Timpanogos

The Timpanogos ("Timpanog", "Utahs" or "Utah Indians") were a large tribe of Native Americans who historically inhabited a vast portion of central Utah, in particular the area from Utah Lake eastward to the Uinta Mountains and southward into present-day Sanpete County. In some historic accounts, they were also referred to as the Timpiavat,[1] Timpanogot, Timpanogotzi, Timpannah, Tempenny and numerous other names.[2]

In the mid-19th century, when Mormon Pioneers entered this territory, the Timpanogos were one of the principal tribes in Utah, based on population, area occupied, and influence. Scholars have had difficulty identifying or classifying their language, because most communication with them was carried out in Spanish or English, and many of their leaders spoke multiple native dialects of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

The Timpanogos have generally been classified as Ute people. They may have been a Shoshone band; other Shoshone bands occupied parts of Utah. Nineteenth-century historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote in 1882 that the Timpanogos were one of the four sub-bands of the Shoshone.[3]

Chief Walkara, also called Chief Walker, was a noted chief in the mid-19th century.[4] He led the people against Mormon settlers in the Walker War. The Shoshone and Ute shared a common genetic, cultural and linguistic heritage as part of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Today most Timpanogos descendants live on the Uintah Valley Reservation, established by Executive Order in 1861 and affirmed by congressional legislation in 1864, where they are counted among the Ute Indian Tribe.

In 2002 the Timpanogos won a federal case against the state at the Court of Appeals, upholding their traditional rights for hunting, fishing, and gathering within the reservation. The court concluded their relationship with the federal government was well established, although they are not independently listed by the Department of Interior as a federally recognized tribe. They have submitted an application and documentation to the Department of Interior, seeking federal recognition as a tribe independent of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.

Pre-European history

Mt. Timpanogos, a namesake of the tribe

The Timpanogos likely entered the Utah area as part of the original Southern Numic expansion around 1000 CE, which included the Ute, or in the subsequent Central Numic Shoshonean expansion to the north and west from their Numic homelands in the Sierra Nevada. Some archaeologists say that the Shoshonean expansion took place around the 1300s or 1400s.

The people of this tribe were hunter-gatherers; they lived mostly on fish and wild game caught by the men, and cooked and processed by the women, and on the seeds and roots of wild plants gathered and prepared by the women. In the 18th century, they adopted the horse, when it became available, but they did not take on the nomadic, bison hunting culture of other Plains Indians.

As part of their religion, in the mornings they gathered together and greeted the morning with song to express gratitude to the Creator. They were divided into family clans, each with its own headman, spiritual leader, and warrior. The clans would often band together for specific purposes, such as hunting. There was no division of the land and people were free to travel to the different villages. They developed an extensive trading network.[5]

They lived in the Wasatch Range around Mount Timpanogos (named after them), along the southern and eastern shores of Utah Lake of the Utah Valley, and in Heber Valley, Uinta Basin, and Sanpete Valley. The band around Utah Lake established dominance due to the bounty of the area's food supply.[6]

During the spring spawning season at Utah Lake, the tribes hosted an annual fish festival. Timpanogos, Ute, and Shoshone bands would come from two hundred miles away to gather fish.[7] At the festival, there was dancing, singing, trading, horse races, gambling and feasting. It was also an opportunity for young people to find a mate from another clan, as exogamous marriage outside their clans was required.[5] The shores of Utah Lake became a sacred meeting place for the Timpanogos, Ute and Shoshone tribes.[8]

European and United States contacts

The first known Europeans to enter this area were a Spanish expedition of Franciscan missionaries led by Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. What is known as the Dominguez–Escalante Expedition of 1776 was trying to find a land route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Monterey, California. Two or three Timpanogos from Utah Valley acted as guides for the party. On September 23, 1776, the party traveled down Spanish Fork Canyon and entered the Utah Valley.[9]

Escalante documented the expedition in his journal, describing the people who lived around Utah Lake:

"Round about it are these Indians, who live on the abundant fish of the lake, for which reason the Yutas Sabuaganas call them Come Pescados [FishEaters]. Besides this, they gather in the plain grass seeds from which they make atole, which they supplement by hunting hares, rabbits, and fowl of which there is great abundance here."[10]

The explorers named many geographic features in Central Utah for the Timpanog tribe. The Timpanog were led then by chief Turunianchi.

