Montrose in Montrose County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

The Utes
⎯⎯⎯
Uncompahgre River Country
⎯⎯⎯
Ouray (1833-1880)
⎯⎯⎯
Chipeta (1843-1924)

The Utes Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

1. The Utes Marker

Inscription.
The Utes
An Abundant Earth The bountiful food resources of the Uncompahgre Valley normally allowed the Tabeguache Utes a life free from hunger. Elk and deer ranged through the valley in profusion, as did antelope, mountain sheep, beaver, sage hens, and ducks and geese—and all were hunted. The valley was also rich in berries, roots, nuts, and seeds which provided a welcome and necessary supplement to a meat-heavy diet. Berries were either eaten when picked or dried in the sun and stored for winter consumption. Yampa (or wild carrots), sunflower seeds, and pinon nuts were prized foods, too. Finally buffalo were hunted on the great plains east of the mountains, a risky venture but one that changed Ute life.

The mountain country of present Colorado and Utah was home to the Ute Indians for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Loosely divided into seven bands, the Utes called themselves Nuche, or The People. Spaniards called them Yutas, while the Cheyennes knew them as Black People. in the early 1600s they were among the first native peoples to acquire horses from the Spanish—and life changed radically.

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

Mounted on their swift ponies, the Utes enjoyed fabulous wealth, for now buffalo—once so hard to kill—were easy prey. Prosperous, mobile, and adaptable to new technologies, the Utes successfully defended their mountain homeland against all intruders for another three hundred years.

Uncompahgre River Country
{Area map of historical & geographical highlights}

Ouray (1833-1880)
Ouray, or the "Arrow," was born in 1833 near Taos, New Mexico, of a Jicarilla Apache father and a Tabeguache Ute mother. As a child, he was adopted by a Mexican family and raised in the Spanish language and Roman Catholicism. Not until his late teens did Ouray fully enter into the life of his mother's people. Yet, so great was his renown as a warrior that by the mid-1860s he was chief of the Tabeguache Utes, and the United States regarded him as the leader of the Ute Nation. Ouray spoke four languages and was a man of great wisdom, determination, and courage. He fought to preserve the very soul of his people—a cause he lived and died for.

Chipeta (1843-1924)
She was born a Kiowa Apache but raised a Tabeguache Ute. In 1859, she

Uncompahgre River Country Map image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

2. Uncompahgre River Country Map

married Ouray, and the two of them became inseparable. Photographs of Chipeta reveal a woman who appears utterly serene and a peace with herself. The historical record speaks of her dignity, her devotion to her husband and family, and her attention to the needs of others. Like Ouray, she apparently moved easily among whites, who spoke glowingly of her beauty and "queenly" demeanor. After Ouray died in 1880, Chipeta was forced to leave the farm and take up life with other Tabeguache Utes on the bleak reservation lands of eastern Utah where she died in 1924. Later, her remains were moved here to the farm she loved.

Ouray and Chipeta's Farm Ouray and Chipeta settled here in the Uncompahgre Valley sometime in the 1860s. When the Los Pinos Agency moved to the valley in 1875, Ouray was already working a 500-acre farm, and living in a six-room adobe house, located one-quarter mile north of this point. This Ouray and Chipeta filled with chairs, iron beds, silverware and china, a piano, and even hired a Hispanic servant, who answered the ring of a silver bell and drove a fancy carriage. All this was in the vain hope that by showing government

Ouray (1833-1880) Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

3. Ouray (1833-1880) Marker

Fungus has overtaken this side of the marker.

officials Utes were capable of adapting to changing ways, their people might escape reservation life and retain their Western Slope homeland.

Erected 1996 by the Colorado Historical Society, Colorado Department of Transportation.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the History Colorado series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1833.

Location. 38° 26.08′ N, 107° 52.04′ W. Marker is in Montrose, Colorado, in Montrose County. It is on Chipeta Road north of U.S. 550, on the left when traveling north. Located in area of the Ute Indian Museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 17253 Chipeta Road, Montrose CO 81403, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Western Slope.

It is also in the American Mountain West,

on the Colorado Plateau,

and at the Four Corners.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what

Chipeta (1843-1924) Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

4. Chipeta (1843-1924) Marker

Fungus has overtaken this side of the marker.

was once Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: In Behalf of the Light (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); So Bold, So Beautiful a Land (about 300 feet away); Building An Empire: The Spanish Frontier (about 300 feet away); Pageant in the Wilderness (about 300 feet away); The Dominguez-Escalante Expedition / Dominguez-Escalante Country (about 300 feet away); The Ute Way of Life (about 300 feet away); The Hangin' Tree (approx. 0.2 miles away); Early Irrigation in the Uncompahgre Valley (approx. 1.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Montrose.

Also see . . .
1. Wikipedia article on Chief Ouray. (Submitted on July 17, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)
2. Wikipedia article on Chipeta. (Submitted on July 17, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

Nearby Grave of Chipeta mentioned on marker. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

5. Nearby Grave of Chipeta mentioned on marker.

Marker can be seen on the grounds of the Ute Indian Museum. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

6. Marker can be seen on the grounds of the Ute Indian Museum.

The Utes / Uncompahgre River Country Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

7. The Utes / Uncompahgre River Country Marker

Ouray (1833-1880) / Chipeta (1843-1924) Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

8. Ouray (1833-1880) / Chipeta (1843-1924) Marker

Nearby Ouray & Chipeta Memorial. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, July 8, 2018

9. Nearby Ouray & Chipeta Memorial.

Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta image. Click for full size.

Public Domain

10. Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta

Credits. This page was last revised on November 25, 2024. It was originally submitted on July 17, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 858 times since then and 78 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. submitted on July 17, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.

The Utes⎯⎯⎯Uncompahgre River Country⎯⎯⎯Ouray (1833-1880)⎯⎯⎯Chipeta (1843-1924)

The Utes
⎯⎯⎯
Uncompahgre River Country
⎯⎯⎯
Ouray (1833-1880)
⎯⎯⎯
Chipeta (1843-1924)