity, and incompatibility was and is common. Children usually remain with the mother. Residence was almost always matrilocal. Bride-service is not reported for the Ute, although it was common in other Great Basin groups.

Traditional households often included relatives such as grandparents and occasionally a spouse of one of the children. This pattern continues today. Single-parent families are very common because of high divorce rates. Households are often swelled by near kin as resources are combined in times of economic stress.

Inheritance patterns were poorly developed, for most personal material goods were burned at the death of the individual. Rights to eagle aeries, springs, and garden plots were passed down to surviving family members.

Children were desirable and much attention was paid to the pregnant mother, birth, and child rearing. Often young children were tended by older siblings and by grandparents. Children were spoiled and indulged in a permissive environment. Ridicule was the primary means of discipline. Puberty rites were observed for both girls and boys. First menses was celebrated by the family by offering instructions to the girl and imposing food taboos and behavioral restrictions until the end of menstruation. Male puberty rites were not so well defined, but they usually revolved around the first killing of a large game animal. The boy was forbidden to eat of this kill, which was often given to an older relative. To celebrate the event further, the boy was bathed by a special hunter and painted red. Traditional education in crafts, subsistence skills, and oral histories were provided to children by the appropriate grandparent. Education levels among Ute youths are low, with only half completing high school (as of the 1990s).

Ute social life was rooted in the family. Within the family and among family groups elders, male and female, were respected and given special consideration. Prior to European contact, household leadership tended to be male-oriented, but with the growing numbers of single parent families, females are more often in family leadership roles.

Band organization was likely present in the pre-horse era. Bands consisted of several residential units (demes) that united under a leader, usually an elder male who had demonstrated prowess as a hunter as well as wisdom in decision making. Leaders often had one or more assistants who served as speakers or in other capacities. The Western Ute had special chiefs selected to lead dances and rabbit, antelope, waterfowl, and bison drives. Utah Valley Ute had a special fishing chief. Councils consisted of deme leaders and usually met at the chief's house. Women were allowed to attend councils, as were men other than chiefs. Political patterns were strengthened after contact as access to the horse and raiding for the slave markets increased, thereby reinforcing the status of the leaders. This trend continued as Anglo culture often demanded a band or tribal spokesperson. Reservation-era tribal affairs have been directed by the tribal committees of the Ute Indian Tribe. Especially influential on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation is the Ute Tribal Business Committee formed in 1937 after the Indian Reorganization Act.

Traditionally, group leaders played an important role in interpersonal altercations, but no formal process existed in the event of a crime or breach of trust. Individual retaliation was common and control difficult, as there were no means other than social for enforcement. Murders, for example, were usually avenged by relatives who killed the offender, an action condoned and expected by the society. Social controls were also sought through the use of myths and legends that depicted appropriate behavior and introduced the threat of ridicule or expulsion for unacceptable actions. As on other reservations, the federal government now has jurisdiction over serious crimes.

Internal Ute conflicts erupted in the 1880s following the Meeker Massacre when White River and Uncompaghre Utes from Colorado were forced onto the Uintah Reservation. Uintahs resented having to share their reservation and further resented inequities in federal distributions of funds. Bad feelings also existed between the White River and Uncompaghre people based on events during and after the Meeker Massacre. In 1905 Ute-Anglo relations were strained by the opening of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation to Anglo use. In reprisal, a large contingent of Utes left the reservation and sought asylum with the Sioux in South Dakota. Failing this they were returned to the Uintah Basin in 1908. Further internal strife stemmed from a rift between mixed- and full-blood people. The former, because of Anglo contacts and better education, developed more political power in tribal affairs. The rift ultimately resulted in the termination (expulsion) of mixed-bloods (less than 50 percent Ute) from the tribal rolls in 1954. Bad feelings extended to the tribal government, and a group known as the True Utes unsuccessfully attempted to disband this polity during the late 1950s.

Religion was not formalized, but was nonetheless important and pervaded daily Ute life. An integral element of Ute metaphysics was the concept of power obtained from knowledge received through dreams, visions, or from mythical beings. Religion was expressed at the level of the individual rather than through group activity. Senawahv is named as the Ute creator of the land, animals, food, plants, and the Utes themselves. Animals, especially wolf and coyote, were commonly depicted in myths in which they were described as having humanlike traits combined with some mystical powers. Belief in water babies, supernatural beings that lived in springs, was widespread among Great Basin Indians. Ghosts and souls were real and feared. Charms for various purposes were also common. Several Christian religions currently have followings among the Utes as does the Native American church.

Shamans held the power of healing obtained through dreams or from other shamans. Healing methods involved songs, dances, and various pieces of paraphernalia, the forms for all of which were learned through the dreams. Special shaman designations included weather, bear, evil, sexual, and childbirth. Both men and women practiced shamanism. A payment was expected if the cure was successful.

Two ceremonies have dominated Ute social and religious life: the Bear Dance and the Sun Dance. The former is indigenous to the Ute and aboriginally was held in the spring to coincide with the emergence of the bear from hibernation. The dance was held in a large brush enclosure or dance plaza and lasted about ten days. The dancing, which was mostly done by couples, propitiated bears to increase hunting and sexual prowess. A theme of rebirth and fertility is pervasive throughout. This theme was reinforced by the announcement of the completion of a girl's puberty rites during the ceremony. The Sun Dance was borrowed from the Plains tribes between 1880 and 1890. This ceremony was held in July, and the dancing lasted for four days and nights. The emphasis of the Sun Dance was on individual or community esteem and welfare, and its adoption was symptomatic of the feelings of despair held by the Indians at that time. Participants often hoped for a vision or cures for the sick. Consistent with the emphasis of this ceremony was the fact that dancing was by individuals rather than couples as was the case with the Bear Dance. Both ceremonies continue to be held by the Ute, although the timing of the Bear Dance tends to be later in the year. The Ghost Dance was briefly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation.