The next recorded European visitor was Étienne Provost, a French-Canadian trapper who visited the Timpanog in October 1824.[11] The city of Provo and the Provo River are named after him. In 1826, the American mountain man Jedediah Smith visited a camp along the Spanish Fork river that had 35 lodges with about 175 people.[12]

Mormon Pioneers

Illustration of Fort Utah in 1850

By the time the Mormon Pioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the Timpanogos were guided by Turunianchi's grandson, Chief Walkara, also called Chief Walker. Walkara led the tribe, along with a number of sub-chiefs, most of whom were his brothers: Chief Arapeen, Chief San-Pitch, Chief Kanosh, Chief Sowiette, Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah, Chief Grospean and Chief Amman. Brigham Young once referred to them as a "Royal Line" of Indian chiefs; they had hereditary leadership through their clan. Parley P. Pratt conducted an exploration of Utah Valley. Using the small boat they brought, the party explored Utah Lake and caught fish with their nets.[13]

Battle Creek massacre

Main article: Battle Creek massacre

The first battle between settlers and Indians occurred in early March 1849. The Americans refer to it as the Battle Creek massacre, which took place at the site of Pleasant Grove. A company of 40 Mormon men went to Utah Valley to try to get the Timpanogos to stop stealing cattle from the Salt Lake Valley. The peoples were in competition for resources. Brigham Young had ordered them "to take such measures as would put a final end to their depredations in future."[14][15] The company met in the village of Little Chief, who told them where the men were located who had stolen cattle. The Mormons attacked the village, killing four Timpanogos. They took women and children as captives, including Nuch. He later led the Black Hawk War under the name of Black Hawk.[7]

Battle at Fort Utah

Main article: Battle at Fort Utah

On March 10, 1849, Brigham Young assigned 30 families to colonize Utah Valley, with John S. Higbee as president and Dimick B. Huntington and Isaac Higbee as counselors.[7] They headed toward Timpanogos territory with 30 families, about 150 people. The Timpanogos viewed this as an invasion of their territory and sacred land.[16] As the colonizers entered the valley, they were blocked by a group of Timpanogos led by An-kar-tewets, and warned that trespassing would be met with death.[17] Huntington raised his hand and swore by the sun god that they would not try to drive the Timpanogos off their lands or take away their rights. The Timpanogos let them enter[7][17]

The settlers built a stockade called Fort Utah, arming it with a twelve-pound cannon to intimidate the Timpanogos.[18] They also built several log houses, surrounded by a 14-foot (4.3 m) palisade 20 by 40 rods in size (330 by 660 feet [100 by 200 m]), with gates in the east and west ends, and a middle deck for the cannon. The fort was built on the sacred grounds for the annual fish festival and very close to the main Timpanogos village on the Provo River. The settlers fenced off pastures; their cattle ate or trampled the seeds and berries that were an important part of the Timpanogos diet. By fishing with gill nets, they took more than their share of fish, leaving not enough for the Timpanogos. With the traditional sources of food gone, the Timpanogos suffered mass starvation.[8][19][20] The settlers also brought measles, which was endemic in their culture but a new infectious disease to the Timpanogos. Lacking acquired immunity, the natives suffered epidemics and had high mortality, which disrupted their society greatly. They asked the settlers for medicine to fight this new disease.[8]

In August, a Timpanog named Old Bishop was murdered by Rufus Stoddard, Richard Ivie, and Gerome Zabrisky, who wanted his shirt.[8][18][21] The Timpanogos were angry and demanded that the murderers be handed over, which the settlers refused. Some Timpanogos shot at trespassing cattle or stole corn in retaliation. The winter was especially hard and the Timpanogos stole cattle to survive.

By January 1850, settlers of Fort Utah reported to officials in Salt Lake City on increasing tensions. They asked for a military party to attack the Timpanogos. A militia was sent from Salt Lake City and on February 8 and 11, and they engaged the Timpanogos in battle. On February 14, eleven Timpanogos warriors surrendered, but the militia later executed them in front of their families. A government surgeon cut off their heads to examine later in study. In total, the militia lost one man, and killed 102 Timpanogos.[22]

Walker War

Main article: Walker War

By the time of the Walker War, named for Chief Walkara, the Timpanogos numbered only about 1,200. The war included several armed conflicts with settlers and Mormon militia.

Utah Black Hawk War

Later, during the Utah Black Hawk War, the leader Chief Black Hawk was a son of San-Pitch.[4] This was more extensive and caused additional deaths, on both sides.

