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Show The Uintah Ute People 89 Taviwach; others were probably Uinta-ats. They were described by different observers as being in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. Their homeland was probably south of the San Rafael River and east of the Wasatch Range. Black Hawk's raiding party was said to have been made up of a great many Elk Mountain Ute People. They were always described as having many horses which they knew how to ride well. And they were also described as looking well dressed and well fed, their isolation from white intrusion probably being the reason. In May 1855 a group of Mormons were sent as missionaries to the Ute People living near Elk Mountain (Moab) in southern Utah. Several People were converted. However, trouble began in September when the Indians dug up the gardens planted by the missionaries and ended only after three Ute People and three Mormons lost their lives. The mission was abandoned 24 September 1855.25 One of the last reports of the Elk Mountain People was by John Wesley Powell in 1873. He noted: They are well mounted, are a wild, daring people, and very skillful in border warfare. It may be stated that for the last ten years, they have subsisted chiefly on the spoils of war. In their raids they have been associated with the Navajos and Utes, who inhabit the country to the east of the Colorado River.26 Most of these People died in an epidemic that year. Whoever the Elk Mountain Ute People were, they had completely lost their identity by 1880 and were never referred to again as a separate group. Perhaps they became part of the Uintah Band. Perhaps the name was never more than a catch-all for traveling Ute People who appeared from time to time at one or another of the settlements or agencies. Uintah Reservation By 1870 most of the Utah Ute People had been killed by disease, starvation, or bullets. Those who were left were being encouraged to live in the Uinta Basin. They were being pushed into one group which would become known as the Uintah Band. Their lives and livelihoods were being controlled from the Uintah Indian Agency. However, the People were under no treaty obligations. |