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Show 4 The Southern Utes use horses, they were also traded. Captives taken in raids on other tribes were exchanged by the Utes for the horses. In the early 1700's, the village of Espanola (La Canada) 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 Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, including the Utes, constantly disrupted Spanish control of and arrangements with those Pueblos. 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 Pueblos and the frontier tribes were not friendly, and the Spanish only occasionally fought with the frontier tribes. The period from 1640 until the Pueblo 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 Pueblo Indians in driving the Spanish out of New Mexico.8 During the twelve years the Spanish were gone from the northern pueblos, the Utes raided the pueblos 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 8 Schroeder, "Brief History," pp. 54-56. |