Contact with other European settlers Ute people

delegation of ute indians in washington, d.c. in 1880. background: woretsiz , general charles adams (colorado) standing. front left right: chief ignacio of southern utes; carl schurz secretary of interior; chief ouray , wife chipeta

the ute experience european-american settlers similar of many other native american groups: competition, confrontation , eventual coerced relocation reservations. of particular interest walker war (1853–54) , black hawk war (1865–72) in utah.

over years, friction between arrived white settlers , goldseekers in utah , colorado , local ute groups resulted in several skirmishes , incidents. in same period, ute allied united states in wars navajo, example in 1863, , apache.

a series of treaties established small reservation in 1864 in northeast utah, , reservation in 1868, included western third of modern colorado. latter included land claimed other tribes. lands whittled away until modern reservations left: large cession of land in 1873 transferred gold-rich san juan area, followed in 1879 loss of of remaining land after meeker massacre .

eventually, various bands of utes consolidated onto 3 reservations. several of these bands maintain separate identities part of ute tribal organizations. although large , located in areas white settlers deemed undesirable (occupying parts of utah , of western colorado), territory of reservations repeatedly reduced various government actions, , encroachment white settlers , mining interests. in 20th century, several u.s. federal court decisions restored portions of original reservation land ute tribes jurisdiction , awarded monetary compensations losses.