Uintah Reservation

“In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order establishing the original Uintah Valley Reservation in the eastern part of the Utah territory. . . Congress ratified the order in 1864. . . A council of the Ute people was called at Spanish Fork Reservation on 6 June 1865. The aged leader Chief Sowiette (a brother of Chief Walkara, who had died 10 years before) explained that the Ute people did not want to sell their land and go away, asking why the groups couldn't live on the land together. Chief Sanpitch (another brother of Walkara) also spoke against the treaty. However, advised by Brigham Young that these were the best terms they could get, the leaders signed. The treaty provided that the Utes give up their lands in central Utah, including the Corn Creek, Spanish Fork, and San Pete Reservations. Only the Uintah Valley Reservation remained. They were to move into it within one year, and be paid $25,000 a year for ten years, $20,000 for the next twenty years, and $15,000 for the last thirty years. (This was payment of about 62.5 cents per acre for all land in Utah and Sanpete counties.) However, Congress did not ratify the treaty; therefore, the government did not pay the promised annuity. Nevertheless, in succeeding years most of the Utah Ute people were removed to the Uintah Reservation.”[23]

By 1872 all the Timpanogos had moved to the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. However, some Timpanogos occasionally returned to fish on Utah Lake into the 1920s.[24]

Population estimates

Some people have estimated that in 1847 at the time of the Mormon Pioneers' arrival, the Timpanogos numbered approximately 70,000. Their numbers had been dwindling because of the rise of competing bands of Shoshone raiders since the early-19th century. They suffered high mortality from smallpox and other infectious diseases introduced by the influx of American settlers; a devastating measles epidemic in the early 1850s killed many of their people. Historically, many Native American tribes had their numbers reduced by more than 90% as a result of disease after contact with Europeans.

The number of Timpanogos may have been less. "The exact number of all the Indians who lived in Utah Territory is unknown. An 1861 report from J. F. Collins, Utah superintendent of Indian Affairs, acknowledged that no one had ever 'been able to obtain satisfactory information in regard to their numbers.' Collins’s estimated . . . that there may have been fifteen to twenty thousand Indians (of all tribes), in Utah, prior to the arrival of the first Mormon settlers" in 1847.[25]

Indian Superintendent Forney’s 1859 annual report to the federal commissioner of Indian Affairs, gave estimates of tribal numbers as follows:

This gives a total of 18,500 Native Americans estimated to be in Utah in 1859, and listed all tribes and bands by their names commonly used at the time.[26]

By the time the Walker War, named for Chief Walkara but started by the Mormons, the Timpanogos numbered only about 1,200.

Historical confusion

The Timpanogos may have been either a Shoshonean band, who were part of the Central Numic people, or a branch of the Southern Numic people, which includes the Ute. They were documented as having a strong presence in Central Utah. In pioneer times they were often referred to as the "Utah" Indians. Utah Indians are sometimes confused with, but were not necessarily the same as, Ute Indians. Most Ute at the time were from the territory of Colorado, and farther east in Utah.

Three major groups of Ute Indian bands were also placed by the federal government into the Uinta Valley Reservation in the 1880s.[27] Afterward, the Utah Indians, or Timpanogos, became conflated with and were often considered to have merged with the Ute Indians, as reflected in historical documents.

Many historians were not aware that there ever had been a difference, or that the Timpanogos might have been Shoshone. Many articles and historical records after that time use the term "Utes" when discussing the Timpanogos tribe, even when referring to the tribe in their decades of co-existence with settlers, before relocating to the Uintah Reservation. Though many historians refer to Sowiette and San-Pitch and their people as Utes, at the time of the Uinta treaty, they were known as the Utah Indians or Timpanogos. Some of their descendants claim they only became known as the Ute only after moving to the Uintah Reservation and joining other Utethere.[27][28]

The Timpanogos are not often listed among the current or former bands of the Shoshone.

In Timpanogos Tribe vs Conway, 2002), U.S. Appeals Court Judge Tena Campbell ruled, "Plaintiff asks the court to make unreasonable inferences and leap to the conclusion that because Mr. Montes and his ancestors are not Ute, the (Timpanogos Tribe), whose members include Mr. Montes, is a Shoshone tribe in existence since aboriginal times and for whom the reservation was set aside. The court will not make that leap, nor will it allow a jury to do so."[29] Judge Campbell ruled that President Abraham Lincoln did not establish the Uintah Valley Reserve, as it was not officially established until being authorized by Congress in 1864. Lincoln signed an Executive Order creating the Uintah Valley Reservation dated October 3, 1861.

Some people have said that the Timpanogos were Snake Shoshone. [4] But, there is little if any documentation that the Timpanogos Tribe were a part of the Shoshone tribes. In particular, it is clear that they were not the branch of the Shoshone who frequently lived on the Great Plains. These were called Snakes because of the sign language name for them. The Utah (Timpanogos) appear to have been considered separate from both the Snake and other Shoshone, as discussed in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Utah Superintendency, (September 6, 1858):

“The tribes and fragments of tribes with whom I had business relations . . . are as follows, to wit: on the second day of December last I was visited by San-Pitch, a principal chief of the Utahs, and a few of his men . . .