The Ute enjoy singing and many songs are specific to the Bear Dance and curing. The style of singing is reminiscent of Plains groups. Singing and dancing for entertainment continue to be important. Rock art was another form of expression, and both pictographs (painted) and petrogylphs (pecked) of obvious Ute manufacture have been documented.

Curing ceremonies attempted to drive evil forces from the body through songs, sucking tubes, and so on, rather than through the use of medicines. Herbal remedies were also applied, however, and medicinal powers were assigned to a number of plants. These, usually the leaves or roots, were pounded and boiled and the resulting potion drunk.

Death was a time of community and individual loss and was formally observed by abstentions from certain behaviors and by acts such as hair cutting. Mourning lasted up to a year. Care was taken to ensure that the ghost of the deceased did not return, although it was generally held that the soul lingered near the body for several days. All souls went to an afterlife similar to this world. Burial and funeral customs included burning the house wherein death occurred and the destruction of most personal property, which sometimes included horses, dogs, and slaves. Bodies were washed, dressed, and wrapped and buried, extended, in a rock-covered grave in the mountains.

Documents referred to in this section are included in eHRAF World Cultures and are referenced by author, date of publication and eHRAF document number.

In addition to this culture summary, the NT19 Ute collection consists of 11 documents, all of them in English, covering a variety of cultural, historical and environmental information on different sections of Ute society from pre-contact times to the 1980s. The works of Julian Steward (1931, no. 39, 1974, no. 3 and 1974, no. 4) and Anne Smith (1974, no. 24) provide the earliest systematic attempts at reconstructing pre-reservation Ute culture and society, with particular emphasis on organization and composition of bands, settlement patterns and land use practices, as remembered by elderly informants in the 1930s and 1940s. These works also include detailed first hand descriptions of a bear dance performance, a peyote meeting and the sun dance which the authors personally observed. Jorgensen conducted extensive field work (1958-1964) and his work (1965, no. 19) is the most detailed description of Ute culture, history, economy and religion in the collection. The remaining works compliment these accounts by documenting and examining more specific aspects of Ute culture including mythology (Mason, 1910, no. 17), concepts of nature and power (Romeo, 1985, no. 48), effects of oil money and development intervention (Lang, 1971, no. 49), aspects of history (Callaway, 1986, no. 50), except (D’Azevedo, 1986, no. 51) which is a detailed list of existing bibliographies on Ute ethnohistory and ethnography. It is evident that Ute society was internally divided into several, but continuously fluid, bands and the history and interaction of each band with the state and market forces varied greatly.

Bands (including band composition and inter-band relations) – use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)", possibly with "SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND GROUPS (571)" and "INTER - COMMUNITY RELATIONS (628)"

Bear dance - use "DANCE (535)"

Berdache ( tuwusuwi, half man, half woman) - use "HOMOSEXUALITY (838)"

Camps – use "COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (621)", possibly with "ANNUAL CYCLE (221)" and/or "SETTLEMENT PATTERNS (361)"

Council of old men- use "COUNCILS (623)"

Ghost dance – use "CONGREGATIONS (794)" and "CULT OF THE DEAD (769)"

Nuu-kani (also called tipi, small buffalo skin-covered lodge) – use "DWELLINGS (342)"

Reservation - use "PUBLIC WELFARE (657)", sometimes with "SETTLEMENT PATTERNS (361)" and/or "REAL PROPERTY (423)"

Senawahv (creator of the land, animals, food, plants, and all the Ute people) – use “SPIRITS AND GODS (776)”

Sun dance (also called “thirsty dance)– use "DANCE (535)", possibly with "REST DAYS AND HOLIDAYS (527)" and "ORGANIZED CEREMONIAL (796)"

Sun dance lodge ( tavu kani – use "RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES (346)"

Sweet lodge - use "OUTBUILDINGS (343)", possibly with "PERSONAL HYGIENE (515)" and "MEDICAL THERAPY (757)"

Tribal government - use "TRIBE AND NATION (619)" and "TYPE OF GOVERNMENT (642)"

This culture summary is based on the article, "Ute" by Joel C. Janetski, in the Encyclopedia of World Culture, Vol. 1, North America, 1991. Timothy O’Leary and David Levinson, eds. MacMillan Reference, USA. It was updated by Joel Janetski in September, 2006. Teferi Abate Adem wrote the synopsis and indexing notes in August 2006.

Callaway, Donald, Joel C. Janetski, and Omer C. Stewart (1986). “Ute.” In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, 336-367. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Conetah, Fred A. (1982). A History of the Northern Ute People. Edited by Katheryn L. MacKay and Floyd A. O'Neil. Salt Lake City, Utah: Uintah-Ouray Tribe.

Jorgensen, Joseph G. (1965). “The Ethnohistory and Acculturation of the Northern Ute”. Ph.D diss., Indiana University.

Smith, Anne M. (1974). Ethnography of the Northern Ute. Museum of New Mexico Papers in Anthropology, no. 17. Santa Fe: University of New Mexico Press.

Southern Ute Indian Tribe. http://www.southern-ute.nsn.us/

U.S. Census Bureau. (2006). Summary File 2 (SF 2) and Summary File 4 (SF 4). http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFIteratedFacts?_event=&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=01000US&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_2&ds_name=DEC_2000_SAFF&_ci_nbr=271&qr_name=DEC_2000_SAFF_R1010&reg=DEC_2000_SAFF_R1010%3A271&_keyword=&_industry= Accessed September 12, 2006.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. www.utemountainute.com

www.uteindian.com