Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was the first officially authorized attempt to conquer “the north” of New Spain in 1540-1542. He marched north into the present-day Rio Grande valley of New Mexico with 230 Spanish settlers and several hundred Indigenous peoples from Mexico. In 1598 Don Juan de Onate came north from Mexico to stay, founding the first European colony in what is now northern New Mexico. Many Spanish explorers were in search of Cibola – the fabled city of gold — and claimed vast lands for their Spanish rulers along their travels. Although the Spanish were initially banned from trading with the Utes, the oral history among Mouache and Kapuuta bands recount the acquisition of horses from Spanish in 1580s.

Coronado Expedition Map, Courtesy of Legends of America — Coronado Expedition Map
*Courtesy of Legends of America*

1776 Plano de la Villa de Santa Fee, Nuebo Mexico — 1776 Plano de la Villa de Santa Fee (sic), Nuebo Mexico (earliest known map of Santa Fe)
*Drawn by Joseph de Urrutia, Courtesy of The Historic Santa Fe Foundation*

During the sixteenth century Spaniards began to colonize New Mexico, first at Peralta, and later in 1610 at Santa Fe. As the Spanish advanced northward into Ute territory, the customs, livestock, and language they brought with them began to influence Ute way of life. These changes had far reaching impacts on the Ute people. Not only did Europeans bring livestock and tools, they also brought smallpox, cholera and other diseases that decimated the population of Ute people. Europeans never-ending quest for land was in direct contrast to Native American’s reverence for Mother Earth. The Utes believed that they did not own the land, but that the land owned them. Contact with the Europeans was to end the way of life the people had known for centuries.

Contact between the Southern Utes and the Spanish continued, with trade soon developing. Utes were known for their tanned elk and deer hides which they traded along with dried meat tools and weapons. However, as the Spanish became more aggressive conflicts began to arise. When Santa Fe was established as the northern capital of the Spanish Empire, their colonists captured Utes and other Native Americans as slave laborers to work in their fields and homes. Around 1637, Ute captives escaping from the Spanish in Santa Fe fled, taking with them Spanish horses, thus making the Utes one of the first Native American tribes to acquire the horse. However, tribal historians tell of the Utes acquiring the horse as early as the 1580s.

Once-Known Ute Men on Horseback
*Undated, CSPM Collection*

Buffalo Herd at Water, undated, Courtesy of the Library of Congress — Buffalo Herd at Water
*Undated, Courtesy of the Library of Congress*

Already skilled hunters, the Utes used the horse to become expert big game hunters. They began to roam further away from their home camps to hunt buffalo that migrated over the vast prairies east of their mountain homes and explored the distant lands. Utes began to depend upon the buffalo as a source for many of their items. It took only one buffalo to feed several families, and fewer hides were required to make structures and clothing. Encounters with the Spanish began to occur more frequently, and trade increased to include Spanish items such as metal tools and weapons, cloth, beads and even guns. The bounty collected from raiding expeditions was used to trade for horses, which were considered a valuable commodity.