“On the 10th of December following, Little Soldier, chief, and Benjamin Simons, sub-chief, of a band of Sho-sho-nes, with some of their principal men, called on me . . . The territory claimed by them includes Salt lake, Bear river, Weber river and Cache valley . . .

“About the 22nd day of December last, I was visited at Camp Scott, by White-eye and San-Pitch, Utah chiefs, with several of their bands . . . These Indians belong to one of the principal tribes of this Territory. There is but one other large tribe, (the Snakes,) as I am informed.

“The best land belonging to the Utahs is situated in Utah valley . . . Much has been done and is doing for this tribe, (the Utahs.) . . . Strenuous efforts will be made to induce this tribe (the Utahs) to locate permanently . . .

“I visited San-Pete creek farm [reservation] last month, (August,) which is situated in the west end of San-Pete valley and county. This farm was opened about two years ago, under the directions of Agent Hurt, for a band of the Utahs under Chief Arapeen, a brother of San-Pitch . . .

“I have heretofore spoken of a large tribe of Indians known as the Snakes. They claim a large tract of country lying in the eastern part of this Territory, but are scarcely ever found upon their own land. They generally inhabit the Wind river country, in Oregon and Nebraska Territories and they sometimes range as far east as Fort Laramie . . . This tribe numbers about twelve hundred souls, all under one principal chief, Wash-a-kee. He has perfect command over them, and is one of the finest looking and most intellectual Indians I ever saw . . .

“For several years, an enmity has existed between the Utahs and the Snakes . . . Accordingly, on the 13th of May, Wash-a-kee, of the Snakes, White-Eye, Son-a-at, and San-Pitch, of the Utahs, with the sub-chiefs of the different tribes, and also several chiefs of the Ban-acks, assembled in council at Camp Scott, when, after considerable talk and smoking, peace was made between the two tribes.”[30]

Uncertain legal status

The Timpanogos relocated to the Uintah Valley Reservation in the 1860s. In various court cases since then, they have sometimes been classified as part of the Ute Indian Tribe and other times as outside it. Most of the Timpanogos live on the reservation and continue their culture, but many are of mixed race, with less than 1/2 Native American blood. This determines what fedearl programs they may qualify for, as in education. In the 1950s, the Federal government terminated recognition of most Mixed-Blood Ute under its Indian termination policy.

The Ute Indian Tribe consists of bands of Uintah, Whiteriver and Uncompahgre Ute people, who were forced to relocate to Utah by the Congressional Act of 1880. They gradually intermarried and some of their band differences lessened. Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the Ute bands organized as a unified tribe, writing a constitution based on election of members to positions as chief and council. Their documents did not mention the Timpanogos people.

The Timpanogos Tribe believes that the federal termination in the 1950s of Native American status of the Ute Tribe's mixed-blood members should have had no effect on members of the Timpanogos Tribe. Their occupation of the Uintah Valley Reservation preceded that of the Ute bands moved there in 1880.

[31][32]

Meanwhile, in 2000, the Timpanogos Tribe sued the State of Utah in Timpanogos Tribe v. Conway, seeking continued rights for their members for hunting, fishing and gathering on the Uintah Valley Reservation within the boundaries established by the case called Ute V (Ute Tribe v. Utah (1997). They sought an injunction against state prosecution within the reservation, and also sought acknowledgement by the state as the "Indians of Utah" as referred to in the 1861 Executive Order and 1864 act by Congress establishing the reservation. The Ute Indian Tribe filed with the State against the Timpanogos, arguing that the people were part of the Ute Tribe and not independent. The state and counties argued that they had immunity under the Eleventh Amendment.

The issues were narrowed in the Appeals Court. Judge Tena Campbell concluded in Timpanogos v. Conway (2002) that the Timpanogos Tribe had merged with the Ute Indian Tribe in 1865. She ruled that the members had rights for hunting, fishing and gathering within the reservation.[33][34]

Given the conflicting court rulings, the Timpanogo have applied to the Department of Interior to gain independent federal recognition and to clarify their current rights and position.

