Horses were important for trade. Ute bands were connected to each other through a trade network that stretched to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Southwest, the Great Basin, and the plains.

The history of the state’s original inhabitants: the Utes. Historians trace their origins from pre-colonial days and early interactions with American trappers and explorers through the escalating friction with new settlers and gold seekers, to their ultimate expulsion to reservations. The first reservations were established in the 1860’s, and the question of land rights remains a topic of dispute.  Full documentary: https://video.rmpbs.org/video/colorado-experience-original-coloradans/

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History Colorado

Excerpt Clip from The Original Coloradans

Three American Indian Ute men posing with horses at the Southern Ute Agency in Ignacio, Colo. Traditional clothing includes fur-wrapped braids, hairpipe breastplate, blankets, and a beaded bag. Another man and a wooden building stand behind them.  North American Indian (Ute) men pose on or near horses at the Southern Ute Agency in Ignacio (La Plata County), Colorado. The men wear cloth leggings, moccasins, braids (two have fur wrapped braids), a hairpipe breastplate, blankets, and a woven bag.

Photograph, Ute Indians at Ignacio

View overlooking tipis at a Ute Encampment site near Denver. Photographed by William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) during the Hayden Geological Survey of 1874.

Photograph, Ute Encampment, Denver

Photograph, Ute Encampment in Denver

Outdoor portrait of a group of Ute and non-native men and one woman on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, photographed by Charles L. Gillingham 1888. Dick Charley is the man on the first horse from the left and Scott Hays is the 7th man standing from the left. Ute men wear a mix of traditional and non-traditional clothing including blankets, bone breastplates, and hats. One man wears an Indian reservation police badge.

Photograph, On the Reservation Ignacio

Photograph of eight Ute men in traditional dress on horseback in front of a frame building on the Consolidate Ute Indian Agency. The photograph was taken on May 24, 1925, the day of the reburial of Chief Ouray at the agency, and the men were the pallbearers at the burial. The men are identified on the verso of the photograph as, left to right, Nanees (George Norris), Joseph Prince, Buckskin Charlie (Charley), McCook, Pevaga, Pegary, and Antonio Buck.

Among the items of traditional clothing they were are feather headdresses, hair pipe chokers and breast plates, a squash blossom necklace, medals, a staff, and rings. The sign on the building behind them reads: "Consolidated Ute Indian Agency." Two Euro-American women stand behind them on the porch of the building. 

Inscription: Typed on verso: "Taken at Ignacio, Colorado, May 24, 1925, day of re-burial of Chief Ouray. Left to right: Nanees, Joseph Price, Colorow, Buckskin Charley, McCook, Pevaga, Pegary, Antonio Buck." Stamped on verso: "The Denver and Rio Grande Western R.R. Photograph by George L. Beam, Denver, Colo."

Photograph, Ute men at Ignacio, Colo.

Nine Ute Indian men posing outside B. H. Gurnsey's photograph studio. Men wear a mix of traditional and non-traditional clothing and most hold rifles. Photographed by B. H. Gurnsey, circa 1875.

Photograph, Ute Men Posing

Outdoor portrait of Ute Indian men and boys posed in front of buildings on the Southern Ute Agency in Ignacio, Colo., photographed by W. J. Carpenter circa 1889-1890. Some men sit on horseback while others stand. Men wear their hair in braids, some wear blankets and vests, and one man wears an Indian police badge. , North American Indian (Ute) men and boys stand or sit on horseback at the Southern Ute Agency in Ignacio (La Plata County), Colorado.

Photograph, Ute Indian Agency

Outdoor portrait of a Southern Ute man standing next to his horse. He wears a fringed and beaded hide shirt and leggings and his horse wears a bridle, saddle, and blanket. Photographed by Horace S. Poley in 1899.

Standards for Hides for Horses