A Brief History of the Utes
The Ute people are the oldest residents of Colorado. They also inhabited vast areas of Utah,Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Northern New Mexico and Arizona. According to tribe records handed down to each generation, the Utes have lived where they do since the beginning of time. The ancestors of the Utes were the Uto-Aztecs. The Utes speak shoshonean, which is a dialect of the Uto-Aztecan language.
Geographic Origin of the Ute Tribe
No one knows when the ancestors of the Utes arrived in Utah. But by 1500, Utes had distributed through eastern and central Utah and some regions of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The Utes were a tribe that mostly lived in the mountainous regions of Utah and Colorado near the Colorado River.
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There are two main groups of Utes that reside in Utah. There are the White Mesa Utes and also the Northern Utes. The Northern Utes resided in a vast area. They lived western Colorado to central Utah. They also lived between northern New Mexico to southern Wyoming. A lot of the different bands dwelled in many different areas. One of these areas included the Pahvant valleys. They also lived in Juab, the Uintah Basin, Sanpete, and high elevated plateaus in central Utah, just to name a few. Many resided in Utah Valley, which was richly supplied with fish and other resources. Once the Utes acquired horses, they wandered even farther, even riding to the Great Plains to hunt bison.
Traditions of the Ute Tribe
The Utes were hunter gatherers that relied on native plants and animals for food and medicine. Some bands also farmed domestic plants. From the beginning of spring into the ending of fall, the men of the tribe would go out to hunt large game. The animals that they mainly hunted were deer, antelope, and elk. While the men were out hunting, the women would stay home, making traps for smaller game. They would also scavenge and gather fruits and berries. They would also scavenge for wild plants. Some