1887 Dawes Act
In the winter of 1887, President Cleveland signed the Dawes Allotment Act. The law was designed to end tribal ownership of lands. The government assigned individual Native Americans up to 160 acres. Any of the tribal land left unassigned — often the majority of it — was offered for sale to non-Indians. This official policy of the United States government was designed to replace Native American ways of life and abolish communally held Indigenous land. It disrupted the Utes’ traditional relationship with the land and the cultural landscape. It forbade our livelihoods in which we were highly skilled and had practiced since Time Immemorial: moving seasonally, hunting game, and gathering plants. Instead, Utes were forced to rely on supplies and rations promised but often not delivered by the United States government.
Photograph of Senator Henry Dawes
Courtesy of Ohio State University
Indian Land for Sale Poster, Department of the Interior, 1911
Courtesy of California Indian Education
The Allotment Act (also known as the Dawes Act, named for Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts, the Act’s lead proponent) was applied to reservations whenever, in the president’s opinion, it was advantageous for particular Indian nations. Members of the selected tribe or reservation were either given permission to select pieces of land – usually around 40 to 160 acres in size – for themselves and their children, or the tracts were assigned by the agency superintendent. If the amount of reservation land exceeded the amount needed for allotment, the federal government could negotiate to purchase the land from the tribes and sell it to non-Indian settlers. As a result, 60 million acres were either ceded outright or sold to the government for non-Indian homesteaders and corporations as “surplus lands.” (© and Courtesy of Indian Land Tenure Foundation)
Utes in Colorado
To prioritize private land ownership and abolish communally held land, each “head of household” was provided with 160 acres of reservation land. The land was held in trust by the United States government for 25 years, after which full title and U.S. citizenship was promised. Whatever was left over after all the allotments were distributed was considered “surplus” and sold to settlers. When the Dawes Act went into effect in Colorado, there was a single Ute reservation called the Southern Ute Reservation. The Mouache and Kapuuta bands of Utes opted for allotments, while the Weenuche Band rejected the system. The Mouache and Kapuuta bands eventually became known as the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the Weenuche became the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe. After the allotment process, less than 73,000 acres of Ute reservation land in Colorado remained, while more than 523,000 acres were opened up for settlement. Even land that stayed in Ute hands, often proved difficult or impossible to develop and make a living off of. The Dawes Act proved to be one of the most devastating policies enforced by the United States government on Native Americans with negative consequences spanning into the 21st century.
Map of Southern Ute Reservation Land Open for Settlement, 1899
Courtesy of Colorado Historic Newspapers
Indian Tribal Lands in Utah Map
Sovereign lands owned by the Ute tribes shown in orange, relative to the reservation containing land owned by other private and public entities.
Utes in Utah
After Mormon settlers arrived in Utah, they expanded into Ute homeland and competed for their natural resources including land, water, and game. After continued conflicts with Mormon settlers, the Utes signed the Treaty of Spanish Fork in 1865 and were forced to move to the dry Uintah Basin. In 1881, the U.S. government forced the White River Utes from Colorado to the Uintah Reservation, and the following year they created the Ouray Reservation next to it, later consolidating them. By 1933, 91% of their reservation lands had been taken due to allotment. This made traditional Ute way of life impossible. Farming proved unsuccessful, so the Utes turned to raising sheep, cattle, and horses. In the 1950s, the Utes won multiple legal battles and received $32 million in reparations for their land losses. (© and Courtesy of Utah Division of Indian Affairs)
