Southern Ute Drum (2024)

FAQs

How rich is the southern Ute Indian tribe? ›

Thanks to its vast natural resources, the Southern Ute Tribe of Colorado is estimated to be worth about $4 billion. The reservation sits atop one of the world's richest deposits of methane gas. That means the tribe controls about 1 percent of the nation's natural gas supply. It wasn't always that way.

Cultural Utes practice the religion of Shamanism, which is based on a belief of healing and nature. Shamans perform their healing through dance and songs that are learned through dreams. In the Ute culture, both men and women practice Shamanism.

Utes were known for their tanned elk and deer hides which they traded along with dried meat tools and weapons.

By 1882, the intruders had secured a takeover of Ute territory. The several Ute bands had been destroyed or consolidated as they were pushed off their wide-ranging lands into reservations in the Uintah Basin of eastern Utah. Decades of policies damaging to Native Americans began to improve in the 1940s.

The principal animal foods of the Ute were buffalo, elk, deer, and rabbits. The buffalo were chased on horses. The small part that buffalo played in the diet is attested by the fact that when a buffalo was killed, the meat was divided in small pieces among all the band.

The Ute call themselves Nuche meaning “mountain people.” They call their language Nuu-a-pagia. The word “Ute” is apparently a corruption of the Spanish word Yutas, which is possibly derived from the term Guaputu.

The Tabeguache Ute's name for Pikes Peak is Tavakiev, meaning sun mountain. Living a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, summers were spent in the Pikes Peak area mountains, which was considered by other tribes to be the domain of the Utes. Pikes Peak was a sacred ceremonial area for the band.

An American pickup truck will be referred to, unsurprisingly, as a “pickup truck” in the UK (although this term is also used for flatbed versions of work vans), and as 'utes' in Australia. A pickup will never be referred to as a lorry.

The Ute have been considered traditional enemies of the Navajo, as well as other tribes in the U.S. Southwest, because of their practice of capturing women and children and then selling them to European settlers and other indigenous groups as slaves.

Who did the Ute tribe fight with? ›

Early trade is established between the Ute people and the Spanish. 1626 Traditional Ute-Hopi conflicts began about this time and reached their pinnacle around 1680. 1637 First known conflict between Spanish and Utes occurs 1637-1641.

After European settlers conquered their lands, the remaining Ute people were limited to living on reservations in Utah and Colorado. Today the Ute population is roughly 7,000 members across three reservations.

The state of Utah derives its name from the Ute Indian Tribe. The home of the Ute Indian Tribe is the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, located in Northeastern Utah (Fort duch*esne), approximately 150 miles east of Salt Lake City. The reservation is located within a three-county area known as the Uintah Basin.

About the Utes

They operate their own tribal government and oversee approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land. The Utes also operate several businesses including a Super Market, Gas Stations, Bowling Alley, Tribal Feedlot, Uinta River Technologies, Ute Tribal Enterprises LLC and Water Systems.

The Ute Mountain Utes have been in the oil and gas business for over 70 years, and historically, it made up a large portion of the tribe's economy.

About the Utes

The Utes have a tribal membership of 2,970 and over half of its membership lives on the Reservation. They operate their own tribal government and oversee approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land.

The Financial Plan provides the Tribe with an economic strategy that insures that a core government and matching finances will exist in perpetuity. The plan optimizes available investment resources to provide for the long-term security of the Tribe and the Tribal Membership.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has consistently demonstrated financial resilience, leveraging strategic investments and responsible fiscal policies to maintain its AAA credit rating.