TALOR+M

=Current Life =

Population: The Utes have a tribal membership of 3,157 and over half of its membership lives on the Reservation.

Leadership: The last hereditary chief of the Southern Utes, Buckskin Charlie died on May 8th, 1936 and was succeeded by his son, Antonio Buck Sr. As hereditary chief, Antonio Buck Sr. became the first elected Chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. The Southern Ute Indian Tribal Council is the governing body of the Tribal Government as established by the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act by Congress. The Constitution of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe approved November 4th, 1936; revised and adopted September 26th, 1975 defines the governing body as the Southern Ute Tribal Council composed of seven members.

Social Problems: Once they obtained Spanish horses and livestock from the Pueblo peoples of northern New Mexico, the Ute began to raise horses, cattle and sheep, and to begin raiding and trading. In eastern areas in particular, Utes became respected warriors and important participants in the southwestern slave and horse trade. In the north, they remained largely independent of colonial control until the arrival of Mormonsettlers, who pressured the Utes to settle down and farm. Believing that staying in one place meant certain starvation, the Northern Utes resisted agrarian settlement. As the Mormons appropriated more and more of their land, the Utes retaliated with a series of raids against isolated Mormon settlements. The Walker War (1853-54) signaled the beginning of the "open hand, mailed fist" Indian policy of Brigham Young – feeding when possible, fighting from necessary. In 1869 the northern Utes were forcibly removed to the Uintah Valley Reservation. They were joined by the White River Utes from Colorado in 1881, and by the Uncompahgre Utes to the adjoining Ouray Reservation in the following year.

Lifestyles: The Ute Indians; of the Shoshone Indian linguistic stock, were originally divided into seven nomadic, and forest-dwelling tribes which lived on vast territory in Colorado and parts of Utah and northern New Mexico prior to he arrival of the European settlers; they were the Capote, the Mouache, the Parianucs, the Tabeguache, the Uintah, the Weeminuche, and the Yampa.  