Notable Timpanogo

Legacy

A structure known as The Great Heart of Timpanogos, inside Timpanogos Cave, a cave inside Mount Timpanogos

References

  1. ↑ Handbook of American Indians V2 North of. Books.google.com.
  2. ↑ Janetski 1991, p. 32
  3. ↑ The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. 1882. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  4. 1 2 3 Our Timpanogos Ancestors
  5. 1 2 History of the Timpanogos Tribe
  6. ↑ Cuch 2000, p. 177
  7. 1 2 3 4 Kerry Ross Boren, Lisa Lee Boren, Randy W. Lewis. The Utah Gold Rush: The Lost Rhoades Mine and the Hathenbruck Legacy. p. 104.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Fort Utah and Battle Creek 1849-50". Black Hawk Productions.
  9. ↑ "Dominguez-Escalante Expedition", Utah History to Go, Utah State Historical Society, retrieved March 27, 2010
  10. ↑ "Derrotero y Diario", Early Americas digital archive, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, retrieved March 27, 2010
  11. ↑ Journal_of_W.A._Ferris 1941, pp. 105–106
  12. ↑ Janetski 1991, pp. 34–36
  13. ↑ Jensen 1924, p. 31
  14. ↑ "0pen Hand and Mailed Fist: Mormon-Indian Relations in Utah, 1847-52" by Howard A. Christy, Utah Historical Quarterly Volume XLVI
  15. ↑ Hose a Stout Diary, 8 vols., 4:48, typescript, Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. A renegade band of Ute Indians had raided herds and taken stock from Tooele Valley and southern Great Salt Lake Valley; the men had earlier declared their opposition to the white settlers. The band was led by three brothers, "Roman Nose," "Blueshirt," and possibly "Cone". Reportedly their chief had driven them out of Utah Valley because they refused to stop stealing cattle from the Mormons. See Oliver B. Huntington Diary, pp. 52-53, Lee Library.
  16. ↑ "The History of Utah American Indians: Chapter Five - The Northern Utes of Utah".
  17. 1 2 Jared Farmer. On Zion's <Munt: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape.
  18. 1 2 Farmer 2008, pp. 64–65
  19. ↑ Elder Marlin K. Jensen. "The Rest of the Story: Latter-day Saint Relations with Utah's Native Americans" (PDF).
  20. ↑ "Mormons and Native Americans historical Overview".
  21. ↑ "Murdered Ute's Ghost Haunts Utah History", Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 2000, retrieved April 10, 2010
  22. ↑ Farmer 2008, pp. 70–76
  23. ↑ "Treaty of the Uintah Reservation 6 June 1855".
  24. ↑ Holzapfel 1999, p. 41
  25. ↑ Collins, JF (1861), A Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, p. 21, p. 125
  26. ↑ Bowman, George W. (1859), Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1859 (Washington, DC), p. 365
  27. 1 2 "Timpanogos Tribe".
  28. ↑ "Treaty of the Uintah Reservation 6 June 1855".
  29. ↑ "Judge Rejects Motion Granting Tribe Special Rights".
  30. ↑ Forney, Jacob (September 6, 1858), Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Utah Superintendency, September 6, 1858, by Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, W.T., pp. 209–213
  31. ↑ Note: This is in contrast with the Ute position in Ute Tribe v. Utah 773 F.2d 1087, 1093 (10th Cir. 1985) (en banc), what the parties called Ute III.
  32. ↑ [https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/14/14-4028.pdf Ute Indian Tribe v. State of Utah, et al., (D.C. Nos. 2:75-CV-00408-BSJ and 2:13-CV-01070-DB-DBP), Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (2015). Note: The 1985 case had reaffirmed the boundaries of three areas of Ute reservation lands against the state challenge. The US Supreme Court declined to hear this case. But, the state continued to prosecute Ute persons on what was tribal reservation land and got a separate case to the state Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. In Hagen v. Utah (1994), 510 U.S. 399, 421-22, the US Supreme Court agreed with the state that a portion of Uintah Reservation had been reduced by Congressional action since 1985. When the state began again to prosecute Ute within the reservation in state courts for offenses, the Appeals Court brought the case back in 1997 to reconcile the boundaries of the different cases, calling it Ute V. The !0th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the boundary issue was resolved. Afterward, the state began again to prosecute Ute for offenses in Indian country, apparently to challenge the court ruling. In 2015 the Appeals Court heard testimony from the Ute Indian Tribe plaintiffs and ruled that this disruptive behavior by the state and county officials had to stop, saying that the issues had been settled for nearly 20 years.
    "And the case for finality here is overwhelming. The defendants may fervently believe that Ute V drew the wrong boundaries, but that case was resolved nearly twenty years ago, the Supreme Court declined to disturb its judgment, and the time has long since come for the parties to accept it."
  33. ↑ "Timpanog Name".
  34. ↑ Note: Historically the several bands of Utes had lived independently in the territory of Colorado and Eastern Utah. But their relocation by an act of Congress to the existing Uintah Valley Reservation in the 1880s had the legal effect of a treaty recognizing them as a tribe, as noted by the courts.
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