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Show The White River Ute People The White River Ute People were given that name from the agency which was established in 1868. The People who came to use that agency were from the general regions of the White, Yampa, and Grand (upper Colorado) Rivers in northwestern Colorado and some from the Uinta Basin. The Yamparika or Yampa was the main group, with others from the Uinta-ats and the Parianuche. Yamparika The Yamparika Ute were the People who lived in the general area of the Colorado, White, and Yampa Rivers. They had probably moved into that area in the 1770s-1820s, pushing out the Comanche. Some of these people may have been the group Es-calante called the Sabaguanas. How large a group this was is not known. But, in 1853 when Fremont came through the Cochetope Pass on his way to the Colorado River, he saw a village of many lodges and "probably several hundred persons."1 The area north of the Yampa River was a common hunting ground of the Utes, Shoshone, and Crow. The area beyond the Green River is barren. The southern border was shared with the Taviwach. East beyond the passes and parks of the Rocky Mountains were the fierce Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Kiowa. There is little information on the Yamparika before 1850. Even the name Yampa Ute appears only after 1850.2 Few fur traders were attracted to their land. Most of the early explorers and travelers passed through the territory in the summer when the Yamparika had moved to higher elevations. They followed the life pattern of the other Ute People â€" traveling to the mountain parks hunting buffalo in the winter and to the hills gathering vegetation in the summer. Reports of the Yamparika indicate they were found from the Yampa River to the White River, to Elk Mountain areas, and to Navajo lands. One report mentioned 270 Yamparika south of the Uinta Basin in 1853, and another mentioned many Yamparika around the La Sal Mountains in southeastern Utah.3 We can only conclude that the Yamparika were a mounted, mobile group found at different times throughout a large area. |